Sweet Memories Series
"Sweet Sixteen"
By Holly
"Happy Birthday Haru!"
"HAHI!" Haru shouted as she jumped back and stared at everyone wide eyed with shock.
She smiled widely as she looked at everyone happily, almost feeling tears wanting to come out she quickly rubbed her eyes and was hugged by Kyoko first.
"Happy Birthday Haru-chan! I hope we didn't shock you to much." Haru hugged Kyoko tightly to her.
"Oh no, Haru is very happy! Thank you so much Kyoko-chan." She turned to Tsuna who smiled back at her and gave her, her present. She smiled and blushed as she took it from him. She quickly tore the paper to shreds in her rush to see what was inside. It was her favorite video game that she had wanted.
"Tsuna-kun, thanks so much! Ill treasure it always." She hugged him and then kissed him on the cheek. Tsuna stiffened and took a few steps back as he laughed and nervously moved away.
"Your welcome Haru-chan, hope you like it."
Haru smiled and saw Yamamoto, Ryohei, Reborn, Ipin and Lambo. She paused as she noticed someone missing.
"Where is Gokudera-san?"
Yamamoto and Tsuna both stiffened as they laughed in unison.
"Sorry Haru-chan, we couldn't get in touch with him in time." Yamamoto said as he looked away.
Haru merely smiled as she felt relief that the big oaf wasn't around for once. At least this would mean she would get some private time with Tsuna without the jerk interrupting them.
"Oh well, I'm just glad everyone is here. Thank you all for coming." She laughed loudly as she hugged Tsuna's present close to her.
Reborn had suggested a game were everyone would compete. Haru ended up judging the costume competition with a twist. They had to go through a dangerous obstacle course made by Reborn himself. Unfortunately none of them were able to finish in time and found out that a bomb would explode in a few seconds. It all ended as Haru was happily amused by loud explosion and the commotion it caused. Once the dust settled Haru noticed that Tsuna and Kyoko were not in the room. She looked around and decided to look for them. As she went to the back of the house she could hear whispers and then as she slowly opened the sliding door a bit she heard the voices more clearly.
"I hate keeping this from her Tsu-kun. Haru should know the truth. I think you're not giving her enough credit to accept what's happened between us."
"But Kyoko-chan, Harus' feelings will be deeply hurt. I just don't want to hurt her this way. Don't you think I want everyone to know that I'm going out with the girl I love?!"
She could feel the beating of her heart thumping faster at the words being said. Haru brought her hand to her chest, clutching her shirt as she could feel the pain building and wanting to overwhelm her.
She quickly slammed the door shut and could hear footsteps coming her way. Before she could think, her body reacted as she ran away and out of her house. Haru could hear the voices of her friends shouting out to her but it was all a blur as she had the strong need to flee. She didn't care were she was going. All she knew was that she wanted to get away. Haru needed space and open air. She could hear Tsuna and Kyoko shouting her name but she kept on running not wanting to stop. Once she realized that no one had followed her she gave a sigh of relief. She paused as she looked around and saw that she was close to the riverbank.
She walked down the winding path and felt herself drop to her knees. As she looked at the sky she could see the sun setting and the bright orange streaks of light illuminating on the blue water of the riverbank.
She sat up and slowly brought her arms around her legs as she tucked them close to her body.
"Why? Why didn't I see it happening? Why?" She whispered to herself. Haru felt goosebumps begin to form on her arms as she felt the cold wind blowing. She didn't know how long she had stayed this way but as she finally looked up she could see that it was dark and the stars were shinning brightly above.
"There you are, stupid woman" growled the familiar irritating voice of Gokudera Hayato. Her body stiffened at the sound of his voice.
She tucked her head down again not wanting to look at him.
"Leave me alone Gokudera-san. I'm not in the mood for your insults today."
She felt two strong hands gripping her shoulders as he began to forcefully stand her up. Haru was so tired and irritated that she felt her patience snap as she screamed and began to punch Gokudera on the chest.
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE YOU IDIOT! HARU WANTS TO BE ALONE! DON'T YOU GET IT?!"
Gokudera was caught off guard but was trying to hold Haru still as they were struggling they had slowly made it to the edge of the riverbank.
"Stop that you stupid woman. You're going to--."
Before he could finish he felt his balance give way as they stumbled and Haru gave a cry of surprise as they fell into the shallow end of the river. Both were frozen in shock as she realized that she had landed right on top of Gokudera. She could feel her hands on his chest and never realized how firm and strong a boy like Gokudera felt. She gasped as she realized how close she was to him as she could see his green eyes almost looked like it had shades of grey to them. Gokudera was noticing certain things as well as they both gasped and blushed as they quickly separated.
She was about to tell Gokudera to go to hell when she saw his hand extending out to her. "Come with me. We're both soaking wet. We need to change."
Haru looked away as she shook her head. "I don't want to go back there." Gokudera took her hand in his.
"If your worried about the 10th and Sasagawa, they left your house to look for you. They all did. You've worried everyone sick just looking for you."
She gritted her teeth as she slapped his hand away.
"Tell Tsuna-san I'm fine. He doesn't need to worry about it."
Gokudera growled in anger as he took her face in his hand.
"Look you stupid woman, I know what happened and I understand your reasons for being this way. But the 10th cares a lot about you and his always had your best interest at heart. Your one of his best friends and he would do anything to make sure you're happy."
She pushed his hand away as she took a few steps back.
"If you think taking pity on me by trying to keep a secret like that from me makes me happy then his wrong and so are you."
She turned around and began to walk away but froze as Gokuderas' next words stopped her.
"So you're leaving the family then? Just because you were to damn blind not see what's been in front of your face for more then three years"
Haru took a deep breath as she looked back at him.
"I knew how Tsuna felt about Kyoko." She paused as she clenched her hands into tight fists.
"But…But I thought that I could make him love me. I thought I could make him see me as something more then just a friend." Haru sighed as she thought about the past times were she had seen the way Tsuna had behaved with Kyoko and shook her head.
"It doesn't matter anymore. I was wrong in thinking I even had a chance. He was already in love with her even before I came into his life."
"Hey you forgot something." Gokudera snapped as he took something from his backpack. She looked carefully and saw that it was a white stuffed cat with blue eyes. It reminded her of Gokuderas' cat Uri except for the eyes.
Gokudera grunted as he walked next to her. "I won this thing at the arcade. I hate these things so I figure you would like it."
Gokudera paused as he saw Haru clutch the cat close to her.
"Thank you Gokudera-san." She whispered as she felt herself chocking back the tears were building up inside of her.
Gokudera merely nodded as he walked with her back to her house in silence. He gave her a bit of space as they headed back.
"Haru-chan!" Kyoko shouted as Haru looked to see her running towards her. "We were so worried about you." She hesitated as she looked at her friends face.
"I'm so sorry Haru-chan." Kyoko said as she clutched her hands together. "I wanted to tell you."
"It's my own fault Haru." Tsuna interrupted as they looked to him coming from the opposite direction. "I should have told you once I got involved with Kyoko-chan."
All of them gasped as Tsuna kneeled and bowed down in front of Haru.
"I'm sorry Haru-san. This is all my fault. I hope that you can forgive me. I was the one who kept this a secret. I don't blame you if you want to be my friend anymore but none of this was Kyoko's fault. I take full responsibility for everything."
Haru and Gokudera were frozen in shock. Gokudera looked at his boss in concern.
"10TH please don't---"
Haru stepped forward as she brought her hand down on Tsuna's shoulder.
"It's alright. Haru should have noticed this sooner. I just need some time to get used to this." She paused as she clutched Gokuderas' stuffed cat.
Tsuna and Kyoko nodded. "Take your time Haru, but I hope your relationship with Kyoko is not broken because of what I did."
Haru finally looked up as she felt tears brimming and clouding her eyes.
"I do understand and you should both know by now, that you two are my closes friends. I am not the type of person to leave my friends because of something like this."
She hugged them both as she smiled. They all walked back to her house as everyone else was already there. They were happy that things were settled that they decided to finish the party with the birthday cake. Once the party was done everyone had left except for one person. Haru was a bit surprised and paused as she saw Gokudera leaning back on the couch as if it was his own.
"Aren't you tired Gokudera-san." She said as she hoped he took the hint. He looked pointedly back at her as he leaned forward.
"Yeah I will. I just want to be sure that your alright. You weren't being completely truthful to the 10th." Haru's eyes narrowed as she looked back at him. "I want to be alone Gokudera-san. Please leave now."
Gokudera stood up as he walked towards her. Haru felt him coming closer and started to take a few steps back and felt her body hit a wall. She looked up as she saw him leaning towards her. "Woman, I know you're not alright. You may have forgiven the 10th but you're still a wreck. You shouldn't hold your feelings back."
Haru gritted her teeth together as she looked angrily back at him. "If this is some sort of order from Tsuna to watch over me then you can leave now. You have no right to tell me what you think I'm feeling. Get our Gokudera."
His eyes narrowed as he brought both his arms out as his hands slammed on the wall on either side of her head.
"The 10th didn't order me to do anything. You're part of the Vongola family and a close friend to all of us. I choose to stay and help. You may be a stupid clueless woman but your faithful the family and you have shown true courage and friendship to every one of us. That's why I am wasting my time trying to help a dumb girl like you in her time of need."
Haru's head snapped up as she growled in anger.
"DON'T CALL ME STUPID. I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP YOU BIG JERK. BESIDES YOU'RE NOT HELPING ME. OF COURSE I'M SAD BECAUSE THE ONE GUY I LOVED FOR SO LONG IS IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE!" Haru gasped as she put her hands to her lips and looked back at Gokuderas' smug face.
"There, now is that so hard to do?"
Haru looked away as she felt her eyes growing warm again.
"Please leave me alone Gokudera-san." Haru whispered as she tried to hold back the tears that wanted to come out.
She didn't notice Gokuderas' hands had slowly come down on her shoulders and his arms wrapped around her as he tightly embraced her.
"Ha-Hahi?!"
Heru stiffened as her eyes widened in shock.
"You may be a dumb girl but you've gone through a lot with us. Get over this soon dumb Haru." Gokudera muttered.
He abruptly stepped away as Haru almost lost her balance but quickly regained it as she saw that Gokudera had made a quick exit.
Haru brought her hand to her chest as she felt her heart give a small leap. She walked over to the window as she saw Gokudera was running down the street.
She chuckled as she shook her head. "Stupid Gokudera."
Authors Notes: I'm planning on making a few more short stories on Gokudera and Haru they will eventually lead to a much longer story line that's been in my head and not letting go. Beware though as these short stories will have angst and mature content.