Disclaimer: I don't own KHR, it all belongs to Akira Amano.

Author's Note: I'm not going to mention how long its been since I've updated but I will mention that this is one of those long chapters! Also there's a nice little surprise at the end~

As always, comments and reviews are most welcomed and appreciated.

Smile – Second Year of High School (June)

"You should have been there with the rest of us. It would have been good for you to see her," Yamamoto told him.

Gokudera shook his head. "She doesn't need to see the person who almost killed her."

"You're being way too hard on yourself," Yamamoto sighed as he threw his baseball up in the air and caught it. "Haru didn't die. Dr. Shamal even said that she'll make a full recovery."

No thanks to me, Gokudera thought remorsefully. It had been four days since he and Haru were ambushed at the shopping district. As soon as Yamamoto had shown up, Gokudera had gone after the assailant and while he was able to catch the bastard who attacked them, it still didn't bring any retribution for what had happened to Haru. She was hurt pretty badly and it was only yesterday that she had awakened from her coma.

The others had gone immediately after school for a visit once they found out, except for him. He didn't deserve to see her. He had failed in his duty to protect the Family. He certainly didn't deserve to call himself the Tenth's Right Hand Man anymore.

His boss handed him a rice ball. "Eat this. You look like you haven't been eating, much less slept in days."

"I'm not worthy of your kindness. Thank you, Tenth." Gokudera accepted but didn't really touch it. He knew he looked like shit.

"You can't go on like this," the Tenth said. "It wasn't your fault."

"You should go see her," Yamamoto chimed in. "It might help you."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Gokudera snapped, prepairing to throw the riceball at the baseball idiot.

"Gokudera-kun!"

He immediately stopped in mid throw. Now he had done it the Tenth's tone sounded so harsh. Gokudera immediately positioned himself in front of the Tenth, bowing up and down profusely.

"My deepest apologies! I didn't mean to waste to the food that you so graciously had given me-"

"Gokudera-kun."

He looked up at the Tenth. His boss' expression wasn't angry or even irritated but instead it was filled with pure concern.

His boss spoke to him. "Go visit her."

oOoOo

The good thing was that she was okay. Battered and bruised, but overall alive and recovering just like they had told him.

So if she was alright in the end, why was he so hesitant to enter her hospital room?

Was it because he felt guilty? It wasn't like he meant for any of it to happen. It was an ambush after all. As much as he hated hearing it from Yamamoto, no one was blaming him for any of it; even the Tenth told him so many times. That should have been enough to convince him otherwise.

But still…he failed in his duty to look out for the family.

Gokudera stared at the door to her room, knowing that he had to open it but failing to do so. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Even though the hospital rules forbade him from lighting it, he was oddly comforted by just letting it dangle from the edge of his mouth.

Taking a fake drag, he let out his breath slowly. Just open it, he told himself, gripping the cold knob, he turned it with some hesitation and pushed the creaky door to her room open.

She was sitting upright, flipping through a magazine when he entered. Her eyes lit up, but softened to a calmer expression when she realized it was him.

"Gokudera-san," she said with a little bit of surprise in her voice.

"Ah," he replied with a light gesture.

He was surprised to see that she was alone, especially since he knew that everyone else would come and visit her constantly. This was quite evident from the fresh basket of flowers from Sasagawa and Kurokawa on the stand alongside a couple of homemade cards from the brats. He knew the Tenth and the Baseball Freak had stopped by earlier in the day, and judging from the smell of rotting food at the window, his sister had been by as well.

She looked much better than how she was a few days ago. Her broken arm was encased in a cast, placed securely in a sling, and the large cut on her forehead was hidden behind a bandage that was hidden by her bangs. The only things that hadn't improved were the bruises that were scattered all over her body. Yet even with her body battered and covered in bruises, she looked cheerful.

"There's no smoking in the hospital," she pointed to the cigarette still between his lips.

He ripped the cigarette from his mouth and stuck it in his pocket. "Like it matters. It wasn't lit anyways."

Haru rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine. "I wasn't expecting you to visit since you didn't come with everyone else yesterday. I'm a little surprised."

"Ah. well…I was busy yesterday," he lied.

"Oh. Well, how's class? Or have you been skipping again?"

Even while injured, she still loves to nag! Gokudera fumed. He bit his tongue and brought out a stack of papers from his bag. "No…I've been attending…I actually brought you some notes from class. Figured you didn't want to fall behind."

Haru blinked. "I didn't think you took notes."

Gokudera almost crumpled up the papers out of spite. He was expecting her to sound a little more grateful or even a little surprised, but this was Haru that he was talking about. "Look, do you want them or not?" he asked in frustration.

Haru took them with a teasing look. "These will be useful. Kyoko-chan said she'll help me study, especially since midterms are coming up in a few weeks. It'll be interesting, since I'll have to write with my other hand, but I've been practicing all day and have gotten pretty good at it."

Gokudera frowned. She wouldn't have had to worry about that if her arm wasn't broken. And her arm wouldn't have been broken if he wasn't such a failure.

Haru briefly flipped through the notes. "Your handwriting is horrible," she playfully commented but he didn't say anything back.

She looked up at him. "Gokudera-san? Is everything okay?"

He ran his hand through his hair, looking away. "Look, I'm really sorry."

"Hahi? For your handwriting? I was only joking."

"NO! Not that. I'm sorry for putting you here! I mean…I shouldn't have let you get hurt like this." He ran his fingers into his hair, stopping halfway and tugging. Then he yanked them away. "It's all my fault!"

"But it wasn't. It was a surprise attack- how could you have known?"

"That's not the point!" Gokudera said, almost snapping. "I should be ready for anything, but I failed, and you nearly got killed."

"But Gokudera-san-"

"You don't understand! I can't let Family get killed!" he yelled.

She recoiled at his outburst, but recovered. "Family? You think I'm Family?"

Gokudera scoffed, "Of course you're Family." Why else would I put up with you?

He really didn't notice that Haru sat there, stunned by what he had said. It wasn't until he saw the tears welling in her eyes that he really noticed. "Wait- shit, you're crying. Look, sorry. I didn't mean to yell."

Haru shook her head and wiped the threatening tears from her eyes. "No, that's not it."

"Then why are you crying?"

"Thank you, Gokudera-san."

He was thoroughly confused. "I don't get it. For what?"

She looked him in the eye. "Haru never realized that you considered her as Family. It makes me really happy to learn that, and it means a lot to me." By then, a full smile had broken out on her face.

Upon seeing her smile Gokudera's cheeks started to heat up. He wasn't expecting her to be so happy from hearing him say that. It really threw him off. He quickly turned away, embarrassed. "Umm, well…the Tenth accepted you first, so it's only right..." He hoped to God that he wasn't turning red. Gokudera Hayato did not turn red. For anything.

He wasn't lying when he said that Haru was a part of his Family. From the moment that the Tenth accepted her he had also, although begrudgingly, accepted her as well. But what Gokudera didn't realize was that somehow over the years she went from being the annoying girl who always tagged along to an actual friend that was a part of his Family.

So when she got hurt right before his eyes and he was powerless to do anything to help her, he naturally fell into a state of despair. He didn't just fail to protect his Family; he also failed in his duty to a friend and almost got her killed.

He heard Haru laugh a little. "If you say so," she said.

There was something resembling a sigh and finally, "I forgive you."

He turned and looked at her. Something within him, like a weight in the middle of his chest, seemed to dissolve away with those words. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that she would have forgiven him but hearing it was certainly more powerful. He was really glad that she did.

"Just don't let it happen again," she added. Although her tone was mocking, the smile that she had on her face was still bright and genuine. "Promise?"

In all honesty, he was glad that she was smiling like that, because it meant that she was okay. He never wanted to see her hurt like that again and since she was his Family, it was his duty to look out for her. If she was placing that much trust in him, then he had to trust himself too. He wasn't quite sure how she was doing that to him. There was something special about her, something worth finding out.

Gokudera nodded, not realizing that for the first time in several days, he was smiling himself. "Promise."