[August]
{ A + 13 }
"This is..." There weren't many things that would keep the Uzumaki from her meals. Anyone who knew any better got used to her mannerisms and knew that if they were not out on a mission, and especially if she were back home at her favorite restaurant, you were on her time. Anyone who would have witnessed this occasion from start to finish would likely have done a double-take. The kunoichi's attention wasn't on her meal, but instead, eagerly focused on the woman next to her with a smile plastered across her face. "Intense? No... Surreal?" Flabbergasted the red-head knit her brows together, scrunched her nose, and frowned.
"Wait. Why?" The brunette woman turned to face her, and Kushina couldn't help but feel like a child under her gaze. It was easy to forget just how different they were, but that was beside the point. "There is no way that you have had better." Intense and surreal were not the words Kushina had ever heard when describing what was obviously pure blissful heaven in your mouth. And frankly, Kushina didn't care how much older Melody was and what outlandish (to her) experiences she had lived. There was no way that anything in her weird world that wore those questionable uniforms for 'camouflage', could beat Teuchi's Ramen.
"Huh?" The elder confusion etched on the elder's features for all of a moment before Melody was laughing. "Oh, ha, no. This is by far the best Ramen my taste buds have ever had the pleasure of experiencing." Even after being together for a little over a year, Kushina was still getting used to the weird (to her) way Melody spoke. Narrowing her eyes, the fifteen-year-old searched for any sign that the brunette was pulling her leg. Seeing this, Melody quickly clarified. "I meant walking around Konoha was surreal. To me, this all feels like a dream." Curious, but too hungry to ignore her stomach now. The Chūnin returned to her own bowl but glanced over it as the brunette continued speaking. "It's one thing to imagine all of this, you know? I think everyone wonders and imagines what it would be like to walk down Konoha's streets. I know I did. Yet here I am, actually passing by the people and seeing that they are no different from the people back..." Even Teuchi seemed to have been caught off guard by her sudden stop, pausing himself from wiping down the surrounding counter. "Home. A part of me is afraid I am going to wake up at any moment."
Thirteen months. Melody had arrived in her life thirteen months ago, and if there was one thing Kushina wished to emulate herself, it was the woman's ability to adapt, twist the truth without lying outright. To alter stories enough to where the meaning wasn't lost, even if the details and names had been. It had been a point of slight contention between them. She hated it at first, but having since witnessing the impact of controlling information, the narrative, and how that affected the outcome of what seemed to be like pointless endeavors. Had completed avoided any unnecessary conflict.
If there was a single thing Kushina could take from Melody, that was it.
"Oh." She mumbled mid-bite, before slurping what ramen she had in her mouth at the end of the twenty-eight-year-old's explanation. "You should have elaborated sooner, ya know." She said pointing her chopsticks at Melody. "If you were anyone else, I would have dragged you to the hospital." She elaborated, returning to her meal and actively trying to ignore her pair of eyes staring knowingly at her. A couple of moments passed before the teen finished her third bowl, unable to deal with the attention. "It was that or turn you into T&I." She added and when the doe-brown-eyed woman still didn't comment, Kushina crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose. "What? You're weird."
"Ouch. Shot through the heart." Melody grasped the fabric over her heart as if it had been a physical wound. Seconds later she laughed at the teen's 'my point, exactly' expression. "What did you expect, though? It's not like I am from around here." The woman defended, waving a hand lazily around. "This is all new to me."
"Not from around here, you say?" Teuchi inquired, joining the conversation. Kushina couldn't help but be grateful for the distraction, though she internally wondered why he couldn't have done so while she was eating. "Where are you from?" The question was innocent enough, but Kushina still tensed. Handing the reins for the brunette to continue the conversation as she glanced from behind her fourth bowl.
Reminding her of the second thing she admired and wanted to emulate from the woman. Melody always appeared natural and relaxed in just about any situation. It was something Kushina had noticed other veteran shinobi had picked up themselves. And when she asked, Melody had claimed it had taken years to get into the habit. And it was a double-edged sword, depending on whose presence you were in. Kushina didn't give a damn. The woman had bluffed and enticed the Third enough for them to 'continue their training' with their 'unique clone' situation. That was an invaluable skill.
"There was this small fishing town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire." Initially, Kushina was skeptical of the woman. She was an unknown and had shown up out of nowhere... in her head in the middle of her kidnapping. For all she knew, Melody could have been a creation Kyūbi to trick her. If she were to be completely honest, somewhere deep down Kushina knew that could still be the case. What eased her away from those conclusions were the memories she had witnessed. She wouldn't put it past the Kyūbi, but it seemed far too complicated. Too real for Kushina to hope for anything but that Melody was who she projected to be.
"Was?" Melody nodded at the inquiry and rested her chin in the palm of her left hand.
"It was a beautiful town, and I loved it very much. The waters were crystal blue and darkened when a storm was on the horizon. The people were lovely folk and very welcoming." Slowly Kushina set down her bowl, enthralled by the pure admiration in Melody's voice as she spoke about this town. "There was an inn on the beach line it had the most brilliant view. Especially during sunrise and set. I remember sneaking in with my brothers to watch it on the roof." She laughed. "It was during one of these breaking and enterings when Shishou found us and trained me."
"What made you leave?" Without thinking, the question parted Kushina's lips. She was getting better at reading the brunette, but she was far from an expert. Said brunette lifted her head from her palms and frowned.
"It was a tough decision, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity of being trained by an actual shinobi. Our town wasn't well guarded. With the war, Uzushiogakure fall, and the land of waves being too close for comfort. It was only a matter of time before we were to be targeted." The woman sighed and Kushina frowned looking down at her bowl unsure of what to make about what was being told. She knew there was some truth in the tale. Anyone could see it with the sincerity of her voice, her faraway longing gaze, and the unimportant details she peppered in. "I lost track of time. I learned a lot from Shishou and forgot about that small, beautiful town during our travels. A couple of years ago, Shishou brought me here... or rather sent me here. And I haven't gotten out much until recently."
"Now that I think about it, you do look familiar." Teuchi interrupted as he picked up their empty bowls, his eyes brightening as he placed her face. "You're Sakumo's new friend, aren't you?"
"Huh?!" Kushina had always just assumed that when Melody was out and about, it was for another mission or something for the Hokage. What's this about being friends with Sakumo?! AND WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF IT! Melody hadn't so much as mentioned anything about making friends, nevertheless friends .
"Oro?" Doe-brow eyes widened and her head titled slightly to the left. The two of them shared a glance before turning back to face Teuchi, who merely smiled and continued to dry off one of their bowls. "T-That's hardly fair," Melody whined, literally whined, as she crossed her arms and pouted. The sight was foreign even to Kushina, who unquestionably spent the most amount of time with the brunette. "You can't just keep me in suspense like this."
"Hold the fuck up." While she could feel both adults' attention on her, Kushina focused on comprehending this new piece of information that she had only just become privy to. "Sakumo. Like Sakumo-Sakumo. Sakumo Hatake, Sakumo?" Looking incredulously at the brunette, the dots fell into place. "AS IN KONOHA'S WHITE FANG?!" Melody bounced a look at Teuchi, then nodded. "You're THE Friend?!"
Kushina was not one for gossip, but even she had heard about this.
"Woah. Woah. Woah. Hold your horses." This time she looked between the two of them as she spoke. "Why did you say 'friend' like that? It's just friend." The teen giggled at the flustered woman, thoroughly enjoying the rare expression on her face. "None of this friend stuff." A quick glance at Teuchi and Kushina would bet he was not expecting that response and if his grin said anything it was that he was enjoying this maybe a bit too much.
"Sakumo-sama hardly has friend-friends, hime." The owner sagely replied. Hime? "You have unintentionally upset the balance within the female population. You see, there is this exotic foreigner that has been spotted with our one and only White Fang's undivided attention." The growl that escaped the elders' lips was inhuman but familiar to Kushina. "It would seem that his appearances at the bar have dropped along with the number of females he has been seen leaving them with."
"Sometimes we hit up bars." She explained, though clearly still flustered. "What he does on his off time is his own damn business." She lamely followed, crossing her arms and nodding to herself. "I hardly can see how us hanging out like normal people would cause such a scandal."
"Ten months ago." Kushina had a good idea of where the owner was going with this, but if Melody's arched brow meant anything, it was that she did not.
"Hmmm?"
"I will bet that you and our beloved White Fang met around ten months ago." It was minute, but Kushina caught the woman biting her lip and gasped. She is so her. Part of her chirped, ecstatic at this revelation. Elated that Melody seemed to have been placing some roots down in the village. Yet another tad bit louder part of her was upset. Wondering how or why she would hide something like this from her. "You see, apparently ten months ago is when he started to change and no one thought anything of it at the time."
"Until we started hanging out publicly later." The brunette rubbed the bridge of her nose. "And people took it upon themselves to talk and perform their own investigations. Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just maybe, he was lonely? And I don't mean specifically in that sense. He is a single parent and a shinobi who had one hell of a reputation." Kushina frowned, casting a quick glance at Teuchi to see if he caught the slip. It was the only way she caught any specifications about what was to come or learned anything new about the soldiers' personal life and affairs. "I offered to watch his kid, and we became friends. We laugh. We joke. And we complain like friends do. That doesn't mean that I am snogging the guy."
"Snogging?" That was definitely a term she had never heard.
"You know..." Melody flippantly rolled her wrist. "Shagging." Seeing that she had apparently also lost Teuchi, Melody sighed. "Banging... Screwing." A quick glance at Teuchi and it was apparent that he knew exactly what she was referring to. "Mating, sleeping together?" The woman was shooting through synonyms before she could explain that she got the point. "Holy shite 'shina!" Turning to acknowledge her name and hopefully stop what was going to be an embarrassment for them both, she found she was too late. "Sex. Kushina. Sex. We are not having sex."
She wasn't completely incompetent.
She was fifteen, and this was very much not something she talked about with anyone. Kami, the only person she would even think about having these discussions with was the one currently yelling out she was not having sex with Sakumo in the middle of Ichiraku's for the world to hear. Along with a good handful of other roundabout terminology. Even if Kushina wanted to talk to Melody about these things, there was still that extremely awkward bit that she was kinda in love with the same, albeit older version of the guy she was in love with. It hadn't been too awkward to think about when they were together, but now that they were spending a substantial amount of time apart and Melody chose to appear her actual age...
The best option was avoiding the topic itself until she personally reasoned all of this out. Which meant never. And if she were lucky and Melody was hanging out with more people her age. Well, that still made things a bit awkward since she could only do so because she was a 'clone' of the Chūnin.
So she just would not bother with that can of worms until she had to. And to sway her mind from those thoughts, the Chūnin asked the main question on her mind.
"How did you two meet?"
[December]
{ A + 5 }
"So help me, Obito, if you drop that cake I am going to be very upset with you and you won't live to become a ninja," Melody growled out the barely veiled threat as the Uchiha detoured into the playground. "You're gonna be the death of me." She muttered to herself, opting to drop her bags while doing so to give him some time to be a kid.
She knew he meant well, but he was a growing child and his grandmother needed a break every now and then. It was an easy enough solution, after running into them a couple of times in town, speaking with the wonderful old lady and witnessing her predicament. Melody made sure that if she ever happened to be in the area, she would offer to take the squirt and allow the elder some reprieve. A sigh slipped passed her lips as the twenty-eight-year-old watched the kid play on the playground while managing to balance the cake.
"This is possibly the last place I would expect to run into you." Smirking before the familiar baritone voice finished, she turned to face him.
"I could say the same. It wasn't exactly planned. If that's what you were thinking. At least not on my end, albeit these things seem to happen more when he is around." She motioned with a nod over to the self-entertaining Uchiha who was currently trying to balance the cake on his head while climbing up the slide... without using his hands. Positively sure that those chakra control lessons are not taught at the academy based on what little she knew, the brunette turned her back to the kid, not wanting to witness the pastry's inevitable destruction. She was greeted with a curiously frowning Hatake, and it took her all of a minute to realize where the cogs in his head were heading. Taking it upon herself to clarify the situation and having a viable excused to touch him, the kunoichi brought him out of his thoughts with a gentle hand on his right shoulder. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Taichou."
"Who is that Obasan?" Whether he just realized that her attention was no longer on him or that they were no longer alone didn't bother the woman. What had caused her to facepalm and run her hand down her face was that he seemingly didn't know who she was talking to. She didn't know if they went over prominent shinobi in the Academy. Everyone seemed to know who the Sannin were, and he played a crucial role in the second shinobi war. There was also the chance that physical descriptions were not given, but being that Obito was an Uchiha. She liked to think they knew about other clans, big or small, within the village. Having not been part of a (living) clan or gone through the academy herself, for all she knew perhaps his question was warranted and just another thing she would think about changing. Though I am curious how in-depth with clans, the academy goes into. And what happens when they lose prominence or destroyed. Ugh! The only three people I can ask about this are or will be personally affected by such a circumstance. Hokage it is .
"Obasan?" Ignoring Sakumo's blatant grin, she gave the Hatake a questioning glance as she spoke, attempting to find the correct way to explain their friendship?
"A friend. Obito-Kun." Finding no complaint with her answer, the caramel-skinned woman turned her sights from her silver-haired Taichou to the seven-year-old. "Now give me that and go play." With the cake quickly, but safely, returned to her grasp, the woman walked up to a nearby bench and set down. Sakumo joining shortly thereafter and both watched in silence as the Uchiha entertained himself once more. "I watch the squirt occasionally." She admitted with a soft smile. "He lives with his gran and she can definitely use the breaks." She added pointing to the kid as he fell face-first onto the slide, before sliding down, getting up, and trying again.
"Never thought of having kids of your own?" Caught entirely off guard by the sudden inquiry, Melody didn't answer. Instead wondering whether roundaboutness was a genetic characteristic of Hatake's. Besides the mission they had a couple months back, she had only seen him in passing. As far as she was concerned, their friendship was purely one-sided, on her side, as they had shared nothing too personal to one another.
"It has crossed my mind a couple of times." She settled for an answer with a sigh as she stood and began gathering the bags. As much as I would love to see where this conversation goes... I'd rather not. I am far too invested in it. "Come now, Obito-kun! We don't want to worry Baa-baa!" Her elusive Anbu partner snagged a couple of bags and even the cake as she stood confused. "You don't have to worry yourself with that Taichou."
"We wouldn't want to ruin this before it reached the birthday girl, now would we?"
Oooh, but it has already. Unable to help herself, she closed her eyes and smiled.
[August]
{ A + 13 }
"Have you ever tried to talk him out of doing something?" She adored the man, she really did. "I am almost willing to bet that it's worse than trying to get a hyper-active Uchiha to leave the playground." The three shared a comfortable silence until another patron entered the stall and took Teuchi away. Quite the opportunist. When she wishes, Melody placed money down for their combined meal and waved to her other half. "I've got a couple of things I need to take care of 'shina-darling. It was a pleasure, and I look forward to sharing more meals with you." With that, she was gone in a flurry of leaves, reappearing at her usual training grounds.
Though training was the furthest thing from her mind. The soldier jumped up onto a branch before laying on her stomach with a grunt. As amusing as the conversation from earlier was, it reminded the twenty-eight-year-old just how long it had been since she had seen her former Anbu partner slash captain slash friend (just friend), nevertheless worked with him. He had left the Anbu about half a year prior. Though she hadn't noticed in the chaos that was the Land of Fire's borders and the ever-looming war. Missions had become more frequent, and she was sure that after months of convincing, he finally accepted that spending time with his son was important.
In fact, more important than the deteriorating borders. She thought with a smile.
Their friendship, because that's all that it was, had started off shaky at first. But after their actual first encounter, their shared mission, and her intentional 'accidental' encounters with him (not including the playground, that was genuinely unexpected) they became the closest of friends.
And apparently more so to people in passing.
It was difficult to open up to someone when all you could tell them were half-truths, lies, or derailing... but she had to make it work. She needed someone to talk to, someone who knew her for her actual age.
Not as some clone to be exploited for the war as the Hokage knew her.
Not as her teenage persona, Emiko as Shishou knew her.
Melody thought they would be enough. That between them and Kushina (who did know her. But Melody kept at some arm's length because of her knowledge of the future) she could live a happy life here in the village. She'd continue to go on solo missions, do whatever Hiruzen needed her to do so that lives weren't lost, and she'd pad about in her mind about how to deal with Naruto's birth. So when the Hokage asked who she wanted as a partner for a rather gruesome and difficult mission, she had replied "The White Fang" without so much as a pause.
Why?
Well, if she were completely honest, it came down to 'why the hell not?' She had picked up a bingo book the moment she could. Iwa was good about updating them, and as expected she only knew a handful of people from this time. With the Sannin out, The Yellow Flash not flashing yet, there was only one proper choice.
Unable and unwilling to share their actual first meeting, she had opted for a more innocent and wholesome story. It hadn't been her first meeting with him out of uniform, nor the second or third. But it was one she kept close to her heart. Not being one to stay in the village long, or listen to the people talking around her, Melody groaned as her mind rolled around that new bit of friend information she had learned today. She didn't partake in gossip unless it pertained to a mission. She didn't listen to chit-chat unless it pertained to a mission. Above all, she disliked being part of it more than anything else. The only exception she'd give was if it was for a mission.
Kushina wasn't the only one who had been avoiding thinking of certain things. The thought of relationships like that had been out of her mind even before she had arrived. Her thoughts typically focused on how she could make things better. What options she had at her disposal to deal with known issues? What could she do to prepare others for what was to come? How can she better herself to help those around her? And how she could efficiently cram as much Fūinjutsu into her mind.
She'd long since believed that her life was practically behind her. Being twice Kushina's age wasn't as common as it was in the images that flickered on a television a decade ago. Wars were prominent, people died. Look at Kakashi. A sole survivor whose network of special people had been wiped out. He was the norm. Her career in Anbu (right before a Shinobi War) and her technically about to be thirty made it easier to think like that in this world. It was easier to not think about things others wanted. She felt like she understood Kakashi better now than ever.
Sue her for trying to prepare as much as she could.
If her death meant keeping a certain blond and redhead alive, it was a price she will pay.
She lived her life as crappy as it was.
If I were to be completely honest with myself. I fear the moment I stop and think about everything. What has happened? What's going to happen. How I've been thrown into Atlas' position. I'd go into shock or something. She thought sourly as she swung her arm out in front of her. Even if I were to wake up and find this was all some fever-induced dream or something. No. That would be worse. I couldn't survive that. Even if all I've been doing since arriving here has been reacting to contact. She knew that this mindset would bite her in the ass. She had seen it in a couple of people back before. She had already been losing half her mind when she dragged Sakumo into her life. But it felt good. She didn't realize just how freeing it was to be yourself. To not have to analyze everything you or someone else was saying. To watch their body language and micro-expressions for threats.
To be herself.
That he trusted her even with all her quirks and elusiveness made it all the better.
[December]
{ A + 5 }
"Pregnancy terrifies me." Wolf looked over at the half-masked Vixen with an arched brow under his mask. They had just killed two of their eight targets and while the battle hadn't been pretty, it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. He was grateful for her medical knowledge as she patched him up before they set up camp. As the sun was setting with neither of them being particularly good at advanced level genjutsu, the fire was put out.
The topic had come out of nowhere, but he wouldn't say he wasn't curious.
His personal experiences with pregnancy were nothing but full of joy and anxiety. Fond memories he held dear of a time that, in a sense, was simpler than how things were now. "It is not uncommon for us to die during birth, if not shortly after. Women in my family, that is." She continued staring up at the sky. "Then I became a kunoichi. All the more reason not to."
"You could die on a mission. On this mission, even." He offered after a moment, liking to think he knew her better now. While their initial meeting had been unexpected, they had teamed up more times than not over the last four-almost five months. They hadn't shared too many personal subjects, but he knew that death was not the answer. Though it was something he would have taken at face value without a second thought almost half a year ago. "Death isn't the problem."
"I should have known that wouldn't work on you. But a girl can try?" Glancing over at her, Wolf was surprised to find the woman smiling. "No. It's not. Frankly, the thought of something living inside of me growing and practically being a parasite really bothers me." She continued before he could interrupt. "It is something that would take away everything I've worked hard to obtain. I could lose my career over it. I could change into someone else." She turned away from him and was looking back up at the sky, reaching out to it and the stars. "This is all I have, Taichou. This is who I am. I cannot imagine myself as a civilian. A soldier held back from the front lines. Everything I know, love, and enjoy are things I can only do as a shinobi. A fighting shinobi."
"You haven't found the one." He surprised himself, but before he could reprimand himself, his attention was back on her when she chuckled.
"I fucking hate that statement. That's an entirely different discussion. Though, unintentional or not, you have a point. I've stopped giving anyone the chance." She admitted. "And I am well aware of that, but frankly I feel like when that person comes around it will all fall into place. Plus, I don't think I am the mothering type." There was a pause before she chuckled again. "Got that crazy aunt thing down, though."
They shared a comfortable silence before a scene from a couple of days ago flickered in his mind. "You looked like you were doing fine last time." He could tell she was questioning him. A problem with her version of the half-mask was that her lips were free and she could be expressive when she really wanted. "With the Uchiha kid."
"I'll have you know that I am not completely incompetent. I did raise two brothers." She puffed, gaining his attention with her new revelation. "Kami only knows what they are doing without me though." She shook her head as she sat up and unruly curls flailed back and forth from where they were secured. "Enough about me, Taichou, how are you?" He paused before scanning the area as he answered.
"All is well on the home front if that is what you are asking." He chuckled. "When I am not running around with my crazy-ass partner or team on missions, I am at home with my son." His eyes rolled as she dramatically gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.
"You?!" She scooted herself over and lowered her voice he dubbed 'Vixen's shenanigans tone'. "A son? Taichou, do tell." In times like these, he had to remind himself that even the most capable of shinobi had their quirks. If he were being brutally honest, the higher the skill the quirkier the person. They could hide it, but given time...
"Only if you refer to me by my name outside of missions." She paused and frowned since it had been something he had been trying to stop for some time now.
"I don't know..." She drawled out and this time he frowned, albeit it was hidden behind his mask. "I mean, it could take some getting used to Taichou."
"I will hold you to it." He watched entertained as she waited patiently for him to continue. Curiosity and nerves getting the best of her, she squirmed a bit.
"Taichou?"
"Hmmm?"
"Your son." She whispered, covering her mouth. "Tell me about him."
So he did.
[ seven days later ]
{A + 5 }
The mission was a success, but there had been complications. Looking over to his partner, Wolf frowned. There had been nothing difficult about their job, but whenever he found himself in a situation where he, or a partner, had to resort to seduction based techniques, it always left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. On the upside, they hadn't come to the decision lightly. Vixen lived up to her mask-sake and was a crafty, intelligent, adaptive woman. After bouncing off a couple of ideas, they both agreed the safest and easiest way for them to get in and out of there with the least chance of error was to lure their fifth target.
Less than a couple of hours of intelligence gathering found that he preferred the ladies.
Pulling the necessary attire out of her own seal located on her wrist, she hadn't bothered leaving to change. Talking through the plan with him as she undressed, then redressed. He helped dye her hair from the unruly brunette color to a dark Uchiha-esque black, and she pulled out a pair of emerald green contacts. His appreciation for her sealing abilities doubled in those thirty minutes alone. The last thing she took off was her mask, her lips still moving in response as he presented her with any encounter she may stumble into. Jarred momentarily into silence at her lack of expression caused her to temporarily pause, putting in her first contact to raise a single brow questioning. Wolf held her glance from behind his own mask before motioning towards his face.
The juxtaposition was jarring.
He would never claim that his partner lacked acting skills. All it took was her shutting her eyes and breathing in deeply, then it was as if everything about her changed. The way those predatory doe-brown eyes conveyed the sultry 'out-of-your-league' allure he had only heard of in romance novels and seen in enemy seductress. She held herself in a similar matter, confident, relaxed, and in control. Popping in her two contacts, she squat eye-level with him, holding out her mask for him to take. "In case things go to shite, get this to the Hokage. Chances are I'll finagle my way out, but he needs to know if I am to be delayed."
"Easy enough." With her mask in hand, she flipped her hair out of the way as she looked at him over the shoulder.
"Does this dress make me look fat?"
"Shut up and go knock him off his feet." The woman had the audacity to blow him a kiss before walking onto the main path to the town. He knew he had nothing to worry about and knew that missions like these were not unheard of. But she was his partner, friend, and watching it didn't sit right with him.
They should have known better than to think they were over the hardest bit of the mission. Everything had been going too smoothly. They didn't know if the last target had got word of the others' demise or he was just a paranoid man. He had already sieged himself up in his home with his family. The plan was to break in under the cover of night, take him out, gather any evidence they could, destroy the rest and be out of there without so much as alerting the family.
They didn't even make it to sunset.
Vixen had offered to stand guard since he had the other day. Screams woke him from his slumber before she could get to him. Sparing one another a glance, they jumped into action all plans out the window. They had arrived in time to save the youngest child. A daughter who couldn't have been much older than his own son. Emi had dropped to comfort the child as he inspected the other bodies. They didn't survive their wounds and were likely dead within minutes.
"We can't take her back."
"My thoughts exactly, but we are not leaving her here."
"I was not eluding to that either. One of the nearby towns." He knew that she knew they would have to go out of their way. If they left now, they would be back in Konoha within a couple of days. But when his eyes fell onto the brown-eyed child, he knew there was no other choice. Plus, they could use the break as they were ahead of schedule.
"Let's go."
So much had happened in such a short amount of time. Finally, they were now on their way home. Vixen had done a wonderful job of placating the girl when needed, and his piggy-back rides seemed to gain her trust as well. Vixen's hair was still black, and he henged his own into a brunette, explaining to the wide-eyed civilian that this is what he really looked like. When they finally arrived at a town with a lovely family who had recently lost their own daughter, 'Ichika' as Vixen named her fell into hysterics at word of their leaving. Out of courtesy, and because the child was screeching, Wolf did not hear whatever it was his partner had said to calm her, but he had heard her hiccupped 'you promise?' To which the black-haired brunette nodded and locked pinkies.
"Taichou?"
"Hmmm?"
"Can I meet him?" Frowning, he spared her a look, but outside of the slight fatigue and tenseness, everything seemed fine. Suddenly, she was walking next to him with a hand over her mouth and he just barely caught himself from tensing at the sudden shift. "Your son. Kakashi, can I meet him?" Whispering was extremely useful when talking to someone with sensitive hearing. Her voice was lost in the slight breeze and her hand added a barrier to lip readers. She had never asked him something like this before, especially not in uniform. With as close as she got, he could easily see the shimmer of her eyeshadow surrounding doe-brown eyes. He could also make out her features as if the mask were not there. She was pleading for approval and something was telling him that allowing this would help ease whatever had plagued her mind since they left Ichika.
"If it must be done." He replied with a nod to clarify his answer, content to ending the conversation there.
"Yatta!" Rolling his eyes, he smirked behind his mask. "We make a great pack." She remained at his side as a curious 'hmm' escaped his lips. "Seeing them. The future is important. Reminders of why I walk this path." She added, placing her hands behind her back and humming for the rest of their journey. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do for either of you, ya know." He watched as she waved at the two Chūnin on guard, who waved back.
"It's never simple with you, is it?"
"Oh. Quite the contrary, Taichou."