Title: And We Meet At the End of the World
Series: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Characters/Pairings: very slight TYL!Gokudera x TYL!Haru, one-sided TYL!Haru x TYL!Tsuna
Warning: small spoiler for later chapters
Disclaimer: Me no own.

They had all attended; guardians, friends and family all cramped in the hall. It was indeed a solemn day, the sound of the priest droned through his aggravatingly long speech with sounds of soft gasps and chokes coming from somewhere in the first row.

Most were hard faced, holding in all there feelings because it was an honorable death in a way, and crying would be disrespectful. He did it all for them.

Mrs. Sawada however was not so willing to hold everything in, she cried out in anguish when she had heard the news and even now, she was not afraid of showing how much pain she was enduring from the loss of her only son.

Kyoko had sat numbly beside Mrs. Sawada, her own hands shaking on her lap, but she endured. Her brother had reached out to squeeze her shoulder comfortingly, though he himself stared blankly at the coffin behind the priest.

Yamamoto sat silently next Bianchi, both showed nothing, but Gokudera knew that Yamamoto had thrown a fit the night before when he thought no one was there.

Gokudera didn't turn around, but he knew that the ones behind him didn't really want to believe that the 10th was gone just like that. He knew that somewhere in the back, Dino and Longchamp were grieving silently with dark thoughts in their minds. He knew that Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin were there, not crying (though he was sure that Lambo was about to burst to tears soon) but nonetheless despairing for the loss of their brother figure.

The members of Varia did not show up, he was certain that they weren't planning to either way. Hibari and Chrome were there, hanging around the doorway with grim faces.

Gokudera's eyes however, bore into the back of the head of the person sitting in front of him. Haru had not done anything drastic in the last 20 minutes; he was expecting her to suddenly stand up and scream at the priest, telling him to shut up and stop telling lies.

Like how she had screamed at him when he had bitterly told her the news.

She hadn't cried, or showed any signs of wanting to. She looked like she was actually listening, silently looking on. It worried him, not that she needed to know.

'Or anyone else for that matter.'

Over the years, the two had silently come to an agreement. That once the 10th had finally inherited the 9th's position, Haru would be his wife and he would become his right hand man, and the two of them (more like he reluctantly) agreed to help each other succeed.

After the burial, everyone went back home. Haru and Kyoko were worried about the 10th's mother, so the decided to go over to their place and try to cheer her up, since even her husband didn't seem to be able to do so successfully. Soon after, 'Boxing Maniac' was dragged along, then Bianchi, and Bianchi who still had a grudge against Yamamoto's 'Cooking skills' (Which he still denied he had any) dragged Yamamoto along. Yamamoto, needing some backup, tried to get Gokudera to help him out.

The problem here was that:

He didn't want to be near his sister for a long period of time

He didn't want to help Baseball dork and

He'd fell uncomfortable being in the house of their middle school years.

But they somehow still got him to 'come along'; though he refused to give them the satisfaction of thinking he was giving in.

The whole day was spent talking about how they meet because of the 10th and slowly advanced to how he became the 10th. Laughter and a few sniffles soon followed along, and Gokudera had started wanting to leave, not wanting to hear anymore stories of when he was here. His eyes started to roam around the room instead; eyes soon stared out towards the little patio, where everyone had watched the firework show together last year for the 10th's birthday. His eyes soon began roaming again and he had soon noticed that Haru was no longer there.

"I'm leaving."

Mrs. Sawada nodded, "Be careful."

"Here Hayato, there is still some leftovers." Bianchi handed a bag with leftovers from dinner. He swore he could here bubbling sounds inside.

"It's fine." He said shakily, face paling, "I'm not a kid anymore, I can feed myself."

He hurriedly stood up, saying good night and left the room. Heading towards the door, he suddenly heard clinking noises.

Peering into the kitchen, he saw Haru's back, a knife in hand.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he rushed into the kitchen and grabbed her hand firmly in his own. Haru blinked confusedly, staring him with wide eyes.

"Umm…cake?" she gestured towards a chunk of cake on the table.

Shit.

Gokudera lit a cigarette and blew a puff of smoke into the cool air while Haru silently sat beside him, a slice of cake on her lap, gazing at the stars.

"Sorry. Did you really think I'd…?"

"Drop it," He muttered moodily, "stupid woman."

Haru huffed indignantly, even after 10 years he still called her that.

Well, only when he was mad. She sighed and shoved a bit of chocolate cake into her mouth.

"I thought you would have really done it." He muttered quietly, fiddling with his cigarette in his hand. "You were a complete lunatic when I told you."

"Well, what did you expect me to say? 'Oh really, that's nice.'? Is that what you want me to say?"

"No. I know you really…cared about him. You know, women are too emotional about these things. You were always spouting crap, making your life seem like it's a Shakespeare play."

"10 years have already passed Gokudera. I don't feel that way anymore." Haru's eyes had dropped towards her plate; she started poking the crumbs on her plate absentmindedly.

"Liar, you were still chasing after him after high school."

Haru shook her head, "No, I gave up. I just gave up."

Gokudera threw the butt of his cigarette onto the ground and stood up, putting out the cigarette with a twist of his foot.

"Come on, I'll walk you home." Haru nodded and quickly ran back into the house, and then she ran back out with her jacket in hand.

They hadn't said anything at first, letting the awkward silence sink in, before Haru spoke up.

"I really did." She said silently, pulling at her jacket sleeve.

"Yeah? And when did you suddenly decide that." He hadn't meant to sound too harsh about it, but it still sounded biting.

"I knew I couldn't pull it off any longer." She said slowly. Gokudera chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"You found out…didn't you…" there was no need to ask her that, he knew the answer.

Haru started walking faster, putting some distance between them, he let her with a blank face.

"Forget it. I don't want to remember it anymore." She stopped walking and he immediately slowed down, still keeping the distance between them.

She turned around to face him, her big goofy smile plastered on.

"Hey! Come in for awhile! Unless…want to be alone?"

He hadn't noticed that they were already in front of her apartment.

"Got any liquor?"

He didn't want to leave her alone, her invitation had sounded so bitter.

"Hehehe." Gokudera raised an eyebrow, watching the brunette shuffling around the small kitchen.

"Dad got this for me! It's really good stuff! All the way from Italy!" she exclaimed happily, her back towards him.

"Miura, you just guzzled down 3 cans of beer like you had just ran a marathon. I think that's enough booze for one day." He made to reach for the bottle of wine clutched in her two hands, but he stopped when he started to hear whimpers coming from Haru, her back still facing him and was slightly slouched over.

He scoffed, "If you insist, than drink as much as you want! See if I care if you have a hangover so bad you won't wake up till next week."

The only reply he got from her was soft sounds of crying.

"Are you going back? Back to Italy?"

"Yeah…I have to…it's…"

More tears spilled on to her cheeks, "Why? Why does…?"

Gokudera moved in closer, put his hands firmly on her shoulders and turned her to face him.

He made a grimace (jokingly) "Damn, you really are ugly."

She glared at him, but he noticed the small twitch on the corner of her lips. He gently put a hand on her head comfortingly.

It always made him feel better when his mother had gently put her hand on his head as a child, her hands were always warm.

"Why? Why does…?"

He knew she wasn't asking why he was going back, far from that.

"You liar." He said softly, "You haven't given up…have you?" hands lifting way from their position. He watched her carefully making sure that she wouldn't fall over.

"Tsuna-san…"

A/N: Longest I've ever wriiten...and what a thing to write on Singles Awareness Day.