Author's Note: Hello readers! Finals are over and I have returned! And by some miracle of God I managed to pull off an A in physics. I have no idea how. I literally failed half the tests. For genetics I'll just say I passed.

Anyway. I'm still working on this story, but updates for May are going to be few, far between, and un- beta-ed. I'm currently in Italy for a summer class, and Wi-Fi in the place I'm staying is practically nonexistent. I literally have to walk down a goddamn mountain to find a place with Wi-Fi.

Thank you for being patient with me and for liking my story, and thank you to anyone who reviewed for the last chapter! It really made my day. Enjoy this one. Ciao~


Chapter 12

I'd hoped the language might come on its own, the way it comes to babies, but people don't talk to foreigners the way they talk to babies. They don't hypnotize you with bright objects and repeat the same words over and over, handing out little treats when you finally say "potty" or "wawa." It got to the point where I'd see a baby in the bakery or grocery store and instinctively ball up my fists, jealous over how easy he had it. I wanted to lie in a French crib and start from scratch, learning the language from the ground floor up. I wanted to be a baby, but instead, I was an adult who talked like one, a spooky man-child demanding more than his fair share of attention.

David Sedaris


Over the next few days Leora and Tsuna settled into a routine of sorts.

Leora would wake up at four to head to the park, get in her morning routine, then her and Kyouya would beat the shit out of each other once he arrived. After the one week deal was up, however, the carney stopped waiting for him. Most of her was black and blue by that point, and Tsuna had damn near lost his mind with worry when he realized his only friend was hurt.

He didn't know the full extent of the injuries, but the black eye she got from the last beating session with Kyouya had him screeching his lungs out as he tried to bodily haul her to Saito-sensei's house. It took climbing on top of the wall surrounding the Sawada residence and threatening to go home for the rest of the week before he calmed down.

After leaving the park Leora would wander around town for hours, jumping from roof to roof, only coming down to pickpocket people, and spying on the strip joint Parallel to get a better idea of the owner's character. His workers all seemed nice enough; none of them were druggies from what she could tell, and the bouncer would wait for the girls so he could walk them to the train station when the place closed.

Around two or three she'd head back to the Sawada house to fend off Nana's attempts to stuff her with food, and spend the rest of the day with Tsuna.

They still weren't doing much; poker every now and then – Tsuna was getting halfway decent at it – some video games, and stretching. A lot of emphasis on the stretching.

"Leora, why do I have to do this again?" Tsuna whined, the nervous stutter he had already forgotten as he bent at the waist to grab his feet, using the hold to attempt to press his upper body flat against his legs. Next to him Leora was folded in half, head resting on her shins as she stared apathetically at the boy.

"You need to be more flexible."

"But this hurts!"

"It'll hurt less the longer you work at it, and it'll help you when you practice falling." Leora shot back, zero sympathy in her voice as she switched to a split before putting her head back on her shin and curling her hands around the arch of her foot.

He wasn't even working on splits yet, the big baby. This was nothing.

Tsuna pouted at the lack of sympathy but dutifully went back to his assigned task, albeit with a grimace.

"Why can't we work on falling now instead of this?" Tsuna tried again after another minute of burning pain in the back of his legs. Leora, who had started to doze off in her current position, cracked open one dark, cranky eye to stare flatly at the brunet.

"Because you're head hasn't finished healing, and you don't need another concussion." She told him bluntly, "Now shut up and bend before I sit on your back to hurry this along."

With a scared squeaking noise Tsuna redoubled his efforts.


"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" Tsuna muttered under his breath with every step he took towards the kitchen. Leora, who had decided to forgo her feet and walk on her hands for the entire visit so far, used her foot to nudge at his shoulder.

"You're not going to get any sympathy out of me Tsuna, so you might as well stop whining."

Tsuna shot her a wounded look.

"But it hurts."

"I told you it would." The girl reminded him. "You just need to keep it up and soak in cold water for about a month and then the worst of it will be behind you. Besides, you're a kid." She pointed out, "You're more flexible right now. If you tried to do this as say, a teenager, this would hurt a hell of a lot more. Better to just get it out of the way while it's easy."

"But it still hurts." Tsuna muttered petulantly, making Leora roll her eyes.

"Ask Nana for some pain killers, then go take a bath."

Tsuna paused at the bottom of the stairs, giving her a speculative look. "Will that really help?"

"Yes. Now let's eat. After that you can take your drugs, take a bath, then go to sleep."

The look Tsuna shot her was annoyed, but he didn't stop walking to the kitchen. Climbing into his chair he watched in fascination as Leora kind of just, rolled into a standing position to climb into her own chair and start munching on the onigiri Nana had set out.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Nana bustled around the kitchen, making coffee at Leora's request, getting things ready for dinner and encouraging the little girl at her kitchen table to eat more than one onigiri.

On his second to last rice ball, Tsuna piped up. "Do I really have to take a nap?"

"Do you feel better after you take one?" Leora asked. Tsuna thought about it as he chewed, and reluctantly nodded his head after he swallowed.

"Yeah, I do."

"Then take a nap." Leora said matter-of-factly, in the same way Tsuna had heard his teachers say the sky was blue, or the grass was green. If it made him feel better, take a nap.

It wasn't an order, not really. It was more of a suggestion that he couldn't really argue against. If it made him feel better, then why not?

He didn't know why, but hearing someone else put it like that made him feel really happy. Then again, he'd been nothing but really happy since Leora had agreed to be his friend and proved it again and again every time she came over.

"Are you going to take a nap too?" Tsuna asked around another mouthful of rice, careful not to inhale the grains and choke. Leora didn't look up from her coffee.

"No. I have some errands to run before I head back to my apartment, so I need to go."

And Tsuna's good mood immediately plummeted. Furrowing his eyebrows, he began chewing his rice like it had done him some great wrong. He didn't like it when his friend went home. There was always a nagging fear that one day she would leave and just not come back.

"Will you be back for dinner?"

"No." Tsuna barely hid a wince. Eyes on his plate, he shoveled the rest of his snack into his mouth to keep from saying something stupid like whining at her to stay. That always made her freeze up and look kind of scared, kind of like how he knew he looked when he was cornered by his bullies.

It didn't help that Leora didn't seem to like his house very much. She was okay when she was in his room, but even then she was always kind of stiff and uncomfortable looking. That was one of the main reasons Tsuna kept giving into the 'strongly encouraged' naps so easily. He could usually get her to take one with him and she was more relaxed once she woke up, if only a little bit.

Or at least distracted. She got really flustered when she realized that Tsuna always ended up shuffling in his sleep so he would wake up hugging her.

It wasn't even his fault! It's not like he could control what he was doing in his sleep. And she made him feel less lonely and warm. Having her close felt right. So of course he wanted to her to be nearby. He probably should feel embarrassed that he kept cuddling up to a girl, but he couldn't really bring himself to care.

It was also just a teeny tiny bit funny how she didn't seem to know what to do once she realized he was hugging her, but he was never going to tell her that.

"Are we going to work on stretching again tomorrow?"

Finally looking up from her coffee Leora gave him that look. The one that he had seen a lot over the first few day of their friendship when he had to tell her more about himself, all the while trying to avoid how he was Dame-Tsuna. Her inky, almost-black eyes would sharpen and seem to stare straight though him, through whatever he was saying, like he was a bug under a microscope. Normally this would have made him uncomfortable; he couldn't brush things off like he did for Nana, couldn't lie. Leora would see right through it and just know.

He wasn't, uncomfortable that is. A bit anxious that she would leave like everyone else did when the Italian realized just how Dame he was, but he wasn't uncomfortable. He was a bit relieved. Here was someone he didn't have to lie to about how he was feeling or try to explain things, because lying wouldn't work and she always guessed what he was trying to explain. His friend seemed to noticed everything, and wouldn't let him do something he didn't really want to do or let him be upset if there was a way around it.

"I was planning on it. Why? Did you want to do something else?"

Tsuna fiddled with his cup for a moment, mustering up what little courage he had so he could ask what he'd been thinking about on and off again since he was admitted to the hospital. Looking up into sharp eyes Tsuna opened his mouth, then felt the courage drain away like water down the kitchen sink.

"It's nothing!" he squeaked, suddenly finding his tea cup the most interesting thing in the room. Across the table, Leora made a humming noise and took another sip of her coffee.

"You suck at lying."

"I'm not lying!" Tsuna denied, still not looking up from his cup. Leora snorted.

"And I'm the Queen of England. Just tell me what you want to do Tsuna. The worst I can say is no."

Chewing on his lip, Tsuna thought it over. She wasn't wrong, and she hadn't been wrong for the entire time the brunette had known her. She had some weird explanations for things at times, but she hadn't been wrong yet. The worst she could do was say no.

"Can you teach me Italian?" he blurted before his brain fully decided on voicing the request, then promptly chugged what was left of his tea in an attempt to hide his blushing face.

Leora blinked, eyebrows slightly raised as she looked at Tsuna.

"I can if you really want." She agreed slowly, almost sounding out the words, "What brought this on?"

Tsuna wiggled in his seat, nervously wringing his hands together as he glanced shyly up at the dark haired girl.

"I-I noticed you don't seem very comfortable speaking Japanese." Tsuna replied, mentally despairing over the stuttering, "A-and you mumble in Italian a lot. S-sometimes in another language too, I t-think."

Leora blinked again. "I'm okay at Japanese, but I never really have to speak it that often. I don't mind teaching you Italian, but you'd probably get more use out of English right now." Now it was Tsuna's turn to blink.

"You know English? So is that the other language you were speaking besides Italian?"

"It was either that or Icelandic. Maybe French." Leora answered, sounding thoughtful, "Or Mandarin. Possibly Russian. I don't really notice when I start ranting to myself."

Tsuna gaped at her.

"You speak seven languages?" he asked in disbelief as he double checked by counting on his fingers. Leora shrugged and took another sip of her coffee.

"More like ten, but I'm not completely fluent in all of them. Learning how to read and write some of them is a pain in the ass." She said nonchalantly, like it wasn't a big deal, before glancing back up at Tsuna and immediately started shifting uncomfortably. "Can you pick your jaw up off the floor? That's really weird to look at."

"You speak ten languages! How do you speak ten languages?" Tsuna shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at Leora.

"I told you my family traveled a lot, so it was practical." Leora explained defensively as she hunched over her coffee a bit more, "Plus no one in my family spoke just one language. My Ama and Afi were from Iceland. Sifu Yaozu was originally from China. French was the universal language around the work sites and English was just good for business. You get a lot of American tourists in Europe."

"Are you even human?" Tsuna demanded after a minute of stunned silence, completely serious. Leora's face was completely unimpressed.

"My family expected a lot of me, and I aimed to please. Now do you want to learn Italian or not?"

"Why not teach me all of them?" Tsuna shot back sarcastically.

He was kidding. It was obvious he was kidding. Unfortunately, Leora decided to pretend he wasn't.

"It's better to focus on one at a time so you don't get the grammar confused." The noirette mused thoughtfully, leaning back in her chair and stroking her bottom lip with a thumb as her right hand curled around her chin. "We can start with Italian since you already asked and once you get a good grip on that we can switch to English."

Tsuna stared at her with wide eyes.

"I was kidding."

Leora smirked. "You'll need some notebooks, and you will be getting homework. Definitely some pop quizzes."

Tsuna whimpered.

He should have kept his mouth shut.


Finally leaving the Sawada house, Leora wasted no time getting out of the residential area and up to the nearest rooftop.

Firmly out of sight from the street below the carney sprawled out, relieved at being completely alone and out of the house with the severely delusional woman than was so set in her own happy little world that it set her teeth on edge and had her hair stand on end.

The woman radiated flowers and fucking sparkles like it was some kind of perfume and was dissociated enough from reality that you could kill someone in front of her like you were the second coming of Jack the Ripper and get away with it as long as you said it was just pretending.

Don't get her wrong the woman was sweet as could be, and under normal circumstances the carney wouldn't feel anything more than mild interest about the situation, but after more than an two hours in her company and constantly being smothered with her 'motherly affections' it was so overwhelming, so obvious that something was wrong with the women that Leora was genuinely surprised that it was only Saito-sensei who was trying to raise a red flag.

Leora hadn't disliked Nana this much while reading the manga. Vaguely amused at the mild form of comic relief, but nothing like the skin crawling sensation she was getting now.

How the Tsunayoshi from the manga had turned out so normal was a mystery. He certainly didn't get it from either of his genetic donors.

Speaking of the little brunette…

Rolling over so she was on her side and her cheek was pressed uncomfortably against the concrete of the building's roof, Leora thought back over her interactions with the protagonist over the last few days.

His stuttering had all but vanished after that first night in the hospital, and he just seemed less shy and timid all around. He was smiling more, the kind that made flowers and sparkles bloom into existence like his mother, and he was slowly inching his way out of his shell as the days went by. He wasn't that happy being cooped up in his room and napping, but he was a kid so Leora guessed that was normal.

He was uncomfortably clingy – uncomfortable for her anyway – when he got the chance, but was easy enough to ignore because he was asleep when it happened, and couldn't really be held accountable for that.

She ignored the part of her brain that was reminding her that ignoring the little Sky was a lesson in futility because the one and only time she tried to circumvent his need to cuddle he ended up sleep-walking after her as she dodged around the room, and nearly broke his neck trying to follow Leora's last ditch swan dive out the window to the branches of the nearby tree. The carney had to bodily tackle him back through the window before he went ass over tea kettle out of it, and the brat didn't even wake up. He just latched on like a limpet and buried his face in her shoulder with a pleased sounding hum. She was stuck on the floor for another three hours because she couldn't get enough traction to drag them both back to her futon.

Picking herself up off the roof, Leora set out towards the sketchier part of town to scout out potential drunks to pickpocket, banishing that very uncomfortable memory to one of the dark corners of her mind. Jumping from roof to roof with now practiced ease, Leora focused more on the brunet's recent request.

He wanted to learn Italian.

The carney would willingly admit that she wasn't that comfortable with Japanese – she didn't need it for more than a month or two every other year – but she hadn't realized that she slipped back into Italian or one of the other many languages used at the circus often enough that Tsuna would notice.

She wasn't against the idea of Tsuna learning, quite the opposite in fact. This would help him a lot in the future and she would get the added benefit of being able to speak her native tongue with someone which was always nice.

She just had no idea how to teach him.

Her own language lessons had been more immersion than anything else. Most of her daily caretakers when she was young were from different parts of the world and refused to speak anything other than their native tongue when she was around, intent on teaching her a 'civilized' language, unless in the presence of the Circus Master. Then they usually spoke the universal language of the circus which was French. A few would have mercy on her once she broke out into increasingly frantic charades and speak Italian, but they were few and far between. Add in the foreign countries and her chances of finding someone who spoke her mother tongue was practically non-existent growing up.

She wouldn't be able to immerse Tsuna completely like she was. For one there was no way in hell she was letting him go to Italy, and second they were currently in Japan. Immersion wasn't really an option.

Lists of vocabulary words should be a decent place to start she decided. Basic sentence structures and grammar could be done with worksheets. She could also try to get her hands on Italian children's books, but failing that she could probably bullshit some kind of story he could use to practice with. Or just put little name tags on everything with the Italian word. Nana might have a label maker, but if not she at least had tap.

Launching herself from the lip of the roof, Leora grabbed the drainpipe opposite her as quietly as she could, making quick work of shimming up it so she could crouch behind the neon sign for a pachinko parlor to half-heartedly eye the street below.

She could make Tsuna write a journal, the carney decided as she mentally rearranged her lesson plans. It would work on his sentence structure and ability to read the language, something she herself had a great deal of trouble with. At least a paragraph a day would be a good enough start, then multiple pages. She could have him turn it in once a week for her to read over and point out any mistakes he made. If he worked really hard at it, he could have Italian down in a few months.

Thinking realistically, Leora extended the time estimate closer to anywhere from six months to a year. The seal fucked with everything, especially his cognitive abilities, so he was going to learn at a much slower pace than most would. She wasn't going to give him any breaks, not even close, but she was going to go at his pace.

Once he had Italian down she would focus on English. Japanese students had a mandatory English class in school didn't they? It seemed to be popular subjects in manga's so there had to be some grain of salt with that truth. Considering she was now living in an anime she should probably just swallow the whole damn shaker. Either way it was a really good universal language to have.

After that she could teach him Mandarin, or at least basic phrases. Can I help you, are you lost, my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, I am not your target, and I know your Sifu would at least stall the five year old Chinese assassin long enough for Fon to find I-pin when she got sent to Namimori.

Content with the basics of her plan Leora turned her full attention to the street, zeroing in on a group of drunk middle aged men stumbling out of one of the nearby bar with their ties wrapped around their heads and using each other for support.

One of them was loudly advocating for another bar, claiming that the next round would be on him as he waived his comically fat wallet around in the air.

Leora smirked. Hello payday.

Creeping along the roof above them Leora followed them for another block, ducking behind more neon signs and raised edges of rooftops every few seconds to be sure no one could get a good look at her if they did manage to look up and see her.

The drunken idiots finally settled on another bar a few buildings away from them, the biggest of the bunch waxing what the carney was sure his alcohol addled brain thought to be poetic of the beauty of one of the bartenders. Or more specifically, her impressive rack.

Keeping an ear out for the sound of drunken footsteps so she would know their location, Leora quickly vaulted from one building to another, then one more before dropping down into the alley nearest the bar. Keeping in the shadows of a set of trashcans, she counted.

One step. Two steps. Stumbling two steps forward, one back. One step. Stumble again. Three forward.

On the last stumble when all three men where using each other to stay upright Leora darted out, her tiny child's hand easily snaking into pockets to pluck out the wallets of the two men nearest her alley before retreating back to the shadow of the trashcans. The men made it to the bar and stumbled in none the wiser.

Scanning the street one last time Leora went back to the roof, settling down behind another sign to go through her latest acquisition.

Another round for everybody guy hadn't been exaggerating about his ability to pay. The wallet was stuffed full, a receipt for a bank withdrawal dated that day tucked among the bills. The other wallet was nowhere near the amount of the first, but it was till a decent sum. Pocketing the money, Leora took careful aim and tossed the mostly empty wallets in front of the bar as close to the door as she dared. She wasn't going to keep the cards or IDs, she wouldn't have much use for them and it would be a sure fire way to prove her guilt if she was ever caught. With how drunk the men were they would probably assume they just dropped them. Even if they didn't Leora would be long gone by the time they realized they were without funds.

Satisfied with her haul for the night Leora set out for her apartment with the intent of getting at least a few hours of sleep. It was edging towards one in the morning according to her watch, which left her with only three hours or so before her internal alarm had her up for her normal routine.

More like two if the nightmares struck again.

Whatever. Coffee was created for sleepless nights and Nana didn't have a problem giving a physically young child a pot of the stuff or the beans if asked.

Eating the beans tasted like eating expresso flavored tree bark, but it was better than nothing until she got a coffee pot and grinder of her own.

Or some chocolate. Chocolate covered coffee beans would be a decent enough replacement for the liquid stuff. But both would be better.