"Go ahead and take a shower," Mikoto said as they crossed the threshold, putting a hand on Shisui's back to guide him forward. "You need it after today."

Shisui skipped towards the hallway. When he reached it, he turned and gave a gap-toothed smile. "Are we having mochi?"

"Yes," Kagami said, bending down to settle Itachi on his feet. "You did so well today, I think it deserved to be rewarded. Besides, Obito and Kyoko like mochi, so we won't be getting any complaints." He held one of Itachi's hands and remained hunched as he helped the boy toddle across the room.

Mikoto watched with a smile. "He likes you," she murmured. Then she moved for his kitchen to start making tea.

"I would hope so." Kagami sat with a sigh, chuckling a bit as Itachi held on to his knee to stay standing. "I'm around enough that him disliking me would be inconvenient."

"When do we need to start dinner?" she asked.

"I have leftovers. But they'll hopefully be back within the hour. Minato-san is consistent with when he ends training, and Tsunade-sama has started Kyoko on chakra strength training that seems to wear her out pretty quickly, so she's been sending her straight home for dinner." He frowned. "She stills goes out after to train with Hatake."

"She has a friend," Mikoto said mildly. She could understand that Kagami was concerned about how much time Kyoko spent away, training. But she also felt it was too important to overlook the fact that Hatake Kakashi was the first friend her age—outside her own twin—that Kyoko had ever had. But instead of stressing that point to him, she said, "I'll reheat what you have saved. Hopefully it'll be enough; Obito-kun ate fifths the last time I fed him."

Mikoto was setting out bowls of reheated fried rice, the rest of it kept warm in the oven, when Shisui skipped back out. He grinned, stopping at the edge of the living room and pointing to his face. "Look at my bruise!"

Mikoto laughed, and Kagami was just glad Shisui hadn't gotten seriously hurt from falling out of the tree. Honestly, he was still surprised Shisui's tree-walking had let him get that high in the first place. He seemed almost ready for water at this point.

Itachi giggle, pointing at Shisui. His cousin bounced over to him, crouching down. "You think that's funny, Tachi?" he asked, poking the toddler in the stomach. "Just wait 'til you're falling outta trees! Will you be laughing then?"

"I hope he'll fall less than you. Come eat," Mikoto called.

Shisui snatched Itachi up, holding him against his front as he pranced over to the table. Itachi kicked his legs. "Down," he insisted. "No. Down!"

Shisui huffed, setting Itachi on a chair. "You need to learn more than just two words."

"He'll get there," Mikoto said, picking Itachi up so she could sit down and settle him in her lap. "Kyoko-chan seems to think he'll say her name soon."

"Her name's too hard for a baby to say," Shisui said, wrinkling his nose.

"Unfortunately for you, I think Kyoko might be easier for him than Shisui." Kagami ruffled his son's hair as he joined them at the table.

The front door slid open. "We're home!" Obito called. "Obaasan! Itachi-chan!" He ran over and almost slid into the table as he tried to stop. "Hi!" He patted Itachi and Shisui both on the head. "Starting dinner without us?"

Kagami smiled, getting up to retrieve the other bowls from the oven. "We weren't sure when you would be back." He glanced towards the door and paused when he caught sight of Kyoko, eyes dark and narrowed on the table as if she wasn't even seeing it. The door was still open, his daughter standing on the threshold. "Kyoko-chan, are you alright?"

"She's fine," Obito said immediately, looking over at his sister with a frown. "She's just being grumpy today for no reason."

She snapped back to attention. She pressed her lips together. "I'm not grumpy," she said through gritted teeth.

"You certainly don't sound grumpy," Mikoto said wryly. "Come sit down. I'm sure Itachi wouldn't mind sitting with you."

That got her moving. Kyoko sat in the chair next to Mikoto and accepted Itachi as he was passed over to her. "Hello, Itachi-chan," she said softly, running her fingers through his hair. She looked up at the others. Then she straightened. "Shisui! What happened?"

"Oh, this?" He pointed to his black eye and grinned proudly, showing off his newly lost tooth. "I'm really good at tree-walking."

She looked at Mikoto, who laughed. "He didn't want me to heal his war wound," she said.

Kyoko huffed. "Come here," she told him. "Let me fix that."

"I don't need it fixed!"

"Shisui!"

He pouted. "Fine," he muttered, getting to his feet and shuffling around the table. He stopped by her chair, and she reached up a green-glowing hand to his face.

"Told you she was grumpy," Obito said, sitting down and taking the bowl Kagami handed to him.

"I'm not grumpy," she said sharply, glancing at him. Then she looked back at Shisui, pressing her hand to the side of his face. "Stop moving."

Itachi giggled, small fingers grabbing at Kyoko's sleeve.

Kagami exchanged a look with Mikoto. She nodded to him, and he took a breath. "How was your day?" he asked Kyoko, setting her bowl on the table and smoothing a hand across her hair.

"Fine," she said firmly, lifting her hand from Shisui's face. "Better?"

He prodded at his eye. The only trace of the bruise left was the faintest hint of pink. "Yeah. Thanks, Kyo."

Kagami waited a moment for Shisui to set down before he prompted, "What did you do today?"

"Shisho and I had a hospital shift and training," Kyoko said, wrapping both arms around Itachi and resting her chin on his head instead of reaching for her food.

"We have a mission together!" Obito announced. "Kyoko and her sensei showed up at our training so we could practice working together."

Kagami pulled out the chair next to Kyoko to sit down instead of moving back to where he'd been before. "A mission?" He reached out and nudged her bowl as a reminder.

"My team's escorting," Obito said around a mouthful of food. "Kyoko and her sensei are 'pposed to do medical."

"And Kato Dan," Kyoko added on. "It's mostly a medical supplies delivery with treatment while we're there."

Kagami nodded, trying his best not to let the worry in the pit of his stomach show. "How long?"

Kyoko glanced at Obito. "Two or three weeks."

"We leave in two days." Obito shoveled in another mouthful of food. "Is there more?"

"Finished already?" Mikoto asked, getting to her feet. She picked up the bowl. "That's all the fried rice, but I'll dig something else up for you."

"Kyoko," Kagami murmured. "Please eat."

Her gaze flicked to the bowl. After a moment of staring at it in silence, she looked back down at Itachi and said, "I'm not very hungry."

He looked her over carefully. She didn't look ill. "Are you staying here after dinner?"

She shook her head and threw one cautious look towards Obito. "No. Kakashi and I are training."

Obito looked away, crossing his arms while he continued to wait for his food. Kagami cleared his throat to draw his daughter's attention back to him. "If you're doing that, then you need to eat. You know that."

"I do," she agreed.

Kagami kept an eye on Kyoko even as he looked up at Obito and drew him into a conversation about his day. It was after Mikoto had dragged Obito into the kitchen to make him help make his fourth bowl of food that Kagami returned full attention to Kyoko. She hadn't touched her food yet, but he set that aside for the moment. "What happened?" he asked, keeping his voice soft.

She looked up at him, pausing in how she was rubbing circles on Itachi's back. He was nestled facing her against her front with his head resting on her shoulder. His eyes were closed. Kyoko pressed her lips tight again and didn't answer, glancing at her brothers.

"If we go outside, will you eat and talk to me?"

Her shoulders slumped. "Yes," she murmured.

"Okay. Let's give Itachi-chan back to your Obaasan." He stood and started to reach for the toddler.

"You're not waking him up," Mikoto said, appearing suddenly and shouldering him out of the way. "Good job, Kyoko-chan. He's been fighting naps recently." She gathered her son up in her arms, shushing him as he stirred. Then she pinned Kyoko with a look. "Eat."

"Yes, ma'am," Kyoko said, somewhat cowed as she picked up her bowl.

Kagami put a hand to her shoulder, guiding her out onto the engawa. He shut the door behind them, knowing full well that the temptation to eavesdrop would probably be too great for Obito otherwise even under Mikoto's watchful eye. "Was it something at training?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the edge. "I can imagine Obito might have said something about you training with Kakashi."

She shook her head. "No. Minato-san stopped him on that when Shisho and I first got there. Doesn't mean he's happy with me, though."

That was something he could only hope would change with time. But if that wasn't it . . . . "How was the hospital, then?"

Kyoko hunched her shoulders. Instead of answering, she finally started in on her food. He waited as she ate, happy that she was at least doing that. Once she'd finished and had set the bowl aside, he brought his hand up to rub circles on her back just like she'd been doing for Itachi not long ago.

"Ready to tell me?"

He could feel the tension running under her skin. She took a breath. "If someone is crashing from a soldier pill overdose, it can be fatal. But there are iryo techniques that can lower that risk."

He waited for an explanation beyond that, but the pause stretched longer than he expected. He was really hoping what he was thinking was wrong. "Did you lose a patient?" he asked gently.

"Shisho said it doesn't always work, but it has a seventy-three percent success rate," Kyoko burst out, volume sudden. "I must have made some mistake, but she won't tell me. I tried, but I did something wrong."

He closed his eyes and took a breath. "You did your best. I know you did. I know losing a patient must be—"

"I know the technique," she interrupted. Her hands were fisted in her lap. "I don't know what I did wrong."

He paused. Her tone sounded more angry than sad or guilty. He took a moment to reassess, because . . . maybe she wasn't upset about what he'd assumed she'd been upset about. He wrapped his arm around her. "Can you look at me, Kyoko-chan?"

She dragged her stare up to him. Her jaw was set.

"I doubt you did anything wrong."

Her expression darkened.

"I mean it." When the look in her eye just hardened further, he said, "Alright. Tell me what mistake you think you made."

"I don't know. And Shisho won't tell me."

"Tsunade-sama doesn't strike me as someone to hide that information to spare your feelings."

Her gaze flicked away for a brief second. "She's not," she mumbled.

"So tell me what mistake you made."

Kyoko took a shaky breath. He got a glimpse of the glossiness overtaking her eyes before she looked down and leaned into him. "He didn't make it. It didn't work."

"Twenty-seven percent chance of that, right? You're smart. You know how numbers like that work."

She hunched her shoulders. "Yeah. I know. Kakashi said I'm being dumb for thinking my success rate could be perfect."

That caught him by surprise. "You talked to him about this?" When she gave a small nod in answer, he said, "Obito didn't seem to know what was going on."

"Minato-san had us split up to spar. Kakashi and I talk during our spars."

"Ah. I'm glad you do."

She shifted. "I'm . . . going to be late," she said hesitantly.

He nodded and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head. "I won't hold you back any longer, then. And I'll make sure to hide some mochi from the boys for when you come home. Thank you for talking to me."