Discover Top Posts Tagged with #3387

Title: DRIVE.

Author: feuillemort [AO3] / stillyourprussianblue [tumblr]

Rating: T

Pairing: 3387 (Ryohei & Hana)

Event: KHR Rarepair Week 2025

Prompts: Secret Dating AU | Stuck in a Closet

Ryohei sweats nervously as he accompanies Hana on a trip to deliver secret Vongola documents. It’s either because he’s been trying to hold her hand or because of the dead body in the trunk.

[AO3] [image]

Tags: Cringe, Roadtrip, forced proximity, UST, general stupidity, casual mentions of death, minor blood, casual mention of violence, guns, post canon, TYL

This was actually written for “2022 Rarepair week: June 27th - Sky Day – Murder Roadtrip | Bodyguard AU” lmao whoops and has been repurposed very loosely for Sky Day 2025 prompt “Stuck in a Closet.” Please squint and accept this offering.

“You want me to come with you?” Ryohei repeated for the second time. “And… see the sights?

Hana stood in front of him, arms crossed firmly across her chest, face reddening even more as she refused to break eye contact. “Well, if you’re heading in the same direction anyway, some extra security for the –ahh, documents wouldn’t hurt.”

Her foot was tapping rapidly, her fingers tightening where they gripped her forearms, and her face was heating up to match his.

Oh? He reached up to pat his face. It was so warm. Why was it so warm??

Overall, it was a very confusing experience for him, which was why he recounted the whole conversation to Yamamoto in hushed tones as they loaded clips for Yamamoto’s next mission.

“So you agreed to go?” he asked when Ryohei finished his story, adjusting the dim lamp over their heads.

Ryohei placed a full clip atop the growing pile on the poker table between them. “Of course! She said those files were really important and needed the extra security.” That part made sense to him, but there was something he just didn’t understand. Hana was absolutely killer and cutthroat when it came to her position as legal counsel to the Vongola. Her earlier mannerisms were unlike her usual demeanour.

“Those must be some important documents then,” Yamamoto mused, rocking back and forth in his chair. He watched Ryohei pick at some fluff on the dealer side of the table. “Maybe they’re something Tsuna’s thinking of using against the Mercanti family.”

Ryohei’s palm slammed into the tabletop. “That’s it!”

Yamamoto blinked in surprise and stopped rocking back and forth, leaning forward to listen before his chair tipped over.

“That makes more sense!” Ryohei continued. “She must be really worried about the Mercanti interfering with her job this time and was too embarrassed to ask anyone else for help. Maybe she’d feel better with a full security detail.”

“You’re taking this surprisingly well,” Yamamoto commented as Ryohei hemmed and hawed more to himself than anyone else. “But if she wanted a full security escort, wouldn’t she have just asked Tsuna?”

Settling back into his seat, Ryohei seemed to consider it for a moment. “That’s true. It’s best to head straight to the destination with a few bodyguards; it’s less risk.” He nodded in agreement with himself, pleased as punch that he had figured it out. Hana often spoke cryptically, but he was starting to catch on.

Yamamoto handed him an empty clip. “You were headed west right?” Seeing Ryohei nod, he smiled. “My next assignment will take me in that direction so I can come partway with you. I’ll help you out!”

“Thanks man!” Ryohei stopped as he realized they had created a small mountain between them. “Why do you need this much ammo anyway?”

Yamamoto smiled and replied easily: “Just catching some rats. Big ones.”

And that was that.

It was all figured out until later that week when Gokudera clapped him on the shoulder and wished him safe travels and a nice vacation. He must have been joking, that Gokudera and his sarcasm. Ryohei didn’t have too much time to ponder his words as Hana appeared from around the corner, her luggage clunking along over the cobbles of the path.

The question died on his lips as the flowers on her dress swished around her calves, swirled around her body. Her sunhat flipped in the breeze and she pulled it from her head to keep it from flying away, pressing the lip to her heart to pin it in place. The soft waves of her hair spilled from the hat and fell to her shoulders, stray strands blowing around her face.

“Good morning,” Gokudera said, elbowing him in the ribs as he realized the man next to him was absolutely gobsmacked and hadn’t heard Hana’s greeting.

Ryohei stammered what he supposed was a hello. He cleared his throat and then offered a hand out to take her luggage.

“Come to see us off, Gokudera?” she asked as Ryohei popped the trunk of the town car to find a spot for her case. He placed it inside gingerly, wondering if all of her belongings were in there along with the court documents.

“Yeah, I had to make sure this idiot remembered where the safe houses along the route were in case of emergency.”

“We won’t need them!” Ryohei yelled as he let the trunk drop. “We’ll be safe.”

Hana’s cheeks turned pink at his sure declaration. “Just in case,” she repeated.

Gokudera rolled his eyes behind her back as he pushed off from his position leaning against the car and opened the door for her. He bit back a snipe about her contrarian habits, not wanting to get into it when they were so close to getting out of his hair.

“You should sit in the back,” Ryohei said as he watched her get into the passenger seat. “It’s safer.”

Hana fixed him with a withering look. “I’ll take my chances.”

Gokudera almost snickered as he closed the door behind her. “Well then,” he said, giving a curt nod to Hana. In a rare moment of civility between the two, Hana smiled at him. “Enjoy your vacation.”

And there it was again! But before Ryohei could call after him, Tsuna’s right hand hurried back into the manor to avoid letting a snarky comment slip, or god forbid, having to accept any hugs goodbye.

Shaking off the feeling that something was slightly amiss, Ryohei got into the driver’s seat.

He didn’t know if he should look at her or not so he peered at her from the corner of his eye, only seeing the edge of her sunhat in her lap and her forearm resting lightly on the armrest between them, casually within reach.

“Is that all your luggage!” he asked abruptly, looking around for nothing in particular, finding the skyline suddenly very interesting.

Hana made a face, but he didn’t see. “Why ask after you put it in the trunk?” She fidgeted with the brim of her hat with one hand, leaving her other hand very obviously on the armrest. Calming her nerves while she waited for him to get the hint, she softened her voice to come up with a nicer response. “We’ll only be on the road for two days before we arrive at the coast if we leave soon –one day to get us out of this desert and into the mountains, and by tomorrow evening we should be by the seaside.”

His hand inched closer to hers before it went to start the car. This time she tried not to make a face. Even if he misread her intentions, even if he wasn’t getting her hints, they still had time.

She looked up sharply when Ryohei rolled down the window. “Oi! Yamamoto!” he called.

Yamamoto let one of his suspiciously inconspicuous duffle bags slide up to his shoulder so he could wave enthusiastically at them with his full arm.

“Oh absolutely not,” Hana said, whipping her head around to glare at Ryohei for some sort of explanation.

Yamamoto patted the trunk until Ryohei popped it open for him.

“He’s here for added security,” Ryohei explained, wondering why his voice took on a helpless tone, and was that a plaintive edge?

“Hi Hana!” Yamamoto greeted as he all but fell into the backseat like a goofy dog. She greeted him tersely in response, sinking in her seat as the realization settled in and she began to accept this new reality.

“He’s coming part of the way with us,” Ryohei went on, confirming her fears.

“You won’t even know I’m here!” Yamamoto said cheerily as he settled in, knees knocking against the backs of their seats.

Hana sunk lower in her seat, sunhat crumpled to her chest. “Wonderful.”

___

She tried to make the best of it. She really did. But their hours of nonstop karaoke, insistence at stopping for every desert roadside attraction for group photos, and in-seat gymnastics as Yamamoto and Ryohei took turns trying to feed each other snacks, all while Ryohei was driving, was wearing her down.

Coming to their first stop that night, just within the mountain range, they came before the fourth of their trials.

“Well,” Hana said as they exited the vehicle at the motel. Yamamoto smoothly intercepted her before she tried to lift a duffle bag from the trunk. She pulled her own rolling luggage case from the back and looked between the two men. “I had only booked one room,” she said pointedly, letting it hang awkwardly between them.

“Ahh…” Yamamoto seemed to get the hint, and Hana was buoyed by his remark. “I got another room next door, so no worries about any danger. If you feel unsafe, I’ll be nearby!”

Hana almost sighed at the proximity but decided she could live with the compromise when the alternative meant that the three of them would be sharing a room. As Yamamoto went ahead to scan the area for threats, she turned slowly to Ryohei. “Um, so I was thinking we could discuss our sleeping arrangements.”

But he had his back to her, bag slung over his shoulder, watching as the dark-haired man flipped them a quick thumbs up. He locked the car as Yamamoto waved them over. Sensibly keeping quiet, Hana followed as they hurried across the dim-lit parking lot. Just when Hana thought there was nothing else that could shock or disappoint her further today, she watched, dumbfounded, as Ryohei and Yamamoto both entered the suite next to hers.

She stared at Ryohei’s back and then Yamamoto’s clueless smile before throwing her hands in the air and kicking the door shut behind her.

“Uhh…senpai?” Yamamoto called, following Ryohei into the room. “Do you want to check on her? I think she might be upset…”

He paused as he realized the shower in their room was running and he peered in carefully to see Ryohei leaning over with his palms against the shower wall, letting the cold water splash over his head, fully clothed. “Senpai…?”

Ryohei stared wide-eyed down at the tiles and the water swirling into the drain. He had spent hours using Yamamoto as a human shield between Hana and himself, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about her, what with her being so close to him. He felt like a creep just thinking about the subtle scent of her perfume and how it was everywhere while the wind from the open window fanned out her hair. So he had shouted the lyrics to some folk song with Yamamoto to drown out the thoughts.

His palms had been sweaty as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, seeing how her hand rested so close to him on the armrest, so he asked Yamamoto feed him beef jerky and gas station slushies until he felt like he would burst. Better his stomach than his heart, though it felt like it would escape his ribcage regardless.

But the way that she had looked at him when she had said those words –sleeping arrangements! There was no way he could just enter a woman’s room just like that! There was probably only one bed! His thoughts devolved into red-faced spluttering and he pounded the shower wall with one fist while his other hand spun the knob to make the water colder.

Yamamoto didn’t know what to make of this and figured that Ryohei was going through something existential. So he left a towel and bathrobe within reach and backed away. When Ryohei still didn’t appear after an hour, and the sound of running water never stopped, Yamamoto knew he needed to get a move on. Gathering his effects from the duffle bags, he made sure that along with the gloves and firearms he also had his motel room keycard. Time for the rain guardian to go to work.

___

Under the cover of the night, he finished his assignment and brought back the proof of completion, hefting it into the trunk of the car, careful not to get any blood or prints on the exterior.

Yamamoto returned to the room in small hours of the morning, but he wasn’t the only one who had been busy that night. The rising of the sun brought Hana’s reinforcements. Kyoko and Haru had set out from the makeshift Vongola base of operations as soon as Hana started sharing live updates on her disaster of a date somewhere after the giant desert lobster mini golf selfies but before the trio had run out of fruit snacks.

To stop her brother from making the biggest mistake of his love life, Kyoko was willing to drive through the night and Haru was willing to run point for her. Their mission: to kidnap the third wheel.

They nabbed him in broad daylight, just as they were exiting their rooms in the morning. There was a moment of understanding that passed between them when Hana looked between Kyoko and Haru as they raced towards the motel rooms. Kyoko smiled as relief flashed across Hana’s face just as they crashed into Yamamoto’s side in their best attempt to tackle him.

“Sasagawa? Haru?” Haru wondered how he could possibly be an assassin with that dumbfounded expression on his face.

“Sorry everyone, but something urgent has come up for Yamamoto-kun!” Kyoko called over her shoulder to her brother and best friend as she and Haru each took one of Yamamoto’s arms and hauled him towards the car they had brought for the chase. Hana took the moment of confusion to grab Ryohei’s hand and pull him towards the car they had been driving, and threw his and her luggage in the backseat that Yamamoto would no longer be occupying.

“What – hey, hold on! Kyoko?” Ryohei exclaimed as Hana pushed him into the driver’s seat.

“No problem, safe travels, thank you for helping him!” Hana yelled as she watched the two of them all but manhandle him into the back of their car headfirst.

She let out the breath she had been holding when the other car pulled out of the parking lot.

“We should help, too!” Ryohei decided, starting the car. “What if something’s happened to old man Yamamoto?”

Hana waved her hands quickly. “No, it’s nothing like that!”

He paused, ready to zoom after them. “Then what’s happened?”

Thinking quickly, Hana blurted out: “There was a complication with Yamamoto’s assignment.”

She could see the gears turning in his head. “Ahh, so Kyoko was making sure we still made it to our destination.

Hana nodded vigorously. “I made dinner reservations so we definitely can’t be late.”

“And we can get your documents to court in time,” he reminded. “You should treat them carefully.” He eyed the haphazard way the luggage was thrown onto the backseat.

“Yes! Of course!” Hana said, knowing full well that there were never any such documents in her case. Ryohei made a mental note to store them properly in the trunk for her when they reached their next stop.

“Ready?” he asked.

“DRIVE.”

___

At a diner off the freeway back east, Haru put her head in her hands as Kyoko lectured Yamamoto on the subtleties of dating. Kyoko’s waffles grew cold as she rattled off Yamamoto’s third-wheeling offenses. He inhaled bacon and eggs as he confirmed each and every item on the list, carefree and true to form.

“Do you have anything to say in your defense? What were you doing there?” Kyoko asked as Haru picked up her coffee cup.

“Hana said she needed to take some important documents cross country and we thought it would be more secure this way,” he replied between bites.

“And she invited you?” Haru asked, almost incredulous. He didn’t understand her tone, but shook his head as he swallowed his mouthful of pancakes.

Kyoko put her hand over her mouth as she gasped. “My brother invited you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah! It was just more efficient this way.”

“Efficient?” she repeated.

“Well I had some errands to run on the way.” Yamamoto laughed sheepishly in a way that made Haru hold off on that sip of her latte.

“And?” Haru asked.

“I was dealing someone that crossed Tsuna.”

Kyoko looked aghast at the casual mention, but Haru put her cup back down on the saucer. She almost daren’t ask. “And?”

“I hadn’t finished the job yet when you showed up.”

“AND?”

Kyoko surreptitiously waved the waiter over. “We’ll take all of our food to go.”

Hundreds of miles away at a rest stop, Ryohei was moving luggage from the backseat to the trunk while Hana popped into the rest stop to grab more snacks for the road. Opening the trunk, he stared down at the bloodied body wrapped in a tarp for a heartbeat. He waited a heartbeat. The corpse did too. Or it didn’t. He wasn’t sure. He let the trunk slam shut.

___

The sun guardian was clear on two things: he needed to get rid of the body, but he had to get to the fancy dinner reservations that Hana had made for them.

Calling Yamamoto didn’t work. What he didn’t know was that Kyoko had temporarily confiscated Yamamoto’s phone so there would be no wild card plays. This left Ryohei only one option as he paced back and forth alongside the car as he waited for the gas to fill and for Hana to return. Using one hand to hold his phone to his face, he quickly moved the luggage into the backseat again lest Hana started to ask questions.

Gokudera answered the phone immediately and didn’t even wait for him to speak before hissing at him. “Are you crazy? Calling me right now? You want Kurokawa to kill me?! Get out of here and go pay attention to the woman!”

Gokudera hung up and promptly sent his following calls straight to voicemail. He was staying far away from whatever involved Hana.

Ryohei continued to pace after he refuelled the car. Maybe he could stash the body temporarily at one of the safehouses? Would that compromise the integrity of the safehouse? Surely it was too late to turn back around and bury it in the desert. Or was it?

“Is everything okay?” Hana asked when she returned, seeing how tense he had become after Yamamoto’s abrupt departure. Maybe he was reading into her nervous energy? Maybe she just needed to take the lead? Maybe she was being too forward?

He wanted to respond likewise that there was a complication with Yamamoto’s assignment, but he had a feeling that might not go over well.

Climbing into the passenger seat, she kept the bag of snacks in her lap instead of going through the haul, waiting expectantly for a response, a shadow of concern on the corner of her lips.

His mind was blank except for one thought – he didn’t want that worried look to stay on her face a moment longer.

“I’m just worried we won’t make it to our dinner reservations in time,” he fibbed. Technically it wasn’t a lie.

She studied his face for a moment longer before shrugging. “I’ve got this. Just take the toll road; it’ll be quicker.”

Having studied the maps with Yamamoto earlier, he knew the one she was referring to. He also knew that this particular road was patrolled by armed guards.

Thinking of the small arsenal in the trunk, and the—you know—corpse and all, he gulped. “No tolls!” he choked out. The walls of the car were shrinking in on them; and why was it so hot?? Palms sweaty –again—he leaned over to help buckle her seatbelt.

She handed the buckle over to him, their fingers just atoms away, and he felt like the car was a thick plastic sheet and he was being shrink-wrapped.

___

“You know there were no documents, right?” Haru asked as she drove. When greeted with silence, she looked up at Yamamoto in the rear-view mirror, eyebrows raised, pointedly awaiting a response. “Yamamoto-kun, you do know that Hana was never actually delivering any documents, right?”

He appeared to be thinking of a response, so Haru returned her attention to the road.

“Gokudera says that she’s a contrarian,” he announced brightly. “Is that what he meant?” Haru’s eyes flicked up again as Kyoko whipped around in the passenger seat, pulling her sleeping mask off.

“Who asked him?” Haru muttered as Yamamoto seemed to consider his next words more carefully.

“It sounds like,” he began again, dropping his fist into his hand in an a-ha moment, “even if there were no documents, she was looking for security.”

“Yes!” Kyoko and Haru all but yelled. “Just not from you!”

Yamamoto tilted his head to the side. “Why not? It was much easier with both of us. Especially since senpai was distracted by her the entire time.”

Kyoko sighed. “Yamamoto-kun, if we considered for a moment that Gokudera-kun was correct in calling Hana-chan a contrarian, then maybe there was a reason that she framed the question that way.”

Yamamoto considered it for a moment, tapping his chin. “But your big brother would’ve done anything for Hana since he’s in love with her.”

“YES!” the girls yelled. Yamamoto dodged Kyoko’s sleeping mask as she threw it at him. “THAT’S THE POINT.”

___

Had it been just his imagination or did Hana’s hand get closer and closer on the arm rest? Did she need more space? Oh man, his arm was still dumbly on the arm rest. He should move it. Right? But there was no way to move it away without possibly hurting her feelings. Right??

He was saved from his inner monologue by law enforcement zipping past them on the road and he stiffened in his seat.

When his head whipped around to watch the cruiser, Hana took the opportunity to subtly adjust her hand closer to his. She was making it so easy for him to bridge the gap! Why wouldn’t he just do it? Maybe she should just accidentally bump his hand to give him a hint.

But his hand remained stiffly just out of reach, a respectful distance away.

No wait, did his finger twitch? Did it actually move closer to hers?

Another cruiser driving by made him jump and grip the wheel tightly with both hands and Hana almost cried in frustration. She settled with making a sarcastic remark about how hot it was in the car. He laughed nervously but did not put his arm back next to hers for the rest of the trip.

They made it to the hotel right on time, the three of them –Ryohei, Hana, and the, um, passenger—driving exactly the speed limit. Pulling up the long drive, they stopped at the entrance where the valet approached them, opening the passenger door.

Hana unbuckled her seatbelt and took great care to step out of the car gracefully, hoping that Ryohei noticed how elegant she imagined she must look. She thanked the valet and looked back at her companion, frowning when she realized he was still in the driver’s seat, now clearly drenched in sweat.

“Sir, we can take the car for you and arrange for your bags to be taken straight to your room.” Multiple hotel staff started to surround the car, opening the car doors and reaching for the trunk.

“I’ll handle it!” Ryohei choked out, looking around wildly, yanking the driver’s side door closed.

Normally, Hana would have nodded in approval, appreciating the independence and take-charge attitude. However, the way he was acting was giving her hives.

“Just have the valet park it.” Hana prompted, the annoyance creeping into her voice. “I’d like to get ready for dinner.”

“I-it’s a rental!” he stammered and stepped on the gas so suddenly the tires screeched and the car jerked, speeding off and leaving Hana alone on the front steps.

“I’ll be right back!” he called out of the window as he disappeared around the corner, the rest of the car doors slamming shut as he careened around the corner.

Hana stared, speechless and fuming. “He’s taken on an assignment while we’re out here hasn’t he?” she muttered, venom barely contained.

___

Haru and Kyoko had switched drivers as Haru tired, but they both refused to allow Yamamoto to drive.

“When you say that you hadn’t ‘finished the job,’” Kyoko let go of the steering wheel briefly to put her fingers up in air-quotes, whispering conspiratorially, “what was your plan?”

Haru reached over to steady the wheel and bring them back into their lane while Yamamoto shrugged. “How were you going to get rid of the body?” she asked outright, long since desensitized to the notion.

“Body?” he repeated. “Why would I get rid of him? He’s not dead.”

Kyoko swung around in the driver’s seat to stare incredulously and Haru dropped her bag of cookies to grab the wheel with both hands. “He’s not dead??”

Yamamoto swayed a little in the back seat at the sudden movement of the car. “No? I have to bring him to the checkpoint for interrogation.”

“Yamamoto, so help me, you’re dead!”

___

The hotel lobby was bright and warm, and the atmosphere was like an old solarium repurposed for a ritzy night out.

A marble fountain was situated just outside the main dining room, topped by a magnificent ice sculpture – a swan with an elegant curve of a neck, breast arched as it beat its wings in frozen splendour.

Hana watched, after having calmed down a little while getting ready for dinner and trying to make the best of it, as Ryohei stood, arms crossed as he admired the artful pose of the sculpture. She wondered what he was thinking about–his secret assignment –their dinner –her.

It was all three. He was trying to figure out how to get rid of the body, which was technically not even his assignment, but he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. He didn’t want the possibility of discovery to ruin the dinner she was clearly so excited about, but if he left to handle things, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

“Are you ready?” Hana asked, reaching out to touch his arm.

Her sudden gentle question froze him in place just like the sculpture. When he didn’t immediately respond, and instead turned pink and gaped like a fish, she brought her hand back to her side. “Shall we?” she asked, heading towards the hostess.

He unfroze as she stepped away, reaching for her hand just a little too late. The moment had passed and she slipped through his fingers.

___

“They’re eating dinner!” Haru observed, lowering the field binoculars she had swiped from Gokudera’s desk from her face.

“Perfect,” Kyoko replied, looking pointedly at Yamamoto. “This is the perfect chance to retrieve your... things.”

Yamamoto nodded in agreement, but snatched the binoculars from Haru’s hands. He ignored her protests as he brought them to his face. He lowered them slowly and then held them up to Haru again and guided her line of sight to share the bad news.

Haru didn’t say anything either as she placed the binoculars in Kyoko’s hands.

“What?” Kyoko asked as she took a peek as well. Focusing in on the area they had been scanning. She quickly identified the black sedan that Ryohei had rented. The trunk had been kicked open and there was a trail of blood leading away from the vehicle. Kyoko went pale as she followed the trail, catching a glimpse of the limping man as he dove into some nearby hedges. They rustled behind him as he bounded across the grounds towards the restaurant.

Kyoko shoved the binoculars into Haru’s hands and shoved Yamamoto down the hill. “What are you waiting for? After him!!”

___

Somewhere between the appetizer and main course, Ryohei spotted him: Yamamoto, skulking around the corner, trying to be seen but not be seen. Of course, that meant that Hana saw him as well.

When she made eye contact with him, he took that to mean he could approach, like she was some sort of skittish animal that might run or attack if he surprised her.

“What are you doing here.” Again, was the unspoken question.

Hana looked around but didn’t see Kyoko or Haru anywhere in sight.

“I uh... left something in the car,” Yamamoto answered not untruthfully. Perhaps it was that bit of candor that made Hana give him some consideration despite his antics.

Ryohei held his breath as Hana scrutinized him, looked him up and down, and he would have sworn she could see through the man’s head too to ascertain if he was lying. His heart pounded in his chest – could she hear his thoughts too?

Her eyes snapped to him.

NO WAY. Ryohei froze as she scanned his face.

Hana considered her options –the quickest way to get back to her dinner, her vacation, her date, was to give her approval. But it was so hard to get the words out of her mouth when Ryohei would not break eye contact with her, locked in this moment with her and only her; like he was equal parts besotted with and intimidated by her.

“Well, let’s go get it then,” she relented and both men almost sighed in relief. Hana motioned for them to stand. “Let’s not hold him up.”

Ryohei stood so quickly he almost knocked his chair over. “I’ll help him! You start on your ravioli.”

She looked between them with narrowed eyes, gripping her fork and knife until her knuckles turned white, and Yamamoto thought that this must be it; she must have put it all together by now and he was done for.

Ryohei’s gaze flicked rapidly between the whiteness of her knuckles and Yamamoto’s sheepish smile and saw how this would end –two corpses in the back of his rental car, and maybe three if he played his cards wrong.

Bad at math, but taking a calculated risk, he reached across the table and took Hana’s hand. “We’ll be right back.”

The gentle squeeze he gave her hand made her heart flutter and her stomach twist. With a reassuring smile over his shoulder, he left the room with Yamamoto. She hugged her hand to her chest, thinking of where his fingers had trailed over her knuckles just moments earlier. In her shy surprise, she had been too slow to reciprocate. That didn’t sit right with her. No way was that going to be it.

Instead of sipping her grappa, she downed it like a shot, ignoring the affronted sniff of the waiter and the disapproving looks of other guests around her, and marched after them towards the lobby.

“Where were you? Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Ryohei whisper-shouted as they swept out of the dining room, all but pushing Yamamoto along ahead of him.

Yamamoto didn’t know where to start – it seemed much more urgent to tell him that his quarry was still alive, well, and loose somewhere on the villa’s grounds. Though maybe he should start with the fact that Kyoko and Haru had accompanied him...or maybe Ryohei really needed to know that Hana was interested in him in more ways than just his bodyguard services?

But it was decided for him when Hana marched out of the dining room. “Wait!” she called.

The two of them turned to look at her, and barely had time to react as the man in the trunk yelled down at them from the mezzanine.

Only Ryohei seemed surprised to see him. Wasn’t that man dead??

Yamamoto and Ryohei braced themselves as the man leapt down from the balcony with a wild cry. His cry was drowned out by angrier screams as Kyoko and Haru tackled the man seconds before he sank a butter knife into Yamamoto’s arm. They crashed through the ice swan and sent it flying onto the marble tiles where it shattered into tiny crystalline smithereens.

The men could only stare as Hana marched up between them and stomped on the assailant’s hand with her wedged sandals until he dropped the knife, then twice more for good measure and once more out of spite.

Ryohei’s jaw dropped as Hana spun around. With a wild look in her eyes, she gripped her purse tightly in one hand while the other brandished a fork she didn’t know she was still holding onto and she pointed it at them one by one: Kyoko and Haru sprawled out on the floor, ice broken all around them; Yamamoto who just offered a shrug and a laugh; Ryohei who, for better or for worse, could not tear his eyes away from her furious and fearsome face. “This is not how I wanted my vacation to go.”

“Vacation?” Ryohei repeated, bewildered. “Aren’t you on an assignment? Aren’t we on an assignment?”

“No bro, you’re on a date,” Yamamoto replied, clapping him on the back.

“A date?” Ryohei mouthed as Hana swung the fork at Yamamoto.

“Back up!” she growled. He put his hands up and stepped away from Ryohei who now had his head in his hands. It was all making too much sense but still, not enough.

Kyoko was helping Haru up, brushing the ice chips off of their clothing. Hana softened for just moment for her friends. “Thank you for trying to help,” she said, then her voice hardened, “but you’re all just as bad!”

“Listen lady,” the man on the ground groaned. “I’ll tell you whatever you want – I’m the mole! It was me! I stole the blueprints!”

“Shut up! Save it for...” she looked around until she zeroed in on Yamamoto. Yes, this definitely was his doing. “You!” she snapped at Yamamoto. “You’re going to clean up your mess –now. I don’t care who you have to call.”

“Gokudera doesn’t want to talk to us,” Yamamoto interjected.

She pulled her phone from her handbag, chucking it at him. He caught it easily. “I will be out of office and unreachable. We,” she grabbed Ryohei’s hand, “are on vacation.”

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Ryohei exclaimed, seeming to come back to his senses.

“She’s a contrarian,” Yamamoto piped up. Kyoko threw her hand over his mouth and dragged him way while Haru hauled the bloodied man out of the lobby by the legs.

At his remark, Hana really didn’t know what to say. Everything she could think of either felt too insincere or too corny.

So he took her hand and said quietly as people started to gather at the commotion. “I would have done anything for you.”

Hana began to tear up, the frustration from the past few days finally catching up. Flustered and angrily brushing the tears away, she squeezed his fingers back. Eager to switch their attention away from her tears, she brought up her other hand.

“What do I do with this?” she whispered, sniffling.

“That’s easy,” he said, reaching out and folding his other hand over hers. “Fork it over.”

End.

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