Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Katekyo Hitman Reborn characters mentioned in the story. They belong to Akira Amano.

Here it was, the moment of truth. No more turning back. She was sure of it. Whether she wanted this or not was no longer something to ponder on. In the end, what she had once sought for appeared to have been unknown to her right from the beginning.

The sound of the oven brought Haru Miura Sawada out of her reverie. With the skilful moves of a cook, she swiftly pulled out a tray of cookies. Its sweet aroma instantly filled the extensive kitchen of the Vongola Headquarters. If I-pin were there, the Chinese girl would be so excited to try one of her own. Compliments would have been given to her by Bianchi. And with Kyoko Sasagawa…

Haru's thoughts were cut off abruptly as soon as the smiling face of her best friend popped into her mind. Shame and remorse flooded again inside the lone brown-haired as if the storm within her still was not enough. This caused her to be determined more than ever to push through with the plan.

As the about to be divorcee laid out the pastries on an elegant plate, her eyes started to blur. Despite the brave façade she held in front of the family who was most certainly not in the dark of the undertakings, Haru felt feeble.

"There," she whispered, glowering at her masterpiece.

After hours of preparation, the meal she produced for her husband was finally ready. Along with this scrumptious banquet came a bittersweet message of goodbyes and hellos. For whose benefit? Haru did not know.

"Hmmm…"

Haru almost dropped the plate of cookies from her hands upon hearing the familiar soft but intimidating voice. The unexpected disturbance to the silence made her freeze. Most especially the source of it.

Various emotions emerged from Haru and uncertainties overwhelmed her: uncertainties on how to react with the abrupt appearance of this uninvited visitor. Or could she consider him as an intruder to her privacy? This was, after all, the Vongola kitchen that belonged to everyone in the family. Anybody could easily just enter the area without having to ask for permission. But having already been around the group for so many years, she was certain that at this point, the guardians should still be training hard. Or could she have lost the track of time due to her focus on her job?

Haru glanced up at the wall clock. Two more hours left before the break. So what's Kyoya Hibari doing in the kitchen? Was he so hungry that he decided to go ahead than everyone else? Nevertheless, he never was the type to join a crowd of people, even though they may be fighting for the same thing. Did something bad happen?

The last hunch flustered Haru that she turned without second thought. Nonetheless, the instinct of worrying about her husband remained.

"Did something happen to Tsuna?" she blurted out.

Despite her outburst, the Cloud guardian did not flinch. He did not say anything. The blank but meaningful stare of Hibari did not waver. Haru became even more puzzled.

What is he doing here? What does he want?she contemplated.

A dread came over her, remembering the night she ran away. It was the night when she cried her heart out upon fathoming how a fool she had been for hallucinating what was never real. And who did she run into? The guy who was now standing in front of her. And if only the incident occurred somewhere Haru can consider a safe domain but it did not. She interfered with his own isolation at the forbidden place.

Could that be the reason why Hibari now stood in front of her? He had easily let Haru go then and that instance was never brought up during conversations. Not like he ever talked to any of them about anything personal. And he never showed any concern on the marriage, or the lack thereof in this matter.

The soft steps of Hibari broke the stiff stillness emanating the room. He moved towards the startled woman, clutching on the chinaware.

A gasp escaped from Haru as she watched the sinister man took one pastry from the plate. She watched him smell the food. She watched him take a bit from it. She watched him hum contentedly and completely swallowing the whole.

To Haru's horror, Hibari took another. She knew she should do something about it. There's no way her hard work would go down the drain. There's no way she'd be left with nothing to serve to Tsuna. There's no way that this lunatic would consume all the goods that were not even prepared for him.

"This is not for you," she muttered bravely, wanting to pull the plate so badly and ran away from her current location.

With as much courage as she can muster, Haru peeked at him, suddenly gazing straight to his eyes. There was something in them, as if sending her a message that she should not have said what she just did.

"You took it," Hibari murmured quietly.

Stunned by his statement, Haru found herself panicking and screaming inside. I took it? I took something from him? IT? What IT? What did I take?

"What?" she asked, shakily.

No response came from him.

There's no way Haru had done anything wrong to this frightening figure. She's not that insane, was she? She must think fast or she might… Die!

"I took what?"

Hibari just stared.

Quickly, Haru went back to the times that she and Hibari crossed paths with each other. But that turned out to be difficult for as long as she could recall, being around the black-haired guardian would alert her to leave or go or run for her life. Despite considering the so-called notion of Hibari as a guardian, the sense of protection with her around him by no means existed.

"Namimori Middle School," she mouthed, looking away from his glare.

So Haru must have accidentally taken something when she bumped on Hibari at the school. She could not have grabbed or stolen something from him purposely not only for fear of getting hurt but there's no reason to do it. What could she have picked up then without realizing it? A book? A pen? There was the sudden sound of munching. A food? She took a food? No. These things were not in her possession. What then?

Haru's jaw dropped. Of course, how could she be so stupid?

"I'm sorry about the gum!" she exclaimed.

The crunching stopped. Haru slowly raised her head to see Hibari giving her a questioning look.

"I did not mean it I'm so sorry!" she continued while continuously bowing. "It got stuck on my shoe! I did not know what to do so I just removed and threw it. It must have been some sort of a mark to your territory. My apologies. If there's any way I can replace it, I will."

Hibari blinked. Haru shivered from fear. The staring game continued.

"You took it," he murmured the second time, raising his hand.

"Hahi!"

The unnerved girl observed the movement. Her brown eyes followed as his finger pointed toward her chest. It was definitely not on her breast but somewhere above them. What was going on?

"Can I replace it?" Haru squeaked, comprehending that whatever was taken did not pertain to a gum.

Her question received a silent treatment. But the reticence did not pertain to disregard. Hibari seemed to be thinking about it.

"Then I would have to kill you," he concluded.

NO!Haru's mind screamed. The answer scared her despite it being stated in a non-threatening way. The disturbing words were declared matter-of-factly. And that made it even more terrifying to her.

"You took it." Hibari gently lifted the plate of cookies. "So I'm taking these."

Without waiting for Haru's any kind of reaction, the tall fellow started to leave. But then again feeling petrified, she had no intentions of objecting to his actions.

Haru's heartbeat gradually went back to its normal rate as she studied Hibari actually savoring her pastries one by one. This behavior led to more confusion.

Eventually, the mystified lady just shrugged it off and went back to her task.

"The cookies in exchange for my life," Haru mused, pulling out more flour from the kitchen cupboard. "Fair enough."

What an unusual species,she added discreetly.

…

Author's Note: So what did Haru take from Hibari? :D

PART 1: "Runaway"