Tsuna-san,

I'm sorry.

I love you.

I'll always feel you in my heart.

I may never see you again.

I love you. I love love you.

Farewell,

Love, Haru

It had been 4 years since Tsuna had taken Haru's lovely hand in marriage. They had promised to always be together. No matter what the mafia life threw at them, Tsuna would always watch over and protect his mafia queen. He'd make all her dreams come true.

Haru was such a strong willed woman too. He always believed she could fight her own fights. She would never have to leave him. She would always be his perfect mafia wife.

But now, he clenched in his hands, the words he thought he'd never read. The letter he thought he would never see. He didn't know whether his tears were from sadness, or rage, or even fear, but he felt them trickle down his cheek, as he tried to convince himself that it was a lie.

"Tsu-kun…?" Kyoko's voice echoed behind him, as she peaked into the room of her, now disappeared, best friend. "Have you seen Haru-chan? She was supposed to help me with dinner tonight, but she wont pick up her phone."

The phone she spoke of had been used as a blunt object, to hold down the letter. It was still lying on the table, open, with the letters "Goodbye" typed in English on the screen.

Tsuna clenched the letter again, and then slowly stuffed it into his pocket. "She's gone." He said under his breath.

"What do you mean… 'gone?'" Kyoko asked confused, with a hint of worry to her voice.

Tsuna wiped his sleeve across his face before turning around, though it was completely obvious that he had been shedding tears. "She said she loved me. And then she left."

Silence fell upon the base as if everyone had heard the voice of their boss from his wife's tiny room.

………

That was 3 years ago now. Tsuna had never stopped looking for Haru, he never could, but after the first year, other things had taken precedence, and the mission to find her had been pushed to the sidelines.

There was an ongoing war with a enemy family. The Gabbiano had became a small threat even before Haru's disappearance, and now the Vongola were on constant alert, feeling they could be attacked at any moment. They knew the only way to stop the enemy would be to attack them first, but they hadn't managed to pin down the location of the enemy's base, and could only pick off enemy soldiers who attacked the base. All of whom had either escaped, or committed suicide, before interrogation.

Tsuna sat alone in his office, with only his desk lamp lighting the dim room. His windows had been bolted shut, incase of a enemy smoke bomb attack. The young mafia boss, in his mid-twenties now, had shoved his "important" paper work to the side, and was slumped on his desk, only half awake, scribbling hardly recognizable drawings onto the back of one of his papers.

He hadn't slept much in the last week—maybe a total of ten hours in the last seven days. So many things had been on his mind: protecting his family, Lambo and I-Pin's training, the enemy's attacks, and most of all, Haru's disappearance.

Tomorrow would mark the calendar with him living an official three years without his perky, excitable, persistent wife. And every year since her disappearance, it marked a terrible day in his life.

The first year, on the anniversary of her disappearance, marked the day of the Gabbiano's first attack. It was a surprise attack—at four AM. Gokudera had been in the sickbay for months afterwards, riddled with gun shot wounds and multiple broken ribs. Yamamoto had lost his left eye to a gunshot in the same attack. It was a miracle that they both survived.

The second year, an epidemic had washed over the town, and children and teens were most vulnerable. Lambo and I-Pin were both hospitalized outside of the base for two weeks, and Kyoko stayed with them at the hospital with Bianchi and Ryouhei as bodyguards. During the time they were away, the family had lived off of cup noodles, or in most cases, skipped meals.

Now, on the third year, Tsuna expected nothing less then the base exploding, or his men all disappearing like Haru, or worst of all: news on Haru—bad news.

Tsuna dropped his pen and hid his face in his folded arms on his desk. Maybe he could just sleep through the next day. He would wake up and everyone would be fine, and Haru would be back, ready to make breakfast and be his mafia queen again. Just like he dreamed of every night.

"Running away won't make anything better, Tsuna." An instructive, male voice said from the office doorway. With a flick of a switch, the chandelier in the room lit up, and Tsuna flinched back from the light, before sitting up and opening his eyes.

Reborn stood at his doorway. No longer the toddler he had grown up with, but six feet of mafia hitman expertise. Even years after Reborn had gained his natural form, Tsuna still couldn't quite get used to his appearance.

"I know, Reborn. I know." Tsuna said calmly, then attempted to bury his face from the light again, not wanting to hear another lecture from his tutor.

"Running away won't bring her back either." Reborn said with a touch of cruelty to his voice.

Tsuna slammed his palms against the desk as he shot up. "I know that!" He hollered across the room. Papers fluttered down from their stacks and littered the carpet floor.

"You just don't know what it's like." Tsuna mumbled, and flopped back into his chair. He slid open the front drawer of his desk, and pulled out a folded paper—Haru's note from three years ago. He had never let go of it. "You don't know how it feels to have to move on through another year without her…"

"That's only what you think, Tsuna." Reborn started. Tsuna looked up at him, he'd walked his way into a lecture anyway, but this one seemed to be going somewhere worthwhile. "She may have been your lover, but she was the queen of this family. Everyone here was her family, and they all know what it's like to have to live without her."

Tsuna could hear Reborn's footsteps as he approached the desk, and looked up to his tutor. Just as he did, Reborn jabbed him in the forehead with his finger.

Tsuna fell back in surprise, and managed to take his chair to the ground with him. "Iteei…" he mumbled.

"Recognize that spot Tsuna? That's where I shot you every day when you were a child." Reborn said, as he walked towards the exit of the room, "Right in the brain. Try using it."

Tsuna was left to sit on the floor and think over everything he knew, and everything he should have known.

Tsuna stumbled into the dining hall around seven the night. He couldn't remember when the last time was he had eaten, but it hadn't been in the last twenty-four hours, that was for sure. The smell of fried rice hit his nose just as he entered the room, and he found I-Pin and Kyoko setting the table for dinner, with Lambo at the side, picking up pieces of a broken plate, which Tsuna imagined the cow-print kid had dropped himself.

Kyoko and I-Pin looked up to Tsuna as he entered the room. I-Pin was the first to respond with "Sawada-san!" She had an excited glint in her eye, and a smile, as she bowed to his politely, and then bounced to the other side of the kitchen to fetch her wok of fried rice.

"Tsu-kun. You intend to join us tonight?" Kyoko asked. She seemed rather surprised, then her surprised turned to a smile, much like I-Pin's. "It's been quite a while."

Tsuna nodded, almost shyly. He hadn't had much contact with other humans in the last week. Usually if his stomach had growled, he'd ignore it, or snatch some chips from the kitchen, then continue work.

"The table will be set in a moment. Make your self comfy." She told him. Tsuna nodded to the young blonde, as she continued her former duties.

Tsuna had been so in love with Kyoko in middle school, and even partially through high school, but Haru had snuck her way into his heart and taken over. "Like a ninja" she would have said.

"It-Itei!" Tsuna heard a muffled cry of pain, and his eyes shot over to Lambo, who was sucking on his finger. He realized the boy must have cut himself on a piece of the plate he was cleaning up.

"Aah Lambo… You've got to be more careful. You're not a little kid anymore." Tsuna said, and walked over to him. It was true, despite how much Tsuna referred to Lambo as a child, he and I-Pin were 14 now, and were considered part of the family, just as much as anyone else.

"I know Tsuna… I mean Vongola-san… I mean Boss…" Lambo muttered confused, a wiped a tear from his eye with his sleeve, trying to look tough.

Tsuna stacked what pieces were left of the glass onto a paper towel, then tossed the whole thing away into the trash can. I-Pin was already waiting behind him with a broom to sweep up the smaller fragments.

Tsuna patted Lambo on the head and helped the boy to his feet. "Tsuna's fine, Lambo. You don't have to change what you call me, no matter how old we get."

"Yes Tsuna." Lambo sniffled again, then attempted to smile. Tsuna smiled back.

"Dinner's served!" Kyoko announced. The doors swung open, almost in unison with her words.

"Alright! Chow time!" Yamamoto's voice boomed through the room. Tsuna didn't need to turn around to recognize his voice or the voice that trailed after. "Shut up, idiot. You don't have to announce it to the whole ba—Juudiame!"

Tsuna turned around as Gokudera cried out to him. He scratched his head nervously. "Hey guys. It's been a while."

"Haha, no kidding. I thought Tsuna had died of starvation in his office." Yamamoto joked as he and Gokudera approached him.

"Don't even joke about that, idiot!" Growled his silver haired comrade, obviously not appreciating the jest.

"I guess I do barely get out of that room though." Tsuna said, a bit embarrassed, and moved over to the table to sit down. I-Pin spun around the table, filling plates, as he continued to speak. "I've just had so much on my mind, I haven't paid enough attention to my family who's right in front of me. I'm sorry, guys."

Everyone in the room fell silent, even I-Pin stopped in her tracks. Gokudera looked as if he were looking for words to say, Yamamoto looked more oblivious the normal, I-Pin and Lambo seemed to have grown a sudden visage of guilt, and Kyoko looked the other direction.

Tsuna attempted to think of something else to say, to break the silence, but Kyoko beat him to it

"It's alright, Tsu-kun." She said, and wrapped her arms around him softly, "We all know how you feel. We all know what's on your mind—who's on you mind. We know how much you miss Haru-chan, because we miss her too."

Tsuna felt himself start to loose control, and for the first time in three years, felt his eyes overflow with tears, as he finally let out all that he had been holding in for so long.

Tsuna had gone to bed in his own room for the first time in weeks. Despite making his trip to the kitchen, he had ended up bringing his food to his room after his "breakdown"—as he would call it—and now the empty plate lay on the floor next to his bed.

He had been out for at least ten hours straight when he was awakened by the sound he was dreading, the alarm of an intruder entering the base.

On instinct, Tsuna leapt out from under his blankets, and snatched up his Vongola gloves from his bedside, and a gun, just incase, though he prayed he would never have to use it.

He had slept in his suit, something he was accustom to, so he merely pulled his clothes into shape as he raced down the halls to the monitoring room. He slid in to find Giannini and Reborn already staring at multiple screens, streaming camera images from security cameras all over the base. Four in the middle were pointed at the entrance of the base in four different directions.

"What is it? Is it the enemy?" He asked, getting right to the point.

"I'm… not sure." Giannini said, staring sternly at the screens.

"What do you mean you don't know? Didn't you see anyone? Why are all the camera's pointed at the entrance? It's not like they just walked into the base!" Tsuna was already on edge. It was the "unlucky day" in his life, and he had only just woken up. He wasn't in the mood for chitchat.

"That's exactly what they did, Tsuna." Reborn said calmly, "Now calm down. A frantic boss won't be able to protect his family."

Tsuna tried to swallow back his panicking. Reborn was right, he was always right. "What do we know? How did they get in here?"

Giannini turned to Tsuna in his chair, and looked his boss in the face. "If there was anyone there, they were wearing some sort of cloaking device, either that, or too small for the cameras to pick up."

Tsuna nodded, trying to take in what he was hearing. Giannini looked at him ever sternly—there was something more.

"What I'm going to tell you now baffles me as much as it will you… but… according to a DNA scan of the intruder, it wasn't the enemy at all." Giannini said. Tsuna looked at him in confusion.

"It was Tsunayoshi Sawada. Boss, the scanner said it was you."

Tsuna eyes widened in bewilderment. "Th-That's impossible! I'm me! I mean, I was asleep! I couldn't have—"

His words were suddenly cut off by Gokudera's voice, shouting through the base. "Juudaime!!"

Tsuna sprinted out of the room in the direction of his right-hand man's voice. As he got closer, he heard Gokudera shout something very weird. "Juudaime! You shrunk!"

Tsuna skidded to a stop, warped into confusion, and turned the last corner slowly. As he peered around the corner, he found Gokudera collapsed on the floor, staring forward in shock, and in front of him stood a child, no more than two feet tall. The child looked like a mirror image of Tsuna, all the way down to the unmanageable hair, just three and a half feet shorter.

"D-Did that stupid cow do this to you? I told you he was no good!" Gokudera asked, crawling towards the child, completely mystified. He obviously hadn't noticed his boss standing behind him.

"Who're you?" The child asked.

Gokudera stopped in his tracks, and collapsed on the floor. "Juudaime has forgotten me!" he cried.

"Gokudera-kun. I'm right here." Tsuna said, stepping around the corner a little further. Gokudera shot up, and looked back and forth between the toddler and Tsuna. Then avoided looking at either them, trying to play off his embarrassment.

"But if that's not you, Juudaime…" Gokudera asked, still not looking towards him, "then who's the ki—"

"Papa!" Tsuna and Gokudera's faces spun in the direction of the child as he ran over to Tsuna and hugged onto his leg.

"WHAAAAT?!"

"This is our 'intruder.'" Tsuna said, sounding unamused, and held up the child to show Reborn and Giannini. The child laughed, and put his arms out like he was playing airplane.

"Tsuna, I didn't know you had a little brother." Reborn said, "Nana and Iemitsu must be busy." He laughed under his breath; Giannini began to snicker along with him.

"He's not my brother!" Tsuna spat, and pulled the little boy closer to him.

Reborn and Giannini looked back to him, a bit confused. "But Boss, he does look just like you."

Tsuna grimaced, and blushed a bit, "I know that… he says I'm his—"

"PAPA!" the child said again, as if on cue.

Reborn's eyes widened, and Giannini's looked as if they would pop out of his head.

Reborn shook off the shock, and walked closer to Tsuna and his self-proclaimed child. "What your name, kid?"

"Tsuyo." The boy said with a smile.

Reborn tried not to snicker, "Even his name is the same." He said. Tsuna grimaced again, but didn't respond.

"And how do you know Tsuna is you're 'papa?' Other then obvious likenesses." Reborn asked. Tsuna thought about how he was never this nice to Tsuna when he was a kid—or little Lambo, for that point.

"Tsuyo knows." The little boy said, apparently only capable of short sentences at his age, "Mama gave Tsuyo this." Little Tsuyo dug into his pocket, and pulled out a golden, heart shaped, locket, hanging on a plain uncolored string.

Tsuna watched in curiosity as the boy fumbled with it, trying to open the locket with his short, chubby, fingers. He grimaced at it, and looked just like Tsuna again, before holding it up towards his so-called father. "Tsuyo can't. You do it."

"Eh? Oh, right." Tsuna said, and shifted Tsuyo over to one arm, then took the locket with his free hand. He easily unlocked the trinket with his thumb, and softly folded it open.

On one side of the locket, was a heart shaped picture of Tsuna taken maybe five years ago, and on the other side:

"Haru…" Tsuna breathed out her name. Everyone in the room stood with a gasp, including Gokudera, who had been standing silently behind his boss the entire time.

"Ts-Tsuyo." Tsuna stammered, "This woman. Is this your… your…"

"Mama!" Tsuyo said, with a big wide smile. Tsuna only then noticed the dimples on Tsuyo's face, just like Haru's, most prominent when he was happy.

Tsuna felt his knees get weak, and he fell to the ground. Tsuyo squealed out, but didn't seem scared.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed. Everyone started to surround him.

"He's… He's Haru's, Gokudera." He said, looking up to his right-hand man, his eyes seemed lost in wonder. "He's mine… He's our… son."

"Tsuyo said that. Mama right. Papa silly." Tsuyo said in three short sentences.

"Mama…" Tsuna mouthed those words, then said them louder, "Mama! Tsuyo, do you know where your mama is?!"

The child looked at him puzzled, then frowned.

Tsuyo had been very hungry after being discovered, so Tsuna took him to the dining hall, and they ate breakfast together. It was hard to explain it to everyone he ran into on the way, but Tsuna did the best they could. Kyoko looked on the father and son, mystified by what she was seeing.

Tsuna sat next to the boy, listening to his stories about his mother. The tales were made of short, odd statements, but made sense in the big picture, so he was careful not to miss a word.

From what he understood, Haru had brought Tsuyo to the base early that morning, before it was even light out, and left him out in front of it. Tsuna imagined she thought the boy could find his way in on instinct, and he had.

"But, Tsuyo miss Mama. Mama leave Tsuyo here. Tsuyo doesn't know why." The boy said sadly, and shoved his last chunk of bread into his throat. "Oh!" The toddler exclaimed, as if he'd had a revelation while chewing his bread. "Tsuyo forgot! Mama give Tsuyo this too!"

Tsuna looked on curiously, had Haru given Tsuyo another trinket? Or something odd? He remembered Haru collected a lot of odd items.

Tsuyo stuffed his hand into his back pants pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper. Tsuna eye's widened: now he was really curious.

"Is a letter. For Papa. Tsuyo can't read. Read loud Papa." The boy said, and held it out to his father, who nodded, then sat back down when Tsuna took it from him.

Tsuna unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud.

"Tsuna-san. This is your son, Tsuyo. He's two-and-a-half years old. I'm sorry I never told you. I never meant to get him messed up in this. But now we're both in danger. I can't protect him anymore. Please take care of him. He may have never met you, but he loves you very much…I still love you too…Haru."

Tsuna clenched the paper tight in his hand, and tried to fight back his tears. Why were these the only kind of letters he received from the woman he loved?

Tsuyo sniffled beside Tsuna, and tried to crawl from his seat, into Tsuna's lap. Tsuna picked him up under the arms, and moved the toddler into his lap. "Papa…" Tsuyo sniffed, "Does this mean… no more Mama?" he asked, his voice pure with childish innocence. It was the longest sentence Tsuna had heard from him yet.

Tsuna rubbed his son on the head, then wiped away Tsuyo's tears with his thumb. "No. We're going to bring her back."

Tsuyo looked up to his father as if he were looking at a legendary super hero.

Tsuyo was asleep in Tsuna's room now. Babies sure sleep a lot, Tsuna had thought, and tried to think back to see if he could remember Lambo or I-Pin sleeping right after meals.

The mafia boss trekked back into monitoring room, where Giannini and Reborn still resided. As he stepped in, he seemed to interrupt their conversation, as they both looked to him.

"Haru was here this morning. She can't be too far from here. We can find leads. We can find her. I know we can." He stated firmly.

Giannini and Reborn looked back at each other again, and then as if able to read each other's minds, both nodded, then looked back to him. Reborn sighed, as if he thought he was about to walk into a minefield he hadn't made himself.

"That probably won't be as hard as you think." He said. Tsuna looked at him, curious, but still firm faced. "We… have been getting transmissions from her… for two years now."

"What?!" Tsuna shouted, "You've been keeping track of her?! And you never told me?!"

"Tsuna, try to understand. She ordered, even begged, us to not tell you—or anyone." Reborn argued.

Tsuna looked away from Reborn. Truthfully, he expected this sort of thing from Reborn, but Giannini was a different story. "You knew too? And you chose to hide it from your boss?" He asked, his voice curdling with anger.

"B-Boss." Giannini stuttered, but then looked at Tsuna sternly, "you may be our boss, but Haru-san is our queen. And I will not disobey by queens orders."

Tsuna bit his lip, then let out a long, hard sigh. He collapsed into a nearby chair, and held his head in his hand, rubbing his temples. "Okay… then… tell me what you know. Please."

Giannini smiled, "Yes boss!" Giannini spun his chair around to a large computer screen on the other side of the room. With a few quick clicks on the keyboard, a large map of the area appeared on the screen, with about 10 different blinking red dots on it, some dimmer then others.

"This is a map showing all the areas Haru-san has called us from in the last two years; the brighter the dot, the more recent the call. Whenever she called, she would wait for either Reborn or I to say something first, so that no one else would discover her."

Tsuna surveyed the map. The most recent calls seemed to come from an area maybe twenty miles from the base. Had she walked from there with Tsuyo in her arms?

"They've all been made from pay-phones in the area." Giannini explained, "Except…"

"Except what?" Tsuna asked, looking down to the shorter man.

"The most recent call was from a land line in a hotel. We presume that's where she was staying. We have a recording of the call, but I warn you: you may not like it."

Tsuna nodded without hesitation. Giannini nodded in return, and clicked a few more keys. An audio player appeared on the screen. First he heard silence, then Giannini's voice, then Tsuna heard a voice he hadn't heard in years.

"Giannini-san. I'm in trouble. We're both in trouble. The enemy discovered me. They know who I am. They're after us. I don't know what to do. I may not be able to contact you for a while now."

"Haru-san? What's happening? What do you mean 'both' of you?" Giannini's voice broke in.

"I can't explain now. They'll be here soon. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Haru-san. Just fight! We'll help you! Where are you?!"

Tsuna heard Haru sniffle. The sniffle she gave off when she didn't want to say no, but she knew she had to. He felt his heart begin to break all over again, just like the day she left.

"If I die…" Haru's voice said, "Tell Tsuna-san I'm sorry, and I lov—"

The audio box closed just as her voice stopped. "And that's the end of the transmission…That was only six days ago now." Giannini said.

Tsuna clenched his pant leg in his fingers. Haru was in danger, real danger, and she didn't want them to help her. But she couldn't fight an entire mafia family on her own, no one could. They would probably take her hostage and ask for Tsuna's head in return for her safety. Or worse: they would just kill her to add fuel to the fire. Tsuna couldn't bare to think of it.

The boss stood up from his seat, and grabbed a transmitter from the desk next to him, shoving it into his ear. "I'm leaving right now. Give me directions to the hotel on the way." He said.

"B-Boss!" Giannini stammered, but Reborn cut him off.

"This isn't time for hasty decision's Tsuna. The enemy isn't only after Haru, they're after your head too. You can't just walk out into the streets." His tutor instructed.

Tsuna bit his lip. He knew Reborn was right. "But I have to find her. And there's no time to waste…"

"You're right, Tsu-kun."

Tsuna turned to the rooms entrance, to find Kyoko standing in the doorway, boxes and containers stacked in her arms. "But you can go out as long as you don't look like you, right?" Kyoko asked with a smile.

What was in the boxes was tons of cosmetics and make up and hair treatments—Even some contacts. Tsuna was unaware of it, but Kyoko had been working as an artist for agents working undercover. Though she only knew some basics—hair color, eye color, and some facial differences that could be caused with cosmetics—she had helped many of his men, without him ever knowing.

After an hour of sitting in the bathroom, Tsuna looked into the mirror. He was wearing blue contacts, and a straight, black, wig over his head, as Kyoko couldn't find a way to style the mess of hair differently. His complexion looked pinker then before too, and looking at himself, he couldn't believe it was really him.

"Kyoko-chan, you're amazing!" He said with a bright smile, "I don't even recognize me."

Kyoko smiled back at the complement, and handed him some clothes he hadn't seen before: another way to look as though he were not himself. "Thank, Tsu-kun, but there's no time for that. You've got a wife to save."

Tsuna nodded firmly, and thanked Kyoko once more, before racing out of the room.

"I'm rooting for you two!" She called after him, then smiled cheerfully. "Good luck…"

Tsuna left the base out the front Namimori junior-high entrance, dressed in a pair of ragged, black jeans, a red shirt, with the letters "I win" printed on it in dark green, and a thick, khaki jacket. In his right and left pockets were his gloves, and in his back pocket, the gun he hoped to not use.

He listened to Giannini's directions through the transmitter in his ear without responding, trying to look nonchalant. The hair of his wig easily covered his ears, so he didn't worry about the enemy seeing that he was wired.

He took a bus part way of the trip, so he wouldn't stand out by walking twenty miles in the daylight. Within an hour, he had arrived the designated hotel. He peered up at the windows he could see. There were at least eight floors, but from what he could tell, there were no closed off windows, or obvious gunshots in any of the sills. He let out a sigh.

Tsuna walked into the building and was almost instantly greeted by a small Chinese woman, with a smile plastered across her face. "Hello sir. How can I help you today?" she asked gently.

"I'm actually looking for someone that I believe stayed here recently." He explained to her.

"Oooh, your girlfriend?" The woman teased, and lead him over to the check in desk. She squeezed behind it and pulled a large, red book off the shelf behind it.

Tsuna blushed a bit at the teasing, "My wife." He corrected her. It felt like a million years since he had called Haru that.

"Oooh, I see. You have to treat your woman right." She said, teasing again. He wondered if employees here were trained to be so friendly, though it verged on too friendly. "Do you know when your wife was here?"

Tsuna tried to think of a good excuse, but knew he couldn't hesitate for long, "We had a fight about a week ago and she stormed out of the house. So probably around then." A thought hit Tsuna's mind, "Oh… she also took our son with her…"

"Oooh!" The woman said again, "That must have been some fight. Oh! Here we go. A young Japanese woman and a toddler were staying in room 210 for two days last week. Does that sound about right?"

"That's gotta be her." Tsuna nodded, "Is anyone in that room right now? I'd just like to take a look in it. She has a habit of making looking for her a game, so she may have left me a clue."

"Oh, what a silly couple." The woman said, and turned around, the turned back with a key, "Since you're not staying, it can't be long, but go right ahead. It's the last room on the second floor. You can't miss it."

Tsuna took the key and nodded, then thanked the woman and ran up the stairs.

When he reached the room at the end of the hallway, he could feel his heart beating through his chest. He reached for the doorknob, hoping the room wasn't full of scattered bodies or blood, and the hotel management had just forgotten to look.

Tsuna unlocked the door and stepped in. The room looked untouched—room service was good. He began investigating.

Tsuna looked under the bed, in dressers, in the trashcan, under desks and chairs, but found nothing. He was about to give up and leave empty handed and empty hearted, when he found something. He pulled up the edge of the TV set in the middle of the room, and peered under it. He saw something shine.

Tsuna reached under it, and pulled out a golden chain. It would have matched Tsuyo's locket perfectly, which had only dangled on a single string. Upon pulling out the golden chain completely, he discovered a piece of paper tangled up in it. He untangled it and threw the chain to the ground, before unfolding the paper and found another note from Haru. This one was short and precise.

Tsuna-san, if you find this, I'm going towards the sunrise starting from the base.

FIND ME.

SAVE ME.

She hadn't left her name on this one, but Tsuna knew it was hers. There was no doubt about it. After staring at her letter for three years, he would never forget her handwriting. He stuffed the chain and letter into his jacket pocket, and dashed out the room, locking it behind him.

He ran past the Chinese desk girl on his way out. He dropped the key in front of her, and a check for ten thousand yen, but didn't stop moving. Written at the bottom of the check was "Thank you."

"It's hopeless for Haru now…" Said the voice of a drained mafia queen. Haru sat with her head on her knees, hiding in a little shack, in the woods outside of town. Since she had left Tsuyo at the base three days ago, she'd done nothing but run from the enemy, and she just couldn't run anymore.

She had somehow lost her shoes on the way, she imagined she had just kicked out of them, or forgotten them one morning because she was too busy trying not to die, and now her socks were torn up, and her feet were covered in blisters and cuts.

She had tripped and fallen on her knee on the way into the woods, and she was pretty sure it was broken. She didn't know how she had made it this far, but now, she just couldn't do it anymore. She didn't want to die, not yet, but she didn't have the strength to fight any longer.

"It's completely hopeless…" She sighed, "Haru hid that clue too well, Tsuna-san won't be able to find it. He won't know where to look. If he's even still looking for Haru…" She remembered that she used to be so jovial and optimistic, had the enemy killed that part of her? She didn't want that part of her to die away. Tsuna loved that part of her most.

"It'll be okay, Haru." She said to herself, "Tsuyo is with Tsuna-kun now, so he'll grow up to be a strong man, just like his father. And he'll fall in love with a woman who won't run away from everyone she loves… just to protect the kid… that she has to give back to them to protect…" Haru felt tears flow out of her eyes.

"Haru doesn't wanna die. Haru wants to live forever with Tsuna and Tsuyo and Kyoko-chan and Lambo-chan and everyone." She cried out.

"I'm sorry to hear that." A rough voice, with an Italian accent, said from the door of the shack. Haru spun her head around, ready to leap to her feet and reach for her gun, but she already had a gun pointed to her head before her hand reached her weapon.

"I'm afraid I can't let you live any longer, little miss." The Italian assassin said to her.

Haru stared into the barrel of the gun with fearless, determined eyes. If she couldn't fight him, she could at least escape. Even if she thought she couldn't run anymore, she would, because she refused to die.

"You can't kill me that easily." She growled, and punched the man's gun into the air. It let off a shot through the roof of the cabin, and Haru slid out the door, in between his legs, while she had a chance.

"Why you…!" The man growled. Haru was already on her feet and running.

Then man gave chase, and pulled another rifle from his back pocket; smaller then the first time, but still enough to shoot down one girl, if he could aim well.

Luckily, the man wasn't a great long-range shooter, and the first shot was behind Haru's ankle. He was fast though, and wasn't wearing torn up socks.

The second shot hit the ground right between Haru's feet, she leapt up in surprise, and managed to dodge it, but came back down on her leg with an injured knee. Pain ran up her leg and she instantly collapsed against a small boulder.

Haru clenched her leg and rived in pain. The pursuing man slowed down as he caught up. He was panting, but didn't seem too tuckered out. He probably could have followed her for miles.

He pointed the gun to her head again, and this time, Haru looked away from the barrel. "Any last words?" the man asked.

I guess this is it. Haru thought. This is how I'm gonna die. Beaten and bruised and torn up. What would Tsuna-san say if he saw me now? …I wish I had only seen him once more…

"Yeah, I got some last words." Haru said, and looked past the gun, past the hitman's dark glasses, and into his eyes. "I hope Tsuna-san kill's you're entire damned family! You ugly bastard!"

"Why you ugly bitch!"

Haru clenched her eyes shut and the sound of a gunshot rang through her ears.

Haru heard a thump as something fell to the ground. Was that the sound of heaven's gates? She imagined it would have sounded much prettier.

When Haru opened her eyes, she was still in the forest, her knee still hurt, her feet still hurt. She was still alive!

She looked in front of her, and the hitman after her was lying on the ground, his head bleeding out. He was not alive. She let out a ear-shattering scream, something she never got over, no matter how many dead men she'd seen.

"Haru! Haaaruuu!"

Haru couldn't believe her ears. Maybe she was dead, she must have been dreaming, but it sounded like Tsuna's voice. Slowly she stood, and stared out towards the edge of the forest, only 20 feet away now, as a silhouette ran in her direction.

Tsuna had seen running figures from the edge of the forest. When the smaller figure fell, the other had pulled a gun. Tsuna never took a second though on whether the smaller figure was Haru or not. He pulled his gun from his back pocket, and shot a bullet without hesitation. The large figure dropped it's gun, and fell to the ground.

Tsuna kept running, and began to cry Haru's name.

She stood. He saw her stand up. She was alive. Could it really be her? Tsuna thought he was dreaming. He grabbed the wig off his head and threw it to the ground, letting his messy hair take his head back over. He pulled the contacts out of his eyes as he ran. He wanted to look like Tsuna when Haru saw him.

She turned his way. Her right leg looked limp, she looked thinner, looked like she'd gone through hell, but she was Haru, and she was alive, and she wasn't a dream: She was real.

"Tsuna…sa—" She started to whisper as Tsuna threw his arms around her and brought both of them to the ground.

Tsuna couldn't think of any words to say. His heart was so full now, of so many emotions he couldn't name them, but his mind was empty.

"Tsuna-saaaan…" Haru cried out, and wrapped her arms around him tightly, "Tsuna-san, you found me. You saved me. I didn't think you could, but I knew you would. Haru's not making any sense." She sniffled and wiped her eyes against his shirt.

"It's alright." Tsuna said, finally finding some words. "I found you." He ran his hand through her hair, it had grown back out, like when they were kids. Even beaten and bruised, she was still so beautiful in his eyes.

"Yes, you did." She said, holding him tight. "I love you. Haru loves you so much."

"I love you too. I never stopped looking for you. Because I love you too much." Tsuna said, kissing her forehead softly. Haru nuzzled her head under his chin. Tsuna smiled softly. He felt tears come down his cheeks, and for the first time in years, they were tears of happiness. Back at the case was his new son, and now he held his wife.

He realized suddenly that the day that had been the worst ever for the last three years, was finally the best day in this life. He slowly stood, and helped his wife to her feet, before picking her up and holding her like a princess.

"Let's go home, Haru."

End.

Epilogue

Haru lay in the sickbay, covered in blankets, with her leg hoisted in the air. She fiddled with the golden chain on her neck, and flicked open the locket hanging on it. She had replaced Tsuna's picture with a new photo of Tsuna holding Tsuyo. Now her two favorite boys were on one side, and she was on the other.

Haru's contemplation was broken by the voice of one of those boys.

"Mama?" Tsuyo squeaked as he pushed open the door to the room with all his strength.

Haru let the locket back onto her check and looked over to her son. "Yes, Tsuyo-kun?"

Tsuyo smiled excitedly, and ran over to Haru's bed. He struggled to climb up onto it. "Tsuyo wanna play with mama. Auntie Kyoko say 'okay. Only if she awake.' Mama awake!"

Haru giggled softly at her son's ever growing vocabulary, and helped him onto her lap.

"Mama, when Papa gonna be back?" Tsuyo asked, a Haru combed his messy hair. Tsuna had left the base ten days ago, taking his best men with him. From what Haru was able to tell them, they had tracked down the Gabbiano's main base, and had set out to take them out for good.

"Soon, Tsuyo, anytime now. Mama's sure of it." She told him, and rubbed some crumbs from lunch off his cheek.

Tsuyo looked confused, but kept smiling. "Mama loves Papa lots. And so does Tsuyo. Tsuyo wishes to be with Mama and Papa. For ever and ever." Haru fought back some tears; Tsuyo already seemed so grown up.

"Wish granted."

Tsuyo and Haru both turned they're heads at the same time, and watched as Tsuna opened the door and walked into the room.

"Tsuna-san!" "Papa!" The cried out in unison. Haru tried to leap up, but couldn't move from her bed. Tsuyo leapt down from the bed and ran into Tsuna's arms.

"Mama was right! Papa is back!" Tsuyo said. Tsuna pecked him on the forehead, and sat in a chair beside Haru's bed. He bent over and pecked his wife on the lips. "Yeah, I'm back. I won't leave you guys ever again. As long as you promise you wont leave me."

"Papa silly. Tsuyo will never leave." Tsuyo said, sitting in between his parents.

"Yeah, Tsuna-san. Don't be silly. Haru will always be here."

"I love you." Said Tsuna.

"I love LOVE you!" said Tsuyo happily.

"Welcome home." Said Haru.

"Love, Tsuna."

In his office trashcan, sat Haru's letter from three years ago. He wouldn't need it anymore. He had the real thing.

If you made it this far, I want to thank you for reading!

I really loved writing this piece.

I wrote it from 10 pm to 3 am one night when I was without intetnet, wxcept for the epilogue, which I wrote the next day.

The idea started off when I wanted to write a story where Tsuna and Haru had a child, but also a story with a strong willed Haru, because I feel like she hasn't been portrayed as strong as she used to be in more recent chapters.

I really love how this fic came out, and I hope you did too. If you liked it, please leave a comment/review (mattering what your reading this).

There won't be a sequel though, its only a one-shot.

And again, thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from you again.

(btw: Kudo's if you know what Gabbiano is without using a dictionary)