A/N: Before anything else, I'd like to say millions and millions of thanks to my lovely and wonderful beta -Kemichii for editing this fic.
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Her Dream, His Reality
"And that was Haru's dream last night." He heard her self-important voice say, her hand tapping his arm when she thought he wasn't listening.
"You," the Italian teenager said and gritted his teeth as he attempted to force his anger down. "How did you enter my apartment?"
He should have asked first how she even knew of his apartment's whereabouts, but her being able to enter his apartment when the lock of his doors were securely fastened seemed like a bigger problem to him. He checked the lock of the front door once again and found it safely sealed and shut the way it was after he was able to finally get rid of the baseball idiot just earlier.
His eyes narrowed, his gaze returning to the hysterical woman in front of him. The way she rushed in his house when he was in his oh-so-peaceful world and the way she acted all buddy-buddy with him as she narrated her damned wonderful dream last night was just too much for him to handle.
Every single fucking detail of her dream.
It took her thirty minutes of rambling – and thirty minutes of his precious time – to get the thing done. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't even remember anything that she mentioned. Not that he really intended to listen.
"Haru sneaked in your window," the woman said cutting through his thoughts.
"What?" he replied with sheer disbelief. He could imagine her doing it, but still. "You did what?"
"Hahi! Gokudera-san didn't know? The window was open, the one near the emergency staircase."
Why she sounded so proud, Gokudera had no idea. "What the fuck went through that brain of yours?"
"The guardian angel in Haru's dream said that Gokudera-san will help Haru with her problems," she explained slowly.
The guardian angel. The dream.
"Don't mistake dreams for reality, woman. The reality is here." Gokudera pointed on the table, acting as if the table is the reality itself. "We hate each other, and I don't want you here. Get out of this house before I kick you out."
He pointed towards the door.
"But Haru's guardian angel told her that Tsuna-san will propose to the girl that he loves tomorrow!" She gave a sigh of pleasure. Lost in her own world of fairies and stupid lovesick delusions about his beloved Tenth.
"That's not my business," he spat and closed the book he was reading not so long ago. "If you don't get out of my apartment this second, I'm going to kick you out."
"But, Gokudera-san." He almost fell back when she suddenly fell into her knees and grabbed both of his hands. "Tsuna-san's going to confess to Haru tomorrow! Haru has only few hours left to prepare! You should be advising me already how to respond."
Gokudera swore that practicing his patience throughout those five years proved to be worth it. He actually stopped himself from swearing literally and grabbing his hidden little babies.
He heaved a sigh and pulled his hands away from the woman. "Get out," he ordered with a glare to emphasize his point, putting all of his irritation in one blow. "I'm not in the mood for your stupidity."
It was an idiotic thought, he decided. How did she actually manage to conclude that it was her that the guardian angel was talking about? That is, supposing that her idealistic dream could actually come true. It was already dumb as it was, but she just had to follow her stupid guardian angel's advice and come to him to talk things through.
One could say that it was partly his fault for not killing her when he had the opportunity to do it. He just had to use the stupid woman as one of his guinea pigs to put his patience to a test. For five years. At those excruciatingly unbearable times, he had come to instinctively remind himself that the woman was one valuable thing in achieving one of his life's purposes.
That is, to obey the Tenth's orders.
And when the Tenth said he should not kill the woman, he really should not.
She was kind and caring to the stupid cow and I-pin, who the Tenth cares a lot for. And she, when she wasn't in her squealing and fangirl-ish state, turned out to be useful…especially when he wasn't there to help the Boss with his studies. It took a lot of convincing, but with the Tenth's constant and ever helpful guidance, he had slowly come to accept her annoying existence. Begrudgingly yet better than nothing.
However, in some ways that he found completely unfathomable, the woman thought that they were the best of buddies. And, as the current situation screamed, confessing to him her love problems and her problems in life all together turned out to be a very normal scenario between the two of them. That was from her point of view anyway.
He tried, for countless of times, to thrust into her seemingly non- existent brain that he had no interest with the things that were related to her, but, these past few days, she got even more talkative and annoying due to her persistent dreams.
"Gokudera-san," she called with her face serious.
"Woman," he replied, his glare intensifying if it was even possible. He knew it when she uses that tone.
"Please?"
He could only do nothing.
Her Pain, His comfort
"How the hell did you get in here?" Were the words that came out of the white-haired guardian's mouth when he saw the woman at the edge of his bed, her head ducked down in her arms.
Just when he thought that everything was over yesterday. Just when he thought that he could finally use a good afternoon nap.
"Through the window," the woman replied, her voice muffled and made indistinct by his bed sheet.
He shook his head. No, her way of talking is the least thing that he should concern himself about.
"Why the fuck are you here again? What damned mess did you do this time around?" he asked, making it to a point to use the most irritated tone that he could muster.
However good he thought his angry voice was; it seemed to be dismissed as something insignificant and lame by the woman. He always knew she was an idiot, but it was really going beyond the line. The way she lifted her head up and crawled up to his bed, her face stricken with tears. He could only sigh in exasperation as he watched her wipe them with the back of her hand.
His warnings would never reach her. He bet that she would still curl up in a ball and cover herself with his bed sheets even if he tells her outright that he would bomb that freaking crying mouth of hers and terminate her existence entirely.
Call it waking up at the wrong side of the bed. She was really ticking his bombs on.
The only thing that was keeping him from smoking the woman into crisps was his pledge to the Tenth to look after her and care for her at all times.
"Tsuna-san," she managed to say after her eternal sobs.
"I told you it's pointless. Give up."
He pushed her slightly when he sensed a loud cry coming out from her lungs. Yes, because she was damn breathing in so much air. The last thing he needed right now was her narrating the dramatic way the Tenth rejected her. It would take his whole night and, after that, he would still have to walk her home. Not to mention that he had to console her every minute. Why women needed those kinds of acts from a guy like him who had the least understanding of the word comfort, was way way beyond his thinking.
"Juudaime would never like a girl like you," he said.
That probably did not come out right as she now had tossed aside her handkerchief and used his blanket instead to wipe her tears. Where was his tact when he needed it most?
"Fine, fine." He shrugged and patted her back awkwardly.
He always thought he was bad at these kinds of issue, but, surely, there must be a reason why the Vongola Boss entrusted him the girl. Reborn-san even agreed at the arrangement when he showed slightly how much he was against the idea.
"You just have to find one stupid person who will love you. That's not so hard. Forget about Juudaime."
The subsequent events that occurred exceeded his calculations. He could not quite comprehend why he was suddenly on his back with the girl on top of him, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she poured out the words on the side of his right ear.
He had to admit that the length of her story threatened him, but it surprised him so much when one mere sentence came out from her mouth. "Tsuna-san likes Kyoko-chan."
His arms were self-consciously raised upwards, both unsure of where to land them. But as soon as the words were said, he knew what their purpose was.
"Took you long enough to discover that," he whispered with slight relief.
Her Demise…
"Haru's guardian angel told her to come to Gokudera-san as if my life depends on him," she said as they were on their way back to the woman's house. She opted to stay in his house for a while, claiming that his presence –believe it or not – soothed her. "Haru wonders why you're always included in my dreams though."
As what he expected, it was all about her dreams. Despite the fact that she accepted today's rejection was part of reality, her next step still depended on her non-existent guardian angel. Not that he wanted to destroy the idea that she held onto so dearly, but, honestly, if her so-called guardian angel really cared about her, he should have warned her since the beginning. That guardian angel should have known that the woman was not smart enough to know that she was not the woman that the Tenth likes. Even he, who rarely even cared about her messed up love life, figured that out without losing much of his brain cells.
"I hope he tells you someday that my ears are tired listening to you." He stopped when he felt her motion abruptly halted.
She did not just take that seriously.
"What?" he asked irritatingly.
His shoulders were already wet enough of tears. He turned around, determined to will her to stop. She also had to realize that his patience is thinning.
"You—"
The sight that greeted him was the last scenario he imagined.
Her coughing out blood and the back of her white blouse stained with blood.
An enemy.
He whipped his head from side to side, searching for an invisible enemy.
'What the fuck,' were his only thought as he caught her falling body, her eyes closing along with the movement.
"Haru!"
His Realization.
But he was one second too late.
"Gokudera-san! Gokudera-san!" He heard a familiar voice; it sounded so familiar that he wanted to shut his eye forever.
He was probably hallucinating because he was hearing that stupid woman's voice. That could never be since he had failed the Tenth. He had failed to protect and look after Haru. He had no excuse.
"Gokudera-san!" The call was so loud that he was forced to open his eyes and stare at ghost of the person who he just realized he cared for more than he had expected himself to be capable of doing.
'What are you doing here?' Was what he wanted to ask, but he was so dizzy that he found himself silent for the very first time.
"Gokudera-san seems to be having a nightmare." She smiled and wiped the sweat off his forehead tentatively.
Right then, he knew that it was reality.
~End