Beware the sheer fluff ahead!
"Where are you taking my daughter?" demanded a voice that the little girl hadn't heard in close to two years.
She turned wide, teary eyes to the man standing in the doorway looking very unhappy and rather confused.
"Are you Iemitsu Sawada?" demanded the social worker.
"I am. Why are you in my house and where are you taking her?"
"Why didn't you answer any of the calls, letters or notices sent to the address you gave your wife?" demanded the woman annoyed. She had a large case load already and she wanted to get the girl situated so she could get back to real work.
"Where is Nana?" demanded Iemitsu.
At this, the little girl who had mostly gone unnoticed started crying. Silently, but there was no mistaking the heartbreak on her face.
"Mama... Mama went away forever," she said quietly, clearly upset.
Iemitsu went to his daughter.
"Your wife was killed in a tragic hit and run accident involving a driver who suffered a massive heart attack. She managed to hang on for a month before her body gave out. The funeral was two days ago," said the social worker, with only a little remorse for the child. "I'm afraid your daughter's only options are to either go to an orphanage, which was where I was about to drop her off, or go with you."
Iemitsu wasn't about to let his daughter suffer in an orphanage. She would be safe enough in the Vongola mansion, even if he had never wanted her to be exposed to that place.
It was painful, catching up to the fact his wife was dead and he was now the sole caretaker of his almost seven and a half year old daughter.
Though not nearly as painful as being reamed by a very pissed off Lal Mirch for the fact that if he had bothered to leave actual contact information then his wife might very well be alive...or he could have at least attended the funeral.
The Vongola had plenty of Sun flame users and experienced doctors on staff. Any of which could have been flown to Japan in less than twelve hours.
So really, Nana's death was entirely due to Iemitsu's stupidity and the fact he didn't have the brains to leave actual contact information. His daughter almost ended up in an orphanage because he didn't bother to check up on them, for god's sake!
The girl was bundled up with the few possessions she wanted to keep, and the house would be left vacant until she was old enough to claim it.
"Now what do we have here?" asked an old woman. She looked down at the tiny little thing clutching a somewhat worn rabbit doll looking beyond skittish.
The child was completely out of place in this drafty manor.
Seeing the little one clutch her bunny closer to them, the old woman smiled and pointed to herself.
"Daniela."
It took the little one a moment to catch on, before they hesitantly replied "Sakura."
Daniela promptly switched to Japanese.
"Little one, why are you hiding in this boring room? Where are your parents?"
The little girl clutched her bunny closer.
"Papa went to talk to the old man with the funny ring, and Mama went away. Papa told me to stay put, but I had to use the bathroom and I got lost. This place is really scary," said Sakura.
Daniela came to eye level with the girl, not an easy feat at her age.
"There, there little one. Why don't you keep an old woman company until your Papa is done?" she said gently, using a tiny bit of Sky flame to coax the little girl to her.
Much to her amazement, she felt a flicker of Active Sky right back from the child. Now she was definitely interested in the little one beyond insuring her father found her.
Did one of her grandsons have a little girl and neglect to inform her? If they did, they were going to be in for a very large earful for not introducing her to this little cutie.
It took a bit of coaxing and the promise of some food, but Daniela managed to get the little one into a far more comfortable room with a proper couch. Since the poor thing only spoke Japanese, she made sure that the maids brought finger foods that were easy to eat, along with a pair of chopsticks.
Sakura had been very hungry, but her appetite had taken a bit of a hit after her mother "went away" as she put it. Daniela didn't need to read between the lines to guess that her mother had died recently, leaving her in the custody of her father.
By the time someone did come looking for her, the little Sky (Daniela was sure of the girl's Flame type by this point) had curled up in her lap for a much overdue nap.
Lal Mirch took one look at the scene before relaxing.
"Mind explaining why this little one was wandering the mansion unsupervised?" said Daniela. It wasn't a request.
"Iemitsu is an idiot and didn't even realize he had left his daughter in that room for several hours until his own stomach made a complaint. Her mother died in a car accident and he just happened to come back right as the social workers were about to dump her in an orphanage," reported Lal in a succinct tone.
Daniela was not happy, but held her temper in check because of the sleeping child in her lap.
"And why exactly did he not leave basic contact information?" demanded Daniela.
"He claims it was safer if his wife and daughter were removed from mafia politics. Honestly I think he just wanted to make sure his bloodline was continued, then put them aside to continue his 'bachelor' lifestyle here while the poor woman was left to raise the kid alone. I know for a fact that his last visit was two years before his wife passed."
Daniela grew a tick mark on her head. She was not happy.
"And the fact this little cutie happens to be a Sky?"
Lal shrugged. She barely had any contact with the kid because they weren't really her thing and had only agreed to look for her to avoid Iemitsu's ridiculous whining.
One would think that would be that...except a month later a frazzled Lal called Daniela's Rain and asked if the former Donna would be willing to babysit. Apparently they were quite busy and she couldn't really devote anyone competent to watch the girl.
The thing that annoyed both women the most was the fact that Iemitsu apparently had little intention of actually interacting with his daughter, preferring to dump her on any available agent. The kid could only speak Japanese which limited the people who could babysit considerably, and was highly skittish. She could go hours at a time without speaking and had more than once wandered off because her minder didn't realize she had left the room, only to get lost.
Lal had been keeping track of the number of times she had managed to find the little girl clutching her stuffed rabbit like a lifeline in some random closet or corner scared out of her wits. She was not pleased.
Daniela gently picked up the tired little girl and let Sakura rest her head against her shoulder. The poor thing was exhausted and she could feel how skinny the girl was. The last thing the rather tiny girl needed was to lose weight. If anything she needed to gain a few pounds.
"You're telling me that foolish boy has been leaving her with people who have even less experience with children than he does?"
"I've only ever seen him interact with the kid once or twice, and it's clear the girl has little to no idea how to handle his idiocy. She's still coping with the fact her mother is dead, and being relocated to a foreign country is not helping," said Lal flatly, clearly pissed off.
Lal might not be good with kids, but even she could see that the poor girl had been thrown into the deep end and was drowning. She needed stability, encouragement and most of all someone who would actually be there for her. Three things that Iemitsu was crap at providing, since he was clearly moving past the fact his wife was dead a lot faster than his daughter.
Lal sighed.
"At this point I'm almost fully prepared to call Skull and hire him as a 'full time' babysitter. He's good with kids, actually speaks the language, and he won't scare her off as easily as some of the others."
Like Reborn, she mentally added.
Daniela simply held little Sakura in her arms.
"Why don't we leave that option open. For now I had better get this little one situated until things calm down around here," said Daniela.
"Thank you, ma'am," said Lal honestly. At least with Daniela she knew the girl would not only be safe, but spoiled rotten. And she might be able to get some support to cope with her mother's death.
Sakura woke up in Daniela's private manor, and predictably was scared out of her wits. At least until the woman came into the room and gently patted her hair.
"It's okay Chibi. The nice lady who likes to shoot at people that works with your Papa asked me to keep an eye on you for a while."
Seeing a familiar face that she semi-trusted, the little girl cried into her rabbit silently. Daniela pulled her into a massive hug, and the tears became a bit more vocal.
No one had really held her or even given her much comfort when she started crying. She was always in the way, and the odd lady who was smaller than her wasn't very good at being comforting.
Daniela felt both sympathy (for little Sakura) and beyond pissed (at Iemitsu for being completely incompetent as a father).
Fortunately she did know how to handle small children.
"How about after we eat breakfast we find your little bunny a brother or sister?" she asked.
When in doubt, go toy shopping.
Little Sakura's eyes peaked out from under her bangs. The poor thing was still very skittish.
"Can... can we have pancakes?" she asked carefully, as if not willing to hope that maybe her small request would be granted.
"With lots of syrup and chocolate chips. Or maybe blueberries," confirmed Daniela.
She spoiled her own grandchildren rotten, and there was no way she was passing up having a little girl around the house. This place was entirely too boring anyway.
Seeing the smile on the girl's face when all sorts of pancakes were brought out (in funny shapes, like rabbits and hearts), Daniela had to grin.
Sakura only really started to perk up at the toy store, especially when Daniela didn't discourage her from the more expensive dolls. They ended up walking out with an even bigger rabbit doll (one that dwarfed little Sakura, much to Daniela's open amusement), and odd frog that had caught her attention, and what appeared to be a cat.
At least the little one wasn't two seconds away from crying again and had finally calmed down properly. More to the point, Daniela was able to scrounge up some absolutely adorable outfits and managed to coax Sakura into showing her face properly.
The effect was instantaneous and she had everyone in the manor wrapped around her little fingers by dinner. She was far too cute for her own good and her innocence was a breath of fresh air.
Of course nothing could have prepared them for the sheer cuteness the day Xanxus happened to visit in an effort to avoid his father...only for little Sakura to stumble across him with a book in hand.
"Pretty..." she said mesmerized by the feathers in his hair.
Xanxus looked down at the tiny ball of fluff with what appeared to be an Italian version of the first Lord of the Rings book.
Daniela didn't really have children friendly books in her house, not since her grandchildren outgrew them. And she hadn't really bothered to get them out of storage.
Instead she read from more adult books like Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern and the Acorna series (Sakura quickly proved to be a fan of Anne McCafferey...especially if it involved unicorns). As an unintended side effect, Sakura was learning Italian very quickly and tended to shy away from the more 'age-appropriate' drivel.
The kid looked up at Xanxus with wide, amber colored eyes and held up a book that had something marking the halfway point of Fellowship of the Ring. It looked like something he had seen his grandmother use a time or two when she was reading something.
"You want me to read that to you brat? Aren't you old enough to know how to read by yourself?"
Admittedly, Fellowship of the Rings did have a lot of big words in it that would confuse most kids and could be a bit dry at times, but surely the kid could read it by herself and look up the words she didn't get later.
Imagine his surprise when the girl replied in Japanese.
"Grandma is busy. I don't know how to read the funny letters yet," she said unhappy.
Right, Japan had a completely different style of writing and it was unlikely the kid had ever read the roman alphabet before now. Though why a Japanese kid was in his grandmother's manor was a bit confusing.
Still, he had come to avoid his 'father' and if his Nonna was busy then he might as well find a new way to kill time.
Without thinking too hard on it, Xanxus scooped up the surprised little girl in his arms.
"No interrupting unless we're about to change chapters, chibi," he said firmly in Japanese. The girl brightened up considerably and nodded.
He found one of his usual throne like seats, and settled in with the book. From the looks of it, the kid was about at the part where the hobbits were in the barrow downs and about to enter Bree after the attack by the Barrow Wight. As he settled in to read, he almost started speaking in Japanese for her benefit.
The girl lightly tapped him on the nose.
"Grandma reads it in 'Italian'. She said I won't pick up anything if I don't learn how to 'trans-late' from Japanese to that," she said firmly.
Xanxus suspected this was one of Daniela's little tricks.
"Have you read the book in Japanese, chibi?"
The girl nodded.
"All three of them, but Grandma says I should learn to read romanji. I got most of the letters down but the spelling is very confusing."
Xanxus easily switched to Italian and let the girl settle in as he began to read from the chapter. The kid was quiet and listened intently as he read for her, only interrupting as they were about to move on to a new chapter.
It was only natural he'd miss the fact his Nonna was in the doorway with a camera in her hands and her Rain with a video camera in theirs.
He paused and put the bookmark back where they left off, which was when Frodo woke up in Rivendale after being chased by the Ring Wraiths.
"I see you've met little Sakura," said Daniela beaming. Who knew Xanxus was good with kids?
"Who's kid is she?"
"Iemitsu, though she's been living here with me because that idiota has absolutely no idea how to raise a child. He left her with his subordinates and didn't even bother to make sure she was adjusting after her mother died."
Xanxus knew better than to ask, at least not with the kid within hearing, so he put her down.
Being suckered into staying the night wasn't too hard, though he had to wonder how the hell the kid had managed to find his room and curl onto his chest when he was dead asleep...or more importantly, why she hadn't woken him sneaking into the room.
He had already resigned himself to many, many 'adorable' pictures from his grandmother who found the fact that the girl had attached herself to him cute beyond words.
Though the pictures had nothing on the way Daniela had beamed when Sakura hesitantly called him "Onii-san".
He only found out later that the chibi had been very closed off until recently, so the fact she had attached herself to him was a sign she was starting to heal from the trauma of losing her mother and being relocated to a new country where she was completely in over her head.