STOP!

Chapter 62 was posted yesterday, so if you haven't read that don't read any further!

So… I actually made a YouTube video to Inoue Shiori (link is on my account) because I was nagged and nagged by a friend about it (I did it okay, you don't have to remind me again Sa-chan!) – so here are a few pictures that have been an inspiration to me :)

Oh and MikiFee is translating Inoue Shiori into German! (THANK YOU)

Chapter 63

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

Shiori Interlude

Spending time at the tea house had given Shiori a purpose once more and so her attention was now fully back on Mariko's. With nearly single minded determination she threw herself into her work, which had the nice effect that it kept her thoughts away from Kakashi and his Genin. Shiori was also finally making progress with her idea of how they would deal with the coming Chunin exams and the expected rush at the tea house during lunch hours. For that Shiori requested an audience with the Sandaime.

To be honest she felt a bit nervous under her normal serenity, she hadn't seen Sarutobi-sama since before Kakashi had revealed their marital status and Hinako's existence. Though after she had been let into the round office Shiori felt her nervousness disappear, there was something benevolent and kind to his person that relaxed her.

"Hokage-sama," she greeted politely while bowing formally.

"Inoue-san, please sit down," Hiruzen answered before he fixated her with a slightly curious glance. "What can I do for you?"

"In preparation for the Chunin exams we have come up with an idea that could relieve Mariko's and potentially make it easier for shinobi to acquire food…"

While she was talking Shiori took out the proposal she had composed in the days beforehand and set it in front of the Hokage.

"…a delivery service? For food?" the old shinobi asked somewhat incredulous.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Of course this won't be a permanent option for the teahouse and will only be available under extenuating circumstances," Shiori explained.

"How do you intend to guarantee that it will be poison free?" Sarutobi asked politely, he was clearly not convinced yet.

"For that I would like to hire Genin teams that won't be attending the Chunin exams as well as several poison specialists that I suspect are already in your employment in various buildings. I would be willing to pay them an extra fee for taking the time and checking the bentos upon delivery," the black haired civilian said self-assuredly.

Being married to a paranoid shinobi clearly had rubbed off on her; she had given the security a lot of thought during the initial brainstorming, which also seemed to pay off right now. Before meeting Kakashi she would have probably never have thought about things like preventing her tea house from accidently becoming an accessory to murder.

"Hhm… and Mariko's would hold this delivering contract exclusively?" the old man in front of her kept prodding.

"For the period of the Chunin exams? Yes, afterwards it will be up to the individual eateries to decide for themselves if they would like to adopt the system… and of course your approval," Shiori said with a tiny smile.

Shiori was still somewhat stumped that there wasn't already some kind of food delivery service in Konoha, though on the other hand with paranoid ninja everywhere it made sense.

"Genin teams you say?" with the next sentence the Hokage ripped her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"And how many do you expect to employ?"

"We have calculated that with somewhere between seven and eleven teams the delivery service will reach its full potential."

"Why so many?"

"It has more to do with the fact that they will have to deliver nearly simultaneously in several buildings than with the weight they have to carry," she answered quickly.

"Would you hire them for the whole day?"

Success! The way he asked questions now clearly meant that he was considering what she was offering.

"No, but I'm willing to stagger their working hours so that they have the rest of the day off and can take other D-ranks or do some training."

Hiruzen hummed again while he carefully read through the proposal it sounded like a good, if only a temporary solution. They wouldn't be able to do that for long or spies could try to take advantage of the system.

"Very well, you have my approval. Please coordinate with the mission office concerning the Genin teams."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Have a nice day," he said kindly while he watched her stand up and collect the stamped documents in her file.

"You too, sir," Shiori replied before she made her way outside the office.

Once outside the Hokage tower Shiori couldn't help but laugh happily, she had just landed her tea house an exclusive contract to deliver to every shinobi run building in Konoha throughout the Chunin exams. She knew from Anko's frequent complaints that leaving your workplace when in the middle of a crisis or time sensitive project was a thing of impossibility. So Shiori was pretty sure that her delivery service would be a hit with Konoha's shinobi population.

Feeling in a celebratory mood Shiori returned to the teahouse and toasted with Sora, Ai and Emiko to her successful deal.

With the Hokage's approval secured Shiori turned her eye on other things. She adjusted the work rooster a few times when she noticed frictions between some of her workers but also held remedial lessons for the service personnel when she thought it was necessary. She had left most of the work to Ai, Emiko and Sora since the birth of Hinako and Shiori felt a bit guilty about that. For some time now she had been searching for a way to pay them back and in the end decided to give them each three percent of the company, that would not only give them more rights than they already had but also have the positive side effect that they would continue to give their absolute best for the teahouse.

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A bit tired but very happy Shiori collected Hinako from the crèche in the late afternoon and listened to her while her daughter prattled on about the other children in the crèche. Hinako had become friends with some three and four year olds and now often played ninja and other outside games with them. Unsurprising she was the smallest in her group of friends but not by much, normally the difference between a one and a half year old and a four year old were about five to seven inches, Hinako though was pretty tall for her age, around 33 inches, which was normally the height of a two year old and from what Etsuko-sensei said during their last check up Hinako would become quite tall someday. In the meantime the height thing didn't bother Hinako too much, while she did say that a few older boys tried to tease her about that they soon stopped talking because she was just as fast as the older kids.

For a moment Shiori was concerned that Hinako was being bullied and inwardly tried to find a solution for that, but then decided against interfering. She knew that children had to make their own mistakes and test things out to grow not only physically but also mentally. Right now it also seemed pretty harmless teasing and Hinako appeared to be unruffled by it. Hopefully her daughter would come to her if she had real problems.

Once they had arrived at home they ate a quick dinner before Shiori helped Hinako prepare for bed and then settle down. The little silver haired girl had become somewhat clingy in the evenings when her father wasn't there to read to her. Shiori wasn't very worried about that behavior; right now it was only Hinako missing her father after all.

Once finished, Shiori returned downstairs to go through the signed contracts from today once more before she could curl up with a book on the couch. She had only two sheets left when Pakkun jumped up and settled down in her lap. The black haired woman absentmindedly stroked over his fur while she finished her work.

She was just contemplating if she should make Pakkun get up so that they could relocate to the more comfortable couch when the pug took a deliberate sniff in her direction.

"Your scent is changing," Pakkun then told her bluntly from his place on her lap.

"Huh?" Shiori asked confused while she looked down at Kakashi's ninken, "My scent is changing?"

"Yes it's becoming sweeter and fuller," Pakkun insisted his eyes were gliding over her body while he tried to find the source of the sudden change.

"Hhm, strange…" Shiori murmured confused for a second before her eyes became suddenly bigger, she had a sneaking suspicion of what that could be. "I think I need an appointment at Himawatari-sensei's," she mumbled before putting away the last of her paperwork.

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The appointment was rather easily procured on the following day; apparently Himawatari-sensei had a slow week.

When she left the clinic Shiori was left rather dumbfounded and a bit sheepish, she should have known. She was about five weeks along in her second pregnancy.

They were having another baby!

Shiori felt just as elated as she was terrified, she would be pregnant during the invasion… which was not good. But even with that daunting outlook the young mother forced herself to remain calm; it wouldn't do the baby any good if she stressed herself out right now. Besides she should be okay if she avoided the general vicinity of the stadium and the fighting parties… weren't the civilians evacuated during the invasion? Either way it wouldn't help worrying herself about what ifs. Sighing, the black haired woman stretched her arms over her head and then made her way to the apothecary. She needed the prenatal chakra supplements as fast as possible, the earlier she began, the lesser the effects of chakra exhaustion would be.

Kakashi Interlude

Kakashi was cursing inwardly while he tried to free himself of the Water Prison, how could he have been so stupid? Jumping in a river, when facing a Mist nin? Had he completely lost his mind? It may have been the only way to lure Zabuza away from his Genin at that time but he shouldn't have let himself fall into the water! Furthermore what the heck was wrong with Zabuza, his uncommon chatty mood in the beginning had thrown Kakashi off a bit. He had never crossed blades with the Missing nin before but what he knew from that particular breed of shinobi was that they didn't make unnecessary small talk and entertained inexperienced shinobi on a whim. What was Momochi up to? Why was he telling his three brats this… and was he really just now talking about his attacks?

In the time Zabuza had wasted talking he could have killed his Genin team three times over. Not that Kakashi was complaining about the fact that the Mist nin wasn't but still... and then his boys somehow made Zabuza let go of the water prison. Kakashi couldn't really believe their luck or Zabuza's leniency. And frankly he also wasn't interested in the reason right now, he would take advantage of Zabuza's inattentiveness and end this as fast as possible, he could already feel the drain of the Sharingan on his chakra reserves.

With a nearly desperate move Kakashi copied the Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu and put just enough chakra into it to cancel Zabuza's dragon. With a kunai he caught the legendary Mist sword, a glance to the side showed that Naruto still hadn't cleared the water, so lightening jutsus were out, damn. He would have to continue to use Water jutsus, his weakest Element. While Zabuza in front of him became more and more agitated Kakashi used his opponent's distraction to cast a mild Genjutsu over him, so when Zabuza started to run through the seals for Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu Kakashi was nearly a second faster than him and could turn the Water jutsu against the Mist ninja. Kakashi knew that he had to hurry up, he had felt the other ninja in the trees and he was nearly out of chakra. He had to end Zabuza and then take out the other one or his kids would be in danger.

But it wasn't meant to be, Kakashi had to let the unknown ninja go with Zabuza's body. The silver haired Jounin couldn't endanger his kids, not if he could just let their opponents go. He only relaxed a bit when the boy's presence vanished from the trees around them and he couldn't smell him anymore.

'Well fuck, I have overdone it again,' was Kakashi's last thought before everything went black around him.