Chapter 10: How Genma Found out His Children Cared More Than He Ever Would Have Thought... And That He Cared A Lot More As Well: The children were never to be left with Kotetsu or Izumo ever again. Not after the chain of events that took place after Genma allowed them to spend time together. Not after they went ahead and did the unthinkable and tried to set him up with both men and women... Kakashi found this hilarious for some reason... Genma was just about ready to chuck him off of the Hokage Heads... But he'd finish up with hugging the kids first. He could kill Kakashi later.

..~..~..

"Are we sure we think this guy is good?"

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Neji's question, stopping on his way towards his room to give the munchkins their afternoon snacks. He usually never eavesdropped on the children. But this question was a rather odd one. And considering how oddly the children had been acting for the past few months (ever since they had met Kotetsu and Izumo), Genma had an idea that this may just be the reason why.

"He doesn't hate bugs or dogs or flowers. His file says he likes kids and having fun. And he's not related to any of our clans." Shikamaru answered seriously, which made Genma's eyes narrow in thought.

Just what were these kids up to? Were they... Were they looking for somebody to replace him?

"He'll be the perfect guy, then." Ino piped up, and a flash of betrayal struck Genma's heart before he could even think of steeling it.

He stopped listening in then and turned around to take the tray of food back to the kitchen. When he was at the counter, he numbly placed the tray down, all the while too busy feeling hollow at the thought of the children looking for somebody to replace him with.

Why else would they be looking at someone that liked kids and having fun? Why else would they be looking for someone that wasn't clan related?

But... Why would they want to get rid of him? Didn't they like him? And, even more curious, why wouldn't they be forcing any of the people they already knew into doing it? They had more than enough shinobi to strong arm into taking care of them. They didn't need to go outside of people they knew.

"Farmer man! Farmer man! Where are my beautiful midgets?"

Genma was forced out of his thoughts by Kotetsu's loud shouting and the slamming of his door against the wall behind it (something that happened so often that the doorknob had been imprinted into the wall). And when he looked up through the opening of his kitchen, he found that Kotetsu was striding his way into his apartment, even though Izumo followed behind at a much more sedate pace.

"You don't have to slam my door every time you come in, you know." Genma mumbled as he tried to get a hold of his buzzing nerves, trying to seem more tired than relaxed. That way they wouldn't bother him so much.

"But Shino says it's tradition." Kotetsu remarked with a smirk, "And we all know how much we have to honor tradition."

Genma sighed heavily as he felt a headache beginning to come, but wasn't allowed to retort before a hooded blur ran out of his bedroom and slammed directly into Kotetsu's legs.

"Ko!" Shino squealed as his arms clamped around the teenager's legs, which got him to scream out "Shi!"

"Te!"

"No!" Kotetsu swooped down to pick the kid up into his arms, then began to swing him around.

Shino shouted out in pure glee as he was swung, "Tsu!"

"My favorite Aburame!" Kotetsu finished with a large flourish, threw Shino up into the air, and caught him before setting him back down on the floor and patting his head. "How've you been, lil' bee?"

Genma had only seen Shino so hyperactive and content with one other person in his whole life. And that person was him. But because of all of the kids he had to take care of, he was barely ever able to spend some alone time with any of the kids... Could that be the reason why the kids wanted to change him? Because he didn't spend enough time with them, one on one?

Soon enough the rest of the children came charging out of his room to greet their teen aged visitors and they began to entertain them the only way they knew how. Kotetsu hyped the hyperactive half of them up while Izumo began to help the more calmer half with their homework.

Genma looked over them with an impending sense of dread coming over him as the teenagers worked. He was barely able to spend time with them if it wasn't afterschool. And even then it was only for a good three hours before they had to head back home and go to bed so they could begin a new day.

Maybe the kids were tired of having to share him with his work at T&I... Maybe they had just outgrown him, like he'd always thought they would... But, if he had expected it, why did it hurt so much?

"Gen-Gen? Where are the snacks?"

Genma blinked out of his reverie at the tugging at his pant legs, only to find Sasuke moving around him to grab at the tray of food on the counter, all the while Naruto tugged at his pants.

"Found them, Fox Breath. Come on, I want to finish my homework so I can play with Kotetsu." Sasuke commanded, which made the blonde nod and follow after him, leaving Genma alone once more in the kitchen.

... Play with Kotetsu... They didn't even want to play with him anymore...

Work at T&I became much more important and less likely to be brushed off after Genma eavesdropped on the kids. Which meant he spent more time actually working than avoiding said work. And by that, he ended up unable to take care of the kids on some afternoons, even though they all supposedly wanted to be with him again.

It was fine by him, though. It hurt to look at their smiling and seemingly happy faces while knowing that they wanted to leave him.

He may have been strong... But he wasn't nearly as strong as he hoped he would be...

"B-Bear-san?"

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Where d-do ba-bies c-come from?"

"Why are you asking that, Hinata?"

"B-Because my mo-mother says that I-I will be having a b-baby sib-bling in March... Wh-where is i-it co-comi-ming fr-from?"

Bear sitting with the four little girls at the dinner table with small tea cups and plates all around them was quite the sight. The large man was a fearsome and able bodied warrior. Yet he looked amazingly non-threatening with the flower crown Tenten and Ino had made for him from some of the flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop.

The question about how children were made was a rather... Sensitive subject. And Genma wasn't sure if the parents would be happy to know that their kids knew too much about the human reproduction cycle when they didn't want them to...

With a soft sigh, Genma set down the reports of interrogations (most that were led by Anko and had ended up with prisoners that were much too traumatized to answer) he had been reading and looked at the children.

Ever since he found out they wanted to replace him, he had done a rather good job of avoiding important conversations with them. But this one he was sure he couldn't avoid.

"When a man and a woman love each other, Hinata," He began, making all of the girls turn to look at him, giving him their full attention. "They take part in a private dance between only them. And when the man gives the woman his seed, it grows inside of her stomach until it's big enough to come into world."

This had been the way he had heard his mother explain to his sister back when he had been too young to understand what truly happened for a child to be conceived. And from the way Bear didn't try to stop him, he guessed he hadn't done too bad.

"Does..." Ino mumbled, glancing up at him with curious blue eyes. "Does that mean we're all plants?"

Genma legitimately felt like groaning in exasperation at the curious question. But, luckily enough, Kotetsu throwing his door open and the boys running in and screaming like animals proved to be a good distraction. Especially when they began to disrupt the girls tea party, making them turn their attention to the rowdy boys and away from the tired shinobi.

~/~

Later that Friday, all of the kids lay in their respective sleeping spots, soundly asleep. Some were on his bed, others on the guest bed, and Shino and Ino had managed to wind up at the top of the refrigerator once more... Just like all that time ago...

Years had passed, yet they were still somehow able to fit up there...

"Genma, are you alright?"

Glancing up from the reports once more, Genma found Izumo standing in front of him with a tray with tea and cookies, dark eyes shining with worry.

Kotetsu was over on the sofa being used as a pillow by Hinata and Neji, while Bear was caught in the guest bedroom by Ino, Kiba, and Naruto.

Both teenagers had spending even more time with the children than before because of all the work Genma had been taken on. They even went as far as spending more time in his apartment than he did to help the kids with their homework before accompanying them home.

Squeezing his eyes shut to try and soothe the pressure that had built up in them, the older male nodded softly. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be, kid?"

He regretted having voiced the question out loud as soon as Izumo leveled him with a look of pure dismay and annoyance. "You know why, Genma... Now, do you want to talk about it before the kids start making plans to force you into hanging out with them again? Or would you much rather wait and see what they are able to come up with?"

There was a bit of resentment for Izumo and Kotetsu deep inside of Genma. But he knew it was so stupid and baseless that he ignored it to the best of his abilities whenever it tried to rear its ugly head.

Looking at the younger contemplatively for a second, Genma shook his head and grabbed the tray that was offered to him. "I'm fine, kid. Really. I'm just tired."

Izumo wasn't convinced by his answer. But he dropped the matter and moved to Genma's kitchen, beginning to wash the plates used for dinner so they wouldn't pile up.

A few weeks later, something odd happened. After years of taking care of children and basically forgetting about his own needs aside from food, water, shelter, and getting dressed, Genma had all but forgotten about what having a love life had once been like back when he'd had the time to actually have one...

Not like he'd ever truly had one... One-night stands never truly counted as a love life, not even in the sad book he called his life.

But, for the first time in years, he was asked out on a date.

Junko, a kunoichi he'd worked with a few times. She asked if he wanted to go out for some drinks and maybe some dinner. And while Genma had been intrigued by the fiery woman, he hadn't really felt like going out. He was dreading the day the children finally decided to ditch him and couldn't truly relax because of it. So he couldn't really have much fun either.

The red haired woman was nice about it. She joked about taking out her disappointment on an unsuspecting Anko and then went her merry way.

But as she had walked, Genma couldn't help but find it rather odd that she had waited months to ask him out for some kind of date. They'd known each other for a while now.

Why now?

The next time someone asked him on a date, it was Kurenai Yuuhi. And that was about as odd as when Junko asked him out. Especially considering how Asuma was a few feet away and his glare could have burned holes into the back of Genma's head if he had put a bit more hatred into it.

Kurenai had been pretty nonchalant about it, though. "Why not, Genma? You're single, I'm single, and some dinner between us wouldn't hurt. We're both grown adults and can make mature decisions."

(Genma guessed Asuma had done something that had left a bad taste in Kurenai's mouth. It usually happened. Especially seeing how they were an unofficially official couple that never admitted or agreed to anything, much to the annoyance and exasperation of everyone around them.)

"I'm flattered, Kurenai-" He began, ready to let her down easy like Junko, but was stopped by her raising her hand and smiling up at him with a wink.

"On me? Just to give you some time to relax before you head back to your kids?"

Being reminded of the kids made a pang of grief shoot through him. But he quickly stamped it down and sighed at Kurenai, who placed a caring hand on his shoulder, face soft and understanding.

He agreed to a dinner as friends. And Kurenai was actually a pretty good person to speak to about the dumbest and smartest of things.

It had been a while since Genma had befriended a woman and had an actual conversation with them. He had become accustomed to always being either around men, the likes of Tsume and Anko (which were insane women), and children.

After that dinner, he figured out it wouldn't hurt to have a more feminine touch around his life.

"Torune's a good kid, if you ask me. A bit socially awkward, but what Aburame isn't?"

Genma stopped drinking his tea when he heard the rather peculiar words from Kotetsu, "Torune? ... Kotetsu, are you feeling okay? I don't take care of any kid named like that."

The teenager rolled his eyes at him, scoffed, and took a large gulp of his soda before answering. "Torune Aburame, Genma. Shino's older brother." Then he noticed the confused and unbelieving looks the shinobi around him gave him and was startled. "Wait... You mean you've never met his brother before?"

"Nope. Never." Kakashi shook his head, then jabbed a thumb towards Genma, "He said he was imaginary."

The second oldest of the men there turned a dark glare on Kakashi before turning back to Kotetsu and explaining himself. "I've never seen Shino's brother. So I kind of figured he was just an imaginary friend he'd created to deal with life and stuff."

He'd had a reason to believe so earlier. And he believed he still had a damn good reason to believe that the kid didn't really have a big brother. He'd never seen the kid, Shino only talked about him as 'my brother' or 'big brother', and Shibi had never even spoken about him. He'd also never even heard about the kid coming around with Shino, something that wasn't normal for this group of kids.

"He's real. I've seen him plenty of times." Kotetsu smiled broadly over at Genma, then explained himself, "I sometimes stop on the way back to our apartment by the Aburame compound. Shino likes the company and Torune has accepted me as part of the 'hive', I guess. They're both some really good kids."

Kotetsu... He'd met Torune... Even though Genma had never even heard the kid's name.

"And you said you'd never be tied down, Ko." Kakashi smirked over at the teenager as he shook his head, then looked at Izumo. "How about you? Forming close ties to the Akimichi clan?"

The teenager with the covered eye rolled the only visible one, but answered, "Chouji's family enjoys having me around from time to time, yeah." Then he looked over at Genma, "How's work been recently?"

"It's been fine, kid..." Genma breathed out, then looked over at the clock on his wall and knocked his knuckles against the dinner table softly. "I should get back to those reports, though..."

That was what his life had become. Reports, avoiding intense conversation with the kids and friends, and trying to keep from showing how truly sad he felt on the inside.

He'd gotten too attached to these kids... He should have known better, but he'd allowed himself... He truly was a fool...

"What? Seriously?" Kakashi frowned as he flicked a mostly melted piece of ice from his soda over at Genma, who lazily dodged it before settling a disinterested gaze on the younger male. "You're working too much, Genma. And there's no real reason for it. The village isn't at war anymore. We're at peace. You've no reason to run yourself ragged."

There was an extremely real reason for it, though, that had nothing to do with village safety. But Genma wasn't about to explain that to them and merely shrugged before he got up, stretched, and grabbed his barely touched glass of water. Then he walked over to his kitchen and set it down on the counter, knowing that one of the kids would eventually wake up, get thirsty, and drink from it.

"Izumo, you've got my keys. Remember to lock up by midnight."

"You're not coming back to sleep?" The teenager questioned, which made Genma shake his head.

"I've got to set a few reports, files, and records straight." He explained as he tightened the knot on his forehead, then walked over to his front door. "Someone was smart enough to let Anko do it, so everything's messed up now. I'm going to try and fix some of it up."

"But that's work for rookies like these two, Genma." Kakashi's tone insinuated distrust, but Genma ignored him as he opened his door.

"I offered. Besides, this way those two aren't called in for that and can take care of the kids for me."

"But... Genma, shouldn't you-" Kotetsu tried, but Genma never even turned to look at them when he walked out, not even bothering with any further explanations.

Something even odder than being asked out on a date by Kurenai or Junko happened about a week after dinner with Kurenai.

Genma had been walking back from T&I to his apartment when it happened. One of his co-workers from his workplace, Inoichi's right hand man, Mawashi Dokuraku, ran up to him a few feet away from T&I's exit and asked if he could accompany him home.

The three year old man was calm and usually good company. When they worked, he was a hard ass that wanted perfection. Which was the reason why many called him 'The Demon Sergeant of the Analysis Team', even at such a young age. But outside of work, he was kind and funny.

"Hey, Genma, we've been working together for a while now..." The slightly older man began with an easy smile on his lips, "Would you like to go out for some drinks tonight?"

The question caught Genma off guard. But he smiled softly back at the other man, "I'm not really looking for a relationship right now, Mawashi."

"I said drinks, right?" Mawashi asked back easily, even though Genma could see his shoulders drop in disappointment. "There's nothing wrong with two co-workers going out and having some fun, you know. And you could invite the rest of your buddies, so you can all spend some time unwinding."

Mawashi, even with as serious and put together as he was, seemed to know just what might be needed to relax... And he was promising to do it as friends and keep things chill...

"I'll think about it."

(He didn't end up going. Because when he got home, he found the kids chasing after Kakashi and Kotetsu, Izumo and Iwashi inside of his kitchen, and Raidou sitting at his dinner table helping Hinata out with her homework... This ended up in reminding Genma of his imminent replacement and he just wasn't up for drinks after.)

Genma didn't really think of himself as a romantic man. He didn't even know if he liked men enough to go out with them... Or if he even found women attractive enough to truly want to be with them. He didn't really think of himself as someone that would ever end up with a significant other, nor that he would survive long enough to get married.

Apparently, though, others found him attractive enough to ask him out.

Even Shimon gave it a try at some point, along with other kunoichi and shinobi.

And each time he told them that he wasn't really looking for anything in his life. Most understood and asked to go out as just friends. Some were apparently heartbroken by him not going with them. But all were actually extremely nice about the whole thing and didn't bring up date talk afterwards.

This was all extremely weird. But at least it seemed to stop after Tonbo drunkenly announced to every single ninja in the bar he had been visiting that Genma's Mother Hen Heart only had enough room in it for the kids he took care of.

(Genma hadn't seen it. But Raidou and Iwashi had. And they had not let him live it down.)

"Kids, we've got to get more aggressive with our tactics."

"We agree, Kotetsu-san. Genma is becoming even more distant and none of us like it."

Kurenai blinked at the congregation of children and chunin she now found herself with. But she remained quiet, listening intently to everything that was being said.

When she had first been contacted by the children, she'd been taken aback by their plan. Especially because they had thought her a good match for Genma. But then the elder Hyuga had explained their reasons for wanting Genma to find a girlfriend and she had been forced to admit that the idea wasn't too bad.

Even though she didn't really know Genma all that well, she respected him. While they weren't exactly friends, they had always maintained a professional and rather pleasant relationship. And he had always been pretty interesting to be around, someone both calm and collected, yet funny and spontaneous. And knowing that these kids just wanted the best for him, she had wanted to help, even though she had known that the man would never have accepted a date from her.

Although that dinner with him had proved to be successful, just not for the reasons the kids had wished. Kurenai had befriended Genma more closely and they now hung out whenever the man was feeling up for chatting about anything that came to mind.

"I still think we should try and throw this Guy guy at Genma." Kiba huffed, puffing his chest and cheeks up, "He's strong, likes kids and having fun, and doesn't hate anything we like. Why haven't we tried him yet?"

"Because this guy was his old teammate, blockhead!" Ino growled as she bonked the Inuzuka on his head, making him immediately shy away and whine at the injury. "It'll be weird if he suddenly asks him out on a date. You heard Kurenai's assessment!"

"Genma's said no to everyone we've tried to set him up with... This is never going to work..." Sakura mumbled sadly, sitting down on the floor with Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru, while the more animated children stood around in front of Kotetsu, Izumo, and Kurenai.

It was odd, if she could tell the truth, to be inside of Genma's apartment without the man there. But Kotetsu and Izumo seemed to have the run of the place while Genma wasn't around and had invited her over to help them plot.

"How about the ramen guy?!" Naruto suddenly shouted out, jumping over to tug at Kotetsu's pants. "He's really nice and gives us food and if Genma dated him, he would get so many coupons!"

"No." Kotetsu flicked the kid's nose, which made Izumo smack him upside the head.

"Don't be mean, Kotetsu." The teenager sighed, then looked down at Naruto and smiled softly. "Because he's already married, Naruto. He can't date Genma because he has a wife and daughter."

The blonde boy had been someone Kurenai had needed to get used to. But seeing him being such an adorable little kid with difficulties to understand society at times made separating him from the Nine Tailed Fox that had decimated their village years ago. Like right now... He looked up at Izumo with confusion clear in his features, head cocked slightly to the side. And it was so innocent and pure that there was no way she could see the fox inside of him.

"But what's to stop him? He could date Genma and have a wife."

"That's a conversation for a later date, Naruto!" Tenten punched him on the arm to get his attention, then turned to the rest of her friends. "We're going to have to pull out the big kunai, guys! Farmer man's been acting weird and the only way to make him feel better is to set him up with someone that truly gets him!"

"You don't mean-" Neji began, only for Shino to step forward and nod solemnly at him.

"She does. The perfect guy."

Quite frankly, Kurenai was more than lost at this point. But Kotetsu and Izumo both seemed to agree with the children, so she guessed that they did know. So she decided to remain quiet and only offer her opinions whenever she was asked a question by the children.

"Rival! I have not seen you in-"

"No."

Genma couldn't help the small smirk that graced his lips upon seeing Guy deflate at Kakashi's indifference.

"But-"

"Nope. I'm with the kids right now, Guy. Go find yourself a new rival or something... I'm not going to complete any stupid-"

"But-"

"Guy-"

"You are my rival! You must-"

"No means no, Guy. Now-"

"But we must compete, rival! So I can defeat you! We-"

"No, Guy. Now run along and-"

"But-"

"What's going on here?!"

Genma patted Kiba's head after his outburst, then pointed at the man that had come crashing in through the window of the small restaurant they had decided to spend the afternoon in.

"This is my old teammate, Might Guy." He explained softly, stifling a yawn as tiredness pulled at him.

"And I am Ebisu."

Oh... So they were both here... Genma's yawn froze as soon as he heard the book nerd speak up, but soon finished up yawning.

Genma had found a way to ignore the aches of sorrow and pain that hit him whenever he thought of the children. He worked so hard he was left bone tired and barely able to think straight. That was the perfect way to avoid thinking clearly and contemplating about the kids inevitable departure from his life.

"He's Kakashi's self-proclaimed rival. And the other's an egg head." Then he looked over Guy and Ebisu, took note of how little they had changed in the years they had passed since they had been promoted to chunin, and observed, "You know, it's odd you guys haven't met the kids until now... Where have you been the past three years?"

The one side effect to being overly tired was that his mouth and brain barely had a filter anymore. So the things he observed and usually kept quiet about to keep his appearance of being a cool guy were usually always pointed out now.

Guy blinked at him in stupefaction, straightened up from his 'Fight me now!' pose, and placed both of his hands on his hips. And Ebisu's eyebrows narrowed as he looked over at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Genma, have you been sleeping properly?"

The senbon enthusiast frowned at his old teammates, rolled his eyes, and turned back to Kiba. "He knows taijutsu. You can ask him to help you out."

Kiba immediately jumped at the suggestion. And after him followed Naruto (who was always eager to learn something about being a ninja) and Sakura (who wanted to learn to try and keep up with the clan kids she was surrounded by).

"And Ebisu's great with fire style, Sasuke. He could teach you about it." The Uchiha jumped towards Ebisu without any hesitation after that.

Luckily for him, his old teammates were simple men. If there was something that interested them, they paid attention to it. Especially if that thing was a group of little kids asking them to teach them about taijutsu, fire jutsu, and their own unique fighting styles.

He smiled tiredly at the sight of the three kids crowding both men, but hate for someone getting close to the children bubbled up in him once more. Genma stamped it down once more, though, knowing that this was just a natural part of life.

He was ready for when the kids left him. He knew he was. He could survive. He was sure of it.

(He wasn't. But what he knew and he wanted to admit to himself were two very different things.)

One day, as Genma dragged his feet and drank some extremely dark and strong coffee, he felt someone watching him. And when he raised his head up to languidly look over his surroundings, he found nothing unusual.

The walk to T&I was barely ever exciting. Civilians in Konoha were extremely nice and sympathy for shinobi and barely ever bothered them. And none of his fellow workers ever came in at this early hour except for Ibiki because they were insane and Inoichi allowed them to sleep in.

Raising his hand to scratch uncomfortably at the back of his neck, Genma breathed out, shook his head, and began to walk once more. He was so tired he felt like he was about to keel over. But being so tired helped him sleep without the nightmares that had decided to come back for some reason and to cope with the kids unescapable exit.

But as he continued to walk, the man felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand, letting him know that he wasn't being paranoid, there truly was someone watching him. And this made him worry slightly, seeing how he had not felt any chakra signatures following him... And he still didn't feel anything.

"Anyone out there?" He called out as he came to a full stop, turning to look behind him at the deserted path behind him.

There were nothing but trees out here. But Genma knew that, even though he was tired, his instincts were never wrong. And right now they were telling him there was someone following him.

"I swear, if it's one of you kids, you're going to get punished for skipping school." He growled in what he hoped was a threatening enough voice for any kid that might have chosen to tail him.

But nothing... Only the rustles of the leaves and branches as a gust of wind passed by.

This wasn't right. He may be too tired to think straight, but his instincts had never been wrong. He'd been taught to follow his gut and it had never led him astray.

There was someone out here. They just weren't showing themselves.

"Kotetsu, if you think you're being funny..."

"Are you feeling alright, Shiranui?"

Genma did not jump twenty feet in the air at suddenly hearing a gruff male voice behind him. No, he did not. No matter what the man behind him may have thought he'd seen, Genma didn't jump.

"Careful!"

Genma's scathing hot coffee flew out of his hands before he could truly get control of himself and barely missed hitting Ibiki. Luckily, the scarred man moved just in time to not get doused in the hot liquid, leaving it to fall to the ground where it simmered before being absorbed by the ground.

The senbon enthusiast glared at the taller man as he tried to calm his racing heartbeat, all the while he tried to look as if he hadn't just been surprised by him.

"You're lucky I didn't try and stab you, Ibiki. You can't sneak up on me!" Genma scolded, momentarily forgetting that Ibiki was Inoichi's second in command and one of his bosses. Soon he sighed, though, and turned to look at his coffee in lament. "That was good coffee..."

It had been a brand Bear had brought him from a mission to the Land of Coffee. And in his sleep deprived brain, the connection between Ibiki and Bear had just about been completely forgotten, leaving him to truly blame Ibiki for his spilled drink.

The man took some time to answer. But when he did, he moved so he stood in front of Genma and forced him to look up at him at not at his spilled coffee anymore.

"Genma, I asked you once, I'll ask you again;" Ibiki spoke up with a serious scowl, covered arms crossed over his broad chest. "Are you feeling alright?"

Genma blinked slowly at him, then nodded, "Yeah, of course I'm f-" He was cut off, though, by a yawn.

That was the last straw for Ibiki.

"Go home."

"What?" The younger of the two look up at him, sleep slowly leaving him to be replaced by alertness and defensiveness. "Ibiki, I'm fine. And I've got a job to do."

"You need to sleep, Shiranui." Ibiki frowned back at him, eyes stern with determination. "You can't do a good job if you're jumping at any sound that surprises you."

"You came out of nowhere." Genma hissed back, then rolled his eyes and waved him off. "I'm going to work."

He stepped around Ibiki and walked away from him with a displeased frown clear on his face. Not only because of that foul meeting with the younger man... But also because the mug he had been drinking from had been the one Ino had brought him... And, like a fool, he'd left it behind in his fit of anger.

"This is getting ridiculous. Shiranui's going to get himself killed, Inoichi. You've got to force him to rest."

The Yamanaka clan head sighed at Shikaku's words, looking at his friend regretfully. "His work has been stellar up to this point. He has showed no signs of sluggishness in the workplace and has yet to cause any harm to either himself or his fellow shinobi while at T&I. If I were to force him into a vacation, he wouldn't return to work. He'd just go to the Hokage and ask to be sent off on A or S-Ranks."

The parents had all come together to discuss the matter that was their kids main caretaker. Genma Shiranui had become something much greater and much more important in their lives than any of them had ever foreseen.

And now they were forced to see him wither away for reasons none of them knew.

"Well we can't just let him continue like this." Chouza frowned at both of his old teammates, and his wife finished for him, "He's clearly been losing weight. He hasn't been eating properly."

"You heard Morino, Inoichi. Their encounter in the forest was less than stellar." Tsume groused with her arms crossed firmly over her chest, eyes glaring dagger at the blonde man. "Hell, you were there to see it!"

Inoichi leveled the woman with an almost disinterested stare before Hiashi spoke up, grabbing the attention of the parents.

"The fact that Genma Shiranui is important in our lives is undeniable. And to leave him to follow this path of self destruction would only help in harming our children. We must do something and we must do it fast. Our children's actions by acting out in school are reflecting Genma's own mood and I believe it is only a matter of time before our hand is forced."

Being shinobi, they all understood what Hiashi meant. And, even though they were only civilians, both Sakura's mother and father knew what the Hyuga was hinting at, even though none of them wanted to speak it out loud.

A ninja on a path of self destruction was a ninja that could not perform properly. A ninja unable to take care of himself was a ninja that could not serve his village.

"But what are we to do?" Shibi questioned, looking directly at Hiashi. "We have run out of ideas. Leaving him to deal with this himself was ineffective and even his old teammates were unable to speak sense into him. If he didn't listen to them, he isn't going to listen to Chouza either... None of his friends are able to get through to him either... All that is left is the children."

Tense and uncertain silence filled the meeting room in the Hokage's compound after the Aburame's words. All of the adults understood the gravity of the situation with the young man. And all worried for what was to happen next.

"Maybe..." Shikaku murmured, eyebrows narrowed in thought. "That's all we need."

All of the adults turned to look at him in confusion. But he merely looked up at them with a determined frown. "Let me speak to those two chunin he hangs around with; Kotetsu and Izumo. I think they know more about what's going on than we may think."

(In the end, Shikaku was right to believe Kotetsu and Izumo would be able to help Genma... It was just in a way that he never would have expected.)

"Let's go to the Hokage Heads, Gen-Gen!"

Genma yawned deeply as his hand was tugged by Kiba, but patted his head with his other and shrugged.

"Alright... Are you and the boys dressed?"

The boys had been the ones to stay over this Friday night. The girls had decided to have a 'girls only' sleepover at Sakura's house, leaving him to take care of seven rambunctious children.

Blinking at the thought, Genma noted that, no, they had not been rambunctious. If anything, they had been little angels... They hadn't fought, had barely screamed, and had played peacefully.

As soon as he took note of this, he went on high alert.

"Scarecrow, are you coming with us?" Naruto questioned as he walked into the living room, dressed and ready for the day.

Kakashi was laying down on his couch with Shikamaru resting over his back. But when the blonde finished the question, the man gave a reply that was muffled by the couch cushions. Genma frowned softly at the lack of proper answer, but soon sighed when the man raised a thumbs up to show that he would be accompanying them.

"Alright. I'll pack up some food and water and we'll be able to go."

~/~

If there was something odd about how the boys acted during the night, then there was something purely out of character about how they acted as they walked towards the Hokage Heads.

They weren't trying to run away. They weren't trying to enter weapons shop. And they weren't trying to swindle Kakashi out of money. The boys were actually behaving and keeping pace with Genma, not trying to run up even though he could see they were clearly excited to get to their destination.

He didn't know what they were planning, but he was not sure if he would like to see it come to fruition.

He honestly had half a mind to leave them alone with Kakashi and just spend the day hiding in Iwashi's apartment.

What if today was the day they finally told him they didn't need him anymore? He didn't think he could-

"We're close!"

Genma faltered for a second and stopped walking altogether. What if this was it? Could he really go through with it? Could he survive with finally being told that the children had outgrown him?

He... He wasn't ready for this... He wasn't strong enough for this...

"Come on, Genma." Kakashi wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him up the stairs to the heads before Genma could try and tell them that he didn't want to face what they had prepared.

Because even though they hadn't said a thing, he was sure that there was something waiting for him at the top of the heads that he wasn't prepared for. And his instincts were never wrong.

"Come on, Farmer man! This'll be so cool!" Kiba smiled broadly as he jumped ahead, followed closely by Naruto.

Shino nodded softly, "It has been a long time coming, Kiba."

Those words sent an icy spike through Genma's very being.

But his legs were moving of their own accord. He was being pulled forward by Kakashi and his legs were refusing to listen to his brain. They just went along with the external force upon them, left, right, one after the other.

Genma breathed in to try and calm his racing heart.

Maybe he was overreacting. Yeah, that sounded right. The kids would never take him to such an important place to throw him to the wayside. They weren't cruel like that. No matter what others may say, these kids were amazing and caring. They would never be so mean.

But that conversation he had heard so long ago... Someone so perfect: loved kids and having fun, no clan affiliations for any kind of favoritism... The perfect person to take care of the children now that they had outgrown him.

He wasn't perfect. And the kids had finally seen that.

When they were about to reach the top, a cold chill took over his whole body. "Uh, kids, I'm not feeling all that hot..." Somehow, the words managed to tumble coherently out of his mouth, even as he tried to keep this freak out he wanted to free hidden deep within himself. "You wouldn't mind staying with Scarecrow? I think it'll be good for me to-"

"Oh, come on, Genma..." Shikamaru sighed from behind him, "You'll love this. I'm sure of it. And we Nara are barely ever wrong."

What he would love about being kicked to the curb by the children wasn't clear to Genma. But he was soon being pulled forward by Kiba, Naruto, and Kakashi, all the while Sasuke and Shino pushed him forward.

"Seriously, kids,"

"Trust us, Genma!" Naruto interrupted him, "You'll love this!"

"Please believe in us, Genma-nii-san." Neji smiled back at him from the front of the group, "We are sure you will enjoy this."

His breathing was bordering hyperventilation. But Genma did his best to force his chest to slow and for his body to not show how much he wanted to freak out at the moment. It wouldn't do good for the kids to see him like that, after all. He needed to stay strong for them.

If... If they thought he would love seeing them happy without him... Then he'd have to put on a brave face.

For the kids.

"A-Alright..." He smiled sadly, tears pricking at his eyes.

But he just allowed himself to be taken to the top of the stairs, accepting his fate.

He had known this would eventually happen... And what was so bad about it? He'd just have to adjust his life for what must have been the hundredth time since he had become a genin... Nothing new...

When they were near the top, Genma closed his eyes and took in a big breath to steel his harrowed nerves.

And when he was finally allowed to stop walking, he took a few seconds... Then he opened them...

...

... ...

... ... ...

"Uh... Is that Bear with a bouquet of flowers?"

This... What he saw was nothing he had expected.

"Gen-Gen! You finally made it!"

Genma blinked in stupefaction as four incredibly well dressed girls ran up to him, smiles broad and eyes bright.

"Welcome to your date with Bear! We will be your waitresses for the day." Tenten was dressed in a waitress type outfit, complete with apron and pad of paper.

The rest of the girls were dressed in their finest dresses (which Genma knew were their finest because he had been forced to learn this kind of thing for all of the activities he went to for all of the kids) and looked rather beautiful and extremely excited.

Bear stood awkwardly by a table that had been placed a few feet away from the stairs, complete with a candle at its very center and two chairs facing each other.

Kurenai and Itachi (when had he gotten back from his month long mission?) sat to Bear's right, playing their violins.

"Kids..." Genma looked back at Bear, then at the two playing a soft song, over at the table with the red table cloth, and finally down at the girls in front of him before looking back at Bear. "Are you trying to set me up?"

"That is exactly what we're doing, Gen-Gen!" Sakura answered in a moment of pure confidence, something that Genma had not come to expect from the pink haired girl. "You need someone to leave. And because Kurenai and Junko weren't up to your tastes, we guessed Bear would be just right."

"Just... Right..." He repeated dumbly, then glanced down at Hinata when she tugged at his hand.

"W-We wa-want you t-to be ha-happy, G-Genma-ni-nii-s-san." She stuttered out, face red and eyes wide.

"Yeah. And Bear's the perfect guy for you." Ino spoke up then, "Nice, likes kids, respects your life, and gives us snacks... You deserve to be happy together."

"P-Perfect guy?"

Could this...

Genma closed his eyes and allowed the combination of relief and embarrassment crash into him as soon as he heard this.

That conversation he had listened in on... It had been about setting him up... Not about leaving him behind.

"You kids..." Genma smiled at all of them and was about to wrap them up in a tight hug when Kakashi's raucous laughter suddenly broke through his relief.

"Wait, this was the reason why Genma was so terrified? Because you kids wanted to set him up?!" The man laughed at the situation, visible eye closed because of how amusing he found the whole thing. "And with Bear?! Of all people! Why not Raidou or me, while you're at it? We'll be good for the mother hen!"

It had been a rather beautiful moment. Genma had never felt more relieved or prouder of the kids before. But Kakashi had decided to open up his big mouth and destroy the whole thing.

"Are you really laughing at this, Hatake?" Bear questioned from the table, sending the silver haired bastard into yet another fit of laughter.

But after a few seconds of glaring at him, Genma motioned for all of the kids to come towards him. "Kids... You didn't have to do this. I don't need a love life."

"But you deserve to be happy, Genma-nii-san." Neji rebutted, which made the man sigh and pat his head.

"And I thank you for caring about me so much... But I don't need to date someone to be happy. You don't have to force Bear to date me just to make me happy." He looked over at them before turning to Bear, "And you don't have to allow yourself to be roped into their plans."

The masked man nodded, then shrugged, "They were worried about you... And this was the only thing they thought might help."

They were worried... Because of how stupid he'd been acting recently... He was an idiot.

"How did I get lucky enough to take care of such wonderful children?" He asked them before kneeling down and throwing his arms out to ask for a giant group hug.

"Farmer man!"

"Gen-Gen!"

"We love you!"

"Don't ever be sad again. Or we'll make Bear kiss you!"

"Yeah, and he'll do it! He listens to us!"

The threats and promises continued as the kids jumped on him to hug him tightly. And Genma only laughed and nodded, promising that he would never drift away from them ever again.

As they hugged, Genma felt three more presences appear. And soon he heard Kotetsu whine.

"We missed it! Damn it, Lord Nara! We told you we knew what we were doing!"

"Izumo, be respectful! He's the Jonin leader!"

"I don't give a damn! All of our hard work, Izumo: Down the drain! All because this Nara weirdo with a pineapple head wanted us to tell him how to make Genma better, even though we already knew what we were doing!"

Genma looked over at the new arrivals and found Kotetsu fuming and pouting, Izumo looking ashamed and embarrassed, and Shikaku surprised at the sight of him being hugged by all of the kids.

But he had caught on to Kotetsu's words.

"Make me better?" He questioned, then looked directly at the Nara. "Shikaku, what's he talking about?"

The slippery bastard left before answering. And because he was currently trapped under a mountain of kids, Genma wasn't able to chase after him. But Kotetsu quickly questioned if their plan had worked, letting Genma know just who it was that had enabled the children to come up with the plans that had almost destroyed his life.

(He never did get an answer to his question.)

(Damn Nara.)

..~..~..

So... This came out angstier than I had initially thought it would be... But I hope you all liked it. I'm counting it as an early Valentine's Day fic because of all of the love talk involved.

Please review and tell me what y'all think!