Magnolia
Without Fear
Chapter 2: 'Yes, It's Mine'.
Hatake Sakumo was mesmerized by the sight of his wife with her right breast was bared and suckled on by infant Kakashi. Now, Sakumo wasn't really reflecting the beauty of breastfeeding or motherhood; rather he was forming a theory on why men had a thing for women's breasts. When he thought about it he was surprised no one really talked about why women's breasts were so captivating to men—if it was for sexual purposes, then there was another organ more directly associated with sex. He thought it couldn't just be that women's breasts were surprisingly soft, warm, squishy and…yes, let's leave it there....but rather, it was because they are the first real comfort a baby is given, one of the first thing it encounters and is nurtured by. The mother's breast and milk are staples to a healthy baby, and the fascination with women's breasts is the vestige of a childhood forgotten. Of course, he didn't know how to account for females or those who were never breastfed, but then again he's never asked. Sakumo would love to ask Kisuriko to better formulate his theory, but that would only signal he was distracted and even getting turned on by the sight of her breastfeeding their child. Now, if he ever voiced that thought, he'd be sleeping on the couch for a month. As he was already sexually deprived as Kisuriko was in her 'I-just-gave-birth-touch-me-and-I-will-kill-you' phase of motherhood, it was really not a good idea.
Of course, when he really thought about it—he was beginning to doubt the sex appeal of his wife's recently voluptuous and rather leaky breasts as his own son was suckling on it, but…no…no…she was still sexually attractive to him.
"What are you thinking?" her suspicious voice cut into her thoughts. Sakumo blinked and looked at her.
"What am I thinking?" he repeated.
"Yes," she responded, "Your face was so contorted and focused. You must be thinking deeply about some difficult manner." Sakumo could hear the light teasing in her voice.
He nearly blushed, "Nothing really…important." Kakashi, he thought, staring at the child, you're a lucky baby. He smacked himself mentally—did he just get jealous of kid over breastfeeding? This was definitely disgusting. Sakumo thanked the gods Kisuriko couldn't read minds.
"Tell me Sakumo," Kisuriko said, "Now that you have three weeks off, what do you have planned? What do shinobis do when they're not killing people, saving villages, winning wars, finding lost pets, helping out the harvests and eloping with young ladies?"
"Uh…" Sakumo began rather lamely, "We…or I…train." Well, it was not all he did but it was mostly what he did.
Kisuriko quirked her eyebrow at this, "I see. No wonder you're so good at what you do."
"I read," Sakumo added, almost defensively, "Hang out with any friends who are not on the missions…get chores done…paperwork…sleep. Yeah, sleep."
"Well, we could read, hang out, get chores and paperwork done and sleep for three weeks straight," she said cheekily, and chuckled as Sakumo groaned.
"Come on, give me a break. What did you do?"
"I read," she answered promptly, "I don't have friends to hang out with, I don't have to do chores or paperwork, and I don't like to sleep more than necessary as it is a sign of a lazy mind." Sakumo raised an eyebrow at this.
"Well," she continued, smiling at him, "I'm not a shinobi so I don't need the sleep like you guys do, probably."
"You had it pretty good, huh?"
"I suppose so."
"Do you miss it?"
"What, having people wait on my whims 24 hours a day, having nothing but the best in clothes, food and entertainment?" she asked pertly.
Sakumo blinked, "Uh, yeah."
"Well, if I did, I wouldn't be here, would I?"
"Makes sense."
"Of course, as I am quite sensible," she returned coolly, she glanced down and smiled, "Oh, he's asleep." And indeed he was. Kakashi's little fists were snuggled under his chin and his little mouth seemed to have stopped suckling, although it still had the nipple securely in his mouth. Sakumo smiled at the sheer cuteness of his son when he wasn't vomiting on him, or pooing incessantly or sleeping or crying at god forsaken hours.
Kisuriko carefully moved him and pulled her bra and shirt down. "I'll put him to bed," she told Sakumo quietly, "And I'm going to take a nap."
"A nap? What were saying about unnecessary sleep?"
"If you think it's unnecessary, then I challenge you to take care of an infant for an entire day." Sakumo only returned a bright smile and watched as she disappeared into the bed room with her arms gently wrapped around Kakashi. When she did not reappear after several minutes, Sakumo guessed that she had pretty much passed out on the bed having been a victim of infant-care for the last few weeks. Sakumo groaned tiredly and sank into the couch as drowsiness also overtook him. He was a victim of new-mother-care. Perhaps it wasn't as tiring as infant-care, but taking care of a new mother was no joke either—the mood swings, the surliness (more than usual), the vomiting (thankfully over), and the constant demand various foods (thankfully over too).
Sakumo was barely asleep when a loud knock brought his conscious back to the surface. The warmth that had collected around him kept him from jerking awake and his body seemed immobilized by comfort. There was more knocking, and Sakumo groaned and pushed himself out of the bed, cursing whoever was on the other side of the door.
When he opened it, he wished he never had and he wished he had cursed harder.
"Yo, Sakumo!" greeted his white-haired visitor, inviting himself into the apartment, "Heard you had a baby!"
Sakumo closed the door behind him as his visitor took off his bag, set it on the floor and threw himself on the couch.
"Jiraiya," Sakumo groaned, joining the man on the couch, "If Kisuriko hears that, she'll have the greatest time chewing you out. She had the baby, I did not. According to her, I'm guilty of making her go through all that pain when I all I got out of it was—"
"Good sex," Jiraiya finished for him with a wise nod.
"Not the word I was going to use," nodded a smiling Sakumo, "But right. Of course, that's not true at all. Also, keep quiet, the two of them just got to sleep."
"So the sex is good? I can't imagine having just one—"
Sakumo gave him a don't-you-go-there glare and the Sannin backed off, chuckling lecherously at whatever thought he was entertaining.
"So, what'd you name the kid?"
"Kakashi. Hatake Kakashi."
Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow, "What, were you two drunk or high when you chose the name?"
"No," answered Sakumo flatly, tired of having to explain his son's name to everyone. He wondered if they should have named him Keisuke instead—so much for being original. "If we were, I doubt we would have seriously considered it when we were sober."
"So do you two usually get drunk or high together?"
"Jiraiya," warned Sakumo, "Let's keep this civil. There's a lady and a baby in the house."
Jiraiya snorted and nodded, "So the little lady agreed with it? The name?"
"In fact, she liked it. Said it reminded of her henohenomohenji scarecrows."
"What scarecrows?"
"Nevermind. Civilian thing."
"What possessed you to come up with the name?"
"Henohenomohenji scarecrow."
"I'm seriously going to find out what that is, but it seems you two have scarecrow fetish—what uncomfortable foreplay you—"
Sakumo gave him that 'don't start' look again. The White Fang was used to Jiraiya's bawdiness, having spent drunken nights with the Sannin and other of their shinobi companions playing poker and entertaining each other with lewd banter. However, being a new father and husband seemed to take the humor out of him—at least that's what Jiraiya seemed to think.
"You're no fun," Jiraiya pouted.
"I can actually take that as a compliment," Sakumo returned coolly.
"Hm, you're grouchy—has your sex life plunged since the baby happened?"
"Kisuriko's breastfeeding."
"That explains all then. How's married life for you though?" asked Jiraiya, "D'you have any regrets?"
"If anyone has any regrets, it might as well be me."
Sakumo nearly jumped at the sudden interjection of his wife, who stood looking at them from the doorway of the bedroom.
"You two are seriously loud," she said, striding over to them a taking a seat on the couch opposite to the two men.
"Aren't you a light sleeper, ojou-sama," laughed Jiraiya in way of greeting.
"I don't need to be when it's you, Jiraiya-san," she told him monotonously.
"Ho ho, the lady has bite," chortled the Sannin good naturedly, "Ah, I almost forgot!" Jiraiya reached into his bag and pulled out two packets hastily wrapped in baby blue wrapping and tossed them onto Sakumo's lap.
"Gifts?" asked Sakumo, picking up on package and scrutinizing it carefully.
"No, it's not anything dangerous or stupid," stated the Sannin with a serious nod, "However…one of them was for when ojou-sama was still pregnant so it might not be too relevant anymore."
"Stop calling me ojou-sama, Jiraiya-san," said Kisuriko pointedly as Sakumo was tearing off the wrapping of the first package, "I have a name."
"Then can I call you Kisu-chan?"
"No."
"Then, chibi ojou-sama?"
"You aren't drunk enough to be this stupid or suicidal. Is there something wrong, Jiraiya-san?"
However, their little conversation was interrupted by Sakumo—"Baby Journal?"
Both eyes turned on him, and Jiraiya exclaimed excitedly, "It's the most awesome baby journal ever—take a look at all the stuff inside." Sakumo opened the large, yellow book and a wide grin spread across his face as his eyes scanned the first few pages and a packet of colorful stickers.
"I see… 'Baby's first vomit on father'… 'Baby's first vomit on mother' … 'Baby discovers his own poo' … 'Baby discovers crying means it can get anything it wants' … 'Baby understands what torture is' …'Baby understands "No!"' … 'Baby discovers the lure of dangerous, inedible substances and attempts to ingest them' … so…what happened to the usual stuff Jiraiya? What about 'Baby's first smile' or 'Baby's first words?'"
Kisuriko seemed to have found it entertaining as she was laughing very heartily and Jiraiya, pleased to have elicited the mirth from the usually guarded ojou-sama, answered Sakumo with a mischievous smile, "That kind of boring shit isn't for the brat of the great White Fang."
"Besides, Sakumo," Kisuriko chimed in, "These are a truer to life. I think we could have used some of those already."
"Especially 'Baby's first vomit on father'," Sakumo agreed with a chuckle. He handed the book to the Kisuriko and started unwrapping the second present.
"Hmm… 'Baby's First Maul'?" mused Kisuriko, cocking her head slightly as she scanned the rest of the stickers.
"Means the first time the baby starts biting everything and anyone it can get those new pearls on," explained Jiraiya, "I remember Hiruzen-sensei had a huge bite mark the Asuma brat gave him when the kid was teething…children are powerful critters indeed—I doubt even s-class criminals can give him a bite like that."
" 'Yes, it's mine.'?" Came Sakumo's questioning voice. The White Fang was holding out black t-shirt in front him with big, bold white words emblazoned in the front saying 'YES, IT'S MINE' with an arrow pointing to the side. He turned it around for Kisuriko to see. The lady's eyebrows rose very high reading the t-shirt and gave Jiraiya a 'Do explain' look.
"It's supposed to refer to the baby when you were pregnant, ojou—er, Kisuriko," mumbled Jiraiya defensively, taking care to not further antagonize the lady by calling her usual title, "Didn't mean any harm by it."
"It's actually quite clever," piped in Sakumo, holding the t-shirt against himself, "I mean…when you're pregnant, everyone knows it's your kid, but who knows it's mine? This shirt announces it to the world."
"Better hope that it's the right pregnant woman on the right side of you, then," said Kisuriko, rolling her eyes, "But it's too late now."
"Well, who said you won't get pregnant again?" exclaimed Jiraiya in a matter-of-factly tone, "You two are still young with healthy sexual appetites and a lot more years of fun under the sheets. You can probably expect to pop out a few more."
Kisuriko's face darkened at this: "I'll have Tsunade-san pull your lower lip over your head to your ass—then you can ask me 'to pop out a few more'."
Jiraiya merely smiled at the return of Kisuriko's surly attitude. He decided that she was definitely draining his poor friend's youth and good humor.
"Thanks, Jiraiya," said Sakumo, merely laughing at Kisuriko's words, "They're fun presents. A lot more fun than presents from Kisuriko's family."
She shrugged. "Well, some of my family's gifts were at least useful."
"A gold plated pacifier is no way useful and can be dangerous, Kisuriko."
"Hence 'some'."
Jiraiya blinked, "Gold plated pacifier?"
"Her uncle wanted to make a point about my status as a lowly shinobi."
"Sounds like an ass."
"They all are."
Kisuriko gave him a humorless grin, "Thank you, Sakumo."
"Except you and a select few, of course. But come on, you have to admit—your relatives are stuck up snobs."
"We're nobility. It's expected. Even I can be a stuck up snob."
"May the gods help me whenever you are."
"Amen to that," Jiraiya added much to the annoyance of Kisuriko, "Oh, look at the time. I gotta get going. Okay you two lovebirds…don't peck each other to death now."
The new parents were left with the Sannin's interesting gifts as the man hurriedly left the apartment. Kisuriko looked at Sakumo and said, evenly, "I'm going back to sleep."
"Can I join you?"
"On the condition that you won't touch me."
"I'll sleep on the couch."
A/N:
Thank you for all the reviews, faves and alerts! Also for the critiques and questions! I take my reviewer's words into consideration so thank you all!
The chapter has little of the sweetness of the first. There was little of baby Kakashi, because…let's face it, a month old baby really don't do much except 'cry, eat, shit, and sleep'. Of course—it can act cute but the vomit and the poo pretty much overshadows the cuteness at points.
Also, women who just gave birth are not biologically and emotionally ready for sex in the following month or so (less or more depending on the woman), so Kisuriko is experiencing low sex drive from a suppressed level of progesterone while Sakumo is suffering from the lack of fun under the sheets.
I am enjoying writing the next few chapters more and focusing on little Kakashi. Wait until he's talking. I'll also try to update faster.
And I've seen those 'Yes, It's Mine' shirts.