Chapter Text
xXx
Maito Haruko doesn’t remember much from her early years except vague images of her papa’s tear-filled face staring down at her, or her tou-san’s gentle, hesitant, smile. She can’t put a date to the images, but they’re a constant that are burned into her psyche. Sometimes if she closes her eyes and remains really still, she thinks she can remember those times when she’s slipped between wakefulness and sleep; head lolled onto her tou-san’s shoulder as his voice rumbles low against her chest. She knows she spent most of her childhood like that, falling asleep against him while he sits in a multitude of places; in trees, on couches, and sometime later, in his big bright office at a desk.
The next person that is the most consistent is Sakura-ane. She remembers sitting in front of her, with her elder sister’s green eyes furrowed as she observes Haru. She’s always assessing something; like Haru’s grip, or the ways she kicks her legs. She speaks to her low and then loud, testing her hearing, and tries to correct the pronunciation of the way she speaks.
One of her first memories is the vague sensation of being surrounded by an energy that is vibrant and green like the lush spring grass. Her back is to Sakura-ane’s chest, while graceful but strong fingers are wrapped around her pudgy little ankles, kicking her legs for her in a peaceful rhythm. She can hear the song her sister sings as a hum against her back, and giggles at how that tickles the back of her head as Sakura-ane rests her chin on top of her, curling her against her body. It’s safe and peaceful, but there is always an underlying tension there too that Haru doesn’t understand.
One day, when she gets older, she’ll realise its fierce protectiveness. Sakura would never let anything happen to her; she’ll heal every wound, teach her about the fastinations of the human body in the perfunctual way only a healthcare professional can, and bear the burden of Haru’s heartbreaks like an animal waiting to strike anything that would threaten their kin.
“Phalanges.” Sakura tells her as a matter of factly, holding up Haru’s little fingers inbetween her own. “Metacarpals.” She moves her touch further down, pressing her thumb against Haru’s palm.
“She’s three, Sakura.” Her tou-san chuckles, and Haru ignores him completely. She is soaking up the attention, giggling excitedly with her brown eyes wide and eager to hear her Ane teach her more.
“Never too early to start.” Sakura shoots back, throwing a casual glare over her shoulder at where Tou-san is leaning against the tree trunk with his legs stretched out in front of him.
His eyes are closed, mask pulled up over his nose and wind ruffling the shock of silver hair. Haru didn’t know why her father wore that mask around everyone else except for her and Papa, but it’s ingrained in her like a million tiny other things about her family. She can’t count the amount of times her father crooked his finger over the mask to pull it down and kiss the crown of her head or her cheeks before he quickly pulled it back up.
“Are you going to be a medi-nin, Haru?” Sakura asked curiously, with that magical tone in her voice that always made Haru feel like she was sharing the secrets of the universe with her. “If you are anything like your fathers, you should probably learn at least a little of field first-aid.”
Haru bounced in her seat and nodded. “Yes, Sa’kra-Ane!”
“Oh, here we go.” Tou-san snorted.
It was one of the few days where Sakura wasn’t sequestered away in the hospital, but everyone else was gone. Kakashi was sitting in one of the genin fields with his daughter, who he kept an eye on even though he pretended he was asleep. She was an adventurous little thing; something she’d no doubt learned from Gai. It had been difficult to let her be independent, especially given everything they’d gone through in the last few years. This was his compromise; he wouldn’t let her out of his hearing range, but she played by herself and explored the forest around the grounds.
Sakura found them after two hours of Haru painstakingly picking up every pretty rock, flower, and leaf and bringing them back to pile on her father’s lap. Snickering loudly to herself whenever he would shift but not open his eyes, like it was a successful mission that he hadn’t ‘woken up’ no matter how much she piled on his lap.
The evidence was still there, even now that Sakura was sitting on the same blanket and preoccupying her little sister.
“What are you going to do with Haru?” Sakura asked quietly, when Haru decided she wanted Sakura to teach her how to make flower crowns. She was currently plucking up flowers, careful to keep their stems long like Sakura had instructed her, a far enough distance away that their conversation wouldn’t be overheard.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving her behind.” Kakashi cracked open his normal eye to stare at his daughter with burning affection. He was trying to soak up every moment with her before the fragile peace broke and they went to war. A war where he was expected to lead the troops and leave his daughter behind to keep her safe from the battlefront. He respected the hell out of Gaara, but in moments like this he hated him for suggesting that Kakashi take up the Hokage’s mantle.
“I imagine she’ll stay with Kurenai-sensei?” Sakura ventured carefully.
“That… is very likely.” Kakashi sighed, dropping all pretence that he was asleep and leaning forward to observe the various items Haru had brought over to him. He picked through each one, surveying it to see the beauty that had captured his daughter’s unsoiled view of the world. He wanted to keep them all, bring them with him everywhere. He knew that was silly and sentimental, and not at all like Friend-Killer Kakashi, or The Infamous Copy-Nin, or especially The Hound.
He actually liked Kakashi the Lazy Dad, though, so he picked the smallest stone with specks of white, brown, and grey and put it into the front pocket of his flak vest.
The three of them made flower crowns. Kakashi’s was terrible, and Sakura balked at it when he proudly presented it to the two of them. Haru’s fingers weren’t as dexterous as her elders, so Sakura did most of hers. Haru picked the flowers, pretending to weave them while Sakura replaced her fingers shortly after and fixed them properly into place. When it was finished, Haru offered it to Sakura and grinned so widely when Sakura put it on her head that Sakura couldn’t help but reciprocate.
Sakura placed her perfectly made crown of daisies and lavender on Haru’s glossy black hair, and then made her sit so she could weave her hair into a braid that circled her hair like another crown.
“There we go, Haruko-hime.” Sakura squeezed her shoulders to signal she’d finished, and Haru hopped up with glee.
“Tou-san, am I pretty?!” She ran over to her father eagerly.
Kakashi lifted his headband, sharingan spinning as he memorised the moment with his heart feeling ten times too big for his chest. “More lovely than any princess I’ve ever met.” He spoke with raspy honesty. “May I have a kiss from Your Highness?” He pulled down his mask just enough that Haru could lean on his knee and press a sweet kiss to his exposed cheek.
Sakura’s eyes watered, quickly averting her gaze from the sweet and intimate moment between father and daughter. It didn’t feel fair, that Haru would have to be so far away from her family, that this couldn’t be every day from now until forever.
She wished for a day just like this one, with Haru making Sakura’s children flower crowns, when the world would be at peace.
“Rival! Tsubomi-chan!” Gai entered into the clearing like his signature whirlwind attack. He landed with a flourish, dropping his pack onto the ground and jogging over to his family. Sakura’s watery smile deepened even further. Her father used to call her ‘Little Bud’ as well, and it made her heart pang every time it came from Gai’s mouth. She’d never told either of them that fact, and her father had long since stopped calling her cutesy nicknames.
She knew without any shadow of doubt that Gai would call his daughter that even when she was old enough to produce her own offspring.
“My goodness! Who is this little fairy princess?” Gai gasped and fell to his knees, like the spectacular sight of his daughter’s beaming face was too much for his fragile heart. “Could it be my dearest Haruko?!”
“Papa!” She reached for him immediately. “It’s me, silly!”
“I don’t remember having a fairy princess for a daughter!” He pulled her into his arms, pressing kisses all over her face with exaggerated little smacks. She howled in laughter, pushing him away just as much as she basked in his affection.
Kakashi lazily waved his hand at Gai to beckon him closer. Gai held Haru close to his chest with one arm wrapped around her back and the other holding her hand like they were dancing. He obligingly leaned over and accepted the lopsided flower crown onto his head, kissing with aching gentleness over the eyelid of the sharingan before he pulled back and looked at his daughter with delight.
“There we go! Now I’m a king! A king and his perfect princess.” He spun around with her.
“Sa’kra-ane made it!” Haru clamped her crown to her head, scared to lose it even though she was grinning breathlessly.
“Your Oneesan made that?” Gai sent Sakura a thankful look over Haru’s shoulder, before he leaned in to whisper to her conspiratorially. “We must take special care of it then! It was made with the utmost love and affection.”
“Yosh!” Haru threw her hands up into the air, mimicking her other siblings.
xXx
The flower crown dried out in the time it took for the war to finish. Kurenai hung it up so it would be safe, and Haru checked on it every day to make sure it was still intact. Sakura was the one who picked up Haru from Kurenai’s. She held Haruko against her chest for a long moment, eyes squeezed shut to ground herself. Haru fell into the stillness of the moment with a grace that seemed so far beyond her years. That part of her was probably the most like Kakashi.
Sakura’s chakra was tired and muted under the strain of expending it day after day, but it still reminded Haru of the rustling of leaves, grass, and flowers in a breeze. It had always been so lush and thick, like the heady scent of the forest. Now it was more subdued, but still undeniably Haruno Sakura.
“Let’s go see your fathers.” Sakura gave Kurenai a thankful look over Haru’s head, and then carried an almost-four year old Haru to the hospital.
When Haru entered into the hospital room, it was to the sound of muted beeping and dim lights. Kakashi immediately reached for her and pressed his masked face against her neck to breathe in her scent. His energy was just as diminished as Sakura’s, but in a different way. It was always this low rumbling feeling, and the first time she was actually aware enough to watch a thunderstorm, she realised that was the easiest way to describe it. It reminded her of lightning rolling across the clouds, never close enough to be dangerous, just breathtaking and achingly beautiful to watch. She bet her papa was just as infatuated with it as she was.
Speaking of her papa, he was the one lying in the hospital bed. It wasn’t a completely new experience for her, but she didn’t like the angry blistered look to his skin. Underneath the sheets, she could see that one of his legs was completely gone, but she couldn’t comprehend the totality of that realisation. His chakra felt guttered, like it was swirling through a drain. It was the only chakra she couldn’t describe using nature. It was a purely elated feeling; like something excited was trying to burst out of its confinements. Now it felt clamped down. Stoppered. Cut away.
Haru started to cry, and Sakura watched stoically. She knew that there was nothing she could do to take this pain away, so she bore it with quiet poise.
xXx
“Sakura-ane!”
Sakura slowed to a stop, arms bundled with groceries. She looked down, but not too far down, at the head of two glossy black boxer braids. Haru was getting much too tall, too fast, and Sakura was lost in the inner turmoil that she was somehow getting older even though Sakura still sometimes felt like the same fourteen year old who met her younger sister for the first time.
Haru grabbed one of the bags from her hands, ever helpful. She was nine, and probably could already be a genin if there wasn’t a strict age restriction now in place. Her outfit was a simple Gi top with green shorts, which meant she must have come from her brother’s old dojo. Sakura was already starting to see her little personality taking form from the grin of determination on her face whenever she focused on a task. Today, it was helping a twenty-something year old Sakura drag her groceries back home even though Sakura could bench-press ten of Haruko without breaking much of a sweat.
“Hi, Tsubomichi.” Sakura grinned. “How was school?”
“Good!” Haru nodded her head like it was truly a job well done. “I learned today about the history of the Shinobi Alliance from Iruka-sensei.”
Sakura knew how thrilled they’d all been when Haruko ended up in Iruka’s class, even if the man himself was a little leery. With so many strong personalities, he was rightfully concerned that Haruko would be a handful. Sakura wondered who he saw in her the most.
Kakashi’s perceptiveness. Gai’s energetic optimism. Naruto’s perseverance. Tenten’s strength of will. Sasuke’s dry sarcasm. Neji’s honour and chivalry. Lee’s ability to see the good in others.
Perhaps even Sakura’s willingness to give and be kind.
Hopefully not her temper, though.
“Oh?” Sakura made a noise to prompt Haru to continue.
“Mmnhmn.” Haru carried on emphatically. “We will be learning about the war tomorrow.” She looked up at Sakura with a contemplative look on her face. “Do you think I’ll get to hear about you?”
Sakura’s eyes widened in shock, weirdly touched that Haru would want to hear about her like she was some fabled legend.
“No one talks about the war, not really.” Haru continued. “Tousan says that sometimes people need to move on and not dwell in the past. Papa says it’s because people are still hurting.” She met Sakura’s gaze with an earnest sincerity. “Are you hurt, Sakura-ane? Is there anything that I can do?”
“I’m healing, Tsubomichi.” Sakura assured her gently. She shifted her groceries to her other arm and pet the top of Haru’s head. “We all are. I promise I’ll tell you if I need any help.”
“Okay.” Haru nodded as if the matter was settled. “I’m glad you’re here, Sakura-ane. I know that… a lot of people didn’t come back from the war.”
“I’m glad I’m here, too.” Sakura stopped Haru with a hand on her shoulder and knelt down. Soon she wouldn’t be able to do this without Haru towering over her. “That is why we must always be kind to people. You can never know if they’re healing, or hurting, or lost.”
“I’m trying my best.” Haru pumped her fist. “Tou-san told me to find the loneliest people in my class and befriend them! I have two so far!”
Sakura snorted in clear amusement, only able to imagine how that went down. Haru was stubborn like all of her family, which meant those poor introverts never stood a chance. She would probably end up with the same tendency that Gai and Naruto had; which was to collect the broken people and force them into family. She would stick to them like glue. Or the rice that Naruto often made that somehow managed to clog her throat every time. After living with Sasuke for so long, one would think he’d pick up better cooking habits. She sorrowfully missed Lee’s cooking; his rice was perfectly fluffy.
“Are you going home for dinner?” Sakura asked. “Did you want to ask your fathers if you can stay over at my place?”
“Papa actually asked me to come get you for dinner.” Haru confessed. “He invited the rest of the family, too. Tou-san says he’s overdoing it with his prosthetic, though, because he went all across the village rooftops with it.” She rolled her eyes knowingly towards Sakura; it was a common conversation in her house, so it didn’t bother her much. She was probably emulating her father more so than she was actually concerned over her dad. Gai was untouchable in her eyes. Especially when she learned that he actually came back from the dead like a phoenix .
“Is that so?” Sakura chuckled. “Well then, we better hurry. Wouldn’t want to be late. Who’s cooking tonight?”
“Tou-san. He wants to make shabu shabu.”
Well, hopefully no one would let Naruto near the rice cooker.