Chapter 4: Friend pt. 1

Nana's food is heavenly.

Considering the lack of money to cook food will be enough to turn Reborn to try to do a murdering spree against the poor bastards who stole from Nana, according to what she remembers of canon, she feels very blessed and not at all surprised over the sheer goodness of it.

The food the housewife gives her is simple: rice with chicken katsu as well as tomato salad. But dang, it's so good.

As she eats with gusto, Nana has done nothing to question her further about her origins, already asking her the bare minimum during the way back to the Sawada residence as well as when Nana was cooking.

But that's it: just the bare minimum.

The Sawada Matriarch asked for her name.

She said—

("Nathania."

"Nata—?"

Lightly wincing at the slight mispronouncing, she amends, "Um. Misha is okay."

"…Misha?"

"Yeah, it's—" a pause, "it's like—a nickname, of sorts."

Nana simply beams, "alright, Misha-chan then!")

That name has been a pen name of sorts, a name she chose for herself for her to use on the internet. She loves that name, truly, and although Nathania will always be a part of her—because that's her name, the name her parents gave her—Misha is another part of her. That's what her internet friends always call her and it's—it's a comfort, of sorts. A nickname is a nickname, and she's gotten rather attached to it.

And besides, considering the fact that it will probably take some people to start fumbling as well as mispronouncing when they try to say their name—as long as she stays in Japan, Namimori, the Katekyo Hitman Reborn world—then she feels that using 'Misha' as an alias is the safest choice, really.

It's not really a nice feeling when people butcher other people's names. And it's not only the ones with foreign names like her either; her grandfather had a very distinctly Javanese name. Javanese, not Japanese, mind you, and she heard what some foreigners had to say when they tried to say her grandpa's name.

Let it be said that Djokroaminoto is a bit hard to pronounce for some people.

Anyway.

Nana also asked her about her age, her hobbies, likes and dislikes, favorite foods, and some others. And, well, she's rather happy to know that Misha is only thirteen—the same age as her son!—quite possibly already thinking of them meeting and probably end up being friends. During the questioning, the ditzy housewife was too busy smiling in delight to take notice of Misha's nervous smile over the mention of her son.

In all honesty, the teen doesn't know what to expect. Nana has taken her in, even if it will probably only for a short while, since Nana only offered her food, and Misha isn't too optimistic to think that it's not a one-time thing.

She had gingerly asked Nana, during their way to the Sawada residence, whether Nana is truly sure in allowing her who is a stranger. True, she may be a lost kid, displaced, nervous, scared and rather hungry, but she's a stranger. Not that she's not grateful for Nana's kind offer, God Heavens, no, in fact she's very relieved and grateful. But she's a stranger first and foremost, and shouldn't Nana be more cautious? Stranger danger and all that. Not that Misha is dangerous, but what if she's a criminal on the loose trying to lure the Sawada matriarch into a false sense of security and end up stabbing her for being affiliated with the Young Lion of Vongola?

Not that she will do that kind of thing, but, well.

Another thing that makes her nervous—other than the feeling of impending doom and many questions of what ifs and what to do after this—is that she honestly doesn't know what to expect from Sawada Tsunayoshi.

She knows of what happens in canon, knows a glimpse of what he's like before Reborn happens, and—

And has canon even started yet?

She hasn't seen any baby tutors or Poison Scorpion Bianchi loitering about the house but she can't rule out the fact that they're probably taking a stroll somewhere considering Tsuna isn't home yet but Nana hasn't really told her about any babies or pink haired woman living in the house though of course she won't tell that to a stranger—

Still. She doesn't know what to expect.

What she knows is that Tsuna can be pretty blunt when he wants to be, especially when he's particularly frazzled. Considering his responses to his friends' crazy antics, she… hopes he won't be that shrill when he finds out his mom invited a stranger into the house. Though, considering the case, she can appreciate some worry for the mother.

She is a stranger, after all.

But when she said that to the brunette, Nana simply looked at her with her brown eyes, gaze soft and understanding and just so gentle it hurt to look at, and it was with a small, yet reassuring smile that Nana admitted of trusting her.

Such is a leap of faith, and such easy admittance made the teenager blush, while Nana simply hummed pleasantly at the raven haired girl's rather adorable response.

In truth, Nana has seen—and is still seeing—the girl for what she is: a frightened and lost child, her eyes shining with hope over the promise of temporary shelter but too afraid and wary, rightfully so, toward an offered shelter from an unknown adult. Nana thinks the girl must be nervous about living somewhere on the streets, and—

And there is something, within her, stirring and nudging and telling her to take a chance at this girl, to do something. There exists a thrum; it goes on inside her head, like melodies and weaves of poems, a pull toward the little girl who cried for help, for shelter and love.

And Nana, for all that she is a mother: embraces the strange pull as it is.

Besides, Misha doesn't seem to be that bad of a person. A bit wary and nervous, but that's normal. Her son's skittish on a normal day, loud and shrill in some others. She can handle wary, that's for sure.

Still, it looks like to her that the teenager is preparing to bolt any moment, to find an excuse, probably saying that she's a bother and run off to somewhere on the streets and—and really, Nana can't really allow that. She's thirteen! She knows there are street urchins but she can't just let one sleep on the streets when she sees one, especially when this one definitely didn't grow up in the streets.

To be abandoned—or that's what the teen's story indicates anyway—by one's parents… Nana can't imagine how that must feel like.

Her Tsu-kun is dame dame, sure. And it's a possibility he won't ever succeed in class but—But he's her son (even though there's a cold feeling between them sometimes and it feels like there exists a bridge frozen over by some strange powers between them that confuses her to no end) and the thought of abandoning her son makes her sick in her stomach. She loves him, no matter how the neighbors say he's No Good and a disappointment, no matter how apathetic he is toward his own life and future, no matter how nothing Nana ever tries to do ever works because (it's Cold it's Cold it's Cold why is it Cold—) it never works, but he's her son and it's never going to change and she will always be there for him even to her death bed.

So the mother decides to help this girl who is lost, scared, thirteen and hungry and with no roof over her head anymore.

If she can't help her Tsu-kun, perhaps she can help this girl.

And if they become friends—she hopes they become friends, because her son needs a friend in his life—perhaps Misha can help her son, too, in the ways Nana cannot.

She truly hopes so.

And thus, with an airy tone commenting about the state of the weather, she manages to convince the little girl to stay in her house for a little bit longer.

XXX

When Sawada Tsunayoshi comes back home, running back home lest he get drenched in the rain, he doesn't expect to face an unfamiliar girl sitting on his couch, looking like a deer caught in headlights with her dark brown eyes.

Sawada Tsunayoshi gapes.

There's a girl, in his couch, and she's staring at him with wide eyes as she scrambles to stand up and greet him properly and oh my god she actually bows at him—!

He looks at his mother for an explanation, and Nana happily provides him it, smiling all the way.

As soon as Tsuna catches the indication that his mother actually picked up a kid from the streets without knowing anything about her beforehand, the brunet doesn't notice the girl's pale and panicked face as he shouts, "Mom! You can't just pick up someone from the street! What if she's dangerous?!"

Nana's words immediately cut off, the woman staring at her son, aghast. "Tsu-kun, what are you—"

"What if it's a scam?" Tsunayoshi hollers, his eyebrows furrowed as he stares at his mother. "You can't just invite strangers over like that, mum, that's not safe! Do you even—" His gaze snaps to the girl, eyes widening a bit at her ashen expression, the teenage girl looking at anything but Tsuna as her mouth opens and closes, as if trying to find a word to say but gaining nothing.

It is then he realizes he's said those things in front of her and—and he feels a bit bad, he regrets saying it so blatantly in front of her now but what if what he said is true? What if—

"I'm sorry."

The words are said with such a low volume that Tsuna almost fails to hear it over the rush of his own thoughts, but he hears it and his gaze stays firm on the girl, who looks like she's about to cry, fidgeting and obviously uncomfortable of being in this place any longer.

"Sorry," she says once again, biting her lips. "I—Sorry. I'll—I'll go. I'll go, I'm sorry."

Nana reaches out to her, but she flinches, stepping back as if burnt, her feet already leading her to the front doors.

Her eyes find his in an unreadable but definitely anguished look, and suddenly Tsuna feels like the most horrible person on the planet.

"I'm sorry," she says to him, as if that doesn't make him feel worse than he already is. He sees his mother's expression in his peripheral vision, and yeah, that doesn't make him feel better too.

"Thank you for your hospitality," she says quickly, trying and failing to smile, "the food was delicious. It was… It was nice. I… Sorry, I. I have to go."

And she leaves.

Practically running out of the house, without any care about the rain going on at it outside the house, leaving both of the Sawada to stand awkwardly in the kitchens.

It is then Nana makes it a time for her to speak.

"Tsu-kun." Tsuna flinches at her tone, looking up to find slight anger, disappointment (no no no not again NOT AGAIN I made her disappointed again again again AGAIN—) and sadness (I made her sad I always made her sad why must I always make her sad why why why why WHY) in her expression.

"Tsu-kun, she doesn't have any home," she says, and Tsuna can hear the plea in her words, the silent request meant for him. But Tsuna's heard of scammers using children to lure their preys, heard of yakuza alike using children, children like her, to get extra money and sometimes extra body to kill and he doesn't want her mum to be that extra body, he's the man of the house and he has to—to protect her in a way he knows how because he's useless in fighting and he's sure he can't even save his own life when the situation requires him to.

But he remembers the sheer honesty in the girl's eyes and the feeling in him that says she is true—even if it's against all of his logic—and that she is trustable to an extent.

"Tsu-kun," his mother admonishes him, and for another fleeting moment, Tsuna feels shame (not good enough, never good enough). "Her parents—" She hesitates for a bit, "left her in the park. She woke up in the park and she was crying, Tsu-kun, she doesn't know what to do in the streets, I can't honestly just leave her there can I?"

He wants to say "you can, I can", because logically speaking, they can.

But his heart says, no. No, you can't.

The brunet presses his lips together for a moment, before he sighs.

"Oh, alright," he says, staring at his worried, sad mother.

He tries to smile.

"I'll search for her, okay, mum? And I'll bring her back here."

The blinding smile his mother sends to him at that moment is worth it, he thinks, as he picks up an umbrella, set on finding the strange girl his mother found.

XXX

FYI, I'm not trying to bash anyone in this fic. My current portrayal of Tsuna mirrors his shrill, shrieking, panicking self during Reborn early days. And it's a bit logical to be cautious about strangers, and no, peeps, do not pick up children on the streets unless you have an actual long term plan for them that doesn't include some illegal shit. Anyway, here it is. Let's see how Tsuna and Misha's (now you know why I try to avoid typing her real name in the 2nd and 3rd chapter) relationship grows.

By the way, this is, like, one or two months before canon begins.

Review please!

Next chapter: Friend pt. 2