I think I may now be addicted to YamaxHaru.
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Haru had a ton of homework that needed to be done, and she slouched slighty from the sheer weight of the stress. As she turned the corner, she heard voices from around the side of the concrete wall.She immediately recognized one as Tsuna's. Her eyes glazed over as she watched him from the around the corner.
"Cioussu," a small voice greeted. Haru let out a shriek of "Hahi!" as she stiffened. She turned her head toward where the voice had come from, realizing it belonged to Reborn. He was standing on top of the wall, looking down at Haru. She puffed a sigh of relief.
"Hello, Reborn-chan!" Haru replied. That was uncalled for. How could he be so sneaky? Haru brushed it off as her just being too focused on Tsuna to notice.
"Come with me please, Haru," Reborn asked as he jumped down from the wall. She followed curiously. She wasn't one to say no to Reborn, after all.
He led her around the wall and to the small group of boys. Haru smiled at Tsuna and he twitched. There was a pained expression on his face that she couldn't figure out.
"I've found a proper tutor," Reborn announced casually as he hoped onto the wall, and then Yamamoto's shoulder in quick succession. Very agile for an infant, he was. Haru found it strangely adorable. But she had more important things to think about. She was going to tutor her Tsuna-san, and tutoring meant alone time, just the two of them!
"Haru will definitely tutor Tsuna-san!" she accepted jubilantly. She latched herself to Tsuna's arm, and refused to let go as he struggled.
"You're not tutoring Tsuna, Haru," Reborn informed her.
"Hahi?" she mumbled, "Then who?" That was disappointing...
"Yamamoto," he answered simply.
Haru couldn't believe her ears. She wouldn't have even followed the baby if she had known this was what she was needed for. Tsuna required more help anyway. It didn't seem right.
"But, I thought Tsuna-san was the one who wasn't improving?" she exclaimed.
"Hey!" the aforementioned boy yelled indignantly.
"I'm Tsuna's tutor. I need someone to take care of Yamamoto. I don't want to take on two idiots at once."
"Haha! Idiots? You're really something, little guy."
What do you mean idiots?"
Gokudera looked horrified.
"I can tutor the Tenth! That way Reborn-san can take care of "baseball boy" over here, and the stupid woman can go home."
"Stupid woman? You're horrible!" Haru complained, now even more upset than before.
Reborn jumped off Yamamoto's shoulder and bopped Tsuna on the head.
"Ow! Why did you hit me? I didn't start this!"
"But you'll be the one to settle it. They're your family, and you can't let them behave this way," Reborn commanded. He wasn't heard by Gokudera or Haru, as they were yelling over each other by then, each struggling to be louder than their opponent. Yamamoto was doing his best to calm things down, which only angered Gokudera further.
"Gokudera-kun! Gokudera-kun, Haru, stop!" Tsuna yelled, desperate to stop the yelling. The neighbor dog was barking, and soon people would be coming out to see what all the fuss was about. They ceased and quieted down, Gokudera looking at the ground and Haru clinging to Tsuna once more.
"Well, as I was explaining, Haru will tutor Yamamoto, the reason being she is extremely intelligent in the field of literature, are you not, Haru?"
"Ah, Haru has gotten an "A" in literature since the beginning of middle school," she announced proudly. That was enough for Reborn.
"Then it's settled. Yamamoto's reading comprehension leaves much room for improvement."
Well that was that, and now it looked as though Haru would have to tutor Yamamoto. On one hand, she could say no and just be on her way, not having to deal with Yamamoto. But then she would look mean and inconsiderate, and Tsuna would think of her as selfish. On the other, she could stay, have Tsuna think highly of her, and help a nice guy out with his reading comprehension. She decided to stay.
"Alright, Haru will help," she conceded.
"Very good, Haru. We are indebted to you," Reborn thanked graciously, " You will start tomorrow."
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Haru figured that because she had made her bed, she now had to lie in it. She agreed, so she couldn't say no now, as much as she would have liked to. Haru wasn't unprepared, though. She brought all her notes, even from the beginning of the semester, her literature books, and as many snacks as she thought necessary.
She now carried her two bags to Tsuna's house. She expected to have to go to Yamamoto's house to tutor him, but Reborn had made it clear he wanted it done as Tsuna's. Peculiar, yes, but Haru wasn't one to complain about being closer to her dream boy.
She arrived at the Sawada household and went inside. No one seemed to be on the first floor, so she assumed Sawada-san had gone to buy groceries or something similar with the little ones.
She went upstairs and to Tsuna's room. She knocked politely first, not wanting to barge in. The door wasn't usually closed, though. Even so, she could hear familiar voices from behind it.
"I'll open it, its probably...Haru!" Yamamoto greeted cheerfully. They were expecting her, after all.
"Hello Yamamoto-san!" she greeted just as enthusiastically, "I 've brought all my notes, and some snacks too."
"Great! Come on in!" And he stepped aside to let her in. She walked in and saw Tsuna conversing with Gokudera.
"Ugh, you again," Gokudera recognized as she stepped in.
"Hey! I'm helping your friend! You shouldn't treat me that way!" Haru told him. That Gokudera was so rude to her.
"Friend? What friend? That ignorant fool is no friend of mine!" Gokudera shouted indignantly. He'd never be considered a "friend" of that moron. To him, it was more like a forced partnership. That Yamamoto had a lot to learn before they could be considered equals of any kind, in Gokudera's opinion.
Eager to stop the fight that was undoubtedly about to break out, Tsuna hushed Gokudera quickly.
"Hey, we'd better go, Gokudera-kun. They need to start," Tsuna advised, and Gokudera eagerly obliged with an obedient "Of course Tenth!"
"You'd better learn something from her, idiot Yamamoto. I'll be testing you later," Gokudera warned angrily on his way out. Yamamoto looked at him, and told him not to worry.
Reborn just lied down on Tsuna's pillow. His face held an unreadable expression as he looked at Yamamoto. Perhaps it was expectancy. Yamamoto only smiled toward him as the baby turned away and fell asleep.
Haru was tired of being ignored, so she clapped her hands together lightly and asked, "Are you ready to begin, Yamamoto-san?"
"Sure," he said, and he sat down at the small table in the middle of the room. Haru had been sitting there already and laid her books and notes out.
"So what don't you understand, Yamamoto-san?" Surely he understood most of it. Haru was convinced she wouldn't have to stay long.
"Pretty much all of it, I guess," he laughed a little embarrassedly. Haru, however, wasn't amused.
"All of it?" she asked again. She needed to hear it one more time.
"Well, just analyzing what I've read and explaining it, really," he elaborated. In Haru's book, that was pretty much everything. She had her work cut out for her, alright.
"Ah, okay, we'll start with..." and she began her long, tedious tutoring session. He knew his way around the book, and he had no trouble reading the text, but when it came to explaining the section he had just read, beyond its literal significance, he was utterly clueless. He couldn't seem to be able to understand the feelings or message a passage was trying to convey. He was used to reading sports books and autobiographies, and had always had the facts laid out right in front of him. It was either, "Uh, wait, let me look again," or "Sorry, I don't really know, haha." Haru would have to coach him, guide him along the lines of what he should have gotten from the text before he even began to understand.
At one point, she had asked him about a particular excerpt she picked from To Kill A Mockingbird. She didn't think he had yet read it, so it would be good to see what he could take from it.
"Do you think Scout feels proud of her family, Yamamoto-san?" Haru asked after reading the first few pages to him.
"Hm? Scout was a girl? Haha, I thought she was a boy this whole time," he chuckled while popping another pretzel stick in his mouth. He'd been eating quite a bit since the session started. She wasn't complaining though, she had bought most of the snacks for him and the boys anyway. The only thing she wanted was the cocoa mochi. She looked back to him and sighed.
"But what do you think Yamamoto-san?"
"Sorry, what was the question again?"
And things went on like that for quite a while. Haru tried to explain it to him more, and he listened intently. He was beginning to get it, but Haru was realizing more and more that this wasn't something one tutoring session would cure. It could take one more, or it could take many, but it definitely would not be resolved that day.
Reborn had decided to leave long ago. He probably couldn't handle Yamamoto's inability to understand an iota more than he had to begin with. While Haru explained, Yamamoto munched on some of the cocoa mochi, her not paying much attention to what he was eating, but rather trying to explain Scout's real, mixed feelings about her family's history.
"That makes sense," Yamamoto admitted as he finished off the last of the mochi.
"See! I knew it would make sense to you eventually, Yamamoto-san. You're very clever, you just need to hear it a few times," Haru complimented. She was glad they were making some progress.
"Ah, thanks," Yamamoto replied humbly. He reached for the bag, thinking there was more mochi, but his hands only met with a couple breads and cakes.
"Hm, guess it's gone," he mumbled, too quietly for Haru to hear, "I didn't know I ate so much."
"Now what about right here? The jury has just gone to make their decision about the case. What do you think will happen, based on how people at that time felt about African Americans?" Haru asked, thinking he would of course get that one.
"I think they'll let him go. He's innocent, right?" Yamamoto replied good-naturedly. Haru had thought wrong, apparently.
"No, Yamamoto-san! People were very prejudiced back then, they didn't think the same way we do today," Haru explained. Thinking that maybe she'd eat the mochi then, she looked to the table, seeing only the other breads and cakes. The empty bag that she had put the mochi in lay on the table, next to Yamamoto.
"The cocoa mochi, you ate it all!" she exclaimed sadly.
"Whoops, sorry! I kind of ate it without thinking, and before I knew it, it was gone," he apologized, trying to justify his actions.
Haru sighed again, thinking about that whole afternoon, and how she could have spent it doing something else, something less frustrating. Yamamoto was smart, why couldn't he get it? This question bothered Haru and exasperated her even more. She must have been a very bad tutor if he still wasn't quite getting it. The more she thought, the less patient she became. In her opinion someone should have made a story about that tutoring session and called it To Kill A Haru, or something. She sure felt like someone was out to get her. She was thinking herself to death!
"Ah, Haru can't take this anymore! We're done for today, Yamamoto-san," she said as she marched out of the room, huffing and puffing her frustration. She wasn't angry with Yamamoto; it wasn't his fault he didn't understand. She was more frustrated with her inability to decently teach him.
She trotted down the stairs, forgetting all her things in Tsuna's room, passing a confused Tsuna and Gokudera.
"What's wrong Haru?" Tsuna asked as she was opening the door.
She didn't answer and just continued out the door.
"He probably drove her crazy. I would be leaving too," Gokudera sympathized.
Reborn watched all this happen from the couch as he lounged, a small smirk on his face. He had expected as much, but as soon as she calmed down, he'd get her to try again. She lasted longer than he could have hoped for, at least, and that was a sure sign she was a good match for Yamamoto. He would definitely benefit from that.
Said boy came down the stairs next, his hand at the back of his neck.
"Ah, wait! Is this about the mochi?" he called as he watched her march down the sidewalk and turn the corner. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
That was amusing! Yamamoto can be so clueless sometimes. XP