Disclaimer: I do not own KHR! Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Amano Akira.
Nothing Will Change
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Haru walked out into the garden, wearing her usual attire: a blouse and a flowing skirt. The garden was decorated wonderfully. She thought this whenever she walked down its elegant path rimmed with rose bushes. More roses climbed up, growing higher in the back, behind the bushes. Whoever landscaped the garden did a fantastic job.
She came across her destination. It was in one corner of the garden furnished with stone benches and surrounded in all kinds of flowers. And there she found the person she had been looking for. "Gokudera-kun," Haru called.
He was standing in the middle of the area and staring off into space in his usual suit and red dress shirt. Gokudera turned to look at the person who called him. "Oh, its you," he mumbled. His eyes flickered to her chin-length brown hair. He hoped she wasn't going to ask how her hair looked parted on this or that side like she always does. Honestly, he didn't know.
"Ah! Why are you smoking?!" Haru exclaimed when she saw the cigarette in his hand. "You're going to kill the flowers!"
Gokudera rolled his eyes. What an exaggeration. He sighed. He put it out, covered it in a tissue and stuffed it in his pocket to throw away later. "What do you want, Haru?" he inquired, his back facing her.
"Why aren't you at the party?" Haru asked, referring to the party, or gathering rather, that was occurring in the mansion.
"I'll go back in later," was Gokudera's simple reply. "I just needed some air."
"Oh. I see," Haru smiled. They stood in complete silence for a moment.
Gokudera glanced at her with an indifferent expression. "The Tenth and I are going on a business trip soon. Hibari is also joining us for other purposes," he mumbled, informing her on their next trip.
She smiled understandingly, "When?"
"Next week." His eyes were focused on the flowers on his side.
"Ah, really? For how long?" Haru questioned. This was her meager attempt of a casual conversation with Gokudera. It wasn't especially easy for her to sustain a civilized one with the Storm guardian.
"I'm not sure," Gokudera answered. He turned to her, hesitant to answer, "Maybe a few weeks. At worse, a couple of months or so."
Haru eyes grew wide in surprise. That was long; too long for an ordinary business trip. "…Eh? Gokudera-kun, why is it so long?" For them to be away that long, it already made her feel insecure. For the Vongola Boss, and his right-hand man, and even the Cloud Guardian to be away for longer than a week, two at most, at one time would cause complications. Perhaps somewhat of an uproar.
"That's confidential, stupid woman," Gokudera scoffed.
Haru looked at him with a sad expression before staring at the ground pathetically. How lonely. How lonely it would be without all of them around. She blinked when a rose appeared in her line of vision. She looked up to see Gokudera. He was in front of her, offering her the somewhat torn-less rose. She gave him a small smile before carefully taking it in her hands. It was rose of deep red in full bloom.
Gokudera looked down at her. "I'll be away for a while, so don't do anything stupid," he said, with a certain gentleness in his words.
She looked up at him, then grinned, "What are you talking about, Gokudera Hayato-kun? Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"
He took a step back and tilted his head to the side, smirking. "Oh, really?" He shook his head, amused. "Let's head back inside."
Haru complied, smiling. She blushed when he took her hand in his. As Gokudera led them on the path, she stared at his back and held the rose closer.
She decided. She was ready to wait for them to come back home. She'd be there to welcome them back. Haru already couldn't wait for them to return so she could go back to talking and laughing with him as if he never left.