Hana sat hunched over, her feet primly crossed at the ankles. Kiba stood on the chair beside her, looking red-faced and belligerent.

From around the corner a woman's voice could be heard. "Get off the chair. Kiba--sit down."

"I'm telling you, it wasn't my fault!" he yelled.

"Sit! Now!"

He jumped. Glancing sideways, light blue eyes caught sight of his mortal nemesis (for the day, anyhow--Lee-chan still held the weekly title) and jumped again just to show how tough he was, ignoring the voice of authority.

Hana stopped looking innocent long enough to roll her eyes.

"If you don't get your rump on that chair right now--"

He turned to stare defiantly at the woman around the corner. He jumped again.

"I will tell your father."

He started trying to balance on the chair arms, clambering around more monkey-like than dog-like.

"You're going to fall," Hana said with great disdain, obviously more unimpressed with his stunt than whether or not he was listening to their guardian.

"I will tell your mother," the guardian said.

Kiba's butt plopped down as if it were suddenly magnetized. "That's your brother?" he shouted down the hall, leaning forward to see around Hana. "Ma could totally beat him up!"

"Wolf preserve us," the woman muttered.

Not Tsume, then.

"Hi, Tori," said Raidou evenly, while Satsurou scrambled around on his shoulder and tried to glare at both Inuzuka children at once. "Nice to see you're keeping well."

Or fairly well, considering that she was heavily pregnant and still stuck with two kids while Tsume was off gaily avoiding people--

"My brother could beat your mom up blindfolded. With broken fingers!"

Right. Kids. Focusing now. This time Raidou didn't bother whacking Setsurou over the head; he simply grabbed one kicking leg and hauled the boy off his shoulders, dangling him neatly upside down. Setsurou squawked.

"I can grab you, too," Raidou told Kiba, holding up his free hand. "Look, one spare and everything."

"That--really won't be necessary, Namiashi-san," said the chuunin-teacher, edging around Raidou to get into his office. "I'm sure we can all resolve this like sensible people trying to raise well-balanced children."

"Ninja children," Raidou pointed out mildly.

"Which is why it's important for them to be well-balanced. Could you, um--could you put Setsurou-kun down, now?"

Raidou regarded the swinging eight-year-old and the glare he was still trading with Kiba. "I'm thinking no. He can listen just as well upside-down."

Tori smiled wryly, settling back in her chair with a hand over her protruding stomach. Kiba looked like he was considering leaping. She guessed, from the gleam in his eye, that being held upside down looked like more fun than punishment. In her current state he'd figured out he could outrun her. Dealing with these children, and knowing Kiba was just like Tsume had been, made Tori think their mother had the patience of Buddha. Since she couldn't grab him anymore, he'd become an absolute hellion. "Kiiroko," she snapped.

Her familiar leaped out from under her chair, shot across in front of Raidou's feet, and sank teeth into Kiba's shoe. He wailed and flopped back down, trying to kick the dog off.

"We really don't need anymore biting!" the chuunin teacher said, standing behind his desk.

"Kiiroko," Tori called, friendlier this time.

The canine let go and stalked, stiff-legged, back to her chair, glaring at the world in general.

The chuunin teacher muttered something under his breath, slowly sitting back down. Both Hana and Kiba stiffened. Tori closed her eyes and wished people would consider dog-like hearing before they spoke out loud. "I think," she said clearly, "you meant, 'I wonder why they're all nuts,' given their excellent role models, not, 'No wonder...'"

The chuunin colored. "Ah. Yes. Well, then, if we could all have a seat?" He looked hopefully at Raidou and the still-dangling Setsurou.

Setsurou chose that particular moment to imitate Tori's pouncing dog and tried to bite Raidou's kneecap. Raidou jerked him up, caught him by the shirt, and flipped him back onto his feet. "Nice try," he said.

"I'll get you next time," Setsurou promised with a grin.

"Sure, kid," said Raidou, and pushed him towards a free seat--one away from Kiba. Then he fell into a chair himself, making sure to sit between his brother and the Inuzuka. "You'll have to catch me asleep first."

The chuunin was still blushing faintly, hands shuffling with the miscellaneous paperwork cluttered over his desk. Raidou didn't recognize him. The poor guy was probably new, which explained why he was staying behind to deal with scrapping kids; the other teachers had probably all run for home.

"They have better noses than you'd believe, too," he advised, straight-faced. "Try not to smell insulting."

"If we can get back to the matter at hand," the chuunin said hurriedly. "This isn't the first time Setsurou-kun has been caught fighting. Though it is Hana-chan's first time--"

"Isn't," said Setsurou quietly. "She just doesn't get caught. The teachers like her."

Raidou dropped his arm around Setsurou's thin shoulders and covered his mouth.

"Sorry," he said, ignoring the sudden wet drag of a tongue over his palm with the ease of much big-brotherly practice. "Carry on."

Hana ignored whatever the sensei was saying to glare daggers at Setsurou, her gaze hidden under thick lashes and the hair she'd let fall in her face.

"It wasn't Hana's fault!" Kiba bellowed, leaping to his feet once more.

"Wolf, Kiba, sit down," Tori snapped. Kiba ignored her. "Kiiro--" she began.

He sat. "Setsurou said his brother could eat us all--"

Hana rolled her eyes. "He did not."

"Kiba," the chuunin tried.

"Kiiromaru!"

The dog--50 pounds of muscle, less than half Kuromaru's height and that mostly leg--was still plenty big enough to leap onto the chair and sit on Kiba.

The chuunin looked like he'd rather jump up and rescue the boy, but instead he managed, "Thank you, Tori-san," from a strangled throat.

She smiled angelically. "You were explaining?"

"Yes. Well. It seems the children got into a fight regarding whose parents could beat up whose--"

"That's not his dad," Hana said with an audible sniff. "And Raidou-san couldn't beat up my mom. She's alpha."

Setsurou struggled free, small muscles rigid with anger. "Nii-san's better than a stupid dad!" he yelled. "He could beat up your mom and your dad. Except you don't even know who your stinkin' dad is--"

Hana blanched. Kiba, buried beneath Tori's quietly growling dog, turned red and began to bellow again.

Raidou grabbed his brother and hauled the eight-year-old onto his lap. "Enough," he said sharply. Setsurou kicked at him, twisting, yelling still. Raidou held him tighter. "I said enough."

The chuunin began to say something, and shut up abruptly when Setsurou burst into tears.

Raidou sighed.

"You're better than a dad!" cried a voice half-buried in his shirt. A small fist thumped against his chest for emphasis.

Apparently they were teaching rule twenty-five a lot later than he remembered.

"Maybe," he said, and ducked his head down. "But that doesn't mean you get to insult other people's. Or fight about it. Tsume and I--" He hesitated. "We're friends. Pretty much. And--"

"And you could beat her up! I know you could."

"That's really not the point," said Raidou, very aware he was in a room with three people who could smell a lie. "I don't hurt my friends--" except for the ones he kneed between the legs or pinned against walls, "--and you shouldn't be hurting people in my name."

Beneath the dog, Kiba's yell was starting to sound more like a wail.

Raidou gave the chuunin an exasperated look. "The kids are very sorry. They'll never do it again. We're going to take them outside now."

"But--"

"Tori," said Raidou, standing with Setsurou still in his arms. "We can probably work this out better with some fresh air."

"Yes," Tori said, watching as Hana struggled with tears of her own, her face mottling red and white, and Kiba continued to feed off the sadness-scent and began to hiccough. "Hold on," she muttered in warning, and reached out to grab Raidou's arm. It was so much easier to lever her bulk out of a chair with someone there to pull on, and the chuunin wasn't going to be any help. He was still protesting that they couldn't leave.

Kiiroko grabbed Kiba by the back of his jacket and started pulling, dragging the boy when he wouldn't walk, continuing to drag him even after he got his feet under him and staggered up.

"Hana, get your puppies."

While Raidou started down the hall, Hana put one pup in her shirt, and zipped her backpack closed on the other two.

"You can't just walk out--" the chuunin began.

Tori turned to glare. "Unless you're planning a kidnapping, they're our cubs. Thank you for your help. We'll be leaving now." She turned and headed into the corridor, one hand on Hana's shoulder to propel the girl forward. "I think you owe Setsurou-kun an apology," she murmured softly.

Hana tensed. "He owes me an apology."

"Yes. But I can't control that. I can only ask you to do what's right. How would you feel if he'd said Yasuo wasn't your father?"

"Yasuo isn't my father!" Her voice rose to a shout. "And I hate him! And I hate you! And I'm not gonna apologize!"

Tori stared down at her niece, eyebrows high. Obviously, it had been a stressful day. "Let's go outside."

"I'll go outside on my own!" Hana bolted for the door, dodging past Raidou and his burden, shoving past her brother and Kiiromaru, slamming out the door. Tori winced.

"Well, this is going well," she muttered, rubbing the small of her back. And she had to pee. Again. "If she were going to be irresponsible enough to have a fatherless pup," Tori continued under her breath, "she could at least learn enough responsibility to raise it herself..."

Inuzuka weren't the only ones with good hearing.

"She," said Raidou quietly, watching the door Hana had smashed through swing closed with a heavy thump. Tori's head swung around to give him a sharp, blue-eyed look. "Not it." He leaned down to rescue Kiba from the dog that was still dragging him.

Kiiroko danced back, pulling the boy out of reach, growling softly. Raidou straightened up again, sharply reminded that these kids weren't his responsibility. Even if they looked so much like Tsume.

Who was busy avoiding him with the skill of the damn Hokage.

"Smashing day," he muttered, and readjusted his hold on Setsurou. The eight-year-old sniffled loudly and wiped his nose on Raidou's shirt. "Thanks," said Raidou, and reminded himself he was supposed to be patient.

"Do I really hafta apologize?" Setsurou mumbled, without looking up.

"Yeah, kid. You really do." He shouldered the door open, holding it back for the remaining Inuzuka.

"I only hit her once," Setsurou said, sniffing again. "Not even hard."

"You hurt her feelings," Raidou told him, lowering his voice to make Setsurou listen. "Sometimes that's worse. It's not her fault she doesn't know who her dad is."

Presumably it was Tsume's fault. And that made about as much sense as her teeth sinking into his jaw had.

He put aside that thought with the rest of the puzzle that was Inuzuka Tsume in favour of focusing on her family--and Setsurou, when the boy started to cry again.

"C'mon, kid, you'll feel better in the sunshine."

Tori considered glowering at the man--correcting her, and trying to take Kiba!--but didn't. It was juvenile. Even if he was in the wrong.

All right, maybe, in part, she'd been in the wrong. But Tsume was driving her batty. The woman should be home, with her children and her partner, guiding the clan, not turning it over to someone with half her leadership skills and a moon-faced beta.

With frustration Tori put it all out of mind, focusing on Hana. The girl had found a spot under a large tree, and was huddled miserably in the shade, playing with one of her puppies.

There was no way Tori was sitting under that tree. She'd never be able to get up. And the baby was pressing on her bladder, still. She really did need to pee. Half desperate, she looked around.

"Kiiroko, take Kiba over there. Raidou, I'll be right back." She turned and waddled through the door before he could let it go, heading toward the toilets and planning on getting a folding chair.

Kiiroko watched her human leave, then dragged Kiba to his sister and released him, setting herself as guardian. She growled softly when Raidou came closer.

"Stop it, Kiiro," Hana mumbled. "My dad's probably in ANBU," she added loudly, without looking up. "I bet that's why Mom went back. He probably has... has..." Her eyes lit. "Tattoos. An' really nice black hair. An'--and--they really like each other, but they gotta keep it secret because..." Her story fell apart. Slim brows drew in, then cleared again. "His clan doesn't like it. He's on the run from them. They're in another village, and he had to leave them to come here."

Kiba looked at her dubiously. The puppies, uncaring, tumbled and played in the soft, damp dirt.

"That's why she's always arguing with Yasuo," Hana added, glaring at Kiba. "Because she doesn't really love him."

Kiba looked more doubtful. "I don't think so," he said finally. "You're weird."

Hana sniffed.

Raidou sat down next to them, cross-legged with Setsurou in his lap, and thought about tattoos and black hair. Seeing Tsume curled up against Tousaki's broad back just a little more than a week ago, tangled in a hospital bed. He wondered if her kids had ever met Tousaki. Probably. He hoped they hadn't met Hatake.

"My dad was in ANBU," he said, and offered one hand for a puppy to sniff. "Back when I was a kid."

Setsurou untangled himself, scrubbing his hands over his face. His nose was bright red, but his tears had mostly dried. He didn't quite manage to crawl out of Raidou's lap. "An' now you're one," he said firmly. "And I'm gonna be one when I grow up. You're going to give me your mask."

Raidou arched his eyebrows, hiding an internal twist. "Maybe," he allowed. "First you've gotta earn that hitai-ate."

"I am--!"

"But before that you need to do something else." He nodded pointedly at Hana.

Setsurou looked mulish. Raidou put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Ninja--good ninja, know when they're wrong," he said.

Setsurou ducked his head, lip catching between his teeth. "M'sorry, Hana," he mumbled. "Shouldn't've hit you."

"Or?" Raidou prompted very quietly, putting his head down next to one bright red ear.

"Or hurt your feelings." Job done, Setsurou brightened up. "S'your dad really in ANBU?"

Tori had said to apologize--but the question left her no room. And besides, Raidou wasn't his father. She glanced at the younger boy out of the corner of her eye. "Yes."

"Liar!" Kiba shot out, incensed.

Hana flushed. "He could be! You don't know!"

"He could be a bum!"

"Mom wouldn't have sex--" she said it purposefully because it made her sound older, "with a bum!"

Kiba looked momentarily befuddled at sex, but soldiered on in the tradition of brothers. "He probably lives in a trash can!"

Hana opened her mouth, then put her nose in the air and turned away from her annoying sibling. She looked at Setsurou instead. "I'm not sorry I hit you back, 'cause that hurt," she told him haughtily. Then she turned her head to one side, baring her throat. "But I'm sorry that my puppies peed on your homework."

Kiba stood, toddling around to Raidou and Setsurou, and perched himself on the bit of lap Setsurou hadn't taken up. He leaned closer to the boy, older than him, and whispered loudly, "Tell her her dad lives in a trash can!"

Kiiroko turned and glared at Kiba out of baleful blue eyes. Kiba grinned.

Setsurou tipped his head back and gave Raidou a confused look. "Why is Hana's mom having sex in trash cans?"

"Because my day isn't weird enough," said Raidou, blankly. Setsurou looked more confused for a second, then turned his attention to the pressing issue of making sure Kiba had less lap than he did. Raidou looped an arm around his waist before a fight could break out. "Hana's puppies peed on your homework?" he asked as an afterthought, because no one else had mentioned that.

"Yep," said Setsurou, with ghoulish glee. "But that's okay. I threw my backpack at Isato."

"Oh good," said Raidou. "I'd hate to think we were raising you to be well-balanced."

"I can balance!" said Setsurou hotly. "On my head and everything! I can balance better than anyone."

Kiba disagreed at full volume. Both boys tumbled off Raidou's lap and began a contest of hand-standing in an effort to prove each other wrong.

Raidou leaned back on his hands. "Brothers are fun," he observed. "I'm so glad I have three."

Hana looked at him dubiously, missing the undercurrent to his words. "My brother's not fun. My brother's a dork."

As if to emphasize her claim, Kiba fell over on top of Kiiroko, who leaped out of the way and gave him an utterly injured look.

"Use chakra!" Hana yelled.

"I am!"

She rolled her eyes. He most certainly was not. "See?" she said to Raidou, as one older sibling to another. "Dork. And," she added with the utmost disdain, "he can barely control his scenting. Because Yasuo hasn't been working with him, and Tori says she has too much to do and tells Taro to, but Taro says he has too much to do." She paused, thinking. "Zinan-jisan taught me, so he'll probably teach Kiba, too."

"What's this about Zinan?" Tori asked, walking up with a folding chair in one hand. She glanced at the two boys, then down at Hana and Raidou. "Aren't we cozy. Things going well, I take it?"

"House on fire," Raidou assured her, standing up to take the folding chair. He set it up, dodged one vicious snap of grouchy machinery that tried to take his fingers off, and sat back down. Tori gave him the look he was beginning to associate with all Inuzuka females; I could've done that myself, thanks.

There was just no pleasing some people.

"Hana was telling me about scenting," he said, leaning back on his hands again. One of the puppies tumbled over his feet. "I didn't realize you had to learn how to do it."

At this rate, he was starting to think it was something of a religion.

Tori sat down, grimacing. Her ankles were starting to swell. She'd be bursting by the time this cub was done.

"No," Hana said quickly. "You learn how not to do it. Right, Tori-basan?"

"Yes, very good," Tori said, keeping a weather eye on the two bodies flailing about nearby. "Why don't you explain it?"

Puffed up with pride, she turned to Raidou. "'Cause, y'know, we smell lots more than everyone else. I mean, a lot more. And sometimes if you smell someone sad, then you feel sad, too. So you gotta--got to--learn how not to get sad even if others are. And you have to--got to--"

"Have to," Tori murmured.

"Have to learn where the scent is coming from, 'cause that takes practice." She nearly squirmed on the ground. "My mom's the best at it, right Tori-basan?"

Tori nodded grudgingly. "She's very good."

"Better than baasan?" Hana moved up onto her knees, staring wide-eyed. "Baasan was the clan alpha, but now she's very sick in her head, and she doesn't talk or anything 'cause her familiar's gone. But she doesn't smell sad," she whispered to Raidou.

Tori pretended not to hear. She didn't like admitting her sister might be better than her mother at scenting. It was, after all, her sister. Her baby sister. She remembered hair-pulling fights and falling down stairs. Still, truth was truth. "She might be better. I'm not sure. Hana, why don't you go show the boys how to get chakra in their hands? Can you do that?"

Hana nodded and hopped up, scrambling with new found authority as the chakra expert.

When the girl was well and truly distracted--mostly arguing with her brother--Tori leaned toward Raidou. "Are they all right? Because this is well and good, but I have too much to get done today, and I still have to get them home and settled. Do I need to enforce apologies?"

Raidou though briefly about puppies peeing on homework, then shook his head. "I think they're good. Setsurou apologized. Hana apologized. There was bonding over the mutual dorkitude of younger brothers. Like I said, house on fire." He hooked up a quick smile. "Without the crispy bodies, even."

Judging by Tori's eyebrow lift, she didn't quite get his particular brand of humour.

"They're good," Raidou said again, watching the kids tangle together and fall over. Setsurou and Kiba were laughing; Hana seemed frustrated they weren't listening to her. From a distance, with her hands on her hips and her hair over her face, the resemblance to Tsume was even more striking.

Raidou touched the bandage on his jaw, thoughtfully.

"Look," he said, acting on a sudden idea before common sense could intervene, "if you need a break, I really don't have anything I need to be doing. They're good kids, and I'm pretty sure I can stop them taking off Setsurou's head for an hour or two." He looked up, meeting Tori's pale blue eyes over the curve of her swollen belly. "Can even get them dinner, if you want."

And maybe Tsume would actually talk to him again. Even if it was only to bite his throat out for getting near her family.

Tori hesitated, glancing at the tangle of pups. Hana was scolding the boys, who were ignoring her. Whoever her father was, he was significantly more civilized that Tsume was: at that age, she'd have been in the middle of the boys, delivering punches and swift kicks until they listened. No one in their immediate family was less than physically pushy--no one except Hana, with her unknown father, hanging back and shouting rather than getting into the midst of things.

"No biting!" Tori shouted, watching as Kiba's mouth opened wide. It snapped closed again.

Then she turned to regard the ninja beside her. He had brothers, and he'd handled them well. Tsume trusted him, had gone off with him at the hospital. He wore the bone mask, and a mask of scars--but they hadn't twisted his heart wrong, or the puppies wouldn't be trying to crawl up his leg. Kiiroko wouldn't have let him near the cubs. His own brother obviously adored him...

"I'd appreciate it. If you'd head to ANBU HQ with them, I'd appreciate it more." Tsume would smell them blocks away--they were still young enough to be keyed right into her biology, pricking her attention unlike any other scent. And Tsume, as Hana had pointed out, could smell very well. If he went that way, Tori could be fairly certain nothing would happen.

Not that she thought something would. But extra security was never to be scoffed at.

"If you're sure you can handle them all," she added, glancing over to see both boys crash into Hana.

There was really no way to feel good about getting to someone through their kids. But there was a bit of satisfaction to be found in a plan working out far better than he'd hoped.

Raidou put his hands together, shook off the thought, and focused on the yelling children. "Moments like this make me glad I'm a ninja," he said, and yanked on his chakra. Three clones appeared in a crack of smoke that made Kiiroko start up and growl. Hana's pups yelped, falling over each other. Raidou raised his voice. "Incoming!"

Setsurou, being used to Raidou's methods of babysitting, was the only one ready to get hauled off his feet by a clone and tossed into the air. He whooped. Kiba made a similar sound, though his clone didn't throw him quite so high. Hana didn't get thrown at all, merely swung around into a careful piggy-back carry.

Raidou got to his feet, brushed his knees off, and offered Tori a hand. "I think we'll be fine. How about you? You going to make it back to--" he hesitated. "Your clan grounds, I'm guessing?"

He didn't have a vast amount of experience with pregnant woman. But it looked seriously uncomfortable.

Tori took the proffered hand and hauled herself to her feet. "Oh, I'll be fine. Walking's good. Maybe it'll convince this one to hurry up and get out already." She patted her stomach fondly. "I'm getting too old for these monsters." She eyed the three pups being carted around by clones--while Hana pointed to her puppies and demanded her clone get them--but even that had a measure of happiness. Despite her current constant exhaustion, she loved them all.

"And if I have trouble, I have Kiiroko."

The slim canine wagged, cream colored coat spotted now with mud and grass as the world started to thaw.

Tori's eyes twinkled. "I might only be a genin, but I can always make her me. We'll get home just fine." She waved at the kids, heard laughter in response, and picked up her folding chair. "Have fun, Raidou. If you need anything, shoot a clone out to the grounds. Someone'll come running." In the meantime, she was going home. She could probably convince her husband to make dinner tonight. Maybe she could nap.

Raidou nodded, shoved his hands into his pockets, and watched her leave. Only a genin, she'd said, and she had to be somewhere in her thirties. Well, that happened sometimes. Especially to the women who got pregnant and preferred sticking around to raise their children, rather than risking life, limb and sanity to claw their way up the ranks.

But even for a genin, and a heavily pregnant genin at that, Tori moved gracefully, one hand occasionally resting on her belly or reaching back to press against her spine. Kiiroko trotted calmly at her heels.

A yell from Setsurou reminded Raidou where his focus should be. He waved off the clone stooping to gather Hana's puppies up and did it himself, scooping them carefully into a rucksack that smelled a little too like recently besmirched homework for comfort.

"Okay, guys," he said, straightening up and looking over all three children. Only Hana was really paying attention to him. "You're sticking with me for a bit, so what would you prefer, food or a look around ANBU's HQ?"

"Headquarters!" Kiba bellowed, trying to climb on top of his clone. "I wanna see the weapons!"

Hana's eyes lit up. "And maybe my mom's there."

"And then," Kiba said with relish, managing to get onto the clone's shoulders, "we can see who's a better fighter!"

Hana glared at him. "Kiba! Mom's still hurt!"

He looked rather put out. "Well, maybe if she's feeling good..."

You had to hand it to kids; no one else had quite the same focus. "As much fun as it would be to pick a fight with someone armed with teeth and claws," Raidou said, "let's not do that."

Particularly as he was still healing from the last time. But they didn't need to know that. Especially as the fight hadn't been over who was better. He'd been trying to help--right up until he'd slammed Tsume against a wall, terrified her half to hysterics, and... done it again when she'd asked him to.

Friend probably hadn't been the right word.

Setsurou looked mulish again. "But--"

"No fighting," said Raidou.

"But--!"

"Kid, I'll make that clone carry you upside-down. Through a hedge." He swung the rucksack full of puppies gently onto his shoulder, and distracted all three children when he ran straight for the school rooftop with his clones in hot pursuit.

"Just take it easy," Tsume murmured, watching her familiar with half-lidded eyes as he rolled in nearly dead grass. "Remember yesterday? I don't want to carry you home again."

He stopped belly-up, legs flopping every which way and showing his bits to the world. "You didn't carry me home last time," he pointed out in a satisfied rumble. "That little pup did. He was cute. I like him."

One eyebrow twitched. "Did you now." It wasn't quite a question.

Kuromaru seemed to miss the subtext. "I did. I mean, if you like him more than Ryouma. He seems nice enough."

He hadn't tried to fling her at anyone since they'd arrived and he'd set his attention to the tattooed shinobi. She'd hoped ANBU was keeping him busy enough not to meddle in her love life--but apparently not. "He's half my age, Kuro."

"That's bad?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Kuromaru twisted to look at her, still belly up. "You've been sleeping with Ryouma." From anyone else, 'sleeping with' would have meant sex. From Kuromaru, it just meant sleeping with.

Tsume nodded, soaking up the sun. She'd been taking things that smelled like Ryouma to Kuromaru in the hospital. So far, so good. There hadn't been any more... whatever that had been, when he'd seen the ninja. She didn't really want to talk about it, though, if they could avoid the subject. She wasn't ready to test how solid Kuromaru was feeling; not on his first day discharged from the hospital for good.

"Do you like Ryouma?"

A sigh lifted and dropped her ribcage. "Kuromaru..."

They caught the scent at the same time. The canine rolled upright, single ear pricked. Tsume's eyes opened, nostrils flaring as she searched for it again. As one, they came to their feet and moved out of the forest at a trot--nowhere near the easy, loping gait they should have had, but close enough. Close enough, considering the damage they'd been through.

It took a moment to track the smell, to find the laughter that was easy to follow on a moving target. The rooftops near HQ. Of course rooftops. There was no way she could climb one in her current state.

"Oi!" she bellowed instead, and heard giggles turn into shrieks.

"MOM!"

Getting to Tsume through her kids--he'd have to remember that next time. It would save two days worth of fruitless searching. Of course, she was going to kill him now. But at least next time he wouldn't be tired and worried when he got bitten off the mortal coil.

He veered left, following the echo of her shout and the direction the Inuzuka children were screaming at, and leapt off the rooftop. Three clones followed in quick succession and mimicked his landing, dropping into swift crouches to absorb the shock of falling thirty feet, holding the kids on tightly.

Raidou straightened up.

Tsume looked much like she had two days ago; too pale, too thin, still bandaged over her left temple. She was dressed once more in loose training clothes, wrinkled and grass-stained at the knees. Sweat sheened her forehead. On the edge of his senses, her chakra still felt like a crippled mess.

Kuromaru was stood at her hip, and Raidou breathed. The dog looked like hell--face bandaged heavily, ribs showing through the thick, matted tangle of muddy fur, chakra twisted far worse than Tsume's was--but at least he looked like a dog. Not the half blind, barely breathing Tsume-clone Raidou had seen stretched out on a hospital bed just over a week ago, half a step from fading away and dragging his master with him.

Neither one of them looked happy to see him.

Raidou lifted the hand not holding a bag full of puppies and gestured at the two kids throwing themselves down from their clones. "Picked up some strays," he said carefully. "Heard they were yours."

Kiba did his best to take her out at the knees, wiry arms wrapping around her hips, face pressed into her stomach. She staggered when her chakra didn't stick her in place and her muscles, worn from her earlier work-out, didn't bother trying to hold her up. She put one hand between the wings of his shoulder blades. "Ma," he muffled into her shirt, "I told them you could beat Raidou-san up, but they wouldn't believe me! Hana said so, too!"

The girl in question was hovering beside Raidou's clone, looking torn between coming forward and hiding. Tsume did her best to smile at the slim figure. "Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but not right now I couldn't."

Kiba gave her a betrayed look.

She laughed at him. "Cubling, I'm not the Wolf. Maybe in a few weeks, huh?"

Completely put out, he buried his face in her stomach again. She ruffled his hair absently, looking at Hana. "How're you?"

Hana took another half step behind the clone, ducking her head. "'M okay."

Tsume just nodded and stood, unsure what else to say. How to make it better. Eventually, she turned a sharp-eyed gaze on Raidou. "So... is everything all right?" She couldn't fathom why he had her children. Or rather, she could fathom one reason, and it was downright dirty.

Kuromaru walked stiff-legged up to the ninja, lifting his head to sniff the backpack. He sneezed and yelped as one--sneezing, he said, hurt his nonexistent eye. "Hana," he chided, voice a low growl. "They smell foul."

"They had an accident, Kuromaru-san."

He gave her a baleful look, then leveled his gaze on Raidou. "We should take them back to get cleaned up." He turned, as if the issue was settled, and walked back toward the forest. As he passed Tsume he wrinkled his nose. "You smell funny."

Kiba looked up. "He's right," he said solemnly. "You do."

Great.