10/10/08 EDIT: Edited the grammars and plot errors. Thanks to my beta-reader for pointing out some mistakes I made in the Author's Note.

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! The last time I read the manga, neither did I own the Vongola 77 Character Book. I wish I do.

Chapter 4 Silent Night

Gokudera glanced at the person lying silently on the hospital bed then at Haru who sat on the chair beside the bed. Kyoko was not awake yet. Romario had bandaged her swollen ankle and sedated her to calm her. She was supposed to wake up an hour ago, but she continued sleeping.

I-pin, already patched up, sleeping with her head on Lambo's shoulder on one of the long couches in the room. Yamamoto went to discuss something more with Dino (conscious after Romario came bringing Enzo to munch on his master's ears).

It was already ten past nine in the night. Gokudera was tired and wanted to sleep. But he had to stay awake to protect the others. He didn't want to wake up to find that they were being attacked by enemy.

He sat on the window's edge and searched for his cigarette in his inside pocket only to find it was already empty. His spare cigarettes were in his briefcase along with his wallet, box weapons, and other things. But the briefcase was in his younger self's custody right now. He cursed silently and then threw his jacket onto one of the unoccupied couches. Haru heard the curse and cast a questioning look to him.

"Nothing," he muttered as he unfastened the gun holster from his shoulder and it joined his jacket. "Just ran out of cigarettes."

"You know you can't smoke in a hospital, Hayato," she warned him. "Besides… You told me you want to stop, right?" Haru stood up from her seat and joined him. "It will never do you any good, you know. Smoking…"

"I know…" he said in low voice, glancing at Kyoko again. "How's Kyoko?"

Haru sighed and start loosening his necktie. "She just sleeps like the dead. Haru wonders if it's because she heard that Tsuna-san is… gone…"

Gokudera's heart almost stopped when she said that. He looked at her as she folded up the black necktie. "When will you tell me, Hayato?" she asked. "You promised me that you will never hide anything. Don't you still remember your wedding vow?"

"Sarò onesto con voi tutta la mia vita. Sarò dal vostro lato tutta la mia vita. Lo serberò in cuore tutta la mia vita. Lo proteggerò tutta la mia vita. Mai non lo lascerò solo per tutta la mia vita. Anche se la conclusione del mondo, anche se la mia sorella ha spinto il suo veleno che cucina in mia gola, anche se l'intera umanità si leva in piedi nel mio senso, sempre e per sempre volontà, amarlo tutta la mia vita," he said in fluent Italian. Of course he remembered. How could he forget?

Even though he had said his vow in Italian so his Japanese acquaintances couldn't understand what he was talking about, he was wrong about them all not understanding.

Most of the people invited were in the Mafia world. Almost everyone in the Vongola Japan Branch were there (not every single people, though, only people from rank capo régime and above). The Cavallones were there. The CEDEF were there. The Ninth was there. Even the Varia (though they were in the far, faaar back of the seat) were there.

Who would want to miss the Vongola Tenth's Right Hand Man's wedding day?

And to his surprise, his father was there (only for a while). It looked like Bianchi had told their father about his wedding. He met his father for a few minutes before the ceremony started. He said to his father that he still couldn't forgive him for his mother's death and he didn't want to see his face again. His father didn't say anything and just congratulated him. He left after seeing who his new daughter-in-law was.

Only after he said the vow and heard (lots of) murmurs that he realized almost everyone present understood what he had said.

The Tenth, Yamamoto, Ryohei, and Lambo were speechless. They never thought that Gokudera was capable of saying something so sweet without any cursing. The Ninth and Reborn were smirking. Dino almost had a heart attack (he fainted when he received the wedding invitation).

Fuuta did his ranking immediately and said Hayato-nii's wedding vow ranked 22 out of 48.521 most romantic vows.

And to wrap it all up, Bianchi cried and wailed You finally understood that love could cure even the most deadliest poison, Hayato! I'm so proud of you!

Haru didn't understand what the commotion was about and the vow at the time but he told her what he had said during the reception party. She had been very touched.

"So why are you hiding things from me now?" she asked him after he replayed his vow. She frowned at him at looked very disappointed. "What's the use of us being married if you still can't tell me everything?"

He met her eyes and saw the disappointment. She was right. But he couldn't risk endangering her life. Once he told her everything, she would be involved. And he wasn't ready, yet.

"Haru…" he held her hands in his. "Please understand me. I don't want to lose you. If I told you everything, our enemies might come after you. You saw just now, right? Someone attacked you just because they knew you were one of our acquaintances. What if they knew that you're my wife?"

"But…"

She stopped when the door creaked open. Yamamoto peered in and checked the situation.

"Everything okay?" he asked, walking inside. "Dino-san has sent his men to scout the area. He said he'll try his best to investigate the Giglio Nero famiglia and Gesso famiglia and Irie Shoichi."

Yamamoto approached Kyoko's bed and stroked her forehead. "She must be really shocked."

Suddenly, Lambo and I-pin grumbled in their sleep. Something about broccoli monster from I-pin and something about tolerate from Lambo. Yamamoto smiled at the teens.

"They must be tired from the day's event. What about you two? You looked like you haven't had any sleep, Gokudera," Yamamoto said, facing Gokudera and Haru.

"I can't sleep. I have to protect them," he replied. "Why don't you go and sleep, Haru?" he said to his wife.

"Dino-san has prepared some rooms for us. You and Haru go and rest. Let me take care of these three," Yamamoto said grimly. "What can you do if you lack sleep!? You'll have no energy whatsoever to protect them!"

Gokudera was about to retort back when Dino appeared. He brought some clothes with him. There were a couple of suits, shirts, pants, dresses, and some casual clothes.

"I had Romario buy some change of clothes for you guys," he said, placing the clothes on the couch.

"Thank you, Dino-san." Yamamoto said to Dino. "And while you're here, could you show Gokudera and Haru their room? I think they want to rest," Yamamoto shot a warning look at Gokudera who was just about to scowl some nasty words.

"You. Go. Sleep." Yamamoto told him firmly.

"Tch!" Gokudera spat. "Fine!" He grabbed his jacket and briskly walked out. "You better not close your eyes even for a minute, sword-freak!" he added before closing the door.

Haru and Yamamoto sighed. "Where's the room, Dino-san?" Haru asked as she picked some clothes for her and her husband to change.

"Let me show you," Dino said, opening the door to let Haru out first.

"Good night, Yamamoto-kun," Haru said before leaving Yamamoto in the room.

--

"There's a bathroom inside. I'm in the room below if you need anything," Dino said when they reached the small room on the second floor. Gokudera immediately got inside and threw himself onto the king sized bed.

"Thank you, Dino-san," Haru told him, smiling. "I'm really sorry to disturb your time."

"You're Tsuna's friend. Tsuna's friends are my friends too. And you're also part of the Vongola since you married that brat," Dino said gesturing towards Gokudera who was taking off his shoes. "I just never imagined both of you would be married in the future, though. As far as I recall, both of you always fought whenever you saw each other."

Haru chuckled and glanced at her husband. "You said the same thing when we got married. You said that it would need patience as deep as the ocean to live with him."

"I bet I did. Never in a million years would I believe it if someone said you're going to marry him," he replied. "Better go now. Have a good sleep."

After Dino left, Haru locked the door. She put the clothes Dino gave on one of the chairs near the window.

"Do you have to be such an asshole?" she said to her husband. "Yamamoto-kun was right. You can't protect anyone if you don't have enough sleep."

He stopped trying to take off his shoes and cast an annoyed look at her.

"What? Am I doing something wrong?" she snapped, equally annoyed.

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I just thought that if I'm not the one protecting all of you, who would?"

He stood up and kicked his shoes off then unbuckled his belt. He grabbed one of the towels on the table beside the bathroom and walked inside to take a shower. His body felt like it had been thrown into sea water.

Haru let out a small sigh. "You know you can't protect everyone on your own, Hayato," she said, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking off her blouse.

He didn't respond and started to clean himself. The cold water that sprayed his whole body was making him feel refreshed. A couple of minutes later, he heard a small sob.

"Hayato…" Haru called him in between her tears. "What will happen to us now?"

Her cracked voice made him turn of the shower and wrap the towel around his waist and quickly step out of the shower.

Haru was crying bitterly. Gokudera was stunned. He had never seen her so stressed out. She was always so cheerful and positive. Seeing her cry out of sadness was something new to him.

"What's wrong, Haru?" he asked, sitting beside her and hugging her, ignoring his still wet body. "I told you, we're safe here."

"What if we can't go back?" she said, avoiding his gaze. "What if we're stuck here forever? Tsuna-san is dead, too. What will happen to Kyoko-chan? What will happen to us?"

He sighed and caressed her reddened cheeks to erase the tears. He cupped her head and made her dark eyes met his own green orbs.

"Look at my eyes, Haru," he told her. She sniffled and looked into her husband eyes. "I swear I will take us back to the future." His determination was shown in his eyes.

"Really?"

"Remember my vow?"

She chuckled a bit then nodded. "I missed you, Hayato," she whispered. She took his right hand (the one without any rings he usually used to charge up his box weapons). "I really missed you."

He had to suppress a small groan when she kissed his wet palm. He pulled her into a tight embrace and rested his chin on her head, sniffing in her scent.

"You would never know how much I missed you too, silly wife," he told her. She wrapped her arms around his waist. "I missed touching you," he added before sneakily sliding one hand inside her shirt.

"Hahi!" she squeaked. She released herself from him, red as a ripe tomato. "What are you doing?"

"What a husband should do to his wife," he whispered in a hoarse voice. He kissed her passionately. He cupped the back of her head with one hand and the small of her back with the other, and he lowered her gently to the bed.

She fought him at first but as he caressed her softly and moved his lips languidly against hers, she gave in. He deepened the kiss when she ran her hands through his wet hair. Their tongues danced languorously against each other.

He moved his lips to savor the bits of skin between her jaw and halter neck shirt. "Ha-Haru needs a shower first!" she said, panting when his tongue slipped inside her neck.

"You don't need to," he muttered in her ear, making her shiver as his hot breath brushed them.

The hands that had been supporting her body moved inside her shirt making her squeak again. His left hand traced the skin on her waist and his right pushed her shirt up her body. He moved his lips from her neck to her lips again. Her hands now rested on his shoulder.

When her shirt had finally been tossed aside, without hesitating, he immediately savored her now exposed neck and shoulder. As she gave an appreciative little sigh, he trailed his lips to her cleavage giving feather light kisses which made her whimper.

He moved back to kiss her again then hovered an inch above her.

"Still need a shower?" he teased her, a small smirk on the corner of his mouth as she opened her eyes. She avoided his gaze, blushing deeper than before.

"My body's sweaty… Haru… Haru really needs to wash up… and…" Her stuttering answer was stopped by another firm kiss. She let out a small gasp when his hand moved inside her bra to one of her breasts. Another hand pulled her skirt's zipper down. He broke off the kiss to pull her skirt off and toss it aside, her bra and his towel followed suit.

He rolled her to change their position. She was on top of him now. He pulled her body against his then proceeded to remove the last material covering her. She trembled when his cold finger traced her bare back to her waist, then to her hips. He loosens her panties strings as she stroked his wet hair from his left ear and nibbled on his earrings.

"I love you, Hayato." She whispered. He smirked and removed her panties. With her completely bare and naked on top of him, he let out a small groan then rolled again and pin her down.

"You still want to take a shower?" He asked one more time. She didn't answer but pulled him down and kissed him passionately instead.

'You don't need it, then.' Gokudera thought as they proceeded in their activities.

Author's Note (and some omake):

Gupyaaah!! reddened cheeks It was really exhausting to write this chapter! Never in a million years will I want to write this again! (I think I'll change my mind though).

Capo régime: someone who commands a "crew" of around ten Sgarriste or "soldiers". They serve under the capo bastone (underboss or second in command) who serve the capo crimine (The Don or the Boss of the Family). For example: Gokudera acted as the capo bastone and Tsuna as the capo crimine.

Italiano wedding vow (the translations): I will be honest to you all my life. I will be by your side all my life. I will cherish you all my life. I will protect you all my life. I will never leave you alone for all my life. Even though the world's ending, even though my sister's shoved her poison cooking into my throat, even though the whole humankind stands in my way, I will always and forever will love you all my life.

That… was really cheesy… I never could've imagined Gokudera saying something like that. I skipped the part where he should be saying about what love means to him though. It will take too much space.

He'd rather die than let his friends (well… most of his friends are Japanese) understand those romantic words. But obviously he never thought that most of his friends are coming from Italian mafia families and obviously understand Italian. (Beta reader's note: Hello, the mafia is not Italian We have Malay mafia too. Me: Sorry, my friend. I just changed that part.)

Certainly Tsuna, Yamamoto and Ryohei learned Italian or they wouldn't be able to work efficiently. Lambo and Fuuta are Italian (I read it in the Vongola 77 Character Book). Probably the ones who didn't understand his words are Haru, Nana (Tsuna's mother), Kyoko, Hana (Kyoko's best friend), and a couple of their other friends.

Mukuro (Chrome) was not there because he was missing, remember? If he was there, he would certainly say Kufufufu… The Smoking Bomb ready to bomb the world (pun not intended) XP

What if Hibari was there? With Hibird singing the Namimori-chuu's anthem in the background, he would say Herbivores… (Can't think of any other… 8P). Or… as my beta-reader said: Correction. He wouldn't be there, ne readers? I think I would never understand how Hibari's mind works T-T. Of course he would never ever come to a wedding (there'll be too much mingling and crowds).

I'm sorry if the update was later that usual. I'm in the process of writing Chapter 6, re-editing the new oneshot and gathering some crazy ideas for a Firecracker sequel. (Yes, people! There'll be a sequel!). Its one hell of a chapter you know! T-T. Just wait!

Well… The next two chapters will contain less romance from this one I guess. It really is difficult to write romance without making Gokudera seem out of character. I need more practice to write it in English too! Gah!

I send big tiramisus, éclairs, black forest trifles, cream puffs, lemon tarts, raspberry pies, and the green tea granita I made on my college function to all of you who reviewed, faved, and alerted. Equal amounts to all of you who're wasting your time reading all my stories. Love you guys.

Reviews are still being loved the most! I would send you cakes if I could, even. Flames will be used to bake the cakes I think.