Chapter 1: The Concept of Love
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, nor any of the characters that have appeared in the franchise. I only own this fic, and my OCs.
Note: Not only am I running over canon with a truck, this story will also have some discrepancies from the manga, timeline wise. I noticed that Tsuna, despite being listed as 14 at the beginning of the Daily Life arc, actually has a few birthdays throughout the series. According to a few timelines I've found online, Tsuna should be 16 by the end of the Varia arc and throughout the future arc. By the Inheritance Ceremony Arc, all of the main characters should be highschoolers. Since Kazue is older than Tsuna by about a year, she and her squad should be graduating highschool soon after the Curse of the Rainbow arc.
It was a marriage of convenience— the Vongola branch's head, and the eldest daughter of Familia Cavallone. The marriage was a promise of allegiance; proof of a bond between the two families. The ceremony was beautiful. Nearly perfect, in fact. Guests attended, adorning an array of wonderful colors. Daniela, herself, wore a beautiful purple gown, contrary to Italy's catholic traditions. Her partner looked just as sharp in his nearly entirely black ensemble, save for the orange tie hung snugly around his neck. Everything went according to plan from the reception, to the after-party, to even the honeymoon.
Well, almost everything.
There was one jarring flaw that stood out, despite the grand wedding and the expensive vacation:
Daniela did not love Iemitsu.
And Iemitsu did not love Daniela.
But they came to an understanding. She knew of his cute little girlfriend back in Japan. What was her name again? Right, Nana. Adorable Nana who had large brown eyes and baby-smooth skin. Daniela pitied her. Why Iemitsu, a 24-year-old man, had been courting a freshly 18-year-old girl (never mind the fact that Daniela was only a 19-year-old, herself) flew right over her head, but that didn't matter. Daniela had trouble comprehending nearly all subjects pertaining to romance.
"Iemitsu," she started, before rolling over to her opposite side. She pushed herself up with her left elbow and combed through her long, silky pink tresses with the fingers of her right hand. The hair fell from her fingers, only to frame her face once more.
"Iemitsu, I know you're awake." She placed a hand on his bare chest and shook him once.
He rolled over to face her. Slowly. Languidly. Before opening his eyes and mirroring her pose. "What?" He smirked, "You want more already?" His voice came out more like a rumble, having not yet washed off the envelopment of sleep.
As the morning sun began to rise, and his once brown eyes began to sparkle with flecks of gold, Daniela decided that maybe, perhaps in another life, she could have learned to love this man. Maybe not romantically, but they could have learned to accept each other. They could've raised a family together, and ruled the underworld with one another. The Cavallone would have never seen such a fierce leader as herself before, let alone a woman leader. But if her namesake -Ottava Vongola- had succeeded, Daniela knew that she could, too. Many thoughts raced through her head, and her lips parted in preparation to say something, anything, but then she grimaced. What if she regretted her next words?
"What is it?" He asked, brows slightly furrowed in concern, "Is everything alright? Who do I need to kill?"
She searched his face for a sign of dishonesty, but found none. He meant it, even if he didn't love her.
"Tell me about Nana." She simply commanded as she pulled at her pillow, making herself comfortable. Still facing the man, she laid herself back down on their shared bed and waited patiently for his response.
The tension in his face relaxed as he, too, made himself comfortable. "Oh, is that all? Are you jealous, or something? I already told Timoteo that I cut it off with her."
His tone was jovial, but his facial expressions couldn't quite match his voice.
Daniela had the pleasure of knowing Iemitsu's father, Ietsuna, before he passed. All Sawada men wore their hearts on their sleeves.
"Please," she exhaled a bit out of her nose, "you think I don't notice you sloppily hiding her letters in a book that you never read? Or that I don't hear you writing her back when you think that I've fallen asleep?"
His face dropped into what one could only describe as an "oh, shit"'expression.
"I'm not upset, Iemitsu. Tell me about her."
"...Well," he said after a while, after realizing that she wasn't being malicious in any way, "Nana is the daughter of one of my father's friends, back home in Namimori."
"Oh? A bit young to be your childhood friend though, isn't she?"
Iemitsu laughed. "Oh, yes. She was an adorable kid. I didn't see her often, though, and it wasn't until recently that I realized, she's bloomed into a beautiful woman."
"More beautiful than me?" Daniela joked.
"Oh, no," Iemitsu responded truthfully, "You're beautiful in a regal sort of way, with your long hair, piercing eyes, and snow white skin. You're all sharp and jagged. But Nana? No, she's something else entirely. Maybe beautiful's not the right word. But she's definitely cute, cute enough for me. Cute and soft."
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You think I'm beautiful?"
"I'm not blind."
"She looks like a bunny, you know." She said, changing the subject.
At that, he chuckled.
"She used to follow me around like one when we were children." He sighed happily, "Man, those were the days. I used to get so annoyed with her, like, 'go away- you can't play with the big kids,' but it turns out, she's just had a crush on me all along." Iemitsu looked Daniela in the eyes, "It's as if we were made for each other, you know?"
Daniela smiled complacently, although not sadly. "No, I don't know. But I think I might understand."
"You've never been in love?"
"I do love." She replied, "I love my brothers, Dante, and sweet little baby, Dino. I love the rush of adrenaline I get when I complete a mission. I love my guardians, and I love that they've all willingly pledged themselves to me, despite the fact that I'm not a sky. But, no, I've never been in love. I don't think I'm capable of a love like that."
"Huh," he looked at her introspectively. That made a surprising lot of sense. In all the years he'd known her; throughout even the worst of their teenaged years, he'd never seen her with any man or woman. "You're missing out."
"So I've heard."
"When I look at Nana, my heart accelerates. It's like an adrenaline rush, but multiplied by five. My face gets warm and I can't help but smile when I'm around her. It's impossible for me to hide my feelings."
"It's impossible for you to hide your feelings in general."
"Wha- hey! What's that supposed to me-"
"Do you want to get divorced?" She interrupted.
Iemitsu's jaw dropped open. "What?"
"Do you want to?"
"I mean, no offense," he stared her down, "but of course I do. Is this a joke?"
"No offense taken." She shook her head, "Why would I joke about this?"
He sat up and looked down at her, the blanket that had previously been shielding them slid down to his waist, and she shuddered as the cold air hit her all at once.
"What about the alliance? What will I tell Timoteo?"'
"I don't care what you tell him. As if the alliance would fall apart just like that," here, she snapped her fingers, "if we got divorced." She rolled her eyes, "those grandpas are old-fashioned and you know it. You've known me for years now. Have I ever let any man tell me what I can and can't do with my body?"
He laughed, a full-bodied, straight from the belly laugh. "That's right, of course not. You're Daniela Cavallone and you'd never let anyone forget it. But if you've always planned to get divorced so soon, why did you marry me in the first place?"
She placed a hand on her stomach. "The laws of Familia Cavallone are old, IemI tsu. I've never wanted to be married, to be tied down by anyone."
He raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"But I want a child, and I can't take over the familia if I were to act as a whore and had one out of wedlock."
As understanding dawned on him, she gently placed one of his hands on her stomach.
"I've never loved any man or woman, but I've always wanted a child. Congratulations, Iemitsu."
"Well," his eyes lit up happily, "isn't this a cause for celebration?" He leaned over her and trapped her between his arms before placing a knee between her thighs.
She wrapped her arms over his shoulders, nails lightly scratching at the nape of his neck. "Won't you feel bad for Nana?"
"Well aren't we going to get divorced after this anyway?"
Kazue's existence was a need-to-know status. To the rest of the underworld, Daniela and Iemetsu had a short-lived, but happy marriage that bore no fruit. However, for Don Cavallone, his daughter's divorce, and subsequently, his granddaughter's birth, were all he needed to name Daniela heir apparent to the Cavallone. Of course, this brought much discourse within the upper divisions of the familia. Not only was she a woman, she was also a single mother, and she wasn't even a sky. The damned woman was a cloud despite being the product of a sky and a sun. A recessive gene was perhaps to blame. But Don Cavallone didn't care for the traditions of the past, he'd been a good friend of Donna Ottava Vongola, afterall. Even after marrying Daniela off to Iemitsu, Dante had never been his first choice for heir. He was too rash, too emotional. And Don Cavallone had been too scared to name his youngest child heir, for Dino was far, far too young. The Don might have become ill with his old age, but definitely not senile. The timing of his daughter's divorce couldn't have been better. It was fate. Fate wanted Daniela to lead the familia.
When Kazue turned three, her grandfather retired from the underworld, and her mother took the mantle of Donna Cavallone.
And that is where Kazue's story truly began.
His second wedding wasn't nearly as perfect as his first. He didn't plan on marrying Nana so soon after his split with Daniela. He planned to woo her some more, to take her out on more dates, to properly sit down with her parents and discuss his intentions. He planned to ease Nana into the roles of girlfriend, fiancé, wife, and then finally, mother.
Iemitsu wasn't a patient man by any means. He would laugh in your face and call you an idiot if you even tried to imply that he was well organized. Iemitsu was a do-it-at-your-own-pace sort of guy, you know, the chill-out-man-I-got-this type of man. But he at least had this planned out. He would work a few more years as head of CEDEF, save up a whole lot of money, find and train a replacement, and then nope the heck out of the underworld. He had no intention of going back to school and finishing his degree, so maybe once they settled down into a slightly bigger house, he would go to work at some local construction company. Then, after a couple more years of working, he would happily retire and just live at home with his cute Nana and all of their hypothetical children.
So when his beloved 19-year-old university student girlfriend, Nana, sat down and placed a positive pregnancy test before him, Iemetsu about fainted.
Not again. Not so soon. Not like this.
His head became a jumbled mess. This was too soon. He didn't want to be a dad. Not yet.
He had a plan, you know? He could hardly blame Nana for getting pregnant, it does take two to tangle, but man, how was he going to impress her parents, then? How was he going to be able to properly sit down with them and have a discussion about his intentions?
"Your dad," Iemitsu licked his lips, "D-does he...have you told your parents yet?"
At that, Nana promptly burst into tears.
"My d-dad," she cried, "he never wants to see me again! I tried to go home today and they put all my stuff in trash-bags and left them by the curb!"
That's right. Nana came from a very religious family, too. He should have known better. He should have been more careful.
"Am I bad, Iemitsu? Am...am I going to go to hell?"
"No, not at all!" Iemitsu panicked, "No, of course not. You know what? This was good timing anyway because uhh..."
He shot straight out of his chair and pulled many of the drawers on his desk open. He fumbled about frantically, whispering apologies to his ex-wife under his breath as he searched for a box. A small box. A ring box.
Forgive him for using the same rings.
He snatched the box right out of his junk drawer and kneeled before his girlfriend...er...his wife. Nana was going to become his wife.
"Nana," he wasn't ready to be a dad, "Will you marry me?"
She said yes.
That very moment, the couple marched straight to the courthouse, hand in hand. There was no grand wedding, no after-party, no lavish honeymoon. They got married, just the two of them, with some random elderly woman there as witness.
A few days later, Iemitsu bought them the best house he could with the money he had— he had more money than that, of course, but that was all stored in offshore accounts, and it would have been pretty suspicious to suddenly have such a large influx of money in his accounts.
This was not the life he had planned. This was not the life he wanted.
So he rain away.
"Alright, honey," he said, "I'm going to become a star now! I'll be working for a construction company in Italy for a while, but I'll come back before our baby is born, okay?"
Iemitsu ran away, and Nana lived in the home of her dreams, without the man of her dreams. She kept herself busy. She cooked, she cleaned. She went to the market sometimes and befriended some of the other mothers, though none were as young as her. She tried her best to continue her studies, but the pregnancy was hard. She couldn't bare it alone.
So she dropped out of school.
And then she waited, and she waited. She waited for nine whole months. And while she waited, she kept that same, placid smile on her face. She's not dumb, you know? She could hear the whispers of the neighborhood gossips.
Nana got pregnant out of wedlock. It was a shotgun wedding. Nana married a foreigner. He had tan skin and blond hair. Nana got kicked out of her childhood home. Her parents want nothing to do with her. Nana dropped out of university. Her foreigner husband left her. Where did he go? We haven't seen him in a while. Does he even love her?
Of course he loved her! Iemitsu finally returned, see? Just in time for her little Tuna fish to be born. She just had to be patient. He named the boy "Sawada Tsunayoshi" and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before running off to be a star again, with promises of returning soon and a future of grandeur.
Iemitsu ran off again, but Nana wasn't sad at all. How could she be? After all, she was married to the man of her dreams, and she wasn't alone in her big house anymore. She had Tsunayoshi. She plastered a smile onto her face and promised her baby that she would become the best mom that she could be. And once Iemitsu was finished being a star, he would come home for good. They'd maybe adopt a dog, and have a couple more children, and become one big happy family. Until then, she would continue to wait. Nana was good at waiting.
She was a patient woman. She had to be.
Mama is sick. She's not sick like Nonno is. Kazue overheard the doctors. Mama is even sicker than that. It's because she's a cloud, they say, that's why her body isn't fighting off the disease as it should. This word, she doesn't know what it means, but her Mama's body propagates. If she were sky like Nonno, her body would harmonize, and the disease would be temporarily subdued. If she were a sun like her late Nonna, she would have never gotten sick in the first place. But Mama is a cloud. And Mama is sick. And Kazue knows that she's young (she's five now!) and she doesn't understand a whole lot, but she does know that Mama is dying.
Kazue has a large familia (over 5,000 people! Isn't that neat?) but only one Mama. She's smart for her age, you see. She doesn't really know what dying really is yet, but she understands that sometimes people go to sleep and they don't wake up again. She doesn't know what she'll do if suddenly one day, Mama went to sleep forever. Who would tell her bedtime stories? Surely not Uncle Dante. Kazue likes him, but he's mean sometimes. He yells at his guardians, and Mama says that guardians are the closest family anyone could ever get. Mama's guardians are her best friends.
Nonno's guardians don't like that Mama has guardians, though. They say that it's because she's a cloud. She shouldn't have guardians. But that's not fair! Mama deserves to have best friends.
What's wrong with being a cloud?
Mama says that one day, Kazue will have guardians, too. You see, Kazue is like her Nonno, and her Uncle Dante, and her big brother (technically, he's her uncle, but he says he's too young for that) Dino, and her Papa, whom she really knows nothing about. Mama believes that Kazue is also a sky. People like skies. Skies are popular.
What if she wants to be a cloud, too? Like her Mama? But people don't like clouds.
Why don't people like clouds? Kazue likes making friends, but apparently, clouds aren't allowed to have friends.
She wants to be a cloud! But people don't like clouds!
The more Kazue's thoughts circle, the angrier she becomes. So angry, in fact, that she turns into a tiny ball of righteous fury.
"Kazue?" Daniela pokes a squishy belly, "Il mio bambino, what are you thinking about?"
The child continues to do her best impression of a scowl (honestly, it looks more like a pout) and crosses her arms. She huffs out another little breath and faces the opposite direction of her mother. "Mama, don't talk to me right now. I'm angry."
"Oh." Daniela laughs, "Want to tell me why you're angry, then?"
"No." The girl responds before climbing onto her mother's lap, still not making eye contact with the woman, "I don't want to."
"You don't want to, but will you?"
Kazue begins to crawl away.
"Please?" Daniela drags the child back by her feat.
"Gosh, Mama! Fine!" Kazue presses her face into the sheets, "Why don't people like you?" She finally asks, voice muffled by the mountain of blankets.
Jacques, Daniela's rain, who stands guard at the corner of the room throws his head back and laughs.
"Ugh! Mama!" Kazue points, "Uncle J is laughing at me! This is why I didn't want to ask."
Daniela smothers a giggle of her own with her hand then throws one of her pillows at the man. He allows the cushion to hit him before dramatically falling to the ground, amusing the five-year-old to no end.
"Haha, she got you!" The girl laughs, and her previously self-induced anger is forgotten.
"Why do you think people dislike me?" Daniela asks as she turns her child toward her.
"Nonno's friends don't want you to have friends. Because you're a cloud. Why?"
"Hmm," Daniela taps her pointer finger on her chin, pretending to ponder, "Well, clouds have a reputation."
"What kind of rep-" she pauses, allowing her tongue some time to learn how to pronounce the word, "reputation?"
"Have you ever seen someone put a cloud in a box, or tie one down with rope?"
Kazue laughs. "No, Mama! That's silly!"
"Exactly!" Daniela laughs, "It's silly to tell a cloud what to do. We do whatever we want, and people don't like that. Sometimes people try to control us anyway, but then my fellow clouds lash out and fight. And then people become scared of them."
"But that's dumb." Kazue frowns, "They made the clouds mad in the first place!"
"That's right, but they don't understand that. Clouds wouldn't get aggressive unless they were approached aggressively first. But now, because people have made so many clouds so angry, we have a bad reputation. And people don't like clouds. They don't even give us a chance."
"Nonno's friends are silly." Kazue decides, "Clouds deserve best friends too. I want to be a cloud like you too, Mama. So I can do whatever I want."
Eyes no longer full of merriment, Daniela simply gazes at her child.
She doesn't deserve such a smart little girl.
"Oh, mio bambino, there was a time when I wished that I were a sky, like you."
Kazue breathes in a scandalized gasp.
"Skies can do whatever they want, too. But unlike clouds, where the skies are our limits, even the heavens seem to bow down to you."
Daniela kisses her daughter's forehead.
"I once knew a really, really strong sky. It's been a few years, so I'm not sure if his personality has changed, but how would you like to meet him?"
"Who is it?" Kazue asks, bouncing up and down on her mother's lap, "Is he one of Nonno's friends?"
"Hm...in a way of speaking, yes."
"Ooooh!" The girl squeals, "Where does he live, Mama?"
She laughs.
"He lives in Namimori, Japan. Uncle J will drop you off there first, okay? Then I'll come get you as soon as I finish what I need to here."
"Promise?"
"I promise!"
"Okay!" Kazue scrambles off of her mother's bed before running up to the aforementioned rain. "Uncle J, up!" She practically climbs his leg.
The adults exchange sad, knowing looks, as Jacques's post is taken over by Daniela's storm, and he leaves the chamber doors.
The last words Kazue hears before being lulled to sleep (unwillingly, by Jacques's flames) are, "I love you!"'
As the doors close behind them, Daniela pulls her knees towards her chest and hugs herself.
She can't be ill, be Donna, and be Mama all at once.
Clouds never break their promises, but maybe Kazue will eventually forgive her if she breaks just this one.
When Sawada Iemitsu answers the door, only to be greeted by a lone child, he recognizes her nearly instantly. Sawada Kazue is a near spitting image of her mother. Her hair color is a light, warm pink, that appears almost blonde in the sunlight. For now, her face is soft and delicate, like a porcelain doll. But there is no doubt in his mind that when she's older, her features will sharpen, and she'll look even more like her mother.
Kazue stares up at him curiously, and Iemitsu immediately sees a part of himself.
He expects to meet with eyes as dark as coal, but instead…
Her eyes are the color of honey.
"Darling!" He calls out to his wife. His wife, Nana, not Daniela. "Darling, we have an emergency!" He yells.
He ushers the pink-haired child— his child into his home.
"Yes, dear?" Nana descends the staircase with her own child (four years old now) hanging off her neck. "Oh." She pauses to look the girl with her husband's eyes, "Oh, who's this?"
She already knows the answer.
"This is the daughter of an old friend of mine." He responds with fake excitement, "She'll be staying with us for a while!"
Iemitsu knows that Daniela wouldn't send their spawn to him unless it was an emergency. So he lets the unannounced visit pass.
"The daughter of a friend?" She asks.
Nana is fine with the constant disappearing. If you squinted a little and looked at the situation with your head tilted sideways, you could even call Iemitsu's spontaneous disappearing and reappearing acts romantic. But she's tired of all the lies. Tsunayoshi is going to grow up eventually. She can't just keep telling him that his father often leaves them to become a star, that makes it sound like he's off to die.
She looks him in the eyes. If he loves her, he'd tell her the truth. Just this once.
"Yes," he answers, "She's Daniela's daughter."
He can't muster up the courage to say 'she's mine,' but Daniela, that name is familiar enough. Nana knows that name. It's not technically a lie. She exhales with relief.
Kazue's eyes dart between the two adults. She's nervous. Unsure.
"Kazue," the man kneels before her and asks in Italian, "Do you know how to speak Japanese?"
She nods once.
"Why don't you introduce yourself to my wife, Nana? You can call me...uh..." He hesitates. He glances up at his wife who nods at him, granting him permission over something that she really has no right to give. "I guess you can call me Papa."
Papa? Is this guy her father? And if he's not, is he even allowed to introduce himself like that?
Kazue is a good girl, though, so she turns to the matron of the house and bows a low bow, the one that Mama said signified the utmost respect.
"Hello," she greets in Japanese, "My name is Kazue."
Nana's smile is strained. "It's nice to meet you, Kazue! I've always wanted a big family. You can call me Mama."
Kazue snaps back up like a rubber band, and she stares Nana down with an uncharacteristically serious expression for a five year old.
She is not Mama. Kazue only has one Mama.
"No, thanks. I already have a Mama." She responds icily, "Can I call you something else?"
"Of course," Nana swallows once before asking her a question just as seriously. "What would you prefer?"
The staring contest continues for a little bit before she finally answers, "Okaa-sama."
She wants to be as distant from this woman as possible. Kazue doesn't like this woman. She gives off a bad vibe, and Kazue's never been wrong about reading a vibe before. It's like her sixth sense.
The sky within Iemitsu notices the chilly air between his daughter and his wife, but he chooses to ignore it. He lies to himself.
(It looks like they'll get along fine!)
"Well now," he says after kissing Nana on the cheek, "I'm off to be a star!"
He runs away again.
Note: The reason why Iemitsu acted so differently when Daniela announced that she was pregnant versus Nana are the circumstances. Daniela and Iemitsu were already married, Daniela literally just admitted that she only used Iemitsu for the baby, and it was understood between them that at the time, Daniela had no intentions of making Iemetsu a father unless he wanted to be one. He didn't want a child at the time, so he wasn't involved in caring for Kazue. No worries.
With Nana, they weren't married, she was still in school, and he wanted to make a good impression towards her family. Turns out the dumb dumb still hadn't figured out how to use a condom though. He still wasn't ready to be a father, but he knew that he wanted to be committed to Nana.
I hope this is a good explanation for why Iemitsu was so often absent in canon. And also why Nana was so ready to adopt every single child ever.
Anyway, please feel free to follow, favorite, or comment! I would love to hear your thoughts and/or opinions! Just please be nice about it or I'll probably cry lol. My love for KHR has just recently been revitalized so please look forward to seeing how this story goes!