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"Who is the most beautiful girl in the world? It's you!" Tobirama wailed sweetly, kissing his little daughter's cheeks along the way. Her joyful laughter rang loudly through the room, sincerely pleased with the attention of her parent.
"She seems to like it very much," Yua-chan said with a wide smile, watching the child with narrowed eyes. She was leaning on her folded hands, which were lying on the young lady's crib, keeping a sharp eye on making sure that nothing bad happened. At least, that's what she said, very poorly hiding her true desire to be closer to the girl, considering her the most charming creature in this world.
"Of course she like it. My little princess laughs so loudly that anyone in the neighborhood will hear her," Tobirama replied, proud of himself.
Touka watched this from afar, hiding her smile behind the long sleeve of her kimono, turning away towards the garden. Sitting next to the spread shoji, she realized that in an amazing way in this small house all the problems faded into the background, were forgotten like a dream, leaving behind only an unpleasant and bitter aftertaste.
The sun shone brightly, the dew reflected the rays, making the flowers shine and the trees dance with happiness. The room warmed up and was so cozy that I didn't want to go anywhere.
She was really proud of herself: the recently abandoned building had risen up, striking with its bright appearance. There is new furniture, soft pillows, and painted shoji. Not a single speck of dust, not a single cobweb. Even the Emperor would envy such perfection!
"Actually," Tobirama suddenly began to speak, but without distracting himself from his daughter's entertainment, "I have been worried about one question for many days."
The girls, realizing that their Master did not want to continue, turned in his direction with interest, thereby hinting at their desire to hear about his doubts.
Clearing his throat briefly, as if from embarrassment, he continued anyway:
"I'm not sure who I am to her," he said, lightly tickling his daughter, kissing her cheeks from time to time. Straightening up and taking her in his arms, he turned to his faithful servants. "Am I Mom or Dad?"
The question sounded so funny that Touka and Yua-chan smiled again, but for a completely different reason than before: this time their victim was not a sweet Princess, but an insecure Lord.
"Stop laughing! This question really does not let me go," the guy wailed, on whose cheeks a blush had appeared.
"Didn't you read various literature before the birth of the child?" Touka answered with the same grin, who, seeing the frown on her face, realized that no literature had helped. Slyly looking in the direction of her assistant, the girl began to come up with a plan. "Why don't Yua-chan and I," she stood up and put her arm around the teenager's shoulders, looked up into Tobirama's eyes, "do this while you put the princess to bed?"
Embarrassed by what he had said, the guy could not find an answer, but even that was not necessary, since kunoichi, as soon as she finished her speech, almost immediately jumped up and ran towards the exit along with the young girl. It was only later, when the door closed behind them, that he realized what the catch was — his daughter didn't want to sleep at all. Excited by the affection, she wanted to play and laugh, and a heavy burden fell on Tobirama's shoulders in the form of a duty to come up with something interesting, so that the baby would not start acting up.
Grumbling and wailing, he finally resigned himself, expecting that the girls would be able to find the answer to his question.
***
Walking quietly and contentedly through the main house, Touka heard Yua-chan asking her about the plan of action. Pretending to think, kunochichi said:
"I suggest you go to the library. I'm sure there will be something interesting there," and walked away in the opposite direction, ignoring any shouts.
Trying to choose ways in which she would not get the current head of the clan, by the way, gloomy lately, she still began to think about what to do. If Yua-chan is going to be operating in the library, then she needs to choose something else.
No, she did not complain about her current position in any way — she liked peace and stability, and no amount of cleaning could convince her otherwise. However, sometimes there were so many children crying that I wanted to rest. It's probably even more difficult for Tobirama right now, but it would be nice to give her at least some time for herself. Even if this time implies another task. At least she is investigating a rather interesting issue, and not changing dirty clothes for the princess.
Wandering aimlessly through the wide corridors, she looked at various decorations — vases, paintings. One painted door caught her attention — it depicted a young girl engaged in calligraphy. At the same moment, a memory arose in her mind of how, on the orders of the last head, whole piles of scrolls and books were brought to Tobirama's bedrooms, the contents of which she did not know, but, according to her master's words, there was various kinds of information about Joushin-sama, the traditions of Sacred Parents and their children, which slightly resembled It was a lie, because she knew about the master's love of reading, and the probability that he would not have read all these books was very low. Anyway, she decided to head to the office of the late Butsuma-sama, in case there were the necessary scrolls that he might have forgotten. After all, she remembered how on the dark wood shelves there were not only various books about the strategy of warfare, but also about etiquette and everything like that, so maybe there was something about how to properly name a man who gave birth.
Feeling some shame, Touka was clearly aware that she was doing this only on Tobirama's orders, which, although not spoken out loud, was implied. The current head, as far as she knew from the rumors, which she was not even interested in, absolutely did not use this room, preferring his bedchambers to her, which, as the girl thought, was stupid — mixing work with a place where you should relax. In any case, she was not concerned with someone else's life.
She could have, if this grown man, who does not understand refusals, had not tried to contact her master until now.
With an exasperated sigh, she calmed down before entering the place she needed.
The heavy table made of dark oak has lost its former grandeur, covered with a thin layer of dust. The yellowish edges on the tatami became brighter, and the shelves now seemed lower than the girl remembered. It seemed that even the windows had turned grayish, lost their color and dimmed. Moving silently inside, Touka began to examine the visible spines of books, mentally calculating which one would suit her case.
"Isn't that what you're looking for?" A deep male voice sounded out of nowhere, causing the girl to flinch and turn sharply to the side.
In the right corner, standing in the open shoji, the view of which overlooked the courtyard, without even deigning to turn to face her, stood Fukuda-sama, a member of the Council. Holding out his hand, he relaxed and demonstratively showed Toka the contents — a book whose title was "RULES OF TREATMENT". The publication was most likely quite a long time ago, as the pages were hard and dirty.
When she came to her senses and brushed off the bangs that had fallen on her face, the girl straightened up and went straight to the man, taking the book with both hands and pulling it towards her. After the action, she didn't know what to do — start making excuses or ask what in Heaven's name this man was doing here.
Despite the fact that Fukuda-sama had his back to her, Touka managed to see deep wrinkles on his forehead that appeared from behind his eyebrows, which frowned together before he left, muttering something about hoping that he could help.
At the same moment, she remembered that after Butsuma-sama's death, the council had never been convened, despite the fact that negotiations with the Uchiha were actively underway. Unsurprisingly, many members of this very Council worried that they might be stripped of their positions. However, she wasn't sure if they were worried about sincere anxiety about the future of the clan or because of commercialism.
Amazingly, she wasn't surprised that Hashirama-sama couldn't handle her role. Given Tobirama's eternal requests for help, the fact that the current head was almost worthless seemed natural.
With a contemptuous chuckle, she hurriedly left the office, deciding to read the contents of the book only after she had passed a little further down the corridor.
The contents made her smile, anticipating the conversation, and wonder how Yua-chan was doing.
***
The young girl walked purposefully towards the library, preemptively asking the servants where she was. Looking around absently, she wasn't even sure if she had turned the right corner, but she still didn't slow down, while looking funny in her naive desire to fulfill the request of her Master.
She was still at the age when any words implying an order were perceived as something necessary to be fulfilled at the moment. But, of course, Yua-chan refused to accept it, confident that she had already grown up and had not been a stupid and simple-minded girl for a long time.
Anyway, she stood in front of the majestic doors, on which indescribable plots were played out. Timidly pushing them open, she began to examine every detail, wanting to see if she had come to the right place.
To be completely honest, she was a little scared. The road turned out to be gloomy, and the library was greeted with dead silence, in which the sighs of the girl were clearly audible.
After catching her breath, she still took a firm step into the abode of wisdom. Almost immediately, shrinking from the sound that appeared after her stepped foot, she already tiptoed along the shelves in search of what she needed, still not fully understanding what she was looking for.
Yua-chan, actually, wasn't very literate. Being able to read only basic words, she really, really hoped that this stock of knowledge would be enough to at least honestly tell the Lord that she tried to find what she needed, she just couldn't.
As she passed by, she didn't even realize the order of the books and scrolls. Alphabetically, right? Or maybe it depends on the topics?
Her head was spinning with questions that could not be answered. The girl was ashamed to return to clarify this particular area, as it meant that she would come to Joushin-sama empty-handed. But surely he is looking forward to hearing from her! No, in no case should she disappoint the Lord.
Feeling a little panic begin to flow down her throat, Yua-chan wandered in search of the cherished words that promised to give answers, skipping some hieroglyphs that she did not know and did not understand, hoping that this would not affect the content of the text too much. And then her gaze caught on the already known combinations. Almost immediately, memories surfaced in her head of how her mother read a book with the same title before putting her to bed, how, having already grown up a little, she read the same thing to her younger brothers. "Momotaro" looked at her from the multicolored cover, smiling broadly.
This fairy tale is sure to please the young princess! Yua-chan remembered how interesting it was to hear about the travels of the peach boy and his faithful friends, how exciting the fight with demons was! Surely the Lord will like it too, because after reading this tale, you can understand a lot — the importance of courage, kindness and loyalty.
Starting to look at the names more actively, the girl came to the realization that she had accidentally wandered into the compartment with children's fairy tales. So, in this library, the books were arranged according to the classification, fine. Yua-chan was able to figure it out almost on her own!
Her eyes lit up with excitement, almost sparkling with happiness, which replaced uncertainty and anxiety. Of course, she couldn't find what she needed, but at least she wouldn't come back empty-handed, but would bring at least something with her.
Well, now it is necessary to choose the best that would help the young lady grow up to be a good person.
Rummaging through the shelves and in her memories, Yua-chan fingered the spines with her hands, not forgetting to pick up "Momotaroć in advance, so as not to forget suddenly. Clutching the fairy tale tightly to herself, she smiled, already anticipating warm evenings filled with exciting stories.
There's "The Crane's Wife" and "The Story of the Old Man who Made the Trees Bloom"! What an incredible piece of luck that in the huge library of the Senju clan, in addition to serious literature on philosophy and warfare, there were also such simple works. Jouji-sama was lucky enough to have access to a huge number of different stories, unlike most civilians who, if lucky, knew at least one or two fairy tales. In that case, how kind she will grow up! It is these traits that are important for the future Mistress and the Sacred Child.
***
They met just on the way to Tobirama's house, comically crossing at the door. After briefly looking into each other's eyes, they grinned, both pleased with how their short break had gone.
"And how are you doing?" Touka asked, walking slowly towards the garden, wanting to admire the flowers that bloomed on the trees.
"I didn't find what the Master wanted. But!" said Yua-chan quickly, not allowing herself to be interrupted or condemned. "I took the fairy tales. Hopefully, this will soften Joushin-sama's anger.""
"Don't worry," Touka calmly replied, whose lips did not want to return to their previous state, still smiling, "I found the right one. Your fairy tales will be a pleasant addition," and winked, quietly opening the door.
Moving quietly, realizing that the child had finally fallen asleep, they saw Tobirama in the kitchen. He was sitting, drawing some patterns on the table, tea was cooling next to him. Perhaps he was already waiting for them, as there were two more next to his suitcase, as well as all sorts of sweets for tea, which the girls loved so much.
They carefully sat down opposite, putting their books slightly to the side, and landed in comfortable places. Taking the teas in their hands, they smiled conspiratorially. The first beginning of the Current.
"I found the right one," she said proudly, lifting her chin.
"Alright", was her answer. "But I'm more interested in what Yua-chan brought with her."
Feeling a small pang of displeasure, kunoichi allowed the younger one to report on what was in the small stack that was neatly laid out. It seemed to her that Tobirama liked the addition in the form of fairy tales even more than the fact that the great question that had been bothering her for many days had found its answer.
Even so! It was important that she managed to complete the task. Chewing sweet daifuku, she herself began to anticipate what was in these fairy tales, since she did not remember the contents. It had been many years since she had read them. Of course, she had fragmentary memories, but this was not enough to fully understand the plot.
"So what do you have there?" Tobirama asked, smiling knowingly, feeling inwardly that the answer would not please him much.
The malicious grin that made the dark lipstick on Toki's lips stretch made it pretty clear that all his suspicions were right.
"I suppose I should read what it says here," she said primly, straightening up.
"Every child who honors his parents is instructed to follow this rule: the father should be addressed as “otousan” and the mother as “oka—san” in order to express gratitude for the life that has been given. So, do not forget that this is a legitimate rule for the children of Sacred parents. Joushin-sama should be called “aka–san”, and his spouse should be called “ata-san” — this expresses reverence for the high heritage they carry."
It followed from this that Tobirama was a young mother.
Hearing the quiet giggles, he covered his face with his hand, thereby hiding the blush and a faint smile.
"Maybe I should have expected this," he said with a laugh, not feeling a bit disappointed. So be it, my daughter's first word will be "mama."
Sitting at the table, sipping tea from time to time and biting off small pieces of sweets, they allowed themselves to forget for a while, close their eyes to any politics, war, planning perhaps another walk and games so that the young princess would not get bored.