Chapter 16. The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

Lambo was still up at four in the morning. Every semester he says he's learnt his lesson and that he's going to do his homework every day, start projects with plenty of time, pay attention in class and spend less time on the internet. Every semester he fails to do so. And now, right before Christmas break, he's the only person in the mansion who's awake, crying while doing all the work he should have finished by now.

Haru came back at 4:02 a.m. She had been going out a lot lately, and she always came back late. Nobody ever asked her where she went, what she did, or who she was with. It wasn't even necessary, and she appreciated that sudden respect for her privacy.

"What are you doing?" She asked Lambo when she saw him lying face down on the floor, crying his lungs out.

"The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell…" He replied.

The brunette stared at him confused for a moment. "You know what?" She said. "I don't even want to know."

Lambo kept sobbing uncontrollably and Haru… Haru had just given up on everything after the rough night she had just gone through. Who cared if Lambo was going to fail his geography exam? She sure as hell didn't. Right now, all she needed was a warm bubble bath, and someone to vent to. Her feet moved on their own towards Hibari's room. Apparently by now he had already unlocked the following achievements:

Secret Guardian: Your secrets are safe with him. (10+ safety)

TMI: Tell him anything. He won't judge. (90% accuracy)

Girlfriend material: Gives best advices. (5+ advice, 20- respect if you ignore his advices)

Nerves of steel: Gets angry less often. (50+ tolerance)

"There's something wrong with me." The brunette stormed inside the cloud guardian's room and dumped her bag on top of the sleeping man with all her strength.

The man woke up, startled, only to find a brown leather bag covering his face.

"…What happened?" He sat up. His voice was drowsy and he had some drool at the corner of his lip, and that was a sight Haru could never get enough of.

"I chickened out." The girl pouted and started removing her coat, her shoes, and her bra.

Hibari just stared at her, amazed. He would never understand how girls managed to take off their bras with out taking off their shirts. It was surreal. A couple weird arm movements, and Boom! There's a bra.

"My feet are killing me…" She sighed. "Can I lie down next to you? It's cold."

"…Sure." He lifted one side of the blanket and made some space for her.

Haru let her body fall on the empty half of the mattress. "Well, good night then."

"Wait, what do you mean 'good night'?" Hibari smacked the girl playfully on the head. "You woke me up, now you're gonna talk."

"Eeeeeeh? But I'm so tired! I've been through a lot!"

"Speak, woman."

"Ok, fine." Haru turned around to face the man. "So I went to this guy's house tonight."

And he knew that. He knew that well. Where else could she be spending all her nights? Yet, deep down, he still hoped that maybe it wasn't true. That he was just jumping to conclusions. That she had just joined an acapella group or something. But no. She was fucking around. And it felt like getting stabbed in the gut.

"I met him at a bar." She continued. "He spent 150$ on cocktails, and he was super nice to me and everything. So we went to his apartment. He cried about his ex-girlfriend for like twenty minutes and he called her four times, but well, nobody's perfect. And then we… Well… You know… Except I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. He pulled out Little Benedict and I freaked out and ran away. And now I'm here."

There was a long silence. They were both just gazing into each other's eyes with out knowing what to say.

"That ugly was it?" Hibari asked.

"What? No… I mean… It was normal, I guess… It's just that it's the first one I've seen since… you know… And I got really scared…"

The skylark closed his eyes in relief and pulled the girl closer.

"Haru…" he whispered "You don't have to force yourself to do anything you're not ready to do… Give it some time… And when you do feel ready, I think it's something you should do with someone you trust… love… not with some stranger at a bar. You don't need to go that far to find someone who will respect you and understand you and treat you carefully… you know, someone who… loves you."

Haru snuggled closer and buried her head in Hibari's chest. For a moment he swore he had heard a "thank you", but there was no way to be sure. He stayed awake for a couple more hours, playing with Haru's hair and staring at the ceiling in silence, and even though neither of them was saying a word, he knew she wasn't asleep either.

At 5:45 in the morning, he finally broke the ice.

"Wait a minute…" he said. "If this is the first time you've gone home with a guy… what have you been doing every night all this time?"

"Oh… I joined an acapella group…"

December 17th. 9:15 a.m.

"What's with all this noise?" Haru got to the kitchen half asleep, still in her pajamas and covered with a huge blanket. "What's happening?"

"Oh, Haru! Good morning!" Tsuna smiled brightly and poured a mug of coffee for Haru, which is something he never did. "You should get dressed! Wear something fancy. It's a big day today!"

"Are we celebrating something?"

"Yes we are!" The young boss threw his hands up in the air and a young man Haru had never seen before in her life crept behind Tsuna lifting him up.

"Who is this? What are we celebrating?"

"A wedding, of course!"

"Tsuna-san! What did I tell you abou-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry." Tsuna tried to calm down the growing fury inside Haru. "I tried to return everything after you refused, but most of the things I got couldn't be refunded so instead of throwing away all that money, I decided to host a wedding for a couple who really is getting married!"

"So all these people…"

"Are the guests. Exactly. The bride is getting ready and you can go play volley outside with the bridesmaids if you want to."

"Who's the bride, though? I don't think we know anyone who was planning on getting married anytime soon…"

"We don't. I put an add on Facebook."

"Isn't he the sweetest?" Kyoko walked in wearing her most expensive and extravagant dress. "It's for things like this that I fell in love with Tsu-kun~"

But Haru could not for the love of God understand why exactly her friend would find attractive a man who had just invited a bunch of strangers into their house for a wedding.

"Tsuna-san…" Haru sighed. "You do realize these people are eating all our food, bringing in pigeons from the street, and their kids are climbing our Christmas tree and drinking our wine."

"Oh… Yeah…" Tsuna scratched the back of his head. "I tried to get that little girl off the tree but her mother yelled at me in another language… She scares me."

Haru had lost all track of emotions at this point. Everything in her life was so absurd that all she could do about it was just smile and nod and walk away in silence.

Two matches of volley with the bridesmaids later and the brunette decided to go back inside the mansion. Those girls were hardcore and one of them wasn't even a girl, it was just a small orange haired boy who kept jumping around screaming and pestering everyone until they let him join in.

"Boy, has this been an event…" Miura Haru massaged her shoulder as she sat down in the sofa next to Mukuro and Ryohei, who were getting along oddly well and sharing a bowl of popcorn.

"You need to see this." Mukuro passed her the bowl and pointed at a small crowd gathering at the other side of the room.

Now, Hibari and crowd are words that don't usually fit together in a sentence, so Haru couldn't believe her eyes when she saw him standing completely stiff, putting on his best 'smile', and talking to a bunch of middle aged women who had him restrained by the arms and legs and were making a huge fuss around him.

"They're trying to set him up with their daughters." Ryohei laughed and claimed back the popcorn bowl. "They're desperate."

"Kufufu, no wonder." Mukuro replied. "Those girls are all so ugly."

"Hey!" Haru smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't be rude!"

"But they are." The mist guardian replied with a smirk. "And you should be happy. What if a princess comes and takes away your knight in shining armor?"

"Don't be absurd!" Haru's face went bright red. "H- He's… We're not… We're not like that…. And even if those girls are ugly what matters is the inside…"

"That's what ugly people say to feel better about themselves."

"You're the worst, Mukuro." Ryohei laughed. "Ok, but what about that one?" He pointed at a small girl who was wearing a dress way too large for her.

"Yikes." The other man shrugged.

And Haru tried her best to say nice things about those girls, but she couldn't help feeling relieved. Mukuro was right, for once. It was a good thing that they hadn't been graced by mother nature. Not that Hibari would let himself be fooled over something as superfluous as a pretty girl, he was way over that kind of stuff and he had proposed to her. But then she saw him lift his gaze and direct it towards another unfortunate daughter. Damn, she was beautiful. Cinderella had arrived and all eyes were on her. There were whispers and catcalls, and Haru couldn't stop herself from making a sound.

"Shit."

The bride and groom were saying their vows and Haru was still hiding in the bathroom. The whole family had gathered at the garden to watch the wedding they were hosting, and Cinderella (not her name but Haru didn't even want to know what it was) had been talking to Hibari for a rather long time. She could go just fine with out seeing the man she loved getting along with the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.

"What a beautiful wedding."

Haru heard a voice that came from the hall.

"But what a shame the bride is such a whore…" It seemed like someone was talking to herself and had the full intention of using the bathroom.

Haru tried to hide somewhere but it was impossible, and before she could manage to move, Cinderella walked in.

"Oh, my!" She said, with her perfect voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in there."

"Uh… Yeah…" Haru tried to speak properly but just staring at the other girl made her knees feel weak. Damn her and her pretty face. "I was just leaving… you can… uh… use it."

"Hey, wait." Cinderella closed the door behind her, trapping herself with Haru inside the small bathroom. "What's your name?"

"Uh…." Haru thought about it for the longest time. "Mi… Miura Haru! That's it. That's my name!"

"What a lovely name for such a lovely girl."

Haru felt completely paralyzed.

"Kyoya has been talking to me about you."

Oh no. She called him by his first name. They were close. What a skank. Haru hated having to think of another girl as a skank but this was calling for drastic measures.

"He's very fond of you." Cinderella continued. "But he's also very reserved, he won't answer any of the questions I ask him."

"That's Hi- … Kyoya… for you." It felt so weird and fuzzy to say his name out loud like that. But she couldn't possibly lose this battle, even less inside a stupid bathroom.

"Haru." The taller woman smiled. "I need to take a shit so I'm gonna have to ask you to leave now."

Damn her. This was war. She could say such dirty things and make it sound so sexy. Haru honestly didn't know whether she wanted to fight her or kiss her. And then things got worse.

Cinderella invited herself to sit next to Hibari during the banquet, and not only that, but she even had the atrocity of making eye contact with Haru during the entire hour they spent listening to the speeches. It was driving the brunette crazy. That woman smiled like she knew exactly what she was doing to her. Haru felt anxious, nervous, jealous, and all because of some girl who kept staring at her while she drank wine from Hibari's glass and rested her hand on Hibari's shoulder and whispered God knows what to Hibari's ear.

"Haru-chan~ Is that a killing intent I'm sensing?" Mukuro leaned closer to the brunette and tried to take some food from her plate.

"I would just like to point out," She said, smacking Mukuro's hand away. "that I have killed a man and I have absolutely no problem with killing a woman."

"Ok, you need to tone down the violence a little." The man sighed. "You're so naïve. I understand that this is your way of coping with it, but there's nothing to feel proud about in killing another person."

"I know that! It's just that-"

"Specially when by doing so you put in danger your beloved Kyoya's life."

"What are you talking about?"

"Every man has a family. Friends. Connections. People who would do anything to avenge his death, and this man in particular had a very powerful family, and a very powerful sister."

Haru kept quiet. She knew that well. She could feel her stomach twirl and her hands starting to shake. Every crime must be payed and every action comes with a consequence. But there had been none for her.

"He's a strong man, but even the strongest man is bound to have some problems when he's single handedly trying to wipe out an entire crime ring."

What exactly had happened during the time she had been asleep at Dino's house? That was one question she didn't want answered. But there she had it, and that was information she didn't know what to do with.

"He would have died if we hadn't called Dino from here and asked him to go check on what he was doing. You know that, right?"

Haru pressed her lips together. She felt her heart stop beating.

"He would have died for you."

And suddenly everything went black.

She look down and shut her eyes close, letting all the tears fall down, trying not to make any noise so the people around her wouldn't notice she was crying, and when the speech that had been going was finally over, all she could do was leave the room and hide in the bathroom once again.

"Haru, I know you're in there."

A voice came from the outside, followed by a loud bang on the door.

"Open up. I just want to talk to you."

"Go away…" The brunette replied in a soft, barely audible voice.

"Why were you crying?"

There was no response. Instead, Haru wiped her tears with her sleeve and unlocked the door, letting out a weak "What do you want?"

Ohoho this is it for now my boys! It turned out like this somehow, even though I've been really wanting to get back on the comedic part of this fic. Oh welp it is what it is. Enjoy the angst and see you next time! And don't forget to leave in reviews~ your comments give me life! :)

Also, shout out for Hinata making a special guest appearance.