Hatake Flower

02 { welcome to fatherhood! }

Azami wakes up ready to attack. Her senses picking up on someone too close (unknown) and reaching for her head (her eyes). Her right hand shoots up, grabbing a thin wrist tightly, her legs swung up and she knocked the person down while rolling on top. Azami still isn't fully awake to access her situation, she's acting on hard learned instincts.

It isn't until she has the person's (enemy) arm pinned roughly behind them, making them cry out in pain, and the familiar cold metal of a kunai at her throat does she freeze. Her body is tensed, her left arm useless, her lips pulled in a thin line, chakra and killing intent carefully reigned in.

"Unhand my student." It was a command, sharp and cold.

Slowly Azami lets go of the arm and stands up, stepping away from the body as the kunai never leaves the area of her neck. She can hear as the person she took down gets up quickly and walks swiftly to the other side of the room. She can hear the concerned questioning from a voice she swears she's heard before. The voice turns to her.

"What was that for?!"

Her lips pull into a scowl and her body tenses again, hands spasming for the weapons she doesn't have on her. She flinches as a hand rests on her head and the kunai is pulled away. She can feel as the person (her captor) crouches to be level with her. Her muscles are taut as wire.

"Calm down," a soft voice says, a great contrast to the cold one it was just before. "You're safe now. We're not going to hurt you."

Azami would have snorted if she didn't begin to feel her surroundings. If she wasn't wearing her blindfold she would have blinked. No wonder the voice was familiar! It was freaking Uzumaki Naruto! The main character!

She frowns and grimaces just a little realizing she attacked Haruno Sakura if feeling her pained and anxious signature is anything to go by. And the edgy chakra would be Uchiha Sasuke. She breathes deeply realizing that right next to her is her father.

Sugar Honey Iced Tea! I don't want to greet him as a defensive little brat! Pull it together Hatake Azami!

"What's your name?" Her father asks as he steps away and crouches to her level.

Azami tilts her head in thought of what to say. Pouting she says, "Nii-chan and Oji-chan says not to talk to strangers."

She can hear her father hum under his breath in thought. Letting him think she turns her attention to the other three in the room. They had walked over to stand beside her father and seemed to just be staring at her.

Azami moved to lean on her right leg and foot only to stumble back and fall on her dislocated arm. She had honestly forgot about her injuries. It's a good thing none of her uncles or siblings are there or else they'd laugh.

"Careful. You have a twisted ankle and your shoulder looks to be dislocated," her father says as he helps her sit up. "We'll need to fix that," she hears him murmur, probably trying to remember how to correctly set a dislocated shoulder back. Wouldn't want to do it wrong and just cause more pain and injury.

"It's fine," she smiles at them, "It doesn't hurt that much and I can fix it!"

She scoots back until her back hits the wall. She grabs her left arm by the elbow, remembering everything her Nii-chan said about setting a dislocated shoulder back on oneself. In a swift movement, Azami snaps her shoulder back in place, frowning at the sharp pain but otherwise fine.

She doesn't do anything at feeling everyone in the room either flinch or twitch. Instead, she reaches down to her twisted ankle after slowly rolling her shoulders. In a sharp twist, she has her ankle fixed in the right place. She nods to herself after massaging her ankle for a while.

Azami stands back up, paying no attention to the dull throbbing pains of her shoulder and ankle. She grins and throws her hands up, "See! All better!"

"You shouldn't have done that, you could have hurt yourself more," comes the somewhat stern voice of the only adult in the room.

Dropping her arms and grin Azami tilts her head in seemingly contemplation. "You're nice," she murmurs before falling silent and nodding to herself. "I'm Azami, let's be friends," her grin is back and she has her hand out.

Kakashi (my dad - oh my god) takes her hand and shakes it lightly. "Nice to meet you Azami. Now, can you tell us why you were being chased before?"

Humming she thinks on her what her story is going to be for the time being. She won't tell him the complete truth until she's certain she won't be thrown in a jail cell or something. But she also won't lie to the man. Azami doesn't fancy the thought of her first meeting with her dad to be just lies.

"Umm, I was sleeping and then I woke up and someone was carrying me. It wasn't Nii-chan because he carries me on his back. The person had me over the shoulder, it wasn't fun."

"Wah, you must have been pretty scared," Naruto almost shouts making her flinch at the sudden noise and turn in his direction.

She shakes her head, pouts, and crosses her arms, "Nuh-uh. Not scared, just mad. I was having a really good dream when they woke me up. And they talked about boring things too! They also didn't have any candy! Said that I needed to stay quiet before talking about boring things again."

"What sort of boring things?" Kakashi cuts in casually.

"Umm, something about me? I think. I just heard them say 'sell' and 'prices' a lot," she shrugs even though she can hear Sakura gasp and the boys' sharp intake as her father's chakra stills.

"It's a good thing you got away," her father seems to settle on after a moment, "How did you?"

Resisting the urge to smile she pouts at them, making sure to convey her confusion. "I was bored and wanted to play a game," she said as if it was obvious.

No one responded for what seemed like an hour but was probably a minute or two. Kakashi cleared his throat, staring blankly at the small child in front of him.

"...A game?" He asks hesitantly.

"Yeah, don't you play games when you're bored?" Azami is genuinely confused. What do you do other than play when your bored? Read? No, that's just a myth.

The four stare at the confused little girl for a moment. She genuinely doesn't see what's wrong with the situation. Kami take care of this child.

"So you're saying," Kakashi begins once more, "that you escaped by...playing a game?" Azami nods, head tilted and a pout on her lips. Didn't she just say that? Isn't her dad supposed to be some prodigy? Must be age getting to him.

"What game did you play?" Sasuke decides to ask, confusion firmly laced in his chakra.

Azami smiles, "My favorite one! Hide n Seek! You know it, right? Where five or more have to look for you and you have to get to the safe point while fending off the ones looking for you by incapacitating them. It's my favorite game! I'm really good at it too!"

She isn't necessarily lying. In Sight is just the opposite of Hide n Seek, and when they found her it looked like a game of Hide n Seek. And it is one of her favorites. She currently has thirty-seven wins to her name, and zero defeats.

"That's...not how you play Hide n Seek..," Sakura speaks up. Azami can see the way her chakra shifts constantly, meaning she's wary if only a little scared.

The four-year old huffs and crosses her arms. Of course that's how you play Hide n Seek! It's the same as from Caroline's world only made for ninjas, not civilians. Maybe that's why Sakura doesn't get it? The poor child.

"Next you're going to say that family shouldn't try to kill you at least twice a week," Azami scoffs, a frown on her face. This is getting boring, she should really go find Haku and Zabuza.

"They shouldn't!" Sakura practically shouts.

Azami sighs and shakes her head sadly, "You must be a single child. It's okay, not your fault. Don't beat yourself over it."

With her blindfold on Azami can't see the furious green eyes of Sakura or the thoughtful expression on Sasuke. Kakashi can though so he moves the conversation back to gathering information about the little girl. From what he can tell, she's naive about the world outside her home life but knowledgeable in violence … even if her view is a little messed up.

"What are parents' names? That way we can get you back home," he decides on asking.

Azami immediately brightens, jumping on the balls of her feet. This was just the opportunity she was waiting for! "My mama is dead and I never met my papa but it's my life goal to find him. He's a super famous ninja too! I even know his name! Oji-chan didn't tell me but he gave me papa's last name and then I asked all my Nii-chan and Oji-chan about him!"

Kakashi blinks down at the blindfolded white haired girl. If he takes in the white hair and 'super famous ninja', his first guess of her father would be Jiraya - he wouldn't even be surprised if it was true. Only problem is the last name, Jiraya doesn't have one being an orphan.

"Life goal? What are you gonna do after completing it?" He asks to keep her talking as he ponders on who her father could be.

Azami actually pauses at that. She found her father and has semi-completed her goal but what's she gonna do after she tells him? Azami always knew she wanted to live with him of course but...what if he doesn't want her? What if she'll really be thrown to interrogation? She'll go back to living with her Nii-chan and Oji-chan but what a disappointment.

For the sake of being an S-class actress, Azami begins crying, tears falling from under the blindfold. She can't see them but guessing off their panicked chakra, their faces would be priceless. "Wh-what if papa doesn't...doesn't want me? Or...or papa's already de..dead?" she hiccups.

"Hey, don't cry!" Naruto shouts as he waves his arms around. "I'm sure your dad will love you and I'm sure he's still alive out there!"

"Really?" she sniffles while laughing internally at what their reactions will be.

"Yeah! Why don't you tell us what your dad's name is?" Naruto asks while shooting panicked glances at his sensei.

"Papa's name is," she hiccups once more before continuing on strongly if slightly wobbly, "Hatake Kakashi."

It was silent for a long time that Azami contemplated on removing her blindfold just to see what's going on with the four. She instead covered her ears when they all screamed.

"EH!?"

Damn super hearing! I'll punch Oji-chan for this!

Her lips wobble and more tears stream down her cheeks. "Oh no, is papa dead?" She cried out.

Naruto was the first one to take action, waving his arms slightly as he shouted, "No! No, that's not it. Your dad is alive! He's fine! He's uh...um, a great guy?" He looked over to Sasuke and Sakura in need of help. His two teammates were still gaping so he turned to Kakashi, only to curse upon seeing his sensei worryingly still and with a hundred yard stare.

"You know my papa?" Azami asks excitedly after wiping away her tears. This was great! Though, she does wonder how her father will go about introducing himself. Or will he avoid that? Not with her sticking around!

"Uhh...yeah," Naruto hesitated. Why is he the one dealing with the girl?! He doesn't know how he's supposed to reveal that her father is literally right in front of her! And...oh Kami, what if Sensei won't like her!?

"Will he really like me?" She whispers to him, hands twisting each other. Azami tilted her head down. She won't admit it but since waking up in this new world and learning of her heritage and knowing how she was...made, Azami has always been scared that her biological father won't like her, will be disgusted by her.

She knows it's a stupid fear. She was an adult before and has the whole Akatsuki as a family. But...Caroline and Azami are one and the same and never have they had a father figure. It's stupid but actually knowing who her father is this time and where he is and knowing there's a high possibility of actually meeting him— well, she couldn't help but hope, you know?

"Oji-Chan always said that papa would hate me," she continues to whisper, not really knowing that everyone could hear her, "Said that papa would be disgusted. Nii-Chan would always agree. My other Oji-Chan's wouldn't answer. My other Nii-Chan's would pat my head and walk away."

Azami was too busy whispering to notice the change in her father's chakra. She didn't know that her whispering snapped him out of his shock. Didn't know he was staring at her with so much shock, pain, sympathy, love—

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did hate me. If he was disgusted by me," her voice cracks and she's crying sincerely now. "I still just want to meet him. Still want to tell him that I'm here, I exist, I'm his daughter."

She falls silent feeling long arms pull her into a hug. She tenses once she recognizes that it's her father who's hugging her.

"I don't hate you. I'm not disgusted by you. You're here, you exist, and you're my daughter," Kakashi whispers so only she can hear. Her hands grip at his vest, hiccups and sobs racking her body.

Azami cries in earnest for the first time since waking up in this world.

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The girl — his daughter — cries herself to sleep in his arms. Kakashi sits there staring down at her with a frown. He absently notes that Sakura has dragged her teammates out of the room to give him privacy.

Who tells a little girl that her only blood family would hate her? Would be disgusted by her?

Kakashi knows that logically she could be a sleeper agent, a ploy to destroy him and Konoha. He knows logically he shouldn't so easily accept her. He knows he shouldn't reassure her of anything.

But...seeing her slowly breakdown and then actually breakdown in his arms…

He may not know how it feels to never know one's father and grow up thinking that they would hate you. But he does know how it feels to lose one, to disappoint one. And if he rejected this girl, it'd be the same as her losing the only father she has and knows, it'd be the same thing as him leaving her like his father left him.

Kakashi knows he's being irrational, careless even, yet...looking down at the girl in his arms he can't help but see himself. She even has his beauty mark and in the same spot. She has the same chubby cheeks he did at her age. She's blunt like he was. Her hair can mostly be from him.

Though, he does wonder (and worry) about the blindfold she wears. Is she blind? Or is it something else?

Sighing, Kakashi stands up carrying Azami and limps towards the only bed in the room. Carefully he lays her down and raises his hand to loosen her grip on him. She has a surprisingly strong grip.

"It's like she's using chakra," he mutters while continuously tugging at Azami's fingers. He gives up after a few minutes.

Kakashi sits down on the edge of the bed, leaning over slightly so Azami isn't hanging in the air from her grip. He frowns at the thought of having to wake her up just to let go.

That reminds me, he thinks back to only a couple of minutes ago. The team had just arrived at the house when he woke up. Then told the team about Zabuza being alive before moving to check on the girl. She was out cold from exhaustion and pain. But shot up like a spring as soon as Sakura moved to take off the blindfold. Pinned his student down and leaked killing intent before pulling it back in.

Then he remembers the 'games' her uncle figure would have her play. Remembers how she talked back to her captors. The way she shifted when Naruto told her to keep quiet. The way she fixed her shoulder and ankle with only a frown. The way she stated that family should try and kill her twice a week as if it was just a fact of life.

Whoever her 'family' was obviously trained her. And well. She doesn't see what's wrong with someone trying to kill her so often. Doesn't see how the games she plays aren't really games.

That can be a dangerous mindset.

And it all leads back to the blindfold. It's obviously important if her reflexes kicked in when it was going to be removed. She didn't even twitch when Sakura settled next to her and leaned over her — only when her hand obviously reached for the blindfold.

With a narrowed eye and frown, Kakashi fought down the slight guilt as he reached a hand for the blindfold. The response was immediate. Azami let go as if burned, slapped his hand away and jumped out of bed and across the room. She settled into a stance, her visible expression blank.

What surprised him the most was her hands. All fingers pulled together to make a blade. He was confused at first, flinching slightly at the spike of chakra and very visible chakra around her hands to take the shape of a blade.

She can make chakra blades!?

"Hey, it's alright," he speaks up softly, eyeing her hands wearily.

She frowns, head tilting in confusion. It takes a minute but she seems to remember where she is. She steps out of her stance and looks down at her hands, flushing in embarrassment before releasing the chakra.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was you and—," she's waving her arms but stops abruptly and lowers them to her sides. "Sorry."

"No, it was my fault. I saw how you reacted before and still reached for blindfold," he replied calmly, seeing how she frowned and fidgeted obvious nervousness. "Can I ask why you wear it?" He ventures lightly.

Azami frowns, thinking over it. She told herself she wouldn't lie to her papa if they ever met. But her eyes...don't get her wrong, she loves her eyes! It's just, she knows how unnerving it can be to see them. With the different colors and shapes constantly in movement.

Slapping her cheeks, she nods in determination. This is her papa! And she wouldn't lie!

Walking over she sits on the bed, making sure to keep her distance. Just because he's her father doesn't mean his reaction will be good and she doesn't know if he'll like being close once he sees.

Kakashi raises a brow at her, very much confused on why she slapped herself. He didn't miss the way she kept her distance. Or the way she sat straight, looking to expect the worse.

Her hand reached up, pulling down the blindfold. She kept her eyes closed, taking a deep breath and poking at her father's chakra to see how he was feeling. Confused and curious. Not...bad. Okay, she can totally do this! She's Hatake Azami! A certified badass!

She opens her eyes and stares at her father with a determined gaze. He gasps quietly, eye widening in surprise. She grins, holding his gaze.

"Surprise!"

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You know, this chapter was supposed to be all fun and shit but took a surprisingly sharp turn into the feels - even I was surprised!

But what's done is done.

Thanks for being patient with this story guys.

ANYWAYS if you read my other fic "Life Through Verdant Eyes"

Then worry not, the next update is very very soon

Hoped you enjoyed and will stick around!