Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Summary: Family sticks together, through thick and thin, no matter how weird and insane life got, family sticks together. There was always the chance to runaway, but the thought never crossed her mind because for family she would do anything - even if that meant believing that fate may have given her more than just this life, it had her remember bits and pieces of another.

In which life for one Sawada Natsume becomes more than what she thought (she had honestly prayed that it was not like that story) only to be proven wrong (as always).

Word Count: 5172

Part 1: About the Mother

Nana Hayashi was a simple island girl.

Nana was raised by her single mother Alana Hayashi, alongside her uncle Toyo and her grandparents Kazue and Nao Bane Hayashi. She knew the love and care of family, of loving herself and enjoying her life.

She got to know the kids around the neighborhood and though they weren't the nicest bunch she still gave them an understanding smile and someone they could rant too. They in turn watched over her and showed her how to protect herself because word around was that The Company was getting big and the heads were starting to set their sights out onto the other islands.

Scrappy, little Nana with her big brown eyes and rich brown skin never truly understood the nuances of what happened with her cousins – the kids from the neighborhood. She knew they enjoyed fighting and they would scrap with anyone who disrespected one of their own.

There was cousin Zack who was older than her by three years, whose skin was darker than hers and his hair a spiky mass of brown, he led them around and made sure they were all good. Then there was Mike who was two years younger than her, with peachy skin and dirty blond hair.

Esmi was her favorite, with her pretty brown curls and a freckled complexion, even if she too was two years younger than her, she was one of the girls she got along with the most and the one who showed her how to standup for herself.

Isaak who was the same age as Zack, kept his hair short and seemed to sport a permanent sunburn, his pale skin always a burning shade of red.

Just as much as they taught her, she taught them – she showed them what her family constantly gave her and they in turn gave just as much back. Nana was the little cousin they would always protect and she was the one who always carried around the band aids when the fighting got out of hand.

Always willing to have a good time, even if sometimes it ended up in a fist fight when her cousins got too rowdy at the beach, or when people over stepped their boundaries with her and ended up fighting her.

And though it didn't seem like it, Nana wasn't as much as a ditz that people made her out to be, she was a good study and was quite an accepting person, even if she tended to be completely oblivious or misread certain cues (boys flirting with her, sarcasm).

To the point she was accepted into three universities and though she could have stayed close to home, she had decided to study in the land Mamay Kazue hailed from. She studied at Tokyo City University and at the age of 21 had graduated in the top fifty students, while also maintaining a part time job.

She had visited Namimori, where her grandmother had once lived and had fallen in love with the peaceful town. Once she graduated she buckled down with the remainder of her savings, took on another part time job at the Namimori Diner while she applied to various teaching positions.

It was ever a wonder how she ended up dating Iemitsu (the man could be particularly blunt when he wanted too, even if it was embarrassing at the time). She had been more focused on working and getting her career going, but he had come out of nowhere, all bright smiles and heartfelt words.

Yes, in all her years of life Nana had always strived to give her best and most loving self to people and though her heart currently ached for the Island she had called home for all her life, as she cradled the crying baby in her arms, it was currently worth it to be so far away.

Part 2: About the Father

Sawada Iemitsu was a boy born to Namimori, Japan.

He was a boy in a land of dark haired and fair skinned people born with blond hair and light hazel brown eyes. He was raised by a woman who knew war better than the regular people, whose hands were able to weave pictures and create something from nothing.

Sawada Tomiko was his grandmother and the one constant in his life.

His mother Sawada Saigo was another story; she was a woman that he barely knew, a distant mother figure that had made a mistake in her life before she carried on by leaving him with his grandmother.

He grew up in the small town of Namimori, where everybody knew each other, where it was always quiet and peaceful and yet there was always something more to it. Iemitsu never got the chance to learn what 'more' was, by then he was constantly tending to a sick woman whose posture he could always recall was as straight as a ruler and was now nothing but a withering, hunched figure.

His grandmother rarely smiled, she had always been stern, showed him kindness when she ran her fingers through his hair or when she told him a story of an era long gone.

When she passed it was in peace, when the men and women in suits came he hadn't been surprised. He had been told once that he would have someone to watch him if she ever died, but these people gave him a weird feeling.

Something told him that he could trust them, but that he shouldn't give them his all.

When the man who called himself Schnitten Brabanters offered his hand, twelve year old Iemitsu gave him a hard look before he took it.

The soothing feeling that settled within was worth it.

He was brought to the world of Vongola, a people who had promised one Sawada Tomiko a favor – though the woman was a Mist through and through, her families intuition ran strong and she wrangled a favor out of one Daniela Vongola to protect her family in case of her death.

He was told that his grandmother was more than the old woman he had come to know and love, that she was once a favored assassin that had come through the Underworld before she disappeared without a trace. He learned of what happened to his mother, when contact with her had truly ceased and when he was told about her death Iemitsu didn't know how to feel.

It was 1979, at the age of fourteen that Iemitsu showed promise.

A game gone wrong, all Iemitsu could recall was a ringing sound, followed by a warmth that filled and soothed him. He opened his eyes and the usually light hues were a golden orange, a bright flame (unknown to him) dancing on his forehead.

It was here that Timoteo looked deeper into the favor that his mother and Tomiko had made, because Iemitsu's flame was Sky and who would have thought that the child they had taken in would be such a strong one.

When Iemitsu's training commenced the boy was fully brought into the Mafia, Timoteo keeping the truth of the boy's bloodline a secret.

Iemitsu would later come to find out and by then he would have proven himself as Vongola's Young Lion. At the age of twenty two, nearing the tenth anniversary of his grandmother's passing and the thirteenth for his mother, Iemitsu found himself going to Namimori with permission from Nono.

He walked the streets that he once knew, watched as the faces that once been round with childish youth had thinned out and continued on.

Namimori Shrine was a constant place for him, always burning incense sticks and praying for his grandmother to wish him well, like he had done all those times before he had left for school.

His stay became much longer as he once more took in the history of Namimori and why in his youth he had always thought there was more to the small town.

The town had been more or less founded by Sawada Ieyasu, his great grandfather who had died by the end of the 19th century, a man who his grandmother got to know by word of mouth of her own mother. Namimori was a place where those who wished to leave a dark life behind could come and start over; it took in those that were willing to try and had a strange way of maintaining a rather tame peace.

It was oddly enough the place where he met his sweetheart; the woman who would always hold his heart and keep him going and as he watched the love of his life coo at the baby in her arms, Iemitsu felt himself strangely at peace, even as he cradled another babe in his arms.

He felt as if he was finally had a place to call a home after so many years without one.

Part 3: About the Twins

Sawada Tsunayoshi and Sawada Natsume were born in Namimori, Japan.

Tsunayoshi got his name through his father's side of the family, while Nana had always favored the name Natsume long before she knew she was having twins.

Currently nothing more than being cute little babies mattered at the moment, keeping their parents awake at odd hours and at times having said frantic parents (mostly Iemitsu) placing calls back home to ask about childrearing and the do's and don'ts (for sure Nana).

By the time they were two the pair only knew Nana, Iemitsu not being able to constantly go back and forth between his job as easily as he had before. His absence was more obvious to Nana who had some experience with dealing with her husband's odd job hours and how they would take him away for weeks at a time.

And though she thought she would feel more on edge, having to not only take care of one child but two, Nana found herself with a cool head and smiles that made her babies faces light up.

She spoke to them in the languages she knew and was brought to near delighted tears when her eldest baby called her mama, Tsunayoshi following soon after as he picked it up between the baby babble that he and his sister partook in.

By four years old they were walking around, Tsuna close behind his sister with his hand clasped in hers and the amount of pictures their mother took was near ridiculous.

A gentle tug on her shorts, Nana paused in her dishwashing looking down into the watery hazel green eyes of her daughter.

"Tsume?"

"Mama, head hurts."

"Again?"

She nodded, face scrunched up in a pitiful pout. Nana washed her hands of soap, drying them off on the apron tied around her waist before she bent down to pick up the child.

"Okay, to my room then."

It wasn't the first time and Nana was sure it wouldn't be the last time her daughter would come complaining to her about her headaches. The medicine she stored in her bathroom for times like this came into use as she gave it to Natsume and tucked her beneath a blanket. Shutting the blinds in her room so that it was dark, Nana stayed by Natsume's side, brushing away the golden brown strands of hair out of her face and running her fingers against her temple.

There was a gentle exhale from her daughter, who had fallen asleep in seconds.

She stayed a while longer before she got up to resume her washing. Leaving her room she tried to hide a giggle at the way her youngest obviously followed her. It was another tug at her shorts before she entered the kitchen that had her looking down once more, this time a pair of doe-like brown eyes stared up at her.

"Tsume is gon be okay?"

"She just needs to sleep Tsuna, why don't you help me dry these dishes, hm?"

There was a familiar pout on his face that almost had Nana rolling her eyes as she brought out a step ladder big enough for the brunet to stand on and 'help' her. She helped him up and handed him a dry towel, before letting him have a go at all the clean, but still wet spatulas, spoons and plastic chopsticks.

The pair worked in a comfortable silence, Nana humming a tune and at times singing the words when Tsuna asked her too.

Part 4: Realizations

Jasmine Rojas had been a eighteen – or had she been twenty? When she thinks she passed away and by passed away she meant killed in a freak school shooting. Which was really weird because hadn't they stated in the school code that all weapons were banned from campus (fat load of good that did her.)

She became a statistic before she realized she had been one and all that she remembered was the sandy beaches of California and their stupidly cold water, a mother that was kind, but had issues letting her kids grow up, a father who was barely home, a pair of siblings that drove her up the wall and that she loved, and various jokes, memes, and comics that she had gotten into to relieve her mind.

She was supposed to be dead. (1)

And though she wanted to giggle madly at the thought, she really couldn't, because yeah, she was sure she was supposed to be dead, yet here she was padding around a home that was slowly replacing the one she thought she once knew.

There were days she would wake up muttering in Spanish than in Japanese and then there were other days were she remembered an excruciating pain that had her near bawling. The days she loved the most was when she felt at peace, when she was more Natsume, the unknowing child of one Sawada nee Hayashi Nana and elder twin to Sawada Tsunayoshi.

A simple five year old that sometimes looked at her brother too hard, quietly judging and trying to understand why the poufy haired brunet looked so familiar and not just because she lived with him. For some reason it had more to do with a story than the actual boy and wasn't that ridiculous?

Alluding life to a story because a girl who was long dead (was she really dead or was she losing her mind?) found similarities between them.

How crazy was that?

(Not that crazy, actually.)

When things started to clique and make Natsume uncomfortable (because Jasmine wasn't real and she was wrong), when at six years old, halfway through her first year of school she was defending her brother from the children that picked on him and called him silly and dumb, did Natsume start to give the idea that maybe her Tsunayoshi was that Tsunayoshi.

But it couldn't be right, because the Nana she slightly recalled was just as silly and airheaded as Tsuna, the Nana she knew was loving and kind, told them stories and took them to the beach, showed them how to swim and color within the lines and do math's.

The Tsuna in that stupid story that stupid Jasmine liked to recall and relate too, was silly and dumb, he was lonely and sad, and the Tsuna she knew (and loved and adored) was always smiling no matter what and liked to braid her hair and cuddle with her, he liked to trace the words and numbers Mama wrote out for them.

There were bad things that happened in the story if she remembered it right, lots of fighting and shooting and blood (she cringed at the shooting, it took one shot, just one to take everything away). Her family's life couldn't be that, not at all.

Not ever.

Then the Papa from the pictures showed up before they turned seven and he was just as familiar (he was warm and filled with lots of love just like Mama). She judged him when she first saw him, before she took his hand and by the end of the two weeks she was running up to him, arms raised so he could pick her up and toss her up into the air.

And then Papa left a week after that and Mama was sad and Natsume knew hugs made people feel better, so she and Tsunayoshi made sure their Mama got all the hugs and kisses she needed.

They were fine, they were normal, no way could that story (as fuzzy as it was, because really talking babies? Yeah right.) be her life.

/ | \

She was seven almost eight when she realized that yes, that life was hers.

"Tsuna!" she tried to scream, but her voice didn't work, didn't wail through the air like it should have alerting the townspeople nearby. She could feel a pressure telling her to sleep, to not resist, but that man had Tsuna and was hurting him with the way he had grabbed him.

Her temper flared and something else along with it – she wanted that man to hurt, she wanted him to let go of her brother, or he was going to hurt so bad. The man seemed to freeze up, Tsuna wrenching away from him and running towards her, eyes wide in fear with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Natsume wanted him to feel the terror she felt, the pain her brother felt, but most of all she really wanted him to hurt – like in that movie with the little boy, who wrapped up people in a inky black mess and left them for dead (was that how the movie went or is that what her seven year old self wanted?)

"Home, run home," she felt a sick feeling settle in her stomach when the man ceased moving his eyes staring straight at them, though his gaze was suspiciously empty. She wouldn't have been able to do it herself and she was glad that Tsuna grabbed her wrist and dragged her along.

They barged down the front door, not taking off their shoes (though Tsuna made sure the door was locked) before they ran to their mother who would have greeted them with her usual warm smile had it not been for the blood on Natsume's shoulder or the bruises forming around Tsunayoshi's wrists.

"Ba-ad men," hiccupped Tsuna as he buried his face in his mother's thighs to hide his tears, Natsume mimicking him as she too started tearing up.

A sound so soft escaped Nana that the twins didn't hear, she picked the two up (and she was strong, caring them like she did because they were too big now for that) as she set them in her room, locking the door and activating the security to the house.

What Nana didn't know that as soon as she did that a message was sent to Iemitsu, who stilled because he had always told Nana that the security was for emergencies only and for her to do so – well, Iemitsu was already booking a flight straight to Japan and was blown completely sideways when he found Vongola Nono boarding alongside him, a grandfatherish smile on his face as he greeted his fellow.

When the doorbell rang sometime the next day, Nana wasn't sure if she should really go out or stay locked in, it wouldn't be the first time in the last twenty four hours someone had rung the bell and pounded on her door. The house phone rang and she picked up the one in her room recognizing the number and feeling utter relief.

"Iemitsu?"

"I'm outside Nana."

She made sure the children were tucked in well before she rushed out, almost jumping into Iemitsu's arms and crying into his shoulder. She held herself back when she noticed the elder gentleman beside him and was about to greet him when Iemitsu picked her up in his arms and carried her in. She melted against him, not really hearing when Iemitsu told the man to make himself at home as he carried her to her room.

"What happened Nana?" Iemitsu was careful as he set her down on the bed, noting that the kids were sleeping. He kneeled down in front of her, hands stroking her sides as he looked up into her teary eyes.

"Someone tried to grab the kids, Iemitsu," Nana spoke, her voice slightly croaked. "Tsu-kun has bruises on his arms and Tsu-chan had blood on her shirt, thankfully it wasn't hers, but oh –"

"Hey, hey, I'll take care of it, okay?"

Some of the older citizens who were Mafia related had already dealt with the body they found and the man's partner. Quietly Iemitsu thanked his lucky stars that Namimori wasn't the peaceful little town it seemed to be, that there were seasoned, yet retired members of the underworld living around.

"Everything's going to be fine."

A week later the twin's flames (which had attracted the men before they found out the kids were, well his) were sealed and though Iemitsu knew it was for the best, the confusion that settled on the twin's faces when it had happened hurt. He tried to reach out for the warmth that he knew the two had, but it was locked away.

Another week passed by and Iemitsu bid his family goodbye, the twins and his loving wife bidding both him and Timoteo-ossan away.

He hoped he made the right decision and when he came back two years later, the twins were almost ten. Tsuna was a clumsy little boy, who tripped over his own feet, but looked up at him with bright eyes, while Natsume was an over protective big sis who often tripped over Tsuna.

Though the memories (and flames) had been sealed away, he knew the twins would never truly forget what had happened to them. Not with the way Natsume seemed to look after Tsuna and the stories he got from Nana how his daughter got into fights and came home with bruises when the other kids started picking on her brother.

Now that worried Iemitsu and between Nana and him, they showed their children ways to protect themselves and fight back if need (where did Nana even learn how to fight? Then he remembered of where she came from and The Company would have been running big at the time she was growing up).

He visited once more, a year later, something in his bones telling him to take the chance now rather than later.

The beach was a place he always saw his children come alive, the way they stayed in the water all day, how Nana taught them how to skim board and continue on along the shore. He loved the way that his children smiled at him, the way Natsume's eyes brightened when they were all together or the cute little scowls Tsunayoshi got when he tried to smother him with his love.

Upon returning once more to Italy, Iemitsu tucked the pictures of his family where only he could find them.

His family was happy and healthy and he would pray to all the Gods that they stayed that way.

Part 5: And Now We Begin.

Tsuna and Natsume walked out of school, Natsume's arm slung over her brother's shoulder keeping him close to her side. At thirteen year's old, both children neither stood out nor were picked on as much as they had been when they had been younger.

The teasing tone and often times hurtful comments that were made (they don't have a papa, why do they look like that, you two are ugly, Tsunayoshi is dumb how can't he read the board or do the math sums? No good, no good! Who trips over air?) had tapered off in the last year of their elementary schooling.

'Clumsy' Natsume and 'No Good' Tsuna weren't names that they were called anymore, not when the people that had often mocked them were below them when it came to grades. Not when said kids were wary of the eldest of the siblings, especially once it was learned that she would not hesitate to fight back if it came down to it.

Of course there were days where the old bullies would come around, thinking that Tsuna was easy pickings or without having said brother around, Natsume wouldn't stand up for herself. It had happened earlier in the day and though Natsume chattered (ranted) on with her brother about it, there was still a note from Katsui-sensei that she had to show her mother and get signed.

Luckily no one was suspended, the main three (Anaya, Izuna, and Miroko) were only looking to throw around words and would have been delighted to bring down the Sawada girl who had been getting too cocky for their tastes.

Natsume more often than not wondered why these kids sought them out (a part of her seemed to whisper to her, trying to explain the situation, but it was hard to acknowledge it because it was all blurry and it made her head hurt and heart feel empty), never really lingering on it and moving on instead.

Getting home the twins greeted their mother, who called back as they shucked off their shoes and padded towards the kitchen table where they set their bags and pulled out their work and tried to get a head start on it so they could do absolutely nothing for the rest of the weekend.

Why they gave homework in the last two weeks of school, neither twin had any clue, but they were glad it was ending and then they had a whole month to do nothing but lie around, cook with Mama, play video games and sleep.

/ | \

The idea of starting middle school didn't hit them until the last week of break – or more like Tsuna realized it and promptly freaked out. He had just gotten used to elementary school and the teachers, the homework wasn't that bad and the other kids weren't as bad as they used too.

He had barged into Natsume's room all but tucking himself into her side as he moaned and whined about starting a new school with new people. He gave his worries that the bullying would start again, would probably get worse because there were gonna be kids at least three year's older than them who wouldn't hesitate on picking on a couple of first year's.

Tsuna didn't know if the smack to the head was an accident or on purpose, another whine left him as he raised his head, a pleading look in his brown eyes as he looked into glaring hazel.

"Go back to sleep and stop worrying," she grumbled at him, trying to get his hands to let go of her sleeping shirt and failing as his grip tightened. A sound eerily reminiscent to the kid from the grudge escaped her as she gave up, staring up at the ceiling with lost hope – leave it to Tsuna to hold on for dear life when the situation didn't call for it.

"Tsume," he ground out, eyes a little wide, "There's going to be more work and lessons, and people."

"I heard you the first time…."

"Why aren't you freaking out?!"

"Because I was sleeping you turd."

Tsuna buried his face in her stomach an 'oof' escaping the older sibling and stayed that way for a while, until she realized what Tsuna was doing. Trying to undo his hands had raised her shirt a little, revealing a bit of her tanned tummy and Tsuna's face currently rested there and if he did the thing she was going to scream.

"I swear if you decide –" A squeal left her as Tsuna blew a raspberry against her stomach, "Tsunayoshi!" There was a bout of nervous laughter as said boy peeled off, tripping as he raced out the door and headed downstairs.

"That's what you get for not listening to me!" He called over his shoulder only to shriek as he saw Natsume right behind him, "HIIEE, Mama!"

Said woman sat on the couch doing her morning crossword puzzle and doing a great job of ignoring her sons cries until he literally draped himself across her lap and used her as a barrier between her daughter.

"Good morning~" she hummed letting her pen rest inside the book as she closed it and tossed it on the coffee table. She wound her arms around Tsuna, placing a kiss against his temple and pinned Natsume in place with a look when said girl grabbed the boy's ankle and tugged at it. "Tsu-chan, Tsu-kun, you two are joyful today."

Natsume huffed, crossing her arms against her chest as she sat back into the other end of the couch, "Tsuna woke me up too early."

Nana looked at the boy in arms, who had rested his head against her shoulder and managed to catch the pouty glare he gave his sister.

"It's almost eleven."

"You woke me up."

"I wanted to talk to you!"

Once when they were much, much younger Nana would have considered this banter cute, though actually being in the middle of it, she wasn't sure it was as cute as it once was.

"What are the two of you even arguing about?"

"School," Natsume answered in a yawn, rubbing one of her eyes with the back of her hand, "Tsuna's freaking out already."

"Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna pursed his lips, shaking his leg as he thought about how to answer that without worrying his mother – sure she had known about the bullying, between her and their father, she had shown them ways to protect themselves or get away (also the various notes Natsume brought home from school were another give away since they had to be signed).

"Middle school is what will either make us or break us," if they did just a little bit better and kept it up all three years, they could be considered for going to the High School or even University. He had always struggled with his work, having trouble grasping the way the teacher's taught the material and it was through sheer effort on both his part and the help of his mother and sister that he had done as well as he had. "I don't want to fail."

"You two will do fine," his mother responded after a while, giving him a sweet smile as she ruffled his hair. "No matter what happens, you two will pull through."

At the moment Natsume felt guilty, she knew she was a grouch when she was woken up against her will and shouldn't have let slight morning anger cloud the fears her brother had. She moved over to sit right beside her mother and reached for her brother's hands.

"Sorry Tsuna," she said meeting her brother's eyes and offering him a half smile, "Mama's right though, we'll be fine."

He gave them a wobbly smile, feeling comforted and slightly better (and foolish) about his fears.

"Yeah, I mean what could go wrong?"

Author Note:

And there's the first chapter, mostly introductions of how I see the characters and all that, if anyone tries to tell me I'm wrong about Nana I will fight you, so don't poke at it. I've given a bit of each parent and now the rest is for the children. The twins were born in 1992 and there will be references to pop culture that hasn't come out because of what Natsume's past life remembers. If you guys can guess what I'm referencing kudos to you!

(1) I thought of Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove

There was also a grudge reference, but that movie hadn't come out yet since its like the late 1990s and that came out during 2002, I think? At least the Japanese one.

I mentioned before in the last fic that Natsume was kind of weird and I feel like I never really showed that, so her referencing things that are yet to happen or recalling certain things will be one of those. Also memes. This fic will move between stupidly funny humor to angst to seriousness and back to stupid humor, or at least I'll try to do that.

If you guys have any questions or anything, don't hesitate to ask me (unless you're going to ask about pairings or the next update and I will be honest and say that I don't know *shrug emoji*.

Until Next Time Guys~

Sorugao