"Hello, Koi-love… You are so beautiful, indeed, you are!"

Lee smiled softly down upon his seven week old baby girl. Looking back up at him, she smiled back, her toothless grin charming beyond words to the 'mother'.

Lee squealed in joy, his eyes alight with the emotion as he continued to tease his daughter by playfully tugging her green spandex blanket from her hands. She was too young to understand the game, but her grip remained tight on the suit turned blanket, her grin growing because of the laughter she could blearily make out from her 'mommy's' face.

Leaning down, Lee rubbed their noses adoringly against hers. His grin only grew as she gurgled happily, her tiny fists flailing, though she retained her hold on her baby blanket.

Her hands tangled in his shoulder length hair. With great delight, she tugged on it till she was able to stick it in her mouth, sucking on the strands of black. Lee laughed quietly, careful not to startle her, as he allowed her to do as she wished with his hair.

She was the reason he had been growing it out, anyway.

Sometime around three weeks, Lee had begun to realize that Koi's hands always reached for another person's hair. Every time Minamaru had ever held her, his hair reaching his elbows at the back, the front of it reaching his collarbone, Koi's hands had always became tangled in it. The same occurred with anyone else's hair. Lee had came to the conclusion that Koi had a fascination with hair, then had decided to indulge her.

Hence, allowing his hair to grow over it's signature bowl cut. It wasn't that much of a loss, he soon learned. Koi was not the only one that enjoyed the lengthened hair…

As Lee had learned with great pleasure one night when it had been just him and Gaara… But that was inappropriate for the beautiful moment that was occurring.

Lee chuckled as Koi lost interest in the strands she was sucking on as it was caught anew by a different strand.

"You are the most magnificent baby girl, do you realize that? Out of the seven children of the new generation, you and Aya-kun are the only two girls among the lot? It makes you perfectly unique! You shall have so many older brothers guarding you as you walk through life! Jun with Samaie shall teach you compassion as well as passion! Your older brothers, our red lotus with our firefly, shall teach you knowledge coupled with acceptance! Aya-kun, your darling older sister, shall teach you to fear nothing while you laugh at everything!"

He chuckled, winking down at his daughter who had moved onto a different section of hair.

"You must be careful of that, though, koi-love. To laugh at everything is to eventually hurt someone. As you walk through life to become a beautiful, young lady that shall captivate the hearts of millions of men, remember that you can always rely on your family for anything you are uncertain of!"

He chuckled again, touching his forehead to hers as his eyes closed in amusement, his exceptionally white teeth showing for a moment in a small smile.

"Or to take care of any unwanted attention you come across… I am sure that our red lotus, or Aya-kun, who love to assist you in that area! Our firefly would most certainly have fun with that one!"

His smile became somewhat sad as he looked towards the circular window opposite of where he sat in the rocking chair with Koi in his arms.

"I have this very strange feeling… that they are not telling me something…"

He tilted his head questioningly as he looked back to his daughter, who stared unknowingly back up at him.

"It is a strange thing to feel, is it not? I know that none of them would ever deceive me… but I am not so certain when it comes to matters that might mean me harm… I am sure that even our firefly is in on this."

Supporting his daughter, he lifted her so he could lean her over his shoulder where she seemed to like being best. It was better access to more hair, he figured. A tickling sensation tingled down his neck as she grabbed and released random strands. He giggled as she grabbed the short hairs on the back of his head, actually tickling him.

He had few soft spots left anymore, most of them worn out by training or scars, but the spots he had left…

They were almost too sensitive.

She smiled where she was, one tiny hand the span of half of Lee's palm, spread apart over his heart, then she buried her face into his hair.

Lee chuckled once again, holding her close to him.

"I am sure that I am just being paranoid… But I doubt it as well… Your father and our red lotus went on a mission today. It is strangely reminiscent of the one your father went on with our firefly last week… All your devious father ever says is that 'we are searching for the enemy.'."

Koi squealed in joy as Lee mimicked Gaara's excuse almost perfectly. Lee laughed again at the sound, squeezing her gently.

"You are just too precious! Every sound you make is so darling, I feel as if I should show you to the world so that you may spread your youthful innocence!"

Koi, at that point, could not bring herself to care. Not because the hair before her was more interesting than her 'mother', but because she was fast asleep, having done so between one breath and the other.

As Lee realized what had happened, he squealed again, this time more to himself than loudly so as not to disturb her.

Everything she did was truly darling.