Chapter Text
Karatachi Yagura isn’t sure what one is supposed to bring to what is not quite a baby shower, what with the baby already being born. The baby was born a while ago, actually, over six months, and Yagura isn’t exactly sure why he had to wait so long to bring a gift for the baby.
Probably to make sure that it stuck, Isobu guesses, unhelpfully. Human babies are notorious for dying.
Don't be depressing, Yagura orders. Senpai’s baby is never going to die.
Well, that’s just blatantly untrue.
I didn't say that it was realistic, I said that senpai’s baby is not going to die.
Isobu is silent, but only for a moment.
You’re being difficult.
You're a turtle.
Yagura sighs, rolls his shoulders, and knocks on his senpai’s door with the hand that isn’t holding the gift for the baby.
It’s not even a moment later before Hasuno Kizashi slams the door open, grinning from ear-to-ear, not looking at all like a responsible father of an infant.
“Yakkun!” He greets, excited as always, and lifts Yagura in a tight hug, spinning around to set the young teenager inside the house. “Glad you could make it! Come on, come on, Mecchan and Sacchan are waiting in the living room. What’d you bring? Sacchan’s teething right now, and she’s been chewing on everything, so if you brought something rubber, Mecchan’s probably going to kiss you. If it’s a stuffed animal, she might slap you. Sacchan’s been tearing them up like she’s a dog. I dunno where she gets her strength, it must be a Suna thing. Anyways, how are you? You’re taking the jounin practical soon, right? That’s good, I’m sure you’ll make it. It’s gonna-”
“Kizashi, my love, light of my life,” Haru no Mebuki interrupts, face serene and tone kind, “shut up and let Yagura-kun get a word in edgewise.”
Kizashi just laughs. “Sorry, Mecchan, Yakkun.”
“You are the same as always,” Yagura says, calmly. Kizashi laughs again and steps over his daughter, who is playing with the head of a stuffed dog, and kneels next to his wife. Yagura kneels on the other side of them, and the child stares at him.
“Ah-bih!” The baby says. She grins and shoves her hand into her mouth.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Sakura-chan,” Yagura says politely. He passes the package to her. She throws the dog head aside and begins tearing into the package with relish.
“Did you tape the box shut?” Mebuki asks. “She can’t open tape, yet.”
“Gohf,” the baby disagrees. There are already scraps of tape stuck to her fingertips, which she shakes viciously. “Dah!”
“I have a kunai, Mebuki-san. I can open it, if she cannot.”
Kizashi sucks his teeth, and leans into whisper to Yagura. “Yakkun, Mecchan doesn’t want Sacchan to be near any ninja stuff. She won’t even give her a toy kunai until she’s at least three.”
Yagura’s forehead wrinkles involuntarily. “I think I received a toy kunai when I was born.”
“Yeah, me too! Mecchan says it’s different in Suna, though.”
“Mecchan can also hear you,” Mebuki interrupts. She pulls Kizashi back by the collar of his shirt. “Don’t worry, Yagura-kun. As long as you don’t give it to Sakura, I don’t mind.”
It doesn’t seem to be an issue, though, as the baby tears the box open, punched through the side of the box itself, and has pulled out the gifts of a water lily patterned onesie and a rubber turtle bath toy.
Kizashi gave Yagura two thumbs up from behind Mebuki.
-+-
“Ah,” Sakura says. She points at Yagura.
Kizashi laughs. “She likes you! I told you you would be fine, Yakkun.”
“She could be pointing at me as someone she dislikes, senpai,” Yagura points out.
“No, she likes you,” Kizashi says, confidently. “She’s mine and Mecchan’s daughter, right? There’s no way she wouldn’t like you.”
“She bit me yesterday.”
Kizashi laughs again. “The Hasuno are distantly related to the Hōzuki, you know? My baby girl’s gonna have real sharp teeth.”
Yagura grimaces. “You are far too exuberant for being informed of your daughter’s tendency towards assaulting jounin of Kirigakure.”
“You think you’ve got it bad? She almost got my ear one time, when she hit her head on a table and needed me to hold her for a little bit. If she weren’t bright pink practically everywhere, I’d almost think she’s part Hoshigaki.”
Yagura shudders. “Don’t even joke about that. I fear for my safety.”
“Ah!” Sakura says again. She points at Yagura again and shakes her hand as she does it.
“No, thank you,” Yagura says, politely.
Sakura sighs heavily and stands up in her high chair and points at Yagura again. “Ah! Abashubhuhbuaba!”
“I said, no, thank you.”
“She wants up,” Kizashi says, smoothly clearing Sakura’s dishes away. “Just pick her up. Carry her like she’s a handful of caltrops.”
Yagura examines the toddler skeptically before he cautiously lifts her, adjusting her until he’s holding her feet in his cupped hands.
“Bwah,” Sakura says.
You’re terrible at this, Isobu says.
-+-
“Yagoo,” Sakura says. She grabs Yagura’s apron and pulls on it almost hard enough to completely remove it from his outfit. Yagura tries his best to ignore her as he reads through the possible upcoming missions he could take.
“Yagoo!” Sakura repeats. She pulls harder on his apron.
“Sakura-chan, you may refer to me as Yagura-nii or Yagura-san,” Yagura explains patiently. “Referring to me as Yakkun is inappropriate, given your age and our respective rankings. It could even be considered inappropriate for your father to refer to me as Yakkun, but he is one of the most powerful shinobi in our village.”
Sakura blinks at him. “Yagoo,” she says, again.
“No,” Yagura says. “Yagura-nii.”
“Yagoo.”
“Yagura-nii.”
“Yagoo.”
“Yagura-nii.”
“Yagoo!”
Yagura sighs, and rubs his forehead. He can feel a headache coming on.
“Yagura-nii.”
Sakura scowls. “Yagoo!” She holds both her hands up to him. “Up!”
Yagura stares at her for a moment. He sighs and sets the clipboard aside before acquiescing and lifting her by one wrist.
“Yagoo,” Sakura says again, sounding a lot happier. She puts her free thumb in her mouth and begins swinging from Yagura’s grip.
“Yagura-nii,” Yagura corrects, again.
“Zaboo!”
“It is starting to seem like you are doing this on purpose. Zaboo sounds nothing like Yagura-nii.”
“Morning, mini-nin, mini-senpai,” Momochi says, from behind Yagura.
“Momochi-san, next time you call me mini-nin, I'm going to castrate you.”
Momochi, as always, ignores him to wave at Sakura.
“Zaboo,” Sakura repeats. She waves at Momochi with her spit-flecked hand..
“Wrong,” Momochi says. He pokes Sakura’s nose. “Momochi-jichan.”
Sakura scowls. “Momo-jii.”
“Sure, good enough.” He ruffles Sakura’s and Yagura’s hair, seemingly not put off by Sakura snapping at his fingers or Yagura involuntarily flaring Isobu’s chakra at the annoyance. Yagura’s headache pounds.
“Why does she refer to you properly, but not me?”
Momochi raises an eyebrow and pokes Yagura’s nose. “I’m tougher than you, mini-nin. That’s why.”
“I refuse to believe you are superior to me in any way, Momochi-san.”
“Shouldn’t you call me senpai?”
Yagura doesn’t know precisely what happens to his face, but it makes Momochi laugh, so he works his hardest to smooth his features.
“Fine, fine, no senpai. Speaking of, shouldn’t mini-him be with her dad? Who trusted you with a kid?”
“Senpai requested that I keep an eye on her while he is on a mission and Mebuki-san is on a trading trip. It should only be for today and tomorrow.” He rubs his forehead again. “I believe I am coming down with a headache.”
Momochi shrugs. “That’s not the first time I’ve been called a headache. Maybe not in front of mini-senpai, though, huh?”
Yagura sighs.
-+-
Hasuno Kizashi kneels on the floor of the meeting room of the mizukage, and doesn’t recognize the man kneeling on the dais opposite him.
The man almost looks like Karatachi Yagura, almost looks like the boy that Kizashi has known since his first babysitting E-ranks, with his gray-blonde hair and hot pink eyes, scar on one, deceptively slight limbs and childish body.
Almost, but not quite.
The man on the dais- the man who is supposed to be Kizashi’s mizukage, his first, last, and every priority from when he ties his hitai-ate on in the morning until he falls asleep at night- he is not Karatachi Yagura.
The man’s eyes are cold, hot pink frosted over instead of so bright and so clever, like Yakkun’s always had been. He is kneeling formally and has a sharp scowl on his face, instead of his usual carefully measured neutrality.
“Mizukage-sama,” Kizashi says, because he cannot call the man on the dais “Yakkun”. He leans forward and presses his forehead and hands to the floor. “I beg that you forgive me for abandoning my post. I leave Kirigakure for the love of my wife and child, not for betrayal. The Will of Water still flows through my veins, and it always shall. For the happiness of my wife and child, and the improvement of the lives they could live outside of Kirigakure, I beg you accept my gift as my hitai-ate, that you never forget who I was when I belonged to you.”
He remains there, kneeling with his forehead against the floor, waiting patiently for his kage’s response.
After several long minutes, the mizukage spoke.
“I… accept your apology, Hasuno-san,” he says. “And I accept your hitai-ate along with it.”
Kizashi straightens, unties his hitai-ate from around his bicep, and folds it neatly before setting it on the ground and pushing it towards his kage.
“I release you from your vows to Kirigakure, and from any significant relationships you have here,” Yagura continues.
If Kizashi were a lesser shinobi, his breath would catch in his throat.
“You will be granted no mercy. You will be expected to exit Kirigakure as soon as possible.”
Yagura is quiet for a moment.
“If you ever return to Kirigakure, you will be assumed to be here as a hostile force.”
Kizashi swallows. “I understand, Mizukage-sama.”
Yagura nods sharply. “Dismissed.”
Kizashi nods, stands, and bows. He turns to leave the room.
“Hasuno-san.” Yagura calls.
Kizashi turns to look over his shoulder. “Mizukage-sama?”
Yagura blinks heavily. His eyes seem more awake, suddenly, flashing with intelligence again, no longer frosted like glass.
“Hasuno-san,” Yagura says again. “Good luck.”
Kizashi waits for a moment, and sees Yagura’s eyes go glassy again.
“Thank you, Mizukage-sama.”
Yagura nods again. “Dismissed.”
Kizashi leaves Yagura behind.