Teach Me Love - Chapter 16

Summary: "Show me this so-called greatness of the power of love," Hibari ordered. "Fall in love with me." Haru could only stupidly gawk at him. Just what the heck did she get herself involved in? HaruxMultiple Pairings

My lack of KHR knowledge might make some things untrue or some characters OOC! XD

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn because if I did, there would be a lot more Haru loving!

Please forgive any mistakes, both character-wise and grammatically wise.  I don't really have time to re-read and edit things.

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Chapter Sixteen: Realizations

HappyFace1886

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“Let’s ride it again!” Haru said excitedly, her eyes gleaming with anticipation as she looked at the dangerously wild rollercoaster they had just gotten off. From behind, Tsuna was looking green, about ready to throw up any minute now. He may have experience flying around, but that rollercoaster was just insane.

A few meters away from them, Gokudera was in a similar boat. That damn crazy girl, taking Decimo on such a crazy ride! Hell, even he was feeling sick. His stomach lurched and Gokudera leaned against the street lamp, clutching his stomach as he tried to prevent it from emptying its content.

“H-Haru, let’s take a break.” Tsuna tried to persuade, unable to get the feeling back in his legs.

“Hahi, is Tsuna-san okay?” she asked in concern, realizing how he was staggering behind her. The rollercoaster did make at least four flips and had three large dips. If she looked around, she could see other causalities of this ride... including that black capped man with the sunglasses who needed support just to stand upright.

“Just fine,” he said with a weak grin, slumping down to sit on a nearby bench. “I-I just think we should take this nice and slow.”

Haru tilted her head and then nodded with a smile. “Okay! Is there anything else Tsuna-san wants to ride?”

Tsuna could just weep at that question. In all honesty, the marathon of dangerous rollercoaster riding had been his fault.

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The silence was tense and filled with an awkwardness that had them both fidgeting. Someone needed to start talking. It could be about anything! The weather! The shape of the clouds! Heck, as of this point, Tsuna wouldn’t have minded if they started talking about Haru’s relationship with Hibari.

He frowned, his mood darkening slightly at the possibility.

On second thought, he didn’t want to think about the cold Prefect at all. This was his time with Haru and he didn’t want it to be interrupted with topics concerning another guy.

B-But the tension was so pervading that it was making his head hurt.

“Tsuna-san-.”

“Haru-.”

The two spoke and turned to look at each other at the same time, the rest of their words melting away as they looked into each other’s eyes. Their faces flushed and the two immediately looked away shyly.

Haru wanted to hit herself on the head. She was the one who wanted to go on this date with him! Besides, in the past, she had no problem taking charge and clinging onto him. What made things different now?

She would’ve heaved out a heavy sigh if it wouldn’t have attracted Tsuna-san’s attention. A lot of things have changed, actually. Especially since a certain round headed jerk was now so involved with her life. The rules had been drastically changed and Haru found herself unable to act her usual self around Tsuna-san.

Besides, he liked Kyoko-chan and that reality is the reason why she had asked him out here in the first place.

“N-Neh, Tsuna-san?” Haru stammered out. “What should we ride first?”

“E-Eh?” Tsuna jumped, his eyes widening like a deer that had been caught by the headlights. Her question seemed to reach him and he began to wildly look around, as if to hurry and answer her so that he would be out of the spotlight. “That one!”

Haru stared wide eyed, her shyness disappearing as she looked at where Tsuna was pointing. “That one?”

Tsuna looked at her confused and glanced at where he was pointing at, feeling the blood draining from his face quickly at the mere name of the ride.

The Super-Incredible-Extraterrestrial-Jaw-Dropping-Stomach-Killing-Thriller.

But wait, Haru-chan was a girl. Maybe she was afraid of those types of rides?

He looked at her hopefully only to feel despair when he saw the sparkle in her eyes. With a cheerful cry, Haru grabbed Tsuna by the arm and proceeded to drag him to the end of the line. “Let’s hurry while the line’s short! Maybe we can ride it a second time too! Oh, or maybe we can ride the Neuron Destroyer next!”

Tsuna wanted to protest. He really did. But the excitement in Haru’s face was just too cute that he could only stumble along with her, his tongue having twisted itself into a knot at the sight of just how happy she was.

---

Tsuna glanced at Haru. At least she was still smiling. The previous tension was gone and now she seemed relax, almost like her old self. The only difference was that instead of clinging onto him like before, she was sitting with a respectable amount of space in between them.

“Thank you for coming out here with Haru,” she began quietly and he looked at her in surprise. “Haru knows that Tsuna-san probably didn’t want to come, but-.”

“No, I don’t mind!” he rushed, not liking where this topic was heading. It was going to make things awkward again and the last thing he wanted was for her to be sad. He wanted to see her smile again... and he really didn’t want to ride another killer rollercoaster just to see it again.

Haru smiled. “Tsuna-san is so kind, just as Haru had always said.”

Her compliment made him blush and he looked down at the ground sheepishly, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.

“And that’s what I’ve always liked about you, Tsuna-san.”

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Hiding behind the trunk of a large tree, Gokudera spied at the two with growing agitation. What were they talking about? It was hard to see with all the people walking by and because the two were just so damn close to each other! That stupid woman, how dare she act so loosely around the Decimo?

But it was so like the Decimo not to get taken in by her charm!

In fact, if it had been him that was in the Decimo’s position, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands-.

The line of thought was abruptly put to a halt and Gokudera looked as though he had been struck by lightening.

His hands...

What about his hands?

Where had his train of thought been going?!

A mixture of horror and amazement filled him, all the strength from his body escaping him as he stumbled backwards. He ended up pressed against the trunk of another tree, sliding to the floor while staring at Decimo and the stupid woman, Haru, from afar.

“You have got to be kidding me!” he yelped.

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Her words made the redness on Tsuna’s face grow darker. His heart was pounding hard in his chest and this time, the weakness he felt in his body wasn’t because of the rollercoaster. It was because of the words she spoke and the way she was looking away so demurely.

Haru had never looked this way to him before. In fact, the last time he regarded someone as this cute had been Kyoko... and yet, why was he feeling like this around Haru?

Maybe it’s because lately her attention seemed to be somewhere else. He had always been the main focus for her, always showered by attention and care from Haru. However, she had disappeared for a great length of time and he hadn’t known why. And, to his great displeasure and shock, he realized that he didn’t even know where she lived to be able to go and see if she was doing alright.

Just how much had he neglected her?

Since she was always there, he had never had to think much about it. Haru was Haru and she would never leave him.

And yet, the grim reality had hit him when he learned that Haru was involved with Hibari. Tsuna knew he wasn’t the only one shocked by this since Hibari was known for being a loner and shouldn’t have had much contact with anyone except his subordinates, much less someone so bright and bubbly like Haru.

“Tsuna-san,” she continued, clenching her fingers tightly. Oh gods, was she trembling? This was nothing like the times when she had so proudly told Tsuna-san that she would marry him and become part of the mafia. Maybe it was because she had said it light-heartedly. It was true that she had a crush on him and it did seem like it grew into something more... but saying such daring proclamations was nothing when the future was so far away. “I-.”

But the possible future was now here.

Life had gotten so much more serious.

Tsuna saw how white her knuckles were and didn’t need his hyper intuition to know that whatever Haru was going to say was going to change things between them. And something told him that this change wasn’t going to be good.

Would he simply allow that to happen?

Things seemed like they were going good between them, whatever this thing between them was. He also got to see her often now since she came over to his home to ‘train’.

He couldn’t have both Kyoko and Haru... but the prospect of losing Haru made his chest tighten, similarly in the way it had done so when he had learned about Haru and Hibari’s involvement together.

Shit, this was happening too quickly.

When Haru had invited him out, he had never expected things to get so complicated so fast.

“I-.”

“No!” came a loud yell from behind. Tsuna grabbed Haru by the shoulder, pulling her to him as he sensed someone coming at them. Holding her close against him, he looked up at the potential threat and felt his eyes bug out.

“Gokudera-kun?” Tsuna sputtered out.

“Hahi? Gokudera-san?” Haru squeaked out. “What are you doing here?”

Unfortunately, the silver haired boy didn’t seem to register anything the two of them were saying.

“There’s no way in hell that’s true!” Gokudera yelled almost in a deranged voice, looking at Haru with a bit of horror and nausea. He held his head, throwing his black cap away to the side. “It can’t be! How did this happen? Is this how the mighty fall?”

“Gokudera-san, what are you talking about?” Haru demanded.

“Stop talking to me!” he yelled. Oh gods, were those hearts surrounding Haru? Shit, shit, he was now having love-visions or something! Did his realization somehow cause a switch to flip in his head? “The more you talk, the-the-.” more I realize just how oblivious I was to everything!

“Gokudera-kun, maybe you should sit down a little?” Tsuna suggested with a nervous chuckle. Fortunately, he didn’t look as though he was going to whip out his dynamites anytime. Now that would really result in panic mode in two more people, aka Tsuna and Haru.

The silver haired boy stopped in mental anguish and spoke blankly. “What are you two doing?”

Haru and Tsuna looked at each other before realizing just how close they were. Haru squeaked and scrambled off of Tsuna while Tsuna looked torn between being happy and being mortified at how he had basically been hugging her close to him.

Again, realization hit Gokudera like a ton of bricks.

So this was what Bianchi met.

Oh gods, he did not have the mental capacity to deal with this right now.

“A-Anyways,” Haru said with a forced cough. “What are you doing here, Gokudera-san?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing here?” he said, his eyebrow twitching with his feelings of agitation. The new discoveries were mind-boggling and he needed some time to think it over, not have the source of his problems talking to him like this! “I’m here to protect Decimo.”

“We’re at an amusement!” she said in exasperation. “What kind of dangers could we possibly get into?”

Just as those words left her lips, Haru immediately regretted them. Gokudera’s eyes were narrowed all of a sudden and she also saw Tsuna’s shoulder’s tensing up. The brown haired boy slowly got off from the ground, looking warily at a specific point in the slightly secluded area of the park.

He may not be as skilled as Hibari when it comes to fighting people, but after having endured some near-death experiences, Tsuna had become more sensitive to the feel of bloodlust.

And whoever was hiding out there was oozing with it.

“Come out already, we know you’re there!” Gokudera barked loudly, a lit cigarette already in his mouth.

There was a sinister laughter that made Haru shudder. “Impressive. I never thought a couple of kids would find my presence so fast.”

“Who the hell are you?” Gokudera demanded.

“Does that matter?” a black blur dropped down from the trees, barreling straight towards them with a speed their eyes couldn’t catch. All Haru saw was a man with three piercings on his lower lip, revolting crooked teeth, and a long slithering tongue that was dripping with saliva before she realized that his nails were abnormally long... no, wait, those weren’t nails.

They were metal claws attached to his nails!

“Haru!” she heard her name being called, from who she didn’t know.

The metal claws came descending towards her with frightening speed and she flinched, raising her hand up to protect herself from the fatal blow.

And then the blood began to flow...

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::tsuzuku::

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AU: I forgot if Tsuna and everyone else knew where Haru lived before the TYL incident. :P memory is failing me, sadly. So just for the sake of this story, he doesn't know where she lives because there was never the opportunity to ask or even visit her.

Chapter 15                                                     Chapter 17