Something Simple
'Being a daddy's girl is like having permanent armour for the rest of your life.'
The birds were chirping, Nadeshiko was drooling, and Tsuna was having a dream about giant mushrooms. All was well.
Suddenly, Nana cheerfully burst into the calm silence of the twins' bedroom and chirped a 'good morning!', flinging open the curtains to let the sun in with reckless abandon.
"It's such a good day outside, thank goodness! Na-chan, you have morning kendo practice today, ne? You need to wake up now or you'll be late!" she exclaimed, shaking her children awake.
They both blinked blearily at their mama, and then looked at each other, nodded, and promptly fell back into their positions and went back to sleep.
Nana giggled at her children's cuteness, before cheerfully lifting the frying pan and steel ladle she'd brought with her.
"Last chance Tsu-kun, Na-chan!" she said, feeling quite sadistic for some reason.
When Nadeshiko mumbled into Tsuna's stomach and then quietened down without even causing a proper stir, Nana started banging the ladle against the pan, the clanging sound loud enough to awaken the dead.
Both orangey-brown eyed twins startled awake, their deer-brown hair mussed up. Tsuna pouted at her and whined, "Mama! Too loud!"
Nadeshiko scrambled out of the crib and ran to the bathroom, unwilling to wait for mama to stop banging the pan, quite rightly guessing that mama was in a mood. Tsuna followed soon after.
When they'd wiped their faces, mama held out Nadeshiko's kendo gear for her to change into as she cheerfully led Tsuna back into the bathroom for a shower, seeing as how he'd fallen asleep the previous night without taking one.
Nadeshiko blew a stray piece of hair out of her eyes and went into her bedroom, took off her sleeping clothes, and quickly changed into her hakama. She tied it at the front with great difficulty and waning patience, and then brushed her hair rather roughly before scooping it up into a ponytail.
As soon as she toddled out of her room, she heard a crash from the bathroom and Tsuna's whimpering, as well as the distinctive ring of the landline.
She gracefully toddled over to the phone and picked it up from the cradle, and with a deep breath and a mumbled self-encouragement, she said, "Moshi moshi! Sawada residence. Who is the shark I am sleeping with?"
She thought she'd gotten that correct, but judging by the boisterous laughter coming from the other end, she must have made a minor mistake.
Next time, I'll get it right for sure! she promised herself, pumping her clenched fist in determination.
"Mia patatina, you need to work on your speaking skills a lot more if you want to be a functioning member of society!" came a cheerful loud voice.
Nadeshiko's whole face lit up in happiness and she squealed, "Papa!?"
Iemitsu laughed in reply, saying, "Did you miss me musume?"
"Musume means frog, right?" she asked, mentally making notes.
"No no! Musume means daughter! Have you even been reading what I've sent you? Basil is learning ten times faster than you Nade!" he exclaimed raucously.
Immediately, Nadeshiko's smile dropped into a frown. "Who's Basil?"
Iemitsu chuckled. "No need to sound like a woman scorned mia patatina! Basil is this lovely boy I've recently taken in. Ah, but don't tell Nana, alright? She'll worry too much, and she shouldn't have to, because she's the only woman in my heart!"
Nadeshiko smiled gently, reminded almost painfully of what it was like to be so wholly in love with someone that you were willing to hide the most important parts of you so that they continued loving you, even when you knew you didn't really deserve their love.
"Don't worry papa! It'll be our little secret. Basil is around my age?"
"Sì! Same age actually, if our estimates are correct…ah, but let's not worry about that! Nana tells me you're learning kendo now?"
She nodded and uttered an affirmative. "It's a lot of fun, even though I wish I could smash Mochida-sensei's face in!" she giggled sweetly, and the almost palpable silent freaking out at the other end confirmed her suspicions that Tsuna got his worrywart tendencies from papa, not mama—she would probably remain oblivious while being carried away by a sandstorm…
"…I see. And Mochida-sensei is mean to you?" he asked, slightly concerned.
She shook her head. "He yells a lot, but I have absolutely no idea what he's saying, and then he goes all red when I blank him. But sometimes he gets that holier-than-thou look on his face and it makes my blood boil!"
"But the training itself is going well, right?" he asked, wondering how long it would take to clear his schedule enough to manage a month long trip back home—clearly, there was a lot he was missing out on.
Nadeshiko frowned in thought, just as the doorbell rang and Tsuna finished showering.
"We're still doing individual training for now, and I've only just started, so I'm still learning the etiquette-y stuff. It's interesting though, so it's alright for now! Papa, Tsuyoshi-san is here! I've got to go! I love you!" she cheerfully stated.
"…I love you too mia patatina." Iemitsu said gently, almost sadly, and Nadeshiko wished she had more time to talk to him but Tsuyoshi-san was calling her from the door, and it was rude to make him wait.
"Don't feel sad papa. Everyone grows up, but I'll wait for you if you want me to." she said instead, as if some sort of hyper intuition was nudging her to the right words.
When Iemitsu laughed through the phone, she knew it was the right thing to say.
She grinned and handed over the phone to mama, running as fast as she could to Tsuyoshi-san.
"Took you long enough!" he said happily, sticking a hand out for her to grab onto. "Then we'll be leaving first Nana-san!"
Nana waved good bye, clinging onto the phone with one hand. "Have fun Na-chan! And don't forget, the wedding is in the afternoon!"
She nodded, confused about what had just been said, and walked out of the house hand-in-hand with the owner of TakeSushi.
Said owner scratched his head in confusion, and then turned to look at his only source of information dubiously. "What's this your mother said about marriage Nadeshiko-chan?"
Nadeshiko blinked up at him, sure that she'd translated that wrong. "Wedding, like as in becoming husband and wife?" she asked, positive that she'd said that right.
When Tsuyoshi nodded, Nadeshiko hummed in contemplation. "Probably Ryo-chan's fault." she said, and then, as though the matter was closed after that declaration, she continued on as if nothing had happened at all.
Tsuyoshi wondered who this Ryo-chan was, and why Nadeshiko said it as though it explained everything when it didn't.
Instead of asking however, he nodded, and the two of them walked to the dojo in amiable silence.
Nadeshiko was almost hyperventilating.
Tsuna gave her an unimpressed look, flushed as he was from the embarrassment of the situation.
"Nade, this i' the most impo'tant day of my life." he said emphatically, stressing the words so that it would get through to her.
Nadeshiko continued laughing hysterically.
Tsuna pouted and looked in the mirror at himself, loosening his miniature tie a little bit. His face was still as flushed as it was an hour ago, but Tsuna didn't know how to change that.
Nana peaked her head into her children's room. "Are you ready Tsu-kun? Kyoko-chan is waiting for you outside!" she informed them cheerfully.
She came into the room, and Nadeshiko had only just recovered from her bout of giggles when Nana exclaimed, "Ara, my little boy is getting married today! I'm so proud!"
She tried really hard to keep a straight face, but when Tsuna threw her a pouty dirty look, his wide shining eyes and baby-chubby cheeks ruining the effect entirely, Nadeshiko lost her battle completely and burst into another round of giggles.
Nadeshiko had only ever heard of playground weddings, where young children professed their love for one another with great aplomb and then proceeded to forget that the event ever happened, but she hadn't thought that it would happen so close to home. In fact, she had never thought that Ryohei would have had the temerity to get the two of them into such an ambiguously hilarious situation, and for them to both go along with it.
Nadeshiko thought that this was priceless.
"Mama," she said, breathing deeply to regain some level of sobriety. "Make sure to take lots of pictures."
Tsuna nodded, and then looked at her with a wounded puppy level of suspicion. "Mia sorella…"
She replied with an innocent, "Mio fratello?" and gave him a look of deceptive sweetness.
It didn't fool Tsuna one bit—he was her big brother after all, and that meant that if there was anyone that could see through her, it would be him. He wasn't comfortable with the fact that she wanted photos, but he wanted photos too, so he was facing an odd conundrum.
As with most things related to his little twin sister, he rolled with it.
He turned to the mirror and ran a tiny hand through his fluffy mess, and then nodded bracingly, his cheeks still as red as they were before, and headed out the door with as much dignity as he could possibly muster.
Nadeshiko was still red in the face from giggling and only just managed to grab his hand before he tripped on the second step and plummeted to his untimely death.
"Mio cucciolo, all grown up! I'm so proud!" she exclaimed indulgently, wiping away imaginary tears.
Tsuna was fairly certain she was mocking him, but he was far too nervous and excited to call her out on it.
He squeezed her hand with his own, and she squeezed back in moral support, even though she was smiling at him with that uniquely sardonic tilt of her head.
Che.
They toddled onto the back porch, Tsuna swallowing nervously and gripping onto Nadeshiko's hand tightly.
She gave him a kiss on his forehead and whispered, "Tsuna, you're wonderful. You have nothing to worry about."
And just like that, Tsuna stood a fraction of an inch taller and the redness of his face mellowed to a pink glow on his cheeks, and he smiled widely.
Kyoko was standing at the other end of the back garden, waving cheerfully at Tsuna, a profusely crying Ryohei screaming about being "unprepared for this!"
Nadeshiko rolled her eyes at his idiocy (he was the one that made this happen in the first place!) and toddled to the pink shawl mama had laid on the grass to act as the aisle where the bride and groom walked on to reach the 'priest', who in this case was Ryohei's father, Sasagawa Ryouta.
Tsuna grinned brightly at Kyoko, who gave him a shy wave and smile back.
She was dressed in a pretty pink poofy mini-gown, her lace white socked feet clad in white Mary Janes and chin length golden brown hair decorated with a flower-covered pink hairband. Kyoko looked undeniably adorable, in Nadeshiko's objective opinion, and the small bouquet of plastic pink and white roses made her look ten times more so.
"Tsuna-kun…" she mumbled shyly, eyes peeking at him from time to time through her fringe.
The groom was in a mini-tuxedo, and when Nadeshiko saw them together, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Tsuna would never live this down in the future.
She had to remember to nick one of the photos mama was furiously clicking away.
"Kyoko-chan…" he replied, the butterflies in his stomach reappearing with a vengeance.
"NADE! THE BABIES ARE LEAVING THE NEST! THEY'RE FLYING AWAY NADE!" Ryohei screamed, tears streaming down his face like a torrential waterfall.
Nadeshiko patted him on the head with a blank expression, and with an equally monotone voice, said, "There there baka, there there."
Kaoru giggled at the display of friendship between her son and the Sawada daughter. Her son was wearing something quite similar to the Sawada boy, and the girl her son affectionately called 'NADE!' wore a sunny yellow frock with artificial sapphire accessories. Her shoulder-length hair was braided to the side, with a pretty sapphire hair brooch sweeping her bangs to the left tastefully. The brooch, more than anything else, clued her into the fact that the Sawada family, for all that they seemed middle-class, was actually quite rich.
She shook her head of these thoughts, gently reminding herself that wealth shouldn't matter, especially when it came to her children's friendships.
Although there was a niggling thought at the back of her mind, whenever she recalled the patriarch of the Sawada family…
Iemitsu was a foreigner, or at least had foreign blood—that much was obvious to anyone who saw him, what with his naturally blond hair and orangey brown eyes, eyes that both his children had inherited.
Iemitsu was, as he'd happily informed them, a construction worker. He certainly had the muscles and general slovenly behaviour to give credence to his assertion, but the places he'd been to 'for work' were far too exotic. Kaoru hadn't been the best at geography at school, so she couldn't say for sure, but some of the places…
Why would you need to regulate traffic at construction sites in Antarctica?
There was something fishy about the Sawada family, but…
Nana was a very nice woman, if a bit talkative, and Kaoru valued their friendship too much to break it (and their children's) over half-baked suspicions.
Besides, if there was anything weird going on, Hibari-sama would have dealt with it.
As simple as.
With that thought, Kaoru smiled indulgently as her beloved husband read out the fake sermons. The look of concentration on his face was endearing, and even though he looked quite frightening to most people, with his strong jaw and broody eyebrows (both of which her son had inherited, although to a milder extent), to Kaoru, he was the most handsome man she had ever met.
"Do you take Tsunayoshi-kun to be your…" he said, rubbing the tears out of his eyes as he said the words. He then gave her a look of abject despair and cried, "Kaoru! I can't! My baby can't get married yet!"
Kaoru giggled good-naturedly, walking over to him with a fond smile and whispering in his ear, "Anata, they're just children. They aren't really getting married, just like you're not really a priest."
He sniffled in the manliest fashion he could and exclaimed, "BUT IT FEELS REAL! KYOKO-CHAN, BOYS ARE ALL EVIL!"
Kyoko looked at her father with wide sad eyes and said, "Bu' Tsuna-kun is my boyfriend!"
Ryouta picked her up and moved her away from Tsuna, who at this point was blushing brightly in embarrassment. "No! My daughter is pure and innocent, like snow! Kyoko-chan, you can't have boyfriends until you're fifty, and even then, only because Kaoru wants grandchildren, okay!?"
He looked sort of demented and sort of hysterical, and Kyoko was kind of terrified. Tsuna looked crestfallen and Nana looked startled. Kaoru felt embarrassed and Ryohei looked half vindicated and half indignant, seeing as it was his idea.
Nadeshiko burst into laughter, prompting the neighbour's Chihuahua to start yipping in tandem, falling onto the floor and getting grass stains on her frock. Tears started streaming down her face with the force of her laughs, and soon enough, Ryohei joined her, both of them laughing like a pair of hyenas gone mad.
Kyoko giggled at the sight, and Tsuna shook his head in fond childish exasperation, patting his twin on the head to get her to calm down.
Nana took a photo of the scene, and Kaoru decided that the situation had been salvaged and her husband's daughter complex hadn't ruined a perfectly nice day.
All was well.
What did you think of this chapter?
Sorella - sister, fratello - brother, mia patatina - my little potato (term of endearment for babies), mio cucciolo - my puppy (term of endearment for babies).
How were Ryouta and Kaoru's characterisations? How were Nadeshiko and Ryohei? Tsuna and Kyoko definitely won't remember this in the future, because they're only two and a bit at this point, and Ryohei has terrible memory so he won't remember it, so it's just the adults and Nadeshiko.
Also, to the guest that's worried about Nana's mental health - now that you mention it, yeah, it does seem scarily like dementia, but Nana was just missing him because he missed their first anniversary, though that probably won't/didn't come out in the story...
Sorry! :)