DBSG: Sighs....so much homework....anyways...for my byakuranxTsuna story....my partner/friend is feeling a bit depressed at the latest chapter of the series. After she recovers, the next chapter might be updated.

Disclaimer: The day I own Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn is the day Mukuro tries to seduce Tsuna in a pineapple costume.

Haru was 7.

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan! Let's play hide-and-seek!" A seven-year old Kyoko chan squeeled happily.

"Tch! Only little kids play tag," Hana scoffed, folding her arms across her chest in a superior manner.

"Ne, Hana-chan, we ARE kids. Let's play. I'll even be 'it' this time," Haru begged.

Hana sighed. "Okay, count to 20 then."

As Haru counted to 20, she heard the eager scuffling of feet as her friends ran off to look for a good hiding spot.

"18...19...20! Here I come!"

There was a rustling of the wind. Haru stopped. It had suddenly become eeriely silent.

"Are you having fun?"

Someone was there. A man?...But why would a man be interested in a 7-year-old girl?

The figure reached out a slender hand. There was another gentle breeze and the man's hair blew softly with the wind.

Beautiful...Hesitantly, she took his hand.

Gokudera knew that vampire...Fuuta...one of Italy's pureblood vampires. The seemingly young boy had the unique ability of being able to 'rank' anyone.

The rank you are in at being Sawada Tsunayoshi's righthand man is...out of range.

Gokudera winced. Fuuta had been right. There was no way he could be Tsuna's right-hand man now...especially since he was Hibari Kyouya's slave.

But...why was he in Japan?

Positioning himself so that the wind was in his favor, the gray-haired vampire silently followed the Italian vampire.

Several times, Fuuta turned around in alarm only to see no one.

"Yo, Fuuta!"

This voice...The impure vampire blood running through Gokudera's veins was drained from his face.

Yamamoto Takeshi popped out of a bush casually. Only ten feet away from where the vampire was hiding. "It's been a while...you grew an inch taller."

Fuuta scoffed, knowing that the Japanese swordsman was teasing him again. Not something wise to do so against a pure blood vampire- He pushed the arrogant thoughts out of his mind. Nevertheless, he sighed in relief. "I came as soon as I heard about the newcomer. You'll probably want some rankings."

"Ahahah, thanks. You read my mind, Fuuta."

Newcomer? Hayato frowned. His instincts told him they were talking about the girl...Ha...ru... The memory of fresh blood invaded his mind once again. "Urgh!" He took a step backwards, struggling to banish the thought.

Snap!

Amazingly, Fuuta seemed unfazed, but Takeshi wasn't, his hearing even comparable to a real vampire's. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Did the swordsman hear him? The vampire silently cursed and held his breath, though naturally, his respiratory system didn't require oxygen.

Yamamoto's eyes were on the Italian vampire again. "You remember how to get the hideout, right?" Fuuta nodded. "Go ahead first. I want to check something before I go back."

By now, Hayato's vampiric instincts were screaming at him to leap out of the tree he was hiding behind and slit Takeshi's throat. It was more than likely that the Vongola's best swordsman had noticed him.

And yet, Yamamoto didn't move as he watched the brunette vampire fade into teh distance. Then he stared into another direction, directly opposite of where the gray-haired monster was hiding.

A burst of hope. Maybe Gokudera wasn't noticed yet. Maybe Yamamoto hadn't heard the treacherous twig after all.

His questions were answered as there was a sudden rustling in the grass and he barely dodged as the oak tree concealing him was slashed into two.

Shit.

Gokudera looked ahead to meet the piercing gaze of his enemy. His silver gun was out and ready in his hand.

"...Gokudera...."

So this is Miura Haru? Fuuta gulped. So this was where the delicious scent was coming from. It'd been over 150 years before he'd last craved human blood.

Bianchi looked at the Italian vampire from the corner of her eye suspiciously. Well...that was to be expected especially after her only brother was turned into one of 'them' and her 'lover' was violently murdered by a pureblood. She didn't dare trust vampires anymore.

"Hahi? You can rank me?" Haru asked curiously, her deep brown eyes widening in amazement. Frankly, she was quite terrified of the thought of being close to a vampire, but Fuuta looked to innocent and cute to be much of a threat. Besides, evenn Kyoko said that it was safe. He no longer craved human blood.

The dirty-blonde vampire blinked his eyes to clear his thoughts. His lust for her blood was pushed behind as well. He would just have to feed on another bear later.

Tsuna spoke up. "We just want the basics, nothing too complicated, please, Fuuta-kun."

Fuuta nodded wordlesslly and his eyes became blank and lifeless.

"Miura Haru; female, age 17. Cooking skill is #37 in Japan, cleaning skills #117 in the world, CPR skills....#199 out of 200-"

There was an embarrassed cough as Haru blushed, causing a giggle from Kyoko and a small smile from Tsuna.

"-nursing skills currently in the top ten, laundry skills in the top 50's-"

Haru began to grow excited. "Is there anything more interesting about me? Like my top fighting skill?"

"don't,...Haru-" Tsuna warned.

"-top offensive ability is....giving opponent CPR..."

"......."

The room erupted in laughter while Haru scowled in slight disappointment. Even Bianchi gave in and chuckled softly, her grip on a plate of mysterious shapes and sizes (with purple gas emitting from it) loosening.

The tension in the room was lifted. All was fine. It would be only a matter of minutes before Yamamoto came back from whatever he was doing.

But Fuuta twitched as a sudden spasm overcame him. Something was wrong. Even in his trance, he still felt the desire for blood. Fuuta frowned. "-the taste of Haru's blood is ranged in the top ten..."

.....what?

The laughter froze. The relaxed grins transformed in to open-mouthed gasps of horror.

Outside, the weather darkened and it started to drizzle. Almost instantly, the drizzle turned into rain and thunder shook.

Rain....Fuuta doubled over-and fainted.

The gray-haired vampire turned his back on the swordsman, his eyes filled with pain. Gokudera longed to leave, longed to be elsewhere, but the vampire blood within him forced him to obey his pure-blood master.

"Gokudera-kun!" Yamamoto lowered his katana. Even despite the lack of sunlight, the pointed edge of the weapon gleamed.

"I have nothing to say to you, human," Gokudera spat out. His voice turned cold. "step aside before I kill you." His eyes turned a cold pale green, and the grip on the steel gun tightened. Please...just move....

"No."

"What?"

"No! Dammit!" Takeshi refused to move.

Hayato held back a moan of anguish and struggled to keep his composition. "Do you want to be killed that badly?"

"What are these?" Hibari mused, his slender fingers teasing with the miniature dynamites that he found in his new slave's possession.

Gokudera kept his head low as he tried to cover up his embarrassment. "They're dynamites...you light them...and throw them at enemies."

"Oh? Like this?" The prefect slammed the tiny weapons into the lesser vampire's shoulder with frightening aim. If the victim was human, the bone would've shattered instantly.

Nevertheless, it stung. Gokudera winced.

"Oh right, I'm supposed to light them." Hibari's dark eyes changed to a bloody-red and in a split second, the thrown dynamites were lit.

Bang!

The gray-haired vampire hissed in pain and collapsed, grabbing his shoulder. Impure blood trickled from his wound.

There was no more amusement in the pure-blood's eyes.

"You're disgracing the vampire clan with your...toys," the prefect nodded and Kusakabe laid a small silver gun next to the fallen vampire. "Use this from now on."

Toys....Hayato clenghed his teeth. "I understand, Hibari-san."

Yamamoto Takeshi was strong, not someone you'd want to mess with. A perfect candidate for a hitman, the swordsman rarely lost to anyone. Even Gokudera lost count of how many times he lost to him in sparring battles before...

That was before...

Gokudera's hands were covered in blood. Yamamoto's blood. It didn't tempt him at all.

The swordman crumpled into a miserable heap, his sword lying several feet behind him. Yamamoto was still alive, barely.

The rain began to wash off the hot liquid.

"Stupid baseball nut." He proceeded to where the Vongola hideout was.