Title: Ideals
Author: Kiku Nakamura
Disclaimer: I don't think I'm talented enough to create my own manga which has an anime adaptation, so excuse me for being just another fangirl.
Characters/Pairings: 5986, (one-sided) 2768, 27K
Rating: K+
Genre: Romance, friendship, angst, hurt/comfort
Summary/Theme: When you take a step back or move over just the slightest bit, the point of perfection changes so much.

Ever since her first year at Midori Middle School, Miura Haru had a crush on Sawada Tsunayoshi. He was that Prince Charming, clumsy but made up for it in his big-heartedness. He was strong in his own way, and him just being there was enough most of the time.

She never knew when it began really; it was strange. In her interview with Kyoko-chan, she realized her ideal boy was the good-looking, cool, type that had a dash of danger mixed in with the occasional kindness. Reborn had said what she thought was far from what her reality (Sawada Tsunayoshi) was. Far from her reality, Reborn has commented, but her statement hinted at the boy she liked after Tsuna-san, spot-on.

Tsuna was the perfect candidate for Haru's husband and vice-versa. She had been wanting all her life to be a bride. It didn't seem bad for her to be a mafia boss' wife. She was so infatuated with the idea that it was all she talked about when she saw him and Reborn-chan going to Namimori Middle in the morning. It was what she opened her eyes for.

When at first she saw Tsuna only because of his "little brother", Reborn, she yelled at him for teaching an innocent little boy such terrible, violent things. Then things started the change when she fell into the river. She never thought someone looked so heroic with just boxers on saying that he was going to save her life. It seemed almost like a fairy tale, magical but definitely not romantic in the eyes of many. Haru's vision was a bit different from other girls. She visited his house in the morning just to see him.

Her eccentric personality was a bit too bright for him. This was what she realized at the point when it was perfectly clear as day that "Tsuna-san did not want Haru."

Sure, it had always been like that before; it was incomparable when the boy Haru admired for so long was her best friend's boyfriend. No, she was not going to break that boundary. There was nothing Haru would sacrifice for her family nor the friendship that she earned.

It was an unconscious self-preservation instinct that Haru had. 'Stay away when important things are about to happen between two people important to you. You're not gonna like it.' In terms simple enough for Sasagawa Ryohei to understand, it was "hide".

That's all Haru did for some time after she said congratulations. She felt pathetic during the times in which she spent too much thinking while walking high up on the neighbors' gates and fences. The height seemed to help her forget- farther and detached from reality and made her feel freer.

She was surprised when Gokudera-san approached her one day. It startled her so much that it knocked her out of her reverie both literally and figuratively. It was also the only real time that she felt grateful for being a gymnast. She might have gotten a concussion otherwise. Then, that also seemed to be unlikely. Gokudera-san's arms were outstretched, almost as if he was ready to catch her. The effort was wasted when she did a full 10-point spin and landed on the ground (one that she was quite proud.)

"Hahi! Gokudera-san?" Haru said. Her tone seemed energized with the sudden shock and sadly, it was the closest that she sounded like her normal self in a time so long. She couldn't remember what she used to be like. It was a glimpse back to how she was before.

"It's nothing," Gokudera-san said as he tried to coolly wrap his arms around himself. Haru stifled a laugh at this. Pink glazed over his cheeks, hinting at a full-on blush; it was cute Haru had to say.

It was at that moment Haru realized just how much he matched her descriptions of her ideal, perfect boy.

He filled the handsome part of the task pretty well. She could try to deny it, but the truth was, she'd eyed him several times before when he wasn't paying attention. The three-fourths Italian blood with the exotic look of twenty-five percent Japanese. If Haru still said that she didn't see it, all of his fangirls at his school would challenge her. There was a complete statement: He was certainly good-looking.

Did he have that dangerous vibe? Yes, that was no lie. Gokudera Hayato was simply, "dangerous-desu!" Haru saw the ways that his ring gave off a red flame when he got angry at people that made bad remarks or hurt Tsuna-san's famiglia, that was always unconsciously of course. The Vongola were very tight-knit. Before she knew that the "Famiglia" business was about, she knew that she was a part of Tsuna-san's, therefore, she too, was important to him. This made her feel warm inside.

His peculiar taste in skull embellishments and treacherous looking accessories just added to his physical demeanor. The dynamite, explosives, and gunpowder certainly entranced Haru. She wondered how someone could be so successful in mid-ranged weapons. Although nothing like Hibari-san's aura when he said the infamous line, "I'll bite you to death," Gokudera-san was badass enough to make everyone other than annoyed teachers, his Famiglia, or stupid people who never heard of Hurricane Bomb Hayato, stay away.

In all the ways that he looked cool, the things that people didn't know about him would ruin the deadly touch-and-go reputation he created for himself without being aware of it.

Haru believed that a Gokudera playing the piano would be an amusing thing until she heard why he stopped playing for such a long time. She was horrified when she learned his mother wasn't there for his birthday because her car was thrown over a cliff along with her inside. She remembered gasping quite loudly at the revelation of that information.

He left his family and roamed Italy as a loner and a troubled kid for a few years before moving to Japan and met Tsuna-san. The most surprising part was the source of the facts; straight from the star himself. The bright end of the beginning of an entrancing story of someone who was still discovering himself.

His little quirks changed her perspective on how dangerous he was as well. Gokudera Hayato was a Mystery Hunter as revealed in her interviews and time spent in the Vongola base together. Didn't that sound funny? It took Haru a lot of time and lots of laughs to wrap her mind around that. Gokudera was filling his mind excessively with the thoughts of UFOs, aliens, Nessie, ghosts, tsuchinoko, and other such "mythical beings" probably including Bigfoot and Yetis. His unique interests certainly made Haru think twice about how "cool" he was compared to how he looked. Yet at the same time, she was thankful, it made him more human because perfection scared Haru. She was nothing like it, but she found all of him more than the sum of his pieces.

His imperfection was what she liked about him. He defined her type of perfect because there was beauty in his flaws.

"...the occasional kindness." It was compassion that he showed as he was ready to catch her. A desire to help her if she fell, to be there for Tsuna-san all of the time, or to protect the other Vongola Guardians. Even though, he wasn't like Tsuna-san always ready to give and showed sympathy to everyone, enemies included, Gokudera stepped in front to shield everyone that was important to him. That was more than enough for Haru. The glimpses of kindness that she saw from him was more accentuated and mattered more because he didn't give out that gentle side of him so easily.

"Hey, Stupid Woman!" he shouted in her face. "I've been talking to you for some time now. Are you deaf?"

"Gokudera-san, Haru is not stupid-desu~" Haru said pouting.

"I was freakin' talking to you!"

"And Haru can hear you!" However, some things still weren't answered for her. Curiosity got the better part of her. "What are you doing here?" she asked while cocking her head to the side.

"Aneki wanted me to check up on you. Juudaime and the rest of the family are worried about you," Gokudera said with a blush forming on his face. It seemed like for the first time since their encounter that evening that he was uncomfortable with her there in front of him. Like he hadn't acknowledged her presence before.

This brought an equally bright blush to her own face. She turned on her heel and said "Bye!" Lots of cheer and pure elation was packed into that one farewell word. "Tell Tsuna-san and Kyoko-chan that I'll be seeing them tomorrow."

Before Haru walked into her own house, with a silly smile plastered on her face, she thought to herself that she learned something new about Gokudera. He was a smooth liar. If Haru didn't know that Bianchi-san was in the Amazonian rain forests scavenging for a new type of poisonous mushroom scientists discovered recently and also requested that no one have any contact with her until she successfully came back, to which she backed the statement up with a full course meal of love-filled (poison) cooking. She wouldn't have known about Haru being away from the family.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! This is my first attempt at writing a Reborn! fanfiction and I really like the development that I'm doing so far. If you do too, write a review. Even if you don't, still write a review saying what you didn't like about it please. I would really like it if you sent me a review.

My life has been GokuHaru-oriented for a while now so I'll be posting new chapters occasionally. Send me a PM or put it in a review if you would like to request a chapter or two. Just give me a prompt and I will do my best.

Date Completed: 5/2/2014

Update: 7/25/2014 9:36 PM

Word Count: 1549