Chapter Text
One of the girls at Tsuna’s preschool, Kyoko-chan, said her brother climbed all the way to the top of the tree outside the window, just because he could. Tsuna looked at the very big old tree, eyes wide. “All the way up there?” he asked.
“All the way,” Kyoko agreed.
Tsuna wanted to try. He bet he could see the whole world from up there. He wanted to practice first, so his classmates wouldn’t laugh. So when Tsuna got home, he went out in the backyard and looked up and up into the branches of the tree in the backyard.
Tsuna set his jaw. He was going to climb the tree, and it was going to be… be… extremely awesome. So cool all the other kids would be impressed, and his mama would coo and pepper him with kisses again.
Hoisting himself up to the first branch of the tree was really hard. Tsuna fell three times, but it wasn’t far enough to hurt. When he finally got up onto the branch, he beamed.
Reaching up for the next branch, he paused. From his knuckles to his wrist, his whole right hand was wrapped in bright yellow bandages. Tsuna ran his fingers over the mark. Smooth skin met his touch.
“Mama, mama!” He hollered, “Mama!”
Nana rushed out, only to panic as she saw her child in the tree. “Tsu-kun, how did you get up there?” she asked, running over.
“Mama, look!” Tsuna held up his hand, beaming.
“Oh, my!” Nana said. She reached up and carefully plucked him out of the tree. “Another mark, how lucky, Tsu-kun! Come inside and we’ll take a picture.”
Tsuna obligingly let her carry him inside and set him on the kitchen counter. Nana retrieved the camera from the drawer next to him and Tsuna held out his hand. Nana snapped a few pictures, then set the camera down.
“Tsu-kun,” she said. “Have you noticed that some of your classmates always wear gloves, or long sleeves?”
Tsuna nodded. “Haruna-sensei always wears a scarf,” he said.
Nana nodded. “Now, Tsuna, you know and I know that soulmarks are precious blessings,” she said. Tsuna nodded. “But some people get very jealous, because others have more soulmarks than them. They can be very mean.”
Tsuna frowned. “Jealous?”
“It means they wish they had more soulmarks, and are sad someone else has more,” Nana said.
“Oh, okay.”
“Some people hide their marks all the time,” Nana said. “It’s more mysterious and romantic that way! And then, no one gets jealous!”
“But they’re so pretty,” Tsuna complained.
“They are,” Nana agreed. She held out her hand, gently loosening the thick watch she always wore from her wrist. On the inner wrist, right at her pulse, rested a tiny brown bird with indigo eyes. “This is mama’s soulmark - it’s a killdeer bird. I keep it hidden, so only my soulmate knows about it. It’s our little secret!”
Tsuna’s eyes went round. “Cool,” he said.
“Your other marks are always hidden, by your hair and when you wear a shirt,” Nana said. “So it hasn’t come up. But now, you’ll get to have a special glove of your own to hide this one.”
Tsuna frowned. He still didn’t really want to hide the pretty yellow wrappings, but if mama said so, it must be important. “Can it have badgers?” Tsuna asked.
Nana smiled. “We’ll get a plain one from the store tomorrow, and I’ll make one with badgers for later,” she promised.
Tsuna beamed.
(Nana’s heart ached. Her boy was so very special with his four marks all so brightly colored, but she knew they would likely bring him pain before they brought him joy.)
“Mama, my new mark glows!” Tsuna informed her when she put him to bed.