Hey, guys whose back! I gotta admit, I didn't expect the reaction I got for this, but who's gonna complain? Not me! Anyways, let's get a movin'!
Sneaking back into the base was surprisingly easy considering how you look at it. Kisame simply snuck in through the underground sewer system and the shark-nin could have never been more grateful for the hidden tunnels. With the size of the base their sewer mirrored an entire town's system right down to the stone walls and questionable-color of the water. The realistic side of Kisame knew that the very least the rest of the council was going to find out about his new charge, but he felt the need of prolonging it, if anything to have more time to figure out how to explain it well enough that Pein would allow her to stay. A bigger part of him thought there was a good chance the Uzumaki could see reason; after all he allowed Itachi and his infant brother Sasuke to stay for the potential he saw in them and since it appeared she was also from a ninja clan, there was a good chance.
As Kisame walked on, he occasionally glanced down at the still sleeping baby, who was nestled comfortably in the crook of his arm. She really was so small, even for a newborn, her head was tucked soundly (and safely) near the joint of his arm and shoulder as he cradled her and her feet barely reached his elbow, the one or two blankets she was still wrapped in, along with the sleeve of his cloak keeping her well warm. Yet, as alarming as her size was, she seemed otherwise fine and his first decision after he finally had approval to keep her was to get her to a medic-nin.
Kimiko's light, almost whispered breathes were surprisingly nice for him to listen to, creating a sort of delicate song alongside the drips of water from the ceiling and soft rattles of the pipes. The thought made his smile grow as he shook his head, he had only know her for the span of maybe half-an-hour, but already she was making quite an impact on his overly shitty and lonely life. Barely anyone wanted him around, even during his genin days he was painfully alone and more or less ignored for his strange complexion and shark-like features; apparently Kiri was fond of the 'if you ignore it, it'll go away' method. Yet, Kimiko wanted him around the moment she laid eyes on him, completely unaware of his past and all he had done, so thus, had no reason not to hate or distrust him, which the blue-haired shinobi was eternally grateful and appreciative for.
He finally paused to look around upon reaching a manhole cover and ladder. If his memory severed his right, this intersection was under the intersecting halls that led to his room. Now all that was left to do was hide the basket so he could come back and get it later and be sure it would still be down here, which was easy with a simple henge to turn it into a rock that blended in with the cement around him.
Satisifed, Kisame carefully adjusted his hold on Kimiko before making his way up the ladder. Carefully lifting the lid as quietly as he could, slate-grey eyes scanned the four halls for any sign of life, whilst keeping a sharp ear out for approaching noise. Once sure it was safe to be in the open, Kisame carefully climbed out, using his foot to carefully lower the manhole lid back into place before heading for his room. He was halfway down the hall when a very foul smell assaulted his nose, making him freeze and gag, which cut halfway into a wrenching cough as he tried to control his volume. He quickly sniffed at his cloak to see if anything from the sewer clung to him, but there wasn't anything on it. Figuring the events of the day was finally wearing his mind down and it was playing tricks on him, he started to continue on when he smelt it again and he gagged/coughed again. He was getting confused until it dawned on him and he quickly moved his free hand to feel Kimiko's diaper and paled when he felt the lumps confirming his suspicion: Kimiko pooped her diaper.
Kisame really did have to curse both Kami and his luck since he didn't have any diapers for obvious reasons and his mind was going a mile a minute wondering what to replace one with as he debated removing it in the hall and throwing it away just for the sake of getting rid of the smell. Part of him thought of how funny it'd be to throw the dirty diaper at Deidara, Sasori, Konan or even Pein next time one of them pissed him off, but ultimately went against it; knowing the girls, they'd tried to kill him and Pein defiantly would and he actually wanted to live to see his new little girl make genin. He'd just figure out the whole diaper thing in his room where no one could see him.
Moving faster than he thought possible, Kisame made a very hasty beeline for his bedroom door. Carefully balancing his daughter's head as he jiggled the doorknob and tried to pull the door open for a few seconds, only to realize what he was doing wrong and turn the knob the right way and pushed it open. Once open, Kisame rushed into his room with the now awakening Kimiko in his arm, shutting the door behind.
However, in his rush, he failed to see six-year-old Itachi Uchiha standing at the other end of the hall, baby bottle in hand; staring as his teacher/comrade ran into his room like one of the biju was on his tail. He blinked as his usually emotionless coal-black eyes stared at the spot Kisame had been standing in seconds prior, now shining bright with confusion.
He had just been coming back with a full bottle of milk for Sasuke, which he just tasted to see if it was too hot, when he heard footsteps approaching fast and momentarily panicked until he saw it was just Kisame. For such a dark and loud shinobi, the former heir had to respect the man's sheer power and skill with his former village's signature element, and despite the violent, hot-tempered front he'd put up, he was rather nice for a rival shinobi, usually being the first or second to volunteer to help him with his little brother and Itachi didn't even peg the guy for liking 'mini-brats' as the man had so lightly put it.
So imagine Itachi's utter surprise to see the man not only looking openly panicked, making the young Uchiha wonder if they were being invaded and he just simply didn't get the word, and carrying a surprisingly tiny baby. It was smaller than Sasuke, who was just barely a month old and had familiar marks that Itachi just couldn't place.
Apparently, the shark-nin never saw him, because instead of stopping to stare back or explain; Kisame struggled with his door for a moment before rushing in and slamming it behind him.
After a few more blinks, all Itachi managed to say was the question repeating itself in his head, "Was that Kisame-san with a baby?" He glanced around, half-expecting someone to answer, before sighing half-heartedly.
It really wasn't his first choice to leave Konoha, but he really hadn't a choice in the end. He was not ready for Clan Head duties despite what the insufferable council thought and he wasn't about to be separated from his brother either, not when he made a promise to his dying parents he would always watch and protect the younger heir. It took everything Itachi had not to break down at their funerals and even after being taken in by the Akatsuki and finding something of dysfunctional family in the council members, it was still taking some getting used to not having his parents around.
Shaking off the depressing thoughts and refocusing on what was around him, Itachi reverted back to his usual demeanour as he stared down at the bottle in his hand as he wondered, "What do they put in this stuff?" That said, he dumped out the milk and began the long trek back to the kitchen for another, hoping his brother could wait another forty minutes.
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Kisame took a minute to sag a bit against the closed door in relief that he had made it without getting caught. His living space was something of an apartment complex, it wasn't big by luxury means, but it was decently sized with a nice living room/dining room combo that was separated by a counter from the kitchen, which was also decent size with modern-styled appliances and the hall led to two bedrooms, his broom-closet and the bathroom. He really needed to start making plans to change things to suit his new little girl.
Speaking of whom, Kimiko let out a joyful coo of seeing her new papa, kicking her tiny feet wildly from her excitement. Kisame would've been happy to smile and would've chuckled at the sight…had not a tiny bit of poop not slid out of an opening in the diaper and land on his coffee table.
"I sometimes eat there, I hope you know," The Kiri-missing nin half-whined, half semi-scolded, his disgust growing as the smell got worse.
Kimiko seemed oblivious to it though as she continued to giggle and laugh. This caused Kisame to narrow his eye playfully at her as he smirked, "Oh, so you think is funny, huh?" As he got some paper towels, he teased, "You know, if you were about three ft taller, I'd probably make you clean this yourself."
After setting her down, he cringed a bit as he began to clean the poop off the table, whilst mumbling, "I can take down almost countless enemies without batting an eyelid, but I can't clean up baby waste without cringing…" Now he kinda hope he wouldn't have to tell anyone about his new daughter, if anything to avoid future embarrassment.
"Dada," Kimiko's soft, quiet and small voice called out to him, arms out and making grabbing motions, clearly wanting to be held once more as she kicked her legs. She was just so small, cute and adorable, and innocent, it made Kisame wonder where her wings and halo were.
Fears of embarrassment forgotten, Kisame gave his new child his signature shark-like grin as he spoke gently, "Daddy's coming, don't worry." Instead of flinching at the grin like most children usually did, Kimiko just laughed more, making him smile more genuinely.
Once the smaller mess was cleaned and done, Kisame went to take care of the bigger, original one, only to pause and suddenly feel rather stupid as he tried to recall what to do. He had done his fair share of babysitting D-rank missions as a genin with his team, but even then, all he and Zabuza had to do was entertain the older children while Ameyuri cared for the infants with their sensei, having not trusted the either of them with such simple things as feeding them or changing the diaper.
Kisame looked at the actual diaper, hoping there'd be some sort of clue and those hopes were answered when he noticed straps on the sides. Grinning once more at his own accomplishment, Kisame carefully undid the straps and started to pull the diaper off, only to quickly back up at the overwhelming stench of poop coming free now that there wasn't anything to contain and restrain it.
Now he was feeling like an idiot, trying to figure out what to do now. If he just left Kimiko on the table as he got rid of the diaper, her still dirty bottom was going leave a very nasty stain and smell on his table, which he doubted was going to wash out easy, leaving Kisame with the option to toss out the table, which would lead to questions he didn't feel like answering.
Looking around for inspiration, he smirked as he got an idea and formed a one handed-seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He winced as his chakra molded to the jutsu he had almost forgotten, but smiled as the poof smoke gave way to the perfect copy of Kisame, which also gagged at the horrible smell.
The clone took one look at the situation and bluntly said, "Yeah…I'm leaving." Only to be stopped by the original grabbing him by the cloak collar.
"Just toss the diaper into the sewer," The original Kisame growled, "No one's going to question the smell then and get back here before taking yourself out, I'm in no mood for clone-shit right now." The clone begrudgingly complied, cringing as he took the dirty diaper out from under Kimiko as the original held her tiny legs up as carefully as he could, once again concerned about her size.
The clone made quick work of diaper, being gone and back in as little as five minutes, before glowering at the original Kiri-nin unamusedly, "Happy now?"
Kisame smirked back as he went into the kitchen to get a rag to clean Kimiko's still dirty bottom, "Very," The clone huffed before simply bashing his head into a random wall in order to leave, leaving the original to huff indigently as he rung the dripping rag, "Even I'm not that dramatic."
However, the blue-haired shinobi was oblivious to the fact that Kimiko had watched the whole thing too and she gave a small, confused coo as her eyes shined with confusion, hurt and alarm before watering with sadness and she started to wail, tears running down her face. This, of course, caught Kisame very much off guard, "What's wrong, Kimiko? Are you okay?" He once again felt stupid for asking something she obviously couldn't answer, he couldn't have been happier for the sound-proof walls as he was right now.
But upon registering his voice, Kimiko's head almost snapped in his direction and upon seeing him, she was immediately all squeals and giggles, mouth stretching into a cute, toothless smile and cocoa eyes twinkling once more with happiness to see him intact. It then clicked in Kisame's head what must've been wrong; Kimiko had also watched the clone cancel itself out and must've thought it was actually him and mentally cursed himself for his carelessness, but couldn't help finding her mistake just the tiniest bit funny.
As he wiped her bottom clean, he smiled down at her, feeling warmth growing more as those bright eyes locked on him with unconditional love and happiness. "Daddy's not going to leave you all alone," He promised fondly as, now that she was clean, removing the paper towel he used to keep her from making a stain on his table, "Never."
He then tossed the dirty rag into a nearby trash-basket with one, sharp flick of his wrist, followed by the now stained paper-towel, not at all pleased with holding something with stains that weren't going wash out anytime soon. Now clean and free, Kimiko squirmed on the table giggling up at her father's thoughtful, but warm expression as he was met with one of his first problems upon deciding to keep her. She still needed a new, clean diaper and he wasn't about to try and get one from Itachi, already knowing Sasuke's were much too big for his tiny little girl.
He couldn't stop himself from musing softly aloud, "I have plenty of money to get some from the nearest town, but I doubt I can get out of here, much less there without questions rising and I still don't know how I'm going to convince Pein to let me keep ya." Kimiko just cooed up at him, somehow managing to jam her foot in her mouth, looking up at him with big, warm, innocent chocolate eyes, making him chuckle.
He looked around once again for inspiration, only to spy the simple black curtain hanging on his only window. Despite the base was built into the mountain, the bedrooms had been built along the outer wall, allowing windows with nice views to be optional should any of them desired them. He once again chuckled only this time at himself for the desperate-looking choice he was about to make.
Wordlessly, he stood up and took out a kunai, not in the mood to simply rip the whole thing down and just ripped a small part of the bottom, figuring a small infant like Kimiko didn't need a big diaper, heck, he was sure she wasn't even going to need a normal sized diaper. Seething the kunai, he sat back on the couch in front of the table and got creative, folding the curtain into a relatively close diaper shape. Sue him if he was ill-prepared, he didn't exactly get any warning he'd be caring for an incredibly small infant.
Still, it didn't stop Kisame from smiling again at the reminder he was a father. Never, not in a million years did he ever think he be a real father, hell, he didn't even peg himself for parent material. Easily tempered and brash, loud and violent, he was defiantly the last pick for first choice in new fathers. It didn't help he never had his own to show just what the job entailed, but as he looked down at Kimiko, he could start to see how men were so over the moon for it. Her smile, her laugh, the warmth in her dark, but at the same time bright with emotion, eyes, it all made him feel so warm and needed. He already loved holding her and seeing her smile, and he got the suspicion that as she grew their bond as father and daughter was surely going to grow with her.
Just as Kisame finished putting the makeshift diaper on her, he started to lift her up when it just slid right off, making him groan and feel like banging his head on the table, forgetting the curtain didn't have the straps like actual diapers did. Kimiko just giggled and laughed at her father's misery. Kisame paused to think of how to keep the diaper on when a thought occurred to him and prayed no woman or medic nin found out he did this as he took out one of his sebon needles. Easily breaking it in four small pieces, he refolded the curtain-diaper and used to pieces as pins to keep the diaper in place. Picking her up carefully, he was pleased when it didn't slip off again.
"Note number one," Kisame said to himself as he once again placed her snug in the crook of his arm, "Get diapers." The only pleasing thing about this whole curtain thing was that she'd only have to put up with it for one night and not the rest of her baby years. The rumble of his stomach reminded him of another detail as he added, "And baby food. Diapers and baby food." He doubted a close to newborn baby would be as partial to fish or fish related food as he was.
He was surprised when Kimiko's mouth suddenly found his finger, but thankfully, she didn't have any teeth yet. "No trying to bite Daddy," He gently reprimanded her, carefully taking his finger back, "Not until you're ready to train as a ninja anyway," Kimiko just started to nibble on a piece of his cloak, "What are you a goat? Stop that!"
Kimiko just cooed, voice muffled by the fabric, "Dada!" He laughed warmly as she blinked up at him, just when he thought she couldn't get any cuter. He was getting the idea these surprises were going to be a regular thing. But somehow it just made him feel all the luckier to have her in his life...that and it was easier to look forward to more then his next job.
Kisame suddenly narrowed his eyes a little as he peered down at his daughter as she continued to look up at him. Tilting his head, he mused aloud, no longer able to care that she couldn't talk back, "You know, you kinda have Konan's eyes."
Kimiko tilted her own head, almost mirroring him as she lost interest in chewing his sleeve to take in this new name, having only heard it once before when she drifted off to sleep in the woods but she hadn't been that interested in it before and now had a curious glint in her eyes. He wasn't far off the mark, his girl and that woman did have almost the same eyes; Konan's was a dark amber that glinted like the actual cold ore in the light, narrowed and doed, while Kimiko's was a chocolate-y brown bright with emotion, big and round.
"Naw, on second thought, forget I said anything!" Kisame laughed it off, figuring he was overthinking, "You're cute, sweet, bright and lifely," As he said this, he used a finger to tickle her belly, making her giggle again, which in turn made him smile, "She's ugly and a cold bitch." But before he realized what he said, the damage had been done.
Kimiko let out a bright coo as she tried to repeat, "Bwtuh!" Making Kisame freeze, eyes wide both at the fact she just said another word and the fact of all the words she had to repeat, she picked that one.
He quickly tried to amend his mistake, "Don't say that word, its a bad word," But it didn't stop him from smirking thought as he added, "But nice one thought." Kimiko just beamed spilling out more bright coos.
He chuckled back, finding the sound musical and pleasant, "Time to sleep, kiddo, Dad's got stuff to do tomor-" He froze as soon as he started to walk towards his warm, comfy bed as the cruel reminder of his occupation came barreling up front in his mind. If you thought normal ninja life was hexing, try missing ninja life; he was going to be gone for Kami knew how long and he had to get someone to watch and care for her in the mean time. He couldn't get just ask someone no matter how much he trusted them because he just knew that was going to lead to a scene where Pain was going to force him to send her away or, worse, kill her right in front of him when he refused. He couldn't, wouldn't, bare to lose Kimiko like that, it'd hurt worse then any jutsu or blade.
Eyes trailing to her diaper, it clicked and once again he felt silly. He could just conjure a few shadow (or whatever he felt like using) clones for babysitters and no one would be the wiser, cause, what missing-nin outside the council, jounin or chunin, was stupid enough to break into a council member's room? And the council respected each other enough to respect one another's privacy...especially after Hidan was put in the medical wing after trying to break into Deidara's room.
Regaining his smile and composure, he carried her down the hall and opened the door to his bedroom. Taking a glance around, he began to rethink turning the extra bedroom into a nursery, there was practically enough room in his own room as it was, plus, call him paranoid, but; the closer she was to him, the safer she was. But he figured that was a bridge to cross for another day as he set her down on the blue-covered bed so he could go change.
Kimiko didn't seemed bothered by the change of placement and rolled over on her stomach. Her dark eyes wandered until they landed on his key-chain. Kisame didn't know why he kept it, having only one key, possibly cause it was the first gift Itachi gave him after the kid got here. Kimiko seemed to like it, more pacifically, the plastic, cartoon shark head, cause she crawled (more like dragged) herself toward it as he had accidentally tossed it onto the bed instead of his nightstand and promptly began to chew on it.
After pulling his nightshirt over his head, Kisame saw what she was doing, he couldn't stop another smile from growing or the chuckle that escaped him, "Guess you like sharks too, huh?" He felt his pride swell a little as she just looked at him whilst still chewing, "Already taking after your old man, I'm defiantly keeping ya know." Kimiko just cooed around the plastic as he picked her up gently, pressing a loving kiss to her forehead, "I love you Kimiko and I always will."
That said, he took the keychain from her before she could decided to try chewing on the actual key and set it on the nightstand. Being mindful of Kimiko, Kisame got in bed as she used the fabric of his shirt to pull herself further onto his chest, head resting right over his heart. As if the comfort of his heartbeat was all she needed, Kimiko drifted off to sleep. The sight made Kisame's smile grow a little before carefully pulling the blanket up, whispering one last time, "Goodnight, Kimiko, my little princess." That said, Kisame followed her into dreamland, ready to face tomorrow a much easier then he had the night before.
And...I'm done! Hmm, didn't take that long, but I still had a lot of fun writing this. I can honestly picture Kisame hving that first bit of trouble trying to adapt into being a father. Honestly, the show just didn't show much of a nicer side to him, so you just don't picture him raising a child himself, leave the kid with its mother sure, but not doing much to contribute. But of course, there is a reason there's the saying "don't judge a book by its cover", just because someone doesn't look like parent material, doesn't mean they aren't.
Anyway, Itachi is still a small kid in this, still Academy age and Sasuke is just roughly a few months older then Kimiko and yes, he's in base with the Atasuki and not in Konoha, meaning he's not growing up in Konoha like in the show. I'll elaborate more on it a little later on, but I like to think I put some nice detail in on him, while keeping the humor and cuteness of the story I was going for. As for being the first to find out, I don't mind the opinion but I still need a little time before I'm a-hundred percent sure who's going to discover Kimiko first, might be Itachi, might not.
And I have yet to decide Kimiko's mother figure, but I know for a fact its not going to Konan, she's Pain's and I don't think either of them would appreciate the sentient of her mothering someone's kid. On that note, let me know what you guys think on the subject.
Until then, until next time! Please review!