Work Text:
Chapter 1
“I’m just saying that he’s got to be enrolled somewhere,” Mei said as she threw a shirt into her bag.
The Hatake family was at home preparing for a trip to the Mist Village. The children waited downstairs for their parents to finish packing, and arguing. Roka glared at the ground. Kasumi pretended not to hear. Fujita and Hisano just looked at each other uncertainly.
Kakashi said nothing as he sealed the clothes, that Mei haphazardly threw at her bag, into a scroll.
“Roka is eight years old already and we’ve done nothing to enroll him in either academy,” Mei pressed.
“He’s going to test out early no matter where we send him,” Kakashi replied sighing. “He’s already beyond the capabilities of the average genin. Sending him to the academy at all is a waste of time. Fujita and Hisano could probably graduate from either academy at this point. Don’t you see that sending them to school will make them feel-”
Mei’s voice began to rise in volume. “You just don’t want to commit. Whichever academy teaches him will be the village he is bound to!”
Kakashi physically rose. “And you want to make that decision now?!”
“We have to make it at some point Kakashi! We can’t keep waiting around for the solution to come to us!” Mei paused here, realizing that she’d been shouting. In a calmer tone she said, “if a ninja has no village then they’re labeled as dangerous, one way or another.”
Kakashi sighed again and looked out the window. “I know.”
“Then what are we going to do?” Mei demanded.
Kakashi turned to look at her, eyes hard, “I don’t know! Have you come up with any solutions?”
The words stung and Mei recoiled slightly at them.
Kakashi flinched and his eyes went to the floor. “I’m sorry.” He grasped their pack and straightened, “let’s just go, we have a lot of ground to cover today. We’ll talk about this tonight.”
Mei nodded mutely.
The family departed with a dark cloud hanging over the group. They got into their typical formation: Kakashi in front, his daughters immediately behind him, the boys behind their sisters, with Mei bringing up the rear.
Mei considered their situation as they traveled. They could send two children to each village but that would split up the family. Besides if, however slim of a chance it may seem, their two villages went to war she didn’t want to think about the possibility of her children fighting each other. Not to mention the decision she and Kakashi would have to make. Then again, they’d made that choice for themselves years ago.
Mei looked at her husband, calm and self-assured. His spiky hair moved with the breeze as they jumped from tree to tree. After smiling for a moment at his back, Mei considered the rest of her family in turn.
Her beautiful daughters were four already. They were shy but capable of keeping up with their brothers. Both had Mei’s striking auburn hair. Fujita had hers cut short into a bob whereas Hisano grew hers out in layers like her mother. Either of them could change their minds about hair length at any time but meanwhile it made it easier for family friends to tell them apart. Although they hadn’t shown any outward affinity for any two, or one, elements Mei suspected that Fujita had inherited her lava style and Hisano her boil style. That was just her feeling however.
She next turned to her sons who, like Kakashi before them, bore an uncanny resemblance to their father. Between the spiky silver hair and the bone structure of their faces, it was easy to see the resemblance even when Kakashi wore his mask. This led to much cooing and cheek pinching from Naruto and Sakura every time the family visited the Leaf. The boys grudgingly tolerated this for years much to their own embarrassment and Kakashi’s exasperation.
Roka, despite sharing his father’s looks, had incredible chakra reserves but none of her bloodline limits that they had observed. However, he boasted like his father’s successor and worked to back it up. This was good, Mei mused, because he could have easily been bogged down by the truth that he may be the only one of their children without her bloodline limit. Such disadvantages have led many ninja to jealous behavior which siphons energy away from self-improvement.
Kasumi, on the other hand, did not share his father’s looks as exactly as his brother. He had inherited his father’s silver hair but his eyes were a forest green, as if the green of Mei’s eyes had had a single drop of black from Kakashi’s dropped into them, making them a more earthy green. Kasumi had inherited both of Mei’s bloodline limits, much to her joy. However, he also appeared to have chakra reserves akin to his father’s. This made Mei both proud and over-protective of him in particular.
Mei was proud of their family. But this train of thought had taken her to what she’d actually meant to be thinking of: what were they going to do about their children’s formal ninja training? The argument went in circles in her mind until Kakashi called a stop for lunch.
The Hatakes dropped out of the trees onto the ground. Kasumi stumbled a little on his landing but Roka was quick to help him straighten up. Kakashi pulled off his pack and began handing out the children’s lunches. Fujita collected both hers and her sister’s and the two of them went to sit down together in the foliage.
Kakashi approached Mei, box extended. She took it, thanking him quietly, and went to turn away. Kakashi grasped her arm, “Mei, I-”
“It’s alright Kakashi, I know that-” Mei stopped talking and they both stiffened. There was someone approaching. “Get the girls.”
“Right,” Kakashi immediately replied. They put all of their energy into the task at hand. Fortify. Observe. Act.
Mei grasped Kasumi and practically threw him over her shoulder on her way to her eldest son. Kasumi began to protest that he was too old to be carried but stopped when he’d registered the look on his mother’s face. He mentally prepared himself for a fight.
“Hisano, Fujita, here, now.” Kakashi barked. The girls abandoned their lunches and met their father halfway, turning as they reached him to form a triangle, guarding their father’s back. At their height it was more like guarding Kakashi’s legs but it was the thought that counted.
Mei and the boys maneuvered to Kakashi’s side and the formation changed again, Mei and Kakashi on the outside with the children forming an inner ring inside their guard. It was in this formation in which a single man met them, walking out of the trees. He wore a silver tunic with a mist pattern on it made up of red lines. He wore no headband but his black hair was tied back in a high ponytail. As he approached them, a javelin made of ice materialized in his right hand.
“Ice style,” Mei quietly gasped.
Kakashi’s eyes narrowed as he and Mei oriented their defense against him. “I thought your clan had died out?”
“No thanks to you,” the man sneered back.
Kakashi growled low in his throat.
“No thanks to either of you actually,” the man glared at Mei pointedly. “I was saved by a man who appreciates blood.” His dark eyes rested on the family hungrily.
“I’ll handle this,” Mei whispered to her husband.
Kakashi agreed and changed his stance again as Mei walked away from them toward the mysterious man. As she did so the ninja threw his javelin straight at her. Mei smiled, built chakra up in her chest, and spewed boiling mist at the spear. The weapon sublimated immediately in the intense heat.
“You might be a little out-classed,” Mei said resting her hands on her hips. “And there’s no way you’re laying a hand on our children.”
“We’ll see,” the man retorted. His hands wove through a series of signs and shards of ice split out of the ground making a trail straight to Mei. Kakashi shifted the group to the left while Mei dove and rolled to the right.
“Dad,” Roka said once they’d repositioned. The boy began to step forward but Kakashi held him back with a hand. He immediately turned and looked at his son. “Dad I can help, Mom doesn’t have to fight alone,” Roka pleaded, pushing against Kakashi’s hand.
Kakashi, keeping his senses on any possible attacks headed their way, fully turned toward Roka and knelt down, blocking the fight from his son’s view. He also captured the attention of his other children. “Your Mother isn’t fighting alone. We’re here with her. But she can handle this herself.” Kakashi felt the searing heat of a pool of lava being created on the forest floor behind him. He could hear the crackling of the nearby trees as they caught fire.
“But Dad,” Roka earnestly looked at his father.
“Roka, I said no,” Kakashi said a little too harshly. Kakashi’s voice softened, “she’ll be too worried about protecting you. Just stay here and-” Kakashi cut himself off. It was eerily quiet behind him. He could hear the trees crackling in the flames but there was no other sound of movement.
Confused, the head of the Hatake family slowly turned around and stood up, ice gripping his heart. A lingering voice taunted from the silence, “what made you think that we wanted your children?”
A chill dripped down Kakashi’s spine as he stretched out his senses. His eyes took in the falling tree trunks engulfed in flames, the puddle of lava nearby, but there was no one.
The man was gone and he’d been able to take Mei with him by force. The javelin had been a ploy to lure Mei out and make them think that he wasn’t much of a threat. The dark-haired ninja had specifically prepared himself to fight Mei and Mei alone. Kakashi’s brain rushed through his conclusions, horror washing over him.
The Hokage fell to his knees. His whole body felt cold.
Kakashi felt a small hand on his shoulder and looked up to meet Roka’s scared eyes. “Dad, are you okay?” When Kakashi didn’t answer Roka continued, “he- he took Mom.” The boy was panting and blinking profusely.
Kakashi heard one of his girls trying very hard to stifle a sob behind him. He slowly got to his feet, his movements jerky and uncoordinated.
“Dad?” Roka asked, grasping his father’s hand.
Kakashi started and looked at his son. The boy was almost in tears. The veteran ninja closed his eyes and fisted his hands, pushing Roka’s away in the process. Willing away his emotions, the former ANBU took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again Roka took a step back, uneasy.
Roka had seen his father look disappointed, furious, and sad. This look reminded him of those but was none of them. This was something else. It was a blank coldness that made Roka question for a moment if this was his father. The man didn’t seem like his father at all. His dark eyes held no warmth, no love, they were flat and expressionless, like the unforgiving night sky when you’re lost.
Kakashi mutely bit his own thumb and his hands weaved familiar signs. In a moment Pakkun, Bull, Urushi, Bisuke, Akino, Uhei, Guruko, and Shiba all appeared in a puff of smoke. Pakkun’s usual greeting died in his throat upon seeing his boss. Kakashi stood up and his hounds straightened.
“Guruko, Shiba, head to the Mist immediately. A ninja of unknown affiliation who uses ice style has kidnapped Lady Mei. I believe she was the intended target of a larger group. I want to know who they think may have done this in case we can’t locate them otherwise. I want names, not speculation. Go. Now.” The two dogs dashed away.
“Uhei, Akino, Bisuke, Urushi, Pakkun, you will stay here to get a scent and then spread out. I want you to find that man. If nothing else find Lady Mei.” Uhei, Akino, Bisuke, and Urushi did as they were told, using the lava pool as a starting point. Pakkun remained next to Bull.
“Bull, you will come with me and the children to the Leaf. You will stay with them along with other suitable protection. Then I will be gathering a team, if any Leaf ninja are available, and I’ll rejoin the pack.”
Kakashi’s cold eyes fell on Pakkun. The pug took this as permission to speak. “I’ll stay with you boss.” It wasn’t a request.
Kakashi continued to stare at him. Pakkun looked back, careful to keep his face firm but respectful. The tension in their countenances disturbed Roka. He took another step back, almost bumping into Kasumi.
“Fine,” Kakashi finally said. He turned to his children, “Hisano, Fujita, if you can’t keep up then Bull will carry you, understand?”
The girls’ eyes widened in surprise. Bull hadn’t carried them for any reason in years; he hadn’t had to. Still, they nodded mutely in response.
Then Kakashi was gone, Pakkun keeping right on his heels. It took the children a second to realize that their father was already on his way. Bull looked at them expectantly and they took off into the trees after the man who resembled their father.
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Izumo and Kotetsu were placidly sitting at the main gate to the Leaf Village. That was until Izumo looked up and saw an odd sight. Lord Sixth was sprinting down the road toward the gate with his two sons thrown over his shoulders. Trailing behind him were two of his summons. One was much larger than the other and that one appeared to be carrying the Sixth’s two daughters.
“What the-” Izumo began but Kakashi was already past him, without a look or even slowing down.
Kotetsu picked his jaw up off of the ground and turned to his partner, “where is Lady Mei?” The whole scene made him uneasy, the feeling creeping into his stomach.
After a beat Izumo, still staring after the retreating Hokage, said, “you’d better send a message to the Uchihas. Tell them to appear in the Seventh’s office at once.”
Less than a minute later Kakashi was in Naruto’s office with his dogs and exhausted children. Sakura and Sasuke appeared moments after their arrival.
“What?! What happened?” Sakura took in Roka sitting on the floor, Kasumi splayed out flat on his back panting, and the twins leaning against Bull for support.
“Lady Mei has been kidnapped,” Naruto answered, his eyes not leaving Kakashi’s stony face. “By an ice style user. His master may be a bloodline collector.”
Sasuke stiffened but said nothing.
Kakashi spoke for the first time and his voice gave Sakura shivers. “I’ll need Captain Yamato to watch my children. Bull will remain here with them. I also need to know who’s available to track that man down.” He was not asking permission.
Sasuke didn’t know if he should be concerned or impressed. He’d never seen Kakashi look so severe. Sakura frowned in worry.
Naruto nodded, giving his consent.
“I’ll go with you,” Sasuke said immediately.
“Me too,” Sakura seconded.
Just then there was a knock on the door. Recognizing the chakra behind it Naruto called for them to enter. Sai and Yamato stepped into the room like shadows.
Kakashi continued as if they hadn’t been interrupted. “No Sasuke, if this man’s master is truly collecting bloodlines it would be impractical for you to assist while risking your own capture. It’s the same reason I’d rather have Yamato here in the Leaf.” Kakashi looked at his old friend pointedly, acknowledging him for the first time.
Yamato frowned in response, taking in Kakashi’s demeanor with a feeling of foreboding. The ANBU, as usual, anticipated his role. “I would, of course, be happy to watch the children for you senpai.” He gave said children an encouraging smile that they didn’t see. Their various looks of distress were aimed at their father’s stiff back.
Kakashi nodded briefly at Yamato and turned to look at his female student. “Are you up for this Sakura?” She straightened under his harsh gaze.
She had never seen him like this, not during Wave, not during the War, never. It was terrifying. But, she mused, judging Captain Yamato’s reaction…was this what Kakashi was like during his ANBU days? Sakura nodded at her sensei and said, “yes sir.”
“I would also like to offer my abilities,” Sai said suddenly. He and Kakashi exchanged a look and Kakashi nodded.
“You have five minutes to prepare,” Kakashi said and then he was gone. Pakkun remained, saving his energy for the run ahead.
Sai also teleported out of the office almost immediately. Sakura started, surprised by their sudden departure, and then teleported away with Sasuke on her heels. “I’ll help you pack,” he said when they got to their home.
Left in the office was Naruto, Yamato, Pakkun, Bull, and the Hatake children. Roka in particular, stared at where his father had been a moment before. He hadn’t even said goodbye.
Naruto looked at the pug. He wanted to question Pakkun or even Yamato but not with his sensei’s children present. Pakkun returned his look with a despairing one. Naruto’s heart sank and he remained silent behind laced fingers.
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Five minutes later Kakashi, Pakkun, Sakura, and Sai were at the main gate. Naruto, Sasuke, Yamato, Bull, Roka, Kasumi, Fujita, and Hisano were also there to say farewell. Izumo and Kotetsu still didn’t know what was happening but they knew better than to ask a former kage about his business.
Kakashi had a fresh pack on his back and a larger weapons pouch strapped to his belt than the one he usually wore. Sai, to his teammate, didn’t look like he’d prepared at all but Sakura knew better. She had her traveling pack as well. The kunoichi normally would have gone with just a simple pouch but she wanted to be prepared for any medical emergency. A conversation she and Kakashi had had when the twins were born flitted through her mind. She shivered again, afraid for her sensei.
Just before they left Yamato took the kunoichi aside. “Sakura, take care of Kakashi alright?”
Sakura nodded, as if the suggestion went without saying.
“No, I mean it,” Yamato said, face set. “This is- this is bad.” Yamato spared Kakashi a glance and frowned at what he saw. “If he has a mental break at a critical moment it could get you all killed.” Sakura knew what he meant. “He’s never broken before, not completely, but this- I haven’t seen him like this in years. Just keep an eye on him, please.”
They both looked over at Kakashi who was mutely hugging each of his children in turn. The boys were hiding their feelings well but the younger two were consistently sniffing.
As Kakashi turned to go Roka spoke up, “Da- Father?”
Kakashi stopped and tilted his head, a sign to Roka that he was listening. He did not turn around.
“Bring Mom back?” Roka’s voice cracked. He attempted to cover it with a hasty cough.
Kakashi was impossibly still for a long moment. He was staring down the road ahead and for a horrible moment Sakura didn’t think he was going to respond. Then he finally said, “I will.”
Sakura’s face darkened. She turned to Yamato who had also been watching the exchange with a deepening frown. When he turned back to her she looked her former Captain in the eye and echoed her sensei with her own promise, “I will.”
Chapter 2
At the blistering pace that Kakashi set, they followed Pakkun’s nose toward the rest of the pack. Pakkun reported that the others were heading north which puzzled Sakura. The Hatake family had been east of the Leaf when Mei was captured. Considering that the entire pack was moving north they must be on to something.
Unfortunately for the mood of the mission, the rescue party was unable to rejoin the pack in the few hours of daylight left to them. It was Pakkun who had to broach the subject of stopping for the night. Sakura didn’t dare and Sai wouldn’t attempt to tell his Hokage how to execute a mission.
“We still have a lot of ground to cover,” Kakashi argued in a dull monotone.
“We need to be ready for a fight tomorrow,” Pakkun retorted. “Getting there sooner doesn’t do Mei any good if you aren’t in a condition to fight.”
Sakura was grateful to the little pug but did not envy him. Kakashi stared daggers into his smallest summon. The air chilling several degrees had nothing to do with the set sun. Pakkun took Kakashi’s anger in stride, loyal to the end.
Sai broke the ice by commenting that the pug’s logic was sound. In response, Kakashi threw off his pack and scaled a tree. “I’ll take first watch,” his frigid voice drifted down from the foliage.
“What’s the logic in getting sleep before a fight if we know he isn’t going to rest at all?” Sakura whispered to Sai as they bedded down for the night.
Sai didn’t wait long to respond. “If Lord Hokage is not going to sleep that’s not our concern. His sleeplessness should not keep us from sleeping and readying ourselves to the best of our ability. He will need our help tomorrow and in the days to come.” After saying this, as if to solidify his point, Sai rolled over and his breathing immediately evened out.
Sakura sighed in exasperation and fell back onto her bedroll. She stared up at the stars as she tried to fall asleep. They winked back at her uselessly; they couldn’t tell her how to help her sensei. She was surprised several hours later when Sai woke her for her watch. She was further shocked when she sat up and saw Kakashi sleeping in his bedroll.
“He’s actually asleep?!” Sakura whispered to Sai as she got up.
Sai nodded in the silence of the cool night air.
“But how?” Sakura protested, unable to fathom her sensei sleeping soundly while his wife was in jeopardy.
Sai whispered, “ANBU are trained to sleep wherever and whenever they can to better accomplish their mission. On the other hand, they are also trained to go without sleep for days if that is what the mission requires.” Sai glanced at Kakashi’s still form. “The mission does not require it. If time to rest is available it must be utilized for the good of the mission.”
Sakura frowned as she too looked at Kakashi as Sai bid her goodnight. Throughout her entire watch she kept checking on him but he was asleep as Sai had said. Her night watch was uncomfortable at best with her brain continuously turned her worries over and over, keeping them fresh.
Kakashi woke immediately at dawn as if on a timer. He organized breakfast and packed his things, quietly and efficiently. Sakura never thought she’d miss her sensei’s books so much.
Hours after they’d taken to the road Pakkun quickened his pace. “The rest of the pack is just ahead. They’re waiting for us.”
“Why?” Kakashi asked sternly but Pakkun had no answer.
The answer was clear when they arrived. The hounds had found an entrance to a bunker shielded with jutsu and physical traps. This was where Mei and the man’s scent had led them.
“How do we-” Sakura began but Sai shushed her with a finger to his lips. He silently pointed a pale finger at Kakashi who was crouched behind cover looking over what his dogs had found. The way his eyes darted hither and thither, Sakura could tell that he was analyzing the set up.
Kakashi withdrew a kunai. “Pakkun,” he addressed the pug and used the kunai as a pointer, “set off that trap there, by the third tree from the right.” Kakashi then removed Pakkun’s vest and headband for him.
As nonchalantly as a stray, Pakkun frolicked over to the tree in question. To Sakura it looked ridiculous but to someone who didn’t know that Pakkun was a summon, he’d just look like a lost dog wandering around. When the pug reached the appropriate tree he raised his leg and the trap immediately went off. As kunai flew everywhere, Pakkun yipped convincingly in fright and scurried off in another direction. He circled back to rejoin the group.
In moments the door to the bunker opened and a woman with brown hair appeared. She slipped through the underbrush surrounding the bunker toward the trap that Pakkun had sprung, disabling the others as she went. When she arrived at what the Hokage had correctly identified as the outermost defense, Kakashi’s kunai sprouted out of her forehead as if it were a magic trick. He was beside her before she hit the ground.
“Bury her,” Kakashi ordered Akino and Uhei as he mentally noted a dark mark on the girl’s exposed shoulder. It looked like four arrows shooting into each other in a circle. Kakashi frowned but said nothing as the corpse was taken away. Then she was gone as if she’d never existed.
Sai took this as an opportunity to advance but Sakura was shocked into immobility. It had been such a seamless death, so silent, so cold. Her sensei, her Hokage had never been the warmest person but this was a side to him she wasn’t sure she wanted to get to know.
The kunoichi was jolted out of her thoughts by an ink snake that had bumped her foot to get her attention. Looking up she saw Kakashi, Sai, and the pack waiting for her. She made her way forward, not noticing the other ink snakes in the grass headed in the opposite direction.
“Once we get the door open,” Kakashi was saying to the pack as Sakura crept up to the group, “fan out, follow her scent. We’ll follow you,” he indicated Sai and Sakura with a nod of his head. “How and when we locate her will dictate our next move.”
Sakura tried not to imagine what the course of action would be if Mei was not alive when they reached her.
Despite all of the traps and security the bunker door opened with no resistance. Kakashi eyed the round metal door suspiciously but there was nothing indicating that an alarm had been tripped.
“One of Orochimaru’s designs,” Sai commented.
Kakashi nodded in response.
Sakura’s mouth dropped open, “he didn’t-”
“No,” Pakkun cut her off. “He hasn’t been here in years. I remember his scent well. This was one of his hideouts alright but unless he’s orchestrating this from a distance, I don’t believe he’s involved.” As Pakkun said this the rest of the pack slipped inside as Kakashi had instructed.
After a moment there was a grunt of a signal and with Kakashi in the lead, the four of them followed the pack in.
Sakura frowned as they made their way through the dark and extensive tunnels. The familiar layout brought back bad memories.
The medical kunoichi was beginning to think that the place was deserted when she saw a light up ahead coming through a doorway. The passage was the first one they’d seen in the long tunnel they’d been traversing. Kakashi stopped and cautiously glanced inside of the opening. What he saw made him recoil and pause. The pack minus Pakkun had already gone in so it wasn’t the enemy he’d spotted.
Slowly, Kakashi rounded the corner and entered hugging the wall on the other side. Sai waited a beat and then followed. Sakura did the same. What she saw made her pulse quicken and the breath leave her lungs.
The door led onto a long balcony over a chasm. On the other side of the gap were various floors and rows of cells. She could see a single shadowy shape in almost all of them. There had to be at least a hundred prisoners if not two. Scanning the massive room, she didn’t see anyone else but those in the cells. But she’d paused for too long. She now saw that the balcony was just a landing that wrapped all around the multi-storied cavern. Kakashi and the pack had already made their way to the cell side. Sai waited at the corner for her.
Sakura hurried after them, observing the metal catwalks in front of each row of cells and the staircases that connected the floors. As Sai and Sakura hurried after Kakashi, Sakura’s eye kept being drawn to the metal around them. It looked like any other metal she’d seen, same color, texture, but there was something odd about its shape, something she couldn’t put her finger on.
She was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts when she noticed Kakashi and the pack stop at a particular cell. Her sensei stared into it for a moment, then said something to his hounds and they took off once more. Pakkun, again, remained at Kakashi’s side, giving him a concerned look.
Sakura and Sai approached the pair slowly, as if running up to Kakashi would spook him. Kakashi stood before Mei’s cell. She was sitting up with her back against the left-hand wall either asleep or unconscious, Sakura couldn’t tell. There seemed to be some sort of chakra suppression device wrapped around her chest like a claw clasping her torso. Something in Sakura’s own chest clenched at the sight. That explained why all the inmates they’d passed had been asleep. They were all drained so that they couldn’t try to escape.
“Why bother putting them in cells if they’re all wearing chakra suppressors?” Sakura commented. Then she clamped her mouth shut, hoping she hadn’t upset the silver-haired man next to her.
“In case they accidently picked someone up like Naruto who could destroy one if he really tried,” Kakashi replied absentmindedly. He was examining the bars.
“Seamless,” Sai said in surprise following Kakashi’s gaze.
Sakura looked at the vertical metal bars and realized that he was right. There were no doors to the cells and the iron didn’t appear to have been fashioned into bars but naturally occurring that way. Just like… “Captain Yamato’s houses,” Sakura said aloud.
Kakashi nodded in agreement with Sakura’s line of thinking. “Metal manipulation. A bloodline skill that the Leaf doesn’t even know what elements are used to make it work.” After a moment Kakashi said, “Sakura?”
She nodded, took a stance, and kicked the bars from the side. The bar she’d targeted, and the four behind it, pinched as if someone had used their fingers to pull aside blinds on a window. This left a space big enough for a person to stoop through.
Sakura waited but Kakashi motioned for her to go first. After giving him a strange look Sakura hurried in with her medical pack already half slung off of her back. Kakashi followed and Sai after him. Pakkun remained outside.
“I can’t do much until we get this off of her,” Sakura stated, gesturing at the suppressor.
“Lightning would short it out but I could harm her in the process,” Kakashi said frowning.
“Let me try,” Sai said, moving himself forward between them. They formed a protective half-circle around Mei.
Sai removed a scroll from his pouch and rolled it out flat on the ground. He quickly penned out a seal that looked like a starburst but the center of it he left blank. Once that was complete he drew one final symbol on the center of the chakra suppressor. He lifted his hand into a single sign and the seal peeled itself off of the scroll. It settled onto the chakra suppressor with the starburst pattern centering on the final symbol. The completed seal glowed gold and the chakra suppressor seemed to crush in on itself, as if it had been smashed, and fell away from Mei. Sakura rushed forward but Mei was already stirring.
Mei looked around with blurry eyes and tried to push herself off of the wall. Sakura held her back, whispering assurances as she checked her vitals.
“Sakura my hands,” Mei groaned through gritted teeth.
Sakura quickly turned her attention to the indicated appendages. The skin on Mei’s hands was red and blistered, especially at the tips of her fingers. “If you can feel them then that’s a good sign,” Sakura said trying to be cheerful. Frostbite or anything relating to it wasn’t something that happened much in the Land of Fire. “The outer layer of skin is going to shed but its replacement will grow under it.” Sakura began to speed up the process with glowing green hands.
“He froze my hands together,” Mei said remembering. “To keep me from weaving signs- where are the children?” Mei interrupted herself as she continued to blink the sleep away from her eyes. She spotted Kakashi’s silver hair but he was walking away from her. “Kakashi?” He did not respond.
Something cold clenched up inside of the pink-haired kunoichi when Kakashi didn’t answer. She shot him an angry look that he didn’t see before explaining the situation to Mei. Meanwhile Kakashi consulted with his summons who were reporting back.
After a quick conference Kakashi returned. “We have some options,” he stated to the assembled group. “Our intrusion appears to have gone unnoticed; we could leave without a fight.”
Sakura whipped around, shards of ice in her words. “Leave? What about all of those other ninja? What about the person who did this?”
“We’re most likely outnumbered and don’t have enough raw power to take him on,” Kakashi reasoned calmly. “These cages prove that this ninja is either absorbing the bloodlines of others somehow or he has ninja at his command with special bloodlines. No matter which we’re either outclassed or undermanned. The mission was to rescue Lady Mei. If trying to do anything else jeopardizes that mission we may lose her in the attempt.”
“I’m right here,” Mei said, beginning to get annoyed. “And I’m not completely useless.”
Kakashi looked at her for the first time. Their eyes locked but a mask shielded his feelings from her. Mei shut her mouth, frightened for the first time since she’d seen him in the cell with her.
Kakashi was compartmentalizing this situation, a tactic Mei hadn’t seen him resort to in years. She hoped the children were alright, that they will forgive him. Even then, it didn’t mean that Kakashi would forgive himself when this was over. He saw this reaction as necessary, to take it all on himself, but at what cost?
“You’re wrong Lord Hokage,” Sai cut in. “We are not outnumbered. There are three squads of Mist Black Ops waiting outside for our signal. Not to mention the relief from the Leaf that I’m sure is on its way.”
“What?” Sakura exclaimed.
Mei smiled.
Kakashi glanced at Sai, as cool as ever. “And what are they doing here?”
“I sent for them before we entered the bunker. Did you think that no one from the Mist was going to want to help us get Lady Mei back? Help you?” Sai leveled a piercing gaze at the former Hokage. “You are not alone.”
It was beginning to dawn on Mei how Kakashi must have reacted to this situation. When in high stress situations her husband preferred to shoulder things by himself despite his love of teamwork; it was an old habit that she’d been trying to break him of for years. She silently thanked Sai, though she barely knew the man.
Kakashi nodded curtly at Sai and turned to Sakura. “Sakura, make a clone and leave her with us. You take Lady Mei to the surface and rendezvous with the Black Ops. If Guruko and Shiba are with them, tell them that they’re dismissed.
“If the Black Ops have medics with them, send them in and you remain with Lady Mei. We’ll need your clone to open the cells if the teams don’t have a heavy-hitter.” Kakashi caught sight of Mei’s scowl and said, “hard as that may be to believe it is a possibility.” Kakashi knew that Mei, like himself, disliked her Black Ops being slighted. “If there’s a problem, dispel her as a signal for help. Lady Mei is still the priority.”
Sai and Sakura’s newly formed clone stepped out of the cell and moved next door to help the occupant. Kakashi moved to leave also.
“Kakashi,” Mei said once more. Sakura had put Mei’s arm around her shoulder and was helping her precious charge up. Kakashi stopped and half turned, only one eye was visible but he was looking at her.
Mei opened her mouth but no words came out. They stared at each other for a long moment. Mei waited in vain for Kakashi to lower his guard but it remained firmly in place. Then, quick as a flash, she felt cloth brush her lips and he was gone.
Mei stared after her husband in shock.
Kakashi jumped down several floors and stopped, collecting himself. His hands were clenched at his sides and his eyes were narrowed but glaring at nothing. The Hatake’s tail stayed a floor up, giving him privacy without losing sight of him. Pakkun did have a sensitive side after all.
Rising, the former ANBU sounded a low whistle and waited. Seconds later his pack responded and Kakashi and Pakkun took off at a run. They arrived at a door on the base floor of the cavern. Kakashi could hear Sakura’s clone above them break through cell after cell. Kakashi wondered why they had met no resistance. If the man behind this thought that the ninja were no longer useful to him then why did he keep them alive?
Reaching the door, Kakashi dismissed his summons. Pakkun began to protest but Kakashi was very firm. The pug gave him one last worried glance before disappearing.
The Sixth Hokage took a breath and entered the door boldly. Through the doorway was another large room, possibly an old laboratory. Sealing scrolls were scattered everywhere. There were several long tables and behind one of them stood the black-haired ninja and another man.
“Master,” the ice user said at Kakashi’s approach and the other man looked up lazily. He had turquoise eyes and dark skin. In contrast his hair was a very pale yellow and hung loosely to his waist. He wore a simple white tunic, almost like what doctors wore. He smiled at Kakashi and put down the papers he’d been poring over.
“Hatake Kakashi,” the man said. “The Sixth Hokage himself. Here for your wife I presume?”
Kakashi said nothing and began to walk to the right, circling the two men.
Undeterred by Kakashi’s silence the man continued, “you know I’m surprised Taka was able to take her so easily.” Said man oriented himself to counter Kakashi’s repositioning. “I guess that’s what happens when a husband leaves his wife to fend for herself.”
Kakashi continued his silence, his face a blank mask.
Still not getting a rise out of his prey the blonde said, “but you were so worried that we were after your little brats. It never occurred to you that our target might be her. Your protection of your children is legendary so why attempt to take them? But I never dreamed it would be that easy to take your wife. What a pathetic excuse for a Hokage. Can’t even keep his own family safe. Constantly living in fear. Tell me, what is that like?”
Taka was slowly turning the floor into an ice rink.
Kakashi was on the other side of the room by now and sent a fireball at the pale haired man. He jumped aside and Taka created an ice wall which melted almost immediately. It gave them the second they needed to get away however. Kakashi continued to stalk them.
“It’s not as if your wife is anything special,” the man continued calmly. “Lava style? Boil style? Rare when both are in one person I suppose but hardly unique to my purpose.”
“And what is that?” Kakashi asked too calmly.
“To combine all unique bloodlines within myself so that I can wield them all.” The man said simply.
“I didn’t know Orochimaru had such a disciple,” Kakashi quipped. “He’s alive again, maybe you two should compare notes?”
The blond tutted. “Orochimaru worked too slowly. He wasted so much time trying to understand things. Then he needed to put half of his energy toward keeping himself alive long enough to understand everything? What a waste of time. Doesn’t he know that if you possess all the bloodlines you become immortal?” Kakashi was surprised to realize that the man was completely solemn about this declaration.
“See, I understood where you were going until that part. I believe you’ve fallen off the deep end,” Kakashi let the man monologue. Time was on his side.
The man smirked. “I’ve gone off of the deep end you say? No I think not. Every time I add a new bloodline to myself I feel stronger. But I also realize that there must be more, so much more that I’m just unaware of. And that’s where you come in.”
I was actually hoping, in your haste, that you’d bring some of your special acquaintances with you. Good friends with the only living wood style user? A student who’s an Uchiha? A Hyuga married to your successor? And unsealed too, she would have been quite the prize. Interesting company you keep Kakashi. It’s a pity but you alone are enough for now. Maybe they’ll come to rescue you later.”
“Me?” Kakashi asked trying to hide his confusion. He and Taka continued to eye each other. “What do you mean?”
“Pitiful though your reserves are, white chakra is still rare on this continent,” the man’s grin widened. “It’s amusing that you were too short sighted to realize that your wife wasn’t the target either.”
Taka suddenly rose up out of an ice sheet on the floor behind Kakashi. Kakashi ducked and just missed the attempted snap of a chakra suppression vest closing around him. Taka threw ice shuriken at Kakashi as he retreated. Kakashi countered with a blast of fire.
“If you’re so special then why do you let your subordinate fight for you?” Kakashi queried once he was out of range. “A subordinate who, I’m not sorry to say, was the reason none of my ‘special friends’ were allowed to come here.”
The man faltered for a second, glancing at Taka, but quickly disregarded Kakashi’s attempt at distracting him. “You’re a tall reed to be cut down,” the man said grinning manically. He removed his white tunic revealing a bare chest and back covered in seals. The black marks and his skin were almost indistinguishable from each other. Kakashi, however, knew what to look for and when he started counting the amount of seals was startling. They looked almost like Orochimaru’s curse seals since each tattoo was a different symbol. “However, don’t let anyone say that Usagi backed down from a direct challenge.”
Kakashi took the tattoos in, barely hiding his horror. He quickly lost count as the symbols clearly went beyond the skin he could see.
“Do you like them?” Usagi asked. “One for each bloodline I’ve added to myself. You see too that there is plenty of room for yours here.” He grinned wickedly. “I haven’t mastered them all yet but I’ll have time once I unlock my immortality.”
Suddenly a wall of ice mirrors rose up creating a dome with Usagi and Kakashi in the middle. Kakashi watched them rise up without apparent concern. He’d seen this trick before.
“Which to use first?” Usagi mused aloud. “How about-” His hands weaved through some hand signs, then he stopped. “No, that’ll kill you immediately. It wouldn’t due to lure you here and then have to kidnap one of your children anyway. They’re guarded much too carefully.” He weaved more signs and then stopped himself again. “No no, too messy.”
As the man continued to talk to himself Kakashi briefly wondered how insane the man really was. He weaved some signs of his own. Lightning danced throughout the dome and the ice mirrors shattered.
Taka was discouraged but the display seemed to make Usagi grin all the more. He weaved a new set of signs and blew a wave of scalding air at the falling shards, vaporizing them instantly. Kakashi called upon a water wall as a shield from the blistering heat but the air still crackled with the lack of moisture.
Now that Kakashi knew what he was dealing with he began to form a strategy. Unexpectedly the water from Kakashi’s wall disintegrated into thick mist. Kakashi frowned in confusion behind his mask and jumped back; he hadn’t seen Usagi weave any new hand signs. As he hurried away from the possibly deadly fog he almost ran into Kaori. The blonde’s hand was held steady in a sign but released it to steady him instead.
The Mist kunoichi smiled as Kakashi straightened, “alright there Kakashi?”
“Kaori,” Kakashi breathed in startled acknowledgement. He turned his attention back to the battleground and saw dozens of ninja jump into the fray using the mist as cover. He turned back to his wife’s best friend, “why aren’t you with Lady Mei?”
The woman started at the formality in his tone and address but quickly shook it off. “She wanted me to come down here and check on you.” And now I know why.
Kakashi didn’t respond for a second, he was listening to the screams of his opponents elect.
She continued, “I’d leave them be if I were you. It’s mostly us in there but there are also prisoners that your students have been springing. Some of them have been locked up here for quite awhile and would like some payback.”
“Commander,” another Mist ninja called out, loping up to them. He had short black hair and a toothy grin.
“It’s Lord Hokage now Hoshi,” Kaori scolded. “The war is over.”
“Right right,” the good-natured ninja said. “But I-”
“If you two would excuse me,” Kakashi said vanishing instantly.
Hoshi stared in shock at the place his former commander had recently occupied. He turned to Kaori, “what’s with him?”
Kaori frowned, hoping he’d gone to join her friend above ground. “I do not know.” The woman apprehensively filed the information away for later and turned to business. “Have the prisoners all been evacuated?”
Chapter 3
The next few days were graciously calm. With a dead man who’d somehow absorbed dozens of bloodlines, a handful of his followers captured or killed, and a couple hundred freed ninja needing treatment there was a lot of information to sift through. A lot of paperwork for Naruto, Chojuro, and the officials from the Land of Hot Springs but not so much for Mei or Kakashi to do. Although, as little as Mei saw him, she wouldn’t know one way or the other what Kakashi was doing.
Being unable to find him, a lot of the freed men and women came to Mei or Sakura to thank for their rescue. Each gracious ninja made Sakura feel that much worse. She hadn’t done much and Kakashi had almost left them all there. Sakura reasoned that they would have sent for help after Mei was safe but each gleeful face that came to her made that excuse less and less comforting.
Sakura insisted that all of the prisoners stay at least one night in the hospital for observation, much to Mei’s annoyance. Yamato brought the children to see her in the Leaf hospital and they never left. When Sakura and Sai came to visit, Mei saw the look of concern on Sakura’s face at Kakashi’s absence.
Mei could feel Kakashi haunting her hospital window. He never entered however, neither at the hospital nor later at Hokage Tower, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t catch a glimpse of him hovering outside.
Her apprehension only grew when, on the day that they were departing for their home, Kakashi only showed up at the last second to accompany them. Roka and Kasumi exchanged glances but said nothing. Mei only barely heard Hisano whisper to her sister, “is Daddy alright?” before Fujita shushed her.
Normally the quiet of the leisurely trip would have made Mei feel peaceful. However the silence was pregnant with tension. Mei grew more apprehensive with every step. At first she’d been angry at Kakashi’s distance. She was aching for his comfort, especially after the rescue operation. However, this dissolved in the wake of her concern for her husband’s mental state. Kakashi hadn’t spoken one word to her that he didn’t have to. His continued distance frightened her.
It’s over, Mei thought at him, come back to me.
When they arrived at their home Kakashi went straight upstairs without even taking his pack off. Mei followed him and the children apprehensively fanned out. Roka watched his mother disappear up the stairs.
“Kakashi?” Mei asked when she’d closed the bedroom door behind her.
Her husband walked toward the bed. Kakashi dropped his pack on the ground and his mask dropped with it. His hands began to tremble. He reached out to catch himself on the bed and collapsed onto it instead.
“Kakashi!” Mei rushed over to him. He was panting and shaking. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t responding to anything she said. Unsure of what to do, Mei laid down next to him and just held him. “Shh Kakashi it’s alright, it’s alright, everything’s fine. Calm down, please calm down.” Kakashi continued to shudder in her arms, a cold sweat breaking out all over his body. He did not answer her. She cried on his chest, unable to sooth him or even herself.
After what seemed like hours Kakashi slowly went limp. The shakes gradually decreased until they were just occasional tremors. He didn’t even twitch when Mei felt his forehead. It was cold and clammy. She shakily pulled the blankets over him. He was taking slow, shuddering breaths and Mei fell asleep next to him, exhausted.
When Mei woke up there was a blanket over her as well and a glass of water on a side table. Kakashi hadn’t moved but his breathing had evened out.
Mei looked outside at the light. Is this the same day or tomorrow? She got up, washed her face, and after one last look at Kakashi, went downstairs.
Four eager sets up eyes looked up at her as she descended. None of them made a move, they just looked at her with frightened eyes. Mei smiled at them and opened her arms. Hisano and Fujita launched themselves at their mother. Kasumi and Roka were not far behind.
“Oh my babies,” Mei said trying to hug them all at once. “I’m so sorry, you must have been so worried.”
Fujita pulled back and wiped her moist eyes. “We were but then Roka explained.”
“Did he?” Mei questioned, looking at her oldest. She’d already had her suspicions about who’d brought the water.
Hisano nodded. “Daddy’s sick.” Kasumi nodded as well. “You’re taking care of him.”
Mei almost laughed at how oversimplified that explanation was and yet, it was not inaccurate. She smiled at her wonderful children.
Then Roka said, “I made dinner if you want some.”
Mei wiped Hisano’s wet cheek with her thumb and said, “thank you darling. That would be lovely.”
Despite Mei’s words she didn’t eat anything. The food grew cold before her but Roka was the only one who noticed. As the other children gradually wandered off to play or train Roka remained.
“Dad’s going to be okay isn’t he?”
Mei wished she didn’t have to lie. She honestly had no idea if their lives were going to be the same. Kakashi could wake up and get back to his normal self in time. But it was just as likely that he’d wake up and no longer be the man she’d married. She knew her husband had had several mental breaks throughout his life but he’d never been broken. This could have been the tipping point where his sanity lost out.
Roka was looking at her with pleading eyes. Mei took a breath and forced down the sob that was rising in her throat. As she opened her mouth to reassure her son she realized that she couldn’t do it. What she said instead was, “I hope so.”
The following silence was interrupted by a hesitant voice calling, “Mei?”
Mei turned and bolted up the stairs and into the master bedroom. Kakashi was half sitting up with a hand over his eyes. Mei rushed to his side, sitting on the bed and holding him to her. She ran her fingers through his hair in an attempt to sooth him but the fast and repeated strokes were panicky rather than pacifying.
“Are you alright?” Kakashi asked, hand still covering his eyes as if he had a headache.
“Yes Kakashi I’m fine. We’re all fine,” Mei whispered. She waited with baited breath.
“I- A- Are you alright?”
Mei felt her heart plummet into her stomach. Fear rose up within her. She repeated slowly, “I’m alright Kakashi.” Are you?
Kakashi gave a shuddering sigh but did not otherwise respond.
“Kakashi,” Mei said but he still did not move. She put her hand under his, cupping his cheek and tilting it toward her.
He removed the hand shielding his eyes and looked at her for the first time. His face was as open as a child’s. Fear, shame, and remorse battled for dominance. His eyes were like pools of ink, shining and simple.
They looked into each other’s eyes for a tense moment, then two. “I am so sorry,” Kakashi finally said, voice breaking. Then his hands were in his hair and he was taking in rapid and shuddering breaths. Tears fell from his eyes and Mei was shocked into silence, but not immobility. She quickly encircled her husband in her arms as he burst into tears. “I’m so sorry,” he moaned into her shoulder as his dam of emotions broke over the both of them.
Mei rubbed his back, shushing his protests and insistence on damnation.
“I couldn’t- And the children were so scared. I just left them. How could I? I couldn’t even- And I shouldn’t have let you-” the flood of regret continued both in sentences and unintelligible babble.
Through it all Mei sat with him, rubbing his back and receiving his tears. Eventually the waves subsided and Kakashi’s breathing became even once more. Without raising his head he slowly lifted his arms and put them around her, holding her tightly.
“I don’t know what I would have done without you,” Kakashi whispered with a raw voice.
“You would have managed,” Mei responded with a sad smile.
She stopped rubbing his back when he suddenly straightened to look at her. His face was extremely pale but his eyes, though haunted, were back to their usual focus. “Not this time,” he said very seriously. “Not this time-” his voice disappeared into a whisper.
“There you go underestimating yourself again,” Mei said putting some cheer into her voice. She knew that Kakashi would never forsake their children, even if he didn’t believe himself capable of giving them everything they needed. Mei knew better.
He shook his head and closed his eyes, hand leaving Mei’s side to grip his forehead.
“What is it?” Mei demanded, worried again.
“Headache,” Kakashi responded.
“Oh,” Mei gasped, remembering the water Roka had brought up earlier. She seized the water and handed it to him.
He accepted the glass gratefully and drained it. A contented sigh escaped his lips as he finished. He sat still with his eyes closed for a moment, empty glass dangling from his fingertips. Mei lifted it out of his hand delicately and ordered him to lie down.
For once Kakashi did not protest. He groaned as he laid back, sore muscles straining. “Mei I-”
“If you’re going to say you’re sorry you already covered that, I know.” Mei looked at him fondly. She leaned down, smoothed his sweaty hair back and kissed his forehead. Mei smiled down at him. “And we can talk to the children about it when you’re feeling better. Just rest for now.”
Kakashi looked back at her with intent eyes that were already half closed. “Don’t leave the house,” Kakashi sleepily requested.
Mei was happy to oblige. She shut the bedroom door quietly and closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against the wood, giving a silent prayer of thanks.
The former Mizukage hurried down the stairs, dress swishing, sweet relief bubbling in her heart. Roka, who was unable to focus on any training, was attempting to read. He looked up as his mother descended.
The joy on her face was the acknowledgement he hoped for but he had to be sure. “Dad’s okay?”
Mei’s smile broadened. After a brief contemplation on how to phrase her answer she said, “I think he will be. He’s still not a hundred percent but I think he’ll be okay.”
Roka nodded, a thoughtful scowl replacing his look of relief.
“Roka,” Mei said approaching her son. “Whatever he said or did-”
Roka shook his head. “No, it’s alright.” Mei’s eldest son was silent for a moment and then said, “Dad told me once that to be a true ninja, true to the code, we had to shed our emotions and put all energy toward the objective. But he also said that that was wrong.”
Mei waited for her son to continue.
“I couldn’t understand why because the logic made no sense. Uncle Naruto can get away with it because he’s super strong. But the ninja code is there for a reason. It is the most effective way to complete any mission.” Roka shook his head. “Seeing Dad like that,” he paused. “I thought shedding our emotions was like when you and Dad get serious during a fight. This was nothing like that. It wasn’t him being serious, he wasn’t even Dad, not really.”
Mei silently pulled her son into a hug. She struggled to find a way to explain things. Finally she settled on, “Roka, your Father and I grew up during a very difficult time.” She paused to collect her thoughts and continued, “and he had a more difficult time than most. What you saw was his defense mechanism.”
“Against what?” Roka asked fearfully.
Mental collapse? Mei almost laughed bitterly but sighed instead. “Failure.” Silence reigned and Mei continued, “all he knew, all that he was willing to focus on, was that he had to get me back safely to our family, no matter the consequences to himself.” Or others. She sighed. Discuss her husband’s self-sacrificing tendencies with their eight year-old son? Mei opted to have that talk another time.
“He shouldn’t do that,” Roka said firmly.
“Even for the family?” Mei played the devil’s advocate.
Roka frowned in thought.
“And you forget,” Mei added as an afterthought, “Uncle Naruto was not always so strong. But he followed his own path, as your father does. That’s why he told you the code was not absolute.”
Roka looked up at his mother. “I’m never going to school am I?”
Mei’s eyes widened at the change in topic. She sat down and pulled her son into her lap. For the first time in years he did not protest. “For your Father, the Leaf Village is his family, just as the Mist Village is mine.” With more confidence than she felt she said, “we’ll figure something out.” She kissed his hair and attempted to smooth out his silver spikes.
000000
The next day Mei was sitting with Kakashi in their bedroom. He was sitting up in bed eating his lunch.
“The children want to see you,” Mei said without preamble.
Kakashi’s spoon stilled.
“They don’t hold it against you,” Mei continued.
Kakashi set the tray aside. “I do.”
Silence filled the room.
“So you’re going to lock yourself away every time you screw up? Hiding is not going to make it up to them. What if I had actually died? What would you have done then?”
Kakashi’s voice sounded dead as he said, “I won’t let that happen.”
“I could die at any time,” Mei said waving her hands dramatically. “Either from an enemy or something else! And you will be able to handle it, I know you can. But I don’t want you to waste one minute of our time together worrying about when it will end. I know you’re smarter than that Hatake Kakashi.”
Kakashi sighed. “I know.” Then, “I’ve missed them.”
Mei’s eyes softened into a smile. “I know. But you aren’t going to make it up to them by hiding,” she repeated. Then Mei’s voice rose in volume, “Roka you can bring them in now!”
Kakashi groped for the sheets of the bed, drawing them up. He sputtered, “at least let me get dressed.” He briefly wondered at what a sight he must look in his days old underclothes. He didn’t have time for any more contemplation as his four children burst into the room.
“Daddy!” Fujita squealed, launching herself onto the bed. Kakashi caught her at arm’s length so that her face didn’t bash into his. She eagerly asked, “are you feeling better?” He gave her an eye smile.
“We missed you.” Hisano followed more cautiously, aiming her jump so that she landed neatly at her father’s side. “Mommy’s bedtime stories aren’t as good as yours.”
This was news to Mei and she was a little saddened by the revelation. She consoled herself by acknowledging that stories about young Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke would be more entertaining to their children than retellings of her body retrieval missions. Nobody was perfect.
“We missed you Dad,” Kasumi said before also climbing into the bed.
Kakashi embraced his son in his turn. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
Kasumi smiled in quiet reply, so much like his mother that way. He snuggled next to his sister at Kakashi’s side.
“Roka?” Kakashi said, concern coloring his voice.
The eldest had stood at a distance but he too climbed into the bed and gave his father a long hug. Kakashi silently held him close, eyes closed. When Roka pulled back his dark eyes were bright, “I think I know a way that I can go to school.”
Kakashi frowned at the way his son brushed past the issue at hand. He wondered, not for the first time, at the trouble he must have given Minato-sensei when he was that age. Forgive me sensei. Out loud Kakashi said, “oh? Go on.”
“You said that the academy was four years long?” Roka prompted.
“Typically yes,” Kakashi replied, glancing at Mei to see if she knew where their son was going with this. She minutely shook her head in response.
“So why can’t I alternate one year in the Mist and one year in the Leaf?”
Mei bit her lip. She and Kakashi had thought of this before. Kakashi feared that, being genin level already, Roka would test out of one academy before he even got to do his first year at the other school. They weren’t at war and there shouldn’t be any rushed graduations. But there was still the issue of which village Roka would owe loyalty to even if the Leaf and Mist did accept the arrangement.
“We have considered that,” Kakashi answered. He and Mei felt a flash of chakra outside and he paused.
“Oh, that must be Kaori,” Mei realized. “She said she might come by today.” Mei left the room to let her friend in.
Kakashi continued, “but we still aren’t sure about some things. Let us talk it over?”
“But you and Mom take forever!” Roka exclaimed flopping down on his father.
Kakashi grunted. “That’s because it’s a big decision and we have to-”
“Analyze the facts,” the child chorused.
Kakashi blinked at his brood of geniuses. Do I say that that often?
Just then Kaori walked in with Mei trailing behind her. The tall kunoichi was in her usual casual garb, a green A-line dress. The children chorused their greetings.
“Kakashi,” she exclaimed. “Look at you, always getting so bent out of shape. Are you always running off saving kage who get captured?”
“Only the red-headed ones,” Kakashi deadpanned. He’d reclaimed his lunch and took another bite.
Kaori blinked at him for a moment and then burst into laughter. Mei began to chuckle herself, half out of humor and half from relief that her husband was cracking jokes again, and then caught sight of her children’s bewildered faces. Their looks brought fresh laughter to her lips. Had Kakashi not told them about the Kazekage? Now that was a bedtime story that she knew they’d like. All she had to do now was beat Kakashi to the telling.
Kaori wiped a tear away from her eye as her laughter abated. “Only the red- oh man I have to tell Sora that one.”