Things happen
After her quick stint with being summoned to seal the monstrous fox into a sacrificial idiot (who reminded her of herself) and his son was not something she liked to think about. In fact, she tried very hard to forget about it. It felt wrong to her, to have someone’s soul in her possession. She didn’t even talk with her friends about it, she was so embarrassed. She just returned to her life.
It was hard enough to be Amaryllis Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, Woman-Who-Conquered, the Savior, the Chosen One, the immortal Master of Death. She had responsibilities for her family, she had obligation to her friends and she had a duty to the world she was a part of. But most importantly, she owed it to herself to finally live her life to the fullest.
It was not easy to make her life into being somewhat similar to something society could accept but she did it. She went to therapy to deal with her childhood and the remnants of the war that could not leave her alone. She got her NEWTs and she went to obtain Mastery in Ancient Runes and Enchanting. Because she was a bloody overachiever when she tried to escape the issues plaguing her in the everyday life.
At least her therapist said it’s a better alternative than sacrificing herself for the sake of ending a war that started long before she was born and should be dealt with by the adults long before she could get truly involved.
With time she even reconnected with Andromeda enough that she could be a regular figure in the life of her sweet godson. Teddy was such a delight to be around and he never failed to bring her a smile with his mischief and kind nature. Every time he called her Mummy Amy she was ready to melt on the spot.
She even got a job, as unlikely as it was. She never thought she could end up like that… But she did and now she was working with George in his shop, helping him with the more bureaucratic side of the job and with inventing. Because enchanting was good with creating pranks products.
Her life was good no matter how many problems she had. No amount of paparazzi and fans would make her hate her life. She and George even started to get closer than before as they both felt grief a little bit more accurately than the others among them. It was nothing more than some shy touches when working together, some secretive smiles and soft looks. But Amy hoped because she longed to have something normal and sweet and stable in her life.
George was sweet, he was stable and together they learned to smile again. How could she say no to that? He made her feel like she was not a weirdo but a person.
She should have known something would go wrong one of these days.
Unsurprisingly it was Halloween, the cursed day of her life.
Rabastan Lestrange evaded Aurors once again and attacked the house of Andromeda with every intention of causing harm to Teddy.
Andromeda, being a Black by birth was vicious when protecting the ones she loved and she managed to stall the bastard down until the Aurors arrived on site but she was injured badly enough to fall into a coma and no one knew when she would be waking up. The worst part was that he managed to escape once again and could attack any member of her family if he so desired.
Amaryllis was asked to assist the Aurors with catching him and with a heavy heart, she agreed. Not because of revenge but because she wanted to keep her godson and family safe. The problem was that with Andi out of commission, George managing the shop, Fleur pregnant and Molly doing her best to help care for Victorie often, Ron busy with his duties in Law Enforcement, Hermione being Kingsley’s assistant and Percy working with them to still rewrite corrupt laws, Charlie in Romania with dragons, Luna and Neville traveling the world to discover new plant and animal species… She had no one to leave Teddy with.
She also didn’t want to endanger any of them more than they already were.
It was Death who reminded her about Namikaze Minato.
She hated the idea, she truly despised the fact that she needed to leave her child with a literal stranger. But he owed her and Death promised her that the blonde man could keep her kid safe without any problems.
It was not hard to pack some things for Teddy into a bag with expandable charms and it was not hard to tell her baby that he would need to stay with someone new for a few days. Teddy was such a sweet boy, very open-minded and not shy at all. He was not fussy about it at all. He was not concerned at all and just fell asleep in her arms right away.
With a sharp crack, they disappeared from this particular universe.
***
His life was finally normal after the night his wife died after having Kyuubi pulled out of her. It was not easy to deal with something like that as a Hokage but Minato was not alone. He was not alone in taking care of Naruto and he was not alone in managing his village.
Shinigami left him alone for four years and he calmed down, thinking that his life would remain free of the divine and only in his afterlife he would suffer.
How wrong he was.
He was sleeping soundly and feeling safe in his home, in his bedroom when Konoha was hidden under the starry sky of the night.
Loud popping noise woke him up and his first reaction, true to any shinobi who worked in the field long enough, was to throw a kunai in the direction of the strange sound. In a second he was out of the cover and ready to fight the intruder in his home.
The sight that meet him was bizarre and terrifying at the same time.
Shinigami dodged the weapon thrown at him and sent him a disapproving frown. She looked the same as the night he saw her first, the only difference was that her fiery hairs were put up in a messy bun on the back of her head and she wore some strange leather armor that looked like snakeskin.
The biggest difference was the child in her arms, however.
The boy was sleeping soundly with his head on her shoulder and he looked completely at home in the arms of the goddess of death. He could admit, the kid looked cute with his slightly parted lips, soft snores and little button nose. His hair was the same shade the woman sported and in an instant Minato had a very bad feeling.
‘Shinigami-sama?’ he asked confused and her frown became more pronounced.
She was glowing softly in the darkness of the night and the enormous aura of power was slowly spreading around the room. At that moment she looked very godly, indeed. Her eyes flashed with green, toxic-looking light.
‘Namikaze-san.’ her voice was calm and was not at all like her facial expression. She seemed to be lost in thought. ‘I’m aware that timing is not the best…’ she hesitated but iron resolve straightened her shoulders. ‘It’s an emergency, however. Someone targeted my kid and I need to deal with them.’ She looked downright murderous and Minato felt bad for the one who would need to endure the wrath of the goddess. ‘I need someone to look after my son in the meantime.’
‘What…?’ he croaked out and blinked at her stupidly, his brain still addled by sleep.
She rolled her eyes and dumped the kid in his arms and he stumbled to catch the boy. Letting the child be hurt before his mother, the woman that owned his soul was a bad idea and even when he was dumbfounded Minato was aware enough to know this.
‘It’s only for a few days. Everything Teddy needs is in the bag, it’s bigger on the inside. If anything happens, just send a prayer to me and I will hear. Now, I need to go.’ she said quickly and disappeared from his bedroom with a sharp crack. There was not a trace of her other than the boy in his arms and the bag laying on the edge of his bed.
He could feel his headache growing and it was not even morning yet.
Minato looked at the child in his arms and sighed. Naruto had another bed in his room for the times when his friends were sleeping over.
His son wouldn’t mind. He was always happy to make friends, little child god or not.
And Minato was right!
In the morning he was woken up by delighted shrieks of laughter and when he went to check up on the boys they were locked in a game of tag. When he coughed pointedly to get their attention the blue and green eyes looked at him with sweet innocence.
‘Good morning.’ he said amused.
‘Hi! I’m Teddy! You’re the one Mummy wanted me to stay with?’ the son of Shinigami asked with a sweet smile and Minato relaxed just a little but his peace didn’t last long as the boy shifted like he was made of some soft malleable substance and he suddenly looked not like a mini version of the goddess but like a mix of Minato and said deity. The eyes that mirrored the Shinigami perfectly stayed the same.
Of course, little child god would be something truly unexpected. As if his life was not complicated enough.
‘That’s me.’ he said with much more confidence than he felt inside. ‘My name is Minato and this is my son, Naruto as you probably know already.’ he smiled at the two boys. ‘I think it’s time to get dressed and eat breakfast, what do you think?’
***
Teddy was well behaved and fussy at all. He and Naruto hit it off great and it didn’t fill him with confidence, because Naruto was a menace on his best days and he already could give his chunin babysitters a slip. With the help of a little godling? He was already seeing the mess he would need to clean up.
The only strange thing about their little guest was his lack of knowledge about their culture as he had no idea about how to address others and his ability to use chopsticks was atrocious. He was however smart and learned fast.
It didn’t take them long to be ready to leave the house.
Minato had a boy each in his arms and with sure steps, he started his everyday trek towards the Hokage tower. Little Teddy-chan was changing constantly and people were looking at them with open curiosity and wonder. Boys were chatting happily and Naru-chan was telling his new friends all about Konoha and the best places around.
There was no doubt that soon entirety of the village would know about Yondaime with some strange, shapeshifting kid.
He wondered what Shikaku and Fugaku would say about the situation?
After all, it’s not every day that Shinigami issues a babysitting D-ranks.
The problem was who could take care of the kid when Minato was working, however. Babysitting Naruto was often assigned to the shinobi that needed to be subtly punished and everyone avoided it like a plague. He had a feeling it would be similar to the kid of Shinigami.
Really, they were a bunch of cowards.