Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn
Chapter 12
Language has never been Nana's forte. Equations flower where words do not, but when immersed in Italy, even she cannot help but pick some Italian up. Still, staring at her homework, this doesn't help much.
''Xanxus?''
The boy across the kitchen table chomps down on another chicken leg, but looks her straight in the eye. Angry-twelve-year-old speak for ''Go on,'' then. She taps on the page before her.
''What does this word mean?''
He grabs her book, flips it around, quickly scanning the text while swallowing his food down. ''Parameter. You keep forgetting that one.''
''I know, but thank you!''
He scoffs. ''Nothing to be thankful for.'' He grabs the plate and stalks towards the door, before changing his mind and quickly washing his face. God-fearing he is not, but Daniela's judging eyebrow works wonders even when it is not present.
He doesn't say goodbye when he goes, but there are no grease stains on her precious schoolbook despite him eating with his bare hands out of his mother's sight. Nana smiles.
For someone who tries so hard to be intimidating, he's really too sweet.
Nana lets her head fall onto her textbook. It isn't working. It just isn't. The Italian is too hard, and if it's not working now then how will she be able to concentrate when the baby starts to kick? Honestly, the mathematics aren't the problem- she does those just fine.
But the damn reading.
''Sometimes… Sometimes I think I should've stayed in Japan. Not married Iemitsu, but… Raised him somewhere people wouldn't have known about our child?'' Nana rips grass out of the ground beside her head. It's cold, which is excellent for watching the night sky, but bad for her health. She shuffles over the blanket, closer to Lal.
The hill was the perfect place for star-gazing.
Lal turns her head, watching Nana instead of the sky.''The chances they would have found out were too high.''
''I know. I couldn't have done that to my child. But being here is daunting. And… The idea of marrying Iemitsu was so idyllic. It was what I wanted, for the longest time. Just not directly. But the thought of actually doing it also used to choke me up and… and… God, Lal, if I'd found out I was pregnant just a few weeks before, I would have stayed with Iemitsu, married him in a second, and never gone to college. I would… I would have willingly walked into that cage, and it would have drained me until I was nothing but a husk. Only the love for a child left, vague fondness of the idea of my absent husband.'' Nana clenches her fists, her horror bleeding through. ''I would have chosen it. I would have done that myself, if I thought it the best for our child.''
Lal looks at her, takes her hand, and says: "Nothing is worth your misery. Love, the least of all."
Nana cries.
Afterwards, they go to the range to shoot all the feelings out. They pass Xanxus and Daniela on their way to the range, greeting them before starting.
Lal chuckles when she sees Nana's face.
''Daniela and Xanxus bond over weapons. In fact, the first time he called her 'mama' was straight after he hit the target with his first gun."
Nana laughs, eyes gliding over the targets out in the open field before them. ''Is that how you got into this? Protecting your family?''
Lal takes aim and fires. A bird startles and rises from the trees behind the range. Bull's eye. ''No, I just like guns.'' Her eyes shine as she puts the weapon down.
Nana looks down at the gleaming steel. ''I'm beginning to see why.''
Her smile is beatific when she takes the next shot.
