Chapter 02
Sakumo tied the cloth securely around his waist, baby Sakura nestled securely against his back. "Come on son, it's time to go!" he called up the stairs as he carefully lowered himself to put on his sandals. Maybe he should have put on the footwear before the babywear. Oh well. 'Always learning' was one of his many mottos.
Kakashi came down the stairs with his pack over one shoulder, and slipped into his sandals with ease. Together they left the house and walked to the academy.
Sakura was nine months old now, and it was about high time (Sakumo decided) that she was introduced to their village. Kakashi had his scarf pulled over his mouth, so it was hard to see, but he smiled a little, hoping that his sister would fall in love with their home and come to protect it one day, just like he and his father did and would do.
Around the corner from the academy gate, Kakashi stopped abruptly. "Dad, I can make it from here, don't you have some shopping to do?"
Sakumo blinked, "Yes, but I can drop you off first." Kakashi held up a hand, "No need, pops. It's just around the corner," Sakumo could imagine the grimace his boy's mouth was pulling, "Besides, if Maito-san and his kid wake up Sakura, well, it won't end well for anybody." Least of all Gai.
His father nodded in understanding, "I suppose you're right. It's a little to early for Sakura-chan to be crying. I'm hoping she'll like the market though," he gave his son's head a pat, "Off you go then. See you after class." He watched as his son nonchalantly turn the corner and walk past the academy gates.
Sakumo smiled to himself, his son was either becoming protective of his baby sister, or going through a rebellious phase of not wanting to be seen with his old man. Sakumo glanced at the snoozing baby on his back; he would like to think it was the former. Whistling softly, he made his way down to the market. Maybe he'd make his son's favourites for dinner tonight.
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"Oh, Hatake-senpai! What a pleasant surprise to see you."
Sakumo turned around and met eyes with a familiar dark-haired couple. "Hello Fugaku-kun, Mikoto-kun, it's nice to see you two as well." He inclined his head slightly as the couple returned a slightly lower dip of their heads.
"And I see much has happened since we last met," Sakumo gestured to her midsection. Mikoto beamed, "Yes, we are expecting very soon. Any day now!" she was ecstatic to meet her child. Fugaku on the other hand maintained his sour expression. "Why, Fugaku, surely you must be equally as joyous to meet your child," Sakumo wanted to laugh at the other man's expense, he looked so uncomfortable and he knew exactly why.
"I am eager, yes, but I don't approve of her straying so far into the village when she is due any moment." Fugaku merely wanted his wife at home, or at the hospital, safe. Mikoto chuckled and slapped her husband's shoulder. "Dear, the doctor said it would be good to exercise, it makes labour easier." The man was not the slightest bit convinced.
Rolling her eyes at her husband's stubbornness, they quickly landed on the tiny person wrapped securely against their senior's back. She almost squealed in delight, "Senpai! I didn't know you had another child!" She moved closer to get a better look and she was easily fascinated by the pink hair and alert green eyes looking back at her.
Sakumo chuckled, "Ah yes, I adopted her after my latest mission. Her name is Sakura." Mikoto sighed, she could tell her senpai truly loved the child as if she was his own. The baby was beautiful. It was too bad she would never have a child with such pretty colouring. She almost wanted to pout. Instead she lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers, "Hello Sakura-chan, I hope you will get along with my child in the future," she placed her other hand over her swollen belly.
The Hatake nodded, "I'm certain that they will." The men glanced up as a hawk soared across the sky, screeching. Fugaku took Mikoto's hand and tugged her gently, "Come, we must not be late for the doctor's appointment." Mikoto shared a smile with her husband, "Of course, dear." The couple bowed one last time to the older Hatake and bid their farewells.
Sakumo watched them go and turned to continue his way home. He saw the warm, loving smile Mikoto shared with Fugaku. A small part of him wished his wife was still here. She would smile that way too, when she thought no one was watching. He let out a short laugh, he missed her dearly, but life went on.
He passed by the Yamanaka's flower shop, paused and backtracked. He went inside quickly to buy a small bouquet. Back on the street, he made a detour to the cemetery. He cleaned off his wife's headstone as best as he could before laying down the flowers. He lifted Sakura out of the carrier and held her in his arms facing the stone. "Sakura-chan, meet my wife," he said quietly. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her."
Sakura reached out to touch the smooth stone, her little fingers tracing over the engraving and the Konoha symbol at the bottom. Sakumo sat down in the grass and crossed his legs. He hadn't been here in a while. It took some time for the tears to stop automatically dropping at the mere sight of the marker. But that was a long time ago, and he was a stronger man now. He had to be for his son, and now his daughter, too.
"She was a wonderful mother to Kakashi, and she would have loved you to pieces, of that I'm sure."
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Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews and follows/favourites. 67 follows over one chapter, I am amazed. I'm glad it was well-received. So in response to some of the questions in the reviews...
To SWU: The world I'm building isn't meant to be too complicated. Hence why I won't be expanding on Sakura's backstory. The assumption is, Sakumo was to assassinate targets on a mission that, in canon, failed but he had saved his teammates. Thus receiving backlash from the village, thus him committing suicide. Here, I've twisted it so that he succeeded, and saved his teammates, nothing bad as happened. You can assume that Sakura is a causality of the mission ergo, her parents were probably the targets and he decided to save the baby and bring her home because leaving her to an uncertain future would be a horrible thing to do. For all he knew, she would have died by the time anybody discovered the targets' bodies, or something like that.
Anyways.
Her canon generation is not born yet. The focus here is Kakashi and Sakura, and maybe a third character that this chapter makes apparent ;) And let's face it if Protective!Kakashi has anything to say about it, none of his peers will even get to look at Sakura.
To Uncle RJ Kitten: I'm not sure yet if Sakumo is going to play a really, really big role here. Even though this chapter was all about him. And I'm only saying this because I've never written Sakumo before. But I can write 'dads'. So I'm hoping that I'm doing an okay job at writing Papa Hatake. I feel like as the kids get older, the focus will be entirely on them most of the time.