Hoshigaki

Silver Lining

"So there was a guy I was after, right? Complete schmuck. Not worth the money on his head, but hey, money is money when you're in a job like mine. But don't do what I'm doing when you're older, it's not good," Kisame said. He spooned some applesauce into eight month old Sakura's mouth as she sat in her high chair, smiling as she ate and hugging her shark plushie close to her chest. "Anyway, I go to my assigned destination and my target's there with no guards whatsoever. Stupid bastard."

He blinked and pointed a finger at his daughter's giggling face.

"Don't say that word. It's bad."

"Bast'd!"

"Yeah, that's right. Bastard's a bad—"

His sentence died on his tongue as he realized her usual babbling actually turned coherent. A grin of sharp teeth and glee spread across his face as he began to laugh.

"No-No, don't—" he snerked, laughter breaking through his sentences. "That can't be your first—pfft—word—"

Sakura tittered along with her father's joy and chanted along with him.

"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!" she squealed. She raised her arms and made grabby hands to which he complied readily, lifting her up and spinning before planting a kiss on her cheek.

"You can't keep her from the world she was born into."

A little after his excitement died down and he situated her back into her high chair, he took out a set of notecards he made himself and had been showing her each day he could for the past month and a half. Leaving her with Kakuzu had been an unfortunate eye opener for him, and if she was going to grow up in his world, she would have to know how to look out for herself the second she learned of the situation she was in.

Kisame held up the first card in front of her.

DANGEROUS

"Just like last time, okay? I'm going to show you the top fifty shinobi listed in the Bingo Book, including some honorable mentions. The most dangerous and worth the most across the five nations," he explained. She might not yet understand everything now, but he read there was a 'window of opportunity' in children where learning was the most crucial. The brain developed most rapidly between birth to five years of age, so the more he taught her when she was young, the more mentally prepared she would be.

He held up the first card with a picture and a name underneath. It was of an older man with unruly white hair and red paint that ran from his eyes down to his chin.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin. Affiliation: Konohagakure."

The next card. A woman with blue hair, stone cold hazel eyes, and an origami flower placed neatly in her hair. Sakura lit up and pointed at the picture.

"Ko!" she exclaimed. Kisame blinked as he stared at her, the card, then back at her again.

"You know lots of stuff already, huh?" he mused. "Must've gotten those brains from your old man, eh? But yeah, you're right. Good job. Konan, the Angel of Ame. Affiliation: Akatsuki and Amegakure."

It went on for the next forty-eight pictures filled with Kage, notorious missing-nin, jinchuriki, and formidable forces.

One day, she would know these names and faces by heart. She would know the people who could be out for her life, and when she did, she'd see that the life of a shinobi was kind to no one no matter how much heart they put into it. 

Once he finished with those cards, he told her about what she'd have to learn when she was older.

"We'll have to work on your chakra control, at most. That's the most important thing that links in with everything you'll learn from ninjutusu to taijutsu to genjutsu to swordsmanship," he explained. He glanced at the ceiling thoughtfully. "We'll also have to see what elemental type you are when you're older, pup."