Kakashi's View:
Only two days later, I was called on to another mission. I really did not want to go, but they needed the sharingan. Aurora was upset, but I really needed a moment to myself. This mission was a solo one, and I needed the time to be alone. It would give me time to think things over.
Iruka's View:
Aurora didn't understand why Kakashi was being distant with her. When he was dealing with something that confused him or was a threat, he put up a wall between himself and the world. My guess the ANBU used this as a way to detach yourself when killing. I also found out from Gai that Kakashi had killed someone in front of her. It had sent him into a spiral again. I worried about him leaving on this solo mission, but once he set his mind, there was no changing it.
"Dad?" I looked up from my kitchen table. I'd taken her back to my apartment. It was closer to work for me, which gave me more time in the mornings to spend with her. She was dragging the bunny on the floor by its foot, looking smaller than usual.
"Goodmorning." I motioned for her to come sit with me. She slowly came over, wanting to be in my lap. I lifted her up, knowing something must be bothering her. "What's wrong?"
"Why...why did father kill those men?" I knew it had affected her more than she had let on. Now I felt guilty for being so busy with work, I hadn't been able to stop by til yesterday. By then she was too tired to really ask any questions.
"They wanted to get to you, so he did what he had to do." It was hard explaining what it meant to protect someone, until you had to do it. "Those men wouldn't have stopped otherwise. I know it's not what I taught you, but sometimes to stop someone...you have to resort to that." I didn't believe killing was the only option and should only be done if all else fails. I'd learned that with Mizuki…
"Why do people want my power?" That was an even harder question.
"Well...some want to use it for bad things."
"They can't make me do it." she said defiantly, making me laugh.
"I know." How do I explain brainwashing to her…Maybe when she was older I'd try to explain what it was. I doubted she'd understand it now.
I wasn't left with much choice but to take her to class with me. None of the genin were available for babysitting and everyone I knew was busy. She was fine in the teachers lounge, and kept herself busy with coloring and practicing hand signs from a book I gave her. By lunch, she had drawings scattered across the floor of the lounge. Thankfully, the other teachers didn't mind.
The rest of the year went this way, Kakashi leaving on back to back missions and me having to take Aurora to school with me. I knew the village was understaffed on high ranking shinobi, but the higher ups had to remember that ninja were still human. I even asked Lady Tsunade about it, begging her to let him rest. She agreed after hearing about everything, but he had to finish this one. Unfortunately it would take him away from the village for a while.
It wasn't until early spring that Kakashi finally had a month off. It was late in February by then, the snow was starting to melt away and leaves were just starting to bud. I went back to stay at Kakashi's, making sure both of them were cared for.
Despite the warm weather, his house felt cold. It wasn't from Aurora's small outbursts, it was from Kakashi himself. The missions were tough, and I doubted he slept or ate much on them. At most, he had two days between each one and it had put him in an odd headspace. I wished Tsunade hadn't sent him on all of these solo missions.
He still hadn't made amends with Aurora about what happened on the way home from Kiri and it still weighed him down after all this time. It also had affected Aurora and had her doubting herself.
"Kakashi?" He had been brooding on the couch, not reading his beloved book, even though he was holding it. I'd just put Aurora to bed and came down to see if he was coming to bed tonight.
"Her name is Tsukiko…" Was the first thing he said to me, or anyone, in a day and a half. I had no idea who he was talking about.
"Huh?" I sat next to him, putting a hand on his knee. He still had a dazed look, but was coming out of it a little.
"Aurora...her real name is Tsukiko." He repeated, like he had told this to me before. He hadn't.
"Ok? Is that why you've been so…" distant didn't even begin to describe it.
"Me?" Kakashi scoffed, seeming to finally come back to me. "Partly. She can't know this…" He was speaking in broken sentences, his thoughts unorganized from lack of sleep. I waited for him to finish. He eventually continued and explained to me everything they found in Kirigakure. "And then I killed someone in front of her…" He looked lost again.
"You had to."
"I could have made her look away. I wasn't thinking...I was too focused on my target. Anything could have happened to her…" Now I see, he was upset because he briefly lost track of where she was.
"Kakashi, I know you think she could have gotten hurt, but Gai and his team were there too. You know they would have done anything to keep her safe too." I knew he'd still be guilty over it and would not live it down for a while. I let him lay his head on my shoulder, petting my hand through his wild hair. "She's safe. You're safe" He needed to hear those words.
Kakashi's View:
Time was passing too fast on me, and I felt that I was falling behind. I knew I was over thinking, but Aurora's birthday was now coming up next week. I missed so much… It was May now, and I honestly don't remember the last few months. I remember training with Aurora during my month off, but that had been about two months ago.
I made sure I had her special day off, I refused any missions before or after it and nearly got thrown out the window by Tsunade. The weekend of Mother's Day wasn't usually an issue to get off, but everyone that had a mother still living asked for it off this year. Tsunade questioned why I wanted it off, seeing as I didn't have a living mother.
"Maa...that's the weekend of Aurora's birthday." I quickly told her before she did actually do what she promised. "The thirteenth, if you wanted to come by. However there won't be any drinking." This got a book thrown at me and a firm get out. I'd have that day off, but no promises on the day before or after. I could live with that I guess.
Around this time, Aurora picked up on the fact that everyone but her seemed to have a mother. This made her ask about her own, to which I explained to her that her mother had died. She knew that, but she wanted to know about her. I told her I didn't know because she had been from a different village. What kind of person was she if she fell for that killer? Had she been just as dangerous?
"Where's your mother?" She asked me as we passed a shop with cards out front, all with writings about Mother's Day. She could read, so I knew she knew what they said.
"I never got to meet her." My father had told me she was beautiful, but she had died not long after my birth. All I knew about her was that I had her grey eyes and she had long brown hair. I realised Aurora and I had that in common, we both lost our mothers very young.
"Does everyone have a mother?"
"Yes. Everyone has one. Just not everyone has one still living. Without them...you could say we wouldn't be here." The answer made her frown.
"What does that mean?" She pulled on my sleeve, making me look at her and not my Icha Icha book. Why did she always ask these questions on crowded streets?
"Well, women are the ones that carry the baby before they are born." This contradicted what I told her before and made her look at me like I'd said the sky was falling. "Without them, we would never be born." This just seemed to confuse her more, and prompted her to ask how that was possible and if women actually ate the babies for them to be in their stomachs. Her panic over this caught the attention of others.
I pulled her off to the side into a small ally to explain that, no, women don't eat the babies. The babies were carried in the women's womb.
"What's a womb?" I had to stop the questioning before someone over hear us having this conversation. I promised her to explain what I was talking about at home. I'm sure I had an old anatomy book somewhere.
As in all anatomy books, no one was clothed so she had many questions on why girls looked different. Iruka came home to us sitting around the coffee table with the anatomy book open, which of course made his face red. It wasn't like he didn't know this was a long time coming.
"I see we're learning something?" He asked as he took his shoes off.
"I learned women have vaginas." Aurora still had no filter yet and I suppress a laugh at the look Iruka got. He also couldn't scold her because she was right, but I know he wanted to. "Why do they carry the babies?" It was an open question to either one of us to answer. Iruka wasn't sure, so I tried, but neither of us could explain very well.
"You know, I know a person that might now these answers. She does need the practice." I was going to pass this off to Sakura.
The pinkette was thrilled when I asked if Aurora could spend some time with her the next day. She didn't realize I just needed her to explain things that as her father, I didn't feel comfortable explaining to my three year old. Maybe if she was older, but this wasn't the time for that talk. She just needed more information on how her own body worked.
Iruka also has class and I had a report to turn in. This was the perfect chance to pass her off. It also happened to be the day she, Ino, Hinata and TenTen were going to the spa. They did this every so often and I got lucky it landed on today.
Aurora's View:
"Oh my gosh! Look how big yo got!" Sakura-chan nearly crushed me when she hugged me. "Sorry!" She let me go when I almost turned blue.
"You got really strong." Father gave her his eye smiled. "Please, try not to crush her. Have fun you two." I watched him disappear in a swirl of leaves. I wanted to learn that, but he said not until I can control my chakra.
"Ready for a spa day?" Sakura smiled, taking my hand. "Ino, Hinata, TenTen and I all try to get together at least once a month for a girls day. It super relaxing and a great time to catch up!" I had no idea what a spa was, but I liked the idea of seeing everyone!
I learned a 'spa day' was just a day at the bath house, soaking and doing what they called girly stuff. The only difference I saw between them and my dads was painting their nails and wearing face masks. All I cared about was seeing Ino-chan and Hinata-chan again. Ino's hair was long again and Hinata-chan was letting hers grow; her purple hair was now to her shoulders.
After the face masks, everyone showered with flowery scented soap before soaking in the giant bath. I noticed they looked very different from my dads. I knew from the book that girls were different, but it wasn't anything like the book. Sakura noticed I was staring, and explained every girl is built just a little differently.
"...Someday, you will grow up too." She finished, using terms I didn't understand.
Hinata-chan was blushing the whole time until she covered herself in the water. She kept her arms over her chest, turning red when Ino noticed.
"What's wrong Hinata? You feeling alright?" The blonde asked.
"T-they keep floating…" She said softly, making the other girls turn red. They looked jealous. I looked around, but didn't understand what Hinata meant. There was nothing floating in the water.
"What keeps floating?" I asked, which turned their looks to embarrassment.
"Er…" Sakura-chan was going to explain, but Hinata-chan turned bright pink.
"Eh?! Oh...n-nothing...I mean…" She sank lower into the water until her nose was just above it.
"You see...every girl has breasts. Some...are bigger than others and…" Ino explained.
"They float?" That got them all to get a weird look of embarrassment mixed with something else. They didn't answer that verbally, but something about their reactions told me yes, they did. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but TenTen changed the subject to training.
I didn't know girls were much more talkative than boys. They also switched topics a lot and Ino liked talking about boys. I wasn't sure why though, what was so great about boys?
We all then went out for mochi, which Sakura and Ino wished wasn't so good.
"I wish I could eat this all the time. But then I'd be too big to fit through the door." Sakura looked upset, but I wasn't sure she really was.
"I'm surprised that big forehead of yours does fit through doors." Ino teased her.
"Why will it make you big?" I asked them, worried there was something in it.
"Oh! Well...too many sweets isn't good for you. It can make you body weak if you eat too much of it." TenTen explained, scolding Ino and Sakura for worrying me. "It's ok to eat them, as long as you still eat real food too."
The rest of the day was spent shopping for clothes and cute things. Everyone kept finding outfits for me, saying I was the cutest thing ever. I was glad dad let me wear the mask shirt today, even it he made me tuck the mask away before I left. After the third outfit, I didn't feel comfortable and pulled it up. This just made the girls get starry eyed.
"She looks like a tiny Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura squealed while Ino was fawning over me.
"S-she is really cute." Hinata at least was quieter about it, the other three were making my ears ring and hugging me too tightly.
They went back to trying on their own outfits, finally leaving me alone to play in the kids area. I didn't like that much attention. I preferred Hinata's kind of attention, quiet and not super touchy.
It was finally time for daddy to pick me up, and I was more than ready to go home. As much as I liked them, I learned I could only tolerate Ino and Sakura in small amounts of time. Between the arguing and them hugging me, I was left kind of tired just from them. TenTen and Hinata were fine though, the purple haired kunoichi was quiet and even taught me how to tie a bow.
All of them together was a bit overwhelming though. I ran to dad as soon as I saw him, wanting to go home and away from these crazy girls. He gave them a look that they had had gone overboard with buying things for me, but didn't scold them as Sakura gave him the bigger of the bags. I hadn't asked for the clothes, they just bought them anyway.
"My, I guess we won't have to go clothes shopping for a while." Dad said when we got home. He pulled out four new outfits and put them on my bed, one from each of them. TenTen's was similar to the one I showed her on our trip. It was a light blue short sleeve chinese style shirt, with light pink pants. Sakura's was a pink sleeveless dress that went to my knees and pale green shorts to wear under it. Ino had chosen an orange kimono style dress with a white tie and shorts. It was my least favorite of the outfits, only because I didn't like orange. Hinata's choice was my favorite though. It was a light purple jumper with pink butterflies running up the legs. There was a white short sleeve jacket that went with it that had a pink butterfly button on it.
"Maa...I see the girls had fun." I looked up and saw father had come in from their bedroom window.
"Seriously? Did you lose the key again?" Dad sighed, pinching his nose in frustration.
"No, I just heard you two up here. So, I used the widow." Father gave us an eye smile. Dad wasn't amused by it though.
Kakashi's View:
After scolding me , Iruka asked where I had been. I couldn't say with Aurora next to him though.
"Maa...you'll see." I shrugged and walked away, hoping he'd get the point and follow. "Aurora, time to get ready for bed." That got a plea to stay up later, but we had a party to plan.
Iruka got her to calm down after I said no and put her to bed.
It wasn't much, just a birthday banner and a pink and blue flowered tablecloth, but she loved it. This year, it was just Iruka and I at her party. That's the other reason I wanted Sakura to see Aurora. I just didn't realize the girls were going to go a little overboard, but they were all going to start training even harder soon and wouldn't be available for a while.
This didn't seem to upset her, seeing as I summoned the ninkin to fill in. Iruka didn't like having the dogs all over the house at first, but after a while they stopped picking on him. I may have warned them that they better knock it off; while both Iruka and Aurora were distracted, I might have pulled my mask down and bared my teeth at them. I was still their Alpha after all.
Bull was very happy to see his 'puppy' again, but was sad she was getting bigger. He couldn't drag her by the scruff of her shirt without her feet dragging now. She still let him try, laughing when she was able to get away.
Her cake was a sad one this year, but I had little time to make it and did the best I could. It had only just gotten out of the oven maybe an less hour ago. It was still too warm, icing melting off as soon as it was put on . It still tasted fine and Aurora was happy that it had pink frosting.
She was more thrilled with the new teddy bear Iruka and I got her. It was a giant one that was almost as tall as me. Both of us held its arms out when we summoned it into her room, making it seem like it hugged her when she launched herself into its chest.
She had yet to really get out of its lap and stayed there with Bull the rest of the afternoon. Pakkun and Bisque joined her there later and they all napped together, Bull acting as her pillow while Pakkun laid in her arms and Bisque laid on her leg. The bears legs were wrapped around them, acting as a blanket for her feet and a pillow for the giant dog. Spoiled pups...
"Think she likes it?" Iruka asked as he leaned on my shoulder. I was watching them from her doorway, the three dogs knowing I was there the whole time.
"So do we." Pakkun smirked, stretching and rolling onto his back.
"Alright, you've been spoiled enough for the day." They were going to get too used to this. Bull whined, which woke up Aurora.
"You had to ruin it…" Bisque scolded Pakkun.
"Go on now." The three of them poofed away, the big grey one taking care to make sure she wasn't going to get hurt when he went away.
"The dogs really like her, don't they?" Iruka asked me while we cleaned the kitchen. Aurora was upstairs hopefully getting ready for bed and not making water bubbles in the sink again. She'd flooded the bathroom twice this week doing that.
"Yea, they think of her as a pack member." Though in Bull's case, she was still his puppy apparently. The big dog never said much, but he did bark "puppy" at her a few times today.
"Is that why you growled at them earlier?" So he did see that…
"Maa, they were being rude to you." And they kept asking why he smelled like me. I didn't need Aurora asking what that meant.
"Do you think she liked her party? I know it's stupid to ask...but,"
"She loved it, don't worry. I think what she really wanted was us." I made sure she would have both of our attentions today.
"You haven't talked to her about Kiri yet, have you?" Why did he bring that up now? He took my silence as a no. He was about to say something, but I cut him off.
"I will...I talked to her a little bit the other day about her mom. I know she'll have more questions…"
"It's better she hears it from you than from someone else." Iruka set a plate down a little to hard. "You know more than I do." Oops, I neglected to tell him everything too… "You told me her birth name, what else did you find?"
"It's...and odd story." I sighed, making sure Aurora wasn't coming down anytime soon, and told him everything I found. By the end, Iruka had completely stopped doing dishes and had turned to look at me. Mostly he was concerned, but I saw the small flash of fear in his eyes when I said her birth father's name.
"So, it wasn't a trap after all? I guess that Kirigakure really is trying to change their name then." He smiled, taking it all in. "Did they...I mean do they want her back?"
"No, but that doesn't mean they could try to steal her back." Lady Mizukage might be fine with her living here, but there are others that think she should stay. I had yet to meet them, but it was a rumor I heard from down the line. However, there were even more that want her dead.
Iruka sighed. "You're not going to be on the roof again, are you?" He was joking.
"Maa, at least you'll know where I am." I was only half joking though.