I was attacked by an idea while I was walking tonight. Koi is about to meet some important members of her family! We are going to observe how that goes…

Koi studied the distant, fuzzy shapes that floated out of reach. No matter how far she stretched her arms, she could not reach the two pointy things. She really wanted them!

… They might even be hair… like that other person's had been. Hair tasted good…

Kankuro smirked smugly as he watched his niece reach out for him to pick her up, feeling on top of the world as she reached out with all of her little strength.

Yep, kids dig him.

"Hey there, brat. I'm your ojisan (uncle), Kankuro."

He laughed as she continued to reach upward. Deciding to give mercy to his mei (niece), he picked her gently up from the crib, into his arms.

His smile disappeared as the child finally got hold of her target, tugging his hood from his head, then continued to suck contently on the ears of it. He grimaced.

"You're just another Aya, aren't you? The whole time she was a little kid, she was after that."

He sighed, shaking his head. Ultimately, he decided to let her keep the hat till she got bored with it. He had tried on one too many occasions to take it from Aya to not know how it would go if he took it from the small girl.

Instead, he kept talking as if his head of spiky brown hair wasn't revealed in broad daylight.

"I made you something. You want to see it?"

He took her happy gurgle as a yes. Grinning widely, he reached into the pouch he had brought into the room with him, carefully lying the child back onto her bed as he opened it. After the initial whimper, Koi calmed down, deciding to remain content with her new toy.

That fuzzy thing only thought it was getting the pointy thing back.

Kankuro returned to leaning over the crib, his grin huge as he put a wooden puppet before his mei's eyes.

The design was simple, yet unique, never to be found in any store. It had dark, beady eyes, sharp, grinning teeth, coupled with small, dull claws at the end of each finger so as not to hurt the child. It looks like a bear, except it had a large, raccoon like tail, as well as strange markings up and down it's body painted purple against the sand wood color of the figurine.

Kankuro snickered as Koi's eyes fixed onto it.

"Your daddy acts like it's nothing that my bratty brother was a demon once, so I thought it might be a good idea to pull one over on him."

He waited, thinking that she would burst into tears or whimper. He knew, in the back of his mind, that it was kind of cruel to tease a baby like this. He countered that guilt with the fact that she wouldn't even remember this years down the road, but Lee and Gaara would.

All evil thoughts of what Lee's and Gaara's reaction would have looked like died as the child gurgled in delight, reached out, and ripped the figurine from his hands.

An eight week old baby liked Shukaku… Where no man, or woman, with a brain would have even touched the redhead holding the demon back in the day.

Kankuro scowled, leaning out of the crib and rubbing the back of his head in startled surprise.

"Guess you really are like your old man… The green one, I mean…"

His eyes shifted from left to right to make sure no one had seen him there, then reached into the crib to grab the abandoned hat. He considered grabbing the figurine as well, but…

She was using it as a teddy bear as she fell asleep again, lying on her green spandex.

He debated it for a moment. It came down to whether he wanted to be confronted by Gaara and Lee, or if he wanted the girl to scream bloody murder…

Thinking….

Thinking…

Decided.

Kankuro rubbed sorely at his ears as he left the house, the shukaku figurine securely hidden in it's pouch as he returned to his workshop to destroy the evidence.

Happily content, Koi sucked on the pointy thing.

It was tasty.

Koi stared up, once again, at the unfamiliar blob in her presence.

This one was that strange color that she saw whenever she looked at that bright thing when she and her 'mommy' were outside. This one had way more pointy things on it's head than her new toy she took from that other blob. So, of course, she wanted it. It was bright, it was pointy, and it was most likely hair!

Temari smirked, one hand holding onto the crib's rail, the other on her hip as she posed proudly. Her mei continued to reach for her, her tiny little arms unable to reach her, but her eyes were wanting.

Her mei thought she was cool.

Taking pity on her, Temari picked up the nine week old girl into her arms, then supported her in a cradle like hold. She frowned as the child continued to reach furiously upwards. She thought back, then scowled down at the girl.

"You little brat. You're only after my hair, aren't you?"

She mock sighed in annoyance, but ended up laughing at the antics of her mei anyway.

"You know, I used to do this with your niisan (older brother). I'd sneak into his room when no one else was there, then I'd just chat with him."

She tapped the tip of her mei's nose, then reached up and removed one ponytail so that the thick, blonde hair was more easily within of the baby. She chuckled as her mei began to suckle blissfully from the strands.

"We talked about all sorts of things… Like, did you know that your dad still occasionally carries his teddy bear around with him when he really misses his boy toy? You need to see your old man one of these days when your 'mom's' not there with him. I thought he was bad when he was alone… Now he's worse when he has thousands of people loyal to him and so many people that love him."

She leaned forward more, the child determined to reach more hair.

"You're just like your 'mom', do you know that? I don't think kids your age should be so determined to get what they want… I think I saw a baby movie on it once… Forget it."

She bounced the baby, causing the tiny girl to gurgle in joy. Temari met the eyes of her mei,…

And confusion rained down about her.

Gently, she reached out to bring the baby's face back to hers, looking down more carefully into the baby's eyes. They were large, but shaped like her father's… and had been black.

Just around the edges, an almost nonexistent existence of blue had emerged. She blinked, then tilted herself into the brighter light of the open window. The girl's iris became green instead.

Temari blinked again, then a smirk descended upon her face again.

"You've been hiding your father's eyes, you sneak."

She cackled, tickling the baby's stomach so she squealed.

"Wonder how many other people know your dirty little secret."

She placed the baby back into the crib, one eyebrow shooting up as she spotted her brother's hood. She picked it up, gave her mei a speculating gaze, then placed the hood back into the girl's hands. Once Koi found the hood sufficiently sucked on to the point she was ready to fall asleep, Temari pulled the green spandex blanket up around her.

When Koi had been born, the spandex had more than large enough for her. Now that it had been cut down into a blanket, the girl was finally beginning to outgrow it. Temari was both glad and sad for it.

One, her mei did not have to be caught in public with green spandex like her 'mom' and his sensei were.

Two, her mei was going to need a different baby blanket for when she grew out of this one. Temari had seen that girl on a day when the blanket had abruptly disappeared. She had a set of lungs on her that could shock any one specialized in sound jutsues.

She grimaced, then an idea dawned on her. She disappeared in a gust of wind, which didn't seem to offend the baby at all, and reappeared hardly minutes later.

She leaned back over the crib, her find held smugly in her hands as she looked at mei.

Between her fingers, she held one of her redheaded brother's red overcoats. In a moment, it was demolished till it was, as Lee's jumpsuit had been turn into, a blanket by a sudden dispense of wind.

"I bet you love your otousan a lot, don't you? Well then, I'm sure your 'mom' won't mind if I give you this."

She cackled again, her eyes closing in amusement as she handed the new blanket to the baby girl.

"Not so sure about your otousan."

Once in her grasp, Koi suckled happily from the dark red material, then took a double take. She knew this scent… as well as this taste…

This was the taste of that red blob that always came to her once her happy green blob left. She always liked the red blob, he was quiet and let her suck on anything he was wearing…

Temari smiled smugly as her mei squealed in happiness. Taking the blanket momentarily fro her, she rearranged it so it fit over her entirely.

"I thought I did good… See ya later, Koi-mei."

Back in the pose she had first came transported into the room with, one hand on the rail of the crib, the other on her hip, she disappeared in another gust of sudden wind.

For two more hours, Koi went between slobbering the pointy thing, the stretchy green thing, and the soft red thing.

She was having a really good day.

She was having a really bad day.

This new blob had nothing to grab onto. Aside from that, it's voice was really loud and deep. It was disturbing. It had taken away her pointy thing and her soft red thing, and she was not liking that so much. It smelled too, and was hot to the touch. It hadn't even given her any time to look at it, either. As soon as it had entered her vision, it had lifted her out of her home, and into it's arms. She was scared…

"YOU ARE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL, BLOOMING ROSE!!! Most certainly, one day, you shall have the stud of the herd groveling at your feet! Yosh!"

Gai posed proudly, Koi held loosely in one arm as he put his fingers thoughtfully to his chin.

"Of course, you shall have to learn how to defend yourself! I would be more than pleased to teach two generations of Rock! Your father was the most focused, determined student a sensei could ever ask for!"

Tears fell freely down his cheeks as he said this. In his arms, Koi began to cry as well, but for a different reason.

"You remind me very little of your brother! Always, he was straight faced and blank like his stoic sire! Yet, he turned out to be the most magnificent specimen of a young man, did he not!? As a child, he would flock towards me! Never before had he sympathized with my pride in Lee as you do now, though! You are truly wonderful, my beautiful blooming rose!"

Koi reached out for something to grab. Her nails caught on a fabric exactly like her green thingy, but it didn't feel the same. It felt tight, and she couldn't pull it towards her… It was frustrating to her.

Then true terror occurred, as she felt the heat leave and open air touched her. She cried out, not liking the change, before she was pressed to a warm chest.

Covered in a nice, warm fabric that she could pull right into her mouth. As close as she was to it, she named it comfy brown thingy.

"Gai, what were you doing to my sister?"

Kanaye rose an enquiring brow at his 'grandfather', as his chichi had suggested he refer to his as. The man, a great and loyal ninja, had the redhead's total respect…

His energy and loudness merely made it difficult to watch his sister while his father and chichi were at a meeting while the man was in the house with Koi.

The man had an affinity with children. Children just did not return the feeling. Gai, sadly, had not caught onto that.

The man smiled brightly, making Kanaye blink at the display of embarrassingly white teeth, before he took up the 'good guy pose'.

"I was discussing with my youthful blooming rose the happenings of life! When I began speaking of my pride in her accomplished chichi, she had cried in pride along with me!"

Kanaye's thin red eyebrow shot up.

"Are you sure it was her sympathizing with you?"

"What else could it have been!?"

Kanaye shook his head regretfully, his obsidian eyes closing for a moment, before he looked back to the aged Jounin.

"I'm sure chichi and father will be returning in a matter of minutes. You should get ready to meet them."

Gai blinked, then smiled brightly once again.

"Thank you, red lotus, I shall begin exercising to warm up for the match Lee and I shall hold against his stoic husband!"

Again, one red eyebrow quirked up.

"Does father know about this match?"

Gai fell into laughter as if Kanaye had just said the funniest thing ever. Against the redhead's chest, Koi whimpered, sucking more urgently on the fabric before her.

"Of course not! That would take the excitement out of it!"

He waved farewell to them, stopping by their side to give them a conjoined group hug that made Koi squirm uncomfortably.

"I shall begin now! If I can not run seven hundred laps around the Kazekage residence going backwards before they arrive, I shall fight Lee's stoic husband with my thumbs tied together behind my back and my knees locked together!"

He disappeared in a shower of 'youth' after his flashy 'good guy pose'.

Kanaye stood there blankly for a moment, then looked down to his baby sister. He shook his head in regret.

"You sad creature. As I got older, people said that I had attached myself to him every chance I had gotten."

He shrugged carelessly, moving deeper into the nursery from where he had been standing next to the door.

"I think it was because he reminded me so much of chichi and had so many different stories to tell… I also wanted to know how someone so silly and outlandish was capable of bringing about so much fear as well as respect. In a sense, that reminded me of father."

Carefully, he set his baby sister back into her crib, pulling the discarded hood and red blanket back into her reach, then pulling the spandex out from under her to wrap around her again.

Once that was done, he leaned lazily against the rail, studying her from his high post. After a long moment of speculation, his eyes narrowed.

He leaned forward till his face was an inch or so away from his sister's, then blinked in surprise.

"Your eyes aren't black…"

A ring had begun to form around her eyes, turning the obsidian a green-blue color that Kanaye was very familiar with.

Kanaye frowned, his thin eyebrows drawing slightly together.

"Chichi's going to be ecstatic… Father, not so much."

Koi reached out, patting her hand to his face as she continued to suckle happily on the black hood. Kanaye's eyebrow shot up, then he leaned out of the crib and left the room.

Koi stared after the new red blob. It had tasted different than the red blob that her red thing tasted like. That meant…

That there was two red blobs…

And there were two green blobs…

There were two yellow blobs, if her memory went back far enough…

Koi began crying in distress, afraid and confused.

Everyone was multiplying.

Poor, poor Koi… No, that was not her having coherent thoughts, just what I summarized of what she was thinking with what little she already understands at her young age. No, she's not a freakin' super genius, she's just special, and I wanted to give you all the opinion she had of everyone who came into her room. I have one niece and one nephew, but I'm pretty sure my info of what babies do at what age isn't as accurate as I would like it to be. Some of the info, I asked another. Otherwise, I was winging it. Tell me how much you love Koi, please!