Disclaimer: Me? Own KHR? Yeaaaaaaaaaah~ right. You're high.

A/N: So. This chapter was originally supposed to be a hell of a lot longer, but then I reached a good stopping place and writer's block almost simultaneously, and then remembered that irritating feeling I get whenever I realize an author hadn't updated in a while(though two weeks can hardly be considered a while compared to others,) so decided "Fuck it." And cut the chapter off.

Anyway, a huge thanks to helenrenee for being my first reviewer, as well as LuckyKittens, Knight Yuuki, SweetBlu3Ros3, Anonymous Random, CookieMafiaBoss, TheRealDeal44, and SweetJaneP's for taking the time to review my little story. Another thanks to those who bothered to favorite and follow it as well.

Note: I had to type this on my phone. And then add it to the site on my phone. After going to Desktop/Tablet mode on my phone. And then edit this on the site on my phone. After copying and pasting it onto the document manager on the site because Word wouldn't allow me access to my documents because the app stopped working on my phone. So. Please excuse any typos and just leave a message so I can fix them m'kay? Thanks.


[Five Years Later]

"Hoshi. Hoshiii~ Wake up sleepyhead, we're going to be late."

Warm, doe-like amber eyes blinked blearily open to meet slightly sharper ones of the same shade before screwing shut at the light from the open window. Their owner gave a disgruntled whine and shook off the hand clasping her shoulder in a gentle grip to burrow back underneath the warm blankets and away from the offensive sunlight.

"F've m're m'nutes Papaaaaaaa…" A young voice slurred sleepily, the statement turning into a rather loud yawn.

Sawada Tsunayoshi only chuckled at his daughter's antics. "Fine, five more minutes and no longer okay? I have to run some very important errands today after I drop you off at school."

Taking the inarticulate grumble from the lump of blankets as an acknowledgement, he chuckled again before standing and quietly padding out into the living room/kitchen/dining area of their admittedly tiny apartment.

Humming a few notes in no particular order, he opened the door of the small fridge and mentally catalogued its contents before coming to two conclusions:

One; he had just enough eggs to cook one for each of them for breakfast and still be able to add a two-egg omelet to each of their bentos.

Two; he needed to go shopping soon because, aside from the eggs, a mostly empty gallon of milk, two bento boxes he'd filled with rice from yesterday and a jar of pickle juice he didn't know what to do with, the fridge was empty.

Damn. And he didn't get paid 'til Tuesday.

As he closed the refrigerator door, half-empty carton of eggs in hand, the date on the calendar stuck to its surface with little plastic magnets caught his eye.

The tune died in his throat as he stilled, eyes narrowing and gaze turning dark with the shadows of past demons.

June 17. The anniversary of that day. He had been so busy with Hoshi lately that he had completely forgotten. Would wonders never cease.

Shaking his head to clear away the bad memories he busied himself with cooking the eggs, placing their sole frying pan on the burner with what pitiful amount of vegetable oil he still had in the pantry(along with a musty box of crackers that had been there since they moved in.) Cracking two of the eggs directly into the still-heating pan, he beat the remaining four in an old(but unchipped) ceramic mixing bowl with a little pepper and salt. Before long, the multipurpose living space was filled with the homey smells and sounds of cooking food.

By the time breakfast was on the table and the rice-and-egg bentos wrapped and placed in their intended's bag, nearly twelve minutes had passed and their was still no sight of Hoshiko. Mourning the lost time, Tsuna sighed and went To go wake her up again.

"Hoshi. It's been ten minutes already. C'mon, wake up before I get you up myself.

A light snore was all that rewarded him for his efforts and, caught between the urge to laugh in amusement and facepalm from sheer resignation, he compromised.

"HIIIEEEEEEE!" Shrieked the small girl as she landed in an ungainly sprawl of limbs on the hard wood floor. Sniffling, she rubbed the new red mark on her forehead before turning tear-filled eyes on her father, who was casually folding the futon they both shared as if he hadn't just yanked the thing out from underneath her while she was sleeping.

"P-Papa-!"

"Hoshi. If we're late today I'm going to tell Haru-san to cancel her plans to take you shopping."

"-!"

Tsuna smiled to himself as a veritable blur of brown hair and pink sakura pajamas raced past him to the bathroom. Having already showered and gotten dressed, he was in no rush and decided to check on his homework instead. Despite how good he had become at calculating percentages(for the sake of budgeting,) math never failed to make him feel like pulling teeth. Sounded less painful, that was for sure, would probably be more productive too. As it was, he was barely scraping by with a low C in math, and his grades in science and history weren't much better. Honestly, the only subjects he wasn't below-average in were English, Modern Japanese, and P.E. The latter because of his... unique circumstances, and the former two because of his job.

Ugh, his job. He'd probably have to ask about overtime again. As much as he loved his days off and the time he got to spend with Hoshi(as well as the extra blessed sleep,) he wasn't earning enough to support the both of them. Usually, single parents in circumstances like his either had family or friends to lean on or gave their kids up for ado-

He ruthlessly crushed that thought before it could go any further.

As for friends and family, Haru was being nice enough to buy outfits for Hoshiko(no matter how much she claimed it was just because she had always wanted a little sister to dress up) on a regular basis, and Kyouya-senpai practically dragged the both of them to his family's home (more like mansion) every weekend for dinner. And the Others...

Well, the less said about them the better. They made their choices and all that.

But still. Most of his earning went towards the rent, and while he knew both Haru and Kyouya would be more than happy to buy them groceries, Haru was already spending most of her allowance on clothes and things for Hoshi. Kyouya on the other hand, aside from all the times he forcefully coerced them over for food and company, actually had bought supplies for them on several separate occasions, and had even paid their rent once or twice. But while Tsuna knew the Hibari family was wealthy enough to afford it,he still didn't like how Kyouya-senpai's generosity was garnering him an unsavoury reputation among the branch members. Kyouya-senpai had always been a very private person working on a strictly need-to-know basis, never telling anyone anything more than what he felt they needed to know, which was nothing more often than not. That included telling any of his many relatives what the numerous, fairly sizeable, cash withdrawals were for.

WhenTetsu-san had told him some of the more... "Inoffensive" rumours circulating amongst the servants and the smaller branches about the prefect, Tsuna had had to leave Hoshi in Haru's care for the afternoon. Venturing as deep into Namimori Forest as possible, he'd closed his eyes, taken a deep breath, and promptly flipped his shit.

That day was forever immortalised in Namimori history as the day a thunderstorm and a rainbow had a lovechild with explosive diarrhea.

But seriously, the only reason he hadn't hunted those slanderous bastards down was because Kyouya-senpai had honestly seemed unaffected by the nasty little rumours. Though, that might've been because Kyouya had been far more pissed at him for, "destruction of Namimori property, I will bite you to death." Turns out, in his little moment of righteous fury Tsuna had inadvertently decimated a tenth of the(very large) forest, causing a massive fucking earthquake as a veritable mushroom cloud bloomed in the sky.

Only Kyouya-senpai, Tsuna had mused with equal parts terror, sardonic amusement, and fondness, would openly attack someone with all the power of a hydrogen bomb for "disrupting the peace." The ensuing beat-down was far from fun, but it had been so worth it when he got to see the expression on the prefect's face after he learned why, exactly, Tsuna had decided to make like a bomb and go boom.

Ahhh, good times, good times.

But he digresses.

Worst comes to worst, he could always ask them to put the two of them up for awhile, but that caused a whole slew of other problems. Haru had parents, enough said, but Kyouya...

Well, utter hatred for gossipy branch families aside, Tsuna was well aware most of the Hibari family, especially the main house, either worked for the law or against it. Indeed, Kyouya-senpai's own mother was an accomplished freelance assassin with several longterm contracts in the states, while his father worked as a police chief over in the Tokyo precinct. Not to mention the majority of the main branch seemed to be cloud flame users.

So while simply staying over in one of the many guestroom/houses would help tremendously, having seasoned killers dropping in without so much as a by-your-leave would have him on a hair-trigger, and with his abilities?

... Yeah, he didn't think that would be a good idea, not at all. Inari-sama knew he had enough trouble passing Yamamoto-san on the same side of the street, and Tsuna was well aware the sushi chef was retired. Prolonged contact and/or surprise visits by active members of the underground or law enforcement was just asking for it. He didn't want to kill anyone, thank-you-very-much. He'd already done enough of that to last a lifetime.

So.

"Papa! I'm done!"

Tsuna craned his next, smiling softly as he took in his daughter's appearance. Wearing the cute shirt-and-shorts ensemble that was the main part of her preschool uniform, her fluffy hair(that was just as unruly as his own,)pulled into two small pigtails behind her ears and a small autumn leaf hair clip at each temple, she looked the picture of innocence.

"Good job, but where's your hat?" The summer uniform came with a little yellow sunhat with drawstrings, and was apparently a mandatory accessory.

She crossed her arms, lower lip stuck out in an adorable pout. "...I don't want to wear it."

"Hoshi..."

"But I don't!" She burst out, completely disregarding his admonishing tone in favor of stomping her foot in a mini-tantrum. "You can't see my hair clips that way! And I wanna show off the pretty hair clips Papa bought me for my birthday!"

Tsuna smiled. Oh, Inari-sama how he loved his girl. "Well~ you can always wear it down. The rules don't say how you have to wear it, just that you do. And letting it hangbfrom your neck qualifies as wearing it, right?"

The unhappy expression cleared and, with a nod and a bright smile, she trotted back into the bedroom to retrieve her hat, pink-socked feet thumping softly against the floorboards.

Tsuna gave a sigh and lifted a hand to push his hair back from his face even as the beginnings if a self-deprecating smirkflitted across his features. He was showing his daughter how to find loopholes in rules and encouraging her to take shameless advantage of them. What kind of parental figure was he?

By the time she had returned, hat slightly crinckled from wherever she had stuffed it and dangling down her back by the strings around her neck, Tsuna had already put his homework away after deciding that agonizing over his own incompetence was a useless waste of time better spent elsewhere.

"Eat your breakfast," he told her, standing to pour the remains of the milk into her cup and hand it to her before he resumed sitting and started on his own was a bit of a family tradition to always have as many meals together as possible, one they both followed almost religiously.

"Papa?"

Tsuna blinked, swallowing the bite of food he'd taken on reflex and leaning a little away from the small cup covered in cherry blossom stickers that was being held a little too close to his face. He tilted his head to the side to peer around the still mostly-full cup and into pleading brown eyes.

"... Please?" He smiled tenderly at the girl's half-hopeful tone and reached to take it from her. Milk was usually a luxury reserved solely for Hoshiko as it was fairly expensive considering their budget; he wanted her to grow up healthy and well-nourished, after all. But recently, it seemed she had overheard a conversation regarding nutrition for adolescents and had begun foisting as much of it on him as possible. Usually, he'd only thank her and refuse, saying something along the lines of "You need it more than I do," but-

He downed the milk in two quick gulps, licking away the drops that clung to his upper lip like a moustache and smiled at the younger girl. "Thank you very much, Hoshiko."

She beamed back at him, smile as bright as the sun. "You're welcome, Papa!"

-It made her so happy when she felt like she had helped him.

After breakfast and a quick clean-up session, they both toed on their shoes, grabbed their bags, and stepped outside slightly dingy-looking apartment complex, Tsuna locking up behind them. Grabbing Hoshi's hand in his own, Tsuna led the way towards the stairs that were three doors down and to the left. He'd made sure to ask for an apartment space as close as possible to the stairs, because despite the fact that the halls were all outside and a drop from the second floor was nothing, he still had quite a few nightmares about the night of his escape.

Exiting the property, the both of them walked on in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. Before long, after crossing several streets and cutting through an empty lot, they arrived at the preschool.

"Now, you'll behave for your sensei, ne?" Tsuna asked, crouching down to give Hoshi a hug.

"Mm-hm!" She stood on the tips of her toes and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. "Have a good day at school, Papa!" She whispered.

Tsuna smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her fluffy head before gently prying her arms off of him and standing up. "You too. I'll come pick you up later with Haru, okay?"

"Okay!"

Tsuna smiled as Hoshiko ran over to her class group, waving back at her when she spun around and threw her hand up in the air to wave at him.

"Awww," his ears picked up a conversation going on between a group of moms several feet behind him. "Isn't that sweet? What a good big brother, dropping his sister off at school like that."

"I know! Wasn't it just absolutely adorable the way he hugged and kissed her goodbye?"

"He's very responsible, I always see him either dropping her off on time or coming to pick her up directly after school."

"Really!? But he looks so young!"

"Maa, maybe I should see if he'll babysit for me sometime?"

Stiffling a snicker, he turned to leave. Ever since he'd enrolled Hoshi as a student a year ago, he'd had to get used to all the stares and attention his very presence seemed to demand; apparently most students his age didn't pick up young children from a preschool as frequently as he did. Whether dropping her off or picking her up, he'd had to deal with listening to(or in most cases, tuning out) the whispers and muttered conversations between gossipy housewives dropping their own children off. If it wasn't for his enhanced senses, he'd probably never know what exactly, they were saying about him, only that they were saying something. Like how he knew that the old lady in the apartment next to theirs only stared at them so often because she thought they were aliens, or how the kid down the street thought he was a cross-dresser because he was much too pretty to be a boy.

...Sometimes, intuition was a pain in the ass.

However, it never once failed him, and right now he was getting that distinctly unsettled feeling that he got whenever something really, really unpleasant was going to happen. Surreptitiously, he cast his eyes over the gathered party of women his intuition told him would be the cause of his discomfort. But how would they...?

He got his answer a moment later.

"His mother must be so proud of him!"

Tsuna stiffened, fighting to keep the smile from dropping off his face.

"Oooh, Ye're momma would be so proud 'o 'er li'l boy."

Panic threatened to crawl up his throat, orange flicking through his eyes faster than the eye could trace as he struggled to keep hold of his emotions; scenes flashing in his mind's eye. Why, oh why did they have to use that line? Coupled with the anniversary of that day? Really? Did someone up there hate him or something?

Fate was laughing at him, the bitch; he just knew it.

Straightening, he turned directly towards the woman directly responsible for his flashback, flashed her a rather disarming smile, and turned and walked away; but not before noticing the way she paled when she caught sight of the malicious intent in his eyes. Allowing his bangs to fall forwards over his eyes, he grinned. He'd probably have to wipe her mind later to prevent gossip about how he was some psychopath, but her expression was just so funny. Just because he didn't like killing didn't mean he couldn't be ruthless. Usually he'd have been so much more forgiving but, oh too bad, setting him off while he was on the cusp of 'The Mood.' If he'd been completely insane, pushing him into 'The Mood' would probably be grounds enough for a torturous death for the culprit. Lucky for her, he wasn't completely insane, just a little.

Just a little.


A/N: And before you ask, YES, Tsuna will be slightly unstable in this story, for reasons that shall be explained later(if they aren't already obvious now.)