Illusions and deceit
Mukuro reawakened in an unfortunately familiar situation. Unfortunate that was, for the people who put him there. He personally found it rather therapeutic, there had been bloody murder involved.
He had been strapped down to a lab table waiting for the “doctors”, to finish with him, when he had recovered his memories of the last time this had happened, along with everything else that had happened subsequently. There was something deeply therapeutic about suddenly waking up with superpowers after being tortured, and experimented on, Mukuro had already been able to vouch for that after the last time, and now he could safely say that some things only got better with repetition. Everyone in the room had been bloody smears on the wall before he managed to regain some self control, and decide what to do next.
He’d considered just killing them all, like he had the first time ‘round, but then he thought of his fluffy haired boss, and the disappointed expression he would level at Mukuro if he ended up on the run from the law again and he restrained himself. Besides, he was much stronger this time, he didn’t need to kill them to make their lives hell. In fact it might be more satisfying to play with them a bit. It wasn’t like they could do anything to him if he didn’t let them. He was a mist, he could do subtle.
…
Danzo admittedly brought out the worst in him. Fucking with his head so that he only remembered Mukuro existed when Mukuro found it convenient was the least of it. Mukuro fucked with his orders, he fucked with his perceptions, he fucked with Danzo’s memories, and best of all he did it so subtlely that everyone, Danzo included, just put it down to the effects of old age.
It wasn’t just Danzo he messed with of course, although Danzo was his favourite target. He messed with root as a whole as well. He could have just walked out at any point after recovering his memories of course. The ninja didn’t know about mist flames and what they didn’t know about, they couldn’t guard against. If he’d wanted to he could have made it so that no-one in root even remembered his existence.
But he felt that would be rather missing an opportunity. There was a lot of potential in his situation. He had access to high level training for one thing, as well as an easy way in to all of root’s information files and mission reports. And on top of that, he suspected, if he played his cards right, he might just be able to take the organisation over. It would require a careful and complex game, but he was a Mist, he lived for that sort of game.
…
He couldn’t just stay in root either of course. He had places to go and people to reintroduce himself to. Dear Chrome, and the Decimo first on the list. He found Tsuna easy enough, root kept disturbingly up to date records on the village orphanage, and Tsuna was in there. He’d slipped out to check on him and was brought up short by sky flames that dragged him back in before he’d even realised Tsuna knew who he was. He would have been more annoyed, but he’d spent most of a lifetime with Tsuna’s sky wrapped around his flames and he’d felt… off, without them, he could only imagine how bad it must have been for Tsuna, missing all of his guardian bonds.
Chrome had been more than an issue. Tracking her down had been easy enough, but when he’d checked in she’d still been Nagi, had still not remembered a lifetime of sharing mind and flames and body with him, and it had been tricky getting close with the Uchiha clan in the way. That was ok though, he was patient, he could wait.
Meanwhile he’d inserted himself into the ninja academy to keep a closer eye on Tsuna and his morons, editing memories wherever necessary. He actually rather liked the ninja academy. Education but with enough violence to be amusing. He wondered idly if this was what mafia school had been like, he’d have to ask Gokudera, no Nara now, wouldn’t do to slip up, for a comparison.
He’d rather enjoyed ninja school, and no matter how many memories he had, his brain was still the brain of a six year old child, which meant he’d allowed himself to become distracted. He’d underestimated Danzo, and it wasn’t until far too late that he realised what Danzo had done to Chrome’s clan. Maybe it was the suddenness of it, or maybe just that he was too far down in roots hierarchy, information was need to know, and lowly trainees didn’t. Either way, Chrome lost her family, and was hurt again, and he’d wanted her to remember but not like that, he didn’t want her to hurt like that.
Guilt was an unfamiliar emotion to him. He didn’t like it. Still he couldn’t help but be happy that Chrome remembered. That she’d come back to him and twined their souls back together and taken her shelter under Tsunayoshi’s sky. It felt like a piece of the world slotting back into its proper place. He was so glad she didn’t blame him for what happened. He didn’t know what he would have done if she blamed him.
…
He spent more time at the academy after Chrome re-awakened, only dropping by root every now and then to renew his influence, and work on subverting their network, while at the same time messing with Danzo just enough to unbalance him without drawing suspicion. That time he’d managed to persuade him to drink cup after cup of coffee until he actually collapsed from a caffeine overdose was sheer genius. One of Chrome’s ideas that one, she always did have a vicious imagination.
Tsuna had shaken his head a little at his behaviour, but hadn’t outright told him to stop so Mukuro chose to take that as permission. The decimo probably had enough on his plate trying to rein in his more… obvious guardians, at least Mukuro and Chrome were being subtle, and therefore not his problem.