New and improved prologue of this story - Enjoy!
When Zakuro and Kasturou took their newborn child to the Furusawa compound, the entire extended family immediately mosied to the household of the screaming baby and her very tired parents.
The Furusawa family barged their way into the house just as Zakuro had sat down and started to rock Anzu into a nap. Kasturou groaned and opened the door, only to have more than twelve people barge in and settle in their very small living room.
"Why did you invite this many people?" Zakuro sighed.
"I didn't, I swear. I only invited Koemi, but I was still cautious about it." Kasturou defended himself.
When a small body walked through the door, Zakuro seemed less tense and Kasturou's entire manor changed. She looked like Kasturou's deceased mother, which made him sad but she was one of the lights of his life.
"So, is that my niece?" smiled Kasturou's little sister, Koemi.
Koemi pushed her glasses up the bridge of her dainty nose and gave a puzzled stare to the bundle in Zakuro's arms.
"Yeah," Kasturou looked at his wife and his daughter and smiled. He looked back at his little sister and patted her head. "Her name is Anzu."
"Why not Keomi number two? Someone needs to carry on my legacy." Koemi sighed dramatically and went to talk to Zakuro.
Kasturou shook his head at his ten year old sister and mingled with his side of the family; the Furusawa side. Zakuro married into the Furusawa family, but Kasturou was just blessed with this circus he called a family.
Shiro, one of his beloved cousins slapped him on the back and wished him congratulations. He didn't like Shiro that much; he always prodded in everyone's business, mainly his business.
Shiro had a large nose that took up most of his face. When he walked in the room, his nose was the first to arrive, and god, his voice. Nasally, high pitched, and at times squeeky.
"So, how's this going to affect the job? You gonna quit or just take a teaching job?"
"I…" He didn't know. He was only twenty three and in the prime of his life. He loved being a ninja, it was something that came natural to him. That was his income, that's how he met his wife and all his friends. That was his life, and to quit it all just for a child?
"I've never seen you this hard in thought. Damn, I can see lights flickering in that tiny head of yours!"
The taller Furusawa smacked Shiro on the back of the head and called him an idiot before storming away to his wife. He grumbled and sat down on the floor beside the brunette with his sister plopping down beside him.
"Where's your brother?" Kasturou asked his wife.
"You know how Mao is," Zakuro sneered at the doorway. "always keeping him away from me."
Zakuro's brother Koji and his wife Mao were the last to arrive to the welcoming party. Koji walked through the crowd of people and made his way to his little sister, while Mao made her way to the kitchen for food.
Zakuro made sure to glare at the blonde as she walked to the kitchen. Mao made the new mother want to strangle her into a painful death. She was rude and was usually seen spreading gossip amongst the town.
Koji's presence made the small living room seem smaller. He was a large man, towering over everyone, including Kasturou, who was still certain he was the taller man in the situation. When he smiled at his sister, his entire face lit up like a candle when its first lit.
"Imōto, you went and got pregnant without even telling me! How did this even happen?" Koji made a face that looked like he had eaten spoiled food and shook his head. "Nevermind, don't tell me how it happened."
"Maybe if Mao didn't keep you from visiting us, you would have known that I was pregnant." Zakuro mumbled while making sure Anzu was sleeping in her arms. Koji's olive colored eyes flashed with hurt before he walked over to his sister and her husband.
"There's my niece! Wow, she looks weird." Koji squinted his eyes to see the appeal of the baby in his sister's arms.
"Want to hold her?" Zakuro offered her brother the sleeping baby.
"You let him hold her but not me! I'm offended!" Koemi pouted from beside Kasturou, who was keeping himself occupied by putting Koemi's pale hair into pigtails.
"You're ten years old and still in the academy. You can barely hold a pencil straight, there's no way in hell i'm letting you hold my baby." Kasturou said, yanking on one of her pigtails.
"Give me the little ankle biter." Koji picked up Anzu, careful to make sure she didn't wake up.
He held her for what seemed like an hour. Anzu just napped in his arms as he walked around and socialized with Kasturou's family. She stirred a few times which caused Koji to panic a bit, but she just went back to her little baby snores.
Mao had talked to Koji in the kitchen while he was holding Anzu, and she was actually awake for that. She was quiet, and even though Koji knew Anzu couldn't understand what his wife and him were discussing, he felt like she shouldn't be holding it.
"Why don't you come out and socialize? You're always hiding in some remote location, away from everyone else!" the long haired male said to his wife.
"You know why." Mao said curtly, brushing her pale blonde bangs out of her eyes.
"No, I don't know why. Do you care to share with the rest of the class?" he questioned with a hint of anger, but it was cautious.
"Maybe because your sister hates me and makes me feel bad every time I talk to her? Oh, maybe because her husband thinks bad of me because of what she says to him? Maybe because nobody even wanted you to get married to me? Want me to go on?" her lavender eyes shined with unshed tears.
"I- that's not true and you know it!" Koji defended his sister, but was cautious with his voice, as to not disturb the baby.
Her tall, lanky body bent over the island in the kitchen and glared at her husband. Was he really that blind?
"It is true, you're just to blind to see how she manipulates you!" she hissed, venom seeping through her sickly sweet voice with every word.
"I'm not having this conversation with you here. Not in my sister's house, and especially not in front of my- our niece."
"Then when are we going to have it, Koji? When you come back from work? When I have enough time to breathe after taking care of my mom? You tell me when, and then we'll do it."
A tear bled from her eye and ran down her tanned cheek and she didn't bother to wipe it away.
"They can hear you in there, you know," Koemi's peach pigtails popped in from the kitchen door.
Just as suddenly as she appeared, Koemi disappeared into the living room once more, leaving the feuding adults to themselves. Mao huffed and shook her head, muttering something about stupid kids, while Koji glared at the wooden floor. Anzu laid in his arms, making little noise.
"We'll talk about this when we get home," was the only thing Koji said before he shuffled to the living room, Anzu cradled in his arms.
Koji looked down at Anzu and smiled grimly. This baby, this precious life that had been given to his sister, was going to be a good thing for the family. He could tell from the way everyone gathered just to see her. "Welcome to the family, little one."