Author's Note: This is a series of one-shots featuring the relationship (that comes from my imagination) of Kakashi Hatake and Mei Terumi. Stories will appear in no particular order. If you want to read them chronologically then read the chapters in the following order: 38, 29, 2, 12, 32, 41, 4, 8, 9, 7, 30, 11, 35, 21, 31, 36, 24, 28, 20, 26, 27, 13, 3, 22, 45, 46, 25, 33, 43, 17, 10, 5, 6, 1, 23, 34, 19, 39, 14, 15, 16, 44, 42, 18, 40, 37.

As I'm sure you know: I do not own Naruto and I don't know anyone who does.

Prologue

"Do you see that fancy house with the kids playing around it? They've gotta have some money right?" The man turned to his companion and gestured at the house beyond their cover.

"Are you brain dead? Do you know who lives there?"

"What? No. Who?"

"You noticed the kids but not their hair?"

The first man looked again. "It's silver, so what? Lots of families have silver…hey, you're not saying…"

"You're right," the second man finished for him, "lots of families do have silver hair. But not a lot of families live in the middle of nowhere between the lands of Fire and Water, in a house that looks like it grew instead of being built."

The first man took a step back. "When I heard those stories I thought they were just urban legends. It sounded too crazy to be true, more like a fairy tale. The Fifth Mizukage and the Sixth Hokage got married and they live in a house that was…"

"Constructed by the only living wood-style user," the second man finished.

The first man took another look at the silver-haired boys playing in the grass around the giant house. "Doesn't she have two or three bloodline limits? I can't believe they dared to have children."

"They have four," the second man said smiling grimly.

The first man's head whipped around. "You're kidding."

The second man shook his head.

The first man looked back at the house in wonder. "Every bandit with an oversized ego must have a go at trying to snatch one of those kids. A Hatake with a possible bloodline limit or two, can you imagine what someone would pay for that?"

"Care to try?" the second man asked, a grin on his face and a dangerous glint in his eye.

The first man's eyes widened. He took another step back from the distant house. "I may not be smart but I'm certainly not that thick."

"Good," the second man said, his eyes creasing into half-moon smiles. "Your partner is tied up in a tree in the next field over. Please don't visit again." The transformation of the second man poofed out of existence.

The first man wet his pants.

Mei looked up from the scroll she was reading as Kakashi walked in the front door. His sons trailed after him. "What was that about?" Mei asked mildly. Twin girls with auburn hair played on the floor near her feet.

Kakashi shrugged, "I just made sure those two men you sensed earlier weren't lost." He gently kicked a ball that had rolled out of the arena of play back toward the toddlers.

"Did you," Mei glanced at her sons who were climbing the stairs a little slower than necessary, "see that they got on their way?" Under her gaze the boys scurried up the last of the stairs to their rooms.

"That wasn't necessary," Kakashi said, sitting down. "Once they realized they'd taken a wrong turn they left."

Mei raised an eyebrow at her husband that was mostly hidden by bangs. He replied with a cheeky eye-smile.