Author's Note: Sorry for another late chapter. My birthday was kind of a wreck so I spent a few days recuperating. The fact that my eyes were bleeding made it a little hard to focus on things... like a computer screen for example. So yeah, hope you guys like this chapter more than the last - as it seems quite a few people hated it.

(Thank you to MidnightMirror, lacomptessa, tabemono604, Animefreak1145, Sayonara Yasashii Akumu, Yamiroo Alice and RadioactiveInTheDark for reviewing. Glad some people actually liked that last chapter...)

Target Eleven:

Conspiracies and Birthday Presents

Meet me at Namimori Park.

Gokudera checked the screen on his phone for what felt like the millionth time. Peridot orbs scanning the grounds in front of him, he assumed that he had gotten the right address. Surprisingly, there weren't a lot parks in Namimori. Aside from the primary school grounds, it was the only recreational lot that people actually used.

At this time of day though, not many people were left.

Despite himself, Gokudera felt oddly nostalgic as he noticed the empty play structures before him.

Flashes of his own childhood reeled across his mind.

Most of his youth had been spent on the run from his father's goons. From working for whatever Famiglia was willing to take him in, to the time spent in the shitty apartments his almost nonexistent paycheck could afford - he honestly had no real childhood to speak of.

Unless he included the years he spent in his father's mansion.

Which, he most definitely did not.

"Hayato-kun!" a familiar voice called out, piercing through his thoughts.

Blinking his eyes back into focus, he lifted them to search for the owner of the voice - spotting the blonde almost instantaneously.

Swaying in small circles, Setsuna gave a small wave from her spot on the swingset. Surprised, Gokudera did a double take, as he wasn't quite used to seeing her outside of their school uniform. Rather than the normal clothes he saw her in, she was now in a pair of cut off shorts and a loose navy tee-shirt for the band Blood and Peppers.

"Setsu-hime?" he asked somewhat incredulously.

The blonde's lips quirked ever so slightly at the honorific. "Yeah, it's me."

Remembering himself, Gokudera bowed apologetically before making his way over to her.

The moment he reached her however, a palpable silence immediately loomed overhead.

For the past few days, she had been trying to find a time to speak with him. But something always got in the way. Whether it be her detentions, or him getting into another heated 'discussion' with Yamamoto.

To be honest though, Gokudera was terrified of what she had to say, and had been actively avoiding this very meeting.

The injuries she had received at the hand of his stupid fucking curse were still healing, and the way her brows furrowed whenever he made an appearance was hard to ignore.

If anything, she probably just wanted him out of her life before his presence inflicted any more damage. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about it already though.

After the kindness and acceptance the Vongola Decimo had shown him, it would be vastly unfair to allow Tsuna to get hurt as a result. Not to mention, Gokudera didn't want to leave.

But, if Setsuna asked him... demanded that he did... it would be quite difficult to argue with her - especially since she still walked with a limp because of him.

Noticing his rather tortured expression, Setsuna let out a mangled sigh.

"I promise I won't bite," she attempted to reassure him.

A slight grin cracked on his features, but it was obviously only a patronizing gesture.

"Swing with me?" she changed tact, offering him the chain of the swing beside her. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he grasped the chains and wordlessly slid down between them.

"So... what did you want to talk about, Setsu-hime?" he asked tentatively.

Whatever it is just get it over with, he groaned to himself. As much as he had been putting this conversation off, the stigma that had been growing since she asked to talk had become utterly unbearable as of late.

Which is probably why he finally gave in and sent her a text earlier saying he was free tonight.

"Okay, so this is going to sound a little weird..." she trailed off, knotting her fingers nervously in her lap. "But can you tell me about your family?"

Gokudera blinked first once, then twice.

"Family?" he repeated, as if he hadn't heard her correctly the first time.

"Yeah," she admitted almost sheepishly. "Like about your parents... If it's not too much trouble."

Gokudera opened and closed his mouth.

How exactly was he supposed to explain the impossibly fucked up state of his family?

Why did she even want to know?

"Uh," was his eventually eloquent response.

Running a hand through the wayward strands of her blonde hair, Setsuna tried to think of a reason to give him for asking about such a sensitive subject. It wasn't like she could just blurt out that the ghost of his mother was haunting him and the only way to save her soul was to solve the issue keeping her here.

Well, she could, but that would most likely end in Gokudera running as far away as he could manage.

Maybe, it wasn't a good idea to involve him after all.

"Ugh," she groaned after a moment, averting her eyes towards something in the distance. "Forget I asked."

"No, no, it's okay," Gokudera waved his hands emphatically. "I'll tell you."

As confused as he was, he wasn't about to spurn Setsuna away. After being granted such an honor of a one on one conversation with his Boss's sister, it would be a grave insult to turn down a request. Especially one as simple as telling her about his past.

After all, it wasn't the first time someone from a Famiglia wanted to know about it. Considering his father was a Mafia Boss himself, people often wondered why the child of such a prestigious man would look to join any other Famiglia. Because of this, he was viewed as either a spy or a disloyal bastard. Not many Famiglias welcomed him, and the ones that did were subjected to his damn curse.

Noting the worsening expression on his face, Setsuna grimaced herself. "If it's that bad you don't have to talk about it."

Gokudera snorted. It was that bad, but he wasn't so weak that he couldn't talk about it.

"My family... if you can call it that, is beyond fuc - er - messed up," he warned her, but when she didn't seem all that deterred he went on. "Before I was old enough to do anything about it, my father got rid of my mother."

He didn't bother watching Setsuna's reaction as he brandished a cigarette and lit it. The moment the nicotine hit his system his frazzled nerves calmed, but his mind still reeled from voicing the very fact that plagued him on a daily basis.

Rather than becoming emotional as he had expected, when Gokudera's gaze finally returned to the blonde he noticed her face was tight, and she seemed deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" she prodded after a moment, voice barely audible.

"When I was a kid, my father had my mother killed," he clarified candidly.

"Oh," Setsuna's mouth dropped open, as her mind attempted to sort through the new onslaught of information.

All that would explain why his mother was so violent.

Spirits that died a more intense death tended to be unstable as a result. Aside from his mother and the ghost that was stalking Yamamoto though, she had only ever ran into a few other volatile spirits. None of which were even remotely close to a Poltergeist transformation, but she could still distinctly recall them demanding revenge.

Of course, Setsuna assumed something had happened before the woman died that made her so irate now, but she most definitely hadn't been expecting this.

"I'm sorry for asking," she apologized after a moment. "I had no idea."

Gokudera smirked slightly. "Not your fault, Setsu-hime."

Setsuna offered him an encouraging smile in return, but it did little to ease the hardened look that had settled on his features.

"So... what was she like?" Setsuna wondered quietly. The only point of reference the blonde had of the woman was the insane, near Poltergeist she had gotten to know these past couple weeks.

Gokudera visibly flinched at the question however.

He had only known the woman a few years and even then he was only allowed to see her three times a year. Out of those visits he recalled maybe two of them.

"I don't remember much," he admitted sullenly. "But from what I can remember, she was a kind, and gentle woman. The times I did see her, she would play the piano for me... and I for her. I was pretty terrible - but you should have heard her play."

Gokudera took another drag of his cigarette.

"When she played her very soul was in the music."

Setsuna's chest constricted tightly at the mention of the instrument.

That would explain the music...

"Her name was Lavina," he said breathlessly, voice marred by barely contained emotion. "And I wish I could have actually gotten to know her."

Wringing his hands irritably, Gokudera attempted to stifle the flood of emotions that was threatening to break loose within. Even if he had spoken of this before, it had been so long that everything he kept bottled inside suddenly poured out of him.

"S-sorry," he apologized with a shake of his head. "I didn't mean to - "

"I should have known better than to ask," Setsuna cut him off, cursing herself for forcing him into this.

Despite the fact that she had spent literally days preparing what to say to him, all of the words had fluttered away the moment the conversation started.

"No, it's okay," Gokudera sighed. Honestly, it felt somewhat good to talk about it - like he was getting something off his chest.

"Before she died," he began again, his words scarcely above a whisper. "I didn't know Lavina was my mother. I thought she was just someone my father paid to teach me how to play piano."

A sardonic chuckle rumbled in his throat.

"Hell, I didn't even know she died. All I knew was that she missed my birthday - one of the few times a year I actually did get to see her. I didn't find out till about five years later that she died on the way to see me, and my father was the very one that had her taken out... Apparently a mistress wasn't good for his reputation."

Setsuna only stared at him in stunned silence.

Originally, it had struck her as odd that Lavina was so upset over not being able to give her son his birthday present, but everything made sense now. More than anything, Lavina was devastated that she hadn't been able to see the son before she died. Especially considering she rarely saw him that much to begin with.

Squashing the cigarette butt between his fingers, Gokudera haphazardly flicked the remnants of the cancer stick away.

Somehow, he felt lighter now, as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders - but the emptiness that always seemed to cling to him still echoed effervescently. After all, the vacant hole in his chest was something he had long gotten used to.

-Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ-

"Hey, Setsu-hime," Gokudera said suddenly, as they reached the gate of the Sawada household. The blonde stopped dead in her tracks. After their conversation on the swings ended the silver haired teen had yet to say a word.

"Yes, Hayato-kun?" she asked, somewhat hesitantly.

Ever since he stopped talking, she had half expected him to blow up any moment - furious with her for butting into his personal life. A part of her even wondered if he had some ulterior motive in walking her home - from the look on his face however it was obvious that wasn't really the case.

"I just wanted to say," he trailed off, a light blush dusting his cheeks as he averted his stormy green orbs. "Even though I don't know why you wanted to know about my past... thank you for listening to my ramblings. It was - uh - nice." Scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, he stole a furtive glance through the corner of his eye.

An astonished blush hastily crept up on her pale cheeks as well.

"No need to thank me," she soon found herself unable to face his gaze. "I shouldn't have bothered you with it."

Taking her hands into his own, he forced her to look at him. "No, really! I'm glad someone cared enough to ask... I mean... ugh... It just helped to get it off my chest, okay?"

Despite herself, a giggle escaped Setsuna's lips. This was the first time she had seen Gokudera so flustered. "Okay," she eventually relented, with a small grin.

Mollified, Gokudera released his grip on her hands and deposited his own back to his pockets.

"One last thing, if you don't mind," he said, as he rocked back on his heels. "Can you not mention what I told you to, Juudaime? I don't want him to worry unnecessarily."

Setsuna's grin drooped into a grimace. "If that's what you want."

After all, she was pretty much the poster child of secrets at this point.

Not that she hadn't tried to tell Tsuna about her abilities before or anything though...

Gokudera let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Thank you, Setsu-hime."

"No problem, Hayato-kun."

After that, the silver haired teen gave an awkward half wave before strolling away - towards wherever it was that he lived. As he left though, Setsuna couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

Trailing her fingers over the bars of the gate, the blonde attempted to sift through what she had learned with their conversation.

By any standard it wasn't a lot, yet at the same time it was.

The reason Lavina had been so upset over the fact that she hadn't given Gokudera his birthday present was because:

A.) She rarely saw him

B.) She had been killed on the way to his birthday

As horrible as it was though, this knowledge did little to help Setsuna put Lavina to rest. If anything, it only further solidified the fact that she needed to find and deliver the present.

That proved to be somewhat difficult though, considering the blonde had no idea where to look for the present and she couldn't really ask Gokudera about it without revealing her true motives. Even if by some miracle Gokudera knew where the present was, it likely wouldn't be in his possession. Not to mention he had just moved from Italy with who knows how many of his old belongings.

All of this was giving Setsuna a massive headache, one that throbbed rather angrily behind her amber orbs - which was probably why she didn't realize someone was behind her until they had a hand over her mouth and an arm snaked around her waist.

The moment reality caught up with her though, the blonde struggled fruitlessly in the iron grip of the attacker. As she did so however, what they had in their hand expeditiously slid down Setsuna's throat.

Darkness soon swallowed her vision, and consciousness slipped unwillingly from her grasp.

-Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ-

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter after such a long wait. I just struggled with this chapter for some reason. I had been terrified I made Gokudera too OoC, but at the same time I kind of liked him this way. I honestly feel with the relationship him and Setsuna have at the moment he would confide in her, but ultimately I don't know as he never had this type of relationship with anyone in the manga. You're free to disagree though, I guess.

Maybe I should just slap an OoC tag onto the summary and be done with it...

(As I'm sure you noticed, I changed the chapter titling system. It was getting to the point where it was almost forcing me to change up the plot just to make sure a ghost was included - which, I'd rather not stray from my original plot sketch for such an insignificant reason. Hope you guys weren't too off-put by it.)

Anyway, thank you for reading everyone. (Even if you hated this chapter as much as the last.)

Hope to see you again soon!