Hi, I think I have to explain something concerning Shiori, a few of you have pointed out again and again that they miss the SI part of her thoughts – okay here is what I think to the topic – At the beginning of the story (FIRST CHAPTER) I wrote that Shiori won over Eliza – so in my mind this is Shiori's life and while she is essentially the same there ARE some differences in their personalities (Nature vs. Nurture, anyone?) and while Shiori has benefitted from Eliza's common sense and makes use of some of the memories of her former life she doesn't access it all the time, it's more of a vague feeling in the back of her mind if she doesn't consciously concentrate on the memories. Furthermore I don't think the human mind is capable of dealing with such a situation head on without seriously damaging one's sanity, so to not lose her grip on reality Shiori is unconsciously suppressing parts of her former life, like her feelings concerning the people she loved in that life. I mean I personally would go nuts if I would have to acknowledge that I could never see my family or friends again. Shiori's is coping with her subconscious loneliness through taking care of others and creating her own family in this life. – For those who still want her thoughts on that topic you can relax, I already wrote 1000+ words in her POV on this topic (it will be most likely in CHAPTER 30). :D

Ages:

Hinako: 7 months
Shiori: 19
Yugao: 20
Hayate: 21
Tenzo: 22
Anko: 23
Kakashi, Gai: 25
Asuma, Kurenai: 26
Genma: 28
Raido: 31

Chapter 28

Beta's by Black Sparrow

With the ominous warning of the Hokage still in his ear, Kakashi decided to expand his pack and train up some more ninken so that he could always leave a few of them with his young family. So in the next few months three half grown ninken joined the pack. Shiro, Zeke and Manta were crossbreeds and by looking at them you couldn't tell anything specific about their ancestors, Kakashi even suspected some wolf in them. The three were boisterous and still had to get tracking down to an art but they were smart and quickly picking up the human language now that they had joined his pack and spent quite a lot of time in his home. Especially Shiori assisted with that skill, the three young dogs would often spend their free time around his wife and listen to her while she sung to their daughter or read her a story. After an initial trial period Kakashi also reluctantly let them closer to Hinako. With a baby in the house his instincts were screaming to get rid of the intruders and that particular feeling only went away slowly while he started to accept them as pack mates.

The first months of Hinako's life will be remembered by the Hatake household and extensions as one of the most harrowing, satisfying and sometimes plain terrifying times in their life. The one that had the most fun out of them all was probably Shiori, the civilian got to see how grown elite ninja tried to master changing diapers or bath time.

At the end of Hinako's fifth month she had photos from Genma being peed on, Gai standing helplessly in the backyard while Hinako tugged hard and quite painfully on his hair, Raido covered in baby vomit after he forgot to burp Hinako and Tenzo being drooled on. The blackmail possibilities were endless and so Shiori made sure to hide the pictures in the back of the photo frame with the photo in which Kakashi lay on the couch with Hinako on his stomach, both taking a nap.

Hinako was seven months old when Kakashi finally introduced Anko, Kurenai, Asuma, Hayate and Yugao to his family.

The Hatake clan head had decided that he needed to increase the contact to his comrades as subtle as possible so that if it ever came to a showdown between him and Danzo, they would be firmly on his side of the playfield. Kakashi had no intentions to become Hokage, he had seen how much work and personal sacrifice the title brought with it and he could do without that. He wanted to be there when Hinako started at the Academy and not be chained to a desk with too much paperwork on it.

Still, against a foe like Danzo Kakashi would need every help he could get. With careful calculated moves he reentered the Jounin scene that he had avoided as much as possible after Minato's death and his elevation to ANBU operative. He started to reconnect with some of his casual acquaintances and even went out for drinks a few times with them even though he would prefer to be at home with his wife and daughter; the novelty of having a family still hadn't worn off.

It had taken the silver haired Jounin five months to reestablish his presence in Konoha's elite ranks and the reason why it took this long was that he wanted to avoid attracting attention of the wrong kind. Though Kakashi still had to concede slightly embarrassed that the Naras most likely knew that he was up to something, the look Shikaku-sama had sent him the last time they had met in one of the Hokage tower hallways had spoken volumes. The Hokage on the other hand had only looked amused and approving the few times he had directly reported to him.

But back to the reason he had chosen that particular group of ninja to introduce his family next to. Kakashi run enough missions with each of them to be pretty sure about their priorities and quirks, Asuma was also the closest thing to a friend that the silver haired prodigy had after his old ANBU team.

All five ninja in question had been curious and quite a bit suspicious when one of their more elusive colleagues had invited them to his home shortly after the New Year celebration. When he started to lead them to the outskirts of Konoha instead of his flat in the shinobi apartment complex close to the city center the confusion only increased. Additionally both Anko and Kurenai were annoyed because they had counted on only a short walk from the mission center and hadn't brought their jackets with them. Kakashi finally came to a halt in front of a small side gate that belonged to a walled off property that they recognized as a typical small Konoha clan compound. None of them had any idea what was going on but they followed Kakashi through it. Behind the eight foot tall brick wall was a small cluster of houses with a two story main house in the back. The houses were surrounded by trees on three sides which gave the place a lot of privacy because from the outside it looked like the remnants of an old property line after which the most outer ring of Konoha trees began. If you didn't know exactly what you were looking for the place could be easily overseen. When the group of Konoha ninja came closer to the main house some of Kakashi's ninken popped up from between the trees. Hayate just wanted to ask when Kakashi had purchased this property when said man waved them into the generous sized house; inside they were greeted by a sight they had never expected.

They of course all knew Inoue-san from her tea house and while she had been present less and less since the opening none of the ninja now staring at the scene in front of them had thought this strange and had chalked it up as Shiori enjoying her well earned money and leaving the serving to her staff. That it was because of the young silver haired toddler crawling on a baby blanket on the floor had crossed nobodies mind.

"I-is that…I mean, is that Kakashi-san's?" Hayate stuttered out while he coughed into his hand.

Shiori grinned. "Yes, this is Hatake Hinako, it's nice to see you again Gekkou-san."

"Likewise Inoue-san, I mean…" Hayate was unsure what to call her.

"Shiori is fine, I go by my maiden name in public to avoid attracting attention," Shiori explained while she put the final ingredients into the large pot, lunch would be ready in less than ten minutes.

"Understandable. I have to say I would have never expected something like this from Kakashi-san," Kurenai said torn between disbelief and amusement while she watched the civilian in front of her.

So a Yamato Nadeshiko was Kakashi's type? She had always wondered. It kind of surprised her, normally shinobi preferred women that had at least a little bit of a spine over house makers.

Shiori's lips twitched while she smiled at the red eyed woman in front of her. "That is kind of why Kakashi likes to act in a certain way in public."

"God damn, just god damn, do you have to spring something like this on us, Hatake?" Asuma complained while he shook his head in disbelief.

Kakashi eye-smiled at the Sarutobi while he said, "You sound just like Genma."

"Who sounds like me?" came from the backdoor.

Hinako squealed when she saw the senbon wielding shinobi standing in the library door and belly crawled as fast as she could over to him. With a quick movement Genma took the long needle from his mouth and put it into one of his side holsters before he squatted down and took Hinako into his arms.

"Hello there princess, are you shocking people again?" the brunette asked amused before he nodded at his comrades in the room.

Hinako's little hands came up to his cheeks and mouth and patted them before she pointed at Kakashi and squealed, "Tou, Tou."

Genma's eyebrow rose. "She is speaking already?"

"She just started two days ago to make some sense, didn't you sweetheart?" Shiori laughed at her young daughter.

As an answer she received another screech and a chanted, "Kaa, kaa, kaa."

"Damn, she is fucking adorable." Anko grinned while she shook her head at the sight of her favorite tea house owner's daughter.

When Anko had visited Mariko's for the first time she knew that she had hit the jackpot. This was not only a place where she could indulge into her favorite hobby aka tea ceremonies, had an excellent and exotic dessert selection which was to die for, but also fulfilled all the requirements for a paranoid ninja to relax somewhat their guard and the staff was nothing but polite and courteous.

The snake chunin could still remember the day she had returned from a three month long mission and Yugao had urged her to visit. Her personal miracle place had sprouted out of the ground during her intel mission and had instantly become one of her favorite haunts in Konoha.

That Shiori now had a kid with Kakashi was interesting. Anko wondered if the adorable little toddler in Genma's arms was an accident or if Kakashi had knocked up the woman on purpose. After all she knew the conniving bastard in front of her, he was one of the most unreadable shinobi that she had ever encountered. Oh he was loyal to Konoha and had a firm moral code but he did absolutely NOTHING without a damn good reason.

That Genma was here made sense, he was after all a part of Kakashi's old ANBU cell but why had Mr. Paranoid invited them? She could understand Asuma, maybe also Hayate but her and the girls? Don't get her wrong Anko felt honored that Kakashi trusted her with the knowledge of his family but something wasn't right. Unwilling to call her comrade out in front of the civilian Anko kept her mouth shut, she would see how the lunch went and then corner the silver haired Jounin sometime in the following week.

Coming out of her thoughts Anko witnessed how Hinako became squirrely in Genma's arms and the senbon wielder sat her down again where she then determinedly made her way over to a surprised Asuma. Stubbornly the toddler pulled herself up on his leg and then put her arms up in the universal gesture that she wanted to be lifted. Absentmindedly Anko noted that for such a small thing, Hinako was quite fast.

The wind user chuckled while he shook his head at the antics of the little girl in front of him, to his chagrin he caved pretty fast and bent down to carefully pick her up. Asuma's grip was slightly awkward on the small body, he hadn't been in Konoha during his nephew's toddler years and so he was unsure how to hold her without letting her drop.

A snort escaped the Sarutobi while he cataloged the big blue eyes and cute baby face, it was so like Kakashi to have a pretty baby. "Demanding little thing aren't you?" escaped his lips while his eyes landed on the onesie with the cartoon dog on the front.

"You have no idea." Shiori sighed wryly, "And I can't even fault her for that, her father and uncles respond to her every whim." This time Shiori grinned in Kakashi's and Genma's direction.

Both shrugged unapologetically, they knew they were whipped by the little toddler and didn't even mind one bit.

Asuma chortled disbelieving and turned his attention to his younger comrade, he would have never expected Kakashi to have a woman and or a daughter but here he was now, holding said child in his arms. The Sarutobi paid for his brief inattention with pain; the adorable little silver haired toddler in his arms suddenly grabbed onto his beard and violently pulled on it.