AUTHOR'S NOTES: Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate and for those who don't, I hope your November went/is going well. It's hard to believe we're so close to the end of 2014 already, feels like yesterday I was just putting out the first part of Oncoming Storm (that happened in February-ish I think) and now I'm up to chapter three of the follow-up. This one isn't generating as much commentary as some of the others, but I'm not sure if it's bad or if everyone is ridiculously busy with finals, the holidays, and everything else going on about this time of year. At any rate, getting this up today so I make sure it's up on time ^_^
KHR isn't mine, it's Akira Amano's, but the original characters, storylines, etc. are creations of mine.
Hope you have a spectacular weekend, next update will be around December 11th.
Thank you for taking the time to read (and review if you get a chance), I appreciate it ^_^
Take care!
Target 03-03: Following the Trail
"It's got to be the Trabuchet! Who else would mess with the Ninth? Especially after that bull shit they just finished pulling."
Gokudera's snarled words echoed through the mostly empty restaurant and Haru sighed inwardly. It had been like this since the letter arrived yesterday until just before they convened an emergency meeting during Take Sushi's prep time. No matter what she said or how many things she pointed out, the Vongola Storm Guardian would not be swayed. Ryohei nodded firmly, fully in accord with Gokudera and the others seemed to be leaning towards that conclusion as well. Tsuna and Reborn seemed to be nodding in agreement as well and Haru's breath expelled in a frustrated sound.
"What is it Haru?" Reborn asked.
"The stupid woman doesn't agree with me," Gokudera snapped.
Things had been a bit strained over the past twenty-four hours and Haru knew it was because Gokudera was chomping at the bit to kick someone's ass, anyone's ass it seemed at this point. She'd given up trying to talk sense into him about 2 AM the previous night and had stomped up to her own room and slammed the door.
"What do you think then, Haru?" Reborn asked.
"We haven't seen or heard anything about the Trabuchet since their headquarters was leveled," Haru said, "and I hate to say this, but they are not Japanese."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Gokudera demanded. "The Vongola are an Italian Famiglia. We're not Japanese either!"
Haru's finger tapped on the paper in front of her. "Most foreigners wouldn't be able to do this. The actual handwriting itself is elegant with the added flourishes of someone who has practiced Japanese Calligraphy for a long time. And while yes, the Trabuchet may have someone that practiced amongst their people—it's not really their style. Think about it!"
"I am thinking about it," Gokudera retorted, "and there isn't anyone else who would do something like this!"
"There isn't?" Haru asked coolly. "Tell me how many times we knew a new enemy before they attacked. If it makes you feel better, please do explore the avenue of the Trabuchet. I'm going to look elsewhere."
She collected her things and put them in her bag with precise movements. She really didn't have time for something like this to come up now—she had exams to study for, but she couldn't let something happen to the Vongola Boss.
"Haru, calm down," Tsuna said. "There's something else about the letter that's bothering you, isn't there?"
Haru jumped at Tsuna's observation and then nodded. "The way it's written sounds more like a challenge to me than an actual threat towards Kudaime," she said.
"What about that Familia we met yesterday?" Yamamoto suggested.
"The Hermosillo Familia?" Haru repeated and settled back down in her chair as she thought for a moment. "No, trying to take the Vongola Boss isn't a risk that Victoria Hermosillo or her boss would take at this point in time. In the future I wouldn't necessarily put it past them, but right now…they don't have the power to counter the Vongola assault. The paper, the flourishes on the writing, and the language it's written in has an almost 'Japanese aristocrat' feel to it. One of the other Japanese families may be behind it."
"Then start there, Haru," Tsuna said. "Yamamoto, go with Haru as backup. Gokudera, you and I will investigate the possibility of the Trabuchet. Oniisan, please keep Kyoko safe until we figure out what's going on."
The white-haired boxer looked like he was about to object, but then he nodded sharply. "I always do," he said.
Tsuna nodded and glanced around the table. "Let's get this over with," he said.
They exited the shop after thanking Yamamoto's father.
"Baseball idiot."
Haru and Yamamoto paused at Gokudera's growl and Yamamoto turned to look at the silver-haired demolitionist.
"If anything happens to her, I'll kill you," Gokudera promised.
Yamamoto chuckled. "Don't worry," he said. "She's a teammate, I'll be there."
"You better be."
Gokudera's glare turned to her. "Don't do anything stupid, Haru," he said.
Haru puffed her cheeks out in irritation for a moment and then took a deep breath. "The same applies to you," she retorted. "I'll text if I find anything."
"Same," Gokudera said.
They nodded and parted ways, Haru automatically heading for the Underground.
"He's going to have to be blindfolded if you plan to use that entrance."
Akai's voice startled Haru and her eyes flew to her dark-haired friend who emerged from the crowd. It took Haru a moment to recognize her as she was dressed in a short, red plaid skirt, a ripped up band shirt that fell off her shoulder, and a pair of heavy black boots that jingled when she walked. "I thought you were busy," Haru said. "You said you'd be gone most of summer vacation to take care of the stuff you needed to so you could concentrate on school."
"I got an early reprieve," Akai said. "Madame Cho sent Sakura to take over what I was doing and gave me orders to return to Namimori immediately. Has something new happened?"
"Kudaime will be visiting the week of the thirty-first," Haru said.
"Well, we knew he was going to come at some point," Akai said. "It's not really a reason to summon me back…did negotiations with the Hermosillo Familia not go well?"
"Those are still in process," Haru said. "We'll be meeting again in a week or so."
"But no immediate threats?" Akai inquired.
Haru shook her head. "She asked about you, wondering why you weren't accompanying me."
"It's Vongola business. I'm not Vongola, my little sister just is," Akai stated.
"That's what I told her," Haru replied.
"Then why…" Akai trailed off.
"Yesterday, this was nailed to the door when Gokudera and I got back to my house," Haru said, extracting the letter and handing it over.
"Blindfolded?" Yamamoto questioned finally able to get in a word edgewise.
Haru glanced at him and then back to Akai.
"Unless Madame Cho approves otherwise, everyone gets blindfolded," Akai stated. "Don't worry; you're with Haru and me. Once we get to our main destination, the blindfold will be removed. There's not a whole lot of chance that someone is going to attack during the first part of the trek. Now that I think about it, you may want to start figuring out how to get to your own entrance into the Underground, Haru. The Vongola have a machine shop down there and they can probably give you their entrance. We've just been taking our entrance because that's usually where you're going. The Vongola's presence isn't as strong Underground, they're more everywhere else."
Haru looked up at Yamamoto. "I'm sorry I have to go by the rules," she said.
"It's no problem," Yamamoto said.
They neared the entrance and Akai asked Yamamoto to lean down a bit so she could put the blindfold in place and he obliged. They made their way to the entrance and Haru triggered the mechanism and the three ducked inside, closing it right afterwards. Akai pulled one of the flashlights out of the supply cabinet immediately to their right as they entered and they made their way through the narrow stairwell, Haru following Yamamoto. As soon as they were out of the passage, Akai reached up and pulled the blindfold away.
Yamamoto's eyes ran over the noisy concourse and he glanced down at Haru. "This is the Underground?" he asked.
She nodded. "I've never done anything down here except go to the shop," she said. "Dani said that you could buy anything and everything down here you could imagine if you had the money and knew where to look. There's a lot of Families that have places down here and there's kind of a loose agreement down here that you don't assault another Family though if there's a war between the Families it goes out the window and you have to hope that you can stay out of whatever disagreement happens to be cropping up."
"This way," Akai said, catching their attention. "If you want to visit the machinist's shop after we're done here, it's that way about a block."
Yamamoto shifted his bat bag on his shoulder and they followed Akai to the Broken Butterfly. The bell rang and Kenta glanced up from the manga he was reading at the counter. "You're back early, Akai," he noted.
"I got an early summons," Akai said. "Is Madame Cho in?"
At Kenta's nod, Akai vanished into the 'Employees Only' entrance behind the counter leaving Haru and Yamamoto to wait.
Kenta's eyes went to the dark-haired man behind Haru. "You're not Gokudera," he noted.
"This is Yamamoto Takeshi," Haru introduced him.
"Nice to meet you," Yamamoto said.
"Does Madame Cho know you're bringing a stranger to the shop?" Kenta frowned.
"We followed all the procedures," Haru stated. "He didn't see the entrance."
"It seems like we're getting way too entwined with the Vongola," Kenta frowned, "could be bad for business."
"What do you mean?" Haru asked.
"Ah…nothing."
Kenta suddenly became very busy with something else and Haru scowled. "Kenta…" she began.
"It's nothing, Miura-san," Kenta said. "Please wait until my sister gets back with word from Madame Cho. We got some new stuff in, if you want to look. If you see anything you want to buy let me know."
Haru sighed, she wasn't going to get anything else out of him and she obligingly moved over to the new displays. Yamamoto wandered the shop looking around at the various items. "It's not stuff you'd normally think about when you think about the Mafia is it?" he noted quietly, coming up behind Haru.
"It depends on your style of fighting," Haru said and pointed out a few items. "A lot of the shop's patrons tend towards ninjutsu and various forms affiliated with it. That's a lot of what I've learned over the past year or so, but I have a long way to go still."
Yamamoto was quiet for a long time and Haru looked at him curiously. "Is there something on your mind, Yamamoto?"
"Why did you really decide to get into this?" he asked. "It's caused a lot of problems hasn't it?"
"I want to revise the future," Haru said. "I already said something like that a while ago. I will do anything within my power to make sure that future doesn't come to pass. To try and make sure that no one loses someone that's dear to them."
Yamamoto's face was still at her words and Haru figured he was thinking about his dad whom had been killed in the future when the Millefiore Famiglia was hunting the Vongola. She touched his arm lightly summoning him from the dark memory. "We're going to make sure that doesn't happen," she said firmly.
Before Yamamoto could respond, Akai emerged into the shop and called them over. "Madame Cho is in the conference room with Nakayama. Come along."
The two Vongola followed Akai through the door and to the conference room. Nervousness clawed at her stomach, she wasn't sure if Madame Cho was really okay with her bringing another member of her Famiglia down here. Gokudera had been grudgingly accepted, but Kenta's observation bothered her and she clenched a hand in the folds of her skirt. What had he meant by 'it could be bad for business'?
Akai opened the door and Haru entered first followed by Yamamoto. "I apologize for the intrusion, Madame Cho," Haru said.
The thirteenth Boss of the Hanatachi Clan glanced up from the paper on her desk and shook her head. "You may be Vongola, but you're still Clan," she said, "though one would request you let us know more than two minutes in advance if you're bringing a stranger here."
"I'm Gokudera's pinch hitter," Yamamoto said. "Tsuna needed him for something else so he sent me with Haru."
Madame Cho waved off the teenager's explanation. "It's fine, the warning was just for future reference. Please come take a seat. Nakayama-kun has already come up with some possibilities for this new threat."
Haru's eyes shot to the dark-haired Japanese boy who gave her a charming smile. "Your safety is my highest priority, Lady Haru," Yukihiro Nakayama teased, bowing in her direction.
Haru was momentarily startled by the comment—Nakayama didn't usually say such things to her. "You're in good company today, Miura-san," Yukihiro continued. "We cased the area around your house and no one apparently saw anything the day that letter arrived."
"Our house has a high wall and if the person showed up around midmorning most of the neighbors are at work and Amihara-san's favorite drama is on so she's not watching out the window like usual," Haru said.
Akai had kept the letter after Haru presented it to her and it was sitting in the middle of the table between Madame Cho and Nakayama. "This writing isn't something any of the barbarians could come up with," Nakayama said. "I assume you've already reached that conclusion, Miura-san?"
Haru nodded. "We actually came to see if there were any of the Japanese Clans in the area who used similar methods," she said. "The way it's worded is also bothering me?"
"Because of the formality?" Yukihiro asked.
She shook her head. "No. The actual way it's phrased," she replied. "It doesn't really sound like whoever it is wants to actually threaten the Kudaime. 'You will find all the clues that you need if you look correctly. I hope to see you before then.' It sounds more like a challenge…directed at me…"
"Do you know of anyone who would challenge you like that?" Madame Cho inquired.
Haru shook her head. "It seems almost like something Dani would have directed at me while she was my teacher, but she's still in Vendicare as far as I know…" she said.
"She is," Madame Cho confirmed. "We checked on Shirokaia first—if they're offered enough money the Vindice will let anyone leave Vendicare as evidenced by Mukuro Rokudo's presence in the future you saw."
"Are there any Japanese Clans with an aristocratic background that may have a stake in things going on in Namimori recently?" Haru asked.
"There's a few," Yukihiro said. "The Mizuki Clan in Sapporo, the Ishida Clan in Kyoto, and the Minamoto Clan in Tokyo itself come to mind first. Though I am not sure what any of them would accomplish by challenging you. You're just a small fish in a much larger sea…"
"If one of them feels she presents a future threat, it makes more sense to come after her now," Akai noted, "but why threaten Kudaime? The Judaime is already in town and is much easier to get to…"
"Who knows?" Madame Cho said. "That's something Miura-san will have to figure out for herself. Check in with Kenta on your way out, he'll have some information on all the Clans Nakayama-kun has pinpointed. You may want to start your search there…"
Haru knew a dismissal when she heard it and collected the note and bowed to the Clan Lead and the young intelligence officer. "Thank you for your assistance," she said.
They exited the conference room and Haru churned the events over in her mind. They stopped in the main shop and Kenta presented a thumbdrive to Haru. "I was told to give this to you on your way out," he said.
"Thank you, Kenta," she smiled.
"Next time you come in alone I have something to show you," Kenta added, half-glaring at Yamamoto.
"Kenta…" Haru began.
"It's something only members of the Hanatachi can see for now," he said.
"She's a Vongola," Akai reminded her brother.
"She was Hanatachi first," Kenta said. "See you later."
Haru exited the shop.
"The Vongola Machine Shop is this way," Akai said, gesturing. "Want me to show you the way?"
"It couldn't hurt," Yamamoto said cheerfully. "We may need this place at some point."
"Madame Cho is in on it," Haru announced quietly as they turned down another street, "and maybe Nakayama-san too."
"What?" Akai exclaimed. "Madame Cho wouldn't threaten the Kudaime!"
Haru looked up at her friend. "No, she wouldn't, but she knows who's behind it and that it isn't an actual threat."
"So it's a challenge?" Yamamoto asked.
Haru nodded slowly. "Someone in one of those clans that Nakayama-san listed is challenging me," she said. "He came up with those names far too quickly."
"Interesting…" Yamamoto murmured. "So what are you going to do, Haru?"
"Part of the puzzle is in this drive," Haru said. "I should try and talk Father into getting me my own laptop sooner…assuming I even make it into Takanamori at this point…I don't have time for this!"
"You have a week before those classes we're taking start up," Akai said. "Maybe if we work at it, we can have the problem solved by then."
"We're taking?" Haru repeated.
"Well, I'm back in town anyway, might as well maintain appearances," Akai grinned. "I am, after all, a junior high student struggling to get into a high end high school to further my education… Ah! Here we are."
They stopped outside of a shop that had the Vongola crest hidden in its logo and Yamamoto opened the door to let the girls precede him. Akai shook her head and stepped back. "I'm going to go to Haru's house and shake the bushes a bit more and see if anything falls out."
"We already went over everything yesterday and this morning before we met up with the others at Take Sushi," Haru frowned.
Akai grinned. "I've probably shaken more bushes than you so I might find something else and fresh eyes never hurt. Besides, this is Vongola Territory and I'm not invited, I'd rather not cause problems."
"But—" Haru began.
Akai shook her head again and left the Rain Guardian and Haru to their own devices. Haru sighed and then turned to Yamamoto. "I guess it's just us from here," she said.
"I'll keep you safe, I promised," Yamamoto smiled and they entered the shop.
The bell rang and a boy with blond hair dressed in an olive green coverall emerged from the back, a stick protruding from his mouth. "Spanner?" Yamamoto gaped.
"Yo," the boy mechanic said. "I didn't know you'd be down here today. Did you need something? The boss is in Italy right now so I'm minding the shop."
"We'd heard there was a Vongola enclave down here, but hadn't actually gotten around to finding it," Haru said.
"Ah, then welcome," Spanner said. "So you didn't need anything today?"
He sounded almost disappointed and Haru thought for a moment. "I don't suppose you have a cheap laptop do you?" she asked. "One I can use for Vongola business so I don't have to run a security risk by using my Father's computer anymore?"
"Depends on what you mean by cheap," Spanner replied. "I'm surprised you don't have a laptop already all things considered…"
"My father promised me one when I start high school in the spring, my old one ate itself a while ago," Haru said.
"Ate itself?" Spanner repeated, his green eyes lighting up. "Wanna bring it in and I'll see if I can do anything with it? We don't have any good laptops in stock currently, but the boss can't get angry if I use stuff from the recycling pile to fix yours…"
Haru looked considering and then nodded. "Sure, why not? How do we get down here?"
"Oh, you don't know?" Spanner asked. "How did you get down here then?"
"Umm…" Haru hesitated.
"Doesn't matter how you got down here. Here I'll show you how to get back up though I'm surprised Yamamoto doesn't already know…" Spanner said.
"Huh?" Yamamoto blinked.
"It's in the yard of the dojo behind your dad's shop you know," Spanner said patiently. "How come you haven't found it yet?"
"It's near the dojo?" Yamamoto gaped.
"Well, yes, here, I'll show you…" Spanner said. "Let me lock the shop."