Guys! Sorry!

A combination of RL and me being an unmotivated couch potato kept this chapter from happening earlier. Well, I did start a draft of this chap, but that was about Tsuna's childhood, and I couldn't think of anything to write after I finished the first sentence (so I had to ditch that idea)...

I started this second (and completely different) draft of chapter seven on the plane to Turkey (the chapter has been finished for roughly two weeks by the time I update, but I had no internet or a computer, so updating earlier was kind of impossible) and this chapter almost wrote itself (except the start of the second detailed encounter between the two lovebirds; it took me two friggin days to find the word I was looking for - 'manhandled'. Ugh!).

Now I'm home, though, and I have internet access and an actual computer (if you notice any glaring spelling mistakes or something exceptionally weird, than its probably because of my phone's autocorrect. Yeah, I wrote 4000+ words on a phone and I'm never doing it again.

On the plus side... It's longer than all of the previous chapters so maybe that will make up for me being late as fu**?

Warnings: 1. Iemitsu is the main guy in this chapter (and my head canon is MINE, this probably didn't happen in the actual manga/anime). 2. Did I seriously give Primo (my mind is completely blank. What is his name again? Edit: Giotto! Ha, I REMEMBER!) Batman's backstory? What the fruit have I been taking?

One really complicated marriage

Iemitsu likes to talk about his wife. Everyone who knows him, acquaintances, subordinates and good friends alike, is aware of this. He likes to go on about fate and true love; about love at first sight and soul mates. Iemitsu isn't a liar, usually. Most things he speaks about regarding his time courting Nana is just that, though; a lie. The lies aren't told out of malice or even a desire to withhold the truth, but out of habit.

It hadn't been a coincidence that Iemitsu stepped in through the cafe's door that fateful day. Not a happenstance that Nana was working, or that he caught her attention.

Iemitsu feels slightly (read: very) insulted as he goes through the papers describing his newest mission. He is used to wild gun-fights, adrenaline-inducing car-chases, the occasional assassination and highly important intelligence gathering; and now he gets THIS? He's been a bit overworked lately, stressed even, Iemitsu could admit that; but why did HE have to travel to Japan in order to investigate a fucking waitress? Is this his boss' lame excuse for giving him a vacation?

Iemitsu has been taught not to make assumptions about anything before going into unknown territory (because anything can happen, and being unprepared and wary - expecting things to go wrong and looking for any signs of, say, an ambush enables him to react quickly and without hesitation. Not the smartest way to handle potentially deadly situations, true, but it worked and so Iemitsu went with it), but what can a woman on the shorter side of average, with big innocent-looking eyes, do to him? Iemitsu gives the file he has been given one last cursory look, cursing his boss at the lack of information it provide him with.

The only thing he knows about her is her name and a half-arsed idea of her appearance (the photo is blurry; the only thing he can make out is the brown hair. Not a great lead, because how many people among the Earth's population were brunettes?).

This is without a doubt the most ridiculous mission Iemitsu has ever been given, and HOLY SMOKING BANANAS!

"- yen, sir." Iemitsu jolts violently out of his musings as his taxi arrive at the café his target, Nana (no last and had been given to him, annoyingly enough) works at, surprised at how quickly the thirty minutes' drive passed.

Iemitsu pays the driver and takes a moment to examine the small building as he steps out of the cab. The cafe his target is waitressing at looks nice and run-down at the same time, something that Iemitsu thinks should be impossible. The red paint is chipped and the walls are covered in graffiti, and the door screeched as he opens it. The saying 'don't judge a book by its cover' is pretty accurate in Iemitsu's humble opinion; the shabby outside didn't even hint at the inside.

It's like walking into a different world.

Whereas the outside wall is covered in faded red paint and graffiti, the inside is of a light green with no signs of age or vandalism. The street outside the cafe had seemed deserted (likely because most people were at school, or work), but the inside is filled with the buzz of pleasant conversations and laughter. The atmosphere is what hits Iemitsu the hardest, the warm and carefree air is something that he has gone without for a long time (being surrounded by members of a Mafia family - even though you saw most of everyone as a brother, sister, aunt or uncle - became hard at times. Everyone has seen the death of at LEAST two loved ones, and most of Iemitsu's friends suffers from some mild (or not-so-mild) form of PTSD).

Entering the cafe feels like coming home after a long day's work.

"Would you like to order something, sir?"

"Hiee-!" Iemitsu almost pulls out his gun and shoot the girl that appears at his elbow, taken by surprise for the second time that day. (How long had he been standing in front of the door, gazing around like an absolute moron? Good going, Sawada, not suspicious at all!) Clearing his throat, Iemitsu focused on the almost-shot woman. A quick look at her name tag (which didn't have a last name either, huh) confirms her as his target. "Er, yes. Black coffee and a blueberry muffin, please." Iemitsu smile charmingly at her, slightly disappointed as she fails to react to something (his amazingly handsome smile, dimples and all) that is, usually, the only thing he needs to score a date.

"Right, please have a seat and I'll be right back with your order." She is gone before Iemitsu can do more than open his mouth. He remain sitting in the chair he had been shoved into for all of sixty seconds (blinking stupidly) before the waitress return with a cup of what has to be coffee and a plate with a muffin on it.

"Coffe and a blueberry muffin, as ordered," she says as she put said items on the table in front of him. "Enjoy."

Iemitsu mumbles a quiet 'thank you' and can't quite bring himself to look away from her bum as she moves away from him, the rhythmic swinging hypnotic. Iemitsu sigh in annoyance (it is actually a Sigh Of The Lovesick Fools, but Iemitsu isn't ready to admit that he has fallen In love with a woman that he might have to kill. Let's leave him to his delusions for now, shall we?) and dig up his phone from out of his pocket, speed dialling the office. "Hey, old man, I just met the cutest girl at this cafe in Namimori!" This translated roughly to 'I've the target in my line of sight'.

"Already? I was expecting you to take at least another day or two." Iemitsu senses the question his boss isn't asking, but decides to ignore it in favour of getting the mission objective (there really is no information in the file he's been given).

"I kinda suck at picking up girls, though. Do you remember the last one? You DO remember, right? That chick in France that you still tease me about? Yeah, I don't want a repeat of that..."

Iemitsu is actually referring to his last mission. He had been going undercover to infiltrate a French Mafia family and hadn't been told that the heiress was engaged (and had ended up in bed with her during his first night there). The infiltration had been a failure, and Iemitsu had been forced to improvise in order to get the needed Intel (the following - second - seduction had been a success).

There is a sigh on the other end of the line, and soon Nono's voice ring through. "There have been talk that she defeated Tokyo's ruling yakuza group's by herself. I need you to find out if this rumour has any truth to it. Report back if it does, return to the house of it doesn't."

"That's an awesome idea, old man, I'll try it out for sure!"

"I want you to be careful, Iemitsu. This woman could be dangerous."

"Yeah, sure. Oh, she's coming my way! I'll talk to you later, old man... Yeah, I love you, too. Uh-huh. Yup, see you later, bye." Iemitsu hangs up without bothering to wait for the boss' farewell and turn his attention to the woman making her way towards him.

"Was everything to your satisfaction, sir?" Iemitsu has to take a moment to collect himself - her voice is heavenly.

"What? Oh! Of course, everything was delicious! Haha..." (How should I do this?) "Hey, Nana-chan, do you have anything planned for tonight? I was jus-"

"I'm busy. Tonight. Tomorrow as well..." She pauses for a moment and Iemitsu holds his breath, "I am, in fact, busy for the rest of the month. Sorry." She isn't looking very apologetic, Iemitsu thinks miserably.

Wait, what? Did she just refuse a date with him?! "Oh, okay... Maybe some other time, then?"

"I'll put this as bluntly as I possibly can; I don't want to go on a date with you." Iemitsu goes through a minor identity crisis as he experiences his first ever 'not interested' from a woman.

She is walking away before Iemitsu has a chance to reply.

He watch her go (specifically: her swaying hips) with the look of a kicked puppy.

Conversations between Nana and Iemitsu continues in this vein for a month, and then Iemitsu (almost but not quite) gives up.

"I can't do this, boss. My every attempt to start a conversation with Nana-chan results in her walking away... I don't think I have said more than ten words to her without her totally rejecting my company!" Iemitsu sighs, the situation heavy on his shoulders. "This is hopeless..."

"Try to go about it differently, Iemitsu. I won't feel good about this until we know what's so special about this woman." There is a soft exhalation of air at the other end of the line; Iemitsu can easily imagine the irritated look upon his boss face (that particular face has been directed at him far too many times for Iemitsu to ever forget it), "You have your orders, see them through. I don't care if it takes five years, just get the Intel."

"Sure..."

Had he imagining things, or had the boss been less annoyed than he should be when taking Iemitsu's total failure into consideration?

Iemitsu start switching things up when he wakes up the next morning. He chomps down a quick breakfast at his apartment instead of going to the cafe and eating there (as well as ruining his day with another one of Nana's rejections). Now, this might not have seem like anything monumental - just a small change of routine. The affects it brought, though, were like ripples in a previously still pond; they disrupted the earlier monotone without any real trouble.

Iemitsu goes to the cafe for an afternoon snack, and is instantly manhandled into a chair, a pair of dainty hands tilting his face from side to side while the hands' owner inspect him with concern evident on her features. "Nana-chan, what-"

She speaks over him. "Are you alright? Hurt?"

Is she (this woman who never gives him the time of her day) actually concerned about him? His wellbeing?

"I'm fine- but why do you care?" Well done, idiot! That doesn't sound accusatory at all!

Nana looks annoyed for a moment, searching his face for something and looking satisfied at what she finds. She opens her mouth, "I'm not...good with people. I was, once a long time ago, but some things happened and now I'm not sure what to do when someone tries to get close to me. There are things that I have to keep to myself lest someone thinks me insane and places me in an asylum, or at the table for a scientist to cut me open, and such secrets can destroy all kinds of relationships." She bite her lip, her eyes locked to his. "I have tried not to open up to you, and I guess I've succeeded, but you've passed by my defences like they're nonexistent and I..."

Iemitsu can't hear what she said then, her already quiet voice lowering even further. "You, what? I didn't catch that last bit."

Nana sighs, pained. "You've been coming here at exactly eight thirty, every day, for a month. You've been talking to me, and I thought something had happened when you didn't come this morning... It hurt, I'll admit, thinking that you'd had disappeared. I want to get to know you better." She leans in closer, lowering her voice as though she's about to impart some classified national secret, "You remind me of someone I knew, a long time ago. I knew his parents, so I took care of him when his parents were killed by some men who were after their money (I hunted them down and made them regret it, though, don't worry). He grew up to be a good man, took the law into his own hands to make sure that his fate didn't befall on anyone else..."

Iemitsu's heart had made an attempt to leap out of his chest when she leaned in close to him, but now it feels as though it is sinking down to his toes. Is she comparing my to her adopted kid/brother? That is not what Iemitsu wants to hear, not at all!

"-ight?"

"What? Sorry, I was...distracted."

"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? It's just that I haven't made a friend in a very long time, and I would like to get to know you better." She snorts suddenly, flushing a little self-consciously. "Look at me, repeating myself like a broken record. Anyways, what do you say, two about-to-be-friends sharing a meal and a drink?"

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Friends, though? Iemitsu is not interested in being FRIENDS with Nana (he still hasn't figured out if she even HAS a surname)! Soggy fruitcake (he has even started adopting her weird curse-words-that-aren't-actually-curses. Sponge it all!), this mission is getting complicated! He is supposed to get information on a target, and now he is fantasising about buying her a ring (and doing (kinky) things to her. His boss would be displeased).

"I can't do this, Nono! It's impossible, I'll never get be able to finish this mission!"

"Calm down, Iemitsu. Tell me what happened, and I'll see what I can do."

"You want to know what happened? Fine, I'll tell you what happened; I fell in love! There, I said it! It hasn't been more than a month and I'm in love with my target..."

"Oh..."

"You know the absolute worst part? I don't want to finish the mission, because if I do... I'll have to leave her." I will though, no matter my personal feelings.

Iemitsu arrives at Nana's apartment with fifteen minutes to spare. He rings the doorbell and takes the time to smoothen out a couple of imaginary wrinkles in his suit, just to be sure.

A shout of "Coming!" is immediately followed by something (most likely a vase) smashing into the floor and splintering, and after that comes the curses.

The door is opened while Iemitsu is wondering what the biscuit is going on. Only, it's not Nana who stands in the doorway. It is a man who looks to be around his early- to mid-twenties, with white hair and brown eyes. He is attractive, and Iemitsu pretty much hates him instantly. "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

"I live here, and my name is Kawahira." The man arches an eyebrow in a gesture that is both curious and dismissive. "My turn; who are you?"

"I'm-"

"Sawada-kun! Hi!" Nana appears around the corner like sunlight during a cloudy day. "Let's go! I'll be home before ten, bye Kawahira!"

The next thing he knows, Iemitsu is sitting on a bus and heading towards…somewhere. Except that's impossible, because they hadn't exited through the door or even a window (or a wall, Iemitsu has done that more times than he can count). Is this one of your abilities, Nana-chan?

The bus tour is nice, he talks to Nana more than he has in the past month combined (and if he tries to fish for information then it isn't done with much enthusiasm). Twenty minutes later, when Nana herds him out of the door and into a very unromantic bar, Iemitsu comes to the realisation that this is not a date (or at least a romantic one). No, this is more the sort of thing you do with your friends on a slow Friday night.

They eat and drink and talk, and it's nice, but Iemitsu wants more. He wants to grab Nana's hands when they are not waving around in the air in complex motions as she talks. He wants to lay his arm around her and draw her close to him. He wants to kiss her and tell her that he loves her (because he does and he has never felt like this around a girl and it has only been a month!).

He does none of these things, of course (because he still has his mission and scaring her away is not acceptable). He do, however, ask about the man in her apartment.

"What? Oh, you mean Kawahira. Well, he's my roommate and a really good friend. My only friend, well, until now, that is. You're my friend, right?" Nana's smile is hopeful, and Iemitsu melts just a little bit.

"Of course I am!" But I want to be more.

"Don't ask me why, though."

"…what?" You've lost me, darling.

"Don't ask me why Kawahira is my roommate," she clarifies. "He's rich and owns a mansion in… somewhere in Japan, I've never asked about the exact location. Anyway, he has a house of his own but one day he just showed up at my door with a bag and he's been around ever since." She obviously sees something on his face (but probably mistakes his jealousy for concern) because she continues in a hurried voice, "It's a bit weird, yeah, but he pays half the rent and I don't have much money. I was in a bit of a hurry when I left home, see, so I didn't bring much with me, and the café doesn't pay enough for me to be able to live a life of luxury even with Kawa-kun here, so…" She trails of, embarrassed.

Iemitsu wants to insist that he has money and that he would gladly pay for anything that she wants (and he really is). But he doesn't, because she isn't telling him this in search for sympathy or pity.

He nods and they talk about safer topics for the rest of the night (and Iemitsu is happy, truly carefree for the first time in a long time).

All things must come to an end, however, and Iemitsu follows her home. They arrive at her door three minutes before the clock strikes ten and Iemitsu sneaks in a kiss (a quick peck on her lips) just before she can say good bye.

He runs (because he is a coward) and so doesn't know that Nana remains standing outside the apartment door for well over fifteen minutes, with her fingers on her lips and pondering on how long it had been since she had last been kissed (it had been a long time).

"Will you marry me?"

"That depends, will you be able you be able to put me first, to prioritize me before your work?"

"…"

"…I will marry you, but we'll be renewing our wedding vows when you're ready to be my husband for real, get it?"

"Of course."

It takes time, years even, before Iemitsu completes his mission. In that time he marries the love of his life (who is also the mission objective) and has a baby boy who he and his wife names Tsunayoshi (Tsu-kun or tuna-fish are the names he goes by, however).

Iemitsu steps through the door after a long day of work. He hates being sent to negotiate with other Mafia families, but it is necessary and he's good at it. Still, he hates it. Iemitsu is a fighter, born and bred. He still loves feeling the adrenaline coursing through his body in a fight, but starting a family has tempered him somewhat. His lovely wife provides a different outlet for his...passion, and his adorable tuna-fish hold his affection like nothing ever has before

"- and while the dragon takes flight, preparing to end the prince once and for all, the wizard appears. He brandishes his staff and chants a spell..." Nana's voice drift into the hallway and a childish, delighted giggle (which quickly turns into an excited, joyous squeal) follow her words. His family is perfect!

Iemitsu closes the door quietly and carefully takes of his boots. Watching Nana play with their child is one of Iemitsu's favourite pastime, beaten only by the (many) occasions that all three of them spend time playing together. Still, his wife is a different person with Tsuna than when she is with him (Iemitsu isn't the same person when he is in Tsuna's presence, either. Nana tells him that it is sometimes hard to tell who the baby really his, him or his son - something Iemitsu chooses to ignore. His pride as a man can't take the blow without suffering permanent and irreversible damage), it isn't obvious, but she lets go of something that she keeps contained even from him when (she thinks) Tsuna is the only person in the house.

Iemitsu is intending on leaning against the doorframe that separate their kitchen from the living room. He is certainly NOT intending on finding his wife - sitting on the floor and producing moving silver lights with her favourite ladle (his intuition tells him that it isn't related to mist flames, but something else. Something more... more).

"...the wizard ends his spell and the water in the nearby lake surges upward and wraps around the dragon -" The silver light moves with her tale, forming a fierce dragon, a wounded prince, and an old man with a twisted staff (a wizard, Iemitsu realises after a momentary brain fart). Iemitsu watches as the prince staggers towards the downed dragon and drives his magic sword into the beast's heart, Nana's voice washing over him as she narrates the events of the story.

"'The beast is dead, and your kingdom, yours.' says the wizard when the prince approaches. 'I never would have succeeded without you and your magic, old friend.' counters the prince, and offers the wizard a his hand. The dragon lay dead at their feet, and the alliance created that day will continue into eternity." Something gnaws at the back of his mind, and Iemitsu is experienced enough to know that the intuition inherited from his Vongola blood is not something to be taken lightly (or ignored. Not that Iemitsu had ever ignored his intuition, no sir!).

What is it about his wife that sends his blood tingling, though?

This isn't the first time something Nana says or do makes his intuition twitch. It always happens when she talks about the supernatural (wizards and dragons and spells... Magic), it's something about the way she speaks; as though everything she mentions are something more than a fairy tale or make believe (as though it's real. As though wizards actually exist, and live to do the impossible and make reality their bitch - as though dragons roam the skies, abducting princesses and breathing fire).

"The end." Iemitsu backs away into the hallway, and as he does he listens to his son giggle with a sinking feeling in his chest. This is it, her secret… I don't want to hear it. He might not hear what Nana is about to say if he can get his shoes on quick enough. "Oh, do you like the sparkly light, Tsu-kun?" She laughs. I love you, Nana, please don't say anything. "I'll teach you when you're older, sweetheart. Magic is a bit tricky, but I'm sure you'll get a hang of it in no time! In fact…"

There are only two options, Iemitsu realizes. His wife is either insane (which is preferable, honestly)...

Or magic exists.

Why did I have to come home early today?

Iemitsu doesn't know what he believes (but he knows what he is telling his boss.)

Iemitsu is packed and ready to travel back to Italy by the next evening. Nana isn't crying, but she looks sad and lost, and it breaks Iemitsu's heart that he has to do this to her. She isn't protesting, however, which Iemitsu has mixed feelings about. He would stay if only she asked, he knows it, but at the same time he has a duty to his boss that he can't ignore. She gives him a trembling smile when he leaves, and a kiss that almost has him carrying her back to their room for a repeat of the events of last night (but only 'almost', because he is still a coward).

The numerous reports of Nana and his tuna-fish that Iemitsu gets over the years has him confused, because they describe a woman who doesn't sound like his wife at all. The woman in the reports is forgetful, naïve, and slightly neglectful of her child.

Nana forgot things, of course, but only as much as the next person. She liked to think the best of people, and to give everyone a second (and maybe even a third) chance, but she knew that some people were beyond redemption. The last one is the thing that has him most worried; because his wife would never let her son go to school without a goodbye kiss – and the woman the reports describe rarely even hug him.

If not for the photos that he gets, Iemitsu would suspect that someone had kidnapped his wife and replaced her with someone else, but the agent watching her is one of his best and loyal besides.

It is only several years later, when he gets an angry phone call from Nana and hurries back to Nana to explain that he sees how much his leaving had hurt her, damaged her, and as she cries herself to sleep in his arms he promises her that they will not continue like this, that he will call whenever he can, and take weekends of whenever he can.

Nana is his wife after all, and he loves her.

Iemitsu knows that (while he is still an adrenaline-obsessed coward at heart) he will have to be brave enough to face his feelings no matter how much being away from her hurt, because she doesn't seem to be able to handle a repeat of his absence (and neither is he).

THE FRUITY END!

Writing this hurt my feelings, guys. I actually have tears in my eyes as I finish this… why am I so mean to Nana (and Iemitsu)?!

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS AND FOLLOWS AND FAVORITES! REALLY, THANK YOU!

So can you forgive me for the long wait? This chapter is almost four times the length of any previous chapter, y'know, and also the one where I have felt the most emotionally connected to.

I've been reading RumBelle (Once upon a time is a TV show that I'm really thinking about watching) fics, so I couldn't help but draw some lines between Rumple and Iemitsu (that's where the 'coward' remarks comes from, if you didn't know).

Blegh! I'm outta here, I need to go cry some manly tears because of the feels I'm feeling right now (note to self; be kinder to everyone in the next chapter!)

C'ya xo

PS. Please leave a review on your way out!