Enjoy

Tsuna hovered around the 'thing'. He was finding a weak spot with all his might. "Why... didn't he just kill it?" she questioned in heavy breath. Then, she snapped of remembering something. Her gaze softened at his flying figure.

She realized his nature; he didn't want to kill it because he still considered it as an unfortunate human. Considering it as human might not be the right decision, but that's Tsuna. Seeing him fighting without any intention to kill it, she tried to maintain her body, but all she could do was kneeling on two knees with her head hung low for such incapability.

Lifted her head, suddenly to her surprise, an I-bar was aimed straight to her and she couldn't even move at that, just kneeling with agape mouth. In an instant, Tsuna snatched her away taking her to the exit door, right before it hit her. As the bar stuck into the wall, the 'thing' pulled it. Seeing that, he stood in front of her, facing his danger.

"V-Vongola..." she called out and winced in pain.

"It's alright. I'll risk my life to protect you"

She was startled by his statement. His remark and his figure as he voiced those reassuring words, as if she fell in love with him all over again.

Then, he flew away from her and continued the fight far from her distance. Why would she just have to do worst thing to him? Why him? Those questions were weighing heavily in her mind every time she looked at his dedication to protect everyone, even when he thought she had completely forgotten about him.

Gripping the metal bar tightly, he melted it with his blazing flame, but the rebar hit him, causing him to hit the wall forcibly and helplessly lay on ground. She didn't care about her wounds, she didn't care about her other self's restriction; she wanted to help him, but she was still feeling a tremendous pain inside her body that continuously paralyzed her. With mirthless eyes, she began to feel how useless and weak she was—again. Her eyes shut in disappointment towards her incapability.

"Neve! Run!"

She abruptly opened her eyes and saw the 'thing' was walking towards her. All of the sudden, she felt a strong beat in her chest. She knew that cue. While holding that much of pain, she was added the pain of holding her 'other' side to come out. And yet, she kept holding onto it while she would be at the monster's reach in seconds. Immobilized, she was really irritated with herself. If she died here, at least Tsuna should be somewhere safe, not here of all places—was what she thought.

The situation might not be good in her opinion, but to her surprise, Tsuna picked her up and carried her inside and throughout the exit. The monster size was too big to enter to door, so he decided to just take her outside through the exit tunnel.

After that much of struggle, they finally met fresh air. Tsuna felt somewhat relief that he managed to protect her even with his previous injuries. But it wasn't over yet. He had to freeze the door for precaution but before that, he gently put her down under a tree.

"Wh... Where are you going?" she asked. "I have to take precautionary measure" as he walked towards the door, much to their surprise, the monster went through that narrow tunnel and wrecked it in the process. He was very surprised that it was able to get through. When it threw the deadly rebar towards him, suddenly, he was paralyzed by his wounds. He dropped one knee while holding his old scar in pain.

However, all of sudden, Neve stood in front of him and the weapon pierced through her body, shocking him to death as his eyes grew wider in so much horror and pale-faced seeing the blood sprayed from her body, seeing it went through her body.

In front of him, the girl he swore to protect collapsed into his arms. At that moment, his eyes expressed much profound and uncontrollable rage. Despite he should be paralyzed, his rage made him able to do anything, but he was also blinded by those rage. Now, he didn't care about that unfortunate human. With teary furrowed eyes and resentful stare, he immediately discharged his XX burner with no mercy.

Despite the monster was screaming in pain with human voice, all he could hear was a desperate voice of Neve's condition. His flame of rage kept burning until the monster turned to nothingness.

Out of rage, he just killed a victim of his family's mistake.

Afterwards, he lowered his hands and then collapsed next to her. Slowly as he faced her pale face, his eyelids were closing while their hands entwined. Through his hand, she felt his flame was gradually decreasing and his body temperature began to lose its warmth. With her remaining strength, she transferred her flame to him. And as she could feel the warmth of his hand, she smiled at his face. A painful smile she gave before her eyes were closed.

"You're shaking" 'Haru' spoke.

"I'm fine. This injury means nothing"

"I mean your decision. I can't lend you my power of your resolve is shaking. And you just saved him, again. I thought we had already decided that you will obey me"

"Don't you want to get see part at that day? If I didn't heal him, it wouldn't be much of a fun to you"

"Hmm... you know me better than I thought"

"Just think of it as a privilege. The Vongola will surely fall by—"

"You don't look like you would do it, from my perspective"

"You should change that. I'm not so wimpy to act. It's my purpose in life, right?"

"Touché. Besides, you know what will happen if you disobey me again"

...

The doctors had been surprised by Tsuna's sudden improved condition. It was like a miracle. They found no fractures or anything, just his old scar. Because of that, he was already allowed to leave, and yet he didn't. At the moment, he thought of being by his loved one side. She was far injured than he was. Sitting next to her bed, he looked at her tattered condition with sad stare.

"You're always the one who put your own life in risk... for the sake of me... just like 7 years ago. But why do I feel there's a reason that you can't tell, why are you constantly letting yourself to get hurt?"

"Juudaime..." Gokudera entered the room. "We have prepared the bed. Vel's waiting for you outside"

"Mm, thank you, Gokudera-kun"

Her transfer was filled with heavy atmosphere, even though it was just Tsuna and Vel who went to Mare's base. Even when they arrived, none spoke a word. Tsuna followed Vel to Neve's room, putting her to her bed with medical equipment were on standby.

"Can I use your bathroom?"

"Turn left and then right after that intersection. You'll know when you get there" he pointed at the direction.

Hence, he followed the direction and found the bathroom. It was big for a bathroom, he thought. Nevertheless, he opened his shirt and faced the mirror as he looked at his wounds. He still couldn't believe that after that fight there was no wound, just his old scar that appeared to be irremovable. He could think of only one: that Neve used her flame to heal him. But with that fatal injuries, she couldn't have done it, he thought. He didn't want to think too much of it, so he donned his shirt and got out of the bathroom.

His mind was overrun with the thought of the girl he tried to believe. He lamented over her sacrifice, but one that disturbed him and he hid from everyone was the shock towards her mass murder, what she did to Sicario Family. Pretended like he was okay with it; it almost drove him insane and that insanity destabilized his effort to believe in her again.

She killed.

He hit the wall with his fist, teeth gritted in resentment. Suddenly, he just realized the strange sound coming from the wall he hit. Instinctively, he hit it again two times and to his surprise, a secret door was revealed and opened. Inside was an empty and narrow hallway that led to a door in the edge of the hall. He walked there and cautiously opened the door, only to be surprised who was inside.

"...Kyoko...-chan?"

Hearing the voice, she turned around, surprising him even more. "Tsuna-kun?"

What's the meaning of this?

~#~

Vel was walking to find the Vongola boss that hadn't shown up. When he discovered the open secret door, he just had to hurry to get inside, and he spotted Tsuna was standing at the door.

"You better have a good explanation on this, Vel"

"...It's just like what you see"

"Then, Haru really..."

"Ah, she did try to kill Sasagawa Kyoko. Ruthlessly at that"

Tsuna turned his eyes to Kyoko, who averted her eyes from him. Another shocking truth just made thing worse for him.

"...Haru-chan is still Haru-chan" Kyoko's voice caught his attention. "She retracted her intention to kill me... even though she... probably hates me now. But I'm sure she still thinks of me as her friend, so—"

"Bring her back, Vongola. I'm sure her brother will be delighted to see her"

With his eyes on Kyoko, he nodded in agreement, although his heart was tormented with chaotic mind.

Everyone that had gathered in the front gate was struck as their widened eyes spoke their surprise.

"Hi, every—"

"Kyoko!" without further ado, he immediately hugged his sister with teary eyes. "I thought you're..."

"D-Don't cry, onii-chan"

"That guy is impossible. He's a grown-up and still crying" Gokudera commented.

"Ma, ma. It's a normal reaction. Sasagawa is really precious to him, after all"

Seeing Ryohei's tears were swept by his sister, he said "Well, I guess I can accept that—ah! Then, she's in the right time for the wedding!"

"Wedding?"

"That's right. Hana and I are getting married tomorrow, at Japan"

"Eh? Really? Congratulations!"

"Ne, where's Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked. "Eh? He's not here? He was here a minute ago" Gokudera whirled his head around.

The brunette everyone was searching for was at the balcony of an empty room, indicating he didn't want to be found. He wanted to be alone under that starry night. He looked up to the bright night sky with lament looks. Then, he lowered his head to stare at the red hair clip. Heartbroken, betrayed, grievous; those simple words expressed his current feelings and face.

"Everyone's worried about you" the familiar voice made him flinch, but knowing who it was, he didn't look back. Kyoko then walked to stand beside him. "Please save her, Tsuna-kun"

"Do you... still believe in her? Regardless she tried to kill you? I... to believe in her, I have to believe in love. I don't know whether to believe again. I tried to believe, but it started to fade when I heard that she killed. And not just that; when I saw you were caged and almost got killed by her, I..."

"Caging me is not an excuse to stop believing in her. You're a strong person and you can still believe if you're willing to. It's true she wanted to kill me, but she didn't. She took care of me very nicely and I didn't mind being in that dark room. She saved me"

"Saved you?"

"You'll find out one day"

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"You have to see it on your own. If you really love her, then believe in love again. You choose the right girl for your love"

"Tell me. Why do I need to save her when she can do everything herself? I have to save her, from what?" there was a tone of resentment from his voice, and his brows were furrowed. But Kyoko's sudden mirthless face widened his eyes in surprise, silencing him.

"You can't see it, can you? Answer me, do you feel good about your incapability to see through her heart? You're always sharp about everything, but not the girl you love. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Tsuna-kun" after giving her last lecture, she walked away from him.

She was right, he thought. Just like years ago, he was too blind to see her true heart, everything she hid. Feeling sorry for himself just made everything worse—he knew that, but he surrendered to that and just kept doing it, shattering his emotion in the process and made everyone worried.

"She sure gave you an earful, didn't she?" Reborn's voice was heard from behind. "What do you want?" Tsuna asked. "Assemble with everyone in the meeting room. There's information I'd like to pass on"

~#~

The meeting door was opened by their boss and Gokudera was first to react.

"Don't, Gokudera-kun. I'm alright" he immediately raised his hand before he could speak a word.

"Everyone, please sit on each chair" Reborn ordered and they obeyed, including Tsuna. "Before I get to share this info, I'd like your opinion about Haru's guardians"

"Her guardians? Well, they seem rather odd to me" Lambo voiced and Ryohei nodded in agreement.

"Interesting" Mukuro voiced.

"Entertaining" Hibari voiced.

"I see. Well, first, let me introduce you to 'l'uomo dai mille volti' or 'man of many faces', Covart" Reborn tossed the paper with a picture of Covart and written letters to the middle of the long meeting table.

"7 years ago, I believe before he was recruited, he was a triple agent from CIA—an agent with bad record and his real name was Ty. Ever since the incident of him killed his own supervisor with his ability, he was put in their blacklist and lived under the shadow, never to be found until perhaps Haru found him and changed his identity"

"A CIA that's now a mafia? How ironic" Gokudera commented.

"Second, Luogo Marziali and Altro Marziali" he tossed the paper about them. "If I remember correctly, Marziali was one of the top 10 richest families in the world. Why aristocrats like them joined mafia?" Mukuro questioned.

"9 years ago, Marziali family was involved and associated themselves with mafia organization. Marziali itself wasn't bright towards the twins. Their parents were lust for mafia protection—and all of you here do know how dark mafia is. 7 years ago, this mafia family needed two test subjects for their experiment of making a human fighter without having to train, and threatened they would abandon Marziali if they didn't find it. Hence, they sold their own sons to them"

"How heartless of them" Chrome, in a way knew how they felt, betrayed and felt unloved by their own parents.

"It didn't end there. Feeling betrayed and unworthy, they assassinated that mafia family and their own family. They killed their parents for revenge; hence they were taken to Vindicare. They were imprisoned for almost a year and according to the report, a girl with Mare ring asked the Vindice's permission to let them go" Reborn continued, and then tossed another paper.

"Isn't that the guy Hibari fought with?" Yamamoto asked. "Riku, he's Japanese" Hibari answered.

"So, what's his issue?" Mukuro asked.

"Zero. His family itself is already the issue, but we don't count that. He's the son of one of the most fearful yakuza in Japan, but his surname is classified, so I can't give you that info. And like Hibari, he's a fighting maniac. He has killed thousands of people"

"Aside his dark origin, his history sure is normal than the previous guardians" Gokudera commented.

"This one may surprise you" Reborn tossed the paper with a picture of a little girl and everyone was indeed surprised. Even though she was young there, Tsuna knew that girl.

"Maybe this will surprise you more: this picture was taken when she was 3 years old, 7 years ago"

"…It's Rieta" Tsuna voiced. "What's her history, Reborn?" a tone of demand and anxious was heard from him.

"You're familiar with this, Tsuna. She's one of the homeless people that had been gathered for that experiment"

"What! A 3-year-old was tested for that experiment?" Gokudera shouted in surprise. He had heard about it and knew how bad it was. "Wait, isn't she's the survivor of that test?" Gokudera noticed the face and Reborn nodded for answer.

"How could that… then in such young age… she was tormented? …All because of me?" Tsuna's eye grew wide in so much shock.

"I-It's not your fault, Juudaime. You were yet to be the boss that time"

"…But with my intuition, I should've known what the scientists were hiding. Not just her… because of my lack of judgment, every one of the innocent homeless had died… and one have to live and die as a monster he was forced to be"

"Even if you stopped it in the right time, her destiny to become a guardian was inevitable. Look at the positive side; she's now a guardian with a capability to protect herself, while still being a human" Reborn said. Tsuna just gloomily murmured in acceptance.

"What about that guy, Vel?" Gokudera questioned.

"He was pretty much in the same boat as any killer out there" Reborn replied.

"I don't understand, Reborn-san"

"He was an immoral, cold-blooded, heartless, and shifty hitman. He took pleasure in killing people, but more so in killing the innocent, and if didn't have a mark to target, he just randomly picked anyone for his fun. To be honest, his past is the darkest amongst Haru's guardians. And he tends to speak foul words and temperamental to add"

"What about now?" Tsuna asked. "He's gotten calmer and subtler than the first time we met him"

"Something smells fishy about him. I think his sudden change indicates something mysterious about him. Perhaps he's hiding something" Gokudera stated as his arms crossed.

"Aside Gokudera's suspicion, we need to be careful about them. They're the bearer of Mare rings. Their dark past is the source of their strength" Reborn stated.

"What do you mean? It's not like they'll extremely attack us" Ryohei asked. "Nothing in this world is impossible, but that doesn't mean it's possible. We just need to be careful, but not Haru. Even if she lost her memories, she's not a threat to us… right? I mean we should have faith or…" Tsuna said. Inside he was convincing himself to try to believe again, although his mirthless eyes showed the difficulties and doubts.

"You got it backwards" Reborn voiced. "Remember now that she lost her memories, she could be more out of control. Needless to say that she has psychopath trait"

"But that trait never hurt juudaime. She was only trying to protect him, like 7 years ago" Gokudera rose up from his chair for stating his opinion.

"Gokudera-kun…" Tsuna was touched by his support— despite that Gokudera felt suspicious at Haru's arrival first. Having him said those words, it felt more comfortable for Tsuna.

"Gokudera's right. Even after all this time, she's still our friend" Yamamoto also raised his body up.

"I still think the same, too. Haru-chan is my friend and she still does" Chrome stood up this time.

"Everyone…" Tsuna's trembling eyes were set to them. All this time, he thought he was alone. But he had his friends that supported his belief, as a friend and as ones who also believed in their long-lost friend.

Taking action, Tsuna stood up from his chair and bent down in front of Reborn. "Please remove her from the blacklist, Reborn! I'm begging you!"

"..."

"Then, I'll invite her to the wedding, is that okay?" Ryohei's proposal made him rise up in surprise.

"Do what you want" Reborn gave his permission.

"Onii-san, why…"

"It won't be complete without her, right?" he grinned.

"But her condition…"

"Don't worry, she will be alright tomorrow. I'll make sure of that"

Tsuna smiled and said "Thank you"

But no one really knew the truth he still hid, that what behind that smile was, the reality that he hid with a simple smile of lie, it all came from the word "wedding".