Shifting Sands Chapter 7

"Can this brat even reach the counter?" the Shinobi man asked.

Hina tightened his cast a little harder than she had to, shutting him up. She had been at this for a year now and it was becoming tiresome having everyone question her knowledge. As far as becoming a renowned Medic-nin went, she was well on her way. People were for the most part marvelled by her intelligence, and there had been some rumours that she was a Nara bastard child that they allowed into the Clan only because she showcased prodigious skills. Hina didn't appreciate those rumours, because if nothing she knew her father and mother genuinely loved one another and wouldn't do something as degenerate as cheat on each other. Plus Hina had green hair like her mother, and if Yua was to cheat with anyone it would most definitely not be a Shinobi.

"This 'brat' is in charge of your physical therapy," Hanami scolded the man.

"She can't be more than five!"

"Don't worry, I am simply cursed to be in the body of an 8-year-old. In reality I am 43 years old," Hina joked.

"You can't be—" she snapped his shoulder –"Aaaaghhhh! Give a man a warning, will you?!"

Hina simply patted the dislocated shoulder she popped back in with a smile. She heard a laughter from a bed to the right. She turned around to see a heavily scarred teenage boy with a bulky build practically howling at his friend's pain.

"You scream higher than this little girl I bet," he laughed.

The older man grunted face red, muttering something about teaching disrespectful boys. Hina had a feeling this was the teen's old Jounin sensei. She moved from the man to the teen to assess his injuries too.

"I'm going to run a diagnostic jutsu, sit still," she said.

"Diagnostic eh. Big words for a five-year-old."

"Once again I'm not five. I just mentioned my age earlier. If you've already forgotten, do I need to check for a concussion too?"

"And witty too for a five-year-old. I like you kid."

"Hm, you won't like me when I'm going to break this bone again," she said pointing at his right arm.

"Tch, it's just healing," he grumbled.

"Well it's healing wrong," Hina mumbled.

"Then, get to it."

"What?"

"Breaking the bone," he said dryly.

Hina rose a brow. "I'm not going to just break it without some anaesthetic. It will be painful."

"Does it look like I can't handle some pain?"

Well, Hina thought looking at his burn scarred head, and heavily clawed at face, she supposed he could handle pain. But she wasn't about to break protocol so some masochist could get off on her breaking his bones. Thankfully the idiot teen's old sensei whacked some sense into him with his good arm.

"You're a dumb fucking kid, just take the drugs and save yourself some pain," his sensei cussed.

Hina went back to the patient's file and was surprised to see that it was a name she knew. Morino Ibiki, the future head of Torture and Interrogation. Hina nearly whistled, only holding herself back in last minute. For now Ibiki was still a kid, around 17 years of age. By Shinobi standards that was a fully grown adult, but Hina didn't abide by Shinobi standards when she categorised children.

Hina didn't expect for Hanami of all people to walk in holding a frosted green candle lit cupcake. She looked around the room wondering which patients birthday it was before Hanami placed the little treat on her desk.

"Happy birthday kid," the Shinobi said patting her back.

"But it's not my birthday," Hina said in confusion.

"It isn't," Hanami agreed as she held up a scroll, "but today is a cause for celebration."

Hina's mouth dropped as she saw it. Her field certificate. She snatched it off Hanami's hands and scanned it again in surprise. The whole thing had taken more than just a simple exam to achieve. She had to be interviewed by the medical board, complete several weeks of handling trauma patients, and finally write an exam that not only asked her medical questions, but questioned her mentality on field missions. The hardest part was being involved in active surgeries alongside the other residents. She'd never been a proper doctor or surgeon before. She'd mainly stuck to the research side of things, so to actually be elbow deep inside someone was a little new and daunting.

Many Shinobi claimed to be medics, but in truth they were just capable of doing basic wound healing using chakra. To receive a field certificate, meant she had been recognised by the Konoha Shinobi forces to be a medical specialist on the field. This meant in the future she could be on call for teams that needed highly trained medics on field.

"Youngest to ever pass the internship exam, and now youngest to receive a field certificate. Congratulations Hina, you are one of a kind," Hanami said pulling her into a rare hug.

Hina hugged back as her patients clapped for her as best they could with one hand. She blew out the candle and began eating it as Ibiki began singing her happy birthday for no reason. She chuckled at his antics and found herself being congratulated by the entire hospital staff on the way out.

Hina held the scroll in disbelief as she finished her shift. She turned to Hanami with a large grin on her face. She'd studied incredibly hard, practising her iryo-jutsu on a number of poor sacrificial fish before she could use the Mystical Palm technique proficiently. Of course her prior knowledge of anatomy, science, and medicine helped her greatly, but the chakra control itself that took to perfect the Mystical Palm to any useful degree was in the 95th percentile. Very few had that level of control. She also supposed it helped that iryo-jutsu was predominantly yin or yang release, both of which elements she suspected she was attuned to personally.

"I suppose you're excited to show this to your family," Hanami said, as they both stopped at a crossroads.

Hina knew she should head back home, but she wasn't in the mood to do so. It seemed any achievement she made for herself they simply didn't approve of. Every single time her mother's mood would drop, and it would snowball to her father and brother. Hina especially wasn't in the mood to have one more good thing ruined for her.

"Are you busy?" she asked.

Hanami shook her head. "Not at home. Why?"

Hina tucked her hair back and looked away. "You wouldn't mind me staying over?"

"I would never mind, but any particular reason why you want to come back to my shabby old house?" Hanami asked.

"You taught me everything I know about Iryo-jutsu and what it means to be a Medic-nin. I suppose it fits celebrating this achievement with you. You've already bought me a cupcake, and since this is last minute, I don't expect dinner," Hina said quickly.

Hanami put a hand on her head and smiled down at her sadly.

"You don't need to ask for so little Hina. I'm not sending you to bed hungry on a day like this. We're going out," she said.

Hina nearly choked. "But restaurants are so expensive these days."

Hanami snorted. "I've taught you better than this girl. Recall who within our Clan has a close relationship with a chain restaurant owner?"

Hina took a moment, and it came to mind. She nearly slapped her forehead at how stupid she was. Of course the Akimichi would give Nara discounts for just being who they were.

"Seriously an Akimichi restaurant! Those are top tier!" Hina said, both drooling and trying to stop Hanami from making a bad financial decision.

An evil glint caught the woman's eye. "Well then we better get Shikaku here. As Clan Head he should fund the celebration of our ward."

Oh Hina really liked that plan. So the two women planned their attack, ambushing Shikaku in his office, and dragging him to an Akimichi restaurant. Hina had never had hot pot in her life, usually going to grills with Shikaku on her birthdays.

"Hot pot?" she asked.

"It is your night. You choose," he said, resigned.

She realised how unused she was to have her wishes considered. With an excited grin, she dragged them in for hot pot. Hina eyed the buffet like line of ingredients and began picking herself a seafood platter.

"Add some fibre in there," Hanami chastised.

Hina shuddered as she remembered choking on the buk choy in her ramen and dying. Not a fun way to go if she recalled. The veges were too slippery, she couldn't risk it.

"Nope, no way, not in a million years," she said.

"Is this like your illogical fear of ramen?" Hanami sighed.

"Ramen can kill you, trust me."

Hanami just shook her head in exasperation, but as they sat at the table with their own little pots, talking and eating with smiles on their faces, Hina began relaxing. Her life seemed a little brighter with the Nara backing her up.

When they left Shikaku put a hand on her head, and Hina looked up to see the man draping his scarf around her neck. Her breath fogged up the air in the cold winter air, but the scarf was like a warm hearth.

"Some may call you talented green bean. But I've seen the amount of effort you put into your studies and training. You should be proud of the achievements those nights of hard work have bought you. I definitely am," he said.

Hina ignored the way the compliment made her cheeks flush in embarrassment. She laughed to play it off.

"You bet your ass I'm amazing."

"You are," he agreed.

Hina smiled back warmly. Shikaku and Hanami walked with her in the cold winter night, but she'd never felt so warm in months.

Hina really did enjoy the little matches she had with Guy, but as she suspected he didn't quite have the natural talent that Kakashi or even she somewhat possessed. Every single goal he achieved was due to his immense work ethic, which made her respect the kid more. She had no doubt he would grow up to be the most formidable Taijutsu fighter in Konoha. So despite being bugged by the kid to a challenge every day, she bore with it. She had to admit, a small part of her looked forward to these challenges too.

Guy didn't have many friends either due to his father's status as the eternal Genin. It wasn't even that uncommon for a few people to stay Genin for the rest of their lives, but those people usually transferred to the Medic corps, or to one of the other logistical or intelligence gathering teams. It was Duy's insistence to be a combatant that got him the jeering and mockery of his peers. Hina saw the same need to prove himself in Guy's eyes that she did in Kakashi's and Obito's. She was surrounding herself with overachieving idiots.

But she wouldn't change it, even though she understood on some level she was setting herself up for a tough time, and a bad time by associating herself with some of them. Especially Obito and Rin. Oh, little Rin. The one girl who wasn't an overachiever, still smart, kind, strategic, and clever, but she didn't have that spark in her eye that the boy's had. Hina supposed she didn't either. Maybe it was a boy thing. Either way she had some kind of solidarity with the girl, with their mutual goal just being to make sure every other idiot around them stayed alive.

Kakashi was up there in the category of reckless idiots she worried for. She visited his compound occasionally. The large traditional sector was empty sans him. Being the last Hatake alive meant it came with a certain amount of loneliness. She had made it her life's mission to combat that. So as Hina stepped into his gate (cause Kakashi had given her a key eventually saying if she was going to pester him to stop jumping the gates), she didn't expect to see someone else with him. The striking blonde hair and extremely handsome face made Hina near swoon.

She realised she was drooling when Minato looked at her. Quickly she wiped her face, flushing in embarrassment as Kakashi eyed her from his side.

"Want to introduce me to your friend Kakashi-kun?" Minato asked.

"Tch, more like a chronic nuisance," he mumbled, which had him receive a well-aimed mug shot with a nearby pebble.

As Kakashi rubbed the bruise on his head, Hina was met with the singularly most beautiful face in all of Konoha closing in on her. Her brain near well exploded from the proximity.

"Ignore my student's ill manners. I'm Namikaze Minato, nice to meet you."

"Ah Suzuki Hina, nice for you to meet me too," she said tongue tied.

Minato looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh, and instead ruffled her hair. Hina wished she knew Earth release, so she could dig herself into the ground and forever remain there. 'Nice for you to meet me too?' she repeated the thought in horror. 'Quick say something to fix this!'

"I um... love melon pans!"

Minato gave her an odd look, nodding. Hina abruptly held out the basket full of bread she had bought, feeling her face melting from the stress of this encounter. Kakashi, out of genuine concern now, came over and put a hand on her forehead concerned checking for a fever.

"I think we should enjoy these in the garden then. Shall we?" Minato asked, walking away.

Hina let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and felt her legs turn into jelly as her heart hammered a mile an hour.

"I thought you were over your chakra imbalance condition," Kakashi said, poking her.

Hina groaned, burying her face in her hands. "I want to die Kakashi. I may as well be dead. Bury me alive and leave me to rot."

Kakashi squinted at her and then at Minato's reseeding figure before making a sound somewhere between a snort and a huff of disbelief.

"I'm disappointed. You're a fangirl?"

Hina resented that. "I am not!"

"Are to! You looked at Minato sensei and you went beet-red and forgot how to speak! You have a crush on my sensei?! He's old."

Kakashi said old in the way most kids said old about a teenager, except he was equating a very attractive 20 something man with an ancient grandpa. Hina wanted to change the subject, but she felt the innate need to defend Minato.

"He's not old! Plus he's so pretty, like he came straight out of a bishounen manga."

"You've never fangirled before," Kakashi said squinting at her.

"I'm not fangirling. I just appreciate what I see and the only beauty worth appreciating is in grown adults," she retorted.

"That's gross," was all Kakashi said before leaving her.

"Is not!" Hina fumed following behind him.

She contemplated taking her losses and leaving but she couldn't have Minato's last impression of her being her fumbling a greeting that badly. So she braved her way into Kakashi's backyard as she sat down on the bench outside with the basket full of food open. It was a little treat in wartime. She knew Kakashi appreciated it. Minato seemed eager to join too.

"So Hina-chan, how do you know Kakashi-kun?" Minato asked.

Hina began repeating an old Hindu sutra in her head to keep her thoughts on the narrow and straight as she talked to this unholy beautiful man.

"We met at a park when we were 4. We used to play together."

"We trained together," Kakashi corrected.

Hina snorted. She wouldn't call their challenges training, but if it made Kakashi happier to see it that way she wouldn't correct him. Minato's eyes seemed to light up at this.

"Say, you sound familiar," Minato noted.

Hina shrugged, repeating 'straight and narrow' in her mind several times. "I work at the Hospital. You could have seen me there."

"Oh that's right. I heard there was an upcoming Kunoichi in the Medic-corps. You're quite young to be working there. It must have been such an accomplishment," he praised.

"Yeah I- ahhh mmmm," Hina said blushing profusely as she took another bite of her bun to have an excuse not to speak.

Minato chuckled which was the worst part, because Hina knew she was found out. How could she look him straight in the eye ever again if he thought she had a puppy crush on him?

"Why don't you just quit playing nurse and graduate?" Kakashi grunted.

Hina could answer that. She knew Kakashi thought she was wasting her talents holding back from simply graduating early. But he was a kid with a lot to prove. Hina had her sights set on something a little longer term of a plan. It involved her being able to request her presence in key missions. The first step was her field certification. The next would be to achieve Chunin in the next two years. That would be how long it would take before Team 7 would be established, and she knew she'd have a few months after that to ensure no harm could come to the kid's. It wouldn't be easy to have an excuse to be there in the Kanabi Bridge mission, but everything she was doing right now was leading to that. She could worry about all the other problems later.

"I'm going to apply for graduation soon actually. I only stayed back to get my field certification, which I did," she said.

Minato's expression betrayed his shock. "You achieved a specialist's certification? That is impressive."

"T-thanks," Hina said, melting into puddy.

"You could have focused on increasing your combat skills instead," Kakashi retorted.

Hina sighed. She had no idea why everyone was so dismissive of medics. It was almost like they wanted to die in battle. She was certain if Tsunade hadn't run with her tail behind her legs there could have been some real reforms in the medical sector in Konoha. It was already one of the most advanced because of Tsunade, and that was a key factor as to why Konoha retained many wounded Shinobi. Hina knew if they had more trained field medics their mortality rates would go down incredibly. If it were up to her every Shinobi would be required to take a course to learn the Mystical Palm technique, as hard as it was.

"My combat skills are more than fine enough."

"Let's spar then," Kakashi challenged.

Hina put down her sweet-bun and cracked her knuckles smiling widely. Oh she loved Kakashi's challenges. His fights were some of the only ones that made her blood pump fast, and her heart faster.

"Okay I'll moderate. Let's keep it a clean match. First to land a kill shot or surrender," Minato said.

Hina took off her sandals as she walked on the mat by the garden. Kakashi did the same. The two faced each other and bowed before they began. Hina never went for the first strike. Kakashi played his game aggressive. Strike hard and strike fast. She liked to watch. When he threw a low shot she ducked left, holding her hands out to control the movements. They knew each other too well. Kakashi would try to go for a grapple, and she would counter it with her own.

Hina enjoyed this game of cat and mouse, because Kakashi met her every strategy with his own, and eventually it became a battle of keeping concentration and stamina. Hina had lost more times than not to Kakashi, but she had her wins. Today was going to be one of those days, she told herself... mostly because Minato was watching. So for once she decided to throw caution to the wind and switch her preferred Nara Taijutsu stance to the Hatake one. She had learnt enough from just watching Kakashi to have a handle on his movements. She parried a punch, grappled his shirt, and spun him over her shoulder.

He spun mid-air, twisting out of her hold, and using his momentum to kick her feet and twist her arms behind her back. Hina found herself face first in the mat with a kill shot to her throat. She tapped the mat twice in surrender and Kakashi got off her, helping her up.

"Ah damn, another loss," she grumbled.

"What is that your 155th?" Kakashi asked.

"Excuse me it's 117th, but who's counting, not me," she said sarcastically.

Kakashi himself had 59 losses, which kept increasing every year, so it meant she was doing something right.

"Good match. You both did well. I'm a little hurt you didn't tell me you already had a worthy sparring opponent Kakashi-kun," Minato chided.

Kakashi huffed, crossing his arms. "You never asked."

"That I did not," Minato agreed before turning his attention to Hina. "Thank you for taking care of my student. It's a relief to know he has a friend."

"M-my pleasure," Hina said, turning red.

"I'll leave you two to catch up. It's been a pleasure meeting you Hina-chan. I hope we'll see each other again."

Hina swooned. "Yeah, I hope y-you'll see me..."

Kakashi slapped his face as Hina let out a happy sigh at Minato's receding back. What a hottie, she thought giggling to herself.

"I take everything back. We're not friends." Kakashi said.

"Nope, no take backsies."

"Why did you come anyway? I have a mission tomorrow."

"That's exactly why I came. To make sure you ate, and then to go fishing with you!"

Kakashi caved in. She knew how much he loved fishing. The two sat together in complete silence by the nearby river and caught fish all evening when they found the rare time to do so. Hina was fine sacrificing precious daytime when it came to taking care of Kakashi's mental health. So they set up their little fishing spot and sat down together as the sun began setting.

"You're up to something," Kakashi said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"You could have graduated already, but instead you skipped three grades, then stopped, applied for the hospital to learn Iryo-jutsu, and took a field certification exam. If Minato-sensei says it's impressive then it is. Why go that route?" Kakashi asked.

Hina had a far more long-winded and complicated answer available for Kakashi, but that would give away more than she was willing to tell.

"The answer is simple. If someone I know is hurt, my priority will always be to help them. If I ever fail at preventing harm from coming to someone I know, then at least I want the ability to fix it after."

"Yes, but why a field certification?" Kakashi pressed, before he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "You want to request missions in the future?"

Hina blinked in surprise at his astute deduction. Baby Kakashi was indeed a formidable child.

"Caught me red handed."

"I don't need protection," he said stiffly.

"Everyone does, but it's not just about you. I can't ever pick and choose where I go fully, not until I'm Jounin Commander. Until then I'm going for the next best thing."

"A Shinobi must always find the best strategic position… okay you are forgiven for fangirling," he said reluctantly.

"Yipee!" Hina said sarcastically clapping.

Kakashi just sighed as they went back to fishing.

The graduation exam wasn't that difficult, not in comparison to the sleepless nights of preparation she needed for her field certification. She wrote an exam, then had to perform the Academy three ninjutsu, and finally spar one of her sensei's. They were about the same level of difficulty Kakashi was for her, so she supposed she was only a few years away from being Chunin level in Taijutsu. A few years was too long, and she was fairly certain they were going easy on her. In a year her current class would graduate. She was three years younger than them granted, but the timeline wouldn't wait for her to catch up when she was running on a clock.

Hina received her marks on an average Sunday evening on her way back home from a shift at the hospital. A Genin dropped it to her, before running off with a bunch more scrolls in hand. Hina supposed that would be her in the coming few months, although the biggest mystery would be who she'd be assigned to. It would make her life easier if she was in Minato's team. That way if anyone joined it would be Obito, since she was a medic-nin and it would be illogical to have Rin's skills wasted on a team with one medic already. That meant she could be there for Obito and Kakashi. That also meant Rin would never have been kidnapped and turned into a jinchuriki against her will. That was the best-case scenario of course, but Hina knew not to bank on it.

She took the scroll home, a bit of her nervousness rising as she anticipated the inevitable fallout. Her family was closing up the bakery on the bottom floor, washing down their work area, and packing away any unused bread into airtight containers. Hina shuffled her way in.

"Hello Hina, how was your shift at the hospital?" Nori asked her.

"Oh had to deal with some unruly Shinobi. You know them. They'd rather suffer broken bones than to actually recover in the hospital. If I don't remind their concussed little heads every five minutes that if they leave, they would not be approved for field missions, the hospital would be empty," she chuckled.

Her father laughed back, and her brother made an off comment about Shinobi acting like they're eating too much sugar. She did agree. She wondered if most of the population had ADHD. But she had more important things to think about than that. She held up the scroll and cleared her throat.

"I um... I passed my graduation exam," she said.

Both her parents froze, frowning as they looked up at her. Hina felt the need to justify her actions a million times over, but she didn't have any good way of putting it that didn't involve her having to explain her reincarnation.

"One of the youngest, I assume," Nori asked, voice pained.

"Not quite, I know another kid is passing this year as well. Sarutobi Asuma," she said.

She neglected to mention that he was two years older than her. But still she figured she was one of the youngest but not anything of note. Kakashi beat the Sannin by graduating at 5, while they graduated at 6. Minato, Hina recalled graduated at 10 as well. She figured it had a whole lot more to do with them being at war. If she had been born during Naruto's time, there would have been stricter age regulations to leave the Academy.

"You couldn't have waited four more years?" Yua asked.

Hina had no answer for that. No parent would want to see their barely 10-year-old child head off to war. She did try to see it from Yua's perspective, but Hina had more hinging on her than her mother could ever know. She needed to keep her family safe.

"It couldn't wait."

"I'm going to see someone else bought to me beyond recognition... this is my fault. I did this," Yua said.

Hina quickly became worried when she saw her mother hunch in on her heavily pregnant stomach. She regretted ever saying anything. She shouldn't have stressed Yua out in the first place, not so close to her due date. And then she saw the water leaking to the ground and knew it was happening.

"Tousan, grab a bucket of hot water now!"

"The baby shouldn't be... it's too early," her father said in panic.

She held his arms and centred him to look at her. "I need you to calm down. Tell Taichi to soak some clean towels in hot water. I want you to bring a bucket of warm water here right now. I'll take kaasan to her bed."

"The hospital?"

Hina knew she was meant to be administered to the General Hospital in about two weeks. They didn't have time to take her mother there right now. Not only was it far away, but they also didn't have transport like cars. She could call for Shinobi to carry her mother since she couldn't, not because of strength, but because her height would make things awkward. But Shinobi manhandling her mother in such a state didn't sit well with her either.

Hina knew the basics about delivering a child. She'd never done it before, but she'd be lying if in her past life she hadn't watched a million videos on the process. The idea that a whole human could be created in her uterus was enough to make her fascinated by the development. Of course a by-product of all that research was her pledging to never be pregnant cause the entire process was to put it mildly... horrifying.

"Kaasan, I need you to breathe okay. I'm going to help you up the stairs."

"I—ahhh," her mother groaned.

Hina helped Yua slowly walk up the stairs, and onto her bed, where she prepared herself for what was coming. Which was her sibling... who she never thought she'd have to deliver herself. The whole situation felt surreal, but every teacher she had in the hospital was screaming orders into her ears right now, and so Hina got to work.

"Is kaasan going to be, okay?" Taichi asked.

"She will be. Wait outside and when I ask you for something bring it in okay," Hina said placatingly, before turning to her father who had bought in the bucket. "I'll need you to go to the Nara compound. It's closer than the hospital. Get Hanami-sensei here right now and if they have a midwife even better."

Her father nodded, determination taking his face as he threw on his coat and left. Hina was relieved he trusted her ability to take care of her mother. She went by Yua's side and held her hand.

"Take deep breaths. I'm going to need you to push," Hina said.

Her mother squeezed her hand, tears staining her eyes. She looked to be in pain which was hard to watch. Hina could break a million patients bones to reset them and not flinch, but this... this she found hard to watch.

"Y-you're a strong girl," Yua said, through the pain.

"And you need to be stronger today. I'm going to run a diagnostic, make sure everything's okay."

Hina ran her Mystical Palm over her mother's abdomen. She could feel the baby underneath, the way her cervix was dilating. This was really happening. Hina was worried, mostly because the mortality rate in the Fire Country was quite a bit higher than back in Australia. Still she stayed the entire time, encouraging Yua to push until Hanami stormed the house, taking over. It was another 6 hours in that the baby was finally delivered. Hina was the first to hold the little red splotched human. It was tiny in her arms, so small and fragile. She could barely believe it.

"It's a boy," she said, laughing in joy.

Hanami took the boy to burp him, and almost instantly the newborn began crying. Yua who looked haggard and tired was given her baby to hold after the umbilical cord was cut. And Hina watched as her father and brother milled into the room to marvel over the little miracle as well. Once all the joyful crying had been done, Hina went to wash her hands off all the blood and slumped onto the couch exhausted.

"You did good Hina. That field certification wasn't for nothing," Hanami said, sitting by her.

"Kaasan's alive and I have a baby brother," she repeated in relief, and then Hina cried.

Hanami pulled her close.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know why—"

"Shh, it's okay. It's an emotional time. Even your father was crying like a baby. Heck I've seen Shikaku burst into tears when his cousin finally delivered. Babies just do this to people," Hanami said patiently.

Hina smiled and nodded as she wiped her tears away. She had a baby brother. The more she said it the more real it became. Of course the numerous little babies clothes they bought, and the little room they made for Tsukiya that took a part of her room, had made it feel real before. But now that it happened it felt like nothing she'd ever felt before.

"Hina, your mother wants you," Nori said.

Hina nodded tiredly as she made her way back upstairs to where Taichi was cooing over the baby. They'd fought before about who the baby would like better. Of course Hina and Taichi had voted on themselves. She couldn't let her brother get a leg up on her.

"Hina, come here," her mother said, gesturing for her to sit by her on the bed.

Hina obeyed, watching her brothers tiny body backlit by the full moon outside. She held the small bundle carefully, more carefully than she'd handled anything before. When she looked gently, she was happy to note he had a fluff of green hair on his head, and she was a little disappointed he was too young to open his eyes, so she could see the colour.

"You helped bring him into this world too," Yua said catching her attention. "So you should name him."

"Me?" Hina asked in disbelief.

Yua nodded. Hina looked up at the moon and then back at her baby brother. She had the perfect name for him.

"What about Tsukiya, because he is as bright as the moon was on the day he was born."

Nori pulled her into a hug and kissed Hina's forehead. "That's the most perfect name for him. Our little Tsukiya."

"Suzuki Tsukiya, welcome to your new home," Hina said with the sincerest smile she'd ever worn.

A/N

You can't tell me Hina isn't the biggest simp for pretty people. She's a toned-down bisexual Sanji XD.

I want to thank you all for your comments! I'm trying to get through all of them! Thanks for the continued support. I know this chapter is a bit of a chaotic mess. Jumps all over the place, but I am trying to get through her early life without dragging the story through it for a long time.