It's already half past six, and there is still no sign of her. Hibari knows he shouldn't care. She's just a silly girl, a silly girl who doesn't care about him anyway, and he certainly doesn't care about her. While he's making himself ready to leave school, he can't help himself, he looks at the clock every five minutes. When it's six o'clock he knows she isn't going to come anymore, and he'll be in a bad mood for the rest of the night because of that.
'Haru feels sorry!' He looks at her with frowning eyebrows. At least, he's trying to, but there's this weird feeling in his stomach that makes him want to smile. 'About what?' she sights and looks at him with her warm brown eyes. Those eyes that he wants to see closer. To bite her to death he thinks stubbornly. He only wants to bite her to death, because she's the most annoying girl he has ever met. 'That Haru didn't show up yesterday.' He shakes his head, 'Don't be, I didn't miss you. Just because you decided to disturb me at my work almost every day, doesn't mean I expect you to come every day, or go so far as miss you, I'm not a filthy herbivore. But while he's saying it, he feels sorry as soon as he sees her face. Too late, the damage was already done. He hears her say 'hagii?' and sees that her eyes begin to tear up. Such a shame, because she has such beautiful brown eyes when she smiles.
She's running away when she feels tears sliding down her cheek. It's just like the first time she showed up at school. He was annoyed because she disturbed him at that time. He told her that she shouldn't come back. She ran off crying, not giving the man the slightest guilt feeling, not at that time anyway. The next day she came back, saying that she accepted that he was like that, and that she would see him later again. And she did, every day since then she came and visited him. And every time he enjoyed these visits a little more.
'Hibari-San?' he hears that herbivore say. 'What?' he says annoyed. 'I-I just wanted to ask you if you know why Haru ran away crying from here? I'm kinda worried about her, Kyoko-chan says she cries a lot, because of her home situation.' Hibari narrows his eyes. 'What home situation?' Tsuna looks nervously at him. 'H-her mother passed away a few days ago, and now she has to do a lot at home, and her father doesn't make it any easier for her. B-but I won't bother you anymore.' And he's walking away as fast as he could. If Hibari was listening he would hear Reborn telling Tsuna not to be so scared. But he didn't, he was in shock that this was the reason why Haru hadn't visit him. And that's the reason why she seemed so sad. He has to apologize to her, if he wants to or not. Only herbivores are cowards.
The next day the man goes to her school and asks some herbivore if Haru is 'present'. 'H-Hibari-san!' he shakes his head. 'Her father said she caught a cold, so she stayed home today.' Hibari was in a murderous mood now. He had beaten up the herbivore in no time and was on his way to Haru's house. He has no intention of seeing her father so he climbs through her window in her room. Luckily for him the window is open. He lands a meter before what he assumes is Haru's bed. Her room's a typical girl's room. Pink walls, pink floor, and cute little stuffed animals. He hears someone screaming 'Hagii' from another room. He quickly walks out of her room and opens another door where he believes the noise came from. Hibari sees Haru standing with a mop in her left hand and broken pieces in her hand, which makes her hand bleed. 'Are you alright?' Both Haru and Hibari are surprised at this question, but he acts like it's a normal question for him. 'Hagii! H-Haru is fine.'
The tears in her eyes betray her. 'Hmph, you're definitely not. Stop lying to me.'
She follows his gaze to her hand. 'B-blood!' and she passes out.
When she wakes up again she hears two man screaming, following with a loud thud on the ground. What is happening? She wants to open her eyes and ask but she can't. It's already hard enough for her to stay conscious. 'Haru, do you hear me?' Yes, yes Haru can! She wants to scream but nothing comes out. She tries to move so she can give a sign to the anonymous, deep, sexy voice. Come on Haru, you have to tell him that you're okay. Finally! She opens her eyes. Hagii! The anonymous person is...Hibari-san? And she passes out again.
'Haru! Haru!' Damn, she has to wake up again. He looks around for a towel. He finds one and tears it in pieces and wraps it around her bleeding hand. He shakes her hard. When she doesn't response he lifts her and runs with her in his arms to the hospital.
A doctor takes her over to examen her while he waits in the waiting room. The doctors come back after 15 minutes. 'Is she OK?' asks Hibari demanding for an answer. 'She is. Though it is clear that she has been beaten.'
For some reason did this not surprise him. 'So...? Call the police. It's obvious that her father abuses her. Do something!' The doctor frowns and shakes his head. 'We can report this, but it can take weeks before they actually talk to her dad. Even then the chance is small that he would actually admit what he has done.' Hibari gets so angry that he kicks against a trolley, which rolls to the other side and falls. 'How can you do this to her?!' The doctor squints his eyes.
'Are you two involved?' Hibari laughs dark. 'No. But that doesn't matter. Never mind, I'll take care of it myself.' And he leaves the room.
Everything is dark. It's like she is swimming in a deep, black ocean but she can't get out of it. She tries to scream for help, but her voice is gone. She almost wants to give up, when she sees a white spot. She's swimming towards it, using her last strength. Ten meters. Five meters. Only two meters left. She's there!
'Hagii?' Haru sees everything vague. She's in a very, very white room. Like a hospital. She squints her eyes at a machine next to her. It's beeping like crazy. 'Hey, sleepyhead, you finally awake?' She can't see directly who is talking to her. She heard someone chuckle. 'Hagii?' She says in a very, very weak voice. It almost sounds like the voice isn't hers, but an old woman's voice. 'Damn, you don't sound OK.' She squints her eyes again and looks in the corner. She finally sees who it is, Hibari-San again! She remembers everything now. 'Hey, don't cry now.' Is she crying? She doesn't know. Hibari-San comes closer and gives her a kiss on her head. 'It's going to be okay, do you hear me?' She nods and tastes the salt. She suddenly feels two arms around her. Hibari-San is hugging her. Normally she'd be over excited, but right now it's exactly what she needs. She cries in his shoulder for a while until the tears are up. 'Do you feel better now?' She doesn't answer but just looks in his eyes. Hibari-san's face comes closer and before she knows what's happening they are kissing.