Kakashi's View:
As I had feared, the moment Aurora's heritage was discovered by Kirigakure, they wanted answers. It had taken a few days for it to reach them, slower than I thought. Mostly, they wanted her returned back there, but I had legal custody. Without my say, she would not be returned. This pissed off the wrong people, and the Hokage had me back in her office.
"I know you won't give her up. I'm not asking that, no one is." Tsunade tried to reason, but I wasn't listening. "I'm asking you to travel there with her. They want to know if any of our theories are true. They might even have answers."
I had to agree with her there. The Yuki clan was still a mystery to us, but the Mizukage would have plenty of information on them. I didn't agree on having to go there. They had all the information now, having demanded it immediately. They had read the reports on that night, the reports on what we found and obviously knew her bloodlines.
"If I don't?" I challenged the blonde, getting a death glare. If looks could kill...I'd be dead five times over.
"You are putting us in a box then. I can't risk a war breaking out over this." It was unspoken, but if I pushed too hard, she'd push back and be left with no choice but to take Aurora.
"Fine. I agree." But I wasn't happy about it. "On the condition, Aurora is not to leave my side." I wouldn't let anyone torment her.
"I can't promise that, but I can promise she will be safe. You and a small team will be sent to Kirigakure by the end of this week." With that, she shooed me out the door, not waiting for me to make a counter offer.
Aurora was excited to be going on a mission with me. Little did she know, we were going there to prove our village had not stolen her from theirs. It pissed me off that they would think that, but it hadn't been unheard of. Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon for children to be stolen from their beds in the dead of night, just for their powers. Nowadays, it was rare, unless you were from a very prosegious clan.
"What's Kiri like?" Aurora asked as I helped her pack. I was teaching her to pack properly, no toys this time. But, she insisted the bunny come with us. I gave in, not wanting a tantrum right now.
"Well, last I was there, hot." It was very humid and the air was always heavy and damp. Though this time of year it was said to be very cold. She'd be happy with it, but it wasn't my kind of weather. "I hear the people are...nice." I lied. Honestly, my knowledge on them mostly came from my encounter with Zabuza and...Rin. I shook the thought away. Not now...
"Father, why are we going there?" I looked back at her from picking out an outfit from her closet. She needed a real shinobi gear.
"Well...do you remember when I told you where you came from?" She'd been pretty young, but she seemed to kind of remember it. "We're going there to...so I can show you where you came from." If I could hide the truth, even for a little while, I would. We were actually stopping a feud between the two villages.
"Are they gonna make me stay?" She looked up from looking through her backpack.
"You won't be forced to stay." But I'm sure they would try to convince her.
Iruka wasn't happy about us going there, in fact he was kind of ticked. He worried about what was going to happen and that we might not come back. He and I decided to discuss this over tea later that night to keep Aurora from over hearing our worries.
"What if they do make her stay? Would you stay with her there?" He asked. I hadn't thought of that option.
"Hmm...well, I suppose I would just leave her behind." I teased, just to get a rise out of him. "I won't let that happen. Don't worry too much, daddy, I'll bring her home safe." Calling him daddy made him turn red.
"D-don't call me that!" It was fine when Aurora did it, but not for me apparently. I fringed a pout.
"What?" I was having fun teasing him, it distracted me from thinking too hard on the upcoming mission. I won't get the chance to do this for at least three weeks, I needed to get my fill.
"You know what…" He still wouldn't say it, so I played innocent to pry it out of him. "Don't you start calling me daddy." Oh this was going to be fun…
"Why ever not?" I leaned against the arm of the couch, watching him squirm in embarrassment. I watched with a smirk as he blushed even harder. Aurora had gone to bed hours ago, so we were safe from her questions of why I shouldn't call Iruka daddy. "Does it turn you on, sensei?" That got a visible reaching out of him, I watched the small shiver run up his spine.
"Kakashi…" he warned, turning away from me and careful not to spill the hot tea on himself.
"And you call me a perv." I took the cup out of his hands before he hurt himself, lowering my mask, kissing just under his ear and pulling his shirt collar down. "Still don't want me to call you daddy?" That got the reaction I had hoped for and he pulled me into a deep, but messy, kiss. "Which one turns you on more?" I grinned wolfishly at him.
"Is it bad that it's both?" That went straight to my groin.
I awoke to Iruka's arms around my waist, his face was tucked into the back of my neck. We had made it back up to the bedroom at least before he finally relented and accepted, I was going to call him whatever I wanted to. I decided, I'd let him be the dominant once again if that was the reaction I got from calling him daddy. Who knew he had a kink. Or, perhaps, we shared that kink.
I was pleasantly sore all across my backside, as he had been the first I let inside of me. I only admitted that to him when he asked why I was so tight. I'd never felt so vulnerable and was grateful Iruka didn't tease me, taking care to make sure he didn't hurt me. I asked myself how I'd gotten so lucky over and over.
I was pulled from the memory of the previous night when my lover stirred.
"Mm...Kakashi? It's still so early…" He was right, the sun had yet to peak over the horizon. "You ok?" He sat up a little on his elbow, worry making its way into his features. I think he thought he had hurt me. The ache was nothing, it just reminded me of him.
"I'm fine, great actually." I leaned up and kissed the scar on his cheek. I couldn't explain why I was awake, I just was. "You were great…" That got him to stop worrying and blush. I was going to miss him when we left tomorrow. I wanted to make sure he wouldn't forget me and promised myself I'd make today count.
Iruka sadly didn't have the day off, so he was unable to come shopping with us like I had hoped. He knew better than I did what was ok for little girls to wear. Sure, I wasn't about to get her some kind of strange bikini that supposedly passed as armor. I just wasn't sure what girls wore underneath. Was Aurora to young to wear a tiny training bra? Was this a bra, or was it armor? It was a mystery…and they really didn't make a lot of armor for kids her size. Most were made for six year olds that were far too big on her.
"What's that?" Aurora asked, coming out of the dressing room to find me mulling over the small bra/armor thing. She had on a pale yellow, long sleeve, chinese style top and long lavender pants. She also chose dark turquoise shinobi style shoes. It looked perfect on her, but make her look too grown up for my liking. I needed to get over that.
"Er...nothing. Do you like that?" I quickly put the bra back, the shopkeeper giving me a disgusted look. I wanted to explain it wasn't like that, but I just gave her an eye smile and turned around.
"I like this outfit!" She beamed. I told her to change out of it so we could get it, while I found suitable under armor. I settled on a thin mesh shirt meant for boys. The girls one didn't cover much more than just the chest. I thought it odd, even the ninja world could be sexist.
While I checked out, I heard Aurora running up behind me. "Look it!" She called making me turn around. She had on a tank top shirt with a mask attached, just like mine but smaller. I couldn't say no and got that for her too, especially when she declared, she looked just like me. Iruka could scold me later.
Once home, Aurora immediately wanted to try everything on again. So, I told her the mesh should go on first before letting her go get dressed. She came bounding back down stairs, landing with a thump on the bottom step.
"Tada!" She must have been beaming, but the mask she wore hid it. She looked so cute in her new ninja gear. So proud...I had to turn to hide the fact that I was on the verge of tears. I couldn't stop myself when she ran closer and I scooped her up in a tight hug, causing her to try to get away.
"Father, you-you're crushing me." she complained, not understanding why I was being so affectionate.
"You're the cutest thing I've ever seen." I sucked it up and let myself cry similarly to how Gai did.
Iruka came home just then, seeing us crumpled up on the floor. He was about to question it was going on when he saw Aurora in her new outfit and mask. I saw him get all teary eyed too.
"Daddy...help! Father's crushing me!" Aurora got an arm free and reached up to him, but he didn't help. Instead he joined me in hugging her close. Now she was really being squished. "No! Not you too!" But her cries fell on deaf ears, both of us overwhelmed with the fact she looked far too grown up.
After deciding to say "screw it," we all took a shower and bath together. We'd learned the hard way that the water heater only allowed for two showers, so why not take one together. Aurora was happy to have play time in the bath with both of us, showing us she could make water bubbles. Up until she nearly froze the bath water, everything was going fine. Both Iruka and I jumped out when we felt the icy chill, neither one of us really appreciating it when it hit certain places. She asked why we ran so fast, then proceeded to ask the dreaded questions of if it had to do with us having penis'. Iruka nearly had an aneurysm right then.
"Maa, let's just say yes and leave it at that, eh?" I told her, making the questions stop.
After that, Iruka tried to show me how easy it was to braid Aurora's hair, but every time I tried she told me I was pulling to hard.
"Ow, that hurts…" She said pouted as I was halfway done with the frenchbraid on her right side. Iruka's braid on her left side was perfect, tied so the ends could be placed in small buns in the morning and let down again the next night. Mine looked just like his, but was apparently "too tight." We would be on a ship for at least two days and I didn't want to deal with her crazy hair in the morning. This was Iruka's solution.
"Sorry, caterpillar." I apologised, but I was pretty sure I wasn't really hurting her. Sometimes she just wanted to be trouble for me. Why didn't she do this with Iruka? I still hadn't learned his trick. "There, done." She rubbed her head a little, relieving some of the tension from the braids.
"Was that so bad?" Iruka teased her, making her pout again. "Hopefully that should keep until you guys make it to Kirigakure…" he was still worried about us going. Konoha and Kiri were not on the best of terms at this time. They were trying to make amends, change themselves and their image away from the Bloody Mist Village, but there was still tension. I understood his fear, there was a very high chance this was all a trap, but I had to have some hope that I was wrong.
"How come you're not going, dad?" She turned to Iruka. He had made her stop calling her daddy, which I found funny.
"I have the end of the semester tests still. I can't leave just yet." He gave her a soft smile. She was only mildly upset by that answer, deciding it wasn't worth arguing.
"Well, the bath wasn't a complete deastor." Iruka joked. I sent Aurora to go get in bed so we could tuck her in.
"Maa...I just want her to stop asking about sex." I lamented, getting a playful shove from Iruka. He understood my pain now at least.
"All kids want to know that and where babies come from. I blame you." He said as he passed me to go to her room.
"Me?" I followed him, making sure to keep my voice down. "What did I do?" I really hadn't provoked any of it.
"You're constantly reading porn in front of her…" He smirked, saying it in a whisper so Aurora didn't hear. He had a point...but I refused to let her get a hold of them or read them to her. I kept them well hidden in my room.
"Hmm...I doubt she knows this." I watched him go in and get Aurora to finally lay down. I watched them from the doorway, taking in the cute scene. He still had his hair down, which I wished he would do more. He looked damn sexy like this. Maybe I didn't want him to do it in public though, someone might try to steal him away.
Aurora looked up to me, waiting for me to kiss her goodnight. I had just stepped forward when the power went out. The snow outside must have been too heavy for the power lines again. Aurora refused to sleep in her room that night.
Aurora didn't like the dark and always slept with me when there was a power outage. This was the first time Iruka had been over during one, so he got to see first hand how much they scared her. I was only after we assured her nothing was going to come from the dark did she finally fall asleep. The entire time, she had her head on my chest, blanket pulled over her head. Now I was able to pull it down, stroking her hair in a calming manner.
"Why does this scare her still?" Iruka whispered, still rubbing his hand over her back through the blanket. Most kids slept through power outages fine, Aurora never did.
"It could stem from the night her parents died." I wondered aloud, the Chunin settled himself behind her, a hand on her shoulder. "It was a dark night…" He knew the story.
"Could be…" Iruka was being lulled to sleep by the sound of Aurora's soft breathing. I knew it wasn't possible, but I worried she remembered their deaths. No matter if they had been missing nin or not, not one should bare witness to the brutality that was Kiri-hunter nin. I ran my hand over his fingers, lacing them together and setting our hands on Aurora's waist. Both of them cuddled closer to me, our red headed girl squished comfortably between us. This...is this what it means to be a family?
We had to leave early in the morning, much to Aurora's dismay. She wasn't usually an early morning person, and that didn't change today. I suspected I might have to carry her for a little while, until she woke up more. Iruka made sure she went to get ready while I finished packing. Her little purple backpack had everything she'd need including a warmer coat if her winter shinobi cloak didn't cut it. It might not be necessary for her, but better safe than sorry. She chose to carry her bunny rather than it stay in the backpack.
"Maa, there you are." She finally came down, the collar on white winter cloak she had on came up to her nose. The only part of her you could see were the soles of her shinobi shoes and the top of her head, well, until Iruka pulled her hood up as he made her put gloves on. He wasn't going to let her leave without them. She looked like a tiny, fuzzy snowman.
"Well, I'd walk you to the gate, but…" Iruka sighed. "I have to go in early to set up the testing rooms. Good luck you two." He pressed his nose to Aurora's, making her giggle as the fluffy from the coat tickled her cheeks. He stood up and went to kiss my cheek. He wasn't leaving me with just that. I quickly pulled my mask down, moving slightly to the left and caught him in a kiss. He didn't pull away, wanting this as much as I did.
I heard Aurora giggling at us, but I grabbed Iruka's butt and made her say "gross."
"Ok...go." Iruka scolded me, pulling away from my reach.
The team that Tsunade was sending us with was Team Gai. Lee was apparently well enough to do missions again. Aurora was still apologetic about what happened, but Gai assured her he was fine. He even showed her how well he was by standing on one hand.
The team was debriefed at the gates of what the mission entailed, the secret of her powers long revealed to them. I noticed TenTen had sparkles in her eyes at seeing Aurora. Maa...already has another fan.
"Yosh, let's get moving then! We'll be at the docks by sundown!"
"As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, it will still take about a day and a half." Maybe longer if the weather didn't hold. It wasn't snowing now, but it would soon. That, and three year olds did not travel well…
After an hour of walking, Aurora was tired, but we had to keep going.
"I accept this challenge!" Lee shouted, turning his back pack around to carry it on his chest. "I will carry her all the way to the docks!" He knelt down for Aurora to get on his back. He really was just like a smaller Gai.
Aurora looked up at me, but decided it was fine after TenTen said she'd be safe. She seemed to like her and now I understood why she liked the chinese style top so much. Maybe she'd start looking up to TenTen now instead of Sasuke.
I had been right about it taking longer, a snow storm held us back a day, but after it passed, we went double time to make up for it. We still had to be at the docks within three days or risk missing the boat. Aurora didn't mind Lee carrying her anymore, thinking it was all a fun game.
Once we finally got there, I learned quickly how cold it was in the dead of winter by the sea. Everyone but Aurora needed their extra warm gear as we boarded the ship, her bloodline proving very useful for cold weather.
Not long after we set sail, Gai became violently sea sick and had to be sent below deck. Lee stayed with him, but it was revealed later by Neji that he had become ill as well. That left him, TenTen and me in charge of keeping the boat safe. TenTen was enthralled by Aurora, taking care of her like a big sister and practically never leaving her side. She nearly squeezed her to death when Aurora showed her the outfit she was wearing, thinking it was too cute that their shirts sort of matched. I was able to trust that she'd be safe with the exuberant weapons master, leaving them to look after our sea sick friends.
This allowed me to explore the ship, checking it over to make sure no one who was on board wasn't supposed to be. Neji had agreed to help me, taking charge of looking around the upper decks. So far, everything seemed clear. No sign of any Kiri-ninja, other than the few guards that were supposed to be there. I wouldn't let the illusion of being safe get to me, I had to keep my guard up.
I had no problem getting around until I hit the cargo area. The ninja there did not allow me inside, making me wonder what they were hiding. I let it go, not wanting to start a fight over something so small.
Nothing seemed off at all, which made me even more unsettled. To me, it felt like the calm before the storm. I just hoped it was me being paranoid.
Back in our room, I found TenTen had let her hair down and was allowing Aurora to braid it. I hoped the brunette had a good brush on her, it was mostly in knots, though she really didn't seem to care. She still had the same starry eyed look from before, truly under the spell of Aurora's cuteness; I couldn't blame her.
"Nothing so far." Neji declared as he came in. "The ship seems secure." If anyone could detect anything odd, he would have been to one to find it.
Seeing as this was a small ship, the six of us had to share one room. It was decided that Gai and Lee would share a lower bunk bed for access to the bucket near them. TenTen and I were surprised when Aurora asked if she could sleep with her tonight instead of me. Of course she said yes, and the girls stayed in the bed above mine. Neji had the last bed above the two seasick men. I wasn't going to sleep tonight, new places always made me uncomfortable. So, I choose to lay there, staring up and the underside of the bed above me. I listened to everyone's soft breathing as they slept, keeping track of who was really awake and who wasn't. Of course, Neji was the only one still awake.
I felt movement in the room, and soon he was sitting on the floor near my bunk.
"It worries me no one has tried anything." He said softly, his voice making TenTen mutter something in her sleep. It sounded like she was telling him to stop worrying.
"Me too. We might as we get closer though, stay vigilant." I couldn't see him, but I'm sure he nodded his head. "I'll keep watch, so get some rest." I assured him. He went back to his bed, but he didn't sleep either. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks it's odd.
Please R&R!