THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE LAST CHAPTER! There, I said it. Now, onto my favorite part - OMG I SUCK AT NAMING THINGS DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! :'(

Hem hem... so, people have been asking me to do something with the acrobalenos since I posted the first chapter, and while there isn't any Reborn 'action' in this chapter – it wouldn't write itself any other way! Sorry! It wrote itself and then I couldn't change anything without making it look weird! Grrrr… I actually think this is something Harry/Nana would do, though, so I'm happy with it :D

Warning: Reborn behaves kinda like the infant he looks like?

Hush, Little Baby

There were days when Nana was honestly absent-minded and didn't pay any attention as to what she was doing (and a part of her was horrified when it happened. What if…). There were days when she was not pretending to be forgetful, or faked being oblivious. There were days when the mask became real. It hadn't ever been supposed to be more than just that, a mask to help her fit into the different worlds she visited (and maybe to help with the depression and grief that sometimes licked at the back of her mind.), and 'Nana' wasn't a personality she had come up with on the spot. She had created the kind and gentle woman during the first week she had spent in this dimension (she had started to refer to it as 'home', and that frightened her a bit).

The world Nana had lived in before she had arrived 'home' had been torn apart by war, and she had been one of the soldiers fighting on the frontline (she'd had the highest body count and she still hated that she was so good at ending lives). Nana had decided (even before she had left the previous dimension) that this world was going to be her vacation, and had therefore decided to let the side of her personality that she most often had to keep hidden (that is – her warm and fuzzy side) dominate how she would react in this world while hiding the more… murderous side so deeply she sometimes forgot it existed.

Was it really a mask, then, if she simply made her decisions based on her more innocent desires? Nana wasn't sure, and put it out of her mind. Because that was how Nana was supposed to react; ignore the things that made her uncomfortable.

(they don't exist)

There were days when Nana was honestly absent-minded, and it was during those lapses of judgment that she was at most risk of being discovered. She had almost corrected Lambo-chan's throwing technique when she had seen him attempt to kill Reborn-chan with a grenade. Nana didn't want to think about how Tsu-kun would have reacted, her ears hurt even when she was not thinking about it!

There were days when Nana didn't need to fake anything, when she was so happy that she forgot her horrible past and lived in the present. During those days, the barest mentions of Iemitsu would send her right past her loneliness and slight anger (they were married, why was he never home?) and into a state of love-struck squealing and blushing. Tsu-kun was showered in love during those days, because he was cute and she loved him and why not?

There were days when Nana wasn't pretending to be forgetful, and this was one of them. She had no memory of how she came to be in the situation she currently was in, and it was a bit frightening (try completely terrifying). Nana had prepared a bottle of milk instead of making Reborn-chan his usual cup of cappuccino, and now she was holding him in her arms (he was so tiny and adorable (!) but not as cute as Tsu-kun. Not even puppies were as cute as Tsu-kun, and Nana was definitely a dog person) and he was actually drinking the milk and what?! Nana suppressed the knowledge that this particular infant was actually the world's Greatest Hitman, brought Reborn-chan up to her shoulder – and patted him on his back.

There was a silence in the kitchen as she did this, it had been since the moment she plucked Reborn-chan from the floor and pressed a bottle to his lips. Nana noted that Hayato-kun was looking a bit flushed, was it hot outside today? Nana looked out through the window and, no, there were clouds covering the sun. Maybe he was sick, then? Nana took a step towards him (determined to force him into bed with a bowl of chicken soup) when she noticed that everyone was staring at the baby-sized man that still rested in her arms.

"…"

Nana felt a small smile stretch across her lips; Reborn (it was probably time to drop the -chan) was fast asleep in her arms. She had started humming a lullaby without even noticing… and this was the first time Nana saw Reborn sleep with his eyes closed. She hadn't thought about it earlier, but Nana doubted that the body of an infant was supposed to be able to take as much stress as Reborn undoubtedly put himself through on a daily basis.

Deciding that Reborn deserved a day of, Nana forced Tsu-kun and his friends out of her kitchen with the reminder that they had school. Tsu-kun took off with a startled and horrified shriek (which was abruptly cut off when he was levelled with the killing intent of the baby-sized man that he awoke).

"Go back to sleep, Reborn-kun," Nana said, and started to hum the melody that had put the Hitman to sleep so quickly before. "Tsu-kun will be alright for a couple of hours, and I'll keep you safe," she added as he tried to get up (was this the first time that she had spoken to him without laying on the oblivious act like an extra thick layer of butter? Nana thought it was).

"Mama…" Reborn trailed of, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. Nana started to rock him back and forth, and, between one blink and the next, he was asleep.

Nana smiled. She knew very well that this was a grown man (at least mentally and emotionally), but everyone needed a break every now and again.

She would let him sleep.

So what did you think? Reborn is definitely out of character… You can explain it away with some sort of sleep inducing song magic if you don't like it! Please tell me what you like about the chapter, and point out any mistakes you notice! It actually helps o.O

Completely unrelated: Have you read any of the books in the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series? Because holly shit I'm in love with them (well, the first one – A Game of Thrones)! I've only read 200 pages, but it's easily the best book I've ever read 3