trickster-tricks

[trickster-tricks]

Inquisitor Somniar

Abstractly

Somniar Lavellan was different; Cullen knew this abstractly. It wasn’t that she was elvhen, or a rogue, or that she seemed to always find something to laugh at - it was in her eyes, her gait, and curious expressions. The mark in her hand seemed nothing in comparison to the look she got in her eyes some times. It was a wild, untamed look - it curled her lip and narrowed her gaze - seemed to change the very air around her.

But it did not happen often - at least not within his sight - but when it did - oh, when it did - it became so very obvious that she was different. She wasn’t like Solas - or Sera - or Fenris - or any other elf he had ever met before or even heard about - Maker, she wasn’t like anybody he had ever met before. It was something dark - something feral - something he should fear - and yet - he didn’t.

It made him feel safe and warm and like he meant something.

Abuse

“Blood magic? He used blood magic on you?” Somniar hissed, and if Dorian hadn’t already been so high strung and emotionally vulnerable he might have realized that the elvhen woman was more than not happy. He simply nodded, words failing him as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest - he was only thankful it was only her in there with him and not Solas and Blackwall too.

The rogue turned her burning gaze from Dorian to his - his - sperm donor and her lip curled back around her teeth showing her rather sharp fangs, “That’s fucking abuse, you damned bastard. Not just physically, but of your child’s trust.”

Dorian realised a little half-heartedly that Somniar was well and truly enraged. Her face had twisted into a furious snarl and the gold in her eyes was more prominent and the ferality in the air around her had surged forward and seemed to cloak her entire being. It has happened before, but not often - and it usually precluded the woman loosing control in some way.

Somniar prowled forward towards the Magister, death walking in her every step, and she purred lowly, “Blood magic is the sign of a weak mind, hmm?”

Halward flinched back, his earlier dismissal of the elvhen woman taking rapid steps to correct itself in the face of the suddenly extremely dangerous rogue. He tried to respond, but words failed him and the snarl on her face curled into a truly terrifying smile.

“The only reason I won’t rip you apart where you stand is because Dorian still loves you, despite the despicable things you’ve done,” she hissed venomously and her eyes bore into his coldly as she finished, “You hurt him again, in any way, and I will do just that, no matter what.”

She turned away from him, facing Dorian once more, and leaving her back to him, and rested a hand on the man’s cheek. She pushed her forehead against his and said lowly, “I will be right out that door. Something even starts to happen and I will be here in an instant, yes?” Dorian closed his eyes, reaching up and holding her hand cradling his cheek tightly and took a deep breath.

Ache

“The ache never leaves. Burns and twists and threatens to break under the weight. Waiting, waiting, waiting, why isn’t she here? Empty space beside and inside - so tired. Old, old, old, death and dying, birth and living - where is she? It’s there, I can feel it, but I can’t help.”

The group froze, looking at each other unsurely, and then at Cole, who was peering at the Inquisitor with distress. Somniar was looking at the spirit boy pensively, and the others tried to puzzle out what Cole’s words meant.

“Old pain, old wounds, old hurt - torn open, can’t breathe - assassin? yes, like her - keep her close even just a little. Blank space in head - alone? lonely, not there, so empty, can’t feel Yūrei - mine, my kittens, family, children, gone, gone, gone - no, I am your kitten - I -?”

The spirit boy paused in his slew of words when Somniar rested her hand on his cheek, cupping his face and leaning down slightly so she could look him in the eye, “You help, Cole.”

He peered at her intensely, searching, and then said, “I do - kitten, family, mine. Must protect - not fragile, but breakable. My kitten - means home, happiness, and warmth - soothes the pain and stitches wounds. I can help.”

He gave a proud little smile and repeated, “I can help!”

Alcohol

“How are you not drunk?” Dorian asked with an incredulous look. Somniar blinked at him, glanced over at the growing pile of bottles next to her, and shrugged. He gave her a look, and she grinned. “Even Iron Bull is drunk,” he pointed out.

“Tipsy,” the qunari corrected, speech only the slightest slurred.

“You’ve had an inordinate amount of alcohol - how are you not drunk or even tipsy?” Dorian continued as if the warrior hadn’t spoken.

Somniar gave him a devilish smile and didn’t answer.

Anatomy

“Always go for the softest part - the jugular, the spine, or the head,” Somniar told the recruit, adjusting the young man’s hands on his daggers, and shifting his foot back a little with her own. “There is more to battle than swinging a blade and hoping it lands - know the anatomy of your opponent and you will be more likely to win.”

Cullen watched the elvhen woman silently, keeping one eye on her and the other on the rest of the recruits. Somniar had wandered over with a faintly amused smile on her face, and had promptly inserted herself into the spars. Some of the recruits were more rogue than warrior, and it was them she inserted herself with.

It wasn’t long before she started teaching them as much as she sparred with them and there was an ease in her manner that told Cullen she had taught before. He didn’t think it came from being the Hunter of her clan, either. The way she spoke and taught was more in line with teaching for battle and war.

It was - disconcerting.

Anticlimactic

“Well, that was rather anticlimactic,” Dorian panted, leaning slightly against his staff and eying Somniar a bit warily. The elvhen woman was casually flicking the blood off her daggers, face twisted in some kind of half snarl that set his teeth on edge.

Her golden gaze glanced over at him briefly, before she practically tore the key from the dead Avaar’s body and stalked over towards the room where the missing Inquisition soldiers were being held.

Dorian felt slightly better when he saw that Cassandra was following after the other woman with her own wary look, rather than the intrigued one Solas was wearing. “Are any of you hurt?” Somniar was asking when he finally caught up with the rest of the group, a growl like undertone to her voice that had the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“No, ser,” one of the soldiers answered a little gingerly. “Mostly just a few scrapes from the skirmish.”

There was low snarl from the newly minted Inquisitor - and her expression told Dorian that the Avaar were lucky to already be dead.

Apology

“I feel I owe you an apology,” Dorian said cautiously, still feeling vulnerable from the meeting with his father, and unsure how to act around this woman who had threatened to rip his father apart if he hurt him.

Somniar cocked her head to the side, and asked, “Whatever for?”

He waved a hand carelessly, for once words failing him, and her gaze softened. She uncurled from her position in one of the chairs, gliding over to him and cupping his face. She brought his face down until their foreheads rested against each other, and soothed, “There are no apologies. You are mine - my kitten - my family. I will be there, whether you need me or not, and for whatever reason there be.”

Axis

Whatever he had expected, what happened was not in any realm of his imagination. He had never expected this elvhen woman to live with the mark pulsing on her hand as if to shove his mistake in his face, and yet - she did.

She had burst into the battle like some kind of wild animal, and then had laughed and smiled as if she hadn’t just easily slaughtered powerful demons. She was Dalish - but she was beautiful. She had a fire in her that reminded him of his people before the fall and it made his heart ache.

She completely threw him off his axis - but still he wouldn’t (couldn’t - didn’t) change his plans and he left, his heart wrapped in ice.

Badmouth

“Don’t you dare badmouth my inner circle,” Somniar snarled lowly, her gold eyes pinning the Chantry sister in place. “Rumors or not, Dorian is apart of my circle for a damned reason, and it’s of no fucking business of your’s of his place there.” The redhead prowled forward, making Mother Giselle take a somewhat fearful step back, and she finished, “So you can take your fucking rumors and racism and shove it up your fucking ass. Leave Dorian alone.”

The Mother looked at the elf with wide, scandalized eyes, and flinched when the golden eyes narrowed. “Watch your step, Mother Giselle,” Somniar growled warningly. “I don’t like something you do, you won’t like what I will do to you.”

Beads

“Come here,” Somniar gestured over at Cole, who had been hovering in the shadows of the stairs. At her motion, however, he creeped over to where she sat at the table surrounded by the Chargers and the Iron Bull. She smiled at him and tugged him down so he sat between her legs on the floor, and carefully took his hat off and placed it on her chair.

The Chargers couldn’t help but stare as the Inquisitor began to comb her fingers through Cole’s hair, before she began to actually braid the short locks. Cole just sat there, a pleased little smile on his face and eyes a little wider, indicating he was listening. Dalish eyed the other elf contemplatively, and then she pulled out a couple beads from the pouch on her hip and handed them over.

Somniar paused in her braiding, eyeing the beads and then Dalish, before she smiled in thanks and began to thread the beads in. “Warmth, family - used to braid his and her hair - source of comfort and relaxation - stress relief, calm - fond remembrance helps stitch wounds. I help,” Cole murmured, pleased smile growing a little wider.

Dalish cocked her head to the side, and then asked, “You have family, Lavellan?”

Somniar hummed, face gaining a rather melancholy look. “Parents are gone, but I have two younger siblings, Ellana and Mahanon. They’re still young, so I was sent to the Conclave instead - I am very thankful for that,” she offered, a wane smile on her face as she finished tying off the braid she’d finished. She noted that Iron Bull narrowed his eyes, but didn’t expand on it.

She knew what he was thinking.

Bear

Somniar stabbed the bear violently, hair threatening to come out of its braid in a wild mane and face set in a wild look, and furious yell fading. “Do I have some kind of bear nip on me? Why won’t they leave me alone?” she snarled, flicking the blood off her blades harshly.

Cassandra grunted with disgust, while Solas looked overly amused at the other elf’s anger. “It must be the brightness of your hair,” Dorian quipped, brushing some dust off of his robes. Somniar shot him a narrowed eyed look.

Beast

“Yūrei isn’t there - where are they? Missing, gone, gone, gone - where did they go?” Cole piped suddenly, eyes wide and peering over at Somniar, who was staring into the camp fire listlessly. Solas frowned, while Blackwall simply raised an eyebrow.

It was not the first time Cole had mentioned this Yūrei and it being gone in relation to the Inquisitor, but it was usually in combination with something else. Cole shuffled closer to the elvhen woman, his hair still in messy braids and notably longer in length, and continued, “But that’s wrong! The beast is still there - waiting, watching, knowing - simply another form, style, being - the instinct, the bloodlust, the aura.”

Somniar had turned to stare at Cole with a sudden intensity that took Solas and Blackwall aback. Cole met her gaze earnestly, and repeated, “Yūrei is there - just different.”

Believe

“People can believe whatever they wish,” Somniar answered idly, lounging over the chair across from Josephine’s desk. “I will only care if it becomes detrimental to me and mine.” Her gold eyes pierced across into Josephine’s own brown eyes, and the Ambassador found she couldn’t quite look away from the intense gaze.

Below

Varric probably should’ve expected it, but still he hadn’t really thought about it - so he could only sigh when Somniar settled on the wall of the battlements in a precarious position that would eventually drive Cassandra into insanity, he was sure. The red haired elf blinked at the two males slowly, and then prompted, “Well?”

Hawke coughed, shooting a look at Varric, that was thinly veiled panic (because what the fuck did you do with a woman who sat on the edge of something with a sheer drop below on the other side?), and the dwarf took pity. “Spitfire, this is Hawke,” Varric introduced. “Hawke, this is the Inquisitor, Somniar Lavellan.”

She smiled.

Beyond

“You are not what I expected,” Cassandra confessed  and Somniar shot her an amused look. The other woman gave her a disgruntled look, and the elf laughed.

“Don’t worry so much, I am often not what people expect, even beyond a first meeting. My siblings have lived with me their whole lives and I still manage to surprise them.”

Cassandra gave her a pensive look, before she said, “You do not talk about them much.” It was an open ended statement, meant to either open a conversation or close it.

The redhead blinked, and then smiled, settling more comfortably on her perch on the table. “I didn’t think anyone would want to know really,” she started, letting out a low laugh. Cassandra blinked, startled, but settled in herself, knowing that Somniar was going to actually talk. “Our parents died when Ellana and Mahanon were very young, they don’t remember them much - I basically raised them after that.”

“How young were you?” Cassandra asked, looking slightly worried. Taking care of another person was difficult, nevermind if you weren’t much older than that very person.

Somniar laughed, “I was sixteen at the time - the twins were a surprise. Our parents weren’t expecting to ever have more children - so, while a surprise, it was a happy one.”

Blindly

“I will not go into this blindly,” Somniar frowned, glowering at her advisors a little. “It is bad enough I am expected to go to a place that endorsed the slaughter of my people, and play nice. So tell me what to expect.”

Cullen gave Josephine and Leliana a look that clearly told them ‘I told you so.’

Blow

“Who do I have to blow to escape this place?” Somniar muttered, leaning over to Dorian so she could in his ear. He let out a startled laugh, looking partly scandalized and partly amused. The elvhen woman draped herself over him, shooting some whispering nobles a withering glare.

“Stop that,” Dorian said amusedly, sliding an arm around her waist (earning himself a pleased hum). “You do need court approval.”

She pouted at him, “But you’re much more entertaining, lovely.”

Cathedral

It wasn’t a cathedral, but it was tucked away enough into a corner Cullen felt comfortable going there to pray. He knew others knew it was there, so he wasn’t overly surprised when Somniar entered while he was praying.

She waited until he was finished before she spoke to him, and that meant a lot more than even he had realized.

Chop

“Let me show you how to bake cookies,” Somniar laughed. “Just because she lied, doesn’t mean you can’t learn now from someone else.”

Sera sputtered, but she looked cautiously pleased at the offer under the bluster. Somniar smiled fondly, “Come on - we can chop some fruit or something and put them in.”

Cinnamon

“Cinnamon is great for putting in cookies, especially ones with chocolate in them,” Somniar explained cheerily, putting some of the spice into the dough and mixing it in. Sera eyed her suspiciously, but copied the move, making the redhead grin at her wildly.

“Just roll about a spoonful into a ball on the sheet and stick ‘em over the fire for about ten minutes,” the older woman explained, doing the actions as she said them.

[trickster-tricks]

DEFUNCT

Chapter Six

[Planning World Domination: What Does This Mean for You and Your Family?]

ao3 or ffnet

[trickster-tricks]

DEFUNCT

Chapter Five

[So. You’re a missing-nin. Now what?]

ao3 or ffnet

[trickster-tricks]

DEFUNCT

Chapter Four

[10 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Shinobi Village.]

ao3 or ffnet

[trickster-tricks]

DEFUNCT

Chapter Three

[I Got Better.]

ao3 or ffnet

[trickster-tricks]

DEFUNCT

Chapter Two

[Uzushio: Resident Haunted Ruins of the Elemental Nations]

ao3 or ffnet

[trickster-tricks]

DEFUNCT

You never know when an Uzumaki will cause chaos. [Danzou had finally gotten rid of her.]

ao3 or ffnet

[trickster-tricks]

Ninja Day Care (Part 2)

Shikako hadn’t realized anything was amiss with the argument between Sasuke and Naruto (they got into them often enough) until she happened to catch the subject of their argument. The two boys were arguing who had the best mother.

What?

“Enough,” Kei growled, eyes flashing as she effortlessly scooped them up by the back of their shirts. “Both of your mothers are pretty, awesome, and whatever other sh-stuff you can come up with. There’s no point in arguing over it.”

Kiyoi (the golden blonde teen that sometimes brought Ino and Shino, Shikako had found out, though she was still figuring out the why) frowned and pointed out, “They were friends, weren’t they?”

Kei scoffed, holding the boys out and away from each other, “Really good friends according to Shuu and Ito.”

Sasuke let out an indignant noise and protested loudly, “No way! Kaasan was not friends with his mom!” Shikako felt lost and so, so confused.

“My kaasan was way too awesome to be friends with his mom!” Naruto protested just as loudly (if not louder), puffing his cheeks out and glaring stubbornly. Shikako had to marvel at the improvement of the blonde’s speech, even if she was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Naruto knew who his mom was.

Itachi wandered over, blinking solemnly as he asked, “Are you talking about Kushina-basan?” It was one of the rare times the boy could make it to their play dates, and Sasuke had been very difficult to get to shut up about the fact.

Kei nodded, raising an eyebrow and asking idly, swinging Naruto up onto her cocked hip, and handing Sasuke over to his brother, “Kushina-basan? You remember her?”

Itachi nodded, taking his brother and adjusting his hold so he could carry the boy relatively easy, “Yes, she was over a lot, and made really good dango.”

“Aw man, I remember her dango,” Ito (the other Uchiha Shikako hadn’t recognized the first play date, who was in fact Itachi and Sasuke’s uncle - who knew) groaned from where he was lying on the floor and allowing a quietly humming Hinata color in the tiger, his teammate Senka, had drawn earlier.

“What? Our kaasan’s were friends?” Naruto wailed as if someone had told them there was no more ramen in the world. Kei winced at the volume, fingers twitching as she had to remind herself that he was a child and it wasn’t okay to murder one. “She must’ve been tricked!”

“No way! My kaasan was the one that was tricked!” Sasuke wailed right back, cheeks puffing up in anger, and brow furrowed. “She even tricked Aniki!”

Kei’s eyebrow twitched, and finally she said flatly, “That’s it. No dessert for you two.”

Naruto let out a dying whale sound and stared at her in horror, Sasuke’s face perfectly mirroring the blondes. Kiyoi’s shoulders were shaking rather suspiciously, but Shikako was too much in shock to really notice anything else.

The next play date they had, Naruto brought in the only picture he had of his mother to show off to everyone else.

“This is my kaasan,” the blonde informed Shikako eagerly as he showed her the picture. It was a genin team picture, so it wasn’t just one of Kushina, but also her three students. Which had her mind stuttering to halt, because what. You’d think if the woman had a genin team the story from before would’ve mentioned it, right?

“She’s much cooler than ‘Suke’s kaasan, right? I mean her hair’s so bright and long! I wish I had red hair like that,” Naruto gushed, waving the picture a little in excitement. He paused for a moment before brightening up even further and pointing at the one of the genin in the picture, a boy with brilliant orange hair, “Or hair like Nishi-nii! It’s orange, which is just so awesome! He used to take care of me ‘fore Kei-nee, but she says he’s gone now.”

Shikako winced. Well, if the genin team was dead, that would make them never being mentioned make sense.

Naruto then pointed at the other boy in the picture, this one with dark, curly hair and wearing the high collared shirt the Uchiha all seemed to favor. “This is Shi-nii! He used to help Nishi-nii take care of me, and was lots of fun!” His finger moved over to the remaining girl in the picture, who was wearing a hat fitted with cat ears of all things, and an eye scarring orange and purple striped shirt. “And this is Hachi-nee! She’s part cat, and can even purr like one! It was nice, even if it made me sleepy.”

“They seem...cool,” Shikako offered awkwardly, and flinched slightly when Naruto gave a sad smile, gazing at the picture solemnly.

“Yeah, they were,” he sighed, and then confessed quietly. “Kei-nee says they’re gone now and I can’t see them anymore.”

Shikako winced, not liking the fact she had been right in the entire team being dead. “I’m sorry,” she offered softly.

Naruto shook off the sadness and grinned (though it looked a bit forced, even to her), “Well, I still have Kei-nee and now I have a bunch of friends, so it’s not too bad!” He then ran off towards Hinata, who had just arrived with Kenshin, the Hyuuga that smiled, waving the picture wildly as he went.

But, Shikako was left wondering just why things were different, and just at what point did things start to change? It couldn’t have been just from her birth, right?

|

If there was one thing the play dates had done for Shikako (besides screwing with her head about the story from before) it was remind her of something she had initially justified not touching.

The Uchiha Massacre.

Becoming friends with a Sasuke who was bright and happy and just too adorable, and getting to know an Itachi that wasn’t forced to be a villain, had weakened her previous justifications. Even Uchiha Ito, who she hadn’t even known existed, had grown on her, and she would admit to being fond of the man. Even though he had trouble showing emotion on his face, it was evident in the way he acted that he cared for all the children in their group.

In the past four years, since that first play date, Shikako had gotten attached to everyone, even the adults that organized and supervised the events. Kei was the most prominent figure, being the one to initiate the play dates, and the adult most often supervising (as well as being Shikaku’s student), but Ito was a close second (from what she had managed to gather, the Uchiha had a lot of free time since his team was a Trap Team, and there wasn’t often a reason for that kind of team).

Shikako didn’t want Ito to die. She didn’t want Itachi to have to kill his entire clan. And she didn’t want Sasuke to become the person she remembered from before.

She had no idea what she could do, but she knew she had to try.

So she thought and plotted, and eventually came to conclusion that the only thing she really could do was send an anonymous letter to the Uchiha about the plotted massacre. One of the things she had noticed was that even though the Uchiha were still tip toed around a lot, there wasn’t really a lot of anger directed at them. There was very few rumors about them floating around, but for kami-sama’s sake, her father had regular shogi games with Ito’s uncle and sensei, Uchiha Kosuke!

Shikako had no way of knowing if the massacre was even still going to happen with the changes that were evidently different from what she remembered, but she didn’t want to risk having it have happen and not trying to do something about preventing it.

She sent the letter.

It was only three days later and the date of the massacre was looming ever closer, but she had forgotten something. Despite her jumpiness and general unease that had her family worried, and Kei eyeing her with narrowed eyes, Shikako hadn’t planned for one very important component of the Uchiha Massacre. The one thing that had started the whole thing.

Shimura Danzou

[trickster-tricks]

Ninja Day Care (Part 1)

The first clue that told Shikako that the world she was in was, in fact, not quite the canon she remembered from before was the simple fact that her father had a genin team.

Keep reading

[trickster-tricks]

Ninja Day Care (Part 1)

The first clue that told Shikako that the world she was in was, in fact, not quite the canon she remembered from before was the simple fact that her father had a genin team.

Of course, they weren’t genin anymore, but she didn’t really think that mattered in the scheme of things since they were still together and referred to her father as sensei. Shikako didn’t really think much of her dad’s genin team, though. They weren’t often around and even if she didn’t remember them from before, it could easily be passed off as them just never having interacted with Naruto and co.

They were even a part of one of those age groups that was never mentioned in canon.

However, when the kunoichi of the team, a blue haired teen by the name of Suzuki Kei, flatly informed her dad (not asked) that she was going to kidnap her and her brother for a play date, she took notice. She had to wonder who they were going to have a play date with though, since Kei wasn’t old enough to have her own kid. So, younger sibling, maybe?

It was a few days later when one of their second (third?) cousins ‘kidnapped’ her and Shikamaru for the play date. Nara Hiroshi was the teammate of Kei, and after informing Yoshino (“It was Kei’s idea, I swear.”) that he was taking her children to the park, set out a lazy pace for said park.

The second clue to not being in canon was the fact that this play date involved every major clan heir that would later become the Rookie Nine (sans Sakura).

Hinata was hiding behind a smiling Hyuuga (which, scary) and shyly peering around the man’s legs at the other kids. Kiba was already running around the area wildly, happily greeting everyone there. He didn’t have Akamaru with him, but there was another Inuzuka sitting in the grass with a lazy, but sharp gaze kept on the children, his own canine partner laying beside him. Nearby was a golden blonde teenager nudging both Ino and Shino towards the group with a soothing smile on her face. (Which, what? How did those two end up coming together with a girl who didn’t look like she belonged to either clan?)

And then, Gai, of all people burst into the scene with Chouji, catching everyone’s attention with his exuberant appearance. It took a moment for Shikako to dig out the information that Chouji’s father had been Gai’s Jonin sensei, which had her thinking that the unknown blonde might, in fact, be one of Inoichi’s (or Shino’s father’s) genin student. (Though the why they would come together was still a rather mystifying question.)

Shikako blinked when she spotted Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke (pouting up at his brother, who was apparently trying to get him to join the group). Behind the two of them, was another teenager, who was an obvious Uchiha, and had a rather faint smile on his face as he watched the two younger Uchihas. Shikako tore her gaze away from the trio and instead sought out the middle of the possibly controlled chaos, only to find Uzumaki Naruto (blue eyes wide) clutching at Kei’s hand and eagerly talking a mile a minute.

Shikako wondered if this had actually happened in the story she remembered from before. It was possible if it was a one time thing, considering they were all a little too young to remember it later in life, being four.

Hiroshi led the two over to his teammate, and introduced, “Shikamaru-kun, Shikako-chan, this is Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun, this is Shikamaru-kun and Shikako-chan, my cousins. Play nicely with them, yes?”

The blonde shot a bright smile at Hiroshi, before turning his thousand watt smile on the twins and greeting enthusiastically, “Hi! Hi! M’Uzumaki Naruto!” Shikako could already feel her brother’s energy flag as he slumped next to her in the face of the blonde’s energy. “You here to ‘lay wit’ me too?”

“I guess,” Shikamaru drawled tiredly. “Troublesome.”

Naruto had apparently never heard the word ‘troublesome’ before, as his face scrunched up and he sloppily tried to pronounce it properly. Shikamaru reluctantly helped the boy, but Shikako wasn’t paying attention to that, instead honing in on the teenager’s conversation above them.

“Is this all of the gakis?” Kei asked, running a cursory glance around the group.

The golden haired teen shook her head and said, “Naoki couldn’t bring Yakumo-chan.”

“Well, we still have a good turn out,” Hiroshi pointed out, hiding a yawn behind one of his hands. “I’m still not sure how you managed to get Shino-kun here...that’s his name, right?”

The last part was directed at the blonde, who rolled her eyes and answered, “Yes, Hiroshi.” She shook her head, pulling her braid over her shoulder with a slight frown and added, “It wasn’t easy, what with what happened to-”

“Don’t, Kiyoi,” Kei interrupted, leveling a glare at the blonde. “We’re not bringing any dark news into this. Focus on keeping the gakis out of mischief.”

“They’re three and four,” Hiroshi pointed out incredulously. “What could they possibly get into?”

Kei snorted roughly and growled, “You’ve obviously never heard Masuyo-kaasan or kaasan talk about all the sh-stuff Shuu and I used to get into.” Then she turned towards the group of kids with a huff and muttered, “Speaking of which…”

With a sharp whistle she had all the kids surrounding her and soon had them all playing a game of Missing-nin Tag, which Shikako gathered was something Kei used to play when she was their age. It turned out to be roaring success as it even got Shino, Hinata, and Sasuke into playing the game.

Shikako didn’t really know what to think about the play date, but wondered if there would be any others in the future.

There was. Until they were happening on a fairly regular basis though there was no set schedules, but she figured it was because of the shinobi schedule and having to work around that.  Not everyone showed up to all of them, and sometimes there was another girl who came around who was their age. Yakumo-chan, who turned out to the Kurama Clan heiress.

Shikako didn’t remember her at all.

The third fact that was the final clue that made her realize she wasn’t in fact in the canon version of the story she remembered, was that Naruto knew about his mother.