Chapter 6

"I'm here!"

Those words were the only warning before a purple whirlwind strolled into the kitchen as if she owned the place.

"Hello, Anko."

"Hi, Hari, and these must be your little bratlings. Pleasure to meet you, children. I'm auntie Anko."

Hari sighed.

"Boys," she said seeing the annoyance in their faces, even if it wasn't as obvious for Haku and Kimimaro. "this is Mitarashi Anko, she's a friend of mine. Anko, these are Haku, Kimimaro and Sora."

The boys all muttered a welcome, not too enthusiastically in Sora's case. And then Anko's attention went to the one person Hari had been wanting to keep her away from.

"Zabuza Momochi." Greeted her with a wide smile.

Zabuza barely glanced up at her from where he was enjoying his greatest hobby: sharpening his weapons.

"Mitarashi Anko." He shot back.

"So you're Mummy-guy, uh? Are you that bad? I wouldn't have said so given your reputation. Though I haven't heard much about you recently."

Zabuza looked drolly at her before looking at Hari.

"Mummy-guy?"

Hari shrugged.

"Bloody Sannin." Muttered Zabuza much to all of their amusement.

"Hi, Kakashi." Said Anko before ignoring the jonin again and sitting at the table right next to Zabuza. "So what they say about that mission on Suna…?"

All she got was a loud growl and a dark look. She smiled brightly like the cat that got the canary. Zabuza stared at the purple-haired monstrosity in front of him.

"She's annoying. Can I kill her?"

"No, she's a friend." Answered Hari absentmindedly, his eyes on the food cooking in front of him.

"And a fellow Konoha kunoichi." Pointedly muttered Kakashi.

"Yeah, that too."

Zabuza settles for glaring her down. Anko's smirk widened and she clapped her hands.

"So, bratlings, tell auntie Anko every embarrassing story you have on Hari-hiko and I may share some dango."

"Hey, I made that dango!" Protested Hari.

HPNHPNHPNHPN

"D-ranks!?"

"Yes. To be able to compete in the Chunin Exams, a team must have completed at least eight missions. Since none of your missions until now were officially for the village, you need to fill them now, before the exams begin."

"But… D-ranks?"

"They're the least time-consuming missions and you must complete eight in two days."

The children sighed at Hari's explanation.

"Hmmm," hummed Hari at seeing their downtrodden looks. "it'll be no different from when you help me at home."

The children immediately perked up at what he pointed out.

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, it'll be fun!"

The adults ―Kakashi and Anko had invited themselves over for breakfast and Zabuza was getting ready for training― stared at them, incredulous, and Hari laughed at their expressions.

"Right, let me see what we've got." Said Hari standing up from where he'd been doing his morning stretches and taking out a rolled-up parchment. "Alright, Haku, you can help cook in the orphanage. Kimimaro, you'll help the nurses restock the hospital. Sora… you'll be helping the teachers at the Academy."

The three children banished, that fast did they run off to get their tasks completed. Hari still had a few doubts about Sora taking on the Academy mission by himself, but he knew the most efficient way to have them complete the eight missions in time was to have them separately complete the D-ranks, and since nothing said that couldn't be done he'd decided to take the risk.

"That means we've finally got rid of the kids." Smirked Zabuza looking at Hari. "Let's go spar."

"Sorry, I'm going home to cook." Answered Hari with an apologetic look. "I want the kids to take some food with them when Haku goes looking for Naruto."

"We've finally got free time and he turns down a spar to cook." Muttered Zabuza. "Why the hell do I put up with this guy?"

"By the way, I'm making takoyaki."

'Right, that's why.'

HPNHPNHPNHPN

Haku left before it got dark, as soon as they finished completing the D-ranks for the day. They only had two more left to do before they could enter the exam.

Picking up the bentos Harī had prepared, the genin followed Kakashi-sensei's directions to a derelict-looking building and knocked on the door he'd been directed to.

A few crashes reached his ears, followed by a curse, before the door opened to show a frazzled Naruto.

The boy looked up and down the corridor before inviting him in very fast.

"Oh, hey, Haku! I was expecting you!"

Haku smiled, eyes closing with the gesture, and brought up the box with the bentos he'd brought.

"Harī prepared them for us and I had time, so I thought we could have dinner together."

"That's food?" asked Naruto with hearts in his eyes. "That's very kind of you! Come in to the kitchen and sorry for the mess."

Haku followed him into the small kitchen area, noticing despite Naruto's words that the place looked pretty tidy ―unlike Sora's room― and there were plants everywhere.

Naruto showed him to a small rickety table and pulled a chair from the sitting room over to the kitchen.

"I don't have guests very often." Apologised Naruto.

"It's no problem. We should eat before the food gets cold, though. Harī's food is delicious."

They spread out the food on the table and were about to begin eating when Naruto paused with the food halfway to his mouth.

"Who's Harī?"

"Oh, he's.. he's kind of my dad."

"Kind of?"

"I'm an orphan. Harī found me some years ago and took me in." explained Haku.

"That sounds great." Said Naruto in a soft voice.

Haku remembered then that Naruto was actually an orphan too.

"You know, he was very happy that I'd made a friend here on my first day and he told me to invite you over for dinner."

"Really?"

"Really. So when will you have time?"

"Hmmm. Maybe in a couple days. After the inscription into the chunin exams." Said Naruto. "Are you sure he wants me to come?"

"Of course he does! And so do I." assured him Haku with a soft smile. "Now tell me about those exams. Are you nervous?"

HPNHPNHPNHPN

Shikamaru got home after having lunch with his teammates and was greeted by a cool atmosphere.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Have care how you speak to me, Shikamaru; I'm your mother."

Shikamaru grumbled slightly at her own tone but didn't take back his question.

"And to answer you, this is still my home."

"I thought you were moving into your own apartment out of the compound."

"I've changed my mind. All growing boys need a mother in their life and you are no exception to this."

Shikamaru grumbled again, but he wasn't in the mood for a row and so he went up the stairs and to his father's office, all traces of his previous good mood gone.

His father looked up from the report he'd been reading and sighed at the look on his face.

"Why is she staying?" asked Shikamaru.

"She's complaining that a boy needs his mother."

"Why is she really staying?"

"You know why. And I can't force her to leave, at least not until the divorce is finalised. She's going to push it back as long as she can."

"That's not fair."

"No, but that's life." Sighed Shikaku picking back up the report he'd previously discarded.

"I've met Harī." Said Shikamaru before his father had a chance to get too deeply into reading.

"Oh? How is he?" asked Shikaku with forced casualness.

"He's… adopted three children."

"His genin team?"

"They're genin?"

"Yes, they are. They'll be entering the chūnin exams too."

"Oh."

They stared at each other, neither seemingly knowing what to add.

"He said I could go over for dinner after the first exam." Said Shikamaru.

"That's good. Have fun." Nodded Shikaku, sounding genuine.

"I've missed him." Confessed Shikamaru.

"So have I."

"Then why don't you…?"

"Shikamaru…" Shikaku sighed. "I wish things were that easy, but they're not. I can't just…"

"Apologise?" cut him off Shikamaru with a frown. "It's not that complicated."

"There are things you don't understand, Shikamaru. An apology is the least that Harī deserves after everything that happened."

"But maybe it's the first thing you should do." Muttered the boy before leaving.