Yay, new story when I haven't updated my old ones for two months. I know. But I had to because my brain had writer's block and decided this would be some sort of acceptable apology to everyone.
OAWADW seems to be pretty well received at the moment, but I'll have to see how things go. This is just the prologue, so I don't know if I will be continuing this right away.
WARNING! Assassin!Nana who is not at all amused with how things in her life are going, most particularly by way of her son.
Disclaimer- I don't own KHR.
The Unseen Factor – Prologue
Usually warm brown eyes belonging to one Sawada Nana stared dispassionately down at the rapidly cooling body that lay at her feet, which would've looked perfectly normal were it not for the fact that the man's neck was twisted at an odd angle. There was also the fact that his face was frozen in horror, but the neck was definitely more noticeable.
If anyone ever asked about one Sawada Nana in the small town of Namimori, the only answers they would get would be the coos of how sweet she looked with her husband, how kind and beautiful she was, and what a lovely child their son, Sawada Tsunayoshi, was.
If anyone ever asked about one Sawada Nana in the Criminal Underworld, only the fellow Family members of Sawada Iemitsu, the Young Lion of the Vongola and CEDEF Leader, would –if feeling inordinately generous rather than plotting ways to kill said person- quietly pull them over and tell them why it was a very bad idea to try and do anything to the man's wife or child. Seedy informants would whisper the information to eager ears searching for information to get at the man, dangerous hands exchanging gold.
It was one such happening that led to the current situation at the Sawada residence.
Somehow- somehow, the few CEDEF members stationed in the town had completely missed the assassin aiming to take both her and her precious son's life. It seemed that someone had finally done their homework before simply hiring any random goon from off the street to go and kill them, instead conducting a thorough information sweep before contracting a rather highly-ranked assassin for the job.
The man would've succeeded were it not for a few facts.
One; he had chosen to make an attempt on her Tsu-kun's life in front of her.
Two; she was actually not quite what rumour in the Criminal Underworld made her out to be.
Three; Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, let alone mother.
The thing was, in asking anyone, anywhere, no one would be able to tell a single real, important piece of information that was absolutely crucial for anyone thinking of even just trying to take out Sawada Iemitsu's family; a piece of information that not even the man himself knew.
Sawada Nana did not marry Sawada Iemitsu clueless about her husband's whereabouts during his tromps around the world, working for 'a big oil company'.
She was fully aware of her husband's involvement and reputation in the Mafia because she herself had once been involved with the Mafia. Involved, and feared and respected by those who knew her name, 'The Crimson-Masked Angel'. Once upon a time, she had been at the top with the greatest assassins, hitmen, bounty-hunters, and free-lancers in the Underworld.
Then she eventually decided to slow and settle down in her early twenties, fully slipping into one of her previous civilian personas that'd she'd previously created for an infiltration mission. Picking the small Japanese town of Namimori was an easy choice; it was out of the way, but not in the middle of nowhere with a moderately-sized community that would prove rather simple to integrate into, and she'd always had a certain fondness for Japan.
'Sato Nana' quickly moved in, papers on hand, history already well-learned to the point that if she didn't tell anyone, no one would be able to prove her wrong. She'd come from an even smaller town of Kaminokuni, Hiyama subprefecture of the country's northernmost Hokkaido prefecture, with a population of six-thousand or so. Growing up, she'd been raised by her grandparents who were fishermen or fishmongers since they lived along the southwest coast of the prefecture. Her parents had been fishermen and fishmongers as well, but had died early in her childhood in an unfortunate boating accident.
Throughout her high school years, her grandparents' health began failing them, and she refused the opportunity to attend post-secondary education over taking care of her family members for the last few months of their lives. As such, after their deaths, she'd moved away from the small town, not wanting to have to live alone in the place where her family had all died, and to start off fresh in a new place.
The Namimori mothers' community bought it hook, line and sinker, showering the young woman with coos of how sweet she was and how they'd take care of her. The news propagated around various parts of town, and soon, it was like Sato Nana had lived there her whole life.
Not too long later, she met Sawada Iemitsu, the then newly instated Head of the Vongola's CEDEF division and 'Young Lion of the Vongola'. At first, she had no real interest despite playing so in her actual persona, giggling at his flirtations and attempts to date her. Then, over the course of a year, she slowly grew to love him, eventually marrying, and having her darling Tsu-kun.
Then that love suffered a heavy blow when not a month after Tsu-kun's birth, he left, spouting lies of being called back to work. A cold-hot fury burned somewhere inside her at her husband's assumptions of her actually believing the half-crocked excuses that he called lies to cover up his involvement in the Mafia. Of course, while she hadn't been particularly forthcoming about her own past, that had been a part of her history that she'd left behind.
All that mattered was that that man was prioritizing Famiglia over family.
Several days later, her anger burned out, leaving Nana an almost normal state of mind, with the exception being a calm acceptance of raising Tsu-kun herself. It didn't matter he'd posted several CEDEF agents around Namimori; they might as well have been useless for all the new mother was concerned, though she supposed the gesture was proof that Iemitsu did care to some degree.
So she raised her son, and her Tsu-kun grew to be a wonderful caring child, if slightly clumsy at times. He inherited most of her features; soft, fluffy brown hair, large doe eyes, and pale, but not overly-so, skin. Neighbouring mothers cooed and squealed over how adorable he was; accepting the excuses of Iemitsu having been promoted and called back to work, and Nana bore everything with a gentle smile on her face, happiness dancing in her eyes.
~Look underneath the underneath~
Then came the day when her husband returned from one of his jaunts working for the Vongola, the Ninth Vongola Boss in tow with a straw hat and tropical print shirt in all his grandfatherly glory. Nana had instantly been on alert, though her demeanour had looked as unassumingly civilian as always; one of the skills that'd benefitted her greatly during her assassin days, even as the fool she loved had swooned over, kissing her unashamedly before going to greet his son.
The son who barely remembered his face and name between his visits. The number of visits that could've been counted on one hand with fingers left over.
Ignoring the thoughts, Nana flushed a slight pink as her personality demanded, inviting the older man in for some tea, her Tsu-kun toddling up and hiding behind her legs as he stared, wide-eyed, at the two strange people he'd never before seen in his life. A smile that masked her true feelings appeared on her lips as she set the tea down on the coffee table and urged him out gently.
"Tsuna, this here is Timoteo, one of papa's friends." Iemitsu grinned, eyes crinkling, as the man beside him smiled at the five year old.
"Tsu-kun, this man here is your father's friend," she spoke softly to him as the child remained silent, lowering herself to his level, "Won't you say hi?"
Her Tsu-kun nodded a bit unsurely, stepping forward on shaky legs before doing a little awkward bow, "H-hi, Timoteo-san. I-I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, b-but kaa-san calls me Tsu-kun. It's g-good to meet you."
Timoteo smiled before addressing the child, "It's also good to meet you, Tsunayoshi-kun. You're a very well behaved child, I'm sure your kaa-san is very proud of you."
The mass of fluffy brown hair bobbed with its owner's head as her son nodded, "U-un."
"Would you like to go outside and play with your father while your mother and I talk about boring adult stuff?" offered the old man. Nana never let up on what was becoming her real personality, what had already become part of her real personality as she made analyzed the words.
He was manipulating them into leaving, so that he and I can talk. At the same time, he's told and given Iemitsu the chance to spend some time with Tsu-kun under the pretenses of legitimately having not spent much time with his own child and keeping him safe while also removing him from the room because he wants to talk to me.
There's no reason there should be anything that can't be said in front of Iemitsu, other than my history, which isn't known to Timoteo since I've always been contacted by proxies when working for the Vongola and I've never met him face to face.
Which means that he's either searched up and somehow found something on my past, or that it's the famed Vongola Hyper Intuition that the Bosses supposedly inherit from Vongola Primo, though it's been said that none have been as strong as that of Primo.
Iemitsu narrowed his eyes by barely a fraction, but nodded anyways, grinning goofily as he scooped up his son, walking towards the front yard, "C'mon Tsuna, let's see what we can do!"
"Be careful!" Nana called, voice coloured with fondness and exasperation before turning back to Timoteo, noting that their cups were empty of tea.
Watching the wife of the Head of the Vongola's CEDEF division pour tea with dark, assessing eyes, the Ninth Vongola Boss spoke, "I must apologize for taking up so much of your husband's time from his family, I understand that you take it quite seriously, Sawada-san."
"Yes, but sometimes things just don't work the way we'd like it to," Nana replied understandingly, smile dimming slightly. "I do know that my husband's job is very important, and I love him too much to pull him from it."
"I see why Iemitsu loves you so. You truly are as great a woman as he describes."
"Thank you, Timoteo-san."
They drank their tea in a tranquil quiet, Timoteo seemingly pondering over their talk, only disrupted by the laughter and shouts of father and son outside when it abruptly stopped, only to be replaced with crying. Worry immediately flooded concerned brown eyes as Nana stood up, rushing over to the door, "Tsu-kun?"
The sniffling face of her son entered her vision, and she was just about to rush over to comfort him when her husband shushed him quietly, rocking him back and forth. A hand on her shoulder had her turning around to see the calm face of the Ninth Vongola Boss. "I'm sure Iemitsu has it under control; you needn't worry."
"Of course, but isn't it every mother's duty to worry for their child?" Nana let out a relieved sigh, smiling, "It's getting late, I should go make dinner. Will you be staying over for the evening Timoteo-san?"
The old man inclined his head, "If I'm not imposing. Iemitsu tells me your cooking is wonderful. I wouldn't mind trying it myself."
Smile growing wider, the brunette nodded before heading towards the kitchen.
Neither Iemitsu nor Timoteo ever knew that the mother had seen them seal her son's Sky Flames that afternoon.
~Not everything is ever as it seems~
So a year later, staring down at the dead body in her house, along with the background thoughts of how annoying it was going to be getting rid of the body, Sawada Nana decided that no longer would she stand for simply raising her child the normal way, when it was evident that he would not grow up the normal way.
Normal children worried about going to school, playing with friends, getting good grades, and having fun.
Tsuna-kun did terribly in school, had no friends, and stayed home more often than not with nothing to do because he didn't have fun, like normal kids.
Nana knew that her son wasn't stupid; he wasn't a genius and had never been one, but before he'd grasped things at the average child's learning rate. Now, he struggled with the very basics of things like math and his clumsiness hurt him on an almost daily basis.
Everything had started right after that visit when her husband and boss had sealed her son's Flames and Hyper Intuition. She'd known about it since a little while after her marriage to Sawada Iemitsu, having used some of her sources to do a little research on the Young Lion of the Vongola's background and history.
Normal children did not have to worry about being assassinated, being kidnapped and sold for money, losing their innocence before their virginity, and potentially inheriting a bloody Mafia Famiglia.
No, if that was what her son could and probably would face in the near future, then as per her duty and her love as his mother, she would damn well prepare him for it.
It seems a resurfacing of The Crimson-Masked Angel is in order… mused Sawada Nana as she picked up the phone to ring in some people she knew to help dispose of the body.
And boy would the Mafia, no, the entire Underworld be surprised when they came knocking on her door.
Ahurhurhur. Yup. Leave me a review and tell me your thoughts people. And the name for Nana...I don't know. If anyone has any better solutions, then just tell me and I'll consider it. Thanks for reading.