footsteps; mukuro’s were heavy and dragging, pronounced as he crossed the room. his boots scraped the wood floor intentionally, drawing attention to his pointed approach. he was quick about it, his movements. yet still. there was a surprising amount of grace there, given the scene he saw fit to create. he didn’t want to be here; he didn’t want to see him especially. but, he had decided their meeting a necessity. it would happen eventually, he’d decided. and it was better to do it now, get it out of the way while he had his wits about him. on his terms.
     he didn’t belong here, with them, the mafia. he’d never wanted to be a part of any of it. and yet, somehow, he was inexplicably pulled back, over and over and over again. maybe it was in his blood, a curse of some sort. he had joked, more than once, that the vongola were simply the price he had to pay for being alive. but... her. she held no stake in it. she never had before he’d brought her into it. this was his fault. and yet, even in his absence, she had chosen to stay. what did she see in them? in any of it? he’d thought about it more times than he cared to admit. but truthfully, he didn’t --- didn’t want  --- to understand why.
     yamamoto takeshi; an idiot who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. he’d done well, though; he’d grown into himself as the years passed. and he had been, in mukuro’s opinion, the best of them if still mafia all the same. like her, he also held no stake in the goings-on of the underworld. and yet, just the same, when it had come time to choose, he too remained among them.
      maybe... maybe that was it. maybe that was why ---
     mukuro stopped abruptly as he at last drew close enough to the other man to speak without shouting. his eyes flicked up, narrowed. and he drew his chin up, frowning slightly as the ends of his coat settled around him. his expression was tense; yet overall, he looked remarkably calm. briefly, he hesitated, the words caught in his throat. then, unprompted, his mouth parted.
      “ we need to talk. ”
