[HARU]
"Drip", "Drip", "Drop" is the rhythmic sound of raindrops that repeatedly fall from a crack in the ceiling and onto the uneven stony floor.
It was a tune all too familiar to the young lady, who presently occupies the cell.
Thoughts of rage, frustrations and utter hopelessness constantly filled her mind as a reminder of how she was in her current predicament.
Her beloved father unintentionally gambled away loans that a loan shark purposely funded him in order to feed his sinful temptation: Greed.
Her mother had long abandoned both her and the man, who she once claimed was "a mere shell of the loving man she once knew and love". Secretly Haru wished that it was a wakeup call for him to do better in life and attempt to win the love of his life back.
Yet, it had the complete opposite effect on him. He stayed out longer than usual, openly flirted with married women and carelessly balled out on his paycheck.
Meanwhile, the interest on his loan continued to skyrocket beyond his means of repayments. His loan shark was completely fed up with her father's antics and came to collect his well overdue collateral.
"Drip", "Click", "Drip", "Click", "Drop" temporarily surfaces her from the painful flashbacks of her past when she swears she hears some footsteps in a distance.
That very same sound closely approaches her door as she instinctively dives under the bed to hide. It was a rather lenient plan since she was then deliberately coaxed out of her concealed space.
It was at that moment did she come face to face with a silver haired man with an unreadable expression. 'The devil in the flesh,'
"Excuse me," A quaint feminine voice completely breaks her focus from the past and rapidly reels her back to the present.
"By any chance, are you…Miura, Haru?" The woman enquiringly asks while she attempts to register a name with the voice.
The brunette hesitantly confirms her identity to the woman on the other end of the bars, "Yes, this is Haru,"
"Oh good, I thought the guard gave me the wrong cell number." She thankfully exasperates as Haru simply narrows her brown eyes on the woman's shadowy outline.
"It's a pleasure to meet the young lady that has turned this place and Yui completely upside down on their heads." The woman cheerfully remarks with a toothy grin present on her face.
'How did she know that?' The brunette inwardly wondered how the strange woman in front of her personally knew Yui.
But before the question was even uttered from her lips, the guard's stern tone cuts through their conversation, "Ma'am, it's time to go."
"We'll resume our girl talk at a later time, shall we darling?" She hopefully proposes before she disappears from in front of the cell.
[VONGOLA HQ]
"Reborn-san…ah good afternoon, if I knew you were coming I would have picked you up from the airport." Hayato shockingly greets the Sun Arcabeleno, who presently occupies one of the two seats in the Juudaime's study.
He nods his head forward before he simply comments, "As would any good right hand would naturally offer for a member of the Famiglia."
"Reborn and I were just catching each other up on things." Tsuna quickly catches the silver haired male up on their conversation before his arrival.
The Storm Guardian then slides into the empty seat before he remarks, "I heard there was mission that unfortunately coincided with the Inheritance Ceremony date."
"Knowledgeable about all Famiglia movements, impressive Gokudera," He offers an honest compliment of his ability to stay inform of each and every member's actions before he vaguely explains, "It was of the upmost grave importance."
"I handled this mission as quickly as I possibly could but then again, I'm just a mere human, now." Reborn asserts as he tilts his head forward again and allows Leon to crawl down from his brim.
"As if that would ever slow you down, Reborn-san," Tsuna speaks in disbelief of the Mafia's Number One Hitman being human.
"Nevertheless, I received a complimentary gift and a DVD disk with the ceremony on it from the Ricotta Famiglia." He easily diverts the current topic back to the original topic of their conversation.
Gokudera verbally "huffs" and declares, "They sure know how to host a party even with the minor hiccup we encountered."
"You still can't be upset about that, Gokudera-san?" The brunette instantly quips since he knows exactly the meaning behind the word hiccup.
"Oh yes, I am. I spent almost four hours with that clumsy stupid woman." The silver haired male adamantly declared with a shake of his fist.
"And by stupid woman, he means Miura Haru," A feminine voice abruptly chimes in as the woman enters inside of the study.
"Kyoko-chan," Reborn greets her once she approaches the desk with an expression of confidence on her face.
"Reborn-san? It's always a pleasure to see you." Kyoko politely returns the greeting with a smile on her face, which earns a "Likewise," from him.
"Haru-chan is genuinely friendly," She explains to her husband, which earns a roll of eyes from his right hand guardian.
"More like genuinely stupid." Hayato corrects her before he provides a reason behind his statement, "She let some neighborhood kids bully her when she tried to help this little girl."
"Kids can be pretty mean, Gokurdera-san." Tsuna honestly admits with a slight chuckle, which only causes Reborn to smirk at his former pupil's statement.
"I want to hang out with her again." The orange haired woman declared since Hayato brought the brunette up in their conversation.
"No way in hell! Take Takashi next time but count me out." The silver haired male instantly denies his participation in the next meeting.
"Kyoko-chan, just be careful. We don't know what all they're capable of." Reborn gravely warns the young woman to remain alert about her recent rendezvous.
"It's not for me. It's for Haru-chan. She was so excited to be at the park and enjoy the fresh air that we take for granted. So no, I will not stop my dates with Haru." Kyoko adamantly defends her case to see the brunette woman again.
Hayato opens his mouth to provide a rebuttal to Kyoko's naïvity and explain how the Ricotta plans to exploit her newfound friendship with that stupid woman.
Yet, Reborn beats him to the punch and verbalizes, "Listen…the boss wife has spoken. What is your decision on the matter, Tsuna-san?"
The brunette deeply sighs, closes his eyes, leans against the length of the chair and declares, "Since Kyoko-chan feels so passionately about it…I'll let it continue but it has to be strictly supervised on both ends."
"Oh thank you Tsu-kun, you're really the best." His wife cheers at the idea that her husband permits her to continue to pursue a friendship with Haru.
"But…" Hayato was about to interrupt once again until another voice sternly asserts, "The boss has spoken, Gokudera."
Tsuna then directs his focus from Kyoko and on to Reborn and Hayato, who appears in the middle of a sidebar conversation.
"Thank you for your insight, Gokudrea-kun." He honestly thanks his right hand for his opinion on the situation at hand.
[RICOTTA]
Yui eventually reenters his father's study once again before one of the butlers offer him a drink, which he politely grabs a bottle of water.
"I see your methods of interrogation have…improved?" His father coyly alleges as he watches his son unscrew the cap of the bottle and sips on the cool liquid.
"Man, that some ice cold water," The silver haired male exasperates to himself while he wipes his mouth with the side of his sleeve before he claims, "Practice makes perfection,"
"She's quite the stubborn bull. But I can see why she caught your eye." He mentions with a smirk now present on his face.
Yui raises an eyebrow as he follows up with, "Oh? Is that so now?"
He merely watches his father nod his head forward, shifts his position, and implies, "Her personality reminds me so much of a devilish woman that I know."
A feminine voice unexpectedly yet cordially interrupts the father and son conversation with a remark, "Is that anyway a husband should talk about their lovely wife?"
"Mom?" Yui shockingly addresses the woman that stands before him as none other than his mother.
His father verbally scoffs "More like ex-wife" at the sight of the woman with silver hair styled in a high bun that shows off her soft features.
"Yui, how's my baby?" Her light blue eyes seem to twinkle at the sight of her son, who supplies an answer of "Alive".
"You've grown into quite the catch, young man. I must start to make arrangements soon." He overheard his mother mentioned while she closely observed the changes since the last time she saw her child.
His father then slams his fist against the desk and irritably barks at the woman, "Don't poison my son with your rotten picks."
"You act as if you carried and birth him?" The woman easily snaps back after she rolls her eyes at his feeble attempt to scare her.
"Now, now, now, let's not start." Yui immediately inserts himself in order to deviate from a potential argument between the two.
"So what brings you here, mom?"
[TAKESHI]
After he alarmed the security alarm and secured the locks on his family restaurant, Takeshi ventured to the parking lot that sat behind the building.
"Are you on your way to your next job, I-Pin?" The brunette was curiously inquiring after beholding the Chinese girl unchaining a bike from against the metal fence.
"Mr. Kawahira would be really mad if I don't show up for the dinner rush. He tends to personally request me a lot for his delivers." She reveals while she rolls her bike around toward the entrance/exit of the parking lot.
Takeshi softly chuckles a bit to himself before he admits with a nod of his head, "I know how that is. Thanks for your help again."
"We're family. That's what we do, help each other in times of need." I-Pin gently asserts to the older man along with left and right movements from her index finger.
Her comment brings a smile to the brunette's face since he finds himself in agreement with the mature teenager, "Couldn't have said it any better myself. Make sure you get some sleep too."
Takeshi patiently watches as the young girl boards her bike, waves him goodbye, disappears around the corner and passes in front of the restaurant in order to arrive at her next job.
'Lambo…you're one lucky dude.' He inwardly considers the Bovine teen as he drops his hand back to the side of his body.
The swordsman loads up in one of the delivery trucks that were in the parking lot, he hope Giovanni would take a look under the hood for him. 'I'll definitely have to offer up a house special if he can find the problem.'
A heavy sigh escapes his mouth as he cranks up the truck only to hear it slowly jumps to life.
'I just hope that I can get to him before Gokudera chocks the life out of him once he hears he is in Cram School because of the Inheritance Ceremony.'
[RICOTTA]
"I've heard some good things about our famigila lately." The woman cryptically was disclosing after selecting one of the two sofas to settle herself since she was growing tired of standing
"Oh and what might that be?" Yui was curiously posing since his mother was more than capable of easily acquiring such basic information, especially if it concerns with the family's dealings.
She simply flashed a small smile at her son before she continued to reveal what all she heard about them, "That we were able to secure an audience with one of the most powerful Mafia Famiglia... the Vongola."
"We only manage to secure the hosting rights due to our high Hospitality ranking." His father promptly corrects the woman because of her lack of accurate information instead of her being reliant upon untrue gossip.
Her light blue eyes narrow in on the man behind the desk while she crosses her legs at the ankles and declares, "As we should naturally,"
"The Inheritance Ceremony was amazing mom! You should've came!" Yui eagerly chimes in since he feels the tension between the two starts to resurface.
"I bet." His mom cheerfully agrees with him before she vocalizes, "It's not every day that the Ricotta Famiglia would have direct access to such a prestigious name in the Mafia world."
"Luckily for us, we were able to secure a golden opportunity with the Vongola." His father boastfully jaws before he signals for a butler to bring him a cigar.
She enquiringly repeats "golden opportunity" since her arrogant husband heavily emphasis those two words.
"Mother, Spring was able to create and establish a relationship with the Vongola's wife! Can you believe that?" Yui excitingly bragged about a girl name Spring, who managed to catch the eye of the boss wife.
"A relationship?" The silver haired woman questions mostly to herself before she astonishingly states, "Who would've thought that the Tenth's wife had an interest in the same sex?"
His father simply shakes his head while he irritably claims, "Your mind is always somewhere swimming in that filthy gutter of an imagination of yours."
"Spring? I don't recall seeing that name on the recent Geisha House listing." The woman simply ignores the older man's claim as she proceeds to converse with her son about this Spring girl.
"That's because you won't find it as the actual word "spring". You'll find it written as Miura, Haru." He provides her an explanation after he blows out a thick cloud of smoke from his mouth.
Realization quickly dawns on the young woman, which leads her to teasingly quip, "Oh, I see. And does he have personal monikers for the other girls?"
"Of course not," His father rudely answers while he eases against the length of his chair and leans the chair away from the direction of the woman on the couch.
"How long has this been going on?" She interestedly wonders while she stares at her child, who merely continues to drink water.
He narrows his eyes on the wall in front of him while he thinks about the question and provides a response, "When he first started out as a loan shark, it was one of his more successful collateral collections."
"And let me guess…he then personally requested to overlook the Geisha House operations once she turned of age?" She deliberately alleges as Yui begins to interact with one of the security guards on duty.
His father then cut his eyes over at the woman on the couch and begrudgingly pays her a compliment, "Intuitive as ever,".
An "hmph" emits from her mouth when she boastfully claims, "I'm a woman. We must know these things, especially our own flesh and blood."
Her light blue eyes watch in amusement her son chat with the security guard about this girl name Spring as she inwardly deems, 'So you're really growing up on me, aren't you Yui?'
"Besides, I already visited the girl in the cellar." She finally confessed where she previously was before she arrived at his private studies with her eyes closed in a relaxed position.
"Yui threw her in the dungeon for blatant insubordination." He eventually revealed the infraction that occurred by the young girl that earned her some time in the cellar.
The silver haired woman seductively licks her lips and instinctively assumes, "She sounds like a pretty stubborn girl."
"Breaking strong women has always been your forte. It irks me to even admit this but I'm rather quite anxious to see what the former Madam of the Geisha House will turn her into."