Curate, connect, and discover
an oc/canon fic for Q, with their oc Kin ( i cannot begin to explain how much I love her ;0; )! I'll fix up the wordcount & formatting later and I have a tiny extra unrelated doodle for you, but for now have this! I hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful <33
Shibi’s beard was scratchy, and everytime he shifted in his nap, it’d tickle her neck in a way where she could blame it for the little smile on her face that refused to fade from her lips and how unconcentrated on her book she was.
Laughter and chatting floated through the backyard as the children played at the table. A children’s book about Valentine’s day was propped up on the table and they were crafting whatever they’d chosen on from the book. A few squabbles about which page should be used died down fast, and whispering and plotting filled the backyard. When she’d asked Shibi what they were plotting, he simply snorted and pulled closer to her. She had half a mind to tip him off the already crowded lawn chair she’d pulled out, that he’d chosen to not only invade but begin drooling on her as he snoozed. One look at his peaceful face and she decided not to do anything but place a kiss on the bridge of his nose that made him stir just enough for her to see his smile.
The small party was a group of Shino, Torune, Kiba, Sasuke, Hinata, and Hanabi.
Kin wasn’t sure if she could babysit them all at first. There were only 4 new children, but she just felt off. Observing the backyard scene didn’t help the mild knot in her chest. The children seemed fine now, which was such a relief to her, but she couldn’t help her worry.
Torune sat at the end of the table, struggling to fold his paper with the gloves he had on. Shibi had just recently given them to him, a part of the training he was going through to keep the poisonous bugs embedded in the body from spreading. They had yet to find a fast working antidote to his bugs, and she couldn’t count the times that Torune came out of the training room sniffling, and Shibi with a nosebleed. She worried for her husband, and she worried for Torune.
Shino seemed to be just fine, but he was so withdrawn. She knew the nature of her son, she’d watched him grow up, after all. But he’d begun thumping his head on the wall as a conversation ender, or as a ‘please go away’ that he was too polite to say. He’d taken to measuring the time. Kin knew that he didn’t enjoy being social, but he’d begun stepping away from people he considered friends, and counting down the seconds to how long he could stay. She’d seen his fingers move in a counting position, and then excuse himself from the conversation after 30 counted seconds by walking away. She’d asked and he’d simply said: “You can distract yourself from pain by counting. It’s an easy trick.”.
Motherhood was a battle you could never prepare for, and she thought she handled it gracefully most of the time. She could remember days she sat in front of her vanity, clipping on her earrings and straightening her dress while taking the same deep breaths she recommended freely, simply because Shino was a very late talker.
The doctors said he would start talking more when he felt like it. But she didn’t think that was logical. He was too small to be choosing never to talk. Barely even a babble left his lips, and he wasn’t particularly fussy about anything except his food. Which was the only care a baby would have, she guessed, while he was causing her grief. Shibi had held her hand through the doctor's appointment, and kissed her each morning, mumbling about how great a mother she was. She’d brushed it off as morning babble, he said a lot to try and convince her to nap with him for a few more minutes. He was going to be the cause of death of her early-rise sleep schedule.
And then, another child was given to them when Shikuro passed. A close friend of Shibi’s. He’d left his son behind, a small child with poison in his veins. Quite literally.
Torune couldn’t be hugged, couldn’t be kissed. He could crawl in a corner and sob, and all Kin could do was try to hold back tears of her own as the helpless child cried for his dad. It was only later that they’d realized the cause of death. Torune never stopped apologizing. To be in the midst of a crying child and be utterly unable to comfort them was a curse she’d never wish on her enemies.
Shibi snorted and shifted, bringing her back to reality. She was trying not to be pushed off the lawn chair by her cuddlebug of a husband while watching the kids. It was Valentine’s Day and the last thing she was going to do was bring down the mood. She checked the table and realized that one was missing, already too late to stop Shino from slapping his dad on the back. Shibi grunted, and nearly knocked her glasses off as he groggily sat up.
“whahuh… uuugh.” He slurred, turning to face Shino, who looked very small from this angle, almost enough to convince her he hadn’t done it if she hadn’t saw him winding up. He wasted no time at all, and she couldn’t stop her giggling, “why are. you laughing aa me?”
“I think Shino wants to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“When’s the party over?”
“I dunno. In an hour or so?”
“It’s over in thirty minutes Shino, go have fun. Okay?”
“What’s thirty times sixty?”
“1,800.” Shibi answered automatically, and Shino sighed.
“That’s a lot.”
He began to count on his fingers. She bit her lip as he went inside for a minute and then back over to the table. Shibi yawned and flopped back on Kin.
“You know we have other lawn chairs less than five feet away.”
“This is my lawn chair.”
“This is my lawn chair.” Kin corrected him, smiling, “You decided that you were going to drool on me while I was reading.”
“You love me anyways so I see no problem with it.” He sniffed.
“You’re also wearing my robe…”
“Our robe.”
“You’re copying me on purpose at this point.”
“Why would I not want to be like the most perfectly lovely woman on the planet?”
Kin flushed, “Oh, don’t flatter me. I’m not perfect by any means.”
“You’re a stunning wife, a loving person, a sharp businesswoman, and a wonderful mother. Every day I thank whatever fate led me here, because I can forgive past mistakes if they lead me here. This is heaven.”
“You just woke up, shh.” She pressed her lips to his brow, “You are very affectionate when you just wake up.”
“But it’s true. Look at them.”
Shibi gestured to the children and Kin froze.
Torune had a pair of tweezers in his hand and he was mimicking how she put jewelry together to pull the corners of the paper and glue things to his origami. He’d joined Shino on his observing adventures, and they’d watched her with the non-fiery parts of her jewelry making she could do at home.
Shino sat next to him, and gently directed him as the other kids watched. Sasuke, ever the Uchiha, began to copy what Torune was doing, and soon Hinata and Hanabi caught on. Kiba kept doing his own thing, still mildly intrigued by the origami artists.
Was Shino counting so that he could have enough time to help Torune?
The thought struck her suddenly, and all she could do was laugh.
Shibi smiled into her neck, “You’re a wonderful mother.”
“He’s right, love.” The couple turned to see Mikoto, breezing through the gates with a smile on her face. Shibi flushed and sat up more, and Kin barely resisted rolling her eyes.
“Shibi here has had some trouble expressing himself, so he wanted to help you out a bit. He gets flustered easily when he’s got a crush on someone.”
“We’re married, ‘Koto.” He groaned.
“He’s still got the biggest crush on you.” Mikoto badly stifled a giggle to Shibi’s embarrassment, “But I’m not here to tease him, unfortunately. I’ve got a message for you, from one mother to another.”
She bent down and pointed to the kids.
“You see those kids?”
“Yeah.”
“You see their smiles?”
“I do.”
“Kids will show you who they are when they’re babies. They grow as a person during this period, of course, but you can never really direct where your child is going. You can only help them on their way, and make sure you catch the small signs. Even if they’re going through something that worries you, there are still ways to make them smile. To help them. They’re kids, love.”
“How do I know that I’m doing this correctly?” She whispered.
“Mom!” Sasuke hopped up from the table and the other kids followed him, hands behind their backs. He ran straight up to Mikoto and happily showed her his paper crane with a bunch of heart stickers on it. “Happy Valentine’s Day, I love you!”
“Mom, Dad.”
Kin looked to see Shino and Torune holding up folded origami ladybugs, decorated with the small rhinestones in a pattern she could remember doing. Shino’s last finger went down.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“We love you!”
Mikoto smiled and murmured, “That’s how you know.”
Kin could feel the world slow to a pause. The butterflies in the garden stilled their wings, and the kids chatter hummed to a quiet. She could feel Shibi smiling on her shoulder with his tickly beard, and she could feel her heart swell with incoherent emotions and her eyes swell with tears behind her glasses.
She gently took the two ladybugs.
“Do you like them?”
“...I love them so, so much. Thank you.”
She could feel her voice wavering and Shino climbed on top of Shibi to hug her. Torune pulled his glove more firmly on his hand and cautiously held her hand, watching his own like a hawk.
She could blame her entire family for making her smile like this now. She didn’t think she could ever stop smiling.
Years later, when using her bedroom vanity, she would smile at the two sparkling ladybugs sitting there as she took off her earrings and decided that maybe sleeping in for a little bit with her beloved husband was okay. Just for a while.