Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'You just had to go and run your fucking mouth, didn't you, Leone' the white-haired cop cursed to himself, making his 3rd lap around his patrol area. The previous day he just had to go and make a mildly insulting comment about the head officer's plans for an upcoming assignment and was put on patrol duty for a week in result.

He groaned, pausing his walking for a moment. Patrol duty wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have to walk the whole time. He’s made his way back around to the city park, he notices. Well, since he’s already here he way as well walk around there a bit. Technically it was part of the area he was meant to patrol.

Making his way into the park, he looks around a bit. It looks like a pretty average park. There are children running around the playground, going down slides, swinging on the swing set, and climbing on about anything that they possibly can. Over on the benches are the parents of said kids, and a couple of older kids, most sitting with their friends or parents. A few younger kids were there too, again, most with their families or friends. Except for one. A rather young-looking girl sat on a small bench by herself, she looked some mix of sad and expressionless. Next to her on the bench sat a small backpack that looked almost completely empty.

Leone makes a mental note to check on her if she’s still there next time he comes around.

–

It took far longer than intended to make his way back around to the playground part of the park, as he had gotten tied up helping someone find their kid, who had turned out to be playing hide and seek with his friends in a farther off part of the park. After dealing with that, taking his lunch break, and finally finishing his lap around the rather large city park it was nearly dark. Most people had left the park, favoring the warmth of their homes over the cold of the night. Well, most everyone other than the kid.

The girl continued sitting on the bench, seemingly unmoved since he had last been there. The only real difference he saw was that she had put on a thin, torn up, dirty coat that looked like it just barely fit her. As he got closer, he saw that the girl was extremely dirty too. She looked like she hadn’t showered in weeks, and if his concerns were true, she probably hadn’t.

The girl turns her head and stares at him. She doesn’t say anything and doesn’t move at all, just stares. He takes the lack of negative reaction as an ok to keep going.

“Hey, kid.” She doesn’t respond, just keeps staring. “It’s getting pretty late, y’know? Shouldn’t you head home?” He crouches down so he was closer to eye-level with the girl. Being so close made it incredibly obvious how malnourished she was, her bones poking out in almost every place they could.

“Mama will be back soon.”

That was a lie. He was sure of it. The kid had been sitting there all day with no sign of anyone coming for her. “Oh yeah? When’d your mama leave you here?”

“..Yesterday evening”

That was…longer than he hoped, but still less than the worst scenario he'd come up with. “That's a long time.do you know how long until she'll be back?” God, he hoped the kid had an answer.

“No..” Fuck. “Mama isn't usually gone this long…” What? Had this happened before? He really wanted to just pick the kid up and take her back to the station with him, they could get things sorted out there. Find her mother and, hopefully, get her taken away. No kid deserves to just be dumped in a park for fuck knows how long and God knows what stupid-ass reason.

“How about I wait with you, and if your mom isn’t back in, let's say…an hour then I take you back to the station with me and we deal with things there, ok?”

“You really don’t need to, officer. I’m sure Mama won’t be long.”

“Please, I insist. I’d like to speak with your Mama when she shows up anyway.”

“...ok”

“Great!” He takes a seat on the bench beside the girl. Trying to make himself seem as non-threatening as possible, which proved rather hard with all the thoughts running through his mind at the moment and his perpetual resting bitch face.

For a while the two sat in silence. Just staring at the dark playground in front of them. This was boring as hell. How had this random kid been doing this for a whole day? It was then that it properly sat in that she had been sitting there for a whole day, she had to be hungry. And cold. And she looks pretty beat up. He sighs internally, “Hey…uh, what’s your name?”

“Haruno.”

“That’s a nice name, I’m leone.”

“Ok, Mr. Leone.”

“You don’t have to be so formal, Haruno.” It was strange to him, how a kid that looked so young, probably not much older than 7 or so, is so damn polite.

“Sorry, Mr- er, sorry Leone.’

“It’s alright, anyways, I had a question. You don’t have to answer it, but I’d like if you did.”

A short flash of concern showed on Haruno’s face, but it quickly disappeared. She didn’t respond, just stared, she did that a lot, he noted.

“Earlier you said that your Mama isn’t usually this long, right?” She nodded, “Does this happen often? Being left in the park- I mean,” The small figure next to him seemed to hesitate, collecting her thoughts maybe.

“No…Only when Mama goes out drinking, or when she has friends over.” It was clear in her voice that she didn’t see a problem with this- that this was as normal to her as the sun rising in the morning. It pissed Abbacchio off that someone would bring a child into the world just to treat them like that, and it makes him sad that a kid so small had to put up with someone so awful.

“Is that so?” The girl nodded, avoiding eye contact by staring directly down, “What about your dad?”

“Papa doesn’t care,” He could feel the shift in Haruno’s mood as she went from sad over her mother's negligence to more bitter or resentful, maybe just downright angry about her father and whatever he did. “He does it too when he gets really mad.”

“Does he get that mad at you often?”

As this conversation drew on Abbacchio felt himself getting more and more pissed at the parents of this poor child. She didn’t go into much detail about anything, just stating that her father got mad often and that both parents drank a lot, though from the sheer amount of fear that formed in the kid's eyes as she went on made him fear the worst. He swears- as soon as he gets his hands on the brat's shitty parents-

He was drawn out of his thoughts by the small beep that came from his watch.

“It’s been an hour.”

Time really does fly when you’re listening to a little kid trauma-dump, huh?

“C’mon kid, let's go,” he extends his arm a little for Haruno to grab onto, which she does after a moment of hesitation.

“What if Mama comes back while we’re gone?” Right, she still thinks her mom’s gonna come back, doesn’t she.

“Then she’ll likely go to the station to report you missing,” He leaves the ‘if she cares enough’ to himself.

It doesn’t take long for them to arrive at the station

“Ok, real quick, before we go in, remind me how old you are?” He had completely forgotten to ask earlier, lost in trying to pick up as many little details about her parents as he could. It was gonna be hard to get the captain to listen to him at all, so having a detailed story would help.

“Nine.”

What?

How could a kid that fucking small be nine? Well, with what he knew about the kid's family it wasn’t that surprising he supposes.

“Alright, ready?” He asks and waits for a small nod before opening the door and going in.

“Officer Abbacchio, you’re back.” The officer at the front desc said upon seeing him enter, a slight sneer in his voice. “You took so long we almost thought you had died!”

“Nope, not yet. It’s gonna take more than whatever this town can throw at me to take me down.” The man at the counter didn’t seem to think that it was funny. “Anyways, I’m going to speak to the captain for a minute, ‘kay?” He took a few steps towards the door that led deeper into the station and let go of Haruno's hand, “Haru, you just sit there and wait for me alright?” Another nod as she sits down and stares at the door he left through.

Three knocks on the captain's door before he called for Abbacchio to enter.

“Yes Leone, is there something you need?” He seemed entirely uninterested with anything Abbachio could have to say.

“I have a report, sir.” He paused for a short moment before continuing, “In the lobby I have a nine-year-old girl. She’s pale and sickly looking and all too thin for her age, I found her while patrolling the park. Her mother left her there yesterday evening and she’s convinced that she’s coming back for her soon. She also says that this isn’t the first time that this has happened, and that both of her parents do this somewhat often.”

The captain seemed slightly more intrigued with what he was saying, “Do you have this child’s name?”

“Haruno Shiobana, sir.”

“I see. I appreciate your concern, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“Wha-”

“Put her back where you found her. Or take her home with you, I don’t care. You’re dismissed,” and he turned back to his paperwork.

“But sir-”

“I said, you’re dismissed.”

“This is stupid! Outrageous! Completely insane!” Abbacchio continued to yell his thoughts on this matter as he made his way out to the lobby, stopping and taking a deep breath before entering.

“Change of plans, kid, you’re coming home with me.”

Chapter Text

Haruno had no fucking clue what was going on.

All she wanted to do was wait for her Mama to come back, but that officer- Mr. Leone decided that this was a big deal and that he had to do something about it. Haruno hated police officers, they never did anything about anything that mattered! Like Mr. Leone, he was worrying about Haruno when he could be doing something about the city’s drug and mafia problem.
It frustrated Haruno to no end, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. Not now at least. When she grew up she was going to join the mafia, like the man she had found in that alley a few days ago. She would join the mafia and work her way to the top, so she could destroy the drug trade from the inside out.

Haruno was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of someone yelling,

“This is stupid! Outrageous! Completely insane!” It was Mr.Leone. Suddenly the sound stopped and the door opened

“Change of plans kid, you’re coming home with me.”

What?

If Haruno didn’t understand what was going on before she sure as hell didn’t now.

What was going on? Why was Mr.Leone trying to take her home with him? He seemed upset, had Haruno done something wrong? Haruno had had her fair share of less than great experiences with cops before, often being left with one to look after her while her step-father went to ‘talk’ to their captain.
Through those experiences, she learned that it’s much better to just go with them and whatever they want from her than it was to try to fight back, so, Haruno picks up her small backpack and slowly walks over next to Mr.Leone.

The taller man takes her hand once again and smiles down at her as they make their way out of the station.

They walked in silence for a while, creating a strange, eerie feel to the dark path they took back to Abbacchio’s apartment. The eerie silence was the kind that you can never quite tell if it was awkward or not, Haruno internally debates trying to start some kind of conversation with the taller man, but inevitably decides against the idea. The possible cons far outweigh the possible pros.

Soon, the pair found themselves up the stairs of a fairly average looking brick apartment, standing outside his home. After a moment of Abbacchio fiddling with his key in the lock he opens the door, allowing Haruno in before himself.

“Sorry it’s not much, but it’ll do for now.” He says as he kicks the door shut, “You can just set your bag wherever,”
Haruno set it next to the door. In case she had to make a quick escape, she wouldn’t have to leave what little she owned behind. In her bag was nothing but a coat riddled with holes and what little money she was able to pickpocket from random strangers.

The apartment walls were painted a gross yellow-beige-off white color that made everything look dirtier than it actually was- though, that’s not to say that it wasn’t. Looking around, Haruno could see various pieces of trash sitting around, mostly takeout boxes and glass bottles. Aside from that it was a pretty nice little place, a bit nicer than Haruno’s home at least.

She was once again pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Mr. Leone’s voice.

“You probably haven’t eaten today, right? I’ll start dinner.”

Ok, now Haruno was certain that Leone wanted something from her. Taking her out of the, admittedly very cold and uncomfortable, park to his apartment, and now making her food? Something was definitely up with this.

“...Ok. Thank you, mr- Leone,”

“It’s no problem, kid. You- uh- you can just..sit in the kitchen with me, I guess.”

Haruno didn't respond, just followed him to the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Abbacchio’s kitchen looked similar to the rest of his apartment. The walls were a weird off-white and there were takeout boxes stacked in the corner of the room next to the trash can. It was minimally decorated with only basic kitchen appliances and an almost dead plant in the center of the kitchen table. Said kitchen table had about half of it covered in various papers relating to various cases he had been assigned in the past and had yet to put away.

‘I should put that away soon, especially if I’m going to have a child running around here now,’ Abbacchio notes upon seeing the mess when the two enter the kitchen. A child…Haruno was just a child, wasn’t she? A child that would be living with him in his house from now on. Did that make Haruno his child? Him her…dad?

Nevermind that for now, he pushes the thoughts out of his mind. They could wait for tonight when he tries (And likely fails) to sleep.

For now, the topic of dinner was what needed to be figured out. Abbacchio opens his freezer, looking at its contents for a moment before deciding to just throw a frozen pizza in the oven. It’d be easy enough, honestly, how could anyone fuck up a frozen pizza? Haruno was bound to like it, what kid doesn’t like pizza? And they could probably just heat up leftovers when he inevitably didn’t feel like cooking actual food the next day.

Abba takes the pizza out of the box and tosses it in the oven, not bothering with a tray or preheating the oven. He turns the oven on and returns to the topic of what to do with the mess on the table. And the chairs. One of them had disappeared to fuck knows where, another had made a nice home for some boxes he’d had laying around since he first moved in. The one on the clear side of the table was also clear of anything occupying it, as that was the one he actually used.

Abbacchio picks up the stack of boxes and moves them to the floor next to the chair. He then turns back to the chair, and scoots it over to the clear side of the table.

“You can sit down if you want. Food should be done in…15 ish minutes, I think.”

He watches as the girl makes her way to the chair and sits on it, looking up at him with something akin to fear in her eyes. Just what exactly had this poor child been through?

Abbacchio takes a seat on the empty chair next to hers. If he was going to house this child and take care of her, he really ought to get to know her a bit. At least know the basics, right?
“Soo, what kinda things do you like?”

Haruno stares at him, her gaze as hard to read as it had been the whole time. She looks…confused maybe? A little scared? Sort of..contemplative. Overall complicated.
He keeps staring back at her, waiting for an answer.

“I..um..i like ladybugs..most insects actually..” she looks a bit like she’d like to say more but oh well, at least she said anything at all. So. The kid likes bugs.

“That sounds cool. Know any cool facts about ‘em?” maybe he'd be able to push the conversation somewhere this way.

“Umm…did you know that ladybugs are carnivores? They eat other, smaller, insects.”

“Oh really? I always assumed they ate plants or..dirt or something.”

“Yeah! A lot of people assume that but actually, ladybugs eat a whole bunch of insects! In their lifespan, which is about a year, sometimes two, they can eat up to 5,000 aphids!” Haruno was really starting to open up now. Ladybugs were the key to her trust, he supposes.

“Wow, that's a lot. Got anymore?”

They spend the rest of the 15 minutes talking about ladybugs, and some other bugs Haruno thinks are cool. Abbacchio had never been big on bugs himself, but he thought hearing all those facts about them were cool. He also learns that Haruno likes frogs. Not quite as much as she likes ladybugs but she still likes them.

When the oven beeps signalling that their food is ready Abbacchio waits for Haruno to finish what she was saying before he gets up to go take it out. It wasn’t a lot, but he was kind of proud of how much progress he had made with her in the little amount of time they had been talking. He pulls the pizza out of the oven and sets it on the counter, pulling out a knife and cutting it into as even of slices as he can manage. He puts a slice on the plate he pulls out for himself, and then a slightly bigger one on Haruno’s. She probably hadn’t eaten in days, so she must be hungry…but, he hesitates for a moment, she hadn’t eaten for a few days so she might not be able to handle so much food…Abbacchio pauses to think about it for a minute before deciding to just give her the slightly smaller one that would've been his.

He makes his way back over to the table and sets down the two paper plates, one in front of Haruno and the other in front of his own chair.
“It’s not great but it’s food, you can go ahead and eat if you want. I’m gonna go get us some water.” Usually he would drink a glass (or more, but he tries not to) of wine with his half-assed dinner but with a child in the house with him, he’d rather not. He pulls two cups out of his cabinet, throws some ice from the tray in his freezer into them and fills them with tap water.

When he turns around to walk back to the table he’s surprised to see that Haruno hasn’t even moved to think about touching her food yet. In fact..she looks even sadder and more worried than before their conversation.. All she did was sit there, staring at her lap.
He walks back to the table and sets down their glasses. Maybe she just needed more reassurance..? Or she just really genuinely didn’t want to eat or wasn’t hungry? He’d try the first theory first.

“You can eat now. If you want of course, but you really should try. At least a little.”

Haruno gives him a hesitant look before slowly picking up her piece of pizza and takes a small bite out of it. When he smiles in response she picks up the pace significantly, as if he would change his mind and take it away the moment she stopped.
It saddens him, but he still lets out a soft chuckle and starts eating his own piece.

“You can have another piece if you want.” he says as the girl nears the end of her slice. He sees the hesitation in her movement before she rapidly nods her head and eats the last of her crust in one bite.

From that point on dinner goes pretty smoothly. Haruno doesn’t talk much throughout it but she eats and that’s all that really matters to Abbacchio right then. As the two start to finish their last slices of the night he takes their glasses to the sink and tosses the empty plates into the trash, mind moving onto its next topic for the night: where would Haruno sleep? Bringing her into his home was a total impulse decision, one that he would do again, but one that he wished he had planned out beforehand.

He has a guest bedroom, but its current state was absolutely unlivable, from what he remembers of last being in it.. Haruno would just have to sleep on the couch tonight and he’d clean the room tomorrow.
He goes and grabs some spare blankets and pillows from his closet, instructing Haruno to stay in the living room where they had both been previously. When he returns, he lays them across the couch, forming a make-shift bed.

“Ok. This is where you’ll stay tonight. I’ll try to get your actual room cleared up tomorrow, kay?”

Haruno hesitantly nods before sitting down on the undoubtedly uncomfortable mock bed on the couch.

“If you need anything at all, my room is at the end of the hall. The bathroom is the one next to it to the right. Don’t be afraid to come bother me if you can’t sleep, or get yourself something from the kitchen or whatever.” He does his best to come across as as chill and comfortable as possible, really wanting to get the point across that he doesn’t mind. Haruno, again nods her head without a word. “Alright, night kid. I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” He slowly turns to leave for his room, waiting to see if Haruno has anything to say. Once it’s clear she doesn't, he actually leaves.

Abbacchio doesn’t fall asleep for hours, only actually getting an hour or two of sleep the whole night. He had stayed up mentally working out the details of keeping this kid he found. He’d simply have to..adopt her? Yeah, there’s no way he’d willingly let himself give her back to her parents and they'd already eliminated putting her into the system as an option, but he also couldn’t just keep a child in his home without paperwork. He’s pretty sure that’d count as kidnapping. So, he’d simply have to become a father. How hard could it be?

(The answer was very, but Abbaccio would worry about that when he got there, for now, he just had to get this child to be at least a little comfortable around him.)

Chapter Text

That dinner was nice..too nice. That man, Leone, definitely wanted something from her. There’s no other reason he’d do all this nice stuff for her. Haruno wasn’t stupid. She used to be, and she’d been in this situation before, she didn’t know why she’d let herself get into it again. Leone had just seemed so…nice and friendly…and also he didn’t give her much of a choice..but she could have run if she wanted! She just..she really didn’t know how she felt.

The man seemed so serious about this taking her in thing, letting her eat as much food as she wanted, laying out blankets for her on his couch, even talking about preparing a room for her..the way he so sincerely spoke of the idea, how he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say about ladybugs, and all the little ways throughout the night he tried to make her more comfortable made her want to believe he was being serious, but that could never happen. No one could want to care for someone like her without wanting something in return, not even her own parents wanted her.

Haruno lays down on the slightly fuzzy grey blanket laying on top of the hard leather couch and pulls another blanket, this one a dark brown and a bit softer than the other over herself. It was surprisingly comfortable, though, maybe she just thinks that because of the significantly more uncomfortable places she’s slept before. She closes her eyes, letting her mind wander back to her fantasies. As she feels the comforting fuzz of sleep envelop her mind she thinks of beautiful futures where mr. Leone decided to keep her. In her fantasies he’d treat her well. Everyday would be like today was, and she’d actually have a room of her own, one with a proper bed, and maybe some decorations too. They’d eat together every morning and then he’d walk her to school and the other kids there would stop being mean to her. She’d come home and they'd eat dinner together and maybe they’d talk a bit. Every night she’d fall asleep in a nice real bed comforted by the idea of a..papa who loves her..
Her thoughts put a smile to her face and she soon slips into the hands of sleep.

~-♥-♥-♥-~

Haruno wakes up to the sweet smell of breakfast being made in the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye she can see mr. Leone standing by the stove. She sits up on the couch, pushing her blanket off of her and rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes.
“Mr. Leone…” she grumbles, her voice still raspy and sleep-ridden.

“Ah, good morning Haruno. Did you sleep well?” He looks over into the living room from the kitchen.

Haruno mumbles a soft noise of some form of ‘yes’ that really just sounded like an ‘m’ sound. Leone, in the kitchen lets a soft and short laugh pass his lips before speaking, “Breakfast is almost ready. I found some old clothes of mine that shouldn't be too big on you. If they are, we'll tie them back with a hair tie until we can get you some new ones. They’re laying on the bathroom counter. Go get yourself washed up a bit before breakfast, kay?”

It takes her a moment to process everything said, but once she does she nods her head and starts walking towards where she was told the bathroom was last night. The bathroom was the only room on the hall that’s door was open, so she found it rather easily. As she enters she flicks on the light switch and shuts the door behind her. Just as Mr. Leone had told there were some clothes and hair ties sitting on the counter.

Haruno stands up on her tiptoes so she can see herself in the mirror as she washes her face. Afterwards she gently dries it with the hand towel hanging on the wall and replaces her current clothes with the ones Mr. Leone had found for her. As expected the clothes were too big, the shorts going down past her knees and the shirt barely fitting at all. She uses the hair ties on the counter to tie the two back.

Once she finishes in the bathroom she makes her way back towards the kitchen where Abbacchio had finished preparing breakfast.
As she enters the room she sees Leone sitting at the table already, staring off into space. He shoots back to attention once he notices that Haruno has entered the room. “Are you hungry Haruno?” the man asks as he stands up and walks over to the counter where Haruno can see an already prepared plate. He proceeds to place the plate down in front of the spot where Haruno had sat the previous night and motioned for her to sit down. Haruno did exactly that, taking a seat in front of the plate that she could now see held two pancakes that had been cut into triangles.

“You can go ahead and eat if you’d like. I’m going to go and.. Check on something.” at that mr. Leone left the room.

Haruno just sits and stares at her plate. Now fully awake, the pit in her stomach that was growing last night returns. The food looked wonderful, and Mr. Leone has been so nice all morning, but this wouldn't last and she knew it. He was going to do something. Something bad, she's sure. He had probably left the room to go and check on whatever that thing was. It isn't the first time she’s been in this situation, one of her parents deeming her unworthy of staying in their house that night, or longer if she had done something really bad, and ending up being let to stay the night with some kind stranger. Though, almost every time this has happened the stranger hadn't turned out to be so kind as she had first thought. This would certainly be the same.
No matter how nice he seems, he just wanted something from her.

Oh, you haven't eaten yet?” Haruno’s pulled from her thoughts by mr.Leone entering the room. “Is something wrong with the food? It doesn’t taste bad does it, I swear I actually tried.” he laughs a bit as he approaches Haruno.

Haruno slides off of her chair and looks up at the man. “I don’t have anything for you.” She starts, “If you’re going to do something, please, hurry up so I can leave.”

Leone looks taken aback by the claim, “What? Harun-”

“Please.” There are tears threatening to spill from Haruno’s eyes, glossing her eyes over. Her voice shakes and so does her body as she maintains eye contact and mutters “Stop..trying to pretend to be nice to me. Please. Stop. Just.. Just do whatever it is that you want already…before I start liking you..” her voice grows quiet towards the end.

Leone takes the girl into his arms, hugging her gently and shushing her cries. “Haru… No. That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to..do anything to you.” He speaks softly, closing his eyes and pulling her closer.

“But..”

“No. No buts. I’m not going to hurt you. Or anything else. I don’t know what things have been like for you in the past, but now that I’m here nothing, and no one is going to hurt you anymore. I promise.”

Haruno doesn't respond. Just pushes her head closer into Leone’s shoulder and smiles.