Oh, God. Okay. Well. Here I am, and here it is. It, um. I knew where I was going when I started it, but...it has since developed a mind of its own, and I have no idea where the hell I eventually ended up. I like to think there's a recurring theme, here, but I really don't know anything about anything any more. I just had to get it done, so here it is, FINALLY DONE. (Edit: AND IN CHAPTERS. You're effing welcome, people.)
Disclaimer TO THE EXTREME: At this point, I don't even feel disappointment any more when I'm forced to admit that I don't actually own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!. All I feel is numbness.
Also, this one's completely un-beta'd because I've lost patience and had to publish it NOW. Be ye warned.
Enjoy.
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i. how it started
The morning of her tenth birthday, Fukami Nana woke to the sound of chirping outside her window, except instead of the happy and burbling chirps she was used to hearing in the early hours of the day, these sounds were shrill and frantic and distressed. She slipped on a robe and slipped out the door, scurrying around to the side of the house to find a bird no bigger than the palm of her hand flapping fruitlessly from where it had presumably fallen out of a tree – its wings obviously were not mature enough to lift it even an inch off the ground, but it was beating them fervently enough to propel itself sporadically in different directions, floundering in haphazard semicircles where it lay and bleating out a steady stream of panicked chirps.
The sight almost broke her heart where she stood.
She scooped up the bird in her palm, and it stopped chirping and tensed, frozen with fear at the potential predator. She paid this no mind, however, and carefully inspected the little bird's body for injury, prodding gently with her index finger to coerce it into rolling over (it flopped limply like a fish out of water, primal survival instinct clearly telling it to play dead) and concluding that its wing was broken from the awkward way it held the fuzzy appendage to its side.
Without a second thought she carried it delicately back into the house, cradling her palm to her chest protectively as she located the empty shoebox under her bed, filled it with tissues and cotton balls, and set it on the windowsill where it could get lots of sunshine. She placed the bird amongst the fluff in the box, the downy yellow contrasting brilliantly against the white, and after assuring herself that it would be perfectly all right without her for a few seconds, she ran to the bathroom to locate the smallest bandages they owned.
Her parents found her hunched over the box on her windowsill, fastidiously wrapping the little bird's broken wing in a bandage that she had halved to accommodate the bird's size.
Her mother the housewife squirmed and said happy birthday in a very pinched and uncomfortable way, as though she was far more concerned about the potential pathogens the bird could be carrying rather than its well-being. She left quickly to cook breakfast and shake her head and wonder what on earth went through children's minds to pick up something so dirty and think it was all right to keep it in the house.
Her father the doctor sat down beside her and showed her how to wrap the bandages a little more crisply, so as to properly align the little bird's wing and speed up the healing process. He smiled at Nana and told her what a brave and selfless thing she'd done, to help this defenseless little creature and keep it safe from harm until it was healthy and strong enough to fend for itself.
Nana watched the little bird heal and grow for three weeks, keeping its bandages fresh and her window open, until one morning she awoke to the frayed remnants of bandages and an empty shoebox.
She moved slowly, emptying the contents of the box into the trash and carefully stowing it back under her bed, just in case.
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As my mother used to say when I would try and shove things like an entire cake into my mouth at once, "Take people bites, not elephant bites." For the next few days, I'm going to try and break this thing down from the elephant bite it used to be into smaller, more manageable people bites. Hopefully, that will make it a little easier to chew and swallow. (YEAH EXTENDED FOOD METAPHOR.)
Also, I'm hoping for a couple reviews for my trouble. :D