Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Beta'ed by ShamelessDilettante

For Nana, everything began on that one beautiful afternoon.

Looking back on it, it seemed so ironic that the worst day of her life had started out so wonderfully. Her husband had returned home after years of grueling work, and he seemed so nicely acquainted with his boss, an old man named Timoteo. Iemitsu had then spent the rest of the day with his son, Natsume, and Nana couldn't help but to feel her heart warm at the sight of the two most important people in her life being so close together.

When Iemitsu announced that he had to leave, she pulled her face into a pout. "Visit soon next time," she said warmly, and her husband just gave her the smile that she loved. After giving him a quick hug, Nana stepped back into the doorway, tugging Natsume gently out from behind her.

"Come on, Na-kun," she coaxed softly, pulling at the child's small fingers, which elicited a confused look. "What do you say?"

The three-year old child brightened. "Good-bye!" Twittering his fingers, he peered at Iemitsu with uncertain brown eyes before vanishing behind his mother's dress.

Nana smiled and kissed Iemitsu farewell, watching sadly as her husband began to walk away. More than often she wished that the three of them—Iemitsu, Natsume, and herself—could spend more time together as a family. But alas, Iemitsu had his job to return to, and wishing him to stay was selfish. She could deal.

When her husband was out of sight, Nana regretfully tugged at her son and urged him back into the house. Natsume complied and ran in, blond hair flying, settling down with his toy cars and planes and began to play. She smiled; she could never get tired of this sight, because it was simply too endearing. Out of habit she checked the clock, humming lightly to herself when she realized that she needed to cook dinner. No matter, she could get started now.

But the moment she stepped into the kitchen the doorbell rang, and she frowned. She had just left the entrance, too. Fixing a smile onto her face, she made her way to the front door, expecting to see her husband saying that he had forgotten something. It had happened before, and she wouldn't put it past him to do something so careless. Iemitsu had always been that way.

So she was surprised when instead of seeing her husband scratching his head sheepishly, she saw an absolute stranger. A teenage boy stood before her, clad entirely in black, with his back straight but shoulders slouched, looking perfectly at ease. Hazel eyes, so similar to Natsume's (and hers), regarded her warmly, a small but distantly polite smile adorning his face. Gravity-defying brown hair bobbed as he shifted slightly—how strange, she thought vaguely. It was the same color as her own.

"This is the Sawada residence, correct?" the stranger inquired.

Nodding blankly, she quickly fixed her own smile. "And you are?"

Before she knew what was happening, the stranger sank to his knees, taking one of her hands and turning it over gently. "My name is Tsunayoshi," he breathed, "but please call me Tsuna. It is an honor to meet you, Sawada Nana-san." He brushed his lips over her skin, and Nana could feel her cheeks heating as she stepped back and pulled her hand away.

It was the sound of the quiet, rapid footsteps from behind her that forced her to pull her mind together, and suddenly she remembered that her son, too, was in the house. "Mama," Natsume called, skidding to a stop beside her. "Who is that, Mama?"

Tsuna crouched down and smiled at the young child. "You must be Sawada Natsume-kun, pleased to meet you." Raising his eyes, he dipped his voice politely and asked, "May I come in?"

Feeling like she couldn't do anything but agree, she stepped to the side and allowed the brunet entrance. It was a stupid move, she knew, but she couldn't help it. A minute later she found the three of them sitting in the living room, sipping the tea that she had provided. She couldn't help but to note the casual grace of all of his movements.

Silence reigned as the brunet quietly sipped his tea, interrupted by the occasional sounds that Natsume gave as he moved his toy cars across the floor. When Nana had moved to chide him earlier, Tsuna had assured her that it was fine.

The glass clacked sharply as Tsuna set the teacup down, and he leaned forward earnestly in his chair. "Now, to business. You may be wondering why I know you and your son's names," he began, and Nana started as she realized it for the first time. "Relax—your husband has talked about you a lot, and how he loves you two. I am an acquaintance of his, I suppose. I am here to notify you first of the true nature of his job, and then to offer you two proposals. Will you hear me out?"

Nana nodded, wondering what he could possibly say about her husband's job. He was just a construction worker, after all…

…one that travelled all around the world in search of oil…

Nana wasn't a fool. Despite her airy façade, she knew perfectly well that Iemitsu was hiding something from her, something big. His lies were always so outrageous that she couldn't help but be suspicious. The first time that she had wondered why he was lying so much, her imagination had nearly caused her depression. But even though she knew that he was keeping something as simple as his line of work from her, something which all husbands and wives should know, she couldn't help but to still be head-over-heels in love with him. Love was such an irritating thing.

She folded her hands into her lap, meeting the brunet's gaze with a careful wariness, because she knew, most likely unconsciously, she knew that she needed all of her wits to talk with the teenager in front of her. "I will hear you out, but I will have to see on the proposals."

"Of course," Tsuna smiled amicably, too amicably for an ordinary teenager. She could feel the beginnings of adrenaline to slide through her veins, making everything sharper, too sharp.

Maintaining the cordial smile, the teenager began to speak. "Your husband, no matter what he says about being a construction worker, is not one. Of course, you already suspect it, don't you?" Nana's throat constricted painfully: it was one thing to suspect it, but it was another thing entirely to hear a confirmation from somebody else. "Then that makes explaining easier. Your husband, Sawada Iemitsu, is none other than a member of the Vongola family, the most influential of all in the mafia. Hush now," he said, waving off her terrified protests. "Think for a moment. His job is able to keep you and your son living with all the finances you could possibly need. He leaves you here because he doesn't want you to be involved in the underground society. He has been doing a good job of it, too."

The world spun dangerously. "But—"

"Don't worry," Tsuna said calmly, and she had to suppress a snort. Her husband was a criminal, he could die any second, and the brunet told her to not worry? "The Vongola family is not like the others that you might hear about. It was originally founded to protect civilians, not to terrorize them. Iemitsu is strong, too. He's not called the Young Lion of the Vongola for nothing."

But it wasn't reassuring at all. Feeling disoriented and horrified, she watched as Natsume ran back into the room, calling "Vroom!" as he pretended that the airplane in his hand was flying. The brunette immediately caught her son and walked him to his room, not wanting him to hear the rest of the conversation, and she needed the space and air to breathe. It was too much to absorb all at once. To her relief, Tsuna just nodded sympathetically and told her to take as much time as she needed.

When she returned she was as pale as snow, trying to adjust to the knowledge. It wasn't as if she didn't understand why Iemitsu had done so; on the contrary, she would have done the same thing had their positions been reversed. But she couldn't help but to feel the pain of betrayal, and of the cold, cold fear for his transient life. Suddenly the happy, easygoing life was gone: she knew it was gone, that it was gone forever, because she could never again think about her family in the same way ever again. In a span of a few minutes, Tsuna had single-handedly flipped her world upside-down.

"How do you know all this?" she asked anxiously.

Tsuna's hazel eyes caught hers, and his gaze softened. "I am, like you suspect, also a member of the mafia. However, I do not work in a family. You don't need to worry about me harming you or your son—if I wished to, I could have killed you a long time ago. I am simply here to give you this information. You are not as airheaded as your husband makes you seem, and you, as his wife, has the right to know all of this. As for why I know about him, Sawada Iemitsu is a man in a high position of power. He is famous in the mafia world."

So her husband was potentially on the top of many assassins' hit lists. Desperately hoping for no more, she asked, "Anything else?"

But life seemed to want to screw with her even further: her stomach dropped to her feet when he nodded his head regretfully. "The real reason why I am here today is to tell you how your son will be involved in all this."

"My son?" Her voice cracked, and she couldn't breathe.

"Natsume-kun is a distant heir of the first boss of the Vongola. Events will take place in the future which will make him a candidate for the next Vongola boss. When this happens, he will be sought out by the entire mafia world. The number one assassin in the world will come to tutor him on the behalf of the Vongola. Other hitmen will seek this house out to eliminate the heir in order to throw the Vongola into chaos."

"Na-kun…Na-kun is going to become a Mafioso?" Her voice kept rising until she was screaming, fists balled in helpless rage. Why had Iemitsu hid something of this magnitude from her? Shaking her head in silent denial she stepped backwards, her feet colliding into the couch as she did so, and though it scooted with a loud screech, she didn't register it, she couldn't register it anymore. All she could think about was Natsume, her beloved son, locked in his room filled with children's toys and books and games. Her son, a killer?

Then Tsuna was on his feet, pressing his index finger gently against her lips. "Quiet," Tsuna chided softly, "or else Natsume-kun will hear. And yes, that is exactly what I'm saying, which leads me to my proposals.

"One," he began, raising a finger to emphasize his point. "My first proposal is that you 'forget' everything I just told you. Act like nothing happened; become the very definition of the airheaded mother that your husband believes you to be. Do not draw suspicion about having this knowledge to yourself or your son. Do not, in any way, shape, or form, seek out the mafia. The moment you take a step too far, it is far too late to turn back.

"Two. Let me stay here in the Sawada residence. I can keep you two safe. I can keep your son ignorant for as long as possible, until Reborn shows up. I can make sure he gets the ordinary childhood he deserves. I can make sure that no word of this knowledge reaches any unfriendly ears. Adopt me as your child, do whatever—just find a way for me to stay here without raising much suspicion. So what do you say?"

Nana mulled it over quickly, but she could already feel the metaphorical box forming around her. She was trapped, bound by the knowledge, and Tsuna knew it, he knew it perfectly well. "If, and only if, I accept your second proposal, then what do you expect me to do? Send you to school?"

Tsuna shook his head. "I will tell you now—I am different than you. Me, Reborn, and handful of others—we don't age. I will remain as a teenager, in this appearance, for an indefinite amount of time. Sending me to school will not be a good idea. On the other hand, Natsume might recognize that I am different—or he may not. He is just a child, he won't recognize that it's unnatural not to grow. If he does, then I can protect you two from afar, if he is unwilling to spend time with an abnormality. Anything else?"

Nana closed her eyes.

"How well can you fight?"

He smiled oddly. "Well enough."

She gritted her teeth, mind racing a mile a second, but she couldn't find any reason to decline. Not that she could think straight at the moment, she thought to herself wryly, but there wasn't any other option left for her to take. Tsuna had made certain of that. So she forced out the words, hoping that everything would be fine and that she wouldn't come to regret the decision she made in the future:

"Both of them, both of the proposals, I accept."

Tsuna smirked, and Nana caught the briefest flash of triumph in his gaze before it was gone.

"Very well," he said with a Chesire grin, "then shall we plan?"

Hope this is better. If there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out via review/pm. I'd really appreciate it.

3/1/2013