~This short was the bonus content for Chapter 21. It's from Kakashi's point of view, and it fills in some of the dialogue from the first chapter. Just watch this guy's opinion shiiiift.
Side note - there's a new poll in my profile. Would anyone here like to see a giant (as I see it) celebration of SI OC fics? I was thinking maybe we could do some voting for most popular/sad/etc, best portrayals of certain characters, innovative plots, and if you have ideas feel free to let me know in a review or PM. A big list of fics, a stats comparison of SIs, maybe some fun flowcharts of plots or something . . . but my favorite idea is getting authors in on this to write crossover scenes between the characters - fights, dialogue, bragging battles - and boy, if we could get some short scenes illustrated, well, that sounds pretty awesome. You guys are on board, right?
Time: Chapter 1
Hospital, somewhere. Two years after Kyūbi.
His first thought of her was that surely she wasn't his. It wasn't that he found her impossibly adorable or perfect. No, she looked just as wrinkled and hideous as the rest of her kind. That was, assuming this nurse's baby was even one of his much-regretted twins.
The nurse beamed at him, attention cheerfully shifting away from her burden. "Good afternoon! You're Kana-chan's father?" She grinned happily, probably overjoyed to rid herself of one of the hospital's squalling newborns.
But this ugly baby was Wakana, his . . . daughter. She . . . she—
He steeled himself. "Yes." How could something so . . . pure, innocent, spotless—come from him? He had killed children. She shouldn't be able to fix wide, blue eyes on his with such fascination (Indeed, she shouldn't, a contentious part of his brain reminded him. The blue color would fade soon, but young babies' eyes took weeks to fully develop for all but a few clans and chakra types. It was simply an illusion. Nature's gift to infants).
Right. Best to smile and show her that he wasn't affected. He had read books about children. He was prepared. He faced the unexpectedly innocent eyes. "Good morning, Wakana-chan."
She burped and wiggled. Fortunately, a scowling newborn with a wad of drool was not attractive in the slightest.
"Sorry, Kana-chan," the nurse apologized—to a baby! "Here, sweet, don't you want your bottle?"
When the tiny girl began to scream, Kakashi finally saw a fragment of what he'd overlooked.
This child was not Kakashi. Because so far, she didn't have to be.
He didn't know what he wanted her to be at all. But something. Eventually. He'd decide later.
(For now, he'd settle with her being quiet.)
~And then, Kakashi carried two newborns back to Konoha. Lucky him.