Chapter 11: Reconciliation

2 a.m., 7 March 53; Namikaze Residence

Crickets chirped outside, hidden among the tall decorative grasses that Kushina kept in the garden. The lilies shuddered as the dew dripped down their petals into their cusp. Katya opened her eyes when the next gentle breeze rattled her window.

Kakashi's footsteps paced throughout his room. He'd turn on the sink in his room only to shut the water off a few seconds later. It was the fourth night in a row that he'd been like this-the fourth night since that spar. Katya's feet hit the plush carpet before she had even decided to knock on his door.

She hesitated a moment outside of Kakashi's room then slid down to the hallway floor. Enough was enough. The back of her head rested on his door and she brought her knees to her chest. The pacing abruptly stopped.

"Nii-san?" she whispered. "I know you can hear me. I want you to know that I love you. Nothing that you do to me and nothing that you say will ever change that."

The doorknob turned slightly before releasing and locking again. Katya sighed loudly. "I still love you!"

"No," Kakashi whispered against the door. "A good shinobi doesn't have any attachments and always puts the mission first."

"I put my family first, nii-san. You come first. You come before the village to me. I would let this whole place burn to the ground before they took you away from me."

"That's treason, imouto," Kakashi deadpanned.

There was a small short laugh on the other side of the door before Katya sobered herself.

"I love you. I love you. I love you. Even if I have to remind you every day to get it through your thick skull. Kakashi. I. Love. You." There was a sniffle on the other side of the door. A warm tear slipped down Katya's cheek. "I love you. Break my bones, beat me into the ground, kill me if it helps you become a better shinobi. But I will always love you, Kakashi Hatake. You're my brother.

"You're still the person who changed my diapers and made my formula when that nanny couldn't be trusted. You're still the one who taught me how to even access chakra when the adults said I was too young. You're still the one who picked me up from the academy just to make sure I got home safely. Nii-chan, when I think of you, I don't just see this cyborg of a shinobi. I see you, my brother. And I love you because of you."

The door quaked as Kakashi's shoulders trembled on the other side. Katya got up and twisted the doorknob. A bright blue light was her only warning before it shocked her.

"Ouch! What kind of lock is that?!" she screeched.

Kakashi disarmed the seal and pulled her into his room quickly. "Shh! Are you trying to wake up Kushina-san? What kind of shinobi doesn't know how to take an injury quietly?"

"Got you to open the door." Katya gave him a wide grin and pounced on him, wrapping her legs around his torso and her arms around his neck. "Mission achieved," she said happily before licking his cheek.

"Gross!" Kakashi flailed and tried to pry her off of him as quietly as possible.

"It's how dogs kiss! I would've thought you liked that!" Katya licked his cheek again as he struggled underneath her.

"I'm not a dog! Why are girls so gross? Stop licking me!"

The genin dissolved into giggles on Kakashi's bedroom floor. There was a soft knock at the door.

"Is everything okay here?" Kushina asked tiredly from the other side.

"Just reminding my brother that I love him, kaa-chan."

"Okay. Weird kids…" they heard Kushina mumble as her footsteps padded away.

Kakashi leaned over and put a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Katya."

Katya turned and looked at Kakashi startled. "What'd you mean?"

"I'm sorry… for hurting you. It was the only way out that I could see."

"Tou-chan already explained it to me when Yakushi-sensei fixed me up." She didn't mention that she had felt Kakashi on the other side of the hospital curtain when the doctor set her broken ankle. Or that he heard her scream because the hospital had run out of anesthetic and the doctors were conserving their chakra for an expected influx of wounded shinobi from the frontlines.

"I need to explain to you. By hurting you… I thought I could protect you. I thought… if I could just disable you, then you wouldn't have to become a shinobi. You could stay behind these walls and be the mad scientist you dreamed of being. Do all of your little chakra experiments in peace... I just… I wanted to protect you… even though I've never been able to protect anyone. Not you… not… my tou-san..."

"You don't need to protect me to be a good big brother. You've trained me to protect myself. You even put in the extra time training Shisui too! All we can do is hope that whatever happens in this crazy world, things will turn out for the best. You can't influence how others react and you can't possibly predict the future. All we can do is prepare. And hope. And nii-san. I believe in you. I believe that you're going to be the greatest shinobi in the world. Not because you followed the rules, but because you have the biggest heart hidden behind that mask of yours."

Kakashi closed his hands against the small one resting against his chest. Katya moved in and gave him a proper hug.

"I love you. And I believe in you, nii-san."

"Thank you," he whispered in reply, finally slipping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her in close. "I love you too. Unconditionally."

As the moonlight hit Kakashi's face from the window, Katya noticed that the bridge of his nose was discolored. He hadn't gotten the break fixed after Obito clocked him four days ago.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight? I'll walk with you to the hospital tomorrow morning, and you can get your nose fixed?"

"Nah, it'll heal fine on its own. But yes, you can. Come on pack, make room." The dogs on the bed scooted and left just enough room for the two of them.

Katya nuzzled the side of his chest and wrapped her legs around his. Kakashi put his arms around her and held her before kissing the top of her head hesitantly.

"Nii-san?"

"What?"

"Congratulations on making jounin. I'm proud of you." Kakashi tightened his hold momentarily.

"Nii-san?"

"Whaat?"

"I love you, nii-san."

"...I love you too, imouto."

7 a.m., 7 March 53; Namikaze Residence

Katya rolled over and threw her legs on a warm furry body. She could feel a puddle of drool soaking the sleeve of her pajamas. There was a soft paw on the back of her neck and she cuddled down on someone's butt. The smell of dog was thick in her nose and the feel of their chakra was comfortable against her skin. Sometimes, she wished that she could summon dogs too, but knew that wasn't the life for her. Shisui had inherited the crow contract the day after his grandfather's death, much to his father's chagrin. There had been a huge uproar in the clan over Kagami's will, she knew that. Apparently, he had skipped Shisui's father and put everything in a trust for Shisui when he turned twenty. If he didn't make it to twenty, then all of Kagami's money would be turned over to the Uchiha orphanage and his heirlooms given to the clan head.

The smell of bacon came from down the hall, and one of the dogs underneath her legs perked up.

"Not yet… five more minutes…"

"Bacon, though!" Another dog stood up from the bed when Katya tried to roll over again. "Bacon!" "Bacon!" "Ruff!" "Bacon!"

Katya felt around for a pillow towards the headboard and pulled her prize over her ears. "Ugh! Quiet!" A gloved hand pulled on her ankle, and she kicked back at it. "No! I'm tired. I'm a growing girl. I need sleep!"

The bedroom door opened and the dogs ran out of the room, piling on top of each other to escape. "Nii-san, I'm going to return your jounin present! I'm not kidding! I will kill you and make it look like an accident!"

Kakashi pulled her out of bed by the ankle and halfway onto the bedroom floor. He smirked at her. "No. You won't." Katya flipped around so her back was on the floor instead of her stomach and crossed her arms over her chest. He continued to drag her down the hall to the kitchen.

The room was filled with the smell of coffee, bacon, eggs, and rice. The dogs slurped and munched their way through kibble mixed with bacon bits and gravy. A spot of gravy flew out of one of the bowls and landed on Katya's cheek before Bisuke's wet tongue slid across her face and cleaned it off, causing her to giggle. She turned her head to the side on the floor and saw Kushina at the counter finishing breakfast. One of the table legs had a bad nick in the side, she noted, before she looked up at the ceiling again. Her eyes started to drift shut in the dim hallway when her leg was unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

"Good morning, Kakashi-kun, Katya-chan. Didn't feel like walking to the kitchen this morning, lazy girl?" Kushina walked over and gently nudged Katya with her foot. "Up you go. Your team is supposed to meet at 8:30, right? It's already 7:30. You still have to eat breakfast. I did, however, make you a bento for your lunch. It's on the counter. You too, Kakashi-kun."

"Thanks, kaa-chan. Is there enough to make Shisui one too?"

"Already did. And your new teammate, whoever they are."

"His name is Isamu." Katya hopped off the floor and sat down at the table. "He seems cool. He likes manga and good whetstones. His eyes are pretty."

"Oh? Do you like him?" Kushina teased.

"Nah. I don't like anybody that way. I'm too busy!"

"Good. Keep it that way," Kakashi said between bites.

"We're going to have to deal with it, eventually, Kakashi-kun," Kushina sang.

"Uh. I'm still at the table. Thank you for breakfast, kaa-chan! It was delicious!" Katya rolled a storage scroll out from a kitchen drawer and loaded the three bentos. She ran and changed her clothes. Quickly brushed her teeth and opened her bedroom window.

Before she could set foot on the ledge, Kushina yelled, "I know you're not about to jump out of my window, Katya Senju!"

"No...nooo, ka-chan. I was just...airing out the place. Yeah, airing it out. I was going through the front door." Katya sheepishly slunk towards the other door and ran out with her shoes in hand.

8:30 a.m., 7 March 53; Training Field 5

Shisui sighed and looked at the training field clock. Katya was running late again. With her, it was hit or miss. Either she was fifteen minutes early or fifteen minutes late. There was no in-between. Usually, the time she arrived correlated with which parent was home that morning. Lateness was always Kushina and earliness was usually Minato.

Isamu tapped his foot in annoyance. Their sensei were late too. That was typical for them. They expected the genin to be warming up for their daily exercises, anyway.

"Let's just start. She probably got held up somewhere," Shisui said. The two boys began to stretch out their limbs carefully before running laps. The first time they had run, Isamu had been thoroughly surprised with Shisui and Katya's speed. He hadn't expected two fresh genin to be able to run faster than him. He especially hadn't expected them to lap him twice either. After that, he began to trust that they were prepared for the field.

Their laps ended and Isamu looked at the clock. "9:15," he panted. "Where are they?"

"She's usually here by now," Shisui exhaled and ran the back of his wrist guard across his forehead. "Will sensei get mad if we leave to find her?"

"Tsume-sensei would. She just gets worried even if she doesn't show it. Kuromaru-sensei, not so much. He doesn't get bothered unless we shirk our actual mission. He says it disrupts the pack dynamics by limiting the village's ability to function. Something along those lines anyway. He also says pups will be pups and romp where they must."

A small blonde figure came running up to them and waved her arm. "Sorry I'm late! I saw Orochimaru-oji and stopped to talk. Well, and then talking turned to going to the lab. And then going to the lab turned into changing over some samples for him. And then that changed into talking about elements again. Oh, and he had his new apprentice make some more poison-resistance candy. I told him that you don't have any resistance, Isamu-kun, so the green apple flavor is the lowest level."

Shisui shrugged and put the candy in his pocket. Isamu looked between the two and then backed up, pointing a finger at each.

"You two are crazy! You knowingly ingest poison? Knowingly ingest poison regularly enough to have resistance to poison?!"

"Well. Yeah. New flavor's watermelon," Katya said to Shisui. Isamu choked slightly with the casualty of it all. It took everything inside him to not knock the pink wrapped candy out of his new friend's hand.

"Oh, that is pretty good. Tell you what, either these flavors are improving with time or I'm losing tastebuds," Shisui said.

Katya followed suit and put one in her mouth. "Oh wow! This Anko chick knows her way around candy flavorings. Sorry, Isamu-kun, the green apple was oji-chan's first attempt. It's edible, just not what you'd expect."

For a moment, their teammate felt like he had fallen into another dimension. Was he really standing on a training field with a bunch of poison-laced candies in his hand watching his new friends eat candies that had even more poison in them?

Katya noticed his hesitation. "It's quite safe. You'll just have an upset stomach for a couple of days. It's been pretty thoroughly tested in human subjects. Most of the jounin have already started a course. It's easier than the old way of poison resistance training; normally, people would just use acupuncture needles laced with poison and work themselves up. This way you don't need to get poked!"

"You two are going to be the death of me. Bottoms up, I suppose…" He popped the green candy in his mouth and promptly coughed. "Well… I'm not foaming at the mouth. So that's a good start."

"One thing, though. You absolutely cannot tell Namikaze-san," Shisui added.

"What? Why not? It's not like I'm going to ever meet him anyway."

"Actually, we eat dinner at my house pretty regularly. You're more than welcome to join us!"

"Oh. Nobody's ever offered before. Except sensei. But she can only cook steak well-done. I think I'd like that. Thank you, Katya-chan." Isamu smiled at the pair and tucked the rest of the candy away in his pocket. Katya opened a storage scroll and handed the two bentos over, neatly tied in patterned cloth.

"All right, you mutts," Tsume barked from behind them, causing them to jump simultaneously. She bounced a two-year-old on her hip. "Oh, catch you off surprise? We'll have to work on that. We have a mission."

"What are we doing today, sensei?" Isamu asked.

"Filling ration seals. Nothing too crazy. Those two are fresh, after all. Hana-chan is coming with us, even." Hana, in the meantime, had climbed her way down her mother's leg and settled into Kuromaru's shoulders.

"Ah! She's so cute, sensei!" Katya squealed. She hadn't seen the toddler in at least a year with how busy Kushina had been.

"I'm glad you think so, Katya-chan. I usually make my team babysit from time to time."

"She's serious too. And Hana gets into all kinds of trouble! Not to mention the Haimaru! They're the worst!"

"The Haimaru?" Shisui asked.

"Hai, ma, and ru!" Hana exclaimed. "My puppies!"

"Her partners," Tsume clarified. "Not all ninken can talk like Kuromaru. It's unusual for them to work in pairs, but for some reason, the triplets refused to be separated from Hana. The heart wants what it wants. And our ninken have a special bond with us."

"So where are they now?"

"Sleeping, probably," Kuromaru answered. "Pups need to sleep for twenty hours a day. For the other four, they like to be terrors when they're not nursing."

Katya shrugged. She could recall Kakashi being told something similar a very long time ago. A warning to not overwork his ninken summons when they were puppies. Normal puppies stopped nursing at eight weeks, possibly a little longer. Ninken were different. Their life cycles were similar to that of a human, the puppies would nurse for around a year, maybe two and start losing their milk teeth around six years of age. It was one of the reasons that Inuzuka children were almost never allowed to graduate early—their partners were too underdeveloped.

1 p.m., 7 March 53; Konoha General Supplies Warehouse

They entered a small door on the side of the Hokage mountain when they arrived. Shisui had passed by it several times but never once bothered to find out what it was. On the other side of the door were rows and rows of industrial shelving filled with boxes and scrolls. Tsume led them to a back workroom with storage scrolls and non-perishable food items. A few stray cans labeled 'plums' rolled around on the floor when they entered. The entire place was in disarray.

"Why's it so disorganized?" The way Katya's nose wrinkled slightly made Shisui laugh. One thing that had never been tolerated in the Uzumaki-Namikaze home was disorganization or mess. Minato would never say it outright, but the way he would trail them when they were younger had made that clear. His home, on the other hand, was regularly chaotic if his father was in the field. It was clean, of course. He didn't want his mother to have to work both her part time job and come home to a filthy house. Just unorganized.

"Well, you pups enjoy. The lists of what's to be included in a ration pack are on the wall. Fill as many scrolls as you can in the next four hours," Tsume said cheerfully, preparing to leave.

"Sensei!" Isamu tried to object, but she had already vanished in a puff of smoke. Hana looked at the now empty spot and blinked. "Ah man, and babysitting too?"

"Get to work, pups. Stop complaining. You're hurting my ears. Besides, I'm the jounin in charge," Kuromaru huffed and settled himself far away from Hana.

"You're not a jounin though?" Shisui said.

Isamu sighed. "Technically, he's whatever rank Tsume-sensei is."

Katya put the cans of plums on the table and opened another box. "Where does she go anyway?" She started to unload a box of dried fish and set it on one end. Shisui took out small packets of parboiled rice and set it next to the growing pile of dried fish.

Isamu grunted as he picked up a heavier box and set it down. Canned tuna.

"Well, she's the clan head of the Inuzuka, see. But that's only the last two years. She was still like nine months pregnant with Hana-chan when she took over. Her ex tried to take the position by force, and she challenged him to a duel."

"Nine months pregnant?!" The pair exclaimed.

"Yeah. He told her she was a crazy bitch. So, she hit him over the head with a metal bar at a clan meeting. He passed out. She won the duel."

"Uh… did he live?"

"Oh, yeah. He's licking his wounds at some chuunin outpost in the Land of Iron. Haven't heard from him since. Though, he might come sniffing around someday, I guess?"

Kuromaru harrumphed from his position. "He is stupid enough to try."

"Anyway. That's where she goes. Either that, or she's tracking someone close to the village. But normally she takes Kuromaru-sensei with her if that's the case."

"My services were unnecessary today. As it happens, she's attending a jounin meeting."

Katya's eyebrow quirked in interest. "Oh yeah, I think kaa-chan said something about that last night. I wonder if that means tou-chan will be home?"

Shisui shrugged in response. He brought over an arm full of storage scrolls and set them at the beginning of the table. Opening one, he began to load it with canned tuna, plums, and rice. Katya took the cue and loaded the second menu-salmon, seaweed, dried miso soup, and more rice. Isamu began to break down the cardboard boxes and set one upside down on top of Hana. The toddler giggled and began to walk around the room, pushing the empty box.

"Me help!" she squealed.

The four hours passed quickly as scrolls were filled, boxes broken down, and recycled for later use. Tsume had reappeared moments before their time was up. The stress lines on her face had deepened noticeably. She only waved them off and told them she'd tell them tomorrow before disappearing again.

A small toad appeared outside the warehouse door and hopped on Katya's shoulder before croaking. She nodded, and it too disappeared. The three genin left the warehouse and began to walk to the Namikaze residence.

5:45 p.m., 7 March 53; Namikaze Residence

Isamu whistled when he entered the living room. He had never seen so many books and scrolls in a private library before. There were easily seven gray shelves lined neatly against the wall. Hand-drawn sketches of flowers and family members sat above them. In the center of the room was the family photograph, he guessed that it had been taken when Katya was three. There was the jounin-kid with his hands over his chest on the side of the two adults. The man had his arm around him, keeping him in the picture. Katya's face was pure joy, the woman's hand rested lightly on her shoulder.

'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja' was on the top of a shelf, and he pulled it down. Shisui had settled himself on the couch and pulled a handheld pinball game from a nearby drawer.

"That's one of tou-chan's favorites. His sensei wrote it," Katya said, returning from the kitchen with a tray of lemonade. She set the lemonade on the table and disappeared into the hallway. "Kaa-chan, I know you're in there! My teammates are over!"

"I didn't sense anyone…" Isamu was bewildered.

"Don't sweat it, her parents are seal masters. Their room is privacy sealed out the wazoo. Katya can only sense them because she lives with them and is familiar with their chakra."

"Huh."

"I think tou-chan's in there too. He changed the seals a couple of days ago, so it's a lot fuzzier. Mama's chakra is denser than his, so she's easier to track."

"I wonder why that is. According to the chakra theory text, men typically have larger reserves than women due to testosterone. Even at the jounin level," Shisui stated. He ran a hand through his hair. "Although, your parents might be an exception due to the difference between the Uzumaki clan and the Namikaze clan. The Uzumaki clan were well known for their vast chakra reserves and their longevity. That and your dad just came off a solo mission, didn't he? He's probably drained anyway."

"Maybe. Never thought of it that way." Katya tried to feel for Minato's chakra but was disappointed to only find the barest hint of oranges. The reason she suspected that he was home was that Kushina's chakra was doing that strange thing again that she wasn't supposed to mention in polite company anymore. That only happened when Minato was home.

"Wait what? How do you guys know all this? You just graduated! That book is for jounin. I haven't even made it through that. It's dense as fuck."

Katya slapped a quick hand over Isamu's mouth. "SHH! BAKA! You'll get us all in trouble for cussing!" The three genin waited with bated breath to see if the adults had heard.

"I heard that," came a slow drawl from the hallway. "Shisui, good to see you're still in one piece. Haven't seen you around much since you got my sister kidnapped by Iwa-nin.

"You must be Isamu Tanaka. Genin for over one year, not promoted with your team. You also had an official reprimand in your file for insubordination. What a dream team." Kakashi slunk out of the dark hallway.

"Nii-chan, don't be an ass."

"That'll be three hours of sharpening kunai, Kit-Kat," Minato said as he walked into the room. "Kakashi, that was inappropriate. I'd expect more from a jounin than to bait a genin. You and I will work it out on the field."

"Yes, sensei." Kakashi vanished from sight.

Pots and pans clanged from the kitchen and a refrigerator door opened and closed. Shisui had long since put down the pinball game and was rubbing one of his arms. Isamu stood awkwardly with the book in hand.

"It's very nice to meet you, Isamu-kun. You can call me Namikaze-san like Shisui here does, or Minato-san is fine too. We don't use ranks in the house. If we're ever out in the field, though, I'd expect the appropriate address- Commander Namikaze or Minato-Sensei. Even Kit-Kat is to call me by my rank there."

Isamu shook the offered hand. "Thank you. It's nice to meet you too, sir."

"'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja,' huh? Excellent choice." Minato sat down on the couch opposite to Shisui as the young boy picked his game back up. "You're welcome to most any of the books or scrolls in this house, Isamu-kun. Just make sure to return them in good condition. Kushina gets upset if the books are dog-eared."

"Thank you, sir." Isamu wondered then if this was what it was like to be part of a family. Was this what people meant when they said a genin team is a family for life? He had never had something like this with his former teammates. They met up for practice, ran missions, and then parted ways. Here, these two six-year-olds were going out of their way to make him feel included. No, not just feel. To be included. They weren't faking any of this.

AN: Thank you so much for reading! How'd you guys feel about the big feels with chibi-Kakashi? Any thoughts on how the storyline is moving? What's been your favorite part so far?

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Beta'ed by: The incredible, prodigious a href=" /users/cherryberry12/pseuds/cherryberry12"cherryberry12-sama /aherself. ; who might I just say is absolutely amazing to stick with this project! Her skills blow me out of the water and I am flabbergasted everyday she works on this with me. :)