Target 09: Nura Rikuo –In which the Nura Clan observes their heir and notices.
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Even before the whole revelation of their young master being the heir of the clan, the numerous yōkai within the main household and the members of said heir's family couldn't help but notice the oddity of one Nura Rikuo.
Sometimes, they would catch sight of a pair of eyes that looks too weary and too old for a toddler to have.
Sometimes, they'll see that amber eyes stare blankly at nothing; full of loneliness and sadness that they couldn't help but wonder what kind of life their heir had lived previously (and it can't be nothing but reincarnation; for what reasons would the young child, that they hold at the palm of their hands and protect so fiercely, to look like that?)
They wonder and wishes to ask.
Wakana wants to ask, especially when it was one of those days where her son would slip up and speak in Italian (and wasn't that a surprise? to hear the language from the life that she left behind) and that spark of sky flames that usually come into the surface of her untrained son's skin (She can't and never will tell him about flames. To tell him that would be to drag him into that world, she would prefer that her son would stay in the world of yōkai and legends than in a world where betrayal, death, deceit, and loss is constant,) just in reach for him to feel but not brought out, whenever her son feels lonely.
And it hurts, because Wakana can sense the present but broken bonds within those welcoming flames. It hurts because she understands how painful it is, to reach out for something that is no longer there. It hurts because there's nothing she can do to help him ease from the pain (not when she's also suffering from the same pain.) The only thing Wanaka can do is shower him with affection and care; to remind him always that she's there and he's loved by everyone.
Wakana wishes to ask but she also doesn't dare.
Because, whatever happened in Rikuo's past life, it have something to do with the mafia. And Wakana, for all that she's Vongola, is a coward. She doesn't want to be reminded of that world full of blood and Expectations because she's not a good sky. She failed them again and again. Until her guardians are no longer beside her and all she can do is smile brightly like she promised.
Rihan, unlike his wife, doesn't see the gaze of someone who still clung into broken bonds. Instead, he sees someone who had experienced a lot; had lost people dear to him; had fought battles and wars; and came out alive, victorious, and somewhat whole from his son's eyes.
Rihan doesn't know how to deal with the knowledge that his son remembers his past life but he tries. He tries to make sure that his son knows he is loved, that Rihan would always be there for his son.
He ignores how hesitant and unsure the boy is sometimes when he interacts with him, how the word 'father' seems so unfamiliar to his son, how Rikuo's eyes would flash with dislike when someone would mention the word 'father' and then looks guilty when it sunk in that father refers to Rihan (and it stings. To know that in another life, his son grew up hating his father. And that hate follows him into this life, but Rikuo's trying and Rihan's also trying. They're both trying. And maybe one day, when someone would ask Rikuo for about his father… His son wouldn't have that flash of dislike and resentment in his eyes.)
They wonder but doesn't dare to ask.
Because they have faith that Rikuo would one day trust them with the knowledge of his past life and tell them himself.