Chapter 15: Cold

Tsuna found herself once more, at the door step of Haru's odd door. She rang the bell a couple of times and waited for a reaction.

"C-C-COMING!"

She could hear Haru's familiar shout, followed by her rushed and light footsteps. Soon enough, the door flew open and a flushed Haru was standing there.

"Come in, come in! B-boy, it sure is cold! You're feeling cold right? I prepared some tea. Tea! Delicious tea!" She continued to babble on and on. There was something up, Tsuna could tell. Yes, it was of Haru's nature to babble pointless things. However, she really never spoke in this manner before.

"Thank you, Miss Miura. Please excuse me for intruding this late!" Tsuna said as she stepped into the simple room of the small agency. Haru had told her she preferred staying just one level up, because according to her, she would never have to wake up early.

"Oh, you lapsed back into your polite fancy language again. I said, call me Haru! Ha-ru!"

When the two were settled by Haru's table, Tsuna (quite surprisingly) was the first one to raise the conversation. Haru seemed to be biting her lips and running her finger up and down the cup nervously, occasionally taking a few sips. It did not seem as though she would talk on her own vocation.

"Am I fired?"

Haru suddenly sat up straight, but refused to give Tsuna any eye contact.

"No! Why would I fire you? You're such a sweet girl. Besides, I hear you've been doing an excellent job!"

Tsuna bit her own lips.

"Let me rephrase that. Did I quit?"

This time, Haru took a long time to reply.

"No," was the answer that came out of her mouth.

"But someone quit for you. You aren't to return to work t-tomorrow. You…you'll still go for the ceremony right?"

Tsuna was taken aback. She had forgotten all about the ceremony! Although, it was not as though she planned to go in the first place – she had just been coerced into it. What riled her up, however, was the fact that she had not quit on her own accord. She knew immediately that it was Reborn's doing, and it would be an understatement to say that she was upset about it.

"I need you to rehire me, Haru-san! I like this job… I've made new friends too! I mean, I-Pin is really good to me and Yamamoto is friendly. I want to spend more time in it. Please!" Tsuna cried in a sudden outburst. Her hands left her tea cup and she was bent in a deep bow.

"It's… not as though I have a choice. That man – Reborn – he told me you were in danger if you continued to work at the Vongola Mansion. I-I was scared for you. He quit… on your behalf. Please understand, Tsuna! I didn't want someone like you to be in trouble."

Haru sighed. Her hair covered her face, so Tsuna could not see her face. Being the hyper sensitive person she was however, she knew that Haru was on the verge of tears.

"Truth is… the maids I sent to the Vongola Mansion – remember when I told Mukuro to stop making my maids cry? Those who ran back to me – most of them disappeared a day later. M-Most! N-Not all. They all say we have really good technology. That's all a load of bull! The police couldn't even track them down. They were just gone. Like that. It was as though they died. I couldn't draw any logical links. True, it was Hibari, Gokudera and Mukuro who had made them cry with their tempers, but I couldn't blame them for it, because there were cases of my other employees – those who hadn't taken the brunt of their wrath – that disappeared as well!

When… when Reborn told me that you were in trouble, I thought something like that would happen to you soon! So…"

Something rang out in Tsuna's mind at that moment. She remembered what I-Pin said on her first day of work.

"The mafia. I heard they were into dark, underground trades. Killing, murder –that's why they don't want many people to walk into their rooms. The maids that have dug up information they don't need to know have gone missing overnight. Missing…missing…missing… "

Were those rumours true then? Tsuna shook her head. She could not possibly be in trouble. She had entered Mukuro's room, true, but she had not stumbled upon any secret documents, as far as she was concerned.

"No, Haru. I'm not in trouble! I'm not going to go missing overnight! Trust me! Reborn… he's just being Reborn, doing what he likes and telling me not to do what I like! I'll return to work tomorrow."

"Oh, Tsuna-kun!" Haru spontaneously wrapped her arms around Tsuna and drew her into a tight hug. Too tight, in fact.

"Urg!"

Tsuna could feel her shoulder getting wet – Haru was definitely crying. Reborn had truly gone too far! He had even made her friend cry now! It was bad enough that Tsuna was always on the receiving end of his harsh words, but he did not necessarily have to make it so for her friends.

Back at the restaurant…

Reborn answered to the call with a small tap on his ear before picking up his utensils.

"Good evening, Iemitsu. The girl won't relent – I say she'd be back at work tomorrow."

A gruff and deep voice replied.

"I want to cancel this operation."

"You said that her being around them would be detrimental. Especially if they caught up to it. And then there's this problem of Rokudo…"

"I trust my skills, Reborn. But yes, he poses some threat. The scars of his childhood – or lack thereof – do provide ample motivation for him. You have to understand though."

"What is there to understand?" Reborn hissed.

"She's my daughter… and she's been suffering for quite a while. Even if she can't remember that. I'm sure there are other ways we can arrange things for the sake of her security. Besides, you do care for her too, don't you?"

"Caring is beyond me, Iemitsu, and you know that. I only complete missions. So, you want me to arrange for guards to be standing around her every second she's in that mansion?"

"No, not like that. Not exactly. And there's something else… more private I'd like to speak to you about. Byakuran's made a move."

"On Tsuna? Yes. I know that very well – I was the one who told you."

"Of course. Then there's the other thing… Rokudo Mukuro… and the Asyriel Project."

"I'll get to the office later."

Reborn shut the connection without so much of a "goodbye" and stood up, half of his meal untouched.

Tsuna did not even know why she wanted to head home. She would have to face Reborn; or by a stroke of luck, he would be out late again that night. She felt bad about leaving Haru in her state of distress, and it did take a very long time for her to stop sobbing. She then decided that Haru needed rest, and thus she left the apartment, not wanting to be a hindrance.

She did not know what to do as she stood on her doorstep, her body being scanned by the security scanners. Luckily for her, the only thing she saw when she stepped in was the house robot clearing up the kitchen. It turned its metallic head to her and muttered a monotone greeting before returning to its work.

Tsuna decided that she would shower quickly and head to bed. She had made up her mind not to turn up for the ceremony the next day. Although when Tsuna made up her mind, she was, quite normally, never allowed to follow through on it.

She was right.

It was the next day that Tsuna found herself woken up early. She expected it to be Haru as usual, but then again, was Haru really in the mood to wake up this early? She had been sobbing quite badly last night after all.

"Tsuna-kun! Wake up! You have a big day ahead of you!"

It took a few seconds for Tsuna to get the grogginess out of her head before she replied.

"Uhm…I don't really want to go…"

"What are you saying? I've even prepared a beautiful furisode for you! C'mon Tsuna-kun. Don't be a wet blanket!"

"But I… I'm sorry Haru, I'm just not up to it…"

She did not get a full answer. Instead, she was heard a loud sneeze, then the sniffling of a nose.

"Are you …sick?" Tsuna started slowly.

"Wh-what are you saying? Of course I'm not sick, Tsuna. I even sound alright! I'm Haru Miura, and a few bugs ain't getting me down!"

"Today's a holiday right? Why don't you get some rest, and I'll get some groceries to cook you a nice breakfast before heading to work."

Before Haru could protest, Tsuna cut the call and got out of bed. It was time to start the day. Tossing on some jeans, a thick shirt (filled with some holes anyway, since she hadn't shopped in many, many months) and a coat, she stepped out of the house, making sure she had her uniform and purse in hand. She nodded to the robot before walking out of the apartment.

It was rather cold out, considering that the sun was not up yet. Tsuna though, was grateful that the weather was not as unstable that year. Previous years could see summer's temperatures in the middle of December, and snow in the middle of June. It was all part of nature – it had gone bad many, many decades ago – nothing people could do to change it.

The environment of the earth, after all, was ruined rapidly until major conservation efforts stepped up. It was the only reason they even had a park, or even grass in Namimori. Despite this, the city was still quite gray and dull, though not as much as people in the past had envisioned it to be.

Her journey to the convenience store was oddly peaceful – oddly, because she had not seen the streets so empty in quite a while. Normally, despite the time, there would still be people out and working – which was quite scary to note. Stress from work was a heightening problem in this time, so it was not rare to see a lot of people out late at night, carrying bags or briefcases.

When Tsuna had arrived at her destination, she quickly picked out a few ingredients that would make a good warm broth before stepping out and heading straight for Haru's home. On her way though, she bumped into someone she would have never expected.

At the bus stop, while silently watching the sky and hoping for the stars to appear again (of course they would not. There was too much light, far too much artificial light), Tsuna heard some footsteps and the ruffling of a coat. She turned around, only to see a head of black hair and narrow, cloudy eyes.

"Hi-Hibari-san?" Tsuna squeaked. It was enough for her to get his attention. Before he could say anything in return though, he sneezed loudly. Ah, Tsuna got it. He was sick too.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" It was hard to deny that Tsuna was still intimidated by Hibari, she tried her very best to conjure a conversation with him. She had not interacted much with him over the past few days, after all.

Hibari looked at her before pointing to the block of apartments that she lived in.

"I live there sometimes."

Tsuna had not been expecting a reply. Hibari was the aloof and silent type, though no matter how cool or tough he looked, he was still a human and susceptible to common illnesses. Another part of his sentence though, caught her attention.

W-W-W-W-What! He's my neighbor? No way! No! No! No! No! No! Tsuna internally panicked. She was reminded of his temper, although he being sick probably softened him up. Just a bit. Still, he was her neighbor! When he got better, and when she got on his nerves (she probably would), she would be in huge trouble.

"Uh…huh."

This time, Tsuna noticed that he was slumped over more than usual. He was trying his best to keep his eyes open. Hibari this time…looked vulnerable. Different from the strong and silent Hibari that she watched from afar.

"Uh… y-you okay?" Tsuna got up. Slowly but surely, she inched closer to him and felt his forehead.

"It's a really high fever! What are you doing out here?"

Hibari did not reply, but stood up, swaying a little. Tsuna turned her head to see the bus approaching.

"Gee, I think I understand why you took public transport today, but…"

Tsuna brazenly grabbed his hand and used her other to pick up her groceries.

"I'll take you back to your apartment where you can rest. I'll cook something for you too!"

In her spate of brave acts, Tsuna's heart was thumping wildly and she was chanting a prayer in her head, hoping that Hibari would not kill her when he regained his rational thought. For now, she would take him back and make sure he had ample rest.

Hibari did not object (amazingly) and followed her silently. The fever, Tsuna figured, burnt his head quite badly. As the two headed back to the tall building, Tsuna gave Haru a call. She notified Haru that she would be arriving late, and Haru agreed – though she was still adamant about Tsuna going to the ceremony, and a lot of unnecessary fuzz had been added on the sides.

"Where do you live?" she asked him as they approached the lobby.

While Tsuna had been leading the both of them all the time, Hibari now stepped forward and led the way to the elevator. When it had arrived, he tapped the button that had a '56' written on it. The pair waited silently for the lift to arrive at its destination, and it finally did with a small 'ding' and the door sliding open.

As soon as they had gotten to the front of his apartment, it was as though Hibari snapped to consciousness. He stepped back and looked at Tsuna.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, rather scathingly.

"Getting you to rest! Y-You have a high fever," she said meekly in return.

Hibari suddenly slumped back against the wall again. Did he just concede to her? Apparently so, for he stuck his hand into his pocket and grabbed his card key. The door opened after a few security checks and they both stepped in.

Tsuna looked at the living room, simple in décor but still amazing. The kitchen was part of the room too, situated in a large space on the left side of the room. A small dining table sat in the middle of the kitchen, and on it, a vase of flowers. Hibari immediately wobbled up to the sofa without the grace he normally held in each of his prideful strides.

"Erm… you don't mind if I use your kitchen, do you?"

"Hmph," he gave a quick nod.

She walked towards the kitchen and immediately began preparing the broth.

It was about thirty minutes later when she produced an aromatic soup in a bowl. By then, she found Hibari snoozing comfortably in his own sofa. His face looked so peaceful, it was hard for her to bring herself to wake him up – but the soup would get cold. Tsuna stepped up and gave him a small shake.

"Hibari-san?"

His eyes snapped open and she stepped back in surprise.

"Wake me up and I'll bite you."

"Hiie! B-but! The soup is ready!"

Hibari gave a quick whiff and got up. Tsuna sighed in relief.

Maybe he would murder her another day, but her cooking saved her this time.

A/N: Wild Hibari's intimidate lowered Tsuna's attack! /Lolfail.

(Thanks, all of you for reviewing in spite of my looong absences!)

And to the anonymous reviewer; err, actually Tsuna's synesthesia was referred to quite a couple of times in the first few chapters.