Summary: Where Tsuna and Enma realize just how deep their affections have grown... 008627 / EnmaxHaruxTsuna
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.
I Want to be Your Superhero
HappyFace1886
Enma covered his face, stifling the groan of
humiliation when he recounted the events that happened earlier during the day.
“You big
bullies!” there was a furious shriek before a loud banging noise as metal met
the heads of the thugs who’d been beating him up. Enma blearily looked up from
the ground and felt his heart stop when he saw Haru clutching onto the garbage
can lid, swinging it wildly at the ‘big bullies’ who began high-tailing it out
of there with their hands clutching onto their sore heads.
By the
time they were all gone, Haru was panting hard with trembling hands still
tightly clutching onto the garbage lid. She sighed and then dropped her weapon
of choice, sinking to her knees warily before slumping down. Vaguely, Enma could
hear her whispering of ‘that was scary...’ before she turned to him with a
brilliant smile.
“Are you
okay, Enma-kun?”
Ahhh, he couldn’t believe she’d seen that! Not to
mention, she was the one who rescued him! Of all people to come and save him,
it had to be her!
This time, Enma couldn’t stop his groan as he
buried his hands harder into his face. Nearby, the dog he and Haru adopted
together came up and whined comfortingly. Unfortunately, even as he began to
scratch the puppy behind its ears, nothing could stave off the feelings of
humiliation. It was one thing when a friend or a member of his famiglia was
helping him out. It was a completely other thing when the one girl he had a
crush on, not to mention his first crush ever, was the one saving him from the
bullies.
...he was so not cool.
Haru had even been scared herself, but she’d been
so focused on helping him that she’d ignored her fear and lunged into the fray.
Meanwhile, he’d stared stupidly at her from the floor and had been too
astonished by the development that even while she’d been putting bandages on
his face and cleaning his cuts, he’d only continued to stare dumbly at her. By
the time he’d snapped out of it, Haru was bidding him farewell and telling him
to let her know if the bullies came back and attacked him again.
She’d protect him.
His face reddened at this. While it was a nice
feeling to know that she cared that much about it, it bruised his manly ego (or
what meager manly ego he had) that he needed the girl he liked to protect him
like this. Why was it that she was always the one making his heart flutter when
he should be the one looking cool and saving her from dangerous situations!
Enma toyed with the ring on his finger. Of
course, he could always use his flames to protect himself, but it never felt
right to use such inhuman abilities against regular people... even if they were
bullies.
Still, he wondered how it’d feel like to be the
one rushing straight into danger, beating up the enemies like they were
nothing, before gallantly rescuing Haru from the evil doers.
Enma felt his face erupt into a brilliant shade
of maroon that matched his flaming red hair at the mere mental image of Haru
gazing up at him with her big brown eyes. The awe that’d glimmer from those expressive
brown orbs while she’d dreamily say his name before...
He stopped that train of thought, slapping
himself hard on the cheeks.
From a ways away, Julie and Aoba, who’d been sent
by Adelheid to collect Enma for dinner, stared as their leader continued
slapping himself stupid.
“What’s with that idiot?”
Julie shrugged while snickering. “Dunno. Seems
about normal to me.”
Tsuna eyed Enma with concern when he saw the red
haired boy slumped over his desk, looking more miserable than normal. He was
still unable to get used to how unlucky Enma was (he’d actually come to school
with his jacket torn because a dog had actually ripped it apart in the
morning!), but it was rare to see Enma so moody nowadays. After the whole
fiasco with the inheritance of the Vongola title and him and Enma clearing up
the history of their ancestors, Enma had lost most of the gloom that’d always
hover over him. It wasn’t completely gone, understandably due to his losses
from the past, but he’d smile more frequently than before.
Not to mention, after Haru came into the
picture....
Tsuna shook his head wildly.
Argh, he still didn’t know what to make of that
situation.
-
“Better
hurry and make up your mind soon,” Enma stated softly while turning towards
Haru’s direction. “Because I’m already one step ahead of you.”
-
How was he supposed to make up his mind anyways?
He didn’t even understand how this choice came up in the first place! His
emotions made no sense whatsoever! But at the same time, when he really thought
about it, was this the reason why Reborn and Bianchi always teased him about
Haru? They were more than aware of the fact that he actually liked
K-Kyoko-chan, but was it because they could see something he couldn’t?
Tsuna rowdily ran his hand through his hair.
Ahhh, nothing made sense!
The surrounding classmates all pointedly tried to
ignore how dame-Tsuna was acting weirder than usual along with the moody
redhead that seemed to sinking deeper and deeper into depression by the second.
Yup, just another ordinary day at Namimori Junior
High.
“Tsuna-kun!”
The brown haired boy tilted his head and felt his
heart skip a beat when he saw Kyoko running towards him. She waved at him and
gave him a brilliant smile that melted him just a bit. “K-Kyoko-chan!”
“Could you please give Haru-chan this charm? She
left it behind last time she came over to my place.” She said with a sweet
smile, handing Tsuna a small phone strap of a yellow kitty that vaguely
reminded Tsuna of Nuts. “She said that she’ll be playing with I-Pin-chan and
Lambo-chan at the park today, so she’ll probably be swinging by your house
later.”
“O-Of course,” Tsuna took in the charm and felt
his insides turn to jelly when his fingers accidentally brushed against Kyoko’s
hand. This was what it meant to like someone, right? To feel nervous and shy,
wanting to impress them and show their good side... but did he ever feel
jealous whenever Kyoko talked to another guy? Sure, he felt depressed and
dejected... but it didn’t feel the same way as he did when he saw how Haru
would always stick with Enma.
Or maybe what he felt for Haru really wasn’t
because he liked her? Maybe it really was because he wasn’t used to her giving
all of her attention to him?
...then why had he felt the need to interfere
when Enma and Haru started getting closer? He’d never done that before with
Kyoko. He’d just give up because he felt like he didn’t have a shot.
But with Haru...
“Tsuna-kun?” Kyoko asked inquisitively, tilting
her head at him.
Tsuna’s face flushed because of how cute she
appeared and shook his head. “It’s nothing! Sorry, I was just lost in thought.”
To fight for what he wanted, to go at it with a
dying will. That was the lesson Reborn was always trying to impart on him. If
it was truly important to him, he would try his best and these days, it felt as
though he was actually giving it his all when it came to matters that meant
something to him. Just like how he willingly went to inherit the title of
Vongola because it was to uncover who’d hurt Yamamoto. Even though he was
scared, because it was important, he’d gone through with it.
What did it mean if he was trying to apply that
to the fact that he was actually confronting Enma about meeting Haru all the
time?
Tsuna clutched onto the charm tightly.
“Hahi, Lambo-chan, be careful,” Haru squeaked,
trying to get the young child to get off from the towering jungle gym. It’d be
one thing if he was holding onto the bars, but right now, he was balancing
himself at the very top!
“Lambo-sama is the king!” he crowed with a fist
pumped up in the air. Lambo then pointed a finger at I-Pin. “Bow down to your
king!”
I-Pin scowled and then threw a dumpling at him,
which hit him square on the head. He cried out and tipped sideways, wobbling to
and fro before falling off the side. Haru’s eyes widened as she lunged for him
and barely caught him before he hit the ground. This wasn’t the first time
this’d happened and so, Haru could only sigh in relief.
“Lambo-chan,” she chided softly from the ground,
“please stop doing dangerous things.”
He sniffled nosily in her arms and she patted his
back gently, leaning backwards to look at I-Pin upside down.
“I-Pin-chan, that was dangerous. Don’t do that
again.”
The little girl puffed up her face, but nodded in
understanding. The stupid cow was just so annoying though! Haru giggled and sat
back up, Lambo cradled on her lap. She ushered for I-Pin to come forward and
had both kids settled on her legs.
“So, what shall we play today?”
“I don’t know, oneesan, what shall we play
today?” a shadow crept over the three and Haru felt a chill go down her spine.
Clutching onto the kids protectively, she nearly lost her balance as she
quickly spun around while jumping to her feet. “I was thinking maybe a little
game of tag? Hide and seek sounds like fun too. And once I find all of yah,
maybe a little stab here and a little stab there.”
“W-Who are you people?” Haru stammered at the
sight of the 3 men in front of her. All three of them wore strange masks that
made their mouths and eyes appear hollow along with a furry hat that resembled
one of those Russian fur hats that Haru had seen in her fashion books. While
they towered over Haru, the one who spoke was the shortest and had a dangling
earring of an arrow on his left ear
“Neh, neh, oneesan, won’t you play with us too?”
the one with the earring continued to inquire.
“Hide and seek is so boring. We can play master
and slave!” Lambo crowed excitedly, wiggling around Haru’s tight grip. She
cried out when he actually pulled himself free, approaching the three men with
his arm authoritatively outstretched. “Lambo-sama will be the master and you
all can be Lambo-sama’s slaves!”
“Lambo-chan!” Haru yelled, screaming when Lambo
was quite literally kicked in the face, sending him careening in the air. She
watched in horror as he shot over her and into the bushes behind her. “How
could you? He’s just a kid! No! I-Pin-chan!”
The young girl also wiggled herself out of Haru’s
grip and approached the three men, already getting into one of her martial art
poses. Before Haru could say another word, I-Pin was already on the move. She
shot out a fist and, to Haru’s surprise, the man with the earring twitched and
staggered to the side. However, the other two were on the move as well, skidding
to I-Pin’s sides with hands poised for the kill.
I-Pin shot her fist towards one of the men and
spun to aim another attack towards the second, but the two men, anticipating
her movements, avoided the shots. One of them grabbed her by the throat, lifting
her up into the air, while another whipped out a sharp knife.
“Gyoza-Kempo. Disgusting technique,” the man with
the earring grunted, shaking his head. He then snarled to his men. “We just
need the girl, the brats don’t matter.”
“Wait!” Haru yelled when she saw one of the men
about to slice through I-Pin’s jugular, blood already being slightly drawn as
knife made contact with her skin. “If it’s just me that you want, then leave
the kids alone!”
“What makes you think you have a say in
anything?” one of the masked men demanded.
“B-B-Because,” Haru scrambled to think of an
idea. “If it’s me that you want, I’ll get in your way if you try to hurt
I-Pin-chan!”
“Like we care what happens to y-.”
“Actually, we do.” The man with the earring
interrupted one of his men, shoving him away before he could touch Haru. “We
need the girl alive... preferably in one piece. After all, it’ll make our
revenge all the more sweeter if the fool gets to see the girl getting cut to
pieces right before his eyes.”
Haru shuddered at how the man could utter such
cruel words so casually. I-Pin began to quickly protest in Chinese. The man
holding onto her roughly threw her down and Haru leaped towards her, catching
her before the she hit the ground. Haru cuddled I-Pin close, checking on the
wound to make sure it wasn’t too deep. I-Pin pushed Haru’s hand away,
continuing her frantic words. Though she didn’t understand what the little girl
was saying, Haru gave I-Pin a reassuring smile and placed a hand on her head.
“I’ll be fine. I’m counting on you to get help.”
“Yes, go get help, little Gyoza-Kempo user,” the
man with the earring drawled. “Bring the boy whom we seek vengeance over...”
“Hahi!” Haru shrieked as she was roughly grabbed
by the arm, forced to stand up while I-Pin tumbled onto the ground.
From behind the mask, the man with the earring’s
eyes narrowed and I-Pin instinctively took a step back. "Tell the brat we
have the girl. We already left him a little calling card so he should be aware
of our presence by now. If he fails to find her, that little gift will be
child's play compared to what we plan to do to his little girlfriend. You have
until sundown.”
Enma let out a low whistle as he clumsily slid
down the small slope. He pulled out the small box filled with dog treats from
his backpack and shook it a little, knowing Aka-chan would come stampeding from
his hiding place once he heard the biscuits rolling around. A few seconds
passed and not a sound could be heard.
“Aka-chan?” Enma called out with a frown, shaking
the box a little harder as he jumped off the end of the slope and to the
ground. He looked around for the little puppy and began heading towards
Aka-chan’s hiding place. “Where are you?”
Was Haru here already? No, even if Haru was
playing with Aka-chan, the little pup would have squirmed away in favor of the
treats. Haru would have always made an appearance as well... unless she was
trying to surprise him again by hiding somewhere. He would have smiled at that
thought if not for the familiar nauseating smell that reached him.
The box slipped from his fingers, landing with a
crunch onto the ground. Enma’s hands shook as he ran towards the source of the
smell, almost tripping over his own feet as his eyes immediately noticed the
gruesome scenery.
There was blood everywhere. The little puppy
lying still on the ground as knives surrounded it in some sort of derisive
ritual. Enma took a step back, tremors of horror running through his body. What
happened? Did... Did some sick, twisted person get a hold of Aka-chan? No, even
if there were some crazy people out there, Aka-chan was smart. There was a
reason why the puppy had been able to survive for so long on its own. Haru had
also taught Aka-chan tricks and had marveled over how quickly the puppy caught
on to everything. Aka-chan would have known better than to approach some
sociopath.
The intricate details of the knives caught Enma’s
eyes and he then felt fury ignite within him. During the time when he and his
Famiglia had been preparing for their vengeance against the Vongola, they’d
studied hard on some of the intel concerning the more powerful families. Be it
weapons, relationships, and history, Enma, even with his less than desirable
recall skills, had made sure to at least remember those details. And there was
only one Famiglia that had such insignias etched onto the blade of the knife.
Enma threw off his jacket and carefully wrapped
Aka-chan in there, grimacing at the feel of the sticky blood on his fingers.
The puppy was still alive... barely. He’d have to hurry if he wanted to save
them. It also wouldn’t do if Haru-chan came here later on and found what
happened to Aka-chan.
Carrying Aka-chan with one hand, he reached into
his pocket for his phone and dialed Adelheid’s number. “We have a problem.”
“What is
it?”
“I think one of the assassins that attacked us
before the inheritance ceremony for the Vongola are here for revenge,” he said
as he activated his flames, flying up into the air so that he could quickly get
to his house.
“...so
they’ve come.” Adelheid murmured. Though they’d never mentioned it out loud
to Tsuna and the others in fear of them overreacting, the Shimon Famgilia had
prepared themselves for being attacked in the near future as retribution for
their actions at the Vongola Ceremony. Even if the Vongola themselves have
forgiven them, those who’s pride had been injured during the attack wouldn’t
forget. “How did you find out? Did they
attack you?”
“No, they...” Enma hesitated. “Don’t get angry. I
have a puppy I’ve been taking care of and they attacked him instead. They left
their weapons behind intentionally so that I’d know it was them.”
“Where are
you right now?”
“I’m on my way home. I’ll be there in a few
minutes.”
“Good.
We’ll talk more when you’re here. Be safe, Enma.”
“You too.” He murmured before turning off his
phone and shoving into his pocket. They’d have to be discrete when handling the
situation or else Tsuna would hear about this. The last thing he wanted was to
drag Tsuna into this, especially since he knew Tsuna would vehemently defend
him from the attackers. But... this wasn’t Tsuna’s battle. Despite their
friendship and reaffirmed alliance between the two Famiglias, Enma didn’t want
Tsuna to shoulder his burdens.
Holding Aka-chan closer to his chest, Enma
concentrated his flames. He’d be home in a few minutes and it would be best if
he at least knew the location of the enemy. Due to his inexperience, he wasn’t
the most skilled at this, but he’d noticed overtime that he was particularly
sensitive to the earth, which made sense since his abilities were of the Earth.
If he focused hard enough, he could actually feel
the particular unique presences of all those within the nearby vicinity. The
technique was more advanced than simply sensing the flames of a nearby presence
and gave him a biggee radius in finding people. It also gave him a pounding
headache, especially when he tried to expand the scope to the entire city,
since it was hard for the brain to comprehend such enormous information, but if
he tried hard enough, maybe he could differentiate the attackers from everyone
else. They wouldn’t be too far away, anyhow, if they wanted him to find them.
He skidded to a stop in mid-air, knowing if he
did this while moving, he’d crash into something or fall.
The moment he linked his senses to his flames,
Enma thought his head was going to split apart and he almost fell from the sky.
No, focus on those with more intense flames. Isolate the information so that he
wasn’t blinded by all the presences. The weaker ones belonged to civilians. He
had to be careful not to get confused with the Vongola Guardian’s flames as
well... along with the powerful flames that indicated the presence of those
like Reborn.
Search for more hostile flames. Unfamiliar
ones... ones that weren’t here before today...
His senses pulled him towards the direction of a
more isolated park behind Namimori’s shrine.
Three flames... sinister and dark... ones heavily
stained with blood and reminded him of the violent presence of the Varia.
And... And a weaker, delicate one.
Enma’s felt his breath caught on his throat.
Vibrant and warm, it was a nurturing presence
he’d grown accustomed to and even sought after these past few weeks. Sometimes
when he’d practice trying the location technique with his dying flames of the
earth, he’d intentionally seek hers out to marvel at how sweet and mesmerizing
her presence was... and then he’d get out of it and smack himself for being
such a stalker.
His hold around Aka-chan tightened and his
expression darkened, the flames around him intensifying in an ominous manner.
Those bastards!
Tsuna sat on the floor of his bedroom, staring
hard at the phone strap. For some reason, his mind was racing as to what he was
going to do when Haru came to drop off the kids. How was he supposed to
approach her? Actually, how did he even normally behave around her anyways?
Ever since he became conscious of his conflicting feelings towards Haru, he
wasn’t sure how to act towards her.
This still didn’t make sense to him! But why was
he always trying so hard to say he felt nothing towards her? If he thought
about it rationally, why did he try so hard to cling to his affection towards
Kyoko while always vehemently denying Haru before even giving her a chance?
He was getting a headache from this all over
again.
“Dame-Tsuna.”
“Wah! Reborn!” Tsuna yelled, nearly falling to
the side at the sudden appearance of his infant tutor. “What are you doing
here?”
“What’s this?” Reborn ignored him in favor of
picking up the phone strap. “This looks like Haru’s. Are you stealing her stuff
now that you’re aware of your feeling towards her?”
“Give that back!” Tsuna tried to snatch the charm
away, but Reborn easily leaped away from his flailing grasp and used the back
of Tsuna’s head as a springboard to jump over him. The future Decimo of the
Vongola ended up flying forward, crashing into his bed. “Ow!”
“It’s about time you opened your eyes.”
Tsuna, rubbing his swore face, whipped his head
towards the door. “Bianchi-san?”
There was a playful smile on Bianchi’s face as
she took the phone strap from Reborn. “I was wondering how long it’d take for
you to realize your feeling towards Haru-chan.”
“I don’t feel anything like that towards Haru!”
Tsuna yelped, his face turning beet red. To his mortification, he could also
feel his heart racing in his chest and right now, he wasn’t sure if it was due
to embarrassment or... or... something else! “You two know I don’t think of her
in that way!”
“But then why did you get jealous when you saw
Haru-chan always hanging out with Enma-kun?” Bianchi continued, her eyes
positively glowing with delight at this development. “I heard you actually
tagged along with them because it bothered you so much how Haru-chan was always
with Enma-kun and not you.”
“I-I-I was just worried!”
“About Enma-kun or about Haru-chan?” she
continued with an arched eyebrow while Tsuna continued to choke on his words.
“And now we find you hugging and petting
something that belongs to Haru,” Reborn tutted while Bianchi sighed with
exaggerated disappointment. “How creepy.”
“I was doing no such thing!”
“Before you know it, he’s going to have a shrine
built in his closet for Haru-chan and all her belongings that he stole from
her,” Bianchi said while shaking her head. “The phone strap is just the
beginning.”
“Kyoko-chan asked me to return it to Haru!” he
yelled desperately and then shifted his eyes, stammering out his next words.
“B-Besides... you two know that I like K-K-ah!”
He was interrupted when Bianchi actually smacked
him up the head. With widened eyes, he clutched onto his sore head to look up
at the older woman. The menacing look on her face was something he hadn’t seen
aimed at him for a long time and reminded him of the time when he’d first met
her.
“It’s about time you take love seriously,”
Bianchi spoke icily. Over the passing time, she’d come to care for both girls
and had grown protective over them, especially since it’d been part of her job
to make sure they were safe and away from danger whenever something nasty came
about. Him being all wishy-washy was really starting to piss her off. “Stop
being afraid of your own feelings. Emotions change over the time, whether it’s
a maturing love or a developing love. Stop thinking that you can only feel one
way and not another. Love and affection comes in all form, you idiot. Even
admiration can be a form of love... but who you love, who you stand as an equal
and want to walk towards your future with... don’t mistaken the two with each
other.”
Tsuna looked startled by her words. It wasn’t...
It wasn’t as though he was intentionally being indecisive, but it wasn’t as
though he could switch his feelings overnight. His face would always burn at
the mere sound of Kyoko-chan’s name... still, it would be a lie if he didn’t
say that his heart clenched at the memory of Haru blushing when Enma held her
hand.
“I...”
“Oh dear, I-Pin-chan, you’re bleeding!” from
downstairs, the three heard Tsuna’s mom cry out in concern.
Tsuna immediately scrambled to his feet, rushing
down the stairs to where he found his mom kneeling in front of I-Pin, an
unconscious and obviously beaten Lambo behind her. Ever since all the attacks
he and his friends had endured, he’d become a bit more sensitive when it came
to reacting towards danger. He paled when he saw the blood soaking through his
mom’s kitchen towel as she pressed onto I-Pin’s neck.
“I-Pin-chan, what happened? And what happened to
Lambo?”
The little girl’s face lit up when she saw Tsuna
and began to speak in rapid Chinese. Tsuna felt his mind aching at the
unfamiliar language, unable understand a single word she was saying.
“She said that she was attacked by three
assassins,” Reborn translated as he landed on Tsuna’s shoulder, speaking
quietly enough so that Nana wouldn’t hear.
“What?” Tsuna yelled in horror. “Is that why
Lambo looks like that too?”
I-Pin hesitated, looking a little sheepish, and
mumbled something.
“Sort of,” Reborn supplied. “They kicked the
stupid cow, but most of it was because I-Pin had dragged him home.”
I-Pin then quickly shook her head, pushing Nana
away and ignoring her protests. She grabbed onto Tsuna’s shirt, speaking even
more frantically before. Even without understanding what she was saying, he
could tell how frightened she was.
Reborn, on the other hand, looked grim.
“Apparently Haru was with them.”
“What?” Tsuna yelled out in horror again before
being promptly smacked on the head by Reborn.
“Calm down, you idiot.” He chided while Bianchi
took Nana’s hand, guiding her towards the kitchen while whispering some excuse
into her ear. The blood was actually ketchup after I-Pin had messily eaten her
afternoon snack. “This is no time to panic. Haru’s been kidnapped by the assassins.
I-Pin, do you happen to know who these people are?”
I-Pin hesitated and shook her head, her horrible
eyesight contributing to her poor memory of all the details, but she still
explained about the features she remembered, particularly the slight accent in
their voices. Their faces may have been covered by some weird blurry mush, but
it was noticeable that the men weren’t Japanese.
“Is that all we have to go on?” Tsuna looked
about ready to go into a full blown panic. That definitely wasn’t going to be of
much help, especially since Japan seemed to be running rampant with foreigners
due to his connection with the mafia. Shit, why was this happening again and
why was Haru, of all people, dragged into this?
“Apparently they’re here for revenge,” Reborn ignored
Tsuna in favor of continuing his translation of I-Pin’s words. “And they’ve
already made another move towards their target. Have you noticed anything
unusual around you lately?”
“N-Nothing,” Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows, trying
to think of something that was even more out of the ordinary from his unusual
life. He then quickly shook his head. “I haven’t met any weird strangers or
people trying to kill me these days... actually, it’s been a while since I was
attacked by anyone. What are we going to do?
I-Pin, where was the park Haru was kidnapped in?”
“Calm down-.”
“How can I calm down when Haru’s been kidnapped?
She’s... She’s always getting dragged into stuff like this because of her
connection to me. I mean, with Kyoko-chan, Ryohei-niisan is her big brother, so
she’ll probably get dragged into things one way or another, but she’ll at least
have him to watch over her when we’re away from her, but with Haru... she's
completely innocent from this!” Tsuna aggressively ran his hand through his
hair, his fingers clutching onto a fistful of hair while sky flames quietly
started hissing on his shoulders. It was always like this. She was always
getting into trouble because of him. “We don’t even know where to start
looking.”
This time, Reborn slapped Tsuna hard on the face,
the impact being enough to cause the young teen to fall onto the floor. Reborn
jumped onto Tsuna’s chest, causing him to fall flat onto the ground. “We’ll
start from where you suggested. The park. Now calm down. Panicking or getting
angry will get us nowhere. We’ll also get Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei to
help out. Chrome will come if we tell her that it’s Haru who’s in danger.
Hibari will also be interested if we tell him that there are powerful assassins
who are disrupting the discipline of Namimori.”
Tsuna stared blankly at Reborn, feeling a bit
calmer now that a more concrete plan was laid out for him. He then hesitantly
spoke. “R-Right... that’s a good idea.”
“And Tsuna.”
“Y-Yeah?” he slowly got off the floor as Reborn
jumped off of him. The dangerous toddler looked at him seriously before poking
him sharply on the forehead, dispelling the slight flickering of a flame in the
middle of his temple.
“Don’t lose your temper like that if we find her
and you see that they’ve done something to her.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Enma,” Adelheid warned
as she followed Enma out of the house. Rauji was currently inside, using his
mountain flames to encourage the healing process of the little pup’s body. She
roughly grabbed Enma by the shoulder and turned him around. “Enma!”
Adelheid was startled out of whatever else she
was going to say when she saw the fury in his eyes. Enma was never one to be
easily angered. Even when it came to their plan to deal with the Vongola in the
beginning, he’d been the one who strived for peace with Tsuna at first. He
would rather settle things peacefully before allowing things to get violent. It
was also why he never retaliated against his bullies.
“...Enma...”
“...if she... if she gets hurt because of me,”
Enma turned away from Adelheid so that she couldn’t see the expression on his
face. Still, the way he spoke was so chillingly quiet, almost reminiscent to
the time when he’d lost control of himself. “I’ll never forgive them. I won’t
forgive any of them.”
“I’m coming with you.” She couldn’t leave him
alone while he was like this, especially not like this. Her mind replayed the
memory of how he’d nearly lost his mind, regardless of how he’d only gotten to
that point because of Daemon Spade. Who knows what sort of lingering influence
that vengeance had on Enma?
“No,” Enma said firmly and it stunned Adelheid
once more. Though she acted as the leader of the Shimon Famiglia, it was a
known fact that when it came down to it, everyone would defer to Enma's final
decisions. However, it was extremely rare for him to behave in such a way. “You
stay here. There might be more of them.”
“You’re not going to go after them all by
yourself, are you?” she narrowed her eyes. “Use us, Enma. We’re your Guardians,
not people who need to be protected by you! Enma!”
Her words were ignored as he took flight, his
flames shooting out stronger than ever as he zipped into the air. He refused to
allow another causality because of him. Even if Adelheid and the other
Guardians were strong, he would deal with this himself. Somehow.
Besides, with Haru waiting for him, he couldn’t
afford to lose.
“Bored... so bored...” the masked man with the
earring droned, toying with his knife in his hand. Without warning, he then
threw it towards Haru, who was tied and sitting in the middle of the forest.
She yelped as it missed her face by an inch, becoming embedded in the tree
behind her instead. “Lover boy is taking too long.”
“L-L-Lover boy?” Haru stammered. “Who are you
talking about? What do you want with me?”
“Shut up,” the other masked men snarled and she
flinched, pressing herself harder against the tree. “You’re only in one piece
because Alexei-sama deemed it so.”
“A-Alexei-sama?” Haru echoed at the unfamiliar
name. Definitely not Japanese. “Wait, are you bad people after Tsuna-san as
well?”
After the whole revelation about the Vongola and
the incidents in the future, Haru didn’t think she’d be surprised about
anything anymore. Then these weirdos came and kidnapped her, saying ‘lover boy’
will save her. D-Did... Did they think she was going out with Tsuna?!
While the thought briefly made her a bit
ecstatic, another bigger part of her was concerned. Even though she played the
oblivious card at times, she knew the one Tsuna-san really liked was
Kyoko-chan... the thought of Kyoko-chan being in her place frightened her. No,
for her friend’s safety, she wouldn’t say a word about the truth.
To Haru’s surprise, the man with the earring,
Alexei, laughed.
“The young Vongola?” he snickered. “No, it has
nothing to do with him. Or... well, it has partly to do with him, but he’s not
the one that we’re after. Once we’ve obtained our vengeance for our fallen
brethren, perhaps the Vongola will realize our worth... and understand what a
mistake it was to forgive such an enemy.”
“I... I don’t understand.”
“No, you don’t,” Alexei sneered from behind the
mask. He stood up from his place and sauntered towards her, leaning forward as
he wrapped his fingers around his knife while almost laughing at how she
pathetically recoiled at his nearness. “I’m growing really bored by this
development. So why don’t we play a little game? It might be in your best
interest to accept. After all, it might just be your means of escape.”
“Have you found her?” Tsuna asked as he landed
between Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, and Chrome, his flames deactivating as he
dropped to the ground. Hibari was probably off doing this own thing and so, it
was unlikely that he’d join them. The expressions on all four of them were
grim.
“Nothing.” Gokudera roughly stuffed his hands
into his pockets, a heavy scowl on his face. “Stupid woman. Getting herself
kidnapped of all things!”
“Let’s not start blaming her now,” Yamamoto said,
trying to sound lighthearted, but the severity in his eyes belied his true
feelings. “I’ve been sending Kojirou and Jirou to search for Haru, but no sign
of her so far. Jirou can’t even pick up a scent.”
“Of course not! We’re dealing with professional
assassins. As if they’d be stupid enough to leave behind something they can be
tracked with.” Gokudera grunted. “But the thing that’s irritating me is why
they’re making it so hard to find them when they want us to. They left I-Pin
and the stupid cow alive for that.”
“A test of our skills?” Ryohei’s eyes seemed to
light up. “We’ll beat it to the extreme! There are still some areas I haven’t
checked out! I’m going to head there right now!”
“Wait, oniisan-!”
“Let him go, Tsuna,” Yamamoto chuckled and shook
his head. “He’s probably all fired up since he knows Kyoko-chan will be worried
if she discovers that Haru-chan’s been kidnapped. Not to mention, he’s probably
antsy about how if Haru-chan was targeted, Kyoko-chan might be next.”
“Right,” Tsuna deflated a little. They were
getting nowhere with this and the sun was quickly getting lower and lower. In a
few meager hours, the sun will have set and then Haru will... Haru will...
“We’ll find her, boss,” Chrome whispered
reassuringly, placing a hand on Tsuna’s shoulder.
“Of course we’ll find her,” Gokudera said
cheerfully when he saw the worry on Tsuna’s face. “I swear it as your
right-hand, Decimo. That stupid woman will be fine.”
“They’re right, so don’t worry so much.” Yamamoto
clapped a hand on Tsuna’s shoulder. “Senpai’s also right. We still have a lot
of places we haven’t checked yet.”
“R-Right...” Tsuna relented when, from the corner
of his eye, he saw someone rushing down the streets. He turned his head, his
eyes widening when he saw who it was rushing down the streets with concern
emanating from her face. “Is that... Adelheid-san?”
“Run, run, run, as fast as you can.” Alexei sang
as he strolled through the forest-like park. He was so smart, suggesting to
play a little game of ‘hide and seek’ with the girl. Now he had something to
amuse himself with while he waited for the brat and if he was lucky, by the
time the brat got here, the girl would be screaming and writhing in pain on the
floor. The sun was now completely down, after all, and the darkness had settled
in. He’d been kind enough to even warn the brat that the girl would be harmed
if he didn’t hurry. Alexei tilted his head towards his compatriots. “Feel free
to join in.”
“Not me,” the tallest one grunted one while the
other one walked up to Alexei.
“What happens if I find the girl first?”
“Whatever you want,” Alexei said with a chuckle.
“Just don’t kill her. We need her alive if we want to torment that brat.”
There was a shrug in response. “Sounds good to
me.”
The tallest one rolled his eyes behind his mask, leaning
against a tree while the other two ran amongst the trees. Knowing them as well
as he did, Alexei-sama will probably draw out the game as long as possible,
psychologically tormenting the girl with fear until she was beyond repair. The
other one would attempt to physically tear her limb from limb with the knife.
It was possible to keep someone alive while doing that, after all. He wasn’t
sure which one was the worst fate.
Well, whatever. Not his business.
“Really, how long are we going to waste time
waiting for the stupid kid,” he grunted in boredom when he heard a small thud a
few feet behind him. He turned around in time to see a punch aimed at his face.
The strength behind it was staggering and he was sent flying. The assassin
tried to recover, spinning around to land on his feet. Before he could even
touch the ground, he felt an invisible force wrap around him. He was able to
see a glowing figure a ways away and a clenched fist with the palm-side up. The
fist then suddenly flipped itself, the palm-side now facing down, and the
assassin felt his body hurtling to the ground.
What the-!
Enma walked towards the assassin, intensifying
the gravitational field with each step. The assassin cried out in pain, the
force crushing his bones into the ground as the earth gave away beneath him.
“Y-You-.” The assassin struggled to speak, but it
was difficult to even breathe.
“Shut up,” Enma’s voice was cold and sounded
distant even in his ears. This was one of the assassins who hurt Aka-chan and
kidnapped Haru. He gritted his teeth. They hurt Aka-chan and kidnapped Haru to
get to him. Again. Someone, someone innocent from everything, was getting
dragged into this mess because of him. It was like with Mami all over again.
Another person would be tortured horrendously and murdered in the blink of an
eye right before him... but Enma wasn’t weak anymore.
He wasn’t helpless.
It was one thing if it was someone like Tsuna who
got dragged into his affairs. Granted, Enma wouldn’t have been happy about that
either, but at least Tsuna could defend himself. Haru... Haru couldn’t. She’d
be completely defenseless and at their mercy.
He needed to eliminate the bastard before him.
He needed to get rid of him.
All those bloodthirsty maniacs that wanted to
hurt the people precious to him needed to be gone.
He tilted his head towards the direction where he
knew the other two had gone. There was no need for him to use his earth flames
to detect their location. It’ll just be a waste of time and give him a
headache. He’d find them on his own and bring them back to where the first
assassin was pinned to the ground... and then he’ll make an example out of them
so that no one will try to hurt the people he cared about again.
With that grim thought, he leaped into the air
and flew into the darkness.
“Haru was kidnapped because of the Shimon
Famiglia?” Tsuna gawked at Adelheid who was looking away, her clenched hand
pressed tightly to her chest. “Wait, I don’t understand. Why would they kidnap
Haru? And why would anyone want to attack you?”
“For vengeance,” Adelheid said grimly. “As you
remember, during the inheritance of the Vongola rings, some of the families
were attacked by us. Even if you all have forgiven us, others in the mafia
world don’t forgive and forget so easily. Enma didn’t want you involved in any
of this, so it was ordered to be kept a secret.”
Tsuna looked shaken by the information. He
considered Enma a close friend, but what sort of burdens was he carrying that
he didn’t know about? Enma had told him about the nightmares he had about his
siblings and all the hardship the Shimon Famiglia endured due to being a ‘weak’
family. It had been hard to listen to, but Tsuna had sworn to himself that he’d
find a way to make it better for Enma and his family. The Nono had also
promised that as well, stating that it was a travesty what Enma and the Shimon
had endured for so many years.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Adelheid said sharply
when she saw the all too familiar look on his face. This boy was simply too
similar to Enma, always trying to shoulder all the burden by himself. “It was
Enma’s decision and one we all agreed with.”
“But why Haru?” Yamamoto interjected.
“...I’m not quite sure either. I presume it’s
because those two have been spending more time together. If the assassins were
watching Enma’s movements, it wouldn’t be surprising if they’d seen the two
together and decided she’d be the perfect bait.” Adelheid then shook her head.
“It doesn’t matter now. I need to find Enma. He shouldn’t be doing this alone.”
“You know where he... no, where they’re both at.”
Tsuna looked at Adelheid and the girl’s eyes widened when she saw the flames
burst around him. “Where are they?”
Enma settled onto the ground, the flames on his
gauntlets dimming as he tried to blend in within the darkness. His natural
senses picked up the presence of flame users. The other two assassins were
probably close.
Good. He hadn’t seen Haru when he’d attacked the
first one. Perhaps the other two knew. Once he got a hold of them, he’d force
the answers out of them. Professional assassins were hardier than regular
people, but it wouldn’t matter.
The dark expression on his face turned more
severe.
One way or another, he’d get them to talk.
“Hahi, Enma-kun, is that you?” the sound of a
light, feminine voice snapped him out of his anger and he yelped when arms
wrapped themselves around his waist, roughly pulling him backwards into the
shadows until he was lying down. He felt a warm, soft body behind him and
couldn’t find it in him to struggle when he heard a familiar voice whisper in
his ear. “Don’t make a sound Enma-kun. Those jerks will find us if you do.”
“H-Haru?” Relief rushed through him. Thank
goodness, she was safe! He almost reached out to wrap his arms around her
tightly, to hold her close to make sure it wasn’t all just a dream, when his
face flushed and he stiffened at the realization that he was literally lying on
top of her with her arms wrapped around him from behind.
“Hahi, Enma-kun, why are you here?” she
instinctively held onto him tightly, both for comfort and out of panic.
Meanwhile, Enma felt the blush on his face intensifying. “It’s dangerous here!”
“Is that you I hear, little girl? I’d have
thought you’d known better than to talk while being hunted...” from a distance,
a voice could be heard.
Haru’s eyes widened at the voice of one of her
kidnappers and she covered Enma’s mouth with her hand, quietly shuffling around
until she was now top of him. She looked over her shoulders warily, waiting to
see the shadow of her enemy, oblivious to the fact that she was now lying on
top of Enma, nearly straddling him by the waist when she’d slightly sit up to
peer behind her. Haru had no idea why Enma was here, but she couldn’t let him
get hurt because he got entangled in... whatever reason why she was here! She
still didn’t really understand why she’d been taken in the first place. If not
because of Tsuna, then who?!
Enma thought he was going to pass out from the
sheer absurdity of it all. Haru was... Haru was on top of him. One minute, he’d
been nearly blinded by his anger, and the next, the girl he’d been so anxiously
worried about was literally sitting on top of him... p-pressing herself against
him! Oh god, she felt so soft and smelled so nice too. It made him want to...
wait, focus! Focus! He was here for a reason! Before he could pull her hand
away from his mouth, she spoke first.
“Don’t worry,” she murmured quietly with such
fierce determination that it left him speechless. “I’ll protect you.”
He couldn’t help but stare at her. Again, she was
trying to protect him. Again, she was trying to comfort him. He could feel how
her hand was trembling with fear, but she was still willing to put herself in
harm’s way so that he’d be safe. It made his eyes soften as he slowly reached
up to wrap his hand around her wrist. Haru looked at him in surprise as Enma
slowly pulled her hand away.
...what was he doing?
He stared at her small hand, remembering how
she’d held tightly onto the garbage can when she’d been protecting him from the
bullies. And even now, her only concern was to protect him. Even though this
was all his fault, she was focused on making sure he was safe and didn't feel
scared.
Vengeance.
Hatred.
It was never about protecting anyone. If
anything, it was all about him. It was to protect himself, to show that he
could defeat his enemies so that they could never hurt him again.
Revenge... that was a word he needed to throw
away. It had been what driven him for so long, but Tsuna had made it vanish. Or
at least he thought he did. But the moment someone dear to him was about to be
hurt because of him, it was as though all those horrible thoughts and feelings
had come surging out of him, as if it had been waiting and lurking inside of
him until the right moment.
But was that the type of person he wanted to be?
“No,” he murmured, staring into her eyes.
The warmth from her hand... the warmth she exuded
from her very being... that was one of the things that made him fall so hard
for her. She was so sweet and comforting. It made it easy for him to relax and
for once, forget about all the terrors that chased after him. She was a
reminder to him of what it was that he wanted to fight for. Not the past that
could never be recovered, but the future, the brilliant bright future, of
happiness and warmth.
“I’ll protect you...” Enma’s voice was gentle,
but there was no doubt about the intense honesty in his voice. “This time and
the next.”
Haru’s eyes widened when Enma then leaned forward
and shyly brushed his lips against hers. The touch left as quickly as it came
and he then sat up with her in his arms, holding her protectively against him.
He held her a bit longer, savoring the fact that she was safe, before
depositing her gently on the ground.
“Stay here. I’ll be back.”
“...E-Enma?” still stunned by the turn of events,
her chocolate brown eyes followed as he left the hidden area underneath the
fallen tree. The delayed blush bloomed on her face and a trembling hand reached
up to touch her lips. She ended up sitting stupidly on the ground a lot longer
than she’d wish to admit before looking back towards where he’d walked out, her
face filled with panic and worry.
What did he mean about protecting her? Those were
crazy and dangerous assassins out there! Granted, she’d listened to Enma’s
unbelievable story, but she’d also witnessed how he’d been mercilessly bullied
by those mean seniors! She knew Enma was being honest and trusted his words.
Still, she couldn’t imagine him beating up the dangerous people like that!
W-What if he got hurt? What if he ended up
injured because it was three against one? The odds were against him and she’d
seen how fast they were when they tried to attack I-pin-chan!
“W-Wait, Enma!” Mind made up, Haru leaped to her
feet and rushed out from her hiding spot. However, before she could make it
far, she felt a hand grab her by the nape and shove her harshly onto the
ground. She cried out in pain as her face dug into the pebbles on the ground,
but still blearily forced her eyes to look behind her.
Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the ominous
wooden mask and the arrow earring glowing under the moonlight.
Alexei tauntingly crooned. “Found you.”
Haru shrieked when he pulled away and kicked her
on the shoulder, flipping her around so that she was on her back. Adrenaline
made it easy to ignore the pain as she scrambled to sit up and crawl away until
her back ended up slamming against a nearby tree. Her entire body was shivering
with fear and she could feel the tears gathering in her eyes. There was a
threatening pressure all around her, one that someone as sheltered as her would
never understand was the suffocating heaviness that came with the bloodlust of
a killer.
“Now... what shall I do with you?” Alexei laughed
behind his mask. “I’ve been so bored throughout this entire mission and look,
the sun is even down! Guess lover boy doesn’t care about you as much as I
thought. Hm... though I was pretty sure I was right. That look in his eyes...
yes... I’m sure he cares about you a lot. Perhaps he’s just too inept to
actually find the location. How unfortunate.”
Haru could barely process what the man was
saying, her brain screaming at her to run. She needed to escape. But how?
Somehow, instinctively, she knew that even if she did try to run away, he’d
catch her. He wouldn’t kill her immediately. The way he’d play around with his
knives spoke loads on his personality. No, he’d torture her slowly... and he’d
enjoy it.
He took a step forward and she flinched, pressing
herself harder against the tree.
She whimpered in fear and pain when he roughly
grabbed her by the hair, jerking it upward before letting his knife swing. Haru
shrieked, clenching her eyes shut when she saw the gleaming metal move.
Suddenly her head felt so light and free from the man’s grip. When she opened
her eyes, she saw locks of brown hair floating in front of her.
“Hm... I wonder how much affection lover boy will
have towards you after I’m done with you,” Alexei leaned towards her, the edge
of his knife brushing against her cheek. “Should I start with your face? Or
maybe underneath your clothes? After all, it’ll be a nice and lasting secret
between us until you two get more intimate together... hm, then again, I guess
there’s no point in giving you injuries that’ll scar since I’m going to kill
you right now.”
The way he spoke so casually scared her out of
her mind. Closing her eyes again, she could feel herself preparing to scream,
to automatically call out for the name of the person that’ll save her. “-!”
“Don’t you dare lay a hand on her!” twin voices
shouted and Haru’s eyes flung open, her tears flying into the air, as she
looked up in time to see orange and red flames entwined together as two fists
ended up punching both cheeks of Alexei’s face. There was a sickening crunch as
the bones in Alexei’s face seemed to cave under the pressure before he was sent
hurtling into the air.
“Y-You two,” Haru stammered, looking up at the
brilliant figures of the two boys before her. Both of them were glowing with
flames that surrounded them, the fire in the middle of their foreheads burning
the brightest. She couldn’t help but watch in awe. “E-Enma-kun, y-you’re
glowing like T-Tsuna-san.”
“Haru,” Enma rushed and kneeled before her,
taking her trembling hands into his own. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry I was so
late. Why did you follow me? I told you to wai-.”
Without a word, she leaped into his arms, a
strangled sob escaping her while she wrapped her arms around his neck. She shuddered
hard, letting out all her tears while she cried loudly into his chest. Enma
froze at the abruptness before he looked bitterly at the ground, the regret
clear on his face.
Tsuna stared at how hard Haru was clinging onto
Enma and couldn’t help but falter. He’d seen red when he saw the assassin
threatening Haru with the knife and had reacted without even thinking. But...
this bitterness that was welling up inside of him as he saw Haru relying on
Enma for comfort... he didn’t like it.
“Haru...” Tsuna began quietly, only to yelp when
Haru abruptly grabbed his arm and jerked him forward as well, hugging both boys
with her cheeks pressed against theirs.
“Scared,” she whispered. “I was so scared.”
“I’m sorry.” Enma murmured with his hand reaching
out to settle on her lower back, a poor attempt to provide some comfort over
this situation.
“No, it’s not your fault,” Tsuna protested
immediately, aghast that he would even think that. “It’s mine. I should have...
I should have been more aware of these things.”
“No, it’s not your fault.” Enma shot back. “This
is my burden. I have to deal with it on my own.”
“No-.”
“Be quiet!” Haru shouted so loudly that it caused
momentary deafness in their ears. “It’s not anyone’s fault but that crazy guy
with the knife! S-So stop fighting. I... I...” the rest of the words was lost
as Haru released another loud wail, her hot tears staining all three of their
faces.
“H-Haru, it’s okay. We’re here now.” Tsuna
reached out to wrap a comforting around her as well. “You’re safe.”
“A-And my hair,” she didn’t really care about her
hair, but right now, she was blubbering and believed she had a right to do so
after the traumatic event she just faced. “He chopped off all of my hair!”
“No, no, you look fine! He didn’t cut everything,”
Enma protested quickly.
“Decimo!” from afar, Tsuna heard Gokudera’s
voice. He tried to crane his neck in that direction, but found it impossible
with Haru’s iron grip. “What the-? Stupid woman, let go of hi-!”
Gokudera’s words were drowned out by the loud
crying and the silver haired boy found himself abruptly coming to a halt at her
frantic sobs. That sounded much worse compared to when they were trapped in the
future.
“Enma!”
“I-I’m fine, Adel.” Enma managed to say with a
weak wave, also unable to turn around to greet his Guardian due to Haru’s hold
onto him.
Adelheid looked at Enma with widened eyes before
her expression transformed to that of pure with relief, the desperate worry
she'd felt fading away. The way he spoke seemed so normal again. The venomous
anger from before had all but evaporated. If she was a weaker woman, the relief
of it all would have made Adelheid collapse to her knees, but instead, her eyes
softened. Thank goodness.
“Looks like we made it in time then,” Yamamoto said
with a smile. “Ryohei-senpai went to check on the third assassin, but Chrome
and I saw the other two while we were coming here. I think you two got rid of
them all.”
Tsuna briefly met Enma’s eyes as the two held
Haru back and despite Haru’s tears, the two managed to bear a small smile.
Yeah, Haru was safe now.
That was all that mattered.
Tsuna’s legs wobbled as he carefully carried Haru
up the stairs to her room. He could hear Gokudera and Yamamoto both trying to
reassure Haru’s dad downstairs, about how her haircut had been just an accident
and the shock of it had made her faint. It was a reasonable explanation,
especially when they factored in the fact that Haru had been with the kids
earlier. Just an accidental prank that’d gone too far.
He nudged the door to what Haru’s dad had told
him was her room and staggered over to her bed, nearly falling down with her as
he carefully tried to place her down on it. While stronger than before he’d met
his crazy tutor Reborn, his innate clumsiness was apparently impossible to beat
out of him. Tsuna sighed in relief and carefully rearranged her limbs so that
she was lying comfortably on the bed, nearly collapsing on the floor when he
was done.
Chrome had left after seeing Haru was safe and
Ryohei had decided to leave for home, wanting to check on Kyoko to make sure
that she was safe as well. Normally, in the past, Tsuna would have wanted to
know as well, to maybe even tag along with Ryohei to make sure Kyoko-chan
wasn’t scared... but this time, he found that he didn’t want to leave Haru
alone.
The way she’d cried and the fear she’d shown had
made his heart clenched so tightly. Not to mention Enma...
“We
should go check on the rest of our Famiglia,” Adelheid stated, placing a hand
gently on Enma’s shoulders. “These assassins may have been taken out, but we
don’t know if there are others still lurking out there.”
Enma
stared at where Haru was leaning against Tsuna as they sat on a nearby park
bench. She’d cried herself to sleep and it’d almost been impossible to pry her
fingers off of both boys. His fists tightened at how she’d been dragged into
this mess all because she had been so friendly with him these past few weeks.
And yet, he couldn’t find himself to regret any of it. He regretted allowing
her to be put in such a dangerous situation. He regretted not being so cautious
when he was very much aware of the fact that he was a possible target from
other families. But regretting to know her? To have become familiar with her
kindness and acceptance of him?
No... he
couldn’t find himself regretting that at all.
“Enma?”
Tsuna questioned, noticing his gaze.
Enma
slowly reached out and pressed the tips of his fingers on Haru’s cheeks,
strands of her hair violently cut off from her head brushing against his
knuckles. He could still remember the softness of her lips and the look of
shock in her eyes. Blushing slighty, he smiled ruefully as he pulled away. “I’m
counting on you to keep her safe, Tsuna.”
“Of
course he’ll do that!” Gokudera snapped. As if his chosen sky would do anything
less than that! Not to mention, it grated on his nerves that Yamamoto was
snickering behind him.
However,
Tsuna could only stare at Enma, giving him a brief nod. He didn’t need his
hyper intuition to know that that touch hadn’t been a simple caress of
reassurance. It meant something more, something even deeper than the casual
crush he could have had towards Haru.
Something had happened during the moment Haru had
been kidnapped. What, Tsuna didn’t know.
He turned to where Haru was slumbering, the tear
stains still vividly apparent on her cheeks. Her hair had been haphazardly
chopped, leaving parts of it longer than the rest. The forcibly shorn portions
were very short, probably akin to the hairstyle Haru would adopt if the future
from the alternate future with the evil Byakuran was to come true. It was a
definite different look...
His face flushed when he realized where his
thoughts were heading towards. Despite the sudden change in hair style, he actually
still found her to be cute. Wait, why was he even thinking like that? He never
thought about her in that manner!
At least until before Enma came into the picture.
Tsuna sighed, his shoulders slumping. He peeked
at where Haru was sleeping and hesitantly lifted his arms, reaching out towards
the same cheek where Enma had brushed his fingers. His heart thundered when he
felt how soft her cheek was, only for his gaze to slightly darken when he felt
the dampness from her tears.
The rage that had welled up within him when he’d
seen Haru terrified and pinned against that tree... it’d been different from
the time when he and Kyoko-chan had been attacked in the future. Back then,
he’d been desperate to protect Kyoko-chan from the powerful enemy. He’d wanted
to protect her smile, to keep her away from the danger and harm she hated so
much. But earlier with Haru, he had been furious that someone had even tried to
do something like this to her.
The feelings that’d erupted within him... it’d
been so violent.
If Enma hadn’t been there... if Haru hadn’t taken
precedence... what would have happened if he’d actually encountered one of the
assassins by himself?
Tsuna shook his head wildly. He didn’t even want
to consider what would have happened. A part of him, a part he was trying to
desperately ignore right now, had an inkling of what he’d do and it wasn’t
pretty. He could also remember Reborn’s warning of how he needed to control his
temper even if he saw something he wouldn’t like.
His eyes widened when he realized that he was now
pressing the palm of his hand on her face and immediately pulled back,
clutching onto the wrist of the offending hand. What was he doing?! Haru wasn’t
even awake! No, wait, he wouldn’t have done it even if she was awake! Why was it
always like this with her? He could never predict his own actions around her
and it... it drove him nuts.
Tsuna groaned quietly to himself as he settled
back down on the floor.
-
“It’s
about time you take love seriously,” Bianchi spoke icily. “Stop being afraid of
your own feelings. Emotions change over the time, whether it’s a maturing love
or a developing love. Stop thinking that you can only feel one way and not
another. Love and affection comes in all form, you idiot. Even admiration can
be a form of love... but who you love, who you stand as an equal and want to
walk towards your future with... don’t mistaken the two with each other.”
-
He could still hear the steel in Bianchi’s voice
as she lectured him.
Admiration...
Was that what he actually felt towards
Kyoko-chan? She was the first girl who’d ever spoken to him, which caused her
to snatch his heart away from him. He’d become immediately smitten by how she
wasn’t repulsed by his pathetic reputation and actually believed in him. It
also didn’t hurt that she was actually really cute and popular too. But... did
that mean Haru would have stolen his heart from him as well if she’d been the
first one to meet him? If Reborn had come just a bit earlier and Haru had
approached him first because of seeing a ‘cute little baby’, would he have been
taken by her first?
Why was he clinging so hard to his feelings
towards Kyoko-chan?
He wanted... He wanted Kyoko-chan’s respect. He
wanted her to look at him in awe and admiration... just as he looked at towards
her. However, a part of him felt as though that day would never come. He’d put
her in such a high pedestal that she’d always be just a goal he was chasing
after, but there was nothing wrong with that. It just made him want to become a
better person, to become someone like her.
But to actually... love someone. To find a
partner in life to walk hand in hand with towards the future... was Kyoko-chan
the one he was looking for? Was he trying to become a better person for her or
for her respect?
With Haru... he already had her respect, but at
the same time, she expected highly from him as well. She believed in him,
probably even more than he ever believed in himself. In the future, the future
Haru had believed that Tsuna would come to save them, even though the future
him was technically ‘dead’. And sometimes, while hearing stuff like that
brought forth an impossible and frightening pressure that he hated, it also
pushed him to try and live up to those expectations because that was how much
she believed in him.
“En... ma-kun...” a soft murmur brought him out
of his thoughts and he saw that Haru was clutching onto the bedsheets, tears
gathering in the corner of her closed eyes. “...come back...”
Tsuna quickly stood up and crawled closer to her.
A nightmare? Enma had asked earlier as to why she’d followed him instead of
having waited for him. Was she remembering the time they’d been separated? He
tentatively grabbed her hand, holding it tightly to provide at least some form
of comfort from her dreams.
“H-Haru?” he spoke uncertainly and felt her hand
clutching onto his tightly.
“Enma-kun...”
Hearing her cry for Enma aggravated him, but he
shoved his own selfish jealousy away and focused on the fact that she was
actually having a nightmare about being kidnapped by a crazy assassin. Tsuna
gritted his teeth. His worst fear was actually becoming reality. One of the
things he’d always worried about was his friends getting into trouble because
of his ridiculous mafia connections and while, technically, this was due to a
bout concerning the Shimon Famiglia, he couldn’t forget how the assassins had
basically attacked the Shimon under the Vongola’s name, even if
they’d behaved independently.
In the future, Bianchi had shielded the girls
from the more gruesome part of the danger. In the present time, he’d tried his
best to make sure they weren’t dragged into another crazy battle... but this,
no one could have ever foreseen.
“I’m so sorry Haru.” his words were tinged
heavily with remorse and bitterness. He couldn’t allow something like this to
happen again. They’d been so lucky that he and Enma had gotten to Haru in time.
If they’d been even a minute late... flames flickered on his shoulders while
his brown eyes became colder, resembling the moments when his hyper intuition
would be active. “I won’t let anyone hurt you like that again.”
For once, Tsuna blocked all of his worries and
doubts. Whether it was liking Kyoko-chan or liking Haru, right now, he didn’t
listen to any of it. Instead, he allowed his instincts to guide him, to do what
it was that he truly wanted.
He slowly lifted their joined hands together and
pressed his lips against her knuckles, making a vow only for their ears to
hear.
“I promise.”
::owari::
AN: Oh geez. This ended up being A LOT longer than intended.
Haha, this is so hard. Can't Haru just have both of them? xD I can't do this!
Also, I basically fast-forwarded the scene where Tsuna found Haru cute near the end of the series. Well, he never said ‘cute’ per se (that was actually Bianchi), but he did say that he was flustered because of how intensely she was staring at him with her beautiful, alluring brown eyes... ahem... I might have taken some liberties right there as to how he might have described them...
Hope you guys enjoyed this very, very long post. xD Happy holidays!
1. Notice
2. Even Good Boys Won't Share Everything
Haha, this is so hard. Can't Haru just have both of them? xD I can't do this!
Also, I basically fast-forwarded the scene where Tsuna found Haru cute near the end of the series. Well, he never said ‘cute’ per se (that was actually Bianchi), but he did say that he was flustered because of how intensely she was staring at him with her beautiful, alluring brown eyes... ahem... I might have taken some liberties right there as to how he might have described them...
Hope you guys enjoyed this very, very long post. xD Happy holidays!
1. Notice
2. Even Good Boys Won't Share Everything
