Sawada Iemitsu was a selfish man.

The first lesson he learned as a child on the slums was to make the most of opportunities. If you wanted something, you had to get it before someone else took it from you.

It was do or die. A modern day survival of the fittest.

This lesson kept him alive through his infant years, and it stuck through his teenage ones.

By the time he was an adult it had become his motto to live by.

Which is why when he first met Katsuki Nana (later to become Sawada Nana) and decided that he would marry the sweet natured oblivious Beta he pushed through with Alpha determination, and after much persuasion and a constant courtship of only 2 months he was able to reach his goal.

And so it was that Katsuki Nana came to be Sawada Nana (and herein lies the beginning of the downfall of Sawada Iemitsu).

Sawada Iemitsu was a selfish man.

He was also a mafia man.

Both traits that work well together to keep oneself alive in a world where compassion is seen as weakness, and weakness is paid for in blood.

Sawada Iemitsu was also a delusional man.

Which is a combination that does not work well for the civilian persona he pretended to be.

From the moment Sawada Iemitsu entered the mafia, he was destined to climb through the ranks.

Even getting married would not change that, which is why it would come as no surprise that when given the choice between his son or his career he would choose the latter.

After all Sawada Iemitsu was a Young Lion (and everyone knows that lioness' are the ones to raise their cubs).

Katsuki Nana was a nice Beta.

Sweet, kind and a little naïve, but she was a woman and she was a Beta so she needed no more.

She dreamed of change, of fairy tales and whirlwind romances.

Which is why, when a blond haired, blue eyed Alpha came and swept her off her feet she let herself get carried away.

Katsuki Nana always dreamed of romance and believed in first loves but it was Sawada Nana who would come to know why they never talked in fairy tales about what happened after happily ever after.

Sawada Nana would love a man so much her heart would bleed while waving him away with a smile on her face and tears in her soul.

She would love him so much there would be no love left to give.

(And oh, but what irony.

If she had even a sliver left to give she would know warmth and healing in the form of blazing caramel orbs and smiles of sunshine.

So bright her tears would fade)

But oh, isn't it such a shame that Natsuki Nana dreamed of fairy tales but it was Sawada Nana who would live a tragedy?

Sawada Tsunayoshi was a perceptive child.

Tsuna learned young that he was not in his parents priority.

So he never said anything about the itch under his skin,

About the way he sometimes felt his body burn from the inside,

Or how the only time he felt calm was when blood ran like rivulets down his skin.

He said nothing (yet he was screaming).

He kept these secrets under his tongue (ready to share but never making the first move).

He kept himself together (sewn thread by thread, just waiting to burst).

He held on until he could no more, and when he was about to fall he was caught instead.

(He put him under his wing, and took care of his soul, kept the fire blazing but never burning)

(he heard his screams)

(he listened to his secrets and kept them with his own)

(he sew parts of himself between his own threads, the better to keep him from falling apart)

(He saw strength in his weakness, saw power in his wisdom, saw potential in his gaze)

(He chose him and Tsuna felt for the first time, what hope felt like)

(Hope of not being alone)

(Of being listened to)

(And most of all, of not fearing going to sleep and never wake up because his body turned to ashes)

Tsuna learned young that he was not in his parents priority.

(But who needed parents when you had a flock)