Chapter 03
Father is out on another mission, leaving Kakashi in charge of the house, and his little sister. Granny Saihara wouldn't be here for a few more hours, and breakfast was already prepared beforehand. So all that was left, was to brave the most important task of the day.
Kakashi pulled a second mask over his first and tied his scarf extra tight around it. He peered down at the target and squared himself. Sakura watched him with slight fascination. He reached down and quickly removed her dirty diaper, wiping her bum, and swept the clean diaper under her with his other hand with recording timing. He sealed it up, not too tight, he reminded himself in dad's voice and quickly disposed of the hazardous waste, sealing the smell away forever.
Heaving a sigh of relief, he quickly washed his hands and made his way back to her, patting himself on the back, figuratively of course, for a job well done. Takkun, extremely amused, watch the siblings from the other end of the couch, "Well done, Kaka-bo."
The boy picked up his sister and set her down on the floor next to her toys. Sakura busied herself with the latest toy from the Saihara couple, moving shapes back and forth and smacking things, entertained by the noises.
Kakashi kept an eye on his sister while also glancing around the room, ever since her 'village debut' friends and neighbours had been giving them old toys and clothes for her to play with and wear. Sakumo was extremely thankful to everyone. Kakashi came home everyday to see a few more things in the house meant for Sakura.
He attributed it to her unique colouring, and perhaps everyone saw her as a 'daddy's girl'.
He pulled out his homework, a little light reading and settled in to multitask reading and watching his sister. Takkun was a blessing for sure, his eyes constantly on her, so Kakashi could feel a little at ease.
He didn't even notice when Sakura had stopped playing with her toys, until Takkun nudged him in the side, "Pup's thinking hard over there." Kakashi stopped reading and looked up immediately.
Sakura sat a few feet from him, the toy entirely abandoned. Instead, she was facing him in her yellow onesie, her pacifier in her mouth. She just sat there and watched him.
And then she put her hands on the ground. Kakashi blinked. She brought her knees in. "Oh?" Takkun huffed.
She pushed herself up slowly and wobbled a bit but stilled when she managed to find her balance. "Oh no," Kakashi whispered. He held his hands out in slight alarm, "Don't... don't do that now. Shouldn't you, I don't know, wait for dad first or something?" He was panicking, his sister was about to take her first steps and his father wasn't the one witnessing it.
Of course, it's not like she could understand him. So she took one step forward, legs still shaky. Her hands were out at her sides, trying to help her gain balance. Then another step forward. Towards her brother.
Kakashi gulped. Okay, okay, you got this. He didn't know who he was rooting for. He looked at his hands and rotated them, holding them out towards her instead. That only seemed to encourage her more.
One step. Another step.
She reached out and grabbed a hand before her feet gave out and he caught her in his arms. He brought her in and hugged her, "Silly girl, dad will be upset when he finds out you've taken your first steps." Sakura giggled in response and made a grab for his mask. He leaned back out of reach but she did manage to pull his scarf down.
He sighed as she giggled away. "Well, if dad never knows, he can't get upset, I guess." She let go of his scarf and made a grabbing motion with her little hands. He knew what she wanted, he gave her his free hand, she grabbed whatever fingers she could with her tiny ones and settled herself in his hold. He wiggled his fingers to entertain her until she fell asleep.
His little sister had decided to take her first steps today. Not to Granny Saihara, not dad, not the couch, not even Takkun. But to him, her older brother. Kakashi felt a surge of warmth that he chose not to acknowledge. He glanced over at Takkun, "Not a word to dad, Takkun."
"And miss the chance to see your doting father shed excessively unnecessary tears? I think that's something we can both agree on, Kaka-bo." Takkun huffed in amusement and closed his eyes. He would tell his master one day, just not today.
x
Granny Saihara knocked on the Hatake's door but heard nothing inside. She pulled out the spare key and unlocked the door, making her way inside. She peeked into the living room to the most adorable sight. Little Kakashi holding his baby sister, the both of them sleeping against Sakumo's biggest white dog.
Takkun's tail swished lightly when he heard the door creak open. He opened his eyes lazily to look at their neighbour. She was a good human in his books, always snuck him a piece of meat when she was cooking.
Granny Saihara smiled and lifted a finger up to her lips. She made her way in and quietly into the kitchen to prepare dinner for the sleeping siblings. Not a peep was made by either as she prepared dinner. She occasionally stole glances into the living room when she could. But the pair just kept sleeping.
Seeing them made her reminisce about her own childhood. She knew the Hatake siblings already had a tight bond, despite not sharing the same blood. She wondered what kind of girl Sakura would grow up to be. Maybe a little hell-raiser like herself in her youth. Granny Saihara chuckled a little to herself at the possibility. She looked forward to seeing them both grow up.
Author's Note: Again, thanks for all the reviews in the last chapter. To answer some burning concerns from those who left reviews...
To an extremely excited Guest: Don't worry, Sakumo gets to live. And it's great that you have a lot of feelings for HatakeSiblings. But um, those scenarios are a long, long time away. Sakura's only 9 months old and Itachi isn't born yet. We'll see what happens. It's a slow cooker in here.
To align: I actually don't have a whole lot planned out. Or at all. I just write on a whim. I open a blank document and my fingers just start tapping away. I occasionally remember to link the current chapter I'm writing with something that happened in an older chapter to make it connect. Otherwise, it's extremely free-handed. Writing fluffy, slice-of-life stuff helps me relax.
To Tiffanycr: Entralled from the get-go, I suppose. As I previously mentioned to another reviewer in the last chapter, she's basically born at the same time as Itachi's generation, so Itachi, Inuzuka Hana, and such. But you're mostly going to see a lot of the Kakashi's generation and eventually a lot more of his future teammates, Obito and Rin. And the parents generation, so Minato & Kushina, Tsume, Shiki, Hiashi & Hizashi, etc, possibly. Lee & Idate will not be born until their canon timeline. So they probably will not be in this story.
To fluffpenguin: I believe the reason Kakashi skips a year and suddenly graduates is because of his father's death. Since, Sakumo is alive, that's kind of been nulled. But he'll become genin soon enough cause it's still war times. Um. As great as Itachi/Sakura is, Itachi/Sakura in this story as baby and fetus is kind of weird. Even as baby and baby, it's still weird. I never planned to write it down that path. If I wanted to write Itachi/Sakura, it would be an entirely different story. This is focused mainly on Kakashi & Sakura as siblings.