Ahhh, it's still choppy and that annoys me, but I really want to get the initial parts over with. Please bear with me!

The Unexpected Daughter –

When I finally woke up it was to raised voices and laughter. The merchant and the six he traveled with were eager to be done with journey it seemed. I stirred in my mom's arms and looked up at her. She was clenching her jaw and her posture was stiff.

"Morning Kaa-chan," I whispered, though it sounded more like "mo'ning kach'n."

She looked down at me and smiled for my benefit, "Morning sweetheart."

The carriage we were sitting in slowed to a stop and she put on the baby carrier and lowered me into it. Once we came to a complete stop she hopped down and moved to the cart behind us to take our bags. Now that we were out of the carriage I could see the enormous walls we had come to. They stretched for what seemed like forever to both sides and met in front of us in the form of a large open gate. The merchant we'd joined was pulling out papers in front of a small building just inside the gates.

My mom took a deep breath and made her way over to the same building with me strapped to her chest and our bags in her hands. As we got closer I saw two men wearing strange clothes and matching green vests. I assumed they were some kind of guards or gatekeepers for the village we were entering. The first had a bandage of sorts across his nose and dark spiky hair, he was busy looking over the merchant's papers and ignored us. My mom went to stand in front of the second without saying a word.

As she waited for him to notice us I saw that both he and the other guard were wearing headbands that matched my mom's belt. She hadn't worn it before today but it was the same metal plate with the same leaf insignia. Not for the first time I wished I could speak fluently so I could question my mother.

The man took what felt like an eternity to acknowledge us. "Papers please," he said at last without looking up from the scroll he was reading from.

I was just thinking it odd that he was reading from a scroll rather than a book when my mother answered, "Really Izumo-kun? You don't recognize me? It hasn't been that long."

He looked up quickly and I noticed that his hair covered his right eye. "Kaoru-chan? Akiyama Kaoru is that you?"

The first man looked up at my mother's name, "Kaoru? Where have you been? It's been a year since anyone has heard from you!"

"It has been a while Kotetsu-kun, Izumo-kun. I've missed you guys."

The man name Izumo looked shocked, "We wondered what had happened to you! The Hokage wouldn't tell us where you went, he just said you'd taken time off for personal reasons…"

For the first time he seemed to see me in my baby carrier. The second man followed Izumo's eyes and looked at me too. "Um Kaoru, is that your baby?"

"Yeah, she's mine. That's why I've been gone so long," she answered quietly. I had my head turned at an awkward angle to watch the exchange and my neck was hurting. The two men shared a look.

"Who's her, um, y'know…" The man named Kotetsu looked sheepish.

My mom didn't answer. Instead, she put the bags down and gently lifted me from the baby carrier. Once I was free she turned me around to face them and removed the cap she'd put on my head. When they saw my hair they gasped. I didn't understand until I recalled what my mom had said about my looks – apparently I look like him.

"I didn't even know you were dating– "

My mom cut him off, "We weren't, not really."

Silence fell. The merchant who'd been standing off to the side throughout the exchange looked uncomfortable. When he cleared his throat Kotetsu apologized and went back to examining his papers. My mom made some excuse about seeing the Hokage and after putting my hat on and picking up the bags she waved goodbye. I peeked over her shoulder and saw the two men looking after her as she walked away.

…

The village we were in was less a village and more like a sprawling city, though I didn't see any cars. I wondered at that. Whatever country I was in had technology, but not to the extent that I was used to. It was weird, the people I saw had the weirdest mixture of hair colors but spoke a language that I'd finally identified as Japanese. For the life of me I couldn't figure out where we were.

Most of the people we passed ignored us but there were others who stared in shock. The ones who noticed us and turned to whisper to their friends all had green vests, or if not, at least had the weird metal headband that my mom wore as a belt. Some looked as though they wanted to speak to my mother, but she just shook her head and kept walking.

We made our way deeper into the city until a strange mountain loomed before us. It reminded me of Mount Rushmore, though the faces carved in stone were definitely not former presidents. At this point I was really curious as to where we were. I tried to point to the faces with a questioning look but my mom just patted my head and ignored me. Put out, I settled for lying against her chest until we reached our destination.

It was only a few minutes later when my mom open a door and walked into a building. I picked my head up and looked around. We were in what looked like a busy waiting room. People in those metal headbands were running about much faster than I'd ever seen anybody move. Ignoring all the chaos my mom walked up to a woman at a desk and spoke, "Excuse me, I'm here to see the Hokage."

"Name please."

"Akiyama Kaoru."

The squinted at my mother before saying, "He's left instructions that you be sent to see him whenever you get here. You're free to head up."

My mom nodded and made her way to the stairs on the far side of the room. Moments later she was putting her bags down to knock on a large wooden door. "Come in," called a male voice. My mother picked up her bag and shifted it under her arm so she could open the door. As we entered the room I noticed three things: The man who'd spoken was extremely old, he had an insane view of the village from the window behind his desk, and his outfit was really weird.

"Kaoru-san is that you?" he said with a smile. Then he noticed me. "So that's why you wanted so much time off…"

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama. I should have told you, but I'm afraid I wasn't in the best mental state at the time."

"I can imagine," he said. "Who's the father? Does he know?"

My mom winced, "No Hokage-sama. I didn't know how he would respond to the news and so I took the cowardly route and ran away. As for the father's identity…" she trailed off. Once again she set her bags down and freed me from the baby carrier. The Hokage just raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

She pulled off my cap as she done before and whispered, "I think it's fairly obvious when you see her hair."

I was uncomfortable with the situation but didn't let it show. My hair was nothing like my mother's auburn waves and my eyes were an even deeper blue. I was paler as well. I could only assume my father looked similar if everyone could figure out his identity just by looking at me. Oh well, might as well make the best of it.

I tilted my head to the side and shot a lazy smile towards the old man, "Mo'ning."

The Hokage looked shocked and amused at the same time. "I can certainly see the resemblance, but how old is she? She doesn't look old enough to be speaking."

"Oh she just looks young for her age, she's nearly six months old. She is advanced though, Chidori-chan has been able to say simple words since she was a little over four months old."

"Chidori-chan?"

My mother blushed, "I thought it was fitting."

"It certainly is," the Hokage turned a disapproving gaze on my mother. "You should have told him. He has a right to know about his own daughter."

"I know, Hokage-sama, I realize that now. It's just, well, we didn't really have a conventional relationship and I didn't want to upset him or make him uncomfortable."

"Regardless of how he would respond he still had the right to know," my mother hung her head. "Though I think he may surprise you," added the old man.

I was getting tired of this. It wasn't my mom's fault! She was in a difficult situation and made the best of it. So far, she'd been an amazing mother; she didn't deserve to be reprimanded. I stared at the old man, "No! Baaaad!"

He looked shocked for a moment before he started laughing. My mom looked at me blankly before chuckling herself. "I'm surprised she could pick up on the fact that I was scolding you. How advanced did you say she was again?"

My mom smiled, "I'm beginning to think even I don't know how special she really is."

The Hokage's smile faded, "You need to see him Kaoru-san. I'll give you time to get back home but I'm sending him over in a few hours. He's just returned from a mission in wave country. I'll leave it to you to tell him."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

…

An hour later my mom had taken me to a dusty apartment much like the one we'd been living in for the past few months. She'd taken out a blanket and had put me on the floor with my stuffed dog. It's gray fur was ruffled looking and I was petting it like a real dog to smooth it out. My mom cleaned as I played and made tea when she finished.

When I saw that she had finished cleaning I held up my dog, "Woof?" She smiled and sat on the floor next to me before taking the scruffy toy and moving it about. She had it run over the floor and tackle me, all the while making barking noises. I laughed and made my own barking noises in response.

I was so caught up in the game that I failed to notice my mom staring behind me towards the door. The dog stopped running about so I grabbed its tail and lifted it from my mom's grasp, "Woof?"

Only then did I notice the panic on my mom's face. I turned to see a man in a mask standing just inside the apartment with the door wide open behind him. The mask covered his mouth and nose and the metal headband I kept seeing covered one of his eyes. "I ran into Kotetsu and Izumo and they said it was important, but they didn't say…" The man couldn't continue. He looked at my mother, then me, back to my mother, before finally settling his gaze on me.

At this point I could guess at his identity from his actions alone, but it was his hair that caught my attention. It was the same silvery color as my own, maybe a bit darker, but just as spiky. When he remained frozen and my mom refused to speak I decided that I was going to have to act as the adult. "Hello," I said with a smile before holding up my dog, "Woof?"

He didn't move but his gaze switched to my mother, "Kaoru, is she…?"

"Yes Kakashi. She's your daughter."