Chapter 8. Family
Age 29.
In February, Uchiha Michiyo gives birth to a baby boy and dies in the process. The child is called Obito. The child's father is there at the funeral, his eyes empty as he stares at his wife's coffin but oh so filled with love when he looks down at his little boy. Sakumo looks at his best friend's child and sees familiar dark tufts and a chubby face; he looks just like any other Uchiha. Sakumo forces a smile and says the boy looks just like his mother.
Uchiha Obito is orphaned barely a month later when his father is killed at the front. The boy's grandparents whisk him off and Sakumo never hears from him again. He doesn't consider searching him out either. Michiyo has left a hole in his heart.
xXx
September fifteenth of that year is the bright, happy contrast to that fateful February day. Little Kakashi is small even for a new-born, but the doctors assure them he is perfectly healthy. His chakra is strong and, Kinue jokes, so is his voice. His greatest talent is keeping his parents from falling asleep. Sakumo thinks he'll be a bossy child, later.
It is the greatest joy to Sakumo to watch his wife and son play together, her slender hands running through the boy's thin silver hair. She's the one who named their son; he'd thought it a peculiar name at first, but then Kinue had explained how scarecrows are protectors of the weak, not objects of ridicule. "Besides, I thought it sounded cute," She adds with a smile as she props the boy up on her lap. Kakashi's face is small and red and his dark eyes are heavy with sleep.
Kinue is undoubtedly right about the cuteness factor.
xXx
The rest of the year is chaotic. In between feeding and caring for a demanding new-born and fighting a war, Sakumo is utterly exhausted. It is a rollercoaster of emotion; leaving the house to kill ninja only to return and raise a brand new life. Sakumo often finds himself wondering why he should be allowed to return home when so many of his enemies leave orphaned children behind.
xXx
Kakashi is four months old when Kinue goes out to war again. She still looks too pale to Sakumo, her frame too thin and her smile too brittle. She doesn't want to leave. He doesn't want her to leave, either. But every man, woman and child is needed at the front.
They leave together, hiring a trustworthy retired chunin to look after their son.
They fight side by side now, and it is both the most exhilarating and terrifying thing Sakumo has ever experienced. But he is glad to be there to keep her safe, and vice versa, she is glad to protect his back too.
They're a frighteningly efficient team and it isn't long before their enemies start keeping away; Sarutobi shakes his head and tells them they'll have to split up so they won't be recognized.
Kinue is the first to nod and smile and accept the order. Her hand clasps around Sakumo's and she drags him to her tent. They have that last evening together, saying everything they need to say and everything they feel; there are no regrets.
"Please," He asks her the next morning, when she pulls on her armour. "Come back."
She doesn't.
xXx
Sakumo carves their names into the stone nearby their house. Ran, Michiyo, Kinue- his hands shake so badly on the last name that he has to set his knife aside and rush into the house to get away from it all.
He wonders about his parents for the first time in years, and curses them for not being there.
The world has lost its colour without her. Inside the house, her baby cries. Sakumo shakes his head and buries his face into his hands. "Please," he begs his son. "Please, stop crying. I can't do a damn thing about it. I can't do a damn thing. Please."
xXx
30 years ago
It all ends a few weeks later. Konoha has sent its jounin after them and Kumo its hunter-nin, and either way there is no more escaping. Sayuri knows he wants to stay with her. She also knows that if he does, he will be killed, either by the Konoha shinobi branding him as a traitor or by one of the many, many dangers that chase her.
She cups his face in her hands and gives him one last smile before the Konoha shinobi's turn the corner and spot them. When they do, she pushes him away from her and shouts as loudly as she can.
"I trusted you! I- you've betrayed me!" She lies. His eyes go wide with confusion and fear, and he shakes his head-
But before he can open his mouth she screams at him one last time and nimbly runs away. The last thing she sees is the betrayal in his eyes, but she cannot go back now; to do so would be to kill them both. Now Konoha will never know the truth of their relationship.
Her Konoha shinobi watches as she leaves. He cannot move.
A Konoha jounin approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder. "Karasu? Are you alright? We'll get her some other time, don't you worry,"
Karasu numbly shakes his head and thinks he is a fool to love her, but he cannot stop himself from doing so.
Sayuri finds out she's pregnant barely two weeks later. The Kumo Hunter nin pick up her trail a few months after that.