Teach Me Love - Chapter 17

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.

---

Chapter Seventeen: Impatience

HappyFace1886

---

Haru clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable blow to come. However, despite the passing seconds, nothing happened. Slowly opening her eyes, she gasped at the sight of Gokudera’s back in front of her. In a panic, she looked over to see if he was hurt and was further surprised at how the claws was an inch away from Gokudera’s chest.

“Decimo!” Gokudera said with wide sparkling eyes at the sight of his boss in such an admirable pose.

Their attacker let out sounds of pain through gritted teeth at how the brown haired brat was clutching his wrist so tightly that blood was dripping out. Fuck, did he break it? The kid was tiny too! Where the hell did he found such strength?

“Don’t touch Haru,” Tsuna said coldly, his grip tightening at the memory of how he had almost allowed Haru to get hurt. That had been way too close for comfort and where had this man come from? “Who are you?”

The man growled and shot his other clawed hand at Tsuna. With no choice left, Tsuna released the man and ducked to avoid the blow. Gokudera turned around and jumped away with Haru in his arms, tilting his head back to make sure the bastard in black didn’t touch Decimo. “Hey, woman, who the hell is that guy?”

“Haru has never seen him before in her life!” Haru exclaimed before wrapping her arms around Gokudera to look over his shoulder. This pressed her intimately against him, allowing Gokudera to feel the lush curves of her body. Gokudera’s face immediately flushed and he faltered in his steps.

“What are you-?”

“Gokudera, watch out!” Tsuna yelled before tackling against their assailant before the man could plunge a claw into Gokudera’s shoulder. The man went flying to the side and Gokudera threw a set of dynamites at him. Haru screamed, burying her face into Gokudera’s chest when the explosion caused the ground to shake.

“Stop distracting me, idiot!” Gokudera yelled though he protectively held Haru, making sure none of the debris hit her. Oh gods, he needed to get her away from him! She was not good for his heart right now!

“Haru is doing no such thing,” she said indignantly, before wiggling out of his grasp so that she was standing on her own now. “There! Now you can’t say Haru is doing anything!”

“Did you really think such a measly blow would be enough to stop me?” the man crooned with a long slithering tongue, suddenly appearing in midair beside them. He took them by surprise, having used the smoke from the dynamite as cover.

With an angry curse, Gokudera pushed Haru to the side and ducked to avoid getting fatally injured by the man. The claws scraped his cheeks and almost clipping an ear off. However, knowing the man was in midair and didn’t have much maneuverability, he ignored the wounds and kicked upward into the man’s stomach.

There was a loud grunt as the man flew upward. His eyes widened when waiting up above for him was that brown haired kid, his hands glowing an eerie orange-red flames that resonate with power.

Those flames...

It looked so familiar...

Before he could figure out what it was, the boy’s fist came crushing into his abdomen. The force was so powerful that the man gagged, coughing out a mixture of blood and spit as he went flying down a lot faster than he had come up. The ground mercilessly pushed against him as he fell, the floor crumbling into pieces around him.

Haru watched in awe.

This was the power she was talking about, the want to protect and secure. This was what she wanted to show to Kyoya, of how when one was fighting for the one dear to them, they could summon power unimaginable.

Her ears then caught the sound of murmuring voices and a high-pitched whistle belonging to a police officer. “Hahi! We have to get out of here.”

“Wait, we have to find out who sent this guy.” Gokudera argued, glaring angrily at the unconscious man in black. However, Haru grabbed his arm, tugging at it insistently.

“No time for that! If we get caught by the police, how are we going to explain all this?” she demanded, dragging him before linking arms with Tsuna as well. “Let’s go!”

Before the two could utter a word of protest, she dragged them along to the exit of the park.

---

“Shit,” said a voice from afar, having watched the entire incident unfold before him. He spoke into the little mike on his collar. “The assassin failed. Those punks are a lot stronger than we thought. What shall we do Hideo-sama?”

“We’re going to speed up the plan.”

“W-What? Then when shall we-?”

“Now.”

---

Bianchi arched an eyebrow at the sight of Tsuna, Gokudera, and Haru all out of breath and collapsed in the living room of the Sawada family. And just when she thought she finally had some alone time with Reborn, what with Tsuna’s mother out shopping with Lambo and I-pin. Her eyes narrowed at the cut on Gokudera’s face.

“What happened?”

“Anego,” Gokudera panted. “We were attacked.”

“Attacked by whom?”

At this, Gokudera glowered at Haru. “We don’t know because the idiot here said it was more important to get away.”

“If we hadn’t moved along, we would be at the police station right now,” she argued back with a glare of her own. “And you have nothing to worry about because it looks like the man was after Haru, not you!”

“Someone attacked you because they were after Haru-chan?” Bianchi asked, trying to piece the story together.

Tsuna sat up from the ground with concern in his eyes. “The strange part was the attacker. He didn’t seem normal. He was a lot stronger than some random guy in the streets. Actually... he kind of reminded me of the Varia.”

“Tch,” Gokudera looked away in disgust. “But a hell of a lot weaker than the Varia, probably a low-ranking assassin.”

Haru looked at him in alarm. “An assassin was after Haru?”

“Why do you think he was after you?” Bianchi asked.

“Because when we were being attacked, the guy kept coming after me.” Haru explained. Despite the chaos of the incident, she had made sure to keep a keen eye out for what was going on. “At first, I thought he attacked me first because I was the weakest, but even after Gokudera-san and Tsuna-san pushed him away, he came back to attack me again.”

“But why would he be after you?” Tsuna mused to himself contemplatively and frowned at the possibility that Haru was attacked because of him. If it really was an assassin, the most immediate possibility was him due to his connections to the mafia. No, he couldn’t come to conclusions like that just yet. “What do we do now?”

“Hm, what do you think Reborn?” Bianchi asked, looking to the side to reveal the infant assassin standing on top of the couch. There was a loud yelp of surprise from all three teens as they hadn’t even noticed him there.

“H-How long were you there, Reborn?” Tsuna yelled and was promptly swatted on the head.

“I was there this whole time, dame-Tsuna.” He said curtly before turning to Haru. “Do you have any idea as to why an assassin would be sent after you?”

Haru shook her head. “N-No... Other than the Hideo-incident, I don’t think I know anyone that could send an assassin after me.”

“That’s it!” Gokudera yelled. “It’s that bastard who did this!”

“But he’s in prison, isn’t he?” Tsuna asked confused and Bianchi shook her head.

“Prison is nothing for many people. If you have the connections, it’s nothing more than a temporarily holding place until you get out.” She explained. “But would an average thug like Hideo be able to form enough connections to hire an assassin? Hayato, in your opinion, what skill level did the assassin have? How did he look like?”

“He had these claws he’d wave around and there was that ridiculously long tongue. He also these weird tattoos and lip rings. And... he wasn’t that bad,” Gokudera said grudgingly, remembering how the man had dodged all of his dynamites. “It’s just he was no match for Decimo. That’s how we were able to get out without much trouble.”

“Moderate skills,” Reborn noted and then a sly smile formed. “Interesting.”

Tsuna felt a chill go down his spine. Whenever Reborn had that particular smile, it didn’t bode well for him. “W-What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing,” Bianchi said with a knowing smile before touching Haru on the shoulder. “It’s getting late.”

“Hahi, Haru has to make dinner!” she exclaimed when she saw the time and scrambled to her feet. “Thanks for coming with me today Tsuna-san,” she said with a light blush on her face. “And thank you two for protecting Haru.”

“Wait a second,” Gokudera said, grabbing her by the wrist. “You just got attacked and you’re going to walk home at night alone?”

“But-.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Bianchi said brightly. “I called Yamamoto-san the moment you guys came. He should be waiting outside to walk Haru home.”

“Eh? That baseball freak? Why-?” Gokudera was jerked closer to Bianchi, who whispered conspiratorially in his ear.

“You two had plenty of time with Haru-chan today,” she explained with a mischievous tone. “Give others a chance with her too.”

Gokudera’s face turned bright red as he pulled away from her. “What the hell are you saying?”

“Are you really okay?” Tsuna asked in concern and Haru smiled softly, looking down at the ground.

She had wanted to confess her feelings to him today, to finally set them free so that she would be able to move on with her life. With her confused feelings for Kyoya, she believed that it would be unfair to Tsuna, Kyoya, and even herself if she tried to form a relationship with anyone if she lingered on to past feelings.

Besides... Tsuna-san had Kyoko-chan.

“Thank you for today.” She said shyly, unable to meet his eyes. “Haru hopes that Tsuna-san will come with her again so that... so that she can say what she wanted to say today.”

Maybe it was the way she spoke or how his instincts pricked that, like earlier at the park, he wasn’t going to like what she was going to say, Tsuna grabbed her by the shoulders. In surprise, she looked up at him. “Don’t talk like that.”

“Hahi?” she asked confused, but Tsuna’s resolve had suddenly dissipated and he pulled away. He looked embarrassed and was shuffling his feet on the ground, crying out in pain and surprise when he was hit on the head again by Reborn.

“Stupid.” Was the only explanation from the genius infant.

Of course, Tsuna would have his chance and he would blow it off immediately.

“W-Well then, I’m off,” Haru said with a wave before leaving the house. The night air brushed against her cheeks and her eyes lit up at the familiar sight of the tall figure standing outside the gates. “Yamamoto-san.”

He turned around and grinned at her. “Hey, I heard you had a date with Tsuna today.”

She laughed nervously. “S-Something like that. It wasn’t a real date. Haru just wanted to clear things up with Tsuna-san.”

Yamamoto opened the gate for her. “And you were attacked?”

“Hahi? How did Yamamoto-san hear about that?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling slightly. “You guys were talking really loudly.”

“Why didn’t Yamamoto-san come in then?” Haru asked in surprise. Surely he didn’t think they were leaving him out of everything? Though she didn’t want to expose him to danger, Haru had planned to tell him about the incident. He would have found out eventually and she didn’t have him to be hurt because he was unprepared if the assassin decided to go after the rest of her friends.

“Maybe because if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to walk you home by myself.” he answered, tilting his head so that Haru could see the twinkle in his eyes.

His words caused her heart to speed up and she almost stopped walking. Instead, her face flushed and she looked at the ground, fidgeting next to him.  “W-What are you saying, Yamamoto-san?”

“Hm,” he hummed slightly and his grin grew. “Haru is so popular lately so it’s impossible to keep you all to myself. I have to act carefully if I want to be alone with you.”

This time Haru did stop walking and she stammered out. “S-Stop teasing me Yamamoto-san!”

“But you look cute when you’re embarrassed,” he teased, walking backwards slowly.

“Yamamoto-san is acting r-really weird today,” she mumbled, feeling like her brain was going to explode. When she had planned on confessing to Tsuna-san today, she had expected the day to end in tears after Tsuna-san rejected her. She had thought she was going to her favorite cake shop and gorge on her most coveted sweets until she exploded.

She hadn’t expected Tsuna-san AND Gokudera-san to act weird around her, much less an assassin after her life. And now Yamamoto-san was saying things that didn’t make sense! Where was all of this coming from?

Yamamoto came to a halt, an unreadable expression briefly going through his face. Haru looked at him hesitantly, wondering what he was going to say now.

“I always thought I could move slowly,” he said quietly, slowly walking back towards her. “I thought I had all the time in the world...”

“Hahi?” she said, completely puzzled.

“But now Hibari is getting in the way,” Yamamoto whispered. “And it even looks like Gokudera and Tsuna might be as well.”

“Yamamoto-san,” Haru whispered, leaning back when she realized he was now very close to her. Her head was tilted backwards as with Yamamoto’s towering height, he was much taller than her. Before she could take a step back, his hand came around her waist. “W-What are you-?”

He leaned forward and Haru clenched her eyes shut.

Oh gods, what was he doing?

What was going on?

She quivered under his hold with the nervous tension thick in the air.

He pressed his forehead against hers and her eyes opened in surprise at the unprepared movement.

“I can’t wait anymore.” He said lightly, locking eyes with her to make sure she saw each and every moment that was to occur

And then he leaned forward to claim her lips as his.

---

::tsuzuku::

---

AU: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Chapter 16                                                   Chapter 18