A/N: Title was like that because this is from Nana's POV. One-shot. Unbetaed.

Warning: for abuse…of some sort. I don't want to spoil if I tell otherwise.

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn so no suing.

Mother Knows Best

Minase - formerly Sawada - Nana was a happy mother and wife.

She had a cute son, and a loving second husband that was unlike Iemitsu who left them to go with his woman, replacing her with his co-worker, though Iemitsu still supported Tsuna financially. Despite her initial heartache, her husband with his toned muscles, romantic lines, heart-warming smiles, and caring personality was a blessing on their lives. He had certain facet with his temper but he was quick to apologize and make up with them with words or gifts.

Nana loved him and after dating him for eight years, they finally married and she was so happy because finally she would get her happily ever after with this man; who had been caring and loving towards her and her shy son.

Truly, her life was so perfect.

Her husband was a blessing that came to their life and she didn't regret marrying him. Finally, after all these years, Tsuna would have a proper father, the person he could talk and bond with during their father-and-son time. And she would smoother them with all the love and care she could give.

She had the perfect family, a loving husband, and son where she would spend all of her time to take care of. Everything was perfectly good. Even when Tsuna started going back home at evening - almost before dinner time or during dinner time - with an excuse of school works making him arrived late, leaving home for a whole day on weekends with the same excuse that she slowly thought was all excuses to get away from their home. Still, Nana knew her son and it made her thought that her son was slowly growing up to be more independent – which was good but it sent a motherly instinct on her gut and it says something was wrong with her son – and his shoulder were heavy as if carrying too big of a burden on his small body.

She once talked this over with her husband and he blinked at her before chuckling, words of "It was normal for boys his age to act like that. I've been there, and I know that he must have crush on someone or he was going out with a cute girl. Nothing to worry about, Nana." Left passed his lips.

Nana knew he was right and she was placated because when she really thought about it, it was a valid excuse. After all, Tsuna was 13, and a growing boy towards adulthood, it would be normal if Tsuna starts to develop feelings for someone – even if slightly only a little slightly it didn't feel like that was the problem. Which she squashed with further cajoling from her husband because of course Tsuna was a growing boy and she was merely overreacting because of her mother instinct to protect her son.

With her husbands' skilful distraction, and worries buried, Nana started to hint, in her own light-mannered way of telling her son to come talk to her when he needed help with girl problem.

"Ara, Tsu-kun, I don't think you are already at the age to date girls but Mama would be so happy to help you."

She remembered it clearly, the way Tsuna dumbly looked up at her before he hastily looked down with a growing red on his cheeks until the tip of his ears that Nana found adorable that she inwardly cooed. Because apparently, her husband was right and it made her happy to see her son slowly grow up even if it worry her as well.

She immediately chuckled at her son's apparent embarrassment. And she couldn't help but thought that perhaps it was time to tell Tsuna about the birds and the bees. And it ended with Tsuna's reaction of embarrassment that he looked like he was going to cry from sheer humiliation.

She didn't know that boys his age would be embarrassed about those stuffs but when she thought back to her younger days – after all her father attempted to give her the talk that her mother immediately interrupted before it could go out of hand – she finally realized right then that this was what her mother was talking about.

Then as a good mother, she lightly commented to ease her son's embarrassment by commenting that his stepfather would be the one giving him the talk instead of her, in hope, to lessen Tsuna's embarrassment. However, Nana didn't expect for her son to actually shed a tear. At the sight of her son's tears, she grew worried then she knew what was wrong.

Tsuna was humiliated to talk about it that he cried.

She smiled good-naturedly and told softly that they wouldn't give him the birds and bees talk if he wasn't ready. Tsuna immediately accepted before dashing hastily towards his room, probably to hide with embarrassment.

Her son was really shy and she loved him so much.

They shower him so much love especially her husband who adored her son, and she knew that Tsuna knew ever since he was younger that he could talk anything to them.

So why did her son distance himself to them? She still remembered when he was young that she spend more time with his stepfather than her, so what changed? What made him more distant towards her husband when they had forged closer bond years ago? Why won't he talk to her?

Nana still remembered his innocent question when Tsuna was five. The innocent question of "Where was Daddy?" That made her hugged her son tightly because on that same day, Iemitsu finalized their divorce and left them. Tsuna had asked tearfully why Iemitsu left them and she had silently weep for her kind-hearted son. That's why she told him to talk to her when her son was sad and she wanted to give Tsuna a perfect family and Nana did. She found a suitable almost perfect man who would love her as a woman, and her son as his own. And Tsuna adored him that they would spend father-and-son time and in turn it made her fall in love – even more – towards the man who had acted since then as his father.

It made her worry why he wouldn't come to her like he used to when he was younger or why he grew distant from his surrogate father.

Still, she waited, believed in her heart that Tsuna would talk to her when he was ready, believed to the words of her husband that he would try to talk Tsuna to see what was wrong when words of "Tsuna-kun was at that age where they would keep their own problem was normal" or when soft kisses pressed on her hands, cheeks, nose, temple, on her lips couldn't erase her worries any longer.

When he said those reassuring her words, her worries lifted and she thought all over again that they were lucky to have him in their lives.

Nana saw the effect immediately, Tsuna told her that there was a girl he had a crush on. She was happy that she immediately gave him an advice; telling him not to rush ahead, to be confident enough to confess even if Tsuna refused to do it because of his average grades, all thanks to the help of her husband's tutoring, and the girl was the school idol.

Nana might had acted too delightfully. And that reminded her that she would ask her husband to give Tsuna the talk. After all, boys would be more comfortable to talk about their manly problems with each other, she inwardly chuckled because her boy was slowly growing up just when she still remembered that he used to be so small. The thought sadden her but delighted her at the thought of Tsuna's happiness. She did notice that Tsuna didn't answer her comment before he coughed in embarrassment and nodded slowly in resignation.

Her son was growing up and he needed all the advice she could offer and more so from her husband since they were both of the same gender. Maybe with this, Tsuna wouldn't be distant towards his surrogate father.

At the confine of their shared room, Nana graciously thanked her husband and told him how much he meant to her, how lucky she was to have him in her life. He had said romantic words towards her that made her swoon, making her fall in love all over again and it made her think that she was blessed with a perfect happy family.

She wouldn't change anything for the world for this to change.

Then she was presented with the option of choosing between her two boys and her life crumbled to dust. Everything weren't the same anymore and she realized that everything was a delusion, her reality shattered and her heart broke with heart ache for the sin she unknowingly committed.

Nana had been blind. She hadn't seen the reality of their life, didn't realize the meaning behind the subtle changes that occurred in her home, and didn't know that something was wrong not until it smacked right in front of her face in a silver platter. She didn't realize how blind she had been all these years. And now… her dear boy was...-

She didn't realize that her son was hiding bruises under his clothes, she knew he was being teased by his peers but it stopped and she thought it was solved. Nana asked him if he was being bullied but Tsuna froze and didn't utter a single word. When she told her husband and he reassured her that everything would be all right. Nana believed him, and it came true, Tsuna's bruises disappeared with time and she could breathe easily, relieved to know that the bullying stopped. She didn't know what her husband told her son, but Tsuna was healthy again and that was all that matter.

She thought it was the end. But, it wasn't. It was the beginning.

Nana didn't pay much attention to how her husband and Tsuna interact even if she saw them few times on the hallway. With her husband's arm slung on Tsuna's shoulder, and her husband looked happy as if he was having fun and she wouldn't interrupt them, deciding to go back to her previous task because her boys were more likely talking about manly things.

She caught them many times like that, but she didn't pay attention even if her son looked wide-eyed because boys will be boys, and Nana thought her son was merely embarrassed that's why she ignored it. Because her husband had been doing that when Tsuna was younger and it was normal for her. If that was how they interact with each other, she was perfectly all right with it. After all, her husband was always the one dragging Tsuna to somewhere for bonding time even if it was only to buy ice cream at night when Tsuna was younger. She couldn't see anything wrong with it even when Tsuna was older now.

During those times, she never failed to remind her son to talk to her when he had problem. Especially when Tsuna would look at her with panic on his eyes and in turn she started to feel that something concerning had been going under her own roof.

Yet, she paid more attention when he caught her husband touched her son's bottom one time. Nana immediately thought it was a new norm shared between boys, but there was a gut feeling on her stomach that made her queasy that she pause and think how Tsuna and her husband interact with each other. What she concluded was that her husband was messing with her son… or… She didn't voice out her second thought but it made her look closer to how they interact since then.

And the reality was slammed right in front of her.

"Please… stop… It hurts… Stop it, Dad…! Don't hurt me anymore… Please stop before Mama comes home… Please! I beg you… I don't want to do this… Please stop forcing me… Dad! Dad! Stop it…! Sto-"

And she was calling the police, trying to be silent, fearing that they could hear her as she whispered on the phone, begging for help, and mentioning with great horror the truth that her husband had been abusing her only son, her own blood and flesh.

Then Nana busted the door of her son's room and her eyes widened.

There right in front of her eyes, atop the bed, Tsuna, her son, was writhing and shaking underneath her husband; wrist bound atop on the bedpost – fully naked just like the day he was born and legs angled upward in a lewd way as her husband – NO – the monster screwed her son senseless that Tsuna was screaming incoherent words under the gag covering his mouth and crying river of tears from his red rimmed and puffy eyes. The monster didn't even pause from his movement even with her sudden entrance aside from a shocked expression on his face when he looked at her before he shuddered and came inside her son!

Nana saw her world shattered in a loud explosion in that instance, just like the spurt of creamy white leaking from where the man and her baby were connected. She didn't know she covered her mouth due to the shock and other emotions burning on her chest that she was shaking and trembling and her stomach was churning that she felt sick. She didn't know what to do. But Nana was angry, so so angry at the monster in the sheep clothing that she screamed profanities at her ex-husband and she was running towards her son, purposely slapping and pushing the bastard that hurt her baby.

She immediately undid Tsuna's gag and ties and enveloped her son to an embrace that Tsuna returned with desperation. She silently weep and she tightened her hold on her son, protecting her own flesh with promise of murder on her eyes. Nana accusingly glared at the man before her before she brokenly said. "You hurt my son, my child." She repeated with great stress on her words, accusing eyes and tone but she was trembling with emotion.

The man tried to explain, that there was a misunderstanding but she wouldn't hear any of it. She just sat there, embraced her son at the fear that Tsuna would disappear if she let go.

The next thing that happened where blurry to her mind, the authority appeared, there was a commotion because of the man she refused to call her husband tried to explain, he even shouted that it wasn't his fault but her son's fault and it made her slap him on the face. Then they hoasted him, away from somewhere, hopefully they wouldn't see him again and she rocked her trembling son, petting Tsuna's hair like she used to do when he was an infant.

Nana murmured comforting words, but she knew that everything wasn't all right. It hadn't been for a long time, and because of her negligence, her son took the full brunt of the consequences. Because she didn't see the true personality of the man she had chosen as her husband and father to her son, she let that man near her baby and now Tsuna was deeply hurt.

"Mama is here, Tsu-kun… Everything is all right." She murmured as she pressed a small kiss on Tsuna's temples and brushed her son's bangs away from his face. She called her son, that nickname she used to call him and even said another white lie because they both knew that nothing was all right. Still she wanted to believe that everything would be all right.

Tsuna leaned onto her arms but she still could feel his tense shoulder.

Nana vowed at the moment, that she would protect her child, and she wished that the monster who hurt Tsuna and in turn her, the one who betrayed them both would experience the punishment for the crime he did.

"I'm sorry that Mama is late." She murmured as she hugged her baby and wept for the lost innocence of her precious person. Tsuna clung to her like a lifeline as he loudly cried on her chest and made her tighten her hold. Tsuna looked and felt so small in her arms.

Nana wished with all her heart for the happiness that Tsuna needed, wishing that Tsuna would remain strong and she wished to be strong enough to support her son who needed her the most. It hurt her because all this time, as a mother to her own son, she knew her son from the time she learned she was pregnant yet she had failed him because she was too blind to see the signs.

That's why she wouldn't loudly ask for forgiveness because she knew that even if Tsuna forgives her, she couldn't forgive herself for failing her own son. She could only hope that Tsuna would heal with time because as a mother she already failed once, she wouldn't allow any more than that.

Right now, she didn't want to be happy but blind. It was time for her to face the reality, the consequence of her obliviousness, for her son.

Fin

A/N: I was inspired to write this one-shot after watching a video in Facebook about a single mother who wanted to spread awareness to the parents and to the abused children. I would quote her words, "Monsters look and act normal. They are very good at hiding who they really are. They are the people we trust with our kids every day." It was very true and meaningful. The video was created by a single mother who married the wrong man, that is actually a pedophile, had violated her daughter and now she wanted to spread awareness for other parents to prevent or lessen abuse of any form.

Kindly leave a review.