A/N: Woo! Eaaarly Valentine's Day fic. In the form of 2786. All mistakes are mine, yes. I haven't read Reborn in a while too, so the characters may seem a bit off. The ending also seems a bit cheesy to me but what am I gonna do?

Tsuna didn't have many things going for him. Sure, he was going to be the leader of an extremely powerful mafia family but he didn't see that as something to boast about. Girls scared him, he couldn't run fifty metres without wanting to keel over and die and his grades were just horrible. Actually, horrible didn't begin to describe his grades but he'd look on the bright sides of things, well, the slightly less dark side.

The worst thing, he decided, was that after a good while of trying, Kyoko still didn't notice him. They were friends, sure, but Tsuna wanted more. Or at least, he thinks he wants more. He isn't quite sure, because between trying not to flunk out of school and fighting the villain of the week, he hasn't thought much about Kyoko. He thinks this is a nice change of pace because now he doesn't despair over it as often.

Then there was Haru, Haru who was all over him and a good girl in general and if he asked anybody, they would say, "I think you should give Haru a chance." Tsuna just doesn't see Haru that way. She's sweet and cute and all those other nice things but he won't ever see her as more than "that weird girl from down the road". Heck, if Haru didn't remind him at every opportunity, he would forget that she was "in love" with him because she's very nice to everyone in general. He ignores the twinge in his gut because he has no idea what it could be. It's certainly not jealousy, right? Right.

Tsuna doesn't waste time in packing up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. He's got a long walk ahead, and if he's lucky, the neighbour's dog won't steal his pants again.

Haru loves life. She loves nature, she loves children, she loves having friends and she loves Tsuna. That being said, she had more than an idea that Tsuna didn't love himself. She didn't understand why, though. Tsuna was brave, strong and anything a great mafia leader-slash-her future husband should be. It was a shame that Tsuna didn't see himself as that much.

Haru had a plan, even if it involved kidnapping Tsuna. This Valentine's Day she'd show Tsuna how highly others thought of him and he'd thank her and she'd give him the best homemade chocolate ever. It'd be so romantic. Haru was having heart problems thinking about it.

"Tsuna," she said, as she combed her hair into a ponytail, practicing her signature smile in the mirror, "best believe I'll prove you wrong."

He's finally made it through the school gates and while nothing went reasonably wrong during his journey to school, except when he thought he left his wallet at home and nearly had a heart attack because he'd already taken the train and there were none going back until after school started (he later found the wallet in his bag, right between two notebooks). It's just a week until Valentine's and he's determined to ask Kyoko. Or at least get two sentences out about it before Kyoko's smile makes him bite his tongue.

He heaves a sigh of "oh great, another day of school" and it's not long before he has Gokudera clapping him on the back and Yamamoto throwing his arms around his shoulders. Yeah, his friends are really touchy like that. He's led into the classroom where Kyoko is sitting on a desk, talking to Chrome and his heart is pounding because of the way the light is hitting her hair. That's what he tries to think because his heart used to pound and acknowledging this lack of heart pounding is making him confused.

He walks over to Kyoko and Chrome after telling Gokudera and Yamamoto to give him five minutes. "Hey Kyoko," he mumbles and even though it's barely audible, he's proud. The last time he tried to ask her this, his throat blocked itself up and he had to go to the nurse, "I haven't something to ask you."

Kyoko only regards him for a second before smiling and chirping, "Fire away, Tsuna."

"Would you," he starts out barely audible and tries to raise his voice so the poor girl can hear him, he closes his eyes, "GO OUT WITH ME ON VALENTINE'S?" Great, he ends up shouting and when he opens his eyes which were screwed shut, he and Kyoko have the attention of everyone in the classroom. He could have planned this out a little better, maybe taken her to somewhere a little emptier.

Kyoko expression shifts to one that is a bit sad and concerned and even before he says it, Tsuna knows. "Sorry, Tsuna, I can't. I already have someone else in mind." The room goes silent, except for a gasp from one of the girls at the back. He's found a fan of drama.

Tsuna shrugs and does what he hopes is an impish half-smile, "It's cool." He turns around and marches back to his desk, where he sits down and decides how quickly he can kill himself by impaling himself with his pen. He decides not to; wouldn't want to get the classroom dirty and upset the people who are on duty.

Surprisingly, Tsuna made it through the day. It helps that no one in the class hates him enough to gossip about it around him. It also helps that he's receiving mostly pitiful glances. A few laughs here and there but most people are being cool about it. He's relieved. He can still attend this school. It's a bit too late in the year for a transfer.

He hopes that stupid person who Kyoko's giving chocolate to is happy. Tsuna hopes that he's happy that he gets to take out Kyoko somewhere. Well, Tsuna's hoping that he gets obligatory chocolate in the least. That would make him happy. Especially if the chocolate's handmade, that would make his day. To be honest, that's what he gets for trying to be proactive. The girls are the ones who are handing out the chocolate, anyways. They're the ones who are asking that lucky person to be their date. Tsuna finds that when he reasons it out, it doesn't hurt as much.

What would a girl like Kyoko want with a guy like him anyway?

When Haru gets a call from Kyoko telling her about what happened with Tsuna, Kyoko has half a mind to run out and comfort Tsuna. The poor guy is probably in shambles. Haru would pick up the pieces and put him back together and then he'd have to like her back. She doesn't though. She doesn't want to be a rebound or guilt Tsuna into liking her. She wants nature to take its course.

"I'm not a bad person, am I?" Kyoko asks and even though they're not speaking in person, Haru can hear the worry in her voice. Haru takes some time to jump onto her bed.

"You're not. Tsuna is strong, right? He'll just bounce back. I think he's happy that he won't have a million what-if's to consider when he looks back at this. You know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Kyoko sounds relieved and Haru smiles because she's just done something right in comforting a friend, "You'll make sure he's back to normal in no time right?" Kyoko is putting the fate of Tsuna on Haru's shoulders and Haru knows that this is something really important happening right now.

"Of course," Haru says, "You can always count on Haru. By the way, I have a plan, help a girl out?" Haru leans back on her pillows and when she begins talking about her plan, she doesn't stop until she has Kyoko agreeing to help.

"Who said that Haru Miura didn't have crazy skills of persuasion?" she asks herself as she hangs up her phone, goes over to her desk and begins doing the pile of work she set there before the phone call stole her attention.

It was the day before Valentine's Day and everyone was acting edgy around him. Tsuna was going crazy. It seemed like everyone was in on this ploy that he had no clue about and it was driving him up a wall. It was worse that he had to deal with Kyoko's rejection but soon after it, everyone was just acting weird, like they knew something he didn't.

If it was the identity of Kyoko's mystery date then he didn't care. He wasn't going to storm off and beat him up, he swore. Mostly because he'd probably end up getting beat up himself. Even Haru, Haru didn't speak to him much except for when she was dropping hints about how much she wishes she didn't have to ask out this guy she had in mind for Valentine's Day herself. Even Haru had gotten over him! Tsuna wasn't surprised, though, he took the poor girl for granted and now she was over him.

He didn't miss her gushing about him all that much, he told himself. It was mostly annoying, in the first place. However, when she talked about her dream Valentine, a weird tension would spring up in his eyebrows and he found himself unable to smile. He was worried about Haru's Valentine, Tsuna had convinced himself, he sounded like a sketchy guy.

He could barely concentrate with all the thinking his mind was doing and ended up almost forgetting to hand up his, admittedly mostly incomplete, class work.

The bell chimed, signalling the end of school and he went to Haru's house, she had promised to help him with his homework today. When he reached the door, he was barely able to knock twice before it was flung open and Haru was standing in the doorway, her school uniform looking so neat that Tsuna had a hard time believing she didn't just put it on.

She dragged him in and up to her room in record time. When he asked her if her parents wouldn't mind, she just smiled in a very "did you really just ask that?" way. He grabbed a seat on the floor and took out his math book, deciding to go with the harder subjects first and when he started asking questions, Haru sat down beside him and didn't hesitate in answering them.

Tsuna forgot how smart Haru was a good chunk of the time. It didn't help that the girl was not only extremely weird but also a bit of an airhead at times. When Haru started explaining the work though, he saw a different side of the girl. He saw a side that was serious, beautiful and in Tsuna's opinion, a little bit weird. He liked Haru the best when she was being goofy and cute. Oh gosh, this work was getting to his head. He was speaking as if he had a crush on her or something.

"Did you understand?" Haru looked up and when she saw Tsuna staring at her instead of the work, she felt her cheeks darken.

"No, uh, can you say it again?" Tsuna asked, his heart racing after being caught staring at Haru. Haru nodded again as if to say sure.

"So, basically, all you do is add five to both sides and then divide it by two to get the value of x." Tsuna nodded and moved his pen across the paper writing out the steps that Haru showed him. When he got a value and put it in the calculator, the equation added up. He felt proud of himself.

"Good job, Tsuna," Haru said, she was giving him a big smile and flashing him a thumbs-up. He felt his face flush.

"Did you ever ask that guy you wanted to? To a Valentine's Day date, I mean? You're at least going to give him chocolates, right?" Tsuna asked, the topic suddenly popping up in his mind and the question leaving his lips.

"No but I'm gonna ask him right now. He's right here, after all." When Tsuna gave her a confused look, as if he were wondering where she could be hiding a boy in her room, Haru laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed.

"Is there a joke here? I don't get it because if you're hiding a boy in your room, then I think you're going to be in trouble if anyone finds out."

Sometimes Tsuna could be very stupid. "I meant you, silly," Haru said and before she lost her nerve, she asked him, "Would you take me out on Valentine's?" Tsuna seemed to think long and hard for a minute to Haru. Tsuna was actually freaking out and trying to decide on whether or not this was a good idea. He liked Haru, a lot more than he liked many other people, sure, but did he like her that way? He was happy, though. He was beyond elated that she would ask him.

He had seen Haru's fanclub once when she had asked him to pick her up at school. The guys at Midori Middle School loved Haru and all her eccentricities. They glowered at him when she grabbed his arm and while he had been scared that the boys would find him and kill him the next day, he had felt comfortable with Haru holding him like that. He made her feel like she mattered, something that not a lot of people did.

When Haru gave him a look when he had probably waited too long to answer, Tsuna jumped up and said, "Yes. I will. Just don't ever give me that look again." Tsuna sighed when Haru also got up, clapped her hands and did a happy dance.

"It'll be so much fun, I promise. Look forward to you chocolate, yeah?" Haru said as he spun around, Tsuna, grabbing his hands and forcing him to dance with her. Tsuna just gave her a smile because he couldn't remember for the life of him whether or not Haru was a good cook. And when he spun her around and pulled her close to him, miraculously avoiding tripping and bringing down Haru with him, he smiled. When Haru smiled back, he decided he didn't care if the chocolate was good or bad.

This was bad, so bad, Tsuna thought as he sat at the cafe Haru told him to meet her at. He had gone home, showered, thrown down the obligation chocolate he got (courtesy of Chrome, I-Pi, Kyoko and a few girls in his class), and changed into his best pair of clean clothes. He was in so much trouble. He liked Haru. After going thinking back to everything that had been happening for a while, he decided he liked Haru a little bit more than he was eager to admit.

Why else would he have been caught staring at her yesterday? Or why did it make him so happy to be dancing without her? He was already comfortable around her and she made him like a hero, sometimes. Tsuna didn't trust himself, though. He'd probably end the day with Haru going from liking him to hating him. Only Tsuna had the kind of luck that would take a girl who liked him and when he started to understand and reciprocate her feelings, she'd decide he waited too long or he'd do something to make her just stop liking him.

When he was in doubt, Reborn came to him. He sat next to him and said, "Tsuna, you're an idiot. Haru likes the idiotic you, though, so it shouldn't be a problem." Before Tsuna could even thank Reborn for his "advice", the baby had walked off. Tsuna had wondered if Reborn was even there, or if the baby had been a trick of the mind due to his nerves. The bill that the baby left on the table, though, was a good indication that he had been real. Either way, he was still a bit nervous but Reborn had been right. Haru liked him as an idiot, so he was just going to be himself. Yes, he just called himself an idiot and yes, he was a proud idiot.

Haru walked into the cafe and Tsuna felt his heart stop. Or it was just going so fast, it felt like it wasn't beating at all. He didn't understand what half of those protagonists in stories were thinking when they saw the girl they liked until now. Somehow, acknowledging that he liked Haru brought about all these feelings that he had just been ignoring. Haru waved at him and when she walked over and sat down, Tsuna had managed to calm himself down. After the initial shock of seeing Haru all dressed up (her hair was down!), Tsuna found it easy to greet her and they soon fell into their normal banter.

Haru picked up the menu and Tsuna did the same glancing down at the selections. He vaguely remembered Haru saying something about her favourite drink being the green tea so he decided to get one for himself.

"You're ordering a green tea, right?" he asked and when he did, Haru nodded.

"Hahi! How did you know?" she inquired, with an eyebrow raised and Tsuna thought it was the cutest expression he'd ever seen.

"Last week...when you were talking about this cafe," he began, "you said something about, umm, their green tea?"

"I don't know if you're asking me or telling me that I said something about the green tea but you're right. Haru is so happy that she has such a considerate date."

Tsuna rubbed the back of his neck, going on about how she didn't have to compliment him. Anyone would remember the green tea because of how passionately Haru spoke about it. He excused himself to go order their drinks and Haru let him decide what food to get too. When he was gone, Haru dug into her bag and fished out just what she was looking for, a container of chocolate and a small notebook. This notebook would help Tsuna understand how people thought about him and it was practically her big plan to get him out of the dumps.

Tsuna came back telling her that they had to wait a bit for their order. He looked down and saw the chocolate and was excited. From what little of it he could see through the container's translucent lid, it looked quite delicious, the operative word being looked. When he saw the book, he was a little puzzled; could Haru have taken out her journal or something? He took his seat across from Haru and reached for the container. When Haru didn't bat his hand away, he took it as an invitation to take the chocolate and try a bit.

He put a bit of the chocolate in his mouth and he decided that he wouldn't mind if Haru made him chocolate every day. It was delicious! He closed the container before he decided to take more. He wanted to eat only a little and make the chocolate last a while. "That was amazing, Haru," he praised, her, "I wouldn't mind a lot more of that. Are you sure you aren't like a secret gourmet chef or something?" After being the successor to a mafia, Tsuna thought anything to be possible.

"That compliment is more than welcome. I try, I try." One of Haru's best skills, in her opinion, was her cooking after all. She waited until the food had come and they had already eaten, Tsuna raving about the high quality of the food all throughout the meal, when she started the final act of her master plan. She pushed the journal in Tsuna's direction. The boy looked down at it and then back up and then pointed at himself as if to ask, "Is this for me?"

"Look inside," Haru chirped. Tsuna took up the book and opened it, flipping through the pages. Inside was a picture of each of his friends with a small caption under it, stating what they felt about him. Bianchi thought he was a good young man, Gokudera called him "the best boss ever!" and even Reborn wrote in it, calling him one of his best students, going as far as to say he was proud of Tsuna. Tsuna stared at the book; everyone had something positive to say about him. He couldn't even find so many positive things to say about himself. He had no clue that the other's believed in him so much.

"Did you get them to do this?" Tsuna asked, even though he already knew the answer. This was why everyone was acting weird. They didn't want to accidentally spill the secret about this book. Even better, Haru had gotten them to do this. She had asked everyone to write what they thought about him as if she had known how useless he was feeling all the time.

"I did. Kyoko helped a lot, too," Haru admitted, "Do you like it?"

"I love it." Tsuna looked at the final page where Haru had written a good paragraph about what she thought about him. It made him warm all over. He put the journal and chocolate in his bag. A worker came to pick up their plates and cups. Tsuna thanked him then looked at Haru, "Wanna leave? I'll pay the bill. The guy should pay for the date, right?"

"You don't have to-" Haru started but Tsuna cut her off.

"I want to. I got my allowance and everything, so it's cool," Tsuna got up, helped Haru out of her chair and left her to pick up her stuff. He went to the cashier and paid for their bill, grudge fully handing over the money for Reborn's as well. How he left in the first place without paying, Tsuna will never understand. He probably told them he was with Tsuna. Classical Reborn tactics.

When Haru was done, she walked over to him and grabbed his hand. Tsuna let her. Her hand felt so soft against his. It was almost unbelievable. They walked to the station and then took the train home, which was uneventful except for the few minutes Haru fell asleep on his shoulder. She woke up with a start, apologizing fervently. The sun was almost down, so Tsuna walked Haru to her house. It wasn't too out of the way from his and it was the gentlemanly thing to do, of course.

He walked her up to the front steps and without warning, pulled her in for a kiss. That's what he tried to do, that is. Being Tsuna, he ended up pulling her a bit too hard and when she crashed into him, they were both sent to the floor. They both laughed and when they got up Haru gave him a kiss on the cheek for his effort. That was a good prize.

"So I guess from what you just tried, you at least like me a little bit. You're supposed to tell me how you feel before you do something like that. Tsuna's so sneaky." Haru scolded Tsuna as he laughed to himself.

"I like you, Haru. It took me a while to realize but I really do." The words just came naturally with Haru; it was so different from all the other girls he had liked. It was so different than all the times he had tried to confess to Kyoko. With Haru, he didn't trip all over his tongue in trying to say the right thing. It was refreshing.

"You've always known how I feel, right?" Haru asked and Tsuna nodded. She was always so open and true with her feelings. It was so endearing. Tsuna didn't mess up twice, thank the heavens. Haru's lips were soft on his and he could feel her smiling.

"Be my girlfriend?" Tsuna asked in a rush of words when they parted. He couldn't believe he had asked that. If Haru said "yes", he'd be so happy. He didn't think it was possible that he would ever be able to call a girl his girlfriend.

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe. Yes." Haru grinned and Tsuna pulled her into a hug. Her hair smelled like a hard time in the kitchen, trying to make the perfect chocolate. Tsuna smiled.

"Haru hopes that Tsuna knows she expects him to gift accordingly on White Day." Tsuna blanched, he had no clue what he was going to do. There was no possible way he'd find a good enough gift for Haru. He'd have to get her an engagement ring or something.

Tsuna knew one thing, though. This was the beginning of a long chapter. Maybe even a collection of chapters in the book of life.