Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! in any way.

.2..

:x:x:x:

The festival preparations had taken over Namimori High. Every single person in every single class in every single grade found him or herself doing something directly or indirectly related to the festival. As soon as lessons were over, which there weren’t much of because every single teacher was busy supervising said festival preparations, the classrooms were turned upside down, inside out. The festival was going to be quite large. That meant the whole town was expected to come.

Tsuna and Gokudera almost groaned. That meant certain female relatives were bound to show up as well. Yamamoto laughed it off since his dad already promised to make an appearance. But then, his dad was not about to embarrass him in front of his classmates, or worse, poison him.

Everyone (with possibly the exception of Hibari) was busy, some more so than others. For one, Haru was on top of her element. She seemed a born director, and a loud one at that.

“Hahi! Put the tree over there!” or “No, no, the river will be that direction!” and “Is that a dragon or a bush?” The stage crew ran back and forth under her orders. It was hard, laborious work, but it was infinitely better than letting her do it all herself.

“Back in middle school, Haru used to do the stage props and the costumes,” declared an old classmate of said middle school. “Our class won the ‘Most Abstract Event Award’ three times in a row. That’s every single year she’s done it.” It had to be a record, and not a proud one at that.

Tsuna winced. “It was that bad?”

“That’s not even half of it.”

“There’s more?” asked Gokudera.

“We were nominated “Most Likely To Join the Circus” at least twice and voted number one as ‘The Top Five Most Embarrassing Moments in Midori.’ We were also runner up to the Inventions Club as ‘Year’s Biggest Failure.’”

“That’s pretty harsh,” remarked Yamamoto. Even Gokudera grudgingly agreed.

Haru’s old classmate gave them a Look. “Are you kidding me? In our third year—that was our last performance—we performed the classic ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ And the Chairman of the School Board decided to watch.” The classmate buried his face. “

“What happened?” Tsuna was almost afraid to know.

“Everything. Everything that could go wrong. The costumes were made out of Styrofoam. Styrofoam. She said it was unique and cheap.” The classmate raised his head in horror. “Can you imagine the squeaking and scratching and little bits of white stuff falling every which way you turned? We couldn’t sit down. We couldn’t move, we couldn’t breathe—I couldn’t go to the bathroom! And then…”

He broke off as if he couldn’t go on any further because it was so mentally scarring. Tsuna looked positively terrified of the costume monster that was Haru and even Yamamoto seemed vaguely uneasy. But Gokudera was morbidly interested, and he urged, “And then? What happened?”

He paused. “They broke.”

The trio stared. “The Styrofoam?”

He nodded miserably. “In the middle of the performance. Some students weren’t wearing anything underneath.”

It took a moment to register. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Tsuna swallowed. “The chairman?”

A wince. “He sat front row and center.”

“Oh.”

Yamamoto cleared his throat uncertainly. “Well, besides the Styrofoam idea—I think Haru’s costumes are pretty interesting.”

They turned to give him incredulous stares.

“Uh, besides the Styrofoam idea.”

More stares.

Then the classmate shook his head in disbelief, “You’re crazy.”

Gokudera rolled his eyes, “That’s what I’ve always said. The baseball idiot isn’t part of this world.” For once, Tsuna had to agree.

Yamamoto just laughed.

:x:x:x:

It also seemed that the position of director had gotten to Haru’s head. Not entirely, of course, but it was getting there.

When a certain older brother heard about the play that his dear sister and his boss were performing, he’d been delighted. When he also heard from the same source that Gokudera was to be the prince and his precious sister the princess, he speeded to the first year classroom faster than you can say “extreme.”

The doors burst open, barely recovered from Haru’s previous treatment.

“SAWADA!”

“Eep! Yes!” squeaked Tsuna.

“Ah. Nevermind.” Ryohei pointed, “OCTOPUS HEAD!”

Gokudera had no idea why he was yelling, but he bellowed back anyways. “What, Lawn Head?!”

“How dare you touch my sister!” roared the boxer fanatic.

Everyone blinked. “Eh?”

Kyoko, Haru and Hana came in then, arms full of tools and objects needed for the festival, and they blinked at the sight of Ryohei and Gokudera getting ready to pummel each other’s lights out. “Onii-chan!”

He turned, “Oh, Kyoko! That’s great, I was just about to beat up this bastard to the extreme!”

“What’s great about that?” gawked Tsuna.

She looked rightfully worried. “Onii-chan, what are you talking about? What did Gokudera-kun do?”

Yamamoto said, “Now, now, let’s calm down,” just as Gokudera snapped, “It doesn’t matter! I’ll take you down any day, Lawn Head!”

Ryohei’s eyes lit as if on fire, “I don’t care if it’s Sawada because he’s the boss! But I won’t stand for you, Octopus Head! You just wanted to be the prince so you could be with Kyoko, eh?!”

“Onii-chan!”

Gokudera spluttered, “What the—I’m her brother you idiot!”

This made Ryohei even more enraged. “I’m her brother, you pervert!”

“P-pervert?! You’re the one with a sister complex you freak!”

“Why you—”

And so this went on for quite a while, until the teacher came in and demanded to know why the two boys were having a shouting match so loud that the whole school could hear, and why the class was observing the two from outside the room instead of stopping them. The latter was because the two hotheads were hopping around the classroom and laying destruction and havoc in their wake, and the students didn’t want to get in their way.

Three hours later, the students finished cleaning and restoring the room back to its original state, and Ryohei and Gokudera called a truce after everything was properly explained.

“I see how it is!” Ryohei grinned at his sister, who sighed in relief. “I’m glad for you, Kyoko. Even if it’s just Octopus Head, let’s show him what an extreme sister you can be!”

“What do you mean ‘just’?!”

“So,” continued the boxer, “Sawada, what’s this play about?”

Tsuna blinked. “Huh?”

“You’re the one putting it on, right? What’s it about? Is there going to be any boxing?”

“Um, er, actually—”

"Come on, Sawada! Boxing is the extreme form of justice! It's wonderful!"

"W-well, that's--"

CLANG. Suddenly a metal dustpan fell on the desk in front of Ryohei. Everybody turned to look at her wide-eyed.

Haru smiled sweetly with danger looming in her tone, “Sasagawa-san, didn’t you know? The director of the play is Haru.”

Well, she made that clear. Still, Ryohei actually looked like he was going to argue, for whatever reason, but when he glanced down at the dustpan, which was very large and heavy and still held tightly in her hand, he changed his mind.

“Is there going to be any boxing?”

Haru smiled again. “No.”

:x:x:x:

They began to practice as soon as school was over. While the rest of the school prepared for its own festival events, the recent students-turned-actors and actresses gathered in the theater, going over their lines. In the background was the constant sound of hammering and cutting and moving and pushing and Haru’s voice as she directed the stage crew and the actors.

“I will be retiring early, dear onii-sama. Sleep well.”

Gokudera was struggling. “I… uh, I bid you sweet dreams… and, er, oh! No, hold on…” He peered at the script reluctantly. “Gah! Screw this! Goodnight!”

“Hahi! That’s not how the prince should talk!” Haru rushed to them, holding her own marked copy of the script. “You’re supposed to say, ‘I bid you sweet dreams, fairest sister. We shall talk again in the morning.’” She glared at him, “The prince needs to be charming and gentle, Gokudera-san. Not rude and vulgar!”

“I wasn’t being vulgar!”

“Lower your voice, son, you’re giving me a headache,” called Hana from her ‘throne,’ which was currently an upturned wooden crate on the stage. Chika, the maid, stifled a laugh.

He pointed at her and complained, “You’re too far to even hear us! And I’m not your son!”

“Yes she is,” corrected Haru, Chika and Kyoko. Hana looked smug.

The Storm Guardian threw up with hands. “Forget this scene! When do I fight Yamamoto?”

The baseball player sat up from where he was lying back on the stage, behind the dragon-bush. “Eh? Is it my turn already?”

Haru suddenly waved her arms frantically, “Hahi! Wait, that’s not supposed to go there!” She hurried off to intercept the stage hands carrying in a large table, leaving the actors.

“Gokudera-kun, let’s try this scene again,” suggested Kyoko. He grumbled but did as she said, albeit half-heartedly. Tsuna almost felt sorry for him, since as the king he didn’t have nearly as many lines. At least one thing good came out of this unlucky arrangement.

“Hana-chan! We need that wooden crate! Hahi! Yamamoto-san, this is no time to sleep! And Kyoko-chan, could you start from the very top?”

“Okay, Haru-chan.”

Gokudera was dismayed. “Start over? Again?”

“Not just again, Gokudera-san. We’re doing this at least ten more times today!”

This time nearly everyone groaned.

:x:x:x:

It was after the group study session at Tsuna’s house, which had taken place right after practice finally ended. They had never looked so forward to doing their homework, with the exception of Kyoko and Haru, and they finished quite a bit earlier than usual. Even with the usual interruptions of Lambo and I-pin arguing over their own elementary homework, and Nana calling them down to dinner, they zoomed through the assignments. Yet despite their focus, it was still dark when everybody decided to go home.

“I’ll walk you home, Kyoko-chan,” offered Tsuna worriedly. Hana snorted, since she was going with Kyoko anyways.

“Ah, thank you very much,” smiled Kyoko.

Haru pouted, “Then who’ll walk with me?”

Gokudera ignored her and said, “Tenth, I’ll walk with you!”

“Eh? But you live in the opposite direction, Gokudera-kun.”

“That’s okay!” Gokudera said happily, “I don’t need to go home for a while anyways—”

“Are you ready to go home, Hayato?” A smooth, familiar voice and they all saw Bianchi leaning against the doorway. No goggles.

Caught off guard, Gokudera clutched his stomach and gagged, “Urgh, Aneki…! When did you…?”

“Bianchi-san!”

The older woman raised a hand. “Yo. I’m back from my trip.” She looked at Tsuna. “Reborn sends his regards, and says not to get too comfortable.”

“E-eh? What does that mean?”

But Bianchi approached her out-of-commission brother, remarking, “I guess I’ll have to carry him.” So, with some help from Tsuna and Yamamoto, she half-carried Gokudera out of the house and onto the road.

Yamamoto said, “I can walk with you, Haru, since you live in the same direction.”

And a little while later, after saying goodbye, they were walking down the dark, empty street. Tsuna, Kyoko, Hana in one direction and Yamamoto and Haru in the opposite.

“Hahi,” she stretched, walking beside him on the sidewalk. “What a long day!”

“It was, wasn’t it?” he agreed, glancing at her. “Aren’t you tired? You’ve been really busy today.”

“A little,” she admitted. “But Haru is okay. There are so many things to do and not enough time to do them!” She suddenly asked earnestly, “Yamamoto-san, do you like the play?”

“Hm? Yeah, it’s all right. Why?”

“Oh, Haru was just curious. Isn’t Yamamoto-san the villain?”

He grinned. “Yup!” She laughed.

“Hahi! That’s funny. It’s so strange that Yamamoto-san is the bad guy when it’s the complete opposite in real life.” Her eyes gazed thoughtfully at him. “You know, you should be the prince, or at least on the good side, with Tsuna-san and Gokudera-san.”

She had no idea just how ironic her words were. So he only smiled and replied, “Maybe.”

Haru thought his tone changed slightly, but when she glanced at him there was nothing. So she began to hum a little song from one of her and Kyoko’s favorite TV shows to fill the silence, and looked ahead at the road. Her hum died as she caught sight of what appeared to be a gang hanging back against an alley. They looked quite shady, what with them skulking in the shadows.

Yamamoto saw them as well, and he commented offhandedly, “Some folks have nothing to do at this hour.”

She nodded, trying not to feel nervous. The gang had already spotted the two, and she wondered if they could turn back now. She was walking on the side closest to the alley, and thus more exposed. But her companion didn’t seem to slow down in the slightest, so she kept silent and prayed nothing happened. The gang members watched them, and a few mouthed to each other. Unconsciously, she inched closer to him.

Yamamoto’s hand strayed to his back. Then, it dropped. When they were close enough to see each gang member’s face, he reached out an arm around Haru’s shoulders. It was firm, almost intimate, and right now it was a protective gesture.

Haru startled and then relaxed, grateful. Still, she felt wary as they walked closer to the gang, and right when they were within touching distance she pressed into his side, waiting for one of them to grab her, or stop them. Much to her relief they didn’t do anything.

It wasn’t until they were around the corner and well away that she released the breath she’d been holding in. Safe.

Yamamoto chuckled quite close to her, “That was fun. Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Haru managed to smile again, “Hahi! Haru’s heart is still pounding. I’m glad you walked with me after all, Yamamoto-san. Thank you.”

“Haha! No problem.” His arm slid from her, and both instantly felt the loss of heat. “Your house is here, isn’t it?”

Haru blinked at her gates. “Hahi! That was fast!” She turned and bowed, saying, “Thank you again, Yamamoto-san.”

He waved it off, “Goodnight, Haru.”

She waved back, “Walk home safely!” Then on impulse added, “‘I bid you sweet dreams!’”

He laughed.

:x:x:x:

A/N: Whew, another chapter. At first, I thought I wasn’t going to write anymore of this until at least a week. My computer must be overheating from all the fics I produced this week. Oh well.

I wonder… were the characters OOC? That’s all I’m worried about. Er, that, and the story plot. What do you think? And how was the YamaxHaru interaction? XD

Thanks: To the reader who corrected one of the few Japanese terms I know. "Aneki" instead of "Aniki"-- I thought it didn't make sense.

Thanks for reading!