AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hi there and welcome to chapter eight of Oncoming Storm.
This one was an interesting chapter to write and it got really long-sorry about that, I try very hard not to go over 2.5-3K words, but this one just kinda ran away on its own.
As always, KHR doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Amano-sensei, I'm just shifting paradigms in the world because it's fun ^_^
Please enjoy this chapter and if you've time a review would be awesome ^_^
Next update will be somewhere around May 29th.
Thank you for reading!
~ Yuki
Target 08-02: Breaking Storm
Haru was in the Underground practicing with Akai with a single-minded intensity that had the older girl worried. For the past three days, Haru had gone to school and then accompanied "Ryoko" home to study and they would practice together until Haru had to leave to go home and make dinner. The brunette was oddly silent and a large part of her good-nature seemed to have gone missing. Akai caught her wrist on the next attack and twisted her arm behind her and leaned in close. "What happened, Haru?"
Haru gritted her teeth against the pain and took a deep breath. "Nothing that you can do anything about, Akai," she said quietly. "Let go please."
Obligingly Akai did so and Haru turned around, rotating her arm to work some of the soreness out. She settled into another battle stance and Akai shook her head. "Enough, Haru, we've been practicing non-stop and you need to give your body time to rest and recover," Akai stated. "Sit down with me, have some tea, and let's talk."
"It's nothing worth talking about," Haru stated and moved to her bag. "If you're not going to practice with me…"
"Stop, Haru."
Akai's voice went ice cold and a shiver moved up Haru's spine and she turned around slowly to face Akai. "I don't know what happened beyond your father getting hurt, but you're not yourself."
Akai moved forward and gently lifted Haru's face with one slender finger. "For the past week you've been acting strange, Haru. The first part of the week, you spoke of nonsensical things and dragged Dokuro-san, Sasagawa-san, and me shopping with you and we ate cake. Then you skipped school for a day and we had to search half of Namimori for you with the Vongola Storm Guardian worried sick about you getting hurt before we could find you. Then, the next day, you told the Storm Guardian whom you've been quite close with to leave you alone and walked away. The Vongola Decimo…"
"Doesn't care," Haru interrupted. "That was made abundantly clear to me."
Akai folded her arms and gave Haru a knowing look. "And therein lies the problem," she said quietly.
Haru looked at her sharply. "You're being childish, Haru," Akai stated quietly. "I know that you know your Boss far better than that. Getting yourself hurt or killed isn't going to prove anything to him."
Haru's eyes dropped to the ground. "And also hurting others around him isn't going to make things any better," Akai added.
"Hurting others?" Haru looked up in surprise. "Where am I hurting others?"
"You were not there to see the worry in the Vongola Storm Guardian's face when we found you missing from your house nor did you care to pay attention to the hurt that you inflicted on him when you told him to leave you alone," Akai said. "You've also been mostly ignoring Dokuro-san, even after she has given up so much to help you and Sasagawa-san has been left wondering why you've stood her up over the past couple days when you were supposed to be studying for the Takanamori High School Exam together. If that's not hurting people, then I don't know what is."
"Haru—" Haru began and then slumped miserably, her eyes filling with tears. "Haru doesn't know what to do anymore, Akai."
Akai was startled at the slip into the third person address that Haru hadn't been using in months. She reached out and pulled the brunette against her and Haru's fingers tightened in the older girl's loose practice clothing and tears soaked the material. "Tell me what happened?" Akai asked softly.
Haru managed to relate the events when Tsuna's father had given her the ring in between sobs and Akai's stroked her hair gently. "I think it is fair to say the Storm Guardian's assessment is correct," Akai said. "I think beyond the attack on his home that happened during your training period with Shirokaia, none of the mafia battles have ever actually hit that hard and that close to any of his Famiglia. Vongola Decimo and you are dealing with a new reality that comes with this world and he thinks you can still escape and you could—"
"No," Haru said, pulling back and looking up at Akai. "I can't protect them if I'm not here and if something happens while Tsuna-san and the others are fighting elsewhere, I'll never forgive myself, but if I'm not going to be a mafioso wife…"
"Is that the only reason you stepped onto this path, Haru?" Akai asked.
Haru shook her head slowly. "No, I wanted to learn because I couldn't stand by and watch what I saw in the future happen. I wanted to protect everything Tsuna-san held dear while he was doing what he needed to do as a the Judaime—I wanted to do something other than cook, clean, and maintain a pleasant environment once Tsuna-san told me what was really happening, but I didn't have the training."
"You don't have to be the Vongola Decimo's wife or anyone's wife to do that, Haru" Akai asked gently.
Haru stared down at her hands; she knew that Akai was right, but…
"You belong with your Famiglia, Haru, you also welcomed here amongst the Hanatachi Clan," Akai said. "You have many talents, Haru, and if you put your mind to it, you're going to carve a place for yourself that you're happy with and where you can support and protect all your friends—even if you're rather angry with the Vongola Decimo right now."
"I think…I think I'm angrier at myself than I am at Tsuna-san," Haru said slowly. "All of the signs were there that he didn't feel the same about me, but I ignored them. It's really my fault for forcing it like that. I probably should go apologize to Gokudera, Chrome-chan, and Kyoko-chan, shouldn't I?"
Akai chuckled and nodded. "Probably," she agreed.
Haru took a deep breath. "Please excuse me…"
"Go, Haru," Akai smiled. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."
Haru managed a smile and collected her bag. She stopped off in one of the washrooms and washed her face and changed into a pair of jeans and a lemon colored t-shirt. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. She'd find a place for herself where she was useful to Tsuna and where she could protect their Famiglia…but first she had to apologize.
"You're not alone, you know."
The words came unexpectedly after Haru turned a corner a few blocks past the exit to the Underground. Her eyes shot up to the speaker and she saw Gokudera leaning against the wall dressed in jeans and a black shirt with a short-sleeved red button-down over the top. "How—"
"That Akagi girl texted me," Gokudera said, shoving away from the wall and stubbing out the cigarette he'd smoked while waiting for her to show up. "She took my number in case you disappeared again and she needed help to find you."
A flush stained Haru's cheeks and she dropped her eyes to the sidewalk. "I'm sorry, Gokudera," she mumbled.
"Che, stupid woman," Gokudera grumbled. "Have you eaten yet?"
Haru shook her head.
"Ramen okay?" Gokudera asked. "The Vongola net found some interesting information while you were ignoring everyone."
Haru flinched a bit at his words, but nodded. "That sounds good," she said.
They went to their usual ramen shop and settled at one of the tables and Gokudera extracted some papers from his bag and handed them to Haru. "I couldn't quite get everything put together on there, but you have a way of catching things I don't, so I was hoping maybe you'd be able to help me out," he said.
There was an odd undertone in Gokudera's voice that Haru couldn't quite put her finger on, but she pulled her mind to the papers in front of her and began to read through them. "Have we actually gone to this place before," Haru asked, pointing at a highlighted section, "the dry cleaning place off of Fourth?"
Gokudera frowned. "I don't think so," he said.
"We can check with Nakayama-san and see if his net's picked up anything there and…" Haru began.
"Why do we have to go anywhere near that bastard?" Gokudera demanded. "The Vongola are more than capable of taking care of our own problems. All we have to do is go there, look around a bit and see if we can find anything then leave."
Haru was momentarily startled by the response, but then she shrugged. "I suppose it couldn't hurt," she said.
They finished their meal and paid then headed out.
The silence between them felt more awkward than usual and Haru shifted a bit and cast a sideways glance at the silver-haired hitman. "Is something else wrong, Gokudera?" she finally asked.
Gokudera jumped at Haru's question and glanced over at her. He shook his head vehemently. "No, nothing else is wrong."
It was a lie, of course, but Gokudera hoped that Haru wouldn't pick up on it yet. He was still having trouble coming to terms with things on his own, he didn't want to try and explain it to Haru.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, the past few days had been a lot harder on him than he cared to admit, especially after the day that Haru never showed up at school and he'd joined up with her friend, Akagi, to find her. Gokudera had never been so scared in his life and when they'd finally found her, he'd nearly pulled her into his arms and told her to 'don't ever do that again'. That was even scarier than the fact she disappeared.
"Gokudera."
His name jarred him out of his contemplations as Haru caught his arm and pulled.
"You're not paying attention tonight, Gokudera," Haru said, a slight smile lifting her lips.
"What the hell are you talking about stupid woman?" Gokudera snapped.
She put her finger to her lips, tugging him into one of the shadows cast by the street lamps that were starting to come on as the sun sank below the horizon. His eyes went to the crowd and he saw two men stop for a moment and whisper to each other and one took off in one direction while the other moved towards them. "Shit," Gokudera whispered. "How long have they been following us?"
"About a block from the ramen shop," Haru answered.
"The other one is probably going around to the other side of the alley to trap us," Gokudera said grimly.
Haru shivered, but tugged one of the kanzashi out of her hair while the other hand dipped into her bag to extract one of the 'playing cards'.
"Not those here," Gokudera said. "They'll catch us as likely as they'll catch them. Your box…"
"I…I haven't been able to pull enough Dying Will Flame out to activate it since I got the new ring," Haru admitted.
"Then we'll have to improvise with something else," Gokudera said.
Haru nodded and reached for the small spikes that she could manage to charge with what flame she could generate from the ring.
Gokudera armed his Vongola gear and the first attacker appeared in front of them. "Found you," he smirked and red flames flared from his ring.
"And what do you think you're going to do with us?" Gokudera growled bringing the Flame Arrow to bear and loading ammunition into it.
"Now, now you wouldn't want to permanently scar that poor girl with killing me right now, would you?" the man asked.
"The way you nearly killed my father?" Haru asked, recognizing the man's face from the attack on her house.
"Look, the Boss just wants to talk," the man said coaxingly. "Just come along peacefully…"
Haru's eyes narrowed and she stood back-to-back with Gokudera as a sound echoed from further up the alley. "He's lying," Haru said.
Gokudera hesitated just long enough for the man to spring and Haru knocked Gokudera out of the way and threw her kanzashi at him.
Gokudera swore and managed to roll to his feet in time to fire the Flame Arrow at the man coming down the alley at them with the Lightning Flame sparking on the attacker's ring as he released something in their direction. The Bone Shields came to bear blocking the attack and Haru's scream filled the alley.
Gokudera whirled around, scared to death that Haru had been hurt or worse and saw blood gushing from the man's neck where her kanzashi had severed the artery. He saw the sheer horror in her eyes and instinctively banished the Vongola gear and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her head into his chest so she didn't have to keep watching.
The man stopped moving very quickly and Gokudera stared at the dark pool of blood spreading out from the man and he tugged Haru with him, skirting the edge of the alley and keeping Haru's eyes away from the still form. Neither of the men would be reporting back to their boss. As they got past the alley, Gokudera's hand dropped into his pocket and he pulled out his phone and dialed a number he'd hoped he'd never have to dial. The Vongola agents would start the misdirection on the bodies so that it wouldn't come back to haunt them—legally at least.
It was picked up immediately and he gave a truncated report of what happened and the location of the attack and hung up.
He released Haru briefly and hurried back and reclaimed the kanzashi, unable to resist spitting on the ground next to the corpse. "You didn't have to come at us like that," Gokudera growled, kneeling down and cleaning the pin on the man's clothing. "She shouldn't have to deal with this."
He rose and returned to Haru who was staring sightlessly at the light and gently drew her attention back to reality.
"You had no choice in the matter," he said softly, knowing that wasn't going to make things okay.
"I—"
Haru's voice choked off and Gokudera pulled her into a hug. "We've got to move, we can't get caught here," he said.
She nodded miserably and he released her. "Shouldn't we call somebody…an ambulance, something?" Haru said. "He might…"
"I've already made the call we needed to," he said quietly, he didn't want to tell her that it was already too late, neck wounds bled out quickly. "Someone will be here as soon as possible."
"R-right…" Haru said faintly.
They made their way towards the main market area that was still busy at this time of night and just before they stepped into the increasing crowds Gokudera pulled off his over shirt and told her to put it on. Haru took the shirt in confusion and did as he requested and he fastened the buttons her trembling fingers couldn't. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her away into the crowds, keeping her in close as they made their way towards her house.
As they drew in closer to her house, she stopped abruptly and Gokudera looked down at her in question. "I—I can't go home," she said, fingers tightening in the shirt. "Can I stay at your apartment for tonight?"
He knew she didn't mean anything by it, but his heart skipped a beat anyway. "Sure," he said,
They made their way through the shopping area and Gokudera tried to keep her shielded from anyone she may know as they worked their way to his small apartment. Finally they reached the building that housed his small apartment and he led the way up the stairs. He unlocked the door and opened it, holding her back for a moment while he listened before flipping the light on and relaxing a bit.
The interior was fairly neat; the pile of school books on the table still tilted like it would fall at any moment—he hadn't bothered to straighten it when he'd gotten Akagi's text and went out the door. This morning's coffee cup was still on the counter as was the pouch that held the nutritional shake that made up his breakfast—he usually cleaned up while he fixed dinner.
He moved aside so Haru could enter then shut and locked the door as she took her shoes off. He followed suit and moved into the kitchen. "Coffee or anything?"
"Tea?" Haru inquired.
Gokudera frowned and went to the cupboard to rummage around. "I might have some, I'll look," he said, he wasn't particularly fond of tea. "Let Chrome and your dad know you're not going to make it home tonight?"
"Yes," she replied and pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial for her father.
He picked up before the first ring finished. "Haru-san, where are you?"
"Haru got caught out late with a friend," she said, carefully trying to avoid lying outright. "Haru will stay here tonight and be home first thing in the morning."
"As long as you're safe," he said. "The news said that they found a dead body near the shopping district."
"Hahi!" Haru squeaked and cringed a bit. "Haru will be fine. I love you."
"Good night, Haru-san," he said.
Haru closed her phone and managed a slightly more informative text to Chrome before she curled up as small as she could in the corner of Gokudera's couch. She drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, fighting the urge to cry.
"Haru?"
Gokudera's voice was gentle drawing Haru's attention up to him. He had a teacup in his hand that she accepted gratefully. "It's just some of the cheap bags from the convenience store…" he said awkwardly.
She managed to pull up another smile. "It's fine, thank you, Gokudera."
Gokudera pulled a tissue from the box on the table and offered it to her. Haru sniffed and took it. "Thank you," she said.
Gokudera shrugged uncomfortably and pulled back. "I'm going to go change. I'll be right back."
Haru watched him vanish into one of the other doors and uncurled enough to add the sugar he'd provided. She sipped it thoughtfully and came to the abrupt realization that she had nothing to wear to bed tonight or to change into tomorrow—she could feel the stiff material around where the man's blood had hit her and shuddered hard.
A pair of pajama pants still encased in the packaging was dropped onto the couch along with a maroon shirt with a skull and crossbones stenciled on the front. The smell of cigarette smoke reached her and she glanced up sharply at Gokudera who had lit a cigarette at some point.
"You can have the bath first," he said gruffly.
Haru's eyes widened and she rose from the couch. "Thank you," she said, a blush tinting her cheeks.
She gathered the offerings and went towards the other door in the room that she figured held the bath.
Haru shut the bathroom door behind her and leaned against it, curling tightly inwards fighting down the nausea that was roiling in her stomach. She lost the battle and barely made it to the toilet and threw up what was left of the ramen and all the tea that she'd managed to choke down. She leaned over the toilet heaving, praying that Gokudera wouldn't hear her and come in. Even knowing that if she hadn't attacked the man would have killed them without blinking an eye didn't help. She closed her eyes and dry heaved a little more before she went to the sink and washed out her mouth.
She stripped of her clothing and rinsed out her bra and underwear and hung them in an unobtrusive spot in the bathroom to dry. She folded her jeans carefully and set them aside and picked up her shirt, her face paling more as she saw the blood spatters on it. She flung it into the wastebasket and then went to settle on the stool to bathe herself before getting into the bath.
While Haru was bathing, Gokudera changed the sheets on his bed and grabbed a couple spare blankets and a pillow that he flung onto the couch.
Haru emerged from the bathroom nearly thirty minutes later with the drawstring of the pants cinched as tightly as possible and the cuffs of the pants rolled up several times so she didn't trample on the material. She nearly swam in his t-shirt.
"A little better?" he asked, looking over the rims of his reading glasses.
"I'm sorry for imposing on you, Gokudera," she said.
He watched her through the cigarette smoke that curled lazily into the air. "Don't be," he said.
Gokudera marked his place in the book and rose from the couch. "Are you hungry?"
Haru's stomach churned at the idea of even trying to put any kind of food in it and she shook her head. "I think…I think I'd rather just go to sleep," she said slowly, maybe she'd wake up in the morning and find all of this was a dream.
"I changed the sheets so you can sleep in my bed," the demolitionist said.
"But—" Haru began.
"I've got to take a bath myself and I'm not quite ready to sleep. Everything I need to work on is out here; it'd be a bother to move it."
Haru flinched a bit and Gokudera mentally kicked himself. "I didn't mean it like that. Just take the bed. I'm not a gentleman that often," he added.
A giggle escaped Haru and she impulsively hugged him. "Thank you, Gokudera."
Gokudera froze at the hug and felt his cheeks heat and pulled away without returning it. "It's nothing. Get some sleep."
She smiled tremulously and headed to the bedroom.
Gokudera waited until the light was off before putting out his cigarette and heading for his own bath. He avoided looking at the bra and panties hung in an unobtrusive spot in his bathroom and turned the shower on.
His bath was quick and he put the PJ's he'd donned earlier back on. He exited the bathroom and found his pack of cigarettes, but just before he extracted the smoke, he heard a whimper from his bedroom. He dropped the pack on the table and nearly ran in.
Haru was tossing and turning on the bed, the borrowed clothing twisted around her slender frame. He crossed the floor without thinking and settled on the bed, his hand moving to her head. "It's okay, I'm here," he murmured.
Haru eventually stilled and she turned into his hand. After she quieted, Gokudera made to rise only to find his shirt caught in a small hand and hazy eyes looking up at him.
"Please," she whispered hoarsely, "don't leave me alone."
Gokudera hesitated before eventually stretching his lean frame on the bed on top of the covers Haru was buried in. She rolled into him, shoving the covers down a bit so she could burrow into his side. He could feel the tremors shaking her still.
"I won't," Gokudera promised. "I'll stay until the nightmares go away."
The silver-haired demolitionist silently resigned himself to trying to catch some sleep with the girl lying next to him.
Her eyes were scratchy and gummed together and she could feel the salt from the tear tracks on her cheeks. Oddly enough, she felt very safe and protected and then the night before came tumbling back. She gasped and rubbed at her eyes, finally opening them and seeing Gokudera's face in the light starting to break through the curtains.
"Hahi!" she gasped and tried to scramble away.
Gokudera's arms tightened. "It's too early to wake up. Go back to sleep. You're safe."
The words were slurred and Haru realized Gokudera was still mostly asleep. She forced herself to relax until Gokudera's arms loosened and then she slipped out of the bed.
She padded out of the bedroom, her cheeks heating as she realized she'd just slept the whole night with a boy—even with the blankets separating them.
She went to the bathroom and washed her faced and took off the borrowed clothing and put her underclothing on. Her jeans from the night before were fine, hopefully, Gokudera wouldn't mind continuing to lend her the maroon shirt for a little longer.
She borrowed his brush and ran it through her hair, leaving it loose as she headed to the kitchen. The least she could do for him in thanks was fix a proper meal.
Haru went through the cabinets and set some rice to cook in the small rice cooker and pulled out the eggs and whatever else she could find in the lean pickings of a young bachelor's kitchen. As an afterthought, she dug out the coffeemaker and filters and put coffee beans into the small grinder and got it started. In the meantime, she boiled water for tea and hummed to herself.
Doing something as mundane as making breakfast as she often did for her father made her feel almost like her life hadn't been irrevocably changed with the previous night's events—at least for the moment.
Gokudera awakened some time later and frowned as the smell of coffee filtered through the door. He rose and grabbed a cigarette and lit it as he emerged into the main room of the apartment. "You didn't have to make breakfast," Gokudera said.
"I wanted to," Haru said. "It feels almost…normal."
Gokudera swallowed the immediate snarky comment that came to mind and went to the coffeemaker he barely used. Pouring himself a cup, he watched her quietly for a moment then took his first sip. His eyes closed blissfully. "I forgot how good brewed coffee tastes," he said.
"It is programmable you know," Haru said. "All you have to do it set it up the night before."
"I don't have the patience for it usually," Gokudera admitted.
Haru laughed softly and Gokudera felt himself relax just a little, the light didn't quite hit her eyes, but she seemed to be recovering a little. "Breakfast will be done in a moment. I'll head home after that."
"I'll walk you," Gokudera volunteered. "Just to make sure you don't have any more run-ins."
Haru hesitated then gave him a shy smile. "Thank you."
Gokudera's heart thumped hard against his chest. "Judaime would kill me otherwise," he said dismissively.
Haru gave him a tremulous smile and set breakfast on the table. She was forcing herself through the motions more than anything else. The meal passed in silence and Haru looked up at him. "May I borrow this shirt?" she asked. "My other one…"
Gokudera had noticed the yellow material in the trash and seen the stains. "It's fine," he said.
Haru got the rest of her things together as Gokudera got ready for school. Her fingers lingered on the kanzashi for a long moment before she put them into place.
Gokudera opened the door and swore before grabbing the umbrella next to it. "Looks like the storm finally hit," he said, thunder rumbled in agreement.
He let Haru out then shut and locked the door. He slung his bag over his shoulder and held the umbrella as he and Haru made their way downstairs towards her part of town.
He escorted her to the door despite her protests. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked.
"I think so," Haru said. "I have to be, right?"
"Call me if you need anything, just not every five minutes," Gokudera scowled and got another attempt at a smile from the brunette. "I'll pick you up after school."
"O-okay," Haru said.
With that, he moved away and Haru watched him for a long moment.
Gokudera moved automatically down the street to Judaime's house and was surprised to see the future boss already exiting.
"Gokudera?" Tsuna exclaimed. "What are you doing here this early?"
"I took a walk and wound up here," Gokudera shrugged, Tsuna didn't need to hear about the night before yet.
"That's always your excuse," Tsuna said, a small smile curving his lips.
"I'm your right hand man, if something happened to you on the way to school, I wouldn't be able to live with myself," Gokudera said with a smile, knowing that Tsuna would greet that with a scowl.
He responded exactly as Gokudera expected and then asked. "Have you had any progress on finding the Trabuchet?"
"We have a lead," Gokudera said. "Are we going to the turf-top's house to pick up Sasagawa?"
Tsuna nodded. "If something happened to her, I'd never be able to forgive myself."
"What about Haru?" Gokudera asked then kicked himself.
Tsuna looked at him. "Did something else happen?" he asked. "To Haru?"
"She was attacked while she was shopping last night," Gokudera said. "We handled it—I happened to be passing by just in time."
"Is she all right?" Tsuna asked.
"As well as can be expected," Gokudera said—he wasn't going to tell Tsuna about the body.
"We need to find these Trabuchet people and talk them out of attacking us," Tsuna said.
"Haru and I will follow up some leads after school today," Gokudera said. "I'll be sure to keep you updated."
"What do you mean Haru and you?" Tsuna asked quietly.
Gokudera glanced down at his boss and then turned his eyes to the rain-washed road ahead. "They injured her father, do you really expect she's going to back off?" he asked.
"I can hope," Tsuna said quietly. "She really shouldn't have gotten tangled up in this."
"Maybe not, but she already is and making her cry isn't likely going to stop it," Gokudera said.
Tsuna flinched at that and sighed. "You'll take care of her right?"
"And you'll take care of Kyoko?" Gokudera asked, not noticing the undertone of resentment in his voice.
The Tenth Vongola Boss glanced at his right-hand man in question and Gokudera spat on the ground before turning his attention ahead and holding the umbrella over his and Judaime's head as they walked towards Kyoko Sasagawa's house.
"Yeah, I'll take care of her," Gokudera said.