A/N – Hanami's here, folks! Hope you enjoy!

"Neji, come on! Why are you being so slow!?"

Hanabi was aware that she was being incredibly whiny, but it had been actual ages (5 whole days) since she had seen her sister, and she was not at all interested in turning it into an eternity (a week).

On top of that, her father had made them late by going on and on and on about 'propriety' and 'you will be representing the Hyūga Clan, behave accordingly' and 'do not engage with Yūhi Kurenai, that daughter-stealer!' and 'You will be chaperoning your sister and Hokage-sama, I do not wish to find out about him taking any liberties with her!'.

Ugh.

"Hanabi-sama, there is no need for such behaviour." Neji said in a voice that was supposed to be placating, but always ended up closer to condescending (it took her a while to figure that out, which meant Neji ended up with some toes crushed out of spite more often than not). "Hinata-sama will be here with Yūhi-san and Mirai."

"What if she's here with Hokage-sama?" Hanabi couldn't resist teasing. Neji had been frozen solid, completely unresponsive when he found out just who Hinata was dating (to be fair, the fact that she was dating at all was not any better for his health either). It had taken a couple weeks of manic rage and another week of meditation (demolishing training dummies) for him to decide that since Kakashi always asked to be treated informally, Neji would do just that and treat him like any another pest hovering around his cousin.

It was all incredibly amusing. Kō bet that Neji's head would explode if he saw them kiss in public. Hanabi couldn't wait to see it (she was surprised no one had caught them already. Although both Hinata and Kakashi were pretty reserved people, so that might have something to do with it).

Neji, to his credit, kept the Hyūga patented poker face (unfortunately for him, it was #21 - 'I am thinking of murder with no care as to whether I can get away with it or not', separate from but comparable to #23 – 'I am thinking of murder and I will get away with it').

"She is his assistant. It's her job to be in his general vicinity" Hanabi continued comfortably. She couldn't see Kakashi around, so he was safe.

Mostly.

Kind of.

Well, it will give his bodyguards something to do, at the very least.

"Do you want him to shut down, Hanabi-san?"

Hanabi looked excitedly at the growly voice coming from her left. "Katsumi-chan! It's been so long! Aneki summoned you?"

An orange tiger with black stripes (Hanabi had learned the hard way to not focus on them too much, unless she wanted to get a migraine) and green eyes stalked towards her, brushing by both of them. She wore a collar with chains looping down from it, with some sakura blossoms shoved into the collar itself. "I had informed Hinata-sama that I would like to see the festival. She was kind enough to oblige."

"Where is Aneki?" Hanabi looked around again. Everyone was scattered around the sakura trees. The Konoha 12 (minus Hinata) were sitting on blankets on the grass. Kurenai and Anko were sitting at one of the tables. Izumo and Kotetsu were joking around with the Hokage's bodyguards. She could see Aburame Shibi talking with the Uchihas a little farther away. There were a bunch of other people she didn't care for. No Hinata.

"Mirai-chan was getting restless." Katsumi cleaned her ears and shook her head. "Hinata-sama went with her."

"I see." Hanabi pouted. She noticed Anko getting up to antag – ahem, talk to Ebisu.

"I'll go greet Kurenai-san."

Neji nodded in agreement and went to sit next to Tenten, trying to stay out of Lee's reach, who was acting as if he hadn't seen Neji in ages, trying to give him a 'Hug of Youth' or some such thing. Weirdo. Katsumi growled an agreement and left to find a nice sunny patch to nap in.

Hanabi waved at Kurenai as she noticed her, and leaned on the chair next to her. "Hello, Kurenai-san!"

"Hello, Hanabi-chan." Kurenai patted the table. "Come, take a seat."

Hanabi did, pulling back the chair and sitting down, resting her elbows at the table. She was aware that Neji was staring at her, trying to telepathically communicate 'Manners, Hanabi-sama. Act like a lady'.

She ignored him.

"Where's Mirai-chan?"

Kurenai smiled at her knowingly, taking a sip of her sake. "She wanted to see more trees and took Hinata-chan with her."

"The trees here are not enough?" Hanabi questioned.

"She might be up to something." Kurenai agreed easily, a proud glint entering her eye. "Mirai-chan is already so very independent. She likes to go and explore things. She only ever takes Shikamaru and Hinata with her, though." She cast a glance at where Ino was sitting and held back a laugh. "One time, Ino was in charge of her and she ran away the moment her back was turned. The only reason she didn't lose her is because Kiba was close by and realised she had given Ino the slip."

As Hanabi and Kurenai giggled away, something knocked into Kurenai's chair.

"Oh!"

"Okaa-san!"

"Mirai-chan!" Kurenai spread her arms for a hug, then slowly put them down when she saw the load Mirai was carrying. "Mirai-chan, what is this?"

"Flowers!" Mirai said cheerfully, putting an armful of cherry blossoms on the table, a couple of them falling into Kurenai's sake cup. "For your hair!"

Hanabi cooed a little awkwardly (it was so weird, talking to children) as Kurenai squished her daughter's cheeks. "That's so sweet, Mirai-chan! Did you collect them all by yourself?"

"Mirai-chan was very diligent."

Both women looked to see Hinata approach their table. She was clad in a lavender half-sleeved sundress, with white stockings and black Mary Janes. Her braid was thrown over her shoulder, peppered through with cherry blossoms. She looked beautiful.

"She gathered only the best blossoms, isn't that right, Mirai-chan?" Hinata spoke, plucking a wagashi from the bento on the table and eating it.

"Only the best!" Mirai agreed, staring at the cherry blossoms with a seriousness that seemed out of place, considering what was being stared at.

After some small talk, during which Mirai (a little clumsily) tied flowers to the lower part of Kurenai's hair, Hinata asked if she could get them something else. They declined, and Hinata took her leave to sit where the rest of the Konoha 12 was.

Hanabi was thinking of getting up as well to find Konohamaru, when she received a juicy piece of news.

"You are doing such a good job, Mirai-chan." It seemed to Hanabi that Kurenai was doing her best to not sound like she was talking to a particularly adored little puppy. Mirai was reaching the age where she was telling everyone that she was a big girl (at 5 years old! Preposterous, but Hanabi unfortunately remembered herself being the same at that age. She almost cringed like a snail that had bitten into a lemon as those memories assaulted her). This meant that cooing voices were seldom tolerated and she was to be talked to like an adult.

Thankfully, she was also used to being adored and so the 'seldom' meant 6 times out of 10. But the tantrums when she didn't feel like being puppy-talked were legendary enough that everyone tried to be on their best behaviour all the time.

While Hanabi was thinking, Kurenai continued. "Did Hina-oba teach you how to tie flowers like this?"

Hanabi was sure it was not, in fact, Hinata who taught her this. Hinata knew of many different ways to wear flowers in her hair, on the rare occasions that she felt like it. Just tying flowers to strands of hair and hoping to Kami they stuck was... not really her style, to put it politely. Mirai's next words confirmed that, although they brought a surprise as well.

"Nuh-uh." Mirai's tongue was peeking out of her mouth as she focused on her most important task. "Kakashi-oji did."

Both ladies blinked, the sound of Shisui ribbing Iruka and Ino and Sakura loudly laughing the backdrop to their surprise.

Kurenai caught herself first. "Kakashi-oji was there?"

Mirai nodded vigorously, throwing a look of unparalleled disdain at a clump of flowers with stems that were too short and threw them away with, honestly, unnecessary force. She pulled back and looked around, then looked at Hanabi. "Chair, please."

"Sure." Hanabi stood up and pulled her chair behind Kurenai's. She leaned on the table, trying to pull her facial muscles into something that was not a maniacal smile. "And did Oji-san teach you how to tie flowers in Hina-oba's hair?"

Neji was going to flip!

Mirai nodded again, and stayed silent, climbing onto the chair. Hanabi had the uncharitable thought that this kid had no idea when people were hanging on to her every word.

"Hanabi, Kurenai-oba! How – "

Both ladies hushed Konohamaru with a hurtful amount of venom. Before he could feel too bad about it, Kurenai asked Mirai, "Mirai-chan, could you start from the beginning please?"

Mirai looked up then, and saw three pairs of eyes staring at her, two in curiosity and one in mild panic as Konohamaru hovered around her, trying to make sure she didn't fall off the chair and hurt herself.

Mirai went back to her task on the upper part of Kurenai's hair, and explained. "I was looking at some bugs near the creek and Oba-chan and Oji-san were sitting under a tree talking about boring adult stuff – "

"Mirai-chan! " Kurenai interrupted. "Why were you near the creek without them?"

Mirai paused, blinking. "Bisuke was with me."

Kurenai turned and looked at her suspiciously. "Was he?"

Mirai nodded vigorously again.

"You know I will ask Hina-oba..." Kurenai warned, and settled when Mirai agreed, unconcerned. She turned back around. "Okay, then. Please continue, Mirai-chan."

"So Bisuke was with me, and I saw some flowers, and I thought I should get some for you! But I wasn't sure which ones to get, so I went back and I asked Oba-chan which flowers are the most beautiful, because Okaa-san only deserves the most beautiful flowers." Konohamaru made a strange choked noise that signified him holding in an adoring coo. "Oba-chan said that I can pick whatever flower I like, because you would like all of them," Kurenai nearly agreed, but was interrupted by Mirai giving her opinion. "which makes no sense! So I asked Oji-san which flower was the most beautiful, and he said that the most beautiful flowers were the ones in a pretty girl's hair."

All three were in various states of astonishment, thinking 'I had no idea he had it in him!'

Mirai, finally done putting flowers in Kurenai's hair, sat down in the chair that Konohamaru moved back in place for her and continued, grabbing an onigiri out of the bento. "I was suspicious, of course. A shinobi cannot believe everything they are told, so I asked him to prove it to me. He agreed, and showed me by putting flowers in Oba-chan's hair. He was right, so then Bisuke and I got flowers for you, Okaa-san, and I came here."

Mirai noisily drank her juice, while the other three digested this. They looked at Hinata. She was sitting next to Kiba and Karui, and seemed oblivious to their conversation. They looked around again, and found Kakashi seated on a table farther away, next to Obito and Gai, nose buried in his book.

They looked at each other again.

'Huh'

_

A little while earlier

"You worry too much, Hinata-chan." Kakashi admonished from where his head was on her lap, eyes closed. "Mirai will be fine. Bisuke's with her."

"Mirai-chan gets into so much mischief, Kakashi-kun." Hinata sighed, massaging his scalp. "One time, while Shikamaru-kun was asleep, she tied straw to his ponytail, one by one, and when he woke up, he almost fell off of the couch from the unexpected weight."

Kakashi laughed loudly, clearly not taking the lesson he was meant to from the story. "He's a Jōnin, Hinata-chan. If he didn't want to fall off the couch he shouldn't have let a 5 year old tie straw to his hair."

"Oba-chan!"

"Mirai-chan?" Hinata turned to look at Mirai, who came running towards them, Bisuke hot on her heels. Only Kakashi's head on her lap kept her from jumping up. "What happened?"

"Oba-chan," Mirai skidded to a stop, Bisuke yelping as he knocked into her, pushing her to the ground. Mirai seemed unconcerned. "What are the most beautiful flowers?"

'What?'

"What?" Hinata asked, casting a quick glance at Kakashi to see if he had any idea what she was talking about. He shrugged and closed his eye again. It looked like she was on her own here. "The most beautiful flowers? Why do you want to know, Mirai-chan?"

"Because I want to give some to Okaa-san!"

'Aww'

"Mirai-chan," Hinata patted her cheek lightly. "Okaa-san will like any flowers you give her, because they were from you!"

Mirai scrunched up her face, turning the statement over in her head. Kakashi absently pet Bisuke, who had flopped onto his chest.

"That doesn't make any sense, Oba-chan!" Mirai huffed in irritation, stomping her foot on the ground. She put her hands on her hips like her mother did when she was upset with her. "I need the prettiest flowers so Okaa-san will like them more!"

Hinata blinked in surprise at the vehemence in her voice while Kakashi tried to choke down a laugh. He didn't relish the thought of pointy elbows to his belly today.

Unfortunately, he was not quiet enough, and got the attention of both ladies.

'Uh-oh'

"Kakashi-kun," Hinata asked sweetly, throwing him to the wolves. "Do you have a better answer?"

"Of course! You think I wouldn't?" Kakashi blustered, ignoring Bisuke's amused little huffs. 'Think, think, think – '

Mirai looked at him menacingly (it was probably curiousity, but Kakashi was not willing to risk it), squinting while she waited for him to answer.

"The most beautiful flowers," Kakashi held for effect, which only worked on Mirai, unfortunately. Hinata still looked like she didn't expect a proper answer from him. "Are the ones in a pretty girl's hair, obviously."

There was a beat of silence.

"Obviously..." Hinata echoed with an, honestly, disrespectful amount of disbelief.

"That's even worse than Oba-chan's answer!" Mirai exclaimed, dropping to the ground and pouting, legs crossed.

"How so?" Kakashi challenged (he was absolutely not being childish, he just had a reputation to uphold).

Mirai huffed again, staring at him (a little unnervingly, Kurenai was teaching her well). A moment later, she asked, "Can you prove it?"

'Absolutely not! Do I look like the kind of man with a proficiency in flowery stuff!?'

"Of course!" Never let it be said that Kakashi backed down from a challenge (except for all the times when he had, naturally). "Get me some flowers and I'll show you."

Mirai threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Which ones though!?"

'What a cranky kid...'

"Mirai-chan," Hinata thankfully took over, offering a gentle suggestion. "How about the cherry blossoms, hmm? There are plenty enough of them, you will have no trouble finding some nice ones. Just keep the stems intact, okay?"

"Okay!" Mirai ran off, taking Bisuke with her (for help? Moral support? Who knows).

"How romantic, Kakashi-kun!" Hinata teased as he sat up with an exaggerated groan and fell back against the tree, sitting next to her. "I have to admit, I did not expect that from you."

"Hurtful, Hinata-chan!" Kakashi pouted, knocking his leg against hers. "I'll have you know, the romance in my soul is beyond mortal imagination."

Hinata hummed nonchalantly, resting her head on his shoulder. "It seems so. Did Icha Icha give you that line?"

Kakashi was conspicuously silent. Hinata turned to look at him, an incredulous smile spreading across her face. "Did you get that line from Icha Icha?"

"Jiraiya-sama's work is incredibly versatile and shoving it into the box of 'erotica' does it a disservice – "

Hinata laughed out loud, trying to muffle her laughter in his shoulder. Kakashi pulled her in, resting his cheek against her hair. Her breathless laughter etched a smile on his face that was well on it's way to hurting his cheeks.

They sat there for a while, enjoying the beauty of the Sakura trees and talking about this and that. Kakashi was telling a story about Shisui and Anko's hunt for Iruka, eliciting a scandalised laugh from Hinata, when Mirai returned.

"What are you laughing about?"

Mirai stood in front of them, looking on curiously, arms filled with, what seemed like, half a tree's worth of flowers.

'That's a lot', Kakashi thought to himself. That many flowers would turn Hinata into Sakura!

"Adult stuff."

"Boring adult stuff." Hinata added, squeezing Kakashi's arm. "Nothing interesting."

"But it can't be boring if you were laughing?" Mirai frowned suspiciously.

"W-Well," Hinata grabbed Kakashi's hand with both of hers to keep herself from fidgeting.

"It's the pollen." Kakashi deadpanned, moving on before Mirai figured out more questions to ask. "You got the flowers? Good. Scooch forward, Hinata-chan."

Kakashi slid in behind her, Mirai plopping down next to him. He pulled her braid back, and stared at it for a while. Mirai, in turn, stared at him in fascination.

"Is everything all right back there, Kakashi-kun?" Hinata asked, trying to keep the amusement from her voice.

"Everything's fine." He replied absently, pushing his forehead protector up to reveal his Sharingan. "Just planning."

"I see." Hinata supportively agreed, turning her head ever so slightly to give Mirai a look, which made her giggle.

"Please don't move, I don't need any distraction." Kakashi ordered, while frantically thinking 'what the fuck do I do with this!?'.

"Of course, my apologies."

"Sorry, Oji-san!"

Kakashi was silent for a few more moments. Then he hummed. "Okay, okay. I've got it."

"Will this be done today?" Mirai asked innocently.

"You are being very rude, Mirai-chan." Kakashi drawled, picking a flower and rolling the stem between his fingers. "Especially when I'm trying to help you here."

"Sorry, Oji-san!" Mirai gave him her best puppy eyes.

"Sure." Kakashi hummed disbelievingly. "Now pay attention."

Hinata closed her eyes and scratched behind Bisuke's ears as Kakashi and Mirai gave their undivided attention to the extremely important task of figuring out how to put flowers in one's hair.

'Should I help?'

"I could tighten the braid so you could – "

"Shh!"

'Well. Okay then.'

"Can you believe this, Bisuke?" Hinata whispered to him conspiratorially. Bisuke barked a laugh, his tail wagging behind him.

After a few minutes of a concerning amount of censored cursing from Kakashi (what was happening back there!?), she felt Kakashi let go of her braid and move it over her shoulder. "There you go. What do you think?"

"Hmm." Mirai considered the matter seriously. "You were right, Oji-san! They do look beautiful!"

'Oh, thank Kami!', Kakashi thought to himself, although, out loud he said, "Of course I am! Do you think I know nothing about flowers?"

Mirai, disrespectfully, did not answer, collecting the flowers and running off. Bisuke barked at them once, then ran after her.

"We should go after her." Hinata suggested. Her hand reached back, thumb rubbing his cheek.

Kakashi groaned tiredly, rubbing his head against hers. "How about you compliment the absolutely wonderful work I did, then we can move."

Hinata looked at the flowers tied to strands of her hair, a little clumsily, but mostly securely. Not the way she would have done it (she wasn't even sure if it was a thing, to do it this way), but pretty regardless.

She turned around, raising his head up. She lowered his mask, and kissed him as passionately as she could. His hand went to support her head, and her own remained on his cheek. Her tongue caressed his lips, and he reciprocated by biting her lip and tugging. Their tongues tangled together, and Hinata had the distant thought that they should stop before Mirai and Bisuke came back to get them.

She pushed him back against the tree they were resting against, her fingers resting against his lips. "You did great." She said breathlessly.

Kakashi gave a rakish smirk. "The flowers, or the kiss?"

"Both." Hinata smiled, blush high on her cheeks. "Come on. We should return before Mirai-chan comes to get us."

She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up. Kakashi moved his hand to her back, sighing long-sufferingly. "If we must."

A/N – Imagine Kakashi and Mirai in the Peter B. Parker and Miles Morales meme. That's what's happening here.

Hiashi has a complicated relationship with Kurenai because, on one hand, she took his daughter in when she had been disowned and was instrumental in her becoming the woman she is today. On the other hand, Hinata refuses to return to the clan no matter how or when they ask (for a bunch of reasons), and blaming Kurenai is easier than the realisation that maybe he was always going to lose his daughter this way, simply because of the way the clan functions.