AUTHOR'S NOTE: As promised chapter seventeen is out ^_^ I couldn't find proper names for Kyoko & Ryohei's parents so I just picked a couple names and rolled with it.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! isn't mine, belongs to Akira Amano, but the storylines, original characters, etc. are mine.

Next update will be around September 18th (mostly because I plan to be availing myself of Ch. 215 of Skip Beat! as soon as it's available and continuing the Skip Beat! fanfic I've been working on for the past two weeks in between finishing up this monster and working on another.)

Thank you for reading (and reviewing if you get a chance).

Until next time!

~ Yuki

Target 17-02: Behind a Sunshine Smile

"Haru-chan."

Kyoko's voice drew Haru out of her contemplations of the world outside the window and the brunette turned to her chestnut-haired friend. "Do you need me to get you some water or something?" Haru asked.

"No," Kyoko said and her hands clenched in the sheets of her hospital bed. "We are best friends right?"

Haru blinked at the sudden question and moved towards the bed. "Of course," she said. "Why—"

"Tsuna-kun and Nii-san still try and protect me from everything going on in the mafia world and I go along with it because I don't want to worry them," Kyoko said. "Not too long ago, you were the same as me. Both of us worrying when they went out to do something dangerous and wishing they would tell us instead of trying to make up stories and hide it. Do you remember?"

Haru settled on the edge of the bed. "Yes, I remember," she said.

"You're doing the same thing to me, Haru-chan," Kyoko said quietly. "Since just after we got back from the future you've been fighting with something on your own and not telling me anything about it. You're still doing your best to put on a cheerful face, but I've known you for two years now and I can see right through it. There are so many secrets floating around right now, I don't know who I can trust."

Haru's breath caught at her friend's statement and she opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the entrance of the Sasagawas.

"Haru-chan, can you please leave us for the time being?" Kyoko's mother, Rumiko Sasagawa, asked.

"We have family matters to discuss with our daughter and would prefer that outsiders not be present," Keisuke Sasagawa stated.

Haru flinched at being called an outsider, but immediately rose and bowed to Kyoko's parents. "Please excuse me," she said and met Kyoko's eyes and nodded when the girl mouthed the word 'later'.

She glanced at Ryohei, but she couldn't see anything that gave her a clue as to what was happening on the boxer's face. She exited the room and headed down for the hospital cafeteria and ordered up a salad and took it to the back corner of the room.

Sometime later Haru glanced at the clock in the cafeteria and realized that she'd been sitting there for nearly two hours and visiting hours were almost over. She got up and headed back upstairs to Kyoko's room.

"Miura-san?"

Haru turned to see the nurse at the desk gesturing her over and crossed the tile to her. "Yes?" she asked.

"The Sasagawas have requested that no one except immediate family be permitted in their daughter's room at this time," the nurse said.

"What?" Haru gasped.

"I'm sorry, but their request is absolute," the nurse said.

"I…I understand."

Haru's breath caught on the last syllable and she bowed her head in acquiescence.

"Haru."

Haru jumped at the sound of her name as she left the hospital and turned to see Tsuna waiting beneath one of the streetlights. She took a deep breath. "Good evening, Judaime," she greeted him.

Tsuna seemed to flinch at the address, but he took a few steps to cover the distance between them and caught her arm gently. "Tell me what is going on," he said. "What happened to Kyoko-chan? They won't even let me see her."

"It was decided by Kyoko-chan's parents that no one would be permitted to see her except immediate family," Haru said. "As for why…I don't know. The nurse wouldn't tell me anything beyond I wasn't allowed to go into her room again."

Tsuna heaved a sigh and released her. He ran his hand through his unruly hair and directed a pleading look at her. "Haru what happened today? Why did you guys go against my orders and try to rescue Kyoko-chan? I can't get Yamamoto, Gokudera, or Nii-san to answer the phone or respond to my texts."

"We didn't try to rescue Kyoko-chan, we succeeded," Haru said firmly.

"And now I can't see her because of her parents' order," Tsuna scowled.

"Do you think it would have turned out better if you'd done it the other way?" Haru demanded. "Kyoko-chan was already hurt to begin with and who knows how long it would have taken to recover the Mist and Cloud rings? And who says that they would have followed through on their word and returned Kyoko-chan unharmed? This may have been the inevitable conclusion regardless of anything else we did. Tsuna-san…" She trailed off and took a deep breath; this likely wasn't the best place for this discussion. "Walk me home?"

Gokudera had sent her a text while she was eating dinner asking her to take a taxi home because he had something to take care of and wouldn't be able to escort her. She figured if Judaime accompanied her the silver-haired hitman couldn't get angry with her about not taking the taxi.

Tsuna hesitated for a moment and then nodded, releasing her arm as they began the trek to Haru's house. The first several steps passed in silence and then Haru took up the narration of the events and their reasoning behind going against what Tsuna commanded.

"Honestly, I think that whatever is going to happen with Kyoko-chan is inevitable," Haru concluded. "First their daughter's friends and her brother wind up getting hurt in events they don't know anything about. Then their daughter vanishes for several days followed by their son. Their son then ends up vanishing for a little while and they can't find him until he suddenly returns one day and he's been hurt again. Then on top of that, in the past twenty-four hours their daughter gets injured in an explosion and kidnapped at her brother's boxing tournament. Any parent would generally get worried in that situation, don't you think?"

"Mine wouldn't," Tsuna mumbled.

Haru could help the humorless chuckle that escaped from her. "Your father is already mixed up in this mess and it seems par for the course for him. Your mother worries, but then appears to be soothed down by the stories you and your father make up to keep her from worrying. My father is busy trying to make the best life possible for me and isn't often home so it's easy for me to evade his notice on a lot of things—he gives me a large measure of independence. Yamamoto's father is like yours in a way, he just seems to see everything that is going on in his son's life and the life of his friends as the way things go. Kyoko-chan's parents, on the other hand, are ordinary people living ordinary lives and suddenly their children are being threatened and they aren't sure what else to do other than try and protect them. We won't know the full story of what's going on there until Kyoko or Sasagawa-san can get in touch with us again."

"I just wanted an ordinary life," Tsuna growled. "I didn't ask for any of this."

"I know," Haru said, "but there really isn't an exit clause to this anymore—for any of us."

"You could have gotten out of it," Tsuna stated.

"We already had this discussion, Judaime. I don't want to revisit it," Haru said. "If you're just going to lecture me again, I'll pass. I can get home the rest of the way on my own."

She pulled ahead of Tsuna and was brought up short as the Vongola Decimo caught her arm. Her momentum spun her a bit, bringing her toe to toe with Tsuna and meeting his blazing eyes squarely. "I am learning which risks to take and which ones require Famiglia," Haru stated. "The rescue mission for Kyoko wasn't just my doing—Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Sasagawa-san all wanted to do it. I'm still new at this, but at least I'm willing to learn and think about everything differently than I would have a year ago. You're gentle and I love that about you, but sometimes that just isn't going to work. We, as a Famiglia, have to learn and adjust. Things are just going to keep picking up and we need a way to counter it or we'll all end up dead. Is that what you want?"

Tsuna's breath caught as he met Haru's gaze and for the first time picking up the sadness and despair behind the cheerful smile she always gave him. "Haru…what's happened to you?"

The events of the past several months since asking Dani to teach her tumbled through Haru's head and she couldn't help the sudden well of tears that spilled from her eyes nor the words that poured out of her mouth.

Tsuna held her against his chest as the words came out between sobs, unconscious of the light rain beginning to fall until he was uncertain which part of his shirt was damp from her tears and which part was from the rain itself. He kept his words in check as the story flowed from Haru until she finally unloaded everything she'd been keeping to herself, expanding greatly on what she'd originally told him what felt like years ago after their school entrance ceremonies.

She pulled back as the words tapered off and scrubbed her arm across her reddened eyes and drew in a deep, trembling breath. She dug into her bag and pulled out an umbrella and popped it open though it wasn't going to keep them from getting wet—it would just keep them from getting wetter.

Tsuna drew out a handkerchief and handed it to Haru, relieving her of the umbrella and holding it over them as the brunette scrubbed her eyes one more time and blew her nose. She folded the fabric and looked up at Tsuna. "I'm sorry I cried all over you," she said.

"It's fine," Tsuna assured her, "but I wish you'd told me about all of this sooner Haru. Does Gokudera know all of this?"

There was a rumble of anger under the future Mafia Boss's voice. "Of course he knows, he was there for large portions of it. He's my partner as assigned by Judaime," Haru said quietly. "None of us wanted to make you more worried. It's the same with Yamamoto, you know."

"What?" Tsuna gaped.

"He long ago figured out this wasn't a game," Haru said, "but, like all good Guardians, he didn't want worry you more. You were happier when we all acted normally or as close to normal as we could. We like to see Judaime's smile too, but I couldn't keep it up today. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize for telling me the truth," Tsuna frowned.

They arrived at Haru's house and Tsuna walked her to the door, declining her invitation to come inside for some tea to warm up. Once she was inside, Tsuna trudged away from the door, muddy water splashing under his sneakers as the rain continued to fall.

"You seem down, dame Tsuna."

Tsuna jumped at the words that echoed, his brown eyes snapping up to the suit-clad toddler with his Leon green umbrella. Reborn's face was hidden in the shadow cast by the brim of his fedora as the two slowly began to make their way to Tsuna's house.

"All this time, I thought I was actually protecting them, but…" Tsuna began.

"You do protect your Famiglia, Tsuna, but they will also protect you in the way they think is best," Reborn said. "That's why they're Famiglia. You still have a lot to learn as Neo Vongola Primo."

"I—" Tsuna began.

"Are you going to try and tell me how much you don't want this again, even in the light of everything that's happened to them over the last two years?" Reborn asked.

"I could, but it would be as effective as sprinklers right now," Tsuna said quietly, holding out a hand to collect the raindrops that fell and then shaking it off and turning his attention back to the former Arcobaleno. "Instead, I will say I need to learn more. I need to know more about everything. Starting now or they'll lose their lives because they're trying to keep me from worrying."

A towel was dropped on Haru's head as soon as she was in the door and Gokudera glared down at her. "I told you to take a taxi dammit," he said, scrubbing her hair vigorously. "It's too fucking dangerous for you to be out on your own, especially now!"

"Judaime walked me home," Haru said.

"What? Judaime was here?" Gokudera exclaimed and his movements stopped and he blew past her to the door and flung it open.

Haru couldn't help but laugh and picked up the motions of drying off that he'd abandoned to go to his Boss. "I invited him in for tea to warm up, but he said no," Haru said as Gokudera shut the door with a disappointed sigh—apparently Tsuna was already out of sight.

Haru set the towel aside and made her way to the kitchen only to be caught by Gokudera. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I was going to make some tea," Haru replied. "Would you like some?"

"I'm capable of boiling water for tea," Gokudera frowned. "As for you, get yourself upstairs and take a bath or at least a hot shower or you'll catch cold."

Haru looked about to protest and Gokudera scowled at her and stabbed a finger in the direction of the stairs. "Go," he ordered.

Haru was torn between arguing with Gokudera and the appeal of actually being warm and sighed. "Make mine chamomile please?"

"Sure thing," Gokudera said and headed for the kitchen while Haru went upstairs.

Twenty minutes later, Haru came down the stairs dressed in a pair of loose pajama pants and a camisole. She could hear Gokudera in the kitchen still but was distracted by the rattle of a phone against the table and went to check it out. It took only a moment to figure out it was Gokudera's phone and her eyes narrowed at what she picked up of the message before the image faded out.

Gokudera emerged a few seconds later and put the cup of tea in front of Haru. "Hopefully I did it right," he said and settled down next to her with his cup of instant

coffee.

"You got a message on your phone as I was coming down the stairs, I didn't really catch it," Haru said, she'd decided to see if Gokudera would relay the message to her himself without her interrogating him over it.

Gokudera immediately snatched the phone up and opened the message. "It's just the baseball idiot telling me he's home," he said.

"I see," Haru murmured.

Liar.