Title: Serendipity

Author: sllebswap

Characters/Pairing: Miura Haru and Dino

Type: OneShot/Drabble Collection (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/General/Humor

Word Count: 3329

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira-san.

Summary: CEDEF Agent Miura Haru and Cavallone Boss Dino have known each other for a very long time, haven't they? Loosely interconnected one shot/drabble series. Multi-verse. D86.

Verse: CEDEF!Haru AU

Chapter Last Revised on: 02/01/19

get stupid

Shoichi-kun was a godsent for this mission.

Thanks to the tech savvy resourcefulness of her fellow Vongola, it only took a mere fraction of the time they would otherwise need to narrow down the most likely places where Castella-san could have been unwillingly sequestered away by her own family. Otherwise, they would have had to perform the search by painstakingly, manually, combing through the entire Fierro holdings.

Once they marked out the greatly diminished search parameters, the Vongola's tech was once again put on surveillance and standby, whereas Dino and Haru quickly threw together a plan to check out the identified areas of interest. The golden haired Cavallone took charge and Haru deferred to him on grounds of seniority, and also because of his familiarity with the objective of the mission. His instructions were concise but clear, and he also made sure that she was aware of her role and limitations in this rescue assignment. He was a good team leader, she thought, and once again it made her slightly nervous and anticipatory that she would be working beside someone of his caliber.

"Are you ready?"

Haru looked over to where Dino was hovering at the threshold of the wing of the manor which they were about to investigate. Like herself, he was dressed casually and unobtrusively. Dark colors, well-fitting clothes that would not hinder any movements and/or bring undue attention towards them, discreet footwear that allowed them to move easily and soundlessly across any surfaces.

They were not too worried about being found; it was the middle of the night, and the hallways were devoid of life. The security cameras that belonged to this part of the manor had also been reprogrammed to play looping, prerecorded footage to the security monitors during the span of their exploration, thanks to Shoichi-kun's skill and genius. The only thing that they needed to look out for were the guards that randomly patrolled the area, and even then they were not a pressing concern. Dino had the excuse of being a guest, and Haru, even though she had opted not to reapply her guise, felt confident enough in her own skills to keep out of sight should they run into unwanted company.

The brunette nodded in response to her companion's question.

"Yes, desu," she murmured. "Please carry on. Haru will do her part to cover the back as agreed."

Dino briefly ran his gaze over the young woman. She was very calm and still now, her features watchful and alert, but she obediently waited for her cues from her superior- in this case, him. This was the first time he was working with her, and he found her current sober, quietly determined, focused expression a stark contrast compared to her lively and cheery nature which just about everyone who knew her had come to recognize her by. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant change…just unexpected. And different.

The golden haired Cavallone was reminded of the earnest conviction in Haru's voice a few years back, when he had run into her on her first covert mission. Back then, she had explained why she had decided to join CEDEF, why it had been so important for her to be of use to her Famiglia in all the ways she could serve, to contribute what she could and even more, because she was no longer content to sit on the sidelines to be protected, fragile and helpless.

She certainly possessed the drive to succeed as well as the burning motivation to prove herself to her peers…or maybe not so much for the latter, as Dino remembered that her designation as a member of CEDEF still remained a secret to virtually everyone in the main Famiglia of the Vongola Decimo, as far as he knew. He did not doubt that Kyoya as well as his Foundation was at least passingly aware of what their supposedly non-combative member was up to on the other side, but that the enigmatic Cloud Guardian had made no effort to share his knowledge with the others was already indicative of his opinion on this matter. At any rate, Haru had already proven her mettle and earned her position as a full-fledged CEDEF agent several times over in the span of the last few years, and if Basil was confident that his agent could perform this assignment tasked to her, then so would Dino.

Wordlessly, the Cavallone Don turned and forged ahead into that section of the Fierro household which they had decided was worth a closer scrutiny. The blueprint of this particular area was significantly more expansive than what the actual physical layout suggested, which implied a possible concealed space cleverly hidden from sight. They had identified three such areas in the entire property, and were certain that if Castella Terranova was indeed being held on Fierro land, then it would be somewhere on one of these suspect plots.

Hence, the process of elimination began, and Haru fell in silently behind her blond leader like a well-heeled shadow, her gaze keen and sharp as she observed her surroundings closely for any discrepancies, for any signs that their operation had been discovered and was possibly compromised.

Unlike Dino-nii who was known to fight with his trusty bullwhip, Haru carried no obvious weapon on her person. Years of careful training and instruction from the more combat experienced members of the CEDEF had taught Haru to refine a fighting style that was most suitable for her physique and level of ability, and her hands were free so that she could best use them as need be in battles. She was a close-contact, defensive fighter, an oxymoron of a term if any, and she worked far better reacting to incoming attacks than launching assaults of her own, which was just as well, because Haru had never wanted to use her powers to hurt people. Only to support. And protect.

Being a part of CEDEF had worked out far better for her than she had ever expected. Haru slipped into her well-defined role almost instinctively by now, her earlier apprehension smoothing away as if it had never ever been in the first place, as mission mentality took over. There was work to be done and she had her leader's back to protect; it was business as usual. One foot set silently before the other; the lithe, slender brunette kept up with the Cavallone Boss with a seamless ease developed over countless assignments and consistent, dedicated training.

Once they arrived at the immediate vicinity of the target area, she split from him to carry out her own investigation of the place, wordlessly taking up half of the responsibility so that the initial canvassing would get done faster. Unfortunately, neither had any luck unearthing any secret concealed spaces in the area. It served as a storage room as far as they could tell, and after fifteen minutes of searching every nook and cranny, the pair exchanged a glance and unanimously agreed to move on to the next marked location.

"Ground floor now, am I right?" Dino asked, even though they were already heading back down the hallway, and purposefully inching towards the main stairwell, making deliberate effort to steer clear of any other human foot traffic in the process. Twice they had to backtrack and duck into conveniently placed alcoves in order to avoid detection, and Haru was starting to feel disconcerted about the lax security in this Famiglia…

The young woman briefly turned her attention to her companion, though not before making a quick scan of their surroundings to make sure that there were no undue surprises waiting to spring on them. She nodded.

"Yes, desu." A small furrow creased her brow. "It's going to be harder to keep from being seen from here on, desu…"

There would be more guards patrolling the ground level of the manor, and there would also be less hiding places for them to exploit should they run into any of the aforementioned.

Dino sent his companion an assuring look.

"No matter what comes up next, we'll deal with it."

Well, if the Boss said it like that, with such absolute surety, where was she even supposed to place her doubts, now?

And astonishingly enough, their luck actually held out. It took a bit of delicate maneuvering, but they managed to locate the second suspected site at the back of the manor without even having to confront any member of the Fierro Famiglia.

Haru would normally prefer not to look at gift horse in the mouth, but things seemed to be going too well for some reason. She did not have to raise her doubts verbally – a glance askance at her mission partner revealed that he was also aware that this entire situation reeked suspiciously of a trap, if his thoughtful, sharply watchful countenance was to be of any indication.

Still, they had no choice but to continue onwards.

This time, they hit jackpot.

The unguarded pantry storage which they had come to investigate quickly revealed its secret with a bit of prying from the two – it was quite ingenious, really, to install the entrance of a secret underground chamber in the walk-in freezer. They had almost missed the exceptionally well concealed door hidden at the back of the dark chiller, tucked behind a row of ominously swaying cuts of raw, dry-aged beef and pork. It also took them another minute or two to figure out how to jack open the door to gain access, but after moving some random produce around, they managed to activate the release trigger, allowing them to slip in without making a big fuss or unduly alerting their hopefully oblivious host.

Haru was relieved to be out of the sub-zero chiller, and did not hesitate to slip down the stairs first, dimly lit by the yellowish glow of the bunker lights that interspersed the walls at periodic intervals. Dino was not too far behind the agile, fleet footed young woman. It was interesting that the blond's inherent clumsiness was entirely absent even without any of his men in the general vicinity – or perhaps Haru was counting her chickens before they hatched, or jinxing herself, because not soon after the brief thought drifted through her mind, catastrophe struck.

A surprised, muffled curse was all the warning that the CEDEF agent received from behind before six foot, one hundred and sixty pounds worth of Cavallone Boss came tumbling right down on her. She only had enough time to turn around partially, her eyes widening with alarm just as her mission partner with the two left feet crashed right into her with enough momentum to sweep her right off her feet.

"Haru-kun; head's up!"

"Hahi-"

Anything else she might have said was promptly cut off as her body was kept busy attempting to recover from her abrupt loss of balance, but to little avail. She could not even flail or put her hands out to break their fall, because her limbs were firmly anchored to her sides, trapped in place beneath Dino-nii's arms which had inadvertently closed around her torso upon their collision. Sailing through the air, Haru's options were severely limited, and she resigned herself to hoping that this fall would not hurt too much-

Dino-nii's arm around her waist tightened and he reeled her in close, sleek muscles bunching and releasing, and suddenly, even though they were in the process of free fall, the blond's movements became inexplicably graceful as he coiled and twisted like a powerful feline, effecting an immediate, seemingly effortless rotational displacement along their longitudinal axis. And then, Haru wasn't the one on the bottom any longer – Dino-nii was, and before she could exclaim over their abrupt change in position, his large hand came up to cradle the back of her head, the other arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders, and they crash landed at the foot of the stairs, sliding several feet across the cement floor before stopping.

Haru was jarred by the abrupt landing despite her companion's efforts, and she was briefly disoriented before she stiffened and scrambled to sit up to the side of her gallant human cushion. Her hands reached up to shake him on the shoulder, concern evident on her features.

"Hahi, is Dino-nii okay, desu?"

The blond groaned, but much to Haru's relief, he sat up slowly and rubbed at the back of his head. "I'm fine. Don't worry, I've got a pretty hard head…and it was my fault, anyway. Are you alright?"

Haru nodded as well. She was relieved that the man was not incapacitated – or at least he was functional and only a bit bruised, though before she could speak, another voice cut into their conversation.

"Well, well. I'd say that I didn't expect to see you down here, Don Cavallone, but I'd be lying. Nice entrance, though. Very dramatic."

Still sitting on the ground, the two immediately turned their heads to the source of the accented drawl. They were promptly greeted by the sight of the Fierro Boss, flanked by a pair of his armed guards as they stood before a locked cell occupied by a very pregnant young woman.

In hindsight, this was a very bad time to fall nosily down a flight of stairs, Haru thought in chagrin. Her surprise at being ambushed was quickly taken over by fired up indignation the moment she registered the deplorable living conditions that these people have subjected their unwilling captive to. She had seen the photographs of Callista Terranova née Fierro – the good news was, the individual currently imprisoned behind those bars was visually identified to be the person they had come to rescue. The bad news was, their cover had been blown sky high, or, judging by the relatively unsurprised demeanor of the Fierro Boss, perhaps their purpose of visit had already been discovered by their host from the get go. Haru wanted to sigh at the understanding - all this covert sneaking around could have been avoided in the first place if that was so.

The CEDEF agent rolled onto her feet and backed up for space, her stance loose, ready to react. A few paces diagonal of her, Dino-nii, too, had recovered, arising smoothly, his expression neutral though he made no threatening action. Haru warily followed his cue, keeping her thoughts to herself, taking on the role of secondary support.

"Fierro, we do not have to do this," Dino stated calmly, quite unfazed by this unexpected wrench thrown into their plans. He made no move to reach for his weapon, his trusty bullwhip currently tucked in the pocket of his coat.

Unfortunately, the other Don was not the reasonable type. He glared at the blond.

"You've some nerve, Cavallone, to tell me this when you come here blatantly taking advantage of my hospitality while plotting to stab me in the back the moment I turn around."

Haru took affront to that accusation of treachery. She was already indignant at the aggravating sight of the poor expecting mother suffering the uncomfortable conditions of her captivity.

"Don Fierro-san, Don Cavallone-san is only here to retrieve a member of his Famiglia. We do not intend to start conflict, desu."

Haru was regarded with a contemptuous sneer, but she stood firm against the hostile stare, her own eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Like Dino-nii, she refrained from exhibiting any signs that might be misconstrued as 'aggressive.' Their target was still under guard from the opposition, and they could not afford to jeopardize her safety, as well as that of her unborn offspring.

"Bullshit. Keep your nose out of other people's business – this is an internal problem, outsiders can butt out. You damn Cavallone are always such goddamn busybodies."

"I beg to differ, Fierro," Dino responded, keeping his cool even as the Fierro guards were already pointing their firearms at him. And at Haru. "The Terranova family is under the protection of the Cavallone. I'm obligated to intervene in this matter. Will you please return Castella to her family?"

"She is my sister! I'm the only family that matters!" the Fierro Boss insisted, started to turn red with anger. "She's confused right now; she just needs to straighten her head out and realize that she's making a big mistake!"

Haru could not believe what she was hearing. She started to scowl.

"What kind of family locks their own member in a cage, desu!? Your sister is going to have a baby soon and you keep her trapped in this dirty, terrible place! She's not your property! You're a horrible brother, desu! What you're trying to protect is not your sister, but your pride!" Haru was indignant, judging by how she was starting to lecture the other Don. She, too, did not seem overly worried by the weapons being trained on her, though Dino sent her a look, concerned by how she was taking heat on herself.

The Fierro did not appreciate her opinion whatsoever, not that Haru cared very much about preserving his feelings at this juncture. He pointed at her, and so did his guards – with their intimidating looking guns – but the brunette only scowled harder, not about to stand down. Her gaze turned from the three nincompoops to the young woman trapped by her own kin further back. Fortunately, the latter did not look too physically distressed by her deplorable treatment, but still Haru was not keen on the idea of leaving her there for any longer than necessary.

But Dino-nii had not given any signal for her to take action, even when their target was close and in sight.

She glanced at her companion, body tensing, already ready to move. What was Dino-nii waiting for?

"Fierro, for the sake of saving your relationship with your family, I'm asking, one last time, for you to reconsider your stance," the blond iterated evenly, leveling an intense stare at his fellow Don. Ever optimistic, he was still hoping that the other man would see reason.

Unfortunately, the Fierro appeared deaf to all attempts to cease and desist his damaging actions towards his own kin.

"Fuck you and your bloody do gooder ways, Cavallone! Get the hell out of my house, and take that mouthy wench with you! Yakuza princess, my ass! I should have known that you were the Famiglia secretly supporting that upstart Terranova! Are you kidding me? No family of mine is marrying a goddamn farmer! After I'm done with you, I'm going straight over to end that whelp for putting his dirty hands on my sister!"

"So what if Marco is a farmer? At least it's an honest living, far better than being a mobster!" From behind them, the young woman cried out in defense of her husband, honestly terrified of the possible retaliation planned by her own blood. "Brother, please! I beg of you, I love him-"

"You, shut up!" Spittle flew from the Fierro's ruddy expression as he snapped at his sister, his voice raised and aggressive. "You're a disgrace to this Family! You're lucky that we're devout Catholics or I'd have that spawn in your belly removed!"

Haru glared ferociously at the Fierro Boss, so angry at how he was treating his own sibling, she was almost shaking with outrage. She was starting to narrow her eyes at Dino-nii too, albeit in a less displeased and more impatient way. Dino wore a furrow between his brow, and a resigned air grew heavy on his expression. He had hoped to avoid conflict, more for Callista's sake than anything else, but there was no way around it now.

"Haru."

The brunette straightened in attention.

"Yes, Don Cavallone-san?" Her voice was crisp, attentive, almost like a hound waiting to be unleashed for a hunt. Despite having guns pointed at her, her gaze and stance was steady, fearless.

"Kindly assist in the retrieval of Miss Callista and her unborn child. Her husband is very worried."

Haru was only too glad to oblige.

"Understood. Leave it to me, desu."

::owari::

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-sllebswap