Genesis - Katekyo Hitman Reborn - Chapter 18

Summary: There was a reason why Reborn got Haru involved with the Mafia. Even if she was useless to them in fights and even if she couldn't provide as much emotional strength as Kyoko, she was vital and without her, there would just be no Vongola. G86/GiottoHaru

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

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

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

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Genesis: Chapter 18

HappyFace1886

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“Stupid girl,” Attilio said through gritted teeth while Haru nursed her aching head after he had swatted it chidingly. She winced and looked at the floor guiltily while he continued to berate her with his broken Japanese. Judging by how out of breath Attilio was, he must have been searching for her frantically.

Shame welled up inside her for having caused trouble and from beside her, she heard Adelina snigger. It wasn’t like she had meant to stray away from Attilio! But she knew she had acted stupidly. She was a stranger who didn’t understand Italian well and could have easily gotten lost or hurt if she hadn’t been fortunate enough to end up meeting Adelina.

“Never leave my sight again,” he ordered firmly and Haru bowed her head.

“S-Sorry,” she stammered.

Attilio sighed. “Now then, let’s get to work.”

She raised her head, looking confused. “Hahi?”

“What do you think you here for?” he asked with an arched brow. “You are my assistant."

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And by assistant, he meant helping the villagers with random tasks while he went house-to-house dealing with both religious and non-religious ailment. Though the chores given to her were tiresome, Haru didn’t complain. In fact, she relished being able to learn how things worked around the village. Though honestly, she felt a little envious over how Adelina, who was younger than her, didn’t even break a sweat when doing more than double the work Haru was given to do.

...And it also felt kind of lonesome at how most of the villagers left her alone. They watched from a distance and Haru’s ears were tickled constantly by their soft whispers of gossip. What they were saying, she couldn’t tell because of their low voices and rapid Italian. The only one who regularly talked to her was Adelina and her two younger brothers.

“Stop wasting time and help,” Adelina demanded from inside the kitchen, kneading the dough vigorously. Haru, who had been hauling firewood to the kitchen, staggered closer and dropped the pile, nearly falling with it. Adelina tsked and shook her head. “How did you ever help take care of your family?”

Haru laughed good-naturedly, stretching her back as she stood. “Things different at home.”

Adelina then eyed her warily. “How?”

“Well, my job was school.”

“Teacher?” Adelina asked with interest and Haru shook her head.

“Student.”

“But you’re so old!” Adelina exclaimed. Only the little ones attended school for basic knowledge.

“Hahi! I am not old!” Haru exclaimed with wide-eyes before realizing who she was talking to. This was the past! Though she still didn’t know what year it was since this village was so tiny and old fashioned, the people here probably regarded her as an adult.

“Aren’t you my age?” Adelina paused in kneading the dough, looking at Haru while flour caked her dress and her face.

Haru stared at her. “A-Aren’t you twelve?”

Adelina nodded and Haru’s eyes almost bugged out.

“I’m fourteen!”

“You’re really old!” Adelina exclaimed and Haru’s face flushed.

“Am not!”

“But you look so young!” Adelina continued, wiping her hands clean before rushing towards Haru. She grabbed her face and pulled it closer. “I thought you were just taller than normal, but your face is a baby’s face!”

Haru remained thoroughly confused before a plausible explanation came to her. She had heard about how foreigners always said people of Asian descent appeared younger than they really were. And then another thought came. Did Giotto-sama also believe her to be much younger than him?

...she wasn’t sure how she felt about that...

Haru pulled away from Adelina’s fingertips. “I’m really fourteen.”

Adelina hummed in agreement before whirling her head towards the next room. “Ma, you were right! She’s old!”

“I told you, I’m not old!” Haru yelled in embarrassment before shrinking back at the sight of the older woman popping her head out from the other room. Unlike Adelina, most of the adults didn’t seem to like her. If anything, they glowered at her from afar and kept their distance.

“Good, then maybe she has some experience with fabric,” the older woman said curtly. “Instead of her moving like an ant with the kindling and in the kitchen, she’ll be better off patching some clothes together with the others.”

Haru winced at the words, but felt a bit excited at being able to work on something that was her forte. Mending clothes together would be a lot easier than manual labor. Since Attilio hinted that she was going to join him more often when heading to the village, she would slowly accustom herself with the hard work. For now, she needed a break.

And maybe she could also find some more information on Giotto’s past if she was working with a circle of other people.

...or maybe not.

When Haru arrived into the other room where the older girls all had sewing needles at hand, they had gathered up in a corner of the room and was looking at her with dismay.

She should have expected this.

With a sigh, Haru went to sewing.

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Sunlight began to disappear earlier than normal due to the changing seasons, but to Haru, it felt as though she had spent an eternity at the village. The day had been anticlimactic with not much happening. Sure, the villagers called her a demon for some reason, but after being called that constantly, the sting of the word had faded and was now regarded with a simple frown by her. Other than that and giving her chores, nothing occurred.

They all appeared as though they wanted to stay far, far away from her. It made her wonder why Attilio wanted her to go to the village in the first place. The only one to actually talk to her was Adelina and even she was busy with her own work to talk much.

Haru’s shoulders slumped as she followed Attilio back to the cabin, listlessly trailing after his footprints. She arranged her scarf so that it wouldn’t fall off and smiled softly at the comfort it gave. There was a faint scent on it that made her instinctively relax and she snuggled up against it, happy with even the slightest of reassurance. She was just so tired with the heavy work that all she wanted to do was sleep. Sure, she ran around a lot with Giotto-sama, but he’d always make sure she had plenty of rest before running around crazily again.

Too busy sulking, she didn’t realize that the cabin had come into sight.

The door opened and warmth touched her cheeks, which had become chilled by the night autumn air. It was then Haru looked up and she couldn’t stop the delight from forming inside of her when she saw the happy smile, two-toned eyes looking at her with unconstrained excitement.

“Haru,” Giotto rushed towards her no inhibition and pulled her in for a tight hug.

Maybe it was because she had almost next to no contact with anyone the entire day, but Haru slumped into his embrace. Giotto was so warm compared to the cold outside word and she held him back, snuggling into his chest. A familiar scent tickled her nose and she realized that he smelled exactly like the scarf... which made sense since that scarf was his in the first place.

Haru smiled tiredly. Of course, she should have known.

Even at the village, Giotto-sama had never left her side.

“I’m home...” she murmured softly.

And right now, those words had never sounded as true as they did now.

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::tsuzuku::

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Chapter 17                                     Chapter 19