hahiharu:

Finally, at long last, the pistol was locked and loaded but when she tried to pull away the first time Hayato actually pulled her back and pressed against her again. She blushed brightly when she realized he’d gotten over his stage fright and had finally fallen into his appointed role.

“Get behind me!” she told him, forcibly pulling away to whirl back around and aim her gun. It took seven shots before all five potential attackers were down, none of the hits fatal. “You get the two on the left. Grab their guns and their wallets and avoid their hands. Knock them out if you can” she instructed as she went to disarm and rob the man furthest on the right.

She was quick and efficient with her own work and kept the man that had been most interested in their ‘production’ conscious. “I’m going to need you to translate for me. But you have to sound scary and… Why are you looking at me like-oh…”

Belatedly she realized that part of her dress had caught in the hem of her panties and she was flashing everyone a glimpse of her lovely lacy undergarment. She righted herself and after clearing her throat went right back into business mode.

“Anyway… translate back and forth”

She went about asking investigation questions like why they were pursuing her, how they got her information, and what mob they were. Even though she wasn’t speaking the language she made sure her voice reflected her severity. She spoke clearly, slowly, and with an icy undertone.

Forced to let her go, Hayato had to snap back to his senses. He got out of the the way of the bullets, ducking behind Haru. The bomber felt like smacking himself until he was rendered unconscious. Sadly, he couldn’t have a conveniently timed black out. Instead he had to play translator. However, his gaze went to her backside, noticed her panties were visible.

“Uh” trailed off for a moment torn between telling her or tucking her dress down it himself. In the end, Hayato felt he’d be called a pervert for either act, so kept his mouth shut and hands to himself until Haru realized it for herself. His only regret was that those clowns got to see her underwear too. Glaring at them all, he gave a nod to confirm that it would be his pleasure to talk down to these clowns.

He gave her questions a little spice with expletives and put downs to the men grimacing from their wounds and bullet grazes.

“Hey hey hey! Did the nice lady say you could get up? No? Then plant your ass back on the grass.”

hahiharu:

Haru felt bad for expecting so much from a civilian. Of course he would crack under this kind of pressure. She’d just hoped his will to live would overthrow his nerves. Apparently not.

“Okay… Just… uh….” she was scrambling and two of the voyeurs had noticed something was off. She let out a very throaty moan to throw them a bone and tried to think on her feet.

The gun was only half loaded and that was a feat in itself when the pistol was smashed between their bodies and she had to go by feel alone. Loading in dark and cramped spaces only helped her so much in being prepared for this kind of awkward scenario.

He was being too timid. He didn’t seem caught up at all and she had to change that. Desperate, she shoved her tongue between his lips and explored the interior of his mouth before sliding it over his own idle tongue, pressing on the muscle until he probed back.

She let out a purr of approval to let him know he was on the right track.

Next she balanced the gun between them and brought her hands up to his, guiding him so that he wrapped one arm around her waist and firmly planted the other one on her ass. She knew she had killer legs and a fine behind so hopefully it would stir up something.

She pulled back from the kisses to catch her breath then leaned in to nibble at his throat. He was slowly getting into it but she needed an extra oomph.

Inspiration hit and she cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner. With great flourish she spun around (gun hidden up the front of her skirt so it looked like she was touching herself) and bent over so that his hips were pressed to her rear.

“Roll your hips and growl” she instructed and when he hesitated she rammed herself against him and did her own roll that nearly knocked him back so that he was forced to place his hands on her hips for balance.

“Almost done” she let him know, now rushing (but not so fast that she risked a stupid mistake) to fill her gun.

“Mmph!” the surprised grunt was silenced by the open mouthed kiss and intruding tongue. At this point it was fake-out make-out or die trying and Hayato Gokudera rather liked living. Thus, he stopped being a spaz long enough to put some actual effort into the kiss. Timid strokes of his tongue against hers, still not sure if he was doing it right or simply grossing her out. His face was red and head swimming from all the new sensations assaulting him.

He did moan when Haru went right for his throat. “S-shit…” the red-faced man felt like he was going to die. When Haru turned around, Hayato stared at her upturned skirt, blinking as if it was the first time he had seen panties since ever. Stunned, he nodded dimly then followed orders by placing his hands on her hips, experimented with a slow roll forward. His growls were slow to come, first a more grunt-like and pained sound then grew in confidence as they carried on.

“Hurry up will you” he hissed at her because this whole display was turning him on and he didn’t want to make a run for his life while sporting a hard on in his pants. At that point it’d be very difficult to get dynamite out of his pockets. Not to mention the embarrassment factor.

hahiharu:

Haru nodded. She’d had a bad feeling but didn’t want to act on it until certain. Since Hayato had noticed she probably should’ve invested more into her instincts. ‘Live and learn’ she thought to herself with a mental shrug.

She snuck a glance at the men while pretending to look lovingly up at Gokudera, brushing his jaw with her fingertips. She started to talk and her voice was a seductive whisper to fool anyone listening to her tone.

“I’m going to draw you into the hedge maze and we’re going to deal with this problem quickly and quietly. Follow my lead” she told him before boldly grabbing him by the belt buckle and pulling him along with her lighthearted laughter echoing around them.

She lead him into a small nook in the maze and leaned back against the bush. “Kiss me” she instructed as she wrapped one leg around him and a hand tangled in his hair.

He didn’t lean in.

“I need to get my gun but this has to be convincing. Now lean in and kiss me” she said again and while the words were irritated her tone was sultry.

He still didn’t.

“Oh for the love of-” she cut off her tirade by standing up on the toes of her lone foot on the ground and pressed her lips to his, closing her eyes and letting out a convincing moan. It was only thanks to years of being a gymnast and near perfect balance she was able to stay upright.

“Mmm…. Hayato” she whimpered, the hand in his hair trailing down his back until settling on his ass and squeezing.

She risked a peek and saw five men trying to look busy at each open exit to the maze. One of them kept sneaking glances but the rest were at least trying to be polite. There truly was honor among thieves it seemed. That or they wanted to enjoy the show.

“I want you” she said in a heady stage whisper before reaching between them. From any other vantage point it would look like her hand was moving to grasp a certain part of Gokudera’s anatomy, but in reality she was retrieving a clip from her garter and putting it into her pistol.

“Make some noises” she hissed in his ear. “I need you to buy time while I prep my gun. Act like I’m getting you off”

In response to Haru tenderly touching his face, Hayato jerked only to realize it was a ploy. Nevertheless he had force himself to relax and not flinch away from her touch. He nearly had some words to throw at her when Haru grabbed his belt buckle and jerked him forward. Stumbling for a moment to follow after her into the maze, Hayato kept treading a line between ‘this is terrifying and fucking weird’ along side with ‘this is kind of hot and fucking weird’ .  As they reached a corner of the maze, Haru leaned into the shrubbery, face flushed and brown eyes bright as if she had a fever.

Either she was honestly turned on by all this danger around them or she was a very good actress. Right now either possibility was terrifying. He sputtered and limbs wavered as Haru hiked her leg up, wrapping it around his. Face turning red, Hayato didn’t react to her command. His lips felt as dry as a desert and every muscle that had to be used to push himself forward had been rusted shut. He was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, Haru getting impatient and egging him on.

“I…can’t…” he got out around gritted teeth. Or rather he didn’t know ‘how’. He had kisses stolen from him by double agents, by his sister’s teasing friends or Shamal’s numerous girlfriends, but each time it had been a very confusing experience and not one he could take concise notes from. Let alone the fact he had never actively kissed someone of his own volition. And too many big words were firing off in his head at the same time.

He was overheating. He was going to melt internally and ignite under the influence of spontaneous combustion. That was the only way to get out of this alive was by a paranormal phenomenon.

A very unmanly ‘eep!’ escaped his lips just before Haru leaned in and kissed him. What followed from him was very clumsy attempts to make it seem like he had not been caught of guard and knew exactly what he was doing. His hands timidly petted her hair, eyes closed then opened then half-lidded because how the fuck was he to know what to do if he couldn’t see?!

And make noises?

The only thing he could manage between this very awkward liplock was a hum though it sounded a little more like a muffled cry for mercy.

hahiharu:

Haru quickly put her companion and his unpleasant behavior at the back of her mind as she fetched her camera and started taking pictures left and right. She bent over the plates with the names of the flowers emblazoned on them in Italian and mangled the language as she tried to say them out loud.

She was particularly fascinated by a bright yellow flower with long smooth petals that seemed to reach out with its leaves. She felt like the flower was smiling and being welcome.

Next to it was a tangled mass of green with what looked like thorns and it  took her a moment to find the red flower hidden beneath a bit of stem. The flower looked weak and the petals were collapsing in on themselves, making the flower look like it was shying away.

She bit her bottom lip and wondered about the rules for the gardens. Finally, deciding she could just pretend she hadn’t understood anything and speak only Japanese if or when apprehended she placed her hands on the stem blocking the little bud.

With some effort she managed to make a gap and reached through it to retrieve the sad bit of crimson flora, pulling it out enough that the sun’s rays were hitting it with nourishing warmth. She hadn’t done any damage to the plant in the process and sighed with relief when the task was complete.

As she started to brush the dirt off her hands she noticed the little pinpricks of blood she’d procured from the plant’s thorns but felt it had been a worthy endeavor. “There you go, little guy. Live to the fullest, okay?” she whispered.

As she walked away she shot a look over her shoulder and could’ve sworn the red flower was looking better already. It was also directly next to the yellow flower so she felt it was in good company.

While Haru fretted over flowers, Hayato couldn’t help but notice that the garden was cleared of other tourists. One would think there would be more people ‘oohing’ and ‘awwing’ over beautiful flora.  And the only other people around were guys in suits. It started with just one or two. Nothing to worry about if it wasn’t for the fact they were in stuffy black suits rather than casual clothing suitable for the summer weather.

Green eyes narrowed, darting over to Haru who was meddling with some red flower. Crossing over to her, he was almost hip to hip with Haru before leaning in to whisper, “Don’t look now, but I think we’ve got some pesky insects following us” he said next to her right ear, hand reaching into his pants pockets on reflex. Only to ease out as he remembered his role. He couldn’t use his bombs and blow his cover as being part of the Vongola family, let alone their explosives expert.

hahiharu:

Haru let out an excited squeal and got up from the table to walk over and give him a quick warm hug. He might have been acting like it was pulling teeth to do something nice for her but he was still doing it and she appreciated it. “Thank you!” she told him before grabbing him by the hand and pulling him out the door before he could change his mind.

They caught a cab and Haru hummed a peppy tune until she got a glare from her guide. Then she tapped her feet. Another glare halted that. She drummed her fingers. More glaring.

Finally she’d had enough when he glared at her for simply sighing. “What?! Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind. You don’t get to do that now. Too late” she huffed just as the taxi came to a stop.

She bailed out and paid the driver then waited for her surly companion to meet her at the wrought iron gates of a historical botanical garden. Just from the outside it was lovely with a large stone wall on either side of the gate.

She paid admission for both of them and with a sharp look that told him to stay close she started off on the farthest left path.

He had seen the hug coming, but Hayato stiffened and took it. Very reluctant acceptance of her affection, but didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it. As it stood for the moment, Hayato found himself being pulled to his feet and ushered out of the cafe.

Does she ever sit still or know the meaning of silence is golden? Hayato pondered to himself while they waited for a cab. Probably not. And him staring at her was not making Haru stop. He could feel his patience waning the longer they were in each other’s company.

He protested at Haru paying for the cab and gate admission, but as with keeping her still and quiet snarling and staring did him little good. Hands stuffed in his pockets, careful around the mini-bombs he carried inside the folds on a reflex. She might be armed to the teeth and under the impression he needed her protection, but Hayato still remained weaponized.

“So, this is what you wanted isn’t it?” Bunch of flowers, trees and statues everywhere. After awhile, you’ve seen one naked marble dude, you’ve seen them all.

hahiharu:

Haru was startled by him when he fell into his seat. She’d been wrapped up in thoughts of the past and she was still marveling at how much Ryohei had changed just as much as he’d stayed the same.

“Wait… You’re actually willing to take me somewhere I want to go? Without me having to bribe you? Just how bad did he threaten to curb stomp you?” she asked, truly baffled by the change of heart.

She could tell she’d pissed him off and cut him off before he could truly get himself into a fit. “Nevermind. Thank you. I really appreciate the offer…. Do you think… That is do you know of any botanical gardens with statues we can wander through? I told myself I’d get some pictures of flora and classic art. An art museum would be nice too but I know that’s not your thing so I won’t cry if you don’t take me”

She wasn’t really paying attention to him when she added “Now that I know Ryohei’s here I have a reason to come back and if anything we can go together”. It seemed like an amicable solution and she meant no ill will by it.

“It’s not that I’m willing to take you, just figured that if we’re still going to keep up this whole charade of me being your guide and translator, might as well actually take you to places where you’re not terrified or terrifying others with your enthusiasm like you did at the Spartan Academy.” He nodded along in agreement to the gardens and a musuem or two wouldn’t kill him. “But if you start hyming and hawing about shoving a camera at me so I can take pictures for you, then you’ve got the wrong guy.”

He looked a little sour at the mention of Ryohei again, taking a sip of coffee to cover it up, his danish pastry no longer having the same appeal it once had while in the case earlier that morning.

“So, I’m ready to head out of here whenever you are. Oh and if you see a nude male statue, don’t freak out or try to touch it’s marble junk.”

hahiharu:

Haru was suspicious, to be sure. Things weren’t adding up between the two of them and she knew Ryohei was a terrible liar. The way he was acting now had her feeling on her toes and even though a great deal of time had passed since their last encounter it hurt that he was being dishonest.

But Haru also knew Ryohei never lied without good reason. He was probably protecting someone with his falsification and out of respect she let it drop. It still bothered her to no end but she had more important things to worry about.

“Thank you very much for offering” she said with heartfelt gratitude. “But I couldn’t abandon Hayato now. Not when we’re getting so close” she said, shooting a coy smile at her tour guide coupled with a cheeky gleam in her eye.

Her ex looked between the two of them and raised an eyebrow before letting out rich laughter. He didn’t comment but from the way he winked at her he really didn’t need to. She blushed and looked at the ground, which amused him further.

They talked a little bit more before saying their goodbyes and when Ryohei asked Gokudera to hang back she didn’t think anything of it since they were friends. “I’ll be in the cafe” she told the smoker.

Still sulking as the pair talked, Hayato almost missed Haru’s departure back to the cafe. However, he did not miss the pointed look the boxer was giving him. “What is it now?” he demanded. “Nothing. Just…be careful with her, Gokudera.” At this the bomber snorted, “Be careful with her he says. You didn’t see her take down three enemies at a time yesterday.”

At this Ryohei rubbed the back of his head, looking a little sheepish, “Even so, she acts tough and most of the time is, but you still have to treat her like a lady, you know?” his gruff voice cutting through the thoughts distracting Hayato. Namely the fact that if Ryohei and Haru dated that meant they held hands, kissed and most likely slept together. For some reason he felt very possessive. Everyone had a past and ex-boyfrends/girlfriends even, save for himself.

Besides it’s not like they were dating…

“And just so you know, I’ll be keeping my eye on you. Haru might be my ex but she’s also a good friend, so don’t mess it up Octopus Head” with that Ryohei gave him a parting slap on the back, making Hayato flinch and bristle once more. “I”M NOT DATING THAT KOOKY WOMAN!” he yelled at the boxer while Ryohei walked away. Once left alone again, Hayato thought to take out another cigarette to replace the one he lost earlier in the encounter, only to find he didn’t have the taste for it anymore, so he re-entered the cafe and took his seat across from Haru.

“So we went to all the places I wanted to take you to, anything you haven’t seen yet?”

hahiharu:

Haru’s face fell and she looked stunned and sad. “Ryohei… Your boxing career…” she said, unable to formulate anything more but the man knew he so well she didn’t have to say anything else. He gave a shrug and a small half-smirk.

She wanted to know more since she knew boxing had been his dream and to find out that he wasn’t living it made her ache for him. She’d been his biggest cheerleader and she’d been so sure that no matter where he went he’d go far.

She quickly switched gears and gave him a playful punch on the arm. “Suits? Now YOU I can TOTALLY see in customer service” she said, grinning a little too hard. “Not like Hayato. He has the attitude of a wet cat ninety percent of the time that I’m with him”

The look the bomber sent her was priceless and she let out an unladylike snort. “S-sorry” she cackled “But it’s so true!”. It didn’t help that her ex was nodding and laughing with her.

When Ryohei asked her what she was doing with Gokudera she was quick with an answer.

“Hayato has been kind enough to offer to be my translator and guide while I’m here. Don’t look too shocked, you know I never could take no for an answer when I want something”

Ryohei guffawed and slapped a hand on her shoulder that was meant to be affectionate but nearly sent her sprawling onto the sidewalk. When he offered to take over for Hayato she was about to dismiss the offer but she was distracted by the heavy look being passed between the two men.

“Huh? I’m still pursuing boxing Haru.” Hayato could feel it coming, but couldn’t stop the next words coming out of the white-haired man’s mouth. “I have to defend our company from rival…” Cutting motion and violent hand gestures from Hayato behind Haru’s back signaled that the muscle-head had better cut it out or they would all be in deep trouble. “Rival suit companies. You might not believe it Haru, but the suit tailoring business is extremely cut-throat and competitive.” Hayato could have reached over and strangled the boxer at this point. His paper-thin lies usually made things worse, not better. He just hoped that in the spirit of old love, Haru would overlook this incident.

He was less thrilled about being talked about while standing right in front of the two ‘idiots’. Then bristled with indignation at the thought of passing Haru along to Ryohei. Sure they were old lovers and would probably have a great time yucking it up and reminising about old times while touring musuems and such, but there was also a risk for Ryohei’s lies to get worse the more he talked. Plus, there was a twinge of jealousy on Hayato’s part. Not that he was ever going to admit it aloud.

“I can take care of her just fine on my own, thank you very much!” he snipped. “You should probably head back to work otherwise you’ll be missed and put Boss at a disadvantage.”

hahiharu:

Haru let out a lighthearted laugh and went to let go of Ryohei but he hugged her again just to tell her how ‘extremely happy’ he was to see her again. She felt the same. It had been a while since he’d disappeared but he still managed to get her heart into a knot.

She’d always adored Ryohei and he’d been so good to her but they’d both ended their romantic relationship on good terms because they felt they worked better as friends. Not long after he’d even told her he’d developed feelings for someone new and rather than heartbroken, she’d been happy for him.

“Where do I start?” she asked, flushed from smiling and laughing. “Ryohei is my ex-boyfriend. He and I dated in college for a couple years back in Namimori. We’d known each other much longer, though”

He added the story of how he’d asked her out after she’d gone to cheer him on at a boxing match even though she had the flu because it was his last match in the season and their first date had been him nursing her back to health.

The memories wrapped around her like a warm blanket and she sighed with content as she listened to him talk about times past and the way she used to be. So often she’d been forced to ignore the past because it left her hurting and sad.

When his enthusiasm died down a bit she placed a hand on Ryohei’s wrist and looked up at him. “Why’d you leave without telling me? I went to your house after a week of you not picking up the phone and you were gone” she said, a hint of her true sorrow peeking through.

He looked caught and his gaze flitted over to Gokudera, and she realized it was a bad time to ask. “Nevermind. Bad timing. Let me just get your number and we can talk about it all another time over drinks before I leave… It’s so good to see you. It killed me that you left like that”

The painfully raw and emotional side of her was quickly hidden after that. She gave Ryohei her number and then brought Hayato back into the conversation, feeling sheepish and guilty for making him into a third wheel.

“So, how do you guys know each other?” she asked.

Ex-boyfriend? He wasn’t pleased to find out this little tidbit, mostly because he had to be surprised by this information. And Hayato did not like surprises in the least. “Oh really now…” he groused, arms crossed over his chest, heedless of the fact that Ryohei’s earlier actions had left his hair a big static mess with flyaway strands every which way.

Before Ryohei could open his big mouth and blow Hayato’s cover for the Vongola mafia and his job in general, Hayato spoke up before him.

“From work. He’s also in the business of suit…sales.”

He got a curious look from the boxer, but Hayato gave the signal to indicate to the other man that he had better play along.

“Oh right, suits! They are…suits are great. And we sell them! Kind of. Would you like to buy a suit today Haru.”

Hayato felt a face-palm coming on and his patience getting thinner by the minute.

hahiharu:

Haru quickly stowed her gun, trusting Hayato’s judgement and reading the atmosphere as friendly, even though Gokudera was being strong armed by his friend. She couldn’t take her eyes off the odd sight. It just struck her as strange how he was letting the other guy man handle him (obviously they were friends).

She looked up at the smiling friend who said something in Italian that seemed to spook her own companion but he hid it so fast she wasn’t sure if it had happened in the first place. Closer examination of the man took the breath from her lungs.

But it couldn’t be. Out of all the people in the world there was no possible way. Still, she had to be sure.

“Ryohei?” she asked, using his name the same way she had when they had gone their separate ways.

He looked up at her and recognition was there in his eyes. Her legs almost gave out. It was him.

“Ryohei… This is where you went?” she asked, her voice regrettably pathetic.

The man who held all her attention now dropped Gokudera and gave an uncomfortable smile. He scratched the back of his head and seemed to search for words before saying something about how it had been so long and how good it was to see her in rusty Japanese.

It was all such a shock to her she barely registered anything until he was already hugging her. It was the same warm and firm embrace she remembered, but he was even more muscular now.

“Ryohei…” The only thing she seemed able to say was his name. She felt like she had seen a ghost. Finally it hit her that she was being reunited and she let out a happy half laugh half sob and returned the hug tenfold.

It happened so fast. One minute he was in a ‘friendly’ choke-hold, the next Hayato Gokudera was dropped and abandoned like a sack of rotten potatoes. Rubbing the back of his neck, ringing in his ears yet to silence, he was stunned to see Haru being embraced by that knuckle-head muscle-brain Ryohei and she was hugging him back. Confused and more than a little bit jealous at how she laughed and clung to the big idiot, Hayato found himself fuming.

First sentence out of his mouth seemed to be the most appropriate one for the moment, “What the fuck is going on here?” With right pointer finger directed at Ryohei, “You know her…” left finger to Haru, “She knows you? Did I miss something?” he growled.