thank you to Kayumee for the review and the compliment, and to everyone else for all the follows and favorites!

hope you enjoy this chappie hehe also i really need to start writing more cuz i might run out at this rate oop-

Chapter 16: He's nOt My BoYfrIenD!1!

"Am I dumb or am I dumb?"

"Can I be honest?"

"That was a rhetorical question Rui-chan, shaddup!"

"Sheesh, someone's PMSing."

I hissed at her, and she escaped into the kitchen.

Seemingly done with training, what with my father gone for far longer than just "a few weeks," I was given the green light to return working by Reborn. Thus, my return to Takesushi.

By the way, having overheard Tsuna's shock about my newfound scariness, Reborn seemed awfully proud of me now, and even encouraged me to continue correcting Tsuna in his behavior so that he wouldn't make a stupid decision like ignoring a member of his family ever again.

…Boy am I glad I'm not training to be a mafia boss. Or, at least not by Reborn.

But that's not why I'm berating myself for being stupid.

In my embarrassment yesterday, I had exclaimed to Hibari that I would spar with him.

Fully.

Weaponized.

Now what was the problem, you ask? I mean, I already accepted that I couldn't avoid sparring Hibari forever, and Hibari wasn't so bad during those sparring sessions where all I did was dodge. He would even leave me alone once he drew blood. It can't get any worse than that, right?

It has been a few months since I've gotten acquainted with Hibari Kyoya, and if there's one thing I learned, it's that Hibari doesn't show mercy for no reason.

All that holding back, that "mercy"?

That bastard was waiting for the day he would be able to… let loose.

With me specifically, in this case.

I certainly didn't forget the fact that Hibari had actually allowed my father, who's not a NamiChu student and a foreigner, onto school grounds. Just because Reborn had promised him my father would get me stronger (become a carnivore, in his terms) didn't necessarily mean that I was going to get stronger, yet he still put all his money on me.

Because he knew.

Hibari knew the day would come where he would be able to face a more fearsome opponent, more worthy than the past me who just shrieked in panic and never fought back, and thanks to my stupid tendency to speak before I think, I poked the damn bear.

Because I foolishly agreed to his sparring match, I would now be facing a scarier, bloodthirstier side of Hibari, who would probably skin me alive just to satisfy his... for lack of a better word, restrained urges.

…These sexual innuendos weren't helping the fact that we had encountered several situations where we could've easily-

A-anyway, why, oh why did I say that?! Am I suicidal?! I am so dead!

"Nami-chan, delivery's up for you-know-who!"

Tis my fate… alas.

"I hope you'll miss me, Oji-san. Just know that you're sending me off on death row."

He shoved the takeout box into my arms with a big grin. "Stop over-exaggerating and go spend some time with your boyfriend!" He sighed, shaking his head. "Maa, instead of complaining, you should be thanking me for paying you to spend time with your lover! Ah, it is my fault for spoiling you rotten... you can be so ungrateful sometimes, Nami-"

"Augh!" My arms outstretched to punch the air in frustration. "For the last time, I'm not dating that asshole!"

"Yeah, right!" Rui piped up from the kitchen. "Every time you're in distress it's because of him, isn't it Nami-chan?!"

I scoffed, feeling betrayed. "What does that have to do with dating him?!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, just admit it already, Baka-Nami," said Reborn's voice out of nowhere.

"You!" I jabbed a finger at him accusingly, not even shocked at this point of how he just seemed to be able to appear out of thin air. "You're setting him up with me, aren't you, you sneaky little brat?!"

Reborn sipped his cup of espresso. "Nonsense. Did I tell you to be attracted to his 'sleek raven hair, cool steel-gray eyes, and his chiseled chin that can cut glass'-?"

"AHHHHH! DON'T READ MY MIND LIKE THAT!"

"Oho? So you were thinking those things, Nami-chan?~" Rui said, waggling her eyebrows.

I let out a frustrated shout. "I'm LEAVING, fine! See if I care when you guys beg me to save you from your death!"

I heard the snickering of the adults (excluding Reborn, though he really did feel like an adult sometimes) as I slammed the door behind me.

I stared at the takeout box.

Well, given that Hibari probably doesn't eat the food he orders, can I at least eat this as my last meal?

I didn't eat his meal in the end. 'Regardless of what he actually does with the food, eating something he paid money for isn't a very honorable thing to do,' was the conclusion I settled on.

Because I wasn't a paranoid bastard like Hibari, I didn't carry around my weapon everywhere, so I had to stop by my house to grab my weapon. When I opened the door, though, there my father was, waiting on the couch.

I blinked. "Tou-san?"

He smiled. "Welcome home, Nami."

Ah, he's sticking with Japanese today.

Tou-san and I usually conversed in Italian, but there were times when all he wanted to do was practice his Japanese with me. Though, I'd say his Japanese was pretty darn good for someone who insisted on practicing it.

He blinked. "I see you're wearing the Takesushi uniform... I didn't know you worked there."

"You didn't?" I frowned. "I figured Reborn had told you everything about me when you first arrived in Namimori."

He frowned at that. "I thought that as well…"

Noticing the silence start to form into tension, I tried to change the subject by asking, "How'd you know it was the Takesushi uniform, anyway?"

My question seemed to effectively distract him as he smiled to himself, no doubt thinking of some fond memory. "I met your mother there... She was a part-timer there, you see."

I blinked. "What were you doing in Takesushi and not Italy?"

He chuckled. "Believe it or not, I was a foreign exchange student in Japan for university and was a close friend of Tsuyoshi's. He and I carpooled together, so I frequented Takesushi to pick him up and drop him off. Because of that, I saw her pretty often. She was a graduate student at the time, I believe. She was stunning." He looked at her picture on the wall with a wistful smile. "Still is, it seems."

"Okay, that's enough ogling, Tou-san." So he was an exchange student for four years... Go figure. I took a seat across from him. "How did you guys start to date if all you did was watch her from afar like a weirdo?"

He flicked my forehead for that, to which I yelped in pain. "Don't call your father a weirdo." I simply grinned back, and he smiled back, ruffling my hair.

It was times like this that made it hard to believe that our relationship had started so terribly. And also that he's the same guy who brutally trained me.

I inwardly shivered.

He continued, "When my high school years were coming to a close, I began to frequent Takesushi and talk to her. When I eventually made it clear that my intentions were of romantic interest, she became... aware of me as more than just Tsuyoshi's friend. I eventually asked her out, and she said yes."

I tilted my head. "And you proposed… when?"

He winced.

"Ah." My earlier cheeriness turned into disgust. "So you impregnated her and fled."

He protested, "I-!" His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes averted to the floor. "My foreign exchange program was going to end eventually. I took the program to escape from my responsibilities as Sanguigno Nono, and with Iemitsu already being in Namimori at the time, there were too many opportunities for my enemies to come and endanger the people I love." He smiled bitterly. "A year later, Nami. She told me about you in a letter a year later."

I blinked. "Oh."

"She always regarded herself as the mature and reliable one." He stared at her picture once more. "She never confided in me, that stubborn mother of yours."

"She learned Italian for you." I moved to where my dad was sitting and hugged him. "She taught me."

He laughed bitterly. "According to you, it was because she knew I'd come when it was too late."

"Well, maybe I was wrong, Tou-san." I pulled away and flashed him a big grin. "Who knows what her true intentions were, that unpredictable wife of yours?"

"She's not my…" He smiled back at me. "Yes, love. I guess you're right." He ruffled my hair again, and then his gaze turned to my uniform. "Now, I'd love to continue getting comforted by my wonderful daughter, but I'm afraid you still have work to do. Why did you stop by?"

I blinked. "Oh, right!" My eyes widened. "Oh, SHIT!"

"Language."

I ran towards my room, grabbed my sheathed knife, and turned to my father, who looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, Tou-san, but I kinda have an important delivery to make!"

"Why are you taking your weapon?"

I panicked, and spluttered, "Y-you see, the person I have to deliver to is Hibari, who you don't know why am I telling you this as if you know who Hibari is-?"

He blinked. "Oh, that boyfriend of yours?"

I glared. "He's not my-! Gah, that's not the point-!"

He grinned at me. "Good luck on your spar! He's quite the bloodthirsty one, that Kyoya boy. Make the Sanguigno name proud!"

I frowned. "How do you know he's-?" I shook my head. "I'll be back!"

He waved. "Have a safe trip!"

I was in too much of a panic to really let the realization sink in that my dad had probably fought Hibari and won that day he first came to NamiChu.

yello~

to be honest, there's really no backstory as to how Nana and Iemitsu got together, so in my universe, those two met in university, where the mafia bosses/assistants (in Iemitsu's case) went to Japan for a "foreign exchange program," which was in actuality a program for the future (at the time) generation of mafia bosses/assistants to get to know each other and gather potential allies.

this means that Iemitsu and Luca (Nami's dad for those who forgot his name) have no doubt met before. considering Tsuyoshi and Luca are buddies, are Iemitsu and Luca friends?

lol, I'm not telling you that

hope you guys appreciated the Luca x Hiromi (Nami's mom for those who forgot her name) backstory, I tried to make it both cute and kinda angsty (yikes).

also, I finally addressed the language switching for Nami and her dad! also, they're a cute father-daughter duo now!1!

hope y'all enjoyed,

ally