Katekyou Hitman Reborn! » La Pétite Mort
Title La Pétite Mort
Chapter Epilogue
Character/Pairing Haru Miura, Takeshi Yamamoto and Hayato Gokudera, Reborn, Bianchi
Warning None.
Wordcount 1,057
The dream Haru had was not at once convincingly nightmarish.
The view focuses on a small flat, occupied by Gokudera smoking, hiding behind the newspaper he is reading, and a very small child on the floor near his feet. She cannot see his face, but when he checks his watch, he makes a sound of disapproval. Not outright disapproval; perhaps more disappointment. As if he is expecting someone who is excessively late.
The baby crawls around Gokudera's legs as well as the table's, happily scooting itself along with arms and determined kicking. It quickly and quite unexpectedly, crashes head-first into one of the hard, wooden table legs and immediately begins to scream.
Gokudera ignores it.
Minutes pass and the baby continues to howl while Gokudera simply reads his paper, smoking his cigarette, oblivious. Then Haru sees herself stumbling through the door with an armload of shopping piled high up over her head. She drops everything when she hears the baby, runs to it, and makes to scold Gokudera. She has no mouth. She has a nose and eyes, cheeks and chin, but absolutely nothing to complete the picture. She tries to vocalize, tries to scream, and there is no sound. Still, Gokudera immediately drops the paper as if he's heard her, and that's where Haru always wakes up.
The dream usually fades quickly, but sometimes Haru can hang onto it for just long enough to remember, in fear or in relief, that she has never been able to dream long enough to see Gokudera's face, for she can never recall what it looks like.
Today, when Haru wakes, Gokudera's arm is draped protectively over her middle, and there are tears drying on her face, but she cannot remember why. She turns to him, her eyes roaming his face as if it's the first time she's seen him in years. His eyebrows still furrow when he sleeps and she wonders every day if his nightmare still haunts him and he's simply learned to keep quiet about it. She likes to think positively.
She reaches her arm out to him, hand gently pushing the hair from his eyes. He has a new scar, just above his eyebrow, so thin and white you can scarcely see it. He still won't tell her where they all come from, why he needs to practice so diligently with his dynamite, when Tsuna-san will come back from Italy. Sasagawa-san has been and gone back twice already. "Not yet. Not yet," he always tells her, and she'll wait. She has little else to do.
Yesterday Reborn finally returned (Haru's mind drifted once more to Tsuna-san then back again) and he seemed a little worse for the wear. He seems very tired, but has been very indulgent with Bianchi-chan regardless since she has finally come out of hiding, wanting to see if it was really true. Haru softly smiles, thinking of how happy she looked to see him, all those tears of joy and relief and love. She turns that smile on Gokudera and carefully tucks his hair back so it will stay out of his face. Seeing Bianchi-chan that way put some thoughts in Haru's head, ideas about love and truthfulness. She thinks, one day, she will have to ask her to explain it again.
Slowly, Haru eases from beneath Gokudera's arm and out of bed, straightening the covers over him. She slips on a pair of shorts from the dresser and pads out into the hallway. It's still a little early for the others to be up, so she decides she will start on breakfast for them.
Haru cries out in surprise when she walks into the kitchen to find Yamamoto seated with a mug and a book at the main table. "When did you get back?"
"Very, very early," he says, marking his page with a folded corner. "What are you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep," she says, and wraps her arms around her, either uncomfortable or cold - even she isn't sure.
He smiles at her warmly and stands, going to the stove. Haru realizes he is fixing her a cup of tea. "Is Gokudera still sleeping well?"
"Mm," she says and softly steps toward the table, having a seat across from where Yamamoto had been.
"What about you?" Yamamoto's arm suddenly appears to her left, setting her mug down on the table before her. Haru dips her head in thanks and does not watch him as he sits, instead focusing somewhere in the walls. "Haru?"
"Ah, yes. Haru is sleeping well." She can feel him observing her and it makes her feel naked, so she lifts the tea to sip at it.
"No nightmares?"
Haru's eyes look toward Yamamoto, find him staring at her, chin propped up by his hand, accentuating the pink scar along it. The stitches had fallen out too early. All that smiling. "What would Yamamoto-san like for breakfast? Haru's treat, since you've just arrived back."
"French toast," he says, and Haru nods, abandons her tea on the table, and goes to fetch a bowl from the cabinet.
Neither of them say anything until Haru has the bread cooking in the pan. "Haru was thinking, maybe tomorrow we could go visit Hana-chan."
"'We?'"
"Kyouko-chan, the children and Haru." Haru laughs a little and looks over her shoulder. "But you can come, too, if you'd like."
Yamamoto laughs his amiable laugh and leans back just a little on the bench. "No, that's all right. I'll be glad to have the room to myself for rest. Would you like me to escort you?"
"What?"
"To Kurokawa-san's house."
"Oh! Oh, right. Yes, if you would."
"Consider it done." Haru turns away from that grin under the guise of needing to flip the bread. She knows that he knows. He's been gone since a little over a week after that very first night she slipped secretly into Hayato's room, but she knows that's he's known since then. It must have been the first night he'd had no need to go to him.
She wishes he would just come out and say it, make a bold announcement of his awareness as he'd always done when they were younger. She thinks that if she can tell just one person, it might become real. She wants to be certain. She wants solidarity.
She wants the truth.
End.
Chapter Epilogue
Character/Pairing Haru Miura, Takeshi Yamamoto and Hayato Gokudera, Reborn, Bianchi
Warning None.
Wordcount 1,057
The dream Haru had was not at once convincingly nightmarish.
The view focuses on a small flat, occupied by Gokudera smoking, hiding behind the newspaper he is reading, and a very small child on the floor near his feet. She cannot see his face, but when he checks his watch, he makes a sound of disapproval. Not outright disapproval; perhaps more disappointment. As if he is expecting someone who is excessively late.
The baby crawls around Gokudera's legs as well as the table's, happily scooting itself along with arms and determined kicking. It quickly and quite unexpectedly, crashes head-first into one of the hard, wooden table legs and immediately begins to scream.
Gokudera ignores it.
Minutes pass and the baby continues to howl while Gokudera simply reads his paper, smoking his cigarette, oblivious. Then Haru sees herself stumbling through the door with an armload of shopping piled high up over her head. She drops everything when she hears the baby, runs to it, and makes to scold Gokudera. She has no mouth. She has a nose and eyes, cheeks and chin, but absolutely nothing to complete the picture. She tries to vocalize, tries to scream, and there is no sound. Still, Gokudera immediately drops the paper as if he's heard her, and that's where Haru always wakes up.
The dream usually fades quickly, but sometimes Haru can hang onto it for just long enough to remember, in fear or in relief, that she has never been able to dream long enough to see Gokudera's face, for she can never recall what it looks like.
Today, when Haru wakes, Gokudera's arm is draped protectively over her middle, and there are tears drying on her face, but she cannot remember why. She turns to him, her eyes roaming his face as if it's the first time she's seen him in years. His eyebrows still furrow when he sleeps and she wonders every day if his nightmare still haunts him and he's simply learned to keep quiet about it. She likes to think positively.
She reaches her arm out to him, hand gently pushing the hair from his eyes. He has a new scar, just above his eyebrow, so thin and white you can scarcely see it. He still won't tell her where they all come from, why he needs to practice so diligently with his dynamite, when Tsuna-san will come back from Italy. Sasagawa-san has been and gone back twice already. "Not yet. Not yet," he always tells her, and she'll wait. She has little else to do.
Yesterday Reborn finally returned (Haru's mind drifted once more to Tsuna-san then back again) and he seemed a little worse for the wear. He seems very tired, but has been very indulgent with Bianchi-chan regardless since she has finally come out of hiding, wanting to see if it was really true. Haru softly smiles, thinking of how happy she looked to see him, all those tears of joy and relief and love. She turns that smile on Gokudera and carefully tucks his hair back so it will stay out of his face. Seeing Bianchi-chan that way put some thoughts in Haru's head, ideas about love and truthfulness. She thinks, one day, she will have to ask her to explain it again.
Slowly, Haru eases from beneath Gokudera's arm and out of bed, straightening the covers over him. She slips on a pair of shorts from the dresser and pads out into the hallway. It's still a little early for the others to be up, so she decides she will start on breakfast for them.
Haru cries out in surprise when she walks into the kitchen to find Yamamoto seated with a mug and a book at the main table. "When did you get back?"
"Very, very early," he says, marking his page with a folded corner. "What are you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep," she says, and wraps her arms around her, either uncomfortable or cold - even she isn't sure.
He smiles at her warmly and stands, going to the stove. Haru realizes he is fixing her a cup of tea. "Is Gokudera still sleeping well?"
"Mm," she says and softly steps toward the table, having a seat across from where Yamamoto had been.
"What about you?" Yamamoto's arm suddenly appears to her left, setting her mug down on the table before her. Haru dips her head in thanks and does not watch him as he sits, instead focusing somewhere in the walls. "Haru?"
"Ah, yes. Haru is sleeping well." She can feel him observing her and it makes her feel naked, so she lifts the tea to sip at it.
"No nightmares?"
Haru's eyes look toward Yamamoto, find him staring at her, chin propped up by his hand, accentuating the pink scar along it. The stitches had fallen out too early. All that smiling. "What would Yamamoto-san like for breakfast? Haru's treat, since you've just arrived back."
"French toast," he says, and Haru nods, abandons her tea on the table, and goes to fetch a bowl from the cabinet.
Neither of them say anything until Haru has the bread cooking in the pan. "Haru was thinking, maybe tomorrow we could go visit Hana-chan."
"'We?'"
"Kyouko-chan, the children and Haru." Haru laughs a little and looks over her shoulder. "But you can come, too, if you'd like."
Yamamoto laughs his amiable laugh and leans back just a little on the bench. "No, that's all right. I'll be glad to have the room to myself for rest. Would you like me to escort you?"
"What?"
"To Kurokawa-san's house."
"Oh! Oh, right. Yes, if you would."
"Consider it done." Haru turns away from that grin under the guise of needing to flip the bread. She knows that he knows. He's been gone since a little over a week after that very first night she slipped secretly into Hayato's room, but she knows that's he's known since then. It must have been the first night he'd had no need to go to him.
She wishes he would just come out and say it, make a bold announcement of his awareness as he'd always done when they were younger. She thinks that if she can tell just one person, it might become real. She wants to be certain. She wants solidarity.
She wants the truth.
End.