A/N SO, I had originally intended to take a break from writing for a while after this. I tend to get hyper focused on things and it causes me to slack off in other areas of my life. I have a patient and hobby supportive husband, but I need to expend more energy on school and kids and remembering to find time to do my PT so my back doesn't give out before I hit 35. BUT I got a whole ass idea for another fic, same age au, arranged marriage, memory loss lots of drama, maybe Akatsuki Kaksaku, idk yet. I already have like, 2k for the first chapter. I think I will be able to pin it for later though. AND the start on a long one-shot for Dead dove January. IDK if ill actually post that. I am super uncomfortable posting things that are too smutty or suggestive. This will be at the least, very suggestive. I like the story though and have tapped out at least the first 1/3. I won't decide if it will ever see the light of day until I finish it. Anyway, all of this to say, I have finished chapter 35 for this. I think there will be one or two more chapters, then a long ep for one ending, another chapter or two and and EP for the other. 35 actually tied up a lot more than I thought it would. There will also be maybe one or two more drabbles. I might post a teaser for the new long fic idea to my tumblr later this week, I'm badadder1 there. AND Thursday's chapter will be moved to tomorrow because of the holiday, and I might post an extra chapter Friday. I am antsy to post more. ANYWHO please enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think!

Chapter 22

False Peace

Though the atmosphere in the village was strained—everyone tense as if waiting to be attacked in their homes—life changed very little. Sakura woke almost every morning to a hungry little boy gently patting her face until she opened her eyes. For now, Kakashi was there too. Sometimes she would roll over and kiss him awake, only to plop their son on his chest and dash across the hall to get ready for the day in peace. Other times, he woke first, flopping over on top of them, peppering both of them with kisses and affectionate nuzzles and discrete squeezes of her ass.

People still needed their homes repaired and handcrafted wood furniture, so he worked with her father at least three days a week. Every other day, he trained: alone, with her—both of them pushing each other hard—with his ninken. If he was going to be sent to war again, he would be in peak form, and if he was leaving her alone, so was she.

He also spent quite a bit of time with Kakashi-kun. They ran through complex katas and sparred. He made sure to drill him in kenjutsu. Minato was a true fūinjutsu master, but he had taught Kakashi quite a bit before he'd died. In her time, Kakashi had been one of a very few that had any real mastery of the art. They spent almost every evening reading the scroll Ume had given him, Kakashi answering any questions and helping him with basic seals.

Between everything Kakashi was doing with him, and the medical ninjutsu training she was doing with him thanks to Tsunade's scrolls, Kakashi-kun's progress was impressive.

One cool November evening, she sat beside Kakashi on the engawa watching the boys in the garden. Kakashi-kun was slowly going through a basic kata for Tenzō. The younger boy was crawling along beside him every time he moved, waving his arms around in babyish approximations of what Kakashi-kun was doing. Occasionally, he would crouch to correct Tenzō's arm posture.

"He could pass the Chunin exams tomorrow."

Sakura tore her eyes away from the boys to look at him. "Do you think he's ready?"

He shook his head. "No. Emotionally, mentally, he isn't prepared for what that would mean. He isn't ready to fight enemies, to kill. I… this isn't for children, Sakura. I don't understand how we ever got here. This isn't what Hashirama wanted when he founded Konoha."

"You know…" She nudged his side with her elbow. "He was your great grandfather."

Kakashi blinked, a little incredulous. "Huh. Yeah, I guess he was, wasn't he?"

She let her smile fade, watching her son crawl away from Kakashi-kun to flop onto Kusa's side, much to the older boy's frustration. "If you don't think he's ready, if you don't want this for him yet, why push him so hard?"

"Because…" He sighed. "This is the world we live in. For better or worse, he is going to be a shinobi and there's nothing we can do about that. I want him to stay home, to train, to learn, to just be a kid as long as possible, but I also want him to be strong. He won't have all of the pain and loss and abuse to make him hard, to make him strong like I did."

She leaned into his side.

"It will be the same for Tenzō, for the same reasons. They can learn young, train their bodies and their minds, hone their chakra control…" He paused, his thumb tracing circles on her knee. "Learning how to work as a team, to care about your team is important too. It was something that took me far too long to appreciate properly…" He sighed and it sounded bitter and full of regret. "If all young Genin did were easy D-rank missions it would be good for him. He doesn't have the same baggage I did to exacerbate the problem, but being so much better and smarter than his peers right now will still make it difficult to work well with others.

"Unfortunately, we're at war. It won't be long before they're forced to send everyone they have. I was only nine, Sakura, and responsible for two older Chunin and a mission intended to help end the war. I never even thought to question it until recently."

She watched him think, memories, half formed ideas and hopes for the future filtering across his face. After several quiet minutes, Sakura covered his hand on her knee with hers. "You would have made a great Hokage, Kakashi."

He rolled his eyes. "I guess we'll never know for sure."

A few days later, both Kakashis accompanied her to do the weekly shopping. The younger of the two was helping select sweet potatoes when they were greeted by his friends.

"Kakashi-kun!"

"Hey, Kakashi!"

He burrowed his face into his scarf and sighed. "Hey."

Sakura carefully hid an amused smile in Tenzō's hair as she watched the children interact.

"We need to spar again, Bakashi! It's been almost three months since your birthday, and we don't get to at school anymore. I've been working hard to beat you!"

Kakashi-kun rolled his eyes, dropping another sweet potato into the basket Kakashi was carrying. "You still won't be able to."

Sakura clicked her tongue at his bored, snide tone but didn't say anything. He was probably right. He had been working hard too.

"I bet I can!"

"Obito-kun, stop shouting, everyone's staring." Rin bowed apologetically to a pair of old women walking past with irritated glares. "But I would like to see what Ayame-san has been teaching you, Kakashi-kun."

To her surprise, Kakashi finished paying the vendor and started ushering all of the children back down the street. "It's the weekend, we're all free today and the weather's nice. Let's get home, I've got something you can all do. In fact, why don't you round up a few more of your friends."

Kakashi-kun scowled up at him but he ignored it, poking him in the forehead and urging him forward.

"Alright! I'm gonna beat you for sure, Bakashi!"

After all three of them had disappeared down the street, Sakura caught Kakashi's eyes. "What are you going to have them do?"

His eyes crinkled with a smile. "Team work exercises."

When Kusa claimed Tenzō, the little boy had barely been able to crawl. It had seemed like he was capable, he just hadn't been particularly interested. Any time they would set him down and beckon him to crawl, he would scrunch up his face in confusion and eventually start crying. Kakashi had been confident he'd get it when he was ready but Sakura worried.

Apparently, all he'd needed was a bulldog three times his size gently nudging him along, licking his face and yipping encouragingly. Kusa had him crawling after him everywhere he went by their second day together. Adopted though he may have been, he was definitely Kakashi's son.

"See? I told you he'd get it."

Sakura had rolled her eyes and shoved him off the engawa.

Walking had taken a little longer. By early December, even Kakashi was starting to worry. He could pull himself up—on furniture, on an extremely patient Kusa—but standing independently or walking had not even been attempted yet. Crawling did just fine to get him where he wanted to go, what reason did he have to walk?

Eventually, Kakashi-kun had taken matters into his own hands. Every morning after breakfast, he carried Tenzō out to the garden. "You're not allowed to crawl forever, Tenzō-chan. We're walking. You can't be a ninja if you can't walk." He grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet, nudging the back of his heels with his toes to get him to walk. "Now go to Kusa. See? He's right there. Let's walk."

He coaxed, half dragged and puppeted him around the garden every morning. Tenzō did not particularly enjoy any of this. The sessions usually lasted around twenty minutes before Sakura was drawn to the garden by hysterical angry shrieks. Kakashi-kun was determined, though. When Tenzō had had enough, he scooped him up and sat him on Kusa's back. "Alright, that's enough for today. Let's take the ninken on a run and then you can watch me do my katas."

"Don't go too far, Kakashi-kun."

Kusa shook his shoulders, adjusting Tenzō into a more secure position. "Don't worry, Ma. I'll look after them."

He might not be able to walk, but he could keep himself on Kusa's back. How much of that was down to his increased trunk control or Kusa being hyper aware of the boy on his back she did not know. Either way, their little pack of seven had come home that cold morning with red noses and wagging tails. Katas were done in the dojo that day.

The rest of the afternoon, Kakashi-kun entertained Tenzō inside where it was warm. By the time Kakashi got home, they were sitting at the table waiting for dinner. Sakura felt him cross the barrier and called out to Tenzō, "Daddy's home, Tenzō-chan!" and went back to what she was doing.

She heard the door slide open.

"I'm home!"

"Oh, Tenzō-chan!"

A happy shriek and a bark.

Sakura looked up, not seeing either boy at the table. "Uh, where…"

"Hey, buddy! Hey, come here!" Kakashi laughed. "Where's Mama? Did she see that? I'm so proud of you, Tenzō."

She stepped around the corner to see Kakashi kneeling in the hall, their son in his arms. Kakashi-kun was standing to the side, hands on hips and shaking his head.

"What happened?"

Kakashi pat Tenzō's hair. "He walked."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "What? And I missed it?"

Kakashi-kun threw up his hands. "He heard you say 'daddy' was home and got all excited. As soon as he saw him walk through the door he just… stood up and walked to him like he'd done it a million times." He tsk'd. "All my work and he walks for him. I'm taking credit."

Sakura snorted. "I can't believe I missed it!" She crouched and held out her arms. "Will you walk to Mama, sweetheart?"

He turned around in Kakashi's arms to look at her before burrowing back into his shirt, arms locked around his neck.

She scoffed and stood. "Of course not." When Kakashi stood too and leaned down to kiss her, she ruffled Tenzō's hair. "Daddy's boy."

Kakashi watched, a half smile hidden beneath his mask, as the six, seven and eight year-old versions of his friends shouted at each other. They were supposed to be working in teams to build snow forts. They were allowed to use jutsu and any ninja tools they might usually carry. It was more of a game than any real worthwhile exercise, but that was okay. Unsurprisingly, it had been Obito's idea.

They'd been doing things like this most weekends for the last couple of months. Sometimes they just wanted to spar, sometimes he sent them on simple missions around the village and surrounding woods. Sakura had openly wondered where this ability to "teach" children had come from and where had it been when he'd been assigned team seven.

Kakashi was not the same man he'd been at twenty-four. And the kid seemed to have grown in the last few months, too. When Kakashi was his age, well… every part of his life had been different. Being the best had been singularly important to him even before his father's death, and with so much natural talent and intelligence, it had been easy to look down on his less skilled, less driven peers. It had taken several lectures from Minato, and one from Obito—mostly his actual death—before he had truly learned to rely on teammates in any real meaningful way.

This Kakashi had not lost his father and hardened his heart at such a young age. This Kakashi had a pseudo mother that loved him, didn't put up with any of his snotty attitude, and redirected some of the energy he'd previously poured fully into trying to be the best shinobi. This Kakashi also had Tenzō. Looking after the smaller boy took even more of that energy, it softened him, made him more like the child he always should have been. Even with all of those differences, it had still taken several of these weekend projects—and one stern reprimand from Sakura—for this Kakashi to show signs of understanding.

Now, the kid genuinely seemed to enjoy his friends and managed to work well with others, even when Obito or Guy were in charge of his team. Kakashi was proud of him.

"Oh, wow! They're really getting creative." Sakura stepped out onto the engawa beside him, rubbing her hands over her bare forearms and shivering.

Was she not even channeling chakra to keep warm? Silly woman. "Come here." He opened his jacket and pulled her close, her back to his chest, and wrapped it around them both. She laughed, her breath hanging in the chill air as he rubbed his cold nose behind her ear. Fuck he loved the way she smelled.

What a weird thing to think.

But she smells like me.

Mine.

He wanted to take her inside and really warm her up.

"I hope they'll be warm enough tonight."

"Hm?" He blinked, reluctantly opening his eyes and returning his attention to the chaos on the other end of the property. "They'll be fine. They all have their standard winter sleeping bags, and they'll build fires once they're done."

She sighed, happy, relaxed. "I hate sleeping in the snow. I'm glad I get to stay inside tonight."

Kakashi pouted. "You don't want to share my sleeping bag?" He tightened his arms around her as she laughed.

"No way. Tenzō and I will be just fine inside with the sensible, short haired ninken."

"But I'll be cold."

Turning in his hold, she kissed his nose and laughed again. "Senbei will keep you warm."

He scoffed, stealing a kiss before tucking her under his chin. "Senbei's an adequate replacement, I suppose."

Their moment was interrupted by a long suffering snuffle and a creaking of wood as Kusa leapt up beside them from the snow covered garden. "Pup's worn out, Boss. Good thing too, there's not enough chakra in the world to make all this cold pleasant."

A sleepy looking Tenzō sat on his back, rubbing his eyes with mittened hands. Sakura 'awe'd' and pulled away to pick him up. "You're so cute, my sleepy little boy." Tenzō grunted, dropping his head on her shoulder. "Let's get you out of these wet clothes and then you can take a nap, okay?"

Before she could carry him inside, Kakashi pulled her back. "Want to find me when he's asleep?"

She scoffed, kissing his cheek and tossing her gaze back over her shoulder at the noisy field. "With all those kids running around? You must be crazy."

Grinning, he slid a hand down to cup her ass. "A little. They're plenty busy."

Snorting, she stepped free and opened the door. "No way. I do not want to be responsible for any more school yard conversations about naked taijutsu."