AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, running a little late, but that whole work thing likes to interfere with my fan fiction writing schedule. This may be a little rough, but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

A couple things: One "dogeza" is basically where someone prostrates themselves on the floor asking for forgiveness, it's not done very lightly and never without some form of shame, two, there's probably going to be more than just Haru's point of view in this section of the story, I'm starting into a pretty big plot thread that's going to engulf Namimori and make things very...interesting. If it gets too confusing, just let me know in comments and I'll see what I can do to make things more understandable.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is the intellectual property of Akira Amano and I claim no responsibility for the characters that were created in KHR, but the original characters and the story line belongs to me.

Thank you for taking time to read (and review if you get a chance).

I'm looking at the next chapter being ready somewhere around June 14th, after that this one will go back to the usual bi-weekly update schedule (releasing Ch. 3 around then puts me back on my self-made schedule).

Thank you again for your patience with me, I appreciate it!

~ Yuki

Target 02-04: Just before the Cherry Blossoms

The scent of spices and soy still lingered in the house from dinner and Haru cast an apprehensive eye towards the clock on the wall. She had five minutes to find an excuse to escape the house so that she could make the meeting on time, but it was not going well. Chiharu practically glued herself to Haru's side following her around the house and telling her all the reasons why this house wasn't as good as her house in Kyoto and how everyone should be treating her better. Haru gritted her teeth as another deluge of commentary began.

Finally, she hit a breaking point and flung the rag down on the counter and whirled on Chiharu only to be brought up short by the massive form filling the doorway.

"If you are unsatisfied with the circumstances here I can always bring you back to Kyoto with me, Chiharu-sama."

The words were said in a deceptively affable tone and Chiharu's mouth snapped shut, as her violet eyes moved towards the man in the doorway. "That won't be necessary Tomotsu," she stated and grandly swept by her escort.

Haru blinked as Tomotsu lowered himself to the floor in dogeza his forehead touching the tile in Chiharu's wake. "I am deeply apologetic for Chiharu-sama's actions. I fear she is a spoiled child unused to not getting her way and having anyone's attention anywhere but with her. Her journey here was at her instigation, but I see that she continues to act as if this were the manor in Kyoto."

"Please get up, you don't have to apologize for her," Haru said.

"I do for she is my charge and under my supervision until I leave," Tomotsu Ishida said, but rose.

Haru felt suddenly very tiny as the veritable giant of a man regarded her with calm dark brown eyes. At first, Tomotsu's scarred visage startled Haru, but she found after an evening talking with him she was growing used to it. "Do not worry about repercussions against you if you don't abide by Chiharu-sama's petulant demands, Haru-san. She came to Namimori of her own will and it is Chiharu-sama's responsibility to take care of herself; you are not obligated to protect her unless you choose to do so."

"I—" Haru said.

"You will learn, eventually, you can't protect everyone even if you want to," Tomotsu said reaching out with his large hand and ruffling her hair. "You have a meeting to go to, yes? Go."

Haru watched him for a long moment and then dropped in a bow. "Thank you," she said and moved past him to grab her bag and a light jacket before heading out the door.

Chrome was coming up the walk just as Haru exited and the young Vongolas stopped for a moment. "Welcome home, Chrome," Haru greeted the former Mist Guardian.

"Where are you going?" Chrome asked.

"We are meeting at Willow House tonight. If you're too tired, I can fill you in when I get home tonight," Haru said.

Chrome shifted her bag and shook her head. "I'll come with you, Haru," she said. "Did the girl your father said he'd board arrive all right?"

Haru nodded. "She's here right now, I'll tell you about it on the way," she said.

Chrome nodded and the two girls headed for the tea house.

They were met on the way by Yamamoto. "Sorry that we couldn't use Pop's shop like we normally do, the party tonight was arranged months ago," he said.

Haru shook her head. "Don't worry about it. We impose on your father too often anyway. After I get everything in order at the apartment Hayato rented out, we'll move the meetings there so we no longer trouble those who've been kind enough to help us."

"What are you doing at Gokudera's place?" Yamamoto asked.

"Right now I'm finishing the last bit of cleaning and then there's a delivery scheduled Monday after school," Haru said.

"Do you need help?" Yamamoto asked.

Haru shook her head. "I should be fine, but thank you."

Yamamoto scowled a bit at her. "You don't have to shoulder everything alone," he frowned.

Haru looked up at him in startlement. "It's just arranging furniture, Yamamoto," she said with a smile. "It's not like I'm taking on a Family by myself."

The baseball player sighed and let the subject drop and the topic changed.

They arrived at the tea house and they were immediately ushered to a table in the back of the room by the hostess. Ryohei would have looked awkward if the boxer was even remotely aware of what a large contrast his workout sweats and bandaged hands made to most of the sharply dressed customers that populated the elegant tea house. As expected neither Mukuro nor Hibari were in the tea house despite the courteous invitation Haru always extended them when they were having a family meeting. To Haru's surprise there were two others with Akai and Ryohei at the table and she moved forward to greet them. "Sakura-san, Kashiwa-san it's a pleasure to see you, but what occasion brings you here?" she greeted them; her language went inadvertently formal when she addressed the Mist and Lightning guardians of the Hanatachi High Council.

It was odd seeing both of them without the masks that usually concealed their faces during formal meetings, but Haru supposed masks would draw too much attention to them in this environment. Sakura was older than Haru and Akai but not by much and her brown eyes were amused as Haru nearly stumbled over her greetings. "We can't wear them all the time," the Hanatachi Mist Guardian smiled and then sobered. "There have been disturbing rumors in the Underground since Vongola Decimo's departure. Madame Cho wishes to hear your opinions on them and it was just as easy to just slip into the meeting here as it would be to bring you to the Council Room."

"There are also stirrings of trouble within the Clans themselves that we haven't identified the source of yet," Kashiwa added.

Kashiwa, like Tomotsu back at Haru's house, was a large man and the table almost seemed doll-sized in comparison, but Haru had seen him more often without his mask than Sakura though he was usually in Dr. Tanpopo's company. Haru and the remains of the Vongola Tenth Generation settled at the table and the waitress came over to take their order.

The doors to the restaurant were flung open and three masked men burst through and shouted something Haru couldn't quite understand and she glanced at her companions. There was a grim set to Sakura's lips and she exchanged glances with Akai and Kashiwa before rising silently. Yamamoto's expression turned grim and he rose as well, Haru caught his sleeve. "Cause as little damage as possible."

Yamamoto grinned briefly. "I'll do my best."

"Chrome…" Haru began.

The one-eyed girl nodded and rose as well reaching to extract her trident from the pouch she kept it in.

There was a crash and the first tables went flying as the men started their rampage. Haru scowled. "Let us handle this," Akai said quietly, her voice carried to Yamamoto and Chrome. "This is our territory."

"Are they sumo wrestlers?" Ryohei asked with interest rising from his chair and cracking his knuckles.

"Sit down Sun Guardian," Akai frowned at the boxer, "you too baseball idiot. We've got this."

Yamamoto looked like he was about to protest as another table was overturned and guests were sent fleeing from the restaurant. "Protect Haru," Akai ordered and glanced at Sakura and Kashiwa.

They nodded and the Hanatachi hitmen launched into action.

Haru saw the masks come out of the bags the three carried and secured in place before the Hanatachi hitmen moved out. "Is it a play?" Ryohei queried sitting forward in his seat eagerly.

Haru gave the boxer a wry smile. "Maybe they're messing with shooting stars at a sumo wrestling match…"

Ryohei started and gave her a sheepish look.

Yamamoto and Chrome eased in closer to Haru and Yamamoto's callused hand stopped her from reaching for her weapons. "We'll protect you like we do Tsuna," he said. "Don't get involved if you don't have to."

"But—" Haru began.

"Trust us," Chrome said.

A shroud of shadow dropped over the restaurant out of nowhere and Haru felt her famiglia draw in closer.

"What the fuck is going on. Who turned out the lights?"

The words echoed in the darkness and there was a scramble and the sound of a table breaking. "We warned you what would happen if you didn't pay for protection, you're not going to win this time."

"You picked the wrong night to mess with Willow House."

Haru recognized Akai's voice though it was partially distorted by her kitsune mask.

"Not that any night would be good to encroach on our territory," Kashiwa rumbled.

Haru knew that he'd be wearing his Oni mask and that Sakura was somewhere hidden behind the tengu mask that Haru was so familiar with.

There was the sound of a scuffle and then just as quickly as the shadows had fallen they lifted. The restaurant was emptied of most of its patrons and the men who'd attacked were scattered over the floor in unmoving heaps. Haru rose silently and moved over to one of the men. "They're just unconscious, we didn't kill them this time," Akai said.

Haru glanced at her friend, once more bare-faced with her mask secured somewhere. "This time?" Haru repeated softly.

"We are not your Judaime," Akai murmured. "Dead enemies don't usually come back to haunt you."

Haru nodded slowly and hunkered down in front of him. "Safe?" she asked.

"They're not going to move for a while," Kashiwa said.

His mask was also gone again and Haru nodded and reached out and pulled the mask off the man in front of her and frowned. "Isn't this guy a two-bit player from Luga?" she asked.

"Yeah," Akai said. "It appears they've decided to try and carve out a new piece of territory beyond their junk shop in the Underground and the area east of Namimori."

Haru stood up and moved to the other two and pulled off their hoods as well. "Pioggia and Tremaine…" she said. "Don't they have a turf war going on that we've managed to keep on that side of town?"

"This could be a problem," Sakura said quietly. "Mariko-san?"

"Yes, Sakura-sama?"

The woman that appeared was the manager of the tea house and she bowed almost double when she approached. "My deepest apologies for allowing matters to get this far," she whispered. "They've been threatening on and off for the past few months, but we never thought they'd actually do something."

"Get a team together and clean up the establishment. We'll figure out a viable story," Sakura said. "Next time though. Tell us before it escalates. Madame Cho will not be pleased at the profit loss that's going to result from this."

"Yes, Sakura-sama," Mariko said.

"We'll have to have dinner later, for now we should retreat to the Broken Butterfly and discuss the situation," Kashiwa said. "We were hoping it wasn't going to come to this."

"What about them?" Yamamoto said, nodding at the guys on the floor.

"Our people will take care of it," Akai said and glanced at Haru. "Is there a way you can take them to the Underground via the Vongola Route? I don't want to have to blindfold Sasagawa-san and Chrome…"

"Blindfold me? Why?" Ryohei demanded.

"Because every Clan and Familia entrance is a secret of that particular group," Akai stated. "Yamamoto and Haru have seen our way, but only with special dispensation. You and Chrome are not authorized and we don't have time to get permission."

Haru nodded. "Yamamoto and I will show them the way," she said. "We'll meet you there in an hour?"

"Sooner if you can," Akai said. "You've got a few things to do tomorrow if you can shake ohimesama…"

"Point," Haru grimaced. "Let's go."

She gestured for Chrome, Yamamoto, and Ryohei to join her and bowed to the manager and thanked her for her hospitality.

"Come again with your friends when we get the mess cleaned up. I will treat all of you," she said, "if I still have my job after this…"

"It'll be okay, Mariko-san," Haru said though she wasn't sure if she was giving false assurances or not.

Mariko gave her a smile that said she understood the sentiment. "You have a good heart, Miura-san, you shouldn't be walking in this world."

"I can't protect them or our future if I don't," Haru said softly.

She led her fellow Vongola out of the restaurant and they made their way towards Take Sushi. "Is that really why you became a Vongola hitman?"

Ryohei's voice was oddly thoughtful and Haru glanced over her shoulder at him in surprise then realized that she'd never really actually talked that much with the white-haired boxer. "Yes," Haru said. "I knew that Judaime wouldn't entirely approve of it if I took this path, but I felt so helpless and alone. You and Judaime do so much to protect Kyoko-chan from all of this, but me…not so much."

She tucked a strand of dark hair that escaped her short topknot behind her ear. "You all worked so hard, trained so hard to protect us and Namimori—I couldn't just sit back and do nothing," she said. "Turn here, we're going to the dojo behind the restaurant."

"What's in there?" Chrome asked.

"The Underground entrance," Yamamoto answered, his hand settled lightly on the small of Haru's back for an instant as he guided her around a piece of rough ground she nearly tripped over and then dropped. "Surprised both of us when we realized it was there."

"What is the Underground? Like a subway or something?" Ryohei asked.

Haru shook her head though she knew that Ryohei and Chrome wouldn't be able to see it in the darkness. "It's hard to explain. You'll see when we get there. The entrance was on the west side, Yamamoto?"

"Yeah," the baseball player replied.

It took Haru a moment of scrambling for the handle to slide the door aside so that they could get inside the dojo and she moved directly to one of the dummies. The floor was littered with the fallout from Yamamoto's practices earlier in the day, but she managed to get around it without tripping.

"Sorry for the mess," Yamamoto said apologetically. "Pops needed a hand in a hurry earlier today and I didn't get a chance to get back here and clean before the meeting."

"I'll help you clean it up when we get back," Ryohei said.

Haru's fingers found the lever and triggered the mechanism and a grating sound echoed. Yamamoto went through first, a bat in hand and Haru urged Ryohei and Chrome to follow him. She grabbed a flashlight off the wall and flipped it on before hitting the button to close the door behind them. "We can get back in via the same way. I just closed the door to keep someone from following us without our knowledge," she told Ryohei and Chrome.

Ryohei triggered his ring to provide more light and the yellow Dying Will Flames illuminated the dark passage. "This leads down into the Vongola Machinist shop that Giannini works from now," Haru said. "Spanner's also there, but they may already be asleep. Don't be entirely surprised if we get blocked by some Vongola agents though. We don't usually use this entrance."

They followed the path down and the journey felt like it took hours, but Haru knew it was only about twenty minutes or so. Spanner had mumbled something about putting in a moving walkway, but hadn't gotten around to perfect the machine for it yet as he was too busy building eighteen-inch Gola Moscas to play with. Haru wondered if she should pester Shoichi to see if he could get the other mechanic going on the project, but, depending on what the outcome of the meeting tonight was, it may not be a project they needed to concentrate on right now.

As they drew closer to the entrance, Haru eased into the forward position, but Yamamoto remained just behind her in case things went badly. The door at the end of the tunnel was already open and three men in suits were already arrayed in front of it.

"Isn't it a bit late for high school kids to be out, Haru-sama?" one of the men grunted.

"It's only eight o' clock, Antonio, curfew isn't until ten," Haru said. "You know Chrome and Ryohei at least from pictures?"

"Of course we know them," the man said. "They're Decimo's Guardians, we're not stupid."

"I never said you were Antonio," Haru said. "Please step aside and let us pass. What's the situation in the Underground like right now? I've not really been here recently and I've been getting some odd reports."

"Tense there's some serious undertones that most of us aren't particularly liking. We've battened down the hatches at the machinist shop as of this morning. You'll have to wake Giannini to get a code to get out," Antonio said as the men parted and let the younger Vongola through.

Haru nodded. "Marco, Matteo…" she started glancing at the other two.

"I'll go wake him," Marco said. "Matteo check the passage and make sure no one else followed them."

The third man nodded and headed up the passage they'd just come from.

The high school students stepped into the shop and Ryohei and Chrome looked around in surprise while Yamamoto headed for a window to see what he could see through the metal blinds. Haru pulled out her cell phone and sent a message to Akai that they may be slightly delayed, but should be headed that way soon.

It didn't take too long for a sleepy Giannini to stumble into the shop dressed in a white sleepshirt and hat. "I didn't expect to see you tonight, Haru-sama, I haven't had a chance to send the encryption codes to you."

Haru shook her head. "Don't worry about it. We'll take them now. We have some place to be."

"Take Antonio and Marco with you," Giannini said. "It's getting dangerous out there."

"We'll be fine," Haru said. "We're headed to the Broken Butterfly. Knowing Madame Cho we'll have an escort before we turn the first corner."

"Be careful out there, Haru-san."

Haru glanced over at Spanner who'd come to the door of his workshop dressed in his usual rumpled olive green jumpsuit. His ever present lollipop was in his hand and Haru cocked her head. "Taking a break?"

"Running a stress test to make sure that the circuits aren't going to melt down," Spanner said and an acrid smell suddenly burst from the shop and the engineer whirled around to go figure out what blew up this time. "Giannini I told you to stay out of my workshop!"

The shout was even loud from a distance and the Vongola technician cast a furtive glance at the opening.

"I just did some minor repairs!" the Vongola tech protested.

Spanner came out with a melted piece of slag and glared at the older man. "I stay out of your workshop, stay out of mine. I can do my own repairs."

"But—"

"Giannini can we get the code," Haru gently reminded him.

"Oh yes, give me a moment."

The large man bustled back into another room of the shop and emerged with a card. "This will get you in and out of the building. The codes are only good for four hours so you better be back by then."

"All right," Haru said and thanked him before heading to the door.

She inserted card in the slot and the lights flashed green allowing them to exit the shop. "If you can't get back in because the card messes up, send me a text, I'll be up a while cleaning up this mess," Spanner said.

Spanner said nothing else and went back into his workshop and Haru had a feeling that if the door wasn't a mechanical sliding door there would have been a loud crash as the door slammed into place.

They emerged into the eerily quiet Underground and Haru tossed a look at Yamamoto who nodded grimly. "Keep your guard up," the baseball player said switching his baseball bat for the Shigure Kintoki.

Ryohei nodded and activated the Sun Ring as Chrome hit the button to extend the shaft of the trident. Haru didn't reach for a weapon herself trusting her companions to keep her safe as she led the way to the Broken Butterfly, but she did automatically check to make sure her 'playing cards' were in easy reach and she'd be able to pull her kanzashi quickly if they were attacked.

Thankfully, the trip to the Broken Butterfly was uneventful and Haru noted a couple shadows skiving off as they reached the door of the shop. Akai was waiting and gestured her dark head. "Let's go to the other entrance," she said.

Haru cast a questioning look at Akai and her friend mouthed the word 'later' and Haru nodded leading the way to the back entrance of the shop that she'd only used once or twice in her acquaintance with the Hanatachi Clan. Akai guided the Vongola through the quiet back halls of the business end of the shop avoiding the showroom and opened the door to the council room where Sakura and Kashiwa were waiting.

"Is everything all right at Willow House?" Haru asked.

Sakura nodded. "The clean-up is in progress," she said. "Have a seat. Welcome to Hanatachi Territory, Sasagawa-san, Dokuro-san—please don't make any sudden moves it may agitate some of the watchers."

"What's going on?" Haru asked settling in a familiar spot.

"Trouble," Akai said grimly as she shut and locked the door of the council room.

"I figured as much, normally you wouldn't see those three anywhere near each other without them whaling on each other," Haru frowned.

"There's a storm brewing Haru," Akai said, "and I don't mean the one literally brewing outside. Something is going on in Namimori, it's only been a couple weeks, but we're already seeing trouble stirring between groups that have held truce for the past fifteen years."

"There are also whispers amongst the Japanese Clans of trouble," Sakura added, she spent more time as a liaison between the Hanatachi and the other Clans than Akai.

"I don't like this," Haru said.

"Neither do we," Kashiwa rumbled.

"If things continue as they are, Haru, we're going to have an all-out turf war with the streets of Namimori serving as the battleground before cherry blossom season ends," Akai said.

Haru shuddered; her gaze going upwards where the heavy pods on the cherry trees waited for the right time to open up. All in all, that meant they had less than a month to see if they could find a way to head things off.