Chapter 6

Closest Of Friends

"Haru's sorry Reborn! Haru already has plans for today!"

Reborn pauses at that, for a moment he doesn't seem to know how to respond. "I-ahem-I see" He stutters. He seems shocked that Haru had said no. The girl understands though, a murder mystery sounds really fun, and the detective outfit Reborn has set up for the situation is super cute. Still, Haru and Momo have a convention to go to and cute outfits to wear of their own. Haru would never deny her close friend a good bonding time.

Skull snorts from his spot on the couch at Reborns stricken form. He had been sort of lounging quietly in the back as Reborn broadcasted his master plan for the day. Before Reborn's arrival, Skull had been giving Haru some makeup tips. Usually, Momo was the one who did the makeup for their cosplay escapades so Haru had abused Skull's supposed knowledge so she could show up her bestie.

Skull had spent a whole week at her house sort of teaching her tricks of the trade. Since their blossoming bond at mafia land, the two had become thick as thieves. The two are even writing a bucket list of cool things to do. Though Haru sourly notes Skull has already done most of the things on the list.

Today is their heartbreaking goodbye as Skull claims he's got things to do and places to see. He had waited till today simply to see Momo's surprised face when she saw Haru's expertly done makeup, done all by herself. Then he's packing up and going to Egypt.

Why Egypt? Who knows.

"Ah, that reminds me, Haru, do you want anything when I'm gone?" The boy asks with an expectant smile. Ignoring Reborns glare, Haru takes a moment to think. Honestly, Haru can't think of anything she really wants, nor needs. Haru has never been a materialistic person, she prefers things handmade with thought over something expensive and extravagant.

The idea that Skull, whose friendship with her was still new, wanted to go out of his way to get her something during his trips was sweet though. Haru just can't say she 'wants' anything. What do people usually ask for in gifts? Momo tended to collect phone charms when out so that was probably a normal gift. Haru can't think of a reason to have that many keychains but maybe she could do something similar? "Haru would like a magnet."

Reborn and Skull give her a strange look at her response and for a moment Haru worries that her request is too weird or something. Skull is quick to bounce back though, flashing her a large smile.

"THE GREAT SKULL WILL GIVE YOU THE BEST MAGNET EVER!" He hollers as he puffs his chest up in pride. Haru can hear Reborn sighing from behind but chooses to ignore him as she gets ready for the day. As a whole Reborn seems to be a bit let down by her dismissal. Haru can't help but feel a bit guilty when he slumps over with a frown as Skull and her happily joke around.

Her plans with Momo have been a long time coming though! Haru and Momo go to this same convention every year, to cancel such an important occasion would just be cruel! Sad 'hitman' or not, Haru will never break a promise. Still…

"Haru can't be a part of today's game but, Haru will help if she can!" She prods with a little smile. Reborns frown twitches for a moment before he smirks her way.

"Well, our murder suspect needs to disappear for the day. I was hoping to send you away with him on an all-paid trip to the zoo. However, if you can find another way to hide Lambo I am open to hearing it." Reborn remarks. Haru takes a moment to ponder over his words before an assured smile beams upon her face.

"Haru can't take Lambo to the zoo, but her papa can!" Haru's papa has been stressed with work for the last few days. A paid vacation would probably help him out a lot. Plus Haru's papa likes Lambo quite a bit. He had always wanted a son and had sort of adopted Lambo as that dream child. It's because of this that Lamob would sometimes just appear at their house asking for candy from the old man.

They now have a jar of grape candies specifically stocked up for the little boy. Haru bets her papa would be more than happy to go out with the boy for their own bonding spree.

"That could work," Reborn acknowledges with a little tilt of his head. "I will go kidna-retrieve Lambo for their trip…" He notes before wishing Haru a goodbye and jumping out the window. Which is a very overdramatic way to leave a house if you ask Haru.

Knock. Knock.

"Hahi, that must be Momo!"

Momo looks amazing in her sailor mars outfit. Seeing the girl with dark hair is something that always leaves Haru in shock, a bit more used to her dyed blonde hair at this point. "You look amazing Momo!" Haru cheers as she charges for a hug. Momo Takes the tackle like a champ as she pats Harus back with a sigh.

"And you make a sick blonde" she chuckles, flicking one of Harus buns with a sense of fondness. She pauses before grabbing Haru's face and glaring hard with a calculating look. "Huh, you did your makeup...And it's not actually bad" She praises turning Haru's face from side to side.

"Haru's new friend taught her how!" Haru Chortles after her face has finally been released from Momo's death grip. Skull waves awkwardly from his spot on the couch when the girl looks over.

"A kid taught you?" Momo snorts, her comment more out of curiosity than any sort of malice. Momo at heart is not the type to judge others based on appearance or age. She prefers figuring out their true character before ripping their every weakness from their core. It's part of why she became the president of the journaling club.

That and her strange addiction to gossip. Momo just soaks information up like a sponge.

"THE SKULL DE MORT HAS MANY TALENTS" Skull hollers in his character's voice. Haru has noticed over time that Skull likes to use this speech pattern whenever he's in the company of people he does not know or is feeling nervous. It seems to be a booster for his confidence. Haru understands, it's sort of like the cheer her gymnastic club does before every game. A sort of hyper upper before the big confrontation.

"Many talents?" Momo teases as Skull stutters in embarrassment. He has gone bright red as though the comment was something to be embarrassed by. Stating in a whine that 'that's not what I meant'. Haru isn't sure what the big deal was, Skull is a talented boy.

"Skull can do tricks on a motorcycle too!" She shares with a fond smile.

"Right..." Momo snorts with a pat on Harus' head. "Well, many talents De Mort, it was fun while it lasted but we have a train to catch," Momo notes before slowly dragging Haru towards the door. Haru is trying to stop and say goodbye to Skull only for Momo to steadily push her out the door. Skull is still very much on the couch and unsure how to react

The door was slammed shut before Skull had figured out a response. Only for Momo to peek through the door for a moment "Oh, and good job on the makeup…" And BANG the door was closed yet again.

The convention was busy this year. Or maybe Momo and Haru's sailor scout costumes were just a really big hit. Either way, the girls had a fulfilling day and Momo nabbed herself another keychain for her growing collection. Haru on the other hand wanted a nap.

Don't get Haru wrong, she loves conventions, but they can be a little tiring. That and someone had tried to grab her from behind and Haru, in a moment of panic, had flung the guy across the hallway. Everyone had been pretty shocked when it had happened. Haru remembers just stammering apology after apology the dazed boy's way.

He was fine thankfully. Though he was immediately reprimanded for being a creep. The guy was supposedly lurking around trying to cop a feel from unsuspecting girls. Momo said Haru would probably be seen as a convention hero for lugging the slug bag.

Haru just hopes none of her other fighting stances become a habit. She would hate to hurt anyone else in an accident like that. Haru had only learned combat in hopes of protection, never to hurt those that did no harm. Er, physical harm?

Either way, Haru will bring this up with Fon the next time she sees him. It would be good if she doesn't actually hurt innocent people. That and Haru swears the guy shouldn't have gone flying with how little effort she had put into flinging him. Haru has never been a strong person, athleticism coming from her flexibility instead of her raw strength. So for her to treat a grown man like a slinky has brought her a couple troubling thoughts.

Ignoring that one problem Haru is now at Tsuna's listening to the boy's laments on a missing Lambo. Apparently, when Reborn had said murder mystery, he'd meant this. From what Haru has gathered from Tsuna's erratic form Lambo has been missing all day. Tsuna and Reborn have been playing detective as they question each and every person who may want to harm the boy.

Haru jokingly asks if it was Gokudera only for Tsuna to tiredly shakes his head no. "We've asked him and Yamamoto already. We've asked everyone! You're the only other person I can think of…" He admits with a slump. Reborn blows a bubble from his fake pipe and nods in agreement.

"Hahi! Is Haru a murder suspect?" She jokes. She knows this is all a joke of course. Just the course a murder mystery is meant to be set through. Though looking at Tsuna's fatigued form Haru worries he may have not been in the loop with the rest. Haru isn't sure how a murder suspect is supposed to act either.

All she does know is that Lambo is perfectly fine.

"Haru was at a convention with her best friend!" Haru truthfully confides instead, gesturing vaguely at her costume. Tsuna nods dully at this before furrowing his brow in despair.

"None of this makes sense!" He cries with his head in his hands in mock despair.

"Or" Reborn retorts, "Someone is lying." Black eyes staring straight at Haru. For a second Haru thinks this is the moment she's supposed to confess to knowing where Lambo is, only he continues, "Let's re-question the group. Someone is sure to spill the truth." He remarks with finality.

Tsuna sort of just nods in glum agreement before the three head off to find the others. Funny enough, everyone's stories match up with one another. Haru is the sole person who has a unique recap. The only one who was on her own. Yet Tsuna doesn't seem to stop and point fingers her way.

Haru is a bit worried about this. The girl loves Tsuna, she really does, but for him to not question her is a bit worrisome. With the only questionable Alibi, Haru should be the main suspect.

Not that she HAD done anything. But she did know what happened, and following along as Tsuna gets more and more stressed makes the girl feel pretty bad.

"Tsuna!" She cries when the guilt gets too bad. "Haru is guilty, Haru is the liar! Haru knows where Lambo is and never said anything. Haru thought you would question her more but you haven't and she feels really bad!" She cries an hour into their search. Tsuna looks her way in shock just as Gokudera starts to shout random insults.

"You do?" Tsuna screeches upon realizing Haru is not in fact lying. Haru nods numbly.

"Reborn gave Haru tickets to go to the zoo with Lambo but since she had something to do she gave the tickets to her papa instead. They should be home by now…" She confesses.

"Wait...Reborn gave them to you?" Tsuna slowly turns to Reborn who sort of just smiles smugly. "But you told me you didn't know where Lambo was?!" Tsuna wails, forgetting Haru to instead rail on Reborn.

Reborn on the other hand just shrugs "I seem to have forgotten" he confesses without a drop of regret.

Today Fon's training for Haru is a one-on-one spar with Ipin. They changed the form of training when Haru had brought up the man she had sent flying a few days ago. Fon had in turn decided it was time for Haru to take a step up in her training.

Haru wishes they never did such a thing. Ipin is strong. Much stronger than Haru was first expecting. When she brought up how different the fight was in comparison to her training with Fon he just smiled and confessed he had been going easy on her. Apparently going easy on her is leaving Haru black and blue.

"I never broke any bones though" he noted amicably after training. Haru had simply puffed up at him in faux anger. After a whole day of being flung this way and that Haru was tired and sore. Ipin had not pulled on her punches. Based on the prideful beam Fon had sent her way after the one-sided match he had known this as well.

While yes, there was in fact no broken bones, Haru still felt in pain with every little move she would make. "Haru is starting to think Fon is a bully." She muttered coldly into her tea. Fon chuckles from across her at the little table outside the dojo they sat at. The weather is just warming up, making it nice to be outside.

Haru is glad the cold season is finally ending. She was never the biggest fan of the cold. The warming weather also means pools are opening up. Supposedly Tsuna's school even has swimming classes starting soon. Tsuna had been really glum when talking about it.

Apparently, they like to punish bad swimmers by making them swim with the girls. Which Haru can't for the life of her find a problem with but Tsuna was incredibly distraught at the idea. Is it embarrassing for boys to swim with girls?

Either way, Reborn had invited Haru to help Tsuna with his swimming lessons next week. Unlike Fon's tough love technique with her, Haru plans to be patient and loving when teaching Tsuna. Haru bets that had Fon not been such a bully when training her she would probably have gotten better faster.

Speaking of Fon "Haru has been wondering" Haru comments, interrupting the peaceful silence that had resonated between the two. "Haru has been thinking a lot, and she means a lot about what you said on New Year's Day. And Haru's stuck. You said Haru's necklace has similar...um…' magic' to your pacifier within them but yours is cursed? Haru can kind of guess what hers does but she can't for the life of her figure out your curse...What did you mean by curse Fon?"

Said the boy, who was before calmly drinking his tea, now holds the cup with tense hands and a thick frown marred on his face. "I...I apologize Haru, I never should have troubled you with my problems." Fon starts with a grim note to his tone "Please do not trouble yourself with my issues, I promise all is fine."

The soft winds that Haru had grown accustomed to with Fon slowly inch away with every word the boy speaks. As though their slowly growing friendship had been bridged apart with Harus simple question. The girl cannot, for the life of her, figure out why though.

Haru understands why Fon would be upset about any said curse. Haru sometimes wakes up with a sense of sadness lost when looking down at her necklace, whatever his curse it, must be far worse. Still, for him to claim Haru should not trouble over his misfortune upsets the girl. It's like the boy has never had someone to lean on. Nobody to just vent over his issues.

Haru sees the boy as her friend, she worries about him because he is her friend. Not because she wants him to feel bad, or to trouble him in any way. She only wants to be there for him during his darkest time. Any friend would want to help carry their friend's burden.

"I just wanted to be there for you…"

"I'm sorry Haru what did you say?" Fon asks with a furrowed brow.

Haru looks back at the boy with a silly smile, "Hahi, Haru made things super awkward. Haru is super sorry, Haru won't bring it up again!" She laughs with a large grin. Fon is nice enough to throw her one of his own soft smiles as they change subjects. Instead conversing about what Haru could do to strengthen her fighting technique.

Haru makes a point to not bring up her troubles with Fon, deciding with a frown that no, the two are not quite friends. Fon had made it exceedingly obvious with that one comment. The two, while close, were not that close. Not at least in Fon's eyes. Haru would respect that, no matter how much it hurt. Fon had placed a barrier between the two, a reminder to the girl to not prod where she didn't belong.

If Haru wanted to help with the kids' curse and find out more about her own issue she would have to look elsewhere.

Being with the gang at the pool that next Saturday turned out to be the perfect solution. Haru had spent the week passing faking smiles as she started questioning every person. Was she even friends with Tsuna? Sometimes Tsuna would show her a troubled smile or blow her off in a similar quality to Fon and it made her question her place in the group.

Now that she thought of it, the group as a whole seemed to leave her in the dark at times. Even Reborn, who Haru had found to be a straightforward sort of boy, would hide things from her. Most had to do with this whole 'mafia' thing that Tsuna was a part of. They would go from loudly proclaiming things to quietly remarking to others.

At first, Haru understood. Haru is weak in comparison to the others, she only had her gymnastics for the longest time. If she knew too much she could become a liability...But Haru is stronger! She has been training for this sole purpose. Simply so she could be one with the group and be someone Tsuna could trust in.

Seeing even little Lambo being a part of the 'mafia' talk while she and Kyoko were left to talk about cakes really hurt Haru's confidence. It shattered the part of her that was always assured and comfortable with her body. Reminding her of that empty core Haru had tried so hard to ignore.

Reminding Haru of when her papa first started keeping secrets from her. Always telling her 'not to worry' as he sat in grim rooms with others discussing her future. Ones he left her in the dark of under the pretense that it was best she had not known. Under the belief that his daughter would be happier left unknowing while he suffered all alone.

Haru misses being able to just sit in her mother's lap in a peaceful slumber. The knowledge that those she cared for most in life trusted and loved her back. That as a family they would confide in one another and carry each other's worries. Those around her had always been honest and kind. Never a lie leaving their lips.

Haru is not good at this new type of friendship. She's become too accustomed to the truthful care of her childhood. Now every nice person she meets she just assumes means her goodwill. And they probably do! Haru doesn't doubt for a moment that Fon is a good person. She just wishes she knew what he thought of her…

Haru just doesn't want to be a bother.

"Do we have to do this?" Haru blinks before looking down at Tsuna with a worried smile. He's looking at their held hands in embarrassment.

"Is it not helping?" Haru asks softly, over reading his uncomfortable body language with worry. As all the negatives of the day eat away at her mind.

"No...It is helping me with getting my balance while swimming, it's just…" Tsuna breaks off at this looking over at where the gang sits with a timer. Gokudera is glaring harshly from his spot by the water. Though he breaks into a grin when he catches Tsuna's gaze. Pretending for a moment to be anything but the angsty teen he actually is.

He's been glaring at Haru since her time to teach Tsuna how to swim had started. Haru thinks he's just angry that Haru's idea had been working so far while his math equation had been anything but helpful. Who in their right mind learns how to swim via a math equation?

"It's embarrassing" Tsuna continues, "there's little kids watching me struggle to just float-and it's just...frustrating." And if that isn't an understatement. There's actually a whole grouping of kids off to the side watching them with little giggles for Tsuna's every struggling breath. Haru can understand why that would upset Tsuna. Had she been in his feet she would also feel a sense of embarrassment. Still, learning something is never easy.

"Don't mind them Tsuna, just think of what you're doing. Letting others' opinions bother you will just weigh you down!" Haru cheers. This is a very similar speech to the one Momo had given her when they had first met. Haru had been alienated from the rest of the class due to being weird, Momo had been quick to praise her weirdness as just being unique and not actually a bad thing to be.

"Do you know those kids?" Haru adds.

"Huh? No."

"Then why does what they say matter?" The timer goes off from behind them and Haru winces as Gokudera starts to shriek her way. "Haru thinks Tsuna's doing great if it means anything…" She adds shyly when they reach the edge of the pool. Tsuna looks Haru's way with an air of surprise before a soft smile graces his lips.

"You're a good friend Haru." He confesses before leaving the water to talk to the others about his progress.

Haru pauses in the water for a second before a very real and very large smile graces her face. "Hahi! Let's get Tsuna to be the best swimmer ever!" She cries as she dives out of the water. Fully ready to argue with her friends.

Haru went to be that night with a lightness to her shoulders. Cheered up and all the more positive for the days to come. She slept in peace with no knowledge of the trouble that would come in the coming days. Nor how she would be affected.

So this was a bit of a difficult one to write...Legit just went with the flow and had to go back and fix it like 6 times to make it not angst. It feels a bit rushed in my humble opinion, but that's how all my writing feels to me so it must not be THAT bad.

Haru isn't mad at Fon, she's just respecting the boundaries she sees. They are still friends! I swear! They just have different ways to think, you gotta remember Fon doesn't have the best past and probably has never had a friend like Haru. He's not used to people worrying cause they care and so it troubles him. And yes Haru and Skull are already bff's, they are really similar so I just couldn't imagine them NOT being close friends. Reborn hates it.

The next 3 weeks are going to be busy for me, my classes end then, so I'll be a bit distracted. The next chapter will probably be the start-up of Pineapple boy, but nothing too serious since I wanna actually be coherent for the fight.

I have big plans for Mukuru...AKA he's going to get our plot rolling! I think...Maybe.

Thank you for being a part of my Ted Talk and I'll see you in two weeks!