AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you very much for sticking with me this far, we're almost to the end, please keep reading until then ^_^

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! doesn't belong to me, it's the property of Amano-sensei. The story line, original characters, etc. are mine.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Next update will be around August 7th.

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review if you've the time).

Target 13-02: Summer Storm

Gokudera stubbed out his cigarette and rose to go make himself another cup of coffee the Sunday after the meeting. Since their conversation at Hanaki and their visit to the clinic, he and Haru had embarked on another stage of their relationship and he wasn't quite sure what that was yet. Things had been quiet and Judaime was getting more and more worried, his intuition was kicking in hard, but right now they were having trouble nailing the Trabuchet down. There was activity at most of the sites, but nothing that could be pinned squarely on the Trabuchet.

He'd nearly made it to the coffee pot when the bell on his door rang and he scowled. "What the hell?"

He went to the intercom and hit the button. "Who is it?" he barked.

"Did I come at a bad time, Gokudera?"

It was Haru's voice and his heart skipped a beat. "No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting…" he trailed off. "Let me let you in."

A few moments later, he opened the door and saw Haru dressed in jeans and a pale pink babydoll shirt. She was carrying a backpack and gave him an uncertain smile. "Sorry for dropping in without warning you…" she said.

"It's all right, come on in," Gokudera said, stepping aside so that she could enter.

She slipped in and he shut the door behind her and watched her move towards the couch and settle down. She seemed out of sorts and Gokudera frowned. "Haru, are you all right?"

She jumped and turned a bright smile on him that put him on edge. "I'm fine, I—"

"You're lying," he said quietly.

Haru's protest was cut off by the intent look in his eyes and she sighed. "I want to look at Emri's family estate myself," she said.

The topic change worked and Gokudera frowned. "Aren't they already investigating it?" Gokudera frowned.

"They are, but…" she trailed off for a moment.

"But?" Gokudera prompted.

"I have a feeling about it," Haru said.

"When do you want to go?" he asked.

"Are you free this afternoon?" Haru asked.

Gokudera blinked. "Don't you have a study group tonight?"

"It was canceled. Sasagawa-san has a tournament in the next city over and Kyoko wants to go since she's out of school tomorrow and Chrome was picked up by Mukuro last night and I don't know when she'll get back. Akai is helping me investigate a few other things and is unavailable, so…"

Haru trailed off and Gokudera took a deep drag of his cigarette and then moved to the ashtray to stub it out. "Let me change."

Haru fiddled with her ring while she waited for Gokudera to return. What she hadn't told him was that this morning she'd seen her father off to the airport for a summer exchange program in England and with Mukuro picking up Chrome it left her alone in the house. Her wanting to check out Emri's family holdings was genuine, but she knew that was only part of the reason her feet had carried her here this morning. She picked up her backpack and opened it, riffling through the contents and making sure she had everything she needed including the two boxed lunches she'd put together.

Gokudera emerged a few minutes later and watched Haru for a long moment before crossing the floor and lightly touching her shoulder. She started a bit and turned her head to face him and his fingers smoothed aside a lock of hair that'd escaped her ponytail. "You're going to tell me the real reason for this expedition later, right?" he said.

Haru leaned into the touch for a moment despite herself before rising from the couch. "Let's head out. I have lunch for us, it's a little bit of a trip out there," she said.

The silver-haired demolitionist sighed as he watched Haru move towards his door and gathered up his own things and followed. He grabbed an umbrella as he exited and once they'd descended the stairs he popped it up over their heads to shelter them from the soft rain that fell. With his free hand, he reached out and twined his fingers with Haru's feeling the trembling she'd been trying so hard to hide. She tightened her fingers around his, stilling the shaking and didn't let go until they'd boarded the bus several minutes later.

The bus was nearly empty as they trundled along the road, Haru explaining the route they were going to take as the scenery slipped by. "My mother and Emri's mother were best friends," Haru said quietly. "Every summer break, my family would be invited to the mansion. Emri and I have been friends since we were in elementary school, we were inseparable up until the last year or so since I met Reborn-san, you, Judaime, Kyoko, and everyone else. While the adults were doing their thing, Emri and I explored the mansion from basement to roof and the grounds. I know the mansion and the grounds like the back of my hand, something Nakayama-san's people don't have to their advantage."

"You're assuming that nothing has changed since your last visit…" Gokudera said.

"I'm counting on something changing," Haru corrected him. "If something's changed, it will be a clue as to what's going on in the mansion. I've been thinking about this for a long time…"

Haru trailed off and her brown eyes moved to the sodden landscape passing by the window.

"And?"

"I realize that even though we were all so close, we never did know exactly where Emri's family's money came from," she said. "My mother was a hitman for the Hanatachi before meeting my father and disappearing from the mafia world and she was best friends with Emri's mother. They'd been friends since before college. It makes me wonder…"

"If Emri's family was tied to the mafia to start with?" Gokudera concluded.

Haru nodded. "If that's the case, there are probably things that I didn't notice as a child that I am likelier to notice now that I know more about this world," she said.

Gokudera reached over and placed one of his hands over hers and squeezed gently. "We'll figure this out, Haru," he said softly.

She gave him a tremulous smile. "I hope so, Gokudera. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

The bus pulled up to their stop and they exited. The rain had stopped during the bus ride and Haru led the way towards the entrance to the long drive that led to the mansion that Emri's family owned. They made their way up the drive, sticking to the trees and bushes that lined it. Haru stopped abruptly and Gokudera ran into her back and reached out automatically to steady her. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Haru shook her head and put a finger to her lips, her hazel eyes intent on the house that loomed up ahead. "That's fucking huge," Gokudera mumbled.

Haru's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Isn't it though?" she asked.

She caught his hand and tugged him into motion, releasing it as they sprinted across a bit of ground bare of cover until they reached the side of the garage. They stopped, both listening intently for anything beyond the cicadas that were starting to make the burring sound they associated with summer. Haru motioned to Gokudera and the two slipped around the corner of the building, drawing immediately into the shadows as they spotted a man in a suit moving towards them, a gun just visible beneath the suit jacket.

Haru drew out the blowgun she'd acquired from Reborn during her confrontation with Dani and slipped the darts into it before lifting it to her lips. One of the darts hit the man directly and he tumbled like a load of bricks to the grass moment later and Haru slipped the weapon back into the pocket of her backpack. She darted forward and disarmed the guard discarding the weapon into a fertilizer bin before they moved on. They slipped along the line of the house and Haru held up her hand to halt Gokudera's progress so he didn't run into her again. She turned and met his eyes and then gestured at the ground where there was an entrance to what looked like an old cellar. He nodded and the two made their way there.

The doors weren't secured and Haru opened them, allowing Gokudera to drop down first and following him and shutting the door after her. She pulled out an emergency glow light and cracked it and it lit up the darkness. At first appearance it appeared to just be the remains of a root cellar the ground beneath their feet was coated in dark dirt left over from the decomposed remains of whatever had once been stored here. Haru ran the light over the interior.

"Bingo," she said softly, finding footprints leading to one of the racks towards the back.

They followed the path and Gokudera yanked Haru behind one of the shelves as a grinding sound echoed and one of the shelves moved aside. Haru hid the glowstick under her clothing and watched as two men in suits exited the passageway and passed by their location, talking to each other in French. They left the cellar and the two young Vongola hitmen crossed the floor. It didn't take long for Gokudera to locate a release and the shelf ground aside.

They stepped into the passageway and were nearly blinded by the lights and scrambled to find cover while their vision cleared.

Gokudera looked over the passage trying to spot any cameras that may have caught them and couldn't find anything obvious. "I don't suppose you know about the security here?" Gokudera asked.

Haru shook her head and Gokudera looked down at her. "I'm guessing you didn't notify Judaime or the others we were coming here did you?" he said.

"I figured you would," Haru said, "you were looking at something on your phone on the bus…"

Gokudera started, he'd just been looking at a newsfeed trying to keep himself from interrogating Haru on what was bothering her. "We'll have to be careful then," he said with a wry smile. "We're not going to get any reception under here."

"Probably not," Haru agreed.

After a few minutes the two darted across the hall and down one of the passages. "Don't get lost, Haru," Gokudera frowned.

The hideout seemed oddly quiet, but uneasiness started to build in the pit of Haru's stomach and it felt like eyes were drilling into the back of her head. "Well, we know this is here, maybe we should head back and get backup?" she suggested, catching Gokudera's hand.

"We need some more definitive proof this is what we're looking for," Gokudera said quietly. "Two more rooms…"

"Okay," she said and they moved through the next hall.

"Well, well, what have we here?"

The Japanese was heavily accented and Gokudera whirled, automatically pulling Haru behind his back and facing the grinning man in a suit. "I don't think you belong here, it's not a couple's retreat."

There was a click as the man pulled out his gun and cocked it at the two teenagers. "Haru."

She knew what he wanted and pulled out her blowgun just before he moved to the side and she launched the missile at him and he threw down a flashbomb, blocking them both from the flare of light by pulling Haru into him and turning his back. The guy shouted something and Haru and Gokudera exchanged looks. "Let's get out of here."

The two dodged through the building and clambered upwards as an alarm began to sound. "Go the way we came from," Haru told Gokudera. "There's another route I can take and we can rendezvous near the bus stop and stay hidden until the search dies down."

"But—" Gokudera began

Haru shook her head. "I know this land; you don't, follow the familiar path and trust me. Plus if they split their search that makes it more likely for us to get away or be able to defend ourselves."

Gokudera scowled and then sighed, seeing Haru's point. "Don't get yourself hurt," he said. "I'll never forgive myself."

"I won't," Haru said with assurance she really didn't feel.

She split off from Gokudera and took cover and watched the silver-haired hitman vanish in the direction they'd taken to get here. Several men took off after him and she pulled out the thin metal and activated her lightning ring and flung those outwards, watching them explode and distracting the two men. She bolted off remembering all the nooks and crannies that she and Emri had played hide and seek in and using that to her advantage. She distracted the guards with the playing cards and with the white needles she kept on her person and charged them up. She couldn't use her box yet, she hadn't gotten enough control of the ring to do that, but the other two items didn't require the same control.

Finally she ran out of ammo and took cover behind one of the sheds, closing her eyes and hoping that Gokudera had gotten far enough away for her to run as well. She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out.

[At the rendezvous point. Where are you?]

There was no one around so she quickly sent a text back that she'd be there shortly and after checking around for pursuers began to make her way along the wooded edge of the property.

She made herself as small as possible behind one of the tree trunks as two men moved by her location.

"The Lady says that the intruders are probably long gone and we should concentrate on our plan to get the Sun Ring tomorrow," one of the men said in Japanese. "Once we have that—"

He said more but Haru couldn't make it out through the wind that picked up, but she'd heard enough and knew what her next move was going to be.

She made her way to the rendezvous point and spotted Gokudera a moment before he spotted her and she saw the relief register on his face. "You're okay?" he asked.

Haru nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Let's get out of here. They're pulling back."

Gokudera nodded and the two made their way to another bus stop they'd planned to take home if they got a chance. They boarded the bus as dusk fell and Haru slumped in her seat and closed her eyes. Gokudera glanced over at her. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, just tired," Haru said. "I used a lot more energy than I do in practice."

"Get some sleep then, I'll wake you when we get to your stop," Gokudera said softly.

She gave him a grateful smile and let her eyes sink closed.

It didn't take long for her head fall to Gokudera's shoulder and the Vongola hitman shifted and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, ignoring the indulgent looks a few older people were giving them as he turned green eyes to the passing landscape.

"Haru, wake up."

Haru swam into awareness and sat up abruptly, narrowly missing Gokudera's chin. "We're here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Gokudera replied and they gathered their things and got off the bus. "I'll walk you home."

Haru seemed to hesitate for a moment then nodded acquiescence and the two made their way towards her house a few blocks from the bus stop.

Everything was dark when they arrived and Gokudera frowned. "Your dad's out tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah," Haru said and moved towards the door.

Gokudera stayed at her back as she unlocked the door and opened it.

"Where's Chrome?" Gokudera frowned.

Haru set her bag down on the table and made her way to the kitchen. "Chrome was picked up by Mukuro last night for a mission. I told you that this morning," she said. "Do you want something for dinner?"

"Sure," Gokudera said.

Something was making him very uneasy about Haru's silent home. He followed her into the kitchen after putting his own bag down. His eyes went to the calendar and he saw a day circled and labeled with "Departure 8:42 AM" and realized that it was today's date.

"When's your father coming back?" Gokudera asked Haru casually.

"August 31st," Haru replied automatically, her concentration on chopping up the vegetables for dinner.

"What?" Gokudera's voice cracked.

Haru's knife paused and she realized what she'd just said and sighed. "Father got selected for a summer exchange program in London," she said and turned her attention back to her chopping.

"Are you going to be staying somewhere else then?" Gokudera questioned.

Haru shook her head and dropped the carrots and potatoes into the water and turned the stove on. "I'll be here," she said. "Father said he'd deposit money into the house account for groceries and my allowance. He already paid my tuition for the last semester so I don't have to worry about that."

"So you're going to be here by yourself for an unknown amount of time until Chrome returns?" Gokudera asked slowly.

"I'll be fine," she said. "There really aren't that many options. I could probably stay with Kyoko-chan, but I don't want something bad to happen to them because I'm staying there."

"And the Underground?" Gokudera asked. "Wait, no, nevermind I don't want you in that place more than you have to be.

"Which leaves here or…Judaime's so…" Haru trailed off.

"There's one more option," Gokudera said quietly, leaning against the counter next to her as she measured the rice for the rice cooker.

Haru glanced at him questioningly as she rinsed the rice.

"You could stay with me," he said.

Her movements paused and she bit her lip. "I couldn't impose on you like that, Gokudera," she said. "I'll be fine."

"I won't be," he said quietly.

Haru glanced up at him in surprise.

"I'd rather have you close enough that if they come looking for you again, you won't be alone," Gokudera said. "If you don't want to stay with me; I'll stay here. Either way I don't want you alone."

"But…" Haru began.

Gokudera placed a finger on her lips and met her eyes for a long moment. "You're Famiglia," he said quietly, "and we don't leave our own unprotected."

And I don't want to think about what would happen if you were hurt and I wasn't there to protect you…

"Famiglia, of course," Haru said and turned away to dump the rice in the rice cooker and added the appropriate amount of water before turning it on. "I will be fine on my own, Gokudera."

Gokudera reeled for a moment at her sudden shift in tone and realized how it had sounded.

"Would it be better if I told you that I don't want to leave you unprotected because if something happened to you that I could prevent I'd never be able to forgive myself?" Gokudera asked. "Because it's you—Famiglia and Judaime's orders be damned?"

Haru's hands clenched at his words and her breath caught. "I—"

"Let me stay, Haru," he said. "Or you stay with me, either way, don't make me sleep in the rain outside your doorstep to make sure nothing happens."

"You'd get sick that way!" Haru exclaimed.

He leaned in and pressed his forehead to hers. "Exactly…"

She met his eyes for a moment and then smiled. "You win. Is here okay?"

"Here is fine," he said. "I'll get my stuff in the morning while you're at school since Namimori is out. Give me a key?"

"You'll have to smoke outside."

"That's fine."