Time alone, a rare thing for a psychic. He was always connected to his father and sisters, only distance could really weaken the bond, but even that wasn't foolproof. His father's telepathy was stronger than his own was, and it's range was overall larger, even if his own was better tuned to details and the emotional spectrum of the human mind. Michizuka was powerful yes, but his power was broad and sweeping, he could overpower anyone, but he damaged heavily in the process, whereas Hiroyuki was weaker in range and overall force, but he could pick apart the folds and layers of the mind without breaking it, like pealing layer of wet rice paper apart without ripping them, his power was in his control and finesse. It was a godsend, he had an untapped well of latent power that terrified him, so he'd worked his entire life to learn to control and temper the ability that could destroy on levels that give his father pause.

These moments of silence were wonderful. To just have his own thoughts and nothing else; no lingering emotions and hints of thoughts from his family and those around him... he needed it badly. A chance to center himself and just be himself, by himself, for himself. No risk to others, a chance to relax. It was exhausting to control himself so strongly at all times, waking and sleeping. Even in unconsciousness, part of him worked to control and dam the power within his mind and soul; and that was part of what kept him small and weak; all of his energy went toward that task, there was little left to allow him to grow physically. By now it was pretty much established that his physical growth had been stunted to a degree, how far was left to time to tell, he was still rather young, so there was time to recover to a point. Maybe.

He couldn't let himself worry about that, though. No, for the moment he was just going to be himself, relax and rest and just sort of... exist. The forest was quiet, not worryingly so, but it seemed as though something large had passed through recently. There was a sense of... not fear, but concern, permeating the area, and it was likely something to do with a big predator wandering by. Fairly normal really; this wasn't the same as a ninja patrol or something passing by, not unless it was one of his father's clansmen passing through. Inuzuka were given pause by the animals, treated the same as other large, dangerous predators that still belonged to the forest, and this was the feeling that Hiroyuki got; however he didn't sense anyone around, so either it was an animal that had passed recently, or a clan cousin hours before. Either way, no reason to worry. Which is exactly what he didn't do: worry.

Instead, he rested his body against the giant roots of a large tree, seemingly settling into a meditative pose, but really just settling for a bit of a nap or something like that. Maybe he'd write in his journal. Maybe he would nap. Maybe he'd train. Something, eventually. Eventually.

WC: 541

Wandering. So much wandering. Even home, all he did was wander. Home for less time than it would take to explain to his family where he'd been, why he'd been gone. So little time that outside of his daughter Temaki.... none of them knew. It was too soon, it would be too hard to hide if he went to his actual home, versus hiding out at Amaya's house were no one ever went and no would look for him. Temaki was a good kid, she could keep a secret, even from her psychic Daddy and brother, he was sure of it.

Hiroyuki... Yuki... his babies. His perfect babies that he couldn't yet see. He missed them terribly, so badly that it physically ached and his heart hurt so badly because of it but... he just....

He was scared.

Scared for them.

Scared for himself.

He wasn't sure he could handle it if either rejected him. If Michizuka was to reject him. It would kill him inside, he was sure of that, but he wasn't sure he could survive that emotional death. Not now, not when he was so close, so very close and he could feel them; just barely feel them, the edge of his senses and his own nascent abilities; much of what a Kamizuki was could be taught, even if it would never be as strong to an outsider as it would be for the clan. Still, he'd long ago developed the ability to connect on some level with his husband and the moment his children were born a connection was created, one that could never be broken so long as they all lived; and it was that connection that ate at him. He could feel them so very close, but he could never see them, not really. Yuki had come by Amaya's house a few hours prior and it had killed him not to explode out of his hiding place and scoop her up and just hold her and cry for hours and make her understand that he'd never leave her again so long as he lived; but he stood there, hidden behind jutsu so powerful that she wouldn't even be able to begin to sense him even with her razor sharp Inuzuka senses. To see her staring right at him but right through him at the same moment...

It nearly killed him.

He had to get away from it. He had to. Another moment in that house would destroy him, another almost meeting with his family...

Being home hurt... so very much.

The deep forests though... as much as he was sick of being in the woods and just wanted to be with his family and friends and people... it was just so much easier to be out here right now. He still wasn't sure where he fell in the spectrum of beast or man at the moment, it was just easier to be beast for a plethora of reasons he didn't feel like focusing on. So much easier...

Why did he smell...

Hiroyuki...

By the Gods... it was Hiroyuki. Even after ten years... he knew the smell of his own son. Gods, he could never forget. The number of nights he'd dreamed of the smell of his children...

"Son..." A ghost of a whisper, but it did leave his lips, carried by the breeze that was his constant companion and friend, chilled by the almost ice of his chakra, involuntary, but his signature and his scent carried with it; all unknown to the man that was clutching his chest and nearly crying now, dropping to his knees and losing himself for long moments while his mind resisted the all consuming need to shatter and the urge to flee away from the pain and hurt and all of it sending his legs into cramps and his chest into spasms that brought the taste of blood to his senses and blocked out all else.

WC: 670

Gentle thud. A shock, a surprise. Hiroyuki had relaxed so much that he'd lost his focus and forgotten his instincts; the screaming howl in the basest parts of his soul that were Inuzuka in a way that could not be forgotten or ignored calling 'Danger! Danger! Danger is here!" Something massively dangerous, a chakra that chilled him to the bone, with power that made his body shake and quiver in response. Oppressive, choking, terrifying.

Familiar...?

All of these reactions lasting fleeting instants that passed before he could quantify them; and now there was a sense of... familiar. A scent, he couldn't place it, and ghost of a voice... his name?

"Hiroyuki..."

Yes... his name. Spoken, definitely spoken, but almost not. This was more than a whisper, less than a subvocalization. This was... this was emotion given physical form; fleeting and ephemeral yet all too real. Something nearby was suffering, the pain washing over the forest was real, but this suffering... it struck deep within his hidden heart, dredging up his own emotions and scars left to fester and rot in a place he couldn't face. What was this?

"Hiroyuki..."

Again, but in his mind now. Spoken in his mind, spoken via the mind of a being with rudimentary skills in Kamizuki telepathy. Spoken with such emotions; so much pain and fear and... pride. Love. Longing.

What was going on?

Why was he crying too?

It was too much, he had to find out what was going on. It was like moving through cold molasses, his body didn't want to respond, the force of emotions melding into one mass of pain and fear and confusion was enough to shut his body down, very nearly; but his need, his compulsion... he had to know. He had to. There was no stopping the boy when his mind was made. He could know. He had to move. Step by step, feet clumsily placed but still moving forward. Forward and forward and ever toward the point that was the center of the radiating energy in his mind and heart. He had to know.

.....

But... It couldn't...

The clearing was breached, in it's center a figure, an impossible figure.

You can't...

How can you be...

Golden hair, honey gold eyes gushing icy tears, brilliant red fang mark, blood flecking lips through sobbing coughs...

How...?

How...!

HOW!?

"Daddy...?"

You died!

"Daddy...?"

I SAW YOU! YOU DIED! I SAW YOU!

"Daddy...!?"

Please... please.... please... please...!

I love you so much... please be my Daddy...

"Daddy...?"

WC: 450

450 + 541 = 991[/i]

"Daddy...?"

Son...

By all the Gods above and below... it was him. It was him. It was Hiroyuki. It was his son, his perfect, fragile, innocent, hurtingofgodshehurtsobad... his son, he boy, his little Hiro...

My boy... my little Hiroyuki...

He couldn't stand, not really; not that it mattered. He had to, he had to, he had to get to him. He had to move. He had to cross that distance and hold his son, his tiny, broken little boy; he had to comfort him, he had to hold him and comfort him and be daddy and father and make the tears stop; each tear, each hot drop, another blow to his cracked psyche and soul, another wound to an already wounded heart. He struggled, he crawled, but he moved; his body was made to move like this, like a dog on four legs instead of two, it was easy and yet so hard. His body was heavy; or maybe it was the weight of his sins on his heart, the knowledge that he'd caused this pain and suffering to his family.

"Hiroyuki... Son..."

Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou.

He nearly dove the last foot or so, he nearly collapsed entirely, it was too much to bare. He threw heavy, rail thin, almost wasted from years of malnutrition and lack of care; arms that couldn't carry themselves, let alone him anymore, arms that once held the child before him as he cried with stomach aches and fever and teething pains, arms that had once held up the weight of an entire village, now weakened and useless but still his, still remembering the power they once had and would have again...

Around his son, his perfect, beautiful, tiny, powerful, massive, young, ancient, amazing, hurting, radiant, glorious, beloved son. Around him and pulled to him, a hug that would be crushing had he had a fraction of his former power left, but now was weak and easily broken, and so very pathetic; but it was still a hug from father to son, the son he hadn't seen in far too long and that he'd dreamed of every night for a decade. The son he could never leave again, because to leave him would kill the father, physically and emotionally and mentally and to the depths of his soul. "Hiroyuki... It's me... it's really me, son. I'm home... I swear I'm home... I'm real, I'm really real... I'm really here."

Don't leave me... don't reject me... I love you more than you could ever know... I love you so much... Don't leave me here...

WC: 457

457 + 670 = 1127

"Hiroyuki... Son..."

Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou. Iloveyou.

Don't leave me... don't reject me... I love you more than you could ever know... I love you so much... Don't leave me here...

So much.. so very much... so much pain and fear and love and pride and so much it was almost too much for him to bare. His father... his father was alive... his Daddy was alive... his Daddy was alive and he was here and he was holding him and he was holding him but he was so weak and he was hurting and he was crying and they were both crying and it was all so messed up and the world was wrong, but it had to be real because he couldn't handle it if if his father wasn't here holding him and crying and begging him not to leave him and why was he so weak? Why was his powerful father so horribly weak? What happened to him, how had he wasted to such a state?

"Daddy... I love you Daddy... I missed you so much... Daddy don't leave me again..."

Words, emotion unbound by logic or control. Hiroyuki was a baby crying for comfort from his Daddy that made the world safe and happy and comfortable and perfect again; crying like the child he hadn't been in a decade, reduced to the little boy that had ridden on Daddy's shoulders and felt safe there, clung to Dad's leg and hid behind Daddy's hands... the little child who's sisters picked on him for being clingy and small and too quiet for his own good. The boy that had died the day his Daddy (left them, why did you leave us!?) was buried and his name carved into the Hero's Monument stone. Hiroyuki had died that day, but yet here he was, the real child, the one that no one had seen or loved or known in years.

Sobbing. Crying. Hurting

Clinging to his Daddy so hard his arms hurt and his (wasted, atrophied) muscled cramped and threatened to rip themselves apart from the strain.

Why did you leave us...?

Why did you leave me...!?

Why...?

Didn't you love us?

Weren't we good enough?

We loved you... you left us...

Why...?

Words screamed his father's mind by his son that couldn't speak; he couldn't know the the few words that had escaped his lips were the first in years; mental screams of pain from a broken boy that couldn't understand why his father had left him, left their family; to the father that was begging him to stay, to not run away, to love him and love him and never leave him like he'd left his family.... god's he'd left them and now he was begging them to take him back and love him and fix him and so many thing he had no right to ask of them. So many things... so much hurt...

"Why! Why did you leave! You left us! Why! Why! Why!"

WC: 529

529 + 991 = 1520

Why did you leave us...?

Why did you leave me...!?

Why...?

Didn't you love us?

Weren't we good enough?

We loved you... you left us...

Why...?

"Why! Why did you leave! You left us! Why! Why! Why!"

"Son... please... let me explain... let me tell you what happened... please... give me this chance... please... I... you... I need you to know... to understand... I love you so much... please Hiroyuki... let me tell you... please..."

He pulled back, he had to look his boy in the eyes, he had to make him understand, there was so little strength left in his body, but he could muster the power of his soul, the power of his will, he would make Hiroyuki understand, he would make sure that his boy knew that he'd never wanted this fucked up reality to happen. He never wanted to leave them, he couldn't bare the thought, let alone live with the decision and reality for ten years. Ten long years. Ten years of emotional hell. Tear years of his humanity rotting away in the pit of hell he'd created by leaving his family.

"I had to leave, I had to leave to save you, you and your sisters and your Dad, I had to keep you safe. They were coming, bad men that wanted to hurt you to get to me, they wanted to use you to force me to start a war, make me a puppet to take over the villages and the countries. I had to leave, I had to hide; I did it to protect you and everyone I loved. I sacrificed myself, my live and my humanity and my love and my legacy to keep you safe and alive. I had too, I had too, I had too; I had to keep you all safe. To keep you safe I had to leave you, and I hated myself for that every moment of every day for all these long years. I wanted nothing more than to come home; I waited and I waited and I waited but no one ever called me home; I was supposed to be called home after a month, a year, but not this long, not so long that I missed my children's entire lives. This wasn't what I wanted, never what I wanted. I wanted to watch you grow and laugh and love and live. I wanted to love you and raise you and teach you and be there when you needed me; not alone in some cave a world away waiting and hoping and dying until I could come home, until I could come back to you, you and your sisters and your Dad and I never stopped loving you, never once, not for an instant. I had to come back to you, I had to come back but I couldn't just appear... not after so long. It would cause too much trouble; they would lock me away in some dank basement forever and I would never get to see you. I had to hide, I had to be careful about when and who knew I'd come back. Can you understand this? Can you believe my story, Son?"

Can you ever forgive me...?

WC: 550

550 + 1127 = 1677

Can you ever forgive me...?

Something in the boy snapped, something primal and angry and hurt and animalistic in all the ways that he wasn't, not really, not normally. Some part of his Inuzuka soul had awoken, and it was channeling all the years of repressed anger and pain and sadness and hurt and all the negative that he'd never fully forgotten nor worked past. He was still just a child after all, no matter what some paperwork said, no amount of skills and training, he was a child, and he had a child's emotions at times; and right now was one of them. His tears stopped, his expression fell into something... dark. Something that on someone larger would have been almost terrifying. Almost. But this was Hiroyuki, sweet, gentle, little Hiroyuki that never lifted a finger in anger, never hurt unless it was absolutely necessary, the perfect little pacifist child that everyone loved and dotted on and protected because he was just so small, so very small and weak and he was just a child, right? Just a little child.

Forgive...

"You left us."

You left us.

"You left me. Forgive? How can I forgive that?"

You left us alone... you left us... you left us... you LEFT us!

"I can't... I can't... you left... you left me... you left me... you left me... you left... you left... you left you left youleftyouleftyouleftyouleftYOULEFTUS!"

There was nothing left of Hiroyuki; not in this state. This was primal and angry and hurt and terrifying. The air had been chilled by Kenta's chakra, but this chill... the cut right past sinew and bone right to the soul, this was a chill of the mind and heart, it was making Kenta's jump beats erratically as the boy, his son, his little perfect son, lashed out in a tantrum that would make the world quake if he was older and stronger. Not a physical tantrum, no; even as wasted and weak as Kenta was he was far stronger than Hiroyuki could ever be in body. No, this was a tantrum that lashed from the mind.

Wave after wave of psychic power cascaded from the boy, all the fury and pain and hurt of the child poured into his father's mind until it broke. From the instant the floodgates opened, it was lights out for the elder; his son's mind had far more power than Kenta's mental shields could handle. Rage ripped apart the elder's mind until his body began to tear in response; blood dripped from his tightly closed eyes, blood flecked lips, hands bleed from claws digging deeply. After only a few moments of this, Kenta was falling limp against the boy, the larger weight dragging them both down in the moments when Hiroyuki found himself and realized what happened.

He screamed.

He screamed until his voice broke and the ancient trees shook in fear.

He screamed until his throat ripped itself apart and then some more; until a mass of people appeared from the shadows. All ninja, first clansmen and ANBU, the closest by far; ANBU patrol routes weren't far away, and there were always Inuzuka in the forest. It was their forest now; the Senju might have made it, but the Inuzuka were part of it in ways that the Senju never could be.

He screamed still, the gathered ninja could only stare in shock and confusion because they couldn't approach him; a shield of sorts... the power of his mind repelling them because they were strangers all, every single one of them was a stranger to him and he couldn't let them near; not with his father bleeding to death beside him.

Until Michizuka appeared.

Training exercises in the deep woods; every academy student did them. Michizuka had been leading a group through them not far away; he'd felt the burst of psychic energy like a punch to the gut; it was his son suffering after all, there was no way he wouldn't notice it. There was no stopping him once he arrived; he didn' even notice the ANBU and Inuzuka surrounding his son and the body on the ground; all he saw was Hiroyuki screaming so hard he was gushing blood from his mouth on a level that made him remember one of Kenta's worst incidents. He strolled right in and grabbed his son, Hiroyuki would recognize him even with his mind shut down and acting on instinct; the moment that his arms wrapped around his son, the boy collapsed against him, sobbing and choking and repeating a single, simple phrase.

"I killed him... i killed him... I killed him..."

Michizuka was able to get his son to the ground once more, setting him on his knees so that he wasn't going to fall and reached for the other person; Kenta had fallen face down in a growing pool of blood; Michizuka reached for him and pushed him onto his back.

The scream of shock and confusion and terror rang so loud the village itself heard it.

Michi was screaming for Kenta to wake up; screaming for medics, for Amaya, for Naota, for anyone that he could think of; anyone to help Kenta before he drowned in his own blood. He screamed and screamed and screamed and then realized what had happened. He turned to his son, the blank, glazed expression and slowly working lips still repeating the same phrase (i killed him.... I killed him.... I killed him...).

"Hiroyuki... what have you done?"

Hiroyuki fainted, falling forward into the dirt, and some part of him that was still coherent could only welcome the darkness as it came to take him away from the fucked up world he'd stumbled into.

WC 982

982 + 1520 = 2502

Beep...

Beep...

Beep...

Familiar. So familiar and he hated it so much, that familiarity that dragged his other senses with it. the darkness was warm and comforting and almost embryonic in nature; nothing hurt here, he didn't feel like he was one step from choking on his own lungs, he didn't need to face everything that was wrong with his body and his family and his world. He could just rest, glorious rest, in peaceful silence. It was so easy to stay here, so easy to just rest (finally rest, hadn't he earned this, this peaceful rest and no pain and no fear and nothing but silence and warmth, such warmth...); rest and rest and rest until there was no resting left, and there was no consciousness, and there was nothing, and he could see his parents again...

Parents...

Hiroyuki.

Yuki.

Temaki.

His children. He was a father now. He was their father.

He couldn't go home yet... not yet. Not home to his parents. He had to be father for his kids; his young kids that hadn't gotten to have their father like he'd had his, even for the few years before he was taken; Kenta had been gone longer than his own father was by their age, and he couldn't. Not now. Not when he almost had them back. He would see his children grow up, he would see his own grandchildren the way his parents hadn't been able too.

Beep...

Beep...

Beep...

The rhythm, so familiar. The smell; that sterile, astringent, empty smell of humanity and chemicals and hospital. Ugh. He hated that smell, the sounds and the coldness of the place. Why was he in the hospital?

Why did his head hurt? It felt like his brain was on fire, throbbing and sore and just... hurting.

What happened to him?

Wait.

Hiroyuki...

Hiroyuki. In the forest. In the forest and he'd... he'd...

Oh Gods. By all the Gods in all the lands...

Hiroyuki had nearly killed him. His son, his little, perfect, tiny, beautiful son... snapped, and nearly killed him.

But what... a second scream... in the darkness, a second scream... so familiar and terrifying because it was familiar and the pain and confusion scared him... why...?

Michizuka.

No. No nonononono. Michizuka had found them. That had to be it.

Coughing. So much coughing. Voices, unfamiliar and concerned. So much concern. But... no Amaya. Where was Amaya? She should be here. She was his medic after all, she knew more about his illness than anyone did... where was Amaya?

Why was he cold suddenly? The darkness was still warm... but his side was cold...

The world was fuzzy and the colors were too sharp and why did it hurt to see so badly? Why was everything... red?

Right, burst capillaries in his eyes. When had he inhaled last? Was he still choking on blood? He had to be, by the sound of the monitors freaking out and the nurses screaming for more medicine. Heh, they must be new to this.

Huh... that was a different red. Focus, eyes. Focus. Red... that color red... why did it... moving. A person, yes. Not a medic, dressed wrong; was that... green? Chest... flak jacket. A ninja then. Why was there a regular duty ninja in his room?

"...kenta!...'

"....wake up...!"

Michi... Oh Michi... I'm so sorry...

"Wake up! Wake up! Breath! Breath, Kenta!"

Michi...

Michi...

"M-Mii-Miichi...?"

Suddenly he was inhaling and shooting upright, bending over himself so hard that he coughed up what looked like a ragged, bloody baseball. A blood clot, it had hit his trachea and shut it closed, that explained why he wasn't breathing. Not the first time, nor the last, that it would happen.

Cold, sterile air hit his lungs and he shuddered and coughed and gagged on it; he hated the way the air tasted in the hospital. "Michi... Hiro... Michi... where...?"

"He's okay, Amaya's with him. He... he ripped his throat open pretty badly, but he'll be okay. Physically. Mentally... Jesus Kenta. What happened? He nearly... Kenta he nearly killed you. What happened?" Medics rushed around them in a panic and confusion; but they just calmly carried on like nothing had happened, like this was a normal day and nothing was strange at all. A sort of coping mechanism, the shock and confusion and everything would hit later and they'd both breakdown, but right now parent skills had kicked in hard and where keeping them stable.

"He... he found me walking. I needed air. I needed to think. I... I've been at Amaya's for the last few days. I just... I couldn't... not yet. I had to plan, I had to be ready. But he found me and he just... he snapped, and it's my fault. I sort of... broke. He cracked and broke and lashed out. I can't blame him, I would have done the same if positions were reversed."

"Makes sense. I was able to put that much together from what I could get from his mind. He's shut down and shut off entirely; but he'll come back in a few hours, maybe a day. He needs to just reset, really. Reset and see you alive."

"Yeah..."

"Kenta..."

"Yes, love?"

"How...?"

"I... Can we... another time... please? I want to tell you, but not here... when we can be alone; just you and me and the kids..."

"Fair enough..."

"Can... can I come home...?"

Suddenly Michi was sprawled across him, heavier frame pinning the blonde down and burying his face into his chest; blood and gore and dirt and everything else be damned; crying and clinging and generally making a mess of himself; a Jounin of the village reduced to a spouse that just found out his husband was back from the dead and breaking under the weight of the years that had separated them. "Yes, yes, please; please just come home. Come home and be my Kenta again, be the father the kids have missed everyday since you left. Just come home, just come home and don't leave us again!"

It was all he could do to wrap tried arms around the redhead and hold him as tightly as he could, burying his face into the hair that smelled of his husband and lover and he inhaled the scent that had haunted his mind for a decade and everything was okay for one long instant before he was coughing again and everything was back to the pain of existence... but everything would be okay now, yes; it would be okay. He was home. He was home and Michizuka wanted him back and Temaki was happy and Hiroyuki would live and love him and he could fix that, and now he just needed to see his other daughter and hold her and love her again, and everything would be okay.

But then the door was opening and three flashes of blond and red and brown raced across the room and the world was now extremely wet and heavy but it smelled like home, and it sounded like home, and he didn't care if he was crushed; it was his family and his babies, and even little Hiroyuki was... not better, but he was awake and repeating 'I'm sorry I love you so much' over and over and over and Yuki was screaming 'Daddy!' over and over and Temaki was begging him to come home with them and it was all going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

He was home. He was almost home properly.

He was going home properly. Administration and proper protocol be damned.

He was going home.

"Let's go, loves... Daddy is tired..." As weak and wasted and tired as he was, he still managed to lift all four of them into his arms and carried them out; ignoring the calls of the nurses and the doctors attempting to stop him. frick them all, he was going home.

-EXIT-

WC: 1362

1362 + 1677 = 3039

END E0-C1 3039/3025

Beep...

Beep...

Beep..

W-what...?

Where was he? Why was it so cold? The air smelled wrong, too. Where his eyes open? The hell was going on?

Why did his throat hurt?

This wasn't his bed, nor his house, no any house he would sleep in. Was he in the hospital?

Was that yelling?

What was going on?

Brother? Are you awake?

Yuki? Sister, where am I?

Don't you remember? You... Dad found you in the forest... with... you...

....

Oh.

Oh

Oh frick.

That... that happened...?

He's... he's alive. He's in the next room...

Oh...

Dad is with him. He's... he's alive. He'll make it, Dad's sure of it. You did a number on him, but nothing he hasn't had done worse by Dad before.

O-oh...

Brother...

Y-yes...?

You know he'll never hate you, right? This is Daddy. He could never hate us. That unshakable faith, she'd always had it and he'd envied her for years for it. She never once doubted that Kenta hadn't left them, not really, and that he'd be home one day.

Can I see him...?

Screaming, so much screaming from beyond the wall; the sounds of adults freaking out. Both children where racing across the room and out the door, past the guards that were too distracted by what was going on inside to notice them coming; Temaki using the moment to join them after being denied entry with her Dad on grounds of bullshit rules. All three into the room and to the bed where their Dad was clinging to their Daddy and sobbing tears of joy and all three of them joined in as one mind and three bodies that were suddenly five minds in one and five bodies moving through resisting masses of humanity because Daddy was home and he might be weak and hurting and tired but this was the man that became Hokage at 17 and nothing would stop a man like that once his mind was made up.

"Let's go, loves... Daddy is tired..." As weak and wasted and tired as he was, he still managed to lift all four of them into his arms and carried them out; ignoring the calls of the nurses and the doctors attempting to stop him. frick them all, he was going home

They would go home together.

They would be a family again.

Nothing would stop them now.

There was plenty to talk about, wounds to heal, but they had all the time in the world, now.

-Exit-

WC: 510

510 + 2502 = 3012

SPD E0-D0 750/750
END E0-D0 750/750
PER E0-D0 750/750
REA E0-D0 762/750

12 WC remaining.