Sorry for the long delay! I've been so busyyyy. So stressed, too. Emeralds will update soon, I promise. I just got stuck, drew a picture of Tobirama and Mariko's first child, thought he was too cute, and so I wrote about him. Yes. He is the feature of this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Takeshi's mine. I could eat him up, he's so cute.

CHECK MY DEVIANTART TO SEE TAKESHI!

Wait, who is Takeshi? (Their son. lol) I've an entire Hurricane folder, too...with some ugly stuff in it, but don't mind that! XD

Chapter 36: Blue Baby

If Hiruzen could be anything, he would be a monkey. But, of all the things to be named, he was ultimately crowned as Konoha's boogieman. To his dismay, this new nickname caused a ripple of laughter to surface among his friends, who tried their best to hide their prominent grins.

"Oh shut up, Kagami," snapped Hiruzen caustically. Uncharacteristically, the poor monkey folded his arms and angrily sulked in a corner.

"Chill, Hiruzen," laughed the Uchiha lightly. "Just because a baby thinks you're the boogieman doesn't mean it's the end of the world."

Hiruzen wasn't convinced. His (new) girlfriend, Biwako, was happily crouched beside the baby, cooing and offering the child her hand to hold. The blue-haired son of the future Second Hokage and his wife was probably the most adorable thing on earth – except for the fact that he thought Hiruzen was the boogieman.

"Seriously, these blue-haired children will be the end of me," hissed Hiruzen. Why was he so angry at this child? Senju Takeshi was his name. Hiruzen had no clue why – perhaps he just didn't want to be called the boogieman of Konoha.

"I think he's cute," Kagami said, which prompted a few incredulous stares. Did Kagami just say…cute? The Uchiha kneeled down before the infant, who gurgled happily when Kagami offered him a finger to wrap his little ones around. "Hey, Takeshi, don't eat my finger."

The blue boy gazed up at Kagami, eyes wide, sapphire lashes dusting his cheeks every time he blinked. The girls gushed gooey nonsense words of how adorable he was until Hiruzen thought he might vomit the conversation out an ear.

"Can someone tell me why we're watching this kid again?" groaned the Sarutobi.

"C'mon, Hiruzen," sighed Biwako, "don't talk that way. This is your sensei's kid, after all!"

"Obviously, Sensei is lacking some common sense," quipped Hiruzen. "He's leaving his son in the care of…us."

Several snorted at this, but no one really had an answer that would satisfy Hiruzen. There were several more things Hiruzen worried about that involved this baby. First was the obvious, that Tobirama had made some grave mistake in leaving his children to a bunch of rowdy chuunin (and maybe one jounin — Aki was there, wasn't he?) who might somehow drop the poor blue-haired baby off Hashirama's nose on Hokage Mountain. That, and Shiro had the misconception that simply because the baby was Tobirama's, it could fly, and thus dropping it off the mountain would do it no harm. Mariko probably would have screamed and hid in a closet with her son if she'd heard this.

Secondly, they had no clue how to take care of a kid. Maybe the girls had some experience, but the rest of the boys were crowded around like idiots. Hiruzen would say that they looked like monkeys, but that didn't mix too well with his name, so he dropped it. Koharu might just tell them they were all monkeys in the first place.

The third problem was Biwako. She was having too much of a good time for Hiruzen to be comfortable sticking around this blue baby. Just one look at how happy she was with the child made his stomach squeak pitifully, and if he didn't calm himself, the next words he uttered would sound like those of a prepubescent boy trying to find his voice. Biwako liked children. Maybe Biwako actually wanted children.

Then again, Sarutobi Hiruzen was thinking way too far ahead, and that wasn't his usual way to go. He didn't like it; it gave him a headache.

And thus, he veered away from this third, worrisome issue and continued harping on the dangers of leaving a child in the hands of his Academy classmates.

"He's so cute!" someone kept saying. It must've been one of Biwako's friends, that one Yamanaka with impossibly long blonde hair. She and Biwako were having a fantastic time handing Takeshi different toys from a small stack of baby items. Takeshi seemed to be fond of the alphabet blocks. Oh the alphabet blocks.

Hiruzen gagged, and then gagged again when Koharu's stern face broke into a momentary smile. His dear teammate Koharu, who could be tough as nails yet have a soft spot for their own sensei. She had long since gotten over her girl's crush on their sensei — though everyone still had to agree that the spectacularly handsome, white-haired Senju was still stunning as ever — and she had ceased blushing whenever he came close. Now, her blush was reserved for a snarky Uchiha who had too many witty remarks for his own good.

Even so, Koharu smiling at Senju Takeshi was too much for Hiruzen to bear. He'd hoped that the mushy side of Koharu — a side that scared him more than the fearsome, glaring one — had melted away, leaving only her typical self. He was wrong. A strange creature overtook Koharu then, and herded her into the crowd of gushing, lovey-dovey girls vying for a chance to hold Takeshi's chubby little hands or squeeze his round cheeks.

Suddenly, Danzo made a move forward and kneeled before the child. Takeshi gurgled happily and stretched his short little arms towards the shinobi. The girls had a collective "awww!" moment when Danzo easily scooped the child into his arms, and all that was seen was a blue head of giggles.

"Well, Hiruzen," Danzo said simply, "I was assigned to take care of this child along with Biwako and Akane. As for the rest of you, I have no idea why you're here."

"Why would they assign you?" snorted Shiro.

"I think it's because he's actually smart," deadpanned Koharu. Aki put a hand over his mouth momentarily, to stifle a laugh. Shiro sulked, folding his arms and scuttling next to Hiruzen and matching the other boy's glare.

"DADA!" cried Takeshi out of the blue. He began to flail, and if flailing was a shinobi technique, Takeshi would have excelled at it. It appeared that the boy had the acute sensory abilities of his father, for he had perceived the man himself coming to the building about thirty seconds before he actually did. Such an ability was both admired and feared — a boy, about a year old, with sensory abilities rivaling that of Hiruzen's? Hiruzen wasn't sure he liked this.

Tobirama came into the room then, grinning when he saw his son. The moment someone saw the Hokage's brother smile, they either followed suit or backed away slowly. Nowadays, the stress levels in the Hokage Tower reached unprecedented peaks, and Tobirama was known to be rather violent with his temper, even when Hashirama at the desk told him to calm down. The students knew exactly the consequences of angering the white-haired Senju. A simple finger twitch could send you crashing into the Hokage Mountain and splintering off Hashirama's nose (which seemed to be traumatized all the time). Not a pleasant sensation, for both unfortunate victim and the stone's nose.

"Thanks for sticking around, Danzo," said the Hokage's brother, taking his baby from the boy's hands. Danzo smiled demurely, an expression that startled the entire group. Then, promptly the boy with the x-shaped scar patted the blue baby's head fondly, and then sauntered out of the room as if nothing had happened. His teammates, Kagami and Torifu, gaped at the now-empty doorway.

Meanwhile, Tobirama cradled his son and cooed to it. The room became a chorus of pigeons, cooing left and right and up and down, with Tobirama as the pigeon conductor. A choir of bird girls crowded around and watched as the baby reached up and patted Tobirama's face excitedly. His arms waved emphatically, his tubby little fingers failing to grasp his father's face guard. When Takeshi hit Tobirama's mouth and tried grabbing his father's lip, Tobirama made a spluttering noise, and the child giggled happily. The concert of pigeons revived its volume, Biwako and her Yamanaka friend the loudest. Even Koharu had to melt into her funny little smile again, causing Homura to cough awkwardly and Hiruzen to turn away.

Tobirama looked up.

"Um. What are you all doing here?" He made a face, one that scattered half the boys but didn't do a thing to deter the girls. The magnet that was Senju Takeshi was far too strong. Inwardly, Tobirama could only wonder why his baby was so interesting, while everyone stayed away from Hashirama's son. His answer came instantly — no one, not even the girls, messed with Mito and her offspring. No one. The Kyuubi itself settled down from its fuss after Mito demonstrated her rage at its attempted to claim the baby from the womb.

Dear Nine-tailed Fox: attempting to threaten Mito's baby may result in death. And you will not revive.

"He's so cute!" gushed Biwako for what must've been the fiftieth time. Usually, Biwako was quite sensible and would be moderate about such things. But it seemed that the epic powers of young Takeshi were too much, even for her. "He's got Sensei's eyes and his mother's hair!"

"Blue cotton candy," Torifu chirped, evoking a ripple of laughter among the group. Leave it to the Akimichi to name the child some sort of edible object.

"Babies are evil," Hiruzen muttered.

"I wonder who he'll be more like," Koharu wondered aloud. Everyone paused, and there was an awkward silence, followed by Tobirama's eyes smoothly gliding over to meet Koharu's with a quirk of his brow. Koharu flushed and then shifted uncomfortably. Tobirama cracked a small grin and then bounced his baby in his arms. Takeshi gurgled.

"He is cute," the Senju murmured to himself. "Well, see you later, guys. Toka's looking for Kagami, by the way." Before he exited, Tobirama added, "Kagami, if she asks you anything about me, start running."

They all stared at him.

Tobirama was angry. A series of events had led to this anger, and it was such a long, tedious chain that no one bothered to even reason out the entire process anymore. If Tobirama was angry, he usually had a good reason.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"I didn't know," defended Mariko, looking rather dejected.

The three former students awkwardly posed off to the side tried to blend into the background as well as they could. They failed, especially when Hiruzen sneezed.

"Then how come Toka said that you finished?" asked the Senju. His wife shrugged. "Mariko, don't just shrug at me."

"I told you, I don't know."

"Mariko—"

The blunette grabbed their child and began to exit the room. Tobirama caught her arm and swept the baby from her arms.

"Explain," he demanded. She looked hopeless, as if she couldn't understand why in the world Tobirama wasn't accepting her answer. This was quite normal, for Mariko still did not quite understand the ways of men, especially since the answers they wanted were far too difficult to answer. "And you can't take Takeshi with you."

"Why not?"

"Just because you have to tell me what happened this morning."

"I promised Takeshi I'd take him to the park."

"And he answered you?" Tobirama looked skeptical. The most Takeshi really did was nod, tug at sleeves, yell for his mommy or daddy, do baby things, or just cry. He was cute even when he cried. And at the moment, the look of distress on his face was enough to draw both parents out of their conversation to calm him down. But the baby was vehemently pushing at his father's chest and reaching for his mommy.

"See?" Mariko folded her arms and frowned at the Senju.

"See what?"

The blunette rolled her eyes and opened her arms, ordering her husband to hand over the child. Takeshi glanced up at his father with big, watery eyes. It was super effective.

"Fine." The child was passed to his mother, and then there was a silence. "You really don't know?"

"Tobirama, seriously? I wasn't even there. Why are you so stubborn?"

"But you know what happened."

"I don't."

"You do?"

"Just come here." Mariko tugged his hand and they set off to the park, the magical land of slides and swings that Takeshi was not old enough to go on alone. This was awkward, because Mariko's desire to talk to her husband at the park (specifically) left the three chuunin standing in the room, left alone.

"Why were we here again?" asked Hiruzen.

"I forget," said Koharu. "Homura?"

The smart, bespectacled member of the group shrugged.

Sometimes, Tobirama regretted having a child. That blue-haired son of his would wake them at any time he wished, any hour of the night, sometimes very inconveniently. He had his own little room, a nursery, filled with prettily painted skies and little boy belongings left and right. The parents had no need for a baby monitor, because they had two other ways of discovering their son's cries. One: he was loud. Two: Tobirama the sensor made for a great baby monitor.

Tobirama the sensor swore when he felt a shift in the baby's presence, the little energies of the child forming a shape that attempted to stand and kick at the cradle bars. Then, he started crying.

"Is it Takeshi?" murmured Mariko, beneath him. Tobirama sighed, unwilling to move away from his awfully favorable position, wishing he could just continue his pleasurable activities with his wife. But of course, he knew he had to go check on the boy. That, and Mariko was already crawling out from under him and wrapping sheets around her bare torso. "I'll go check," she said, hobbling away with a bundle of blankets, looking ridiculous.

Takeshi continued crying for his momma, who gently lifted him into her arms and hushed him gently. Eventually, after about thirty minutes, he was lulled back to sleep with an old Hurricane lullaby, and Mariko crawled back into bed. By then, Tobirama was already half asleep, lying there dejectedly.

"You look pathetic."

"Thanks, Shorty."

If Hiruzen looked ridiculous in an apron making pancakes, then Danzo looked even more so. The young teen had donned one of Mito's stylish aprons, and was attempting to carry something out of the oven with bright pink oven mitts (courtesy of Mariko). As if this sight weren't odd enough, the rest of Team Toka combated with the bizarre set of people currently seated at the dining table – Aki, who played with Takeshi's hands, half-asleep Hashirama, a group of strangers (semi-strangers, that is), Mito, and the baby's parents.

The group of strangers who were not really strangers showed off their proud, Sunagakure hitai-ate. The leader of the group, a tall man who was famous for his puppet ninjutsu, Chikamatsu Monzaemon, looked rather comfortable sipping Konoha tea that bright morning. Meanwhile, Sunagakure's future Third Kazekage, his teammates Chiyo and her brother Ebizo, found themselves awfully amused by baby Takeshi.

(Kagami swore that if Chiyo started gushing baby nonsense, he would run away.)

Why Aki was at the table, no one was quite sure.

"Mama," gurgled Takeshi. Chiyo cooed, and Kagami cringed. Mariko held out her hand to the baby, who grasped his mother's index finger gleefully. Mito set down a bouquet of flowers from the Yamanaka shop downtown on the table, and Takeshi's eyes widened comically. He then glanced up at Mito, and attempted to say the word spicy, but it came out more like "spy-dee". Mito laughed and touched the boy's head fondly – ever since he'd accidentally eaten a spicy pepper (no one knows how, but they all blamed Hiruzen) he'd begun to associate red, spicy things with Mito's hair, and tried calling her Aunt Spicy after learning the word.

Meanwhile, Takeshi was learning a variety of easy words to call family members and other friends. Hashirama was Uncle Tree (which sounded like "Twee", a name that sent just about anybody rolling in laughter), and Toka was Aunt "Doka", because he melded the T sound. In short, Takeshi just tried saying everyone's name and failed at it, because his little baby tongue couldn't pronounce all the sounds. He especially couldn't say Hiruzen's name, so he resulted to just giggling and pointing.

Other comical names included: "Kowahu" for Koharu, "Homa" for Homura, and "Gagami" for Kagami. The only person's name he could pronounce was probably Aki, and even then, it sounded quite distorted. Not that anyone minded; he was too adorable for anyone to care.

"So, Monzaemon," a tired Hashirama was saying. They began dealing with some dreadfully tedious border issues, including a few rogue ninja bands and animal smuggling lines. Once the conversation was over, Monzaemon's team was bored out of their minds and taking partial naps, while Danzo continued whatever it was that he was doing. The two leftovers of Team Toka had seated themselves on either side of Aki, and were currently trying to have a coherent conversation with the baby.

Tobirama wondered if everyone had gone nuts, because when Danzo set down a beautiful stack of pancakes before them and Aki set his Byakugan on it, the white-haired Senju was sure that everyone had lost their minds.

"Aki, why are you here?" he demanded.

"I'm watching your baby, remember?" Pearled Hyuuga eyes shifted from the blue-haired little boy to the father.

"You are?"

"I am."

"I thought Danzo was."

Everyone turned to look at Danzo.

"Danzo's got a new assignment," explained Mito. She must've been referring to the new ANBU operations that were underway. Tobirama glanced at the young chuunin – no, the recently-promoted jounin – and nodded.

"So then, what's going on here?" asked Tobirama.

At that moment, no one could give him an answer, because as soon as Hiruzen stepped through the door, and ear-splitting baby's wail cut through the air.

The Boogieman of Konoha had arrived.

A good-looking man is good-looking. He draws the stares of women his way, accompanied by appreciative eyeing and whispered compliments. But a good-looking man toting his baby evokes a choir of cooing pigeons from out of nowhere.

And so, Tobirama, carrying his hardly one-year-old son, sets out to buy groceries because if he doesn't, Mito might kill him.

The grocer, a middle-aged woman, stared at him for a few moments. Then, blinking, she smiled sweetly and scanned all his items, naming the bill to be paid. But her eyes were glued to the blue-haired boy, who shyly ducked away from sight, tucking his face into his father's fur collar. Big, claret eyes glanced warily at the grocer, who waved her fingers at him. The boy hid back into his father's shirt.

"He's shy," chuckled Tobirama, hoisting about ten grocery bags into one hand, his other occupied with his son.

Absently, the grocer said, "You should buy one of those baby harnesses."

"He would cry," sighed the father. "We've tried."

This, the grocer found inexplicably adorable, and as the Hokage's brother sauntered out the door, the boy popped his head up and giggled.

Once outside, Takeshi squirmed in his father's arms and turned so that he could pat the face guard hitai-ate. The plate was cool against his soft palms, and he took no heed of Tobirama's discomfort. While this action annoyed the Senju to no end, Takeshi found it fun, and the people around them immensely enjoyed this adorable little exchange of baby's patting and father's wincing.

Takeshi smacked at Tobirama's nose with his little hands. Tobirama made a face; it was a face similar to the one he always gave Mariko when the stubborn blunette princess refused to stop poking him in the stomach.

Then, Takeshi went still, his eyes wide and his face pale. The baby began to wail pitifully, clutching at Tobirama's fur collar and trying to burrow inside the jacket desperately. Tobirama glanced around, and found Hiruzen frozen outside the bakery, looking rather terrified because the sudden scream had startled him.

"Shhh," Tobirama chided gently, "It's just Saru."

Takeshi whimpered.

"He's your Uncle Saru, he's not scary at all," crooned the Senju. Around him, women's eyes went starry as the tall, white-haired shinobi set down his grocery's and bounced the baby gently in his arms, patting his hair lovingly. "Uncle Saru's not scary."

Takeshi shook his head, so vehemently that his blue hair flopped like a Hyuuga Kaiten. Meanwhile, Hiruzen was attempting to creep past, and the closer he got, the more Takeshi trembled.

"Your kid hates me," Hiruzen hissed. At his voice, Takeshi started and buried his face into Tobirama's collar.

"Rocks, Saru," snapped Tobirama. "If the baby's scared of you, then go the other way."

"Didn't you just say Uncle Saru's not scary?"

"You're so idiotic, it's terrifying," deadpanned the boy's former sensei, rolling his eyes. When Tobirama turned to face Hiruzen, Takeshi made a noise that sounded like Mariko yelping and squealing at the same time, which amused everyone around them.

"Come on," exclaimed Hiruzen, exasperated. "Even Biwako's mad at me because I can't go anywhere that involves that…demon."

At this, Tobirama glared, and Hiruzen kicked the dirt sheepishly. He hadn't really meant what he said; he was just frustrated that the baby liked everyone but him. Why was that? The baby had no problem with Kagami, who was probably the most evil of them all (a logic that should be questioned), and did not react to Mito, who had a nine-tailed beast sealed inside her.

But Tobirama simply gathered his groceries, hoisted the baby higher and readjusted his grip, heading home. Hiruzen slunk away, crestfallen.

If there was anything Tobirama wanted to come home to, it was peace. He remembered one day when he returned from a long, gruesome mission, and all he wished for was a hot shower, some quiet, and to catch up on his sleep. Upon entering his room – it was late at night, past midnight when he came home – he found his wife and son curled up in the bed, their breathing slow and steady as was in sleep. He smiled at this, shedding his grimy armor and pausing to watch them for a few moments. Peaceful.

But that hardly happened.

For one, he wanted to know why in the world Mito was trying to hit Hashirama in the head with a frying pan, and whatever the reason was, could she please stop smacking things in the vicinity of the children?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" hissed Mito. Hashirama cringed and apologized fervently, begging Mito to stop. The redhead was off on one of her raging mood swings, and was not about to let her husband get away with a simple apology. Tobirama did not want to know what happened.

On the other hand, there were three members of former Team Tobirama crouching under the dining table, for fear that they might be maimed in this battle of kitchenware. Koharu looked peeved, hugging her knees and tempted to stab Hiruzen with a hairpin for no apparent reason. She'd learned that Mito had once used a hairpin to strip a man of his man's title. She sort of liked that threatening idea.

Homura, on the other hand, had closed his eyes, a headache pounding at his skull. It seemed like he had an eternal migraine with these people…

Hiruzen, lastly, was trying not to let the baby know that he was in the room. He completely and utterly failed, because the baby was already crying, Tobirama-sensei had stormed into the room, Mariko was nowhere in sight, and there was also the matter of Mito, chasing Hashirama around the table. For a moment, the Senju were far more insane than the Uchiha.

"It's all a conspiracy," groaned Tobirama.

What?

The blue boy babbled nonsense. It went along the lines of:

"Dada be Momma Spy-thee under table boooooooooogie."

Which translated roughly to: "Daddy, where's Mommy? Why is Aunt Mito mad? Hiruzen is under the table."

How Tobirama understood this was beyond his students (though it was quite impressive the number of words that one-year-old could say). Nonetheless, he stooped over and found his old team huddled under the dining table, smiling sheepishly. Takeshi, sitting on the kitchen counter – a dangerous place for a baby – wiggled his arms and gestured wildly at Hiruzen, despite not being able to see him through the tablecloth.

"I got it, Takeshi, Saru's under the table." Takeshi slapped Tobirama's face guard when he was picked up. "Ow. Stop it. No, I know he's under the table. No, Takeshi, Saru can stay there, it's okay."

Team Tobirama gaped at their teacher, because he was talking baby talk in a baby talk voice to his baby. If this wasn't confusing enough, he began blubbering and cooing at the baby, especially when Takeshi giggled and hugged Tobirama's fur collar.

"Hey now, don't eat my collar," scolded Tobirama, pulling the baby away from his chest and holding the giggling child out in front of him. "Ridiculous child," he clucked, before scooping Takeshi into a swing made of his arms. "Going to eat Daddy's armor next?"

"Dada," squealed the boy.

Koharu went starry-eyed, Homura contemplated if the baby evoked parental effects from his father, and Hiruzen thought that a blue-haired demon had stolen the soul of Tobirama and replaced him with some foreign spirit.

"Your teeth would break," Tobirama continued. "You don't have very many, though…"

"STUPID HASHIRAMA!" screeched Mito, causing the Hokage to duck under the table along with Tobirama's team. If anyone was paying attention to their argument (one-sided argument), they would have heard something about forgetting to bring Mito her lunch, as well as switching her lunch with their son's. Oh well.

"Takeshi, you're the most giggly boy ever," gushed Tobirama. Hiruzen was tempted to draw a kunai. However, as soon as he did, Takeshi's scarlet-eyed, blue-haired essence of happiness melted into pure horror. Hiruzen swore at the boy's inheritance of his father's sensory abilities. He was awfully good at it, too. "Takeshi?" murmured Tobirama, hugging the boy to his chest. "What's up, bud?"

"BOOOOGIE," wailed the boy, eyes watery. Tobirama turned and peered under the table, where Koharu stretched out wobbly arms and stumbled dreamily towards the baby and his father. Her former sensei adeptly side-stepped, avoiding the faraway-minded girl. Homura scuttled out from under the table and retreated to a corner where he would not be involved in the following exchange, nor would he obstruct the path of Mito's angry frying pan.

"Saru, seriously."

"I'm not doing anything!" exclaimed the monkey boy, throwing his hands up. This effectively startled Takeshi, whose eyes went impossibly round. He did the funny thing that babies do when startled – make a face and stare, mouth slightly agape, cheeks round.

And then he started wailing into his father's jacket.

"Saru!" hissed Tobirama, and then more softly: "Shh, buddy, it's okay. Saru's not scary." A pointed glare at Hiruzen. Tobirama began rocking his son back and forth, then bouncing the baby gently and humming to calm him.

"It's not my fault your son is over-sensitive," grumbled Hiruzen, folding his arms.

"One day, Saru, maybe you'll have a kid and your student will scare the shit out of him," retorted Tobirama, planting a kiss on Takeshi's forehead and letting the boy whimper into his chest. Big, garnet eyes looked up to matching ones, and the baby ventured a small smile. Tobirama, so taken by his own baby's cuteness, cooed at him.

Hiruzen groaned.

"Hello children, how are you doing in the Academy?" asked the Third Hokage, come to visit his precious children – for all the children of Konoha were part of his family. The Academy teacher twitched; he looked like he had been about to leap in fright, but refrained from doing so in front of his students. He wore a bandanna of a hitai-ate, but his hair was recognizable nonetheless.

"Hokage-sama!" the children cheered. "Sensei, it's the Hokage!"

"I see," said their instructor tightly. "Hello, Uncle Saru."

"You're doing a fine job, Takeshi."

Under his breath, Takeshi murmured boogie to his sister, who was bringing in the young future kunoichi. She rolled her eyes at him exasperatedly, and told him he was silly.

"Takeshi, you idiot," she sneered, but in a friendly, sisterly manner.

"Rocks," mumbled the blue-haired shinobi.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of Konoha, wondered if this child had never outgrown his irrational fear of Uncle Saru the Boogieman.

"What's his name?" asked Tsunade.

"Asuma. Sarutobi Asuma," said Biwako proudly, cradling her newborn child in her arms. The child's brother peeked over his mother's shoulder curiously, accompanied by the father – the Third Hokage himself. The baby giggled as he was handed over to Hiruzen.

"OH HE'S CUTE!" Jiraiya exclaimed in a semi-quiet whisper; he could be sensitive sometimes too. Nonetheless, Asuma made a face of pure horror and wailed. Hiruzen's eyes widened as he looked from his baby to Jiraiya, and back.

"BOOGIE," cried Asuma.

Everyone stared at the child, and Hiruzen wondered how the heck his baby had learned such a word, and from where. He recalled a foreshadowing comment by his own teacher years and years earlier, warning him of a student that would forever terrify his children.

And there he had it.

Thank you, Jiraiya.

Quote: "Because white-haired people are awesome!" Cue a thumbs up at Tsunade, accompanied by a failed love confession, and a Mito-worthy punch.

A series of little happenings from the top of my head.

Hee hee.

Takeshi used giggle! It's super effective.

I had too much fun drawing him...also, my design for his sister is almost reminds me of someone from a tropical island, lol. Like Hawaii. Hawaiian flowers.