Chapter 29 — The Five Stages of Fatherhood

"I'm back!" Kagami called, stooping down to remove his shoes. When he didn't get a response, he paused. The house was silent. He straightened and set his shoes aside. "Mikoto-hime?"

Still no answer.

Kagami activated his sharingan and looked, but there wasn't any chakra in the house. He paced his way down to the kitchen, glancing around. Everything was neat and in its place except for a small piece of paper on the tabletop.

Out. Back by four.

He glanced at the clock. It was two to four, and Mikoto had a reputation for punctuality. If she said they were going to be back at four, they would be back at four.

Sure enough, after Kagami waited on the engawa for a couple minutes, he saw them coming through the gates. Mikoto had Itachi on her hip and Shisui holding her free hand. She saw him first and bent her head to say something.

"Tousan!" Shisui squealed, pulling free and dashing forward.

Kagami got to his feet and caught him. "Miss me?" he asked, grinning. "I missed you! Did you have fun without me?"

"A ton of fun!" Shisui beamed and rubbed a hand across his cheek to clean the dirt there. He only succeeded in smearing it. "Obasan showed me how to throw shuriken!"

Kagami stilled, flicking his gaze to Mikoto. She had stopped a few feet away and met his stare evenly. "Did she now," he murmured. He lowered Shisui to the ground. "Go on in and wash up. Then we'll head home and make dinner."

Shisui scrambled into the house, barely stopping long enough to take off his shoes and close the door behind him. The moment he was gone, Mikoto said, "He's feeling left behind."

"That's not your decision to make."

"He's Kyoko's brother. You can't deny that."

"Shisui is his own person."

"You know that's not what I mean. He's smart and talented. I caught him still awake at four in the morning because he was reading one of Kyoko's genjutsu manuals."

He let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes. "Please, just . . . let me keep at least one of my kids safe. Just one."

Mikoto sighed, and he felt a hand on his arm. "Oniisan, keeping him from learning things isn't going to protect him. If you want him to be safe, then focus on making sure he knows everything he can about defending himself and others. Get him started on it now. Before he's a shinobi."

He opened his eyes and dropped his stare to the hand she'd curled around his wrist. "Long before," he murmured.

"Perhaps," Mikoto agreed vaguely, drawing her hand back. She smoothed back Itachi's hair and laughed as he tried to nip at her fingers. "None of that," she cooed. "Do you want to see your Ojisan? Of course you do!"

Kagami took Itachi as Mikoto pressed the baby into his arms, but he didn't look away from her. "If I tell you to stop—"

"I would respect that." She arched an eyebrow. "I would not like it."

He finally looked down at Itachi, who was starting to doze off. "He's going to be a shinobi someday. I know I can't stop that."

"It doesn't have to be now," she mused. "But yes, someday. He might as well be prepared for it. The two of us can manage that. After all, not all genin come through the Academy. And at least that way, you wouldn't be pressured by the rigidity of what year he's in."

He snapped his gaze back up to her. "Maybe."

The door to the house slid open. "I'm ready for dinner!" Shisui called, hopping out on one foot as he tried to get his shoe on.

Mikoto smiled. "Go on ahead. I need to finish talking to your father."

Shisui finally got his shoe on and jumped down from the engawa. He glanced between them. "About Kyoko?"

Instead of answering his question, she nodded in the direction of their house. "Go on."

Kagami watched as Shisui ran off and then rasped, "What happened to Kyoko?"

"She's safe and healthy and unharmed," she led with, reaching out and combing her fingers through Itachi's hair. "She saved one of her fellow genin."

"Oh." His shoulders slumped, the tension in them unwinding even as the fear lingered. "That's . . . good. I'm proud of her."

"You should be. It unlocked her sharingan."

And just like that, the tension was back, and the fear was rearing its head. Kagami stared at her, searching for any hint—any hint at all—that she was lying. Of course she wasn't. Not to him. His voice broke as he managed the words, "She's five."

"Yes. She is."

The silence hung heavy between them. He took a long and deep breath before pressing Itachi back into her arms. "Shisui is waiting for me. I should go."

"Why's he so tired today?"

Kagami glanced towards Obito and motioned for him to be quiet. He finished closing Shisui's door and turned. "This way," he murmured, moving to the front of the house. He waved Obito out and stepped out behind him. Once he'd closed the door, he said, "Apparently he stayed up late last night."

"Oh." Obito stared at him as he sat on the edge of the engawa. He glanced out into the dark street. "Are you . . . waiting for Kyo-chan?"

"Yes. I just want to talk to her about her sharingan."

"And the nin?"

"Nin?" Kagami asked sharply. He winced, knowing that he was letting his own anxiety get the better of him. He softened his voice and tried again. "What nin?"

Obito frowned. "I thought . . . I thought you talk to Obasan."

"I did."

"And she told you about the sharingan she got protecting Raidou."

"She did."

"Did she . . . ." He looked down and stuffed his barefoot against the wood floor. "Did she not mention the people Kyoko killed to protect Raidou?" he asked quietly. "I mean, that's why she really got her sharingan, right?"

Kagami caught a breath and held it. Mikoto hadn't said anything about that. And if she hadn't told him about that, that meant she didn't know. But why would Kyoko tell Obito and not her Obasan? He finally forced out the breath, lungs shuddering a bit. "How did you learn that?"

Obito snapped his head up. "What?"

"How did you learn about the enemy nin?"

"I—" Obito was frowning again, his nose wrinkling, but this time it was in confusion. "Rin-chan, Kakashi, and I went to see how Raidou was doing. He told us."

"Kyo-chan didn't tell you?"

He shook his head. "Was she supposed to? We didn't really talk about it. I just . . . wanted to see her eyes, really." He looked away, shoulder hunching. "They're real," he mumbled.

Kagami paused and then held out a hand. "Are you wanting to wait with me?"

Obito stared at his hand for a second for taking it and dropping down to snuggle up against Kagami's side. "When's she going to be back?"

"I'm not sure, but she probably won't be too much longer. In the meantime, why don't you tell me about your mission?"