Disclaimer: All of the original Reborn! characters belong to Akira Amano.

Chapter 2: We're Related

"Haru!" the man exclaimed, alarmed by the sudden darkness. His senses were heightened and ready for what may be an attack towards him and his female companion because of their involvement in the mafia. The man knew the consequences of his connections as well as his status. Over the years, he learned that by accepting his role, he would constantly put the lives of those dear to him in jeopardy. It also meant that by allowing his famiglia's name to grow as well as himself, he can offer them protection against the threats. Thankful that he was at a close range from the young lady, he quickly grabbed her shoulders and moved his body in front of her form. As his eyes got accustomed to the darkness, he quickly dragged them both into a corner and used his body to cover Haru in case of any attack. The man stood guarded, waiting.

Haru held onto the man's back, feeling the sense of security his body offered. From the corners of her eyes, she saw a speck of red light flashing repeatedly over her grandfather's photo followed by a loud blast.

The explosion of the altar was followed by the ruptured screams of the Seijuro household. A gaping hole, formed by the explosion, provided a bit of light. A small lone figure stood with his shadow covering his face. Sensing the threat that the stranger emitted, the man before Haru stiffened, which did not go unnoticed by the her. She too felt the danger intensifying once the figure made his presence known. Years of participating in the mafia taught her not to underestimate anyone no matter how unlikely they may appear to be on the outside. An image of I-Pin on the day where she and Kyoko were pursued by over two dozen armed mafia men flashed in Haru's mind. She remembered how the pre-teen repressed all of them with her martial arts and left them badly beaten on the ground to soak in their own blood.

The tiny figure stepped towards the crowd and entered the room. A light flashed underneath his face to reveal a ghostly white face of an old man.

"Ciaossu."

Confusion ran through both Haru and her companion's minds.

"Do not be alarmed - I am the soul of your beloved Seijūrō Shūichirō."

The man in front of Haru relaxed and mumbled about whether anyone would believe such ridiculous notions that this baby was saying. However, his instinct told him to be wary. Why would that guy be here and why wouldn't his body leave hers when the presence of the Arcobaleno, with his grinning face, signaled him to be calm and at ease. Something was not right.

Haru let out a breath of relief. With a quick look at Reborn, she realized the the baby was trying to impersonate her Ojiisan. As to why he was doing that, Haru did not know.

"Shūichirō-sama," someone called out. The only two who were aware of Reborn's impersonation sweatdropped. "Have...have we disturbed your peace?" the relative asked as his voice started to break.

"No, Takami. The explosion was caused by my happiness upon seeing all you gather here in my home in honor of me. The sight of you granting my final wish was powerful enough to bring my soul and materialize it before all of you."

"Oh, Shūichirō-sama!" someone called.

"Shūichirō-sama, we've missed you!" said another.

The mass started to acknowledge the "head of the family" and went to crowd towards him.

"Of course we would honor your final words Uncle. How could we not? Everyone in our family respected you," said Seijūrō Yasuo.

"I am greatly honored, especially hearing that from you, Yasou. I am glad that you have found yourself and came back to the family. Now everyone, do not be alarmed. Let us continue celebrating this day that you have dedicated to me. Mingle, strengthen the bonds which have dwindled over the years, create new bonds, and celebrate. I'm sure some of you are surprised at how connected we actually are with one another." By this, "Shūichirō-sama's" gaze landed straight at Haru and her protector. "My time with you all has run out. I hope to meet everyone again at where I now reside in due time. But for now, enjoy your time in this world." With his parting words, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The lights turned on and the man took a step towards the front, giving Haru enough space to leave the corner in which she was placed in. Haru took a step toward the gap and stood in front of the tall man.

"Ano...Arigatou Tsuna-san," she said timidly. "For protecting Haru, though Haru can protect herself."

"Ah, not a problem Haru. I was pretty much acting on instinct," the Vongola boss replied sheepishly.

"Demo...Tsuna-san if you don't mind me asking, why are you here in the first place?"

"Ano...I'm here for the same reason you are Haru." Tsuna saw the shock flash on Haru's features. "Haru, we need to discuss about what happened and what's currently happening to us right now. I don't know why but I have a feeling that meeting you here was a coincidence as well as the explosion and seeing Reborn."

Haru nodded and Tsuna led her outside by the baby willow where a bench rested below. He motioned for her to sit and she did. He sat beside her while keeping a bit of distance between them.

"Haru-" the Tenth began but was cut off by the young lady.

"Haru knows," she said. "Haru knows that you think we're related and Haru thinks so too."

Tsuna just nodded. He was not oblivious to her feelings towards him. His intuition told him that she was still holding some of those feelings, but seemed to hide them. Over the years, he realized that her exaggerated show of affections had decreased and, for a moment, he even believed she stopped liking him. But one time, not so long ago, when their eyes met, he saw the longing and hopelessness that they held. He felt guilty for not being able to return her feelings. To him, Haru was a wonderful girl and any man would be lucky to have her. He was grateful that she held such feelings towards him but he felt that he could never view her as anything more but a sister.

"Haru..." he started, but once again was cut off by his companion.

"It's fine Tsuna-san. You don't have to worry about Haru or her feelings," she replied to him with a small smile. "Haru should actually be glad to find out that she's related to Tsuna-san. Now, Haru's finally related to someone in the Mafia and has more reason to belong to the Family. Also, Gokudera can stop pestering Haru to quit the Family and live a regular life."

Tsuna was surprised with Haru's last statement. He would have never thought that his right-hand man would tell Haru to do such a thing. Though after living with Gokudera for nearly six years, he knew that the man was just trying to look out for their female companion. He cared for Haru even though he would never admit it out loud or to himself.

"Plus this realization made it clear to Haru that she has no chance with you." Tsuna snapped his head towards her and saw her eyes glistening as tears threatened to escape. He opened his mouth, trying to offer some words of comfort, but nothing came.

"Tsuna-san, can you...Can you please leave Haru by herself? Ano...Haru wants to let out her emotions for you one last time. After this, I will be done and happy."

The man just nodded and sat up. He offered her a sad, but comforting smile. "Okay," he replied. "But if you're not back in an hour, I'm coming back for you."

"Thank you," she said and he left.

Haru sat there, eyes covering her face, and cried one last time for her unrequited love and for herself.


Inside the house, Tsuna sat down next to the empty seat located nearest to the door.

"Hey kid, have you seen that Haru girl around?" Tsuna looked up to see Haru's uncle and maybe his uncle as well.

Tsuna nodded and motioned his head outside. "She wanted to get some air."

"Darn, I was going to introduce her to my son, Seijūrō Shinobu." He gestured to the young man at his side.

Seijūrō Yasuo, Tsuna noticed, was older than he looked. If he did not know that Yasuo had a son near his age, he would have thought the man to be in his mid thirties. Yasou looked like one of those disheveled yet eye catching businessmen who could gravitate women left and right. He had messy brown hair, deep brown eyes and a manly build. His height towered over Tsuna, but the man was unfazed. Their "uncle" seemed good-natured enough and his intuition told him that he was not a threat.

Tsuna looked at Yasuo's son and could not deny that Shinobu was the spitting image of his father. He had his father's built, though his was smaller and leaner-looking. His hair was messy just like father but had a darker shade that was about in-between Tsuna's and Haru's color. His eyes though were sapphire-colored, which Tsuna believed would captivate the female population. Another beneficial trait Shinobu inherited from his Otōsan was his height. He was about half a head taller than Tsuna. Again, Tsuna did not sense any threat.

Yasuo and his son engaged in a conversation with Tsuna for most of evening. Later, when the Vongola head noticed that almost an hour had passed and Haru had not yet returned, he excused himself and made his way to the willow tree.

He spotted Haru still sitting on the bench, as the wind blowed softly against her skin, and made his way to her.

"Haru, are you doing better?"

"Yea, Haru's fine now." She looked up at him and gave a sincere smile. "Tsuna-san, can Haru ask you one more favor?"

"Sure Haru, just don't tell me to leave again since it's getting dark and I'd rather not leave you alone unguarded."

"Haha," she laughed lightly. "It's not gonna be that again. I was wondering if you can give Haru a hug?" she asked as the blush started to form on her cheeks.

Startled, Tsuna looked a bit wide-eyed at the young lady but granted her wish. He enveloped her in a warm hug, to which she returned. To a passer by, they would have mistook the hug as one shared between lovers but the two had a silent understanding that it was a hug between two close friends. A moment passed and Tsuna released his hold on Haru. He was given another thank you. In response, he smiled while nodding and then motioned for them to go back inside as the autumn wind was making the night colder than what she was dressed for.

When the duo entered the house they were greeted by Yasuo, who saved them a seat and was urging them to hurry up and join them for supper. Tsuna sat on Yasuo's left while Haru sat to her uncle's right, and next to a young man near her age. They all gave thanks for their meals and began eating.

In between the meals, Yasuo busied himself by conversing with Tsuna while the man to Haru's right introduced himself.

"Hello Haru-chan, my name is Seijūrō Shinobu. I'm Seijūrō Yasuo's son. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Shinobu-san," Haru replied.

"Oh just call me Shinobu since we are family," her cousin said nonchalantly.

"Oh then just call me Haru."

"Sure thing Haru."

They let out a laugh. Throughout dinner, the two conversed and became quite comfortable with one another. Haru was glad to have met her uncle and cousin as well as let go of Tsuna. She hoped she finally did. When the time came for them to leave, they all said their goodbyes, but not before Haru and Shinobu exchanged phone numbers due to Yasuo insisting that the two of them should hang out and for his son to introduce Haru to one of Shinobu's friends.


Haru gave Tsuna a ride home to the Vongola mansion since he was dropped off by Gokudera earlier and he did not want to call and bother the man to drive him home. The car ride was quiet but there was no awkward silence. Rather, it was almost peaceful to say the least. Once they reached the mansion, they bid each other goodnight and went to their separate wings.

When Tsuna reached his quarters he saw the note on his bed.

Dame-Tsuna,

Come to your office.

R.

Tsuna immediately left his bedroom and headed straight to his workroom. There, he saw Reborn sitting casually on his desk with Gokudera standing straight on his right side and Hibari leaning against the wall on the hitman's left. An air of seriousness surrounded the room.

"Tsuna," the baby began, "the explosion at the Seijūrō household today was not something I myself planned nor was the whole scene of me dressing up as the ghost of the Seijūrō household's head."

Vongola Decimo nodded his head. He realized that something was off today and that Reborn was not the type to disrespect one's family.

"I figured that much," he replied. "But what I don't understand is why attack them when they have no Mafia blood? Do they know that I am related to Haru?" Those last few words caught the ears of his two guardians.

"Juudaime, you're related to Haru?"

"Yes, we recently found out when we met each other at the gathering today."

His right hand man sighed knowing that the annoying woman must be heartbroken at the thought. He concluded the he would discuss the situation with her later.

Hibari on the other hand just stared intently at their boss.

"The attack, according to one of our subordinates, was towards Haru. We are not sure why yet, but we plan to find out," said the hitman.

"Maybe it's because the Miura girl is associated with the head or that she's currently training to be one of the Vongola's head tacticians." the cloud guardian contributed.

"Hmm maybe," said the baby hitman.

"Reborn, how did you know about the attack today and why wasn't I notified?" the Sky asked.

"It was a spur of the moment. You were already at the party when our intel warned us and I took the initiative to bring Hibari and his men to block the attackers. We, however, did not know that there was a bomb implanted in the room. To ease the masses, I decided to cover up by dressing as the deceased Seijūrō."

The head just nodding, feeling drained by the night's events. "It's been a long night. Everybody should go back to their quarters and rest." Tsuna dismissed the meeting and everyone exited the room.

First of all, thank you to everyone for following, favoriting and reviewing. The support you gave me boosted my esteem to write the story. Well we've revealed who the mystery relative was and a bunch of you guessed it right. Also, so far people would be willing to ship Haru with practically anyone and I agree with them. I would ship her with any of the guys in the anime/manga. My favorite shipping for her would be 6986, 1886 and B86 from the most favorite to least. Then again, my love for the B86 is still pretty big. I'm just not that comfortable with writing Bel yet.

Once again, thank you to my awesome partner who will always be my pillar. She always has my back and makes time for me and this story (even with her crazy studies these past weeks).

Chapter 3 is on its way. It'll probably be done in a week or two. I would like to finish it before I go back to school.

Thank you all for reading. Don't forget to review. Constructive criticisms are welcome.