The sun high in the sky and the wind on his back while he leans on a sturdy chain link fence are the only things that really ground Gokudera at the moment. The ingrained habit of smoking has become so instinctual that he doesn't even notice it anymore, and the three-story fall is no more effective in grounding his always active mind.
Despite being very academically minded and finally finding some amount of challenge in his schoolwork for, perhaps, the first time in his life, Gokudera's attendance record is far from spotless. He can often be found on the school roof or sometimes walking through the extensive gardens surrounding the school, though that is rare. Gokudera can't help it really. While nowhere near as independent as the Cloud, he does need a lot of quiet time to effectively organize his mind into some resemblance of calm. He's gotten better over the years really, he has, but he is the Storm Guardian and it is in his nature to be at near constant conflict, whether with himself or some external source of agitation.
Today, his mind is worrying about one Miura Haru. It takes him two and a half cigarettes to go through every memory he has of the girl, going through some of them a few times over. Nothing. Oh, there are things that he notices now, that he had never noticed before, such as the curiously respectful attitude Reborn seemed to treat her with and the odd relationship his sister had with her, but there was nothing in his memories to suggest that Miura Haru had any sort of combat ability, much less experience. Much less experience that would leave her perfectly composed and even amused –though only a little, and even that in a pitying way, he decides- at the sight of three grown men groveling at her feet, their blood running over the concrete in little ribbons of crimson.
The only thing that Gokudera remembers that may have had anything to do with Haru, were the mysterious, perfectly shot targets that he encountered one night after having heard gunfire. She certainly seemed accurate enough now. The question is, was she as accurate then?
Well, looks like I'm eating my words about not having the time to write more chapters. Anyway, Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is in no way my property and as such, I earn no monetary rewards from it. Remember to review, please!