I'm so sorry about the delay. Thank you who have reviewed the previous chapter! Although I don't force you to review, your review still means everything to me, a motivation to keep me going. Anyway, here's the new chapter :)
Buona lettura!
Disclaimer: KHR does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owner.
CHAPTER VII
The fever had gone, but his head still felt as if the world around him shaken. It was faintly recognized, but either it was a dream or not, it felt like real—the warmth of the touch on his forehead, that swept away his fever.
Finally, he noticed something was on top of him, he was caught in surprise that it was the girl he looked for—but she found him first. She was apparently sleeping. "Haru? Haru." he grabbed her arms and shook her body, but as he felt the hot air steaming out from her, it was as if a hammer hit his head. When checked her temperature, it was hot. He immediately rose up and held her body tight.
"Wake up! Open your eyes!" he cupped her cheek and shook her body, but she didn't move an inch. Worse, his eyes widened in horror as Haru wasn't breathing. But no, he wouldn't lose her again. He carried her and slammed the front door open.
He supposedly felt relaxed for she had been given an effective medicine—not as effective as Dr. Shamal's, but at least it healed her. In truth, he wasn't that relaxed. He sat on a chair and looked at her sleeping face. It was pale before, but now, she looked so peaceful. He could feel at ease now that she was out of danger, and she was now breathing.
He knew what she did. He dreamt about it. He felt it. Although he couldn't have been in conscious state, he knew what caused him to get healed quickly and why it got transferred to her. A sound of door opening behind him made him to look back.
"How are you?" Ryohei asked. Tsuna nodded and said, "I feel fine now. Chrome and Bianchi, how are they?"
"They're sleeping. Don't worry, they're unharmed."
Having heard that, Tsuna smiled a bit, "I'm glad," he turned his head back to look at Haru. "What exactly happened to them? How on earth could she do that?"
"Whatever she did, it didn't cause extreme damage. As a boxer, my guts tells me she made them too tired—like she wiped their energy to almost zero. But I'm extremely sure she didn't do it on purpose. She's still the same girl we know." Ryohei crossed his arms as he nodded to his own assumption.
"Then, why did you send Kyoko home?" that question changed Ryohei's expression. "You don't want your sister to get hurt, do you?"
"It's not like that at all, Sawada. We have our own speculation about Haru, like ever since she was taken here, the weather started messing up, and when you took her here in unconscious state, the weather turned normal. Moreover, it's not just me, but we all agree that sometimes we feel weird around her."
"Onii-san. There are a lot of things we don't know about the 9 years gap, about what happened to Haru. Few hours ago, I was lying on the floor. Before I knew it, I could feel myself on a bed. I couldn't speak and I couldn't wake up. I was going to die. Then, a miracle happened. When her lips touched my forehead, I began feeling better. I woke up to know the fever was transported to her. I don't know how, but I knew… she absorbed the fever. She took the pain to herself. That unselfish action and sincerity, tell me this isn't the weird, honest, and kind Miura Haru."
"Gokudera and the rest mentioned about the 9 years gap, it should be the cause of her 'abnormality'. They immediately discussed it when they found out what happened to Chrome and Gokudera's sister. My guts is telling me there's a possibility someone changed her and gave her new power that can even absorbed your fever. Kyoko said it herself she did it unconsciously. She could—"
"Hurt me too, I know. But even so, I don't want to lose her again."
Ryohei stood in silence as he eyed on Tsuna. That persistence of him whenever regarding his friends, he smiled in satisfaction at that. "All right. If the boss says so."
"Eh? Onii-san?" he turned around, blinked in confusion.
"You're not the only one who doesn't want to lose her, you know. Though we may feel that way, we want her to stay. 'A friend who accepts another whoever they are', you taught us that, Sawada."
"Thanks…"
"I'll send the best Mafioso to guard Kyoko. In the meantime, you have more important things to protect." Tsuna gave a brief look at Ryohei as he left before he turned his head back to the sleeping girl.
Tears formed on her right eye, he was a bit surprised. He wiped the tears gently; something told him she embraced an unspeakable pain. It's me, isn't it? "You don't have to cry anymore, Haru. We're here… I'm here now."
He watched her in silence before letting out a frustration sigh as he grasped his head. Why…? Am I not a good friend? If I can't even protect one friend… then who the heck am I?
A sound of ringtone from his phone was heard and he picked it up. "Hello."
"Tsunayoshi-kun, as you requested, I've found several information you need. How's the rock?"
"It's no use. You said in order to open what's inside the rock, it needs a certain flame, but it won't open."
"Ah, sorry, that's misleading. Can you meet me at my apartment now?"
"Okay." he hung up. Before he stood up, he gazed at her for a moment. I wonder… if I apologized to you 9 years sooner, would you forgive me then?
~#~
Dozens of Mafioso lined up before their boss. "This is the time, my comrades. We will take the flame from Vongola. Kill them if you have to. We mustn't let them take all the power to themselves. Now I ask you, are you ready?"
"Yes!" all shouted in unison.
"Good. Now, go get that flame!"
~#~
A knock on the door was heard and Shoichi opened it and let Tsuna in. Tsuna followed him to his room, where Shoichi sat in front of his computer and showed a biography belonged to a man with black hair and dirty red eyes. It was hard to believe when Tsuna saw his face and his profession; he was too good-looking for a scientist. He could be a model.
"I don't need to tell you about this person, except for his work." he clicked the 'achievement/report' part next to his info. Tsuna read the article about his work and seemingly he earned a reward for it at almost every one of his work, but he never accepted the rewards. "Look at this part," Shoichi pointed at one paragraph. "This says one year ago, a new type of flame had been detected, powerful one and ownerless, meaning no one has that flame inside their body. It's the rock you found."
"Well, Hibari-san found the rock and Haru years ago, but he didn't speak out the info. So, this is really what other families are searching for? Are you sure?"
"The timeline matches. In less than two months after the report was published, many let out huge amount of money to find the flame. Nero Oscura is a talented 26 year-old man, almost as skillful as Verde, apparently. And yes, I'm sure. It's on his report, right here. It also says no one should get that flame, aka the mafia."
"'in order to let out its real form, a same attribute of flame is required'," Tsuna quoted a sentence on the report. "What? I thought there's only one, this rock." Tsuna pointed the photo of the rock on the monitor. "…it's not only the rock, Tsunayoshi-kun." seeing Shoichi's eyes, he instantly figured out what he meant. His eyes widened of knowing that. "No… it's not possible… you said no human has it."
"Then, why was she there? It's not 100% sure, but it's a possibility."
"There's no possibility! She's just a civilian! She can't be a flame-user!" he yelled at his face and Shoichi was struck with shock. It took seconds to realize his bursting anger. "Sorry…"
"I-It's okay. You're right. Moreover, one should have strong resolve to have flame, more so the dusk flame." having heard him, Tsuna sat on his bed, hands intertwined and his brown eyes looked at the floor.
"Why are you seeing her now?"
"What?" he looked up to meet Shoichi's face.
"I-I mean, before y-you—never mind, f-forget it."
Tsuna knew what he meant. He looked down again. "I was a 14 year-old kid who cared about protecting others and Kyoko… but not Haru, just because I thought she had no reason to stay with us. I never tried to understand her and see her. I always ignored her whenever she approached me. She always did everything for me, she was even willing to fall to save me and Lambo. She always helped me. She was the one who saw my flaws more often than anyone—even than Kyoko. But she kept stay with me, anyway. I'm stupid, Shoichi-kun… that's why I'm able to see her just now."
"What… do you want to do now?"
"Don't know. But I won't leave her alone again. I want to be the one she will ask for help, to cry on my shoulder. I want to be her savior once again. I want to be her friend once again. But will she give me a second chance?"
"You're saying you won't leave her out of your sight?" Tsuna's face flushed, "T-That's not it! You make me sound like a creep."
Shoichi smiled. "Everyone deserves a second chance. How about this, we're going back to the base now and see whether she forgives you. Sounds good?"
"Yeah, thanks…"
The base was a dead silence. All guardians were out, buying things for Christmas party tomorrow. In that empty base, there was a resonating sound. From the deepest level to the infirmary, her ears could hear it. Haru opened her eyes, greeted by the sound, as if it was calling out to her. She walked towards the sound in slow pace until she arrived at a secret lab. The rock was in the middle of the white room, on a pedestal.
It resonated and reverberated in front of her. She was being summoned, she walked to it and a single touch from her finger made a rainbow glow on the rock. The top deformed, cracked, and let out a pacified with solid yet clear color of orange, like the color of the sky in dusk. The pacified shone bright on her face; it was a pure light it gave off. She took it.
Much to her surprise, a tremor was felt. Before she ran to the upper level, she put the pacified inside her pocket. She ran along the base, no one was there, and unfortunately as she was heading towards the exit, a group of Mafioso stood in her way. She stopped.
One man, the boss held a device and then pointed his finger at her. "She has it! Get her!"
Tsuna and Shoichi chatted while walking to the base. The weather was nice, and Tsuna himself needed to cool down. He was enjoying the conversation, until he almost got hit by a car.
"Whoa, that was close." he sighed in relief while looking at the car. But a shock struck him like a thunder, seeing as the car bumped into a rock and the trunk got opened a bit, Haru was inside, tied up. His eyes bulged in surprise, including Shoichi who saw her. Immediately, Tsuna drank his pills and wore his gloves.
"Go back to the base and tell everyone to guard the rock!"
"A-All right!" Shoichi began running.
With anxiety and worries, he pursued the car as fast as he could, but the drive was insane! Driving with that speed in a residential area. He eventually lost it in the mountain. He couldn't stay still, he was restless. He couldn't hope for her well-being, not when hope had failed him 9 years ago, and not when she was kidnapped by a mafia.
He flew throughout the area until he found a cave with metallic door and two Mafioso and the car outside. One Mafioso immediately spotted Tsuna. "That's—!" but he got knocked out by Tsuna's punch and the other one got punched to the metallic door before he could draw his gun, causing a curve to it. The indignant boss grabbed his collar and narrowed his resentful eyes, "If she's hurt, I swear I'll kill you."
The Mafioso sneered. "You? Kill? You wouldn't…"
"Watch me."
Inside the tunnel, he swept anyone in his way. He was in a hurry to save Haru. He was unstoppable, until he arrived at a dead end. He forgot Ignoto Family was specialized in hiding their presence. And when he turned around, he went blackout, only seconds after to find himself lying on the ground with blurry vision and bleeding head.
"What was that?" Haru jerked as she heard the hard crash, like a metal crashing against a vulnerable object.
"That's just a big 'bug'," the boss walked towards her while she was tied to a chair. "You should worry about yourself."
"What do you want from me?"
"You have what I want. Maybe it's in the pocket on your skirt." he started put his hand inside the pocket, but what he brought out was a pacifier. "What's this thing? Where's the rock?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. Put it back." Haru narrowed her eyes on him.
"Okay, okay. If the lady says so." he put it back inside. After he put it, he pointed a gun at her forehead. "You must've hidden it. I say you have swift hands. As expected from Vongola to recruit such talented… 'Magician' like you."
"I'm not a mafia and neither do I belong to Vongola."
"For your own sake, don't lie. If you're not, then why were you at their base?"
"They were helping me, that's all. I don't know them."
"Really?" he withdrew the gun. "Bring him here."
She was shocked, seeing who the Mafioso brought. His head was bleeding and he was unconscious.
"Tsuna-san!"
"So, you do know him." the boss said. Then, he beckoned his men to untie Haru. She immediately approached Tsuna after that.
"Tsuna-san! Tsuna-san!" she kept shaking his body, his eye was opened a bit. That was all he could do with his current state. "Haru…?" the blood flowed through his one closed eye. "Run…"
"No!"
"You have nothing… to do… with this…"
She flinched he said those words. He never knew what Haru truly was… until this day. "You're wrong, Tsuna-san…" she said softly while wiping the blood on his face. "I'm the one they're after. I have the flame."
"You bring… the rock?"
"It's not the rock," she replied. "It's me. I have this flame inside my body." his brown eyes widened in much shock. Even though the enemies were surprised, they weren't as surprised as him. It was the disbelief look he had, a tint of a feeling of betrayed—but not betrayed by her. He was betrayed by his own belief.
"Don't joke around, young lady," the boss said. "A flame wouldn't choose a civilian like you. I need that flame to rule the entire mafia organization, so you'd better tell me where the rock is or I'll make a hole on Vongola Decimo's forehead." he aimed his gun at Tsuna.
Haru didn't budge to that threat. She kept silent for a moment. "I don't know why you want this flame. This is a cursed flame. At the moment I accepted this flame, I accept every negative emotion that flows into my heart. But I won't let you use me or this flame. Because the only reason I bear this flame is because of him. I live because of him. That's why, I'll use this flame to be his shield. This time, I'll be the one to protect him."
When Haru spoke her resolve, the rock the guardians were protecting shone brightly and hovered before it disappeared in front of them. The darkness that surrounded the room was shattered by the bright light that shone from above, the rock slowly made its way to Haru's hands, and as her palm touched it, the rock shattered into rainbow pieces and became a sword with spiral, unique hilt.
The last small piece of the rock on her hand shattered and became a ring with similar shape as Vongola's ring original shape, with diamond cut center stone which had a small drawing of a setting sun on the horizon. But there was no doubt it had Vongola mark etched above the setting sun. The stone color was orange dusk.
Tsuna widened his eyes, seeing the ring that looked exactly like Vongola guardian's original ring. Like everyone else, he was speechless and only eyes that took part of watching the surprising event. Haru clenched the ring inside her hand. She knew why it had that form, because it was her wish. With a smile that curved on her lips, she wore it on her right middle finger.
When she stood up, to everyone's surprise, she used the sword to cut her hair. Strands of brown hair dropped onto the ground with steady motion as Tsuna looked at her into her shadowed face. When she whirled around, the enemies immediately aimed their gun at her; no doubt they felt agitated. Slowly, she opened her two eyes, and they were shimmering red blood.
[HUMANITY PERCENTAGE]
100%
l
90%
I won't upload anything in two or three weeks. Yes, delay again, sorry. There's so many assignments to be done and I'll face exam two weeks later.
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WARNING!
There will be quite a lot (or some) Tsuharu moments in the future chapters (that's what I've been planning). Well, this story plot needs it. Of course, a story has to have the ups and downs. Besides, do you think just because Tsuna still loves Kyoko, I'll put many Tsukyo? Nay! This is Tsuharu fic!
If you don't like the idea, I kindly suggest don't read. I've warned you. Also, I'll put a few Hibaharu scenes.
I repeat, don't like it? Don't read.
