Fear and Love Part III (Kakashi X OC)

Home Sweet Home

Kakashi and Tsuki locked the door to their room before he turned around and grabbed her, frantically lifting up her arms, running his hands down her back and torso, checking for any signs of injury.

Normally she'd shoo him off, but instead she let him, she was feeling extremely grateful that he was always so selfless.

"Thank you, Kashi... For jumping in front of me.." Tsuki said rubbing the back of her neck as he placed a relieved kiss to her forehead, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that they were both safe.

"Anytime, Kuraku, just know that I'm never not gonna jump in front of you." Kakashi said.

A blush formed on Tsuki's cheeks as she took Kakashi by the wrist, and dragged him to the bathroom,"We should properly clean out those wounds.."

After he rid himself of his shirt, Tsuki undid her sloppy bandages, and grabbed a nearby washcloth to start cleaning out the puncture wounds left by the senbon.

"That was a close call." Tsuki said,"Whoever wants revenge really doesn't like you..."

"This is all so irritating!" Kakashi rubbed his eyes out of frustration,"I think we need to get back to the Leaf. Now that we've got support lined up from the other Kage, we should be good for a couple months while we continue to investigate."

"I mean that's why they pay you the big bucks... To handle issues like this..." Tsuki joked.

Kakashi groaned loudly in response, but was quickly distracted by a familiar noise,"I think I hear Kai and Kana coming..." His heightened sense of hearing detected the light footsteps of his children in the hall, joined by some others.

As if on cue, they knocked and Kakashi redressed after Tsuki placed new, sturdier bandages on.

The whole gang that traveled with them to the Sand plus Gaara was at the door.

"Dad!" The twins ran into the room and hugged his waist,"Are you okay?!"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine guys, don't worry.." Kakashi put his hands on the tops of their heads, and looked at Sasuke and Gaara,"Did you find any more trap scrolls?"

"Yes we've picked them all out from the library and Gaara is going to open them in a secluded and contained room to see if they have any additional messages on them." Sasuke said,"But we should get back to the Leaf as soon as possible. We need to work on our own investigation.."

"I agree, Lord Sixth.." Gaara said,"As soon as we get the scrolls open, I'll call you with updates on if they contained anything useful. We are suspecting that our real records were stolen and that whoever did put these scrolls in their place, so I don't think we will have any additional information for your investigation unfortunately."

Kakashi's eyebrows knitted in frustration as he nodded,"I agree. We have a very good research team, we can only hope they'll recover something. Let's get ready to leave guys.."

The three genin ran back to their rooms to gather their belongings.

"Thank for everything, Lord Gaara." Kakashi bowed to the Kazekage,"Let's head out everyone."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tsuki took a deep breath as a heavy wave of nausea overtook her.

The gang that traveled to the Sand Village was making their way back to their home village of the Leaf, dashing through the trees at full speed to make it back to their safe haven.

Tsuki jumped down and placed her hand to a tree as she pulled her mask down and hunched over, preparing to puke her guts out. But luckily the nausea subsided.

Kakashi looked back at Shikamaru and Sasuke,"Keep going, we'll catch up with you.."

In an instant, Kakashi was by her side, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead,"You okay, Kuraku? You look like you're getting sick.."

He saw that her normally bright glow was obscured behind a diaphoretic, pale shroud.

"Yeah I think I'm getting sick..." Tsuki replied, catching sight of Kai and Kanari joining them on the ground.

Kanari held her stomach, trying to cover for her mom because she knew that she wanted the moment she told her dad that she was pregnant to be a special one,"Ugh, I think I'm getting sick too dad..." She said, feigning nausea.

Kai picked up on it and joined in,"Me too, dad. I think we ate bad sushi.."

"How come I'm not feeling sick?" Kakashi asked.

"Maybe you just got lucky.." Tsuki played along, making a mental note to thank her children later.

"Are you guys okay to keep going?" Kakashi asked,"Or do we need to stop somewhere? We're almost there, only a few hours away."

Kai and Kanari nodded while Tsuki leaned up against the tree as another wave of nausea hit her.

"Just give me a second, I can keep going.." Tsuki said, as stubborn as ever.

Kakashi gave her a moment, but could still clearly see she wasn't feeling well.

He turned around and kneeled to the ground, presenting his back for her to climb on so he could carry her, which Tsuki didn't protest in the slightest.  She felt dizzy, having to fight back dry heaves caused by an almost two week old fetus that somehow had an immense power over her.

Tsuki relaxed, resting her chin on her husband's shoulder as he carried her back home to the Leaf.

Her heart raced, and she became internally giddy as she pictured the look on Kakashi's face when she finally told him. She pictured seeing his eyebrows raise in surprise, while his masked mouth slightly parted out of shock until it would finally be overcome by a closed eye smile. Maybe he'd tackle her the ground, maybe not. Maybe instead he'd frantically run his hands through his hair out of joy before gripping her shoulders and lightly shaking them to ask her 'Are you serious?!'

Tsuki just wanted to enjoy her last pregnancy, and she wanted to make that moment special. She wanted it to be perfect. But she was prepared to wait a while, she thought perhaps her body would give her away before she'd spit out the words. She knew that once they returned to the Leaf, work would be hectic, her and Kakashi would be busy, Kakashi probably more so than her, being the Hokage and all.  With the looming threat of the Shioki clan she didn't want to come clean until defenses were rock solid and they had a reasonable amount of knowledge on who they were facing.

She just didn't want to stress Kakashi out. He had already experienced enough stress in his life, arguably enough to fill up multiple lifetimes worth of it. She just wanted to enjoy her last pregnancy, in a safe, peaceful world. And if not a safe and peaceful one, at least an adequately protected one.

Soon enough she drifted off to sleep, resting her head against the back of Kakashi's neck while he lovingly carried her the rest of the way home. Her exhaustion piled on, and she found herself tucked into the sheets of the bed in the master bedroom of the Hatake residence. Her and Kakashi's room.

She was so damn tired, but she heard the somewhat frantic rustling of feet around the house. Unbeknownst to her, it was Kakashi placing a barrier jutsu on every single door and window of the house while he assigned ANBU as lookout for the protection of his family.

He kissed his son and daughter goodnight as they readied themselves for bed and retreated into their respective rooms, excited to return to the normalcy of having their dad back in their life.

The journey had exhausted Tsuki, she needed a very good night's rest, which her body granted her once she felt the familiar weight of Kakashi's body join her in bed.

This was the first time they laid in their actual bed since he had been saved by Naruto. But they both knew that their work had only barely begun.