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When Butsuma passed, one of the first things Hashirama did was completely redo the Senju estate’s back garden. Many of his and his brothers worst memories were associated with it, and Hashirama had always loathed the bleak look of the semi-traditional rock garden. And since he was remodeling the house, he may as well start with the garden. Neither Kawarama nor Itama cared what happened to the house or the garden, and after a lot of discussion with Mito, Hashirama decided on turning most of it into a water garden. There was a waterfall, leading into what could only be called a river it was so wide, with a pond at the end. Bridges crossed the river in several places, there was an island with a small gazebo in the pond, and all of it was surrounded by lush greenery. An extensive pump system fed from the pond to the waterfall; the entire thing had been carefully designed to be as soothing as possible.
Since he had this beautiful pond and river, it only made sense to fill it with koi. And if Hashirama got koi, he would need to get mer to look after them. While he had only ever seen the larger, saltwater mer from a distance, he had met the koi-sized freshwater mer that lived in Mito’s family's water garden a few times. Since she had been around them her entire life, Hashirama trusted her judgement when she recommended he start with a small school of koi and two mer to look after them. That way if he found himself overwhelmed it wouldn't be difficult to rehome both the fish and the mers. And, should he want, it would be easy to expand from there. The amount of space he had was enough to support quite a large school of both mer and koi.
Getting koi was easy, choosing mer less so. It was more like a hiring process than shopping, which made sense; Hashirama was technically hiring the two mer to look after his koi for him, the merfolk liaison pointed out. Only instead of paying them with money, he had to look after their every need. It took many hours of meetings before Hashirama finally found the pair that he thought he would get along with well. Iruka had to be the friendliest mer Hashirama had ever met, patterned the same way as a chagoi koi. The other, Tobirama… if Hashirama’s youngest brother had survived his birth, he thinks the two would have been identical. Unlike Iruka’s coppery-brown scales, Tobirama was more like a platinum ogon, as brilliant white as his hair.
Though eventually he would switch to automatic feeders controlled by the mers, Hashirama started off bringing food every morning and evening. Not just for the koi, but for Iruka and Tobirama, too. Both of them were polite but distant at first, which made sense, and Hashirama forced himself to maintain the same polite distance as they did. It didn't take long for Iruka to warm up to him, though, poking his head out of the water to shout at Hashirama when he saw him. And on some occasions he’d even haul himself partway out of the water, the gills on the side of his neck fluttering as he demanded Hashirama's attention. Or, more likely, whatever new treats and toys he’d brought the two mer. Not just toys, of course, but things the mer might need for… whatever. Mito hadn’t done more than gently suggest some of the purchases, and Hashirama had no idea what they might be used for.
Whenever Iruka called out to him, Hashirama made sure to stop and chat at least for a little while. On the other hand, Tobirama was much less friendly, but as he watched Hashirama indulge Iruka, he started to swim closer. Of course, he still refused to talk to Hashirama at all, but at least he wasn’t swimming away every time Hashirama got close!
As they got friendlier, Hashirama made sure to spend more time with them. Unlike the mer in, say, Mito’s pond, Iruka and Tobirama only had each other to talk to, and Hashirama, which must have been at least a little lonely, but every single piece of advice from everyone told him to make sure he had a good relationship with his mers before he got more. And they would need to be comfortable with him anyway, because the whole point of having mer caretakers for koi was so they could tell him if there were any problems! So the least he could do was spend some time talking to them. After he fed them, Hashirama would crouch by the river or pond.
It didn’t take long after that for him to really get to know the two. Iruka was kind, but Hashirama caught glimpses of a temper, though there hadn’t been much to provoke him. And he’d been wrong about Tobirama; the mer was just shy, but once he got to know Hashirama… well he was no chatterbox like Iruka, but he was so smart. They both were, and Hashirama made sure to bring them mer-friendly books from time to time, but Tobirama must have been a genius. He was having debates on ethics and philosophy with Hashirama that wouldn’t have been out of place in his classroom—and indeed, Hashirama may have used a few as lessons—not to mention that once he got comfortable with Mito they had discussions about magic that flew over Hashirama’s head completely. And then Iruka had gotten involved and… he hadn’t seen his beloved act that excited in a while.
So Hashirama maybe adored both of them. He couldn’t help it! His boys were just so good, and sweet. Was it weird to call them that? Maybe. He was just so very fond of them. The only thing was… the more he talked to them and got to know them, the more it seemed like he really needed to get more mers. He had, perhaps—PERHAPS—impulsively gotten a few more koi fish. They were just so pretty! Also spending Butsuma’s money on koi would have infuriated the man, and anything that his father would have hated tended to mean Hashirama liked it. Usually more than he should.
But it meant that the amount of koi Iruka and Tobirama were looking after had almost doubled. Not to mention they also somehow were keeping an eye on the garden, Hashirama suspected magic. It was a lot of work. Especially because creatures now had designs on his koi! Though it was ugly, Hashirama had been forced to put netting over most of the river when the two mentioned seeing a heron eyeing the fish. Of course, the pond should have been deep enough for them to be safe, with plenty of hiding spots, but Hashirama wanted them to be as safe as possible. After the bird had finally left, Hashirama could see just how tired Tobirama and Iruka were. He had to get more mer. Well, he had to get two more, because that was all he could get but… the point was his boys needed assistance!
Finding his next pair of mer took far longer than it had the first time. For all their similarities, Tobirama and Iruka also had many differences, and that made finding a compatible pair almost impossible. If one half of the pair seemed like they’d get along with one, the other half was sure to irritate and annoy the second. Not to mention Hashirama was learning that mer had specialties. Some were good at everything, like Iruka and Tobirama. But others excelled at aquatic gardening, or fighting, or fish husbandry, or looking after baby mer, to name a few specialties. And that made things even more complicated!
After several weeks of searching, Hashirama found a pair that his boys might tolerate. Undoubtedly the personalities would clash, but less than any other pairs he had met, and he was getting anxious. With the weather getting warmer, who knew what other predators might come for his fish, and what if Tobirama and Iruka got hurt? The pair he’d chosen were both excellent fighters, though they looked as different as Tobirama and Iruka did. Kakashi was patterned the same way as a gin matsuba koi and the other…
It was said that for every single person on earth there was another who looked almost exactly like them, and Hashirama wondered if that was true for humans and mer as well. Because the other mer was a dead ringer for his best friend. They even had the same name! Though mer Madara’s hair was much longer, and his eyes had an odd purple shine to them, with the same pitch-black scales of a karasu goi, but otherwise they could have been twins.
But Hashirama swears that wasn't why he chose Madara and Kakashi! It really wasn’t! In fact just imagining human Madara’s reaction upon meeting his mer doppler was enough to make Hashirama consider trying to find a different pair. Unfortunately it’s a bad time of year to meet mers, as it was almost breeding season for them, so most had returned to their pods in hopes of finding a mate. So it was those two or waiting until the season had passed, and Hashirama couldn’t do that to Tobirama and Iruka.
The four didn’t hate each other on sight, which Hashirama would count as a victory. As days went on, he didn’t see much of Kakashi or Madara, but that was to be expected; Tobirama and Iruka had been hesitant around him at first as well. It was a little concerning that he saw less of Iruka and Tobirama as well, but when he did see them, they assured him they were just helping the other two get settled. What was more concerning were the scratches and bite marks he kept seeing on his boys. When he asked, both were quick to assure him it was nothing he needed to worry about. Iruka even explained that it had to do with mer instinct, so Hashirama wondered if it was some sort of… hierarchy or territorial thing. As Kakashi and Madara got more comfortable around him they went away, so maybe it had been a stress response. But if his boys said he didn't need to worry about it, he wasn’t going to!
While Kakashi and Madara weren’t as friendly as Tobirama and Iruka, they seemed to like Hashirama well enough. They asked for more things than his boys had; various things to make weapons and tools out of, cloth, toys, and even more books. So many books, of all different genres. Not that Hashirama minded! Sometimes he’d even get a human-sized version of whatever book he got them, so they could talk about it together. It was a lot of fun to have his own little book club right in his backyard! He was so glad he’d picked Madara and Kakashi.
And then, one morning when Hashirama arrived, he noticed Tobirama looked… odd. It took a few minutes for Hashirama to figure out what it was, half distracted as he was by the conversation. There was an odd bump around Tobirama’s stomach, maybe a little lower. None of the other mer seemed to be acting odd… well, Madara was swimming closer to Tobirama than usual, but when asked Tobirama had insisted he was fine, so perhaps Hashirama had been imagining it.
Only it was still there the next day, and the day after. On the fourth day, Hashirama noticed that Kakashi now had a small bump as well. Madara was still glued to Tobirama’s side, and Iruka was practically hovering around Kakashi… were they sick and didn't want to worry Hashirama? Because this was only making him worry more! Mito, when she had visited, had been no help, simply giving him a look before telling him not to worry, it was a mer thing.
A week later, and the bumps had gotten bigger. So much so that Hashirama was contemplating calling someone. Yes, each time he asked he’d been assured everything and everyone was fine, but what if they weren’t!? What if they knew they were sick but it was actually worse than they thought and they ended up dying? The very thought made Hashirama want to cry. That was it. If they didn’t tell him what was going on or were better, Hashirama was calling the… he was going to say doctor, but probably the mer liaison, and ask them for help.
Imagine Hashirama’s surprise when he arrived and found that while Kakashi's bump unchanged, Tobirama’s was gone. Oh and he was holding the tiniest, squirmiest, most adorable little mer Hashirama had ever seen, while Madara held another. Both had little poofs of black hair, and their tails were a perfect blend of black and white. A pair of black eyes and a pair of red eyes blinked up at him, and… Hashirama was an idiot. Tobirama and Kakashi weren’t sick, they were pregnant.
“Oh they’re precious…” Hashirama cooed, even as he was still reeling. Why hadn’t they just told him? At his words Madara’s chest puffed up in pride, and Tobirama grinned. Still, it was Iruka’s head who broke the surface… maybe the little ones couldn’t breathe air yet, and their parents were cautious about getting too close to the surface?
“Their names are Kagami and Kurenai… but… you aren’t mad?” Iruka asked softly, one hand latching on to Kakashi’s. It was a sweet gesture, and for the life of him Hashirama couldn’t figure out why he would be mad. Maybe that he would need to take care of more mers? But that wasn’t a problem, and Hashirama had even talked about finding more mer after breeding season.
“I’m not mad at all… why would I be mad?” He finally asked, stumped. Oddly enough, both Tobirama and Madara’s faces turned red, while Kakashi looked almost smug. Tilting his head to the side, Iruka was quiet. If Hashirama remembered correctly, mer communicated with each other using a form of species-exclusive telepathy.
“Ah…” Iruka's cheeks were red, “Madara is worried you might be mad at him for ‘defiling his sweet and innocent Tobi,’ and then Kakashi pointed out that Tobirama was the one who did the defiling.” Still blushing, Iruka ducked his head under the water, as though to hide. Hashirama was pretty sure they just meant “defile” as in “fuck”, because neither Madara nor Tobirama looked unhappy or hurt, or anything that wouodn’t indicate something nonconsensual.
Those silly mers. Yes, Hashirama adored Tobirama and Iruka, but he also cared very much about Madara and Kakashi. If they were all happy, why did he care? Was he an overprotective father?! Or worse, an abusive and controlling one? In the future he’d just need to make sure that they all knew how much he cared about all of them!
Also who would say no to seeing babies?
“For future reference… I just want you all to be happy,” he pointed out, crouching down to look a little closer at all of them. “If you’re happy together, who am I to say anything. But…” he pouted at the assembled mer, “I wish you had told me what was happening! How can I properly dote on babies I don’t know about! Next time you decide to have children, you better tell me!”
Crossing his arms, Hashirama stubbornly kept his pout as the mer laughed at him. Did they think he was joking? Next time he’d cry if they didn’t tell him. Just watch him.