AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yuki here (obviously) ^_^ How's the new year been treating you guys so far? So far 2014 has been filled with broken windows, blue screens, & WoW for me. I'd intended to do a bit more writing during my break, but that sort of didn't happen-I did get some done though ^_^

On that note:

Welcome to Oncoming Storm, the sequel to Haru's Resolve. I'm really excited to be working on this one (even if my productivity isn't really showing yet)-it was already in the prewriting stages when I was drawing Haru's Resolve to a close, but thank you to those who intimated they'd like to see a sequel to Haru's Resolve ^_^ it really gave me the push to move forward with this one.

Oncoming Storm expands out a little way from Haru to encompass everyone's favorite reluctant mafia boss and his chain-smoking right-hand man (I kept that aspect from the manga). As the summary says, it takes place primarily during their third year of high school. I'm not sure if this will be what most people will expect, but I do hope you'll hang with me until the end of this one too.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and the affiliated characters belong to Akira Amano-I'm just yoinking the world again and spinning out my own post manga thread ^_^ The original characters (old friends from Haru's Resolve and some new faces will eventually surface) and the story line are of my own creation.

Thanks again for reading! (Reviews are awesome if you've got the time ^_^)

Now onward!

There's a storm brewing...

(As a note, this one is likely to be updated on more of a every-two-week or so schedule for now-sorry!)

If you've read Haru's Resolve (which I would suggest, though it isn't required ^_^), the prologue here takes place during and after Haru's heart-to-heart with Tsuna-from a different PoV.

Target 00-02: What the Cherry Blossoms Hid

Hayato Gokudera kicked the stone in the middle of the sidewalk and watched it skitter along the concrete until it eventually rolled to a stop in one of the crevices. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and heard the crackle of his cigarettes and swore before dragging them out. He pulled one out and put it between his lips, lighting it quickly before he placed the pack in the side pocket of his backpack. After the entrance ceremony, Judaime had excused himself and vanished leaving just him and the baseball idiot to try and figure out what they were going to do with the rest of their free afternoon. He'd ditched Yamamoto at the train station, saying he was headed to the library because he knew that Yamamoto wouldn't follow. He turned into one of the parks deciding that he'd take one last look at the cherry blossoms while they were still around, a storm was supposed to be hitting tonight and it would likely spell the end of cherry blossom season.

He wasn't sure what drew him, but he spotted two people sitting beneath one of the larger trees in the park and as his feet drew him closer, his eyes went wide. He raised a hand to greet Judaime, but snapped his mouth shut when he saw who his companion was. That stupid woman reached out and touched Judaime's hand and they seemed to be deep in conversation. He watched the two balefully until Judaime actually held the stupid girl's hand and said something with that serious look that Gokudera knew all too well.

He quickly ducked behind one of the other trees as the two rose and packed everything away. The stupid woman left first and the Judaime glanced in Gokudera's general direction. "Did you have to follow me, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked.

Gokudera jumped and came around the tree. "Judaime…" he began and sighed, running his hand through his silver hair. "Believe it or not, it was actually an accident. I got bored with the baseball idiot's company and left. I headed towards the library, but wound up here instead."

Tsuna looked doubtful, but his expression relaxed a bit after a few moments and Gokudera breathed a sigh of relief. There were times when he was guilty of nearly stalking the future Vongola Boss—he just didn't want Tsuna to wind up in trouble without his right hand man to back him up—but he didn't really want to be blamed for something when it wasn't what he was doing.

Tsuna started walking down the sidewalk and Gokudera fell in step beside him, realizing that he didn't have to slow himself quite as much as he used to. "Did you find out what you needed to?" Gokudera asked, taking a deep draw of his cigarette and expelling the smoke into the air.

"Yeah," Tsuna said quietly.

They walked quietly for a long time and then Tsuna spoke up. "I've decided I have no choice but to accept this," he said reluctantly.

For a moment, Gokudera wanted to ask what exactly 'this' was, but then he realized that Tsuna was talking about his situation in general and likely the mafia in particular. "Oh?" Gokudera prompted, it wasn't often Tsuna just talked to him—he usually seemed more comfortable with Yamamoto, which pissed Gokudera off to no end. "Did the stupid woman say something?"

"She's not stupid," Tsuna said absently and then he sighed. "Haru just pointed out something that I've been trying to ignore since this whole mess started."

"What was that?" Gokudera asked.

"She pointed out that because of everything that's happened there's no way I can escape, no matter what I want to do," Tsuna said. "She said that even if I swore off everything to do with the Mafia, the Vongola, the rings, everything…somehow, someday, someone would show up to challenge me anyway and they might drag you guys into it."

"We can handle anything anyone throws at us," Gokudera said.

"But wouldn't it be better if we're prepared for that eventuality?" Tsuna asked quietly.

"Judaime?" Gokudera asked, his eyes going wide.

Tsuna held up his hand and looked at it as if he'd never seen it before in his life and then slowly clenched it into a fist. "He really didn't give me much of a choice," Tsuna grumbled, relaxing his hand and letting it drop to his side. "And she's not giving me much of a choice either."

"She?" Gokudera repeated.

"Haru," Tsuna said. "She said that after she came back from the future, she determined that she didn't want to see anything like that happen if she could do something about it. She asked Reborn to help her learn, but he turned her down so she found another teacher."

Tsuna fell silent again and then turned to look at Gokudera, his brown eyes nearly unreadable in the failing light. "Haru said that she wants to protect everyone and, while she doesn't want to be on the front line, she fully intends to continue training so that she can protect those we have to leave behind when we fight."

"That stupid woman said that?" Gokudera asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Tsuna said.

Gokudera shook his head in awe and paused to stub out his cigarette and drop it into the trash receptacle before he continued along the path with Tsuna.

"So what do we do now?" Gokudera asked.

"Get through middle school, I guess," Tsuna said. "I'm not going to plan anything after that yet. I don't even know if I'll get into high school."

Gokudera wanted to laugh and tell Tsuna that of course he would get into high school, but he knew just as well as Tsuna that it may not be in the cards. "What happens if you don't get into high school?" Gokudera asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Tsuna replied.