Baby Problems
The few months went with a blur, with no trouble that I found it hard to believe. I was now a year and a month old. It's been a few months since kaa-san disappeared without a trace. My brain was better than before, I could actually remember a few years in my life, although not all, which I took a deep disappointment in. My muscles were growing splendidly too. I overheard the clan doctor, Yamanaka Izue, told my father that I was developing at an abnormal rate. I was growing too fast compared to other babies. She then proceeded to ask about my mother, which brought a storm on Inoichi's face. The pain was still fresh, but tou-chan took a deep breath and muttered that my mother was from a clan that she did not know of. She was an orphan. Tou-chan then left to clear his mind, gaining a look of sympathy from Dr. Izue.
I figured out that the members of the main family always had an 'Ino' in their name. I guess, mine too. Yukino. I was glad that the 'Ino' wasn't in the front like tou-chan's. I would dislike it. I mean, why the heck would tradition affect baby naming? And why would it have to be 'Ino' not some other cool names? Thank my kaa-chan for her smart thinking. Technically, my name did had the 'Ino' but at the back.
Setting that aside, I was sulking. The aura surrounding me which was usually either happy or neutral was now gloomy. I kept pouting and pouting all day long, reluctantly eat and bathe. The reason?
I was going to celebrate my first birthday.
I’m not the type to celebrate, really, I very much prefer to read and eat in a room with nice breeze and comfortable blanket. In Before, I would sit on the corner and read after doing pleasantries like giving presents and congratulate someone or giving a speech, receiving gifts, and did small chit-chat. Then I would be sitting on a corner and read, whether it was report or novels or studying.
This time, though, I would be the center of the attention and since I was only a year old, they won’t ever let me sit on a corner and read, or play a game with myself. That did sound creepy for a baby to do. But alas, I’m a weird baby and I’m proud of it. I’m not going to change any time soon. Muahahahahaha!!
I really needed to improve my evil laugh; it’s so pathetic that even I considered laughing for real.
“Yuki,” I heard tou-chan’s gentle voice greeting me first thing in the morning. I turned my head slightly; my movements restricted by my growing baby body, and crawled to get a better angle to look at.
“Oo-ahn?” I asked, my eyes trained on his exhausted figure. I noted the slight baggy eyes forming under both his eyes, shoulders hunched, like he was defeated, and the shadow flickering beneath those pale eyes. I frowned, not liking the state he was in after kaa-chan left.
“C’mere,” he smiled, a light returning into his eyes as he squatted down, his eyes stretched out for me. I crawled to him, my movements awkward but sure. When I was in his embrace, his posture relaxed.
“Oo-ahn,” I repeated, slapping his shoulders to express how displeased I was with how things were progressing after kaa-chan left. I then pointed to his forming baggy eyes and frowned even more.
Inoichi blinked, not expecting his baby daughter to notice the bad state he was in. He managed to fool others to think that it wasn’t as bad as it truly was, but when he dropped his guard around Yukino, she saw right through him, and freely expressed her displease.
He felt blessed with a daughter like her.
“Oo-ahn!!!” I growled when he ignored me to go to his lala-land again. I mean, a shinobi going to lala-land? That would be a laughing stock among the other shinobis. I pouted, my feeling of displease by the state he was in, added by the realization of the birthday party, worsen my mood. I didn’t really notice how ice started to form all over my room, or how I grew even more tired by the second.
“Y-Yukino…?” tou-chan called out, unsure of the situation as the ice grew in size and mass.
“O…Toh….ss-schaann….” I slurred before fainting.
“YUKINO!!!!”
Tou-chan’s voice was all over the compound. He was really loud.
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It was supposed to be a normal morning in the house of Inuzuka Tsume, but she woke up to an unbearable heat, filling the whole house with it. Startled, she quickly took her ninja gears and put them on, running to the source of heat that was Hino's room.
"Kaa-chan!" Hana shouted, panic in her eyes. "Call a Suiton user!" Without a word, Tsume searched for a Suiton user she knew as fast as she could while Hana barged the door open, back at home. She was shocked to see where the heat was coming from.
"KAA-CHAN! QUICK!! HINO IS IN FLAMES!!!"
Tsume, with her enhanced hearing, could faintly hear Hana's shout. And, running out of ideas, went to the Sarutobi compound and dragged Sarutobi Hiruzen out of his bed with her.
He was, after all, the Nidaime's student, a legendary Suiton user who killed off the Kinkaku Squad on his own, giving the Hokage title to Hiruzen.
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"I'm supposed to be enjoying my retirement, you know," Hiruzen sighed after he put the fire out. "May I ask how exactly did your baby set herself on fire?"
"That's what I want to find out," Tsume and Hana said in unison.
"O-ya-ihk!" Hino shouted in glee. "A-o-ya-ihk!"
"You will get your Takoyaki later, Hino," Hana sighed as she walked over to Hino and patted her head. Hino pouted as she glared at her sister. Hiruzen blinked in surprised as he saw it.
"Your baby is...." Hiruzen paused, finding the right word. "....different."
"I know," Tsume said drily. "She's like an adult and a baby mixed together."
That's because I am one! Hino thought as she glared at the floor.
“You should put bodyguards around the compound,” HIruzen commented. “Even though the war is over recently, there’s no guarantee that shinobis who hold grudges against us, or you specifically, will target her.” Tsume sighed as Hana looked away.
“We are aware of the fact, but you know how the clan is….regarding her…” Tsume mumbled, a tired and worn out tone in her voice.
“I understand. I just hope that it doesn't affect her too much," Hiruzen sighed as he went over to Hino and patted her head. "Growing in a situation such as this one is not good for anyone." Tsume balled her fists as Hana looked away.
"How is she with other children?" Hiruzen asked out of curiosity.
"She's just shy," Tsume answered as Hino glared at her new mother. Getting the idea of Hino being anti-social and not shy, Hiruzen remained passive, not sure how to react to his shinobis' assumption. How did they think that Hino was shy, anyway?
"Maybe you should go to the Yamanaka compound and she Inoichi and his daughter," the ex-Hokage suggested. "I think some company will do them well after...."
Silence fell upon them like a thick and suffocating blanket.
"Mayumi's sudden disappearance is too suspicious," Tsume finally said. "She is one of the people I respect the most, and I don't believe the rumor flying around that she betrayed Inoichi and ran away from Konoha for fear of discrimination. Mayumi is far stronger than that, especially now that she has a daughter."
"I agree," Hana piped in. "Mayumi-sama won't just back down and abandon her daughter like that. After all, her daughter is the most precious one for her. It just doesn't make sense."
"I know," Hiruzen said with difficulty. "She is my student, after all."
"Do you think it has someting to do when she was gravely wounded and went missing for around a year?" Tsume voiced out her suspicion. "It could be that someone took advantage of her during that time, implanting a body control technique on her and erasing her memory of what happened? If that's the case, Hiruko is probably involved in this. It has happened before."
"It is a possibility," Hiruzen nodded. "Hiruko is obssessed with Mayumi."
"So there's that. If you need a tracking team for Mayumi's case, count me in, or at least tell Minato that," Tsume said.
“I know. Thank you. But this case is more delicate than it seems,” Hiruzen sighed tiredly. “We have too many questions and so little clues.”
“Mom,” Hana called.
“Don’t interrupt adults speaking, Hana,” Tsume sighed, her mind flashing a beautiful figure standing under a blossoming cherry tree, smiling as she her hand stretched out, letting the falling pink petals floated down her fair hand.
“Mom!” Hana called with more urgency.
“Hana, I told you-“ Tsume turned and gapped. She was greeted by the sight of Hino looking at her with a deadpan expression while her whole body was in flames.
“Third Hokage-sama!!”
And that was how the Inuzuka clansmen woke up that day. The ones nearby got their houses flushed wet by a Suiton jutsu.
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In the Yamanaka compound, Yukino pouted as she stared at ther reflection in the mirror, with her frilly white dress in full sight.
Why puffy and frilly dress? I thought this place was supposed to be more inclined to ancient Japanese style?
“C’mon, Yukino. The guests are arriving,” Inoichi called, a smile on his face.
Yukino pouted even more and glared at her dress.
“Don’t worry, the dress suits you just fine,” Inoichi said, misintrepeting her actions, causing Yukino to shook her head furiously, trying to tell him that he misunderstood.
“Come here,” Inoichi scopped Yukino up. “Let’s put on a smile and greet the guests, shall we? Maybe you’ll find a playmate later.”
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“Hino!! Come back here!!” Hana shouted as she used her speed to catch up to the baby who was crawling away in dread. “Put on the pink dress obediently, will you?”
Combust! Combust! Combust! Be like the baby in the Incredibles! Combust into a ball of baby in flames, me!!! The baby frantically thought in panic.
“Tie her up and drag her to the party, Hana!” Tsume ordered. “Tie her real tight.”
“I’ll do that,” Hana nodded.
Ohmygosh!! I’m born in a family of child abusers!!! Hino felt like crying as she was forced to put on a pink dress.
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That night was the first time the two future infamous shinobis met for the first time.