Hoshi no Saiten - Festival of Stars Chapter 1, a Katekyo Hitman Reborn! + Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン Crossover fanfic

I've worked on this story for a while now and hope you like it.

Great thanks to silencia20 for her support when I asked for advise and permission. This story is inspired by silencia20's "Online Famiglia" and Araceil's "House of Cards". Please check them out, they are awesome!

I tried to write Nana as in character as possible, but it went a bit more OOC than anticipated. Quite a few of her reactions are my interpretation of "How would a mother/I/Nana react". There will be a bit more on Nana - and Renji - in the later chapters.

While we are at it, Ren(ji) was supposed to be just a name/reason for Tsuna to play video games. It developed from there and became something I'm currently debating if it'll happen or not. I'll see how it flows. Ren will stick around anyway.

Sword Art Online. It was a name Nana had come to hate with all her being. At first, it had been a new game, that would be able to bring a smile on her little Tsu-chan's face. A virtual world to explore without constantly tripping and the opportunity to meet people without being bullied. Oh, Nana was aware of her daughter's bullying, she knew how her sweet child had no friends. It wasn't something Tsu-chan told her or complained about, it was easy to see. The smile she gave her was too rigid, too stiff, too... practiced. Like she had spent hours in front of her mirror to make sure no one saw through her lies.

~HnS~

The first time she let Tsu-chan play any kind of video game had been years ago when an old friend of hers came to visit. Watanabe Rena had been one of her childhood friends up until the first year of high school, where she suddenly moved away to live with her grandmother. It had been years later, that she met Rena in a cafe and found out why she had moved. Because her grandmother had been the only one who supported the change of Rena becoming Renji.

After Tsu-chan's birth, Renji came to visit as often as he could. He could not become a father due to his former gender and instead dotted on Tsu-chan as if she had been his own. Sadly, since his job was in Kyoto, he could not visit often, but when he did, he brought presents for both Nana and Tsu-chan.

During one visit, when Tsuna was eight, he brought his laptop with him and showed Tsuna his favorite online game at that time. She couldn't remember what it was exactly. Elder Tales or something. First Tsu-chan had only watched him play, while she had prepared dinner, but after a few hours, he let her create a character and play for herself. After he left Tsu-chan had asked if she could have her own MMOs to play. Before that, she had barely known what that was but they gave it a try.

The computer they had in their house had been locked by a password and Tsu-chan was only allowed to play once she had shown her mother her finished homework. While it might seem like a bad idea to let her daughter play too long, Nana was just glad that her daughter had something she loved to do and still send her outside to get enough air. The children in her school either ignored her or bullied her, so she was happy Tsu-chan had some way to make friends, even if only online.

~HnS~

Tsu-chan had been ecstatic when she heard of the new game that was being beta tested, Sword Art Online. The first VRMMORPG. She had begged and pleaded to get one and promised to do her best in school and raise her grades. Nana made her a compromise: If Tsu-chan got at least 40% in each test from at least three of her classes, until the launch, she would get her the game. That Renji would get them anyway, even if she didn't get better grades, was kept a secret. If Tsu-chan did her best but wasn't able to reach the desired percentage, then she would still be allowed to play it. It was simply used as a motivator to get her to try a bit more.

During the following months, Tsu-chan threw herself into her studies. She played fewer games and would ask many questions, concerning her schoolwork, since she had problems understanding and her teachers were so fed up with her 'stupidity' that they ignored her. They were directed mostly to Renji, due to Nana's air-headedness. He really loved Tsu-chan and enjoyed helping her.

~HnS~

The days before the launch had been hard on Tsu-chan. Nana knew there were a few tests with less then 40% and that Tsu-chan had hidden them. On October 31st Tsu-chan came to her in tears, confessing about the bad tests and how she tried her best, but she was still dame and couldn't remember enough while writing them and for her to please forgive her for lying and hiding. The words had struck Nana in the heart. Her sweet darling daughter thought herself dame, no good? The only thing she could do was hug her sweet, innocent, little Tsu-chan and tell her she did good, she would still be allowerd to play.

Renji came to visit the day before the launch on November 6th and greeted Tsu-chan with the NerveGear and Sword Art Online copies he had bought for her that day. Tsu-chan kept hugging him and Nana for the rest of the day and the grin, a true, pure grin of happieness, never left her face. The whole time she asked Renji questions about his experiences and if he knew something about how it was played and how she could prepare, while also telling him what she planned on doing from what little she knew. She wanted to use a speer or battle ax, since she could be a bit more away from the enemy. Both sat in the living room and went through the blogs run by the beta testers about userful information. At some point Nana had to put her foot down to get them to come eat dinner, not that it stopped them from talking in between eating. The chemistry between them made Nana smile bittersweetly. She loved Iemitsu and he loved both of them as well, even if he was rarely home due to his job. But she couldn't help feel that Renji was more a father to Tsu-chan than her husband. It made her feel guilty too, because a tiny part of her wished Renji was the father and husband they both longed for.

The morning of the launch was no different from the evening. Which skills would be better, entering a guild or not, front line or support, solo or in a party, possible secrets. It never seemed to end. More than once Nana had to remind them to eat, drink or brath once in a while. It was adorable. They calibrated the NerveGear and made all adjustments or settings they could do beforehand and waited for 13:00 JST, the time of the launch. They had lunch at 12:30 to calm them down and get some substance into Tsu-chan before she would play. She had to eat dinner with them, but could play until her bed time. Tsu-chan hugged them tight and told them she loved them both before she went to her room to start playing.

None of them would know that this was the last time they saw her smile for the next two years.

~HnS~

It was one of Renji's collegues from work that informed them of the deaths of SAO players. She had gone with him to buy a game for her teenage son and had seen it on the news. Nana had raced to Tsu-chan's room to stop her if possible, but it was too late. Tsu-chan had been playing for two hours already. Renji's collegue warned them about removing the NerveGear themselves.

Seeing her Tsu-chan laying in bed, completely still, knowing that she might never wake up, that she could be gone any moment broke Nana's heart.