Genre: Romance/Comedy
Rated: T
Pairing: 1886 TYL. Hibari x Haru.
Summary: They had maintained a relatively platonic relationship for almost ten years now, with her calling him a close friend and him looking out for her. But after her decade-long crush on Tsuna came to a sad ending and she came back to Japan, he decided it was high time their relationship progressed.
Setting: Ten Years Later
Disclaimer: I do not own Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn. The manga belongs to Amano Akira-sensei.
Chapter Three
"Wh-What? What kind of question is that? Well, um…"
"Hehe, just kidding. You don't really have to answer or anything, Tsuna-san."
"Oh. Come on, Haru. Aren't you…acting a little strange today?"
"You noticed? Well, actually, Tsuna-san, there's something Haru has to tell you."
"What is it? Are you going to ask me to marry you again? Because I'm—"
"No, Tsuna-san. I'm not going to…Because from now on, Haru's setting you free."
Cool fall breezes swept past two lone figures in the middle of the night. Namimori was at its quietest hour past midnight. No lights were on in any of the houses in the streets. Few street lamps lit up the narrow roads and paths that snaked through the town. No cars were seen driving by. During this dead hour, shady activities and people alike roamed the dark, unlit alleyways of the town. It was at this time that all kinds of crimes would take place, and that was why the townspeople knew better than to come out of their houses past 12 am.
However, Namimori was, in fact, safe from most crimes and illegal activities. While the citizens feared the criminals, the outlaws themselves feared the prefects of the town. For years this town had been protected by none other than the unbeatable Hibari Kyoya—the name itself made people shiver in fright.
Nevertheless, there was one woman brave—or rather, stupid—enough not to cower in fear before him. On the contrary, she was now walking beside him, chattering like mad.
"The town's so quiet it's scary, don't you agree? I used to sneak out of the house one night to go get some snacks at the convenience store and—Hahi, Haru wasn't supposed to tell you that. So embarrassing! Please forget that, Hibari-san. Hmm, but, what does Hibari-san think, though? Do you think getting snacks at midnight is un-ladylike? Haru's mom got mad the day after and scolded me about it. She said ladies shouldn't do that, you see…"
On and on and on she went, not caring that the man walking beside her was not answering to any of her questions. They walked alongside each other, Hibari patrolling the town and Haru…just talking. He looked around for any kind of disturbance he needed to erase, but saw none. Sure enough, if anybody with any brains at all was doing something bad and heard this blabbering that wouldn't stop, they would have noticed and scrammed already. He sighed and looked at the unknowing culprit who scared all his prey away.
"Do you ever stop talking?"
"Hahi, that's rude, Hibari-san. Obviously, I can't talk when I'm eating and sleeping—"
"No, you sleep talk sometimes. And you also talk when you eat, that's why you never finish your food," he cut her off shortly.
Her doe-like eyes widened and glared at him while she stuttered, "Hahi! Th-That's not true, Hibari-san. Haru never sleep talked. It's—It's not like you'd know anyway, because I never slept in front of you!"
He observed the shades of red on her face and her puffed cheeks, then smirked. "Oh, really? And what about all those times you fell asleep while studying? By the way, you also drool when you sleep."
"Hahi! Stop it, Hibari-san! Stop, stop!" She cried out, her face burning. She pushed him to the side and turned her head to the opposite direction, crossing her arms. "You're terrible, Hibari-san. Haru's going to stop talking to you for ten minutes!"
Hibari shook his head, an amused gleam in his eyes. He then abruptly turned at a corner and went his way. Haru, with her face turned to the side, didn't notice this and continued walking straight. When she finally noticed it was awfully quiet around her, the brunette turned around to see no one.
"Hahi! Hibari-san! Geez, you turned without telling Haru again!" She huffed and started running to the nearest corner they had walked past, and sure enough, the skylark was seen walking down that path. She followed him, running.
All of a sudden, Hibari stopped. Haru, who had been running behind him, couldn't stop herself in time at his unexpected halt, and crashed into his back face-first.
"HAHI!" The impact, while it didn't even make him move an inch, sent her falling to the ground on her butt.
He only slightly turned to look at her, amusement in his eyes. He actually wanted to smile, but held himself and asked coolly, "What are you doing?"
"Owww, my nose. And my butt, owie. They hurt so bad…Don't ask, Hibari-san, this is all your fault, geez!" One minute she was on the ground, rubbing her nose and probably bruised butt, another she was on her feet, glaring at him—her hand still attached on her behind painfully.
He ignored her and pointed at the house he had stopped at. "We're here."
Haru followed his gaze and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Hahi, this is Haru's house. Why did we come here, Hibari-san?"
The skylark gave her an 'are-you-stupid' look and said, "You stupid herbivore."
She pouted. "Hahi. That's your hundredth insult of the day, Hibari-san. Haru just—Hahi! That's right! I wanted to come here to get my stuff! Oh, I almost forgot. Hibari-san's amazing. Such good memory!"
The brunette beamed up at him. Hibari just scoffed. "Remind me again, how did they let you become a doctor?"
"Geez, I know, I know. I'm sorry, alright?" She muttered while fishing out her keys.
With the gate opened, she walked past an unlit path to her house and unlocked the door. She took a peek into the house. It was pitch black inside.
All of a sudden she had just realized her bills hadn't been paid and, unfortunately, she hadn't brought any flashlight with her. Haru gave herself a mental smack in the head and turned her face slowly back to the skylark's direction, giving him a wry smile.
Noticing that, he frowned. "Don't tell me, you forgot your flashlight?"
"Ehehe," she nodded and stuck her tongue out, a little embarrassed.
Hibari sighed. He should have known.
He spun around, ready to head back, "Come get it tomorrow, then."
"Hahi! But, but, Haru needs to use it today, Hibari-san," the brunette stuttered, her hands flying around awkwardly.
"What is it?"
"It's, um, it's—Haru's pajamas! That's right, pajamas. I didn't pack any pajamas from Italy, because I thought I would be staying at my house."
"You can wear the yukata for tonight."
"But, Hibari-san, there is, um, something else Haru needs to get from here, too. Something very important," she mumbled and started to play with her hands nervously, not meeting his eyes. A moment passed and she looked up, determination in those hazelnut-brown eyes. "Alright! I will go get it myself, after all. Please wait here, Hibari-san."
He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He knew she loved horror movies, so she wouldn't be afraid of ghosts. However, he also knew she was very clumsy, as well. Hibari watched as she balled her hands into fists and punched them upward, saying 'Haru, fight!' to no one in particular, then charged into her house like she was going to war. He expected something to go wrong very soon.
CRASH!
"Hahi!"
And, just as he had predicted, a loud noise came from within the house just seconds after she had gone into it, followed by her cry. The Vongola Cloud Guardian did a mental face-palm at that ominous sound and, after a moment's pause, strode into the house reluctantly.
Indeed, it was very dark inside—to the point that nothing could be seen with normal human eyes. However, Hibari had been trained beyond the point which could be called 'human'. Sharp grey eyes strained in the darkness for a few seconds to get a hold of his surroundings, and soon enough, he could see through the dark as if it were daytime.
He found Haru sitting on the floor in front of the staircase, her hands moving around, as though searching for something.
"What are you doing?"
"Hahi, it's Hibari-san. You scared Haru…Well, just now I crashed into the wall trying to find the stairs. I remembered they should be here somewhere but I can't seem to find them. Do you see them, Hibari-san?"
He couldn't believe how ridiculous she was looking right now, groping for the stairway when it was right behind her. And so, with his middle finger and thumb linked together, he proceeded to flick her forehead.
"Hahi! Something came into contact with Haru's forehead! It must be an evil spirit! Right, Hibari-san?" She exclaimed excitedly, turning her face left and right, trying to talk to him but not knowing where he was.
He considered giving her another flick, but decided to leave it at that. Heaving another huge sigh, he grabbed her collar and lifted her up from the floor. "Stairs are this way. Don't trip."
"Hahi, wait, Hibari-san—"
With that, he started to drag her up the stairway while Haru carefully climbed up the steps backwards, her hand on the railing. (He was holding her collar so she had to dig up her old gymnastics skills.)
Finally they managed to reach the second floor safely. Hibari looked around, trying to find her room. It was not a hard task at all, since he found the most decorated and girliest door right away. Needless to say he dragged her in its direction, pushed open the door and flung her into the room.
"Hahi!" Haru, who had fallen onto her bed, got up and puffed out her cheeks, giving the space beside him a pointed look. "Geez, Hibari-san, Haru has probably told you this a thousand times already, but you need to treat girls more gently!"
The skylark watched as she continued to speak to her bedside table. He was supposed to be annoyed, but he couldn't help being amused at the same time.
His sharp eyes scanned the room. Even though it was almost completely dark, her bedroom screamed girly and cute. The carpet was soft and fuzzy, while the wallpaper—from what he could see—was of a warm color. Stuffed animals and funny costumes took almost half the space of her bedroom, some small and some gigantic. Her bed, too, was full of small stuffed lions. Her desk and bookshelves, packed with medical textbooks, were in the far corner of the room. In the opposite corner, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe plastered with stickers stood side by side.
"So, where's the thing you came to get?"
"Wait, Hibari-san. I think I have some scented candles on the bedside table. Can you find it? The lighter is in its drawer." She held up her hand and asked for his help. It seemed ironically stupid that she would ask where the bedside table was since she had been talking to it all this time.
He decided to ignore that fact and moved towards the furniture she had mentioned instead. Indeed, he found two cream-colored scented candles placed near the bedpost lamp and a lighter in the drawer. Without further ado, he lit the candles, and the surroundings became more visible for the brunette.
"Hahi, I can see at last!" She exclaimed in delight, distributing the twin candles to each of them, and got off the bed. "And, it smells nice, too. Haru loves vanilla scent!"
"Hurry up and get what you want already," he rushed, getting a little impatient.
"Yes, yes, al—Hahi!"
She had been trying to walk past a big object poking out of under her bed, but ended up kicking it accidentally. Once again, she crouched down and groaned, holding her foot.
"Ow, it hurts. What is this?" She mumbled and sat down on the floor, intent on finding out what the offensive thing was. Apparently it looked like some kind of a wooden chest. She put her candle beside herself and began examining the box.
Seeing as she was getting sidetracked by something else, he knew they would be here a while if he waited for her to finish digging up her old stuff and reliving the nostalgia. And that would probably take forever.
To be honest, he would have gotten irritated and left by now if not for the nice aroma of vanilla from the candles. He wasn't quite sure why, but he liked the smell and it actually calmed him down a bit.
"Where is it?" He demanded.
"Hmm? Where is what?" She responded absent-mindedly, busy with putting the code on the padlock of the chest.
"The thing you came here for."
"Oh…the two bottom drawers." The reply came slowly, as Haru was distracted. But that was good enough for him.
The skylark strode over to the chest of drawers and squatted down, his hand pulling out the lowest one first. At the same time, Haru, who had unlocked the chest and discovered its contents, cried out in joy.
"Hahi! It's Haru's horror stuff collection! Oh, boy, I've been missing all of these! Do you remember, Hibari-san? All the occult-related and goth things Haru bought?" She gushed out excitedly, holding up a headless doll and a small jar of eyeballs in her hands. When no response came, she looked over to see a very still Hibari.
"Hibari-san? What are you—"
The Vongola Guardian suddenly turned to her, brandishing something awfully similar to her bras in his hand. A ghost of a smirk appeared on his lips as he drawled, "So, this is what you desperately needed and came all the way here for?"
One moment passed in shocked silence. Then, all hell broke loose.
Haru, finally registering what was going on, screamed at the top of her lungs and—forgetting her precious collection completely—lunged at him and snatched away her colorful underwear. She banged the drawer shut and sat with her back against it, as if guarding it from him.
"Hi-ba-ri-san!" She ground out his name, her entire face the deepest shade of crimson. Even in this dark, he could still see her flustered expression very clearly, and that increased his amusement even more.
"Heh," he scoffed.
"Hahi! This is not funny, Hibari-san! How can you even laugh in this situation? Hibari-san's the worst! You're horrible! Stupid! Stupid! Idiot!" Haru screeched, so embarrassed that she wanted to cry.
Her childish underwear was seen! And touched! She had never intended for any male to see them, not even her beloved Tsuna-san. These underwear were too colorful and full of stupid patterns like toffee, candy and cute animals. Some were even too lacy. She had decided nobody would see these stupid bras and that if she ever married someone she would discard all of them. That's right, she had resolved herself to take this abominable secret to her grave! But, out of all the people who could have found out…It had to be her best guy friend.
Being the overly optimistic—to the point of being air-headed—girl she was, she had never had any thoughts along the lines of 'I want to die now' before.
However, Haru considered shooting herself in the head at that moment.
Hibari watched in mild amusement as she buried her face in her palms—along with the squeezed bras—and shook her head violently. Now that was a stupid move, he would say. She was giving him full view of the thing she wanted to hide. But she was flustered, and he knew better than to provoke her anymore. After all, the poor girl couldn't be any redder than this.
He reached out and patted her head slightly, then got up on his feet. "Do you have everything you wanted?"
She was secretly delighted at the considerate change of subject, but still refused to show her face. As a result, her reply came in a muffled voice, "Yes. I came to get my…stuff because I didn't bring any spares back from Italy. And pajamas. Also, some toiletries."
She remembered how difficult it was to ask Hibari if she could tag along with him on today's night patrol. She had told him she needed some stuff, but couldn't bring herself to tell him what exactly it was. She had needed her underwear. Obviously, since she had thought she would be staying at her place where all her things would be, she had given up that space for more souvenirs and shoes. She hadn't anticipated that she would be staying somewhere else, and a guy's place, to boot.
But, in the end, it was her fault for getting distracted with her collection and outright revealing to him the location of her deepest and darkest secret without thinking.
"Is that all?" She heard him ask in his usual deep voice.
She nodded. The brunette took a little peek through her arms and saw that her friend was gazing at her bookshelf. She used that opportunity to stand up and get to work. Pulling out a girlish backpack from the top drawer, she began filling her underwear and pajamas into it.
"What about your textbooks?"
The question surprised her a little; she didn't think it was relevant. "What about them?"
"Aren't you going to bring them with you?" he pressed on.
"No, I'm staying at your place for only until I can contact my parents and get money to pay the bills. After that, I will move back here, so there's no need to bring them there," she answered casually and grabbed her candle, then walked past him to the bathroom door.
He frowned. "You seem to be misunderstanding something."
She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him, surprise in her eyes. "Hahi? What do you mean, Hibari-san?"
"You are going to stay at the institute until you are off the enemy's radar, and that is final."
And thus marked the first day the two started living together—and the many days to come.
To be continued
KimJoysu's Notes: Oh god, it's been a while, huh? My bad, my bad. I've been feeling under the weather lately. Hope this lifted your spirits, cause it did mine. Let me know if you think mt characters are OOC or anything because I don't intend for them to turn out as such. And I'm still not sure about my updating routine yet. Sigh. Life is hard out there for lazyass people, you know? And... Like it? Hate it? Please R&R!
P.S. Yes, I made Haru have a weird obsession with creepy stuff. I just think it really suits her. You know, she has this girly cutesy side and then boom! she likes goth, occult-related stuff. That's just how I think Haru's personality would be. She's a genuinely interesting and unpredictable girl in my book. And funny as well.