Gokudera Hayato is a prickly, harsh boy. Haru knows the type, one of her old classmates was very similar to Gokudera when it came to personality, and Haru had followed him around for quite a while before her attentions were stolen away by a boy from her neighborhood. So when Gokudera helps her up and extends a gruff apology after bumping into her and scattering a pile of laundry around, Haru both is and isn't surprised. She isn't really surprised about him apologizing, heavens no, she has known for a long while that he's an honorable man. What does surprise her, is that he stops to help her pick up the laundry and carries it to the laundry room for her, even though he really doesn't have the time for such menial tasks what with the looming confrontation with Byakuran in the horizon.

But because Haru knows his type, she merely thanks him quietly and makes sure that he receives an extra portion of food at dinner. After that, they do not interact much. They occasionally meet in the hallways, and one heart-stopping night Gokudera nearly catches her in a suit before she's had a chance to have a shower, but all in all, they don't interact. In a way, Haru is glad of it. It is a familiar constant, to be ignored. She has always been a somewhat disliked person within her social circles, partly because of her intelligence and partly because of her passionate nature that most people before Tsuna and the Famiglia found to be too overbearing. She is still occasionally a little frightened of the open friendliness and affection that has encompassed her, simply because for all her life she had been fighting for scraps of emotion and now they were being very nearly force-fed to her.

And so, without ever noticing it herself until Reborn makes a quiet remark over coffee that no other in the room hears, Haru starts drifting into his space. She handles chores near his training rooms more and more often, and his seat at dinner is usually near her, if not next to her. They sometimes exchange a few words that make her maiden heart beat out of rhythm, despite the mundane nature of the words and phrases exchanged.

And so, one late night when it's nearing morning, Haru abruptly stops shooting and freezes in place. Her mind had been mostly empty, wiped clean by the repetitive and soothing recoil of the gun in her hands when thoughts of Gokudera had invaded it. More specifically, it was the image of Gokudera surrounded by books and papers, his glasses slightly askew and his intelligence obvious in the furious scribbling his notebooks were being subjected to. What had frozen her in place was the emotion that accompanied the image in her thoughts. Haru, being Haru and undoubtedly the most passionate member of the Vongola, easily recognized the feeling, though it was softer then the all-consuming, burning sort of love that was as likely to harm as it was to heal, that she had grown used to.

So thrown from her zone, she marched to her room, pausing to retrieve a cup of coffee on her way and locking her door behind her. It wasn't that Haru had any real objection to loving Gokudera, he was quite handsome and his obvious intelligence had more than once made her pause for a moment, simply because he thought as fast, if not faster than she herself did. It was the quality of her emotion that had so thrown her. She had not noticed before, other than to deny it, that whenever Gokudera wandered across her thoughts, her chest lit up in a soft, warm glow and her eyes tended to linger on the cigarette smoke that curled from his mouth like a lovers caress. Of course, where Gokudera was, Tsuna was sure not to be far from, so Haru was reasonably sure that no-one had noticed anything odd, except maybe Reborn, but she could trust him to keep his mouth shut.

Resolved to not show her affection in any of the more obvious ways she was so fond of, she retired to bed, thinking quiet thoughts about silver and smoke and violently writhing storms, never knowing that a pair of eyes had heard gunfire, and fearing an invasion, followed them to the shooting range where they widened at the near perfect shots visible on the targets.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! does not belong to me, I would be a rich woman if it did, and since I'm not, it follows that I do not, in fact, own Reborn!. Also, I apologize for the long wait with this chapter and wish you a Merry Christmas in case I won't have time to write you another chapter before it. Remember, reviews keep happy writers happy and co-operative!