Tenth Decision

"Then will you love me too?" Haru answered with a question after a few moments of silence. She was surprised that he suddenly said that. 'Then love me.' It echoed through her head probably thousands ten thousands of times. But to her it was irrational. She couldn't understand why he would say that. No. She had a gist. But she was afraid. That she might be wrong. That she might misunderstand. Like she always did. That's why she had to come up with a smart answer to avoid whatever may come.

"W-What?" His mind went blank as he didn't expect her to answer like that. He was speechless for a moment.

"If I love you then will you love me?" Haru repeated.

"Uh… well… but… I mean…" That's all that Gokudera could bring out his mouth. His was lost for words.

"I don't understand why you would start a joke like that." Haru then said and faked a laugher. "Anyways. Thanks for bringing me home safely. I'll see you tomorrow then." She just let it slide. She just brushed it off. It would be too awkward the next days if they keep this serious atmosphere. "Good night." She waved at him and went upstairs without awaiting another answer from him.

He stood there for a while condemning himself for not saying anything. Why couldn't he just say it? He balled his fists and wondered over and over again. Over and over again he makes the same mistakes. Over and over again. It's always the same. It always is.

The next day those two were picked up by Takeshi and were driven to the airport. They had packed their luggage already the night before. They talked normally about trivial things trying their best to act normal when Takeshi was present. Even though there was an awkward atmosphere between them they hoped that he wouldn't notice. Everyone knew already that they started dating a week ago. So they didn't want to worry them and have them think that they had an argument. Was it even an argument? A lovers' quarrel? They didn't really know but it was weird. When they arrived at the airport they received the details and flight tickets from Takeshi. On their flight they didn't talk much. They didn't know what to say after that anyways. Even though they were lovers. There was no love. That's what they thought. Which made them wonder how they started dating in first place. To Haru it felt like she just went with the flow. She still couldn't understand or couldn't think out the thoughts she had. So they pretended or really slept most of the time of the flight and spoke only when necessary.

In Italy they were picked up by a member of the allied mafia who drove them to the main residence in the country area. During the drive Haru would rave about the scenery.

"It's so pretty!" "Look at the fields!" "The sky looks amazing!" It was late in Italy and the sun slowly set. The sky slowly turned from blues to yellow, orange, reddish during their car ride.

Hayato just smiled seeing her excited like that and answered. "Yeah." "Right." He couldn't really watch the scenery. His eyes were fixed on her feeling relieved that she could smile like that.

When they arrived at the huge residence they were brought to each their rooms where they rested for a while. The residence was as expected huge and built as an old European castle. The yard was also very wide and full of flowers and trees which Haru never saw before. Maybe it was because of the dawn and the changing sky. But it looked so very pretty as if she was in a dream. The interiors were also decorated in old middle age style. Everything was dim as the illumination was weak. When she half lied on the king-size bed with her feet on the floor. She thought it was fascinating. It was old but new to her. It was unreal. Unfamiliar. Uncomfortable. That's why even though she rested she couldn't regain new energy.

Later when the sun finally set and the moon rose they were called for dinner. A butler, dressed in a black suit, guided them through the dark and wide corridors of the residence and they were brought into a big hall. The room was decorated with paintings and big vases with flowers and lit up by a chandelier. There was exactly one big, long table in the center. The dinner was already prepared and layed out on the table as well as candles. The hall was filled with the scents of various mediterranean spices which made it hard for Haru to hold back from immediately trying the food. They sat down to their designated seats next to each other. By the end of the table there was another chair waiting for its owner to come.

"The madam will arrive soon. Would you like white or red wine?" The butler asked.

"Uh… well…" Haru didn't know much about wines. She was about to chose the red one.

"Give us both white wine please." But Hayato answered.

"Yes sir." The butler filled white wine into the glasses for them both and went out of the hall.

"Why white wine?" Haru leaned over to Hayato and asked curiously.

"…in case you spill some…" He slyly grinned at her.

"Geez… and there I thought you know something about wine." She sighed and leaned back.

"Whatever." They both shared a short laugher. At that moment the door opened their attention got fixated to that direction. Followed by the butler a short, elderly woman in a long dark red dress came in. Her curly hair was short to her chin and as grey as the color of Gokudera's. The two of them just bowed slowly not knowing what to say to her.

"Welcome to Italy. My name is Laura." She introduced herself as she walked in slowly and sat down on the empty seat.

"Oh, you're Japanese?" Haru blurted out unconsciously when she noticed the familiar language.

"Haha, yes." She laughed shortly. "I'm half. While I was raised in Italy my mother taught me."

"I see. Nice to meet you. I'm Miura Haru and this is Gokudera Hayato." She introduced themselves and smiled at her. When she took a quick glance at Gokudera his expression didn't seem very pleased. "He always looks angry, don't worry about it." Haru laughed awkwardly.

"I see, nice to meet you. Please eat." Laura pointed with her hand at the food gesturing them to start eating. She then took the silver into her hands and began.

"Yes, thank you." They also hesitantly started to eat after she started first. "Aren't you going to eat with us?" Haru asked to the butler who stood beside Laura.

"He will eat later." Laura answered instead of him. Haru saw this in movies already but she was very surprised that it was like that in reality too. He just stood there without a single motion of his body or face, without saying a single word which mad eher wonder if he even breathed. "How was the flight?" Laura asked which brought Haru's attention back.

"It was long and exhausting." Gokudera answered this time with a tone in his voice that seemed as if he was complaining.

"I'm sorry that you had to take all this way to come here for me." Laura said stayed calm despite his attitude.

"You shouldn't do something if you're sorry about it afterwards." He crossed his arms and glared at her.

"Hayato!" Haru put her hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly. "You should treat elders with respect."

"It's okay. I understand his feelings. I heard from the tenth." She sighed and layed down her fork. "I guess you're curious why I chose Miss Miura."

"Of course." He answered.

"Actually I'm not that interested! We should eat quickly and get some sleep!" Haru yawned. "Ah, I'm so exhausted!"

"It's okay Miss Miura. To be honest it's just because you resemble my granddaughter. That's why you can accompany me to japan without the suspiciousness of the enemy. That's what my son, the boss of our family, believes. That we would be less eye-catching in a small group than with a group of bodyguards. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a better reason." Gokudera jumped up clenching his fists but she continued to explain. "My granddaughter was already traveling before the conflict started so she sought a safe place where she was. I didn't mind staying here but my son wanted me to stay somewhere safe at all cost which is why he thought out the Vongola for help. A war will probably start soon."

"Just because of that we had to come all the way to Italy?! We put ourselves in danger to protect you?!" He raised his voice which made Haru flinch in surprise. To him it seemed utterly ridiculous. To protect a stranger. Risking Haru's life again.

"Yes. Have you ever heard of something called escort-mission? It's exactly that." Laura answered calmly.

"Hayato…" Haru said with a gentle voice in hope to calm him down. "Look at me…" He slowly turned his head to look at her but as soon as he saw he knew that she wasn't approving of his behavior. No. he knew that all the time. He's always the one who goes against all the others. It didn't matter to him if he was the irrational one. He sticks to his opinion. But seeing her face made it hard for him to retort anything.

"Tch." He pulled his arm away from her and ran out of the hall.

"Hayato!" Haru stood up rapidly that her chair ended up falling over. She was about to run after him. "…I'm…" But looked at Laura first and smiled awkwardly. "Not sorry though." Haru believed that Hayato's reason were not meant in a malicious way. After all he only did this thinking about Haru's sake.

"You don't have to be. I'm sorry that it turned out like this." Even though she said sorry Laura's confident expression persisted through the whole time.

"You also don't have to be. But to be honest. All those excuses seem irrational to me." She took a few steps closer to Laura and bend down to her eye level putting on a smile and trying to look confident too. "Maybe there's another reason?"

Hello friends!

It's a new chapter! thank you so much for answering me :) I see that there's still interest for this story therefore I won't give up on this story!

Sorry it may take a long time but I hopefully will end this someday! That's my personal goal now xd...

The next chapter will also take a long time til the next update because I have to focus on exams in march and april first, it will be the hardest thing I'll ever do in this live, probably (well except for childbirth someday o-o?...)

Anyways as always thank you for reading and liking my FF and love you all!

PS: Please communicate with me xd...