Chapter Text
Minamoto Nanami, many times great-granddaughter of an Imperial Cloud and the Ainu Sky who had drawn him into her Harmony, knew there was something wrong when she woke one morning feeling like she'd just emerged from a years-long dream.
And, when she stumbled into the unfamiliar-yet-familiar kitchen of the strange-but-not house she had woken up in, and saw a tiny child – who looked so much like her brother Toshio had done when they were children – sitting there with suppressed Sky Flames, a Rage took hold of her.
Someone had violated her Will, her body, her blood. And then they'd had the audacity to abuse the child she didn't even truly remember bearing.
She would not let that stand.
"Mama?" the tiny, fluffy little Sky – Tsunayoshi, Tsuna, Tsu-kun, her foggy memories insisted – asked her timidly, and Nanami took a deep, steadying breath and calmed herself once more.
"Good morning, Tsu-kun," she greeted her son – her son – gently. She crossed the space between them and sank to her knees beside his chair, taking his tiny hands in hers. He jerked, eyes widening in shock, and Nanami's heart clenched hard in her chest. What had she done, in her strange haze, to make her own child so wary of her? "Tsu-kun, there are many things I need to tell you, but we don't have the time right now. Can you be brave for me?"
"Yes, Mama," he said softly, his big brown eyes still wide, and Nanami pressed a kiss to the back of each of his hands tenderly.
"Thank you, Tsu-kun. Go pack your favourite things and some clothes, please. Just one bag."
"Yes, Mama," Tsunayoshi said again, still soft, still confused, and Nanami pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead as she stood. Tsunayoshi slid down off his chair, stumbling slightly as he landed, and Nanami rested her hand on his shoulder for a moment.
"Be careful on the stairs, please," she murmured, "I want you safe, Tsu-kun."
Tsunayoshi made a small noise, surprise and acknowledgement both, and then he was heading up to his bedroom.
Nanami sank into the recently vacated chair a moment later, burying her head in her hands as she permitted herself just a minute to panic.
She was a mother. She had a traumatised, chained-soul child she could barely remember carrying and birthing and raising for the past six years. She was married, if the ring on her finger was any indication, but her memories of her supposed spouse were hazy and unclear.
Something was very, very wrong.
But she didn't have time to panic about it for more than the minute she'd given herself; the fact she'd come out of the haze without any outside influence that she could pinpoint meant that there was the possibility that the person or persons responsible would be closing in quickly. She had to get out, take her child and flee to a place she knew was safe, and only then would she be able to start piecing together what had happened to her.
Taking a deep breath and pulling up the mien of cool composure that she had been trained to wear since she was barely more than a toddler, Nanami rose from the chair and strode out of the kitchen, discarding the ring that had sat snug on her finger. She needed to gather some clothing for herself, and then gather as many valuables and as much cash as she could find stashed through this strange-yet-not house.
Her mind whirled as she made and discarded and reworked her plans rapidly, one goal in mind: get to her brother, safely, with her son at her side.
Within a half-hour, Nanami was ready to run. She had limited herself to what could fit in a single large backpack, and thankfully her child had been sensible enough to only pack what he could carry in his own smaller backpack, though he did have a sweet little lion plush tucked in his arms. He'd seem scared but a little defiant when Nanami saw it, but when she just nodded and smiled at him faintly, he'd relaxed and easily taken the hand she held out to him.
"Come along, Tsu-kun," she murmured. "We're going to visit my family."
"Yes, Mama," Tsunayoshi said obediently, and stayed close to her side as she led the way out of the house, into the street, and down the road towards where her hazy memories indicated she might find the train line.
They almost made it there unnoticed – almost.
A block away, Nanami noticed a pair of Flame Actives beginning to trail her and her son. They would have gone entirely undetected if not for the fact their Soulfire felt familiar to Nanami, and not entirely from the fog that had encompassed the last six or so years of her life.
A Rain of considerable strength, and a Mist that could likely have remained out of Nanami's perception if they had tried to do so.
The fact that the pair were not hiding their Soulfire was enough of a reason for Nanami to slip into a quiet side street, Tsunayoshi's hand still held firmly but gently in her own, and turn to face their stalkers.
Sure enough, the faces of the two who stepped into the little alleyway were very familiar to Nanami, and from more than six years ago. Asari Tsuyoshi and Taira Akemi – the Rain and Mist who were being courted by the Imperial Sky who had been showing interest in Toshio for his precisely controlled Sun Flames, last Nanami recalled.
"Yoshi-kun, Kemi-chan," Nanami greeted them, slightly wary but less so than she would have been of nearly anyone else who'd approached her after how her morning had gone so far.
"Oh," Akemi breathed, delight making her already lovely face even more beautiful. "Nanami, you're back!"
"I don't remember much," Nanami admitted, "but when I woke this morning it was like a fog had been lifted."
"We need to get you out of this town before anyone notices," Tsuyoshi said grimly, cutting straight to the point as he had always, as far as Nanami could remember, preferred to do. "It's been seven years, Nanami, we were giving up hope that you'd break free."
"I don't know how I managed, but I agree that I need out of here," Nanami said just as grimly. "I was going to head for Toshio."
"Do so," Akemi said firmly. "We'll cause a distraction here and then follow when we can."
"He still lives in the same place," Tsuyoshi added, and then pressed a cellphone into Nanami's free hand. "His number is in here. Call him when you're on the train, tell him where you are and that you're on your way. He'll send people to meet you at Kagurazaka Station and help you lose any potential tails."
"You've all been preparing for years, haven't you?" Nanami asked softly, tucking the phone into her skirt pocket and hoisting Tsunayoshi – who had remained quiet and visibly confused throughout the interaction – up into her arms. He clung to her tightly, but remained silent and let her adjust him to the best possible carrying hold.
"We have," Akemi agreed. She quickly leaned in and hugged Nanami tightly. "Go, quickly. Be safe. We'll see you in a few days."
"Thank you," Nanami whispered, and then slipped back out of the alleyway to head for the train station.
"Mama, why did they call you Nanami? Tsu-kun thought Mama's name is Nana," Tsunayoshi asked quietly.
"I'll tell you later, Tsu-kun," Nanami assured him softly. "I just need you to be quiet and brave for a little longer, okay? You're doing so well, and I promise I'll explain when we're somewhere safe."
"...yes, Mama," Tsunayoshi whispered, confusion still evident. Nanami kissed the top of his head, and tucked his face into her neck as she headed for the ticket machines at the entrance to the station.
Three blocks behind them, she felt Tsuyoshi and Akemi's Flames flare, beacons for anyone even slightly sensitive to Dying Will Flames, and sent up a silent prayer that they would remain unharmed.
Ten minutes later, on a fast train heading straight for Tokyo, Nanami tucked Tsuna against her side – allowing him to look out the window at the landscape rushing by, but keeping him protected by having him between her and the train wall – and fished out the cellphone Tsuyoshi had given her.
Sure enough, one of the numbers was listed under her brother's name: Minamoto Toshio.
She pressed call, and lifted the phone to her ear as it rang.
It was answered within three rings.
"Yoshi, please tell me you have good news to be calling me off schedule," her brother's voice said, just slightly crackly through the line, and Nanami's breath hitched.
"Toshio," she said, soft and hopeful and longing. "Toshio, I'm on my way to you."
"Nanami!" The shock and relief in Toshio's voice almost made Nanami laugh. It was a rare occasion that she could get the drop on her big brother, and it nearly always made her laugh when she managed it. This, however, was no time for laughter. "Where are you? You're on your way? How are you travelling and where can I send help?"
"I'm on a train from Namimori to Tokyo. Yoshi said to get off at Kagurazaka Station," Nanami said, answering her brother's hasty questions as calmly as she could managed. She felt like crying – it had been so, so long since she'd heard her brother's voice, even if she couldn't properly remember most of the last few years – but she managed to keep her composure. "We left Namimori eight minutes ago."
"...we?" Toshio asked, clearly confused. Nanami looked down at Tsunayoshi, at her son, and smiled when she saw him looking up at her.
"I'll tell you when we arrive."
"Fine," Toshio sighed. He said something else, clearly to someone on his side of the phone by how it was muffled, and then he spoke directly to her again. "I'm sending an escort to meet you at Kagurazaka. Three women in casual dresses and cardigans, all with black hair and wearing our kamon on their lapels. They will greet you as Nami-chan and ask how your journey was. They know what you look like."
"Thank you, Toshio," Nanami said with a sigh of relief. "Their names?"
"Ito Hitomi, Karayashi Reiko, and Aoyama Kaede," Toshio replied. "Address them familiarly. If they lead you to a vehicle, get in, but if the driver is unfamiliar to you, run."
"Understood," Nanami murmured. She didn't want to end the call, but she had to stay alert. "...I'll see you soon, aniki."
"Soon, imouto," he murmured back, soft and fond. "Be safe."
"As much as I can be," Nanami promised. They both lingered on the line for a moment, neither of them willing to end their call, and then Nanami sighed. "Ja ne, Toshi-kun."
"Ja ne, Nami-chan," Toshio said, and this time they both hung up. Nanami slipped the phone back into her skirt pocket and pressed a kiss to the top of Tsunayoshi's fluffy-haired head.
"Why don't you tell me what you can see from the window, Tsu-kun?" she asked softly. "We still have a few stops before we need to get off the train."
Tsunayoshi nodded, and then stood up on the seat so he could look out the window more easily, clutching tight to his lion plush as he did so. Nanami let his sweet little voice wash over her, replying to his questions automatically, as she kept her senses peeled for any potential tails.
She would not allow her Will to be usurped again.
~~~~~~~
Kagurazaka Station was no busier than any other other Tokyo train station in the middle of the work day, but also no quieter. It meant that Nanami was able to meld with the crowds, Tsunayoshi held firmly on her hip, as other commuters left the train around her. She stayed with the crowd, slipping easily through the ticket barrier and starting towards the stairs leading up to street level.
And there, looking like three housewives waiting to meet another, stood a trio of black-haired women wearing modest, casual clothing, each with a brooch bearing the Minamoto kamon pinned to their cardigans. The tallest of the three saw Nanami shortly after she spied them, and smiled brightly and waved enthusiastically.
"Nami-chan!" the woman called, and Nanami pasted a similarly bright smile on her own face as she rushed towards the trio.
"Hitomi, Kaede, Reiko!" she called back as she came close, and the three women each gave her a subtle nod. Surprise flit through their eyes when they spied Tsunayoshi on her hip, but they wrapped their arms around her like old friends despite their surprise.
"It's so good to see you," the smallest of the three gushed. "How was your trip?"
"Longer than I'd like," Nanami admitted honestly, feeling Mist Flames brush against her and then start weaving around their little group.
"Alright, we're covered," the third woman said after a moment, and all of them relaxed. Nanami did too. "Minamoto-sama, your brother said you may have been followed."
"I haven't sensed anyone, but I cannot discount the idea," Nanami admitted, still holding Tsunayoshi close and firm. He had yet to squirm to be put down, instead holding tight to the front of her cardigan and watching the three strangers warily. "You'll be able to get me to Toshio regardless?"
"Of course, Minamoto-sama," the tall one assured her. "Reiko-chan is a skilled Mist, and both Kaede and I can handle anyone her Flames cannot dissuade."
"We will get you safely to Toshio-dono, Minamoto-sama," the smallest woman, Aoyama Kaede, said firmly. Nanami smiled, just a little, and inclined her head gratefully.
"Thank you, Aoyama-san."
"Let's move," the Mist, Karayashi Reiko, said briskly, and the four of them – five, counting Tsunayoshi – started up the stairs out of the subway.
Her escort guided her through the streets of Tokyo for more than an hour, Karayashi-san's Mist Flames swelling and ebbing as needed to keep attention away from them, until finally they slipped into the back seats of an idling van which peeled away from the curb at a casual pace as soon as the doors were shut.
The driver seemed familiar to Nanami, but the adrenaline from her morning was fading and she couldn't find the energy to rifle through her memories to match a name to the face.
"We'll be there within the hour, Minamoto-sama," Ito Hitomi murmured, digging in her purse and offering a bottle of water. Nanami took it, but didn't open it yet – she trusted her brother and his people, but there was no guarantee the water was not tampered with. At least the driver wasn't unfamiliar – Toshio had told her to flee if he was, and so despite being unable to place why he was familiar to her, Nanami trusted that he was the man her brother had chosen for her transportation.
"Mama?" Tsunayoshi asked in a soft whisper, and Nanami kissed the top of his head gently.
"Just a little longer, Tsu-kun, I promise," she whispered back, though she knew that the three women who'd met her at the train station would likely be able to hear her and her son both. "Just a little longer."
Tsunayoshi nodded, and curled deeper into Nanami's embrace. She held him close, protective of the boy she could only barely recall caring for as a newborn and infant and toddler and preschooler, and waited for the van to reach their destination.
When she climbed out of the van, Tsunayoshi still in her arms, she was greeted by the familiar sight of the large (for Tokyo) property that her brother had inherited from their grandparents when Nanami was sixteen.
And, to her relief, by the sight of Toshio – a little older, a little more worn, but still her beloved older brother – rushing towards her. It really was marvellous how much he looked like her son, she thought absently, but then she was running forward – her little Tsu-kun holding on tight – to meet Toshio's embrace.
"Nanami, oh little sister," Toshio whispered into her hair, arms firm and warm around her, and Nanami felt tears well up in her eyes as she clung back to him. Tsunayoshi wriggled a little
"Aniki," she whispered back desperately, trembling. "Aniki, I can't remember the last... everything's blurry, I know some things but everything else feels like a dream, I—"
"Shh, Nami-chan," Toshio soothed, though Nanami could almost feel his protective anger. "Let's get you – and your little one – inside, let me call someone to look you over and check."
"And Tsu-kun," Nanami insisted softly. "There's something... something's been done to him, I can't figure out exactly what but someone suppressed him somehow—"
"Inside," Toshio said firmly, though still gentle. "Come on, imouto." Nanami took a breath, forcing herself back to a calmer state – she could panic after she was somewhere private and protected – and then nodded. Toshio guided her into the building, and Nanami brushed her Flames against his carefully. His brushed back, a smile curling his mouth up in the corners, and Nanami relaxed.
Toshio would keep her safe until she wasn't feeling so off-balance. And he would protect his nephew, too, even though this was the first time they'd met.
She just hoped that Tsuyoshi and Akemi were okay.