Six years ago

Cielo licked his lips as he stared at the bright screen through his glasses. Damn, that firewall was tough shit. It was going to take some serious hacking if he was going to get that son of a bitch down. Alright, fine. He was in for the ride. He stretched his nine-year old limbs, hearing distinct cracks, and pushed up his glasses. He was going to find out where the hell his father was. And then he was going to hack into his father's email and bank account, send him an email from his "Boss" along with travel money and the instructions to take a damn break. Because he'd be damned if his mother continued to cry at the kitchen table every night. He cracked his knuckles and got to work on that last firewall. He already had growing suspicions for his father's job.

Because, damn, for a mining company, this "Vongola" place had some top notch firewalls. But then again, he was only nine. He'd only been hacking for two years now. It could have been his inexperience shining through but he sincerely doubted it.

His screen suddenly blinked, and he grinned. It'd taken some time. He'd had to carefully cover his tracks. He doubted he needed to, but it was better to make a habit out of it. He didn't think his dad's company would appreciate being hacked by a nine year old. Kyoya certainly didn't.

He peered at the screen and the first thing he noticed, was that the database was in Italian. Well fuck, there goes his leverage. Out of all the languages it had to be the one he didn't know? Couldn't it have been Chinese? Or French? Or English or German or something?

He sighed, snagging a flash drive from one of the piles of crap in his room, and stuck it into his modified laptop. Very carefully, monitoring to see if the Vongola had gotten even an inkling of his entering, he downloaded everything from the database onto the flash drive. He was patient, and vigilante. He did not want to be caught now. Not before he could learn Italian and crack where the hell his father was.

He frowned. Guess his mom would have to wait a couple of weeks for him to learn Italian. He could do it sooner, but if she wanted him to maintain the C average he had this was for the better. Logging off from the base and closing his computer, Sawada Tsunayoshi could feel the last remainings of the Legendary Hacker, Cielo, bleeding from his system.

He smiled, carefully putting the computer back into the secret compartment, also setting his glasses there. He glanced at the time and gnawed at his lips when he saw it. Four in the morning was not a good time to be awake if you had school in the morning. He sighed, looks like he'll be sleeping in math, and failing math, and being hit with chalk when the teacher realized he was sleeping, and then detention, and mocking. He could already vaguely see how his day was shaping up. A frown tugging at his lips, he crept out of his room, wondering if his mother was awake.

He knew, he knew, she still was but he couldn't help but hope that she was asleep in her bed, tears all dried up. He made sure to carefully avoid the creaks in the old wood, and he carefully climbed down the stairs. Now that he wasn't Cielo he had to be careful. He couldn't risk some of his clumsiness bleeding through right now.

One, his twin was asleep. And he had a feeling that he'd have a fist sized bruise on his stomach and a very cranky Ieyetsu if he woke up his brother. And that just wasn't worth it. Cranky Ieyetsu meant cruel Ieyetsu. Cruel Ieyetsu meant that somehow he'd convince someone to steal his lunch money and ruff him up. And fluff it, he needed his lunch!

Very carefully, he settled on the fifth from the last stair and strained his ears for the sounds of crying. Without fail, he heard the sounds of sobbing. And he sat there listening, heart practically dropping out of his chest, all crushed up with the pain of hearing his mother, his angel of a mother, crying about his bastard of a father. He listened for a while longer before he no longer could. Slowly he stepped off the stairs and peeked into the kitchen.

"Mom?" his hesitant voice sounded through the kitchen. Immediately Sawada Nana straightened up and wiped her tears with the quickness of a pro. She turned and gave her son a smile. One that was faker than plastic.

"Tsu-kun!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing up?"

"C-c-couldn't sleep," he stuttered out. He sat on the chair next to her and gently held her hand. Sincere eyes peered up at her. "Mom, are you okay?"

Nana was so startled by the question that her smile fell of her face, leaving it a slate. Before it quickly built back up. "Of course I'm okay Tsu!"

Tsuna frowned. He gripped her hands tighter, before letting them go all together and enveloping his mother in a hug, patting her back comfortingly. "He'll come back." He soothed. "He'll come back real soon, so don't cry mom."

It was the first time anything like this had ever happened. Nana was shell-shocked. He…Knew? How long? She'd been so careful. Tears welled in her eyes again, as she gently hugged her son back. It was rare that something like this happened. She just had so much to do, so many things to take care of. If she didn't work, they couldn't pay the mortgage. Iemetsu's checks, while hefty in money, were far in between, and if they wanted to survive she had to work. Two jobs. And then she had to cook. And then there was Ieyetsu who'd throw a fit if she missed even a single one of his basketball games. And she was just so tired. She hadn't noticed that inadvertently, she'd ignored her eldest son. It was just that he was so mature, easily pleased, and he took care of himself so well. He was independent. So she hadn't given him the same amount of love. She was a terrible mother.

And then she cried. Tsuna remained standing, whispering to her sweet words, and gently working through her matted hair. It was a long while before she pulled back, all dried up and red eyed.

"Just remember, mom," Tsuna whispered to her, "I will always love you. And dad does too. He'll come home someday soon. I promise it."

With that he gently, took her hand, leading her upstairs to her room, before giving her a kiss on the cheek and going to his.

True to promise, not even weeks later, Iemeitsu returned, saying that his boss had given him time off, after a two year absence. But by then she'd become sensitive enough to Tsuna presence that she noticed. Iemeitsu never once looked in his direction and only greeting Ieyetsu, who sneered every time Tsuna said something.

It was at that moment she knew she wasn't the only one who'd ignored her gentle son. But this, seemed so much worse. She remembered him from then on. Giving him his much needed attention. Kissing before school and hugs when he got home and much, much more. And every time Ieyetsu's expression when he saw kept getting uglier and uglier.

And then one day a year later, Tsuna was in a talent show. And he sang, one of his favorite songs, Hey There Delilah, an English song. And right after, there'd been an accident. She'd left Tsuna and Ieyetsu outside the School just for a couple of minutes to get her purse. When she came back Tsuna was sprawled on the street, a heavy set man dialing 119. Ieyetsu was at the side of the road, smiling.

Tsuna stopped speaking after that. He started coming home with bruises, all bloodied. His grades dropped from their normal C average and Ieyetsu started walking around the house, his expression more pleased than ever. Tsuna seemed to shy away from his brother more now, and flinched whenever his brother spoke. And at first, Nana had been none the wiser. She'd been suspicious but she didn't want to believe it she didn't.

And then she had seen it.

And she had finally realized, her Tsu-kun was being abused. By her husband and her own son no less. Right at that moment, her love for her husband shriveled up and died. And got significantly lesser for her son. And she finally started to question what her husband did for a living. The answer was shocking, world crashing, and then she knew. There was nothing, not a single thing, she could do for her Tsunayoshi. Nothing more than take care of his wounds and love him more than anybody in the world ever could.

But she could feel that,

That wasn't enough.