DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.
Thinking (+ flashbacks, etc.)
Emphasis
Bijuu, etc. speaking
Bijuu, etc. thinking
"Where's Mito-chan?" Kushina asked before looking behind all of the couches and chairs in her husband's office as if waiting for the girl to jump out from behind one.
That's exactly what she was doing, in fact. Knowing Mito, it would make sense that the girl might try it. As serious as Mito was about her career, she could still be silly and fun, just like her mother. Plus, Kushina would never admit it out loud, but from the stories other new mothers told her, the mere idea of being so surprised or laughing too hard might cause her bladder to leak thanks to her pregnancy was just too embarrassing. If that happened, she'd have to kill everyone that saw it - and that would just be a shame!
Kakashi, Kushina's guard, had been able to successfully avoid the Namikaze girl ever since that night. He was relieved when Minato-sensei said that his daughter was "out running around" this morning because he just couldn't face yet another person that he failed. Mito probably hates him for allowing Obito to die and then killing Rin - and she should. The knowledge that she was the one that got his teammates through the Forest of Death to aid them in being promoted to Chunin made him somewhat resentful, which wasn't at all fair.
She did what he couldn't even if it was just a short-term thing...
And that also makes him curious... He'd been somewhat praised as the youngest recruit to ever enter ANBU, yet it seems that Mito was in the organization as well, and had been for some time.
Disappearing into the back of the room for hours disinterestedly listening to his sensei and his wife discuss various plans, schemes from the council, and projects for the village, Kakashi was certain that Kushina-nee still wanted to be the Hokage.
"Kakashi-kun, why don't you go get lunch for yourself?" the woman asked the room at large. It was off-putting that her husband's student could hide from her so well.
Kakashi moved back from behind the genjutsu wall. "Maa, what would you like? Shall I bring something back for you, as well, sensei?" He received no immediate answer as it was obvious from his sensei's face that he was deep in thought. Sensei really needs to stop gnawing on his pens. He always ended up with ink on his face.
Kakashi's question finally registered with the Hokage who apologized and ensured that Kushina wasn't hungry. The couple excitedly discussed how Kushina's lack of hunger probably meant that the baby would come sooner than they anticipated. Kakashi waited for them to finish and sighed as the First Couple giggled excitedly. They then gripped each other's hands as if they would soon be ripped away from each other, which was just ridiculous, he thought.
"Where is that girl?! I can't believe she abandoned her beloved father," Minato said as he stretched back in his chair and looked out the window minutes later.
"Do you think she's alright?" Kushina asked worriedly. The couple debated where their truant daughter could be, and upon a long pause that lingered, Kakashi couldn't help but ask one of the easier questions he had been pondering.
"Maa, since she's ANBU she should probably be fine in her home village, ne?" Seeing "that look" on his sensei's face, he really wondered what was going on. Knowing that he was the only other person in the office allowed him to investigate further. "May I ask how long she's been in the Black Ops, sensei?"
Minato smiled warily while Kushina glared at the Yondaime, whispering curses and other incomprehensible things.
Sometimes Kakashi wondered if the redhead dabbled in witchcraft.
"Well you see, Kakashi-kun, I've needed to hide Mito-chan, as we discussed previously."
"Asshat here thought that a good place to do that would be in ANBU!" Kushina said hotly as she threw her thumb toward her husband. Her hair was beginning to fly up in the air.
"Now, now, 'Shina! You have to admit having her armored up and hidden behind her mask is a great-" Minato began but was interrupted by his hotheaded wife.
"She was already wearing a mask! It's a wonder she ever takes it off!" Kushina said angrily, then began to cry. She took the handkerchief Kakashi offered her gratefully then cursed her hormones, then just continued cursing softly, mostly at her husband.
"You see, Kakashi-kun, like a lot of young girls, Mito-chan always wanted to be a frontline medic like Tsunade-hime," Minato said and sat back in his chair again, looking proud but elsewhere, most likely visiting memories, the teen surmised. "With her perfect chakra control and being 'home-schooled,' I suppose you could say, by the Sannin and Sarutobis... Well, she really went far," he continued but looked almost disappointed as he scratched his jaw. "She - unfortunately - was informed of ANBU's casualty rates and insisted on that career path. She wanted - wants - to save everyone she possibly can there."
"And the dummy here thought that since she was masked, anyway, that ANBU was a good place to hide her," Kushina said, picking up Minato's stapler and chucking it at him. Minato allowed it to hit him and sighed.
"She's not really ANBU, though. She may... think she is," Minato continued. He wanted to pinch Kakashi's cheeks; the way the Hound ANBU tilted his head like one of the boy's confused ninken was adorable.
"She's on the ANBU roster, you ass!"
"But under my direct control, Kushina. That's the beauty in Hiruzen-sama's plans!" It was obvious that Kushina disagreed - and that Minato was involved in Lord Third's plans - but the couple's bickering somehow dissolved into Kushina's gushing over her friend Mikoto's sons. Just before Kakashi's dismissal, he was reminded that Mito didn't know that she was "not officially in ANBU; it was only her promotion to Chunin that made it possible for her to be on the roster." He was also reminded that it was top-secret, especially from the girl, herself.
The reminder of Mito's Chunin promotion and the team she competed in the exams with - my team - sent the young Jonin straight to the Memorial Stone despite his hunger.
Earlier that morning...
"Orochimaru-oji!"
"OOF! Ugh. Horrible child: it seems you have returned."
"I have," Mito chirped and smiled up brilliantly at the man who was side-eyeing her while pouring something interesting almost neon green into a vial that's liquid was clear. Her father would probably kill or (more likely) ground her if he knew that she was here in one of her awesome uncle's creepy underground labs, but what the Hokage didn't know wouldn't hurt him. "Whatcha doing?"
"Hmph. That is none of your concern, little fox."
"Mou, Orochi-oji's so cold. I like your dress," Mito said sincerely. Orochimaru really knew how to put a look together.
"Thank you. Now, what are you doing here?"
"I was bored," the girl sighed dramatically. "Really bored! Do you still want to become Hokage one day? 'Cuz let me tell you: what you're doing is a whole lot more interesting than what Dad's doing," Mito pouted before sniffing and reeling back from one of the open jars on his table. "I've been home for over three days and don't think that he's slept more than 12 hours the entire time. Paperwork! Can you believe it?! It's not healthy."
"Hmph. And I thought it was sensei's lack of organizational expertise," Orochimaru said more to himself than the brat that's pushed her way into his lab - again. The Snake Sannin could admit, however, that Namikaze Minato is a genius much like him. If Minato was also overwhelmed with paperwork, it meant there were even more stupid issues not only in Hi no Kuni's bureaucracy, but presumably also the village's reporting structures, charter amendments, and most certainly the council than he had known about. "Should I offer your poor father my aid?"
Mito only snorted as she continued guessing what was in his unlabeled flasks.
Orochimaru smirked, understanding that the girl knew that her father didn't like him. The feeling was mutual. The two may respect one another as shinobi, but that's as far as things went between them. He likes his brat kit, though: his teammates were forced to leave her with him many times.
He'd bet money that her parents were never told.
"Kit:" it was amusing to him that the girl's favorite animal was a fox, and yet her mother hates the Kyuubi so.
He'd quite like to have the Kyuubi as a pet.
The well-hidden door to his lab was thrown open again, making the man in charge sigh deeply. Why did he request an apprentice again?
"Orochimaru-sensei! Hey! Who's that?!"
"Anko-chan, don't be rude," the beautifully dressed man said while tossing his silky black hair behind his shoulder. "Mito-chan, this is Anko-chan, my apprentice."
"Gah! Don't use my name, you ass!"
"Language, little fox," Orochimaru scolded as his new apprentice began hopelessly swinging at the girl who called him a derogatory name. Mito was fast: he, his teammates, and her father made sure of it. "Why don't you two leave and do something... childish?" He had to turn away to hide the amusement he was sure was expressed on his face thanks to the look of outrage on his little apprentice's face and the matching one he was sure was under the kit's mask.
He turned to them after putting his experiment down. "You two... horrible children are the same age. I truly think you could get along if you attempted it." When neither of them moved, other than to look away from each other at the same time, his expression turned coy. "Or I could aid in raising your immunities to yet another new poison or two?"
"YES," both girls squealed at once before glaring at each other.
Orochimaru shook his head, wishing he'd blocked his ears before his eardrums could be blown out. If only there was a way to make him immune to the effects of girlish screams.
Having lived through the administration of another awesome new poison, Mito proudly made her way through the streets of her home village, occasionally getting curious looks from passing villagers. Knowing full well that she hadn't visited yet - and again feeling terribly guilty about that the closer she got to her destination - she first made her way to the Yamanaka flower shop. She was surprised by the colorful - yet as always, in that shop - tastefully adorned balloons crowding its walls and entire ceiling. A woman with dark blonde hair was taking the balloons down.
The number of flowers and plants that the shop offered to both shinobi and civilians was nearly overwhelming. Trying to remember the meaning behind each plant and flower, Mito began to gather what she needed. Yellow daisies, begonias, oleander... Yeah, those work, right? She continued picking a few stems each of blue salvia, sweet pea, pink carnation, edelweiss, purple and white hyacinth, hyssop, ivy, some catchfly, and freesia along with the smallest branch she could find with an abundance of pretty pink flowers; a couple of the darkest crimson red roses she saw that were there, and she added to them to her big bunch of flowers. Looking around more, she then added some willow, before grabbing a bunch of verbena and zinnias.
Mito looked down at her arm and knew that what she picked looked like a hot mess. Flower arranging wasn't exactly her mother's or grandma Tsunade's area of expertise, and Mito could only hope that she wasn't putting some kind of meaning that she didn't know about into her "bouquet," if one can call it that. Obito would've laughed his head off if she were about to offer them a bouquet meaning that she loves one of them romantically, and Rin would've teased her relentlessly.
She'd always treasure the few months she had with Rin, the letters between them that followed, and the weeks she'd had with Obito, no matter how bad things had gotten in the Forest of Death for their makeshift team.
White lilies, it turned out, were behind the counter. Everyone knew that white lilies symbolized a rejuvenation of the soul. Grandma Tsunade had knocked that into her brain one day beginning when they were somewhere near Ame.
"...They can also represent purity, commitment, and rebirth, brat, so always make sure you take at least one white lily to a funeral or when you visit a grave. Hopefully, your life won't be filled with as many of those as mine has been."
How many more people am I gonna lose? Mito shook off the haunting question and continued walking through the flower shop.
She added some aloe because the meanings behind the plant were supposed to be affection and grief, plus Rin would probably appreciate its healing properties and went up to the cashier. The look the Yamanaka woman gave her assortment of flowers was almost as comical as it was pitying. ANBU don't speak - of course, they normally don't visit flower shops in uniform, either, but Mito had never been told that - so she pointed to the white lilies behind the counter.
"Ah! You'd like to add white lilies to your... arrangement?" The Yamanaka woman had the good grace to notice that the chibi ANBU wilted like a poor, sad flower at her words or attitude. "How many do you need, hun - I mean ANBU-san. Gomennasai!" She gave a quick bow which the ANBU returned before the child held up six fingers. Yamanaka Ayaka winced as she turned around to pick out the child's six lilies but turned then offered her an understanding smile. "Would you like a ribbon?" When the ANBU nodded eagerly, she chuckled and took the flowers the child had chosen and added the lilies before tying the stems with a lavender ribbon wrapped around a broad white one. She almost shrieked when the child sunshinned and appeared behind her to pull an orange ribbon from the long line of colors.
"Ah of course," she said, cringing at the color choices. "Shall I add orange or... alright then." the small ANBU was already nodding. "White, lavender, and neon orange it is!" Ayaka decided that the ANBU had to be a little girl: she just couldn't imagine a boy vibrating with energy at the sight of flowers, particularly the usually emotionless ANBU. Noticing that the girl was pointing up and around at the balloons, Ayaka smiled even more broadly. "You've noticed! I had just taken down the banner before you walked in. Our clan's heiress was born just a short time ago!"
Mito knew that the woman couldn't see how happy she was for them underneath her mask, so she bounced up and down on her toes to let her know. Realizing that she should probably get the baby or mother flowers because there was some kind of formality there that she really needed to learn about, she grabbed a handful of daisies and handed it to the woman.
Ayaka kept herself from laughing: the child was just too cute despite her mask and armor. After the presumed girl shook a fistful of daisies at her, she thought she understood her point. "These are for the baby?" The ANBU nodded back, once again eagerly. "Thank you so much, ANBU-san. I will have these delivered immediately. Would you like to leave a card for the new parents?" Ayaka could only hope the child would do so: she was really curious to know who this child was. She rang up the little ninja's tab, shrugging away her concern that the child couldn't afford all these flowers at her age. She's an ANBU for heaven's sake, and Ayaka knew very well that they made excellent money. Her brother-in-law, Santa, was one.
Mito tapped her mask and wondered what the card should say. She couldn't leak her identity, but maybe something generic? She paid the clerk, then in neat, tiny handwriting that almost resembled calligraphy, wrote on both sides of the card, before handing it back and sunshinning toward the cemetery with her new flowers. Ayaka balked at what she read on the card, although she agreed with the card's sentiments. it was just a little... odd.
Much later that day, Minato would face-palm as Inoichi showed him a peculiar card. The Yondaime Hokage knew exactly who wrote it; not that he'd tell his friend. He really needed to have discrete, embarrassing talks with both his daughter and Tsunade-hime, her mentor. Maybe he'd leave it to Kushina, though.
"Congratulations on a presumably successful reproduction effort. Should your infant not have been planned, I suggest speaking frankly with a medical professional about contraceptives or outercourse. Remember, safe sex saves lives."
How long was she going to have to wait for Kakashi to stop hogging the Memorial Stone?!
Neither Rin nor Obito's bodies were brought home, so this was the only place she had to visit them. She had more people to visit there, as well. She breathed in a desperate, shaky sigh and bowed to Kakashi who was made aware of her presence by it.
He didn't leave, though. Oh no: she could feel that he was in a tree that was too close for comfort.
Giving up the plan to be alone with the spirits of her friends and those who had died protecting her when she was young, she placed her bouquet against the stone next to several others. "Sorry it's so crazy looking, everyone, but I think I've got the meaning right, and you know how much I like colorful stuff. I bet if most of you were here, you'd agree with me." She scratched the back of her head: the sealed genjutsu veil that covered her hair always bothered her, day in and day out. "Not you, Saya. I shoulda put a black flower in there for you, huh?" She grimaced before hollering, "I can't do this!"
She turned toward the boy spying on her. "Kakashi-kun? Is there something you wanted to talk about?"