A Look Through Glass

Pairing. None
Rating. PG
A/N. since you've made it this far, i assume you understand how the fanfic works now. this second glimpse, as you will see, is basically one big flashback until the end where we go TYL to the preparations for the battle with the Millefiore.


Haru had been young when she'd first joined the Mafia. To be fair, she hadn't even known she'd joined the Mafia until fairly recently – at least, she hadn't been fully aware of what it meant, especially when the Mafia Family you joined was the Vongola.

Sure, the incident with the Varia had been troublesome, not to mention daunting. Of their group of friends she was one of the few people, besides Tsuna, who had her feet firmly planted on the ground and realized the sheer insanity of the situation. Haru had been, as expected of any teenage girl suddenly facing an independent assassination squad in a battle that really had nothing to do with her, extremely frightened. It was even worse when she found out she'd have to battle that man with the long, silver hair because good lord, she'd seen him destroy a significant portion of a building with his sword and hurt her stronger friends.

When she realized she'd be the one fighting him, or others like him, she crumbled. Haru refused to leave her room and go to school. Her parents worried, her friends worried, but no one could get her out. She had hoped that by locking herself up in her room, time would stop and she would never have to face that scary man with the beautiful hair. Her self-imposed confinement came to an abrupt end when a baseball hit her window.

Yamamoto Takeshi apologized profusely, and then offered to get them some free sushi in compensation. Her parents, overjoyed that their daughter had finally been persuaded to leave the room (Haru had thought that their house was under attack), told him that they'd go to Takesushi instead.

She'd always been good enough at sports, but nothing otherworldly. Haru had fond memories of fencing sessions when she was younger – one of those demands only children are prone to ask from their parents, who pamper and spoil them too much to refuse – but that had been the limit of her acquaintance with a sword. Obviously, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi saw potential. Perhaps it had been the fond stories her parents started to tell him once they sat down to eat, or maybe the way she had skilfully made clean cuts on the food whenever she'd helped in the kitchen (something which, with Tsuna, had been a common enough occurrence to pay for the repair damage).

Whatever the case, that night, instead of once more returning to her solitary confinement, Haru sat before the eldest Yamamoto in his training room. Yamamoto Takeshi had gone off to bed already ("Big game tomorrow!"), and her parents had left her in the smiling man's care. Haru, however, was at a loss for why she was still there.

"Um…can I go?" she asked, timidly and rather out-of-character for her.

Tsuyoshi sighed, and then sat down in front of her, so that they were facing each other. He looked at her straight in the eye, which caused her to flinch slightly, and then nodded slowly.

"Haru, you're scared right?" he asked.

"How'd you-"

"The baby came to talk to me, and I can see he's right," Haru bit her lip and bowed her head, for some reason ashamed to admit her fear in front of this man. The fact that a grown man had accepted Reborn's diagnosis of her mood did little to ease her worries.

"Haru, you're no longer the smiling, happy girl from before – the one who'd always be the first to stand up for what she believed in, or offer help and protection," Haru seemed to curl up even more, wringing her hands but not stopping the man's speech.

"And that worries me – I…well, God knows I don't really want to do this to you, the path of the sword is not one I would wish on anyone, but the baby said this might help you be yourself again, and I can't lie to myself and say you don't have some measure of talent, but," the man sighed, "you have to understand, I am giving you a choice, I am not forcing you to learn a technique that would otherwise die with me, nor am I saying you will be successful, I am merely saying I can teach it to you and that you have potential,"

Unknown to Tsuyoshi, Haru's eyes had widened considerably as she listened and realized what this could mean. She could defend herself, and protect her family, her friends. She could stand next to Kyoko and I-Pin and Tsuna and not be ashamed of herself when compared to them. She could stop being the odd one out, and she could repay the loud man every. single. scar. As she pondered over the possibilities, Tsuyoshi seemed to back down at her silence.

"Very well Haru, I can see you're not interested, come on then, I'll walk you-"

"Hahi! What makes you think I'm not interested?" and as Haru looked up at Tsuyoshi, eyes once more bright and full of a burning resolve, Tsuyoshi gasped, before smiling.

"Alright then, we better start – there's only so much time to learn the Shigure Sōen Ryu, and we've already wasted enough,"

-o-

Ten years into the future, Haru blinked as she opened her eyes before closing them again and groaning at the bright light of a sunrise. Why was she awake?

"VOOOOOOII! Wake up, you lazy brat! It's no time to be sleeping, we've got to train!"

Ah, she thought blearily, that'd be why. Groaning and her grunting as her sore muscles protested from having slept on rock the night before, Haru stood up and yawned. This seemed to only vex her companion more.

"VOOOOOII! You stupid girl, stop yawning! We're wasting daylight, now hurry up and grab your weapon!"

"Hahi! There is no need to be so rude and loud this early!"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING LOUD?"

"Hahi! Haru thinks Squalo is getting deaf in his old age!"

"Why you- come here, you little brat! I'll show you what it means to be a sword emperor!"

In the early lights of the morning, metal clashed and muscles moved. The Ring Battles with the Varia had happened ten years ago to the Squalo Haru was currently fighting, but it had only been a couple of months for her. Having been thrown unceremoniously into a conflict ten years from her time had been troublesome and painful – not only had her parents disappeared, but Yamamoto Tsuyoshi and his son were nowhere to be found. Haru had dealt with it as best she could, and unlike last time when she'd locked herself away, she became a strong shoulder for Kyoko (whose brother was gone in the future), Tsuna and the rest of their Family.

According to her current sparring partner, his defeat at her hands ten years ago (two months, Haru thought to herself) had been true, but that didn't mean she was ready for their upcoming battle with the Millefiore. He still hadn't forgiven her for losing to Genkishi when, according to Squalo, he'd warned her something was off about the illusionist (Haru still wasn't sure how he expected her to know that just from watching his videos – which were poorly edited, by the way, as she'd fully explained to him already, resulting only in more screams and swords flung in her general direction).

In the time since she'd first met Tsuna til now, Haru was beginning to understand what it meant to be a member of the Mafia, a Guardian of the Vongola's Tenth Boss. It meant countless battles, it meant pain – physical and mental –, it meant wars, destruction, training, sore muscles and heartache. But it also meant having friends, teachers, acquaintances, and people who generally cared about each other and supported each other through everything (even if they didn't really like each other).

So as her blue Rain flame flared to life and her Vongola ring lit up, as her two swords (one Shigure Kintoki and the other coming from a box weapon) were shrouded in the tranquility of the Rain flame, as her box weapon was opened and a seal appeared, Haru just had to remind herself of one thing. Her training may be tough, and her teacher loud, but she was doing this for her Family. And she'd always go the extra mile for them.


A/N. yes, Haru has Rain flames, which don't correspond with that one KHR! game where they give her Thunder flames, but I've got someone else planned for the Thunder Guardian sooo…we get Haru wielding swords. i know Haru might not be exactly as tranquil as Yamamoto, but Squalo isn't exactly the embodiment of tranquility. i also wanted to see her and Squalo drive each other up the wall.

in regards to her breakdown, she is one of the few people who notes the insanity of the Mafia early on (aside from Tsuna), which is the reason why i had her react to the Varia and the Ring Battles the way she does. for all intents and purposes, she was a normal, frightened little girl. as she reveals though, there's more to her than that, and both Reborn and Tsuyoshi saw her potential. idk, comments on her characterization and her portrayal would be simply amazing, i had a hard time grasping her character.

also, yes, her animal box weapon is a seal. and like the elephants, Squalo's shark and Basil's dolphin, it somehow floats with the flames. I-Pin's might come up later in some other fragment of this. if it doesn't, i'll try to let you know what it was.

my apologies for the cliché, happy-happy ending. i'm not entirely happy with this one, so i might go back someday and edit. as it is, this is what i have for now.

as always, concrit, flames and reviews in general are highly appreciated.