{Even just twenty minutes ago Haru would have flinched away from Xanxus's sprawl in the car and averted her eyes from even looking at the marked portions of his skin. Here and now she is completely comfortable with sitting properly, with her leg brushing his. It seems completely normal to be near to him, and track his face, wondering if the text of the frozen burns is anything like the marks on Ricardo's hands she would trace endlessly when they lay in bed. It should be a thought to make a girl untried in romance like herself blush, but she just aches deep in her heart.
It's not just the size of his body and how it takes up the space in the car, that might be the least of it. Something in her misses the sheer weight of this presence, of the knowledge that his fearful Will is always on her side, that she has the strongest man in the Underworld as her husband, and he of all men would choose and trust her as his wife. It's a heady feeling, the kind of trust that comes with so much power.
The sprawl is the unfamiliar part. Ricardo held himself to a rigid stance, coiled before a punch most hours of the day, but she can also remember the way he'd swing his long legs over the rest of the seating available, or purposefully do away with the throne he had made for her just for her to have to choose perching on his lap or the arm of his own chair. His steadying hand on her waist gave them an excuse to touch closely in a time where it may have been frowned upon.
Unknown to even Haru, medicine she's been asked to transport this time just like she would any other of the Family's supplies is in fact, the beginning of Tsuna and Reborn's countermeasures against the rays that will harm the Acrobaleno in the future in case everything else they have done to change that outcome turns to nothing.
She flaps her hand in his general direction and laughs a little.}
I know we're conducting business, Xanxus-san, but you'll make me feel old if you call me signora. Haru is fine, or at least, signorina. I'm still young and unmarried, you know?
{If there was one thing these confusing memories were good for it was improving her Italian pronounciation, even Gokudera-kun couldn't scold her now. Signora felt so formal coming from Xanxus, and it felt wrong without someone addressing her as Signora Chiara Vongola. Signorina would sound hopefully a bit more like the affectionate Chiarina Ricardo would call her in private until she batted him lovingly off or more often than not, gave him whatever he wanted from her.}
Should you have time for the meal, I'll do my best not to disappoint you.
{It was almost a need in her to do something he would find satisfactory in return for this guard. She wanted to see him smirk at an entirely empty plate and know she had fed him well.
As his posture changes and they grow closer, but she feels no need to ready herself, not until the car actually stops. She's safe in his capable hands while they finish the short trip, and then he's moving to leave the car, even warning her and the words sink into the pit of her stomach like he'd given her a clip of bullets to swallow instead.
He'd given her similar orders time and time again, but those particular words---The carriage had not been fast enough. She couldn't even see him in her last moments through the open door. It had been facing the wrong direction. Her last vision was of a carriage interior and the blood from her own neck spilling to ruin the fabric of the seats.
Without warning, her fear overcomes her and her hand of its own volition, stretches to grasp his sleeve before she steps out of the car. She looks up at him, he has always been so tall as to need her to look up.}
Ri--Xanxus-san, I know you're one of the strongest men of the Underworld, but please be cautious. There's been a leak, I know you're aware of. They may have had time to prepare something to surprise someone of your caliber.
{She releases him, then, feeling like she's probably overstepped herself, but she could not watch his back go away from her without saying anything this time.}
no subject
It's not just the size of his body and how it takes up the space in the car, that might be the least of it. Something in her misses the sheer weight of this presence, of the knowledge that his fearful Will is always on her side, that she has the strongest man in the Underworld as her husband, and he of all men would choose and trust her as his wife. It's a heady feeling, the kind of trust that comes with so much power.
The sprawl is the unfamiliar part. Ricardo held himself to a rigid stance, coiled before a punch most hours of the day, but she can also remember the way he'd swing his long legs over the rest of the seating available, or purposefully do away with the throne he had made for her just for her to have to choose perching on his lap or the arm of his own chair. His steadying hand on her waist gave them an excuse to touch closely in a time where it may have been frowned upon.
Unknown to even Haru, medicine she's been asked to transport this time just like she would any other of the Family's supplies is in fact, the beginning of Tsuna and Reborn's countermeasures against the rays that will harm the Acrobaleno in the future in case everything else they have done to change that outcome turns to nothing.
She flaps her hand in his general direction and laughs a little.}
I know we're conducting business, Xanxus-san, but you'll make me feel old if you call me signora. Haru is fine, or at least, signorina. I'm still young and unmarried, you know?
{If there was one thing these confusing memories were good for it was improving her Italian pronounciation, even Gokudera-kun couldn't scold her now. Signora felt so formal coming from Xanxus, and it felt wrong without someone addressing her as Signora Chiara Vongola. Signorina would sound hopefully a bit more like the affectionate Chiarina Ricardo would call her in private until she batted him lovingly off or more often than not, gave him whatever he wanted from her.}
Should you have time for the meal, I'll do my best not to disappoint you.
{It was almost a need in her to do something he would find satisfactory in return for this guard. She wanted to see him smirk at an entirely empty plate and know she had fed him well.
As his posture changes and they grow closer, but she feels no need to ready herself, not until the car actually stops. She's safe in his capable hands while they finish the short trip, and then he's moving to leave the car, even warning her and the words sink into the pit of her stomach like he'd given her a clip of bullets to swallow instead.
He'd given her similar orders time and time again, but those particular words---The carriage had not been fast enough. She couldn't even see him in her last moments through the open door. It had been facing the wrong direction. Her last vision was of a carriage interior and the blood from her own neck spilling to ruin the fabric of the seats.
Without warning, her fear overcomes her and her hand of its own volition, stretches to grasp his sleeve before she steps out of the car. She looks up at him, he has always been so tall as to need her to look up.}
Ri--Xanxus-san, I know you're one of the strongest men of the Underworld, but please be cautious. There's been a leak, I know you're aware of. They may have had time to prepare something to surprise someone of your caliber.
{She releases him, then, feeling like she's probably overstepped herself, but she could not watch his back go away from her without saying anything this time.}