I Do Not Own Naruto
.
Seedlings
.
The one think Kakashi never figured to have happen in his life was how it literally revolved around the pinkette.
Adopting her had been easy enough, which was surprising to him. Once it was official though the girl paraded around everywhere with a copy of the adoption papers and told anyone within hearing range she had a family now. It had shocked him how happy the girl had been with that simple slip of paper. Kushina had tried to ask Sakura about her past, but the toddler who frown and then stomp off with the paper in hand repeating darkly that she had a family. It gave him an idea as to what the girl had been through.
However, with adopting Sakura came the reality of parenting a toddler.
One, his bed was no longer his own; it was invaded by a little heat monster. Seriously! How much heat could someone so little make!? No matter, the other thing he lost was cooking rights. If he wanted the toddler to eat, he had to cook what she would eat; which basically made his life very difficult, Sakura would try a bite of anything he cooked. However, if she didn't like it one bite then she would not eat it. Also, there was the matter of keeping track of her, it was difficult, she had excellent chakra control for any child. She may not have much in the chakra department, but it was clear she had control over what chakra she did have, and having a toddler sitting happily on the ceiling… well, it made it difficult to fully keep track of her.
He had found her in the following places: on the roof, on the water tower, at the top of the largest tree, the Hokage carvings, his ceiling (repeatedly), the tops telephone poles, the ceiling fan, and even the radio antenna; there were lots of other places for her to hide out on that only one with chakra could get to. Minato, Fugaku, and Kushina all took amusement in his plight; however, he had rarely been amused with Sakura's disappearing; at least until he had figured out a way to turn it into a game and not just random disappearances on her part, if she thought it a game then she did it when he said, or when she thought it appropriate.
Sakura's ability to conceal her chakra and control her chakra never ceased to amaze him, even jonin he knew could not control their chakra to the degree his kid was displaying.
But overall, he found a purpose in his life since taking Sakura in.
At least she was an easy girl to take care of, she didn't want much, but he did have to buy her clothes, she didn't seem to really want toys but he had bought her a few, and a few other things he was told children needed. However, she didn't seem to care much about things, just her copy of the papers and him. Still, it didn't stop him from trying to give her everything he could give her.
But there appeared to be some things he could not give her.
"Sakura!" he called out when he walked to the park, the girl was concealing her chakra again. Sighing again he had a feeling he knew where to find her, he did not understand why she ran off when she was crying but he knew that was what she was doing if she was hiding after coming to the park.
"Pink went that way!" Naruto shouted and pointed where he had seen Sakura run off.
He nodded and followed the direction the boy had pointed.
His hands were in his pockets as he strolled after her, the girl was good, he'd give her that. However, he lifted his headband and blinked his Sharingan active as he began scanning the area for her. She was good, he would admit that, however, he had the advantage between the hounds he could summon and the Sharingan. Sakura would not be hidden from him for long.
"Sakura," he sighed when he was standing right under her.
"How you find me?" she sniffled. He tilted his head back to see her crying again and he sighed; another thing he didn't understand was all her emotions, she had so many of them and they were easily beaten up.
"Because, we're family," he stated and then he hopped up to where she had perched herself.
"We are?" she asked with a sniffle.
"Yes," he nodded.
"They say we not," she mumbled and hugged her knees as she curled in on herself then. He sighed and then he placed a hand on her pink head.
"We are," he assured her. "And who says we're not?"
She pointed to a group of kids playing near the lake.
"Ah, well they are civilian kids, and you're a shinobi; what they say does not mean anything in the world of shinobi," he informed her. It was not arrogance leading his words, it was being a shinobi who had killed, and lost friends, it was from fighting and losing himself entirely to be a shinobi that had him saying his words. And unless you lived the life of a warrior, then you did not even comprehend just that meant. And families were more than blood, he knew, he had lost two families, his father, his squad members Obito and Rin.
"I'm shinobi?" she asked uncertainly.
"Well, you're my kid so of course you," he reasoned.
"Am I billboard brow too?" she asked. And now he was treading into the dangerous unknown, he didn't know anything about girls and looks! Oh, he knew an attractive woman when he saw her, however, in regards of smaller females!?
"Well… if you have a large forehead that just means… you have a big brain which makes you smart," he guessed. "Smarts are better than looks," he admitted. Especially in regards to shinobi, the smart shinobi was a cunning one, and the cunning ones were dangerous.
"Huh?" she tilted her head.
"But, if you're that concerned about it, I think you're cute," he settled for. She just smiled a bit and he sighed with relief; kids were tough to understand.
"Sasuke! Wait up!" both he and Sakura looked down as their tree was climbed, he found himself looking at the youngest Uchiha again. Onyx eyes blinked and then the kid frowned.
"Annoying!" he announced and then there was Itachi in the tree with them.
"Will you stop running off!" Itachi snapped.
"NO!" Sasuke shouted and then Kakashi watched as the kid dropped from the tree and ran off. Itachi sighed, he smirked behind his mask, and Sakura giggled.
"Hide-n-seek! I play too!" she declared and darted off as fast as her legs could carry her, down the tree with no hands and then she was gone.
"Agh!' Itachi groaned as he messed up his hair then looked at him. Kakashi was counting though; Sakura had a handicap of a hundred to hide before he would track her down.
"What are you doing?" Itachi demanded.
"It's a game," he shrugged. "Besides, she's more than likely going to just climb another tree."
"A game?" Itachi asked.
"Yes, Sakura and I have turned it into a game for her chakra control. She does it without thinking but it's an exercise for her all the same." Kakashi shrugged. Or he could send the hounds after her, she liked that, and the hounds found it amusing.
"Well… think you could get Sasuke to join the game?" Itachi asked thoughtfully.
"Well, find him and I'll find Sakura and then we'll see, Sakura will do this all day, but it's about concealing chakra and controlling it," Kakashi admitted.
"You won't mind?" Itachi asked uncertainly.
"Not really, she's played with the hyper active, blonde knucklehead and didn't lose it so I suppose it's alright," he shrugged.
"TEME!" a high voice screamed.
"DOBE!" a Sasuke voice shouted back.
"Kami! Not again!" Itachi sighed and then ran off towards Sasuke he supposed. Kakashi just shrugged and then hopped off his branch after Sakura.
There was no sound, and he looked up to where she was.
"Got you," he said as he tossed a shuriken above her head.
There was nothing.
"Huh? Sakura?" he asked. There was a light rustling of the leaves on the tree, and he again activated his Sharingan and watched as her small form nimbly leapt from one branch to another, there was a smile on those lips and he smirked. So she was a cunning one as well as controlled, he could see a lot of potential in the pinkette.
"That's cheating," he informed her as he leapt up after her. She laughed and he grinned as she ran vertically up the tree.
"Gotcha!" he informed her when he caught her when her chakra slipped up and she fell. She was laughing too hard as he rolled on the grass to his feet.
"AGAIN!" she declared.
"Oi, get back here!" Itachi shouted again.
"NO!" Sasuke and Naruto shouted as they ran into him.
"Hello there," he said as he let Sakura stand and stood up to his full height.
"Hide-n-seek! Hide-n-seek!" Sakura declared as she tugged his pants leg again.
"Hide-n-seek!" the other two looked expectantly at him then and then to each other, Sakura was grinning and tugging his pants in her zealous glee.
"Oh good, would you mind letting both of these idiots play with your kid?" Itacih asked him as he caught up.
"Well, do they want to play chakra concealing hide-n-seek?" Kakashi asked the older boy with a bland look. He knew Sakura would play this game all day long and all over the village, it astounded him still that she had the control of her chakra that she had.
"Chakra concealing hide-n-seek?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, it requires the control over one's chakra to play this game, the entire village is the hiding grounds, and I use any means to find you, and you can use any means to evade me," he admitted. It wasn't training, it was a game, and it happened to be useful for learning to be a shinobi.
"Play! Go!' Sakura declared as she darted off.
"Annoying!" Sasuke declared. "I play!" he darted off after Sakura then.
"Me too!" Naruto ran off then. Kakashi sighed and began counting to a hundred again; he was getting really good at this, he thought as he pulled out his Icha Icha novel and waited.
"You're Kakashi, right?" he looked to the older boy beside him.
"And you are Itachi," he stated. It didn't take a genius to know the noble Uchiha clan by looks alone, onyx eyes, ebony hair, serious expressions that almost never faltered defined the Uchiha.
"I'm sorry about this, Sasuke's been difficult after our mother passed. Father can't even get him to sit down for training," Itachi sighed.
Kakashi nodded his head then.
"You adopted the girl right?" Itachi asked.
"Yes, I adopted Sakura," he agreed.
"Is it always hard?" Itachi asked.
"I don't know, she's the first kid I've ever been around," he shrugged. He had never been one for kids, his bored demeanor, and his lack of interest drove everyone insane and children always shied away from him anyway. Sakura was an odd one in his mind.
"Aa," Itachi nodded.
"But no, she is not a difficult kid to watch, once I figured out how to keep track of her. She's naturally gifted in controlling her chakra," Kakashi admitted.
"Oh? You didn't teach her running up the trees?" Itachi asked.
"No, I've been running after a toddler who was literally running on the ceiling," he admitted with a chuckle.
"Really! And I thought Sasuke trying to run on walls was tough; he's always blowing through the walls though," Itachi sighed.
"Well, that's part of learning," he shrugged.
"Do you mind watching him for the rest of the afternoon? I have the Academy and father isn't interested in watching an unruly toddler," Itachi explained.
"Just go I'll bring Sasuke home tonight." Kakashi waved the boy off and resumed his reading as he recounted to a hundred. It gave the kids time to hide.
"Thanks!" Itachi said in relief and then he ran off. Kakashi just smirked behind his mask, so he was a babysitter…
This was first.
Still in a Naruto sort of mood...
That's all for now folks!
Enjoy Blooming in Darkness! =)
