Yo! It's been a while since I've updated this story huh, sorry about that. ^^" I've been a bit busy with school and my other KHR story so...
Well anyways thanks for reviewing my last chapters and thanks for the alert and favorite adds!
I also want to mention that there won't be very many memories from the past for the next few chapters because later there's going to be a huge section for that, which I think you guys will like a lot! ;)
I hope you like this chapter as well, and please review!
Chapter 4 Temper Tantrums
Before Haruka could make it through the door she was cut off by the Varia.
"What?" She nearly shouted. "What could you possibly want now?"
Flan rocked back and forth on the balls of his heels off to the side, rather than in front, and answered for the rest of his group. "Sensei, if you're all those people that we are looking for, then we'd like to talk to you."
"No way!" Haruka snapped her arms up into an X in front of her. "I don't feel like dealing with anymore idiots today."
"Such a rude little girl," Lusseria whined.
"VOI! Why not decide this with a fight?" Squalo held up his sword menacingly.
Haruka threw her head back and groaned. "Look, I'm really not in the mood for this right now."
"Shi shi shi! Too bad~," Bel sang before his knives sliced through the spot Haruka should have been standing.
Squalo tried to attack from behind but got deflected by Haruka's staff. She aimed a well-placed kick on the white haired man's arm and sent him skidding away. She hopped up into the air to dodge a series of punches sent by Lusseria, and sent her own attacks right back at the man.
"VOOII! Frog brat! Help us out!" Squalo charged in again.
Flan didn't move. "No way. I don't want to die yet."
As if to prove his point, white flames erupted on Haruka's hands and feet. Her eyes, like Tsuna's, had changed color. No it wasn't that it had changed color, they were just glowing a brighter shade of blue.
But instead of charging towards the Varia members to attack, she flew into the air and over the mansion. She made sure to stick her tongue out at them one last time before she was out of sight.
Haruka cut her flames and hurried over to their car, hopping into the driver's seat. She didn't bother waiting for her so called guardians. They had brought a second car just in case. They could use that one to get back.
What she had said was the truth. In this world only three people had ever reached her heart. That wasn't to say that she wasn't fond of anyone else. After all she cared for almost all the Arcobaleno. And she didn't mind the six who called themselves her guardians.
But none of them really knew her.
The other three weren't supposed to know either, but they had found a way in.
'Stupid Giotto,' Haruka thought in frustration, 'It's all his fault.'
Giotto, and those other two idiots were the only ones in this world that Haruka had ended up truly caring about like family.
If she had just avoided that piano, then none of them would have been able to get so close to her. And then Haruka wouldn't have developed feelings for any of them. She wouldn't have gotten so hurt when they kept aging when she didn't. She wouldn't have cared so much when they died.
All because of that day when he found her crying.
Haruka stormed into the building and started packing her clothes and any items she would need and tossed them into a couple of bags. She started pulling away just as her guardians got back.
They weren't really her guardians. Just some people she just happened to save who stuck around even after their wounds healed. But for some reason they got it into their heads that she did it because she cared about their wellbeing and in return they wanted to protect her. The true reason she saved them was because she had a conscience and couldn't just leave the wounded behind, especially when she knew they would die because no one else would save them.
Before long, Haruka was at the airport and taking off for Japan. There was no doubt that Kiyoe and the rest would be following her soon. But at least for a short while she could have some time alone.
Tsuna and his friends were on a plane back to Namimori, their meeting with Nono having concluded a short while ago. Tsuna was currently contemplating the girl they had just met. There was something about her that intrigued him. He could tell that she was hiding something, though he was probably the only one who noticed because of his hyper intuition.
"Reborn, that Haruka girl…Who is she exactly?" Tsuna asked the small hitman seated in front of him.
Reborn studied his student. Yamamoto and Gokudera had perked up as well. "Dame-Tsuna Nono already told you."
"But when the Varia came in they said they were there to meet the white lily, crimson white angel, and eternal white butterfly or whatever. And that brown hair guy said that Haruka-san was all those people," Tsuna pointed out.
"And Nono said that, that woman was over 400 years old," Gokudera added, "Not only that, but her strength was off the charts. She didn't even blink when tenth used his X-Burner."
Tsuna nodded. "And I'm sure that even if I had gotten the chance to use my XX-Burner, it wouldn't have fazed her either."
Reborn tilted his head down slightly. "She and her sister had to bear a curse, just like the Arcobaleno. No one has known them before they received the curse, and they avoided interacting with people as much as possible. There's no way to tell if their strength comes from the years of experience or if they were born with that strength."
"Her sister?" Tsuna shouted in surprise.
Reborn nodded once. "The person frozen in that ice was her sister. She was the original guardian of the tre-ni-sette before the strongest seven were called in."
"Then, Reborn-san, doesn't that mean that it was that woman who destroyed the ice and the person inside?" Gokudera asked.
"No. Haruka isn't the type of person to do that. If anything, her sister probably hid the fact that she was going to freeze herself from her."
Tsuna was silent for a bit. "Reborn, who were Haruka-san and that man talking about?"
Reborn looked up at Tsuna.
"Well, that man said that someone had caught her before. And it sounds like they did some pretty horrible stuff to her." Tsuna frowned as he remembered the fraction of a second where the girl's sapphire eyes had revealed fear at the mention of whoever had captured her at one time.
Reborn pulled his fedora down to hide his eyes. "I'm not sure either. Like she said only three people have ever really gotten to know the real Haruka. I've known her for a long time, but she hasn't spoken of herself. I doubt even those people who came with her know anything about her."
"But we're pretty lucky Hibari isn't here," Yamamoto said cheerily.
"Yeah, if he had tried biting her to death and failed, then who knows what would have happened to the rest of us." Tsuna shivered at the thought.
"Cheh. I would have been able to take him on," Gokudera grumbled.
A while later they were climbing down the steps from the plane. As Tsuna waited for the others a hawk swooped down.
"Hiiiiiee!" Tsuna screamed and fell on his stomach as he dodged. The hawk swooped past him several times.
"Stupid bird!" Gokudera shouted as her ran over to help his beloved boss. "How dare you attack Juudaime!" The hawk squawked indignantly and Gokudera pulled out a few sticks of dynamite.
"Calm down Gokudera," Reborn called out. He held up Leon, who turned into a perch for the hawk to land on. "This is Haruka's partner. Tsuki carries important messages for her."
Said bird flapped its wings to draw attention to the backpack she was carrying. Reborn unclipped the opening and took out a rolled up piece of parchment. As soon as the opening was closed again Tsuki took off.
"What's it say, kid?" Yamamoto asked curiously
Reborn read the message quickly and looked up at Tsuna and the others, smirking. "She seems to already know about how practically everything has taken place at Namimori Middle. She wants all the guardians and the sky to gather there for her first test."
"Her first test?" Tsuna questioned hesitantly.
"She's going to see where you guys stand at and pick out the best course of training to use on each of you," Reborn explained. "Tsuna! You go and tell Mukuro and Chrome to meet us Namimori Middle tonight at ten."
"Mukuro!" Tsuna cried out in shock. "Why him?"
Reborn landed a well place kick on the poor boy's stomach. "Because Mukuro is your mist guardian, Dame-Tsuna."
"Ite-t-t-t." Tsuna held his stomach in pain. "Then why Chrome too?"
Reborn held up the note. "Because Haruka personally requested her."
At the end of the note there was one line scribbled quickly on the bottom:
Make sure you bring Chrome. I don't want be stuck with a bunch of idiots with just Reborn.
Tsuna sweat dropped at the insult. He sighed wearily. This was going to be rather unpleasant.
Somehow Tsuna had managed to convince Mukuro to come with the rest of them. There was a lot of screaming and running on Tsuna's part. Reborn had eventually shown up and told Mukuro that there would be something worth his while if he came. So now at ten o' clock, Tsuna and his six guardians, along with Chrome and the rest of the Kokuyo gang, were gathered in the courtyard of the school waiting for Haruka.
"Tch. I didn't think that you would actually be able to gather them." Haruka hopped down from her perch on the roof.
Reborn smirked. "Of course they gathered, I'm Tsuna's tutor after all."
Haruka sighed. "I suppose I should have banned you from helping. Very well, they pass the first part."
Haruka walked away from the small hitman and stopped in front the group of teenagers who were spread out across the courtyard. Mukuro was with his gang and Hibari as far away from the crowd as possible.
The seemingly young girl crossed her arms as her gaze shifted from person to person, studying each of them. "Okay. Before I start, I'd like to take a look at your Vongola Rings."
Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Sasagawa looked at each other nervously.
"What?" Haruka asked, irritated.
"Well…" Tsuna trailed off.
Haruka frowned a little. "What!"
"They aren't the Vongola Rings anymore," Reborn informed her.
Haruka raised an eyebrow. "So they lost them?"
"No, they're the Vongola Gear now!" Yamamoto smiled and rubbed the back of his head. Reborn nodded to the group to signify that they should show Haruka what they meant. Vongola Decimo and his guardians held up their Vongola Gear so that the girl could see them properly.
Haruka's eye twitched. "My rings! What did you do to my rings!" The girl slapped a hand over her eyes. "Do you know how long it took me to make those? All those hours molding and designing the metal! Finding, cutting, and shining the perfect stone! And infusing the power! Oh the hours and energy it took just for the stupid power! And you go and shatter them! What the hell were you thinking?" Haruka yelled and ranted with all her might. "God, you probably killed my sister by shattering them. Damn, now I have to go and talk to her to make sure she's alright."
Reborn pulled his fedora down a little to hide his expression. There was no easy way to say this, so he might as well not beat around the bush about it. "Haruka, you're sister's dead."
Haruka stopped her ranting and looked down at the baby. "What?"
"Your sister Yuki is dead. We saw her die a few days ago." Reborn frowned a little more.
A shadow covered Haruka's eyes hiding her expression from the rest. The teens felt bad for the girl. They all figured that she was probably in a lot of turmoil from learning of her sister's end so bluntly.
Suddenly Haruka's head snapped up. "That bitch! She went and died, leaving me here all alone? How dare she! I'll kill her dammit!"
Tsuna and his closer set of friends took a step back in shock. They hadn't been expecting the girl to get mad at her sister for dying. Sure if she was mad at whoever killed the other girl then that would make sense, but Haruka was ranting angrily about her sister.
Haruka took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. "Fine! Whatever. Now all of you slip into your Cambio Forma. You'll be fighting me as a team." She pulled off her coat and tossed it on the ground, leaving her in a blue spaghetti strap tank-top and her long half finger gloves.
"I don't crowd with herbivores," Hibari grunted.
"I must agree with the skylark," Mukuro spoke up, "I do not wish to help the mafia."
Haruka smirked. "As individuals I can tell that you are stronger than the first generation Vongola. But overall, you're all weak. At least in Primo's time, Alaude and even that pompous idiot Daemon would work together to get the job done. I can tell that they were stronger than all of you."
Hibari's patience snapped and charged at the girl. But Haruka stopped his attacks with one hand.
"Don't try me boy. I don't even have to use my powers on the likes of you." Haruka pushed the prefect back, sending him flying several feet. "You're 400 years too early to challenge the likes of me."
Hibari smirked. This girl would be very fun to bite to death.
"I'm going to go into position to fight, maybe even at full power," Haruka continued like there was no interruption. "The only chance you have of not dying is to not only use full power yourself, but to fight as a team. This will also be a good way for me to assess all of your combat ability so that I can figure out how to train you individually."
Mukuro grinned. "Oya, oya? I don't need training, especially from a Mafioso."
"One: I'm not a part of the mafia. I just lend my assistance when it benefits me. Two: Yes you do, because if Daemon had a body," Haruka smirked, "he would have beaten you to a pulp."
Haruka sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, even I recognize Spade's strength. I recognize all of the first generation of Vongola's strength. And do you know why?" Haruka didn't wait for an answer. "Because I'm the one who trained them!"
Now this was a surprise for all of them.
Haruka raised a hand and rubbed her temples at the memory. "Yeah, even Alaude. I trained every single one of the first generation. Otherwise I wouldn't have given them the rings."
"How'd you get Daemon Spade to train with you?" Reborn asked.
"Blackmail," Haruka said easily and with a blank face.
"Lampo?"
"Harassment."
"Alaude."
"Mocked his strength."
"What about Knuckle, since he didn't fight."
"Combat training, I gave him an hour's break between every three minutes. During the rest of the hour he worked on physical training like pushups. I also had him work on dodging my attacks."
"Asari."
"He was looking for a sparring partner anyways."
"G."
"Dragged him outside and/or held a gun to his head."
"What about Primo?" Tsuna asked nervously, instead of Reborn.
Suddenly Haruka looked like she was drained of all her energy. "He used blackmail on me."
Tsuna scrunched his face in confusion. "Huh?" Since Haruka had basically threatened the rest of the first generation, he was expecting her to have tortured Primo into training or something.
"That idiot wouldn't train unless I went to dinner with him, or let him drag me around town, or even worse wear a dress! ARG! He was such a moron!" Haruka ruffled her hair fiercely as she remembered the horrible experiences. She exhaled loudly and turned back to the group. "Now please get into your Cambio Forma and prepare to fight me as a group."
Haruka stepped back and slipped into hyper dying will mode like Tsuna, though without the flame on her forehead. The seven teenagers called forth their power as well.
The white haired girl nodded. "Alright. Now I'll only go into full power if all of you are fighting as a team. Now," she crouched down a little. "Let's see what you've got."
Everyone charged forward to attack.
"Pathetic," Haruka said for the umpteenth time.
Hibari had long since stalked off when Haruka had declared that she was done fighting. None of them had been able to land a single blow on her and Haruka hadn't even used her full power.
Reborn smirked. "What is your analysis on their individual abilities?"
Haruka raised an eyebrow at the question. "You mean, besides that they're pathetic?" She asked sarcastically.
Reborn chuckled a little.
Haruka sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to use this week to assess them individually. During that match with all of them, they were too scattered and made plenty of openings for me to take them down. They made themselves weaker as a group instead of stronger. One individual from their group would have more overall strength than they had as a team."
"Nothing else?" Reborn asked skeptically. "How are you going to assess them?"
"I'll be taking Tsunayoshi with me on missions during the mornings, then fighting one of them at night. Of course, since Tsunayoshi is their boss, I will be fighting him last. Then the next week I'll train them individually and then I'll fight them as a group again."
Reborn nodded. "Well then I'll take my leave now."
"Good-night Reborn." Haruka left without a word to the rest of the group. The last thing she saw was Reborn kicking Tsuna and demanding to go home.
She was running with all her might, breathing hard. There was gunshots in the distance. A fire was burning out of control.
She had to run faster. She could still make it. As long as she ran faster, there was still hope.
So why couldn't she speed up? She had to save them, they needed her.
The trees finally cleared and the village came into sight. There was so much red. The fire had spread and was attached to all the houses.
People were everywhere running.
No they were falling.
They were dead.
They screamed at her. Pointing their fingers and accusing her.
"Why! Why didn't you save us? This is all your fault! All your fault!"
Haruka jolted up, breathing hard and drenched in cold sweat. It was that dream again. One of her biggest regrets in this world and the reason she didn't sleep anymore.
Haruka turned towards the clock and saw that she had only been asleep for 15 minutes.
She felt sick. That dream was horrible.
Haruka pulled her knees up and crossed her arms on top, resting her head on them. She breathed out for a few minutes, trying to clear the images that had just swept through her head.
Earlier, when she had arrived back at the small house she had just bought, Haruka had sat down and used her free time to collect her memories. Now she sorely regretted not waiting till the morning.
Some of her memories were gruesome and really made her hate herself. No matter how she looked at it, there was something different she should have done to protect more people. Others had told her that she had done the right thing to protect the mass majority, but there were so many casualties that Haruka couldn't help but doubt herself.
The young girl got off the bed and walked over to the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water to help clam herself down. Haruka snapped to attention when she heard the door opening and closing. She pulled out her gun and pointed it toward the entrance. "Who's there?" She called out.
"Haruka-nee!" A little red head ran over to hug her. "It took us forever to find you!"
"Get out!" Haruka snapped.
"But Haruka-nee," Arianna whined, "I want to stay with you!"
"Leave, I'm tired." Haruka pulled Arianna off of her carefully and pushed her towards the rest. She walked towards the office and closed the door behind her.
"Come on," Kiyoe said gently. She knew that Haruka was probably in a bad mood because of her dream. She pulled Arianna away and they left the house.
Haruka turned on the computer. She might as well get some work done since she couldn't sleep. After all, the nights are long.
The next day Tsuna and his usual two friends were talking while they waited for class to start. As the teacher walked in everyone took their appropriate seats so that class could start.
The teacher smiled and greeted the class. "Today we have another transfer student. Please come in and introduce yourself." The teacher gestured to the person waiting outside the doorway.
Tsuna almost shot out of his seat when Haruka, in all her white hair glory, walked into his classroom.
Haruka looked around the class with a blank expression. Her gaze lingered on Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera a second longer than the rest. "Hi, I'm Haruka. I'll be staying here for a while."
She was immediately bombarded with questions. "Where are you from?"
"I move around a lot so I don't really have one place."
"You said you'd be staying here a while, so does that mean you won't be here long?"
"Depends how much I like this place."
"Where were you before you came to Namimori?"
"Italy."
"How do you like it here so far?"
"It's peaceful."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No." Haruka had to stop herself from rolling her eyes when the majority of the males in the class made some form of a cheer.
"Why aren't you wearing a uniform?"
"Since I don't know if I'll be here very long, the principal said it was alright if I didn't get one till I was sure."
"What were other schools like?"
"I don't know. They're all different I guess. I haven't been to too many."
"But you said you've been all over!"
"Yeah, but technically I've already finished school. I was also home schooled for the majority."
"If you already finished school then why are you here?"
"I was told that I needed to socialize with certain people my age. And I do believe I should let the teacher get on with his lesson." Haruka turned toward the teacher who was making no move to stop their students. She turned and headed toward the only empty seat, located in the back.
The teacher smiled bashfully and began his lesson.
"She's so cool!" A group of guys whispered to each other while the teacher lectured away. "Yeah, her eyes were like ice! So strong looking! I bet her smile would be cute!"
Haruka sighed and tuned out the weak idiots. Instead she focused her attention on the three Vongola boys, watching them with her peripheral vision. She studied their movements and quirks, trying to figure out more about their personality so that she could apply it to her training later. But she eventually ran out of things to study when all three of them fell asleep during the lesson.
The moment the lunch bell rang Haruka stood up and woke Tsuna roughly by grabbing him by the collar and dragging him out of the room, of course Yamamoto and Gokudera were close behind.
"Oi! You! Let go of Juudaime!" Gokudera shouted and ranted as Haruka ignored him and continued to drag Tsuna up a flight of stairs.
The girl finally unceremoniously dumped the boy when she had reached the roof. Tsuna rubbed his neck and breathed out in relief. After checking to make sure Tsuna was alright and apologizing profusely, Gokudera rounded back on Haruka.
"How dare you treat Juudaime that way!" Gokudera yelled and took out some dynamite.
"I'm sure you're already well aware how outmatched you are, especially after last night," Haruka said the last part through a yawn.
Gokudera clenched his teeth in frustration, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to do much and so replaced his dynamite from wherever he had them hidden before. "So what do you want?"
"Eh? Since when did I need a reason?" Haruka said with the full intention riling up Gokudera. She watched with amusement as Gokudera raged and stormed around about her attitude. Yamamoto and Tsuna did their best to calm him down, but Haruka was sorely tempted to piss him off again. When the silverette finally blew off enough steam, the young looking girl spoke up again. "I actually brought Tsuna up here to remind him that I was taking him on his first mission with me after school ends today, and I wanted him to meet me at the front gate as soon as classes end."
"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Gokudera yelled loudly.
"Because it was just too easy to piss you off, so I had to give it a go." Haruka plugged her ears with her fingers and waited for the boy to stop yelling. When she finally had her hands free from her ears Haruka waved to the boys to signal that she was leaving.
'Really,' Haruka thought sarcastically, 'Sending him into a fit of temper tantrums is just too easy. I could really turn that against him in battle. In fact…I think I will.' Haruka smirked as she descended the stairs. She would fight Gokudera first tonight and she was going to mess with the boy a bit.
Oh Haruka, you can be so mean. Well I hope you liked this chapter! Please review and let me know what you thought!
Thanks for reading! See ya!
