Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or stuff.

Word Count: 8570

Part 22: Shh Child Don't Worry You Have Family

Seeing as she hadn't been as heavily injured as the others had, Natsume still had to go to school the next day. It felt so odd to have been a part of what had happened yesterday and then continue on the next day like they hadn't been fighting against a murderous teenager who had wanted her brother.

She paused in taking her notes, reading over the slightly sloppy writing to make sure everything seem right, her mind going a mile a minute.

Would Mukuro have done to Tsuna what he had done to Hayato?

Probably, though how long would that have lasted if he had managed?

If it had happened would she have been able to do anything about it?

The bell rung, signaling the end of the day. The sensei rattled off a couple last minute things about an assignment coming up, but she wasn't really listening, putting her own things away and leaving as soon as she was able too.

She headed downstairs, not at all bothered by the crowd of students that was spilling out of the classrooms, the casual pace bothered Natsume for some odd reason as she tried to make her way through without stepping or running into someone.

Quick to get her regular shoes, she switched those out for her school ones. Without missing much of a beat, she shut her locker before she made her way towards the gym, only turning around when she heard a familiar voice calling after her.

"Hey Sawada!"

"Kato-senpai," Natsume greeted the third year, who was a couple inches taller than her. The volleyball captain gave her a slight grin, giving a little wave in return.

"Coach is sick and cancelled practice for today, said to do warm ups on our own time."

"Oh, tomorrow for sure though?"

The dark haired teen nodded, thumping Natsume lightly on the back as she began to move towards the group of girls that was waiting for her a ways back, "Probably, even if coach isn't, we'll practice something."

"Alright, see you then Kato-senpai."

"Later Sawada!"

Natsume stood feeling unsure if she should head home or find Hana and Kyoko, which would entail waiting around for them. Slightly cursing herself for not bringing a watch and leaving the shared phone with Tsuna (who was probably playing that silly solitaire game or texting Dino, probably both) she made her way out of school grounds and headed towards the one place where she would be most comfortable.

/ | \

The bell to Kawahira's shop tinkled lightly when Natsume stepped through, noting that the shop was empty. She made her way through, sometimes lingering behind when she spotted an odd trinket that caught her eye, or to smooth her hands over some of the fabrics that hung on some of the racks.

The beaded curtain that Kawahira kept to block off the back made noise and she was greeted by the sight of her teacher's bland face, his plum colored eyes locking with hers and seeming to understand what she hadn't said.

He parted the curtains for her and she ducked, murmuring a soft thank you to him. She paused right there, her hands clutching at the strap of her duffle bag and she could feel everything that she tried to keep down, that she had almost let out in front of Reborn come out.

A warm hand between her shoulder blades guided her to the couch and stayed there as she broke down.

Last night she had dreamed once more of a life where everything was mostly peaceful, where there was no worry about the Mafia or if someone was going to come after her and her family. She had tried her best to push aside the Bloody Twin's deaths, but that only brought forth the man in the suit, who had fell to her just as easily as the twins had.

"We weep so we do not hold in the anguish our soul feels; We weep to be free and breathe easier; We weep so the burden in our minds does not bury us, We weep, We cry, We let it out," she could hear Kawahira murmur, his cheek resting against her hair as he willingly pulled her to him and let her cry against the side of his chest.

This was not supposed to happen, he realized (since when was he anyone ever came to for comfort?)

She had been a curiosity, something to take up his time and amuse him (and if along the way he managed to gain another Mist arcobaleno for the next generation, what harm could it have done?) The more he got to know the girl; he noted he was more than amused.

He was always willing to listen to the stories that had been passed on to her mother from her, had heard snippets of her childhood, had seen her pull Wonomichi into a dance when his assistant had decided to turn on the radio.

In less than a year he had been drawn to the girl in a way that would have had Sepira smiling knowingly at him, her eyes crinkling at the corner's as she nudged him (and if she had been here, she would have nudged him, taken Natsume aside and spoken to her in ways that he would never be able too.)

Sepira would have known what to do with the reborn soul beside him.

It was rare the occasion when a person like that came up and Sepira, along with the others always took care of them. It had taken him a while to actually notice it, but he could see it in the way the girl sometimes talked (she slipped into Spanish babbling away, her eyes bright and peaceful), in the way she referred to certain events and seemed so calm and collected when they passed by, not at all surprised.

Like what had happened with the escaped criminals, she was not as worried as the others had been, had seemed to glide through the situation smoothly without much thought and probably would have continued on that way if it hadn't been for the Sun Arcobaleno.

Who broke whatever mindset the girl (because one was Natsume) and the other one surged forth, unbelieving and in shock (how much did the other influence Natsume, Kawahira wondered, because a child so young, even as talented could not come up with the various ways she used her Mist. There was an influence there and so much could only come from books and stories.)

(Most of it came from books and stories, the very little came from Natsume's feelings, her reaction and what she wanted to happen. Because she believed so much that her Mist was like magic, that it was based so much on what she wanted and she had always been stubborn – even before – when it came to what she believed in.

Nana had always said to Natsume to love herself and stand for what she believed in; Jasmine couldn't help but believe in the unreal, always doodling away passages in her psychology notes about worlds that would never exist (because it was an escape from reality which wasn't always the best.)

The girl tried to breathe through her nose, which wasn't going to happen because of how congested it was and instead ended up breathing through her mouth as Kawahira handed her a tissue.

"I hate blowing my nose," she whined, voice sounding nasally and pitiful as she took the tissue and held it against her nose and blew. "Blegh, so gross," she folded the tissue, using the edges she had to wipe around the area before crumpling it up in her hand.

She sniffled, not at all looking at him, "I," she hesitated, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

"Nonsense," Kawahira said, shaking his head as he pulled away from the girl who cast him a worried look. "You've been holding yourself up, don't think I haven't noticed."

Because there was a difference between the girl he had met about a year ago and the girl now – the girl who had yet to meet the Sun Arcobaleno, who lived as happily as she could alongside her brother. The girl of now watched and strayed away ever so slowly, giving as much as she could without showing everything she was capable of.

And she was capable of so much and in the old days she would have ended her apprenticeship and gone on to travel the world, to build and learn more from the world than what one person could teach her.

"I thought I would be able to handle it," she whispered quietly, leaning back against the couch, toeing off her shoes. "I feel like I shouldn't have killed them."

"Who?"

"The Bloody Twins."

At his silence she explained, "They were serial killers, from what I read about them they were merciless, did it for the joy and thrill of it," her voice quivered slightly, a few stray tears falling at just recalling the dead. "They had Fuuta and he was terrified, it – it reminded me of Tsuna when they had him that day."

Ah, that explained why she killed them, it was more based on the emotion of a distant, oddly similar memory that led her to that split decision.

"In the world you live in –"Kawahira started only to be cut off as Natsume continued on.

"I hope they find peace in their next life."

The white haired man blinked slowly, seeing the faraway look in her eyes, "Why would you say that?" Her smile was slightly bitter, but she didn't look at him at all, instead she looked down, fiddling with her fingers as she spoke,

"Everyone deserves their chance at peace."

That's at least what everyone deserved, because no one came into this life willingly.

/ | \

"Ugh I look so gross," Natsume murmured, hands squishing her own face and making her mouth resemble a fishes. She widened her eyes, the whites of it a little red from her crying and the bags beneath them just a bit more pronounced. "The only nice thing about crying is that my eyes look a little more green."

"Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity," came Kawahira's voice through the bathroom door, which she directed a slight glare at before returning her gaze back to the mirror.

She'd ignore that for now.

She released her face from her hands, pointer finger instead poking along the apples of her cheeks and against the bags that had become much more obvious. She blew a strand of light brown hair away from her face, not at all in the mood to tie it up (it was past her mid back again and a tangled mess because she kept messing with it all day).

With her lips slightly pursed, she really, really looked at herself, her pointer finger tracing the shape of her eye which was smaller than Tsuna's, who had their mother's wide, almost doe-like eyes. From her eyes she traced down her nose, which instead of rounding off like Tsuna's, it turned up just a little; her mouth was next before it trailed back to her cheeks.

(A time before it was much lighter skin and more rounded off eyes, shades darker than Tsuna's. Her nose had been rather prominent and a little crooked at the edge, a light dusting of freckles against her cheek.)

Maybe Kawahira had it right, was she going insane?

She looked down at herself, brows furrowed in thought, hands coming down to finger the hem of her skirt (which was becoming quite short now that she looked at it).

A knock came on the door, "I have food..."

"…is it ramen?"

"What do you think?"

She snorted, finally turning away from the mirror and her self-analysis and opening up the door to be greeted by the unamused visage of her teacher, "It's always ramen, do you realize how much salt that has?"

Kawahira waved a hand at her, turning away and heading towards the low table on the other side of the couches. She followed closely behind, expecting to see two steaming bowls of soup and instead it was two simple plates of food.

One had a stack of chocolate chip pancakes, while the other had a decently sized mound of fried rice, with slices of avocado on it, topped off with a sunny side up egg.

"You made that?" she asked, not seeing any takeout boxes or bags in sight.

He poked her in the back, nudging her torward to her seat, "I am capable of cooking, I just prefer not to."

Natsume was a little thrown off and very confused, which showed clearly on her face. Kawahira raised a hand to smother a laugh, because really did his student think so little of him? He was capable of many feats, so why would cooking be such an odd thing for him to do?

"How'd you even know I like chocolate chip pancakes?"

Kawahira only raised a brow as he finally sat down and picked up his chopsticks, "I have my ways." If she didn't remember that she had told him herself that she favored those from the Namimori Diner when she had suggested once that he should eat something different, it would be fun to mess with her about his 'all-knowing-abilities'.

"Creepy," she said, her voice still a little rough from having cried, but the teasing tone evident. "Thank you, sensei."

"Hm."

/ | \

Once again Natsume did not sleep, for a second she had held out hope that maybe if she just talked about it with someone she would be able to at least get some form of rest. With a shaky breath she got up from her bed, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders as she made her way out of her room and towards Tsuna's.

Slipping into her brother's room was easy enough without waking the boy up, though Reborn was another story which she ignored.

She squatted down, holding the ends of her blanket with one hand while the other reached out and poked Tsuna on the nose, "Hey," she whispered out, poking her brother once more, making him scrunch his nose and blink his eyes awake. He looked confused for a second as he looked around blearily, quickly focusing on her as he sat up slowly his own blanket pooling in his lap.

"Tsu?" he yawned out, rubbing at his eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I can't sleep."

Her brother sniffed, shuffling back a little and gestured down beside him. She climbed into his bed, quickly making herself comfortable, wrapping herself up to the point the blanket covered over everything except her eyes.

Tsuna sniffed once more as his sister finally settled down and laid back down, brown eyes looking over Natsume.

"You okay?" he asked after a while, slightly realizing that she wasn't about to fall asleep any time soon. It was just like when they were young and she would tell him about the dreams that bothered her, where she felt everything ending.

When was the last time she sought him for comfort?

It had always been him looking for her and she was willing to do so much – he hadn't even asked her how she felt about Kokuyo and she had been alone there and who knows what she might have seen or what she might have done.

"About –"

"I'm fine Tsuna."

He bit his lower lip, because no something obviously wasn't fine if she was acting like this, but he couldn't force it out of her, not if he wanted to make her mad (because she could be so fussy sometimes, when she didn't want to be outright mean, she had a tendency to avoid him until she was over it and he absolutely hated dealing with that.)

He reached a hand out to her, he noticed the way the corners of her eyes crinkled in a smile, her own hand coming from her blankets and grabbing his.

"Goodnight Tsume."

"Night Tsuna."

The next morning Reborn found one twin splayed out, while the other had managed to get the other's blankets and was snuggling with it. Tsuna didn't seem at all bothered to have lost his blanket to his sister, happily stretched out and lightly snoring away (and pretty much taking up most of the space of his bed) while his sister huddled towards the edge, though looking just as content.

It was about time to get ready for school, so Reborn had Leon shift into an alarm clock, counting down one minute before it went off. The loud ringing that went off made Tsuna jerk awake, while Natsume frowned and tried to hide her face within the blanket.

"Get up and greet the sun you two!"

Tsuna cast him a rather offended look, while Natsume peeked from the blanket a smile curling at the edge of her mouth.

"You did not –"

"He did –"

Tsuna seemed to think about it, mind still half asleep though registering Reborn's joke, he turned to his twin and nudged her, "This is your fault."

Natsume pushed herself up on her right elbow, while her left hand covered up her mouth as she yawned, "How?"

"You and your stupid jokes."

"You and your stupid hair," she floundered near the end, sticking her tongue out at Tsuna as she laid back down.

Why did they have to be like this sometimes?

"I said get up."

Tsuna made a sound and when he felt Reborn's gaze on him he just gave the arcobaleno a flash of teeth before climbing over his sister, making his way over to his closet and picking out one of his clean uniforms and left his room to get ready in the bathroom.

"Natsume."

The girl groaned, finally pushing herself up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, "I'm going, I'm going," and like last night she left the room with the blanket around her shoulders as she went back to her room.

Once both were out, Reborn shook his head looking down at his animal companion who merely flicked his tongue at him, "Seems like our routine's coming back." The chameleon only blinked, scuttling his way up Reborn's arm and perching himself on the hitman's shoulder.

"Let's see what else will be in store for us."

Part 23: Cheer Up

"Can we not go to school tomorrow," Natsume asked once she got home from volleyball practice, still in her practice shorts and the school sweater she had taken from Tsuna earlier that morning.

"Is that mine?"

The teen girl left her bags at the door, toeing off her shoes before making her way to the kitchen table where Tsuna sat doing homework with both I-pin and Lambo. "Maybe," she chirped at, looking over his shoulder and wrinkling her nose at the all the math he was doing. "Is mama home?"

"No, she went out with Bianchi, something about needing help for Hayato's birthday next week," Tsuna trailed off at the end, blinking slowly as he realized exactly what he had just said. He turned to his sister who only shrugged at him, "I forgot about that."

"Same," she pointed out at one of the problems, taking a closer look at his work, "I think you also forgot a 'y' here."

"Hie? Agh, I knew I screwed that up!"

"Look, look ane!" Lambo waved over at Natsume, who walked around the table, "Auntie gave this to us to color!"

"Oh~" Natsume looked over at the sheet – both were drawings that were split up and marked by numbers, one was a cute looking house with the clouds and sun above it and the other was a cat. At the bottom of the page were five short problems that they had to solve and telling them what spaces to color. "Mama sure has you two working, huh?"

"Auntie help lots!" I-pin said, standing up in the chair as she picked a black crayon, "Tsuna-nii help lot too!"

Mew.

"Emi~" the cat curled around Natsume's legs, before sitting down and staring at her. Without much thought Natsume bent down to scoop the cat into her arms, rubbing the feline's belly as she continued to watch over the kids do their work.

"You're not going to do homework Natsume?"

"Maybe later," she responded to the tutor, who had appeared beside Tsuna and was currently checking over his work while her brother pulled out his history work. "I think I only have today's English assignment, but that's due next week."

The phone rang in that moment and Natsume ducked into the kitchen, checking the caller ID and answering the phone. "Ciao Papa!" her voice was light and airy, a mixture of excited and anxious to finally speak to her father who seemed to have completely gone off the radar or at least that's what it seemed like (when was the last time he had called?)

"Hoho, Tsume? How's my big girl?"

She leaned back against the counter, "Good, a little tired from practice, but everything is good. How about you Papa?"

"Busy, busy," Iemitsu tutted out over the line, "Missing all of you of course, trying to plan a visit, but things keep coming up."

"Things?"

Her father hummed, "Things, nothing you should be worrying about just yet," she could feel a stray thought twist and pull, an angry man, scars, but quickly pushed it back. "I'm going to guess your mother isn't home? What about Tsuna is he there?"

"Yeah Mama's out," she chanced a peep to the dining table, only to find Tsuna gone and Lambo and I-pin squabbling over one of the colors, "I think Tsuna just went out too, with Reborn."

He sighed and she could just picture him running a hand through his hair, a pinched look on his face, "How's that going?"

She smacked her lips, a soft 'hm' leaving her as she thought how to answer that, "It's a kick in the ass."

"Language," her father admonished, though she could hear the humor in his voice, "But yes, he's known for that."

Another voice came over the line, her father uttered a curse and she barely refrained herself from telling him about his language.

"Hey Tsume, I have to go, take care okay? And tell your mother and brother I love them."

"Sure, be careful papa."

"…." There was a pause, "Always."

And the line ended.

/ | \

After Saturday school, Natsume had managed to drag Tsuna along to Takeshi's place, her brother saying most of the way how they should let him rest.

"You really think he wants to be in bed all day, again?" she threw back at her brother, entering the sushi shop and greeting Tsuyoshi. "Tsuyoshi-san! How are you today?"

The man raised the hand that wielded a knife in greeting, before resuming to chopping up whatever it was he had on the board, "Kids! Good to see you two!" the older man gestured with his head up the stairs to their home, "Takeshi's upstairs if you're here to see him, I'm sure he'll be happy to see someone else other than me."

"I highly doubt that," Tsuna said, "I'm sure Takeshi is happy to spend so much time with his father."

The older man gave them a half smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he did so, "Have to ask him his opinion then, you kids have fun, don't get too rowdy."

"Hai, hai, we'll be good."

The ducked through the curtain that Tsuyoshi had put up to at ensure some sort of privacy so nobody would be looking up to the next level of the shop, which doubled as their home. They made their way up to Takeshi's room, knocking on the teen's door, who sounded a bit groggy when he said to come in.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Natsume called over her brother's shoulder, eyeing the slightly roughed up teen. Takeshi slanted a bland stare her way as he sat up, to which she wiggled her fingers and winked at him, "We brought the goods."

Takeshi scrunched his brows, before letting his face fall into his hands as he yawned, palms soon rubbing at his eyes, "Goods?"

"There is nothing good about homework," Tsuna sighed out, wondering what exactly had his sister in such a good mood that she was acting like this.

"It is if it takes you out of the house for some fresh air," Natsume answered back, "And then we can go to this cool little shop and get Hayato a present."

Takeshi seemed to perk up a little at that, while Tsuna rolled his eyes, because of course and he had an idea of where exactly they were going to do 'homework' and it was probably that coffee shop she and her friends liked to frequent.

The baseball player finally got out of bed, stretching his arms above his head before he began rifling through his dresser, "I'll just get dressed, yeah? You two can stay here."

"We don't mind waiting down –"Tsuna didn't get the chance to finish as the teen just walked out. "Okay then." Tsuna turned to his sister, who had moved and was staring out Takeshi's window, watching the people mill about.

"Since when did you like shopping?" he asked, going up to her side, trying to see who exactly she was looking at. "Oh look its Matsumoto-baasan," Tsuna pointed at the short, older woman, her ashy brown hair pulled up into a tight bun. "Speaking of, we should go to the diner," Natsume looked about ready to argue, except for the way she angled her head in thought, and gave a nod.

"Something with lots of avocado and ranch sounds good," she said, turning away from the window and looking at him.

Brown looked up at hazel and Tsuna got the odd feeling that his sister was nervous over something, but couldn't quite put his finger on it, "You want to split a chicken sandwich?"

"And french fries," the edge of her mouth curved up, her eyes lighting up at the hot potatoes and Tsuna barley refrained from rolling his eyes. He lightly shoved her, shaking his head at her instead.

"What's up with you?"

"What's up with me, what's up with you?"

"Guys?"

The duo turned, blinking at the baseball player who just stared back. Takeshi waited, leaning against the doorway as he gave his friends an amused look, "Ready?" The dark haired teen nodded and let the other two lead the way out, picking up his shoes and his backpack on the way down the stairs.

Taking a quick seat on the last step to put on his shoes, the trio waved bid Tsuyoshi goodbye and made their way out.

"Is Hayato going to meet us at the diner?" Takeshi asked having overheard something about food.

"Bianchi kind of has him hostage at the moment and we all know how he gets when she's around," there was a slight moment of silence for their friend, "Plus," Natsume picked up where her brother left off, "We're getting him a present."

"…can we do that first instead of homework?"

Tsuna looked thoughtful and Natsume seemed to want to take that offer, "It's only a bit of sheet work for math and a short paper for the book we're all reading in English."

Takeshi seeming to see the girl's already weak resolution for doing homework, continued poking, "Plus we can work with Hayato tomorrow, right and it'll be more fun as a group."

Tsuna waited, knowing his sister could be stubborn when she wanted to do something, but also knowing that when something that she was much more interested was involved she would rather drop whatever else to do just that.

It was in the slow breath she let out, her tongue peeking out as she changed direction and began to lead the two towards the coffee shop and that old antique shop that Takeshi and Tsuna shared a fist bump behind Natusme's back.

It was Saturday after a rather hectic week, who in their right mind would want to do any type of homework?

/ | \

"That was actually a pretty cool place," Takeshi said once they had finished browsing through all the wares and finally settled on a present for Hayato.

The nice shop keep had packaged the brass ring they had bought the silver haired teen, Tsuna having caught sight of the ring in one of the jewelry cases and being completely adamant that Hayato would like it.

The ring band was thick, the metal of it was dark and looked old, almost gothic like with a small square red stone inlayed on it, Takeshi agreed that it would be something Hayato would wear. It took Natsume haggling with the white haired shop keeper to lower the price a little, the man was nice enough to do so, commenting on the ring the girl herself wore and gesturing to the others if she was interested in another type.

From what he knew of her, Takeshi knew Natsume had held back on glaring at the adult, and as soon as they were out of the shop she was muttering something not so nice under her breath.

"Yeah, is this where you get all those crystal things you have Tsume?" Tsuna asked, taking the lead as they walked back onto the main street to walk further up and head to the diner.

"…yeah…."

"It's kind of witchy in there, don't you think Tsuna?"

"It's an antique shop, they all feel weird don't they?"

Tsuna catching onto Takeshi's tone joined up with his friend, biting on the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing as he spoke, "Our little witch, you already create things don't you, it wouldn't be a stretch."

Takeshi put an arm around Natsume's shoulder as he outright laughed, slightly wincing when Natsume dug one of her knuckles into his side, "Hari Potter influencing you again?"

The girl's darkening cheeks as she looked away at that jab was worth it, even though the two knew there would be payback later. Takeshi already knew she kept to her promises, especially with that one time she messed with his head, and then the other time she made him think he tied up his shoes right, only for him to trip and realize that they had been tied together.

"I'm feeling so attacked right now," she huffed out, crossing her arms beneath her small chest and trying not to pout.

"Aw Tsume," Tsuna slowed down his pace, standing on his sister's right side so he could pinch her cheek, "We do this because we care."

The high pitched, muffled scream that left his sister made Tsuna snicker.

Coming upon the diner, he opened up the doors, Natsume stalking in first, followed by Takeshi, Tsuna couldn't help but feel a bit elated. Though he had no clue what had been bothering his sister since Kokuyo and seeing Takeshi so glum earlier and happily joking right now, made him feel that everything would be fine.

Dino-nii had been right, as long as you had people beside you everything would eventually be alright.

Part 24: I Spy with My Little Eye

Reborn watched them all walk out of the shop and was glad to see that the children were in high spirits, goofing off and joking around with each other. He waited until they were out of sight to leave his place at the café he was at and stop in front of the store.

Leon came out from his collar, tongue flicking out lightly as he made his way up Reborn's arm and onto his hand.

It could be just because the girl had just frequented the shop and her scent was there and from Reborn could overhear before they all left she had been in there before to pick up on the trinkets she had started collecting.

Dark onyx eyes took in the store front, taking note of everything before he turned on his heel and left.

Perhaps he could get Bianchi to come with him, make his snooping much more believable compared to just a child that was lost.

As he left the area and made his way back to the Sawada home, he could feel himself breathe a little more at ease, though he still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched (or someone laughing at him).

Either way, whether it involved the girl or not, that little shop was odd and not in the mundane sort of way.

/ | \

Bianchi cast Nana a look, the woman in turn making a motion for her to go on as she bagged up the meat she was seasoning and putting it away in the fridge. The magenta haired woman gave the other a greatful smile and followed behind Reborn, who led her towards the living room.

"I would like to ask something of you, Bianchi," said woman blinked, a little taken back because it wasn't like Reborn to ask much of anyone unless he was tutoring them.

"Of course, anything for you Reborn," she answered, sitting down beside the hitman, her hands in her lap as she looked down at him, curious to what he wanted.

"There's a shop that I would like to look into," she could sense a but there and knew he wasn't going to say anything along the lines of what he was against. "I would like for you to accompany me."

She nodded, a softer smile gracing her lips, "I would love to go out with you, later on right?" she asked and got a nod from the hitman. It was a little odd for Reborn to be interested in a shop, especially one in such a small (almost) harmless town like Namimori. "If I may ask, why are you curious about the shop?"

She noted the way his fedora shadowed his face and she looked away, unlacing her hands and letting her elbow rest against the arm rest while her hand cupped her chin. Jade eyes closed, could practically feel a slight change to Reborn (something that terrified even her).

"It's familiar in a way I don't like," was all he said.

/ | \

The weekend ended with Hayato coming over for a surprise visit that (he had thought to get away from Bianchi, had taken the chance, but found out rather unfortunately that his sister was actually at the Sawada's).

With that distraction going on, Bianchi and Reborn had left the house heading towards the market district and to the antique shop the teens had inhabited the day before. A bell jingled above them as the door was opened, Bianchi paying it no mind as she looked around.

Reborn, who was in Bianchi's arms, carefully eyed the place – the tables near the front clumped together and displaying rather fragile looking boxes that were open and showing silk gloves or small figurines. On the other tables sat an array of vintage Victorian masks, his eye lingering a little longer on one of them before he moved on and took to looking over at the walls around them, where scrolls and tapestries hung on display.

Dummies were dressed with different types of clothing – there was a leather ensemble, a modern outfit of Victorian outfits and similar skirts and dresses held up in the racks nearby. Moving more in, they could faintly smell incense burning or what they assumed was incense, since it had a pine-like smell. The tables in the middle of the shop held bottled up herbs and packaged mixtures with small white notes taped on them, loopy writing explaining what each held.

Not giving that much attention, they moved towards the back where there was display cases for the jewelry and crystals. Pressed up against the wall where one of the cases ended was a tall bookcase, filled with tarot cards and books, some of the covers were hard to read, while others the title showed brightly against the back of the book.

"Welcome," a light voice greeted and the pair turned to look at the white haired man who stepped through the beaded curtain.

Nothing about him stuck out, but something about him teased Reborn's senses and he couldn't quite explain why.

"Anything catch your interest today?"

"I am looking for a gift," Bianchi responded, the arm that wasn't holding Reborn coming up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Just trying to see what catches my eye and reminds me of them."

The man nod, his hands slipping out from the folds in his yukata and gestured around, "My shop holds curiosities for everyone, I hope you find what you are looking for."

A little odd, but Bianchi thanked the man and continued walking around, looking over the rings and necklaces he had before dismissing them away – the twins and Takeshi had already gotten Hayato a ring, perhaps something that would get Hayato to just sit back and relax?

The jade eyed woman glanced over a the book shelf, eyes carefully taking in the titles of books, one or two catching her attention for herself and another that she thought Hayato might like. A prod from Reborn had her setting him down so that he could wonder around and let the woman do whatever that had caught her interest.

"I have some toys that you would probably like little one," the light tenor voice spoke up again and Reborn (so used to being referred to and seen as a child) barely twitched as he looked up at the man who had come from behind the counter.

Reborn couldn't make out his eyes, his glasses having a glare to them and it irked him slightly that he couldn't actually see the man's eyes, "I'm not interested in toys."

"Oh?"

Reborn walked past Bianchi, taking in the assortments of fine china, faded photographs and oddly enough candles, before he came back up to the front. He tucked his hands in his jacket, slowly extending his focus and feel for the oddness that he felt outside the shop, only for it to not be found.

Odd.

He was rarely wrong, so to find that perhaps maybe he had misjudged the shop, perhaps the children that had exited had left a lingering impression and it had faded on it, which had given off the vibe that something was wrong.

He blinked, turning back to Bianchi who was purchasing a couple books, making polite conversation with the shop owner.

"Ready to go?" the woman asked holding the bag she had been given at her side as she knelt down.

Dark eyes flicked over to the shop keep, who had busied himself and was writing in a rather thick book.

"I might come back again."

The scratching of the shop keeps pen didn't stop, not even when Bianchi scooped him up and bid the shopkeeper good bye – Reborn noted the amount of receipts he was looking through and noted that he was logging in the items that had just been sold.

"Please do come back," the white haired man called after them and Reborn could feel the corner of his left eye want to twitch.

And as they left the shop, Reborn could feel something teasing at his senses. When the door closed the feeling from yesterday came back in full force and he could feel his eye twitch.

What the hell was going on here?

/ | \

That week passed by and ever so slowly they began to let their guard down, returning to how they had been (except nothing would really be how it was before, not when people had been viciously hurt, not when there was proof that there were people like Mukuro out there).

Hayato's birthday would have gone by in peace, minus the fact that somethings came up that he hadn't really wanted to think about.

The teen had been elated to receive his present, not at all expecting anything and had actually picked up Tsuna in a tight hug, before realizing what he was doing. Takeshi had teased him, earning a rather embarrassed 'shut up baseball freak' and Natsume picked up where the dark haired teen had left off and told Hayato that he looked like a tomato.

"I'm just very grateful that the tenth thought to get me something!"

"Right," " Natsume drawled out, cutting back on anymore teasing lest the teen physically combust. "Y'know I think Mama said something about a dinner for you."

Hayato sputtered, almost choking on the onigiri he had stuffed in his mouth so he wouldn't say anything rude towards his boss' sister, "That's unnecessary," he managed out, thumping his hand against his chest.

Tsuna turned his head slightly, looking a little confused because really why was his friend constantly rejecting and being so surprised over this kind of treatment? "Mama likes you, Hayato –"

"Yeah pretty sure she considers you part of the family already."

The silver haired teen froze at that, looking uncomfortable as he opened up his water bottle and took a long drink, "She doesn't know me like that though."

Takeshi noticed how tense Hayato looked and glanced over at Natsume and Tsuna who were both looking a little lost, before Natsume seemed to find herself, "She doesn't have too, you already are." Takeshi saw Tsuna's wince at his sister's words, before he looked back at Hayato who was gaping at the fair haired brunette.

"I've done certain things, none of them good at all –" Natsume's snort cut him off and Hayato looked torn between yelling at her or keeping himself in check.

"She thinks you're a handsome, intelligent young man," the girl continued on as if Hayato hadn't spoken, "That any parent would be proud of."

Hayato scowled, this time standing up about to contradict Natsume's statement, "If any parent would be proud then why did my own father and his own think me a bastard?"

It was awkward now and Takeshi didn't want to be there anymore, he didn't want to see Hayato be angry (especially when he had been so happy a couple minutes ago), didn't want to see his friends fighting over the idea of family.

"Tsume, Hayato," Tsuna tried to placate, by trying to call both teen's attention and failing when they ignored him.

"Fuck your dad and whoever else thinks that way," Natusme responded, not getting up, but her expression was a touch more pinched and she looked about ready for anything Hayato threw her way. "If they can't accept you as you are, fuck them, seriously people like that aren't good for you at all."

"So what - you saying you accept me, even though you know nothing about me?" Hayato threw out, hands balled into fists, the ring he had received from the three lighting up slightly, no one noticing the odd glow coming from the red garnet.

"If I didn't, do you think I'd let you be friends with Tsuna, that I would bring you to my home to my mother?" Natsume fired back and Tsuna could see her temper rising and he hoped it wasn't another 'punch the other person to feel better' moment because his sister would.

"Hayato," Tsuna decided to speak up, getting not only the silver haired teen's attention on himself, but also his sister's whose pinched expression seemed to shift to something more akin to curiosity. "We are being honest with you, it doesn't matter what or who you were, Mama cares about you as if you were her own."

The teen looked as if he had been sucker punched, not at all expecting that to come from Tsuna (from the person he looked up too, that he respected because he was so kind, so honest, so willing to forgive, everything that Hayato wasn't).

"Ohana," Natsume piped in, with Tsuna reiterating it and this time both Takeshi and Hayato looked at them rather oddly.

"Isn't that from a Disney movie?" Takeshi asked, his finger coming up to scratch at his cheek as he thought the word over and in return receiving a deadpanned stare from Natsume (while Tsuna tried not to face palm).

"Hupo," was what Natsume had to say to him, earning a smack against her arm from Tsuna who gave her a disappointed pout "My bad, Sorry."

Hayato watched on, a little lost on how to react after what his to-be-boss had told him – sure he knew that they saw him as a friend and their mother always had something to say to him, whether it be a kind word of advice or asking him how he was feeling, in general just always talking to him and not at him.

He had honestly thought it was her just making small talk, but it seemed it was more than that and how had he not noticed?

Natsume busied herself by turning to Takeshi, who was looking at Hayato waiting for the silver haired teen to come to the realization that he had pretty much been adopted in all but name by Nana. Said teen didn't seem to realize that he was in a similar situation, though it was more of Nana being a stand in mother figure to the baseball player.

All the while Tsuna took in the embarrassed flush that appeared on his friends face, how he carefully sat down and held his hands in his lap, looking down instead of at any of them.

"If you don't want that, if that makes you uncomfortable, we can talk to her," Tsuna finally said after a while, crossing his arms against his chest.

The silver haired teen looked up, jade eyes wide as he shook his head, "No, no, I," he hesitated a little, before he continued on, "I would just like to know what she sees in me to think of me in such a way," his voice was unusually soft, his slightly deep voice sounding a bit awed at the revelation.

Of what he remembered of his own childhood there were distant parent figures, mostly just nannies and stewards that would tend to him. His sister had tried to be there, her good intentions always happened to backfire on her, but he still noted that she was of the few that actually showed she cared (even if being around her made him uneasy and feel sick, she was there).

And his piano teacher, Hayato looked down at his hands again, his thumb rubbing over the ring he had gotten, her smile was similar to the one Nana gave her children (and him) – there was a love and care, always happy, always willing to give.

There was a knock on the door followed by it opening and in walked Nana with a tray filled with food that she knew Hayato had taken a liking too. If anything the blush on Hayato's face had returned much darker than before; Nana not noticing this at all, just knelt down beside Hayato and placed the tray on the table that they had been sitting around.

"Happy birthday Hayato-kun~ I hope it's all to your liking!" Nana said cheerfully, putting an arm around Hayato's shoulders and giving him a side hug, not at all realizing the olive skinned teen's dark cheeks.

"Hey Mama," Natsume spoke up, after the teen stuttered out a thank you, "What do you think of Hayato?"

Her mother blinked, head cocked to the side a little, thrown off by the sudden question. Chocolate brown eyes turned to take in the teen she had pulled into a hug and offered him a warm, if slightly sheepish smile (Hayato belatedly realized that Tsuna had his mother's smile), "I think of him as one of my own," Nana lightly bit on the inside of her lip, a stray thought that sounded oddly like Esmi's exasperated voice made her add on, "That is if Hayato-kun is comfortable with that."

Hayato blinked and gave a her a jerky nod, "I would be honored to be seen in such a way by Tsuna-san's mother."

The brilliant smile that was given to him gave him a warm feeling and he relaxed even as Nana pulled her arm away and clasped her hands together in joy, "My children bring me such joy," the woman said, pushing herself up and turning that brilliant smile on all of them. The twins were used to it, happily taking to their mother's mood, whilst Takeshi was thrown a bit off.

Nana seemed to catch that and gave the baseball player a softer look, like she had done Hayato, "You fit in there as well Takeshi-kun."

The brunette woman then told them all to enjoy the snacks she had brought out before heading back downstairs, leaving behind two slightly stunned teenagers while the other two helped themselves to the food the woman had brought up.

"Mama's always liked having a big family," Natsume said, her hand covering her mouth as she chewed her food, "When she left home, she left behind all the uncles and auntie, tutu, her mamay and pap."

Tsuna gave his sister a glance, because if he had done that she would have called him out for speaking with his mouth full, "She has some friends, like the ladies next door and the old man a few ways down, but I think this is the first time since she's come to Japan that she's felt comfortable enough to consider people family."

Takeshi and Hayato shared a look, both feeling a little out of place because how long had it been since they had a motherly figure in their life?

"We are comfortable and happy and it makes her just as happy," Natsume added, leaning against the table, giving them a similarly warm look like Nana had done and wasn't that weird. It seemed she wasn't going to say anything else as she plucked up one of the deep fried gyoza, dipping it in the sauce her mom had made and popping it in her mouth.

"Tsume don't eat it all," Tsuna whined, scooting closer to the table and almost shoving his sister aside so he could reach out for one of the small bowls that had been filled with mangos and topped with a light red dusting of chili powder.

As the siblings did as they were wont to do, Hayato and Takeshi joined in, though going about it in a more thoughtful manner.

For one who had never truly known his mother, he was both warmed and completely terrified of messing up and disappointing the woman who he could probably one day call maman. For the other, who had known his mother but could feel himself slowly forgetting about her, being around Nana brought back memories he had thought he had forgotten and though it ached sometimes, it was nice to be reminded and shown that same love and care that his own mother once had given him.

Natsume cast Tsuna secretive smile, her brows rising as she cocked her head in the other two's direction. Tsuna leaned in, resting his forehead against her shoulder to hide the silly look he had on his face, because in that moment as the other two mulled over what had just happened and been revealed to them, Tsuna felt as if everything had finally clicked into place.

AN: This is as proofread as its going to get. So if anything pops out and doesn't seem to fit, just lemme know and I'll fix it up.

Reminder the Kawahira of this chapter is current, compared to the one in the last chapter, which is a Kawahira that was still relatively knew to Natsume's presence (and thus was only a mere curiousity and not really someone he actually cared about). I should also really start making notes of what I want to say, but agh, I always seem to forget.

Until Next Time~

Sorugao