A/N: Update, yay! My workload for the semester is ramping up so things are going a bit sluggishly.

Uh, warning for mention of Danzou/people? XD I don't know how to be funny.

Shikaku turns to Kakashi once the meeting concludes, a faint smile on his face. "Glad that's over, huh? Troublesome meetings. Sometimes I can hardly believe we manage to come to half the decisions we do."

Kakashi brushes his hair back with short exhale. "I just hope that I'll be able to contribute more next time, Nara-san."

"Please, the formalities are over," Shikaku groans, pushing back his chair and gathering his notes under an arm. Kakashi follows him to the door, and the older man leans against the frame with a sigh. He jerks his head at his teammates, who are still speaking with the other clan heads. "Want to join us for a drink? Actually, no. Tea and snacks. You're still thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Fourteen," Kakashi huffs, and Shikaku's dark brown eyes glitter with amusement. "Would that be alright? I wouldn't want to be a bother."

"Of course not. We'll be going to Inoichi's place since he has to take over from the babysitter. Ah, speaking of the devil."

Kakashi turns to see Inoichi and Fugaku behind him, the blonde interrogator rolling his eyes. "And which one of us were you speaking of? Fugaku, or myself? And hello, Kakashi-san."

Fugaku greets Shikaku with a brief nod and fixes Kakashi with an unreadable gaze. "We meet again, Kakashi-san."

"Inoichi-san, Fugaku-san," Kakashi says politely, making eye contact with the Uchiha without a flinch. The last time they had spoken, Kakashi had stood before him awaiting judgment for the new Sharingan in his head. "Thank you both for supporting my claim to my clan's seat."

"It is only right," Fugaku replies solemnly, to which Inoichi nods in agreement.

"We were all surprised, but you should have always been here. It was good of Danzou-sama to introduce you."

"Yes," Kakashi says, pausing in a stilted manner before continuing. "He has been very supportive." Fugaku's eyebrows twitch upwards but Kakashi does not elaborate.

"I'd invited Kakashi-san over for the after-party," Shikaku says, turning away Fugaku's curious gaze. "Fugaku, you're invited too if you're free."

The lines bracketing the older man's mouth deepen. "Thank you, but I'm afraid this isn't a good time. Mikoto..."

Confusion creases Kakashi's brow but Shikaku makes a sympathetic sound. "Of course. You should be there for her."

Fugaku inclines his head. "Perhaps next time. I shall take my leave, then. Goodnight."

They echo back "goodnight" and head off into the hallway to wait for Chouza, so as to not block the other people filtering out of the room. Somewhere in the room, Chouza lets out a booming laugh and Shibi's low voice replies. Hiashi passes them with a polite goodnight, Kamu leaves with his face shadowed with discontent, and Danzou—

"Kakashi," he says distractedly, "let's go." Sakumo frowns at how it almost seems like an order, and so does Shikaku.

Inoichi hides his displeasure behind a smile, but his blue-green eyes are like mirrors of ice. "We've invited Kakashi to join us for some tea. It has been so very difficult to get a hold of him recently." Kakashi and his ghostly companions are all startled to realise that Kakashi has become the subject of the T&I Head's interest, but Danzou does not react.

"Is that so?" Danzou replies impassively. "The Kyuubi has certainly created much work for all of us. Well, have a good night. We'll talk tomorrow, Kakashi."

"Yes, goodnight."

The moment Danzou is out of sight, Kakashi peers up at Inoichi. "You've been looking for me?"

"Oh, well. The usual." Inoichi makes some broad, meaningless gestures which explain nothing. When Chouza and Shibi finally emerge from the conference room, he seizes the distraction. "Let's go, Kakashi-san!" he declares cheerfully, herding Kakashi down the hall with a hand on his shoulder. "Have I told you about my baby daughter?"

"I... don't think so...?"

"It's such a stroke of luck that Kushina managed to convince everyone to have children in the same year. Really, what are the chances of that?" Inochi exclaims as he tucks a soft blanket around Ino, who is fast asleep in her cot. His eyes are soft as he gives the baby a kiss on the forehead and closes the nursery room's door, leaving a small gap so he can hear her if she wakes. The adults settle on the couches in the adjacent living room, the promised tea and snacks laid out on the table between them.

"Well," Shikaku says, scratching his goatee, "I wouldn't say it's just luck. Kushina was good friends with Mikoto, so that's one down... We had already planned our children, so only the Inuzuka, Hyuuga, and Aburame were left..."

"That would have been challenging enough."

Chouza takes a bite a sugar cookie and offers the rest of the platter to Kakashi, who tentatively accepts one as well. "They have a ladies club. I'm sure they talk about these things."

"Yoshino told me it was a baking club."

"Do you really think that all they're talking about is baking?" Inoichi laughs and Shikaku shrugs helplessly. The cookie disappears behind Kakashi's mask while they are distracted, and Rin giggles.

"I do hope that Sasuke-chan won't feel left out though. Most of his peers will be clan heirs, but that honour would go to Itachi-kun."

"Maybe he'll get long with Kiba. Tsume is going to take over as clan head soon."

"Have you seen an Uchiha talk to an Inuzuka for more than five seconds before? They fight like cats and dogs."

"True..."

Inoichi sips at his tea. "Maybe he would get along with a Shimura baby. Isn't your twice or thrice removed cousin a high ranking Shimura, Shikaku?"

The Nara snorts. "He's not going to listen to Danzou dictate baby policy. He has three sons already, and they are quite a handful. Besides, the Uchiha are pretty stiff towards Danzou nowadays." Shikaku shook his head. "Can't blame them, though. No-one likes it when they're constantly being compared to another, much less a legend like Kagami."

"I imagine Kagami would be upset to see how their clans' relationship are nowadays. Maybe things would have been better if Kagami's line had taken power instead of Madara's, but they weren't inclined towards politics..."

"And they died off too quickly," Akimichi sighs. "The only one left is that boy Uchiha Shisui. And he's only eight or nine."

"He fought in the war," Kakashi says, ears perked at the mention of a familiar name. "Shunshin no Shisui."

"A mouthful of a name to be stuck with," Shikaku laments jokingly. "Can you imagine how much spittle that poor boy has to wipe from his face everytime his opponent calls him that?"

"At least he can shunshin away."

"True. If I were an Uchiha, though, I'd be Gokakyu no Shikaku. Nice ring to it, hm?"

Inoichi smiles wryly. "That's nowhere as good as Shunshin no Shisui. Anyway, it's not like you can summon a fireball that big."

"In this hypothetical situation, I would be an Uchiha, so of course I would be able to," Shikaku grumbles. "Anyway, Kakashi, if you want to get to the core of Shimura-Uchiha relations, you just have to know one thing: that old war hawk is grieving and he doesn't even know it. Danzou and Hiruzen have this weird dynamic, but that's nothing compared to what Danzou had with Kagami. After Kagami died, no other Uchiha was good enough for him."

Both Sakumo and Chouza choke a little at that, but Kakashi just seems confused. "Shikaku, please," Inoichi complains. "I did not need those images of them in my brain."

"They say Danzou was quite handsome—"

"No."

"Wait till you hear about the rumours about the three of us—"

"Enough of this nonsense," Chouza groans, reaching out to clap a hand over Shikaku's mouth only to have the other man duck away. "You invite poor Kakashi over and subject him to this?"

"Hmph." Shikaku turns to Kakashi and smiles. "Here's a word of advice for you. If you're hearing frivolous rumours about yourself, it means that you're doing a damn good job. People will always talk, so if they're talking about inconsequential things, they don't have any big complaints."

"Or maybe they're too scared to complain."

"True."

Kakashi is quiet. Chouza nudges him with his foot, smiling. "You're doing well, Kakashi. Don't think so hard. At least the civilians quite like you, what with your farming programme and all that."

The young Hatake smiles faintly at that. "There's that." The weight of Friend Killer Kakashi lightens just a little.

"Chouza's right. If you want to see a real mess, just look at the Uchiha," Shikaku sighs. "I told Fugaku: 'Look, you have to find someone in your clan who can smile, just to soften up your image a bit. Hiashi has it easy because Hizashi smiles for him, and the Hyuuga ladies have this Beautiful Nurse programme going on, but what kind of public relations committee do the Uchiha have? Nothing. Just a terrifying doujutsu. For goodness sake, take Itachi-kun out for a picnic. Have family day for the Uchiha Police Force.'"

"I don't think family day is going to do much," Inoichi says dryly. "Perhaps if Fugaku trips and falls into pudding, that'd lighten his image a little."

"People are scared of the Uchiha, aren't they?" Kakashi murmurs.

"Especially of the Uchiha Police," Shikaku says gravely.

"It was a double-edged sword from the beginning," Chouza adds. "Nidaime-sama founded it to acknowledge them, but anything that goes wrong also builds resentment against the clan."

"Every time anyone makes a mistake," Inoichi muses, "their collective reputation is in the gutter for months. That's why I make sure that T&I recruits from a wide pool of candidates. The last thing I want is to have T&I known as a Yamanaka clan thing."

"Maa, you're really toeing the line there. I'm quite sure that half of T&I are Yamanakas."

"But that's only half," Chouza points out. "The Uchiha Police Force is comprise entirely of Uchiha."

"Hmm. So, if the T&I ends up with some huge scandal, we'll just have get rid of you, right?" Shikaku chuckles darkly.

"That's the idea," Inoichi says dryly. "Then Ino can take over as clan head. Fresh start."

"We'll have to find somewhere to bury you first," Chouza laughs.

"Nah, my deer can eat you. Crunch up your bones and everything."

Kakashi shudders at their macabre humour but Inoichi just rolls his eyes. "But I do feel that the tensions with the Uchiha are becoming alarming."

"Hmm..." Shikaku slouches further into the couch. "With Atsuo dead, how many Uchiha ANBU do we even have? Three? Four? That's practically nothing for such a big clan."

"Mikoto is already poking around the records," Inoichi says. Noticing Kakashi's frown, he explains. "Atsuo is her brother. Maybe you've seen him around— he was codenamed Hawk."

Kakashi's eye widens and Sakumo feels his heart stop.

"Oh, you know him. I'm sorry."

"I met him once," Kakashi replies, his voice even as he maintains a mask of mild concern. It is technically true.

"Pity." Inoichi turns away. "Well, Mikoto doesn't believe the official explanation about him being a mission casualty. And she doesn't believe me when I say the mission has been redacted."

"But you're Head of T&I," Kakashi probes, his voice remarkably calm. "Shouldn't you have access to these files?"

"Well," the Yamanaka says, tapping his fingers against the couch's arm. "How do I put this? When certain people are involved..."

"It's above his paygrade," Shikaku smirks. "He just doesn't want to admit it. But it's not like you're the Hokage, Inoichi."

As the blonde glowers at his teammate, it probably takes all of Snake's training for Kakashi to keep his smile fixed on his face.

'He knows,' Sakumo thinks, feeling the back of his neck prickle. 'That's why he has been sniffing around. Above his paygrade or not, there's no way that he hasn't already put together everything.'

The only question now is what he wants. To keep peace between the Uchiha and Kakashi? To keep peace between the Uchiha and the Hokage, or Danzou? Even as Sakumo puzzles over the interrogator's intentions, Inoichi lets loose the elephant in the room.

"Pardon me for my directness, Kakashi... but are you aware of ROOT?"

Kakashi freezes, pinned under those irisless turquoise eyes.