Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of KHR, the credit goes to Akira Amano.

Big thanks to my Beta: Princess one99five.

After a month long hiatus (due to my naturally slow writing) I now present you with the fourth chapter and as an extra bonus, it's about three times longer than the previous ones. That's it for now, but please read my notes at the end of the chapter.

oOoOo

Afro- 1stYear of High School (January)

She was running late, not that they would have minded but she really hated making them wait. Thankfully, everyone was still at the entrance to the school, preparing to leave.

"Sorry for making you wait," Haru huffed as she made it to her locker.

"You took too long, woman," Gokudera said snippily from a corner where he was smoking a cigarette, glaring at the large garment bag that was in her arms. "How long does it take you to get some stupid clothes?"

"HAHI! They are not stupid!" Haru snapped right back. "They're costumes that I need to mend for the drama club!"

"It's really no problem," Tsuna skillfully intervened before Gokudera could respond, wrapping his scarf tightly around his neck. Haru beamed at his kindness, while Gokudera let out a "che".

"Will you need help with any of it?" Kyoko asked her.

"I should be fine. This is just so I can catch up with all the extra projects. I really lucked out, since clubs were cancelled this afternoon." And it was all due to the weather. It was easily the coldest week of the winter season, with a heavy snowstorm threatening to fall at any given moment. Even sport clubs were cancelled which allowed Yamamoto and Sasagawa to join them on the walk home.

This was actually the first time they had walked home together in a long time, Haru thought as she walked alongside Kyoko. Usually Haru was busy with her club as was Kyoko and some of the boys, so a chance for all of them to be together after school was few and far in between. But lately the girls had been seeing even less of them. The boys had been disappearing after school and on the weekends. While they were eating lunch the other day, Kyoko had confided in Haru that her brother wouldn't come home till late in the evening.

Obviously something was up, and the girls knew it had something to do with the mafia but they had made a promise not to press the boys about anything they weren't willing to talk about. Besides, they knew that when it mattered, Tsuna would tell them everything that they needed to know. So for now, Haru would enjoy the time that they could spend together, care free.

"TSUNA-NII!"

Well almost care free.

Everyone turned towards the cry that had been addressed to Tsuna and saw a frantic Fuuta running towards them with I-Pin close behind. Tsuna immediately ran towards them, his expression matching the flushed ranker's. They could all see that he had ran the entire way, evidenced by his flushed face and heavy breathing.

"Fuuta!" Tsuna panicked. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I-Pin answered for the winded Fuuta. "Lambo's missing!"

"Missing?"

Fuuta nodded, finally able to catch his breath. "He wasn't in his classroom and I couldn't find him anywhere at the school. We looked everywhere!"

Haru caught the strained look that passed between Tsuna and Gokudera, which quickly traveled to Yamamoto and then Ryohei. Her heart raced as she wondered what it could possibly mean.

"We need to find him!" she found herself saying, her own fear and panic rising.

"He could get really sick if we don't find him in soon," Kyoko chipped in, face painted with worry. "It's too cold for him to be outside!"

"He could have gone home," Yamamoto calmly suggested without appearing convinced himself.

"Or the idiot might have wandered off and gotten lost, chasing after something stupid," Gokudera voiced his opinion.

Ryohei nodded. "Un. He's probably just hiding."

Hearing the simple suggestions seemed to calm Tsuna down reasonably. He stood up, and looked into everyone's faces. "We'll split up and search around town. If we don't find him in two hours, let's meet back at my house. Don't worry, we'll find him," he added reassuringly to Haru and Kyoko with a smile.

Agreeing to the plan, everyone split up into pairs and went in different directions. Haru wasn't sure how but she somehow ended up with Gokudera, moving towards the elementary school where Lambo and I-Pin attended.

Almost an hour had passed and there was still no luck in finding Lambo. The two of them had searched the entire school and the surrounding neighbourhood. Surprisingly, no one had seen cow-printed hide or hair of the little guy. It wasn't looking good.

Haru paused to lean against a bench to catch her breath. The sky was thick with a layer of dark gray clouds. To Haru it was like a bad omen or a setting for a horrible dream, telling her that they would never find Lambo safe and sound.

She looked over towards Gokudera, who was also briefly resting, choosing to stand not far from her. He had been searching just as hard as she had, all the while with a grim expression. It wasn't easy searching with him. During the several instances when they asked someone for information, she had to snap at him for scaring their wits away with his outlaw glare or rough comments.

Yet as much as he tried to restrain it, Haru could tell that he was also worried about Lambo. She found it a little odd, especially since Gokudera never seemed to think much of the little kid. Perhaps it was for the sake of Tsuna-san or maybe he really did care. But it couldn't matter to her then because she wasn't in the mood to think too deeply about it. Lambo came first.

Her eyes briefly met with his and with a nod, both came to a silent agreement to continue. Gokudera led the way to a children's park that was near where they had been standing, while Haru stayed behind a little to search the surrounding area, all the while with both calling out his name.

"Ahou-ushi!"

"Lambo-kun!"

She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice Gokudera suddenly pause at the foot of a slide.

"LAMBO-KUN!" Haru called louder.

"Oi! Shut up!"

Haru whipped around and glared at him. She was getting tired of his attitude. "Hahi! Don't tell me to-"

"Shut up and listen!" he hissed again, something resembling urgency echoing in his tone.

Haru did as she was told and listened in. Since they were the only ones in the immediate area, everyone else seeking shelter from the upcoming storm, there was nothing to interfere with the silence and her hearing. Haru moved a little closer and brought her hands up to her ears to hear what he was trying to hear. As for Gokudera, he stood absolutely still and closed his eyes in order to concentrate. She vaguely remembered hearing from Yamamoto about how good all of Gokudera's senses were when compared to everyone else. After a couple of seconds of silence, his eyes shot open and he ran towards one of the jungle gyms shaped like a giant penguin.

She immediately followed him, praying that they had finally found him. Haru nearly cried out in joy when Gokudera reached into one of the openings in the penguin and pulled out the little eight-year-old by the back of his coat collar, who was struggling at being handled so roughly.

"What the fuck were you doing?!" Gokudera yelled, shaking him a little. "Do you have any idea what the hell you've put us through, idiot?!"

"Gokudera, stop!" Haru cried, making her way over to them.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Lambo screamed, wrestling himself out of Gokudera's grip and running back inside his hiding place.

"I swear I'm going to kill him someday," Gokudera grumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. All of his worry had instantly been replaced with irritation and, Haru thought, something resembling relief.

"If you weren't such a brute, he wouldn't have done that!" Haru answered, irritated. After giving him a visual reproof to reinforce what she had said, she leaned in closer to him so that he could hear her whisper. "Call Tsuna-san and the others to let him know that we found him. I'll try and get him to come out."

Gokudera scowled at the fact that he was being told what to do by someone other than his boss but somehow agreed, if begrudgingly, and stepped to the side, taking out his cell phone and grumbling. Haru rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Lambo. The Thunder Guardian was huddled up inside the crevice, knees to his chin with his cow printed muffler wrapped loosely around his neck and coat unbuttoned at the top. His cheeks were flushed red from the cold and it was obvious that he had been crying, with another fit of tears on the way thanks to Gokudera's manhandling. However, from what she could see, aside from being emotionally upset and cold, Lambo appeared to be physically okay and that in itself was a huge relief to her.

Haru knelt down so that she was face to face with him. "Lambo-kun," she said softly, "tell Haru what happened? Why did you run away after school?" Lambo looked up at her with tear filled eyes and a runny nose and then quickly looked down at the ground again.

Haru tried again. "What happened, Lambo-kun? Please tell me." He shook his head violently and hugged his knees tighter. Haru lightly sighed through her nose. What had happened to him?

A light gust of wind blew over them, shocking Haru with a shiver and no doubtedly doing the same to Lambo. It was even colder than before and Haru knew that they had to get him out of the nasty weather soon. Years of experience inspired her with a sure fire way of getting him out of there peacefully.

"Lambo-kun, it's really cold outside. Do you want to go get some hot chocolate?"

Taking in a huge sniff, Lambo nodded. "Uh-huh."

She offered her hand for him to take and lead him out of the giant penguin and walked him over to where Gokudera was waiting. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing, allowing Haru to safely think that she had won this round. She explained to him that they were going to get hot chocolate and that he was welcome to come if he promised to be civil to Lambo. Gokudera's answer was a muttered "Whatever" and he proceeded to follow them to the nearest café.

Afterwards, on their way back to Tsuna's house, Haru somehow managed to convince Lambo to explain what had happened. It turned out that the young bomber's stunt had been the result of teasing from the bullies in his class.

"They kept making fun of me and saying that Maman isn't my mom and that my real family threw me away because I'm weird," a tearful Lambo explained. Haru's heart went out to him and gave his hand a light squeeze of comfort. But in all honesty, it wasn't surprising. With his distinct European features and unique style, Lambo completely stood out from his Japanese classmates.

"Don't listen to them."

Haru looked at Gokudera in surprise, seeing that he was looking down at Lambo. "Don't listen to anything that they say. Vongola is your real family now, and that's all that matters." His sudden statement took her completely aback, and she was surprised by how moved she was.

"Gokudera," she whispered. Her face brightened up as she looked down at Lambo.

"Everyone loves you, Lambo," she chipped in, not wanting to be outdone. "So don't worry about what those bullies say." Lambo took a giant sniff and nodded, looking comforted by what they were saying.

"They're all assholes anyway," Gokudera added. "We'll show them why they shouldn't mess with Vongola." The two guardians glanced at each other and Haru was truly surprised by what followed. After a brief moment, both of them broke out into smiles, until Gokudera ruffled Lambo's hair causing the later to squirm under his grasp.

They're pretty close after all, she thought, laughing to herself.

Gokudera passed her a huffy glance. "What the hell are you giggling about?"

Haru's smile grew bigger from getting caught. "Nothing," she replied, knowing full well that if she challenged him about it, he would only deny it and ruin the moment. Besides, it was more fun if she kept her little discovery to herself for now. She would challenge him on it later.

She watched silently as Lambo took hold of Gokudera's hand. It was kind of cute watching the two of them interact, like watching two brothers. Their bond was very strong and ran deeper than Haru had ever thought was possible and was too complicated for her to figure out. It was probably like this between Gokudera and the other guardians as well. And in the back of her head she wondered if it would ever be true for the two of them.

oOoOo

So, does anyone want some wine to go along with all that cheesiness?

Goodness this story is moving slowly, but in all honesty that's how I feel it should be done. When it comes to Gokudera and Haru, I feel that there are certain hurdles that should be overcome in order for them to get closer to each other, which is what each of these beginning chapters is trying to accomplish.

Lambo, in my opinion, is more of a uniting factor than a hurdle. He's something that Haru and Gokudera have in common. For Haru, I think she tends to dote on Lambo more than I-Pin and is associated with him more (many times, she's seen holding him or talking to him, a lot more than Kyoko anyways). As stated by Reborn during the ring battles, Thunder and Storm are brothers. Despite how much he taunts Lambo, we all know that deep down Gokudera has an incredible soft spot for the little guy (anyone remember the filler episode during the ring battle?)

In this chapter, the "family" issue came up, which in my mind, is a sensitive subject to Gokudera. This also allowed a chance for Haru to see how much he really cares about Lambo, and lets face it, Haru won't really start approving of someone unless they show that they care about kids.

Meh, that's enough of my GokuHaru theory for now.

Reviews, as always, are most appreciated.