And here is the next chappie! I am rushing this as much as I possibly can so that I don't leave this story and all these ideas on a cliff hanger, but at the same time, I don't want to give you guys some shoddy half-finished job. So, please enjoy this chapter and look out for new chapters soon. Many thanks :)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own KHR or Hibari or Haru nor do I claim any rights to them. I do however own the current location of this chapter and all the other characters portrayed here. Any resemblance to actual characters is purely coincidental.
Suki stretched in her sleep and turned over. Her dreams had carried her off to a land where everything was good and right with the world. Her boyfriend had asked her to marry him and they were celebrating at a nice dinner where he was confessing his undying love to her. Her parents were very pleased with her and for once, things were going her way...
Her hand had landed on the bed where her boyfriend had been, the warmth now slowly fading, but being just enough to lull her back to sleep.
Kenji sighed as he leaned back in the chair facing the window. He was tired from having made the long trip to this remote place, beautiful though it was, as well as having to keep up with Suki to make sure she stayed in one piece. She was a little clumsy and not too bright, but she was pretty and that suited him just fine.
At least it did until he had met Haru.
She was lovely. Of course that was one of the first things he noticed about her. The whole family noticed and even Kurumi couldn't say anything to the contrary. She had an innocence about her too that he hadn't seen in a while. It was rather refreshing.
The second thing he noticed about Haru was her shyness. When Kurumi had asked her name, she had only murmured it. When he had met her again in the kitchen, she had visibly blushed and averted her gaze. When he had complimented her by the lake, she had flushed again and her blush was such a becoming colour.
The third thing he had noticed, and this one bothered him, was how pleasant her smile was. She had smiled at him in the lake house and that was what had started it all. He had not been able to go three minutes without wondering where she was and who she was smiling at in that moment. That, he reminded himself for the eleventh time that evening, was exactly the behaviour of an untried bumbling youth. He was a far cry from that.
"Miura Haru," he mused with a lazy smile. His mother would like her. Like Akino, she had that quality that just made you like her. No wonder Kyoya had her. It took a massive effort to move him and it seemed he had met his match, in a manner of speaking.
She was quite witty too. She had held her own against Keita's facts and spent a good amount of time arguing on the rights of the people with regards to the constitution and housing. Of course most of that was lost on him. Keita was the family lawyer. She had taken a class in law but had chosen to focus on design instead. When the topic had somehow switched to drugs, she had been able to argue very logically and tactfully from a psychological point of view as well.
Suki hadn't seemed the least bit comfortable and Kenji didn't really make an effort to change that. He shouldn't have brought her after all. That had been one mistake he now couldn't undo... well, he could, of course, but doing so this soon would earn him Akino's wrath for being heartless and that woman was not weak, as she had showed him that afternoon. His head still stung a little from that blow with the wooden spoon. It was a good thing he was used to it.
It was amazing how much he had found out about her in one night. She was a very interesting subject.
In any other circumstance, in any other situation and at any other time, he would have ignored her completely since his crowd didn't seem to be her type. He would have scoffed at her age to begin with. She was only twenty one. There was almost a whole decade between them.
Still, it unsettled him that he should even be thinking about her at all. He didn't like it. Even when he tried to sleep, he found he couldn't. He was being silly. Suki was lying beside him and he was focusing his attention on some young naïve child?
Some young naïve child who was now in his nephew's arms...
He shook his head and got up. He needed a drink. He needed to go through that hallway and down to the kitchen to get himself some... water. Yes, that was what he wanted. He had no interest in whatever Kyoya and Haru were up to behind that door... second on the right... beside a picture of his father. To care about that was absurd.
As he passed the door, Kenji leaned a little to the right. Hearing nothing in particular and without breaking his stride, he walked to the kitchen. Of course they wouldn't do anything. Haru was too pure for that. She wouldn't just let Kyoya do what he wanted. With a satisfied smirk, he walked back to his room with his glass of water in hand. At least someone else was having a more uncomfortable night than he was.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*
Haru lay awake painfully aware of the arm Hibari had draped around her waist. He had done this ever since they had started sharing a bed all those months ago when Tsuna and Kyoko started dating. It wasn't so strange, she tried to convince herself, but she couldn't shake the awareness long enough to actually fall asleep.
When she had tried to move to ease the tension she felt, his arm had tightened protectively and he had sighed in his sleep, tickling the hairs on the back of her neck with his breath. She could almost imagine him enjoying her discomfort. Of course he would like it this way. He wasn't the self-conscious one imagining the whole house being all ears. Severally it had been mentioned that she would be the one he continued the line with, much to her embarrassment.
That was mostly because, even though she admitted to herself that it probably wasn't so bad as all that, it was never going to happen. Hibari moved closer to her and she stifled a gasp as all sorts of sensations skidded through her.
She rolled her eyes thinking how ridiculous the whole situation was. She had no idea that Akino had set up only one room for her. Hibari had been very matter-of-fact about it too... so had he known this entire time? Of course, the simple explanation could be that there were limited rooms in the house. Of course, that was probably it. Still, how could he have been so casual about it? There was nothing causal about the way she was feeling!
When Hibari had led her down the hallway to their room, she had thought he was being a gentleman by escorting her to her room. Well, if the others could only see him now, they would certainly be surprised. However, Hibari walked in and switched on the lights. Haru saw the futon on the floor and paused.
There was only one bed – and two pillows.
They were going to share a bed!
"Ano, Hiba… Kyoya…-san," said Haru uneasily. It still felt strange using his first name.
"Hmm?" he said heading for his bag.
"I… I mean, where will I sleep?" He quirked his brow at her as if she was being very silly.
"On the bed of course."
"And… where will you sleep?"
"On the bed," he said as if nothing was wrong with that and began unbuttoning his shirt. Haru flushed ten shades of red and turned quickly. Of course she had seen him without his shirt once or twice but this time it was different.
"You can change in the bathroom if you like," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. She didn't miss it and her embarrassment quickly turned to anger at that. Since when were her moral values something to laugh about?
She calmly turned back to face him, her cheeks still high with colour and went to her own bag to get her pyjamas. Calmly as she could, she walked to the bathroom, locked the door behind her and began to change.
One bed.
Haru stared at the one futon when she came out of the bathroom. She couldn't believe it! He would do this to her here where the whole house would be all ears to know what they would be up to? Well, she didn't know about that, but somehow, she got the feeling that everyone imagined they were dating already. This would be firm proof of it and it would besmirch her character in front of Hibari's family.
She was feeling tired and it wasn't as if they hadn't done anything like this before. He was already under the covers. He was waiting for her...
"If you would rather go back out there, be my guest," he said calmly.
Haru wrung her fingers, at a loss as to what she had to do.
"Or is the problem that you have to share the bed with me?"
She paused at that. That was and wasn't the problem. What harm could one night do? Besides, they wouldn't have done anything, would they? She took one step and then another and another and finally, she was in the bed beside him. Before she could blink, he had her flat on her back with her wrists captured on both sides of her head. She looked at him stunned. What was he doing now? He leaned in close to her ear and he felt her stiffen.
"Or were you afraid something like this might happen?"
Haru met his gaze, unwilling to do anything else. She hoped he kissed her. She really did miss kissing him and he was such a good kisser too. Instead, he had turned her so that her back was to him and his arm was draped over her waist.
"I won't harm you," he had murmured, "so go to sleep."
That was easier said than done, as the current situation clearly stated.
Although, he was rather warm. She took a deep breath and pulled the covers up a little then shifted slightly and shut her eyes with a smile on her face. He was being considerate, now that she thought about it for the third time. She should appreciate the gesture and sleep. Any problems could be sorted in the morning. She was getting very sleepy anyway. Slowly, she slipped into the land of dreams and the pressure around her waist eased slightly.
For the last hour or so, Hibari had felt her tense and try to get away from him. He hadn't wanted that. Maybe he should have kissed her. It had worked last time. Anything was better than this. He was about to turn her to him for another endless drugging kiss when he suddenly felt her relax. He smirked and eased the pressure on his arm. She wasn't going to run and that was a relief.
In the morning, they could deal with any of his nosey family's speculations. He didn't particularly care about them, but she obviously did so it was unavoidable.
