Those of you who've read this one, shush! Okay, don't actually, you can reread the thing and review again or complain if you want. I'm going to put up another one pretty soon, and maybe even the ones I wrote from your prompts! Haha.

To those who don't know what this fic is for, it's all the 'side stories' or just stray chapters that I haven't been able to fit into the official Adoption storyline. There are going to be a few that are already in the canon timeline, which might be confusing, but alas, that's exactly the problem I'm having. So for those who simply want to enjoy the bits I have available and don't mind the jumpiness of the 'plot', I invite you to critic my writing and maybe give some ideas on what I should do to assimilate all these pieces into the official story. :)

Izumi doesn't really know what to think of Sawada Tsunayoshi.

The boy is small and scrawny and weak in the way Kyoya never is. He's a sniveling wreck the first time she meets him in Namimori Elementary, picking up her ward from school as he bumps into her covered in leaves and mud and bruises.

She's seen and met her fair share of people. The bullies and the bullied, the successful and the failing. She knows how to tell the losers from the winners, the ones with spark and something worth knowing, and the ones without. It's not a nice comparison, but again, she isn't nice. It's the truth of the world right there, and she describes it the way she sees it.

Sawada Tsunayoshi is a loser.

She can tell it from the curve of his spine, the way it hunches into itself. She can see it from his eyes, the way they stare hopelessly and tearfully and hurt. She can hear it from his whimpers, his stuttered apologies, feel it from the way he flinched on impact.

It's saddening, and she feels sorry for him, but she also wants to cringe away in disgust.

He isn't blind either. They call him dame-Tsuna but he isn't stupid. His big brown doe-eyes droop in a way that a boy should be ashamed of.

There is yelling and a band of boys thunder onto the scene with gleeful faces that twist into ugly malice when they see her. They are obviously unhappy that their fun is ruined.

They're many and rowdy, but she's older and fierce. She stares pointedly and they slink away grumbling.

Tsunayoshi sniffs, the sound loud in the ensuing silence. He mumbles his thanks, but her cool look unnerves him and his eyes slide away. He stands stiffly, uncertain and apprehensive. It wouldn't be an impossibility that he has heard of her, with the situations she has stirred up in town. She maintains her scrutiny.

Kyoya is young and tall and brave. He stands up to those he thinks are wrong and fights for what he believes in (even if it isn't always right).

Sawada Tsunayoshi is young and small and jumpy. He shrieks when hit, cries easily, and never fights back.

She doesn't let her eyes soften. Doesn't offer a smile or comfort. This isn't the first time someone has found the boy crying and hurt. Namimori is not without its tender hearts with gentle words and kindness for a bullied child. She's seen them pick him up and dust him off, voices coaxing and encouraging and sweet. She's seen candy and cookies and Ultraman Band-Aids.

Her boy is a winner, while this one is a loser.

It's a pity, she wishes all the children could win. She isn't nice, but children are an exception. Will always be an exception.

Sawada Tsunayoshi is pathetic, but he is still a child. And so, Izumi will make the exception.

But for all that children are the exception, Izumi is unable to be nice. She does not reach out to this boy, does not try to pick him up or dust him off or feed him sweets. She doesn't believe in false hope, doesn't see the point in gestures with no useful consequence. She might help the boy this time, but it will not prevent the next. She doesn't believe in comfort that is not permanent, does not see the use in just words.

She will not lie to any child. The world is a cruel place for those who cannot find their niche.

Perhaps in another world, she is, while not nice, able to be kind. She would pick him up and dust him off and teach him how to win.

But she has her hands full with another infinitely more precious than he, and for all that her heart hurts, she will make the same choice over and over again.

But there is also no point in releasing the sharp words that seethe under her breast. Barbs prod at one's self-esteem and spurs one to improve. There is nothing left to spur in Sawada Tsunayoshi, and so prodding would simply be unkind.

She's glad her boy is a winner. Glad he was already one when she got him, glad she has managed to keep him that way. She wants to pour scorn on Sawada Nana and whoever her husband is for not doing anything to fix this. Fix him.

There are winners and there are losers. There are born fighters and born intellectuals and born artists but there are no born losers.

Sawada Tsunayoshi is young and small and jumpy and pathetic, but he is a child and children are the exception. Sawada Tsunayoshi has barely seen the start to his life and his eyes are already beginning to dull with self-blame and helplessness.

She wonders how much longer he will keep the pity of those women before they tire of picking him up and dusting him off and fixing his scratches. Wonders when he will be considered big enough to take care of himself and the sympathy runs out. Wonders which one will come first.

He stumbles around her when the moment stretches awkwardly. Tries to edge away, sniveling and limping and cowering. She doesn't step aside, but turns to watch him go.

She wonders if he'll keep sniveling, limping and cowering when he's old.

Izumi can tell the winners from the losers. She sees the confident, the brave, the bright and the strong. The ones with spark and something worth knowing.

And the ones who've lost it.

Again, sorry about the Adoption story unintentional hiatus, but it doesn't seem to be moving anywhere, even as I keep getting bits of inspiration at different points on the timeline. The story itself is still alive (very much so) but the frustration at not being able to put up what I've gotten written down as well as writing what should come next has gotten the better of me. :/

So here we are with Adoption: Sidestories.

~Memory25