Tobirama returns to Wave much less pressed than when he had left. He has noticed that, without the leech, he has felt a lot less jittery and anxious to move on. Shukaku has begun to be more adventurous as well so he assumes the leech made him more overprotective than he otherwise would have been. It's curious to see the changes like ripples on a pond even so soon to blocking the leech off. The leech itself is, objectively, fascinating. Even with it temporarily blocked off, he still has this sense that something's not quite right. That it's still affecting him.

It is with this new knowledge and attitude, and with his usual curiosity for things better left alone, that he comes to Aiko's house with. The kids flock to him when he returns, both teams meshing far better than they had been when he had first left. The Konoha team is almost respectable in the way they work around and with each other outside of battle, although they are far from the measures left by their predecessors (predecessors? They are the same people, but Tobirama's old universe was ahead of this universe by several years…), and he itches to test how it affects them within it.

"Tobirama-san," Aiko greets, tired-looking but otherwise no worse for the ware. Tobirama dips his head to her, grateful. The teams shuffle Shukaku off, apparently more attached to the Bijuu than himself, or picking up on the serious tone between the two adults.

"Thank you for taking care of them while I was gone." Aiko assesses him with that perceptive manner of hers, eyes narrowed. Tobirama holds her gaze and eventually the mother sighs, worn out.

"Yeah, well. Don't expect me to do it again. One half-trained child is a bit much; add six bred shinobi to that and even I get overwhelmed." The quirk of her lips that had been growing vanishes then and she turns entirely serious. "I don't know what you did, and I have a feeling I wouldn't understand if you tried to tell me, but you're clearly doing better." He hesitates, voice catching in his throat, before he can convince himself that 'I don't know what you did' is not the same as 'what did you do'. It takes longer than he'd care to admit.

"Thank you," he says, for lack of anything better. For a moment they stand in quiet, watching the children (because that's all they are, really, no matter their families or backgrounds or training) play. Of all things, they've decided to try out a butchered version of 'Ninja' and it's clearly devolving into some sort of tackle-tag.

"So, what now?" Aiko asks. He thinks about that for a moment.

"I'll return the kids to Konoha," he says slowly, "and maybe get some help before I take on…" he trails off, unsure what he should call the creator of the leech, before deciding to skip it entirely, "I think I'll need it." Aiko watches him out of the corner of her eye and they both pretend she doesn't.

"And after that?" She prompts after a moment. "Will you come here? Will you live with the children you supposedly just visited? Or will you finally let yourself return home to your Konoha?"

"Konoha's not my home," he says, perhaps too quickly. The words taste sour.

"Your mouth says words your eyes don't agree with," Aiko informs. "Surely you couldn't have done anything too bad."

"I don't know," he admits quietly. "I can't remember." After all, it wasn't technically him that had been cast out from or left the village.

"Think about it," Aiko says, apparently deciding to ignore his pretend memory problems. "Would they really let you abscond with six of their shinobi-in-training if you had done something truly unforgivable?" What she says is true enough, when he thinks about it; while Konoha shinobi have been on edge whenever they see him, they haven't really reacted with hostility. On top of this, no one has been sent for the kids. Or at least, no one skilled enough for him to notice. That means that either something has gone terribly wrong in Konoha (a possibility with Matatabi there) or they still trust him enough to know that he wouldn't harm faultless children.

Aiko pats him on the shoulder, calling the kids in for a snack before they leave. Tobirama stays outside, thinking. He'll return the kids, of course, even if he'd rather know that his (his, in two worlds they have been his) team is safe and in capable hands. He'll pick up Matatabi, of course. He should probably swing by the desert for Shukaku and see if he can't convince the Ichibi to stay there while he deals with the leech progenitor. He'll need to backtrack the leech; it might be there to weaken and control him but he refuses to be puppeteered so easily and what better way to prove that than to use the creature against itself?

"You coming, O' Great Shinobi?" Aiko calls, voice bland. Tobirama hums, turning away from his thoughts to follow the woman into the house. The children are mostly sprawled about the floor, with the good-sense to keep to out-of-the-way corners, leaving the table to be filled with snack foods and space for him and Aiko.

"Take what you need for your travels," Aiko says and she drops down next to the table. "Pay me back if you can but I know you can't have had time for a job recently." Tobirama arches a brow at her, folding down at another side of the table.

"What makes you say that?" He asks. It's true enough; he's running low on funds and he hasn't taken an actual mission in quite a while. Still, it's surprising that Aiko could tell. She often knows more than he thinks she should. At this point, he's just accepted it as one of her quirks. Doesn't stop him from being curious, of course. Aiko waves him off dismissively.

"Common sense. Even an idiot could see that you've hardly let yourself stop on whatever self-assigned mission you've given yourself. Plus, you have children to care for. You might not need to eat much but it's obvious you've been taking good enough care of them while they've been with you." Tobirama pauses and glances at the kids. His kids. He'd do anything for them. He's died for them, once, and while these kids are different from those in his first universe, they're still his, in a way he can't really explain. He smiles at Aiko, for lack of anything else to do.

"Thank you."

"I'm a mother," Aiko says softly, "it's my job to take care of my family."

Family.

Is that what he's made here for himself?