I'm back, minna!

Thanks for all of the reviews! It motivated me to study harder. Now that the exam is finished, I can write any time I want XD

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR

One fine peaceful morning the day was. The summer had ended as fireworks symbolized its end and fall entered the stage. Though yesterday night Tsuna got home too late for hanging out too long at Yamamoto's house, Reborn caught him at home and punished him by training at night. Tsuna didn't see him coming home nor did he know he was at home, knowing days he left the house. Because of that, he woke up late for school with bandage on his cheek.

"That Reborn! I'll be late for sure!" he ran with bread on his mouth as he ate it along his way.

He ran though the hallway until Hibari spotted him. "No running in the hall way or I'll bite you to death" he readied his tonfa. "I-I can't! I'm late! If you let me go, you can get to fight me after school, how does that sound? Look, Reborn made me train at night, so that's why I'm late!"

"The baby? Fine. But I'll come to earn your debt after school, Sawada Tsunayoshi"

"Thanks, Hibari-san!" he continued running until managed to arrive at his classroom with 20 minutes late.

He slided the door abruptly while panting. "I'm sorry I'm late!"

"Sawada? You're 20 minutes late. Care to tell me why you are late?" the teacher asked firmly. "Th-That's…"

"I'm sorry I'm late!" another one showed up while panting. "Haru? You're late too? Why?" Tsuna whispered. "From what I've heard from your previous school, your attendances were perfect let alone showing up late. Why are you late, Miura?"

"I'm truly sorry, teacher. I overslept"

"Hmm… normally, I would have to make you two stands in front of the class, but you're not elementary anymore. Okay, I'll let you go. But you two are not allowed to go home after school before you clean up the class. Now, go to your seat"

"Thank you" the two said and walked to each seat.

Time passed quickly and every student had gone home, except Gokudera who wanted to help him. "It's okay, Gokudera-kun. This is a punishment I have to take. I can't be self-independent if you keep helping me"

"I-If juudaime said so…" he reluctantly left him in class alone.

"Tsuna-san, here" Haru handed over a rag. Tsuna was surprised and looked at her back. A set of cleaning tools was there, a bucket of water, mop, rags, broom, and glass cleaner spray bottle. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to bring all of these? I could help you"

"If Haru can still do it herself, then Haru doesn't need anyone's help" she beamed and erased the chalkboard while humming gleefully.

For almost an hour, they cleaned the class and none of them spoke to each other. Haru kept humming and smiling while Tsuna kept staring at her thoughtfully. Having hyper intuition, he could tell she was hiding something. That would mean his plan must be executed immediately.

After changing the water inside a vase, she wiped the window while he mopped the floor. Then 7 minutes later, he finished the mopping. He wiped the sweat on his forehead and said while looking at the sparkling floor "The floors done. Then that leaves the window" he diverted his eyes on the window and Haru who was reaching her left hand to the upper part.

Suddenly, when Haru's left sleeve got down a bit, he saw a glimpse of what appeared to be bandage. So then, he approached her and grabbed her left wrist. "I-It hurts!" Haru dropped the rag. Tsuna immediately slided the sleeve up to her elbow and shocked when he saw her left wrist was bandaged.

"What happened, Haru?"

"I-It's nothing serious. It's just a cut from a broken glass" she replied as she averted her eyes away from Tsuna.

"She's really hiding something. Then…"

"Haru"

"Eh? What?"

"Do you have a plan for tomorrow?"

"Sunday? Don't know. Why you ask?"

"Go with me to the amusement park"

"Go with… you?" she blushed. "Yes, with me and just me"

"Wh-Why?"

"Because I want to"

"Why not with Kyoko-chan instead?" she instinctively asked and hurt by her words at the same time.

"Because this concerns you. Haru, you've been acting strange lately and it's as if you're keeping a distance between us, I mean you and I. You're my close friend and I have to know"

"Close… friend? S-Sorry, Haru just remembered something about tomorrow's plan with Lal-san. Haru can't go" she lied and walked away from him. "You're a part of the family, Haru" she stopped. "We share the same bond. We laugh together, smile together, and cry together. But lately… when we smiled, you didn't. When we laughed, you didn't"

Truthfully, he didn't want to say she was a part of Vongola. He was scared of the fact that Haru might have already or would become a part of the family. As much as it hurt him saying that, for her well-being, he had to. "So, what do you say? Will you give me a chance?" he asked as he picked up the rag.

Haru's conscious said she had to accept his offer, but the other conscious said she couldn't. Tsuna was always the man she loved. But she remembered that she was in the middle of training.

"You know that means you just ask Haru on a date, right?"

"Call it whatever you like"

"Although your offer seems tempting, it's a no. Sorry, Tsuna-san"

"There's a new cake stall there" he really knew how to persuade her. She twitched of delight as she heard it, but she hid it really well. Now, it was too tempting for her to say no. She whirled around and snatched the rag from him.

"F-Fine, but your treat!" she hid her blush and continued cleaning. Seeing her response, he chuckled amusingly.

After all of it had done, Tsuna and Haru took the cleaning set back to the janitor's closet. The sky was getting dark and the clock almost hit night time.

"Tomorrow at Namimori shopping district. Meet me there at 10 am" Tsuna voiced. "Okay, see you tomorrow, Tsuna-san" she was about to leave, but Tsuna grabbed her shoulder. "Wait. Can't you at least wait for me? I can't let a girl walk home alone at this hour"

"Why? Do you still have something to do here?"

"I promised Hibari-san to have spar with him"

"That would take a while, wouldn't it? Lal-san will smack me if Haru doesn't come home soon"

"Oh… Okay then. Be careful" he let go. "Thanks, Tsuna-san!" she beamed and left Tsuna.

"You're unusually late" Lal relaxingly wiped her shotgun while sitting on Haru's bed. "Well, it's your fault for making me train at night, knowing I have school to attend"

"You said it yourself you wanted to become strong" she retaliated and Haru twitched. Lal was right. Haru did want Lal to make her strong, since she was the former leader of COMSUBIN and had Colonnello as her student.

"So, are we going to train now?" Haru dropped her bag.

"No. Save your energy for your date tomorrow"

"Y-You were there? I told you not to follow me to school!" she raised her voice.

"Iemitsu's order. I'm just following it. He ordered me to keep an eye on you and protect you"

"Tsuna-san's father?" she blinked. "Lal-san…"

"Lal" she interrupted.

"O-Okay. Anyway, Lal. Should I go tomorrow?"

"You've been training and training. You're neglecting any fun and you rarely hang out with Sasagawa Kyoko nowadays. As my student, I want you to go tomorrow"

"But what about keeping the distance?"

"I would say a part of you don't want that anymore. I thought you don't want to give up on him" she stood up. "I need to test my gun downstairs. Take a shower, eat dinner, and get to bed early" with that, Lal left the room. Haru stared at the door with painful and grievous face.

"You're wrong. I already give up on him. Ever since I saw how happy he is with Kyoko-chan"

Haru walked to the window and stared at the sky. Whenever she stared the sky, it always reminded her of Tsuna. Thinking about him, that's what kept her going and survive the training of a Spartan tutor. However at the same time, it also pierced her heart. She was no longer the eccentric girl people used to know, whether anyone recognized it or not. She kept using mask in front of everybody, but more in front of Tsuna.

Speaking as third person in front of him, only to hide her feelings and what she had been doing over this one year. She was an honest and caring girl, always wanted to help out any way she could, that never changed. However, the word 'anyway she could' always came to haunt her, it felt like she couldn't do anything useful. She didn't want to lie, but she was given with zero choice. The fact that she didn't speak as a third person anymore, Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Kyoko, almost everyone knew that, since she talked to them using 'I' now.

Except Tsuna who knew her change. All he knew that she was hiding something, but didn't see her change. This was purposely planned by Haru herself. She couldn't let Tsuna to know she changed. To protect him, she couldn't bring herself to love him, considering he had feelings for Kyoko.

Despite knowing how painful it was to let go that feeling, for Tsuna's sake, she would do anything even if she had to cast away the feelings of 'love'. Everything she did was always for Tsuna. Her love for him was so pure, Iemitsu, Lal, and Reborn knew that. For the sake of him, she decided at their date tomorrow, she would tell him that she loved him to end her feelings once and for all, even though with just the thought of it already hurt her so much. However, she didn't know that behind her noble sacrifices, hidden within her conscious, all of it would destroy herself.

…

Elsewhere, a man was sitting in his yard as he sipped his tea. Then, his subordinate reluctantly approached him.

"What is it? You'd better have good news about the Mare rings or else"

"A-Actually, it's good and bad news. The bad news is… well, the Mare rings were moved to another place. The good news is we have found the location, but not the exact location where they're placed. It's at a town called Namimori… which is Vongola's territory. B-But we could attack them to get the information. I mean, the tenth boss is still in high school. It counts as good… right?"

"Right, but too much bad news. And no" he pointed gun at him.

"B-But it still counts as good. P-Please forgive me, boss!"

"No can do" he shot him.

"That's what you get for not scrutinize my order" he continued sipping his tea and then reached for his cellphone, dialing numbers.

"Hey, Hiro" he called. "Prepare the retrieval unit. You'll be going to Vongola's territory, Namimori"

…

Sunday morning had come. Fortunately, the sky which at around 7 am was clouded and dark now turned bright and warm. The breeze of the fall was relaxing and Tsuna felt that as he was waiting for Haru at the stated meeting point. Even though it was only 9.45, he had been there for half an hour. Then, Haru waved at him shyly, not the energetic way she used to. From there, they went to the amusement park.

As they arrived, Tsuna asked "Do you have any particular ride to go?"

"No. Haru let Tsuna-san choose"

"Okay then"

Thus, Tsuna first went to "mirror world". Inside it was like a maze and they had to find their way through dozens of mirror watching their every back. His goal was to let Haru had fun there, but all she did was finding a way out. So, he began to make move.

"Hey, Haru look" he called and she looked. Tsuna stood in front of one of the mirror and said "How do I look? I look fat, right?"

Haru just stared at him and he kept waiting for her response. It was an awkward moment as the air was silent. Suddenly, Haru burst in giggle and that relieved him so much. "Abstract is the best word, Tsuna-san" she giggled. Tsuna was puzzled by her statement until when he looked to the other mirror, which had his reflection and Haru was right. It was comically abstract. No wonder she laughed. That made him laughed too.

Then, they went to teacups attraction. At first, Haru was bit of in an awkward mode as she didn't know what to do while Tsuna wheeled around the cup. Haru kept restraining herself not to have too much fun, but she couldn't hold on to it. As she saw how fun it was, she wheeled it around too with him. Laughter and smile they put in each faces.

Third, they went to miniature car track. This time, she had completely let herself to have fun. They tried most of the attraction.

Then, they rode jet coaster. Tsuna, even though he had change over the past 3 years, regarding jet coaster, it was always his weakness. He got down the ground puking afterwards at a bench.

"Are you okay, Tsuna-san? Seriously, why did you even want to take jet coaster? That's reckless!" Haru said as she smoothly rubbed his back while he was puking. "Stay here" she left him alone. Minutes later, Haru came back with a glass of water and handed it to him. Haru sat and stared at him as he drank every drop of water.

"Thanks. Now, let's go" he rose up. "Where?"

"To the cake stall, of course"

"But you—"

"I'm fine now. Besides, all of that puking makes me hungry"

"I-If you say so"

As Haru rose up from the bench, suddenly, they heard a cry. It was faint, but they were sure of it. They searched the perimeter and found a 5 year-old boy who was sobbing.

"What's the matter, little boy?" Tsuna squatted. "M-Mommy…. Mommy is…"

"Huh?"

"Haru thinks he's lost, Tsuna-san" Haru translated and then Tsuna spoke "Let's find your mommy, okay?"

Then, he saw the boy's bruise ankle. It seemed that as he attempted to find his mother, he got tripped. Seeing that, he picked up the boy and carried him into his arms. "Where's the last time you saw your mommy?" he asked and the boy pointed at the castle.

Haru kept staring at Tsuna as he was carrying the boy, like brothers or father-son. It was kind of cute, she thought. Moreover, he had turned out to be a fine young man. Tsuna was always the man she loved and the fact she had to end it, whether she knew or not, she was starting to waver. Eventually, the boy was right. There was his parents with a security guard searching for her son and as his parents saw him, the mother immediately ran to his son. Tsuna handed the boy and the mother carried him crying happily.

"Thank you" the mother said. "Thank… you!" the boy chirped.

As the boy assembled with his family, Haru couldn't divert her stare away from them. Seeing the caring parents reminded her of her own parents, who unknown to everyone, except Lal, left her alone in Japan. Since the beginning of her training, Haru and her parents weren't close anymore. They were like strangers who lived in the same house. Even when her father moved to another country for work, they didn't tell anything about it to Haru until one day, Haru saw a letter on a coffee table. She had to admit, she was sad about it, but her parents still sent her some money for her living expense and still paid her school tuition and needs.

"Poor you"

"Eh?" she flinched.

"Being left out by your own parents like that. You deserve better, Haru"

"Who's there?" she looked around.

"What's wrong?" Tsuna asked. "N-Nothing. It must've been Haru's imagination"

"I think your imagination's playing on you for not eating any cake. So, shall we go to the cake stall?"

"Y-Yeah"

"What's the status, Fon?" Reborn called his fellow arcobaleno through Leon whom changed into a phone.

"It's me, uncle Reborn"

"Yuni? No, you're future parallel world Yuni, aren't you? Sorry to make you stay here"

"No, not exactly. My real body is in my world. And anything to help you, uncle"

"Where's Fon?"

"He's following Byakuran at the moment. Don't worry, uncle. It seems that Byakuran is still a normal person"

"Okay. Then, call me if he gets back"

"Uncle"

"What?"

"…please protect the rings"

"Don't worry. The new owner won't get the rings, I assure you" with that said, he hung up. Yuni slowly put the phone down and mused. "You don't know, uncle. The new owner… is closer than you think"

"Well, how's the cake?" Tsuna rested his arms on the table.

"It's surprisingly good and very sweet!" Haru chirped as she was eating the cake joyously. Tsuna was very glad that she was still the same girl he knew 14 years ago, one that wouldn't say no to cake.

"I'm glad you like it. You should take Kyoko-chan…. Haru?" Tsuna paused briefly as he saw her glum face.

"Can we ride one more attraction… now?"

"Anything you want. Which ride?"

"That one" she diverted her eyes to the Ferris wheel.

"Well, the sky is about to get dark, but we can go for one more"

As that settled, Tsuna and Haru left the stall. Fortunately, it wasn't too crowded. Inside, Haru and Tsuna sat at the edge and sat front-to-front.

"Haru—"

"Tsuna-san… there's something I have to say" she said solemnly. "Haru? You… didn't speak as third person" Tsuna's eyes shot up wider. "Please listen to what I have to say"

He swallowed nervously as he saw her expression. He only nodded, came to heel.

"3 years ago, I met this boy. He looked weak and incapable, but he saved me from drowning and since that day, my world converted and changed" there was a brief pause for her next sentence. "You're a kind-hearted man who always protect everyone and risk your life for them. Everybody loves you, adore you. You're everybody's sky who came into their lives and set them free from their cage, set them free from who they were, even mine"

Then, she paused again, ready to say the last one. "Everybody knows you like Kyoko-chan and I know she will make you happy. And as long as you're happy, I'm happy too. Because… I…"

For unknown reason, she couldn't speak the words. Suddenly, Haru had a glimpse of Tsuna's warm smile. The smile when they went to the Mirror World, the funny looks as he rode the jet coaster, the smile when he looked at her when she ate the cake. Haru started to tremble, tremble of uncertain emotion and her hands were trembling. Not just her hands. Tsuna's brown eyes widened, seeing the tears rolling from her eyes.

"Haru…?"

She shed her tears silently and put such painful face. She wanted to stop crying so much, but her eyes and tear glands wouldn't let her. She had no control of her tears anymore, after hadn't been crying for a year. After having the resolve to end her feelings, it had come down to this. She had been hurt by just the thought to end it, but it was much much more painful when the words had already there on her lips, yet it was unspeakable.

"I… I can't…" she kept mumbling while tears rolling down through her cheeks. Tsuna's face painted with sadness and worries. He didn't know the problem and he knew by asking would hurt her more. It seemed like she was always like this, always held onto something beyond her capability, his hyper intuition spoke.

Having that little knowledge of her situation, Tsuna changed seat next to her and hugged her. "It's okay. Don't say it if you can't. I never wanted to trouble you and I don't want to see you cry. I'm sorry for bringing you here. It was selfish for me to ask of you"

Tsuna cupped her cheeks and wiped her tears gently. "Haru, I know you've been hiding something for me. I know it's one of the reasons for your tears. You're getting far away from our reach, my reach, and I can't let that happen. I don't want you to get hurt and I was about to make you speak"

"You want me to… speak up?"

There was a pause between them and Tsuna broke the pause. "No" he hugged her again. "It's far too selfish for me to ask something that you're incapable of. I just wish that… whatever you're hiding is… I wish it doesn't hurt you"

Tsuna said 'wish' and not 'hope', similar but different, she thought. She was taught that hope was just faith of something people want. But wish was something that you were really fighting for, something with hope, sincerity, belief, and effort.

Haru knew that fact well and she didn't believe her ears when she heard 'wish'. It was so pure, so warm, and so kind. Haru at this moment was submerged within much profound kindness that the extent of it was so enchanting and mesmerizing. It made her love him even more, but it also hurt her more. Haru cried silently as she was buried inside his broad chest. He didn't care whether his shirt had gone wet, he didn't care whether 'that' would be found out at the moment. He kept letting her cry until they hit the ground and he let go.

There was something that he really wanted to do to her, but he had to be careful about it, regarding something only he knew, so he didn't. In other hand, Haru was so relieved that she didn't have to hide her behavior and her way of speaking. It was like a burden just lifted off from her heavy shoulder.

As they walked outside, to break their precious rare moment, both noticed a group of suspicious people were following them. "Haru, let's go this way" Tsuna led Haru to a deserted part of the amusement park, which was an unused Haunted House. Tsuna drank his pill and donned his gear.

"Stay inside the Haunted House"

"Vongola tenth" one of the enemies spoke. They prepared their weapon and Tsuna stood in front of Haru. "I will protect you with my life. I promise you"

Even though she was avoiding him, Haru stunned in state of mesmerize by his figure as he stood and swore himself he would protect her, and it also shaken her resolve.

The enemies weren't really strong, despite Tsuna was cornered between 10 Mafioso, he could single-handedly knock most of them. 7 he could handle, but 3 were stronger than he thought. Tsuna was busied with 2 as they kept attacking him rapidly. But when he looked back, one Mafioso was approaching Haru.

"Haru!"

Tsuna hastily ran towards her, grabbed the man's head, and tossed him away to the others.

"Are you alright, Haru?" he inquired and she nodded. "Get away from here as far as—" Tsuna cut off his words as he felt a sting on his stomach. Haru shuddered as she saw the blood on his stomach. He was pierced through with a spear.

Tsuna collapsed afterwards and Natsu stood to protect his master and Haru.

"Tsuna-san, hang in there! Tsuna-san!" Haru held him in her arms and called his name, but he was still unconscious. Natsu growled to the 3 remaining foes, but he was immediately incapacitated as he got brutally smacked and hit a wall.

Haru wanted to protect him, but she was afraid if she got caught. Meanwhile, the enemies approached her.

"Now, this is your chance to protect him"

"You're his friend, aren't you? If you want to live, tell us where the Mare rings are" one of then spoke.

"Come on, they hurt him. They deserve to die"

"I guess once the mouth shut, it'll always be shut. If that's what you prefer, then your eyes will be the one to shut forever" he pointed a gun.

"It's my turn now"

Haru's sanity was at the peak as two separated voice kept cornering her. She visibly gripped her head and trembled while her head stayed low.

"You want to protect him, don't you?"

"Shut up…"

"What?" the one who pointed the gun raised a brow.

"You are born to kill, Haru. We've been together since the day you were born. I won't let them hurt you"

"After all, you and I… we are the same person… we are one"

"Shut up!" even though Haru could only hear the voice, she could tell that the owner of the voice was smirking, it was as if that the voice was behind her and spoke closely to her ear.

"Oi, what's wrong with this girl?" the man reached his hand to her when suddenly, she grabbed it firmly, not the kind of strength of a normal girl should have.

As she lifted her head gradually, they instantly felt as if their soul was being gouged out of their trembling bodies as they stared into the cold dreadful brown eyes that glared at them with profound bloodlust. The eyes which held no sign of life, the eyes you would see on a nefarious demon.

"What the…" the two men backed away while as the other one tried to let go of her grip, but she didn't budge and she kept gripping it with more strength until a bone crack was heard.

"AAAHHHH!" the man screamed in pain.

"No one will get out from here alive for you have hurt him"

They instantly shuddered in unspeakable eeriness at the chilling voice that they sure of it wasn't belong to the owner whose previous voice they heard.

"You should provide me entertainment" she gave her last smirk to them. In an instant, the abandoned part of the amusement park had been tainted beautifully with the blood of the sinful Mafioso.

"How is he, Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked as Gokudera got out of Tsuna's hospital room.

"He's asleep. He's not at critical situation, so thankfully, he'll be fine. What about Haru?"

"She's just unconscious. Sasagawa and Chrome are currently watching her inside her room. Even that sight is too tragic for her to see"

"Yeah…"

…

"Juudaime!"

"Gokudera, wait!" Yamamoto ran along with Reborn his shoulder, running towards the amusement park.

"Did you sense that murderous vibe?"

"Yeah, I did. And juudaime is at the amusement park! I hope nothing's happen to you juudaime!"

"That's highly unlikely"

"Reborn-san, why?"

"I'm afraid the information about the Mare rings has been spread out. Most likely that a family is targeting Tsuna for the whereabouts of the rings"

"But what kind of Mafioso who has such dreadful aura?" Reborn thought inwardly.

As they arrived at the scene, although no one saw the fight, they couldn't be too glad about it. What they saw sent chills down through their spine, it was an unbelievably bloody sight. 7 foes were just knocked out while the remaining ones were brutally killed. No one deserved to die that way, Gokudera, Yamamoto, even Reborn himself aware of that fact. Tsuna's stomach filled with his blood and Haru's hair got cut short with blood on her body.

"Tsuna didn't do this" Reborn spoke. "I believe the seven enemies are Tsuna's doings. Whoever did these brutal killing must be expert to be able to hide the fight from this crowd"

"Either way, we have to bring them to the hospital! Call the ambulance!" Yamamoto suggested.

"No, we can't let the people know about this, especially the media. Luckily, Dino's at Japan. Gokudera, call him and tell him to bring 2 cars and his subordinates. This scene has to be cleaned soon"

"Go it!" Gokudera started to dial Dino's phone number.

"What can I do, kid?" the baseball pro asked and then Reborn jumped from his shoulder, walking away.

"Stop Tsuna's bleeding"

"Where are you going?"

"Just stop the bleeding, Yamamoto. If my hunch is right, there has to be one 'witness' around here"

…

Meanwhile, Dino and Reborn were at the cafeteria, having a private discussion.

"Reborn, I've got the information about the attackers you asked for. They're from Bramosia Family"

"Bramosia? Isn't their base is at Kyoto? So, they're really after the Mare rings after all"

"So, it's true? About the rings"

"How did you know that?"

"That arcobaleno, Mammon told me. In fact, he stays with me for a while. Anyway, I heard from Yamamoto you were searching for something at the amusement park. What exactly is it?" Dino sipped his coffee.

"Ah, I already have Giannini to look into it"

"Eh?" Dino got confused by his vague statement. But he knew his tutor, so he just sighed and said "I get it. Okay, I'll go visit Tsuna and Haru. Are you coming?" he stood up.

"Sure" Reborn jumped to his shoulder and they went off.

Inside the quiet hospital, the guardians, except Mukuro and HIbari were in front of the two's room. Everyone were waiting outside the rooms, waiting and hoping for Tsuna and Haru to open their eyes. Nana was inside Tsuna's room, sitting and waiting for her son to open his brown eyes. Albeit she wasn't told the real story, she was only told that Tsuna accidentally fell onto a sharp spike in an abandoned Haunted House as the place collapsed.

"How is she?" Reborn asked. "She's stable, but she may be traumatized after all she saw" Chrome answered. "But, how cruel. What did they want from Haru-chan that they had to cut her hair?" Kyoko's voice was shaking.

"I'm fine" making an appearance was the spoken girl who stood at the doorstep of her room.

"Haru-chan! You should stay in bed!" Kyoko approached her best friend. "How are you?" Reborn asked.

"You shouldn't be worrying about me. How is he?"

"He's still unconscious. But don't worry, he's… Haru?" Dino paused for a moment as Haru didn't respond to him and went inside Tsuna's room bluntly as she walked ignoring everyone there.

"Nana-san…"

Having heard the voice, Nana looked to her back and there Haru was, looking all worried and cheerless.

"Haru-chan? What are you doing here? You shouldn't force to stand up"

"I'm not forcing myself, I'm fine"

"Well, if you say so. Then, come and sit next to me, Haru-chan. I'm sure Tsu-kun would—"

"Nana-san"

"Yes, Haru-chan?"

"Tsuna-san is a strong young man. He'll be fine. Believe in him" Haru spoke straightly and with conviction eyes. Nana's mouth was opened a bit in surprise of her statement and eyes were wide open for a pause. Then, her mouth closed and smile curved on her face. "You're right. I believe him"

After that, Haru gave a forced smile and left the mother and son alone. Nana stared back to her son and she stroke his cheek like any caring mother did. "Everyone's worried about you. So, please wake up soon, okay?"

As Haru got outside, everyone set their eyes on her. However, as much as she wanted to know why, she didn't bother to ask. She was just walking away from them. "Where are you going? You should—"

"There's no point for me to stay here, Reborn"

Everyone flinched in surprise as they heard Haru called him 'Reborn', not 'Reborn-chan' like she always used to call him. Haru looked back to them and force another smile. "Lal's waiting for me at home, right? I can't let my tutor wait for her student to come back too long. All of you should stay here. Besides, it looks like it's about to rain"

Without anything more to say, she walked back home on her own. Everyone stared at her figure as she was walking, walking away to come back home, or walking away from them.

"Is she really okay?" Yamamoto asked worryingly.

"I think she's really traumatized" Gokudera commented.

"No" Chrome voiced. "How can you say that?" Gokudera questioned.

"Chrome-chan's right. She's still the same girl we know. She's just calmer and less eccentric"

"Did she show any anomaly?"

"Reborn-san!"

"They're her closest people, Gokudera. If there's one who knows her change, it must be Chrome and Kyoko" Reborn replied.

"Everyone" Nana came out. "Thank you for being here for Tsu-kun, but all of you has school tomorrow". "We're okay with it. Don't worry about us" Gokudera maturely spoke. "Is that so? Then, thank you" Nana smiled and then entered the room.

"Ah!" suddenly, they heard Nana's raised voice and rushed to go inside. "What is it, mama?" Reborn asked and Nana pointed to Tsuna's bed. Gokudera saw the empty bed with shock and worries.

"…Where's juudaime?"

"I'm home" Haru just entered her quiet house and removed her black boots. "Lal? Are you home?" Haru searched for Lal around the perimeter of her house, but no sign of life.

Well, not that it made any difference since her parents left her. But having Lal inside the house meant something for her. She wasn't very lonely if Lal was with her. But now, Lal wasn't there too. She didn't know where she was and not like she could do anything about it. Lal had her own business and she couldn't simply ask for her presence every time. She wasn't a baby, she wasn't a child. She didn't mind if she had to be alone in her house.

To cover her loneliness, as much as she hated to admit she was lonely, she went inside her room, thinking about what she was going to do. Homework? Yes, she had done it before the date. Training? She knew her body limit and she knew training too often wouldn't get the best result. As she was musing, suddenly a flash struck her, a flash of the horrible event she went through. She couldn't see much, only an enemy in front of her painted with his blood and then he collapsed. It was just that glimpse, but her hands were shaking, shaking of uncertain cause. Not just her hands, but also her whole body. It was a sudden blackout she felt without knowing why.

Even when she tried to remember the sudden blackout, her heartbeat went faster, louder, and her body felt hot. But she knew it wasn't as hard as what Tsuna had to bear as a mafia boss, it wasn't as painful as what Nana had to bear seeing her only son lying on hospital bed with uncertainty when he would wake up. She began to blame herself for accepting his invitation.

As she was too consumed by her own thought, suddenly, she heard a knock from the closed window of her room. She opened it and saw the wounded brown hair climbed to her window, with hyper mode.

"Tsuna-san! What are you—" Tsuna immediately pulled her up to the rooftop and both sat there under the night clouded sky.

"What are you doing here, Tsuna-san? You shouldn't—"

"What happened to your hair?" Tsuna's orange eyes shot open as he saw her short hair. "My hair? I… don't remember anything. It's not like it matters. I'm okay with it. Short hair definitely makes me easier to move" she grasped her hair as she averted her eyes.

"Tsu-kun"

"Eh?"

"Call me that. I want to hear your voice saying it" she blushed and asked "W-Why?"

"If you don't, I'll come to your house every night and force you to say it" he stared with his orange eyes solemnly. "C-Could you please stop staring and saying that with your hyper mode?" Haru diverted her eyes away from his as her face turned redder. "You won't listen if I don't. Now, say it, Haru" Tsuna turned her head to him with his hand.

Haru couldn't stop her heartbeat and she couldn't run away from him either. As Tsuna's face began to close and closer, pouring rain interrupted the moment, and they had to go inside at the same time, just like rain extinguished the blazing flame, Tsuna's flame faded away.

"The rain is really heavy" Tsuna looked outside. Haru coughed and Tsuna whirled around to see Haru crossed her arms like she was about to deliver a nagging speech, which she was planning to, but she revoked that thought.

"Wh-What is it?" Tsuna asked nervously.

"'What is it'? Don't give me that look, Tsuna-san! You obviously shouldn't move from your bed! Geez, you're hurt, can't you even see that? Everyone's worried about you and now you make them more worried than they're supposed to. Your mother's waiting for you to open your eyes, she should be the one who deserve to see that her son is very much okay! What were you thinking?" despite that, Haru couldn't help herself to deliver her speech to him.

She nearly blew out to him, but she held onto it. Then, she inhaled and exhaled a bit to begin another one, but this time with low and soft voice.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, you have friends who are worried about you, a caring mother who's waiting for her son to open his eyes and tell her that he's okay, a baby tutor who's deeply concerned about you, and... your sunshine, Kyoko-chan who is very worried about you too. Why is it the only one who can't see that… is you?"

Tsuna flinched of hearing her remark and his brown eyes widened and were quivering in state of surprise.

"I… I'm sorry" Tsuna lowered his head in guilt. "I'm not the one who needs apologize. Everyone in the hospital does. Look, I won't ask you why did you come here and force me to call you by that nickname. Do me a favor. Just go to bed and sleep, okay?"

"Your bed?"

"I can't possibly tell you to use my parents' room, can I?"

"But what about you?"

"I'll sleep at the sofa"

"What about your parents?"

"I live here alone with Lal now" she was about to reach her hand to the doorknob.

"Eh? Why?"

"…"

"Haru?" Haru froze and just stood facing the door silently.

"My parents moved to another country. Please just go to bed, okay?"

"This is your house and I can't let you sleep on sofa"

"You're my guest, so you're my priority. You're hurt, so you deserve a better place to sleep"

"But…"

"No, buts, Tsuna-san. Good night" she closed the door. Either he was dumbfounded or he was bewildered, he just kept staring at the door in confusion and then diverted his stare to her bed.

"I guess she's right, but… I can't simply use a girl's bed!" he blushed.

Downstairs, Haru lay on the sofa and mused about what he had done to her, what did he turn her into. Her eyes were mirthless and tearful as it held sign of vexing emotion and trembling feelings.

"How cruel of you. Just when I was about to let go of my feelings for you, you attacked me with your kindness. Just how much… do you want to torment me like this?"

"Verde" Lal came to the green arcobaleno's lair.

"What do you want?"

"Let me use the video call"

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I'm busy"

"I don't care" Lal ignored him and straightly used the video call. "Who are you calling?"

Lal ignored him and waited for someone to answer her call.

"Hello, this is—Lal? What is it?" Iemitsu's face popped up into the screen.

"I was thinking about ending Haru's training"

"Eh? Why?"

"She can't continue her training anymore. I can't risk that"

"She's capable, Lal. You, for one should be able to see that. We CEDEF are bound by our words and once we accept a job, we'll get it done"

"It's not that she's weak. She grows strong, but she…"

"Recently, every time I gave her an intermediate training, she completed it at an unusual time. Even when I gave her my most difficult challenge, which even Colonnello could never complete, she completed it. Her power excels that level, this isn't normal for her kind! Every time she trained, her eyes… it was as if something inside of her showed up at that time. Her expression began to change and her aura changed in each time she trained lately. It seems that 'something' has been sleeping inside of her and never showed up until now"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid she's… I don't want to jump to conclusion, but this is just based on my deduction and experience"

"She maybe has psychopath trait, buried deep inside of her"