Kakashi woke to feeling squirming beside him and saw Iris kicking, despite her legs being bound, at the blanket around her as Hazel Marie was still sound asleep. Sitting up, he pulled Iris into his arms so she wouldn't wake his pregnant fiancé and moved to nudge Shizune awake. As she saw him holding the baby, she sat up and grabbed a clean bottle and two more pouches of milk as well as a cloth diaper and pad. Laying her down, Shizune silently showed him how to change the cloth diaper which was a bit different than the ones Mirai used. Then she prepared the bottle as he moved to sit cross legged with Iris in his lap like Hazel Marie had done and Shizune handed him the bottle so he could learn how to feed her.
"Did you collect evidence of the wreckage?" Shizune spoke softly.
"Yes, and I will write out a detailed report once we return," he whispered.
"It's highly doubtful that anyone will claim her if it's been some time since this wreck happened based on the infections she had."
"I know, but we can't just assume that and have someone show up later on. The moment the alpha handed her to Haze, I had a feeling that she would take her if it became the case. I just hope this doesn't become too much for her as I doubt she would stop teaching."
"We'll make sure she doesn't push herself. Allie, how is she doing?"
"Her legs feel strong enough to be unbound," the slug spoke.
"Return to Tsunade and update her," Shizune spoke and Allie disappeared.
Shizune worked to unwrap Iris's legs and remove the braces as she drank the milk noisily. Once the milk was gone, Kakashi lifted her to his shoulder and rubbed her back and got out the excess air. Feeling her kick her newly healed legs, he chuckled quietly.
"Lay her down on her back for me," Shizune spoke and he obeyed.
Iris kicked with a new energy and a loud excited squeal escaped her. Shizune chuckled as she grabbed her legs and began working to see what movement she had to make sure everything had healed properly. After a few minutes, she finished and they watched the infant roll over onto her stomach and look around. Kakashi watched in amusement as she caught sight of Hazel Marie behind him and immediately started crawling towards her.
"You're in trouble," Shizune chuckled and Kakashi picked up the baby before she touched Hazel Marie but the baby decided to let out a squeal of complaint, managing to wake the woman anyway.
"Someone's happy," Haze Marie yawned.
"You have a mobile baby, Haze. She just crawled from me straight to you," Shizune grinned.
"Are you crawling, little Iris?" Hazel Marie murmured as she sat up and got an excited squeal in response. "I got to pee."
"Same," Shizune spoke and both women got to their feet.
"No bathrooms here," Kakashi spoke as he stood, holding Iris against his shoulder and feeling more comfortable with her as she almost three times bigger than Mirai and her head was stable.
"Oh look at you," Hazel Marie cooed and Kakashi let her take the squirming baby.
Watching her, she propped Iris on her hip with ease as they walked through the caves. Kakashi noticed Athena following close behind as they reached the moonlit outside. The women wandered off and he took that moment to relieve himself as well, hearing Hazel Marie puke in the distance. When they returned, Hazel Marie was singing softly and Iris seemed to be trying to mimic her sounds as she sat on her hip.
"If we're all awake, would it be hard to just head home now?" Shizune asked.
"Not as long as the alpha was woken," Kakashi shrugged.
"I'd like that. As nice as it is to be back out in nature, I miss my bed," Hazel Marie sighed and he nodded. "Athena, can you wake Tsubaki while we pack?"
A quiet bark came from the blue canine as they headed back inside. Kakashi and Shizune packed everything up and he activated the seals on her arms to store the bags. Glancing at Hazel Marie, he paused to watch her rocking the baby who's head was laying against her shoulder with the crocheted blanket over her head, only revealing her sleepy face.
"Are you good?" Kakashi asked.
"This isn't putting any strain my my hands so yeah," she hummed.
Athena returned and nudged both Atlas and Argo to wake up. Taking that as confirmation, they headed out of the caves once more. Seeing Tsubaki and Uruaka padding down to a clearing, they followed.
"How's the pup?" Uruaka yippee quietly.
"She's bouncing back quickly. Thanks to Shizune, her legs are healed and she's showing no pain," Hazel Marie answered.
"Summon me every once in a while, I would like to see both her progress as well as yours. Twins is a rarity among your kind."
"I will, Uruaka," she nodded.
"Should I hold Iris if you get sick again?" Kakashi asked.
"Good point."
Cradling the sleepy baby into his arm, both women kept a hand on him and each other as he grabbed Tsubaki's leg. Within seconds they were back in Konohagakure and on the roof of the Hokage tower. Shizune stabilized Hazel Marie and guided her off to the side before she puked.
"I had a feeling you'd probably not stay long if you sent me your slug, Allie," Tsunade spoke and Kakashi saw the woman getting to her feet, a bottle of sake on the ground beside her. "May I look over the child?"
"Would you be able to determine her age?" Hazel Marie asked as she finally recovered and returned back to his side.
"It would take only a moment to do that," Tsunade hummed as she came over and shifted the blanket some without uncovering the baby. Her hand glowed and Hazel Marie held her hand out for the slug on the Hokage's shoulder which moved over to her and up her arm. "Nine or ten months...? Her inquires healed nicely. I sent a stock of milk over to your house, Haze as well as some supplies. Unfortunately the shops are closed so no crib."
"Thank you, that's more than enough."
"We can get that tomorrow and build the nursery," Kakashi spoke.
"Oh that reminds me!" Tsunade spoke excitedly but kept her voice low and Kakashi smirked as she pressed her palm to Hazel Marie's stomach. "It's been some time since I've had the opportunity to work with a twin pregnancy. I can see how I missed it. I would like to see both you and the baby tomorrow at the hospital for bloodwork."
"Okay," Hazel Marie hummed as she pulled Iris into her arms as she squirmed some.
"Ready to head home?" Kakashi asked and she nodded.
Pulling her into his arms as she focused on holding Iris, he nodded towards the two women and jumped off the roofs. Glancing behind him, he hummed as he saw Hazel Marie's three ninken easily follow. Hearing a squealing from Iris, he glanced down and saw her eyes wide open and a wide smile. Every time he jumped off a roof, her squealing increases before falling into belly laughs by the time they reached home.
"You are so silly," Hazel Marie mused as Kakashi set her down and unlocked the door. "Babies certainly bounce back quickly."
"Indeed," Kakashi hummed as they headed inside and he knelt down to help get her boots off as the two blues and spotted ninken started to explore the house.
"Thank you."
"Of course," he smirked as he got back to his feet.
"Do you regret any of this?"
"Absolutely not," he murmured as he pulled his mask down so he could kiss her. "I only worry how you will be able to manage a baby on top of twins with teaching as I doubt you would stop that and these seminars that Fuu mentioned coming up."
"I may know a bit about babies from when I'd babysit as a kid, but I will still be learning a lot. Kurenai is part of a mother's group so I might join that to help give me more support," she smiled as they headed down to the bedroom. "Did you feed her before I was woken up?"
"Yeah."
"So that was three hours, roughly," she hummed.
Kakashi noticed that the top of their dresser was piled with dozens of cloth diapers and over a dozen clean bottles. Wipes, creams, folded blankets, pacifiers, some hard plastic toys with rubber textures, and some clothes that definitely seemed large as Hazel Marie grabbed one and lifted up to study it. Hazel Marie laid out one of the blankets and laid Iris on the dresser and changed her diaper and put her into the large footed sleeper pajamas.
"Never really did much with cloth diapers before, but in the end run, it is a better investment," she hummed as she pulled the yawning baby back into her arms.
Kakashi went into the closet to put away his gear and change into a pair of pajama pants and a simple t-shirt before coming back out. Hazel Marie was by the window, rocking Iris but he could hear movement in the bathroom and water running. Realizing that she had used a clone, he chuckled and eased the sleeping baby into his arms and the clone disappeared. Climbing into bed carefully not to disturb the child in his arms, he moved to lay down with her still cradled against his chest.
"You're making good use of clones," Kakashi murmured softly when she came out, damp hair having been braided and she was wearing a night shirt that went to her upper thighs and a pair of shorts underneath.
"It's pretty convenient to have," she mused as she came around the bed and set an alarm before climbing up beside him and rolled onto her side. Rolling onto his side as well towards her, he eased the baby to lay down in the space between them. Feeling weight near his feet, he glanced down to see Argo with his front paws on the bed while the blues were behind him. "It's a good thing this is a king bed. Come on up."
"Are you going to just cosleep?"
"Oh god no," she grimaced and he chuckled. "This is only temporary. I don't want to be punched or used as a jungle gym at night."
"Sleeping with young pups are not much different."
"Yeah. Every day is an adventure," she yawned and they both worked to fall asleep while they could.