Author's Note: Last of the available chapters. It's late, I know, apologies. I won't keep you all with excuses, just suffice to say that today was absolutely exhausting, but I forced myself to finish the editing/format/cross-posting for today so please excuse any mistakes and/or errors. (I'll clean it up again when I'm less exhausted, later.)

Usual Disclaimers and Warnings Apply. No real time-jumps today.

— Twin Skies: Childhood Arc, Part III —

Chiyo watched the interaction between all these 'new' people (they sounded familiar… also, wasn't Brownie the name of a sweet? Did BrowNie… ji-san… nii-san…? (He didn't look that old.) Er, BrowNie-san's parents name him after a dessert? Her childish mind wondered), the weird niggling feeling that she should know something continued to bother her. There was curiosity, too, though whether that was her or just Tsu-nii's own curiosity spilling over, she wasn't sure either.

But it was definitely annoying not to be able to remember something that she was sure she should know. (She definitely wasn't sulking —or pouting— over it, nope, no siree….)

(Of course it would be this that she'd 'inherit' from her dad. Something that she and her brother would only realize later on, as they sweat, watching the man cry and outright deny to the world that 'there's no way his babies could have been all grown up' so quick.)

Still, as time passed and the others seemed to settle, going about doing their own thing. (Ganache...or Ganauche-san claiming to want to take a walk and maybe smoke a bit so he could go outside while Brownie-san offered to help Mama with the groceries so she could start cooking, Tim-ojii-san or Nono as most of the new people called him offering to pay for the groceries so that Mama didn't have to worry about it, somehow managing to convince her though she didn't seem to be so accepting of it. They were guests after all, though Papa managed to convince not to worry about it, at least.)

The two children were allowed to go and do their own thing, though they chose to stay indoors, if only to keep Mama from worrying too much. Wandering over to the living room, they decided to draw and watch t.v. since Mama said they could.

Papa had stayed in the kitchen with Mama and the grandpa that had come with him as she cooked so they could talk. Taking the time alone to properly calm down and share what they'd 'found'.

"But the two ji-chan that came with Papa and Grandpa seem kind of cool, don't you think?" Scribbling something he saw on the television onto his paper in childish scrawls, he hummed, borrowing the blue twisty crayon from his sister's pile to add detail to what he was drawing.

"...The green-haired nii-san and the bicolored nii-san?" she asked, drawing carefully with the pink crayon pencil to avoid making mistakes. It was still frustrating that she wasn't quite at the same skill level that she used to be, even if it was better than the average child her age. Practice made perfect, but expecting something to come out one way only for it to, well, not … It was irritating, especially when remembering all the things she used to be able to do, but couldn't now because her body was too small or unwieldy (or just because her brain and motor functions weren't quite done calibrating yet so that she could ) or just plain clumsy.

Scowling at her paper when her hand wavered despite her best efforts and messed up the nice curve she'd wanted, she nearly missed her brother's hum.

"Yeah! I've never seen anyone with hair like that!" he said excitedly, waving the nice, red twisting crayon he'd picked out of the set their mother had bought for them when they'd agreed to share if they could just get the nicer and more expensive set of twisting crayon 'pencils' (which was silly, because even if they looked kinda like pencils they were still crayons. Twisty ones, even. Pencils didn't twist, so they weren't really pencils at all!) rather than two sets of normal crayons -even if they were the really big packs that couldn't even fit in their backpacks while they were still in their special box.

Apparently not noticing her disgruntled expression —or maybe just used to it, considering she got like that sometimes.

Papa had said it was because girls just tended to be moody. Girls were strange, but Chiyo was Chiyo, and Tsuna knew Chiyo, so she wasn't all that weird to him, because he knew her. But sometimes he did feel like she was keeping secrets , but Mama said that everyone has secrets, even twins. Mama said she had secrets too, but that was okay. Or, well, Private things, anyway. Chiyo had once said Privacy was kind of like secrets (because they're both things you don't really tell anyone), and he believed her.

Chiyo was really smart about that sort of thing...though she did do some dumb things sometimes too. That was okay, though, that was what he was there for. Friends (and Twins, especially Twins) help you cover for stuff you're not good with. So you can be better together. (Mama said so, and Mama never lied...she did get distracted and forgetful sometimes, and did seem to trust people too easily, too —but that's what they were there for. Friends and Family were kind of the same, since they shared 'burdens' and helped each other with stuff the others aren't good at, Family just loved you from the moment they met you and would always love you forever if you were part of it. Wait…)

"Hey, Chi-chan?" He asked, pausing in his coloring to turn to his sister...only to sweat at the expression on her face. She got weird over the weirdest things. Why she got upset when her drawings were so nice (though not as colorful as his! Mama said so), he'd never know. But Papa said that was because she was a girl… or because she was a per-fec-tion-ist. He wasn't sure why that word was so long, only that it meant that she liked making things perfect and got upset when she messed up or couldn't do that. (Which was weird, because he thought it looked good, so that meant it already was perfect, right? Mama and Papa thought so too. Well, whatever, it was probably because she was a girl, then. Huh...maybe she was weird after all, but apparently it was normal for boys to think girls are weird and for girls to think boys are weird, too. So he guessed that was fair.)

"Ugh… Yeah, Tsu-nii?" Apparently giving up as she made a face at her paper, she pushed both it at the crayon away with a huff, calming down as she turned to her brother, though.

"If Jii-chan is really our Jii-chan then that means he's family, right?" He asked, tilting his head in a manner that would have had all the girls screaming (at his cuteness) or squealing (over his cuteness). Chiyo as well, if she weren't so used to and/or immune to it. (Or not, she may or may not have been cooing and melting a little on the inside, already feeling better thanks to the therapeutic existence of the cuteness that was her Tsu-nii.)

"...Yes?" She confirmed, not quite sure where this was going. Tsuna got weird ideas sometimes, but they (mostly) worked out, and they were interesting at least, so she waited, choosing to hear him out as he struggled with the words he wanted to use.

"Uhm, well… Mama and Tou-chan both said that Family always loves each other —like, for forever 'n' always loves each other," he continued, trying to resist the urge to chew on his —well, their — crayon, since crayons tasted gross… They weren't nearly as tasty as they were pretty, but that was okay, he supposed. Chiyo and Mama both said they weren't for eating anyways, and he'd gotten an extra cookie out of it afterwards, so it wasn't so bad, he guessed.

"Uh...yeah?" She blinked, clearly still not seeing where this was going just yet. What about family? It was just them and their parents, right? Mama and Papa were the only real relatives they had…

She frowned, feeling something off about that statement. Wait…

"So that means he loves us, too, right? Like, for always forever?" He asked, tilting his head at his sister when she looked like she was thinking about something. "Uh, Chi-chan…?" he blinked, seeing no response as she seemed to glare at her paper (he knew she wasn't thinking about the paper though, it was clear to the other twin that she was thinking, even if anyone else that didn't know her as well might think different).

No response. What was she thinking about? He wondered, huffing (and not pouting) as he waved his hand (and the crayon in it) in front of her face. "Chiiiii-chaaaaannnn~" Whining (and not pouting, dang it) in tone if not term, his sister narrowly missed getting laid on as she startled back into real life (and not the dreams that daddy said she did, though she did tell him it wasn't always dreams. Sometimes it was just thinking, but people called it daydreaming anyways...he wasn't sure why they had to make a specific word for dreaming when it was for when you weren't sleeping and it wasn't always during the day like calling it day dreaming implied, but whatever. People were weird. It was a fact of life. Chiyo told him, so it had to be true).

"Ahhh!" She flailed, not quite screaming or yelling like you'd think despite the surprise, as she flailed. "Tsuna-nii, you're too close!" She whined, leaning away while trying not to fall when she found curious —if somewhat annoyed— hazel eyes staring right into her own slightly darker hues.

"Well you weren't listening!" Tsuna complained, flopping half over the coffee table and ignoring the fact that he was smushing the crayons closest to him. "Did you even hear what I said?" He asked, tone accusing as he shot an (adorably) upset look at her.

"...Yes…?" she responded sheepishly, shrugging. "Love and Family, right?" she blinked, " 'Like, for always and forever'?"

Doe-like brown eyes were still narrowed suspiciously at her but he nodded and finally released the art supplies from their misery. (...Heehee, misery. That word was funny. It sounded like one of the characters in the anime they liked to watch. Or… oohhhh, one of the bad guys from the tokusatsu on saturdays! 'Zetsubou' would be a great name for a main villain, it even had 'ou' in it, so they could claim to be, like, an evil king or something too! ...but he was getting distracted, what were they talking about again?)

Doe eyes blinking for a moment as he tried to remember what he was talking, he nodded. "Yeah. So if he's family, does that mean we have other family that'd love us like Mama and Papa and we do each other?" He asked, as if his sibling knew the answers to the universe.

"Eh…" Screwing her face in thought as if it'd help, she hummed. "I guess?" She mused, that weird not-quite-feeling seeming to agree with the conjecture. "Probably? I mean, we didn't know we had a grandpa, right?" Although her not-quite-feeling seemed to kind of niggle at that, though in a weird way that she wasn't sure what it meant. Like, was he or was he not their grandpa?

She wasn't sure, but if the other question got answered, she supposed he could be? Maybe he was an adopted grandpa? Wait…

"Awesome! So that means we have other nii-chan and nee-chan-tachi, too? Do you think that means the two nii-chan that came with jii-chan today count?" he wondered, starry eyed at the thought of having such cool looking cousins. Apparently picking up his sister's labeling without thought. Ji-chan or Nii-san, well, they looked older than Yuuya-nii, but not as old as Papa, so it made sense if he thought about it.

"...I don't think so, but they could be adopted?" she mused, finding her brother's shining expression entertaining at the very least. She didn't want to burst his bubble but she didn't want to lie to them either. They always knew when people lied, especially if they listened to the kind-of-not-voice and not-quite-feeling, but that didn't mean it was easy to understand. It was still trial and error sometimes, but it was almost like just… knowing sometimes, too.

(Though why her earlier thought of 'adoption' made it niggle even more, she had no idea. Maybe she should bring it up…? Later, though. Right now they were talking about something else. She could always just ask after —well, if she remembered— anyways.)

It was weird, but it was their thing. They'd figured at first that it was because they were twins, but Chiyo didn't think so, and Tsuna had told her that the not-feeling didn't seem to agree for him either when they brought it up. But they couldn't really think of anything else it could be, so they just kind of… accepted it and let it go. It was useful, at least. Well, sometimes...er, most of the time, anyways.

It could be ignored, of course, but that didn't mean things always ended well... (The crayon fiasco had been one, Tsuna's curiosity overriding the strange knowing that it wouldn't actually taste as nice as it had looked and smelled...Mama never bought the scented ones again after, either, worried that they might try it again, though they were older now!) Still, they had started paying more attention to it when they'd realized it was a thing. Because Mama didn't get the not-feelings and they hadn't really brought it up to anyone else. It always just seemed like a bad idea for some reason, even though they'd thought it'd be alright to ask.

So weird.

"Oh, right. They work with tou-chan, right?" he remembered, disappointment etched on his face, though he didn't let it get him down for long. "That's okay, though. We can see if they're really cool once we talk to them," he decided, pointedly not thinking about the fact that it was more likely to be an if than a when considering their chronic shyness.

Chiyo just hummed and nodded in response. She was still trying to figure out what her brain was trying to tell her, but it wasn't really working. She'd probably have to bring it up, but as her brother started talking again, she turned her attention back to their talk.

"...Do you think we could ask if we have other family?" he asked again after a while, staring down at his picture again. Pushing it aside like Chi-chan had hers, before grabbing a new one.

He wanted to draw everyone, and that meant he'd need the green and yellow and black crayons. Looking over at Chiyo, he found that she wasn't using the black one and traded it for the red one in his hand. He already had the yellow and green closer to him, and the white was on Chi's side —but he didn't need that or the blue one. The Brown and Gray were in the middle, so he could just use it when he needed it, and the Peach one (he supposed it was shorter than not-yellow and not-pink or not-brown, but it didn't really look like a peach either. Those were more pink, yellow-y or white, after all. But then again, people were weird, so he supposed naming a color after a fruit it didn't actually match would count as one of that. It wasn't even quite orange, either. So weird, he thought).

"You could," she said, apparently giving up and deciding to practice letters and kana instead of drawing again. Boring, but that just meant she could help him again later. His characters weren't as pretty as his sisters, but he saw how much she practiced, so he didn't mind. It was just something different that she was good at. Just like he was better at running or climbing than she was (even if he did have accidents sometimes). Heights were scary, but they weren't nearly as scary when you have someone by your side (or ready to catch you...actually, that part was probably more important).

Well, that and practicing writing was boring. As long as Chiyo and Mama (and he supposed Papa) knew what he meant, why did it matter if his characters were perfect, after all?

Eventually, though, dinner time came and they were called back to the kitchen. Brownie-nii-san and Ganon… Ganosh(?)-nii-san had both come back from taking walks and getting groceries while they'd been preoccupied. Not even aware when Papa had peeked in to check on why they were being so quiet as they ended up being more absorbed in drawing than the anime on TV.

Tsuna would complain when their Papa tried to take a peek at the pictures they'd worked on, but it was a surprise so he wasn't supposed to be looking at them yet anyway! He and Chi-chan had worked really, really hard on them and he wanted to show them all at once, after all!

Chiyo didn't mind. She didn't really care either way, but if it made Tsu-nii happy, then group surprise it was.

She was more preoccupied with the fact that Mama had made so much delicious stuff, anyways. (There was baby spring mix salad! With the experimental sauce she and Mama had ended up mixing one day. Soy sauce, lemon, and some grated crisp veggies on top with certain seasonings that were probably herbs that she couldn't quite remember at the moment. For some reason it made her think Italian though that was silly, Italian Dressing was all orangey-clear and weird.)

She could already feel her mouth watering as she and Tsu-nii were helped onto their chairs since they were too high to climb into themselves without some accident happening.

"Oh my, Tsu-kun, did you bring your drawings to the table?" Mama asked, taking note of the carefully face down stack of papers laying precariously off the edge of the table.

"Yeah! It's a surprise!" He beamed, an adorable look of pride on his face as he kicked his legs. Booster seats sucked, he always felt stuck or cramped if he didn't move around a lot. But it wasn't like they could just stack on cushions. Those slipped sometimes, and it made it dangerous.

Chiyo had tried to slip off her seat one time, and ended up hurting herself. He'd started crying too, after all that, because it had hurt , and he knew that Chiyo had hurt too, and he couldn't really explain it, but it was almost like he could feel the hurt too, when the tears started stinging his eyes.

Mama hadn't been able to find a better option, though, aside from high chairs, but they were too old for that now, and it got all cramped. Not to mention that it made them too tall to eat at the dining table! In the end, they'd gotten booster seats, but it seemed that they would be outgrowing those again soon, too.

Tsuna couldn't wait to grow up, at least enough that he could sit on a chair without needing a booster seat to see and reach over the table!

"I see, but they might get dirty if they're on the table, right? Why don't we move it to the counter instead?" She hummed, proposing a safer plan considering that the kids could get a little messy in eating sometimes. Oh, they tried —or at least Chiyo did— but they were still just too small to be able to do so without leaving at least a bit of mess afterwards.

"But...They're supposed to be a surprise for everyone!" He 'whispered' voice still clearly audible to everyone, as Chiyo was settled into the chair by his, apparently getting shy again now that they weren't alone anymore.

"Oh, my, then perhaps we should pass them out now so we can put them away so they don't get messed up?" she mused, Iemitsu humming with agreement as he chuckled, cooing at his sister's whining when he folded a napkin into a bib for her as if she was still a baby.

"Papa~!" She complained, too distracted to help Tsuna, though he did know that she didn't mind either way which meant the decision was his.

"Humor your daddy, won't you, Hime-chan?" he pleaded, a look of absolute doting as he 'helped' his pouting little princess.

She was clearly embarrassed (or just unhappy) by the treatment but aside from showing her displeasure in a verbal (and facial) manner, she didn't push him away, simply making a noise similar to a whine as he straightened her clothes and made sure everything was in reach.

"I'm not a baby anymore!" Really, she hadn't been treated this way since they were even younger than they were now! They were already past the baby and toddler stages after all. (Or, well, maybe not past toddler stage if growing out of it.)

"Yes, yes, but you'll always be my little Princess~!" Iemitsu cooed, clearly melting at how adorable his kids were. Not to mention, Tsu-kun's surprise! Oh, that's right. There was still that to look forward to, wasn't there?

Timoteo chuckled from his seat, the cane he kept for show (and which was the civilian replacement for his scepter) leaning against the table by his side where Ganauche had placed it for him. Said Lightning Guardian was already snickering away at the domestic scene that Iemitsu and his family presented, while Brow Nie Jr. helped bring the last of the dishes to the table.

He'd said it before, but it was definitely worth saying again, considering the spread and just how delicious it all seemed.

"Why don't we let Tsunayoshi-kun share his pictures so everyone can eat?" He mused, eyes crinkling with mirth as he caught the amused glimmer in the eyes of his Sun's son despite his usual difficult to read expressions.

"Tsuna's fine," the little boy pouted, not used to being called by his full name when everyone shortened it to something more manageable and recognizable to the child. "Chi-chan's Chi-chan, too!" By which he actually meant the girl was fine with people calling her Chiyo rather than the mouthful that was her own name as well.

"Ah, my apologies, Tsuna," Nono replied indulgently, clearly far better at handling young children than growing teens or adults. (Or rather, his own sons. Then again, they did say that grandparents were better at parenting their grandkids than their actual children, odd as it was.)

"Um! It's okay," he smiled, clearly far more at ease with everyone now that he'd had time to process and get used to their presences.

Chiyo just huffed beside him, trying to reach for the glass of watered down juice (because she was weird and said that regular juice was too sweet for her...but then, Tsuna could understand why, even if he did like things sweeter than his sister did). It had been placed, unfortunately, outside of her reach, and as Iemitsu was grabbing drinks for everyone else (Adult drinks were gross, they smelled weird and were all yucky tasting. Some of them were bitter too! The horror! Adults were so weird), it fell to Ganauche who was closest to her to hand it to her when he noticed.

"Here you go," he smiled, trying not to scare the girl though she seemed startled all the same, staring at him with wide eyes before cautiously accepting the gesture of good will.

"...Thank you," she said, clearly awkward as she stared down at her glass, trying to ignore her own embarrassment by sucking on the straw Mama had put into the glasses for them. The chilliness from the ice made her screw her face a bit, but she got used to it quickly enough.

Ganauche just chuckled, amused by the girl's shyness. "No problem, kid," ruffling the girl's hair gently despite protests (Iemitsu's kids really were cute, he mused, though he wouldn't admit it to his face. The guy was bound to go into overprotective father mode, considering the size of his complex), before turning back to his own drink.

They'd be staying at the house for the rest of the evening, so a single drink would be fine even if he had guard duty. Iemitsu and Brow Nie Jr. would take shifts after him, but it was still better not to drink too much when he was still technically on duty. (Thank the Saints for his tolerance though, or he wouldn't even be able to have that much, regardless of how much he could drink.)

As this little scene played out, though, Iemitsu was cooing over his son, finding him just as adorable if not more so than his (unsurprisingly) less outgoing daughter. As it was, he was adoringly trying to cajole the boy to let him sneak a peek, whilst Nana went to finish up the dessert she'd forgotten about, setting it all back into the refrigerator once she was done and apologizing for the wait.

Tsuna was stubbornly waiting for everyone to be seated before he showed any of it, the atmosphere of warmth and friendly humor making the men relax further than they expected and eliciting some laughs as well. Finally, though, everyone was seated, and Tsuna could unveil he and his sister's efforts!

"We drew welcome pictures!" He said excitedly, holding up the stack to reveal the first of the pictures in it.

It was a pictures of everyone smiling and being friendly, the drawings childish and imperfect, but cute all the same.

"See? There's Nono-jii-chan," he started, pointing at the one with gray hair and a colorful shirt, "Brown-nii," this one eliciting a few snickers and a rueful expression on the green haired medic, "Gano-nii, tou-chan, Mama, and us!" he finished, each of the unproportionate figures labeled carefully in what Nana would recognize as her daughter's writing. "Chi-chan wrote everyone's names, since she's better at writing," he nodded, pronouncing some of the names a bit off, but close enough considering his age.

"We even did one for everyone each!" The next few pictures being passed out (or around) to everyone as he named them. "This one's for Brown-nii," he said, passing a sheet with mainly green and yellow scribbles, though it was nicer than the group picture that had been 100% Tsuna's drawing.

This one was clearly a joint effort, with Chiyo doing most of the outlining and Tsuna carefully drawing as inside the lines as he could along with some doodling in the background. A somewhat childish chibified caricature of Brow Nie's face drawn with a smile, next to Tsuna and Chiyo's own smiling faces. There was a green clover with the other's name painstakingly drawn in katakana, basically addressing the image to him. The rest were similar if different in what little symbol (courtesy of Tsuna) was next to the addressed person's name, and chibi faces of the kids and the named person in as close a color as they could get with the crayons they had. It was clear to see who colored what by how hard the crayon had been pressed as well as how neatly it was done.

"And one for Gano-nii," he continued, passing it to his sister to hand to brunette with bleached bangs since she was closer, before continue and passing the next one to his other side, since its recipient was on the other side, "Nono-jii-chan's," he continued, "and Mama and Papa's!" he grinned, the two having decided to just doodle their immediate family on one sheet for their parents, the character 'for Mama & Papa' written in Tsuna's childish scrawl this time, after practicing a little.

(There were practice sheets still sitting on the living room coffee table that Nana would probably end up storing safely away later. Tsuna would be absolutely horrified when he found out she'd kept all of their childish little scrawls. Thankfully, though, she wouldn't just bring them out all willy nilly, because they were apparently keepsakes…. No wonder their attic was so full, he'd muse, turning to sister to commiserate only to find her digging through the box of keepsakes with interest.

(Betrayal! And from his own twin no less! He'd grumble, earning a roll of the eye and amusement from said betrayer. Tsu-nii could be so silly sometimes…)

The men all thanked the kids and cooed (or commented positively) over their 'presents', an embarrassed if proud and happy Tsuna and a shy if embarrassed Chiyo taking the complements and thanks as they came. One sitting lower in her seat as she tried to pretend everything was okay as she sipped at her drink (as slowly as possible to had an excuse not to have to face anyone), while the other positively preened, beaming at the positive attention.

Nothing was ringing any bells, so that meant that everyone really was happy with their present.

And that made Tsuna happy, reinforcing the idea of positive familial affections. Especially as their silly father cooed and cried in joy at how sweet and utterly adorable his kids were. And so talented, too! Really, such an amazing present!

The man would have the image photocopied later (in triplicate, with copies of said copies each just to be safe ) before giving his wife half the copies for safe keeping, deciding to stick the original onto the fridge while they were there before taking it with him when they finally left upon Nana's indulgent urging.

Really, his family was the absolute best . Perfection. And no one could convince him otherwise. No one .

(Their Papa was so weird, the kids would think, embarrassed but happy with the positive attention from their ever absent father while he was still there.)

End Notes: All I can say is that my Chibi!Tsu-Muse decided to demand attention for the most part, so I blame the extended chapter/family fluff on the little guy.

So go ahead and blame him for all the extra childhood content.

Go on.

I dare you.

Finally, today's summary:

Chapter 4: "A Child's Thoughts" (Iemitsu's Return, Part II —or: Childhood Arc, Part III)

The kids mispronounce some names and compare what they've noticed about the group.

Tsuna comes up with an idea, and Chiyo gets drawn in even as she tries to figure out why Papa's 'friends' seem so familiar. Meanwhile, Iemitsu's been away for a long time. So he has a lot to make up for...mostly in the department of doting on his wife and kids. Tsuna's excited...but Chiyo's not so amused. (She's not a baby anymore, damn it!)

Translation Notes:

None for this Chapter, I think, but I'll leave this here anyway, just in case. (If I missed anything I'll just revise/edit it back in.)

Other Notes:

Brow Nie vs Brownie/Brow-nii — Brow Nie is actually pronounced Brow and Nieh or Nea, dependent on your spelling preference. The kids mistake it for a weird pronunciation of Brownie, and thus christen him "Brow-nii/Brown-nii" which sounds pretty much the same, and, well...which is also just all kinds of bad punning, lol.

Ganoush and/or Gano-nii — One is basically just a different spelling but same pronunciation for the most part ga-no-u-shu or ga-no-u-shi. And then a completely random and totally indiscreet game reference (from a game I don't even play, tbh), Ganon. Gano-nii, Ganon-nii. Yeah, lame, I know

Anywho, gonna go back to sleep now. Sorry if I didn't respond to messages, I'll get to that tomorrow along with continuing with trying to get the next chapter typed up when I have the time... Thanks again to my two lovely reviewers so far...!