The
tension in the air was so powerful and thick that when Haru swallowed hard, she
could practically fill the ripple it caused in the air. Silence may have
surrounded them, but there were many unspoken clashes with the flames that
rattled the atmosphere. Haru squirmed a little bit in the pervert’s grasp.
“Xanxus,”
Tsuna finally spoke, his voice cold and distant. “Explain.”
The
older man smirked. “Explain what?”
The
flames in the middle of Tsuna’s head grew stronger and Haru gasped at to the
power resonating off of him. Just who were these people? “Explain your
actions.”
Xanxus
scowled deeply, his hands tightly clutching onto his guns. “A rat managed to
sneak into the building. I was simply exterminating it.”
“And you
do so while decimating the majority of this hallway,” Tsuna continued in the
frighteningly impassive tone. Haru had never heard him speak in this manner
before and it made her insides quiver. Where was the boy who’d carelessly speak
to her, irritating her to death with his perverted tendencies? “Why did you
attack her without verifying who she was? No... knowing you, you figured out
who she was and yet you still dared to attack her.”
“And if
I did?” Xanxus challenged, his eyes burning with power and desire for blood.
Tsuna’s
grip around Haru tightened, his back straightening while his eyes seemed to
turn harder. “Then I-.”
“It’s
not his fault!” Haru blurted out and two pairs of eyes turned to her, both in
astonishment. Her face reddened at the sudden attention and Haru resisted the
urge to cover her face from embarrassment. But she couldn’t let this go on. It
looked as though the two were ready to tear each other apart. “I-I mean, it’s
true, he did attack Haru without warning... but it was in his right to protect
this place. I don’t agree with his method... but Haru doesn’t think he had bad
intentions.”
“He
tried to kill you.” Tsuna murmured, the small tremors of his body returning. If
he had been a second slower, who knows what could have happened? If he had
ignored the sounds of destruction, assuming that it was Xanxus blasting his
underlings as usual, he could have completely lost her forever...
“W-Well,
Haru shouldn’t have run away from Yamamoto-san...” she mumbled.
“Yamamoto
is here?” Tsuna breathed out in surprise.
She
nodded tentatively. “Him and someone named Gokudera-san...”
“So the
Guardians are beginning to gather,” Xanxus grunted, placing his guns away. He
glared at Tsuna and a silent promise between them of how this wasn’t over was
exchanged. But right now wasn’t the time for it. He could hear footsteps
barreling down from the hallway and it wouldn’t be long until they had people
surrounding them.
And the
last thing he wanted to deal with was more trash.
“Xanxus,”
Tsuna called out and the older man paused, though his back was still turned to
him. “You’re paying for all this.”
There
was a non-committed grunt before he stalked away, his long legs quickly taking
him away from the scene of destruction. He had wasted his time by dealing with
the girl, but he had benefited in one way through this exchange.
He had
gained the ire of the Decimo. It made Xanxus smirk. The next fight between them
was going to be a bloodbath.
Meanwhile,
Tsuna internally sighed as Xanxus walked away. He knew Xanxus wouldn’t betray
the Vongola, but that didn’t mean he’d simply go along with everything he was
ordered to do. In that sense, Xanxus was a wild-card, untamed and uncontrolled.
But
Xanxus had to remember that he wasn’t the Decimo.
Tsuna
was.
And he
would be damned if he’d let him forget that.
Haru
peered up cautiously at Tsuna, noticing the darkened edges of those brilliant
two-toned eyes. Was this the true face of the man she was always with? The
hidden side, the Decimo of the Vongola, that she had never had the privilege to
know about?
He
noticed her watching and looked down. Much to Haru’s surprise, the hardened
edges seemed to fade in what looked to be normally impassive eyes. Tsuna sighed
and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes,
relishing in her presence and memorizing the feel of her in his arms. “Are you
alright?”
“Haru’s
fine,” she mumbled, her eyes shifting away at how close he was. Though she
wouldn’t dare to admit it out loud, this was the safest she was feeling this
entire night. First the redhead, then the two Vongola members, and finally the gun-crazy
maniac... unfortunately, there was one thing that prevented Haru from
completely relaxing in his arms.
Tsuna
seemed to notice, his instincts flaring in warning. “Haru?”
She
glared defiantly at him. “You lied to me.”
“What-?”
“You
treated Haru like an idiot!” she said angrily, poking him on the chest. “This
entire time, you knew everything about the Vongola! Haru learned that you’re
the head of the organization! And yet even though you knew I was trying hard to
learn everything about it, you pretended to be oblivious to everything!”
“...Haru-.”
“Decimo!”
a voice called out and Tsuna growled under his breath in impatience. He tucked
Haru under his chin and turned around, appearing unwilling to let go of her
anytime soon. From afar, silver hair popped up in the darkness followed by
another familiar face.
“Gokudera,
Yamamoto,” Tsuna greeted.
“What
happened here?” Yamamoto asked, his eyes surveying the damage of the hallway.
Rubble was still falling from the broken walls and ceiling. He also took note
of how Haru was protectively held in Tsuna’s grasp, something Gokudera had
realized as well.
“Stupid
woman,” Gokudera griped. “What the hell did you get yourself into this time?”
“Haru
did nothing wrong!” she yelled back, squirming in Tsuna’s hold, but he
stubbornly held onto her. “S-So okay, she ran away, but it was because she
wanted to hear the truth from Pervert-san’s own mouth!”
“P-P-P-!”
Gods, he couldn’t even finish that sentence. Gokudera’s face was so red with
anger that it was surprising that steam was shooting out of his ears by now.
“Stop calling Deicmo names!”
“Hahi,
I’ll call him what I want because he’s a mean jerk who lied to Haru!” she
yelled back.
“Now,
now, you two,” Yamamoto consoled with a wry grin. “Let’s try and get along.”
“Decimo,
are you really involved with this woman?” Gokudera asked, looking pleadingly at
his leader in the hopes that they had gotten the wrong woman. Hell, he’d be
even happier if he discovered that the rumors had all been baseless!
“He is
not involved with Haru!” she said through gritted teeth. “He is not anything to
Haru! He is simply a-.”
“-liar?”
Tsuna supplied before continuing softly. “Will you continue to hurl insults at
me without listening to what I have to say?”
Haru bit
her lip, but clung to her anger. Maybe he had his reasons for what he did, but
she didn’t appreciate being treated like this. Everyone knew about the Vongola!
Even Dante-san! And yet everyone had kept it a secret from her. Was it because
she was technically an outsider? If that was the case, why had the pervert even
gotten involved with her in the first place? He should have kept his
distance... and maybe her interest in the Vongola would have faded with time.
It just
hurt that he always acted as though he wanted to get closer to her and yet he
was the one keeping his distance as well. It was like he was playing with her
emotions... as though her feelings didn’t matter in the end.
“I think
Haru has had a long night already,” Yamamoto murmured sympathetically, rubbing
the back of his neck awkwardly when he saw the tension starting to rise between
the two. What had Tsuna gotten himself involved with now? “Maybe it’ll be
better if you guys talked about it tomorrow.”
“She
shouldn’t have run off in the first place,” Gokudera grumbled obstinately with
his arms crossed. “You would think after she was attacked in the middle of the
streets, she would know better than to run off in this place.”
“Haru
was attacked?” Tsuna asked, narrowing his eyes.
“It was
in the middle of the hunt for a Shimon Famiglia member,” Gokudera explained
quickly when he saw that he had the Decimo’s attention. “We were in the streets
to search for him and all the civilians had been cleared out, as per the rules.
However, this idiot decided to go out for who knows what reason and we believe
she was attacked by said member, based on the screams we heard.”
“Is this
true?” Tsuna demanded, looking down at Haru.
The
intensity of his gaze made Haru squirm harder in his hold, but it was as though
he was made of pure muscles, a wall that couldn’t be pushed away. “So what if
it is?”
He
gritted his teeth and suddenly stormed off, the fussing young woman still in
his arms. Tsuna vaguely heard Gokudera calling out to him, but knew Yamamoto
would stop him. He ignored Haru’s demand to put her down and walked faster
until he reached one of his private rooms in this building. He kicked the door
open and closed it shut behind him, knowing it would automatically lock.
Then he
roughly dropped her on the bed.
“Hahi,”
she cried out as she landed. Sitting up quickly, she glared rebelliously at
him. “What was that for?”
“You
were attacked in the middle of the night? And by a member of the Shimon?”
Tsuna’s eyes were ablaze as he stiffly laid out his question.
“I don’t
know who attacked me,” Haru said sharply, unwillingly to be intimidated by him.
“And Haru doesn’t appreciate being shoved around like this! You have no right
to do this to me!”
“Why
were you out at night? What the hell was going through Dante’s head when orders
were clearly given to make sure the streets were empty?” Tsuna hissed out as he
began to pace in front of her.
“Don’t
blame Dante-san,” she snapped. “He locked me in a room, but I-.”
“He
should’ve known better that with your personality, there should’ve been someone
in that room watching you.” Tsuna’s words were spoken absentmindedly and Haru
sputtered, wondering if there had ever been a time when this guy had sent
someone to watch over her without her noticing. “I’m going to have a word with
him later.”
“A word?
What word? What’s going on?” Haru demanded, frustration seeping out. Never in
her life had she ever been so confused as she was right now, and it was all
because of a mysterious boy with lots of secret and wandering hands. “Who are
you? What’s the Vongola? What do you want with me?”
Tsuna
paused in his pacing and tilted his head towards her. The room was dimly lit
and made her even more aware of how his eyes were slightly glowing. He turned
around towards her and slowly walked over to her, his silence making her tense,
especially when he didn’t stop even when he was right in front of her.
She
leaned back onto the bed. It was too late to crawl away from him now. And much
to her panic, he followed, his knee pressing on the side of her leg and onto
the bed as he crept closer to her. Her heart thumped harder as she realized
just what sort of situation she was in. He was a well-known pervert in her
books and right now, she was in an empty locked room on a bed with him
literally on top of her.
But
surprisingly, she felt no fear that he would hurt her, only trepidation over
how she didn’t know what it was he planning.
“Pervert-san?”
There
was a soft sight. “Will you ever say my name?”
“You
haven’t earned the right,” she spoke back in an equally quiet voice. Her brown
eyes were firm, holding the fire he was always so enticed by. “You lied to me.
Why?”
“Things
weren’t supposed to escalate this far.” He whispered, leaning close so that his
hot breath was brushing against her cheek. Tsuna felt her shiver beneath him
and his lips curved to a smirk. This wasn’t how he planned on meeting with her
tonight, but it would suffice.
This was
his moment of distraction from the truth. She was inching closer to the truth
and would soon taint herself with his reality, but he would savor what he could
until that time came.
Tsuna
brushed his lips against her soft skin, one arm holding his weight on the bed
while his free hand cupped the side of her face. She stiffened under the touch and
he felt her hands tightly grabbing onto the front of his white button-down
shirt. But she didn’t push him away, her quivering fingers tangling with the
material of his shirt.
Her lack
of rejection pleased him and he continued the trail of his lips, inhaling her
scent as he closed his eyes.
Haru
shivered under his ministration. This was completely different from the red
head’s cold touches. The way he had moved had felt forced, as though it was
something practice but no emotion whatsoever was connected to it.
With Tsuna,
however, it was unbearably hot. There was something sensual about the way he
moved his lips, his fingers running through her hair lazily as he took his time
exploring her skin with his lips. Her cheeks were aflame and she couldn’t stop
shaking because of the fear and anticipation.
But
suddenly Haru felt him stiffen on top of her and she froze, wondering what this
meant.
“Who
touched you?”
The
sudden question startled her. “What?”
He
pulled away, his eyes now glowing brighter with unbridled lividness. Tsuna
touched the side of her neck where a bright red mark was. This wasn’t something
he had done. He remembered every mark he left on her luscious body and this was
not something he had made. A flash of recognition went through her eyes and
then he struck. “Who was it? Was it the Shimon?”
His
instincts prickled when she wouldn’t look him in the eye, her voice coming out
quietly. “It was no one.”
“You-.”
“It
doesn’t matter,” she said stubbornly.
“It
matters to me,” he replied harshly. “You’re mine and no one else is allowed to
touch you.”
Haru
gawked at him openly for a few seconds before she found her voice. “Excuse me? Did
you... Did you just say what I think you just said?”
“Who was
it?” he demanded.
“Haru
told you that it doesn’t matter,” she hissed back insistently. “You have no
right to say anything like that to me when you’re the one keeping secrets!”
Tsuna
let out a hiss of frustration and almost verbally lashed out at her in his
anger. Instead, he forced himself to keep his calm. Haru was already feeling
hurt and alone. The last thing he needed was to drive her further away.
Still,
his eyes darkened, roving over her figure. Now that he thought about it, there
were other signs that she had been rough-handled by someone other than the
shooting Xanxus had done. Her lips were puffy and red as though someone had
kissed them recently... then there was that glaring red mark on her neck.
Whoever
had touched her would pay. He would find them and make them understand the
consequences of what happened if they touched what was clearly forbidden to
them.
But for
now...
Haru
squeaked in surprise when Tsuna suddenly pressed his lips to hers gently. It
was soft and almost sweet, his lips caressing hers delicately. She looked at
him in wonderment as to what he could be planning when his lips returned, this
time hungrier and desperate. His tongue stroked over her lower lips before
slipping in between her stunned lips.
Her eyes
widened at the feel of his tongue in her mouth before she clenched her eyes
shut, a soft whimper escaping from her in between their joined lips at his
fiery attention. And yet despite his eagerness, there was an agonizing slowness
and made her moan. He was carefully exploring the insides of her mouth, making
sure to re-familiarize himself with every crevice of it.
The
sweetness of her taste...
The
delightful sounds that she made...
When he
finally pulled away from the kiss, her eyes were glazed and her breath was
coming out in soft pants. Tsuna chuckled at how cute she looked and skimmed his
lips on her skin. “What... What are you doing?”
“Erasing
every trace of that man on you,” he mumbled against her pulse, causing her to
shiver beneath him.
“What?”
her voice came out as a squeak when he nipped her on the neck.
“Every
last trace, every last memory, I’m going to destroy it right now,” Tsuna said
darkly with a determination that wouldn’t be hindered. Still, he smirked when
saw how red Haru’s face was along with the utter shock on her face. “Are you
ready?”
