Chapter 18

A New Start

Sakura woke to a soft whimpering cry. Her eyes snapped open and she blearily looked around, trying to understand the sound. Tenzō. That's right, they had Tenzō now.

Tenzō!

Her arm shot out, searching for him. He had been in her arms when she'd fallen asleep. Where is he?

She sat up and… found Kakashi standing in the open shōji doorway, facing the engawa and the garden beyond, shrouded in the fading mist as the sun came up. Two skinny little legs dangled on either side of his waist and he was swaying slightly back and forth. He was humming again.

She blinked, and rubbed her eyes.

Nope. The sight hadn't changed. Kakashi was soothing the fussing little boy, looking like some kind of tired, parenting pro. What the heck?

Tossing back the duvet, she stood and crossed to stand beside him. He glanced down at her when she lay her face on his bicep and smoothed a hand through Tenzō's hair. "I'm sorry we woke you."

She gave a gentle shake of her head, rubbing tired eyes. "It's fine. I woke up and panicked for a second when he wasn't beside me. Is he okay?"

"Hm." He peeked down at the boy in his arms, nodding to himself when he noted his closed eyes. "I think he had a nightmare. I woke up when he started flailing and picked him up and brought him out here before he could start fussing."

She snorted softly. "Who are you and where did you learn how to take such good care of babies?"

His eyes flicked to hers and he huffed. "I don't know how to… not really. I—" He sighed, looking away. "I have faint memories of my father, when I was small." He squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to remember. "Having nightmares, being held, his scent, being out here in the cool night air. It just… seemed like the right thing to do for him."

Her head fell to the side as she watched them, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. There was something about this—Kakashi, one of the strongest, most deadly, protective men she knew—holding this small child, comforting him, chasing away his bad dreams, that made her want to melt into a puddle. Definitely at least five. "Cute."

His brows furrowed and he glanced back down at her. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

He snorted—the breath stirring Tenzō's brown hair—but the amusement was short lived. "Hiruzen wants him raised in R ."

Rage burned through the tender feelings. "Over my dead body."

His brows knit and he looked down at her again, as serious as she'd ever seen him. "He would have to kill me and probably Sakumo to even touch you, Sakura." A thrill shot through her. "He's ours. Sakumo's word is all that matters, and Hiruzen won't risk offending the other clans by trying to take him."

She relaxed. "He's ours." Tenzō whined softly, drawing both of their focus. "I am going to make breakfast. He's probably unfamiliar with hunger pains so I'm sure he'll fuss. Will you be okay?"

He looked at her, bored, almost annoyed. Seriously?

Patting Tenzō's back, she nodded. She didn't have any more experience with this than he did. Just because she was a woman didn't mean she'd be any better at it. "Fine. I'm going."

It was a good thing she'd recently made a few quarts of stock ahead with her grandmother for meals. She had just managed to get her chicken parts and vegetables into a pot and some of her grandmother's stock melting in another when Kakashi joined her. Tenzō was wailing and kicking his legs and rubbing his face back and forth against Kakashi's chest.

"I wish he could tell us what was wrong." He sat at the low table, turning Tenzō so he sat across his lap. "If he's spent most of his time in that tank, every sensation is new to him. Poor kid, it's probably overwhelming."

"Hm." Sakura watched them, her lip trapped between her teeth and anxiety bubbling up. Can we handle this? "Well… I guess he's like a normal infant in that way."

Kakashi carded his fingers through Tenzō's hair, holding him close and murmuring softly against his temple. He'd stopped thrashing, but he still cried softly, clutching at Kakashi's shirt. "Do you have something for him to eat yet? His stomach is starting to rumble."

She blinked and looked back at the stock. Stirring it, she tasted it, finding it warm and liquid again, but not boiling hot. "Yes, here." She poured it into a waiting bowl and grabbed a soup spoon. "Okay. Um… Maybe if we eat too? So he knows it's okay?"

He frowned at her, clearly starting to get tense as Tenzō continued crying in his arms. "Why wouldn't it be okay?"

"He's probably never seen someone eat before"

His frown relaxed. "Oh. Yeah that's a good idea."

She set the bowl and spoon on the table and went back for the rest of their breakfast, assembling it quickly. With each cry, the anxiety ratcheted up until she was practically slamming the dishes down on the table with a heavy exhale.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. Here, try and turn him so he can see… and you eat too. Hey, Tenzō-chan, hm?" She poked him gently in the tummy and tried for a gentle smile. "You're hungry, hm? When we're hungry, we eat."

"Sakura—"

"What? See, he's watching. See, sweetheart, we eat." She took an exaggerated bite of her rice and a sip of the broth. He was still fussing, but he was watching her. Kakashi snorted softly but reached around the little boy in his lap to take a bite too. Tenzō's teary eyes tracked the movement of his hand. "See? Daddy eats too."

Kakashi did a double take, nearly choking on his rice.

Blinking, she ignored the heat on her face and took another bite. Then she swallowed, smiled encouragingly down at Tenzō and shrugged. "We never discussed what we would teach him to call us. But we're raising him as our son, a Hatake. He's ours, remember? Is… that okay?" When he didn't answer for longer than she felt was warranted, she glanced up to find him staring down at Tenzō. "He can call you by your name if you—"

"No. No, that's okay." He let out a small huff and repeated the childish appellation softly to himself like it was the most unbelievable thing he'd ever heard. "Daddy…" Tenzō whimpered, rubbing Kakashi's shirt between his fingers. "Are you hungry, Tenzō-chan? Do you want to try to eat too?"

Sakura scooted closer, scooping up a little bit of the broth and holding it up to Kakashi's face. "See? Like Daddy."

He had the barest hint of a smile before dutifully opening his mouth.

She repeated the process, this time bringing her other hand under the spoon as she held it a few inches from Tenzō's mouth. "What do you think?"

His nose scrunched up and he turned back into Kakashi, wiping his tears on his shirt. After a moment and some gentle coaxing, he sniffled and leaned closer, wide brown eyes flicking between the offering and Kakashi's encouraging half smile. Sakura opened her mouth helpfully—ahhh—ignoring Kakashi's snort of amusement. Tenzō copied her, following the spoon with wary eyes as she put it in his mouth. When she mimed closing her mouth and swallowing, he copied that too.

His eyes widened before scrunching closed. Watching him turn away again and hide in Kakashi's shirt, his fingers still working the soft material, her thoughts turned clinical. He seemed to have decent trunk muscle control and a basic understanding of what was happening around him. While he acted like he was comfortable enough with her, it was clear to her that he trusted Kakashi, looking to him for his cues. Probably because he rescued him. They were always meant to have a special bond, it seemed.

"Do you want to try some more, Tenzō-chan?"

He peeked up at her, eyeing the spoon hovering between them. Kakashi hummed around his own bite, patting his back and urging him to sit up again. Whimpering, sniffling, not letting go of Kakashi's shirt, he let her feed him a few more spoonfuls. Eventually he stopped crying all together, patiently waiting with his mouth open for the next sip, and the next and the next.

When he whined in protest at the delay as she dared take a bite herself, Sakura laughed. "Do you like that, Tenzō-chan? Hm? Eating is nice, isn't it?"

He let out a demanding sort of sound, halfway between a grunt and a squeal that made Kakashi chuckle too. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'" He scratched Tenzō's head like he might a puppy.

"So, he likes eating. That's one thing we don't have to worry about, I guess." She sighed, rushing another bit of rice between feeding him. "Hopefully his stomach tolerates this change."

Kakashi surprised her by reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear and plucking a grain of rice from her cheek. "I'm sure he'll be fine. If not, there isn't anyone better able to help him than you, Sakura."

She flushed, turning her eyes away. "Well… Books can only tell you so much. I wish I had my mom here." Ume's face floated into her mind and she gasped. "Oh, but there's my grandmother." She looked up to see him watching her carefully. "We can do this, can't we? We're going to be okay? We aren't alone, we have help, family, support."

He nodded slowly, like the realization was even more jarring to him. "Yeah, we do."

After filling him up with Ume's broth, they'd worked through another melt down when he peed and had probably been upset by the uncomfortable wetness. Thankfully, Kakashi knew immediately what was wrong, and once he was wearing dry pants, he settled. Then he'd started sobbing again while Sakura was busy and Kakashi had tried to leave him to use the bathroom himself. He had seemed to panic, nearly hyperventilating to have been left alone even in sight of Sakura. It didn't help that he couldn't properly sit up on his own.

It had taken them both nearly twenty minutes to get him to calm down after that.

So he is going to be extremely clingy for a while. Not surprising. We can handle that.

Once he was finally calm, his cheek propped on Kakashi's shoulder—one hand tugging gently, repetitively on the hair Sakura hadn't let him cut—he took them outside, sitting on the edge of the engawa. "It's going to be a nice day, Tenzō-chan." The cicadas were humming and somewhere nearby a bird called. "You were weirdly obsessed with plants when I knew you before. Great at making them grow, flourish. I always thought it was a natural interest because of the wood release. After seeing where you were kept for so long, and after ROOT… Maybe it was just something you picked up to cope and happened to be good at. Better than smoking or anonymous hookups, that's for sure."

Maybe this wasn't appropriate conversation for a two year old.

"Come on, let's go look at the flowers. Sakura planted them this spring with Kakashi-kun. I suppose he'll be like your cousin now…" He stood and carried him out around the garden, stopping in front of the flowers, now in full bloom. "I hope you'll be friends… We were friends. We didn't have easy childhoods. They were pretty shit, actually. And what ROOT did to you…" He sighed, holding him just a little bit tighter. "You're going to have a happy, normal childhood this time, Tenzō, I promise. You and Kakashi. Sakura… Your mother and I, we're going to protect you, we'll keep you safe. You're not going to be anyone's tool, Tenzō."

He hadn't meant to say any of that, to get so emotional. The poor kid didn't even know what he was talking about. But once he'd started, Kakashi found he needed to get it out.

"I will look after you, protect you, teach you everything I can. I won't let Danzō or Hiruzen hurt you. If anyone dares to try, I'll tear them apart to get to you. I promise you, Tenzō."

The quiet little boy sighed, his whole, small body heaving with the effort, and nuzzled into Kakashi's neck.

Sniffing once and clearing his throat, Kakashi cupped the back of Tenzō's head and stared at the flowers. Would this Tenzō plant more someday? He hoped he would.

Kakashi-kun got home in time for lunch. He joined Sakura in the kitchen, wrapping skinny arms around her waist in a brief hug. "Me-chan! How did your mission go?"

She smoothed a hand through his hair. "Good. The monster is dead and we brought home a little boy."

His eyes closed with a smile. "That's good! Can I meet him?"

"He's taking a nap with Karasu right now, but they'll be awake for lunch."

Reaching up, he peeked into the stock pot. "What's for lunch, Me-chan? Can I help?"

She leaned against the counter. "That is for Tenzō. It's just going to be a broth when it's done. He's never eaten real food before, so we're starting with simple stuff." He looked back at her with horrified eyes. "Your dad is bringing lunch for the rest of us. He should be home soon."

"I thought you said he was two? How hasn't he had food before?"

Tipping her head to the side, she sighed. "He was kept alive with nutrient IV's."

His face screwed up, confused, angry. "IV's? He didn't even feed him?"

She shook her head. "No."

He clicked his tongue and grumbled. "I'm glad you killed this guy."

"Hey," she caught his eyes. "He's going to be okay now."

He nodded, smiling up at her again. "Tenzō? Is that his name?"

"Yes."

"Hmm." He wrinkled his nose. "That doesn't really sound like a Hatake name."

Amused, she directed him over to the table. "That's because it isn't. It was already his name."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay then."

She scoffed. "I'm happy we have your approval, Kakashi-kun. So, what did you do with Minato-san while we were gone?"

"Trained, mostly. He's getting better with the Flying Raijin technique. I'm pretty sure he could beat Karasu now. Oh!" He turned in his zaisu to face her, eyes wide and excited. "Kushina-san got really mad at Minato-niisan and threw a kunai at him, and for some dumb reason he didn't dodge and it caught him in the shoulder—"

"What? She threw a kunai at her boyfriend?"

You have absolutely no room to judge.

"Yeah. Anyways, he let me heal it! It wasn't very deep, but I had to make sure I fixed his deltoid just right. I would have done it perfectly but he told me to let it scar." He rolled his eyes. "'To remember not to piss off my Red Hot-blooded Habanero girlfriend.' Then she got mad again but he kissed her until she wasn't." He shuddered, making a disgusted sound. "I think they forgot I was there."

Sakura dropped her head into her hands as she laughed. He sounded so traumatized. It reminded her of the sex talk her Kakashi had had with the same blonde man and she could not stop laughing. "Oh no, you poor kid." When she started to get control of herself, looking over at his unimpressed little glare started her off again.

"Did you just snort?"

"I'm s—" Wheezing, more cackling. Her Kakashi's annoyed face when she'd laughed at him about this came to mind and she pressed her fist to her lips. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-kun. It's not… not you. It made me think of something else. Are you alright? They… they just kissed, right?"

He rolled his eyes again. "Yeah."

"Well." She cleared her throat. "I'm so proud of you, Kakashi-kun. That's the first time you've healed something so big, and on a human. You're going to be an asset to any team you're put on."

He practically glowed, he smiled so bright. "That's what Minato-niisan said, too. Thank you for teaching me, Me-chan."

She opened her mouth to reply when two things happened at once. First: Tenzō's distressed wailing erupted through the house, immediately tugging on her anxiety and jerking her to her feet. Second: a large, warm hand on her arm stopped her, pulling her back to her seat. "Karasu! What are you doing here? Tenzō needs—"

"That's a clone, Me-chan."

Oh. She looked down at the hand on her arm and realized his chakra did feel weaker. "He's fine, Ayame." His other hand came up to caress her face, his low, sultry voice and heated touch directly at odds with his words. "He woke up hungry and he finally pooped. He hates it as much as we thought he would." One finger traced along her jaw, brushing her lips. What the heck is this clone doing? These two things do not go together.

"Does he need any help?"

She could see the smirk beneath his mask. He was staring at her mouth now. "Please, I house trained eight ninken, I can handle one squalling toddler with a dirty diaper."

"Um…" That made sense… but he was crowding her space, leaning closer. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was remembering a lesson about shadow clones and inhibitions and personalities, but it was incredibly difficult to focus with him so close and Tenzō's cries still ringing in her ears.

Somewhere on her other side, someone cleared their throat. "Hello, Clone-san. I'm here, too."

Dark eyes not leaving her lips, Kakashi's clone chuckled darkly. "And?"

Kakashi-kun clicked his tongue. "Perverted…"

Had the crying stopped? Were they okay?

One slender finger reached up and hooked in the edge of his mask as he leaned in closer. "See? They're fine."

"For fuck's—" The clone disappeared in a poof of smoke, only then did Sakura notice her racing heart. "I'm sorry about him…" Kakashi strode across the room to sit where his clone had just been, Tenzō in his arms. The little boy's face was propped on Kakashi's shoulder, one hand clutching his shirt, the other tangled in the long silver hair on the back of his neck. "Sometimes they come out a little…" The tops of his ears were pink. "Funny."

Kakashi-kun tsk'd. "I thought I was going to have to destroy it so I didn't have to see any more private adult stuff today." He leaned around Sakura to wrinkle his nose at Kakashi before his expression changed to one of eager curiosity as he watched Tenzō.

"Hey, kid." He acknowledged the other Kakashi with a glance and a nod before scooting closer to Sakura. "So, he absolutely hated that, not that I blame him. I think he'll be okay for now, but he's going to need to eat again soon."

"Hey, Tenzō-chan, did you have a nice nap?" He turned in Kakashi's arms to look at her, with tear-stained cheeks and watery eyes. When she reached over to brush his hair, he moaned pitifully, leaning slightly into her touch. "How did his breathing sound while he slept?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Better than last night." He reached up to try and dislodge the toddler's hand from his hair, but stopped when he was met with high pitched protest. "He, uh… likes my hair. I guess it's a good thing you didn't let me cut it."

A small smile crept up her face as she watched the little boy that was now her son. My son. I have a son. How long would it take until it seemed real? "It's soft." She indicated Tenzō's other hand, clutching at his shirt like he'd done all morning. "Like your shirt, apparently."

A small finger poked her arm and she looked back at an impatient, expectant Kakashi-kun. His eyes flicked to Tenzō and then back to hers. Oh, right. "Would you like to meet him, Kakashi-kun?"

He nodded and stood, coming around to her other side. Taking a deep breath, he leaned over so that his face was in Tenzō's line of sight. They blinked at each other. Kakashi-kun glanced back at her before slowly, cautiously, he tugged his mask down. "Hi." He pressed his lips together, trying to form words without flashing his fangs the way Sakumo did so well, speaking slowly, his voice soft. "My name is Kakashi, but you can call me 'Nii-san.'" He paused, seeming to gauge his reception before inching closer. When Tenzō didn't seem bothered by him at all, he reached out, letting his hand hover in front of his face as if he were meeting a puppy for the first time. Moving slowly again, he gently patted his head. Tenzō's eyes followed the movement, evidently secure enough in Kakashi's arms that he did not mind this new person. When he didn't cry or pull away, Kakashi-kun let out a breath. "I'm going to look out for you, Tenzō-chan, and teach you cool stuff, and always be around when you need me. Because you're my family now, pack."

Heart in her throat, she blinked hard and hid her smile behind her hands. They were so impossibly precious, so dear to her. She would do anything, give everything to keep them safe and whole. Glancing at Kakashi who had watched the exchange with an unreadable expression, she remembered what he'd said that morning and knew he felt the same.