Mirror Image, My Mirror Opposite

Warning: Tsuna x Natsu. Yes this is twin-cest, reader beware. Only small kisses, hand-holding, cuddles and bed-sharing, nothing more extreme. They are only middle-schoolers, just discovering how they feel, while attempting to rationalize it. Oh, and character death.

The first chapter will be Nana-centric.

I do not own KHR.

Chapter 1, The Beginning Of The End

It really was a beautiful day. The birds, singing their most lovely songs, flew through the clearest sky Namimori had had that year. The leaves in the trees were changing their colour, dying in red, yellow and brown. From her seat on the couch, Nana watched her boys, Natsu and his slightly smaller twin brother Tsuna, playing in the front yard; a harmless game of tag, one she almost wished she could join. She tried to smile at the sight of them, but the man next to her was preventing that in the worst of ways.

"Nana? Please say something." The destroyer of her world asked in a voice that seemed almost pleading; a voice that farther shoved her heart through a wood-chipper. 'Son of a bitch.' she snarled in her head.

Never one to let her volcanic rage show on her face or in her voice, she continued to watch her precious children through the sliding glass door. "They turn 6 today."

"I know."

There was no emotion in those words, no sign of regret or remorse. Nothing.

She felt a snarl unfurl on her lips, "Then why... why, Iemitsu, are you doing this to us?" still, Nana refused to look in the blond's direction.

"I... Look, it's complicated, alright? I don't have much of a choice."

"Bullshit." she swore. Nana shut down the mild-mannered wife inside her that told her to apologize for her wording, and stared straight into her soon-to-be ex-husbands eyes. After a second, he looked away.

"Coward. You can't even face your wife while you ask her to sign divorce papers." the man seemed to slink away, sinking deeper into the couch. It was then that she noticed Tsuna look over at her, stopping in his tracks and causing Natsu to run into his back. They both toppled down to the ground, and popped up a second later, apparently more concerned by Nana's lack of smile than by falling down. So Nana smiled the most plastic smile she had ever faked and waved to her boys, letting them know that she was fine and to go back to playing.

"There's another woman, isn't there." it was not a question.

"...Yes. She's pregnant, with my child. I can't just abandon them!"

"Then what do you call what you're doing to Tsunayoshi and Natsume?" Fear sparked in her chest as a thought crossed her mind and she let go of her emotions for just a second. "You can not take them from me! They're all I have left! They're my boys!" she screeched, jumping from the couch and staring at Iemitsu's motionless form. The man heaved a sigh, saying, again without a trace of emotion,

"I'm not going to take them from you. If you had even read the paper, then you'd know that. You're getting the house, mortgage-free, full custody of the boys, and a hefty sum of money every month until they turn 18. Now sign the papers and let me leave..."

"Mama?" came a small voice behind Nana, and she schooled her facile features to try to look normal before attempting to talk correctly. "Tsuna, go back outside and keep playing with your brother." before she had finished speaking, Iemitsu stood up and walked around Nana, avoiding so much as even looking at the woman who somehow still loved him.

"Boys, actually, I'd like to talk to you about something while your mother signs some papers."

With just those words, he'd put her on the spot. Not that there was much of a choice anyway. If he didn't want to stay with Nana, then she had no right to stop him. With that defeated thought, she sat back down on the couch, smoothing her skirt and adjusting her blouse. She was buying useless time. As she picked up the pen that would change her life forever, she overheard Iemitsu's explanation of why he wasn't going to be back.

"Listen, I'm not going to be back for another long while."

"Why?" ever the innocent one, Natsu asked his question with a small tilt to his head.

"Well, Natsu, your mother and I, we can't agree on something, and she's asked me not to come home. So I'm going back to work and I may not be allowed to come back at all..." the devil replied, feigning innocence and sadness. Natsu looked ready to cry and Nana caught the look on his face as he turned to face her for a moment, before turning back to Iemitsu.

"R-really? Why?"

He was pinning this on her. He was doing worse than taking the boys from her, he was going to make her the bad guy in all this, the boys would come to resent her for taking away their father from them! Nana knew that at this point, she should be feeling that same rage from before bubbling up in her chest again, but she felt almost numb. The pen shook in her hand and tears she hadn't wanted to cry yet spilled down her face. He was going to take her boys from her, just not physically.

"Don't lie." those simple words felt like they came from her subconscious, and for a horrifying second, she thought she had said them. But they were followed by Iemitsu's startled voice,

"What was that, Tsuna?"

"I said, 'Don't lie.'"

"But I'm not lying; why would I lie about why I can't see my boys again?"

"Because you made mama cry. You're the bad guy, not mama." apparently taking his brother's words as gospel, Natsu shot up, running from this father's side to settle behind Tsuna, glaring accusingly at Iemitsu.

"What? What are you talking about, Tsuna?" there was something similar to fear in his voice then, and Nana felt a smug sort of pride in her young son. She hated to think that one son was better than the other, but while Natsu was much more athletic and showed a love for sports that Tsuna just didn't have, Tsuna was showing signs of an intellect far beyond his years. She honestly wasn't all that surprised her genius son had called the man out on his lie. She was not, however, prepared for what came out of his mouth next.

"I'm talking about those papers you want mom to sign. And I heard what you were saying to mom earlier. You're breaking up our family because you couldn't keep it in your pants!" with his finger pointed accusingly at his father and a straight-faced expression, Tsuna looked like the picture of childhood innocence. His words however...

Nana choked on her own laughter, and Natsu shot up to look after her, while Iemitsu looked shocked at Tsuna's words.

"How did you hear that?! The door was closed!... when did it open anyway?"

"So you admit it? That you were cheating on mom!" Nana looked up just in time to see an anger in Iemitsu's eyes that she hadn't seen in a long, long while. The only other time had been when he had beaten up some of her bullies in high school... only now that look was being directed at Tsuna. All humour drained from her face and Nana hurriedly signed the papers, standing up just as Iemitsu said very loudly and very firmly,

"That is none of your business, young man." Tsuna flinched back and Nana jumped half way across the floor of the living room. Now, Nana was fairly sure that Iemitsu would never even consider hitting Tsuna, or any child, really, but there was no way in hell she was going to take that chance. Not when he had already broken his promise to never leave her.

"Here." she said, coming up behind them. "Take your papers and leave my porch." tears sprung in Tsuna's eyes and he joined his brother behind Nana's legs. Iemitsu turned his cold eyes to Nana, grabbing the paper held out to him and looking down at the boys. His eyes smoldered and finally regret crossed them, before he hopped of the porch and walked away. He had left all his things at the hotel, so there was nothing for him to get.

The boys looked on in an blind stare, Nana figured they were trying to understand why their father had left them. The now single mother of two ushered her children into the kitchen, closing and locking the sliding glass door behind them. No matter how fucked up their birthday was now, there was still a cake to eat, and two very wonderful young boys to celebrate.

After almost a week, Nana decided to check her finances, to see just how much this 'hefty sum of money' was Iemitsu was talking about, and if he'd really send it. She bit her lip, looking at the computer screen, fear gripping her heart and mind again.

20,000 yen. *

Just a measly 20,000 yen, for all of the house hold expenses... Nana almost cried. She'd need to get a job, just to keep them afloat.

A little pop-up window in the corner of her screen let her know that she had an e-mail waiting for her. Clicking the window brought her to another site in another tab, and she clicked the newest e-mail there. It was from Iemitsu.

'Nana,

I'm sure you've seen the money by now. Half of that is Tsuna's, the other half is Natsu's. Good luck.'

That was it. Nothing else. He expected her to raise two children on so little money, so that she'd have to get a job? This time, she didn't hold back.

Nana cried then, in the office in her house, in the middle of the night, all alone.

The next morning, she started looking up local job listings.

Fixing her blouse Nana stared the building down, watching the people inside with a warring interest and determination. This was her 8th interview in 2 weeks, and she'd be damned to get it. The hydro bill was dew in just over a week, and if she had no money by then, they'd bill her a late fee. Jobless and near penny-less, it had been almost a month and a half since that bastard ruined her life. And no, she was not going to let her boy's go without heat this winter.

Straightening her back and taking a deep breath, Nana fixed her expression to 'happy and determined' and walked into the building.

Setting her purse on the kitchen counter, Nana all but dropped into a kitchen chair. She heaved a sigh of exhaustion and relief, thankful that she finally got a job! It wasn't much of one, a cash register employee at a small convenience corner store. But it paid weekly, and she needed all she could get. Part-time, minimum wage. She sighed thinking about how she'd need to get a second one in no time, and a glace at the clock told her it was time to start the stew for dinner and then go pick up the boys from school. They were 6 after all. Maybe next year they could walk themselves home. She got up with as much pep as she could to start dinner.

"Merry Christmas, mom!" came the wake-up call from Tsuna and Natsu. They were 8 now, 2 years after their struggles started, walking themselves to and from school and taking on a lot of the house-hold chores. It was a rare day off, one that she had both earned and begged for, since it was Christmas day, and she needed to be with the boys. Nana sat up and gave a large yawn and stretched her arms high above her head, a deep set smile of her face. She lowered her arms to stretch them in front of her, when a mischievous idea popped into her head.

As the petite woman leaned forward to crack her back, she snagged up her kids, dragging them up onto the bed and tickling them senseless. They all fell back and let out peals of laughter.

"My! What a wonderful way to wake up! Merry Christmas to you too, Tsu-kun! Na-kun!" She said, happily giving each boy a kiss on the forehead. "Now, how about you two get off my bed and out of my room so I can get dressed and make some breakfast, yeah?"

"OK!" Natsu chirped and jumped off the bed, turning and waiting for his brother to join him. Tsuna grinned as he jumped off, saying lightly, "But you don't have to get breakfast ready mama."

"Oh? I don't? How come?"

"'Cause, Tsuna already made breakfast!" Natsu sang out, but before Nana could give any words of praise to the boys Tsuna spoke up, a pout on his lips.

"Natsu! That was a surprise!"

Looking like he had just accidentally stepped on a kitten's tail, Natsu rushed to Tsuna's side, saying things like "I'm sorry! I didn't know!" and "Please let me make it up to you!" and "How can I fix it?" and, with a nudge from Tsuna (Read: turned around to give a fake sob) Natsu cried out a "Please don't cry!"

Nana saw the small, barely there smile on Natsu's lips though, and knew that the whole show was just that, a show. She laughed. She couldn't help it! Her boys were just so adorable! She had a good, long laugh, knowing her boys were watching her with large smiles on their faces.

The petite mother calmed down after another moment before standing and foregoing the day clothes, choosing instead to go like her boys, in her pajama's. She walked out of her bedroom, hand in hand with Tsuna and Natsu, and was greeted by the blissful aroma of pancakes and bacon and... mini sausages? At first Nana wasn't sure what to say about the smell, so she just followed her nose to the kitchen, where to her great surprise, sat a breakfast made for kings. More than just pancakes, there were waffles, bacon, sausages, fresh cut fruit, french toast, and it all sat, ready to be eaten on the table, with plates and forks and knives.

"Oh my gosh, Tsuna what did you do? How did you get all this stuff?" she gasped out, her hands letting go of Tsuna's and Natsu's and raising to her face. She looked down at her bright little boy and watched as he smugly pretended to buffer his nails on his shirt and let out a nonchalant little "I have my ways." His answer earned him a raised eye brow and a sceptic "Tsunayoshi...". Tsuna responded with a bright, innocent smile and pure wide eyes.

Nana knew it was pointless to try any harder, Tsuna wouldn't crack. So her gaze shifter to Natsu and raised her eye brow again. Natsu was much easier to crack open; the boy was pretty much an open book. She didn't need to say his name, and mentally counted to 5.

The poor boy broke by 3.

"OK! OK! When grandma and grandpa came by to visit yesterday while you were at work, Tsuna convinced them to get the stuff as our Christmas gift this year!" the 8-year-old cried, clinging to her pants like a life line. "Just please stop with the look!" Nana kept a poker face on, despite laughing on the inside, and turned back to Tsuna, watching as said child just slowly shook his head at his brother, a small, real pout on his lips. She broke down and gave a small laugh.

"Alright then." she said, "Then I only have one more question, Tsuna?"

"Hm?"

"How did you cook this?"

"...I have my ways?"

30 minutes, and 3 full tummies later found the family beginning to pack up left overs and clean up the dishes from the table. Another 15 minutes and dishes were all done and put away, and Tsuna led the others into the living room, a look of pure glee in his eyes. It shocked Nana a little, as she had not seen that look on his face for a while. (And while it had broken her heart to not see that joy she had loved watching, she didn't know what she could do about it.)

About halfway to the main room, and Natsu seemed to clue in on Tsuna's joy and began skipping, humming and smiling and it honestly unnerved Nana a little. Happy because it was Christmas? Yes, she could see that. But this happy seemed a little excessive. She shrugged it off though. They were happy and that was all that mattered. Probably...

Tsuna came to a halt next to the Christmas tree, and waited semi-patently for his brother to get closer, and Nana watched as Natsu crouched to let Tsuna on his back and their mother's heart jumped into her throat when Natsu stood straight with his (slightly smaller) brother on his back and wobbled.

"What are you two doing?! Sawada Tsunayoshi, you get down right now, before you fall and hurt yourself and your brother!"

Tsuna hopped down off his brother, laughing and clutching a bright red envelope in his hands. Together with Natsu, he turned to their mother and they said in perfect union,

"Merry Christmas, mama!" They trotted over to Nana and pulled on her sleeves until she plopped down on the couch. Again they sang together "Open it! Open it!" With the danger of both her babies hurting themselves all but gone from her mind, she smiled and said that she would, after Tsuna and Natsu opened theirs. With a small laugh of their own, the boys complied, running over to the tree to get their gifts while Nana moved the coffee table out of the way. She got on the floor with them and made her self comfortable with a couch cushion underneath her.

"Look Tsuna!"

"Look Natsu!"

Nana hid a small smile behind her hand when the boys shared their joy with each other, swapping presents to have a better look at each others' gifts'. Natsu had been begging for this game for a few months now, ever since it came out back in August. And Nana knew that the book she got Tsuna for their birthday wouldn't last him much longer than November, so this time, Nana had splurged and gotten him one really big book. Both boys looked eager to begin reading/playing but somehow held back.

Knowing what the boys were waiting for, Nana smiled and hum'ed "Now, what should we do? We've got the whole day ahead of us. Shall we... play Natsu's new game? Or... go for a walk? Or...-"

"-Or, you could open your present and then you'll know exactly what you'll be doing today!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly. Tsuna slumped his shoulders in defeat, once again shaking his head at his brother's antics. A little confused, Nana opened the envelope, and found inside a wonderful gift that had tears falling down her cheeks.

Large, hot hands worked down her back and shoulders, caressing her bare skin and rubbing knots out of her muscles. A sigh of pleasure left her throat and she bit into her lower lip.

"Ah~ yeah... Right there."

It had been years, so many years, since Nana had been touched like this. Too long in her opinion.

"Does that feel good? You're muscles are so tense. When was the last time you did this?" the man said, his voice deep, almost seductive. His fingers worked over the small brunette woman and Nana held back a startled gasp as he pushed into her a little harder than she expected.

She smiled, "It's been a while, I admit. But I've always loved coming to the spa. Now I remember why~..."

Her masseuse smiled. "Well, I'm glad you like it here. With all these knots in your back, I'm guessing you work a lot? When was your last day off?"

"Christmas."

"Really? That long ago? That was almost a month ago!"

"Well, working two jobs to make ends meet does that to a person."

"Wow..."

"Yeah, but I have the best kids in the world! Last Christmas, my boys, twins, asked for an allowance. I wasn't sure if I could give them all that much, but they worked so hard with chores and homework, that I caved. And without my knowing, they used that allowance over the year to get me this day off today!"

"They sound like wonderful kids, how old are they?"

"Eight years old. They're so responsible, mama is so proud of them!"

He laughed, saying, "Well, I'm going to start the hot-rocks on your back now, and then start working your legs. In about 10 or so minutes, another masseuse will be coming in and he'll be professionally cracking your back. Sound good?"

"Sounds wonderful."

He laughed again.

Over the next two years, Nana's life started to get a little easier. Financially, she could breath again. While she had lost one of her part-time jobs (someone blamed Nana for their own mistake, and she was fired for it.) the other turned into much more than she had thought it would. Her job as a CSR in the small convenience store turned into a promotion into the store manager. The title came with a pay raise and full-time hours. Barring emergencies, she never had to work on the weekend, and her shift was over at 4 in the afternoon, so she was almost always home in time to cook dinner.

Her boys would send her off to work, and ever since Natsu had joined the basketball team, Tsuna had greeted her when she got home alone. And Tsuna... oh that boy had all the chores done, on his own, everyday. She had no idea how he did it and managed to go to school too, but everything from the laundry to vacuuming and back again was done perfectly!

It was a normal Monday morning, just like any other, when she left home in the morning to go to work. She kissed Natsu's forehead, then Tsuna's, and walked off, waving at her sleepy-headed boys. About halfway through the day, however, Nana felt something was... off. Perhaps not wrong, but something felt out of place in her body. Maybe 10 minutes later Nana felt a cold sweat coming on and breathing became a little difficult. She felt like she was almost floating while her body felt like it was lined with lead. It made standing a hard task but she managed it and walked the 3 steps out of her office and over to her employee. Just as she walked over to the young 19-year-old, Nana collapsed, the last thing she could hear was her name being shouted.

"Nana-san? Nana-san!"

It was a beautiful late spring day, one that neither Tsuna nor Natsu cared about. It had been almost 3 weeks since their mother's death, 2 weeks since the funeral, and a week and 5 days since they had been kicked out of the house they grew up in. As it turned out, the house didn't go right to Tsuna or Natsu when Nana died, no, it went back to Iemitsu. And he decided to sell it. Without telling either brother. Their "Father" had given them their choice of furniture to be brought to their new apartment, so long as said furniture was gone within 3 hours of their being kicked out.

The (bastard, son of a bitch, lying sack of shit) man came down for the funeral, deciding a Japanese vacation was just what his new family needed. So he brought with him his new wife and their 5 year old son, Giotto. Tsuna had been wondering just what the man was doing there, when he overheard the man and his wife arguing in Italian, unaware that Tsuna understood them.

"We are not bringing your whore-ex's kids back with us to Italy. What if they corrupt my baby?" she snarled, practically seething at the apparent thought of Tsuna and Natsu going to Italy with them. Though Tsuna didn't agree with her reason, he agreed with her on not wanting to go to Italy.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Was the ass-hats response. "It's just that they are my children too, even if I never loved their mother, I need to do something."

"Then, like, give them money. That should shut them up."

"I was thinking a credit card and a small apartment here in Namimori. I am going to sell the house here, maybe I'll just hand them the money from the sale? Make that the limit for the credit card."

"Alright, do whatever. I don't care. So long as they aren't coming back with us." Here, she literally stuck her nose up in the air, as if the thought was below her. Iemitsu pulled her out the door and in for a kiss and Tsuna was glad he couldn't see them anymore. He needed time to process what he had heard. How could he say those things, or do that to them? At their mother's funeral, no less?

A small sob just off to his side brought Tsuna out of his memory and back to the present. He looked over at his brother, sitting on the couch that they had managed to snag before Iemitsu trashed most of the house. With the help of their grand parents, Tsuna nabbed the kitchen table and chairs, most of the kitchen utensils, his bed (Natsu's and their mother's had already been taken to the dump, much to Tsuna's annoyance), only half of their combined clothes (thankfully that included their school uniforms), the coffee table and the T.V. Nothing else. All of Natsu's games, all of Tsuna's books, and most importantly, all the pictures the twins had with their mother. Gone.

If not for their grand parents giving the boy's copies of the pictures they had of the three, there really wouldn't be anything left of them. That low-life had really taken it all, and just handed them a credit card. Tsuna had held back all the insults he had wanted to shout at the two, all the mean things he had inside him that begged to come out. Instead, Tsuna said his thanks in Italian, discretely letting them know that he had known what they had been talking about.

Tsuna sat on the couch and pulled Natsu into his arms. They had been through too much in the past month, and they had always been close. They were alone now anyway. Who cared if they were a little closer than 'normal' twins? They needed each other now more than ever before.

Tsuna placed a kiss in his brother's hair and Natsu curled in on himself, toppling them both over on the couch, using Tsuna as basically a body pillow.

"Tsuna... You're all I have left. You wont leave me... will you?" Natsu looked up into Tsuna's eyes, and begged him to never leave. Tsuna gave a small, sad smile and said,

"I'll never, ever leave you, if you never ever leave me."

Natsu nodded and rubbed his face farther into Tsuna's chest, trying to stop his endless tears. The twins fell asleep like that, one brother comforting the other, arms secured around each other and trusting that, so long as they had each other, they'd never be alone.

*20,000 yen is equal to approx. 247.48 Canadian dollars, as of July 16, 2016.

So? How was it? Was it ok? Horrifying? Sad? I'm not too sure about how it ended... almost felt like more needed to be added...

-Mel Writer.