AUTHOR'S NOTE: And so it begins. Welcome to chapter two of "Season's End". Not much to say, I've got something like 10,000 words I need to write to catch up to my goal for Nanowrimo so I'll keep it short ^_^
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! doesn't belong to me it's the property of Akira Amano. The storyline, original characters, and such are mine.
Thank you for taking time to read (and review) if possible ^_^
Next update will be November 27th (or thereabouts since that's Thanksgiving here).
Please enjoy the story.
~ Yuki
Target 02-03: Blood Red Ink
Haru checked over her appearance in the full length mirror in the women's restroom, smoothing the skirt of her brand new suit carefully. Reborn had presented her with the box that contained the suit the night before saying that if she was going to represent the Vongola, she needed to look the part. Traditionally, she was supposed to have an escort for this sort of thing, but Gokudera had gotten caught up in something with Tsuna and Haru couldn't reschedule the meeting to accommodate the change. She took a deep breath and checked her kanzashi and ran her thumb along the back of her ring and then stepped out.
"That's where you were."
Haru jumped and turned to see Yamamoto leaning against the wall and blinked. "Yamamoto?"
"Reborn sent me," he said, taking the briefcase out of her hand.
Takeshi Yamamoto was also dressed in a suit and looked oddly comfortable in it considering Haru didn't usually see him in anything but his baseball uniform or a casual variation on the Namimori Middle uniform. He carried the case for his baseball bats on his shoulder and Haru was pretty sure Shigure Kintoki was in there as well. "So, you're meeting up with that group that owned the house behind where they kept Kyoko?" Yamamoto asked.
"Yes," Haru replied and quickly explained everything that was going on.
Yamamoto nodded as he listened. The two made their way down the hall towards the conference room where she was meeting the representatives of the Hermosillo Familia. Haru hesitated for a moment and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're a team. I've got your back, no matter what," he said.
Haru nodded and knocked politely on the door and heard the call for her to enter.
There were five men and a woman already at the conference table and Haru bowed to them all politely. "Good afternoon, I am Miura Haru," she introduced herself. "Please treat me kindly."
"I expected you to bring more people with you," the woman, Victoria Hermosillo, current head of the Japanese branch of the Hermosillo Familia, observed. "Is one person really enough protection if something were to go wrong, Miura-san?"
It took all of Haru's willpower to keep her expression still, but she didn't miss the narrowing of Yamamoto's eyes in her peripheral. "My associate is Yamamoto Takeshi-san, Tenth Generation Rain Guardian of the Vongola Famiglia," Haru stated calmly.
"What of the fox that always accompanies you?" the woman frowned.
Haru scrambled to figure out who the woman was referring to and finally settled on one possible answer. "This is a meeting between the Vongola Famiglia and the Hermosillo Familia," Haru said. "Isn't it protocol to keep meetings like this between the Families involved instead of bringing in outsiders?"
…Not that Haru considered Akai an outsider and she sent a silent apology to her friend and hoped that she would forgive her for the less-than-respectful reference…
"Is it customary for the great Vongola Famiglia to send teenagers to an adult meeting?" Victoria sneered. "Don't you have school exams to be studying for?
There was a whirring sound and the panel of the table in front of Haru opened and a chair emerged with a suit-clad toddler sipping espresso. "It is customary for the Vongola Famiglia to send those who are most qualified for the particular meeting," Reborn said.
Leon moved around the brim of his fedora and watched the leader of the Japanese faction of the Hermosillo Familia with buggy eyes.
Victoria seemed to shudder back from the chameleon and one of the Japanese men at her back moved to her side and leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Victoria's eyes widened and she regarded the toddler across the table. "You are Reborn?" she asked slowly.
"That is what I'm called, yes," the legendary hitman said. "I am also here to assure you that Haru Miura is the representative of the Vongola Decimo in these particular negotiations and she is fully backed by the Vongola Famiglia."
Haru kept her irritation hidden; she shouldn't need Reborn to validate her claim as representation for the Vongola Famiglia. Yamamoto's hand touched her shoulder briefly and she glanced up and nodded. "Thank you Reborn-san," she said. "Now, Hermosillo-san, let's start our conversation. Three days ago I had a report delivered by courier to your residence and you agreed to meet with me here to discuss the information inside. It's true that I am still a teenager and that I have high school exams to study for. However, I've taken time out of my schedule to speak to you because as a representative of the Vongola Famiglia. I feel it is good practice to establish good relations with other Families that reside here in Namimori as well as Japan in general."
In addition to studying for her high school exam to beat the irritating eighty-six, she'd also been studying various aspects of Mafioso politics and what little information she could find on intelligence networks. She been staying up far too late or getting up far too early to video conference with people around the world in order to get the tutoring that had been arranged for her. Reborn had also generously given some of his time to go over things with her as well.
Haru accepted the documents that Yamamoto handed her and regarded the older woman from across the table. "Shall we begin?"
Victoria Hermosillo looked taken aback by Haru's calmness for a moment before composing her own face into calm. "Of course, Miura-san," she said.
Haru allowed herself a small smile and they settled into the talks.
It was over three hours later when they finally left the conference room and Haru held her head high and kept her posture until they'd exited the building and moved across the street before letting the confident façade drop. "Are you all right, Haru?" Yamamoto frowned.
Haru nodded. "I'm fine," she said, though her voice was fainter than she wanted.
"You did well for your first negotiations, Haru," Reborn said. "There were a few rough spots, but you made a good showing for yourself. I wouldn't consider this alliance in the bag yet though."
Haru nodded. "She was still dancing around with her words at the end of the meeting," she said and then she turned to Yamamoto. "Thank you for coming with me today. Having you there helped."
Yamamoto smiled. "That's what team mates do," he said, "even if I was the pinch hitter. I've got practice, so I'd better go."
"All right, thank you again," Haru smiled.
The baseball player waved and jogged off in the opposite direction.
"Overall, it was better that it was Yamamoto," Reborn said. "He keeps his head better than Gokudera. That's why I sent Tsuna off to train with Gokudera."
"You arranged for Gokudera to get busy?" Haru blinked.
"Gokudera is hot-headed and impulsive. He doesn't always think things through before he acts. He likely would have been dropping dynamite within the first three sentences," Reborn said. "Yamamoto at least considers the scope of the game before making his play. That is the difference between Rain and a Storm."
Haru considered Reborn's words and then nodded slowly. "I think, in time, Gokudera will be very good in those situations, but right now…" she trailed off.
Reborn nodded. "I see you understand."
Haru felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out, turning to apologize to Reborn for the interruption but the former Arcobaleno was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and answered. "This is Miura."
"Haru?"
Haru blinked at the familiar voice, she hadn't recognized the number that popped up on the caller ID. "Gokudera?" she queried.
"Yeah, I dropped my fucking phone and it was eaten by a crocodile while I was with Judaime. I don't have the money to replace it yet so I had to call via public phone," he said. "Where are you now? We're back and I know you said something about grocery shopping today."
"Ah, currently I am about a four blocks from where we had our meeting so, Eighth and Main, I think?" Haru said and glanced at the signs as she came up to them. "Sorry, Ninth. I can meet you at our usual grocery?"
"Sounds good," Gokudera said. "I'll be there in a bit."
Haru hung up the phone and then belatedly realized exactly what Gokudera had said and then giggled. It showed just how much things had changed over the past two and a half years since she first met Reborn and Tsuna and tried to challenge Tsuna. How many people just accepted "my phone was eaten by a crocodile" and continued on with their conversation? The ridiculous had turned into common place since she'd wound up tangled with the Vongola Famiglia.
She arrived at the grocery store and checked the time. She probably still had a few minutes. Reaching into her purse she pulled out the grocery list and went over it quickly, adding a couple things to it and then putting it away before pulling out the small notebook she had scribbled down study problems to look over while she waited.
"The fifth part of the equation is wrong Haru; you didn't calculate step three right."
She jumped and glanced up at Gokudera who'd somehow managed to sneak up behind her and look over her shoulder at what she was looking at. "What, I could have sworn…" Haru began, eyes moving up to the third step.
"You're off by about .03 and while it's not a big deal there, when you hit the fifth things start unraveling if you don't have it," Gokudera said.
Haru hauled out the calculator she had with her and refigured the equation and found that he was right and sighed. "How did I miss that one?" she mumbled.
"We can go over the stuff you have in that book when we get back home if you want?" he suggested. "All the studying in the world won't help if you don't have the right answers to start with."
Haru snapped the book closed and nodded. "I have a few more things I need to add to it anyway," she said. "Shall we?"
Gokudera nodded and she dropped the book back into her bag and her fingers entwined with Gokudera's as they entered the grocery store.
The exited the store with groceries in hand and made their way back home and Gokudera was startled to realize that Haru's house had become 'home'. He glanced down at the brunette who'd shifted her bag to pull out her study guide again, trusting him to keep her from running into people unnecessarily as her brown eyes studied the material contained in the book. As if feeling his regard, she glanced up and cocked her head in question. "Is something wrong, Gokudera?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, want me to carry the other bag?"
"It's okay, I've got it. I won't ever let it be said that Haru Miura doesn't carry her share," she stated.
They wound their way to the house and Gokudera input the security code to open the gate and the two passed through and headed up to the house. Haru shoved the book into her bag and unhooked her keys from her purse and went to open up the door and froze.
Gokudera didn't realize that she'd stopped and ran into her, his quick hands the only thing that steadied her and kept them both from falling down in the middle of the yard and scattering their groceries. "Haru…what…" he trailed off as Haru's bag of groceries was shoved into his hands.
The girl took two quick steps and tugged the piece of paper nailed to the door carefully. "Remind me to get a hammer and yank that later," she said distractedly.
Gokudera put the grocery bags down. "What is that?" he asked.
Haru showed him the letter with her named etched in elegant calligraphy on the front in blood red ink.
"What the hell is that?" Gokudera growled.
"Let's get the groceries inside and we'll find out," Haru said.
"Wait before you go in," Gokudera said. "Someone might be waiting…let me check."
Haru scowled up at him and he glared down at her. "I still know more about this stuff than you do, stupid woman," he stated.
Haru was almost offended by his reference to her, but there was something behind the words that softened it and she decided to forgive him—mostly. "Haru is not stupid," she retorted.
That response drew a chuckle from Gokudera, but his expression quickly shifted and dynamite dropped into his hand as he went to look around the house first. Haru glanced over the door handle and then reached out and lightly tested it—it was still locked and there wasn't any sign of forced entry. The only way they could have gotten in here was if they had a key and the only copies that existed were with her and with her father in London. She hadn't given Gokudera a copy of the key because they were either together or if she was running later, he could stay with Tsuna or go back to his apartment.
"All clear so far," Gokudera announced coming around the opposite side of the house.
"No evidence of forced entry here either," Haru said and slipped her key into the lock and turned it.
The door opened and Gokudera dashed in first and Haru collected the groceries they'd set on the step and moved to the kitchen put them down. She locked the door again and was putting up groceries when Gokudera came back down and announced that it was all clear. Haru nodded and washed the rice setting up the rice cooker for tonight's dinner and put the other perishables away.
"What's it say?" Gokudera asked.
"I haven't looked yet," Haru said. "I'd rather get this stuff put up first because if we have to go running off to figure something else out I don't want it to have to put it up when we get back."
"Then let me…" he began, moving to reach for it.
Haru snatched it from the counter where she laid it and glared at him. "It's addressed to me," she said. "I will read it in a moment."
"Fine," Gokudera snarled and whirled away, "but if it puts Judaime in danger…"
"If I was worried it was about Judaime, I would have opened it the second we saw it," Haru stated.
The rest of the groceries went away in less than five minutes and Haru moved back to the table and settled down to open it. Gokudera had stormed into the other room, his impatience radiating off him in a dark aura. Silently, Haru opened the letter and the demolitionist came into the room summoned by the rustle of paper.
Haru skimmed over the blood red writing inside and her eyes flew to Gokudera. "Judaime isn't in danger…"
"Then what…"
"To the Honorable Haru Miura.
There are three weeks before the venerated Vongola Nono returns to Japanese shores. When he steps off the plane in Narita, there will be a gunshot to his head unless you find me first. You will find all the clues that you need if you look correctly. I hope to see you before then."
"What the hell…" Gokudera mumbled staring at the words in bewilderment.
"It's a very formal letter telling me that if I don't find the writer of this letter before Kudaime comes, he'll be killed," Haru said, it took every bit of control she had to keep her voice level.