Chapter Text
Kakashi stared up at the ceiling of his apartment. He was late to training today, like he always was. He would probably use the “ran into an old friend and got caught up chatting” excuse. It had been a while since he’d used that one.
He was not caught up chatting with a friend. He was, in fact, thinking about doing something that would catch him a lot of shit. When the council found out about his actions, they’d shit bricks, and, while it was always entertaining to see the council shit bricks, it wasn’t fun being at the center of their attention when they were angry. What he wanted to do would make them very angry. It would be very good for his students, however, which would probably make the council’s anger totally worth it. Hell, if he played his cards right, he’d be able to get away with it without too much flak. Maybe.
Actually, by his calculations, it would be more than worth it. It might even be the best course of action, regardless of consequences.
His gaze drifted to the scroll his father gave him when he graduated from the Academy. It was a Hatake heirloom, one of the very few left. He was supposed to hand it down to his children, when he had them. That wasn’t going to happen, unfortunately, for many reasons. It was also acceptable to allow a treasured student to sign it, according to Hatake clan laws, although they couldn’t keep it. If he only let an apprentice sign and never had children, the contract would never be signed again.
That was pretty standard for summoning contracts, though. Summoning contracts were, with few exceptions, passed from parent to child or teacher to student. Orochimaru and Jiraiya had received the snake and toad contracts from their parents, and Tsunade had received hers from her teacher at the hospital, when she was still a novice medic.
Most scrolls only allowed a few signatures, but the dog contract was different: there wasn’t a limit to how many could sign, just who. Which brought Kakashi back to his dilemma: how to get away with having all three of his students sign the dog contract.
Sasuke was the Uchiha heir, now that Itachi was rogue, so he could only have Sasuke sign as an apprentice. Naruto, by rights, should be Jiraiya’s apprentice, when time came, but one could really only sign one summoning contract at a time. Sakura wouldn’t be as much as a problem, except inheritance worked differently among civilians than with shinobi, and he didn’t want to take something away from her if she wanted it.
Claws tapped against the wooden floors of his apartment, and he grunted when the solid weight of Pakkun landed directly on his diaphragm.
“Boss,” he said, his muzzle still dripping water from his quick mid-nap drink, “you’re thinking awfully hard. Talk to us.”
Shiba lifted her head from his knee. “Yeah, boss, tell us what’s up.”
Kakashi caught his breath and pretended like he was just thinking about what to say. His dogs saw through it. “I’m thinking of having my team sign the dog contract.”
Pakkun nodded thoughtfully. “That might piss off some powerful people, boss.”
“I know.”
“It’d be good for them, though,” Uhei said. “You’ve got two flight risks and I’d hate to see the girl wash out. She’s got spunk.”
“I know.”
Bull raised his head as well and barked.
“I know,” Kakashi said again. “But do the benefits outweigh the consequences? Sure, I could anchor Sasuke and Naruto better to the village, but what if that means I’m taking away heritages that are rightly theirs? And Sakura, yeah, this would give her a killer boost that she desperately needs, but what if she washes out anyway? Or doesn’t want to go very far with her shinobi career?”
Pakkun snorted. “Quit chasing flies, boss, you won’t catch them.”
Kakashi put an arm over his eyes. “I know, I know. I just don’t know how to do it the right way. If I do it wrong, I could fuck up either their lives or mine or both. I can't have them all sign on as apprentices, you know.”
Bisuke scratched Kakashi’s leg and wagged his tail, tongue lolling out of his mouth in that smug manner of his. It was a logical argument, and as he thought a little more about it, he realized that he'd been foolish.
“Oh,” Kakashi said. “you’re absolutely right, Bisuke. Okay, everyone, let’s head out. I’ve got students to teach.”
.
When he arrived, he was greeted by the usual shouts of, “You’re late!” from Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke’s 'bored' glare that actually meant that he was very impatient and wanted to train right now immediately.
“Sorry, I had to find something for you guys,” he lied, lifting the scroll easily. Then, to stave off the usual argument over his bullshitting, he asked, “What do you know about summons?”
Sakura, the darling girl, started talking immediately. “Summons are animals with humanlike intelligence and nearly always live in a separate world from ours. One can obtain a summons by signing a contract with a specific animal species.”
“Very good,” Kakashi said. Praise was good for puppies, and it was high time he started applying that logic to his kids. They’d need to be in the habit soon, and he needed to set a good example. “Anyone else?”
“Contracts are passed down through families or from teacher to student,” Sasuke said, to Kakashi’s surprise. Not that it was surprising that Sasuke knew it, but it was surprising that he offered information of his own volition. Then again, Kakashi thought, Sasuke couldn’t acquire the Uchiha summons because his older, traitorous, murderous brother had the scroll. He might be more than a little bitter about it.
“Correct,” Kakashi said. “Now, next question: how do inheritance laws work?”
“It depends,” Naruto said, “On like, the family. Cause gramps’ family passes down family stuff to the first born in a generation, not by family lines. And Kiba’s family passes stuff down the girl line. Dunno about the Hyuuga, it’s hard to get into their compound. Akamichi stuff gets passed down to the current head’s oldest kid, same with Yamanaka. The Aburame compound is impossible to get into, too, so I don’t know a lot about them, either. Oh! Shikamaru’s family has a weird competition when the current head steps down to see who gets to be the next. It’s kinda cool, actually, he was telling me…”
Kakashi stared at Naruto for a long moment. Of all of his students to know that, he would have never guessed it would be Naruto. He’d feel bad about having low expectations for him, but he did have to have chakra explained to him after he’d become a genin. Chakra was, give or take, lesson number one at the academy.
“Naruto, how do you even know all that?” Sakura demanded, cutting Naruto’s rambling short. “You never paid attention in class when we were talking about that stuff!”
Naruto shrugged. “I just hear stuff, y’know?”
Ah, now Kakashi understood. Naruto’s underestimated sneakiness gave him an ability to be places he probably shouldn’t be and therefore overhear things that he wouldn’t otherwise hear. The illicit aspect of overhearing the information also was what made it stick, Kakashi would bet.
“He’s right, though,” Kakashi said. “However, those aren't the only clans in Konoha, which is very important for you three.”
That got all three of his students’ attentions quickly, especially Sasuke’s, just as he expected it would. They were so cutely predictable. He’d have to train that out of them. Kakashi grinned underneath his mask and finally set the scroll he’d been carrying down.
It’s bigger than the scroll he keeps in his pocket, which the kids had seen before. The one he carries isn’t the summoning contract but rather a simple transportation scroll. Most people thought he made his dogs wear their vests just to make them look cute or to be silly. This was true, of course, but there was a more important reason he made them wear the vests: there was a seal sewn into each that connected to the scroll he carried, so he could summon them at will.
Minato and Kushina had designed it together, as a present for his birthday one year. He’d had a bit of a depressive episode when Pakkun had brought a new pup into the pack and he’d needed to copy it into a new vest, but he’s long since gotten over that. He’ll be teaching his kids the seal when or if their own packs got big enough.
“This is a summoning contract,” he announced. “Now, each of you, tell me what you think will happen if all three of you sign this contract. Sakura first.”
Sakura frowned and thought silently for a while. “Well, if you have all three of us sign it as your students, there might not be enough space for an heir later, because summoning contracts can usually only be signed a few times per generation. But you haven’t, uh, had an heir, so either you plan on letting your clan die or…”
Sasuke huffed an approximation of a startled laugh. “You want one of us to be your heir and the others to be your apprentices.”
"What?" Sakura yelped. "But we're not his kids!"
Kakashi said nothing and looked to Naruto, who stared at him intently for a long moment before giving him an all too wary look. Kakashi nodded waved him on to speak.
“No,” Naruto said slowly, as if he could hardly believe what he was saying, “Kakashi wants to take Sasuke on as his apprentice, ‘cause he’s already the heir to a clan. But, uh, he can only have one apprentice ‘cause that’s how it works here. Suna, though, you can have like three apprentices I heard, but that’s cause they hardly have any shinobi and-!”
“Naruto,” Kakashi said, pulling him away from his digression. Really, the boy was much too much a perfect, disastrous mix of his parents. Ditsy but smart, kind but stubborn and ultimately both Minato and Kushina’s friends’ worst nightmare.
“Sorry, sorry,” Naruto said, “anyway. Sensei wants Sasuke to be his apprentice cause he’s already got a clan but me and Sakura-chan don’t and sometimes people get pissy when a summoning contract gets signed by multiple students ‘cause that one creepy snake guy let most of his students sign his summoning contract and now everyone thinks that anyone who does the same will end up like him. So Kakashi-sensei is gonna dodge that bullshit by adopting me and Sakura and only having one apprentice sign the contract.”
Kakashi leaned over and ruffled Naruto’s hair. “Hey, Naruto, you’re actually pretty smart when you’re not acting annoying.”
“I don’t act annoying!”
Kakashi ignored his protest. “Yes, Naruto’s right again. Sasuke, you’ll sign last, which will mark you as my apprentice. Sakura, you’ll sign first. You’ll be my heir. There are special circumstances that prevent me from making Naruto my heir, but I feel that you’ll make a better Hatake clan head than him anyway.”
Sakura’s jaw dropped. “Me? But- but I’m the first shinobi of my family! And I can’t just leave my mom I love her and-!”
“Sakura,” Kakashi said, holding one hand out as a placating gesture, “Calm down. I’m not taking you away from your parents. Your parents will be adopted too, though they’ll be joining the Hatake clan as civilian members, when I formally adopt you. This, with the contract, is just for us, you understand?”
Sasuke grunted. “He’s adopting you through clan traditions. The village will be forced to sign off on his adoption after it’s done because clan laws are above civilian laws.”
“That’s right,” Kakashi said, thankful that somehow, one of his other students had been able to explain what was happening a little more thoroughly than he thought he needed to. “Paperwork comes later. This is to mark my intent to adopt you and Naruto into the Hatake clan by chakra.”
“Oh,” Sakura said, “okay.”
Sasuke’s head snapped around to stare at Kakashi in alarm before she was finished. “I thought Chakra adoption wasn’t done anymore.”
Kakashi shrugged. “It’s not, normally. The only other clans here in Konoha that need to do chakra adoptions are the Hyuuga and the Aburame. Hyuuga don’t do adoptions, and the Aburame don’t have many opportunities for obvious reasons. Hatake chakra is finnicky, though, so we’ll have to do that part later. Quit distracting me, I’m trying to educate you kids.”
Naruto mimed pulling a zipper over his lips. Sakura ducked her head with an apology. Sasuke huffed and crossed his arms.
Kakashi let the scroll fall sideways to the ground, where it promptly unraveled in exactly the dramatic manner he’d hoped it would. He couldn’t help but give his father’s signature a sad smile before he told his kids how to sign the scroll.
“But remember,” he said after, reluctant to give his kids any reason to not sign the contract, but needing them to understand the responsibility, “you’re going to be summoning a puppy. You’re going to be its prime caretaker for the rest of its life. If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”
He offered a kunai to Sakura then. She hesitated to take the kunai, and then hesitated to slice open her finger. But she steeled herself and signed her name in remarkably nice calligraphy for having done it with her blood via a finger. Then she went through the hand signs with the kind of precision and memory he expected from her, and a puppy appeared with a little cloud of smoke.
It was mostly a dull orange color, with a white belly and a dark brown muzzle. An Akita, Kakashi recognized. He was definitely going to weigh more than Sakura when he was fully grown. A good guard breed, though still very friendly and sweet. He seemed to be about eight weeks, maybe seven weeks old.
“Oh my god,” she said, kneeling to coo at the puppy. “I love him.”
The little puppy woofed and nuzzled at her hands as she reached down to pet him, then hopped up into her arms, probably so she could snuggle him better.
“Should I name him?” She asked.
“No,” Kakashi said, “he knows his name, and he’ll tell you it when he’s figured out how to communicate. Most dog summons can talk, like Pakkun.”
Sakura nodded solemnly. “I’ll take very good care of you, Puppy-kun.”
Kakashi flared his chakra just a little, and the puppy stopped his affection upon Sakura and looked at Kakashi with the most serious expression a puppy could conjure.
“I’m the leader of Pack Hatake,” he told the puppy as seriously as he could. He didn’t remember the words for this- he was just barely old enough to mold chakra when his father had done this for him. “I claim this pup, Sakura Hatake, as my heir. Treat her well.”
The puppy yipped and bowed his head. He understood fully and would guard as well as teach her how to be a good pack leader.
Kakashi turned to Naruto now.
Naruto was staring at Sakura with the clearest envious expression Kakashi had ever seen since he’d told Kushina that someone else had been at Ichiraku before her on its opening day.
“Your turn,” Kakashi told him, offering a clean kunai.
Naruto didn’t hesitate in taking it nor in cutting a little deeper into his finger than necessary. He signed his name carefully, and though his handwriting was nowhere as pretty as Sakura’s, it was still the neatest anyone had probably seen from him ever. Certainly it was the neatest Kakashi had seen from him.
As usual, he was also a little sloppy with his hand signs. Kakashi was going to beat that out of him as soon as he could. Another little cloud of smoke appeared then disappeared and in its place was a black and white puppy with scraggly fur.
Naruto and the puppy stared at each other for a moment. Then the puppy looked around, and, having apparently been satisfied with what she saw, put her paws on Naruto’s knees and barked exactly once.
Ah, Kakashi thought, she was a spitfire and Naruto was going to be wrapped around her dewclaws in no time. That, and she’d be running him ragged- regular Border Collies were smarter than any dog had any right to be, and on top of that, summons were smarter than regular dogs. Naruto could use a good tiring out.
“I’ll take super good care of you,” Naruto told the puppy. “I promise!”
“I know,” the puppy said, “I can smell it. You’re going to be a good packmate.”
Naruto’s head snapped around to look at Kakashi in alarm. It took all of his considerable willpower to not laugh at his poor startled student.
“Hello,” Kakashi said to the puppy. “I’m Kakashi, the pack leader of the Hatake pack. What’s your name?”
“I’m Hotaru,” she said. “I’m going to be able to breathe fire when I’m older. Mama said so.”
Kakashi nodded solemnly. “That’s an excellent skill for a dog to have. Please take care of my pup; he’s a ditz, but he’s smarter than he seems. Can you help him reach his potential?”
“Of course,” Hotaru said, then licked Naruto’s cheek.
Finally, Kakashi held a third kunai out to Sasuke. He took it, and stared at it for a while before looking up at Kakashi with a conflicted expression, though he was clearly trying to hide it.
“The Uchiha have a summoning contract, with crows,” he said. “If I sign this one…?”
Kakashi shrugged. “The dog contract isn’t necessarily exclusive. You’ll just have to talk it out with your pack if you want to sign another. I’m not certain if the crow contract is exclusive or not, but it might be. You don’t have to sign this, Sasuke.”
It would totally mess up his plan if Sasuke didn’t sign, but that was what backup plans were for, and he had quite a lot of those.
Sasuke shook his head, cut his finger and signed. He, like Sakura, flashed through the signs perfectly, though unlike Sakura, he had used his Sharingan to copy the signs. A cloud of smoke appeared and when it dissipated, a puppy smaller than Kakashi had expected was sitting at his feet.
It took him a moment to pinpoint her breed, but after looking a little more intently at her ears, he figured she was a Papillion. An active breed, but a very small one. And, Kakashi realized, sniffing the air, she had the scent of healing chakra, which would be very useful for a frontline fighter like Sasuke was bound to be.
Sasuke knelt and held his hand out to the puppy. She sniffed it, then put her paw in his palm delicately. Kakashi was pleased to see Sasuke fighting a smile.
“Hello, pup,” Kakashi said once more, “I’m Kakashi, pack leader of the Hatake pack. This is my apprentice, Sasuke Uchiha. Treat him well.”
The puppy took her paw from Sasuke’s hand and bowed gracefully, tucking one foot under her chest and inclining her head. Kakashi grinned under his mask. She was going to be an absolute diva and his broody student would deserve every second of it. Hell, it might even be good for him.
Kakashi clapped his hands. “Okay, that’s settled, then. I’ll start the paperwork in the morning while you three are getting to know your pack. Day after tomorrow, though, we’re going to start training a little more seriously, so get a good night’s sleep, puppies!”
.
True to his word, he spent all of the next day pushing paperwork through offices and listening to old men argue about how he was destroying his clan’s name by adopting, to which he argued back that blood never mattered to the Hatake clan, just Chakra. He didn't know if that had historically been true, but he was Clan Head now and could decide whatever the hell he wanted. And anyway, the Hatake Clan records did have references to members who had been adopted in, both via chakra and not. Of course, telling them only chakra mattered led to hours of arguments over the ethics and practicality of chakra adoption, which was a very old practice, admittedly, but safe enough that even Tsunade hadn’t ever said a word against it when she was still around.
In the end, his case went to the clan council, who argued about it long enough that it went to the Hokage's Council, who argued about it so furiously- Danzo was especially against the whole thing, of course- that the Hokage himself decided to handle it personally. After a quick interrogation of his intentions, he signed off on the paperwork with an amused expression and wished him good luck.
By the time everything was settled, it was approaching eleven at night and Kakashi was exhausted, but he wanted to check in on his students and their puppies just once before he went to bed. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was getting along and he hadn’t given himself a huge headache for nothing.
He went to Sasuke’s first, figuring that if any of his students had problems with their pups, it would be him.
It was easy to slip into the Uchiha compound with a wave at the ANBU stationed in a nearby tree, and easier to slip into Sasuke’s bedroom. Another thing to train out of his students later, he supposed, though he didn’t find Sasuke in his bed.
What he found, though, was surprising. Sasuke was crashed on the floor of his kitchen, leaning against the refrigerator with several scrolls and books scattered around him. Kakashi leaned over to see what one of the books was about, and to his genuine shock, it was a book of names. Granted, it looked like the book was full of Uchiha obituaries, but still. Sasuke had been trying to figure out his dog’s name.
And, perhaps not as surprising, the puppy was curled on Sasuke’s neck, sitting inside of the huge collar on his shirt, sleeping peacefully. Sasuke’s arms were crossed, but he had one hand that was more or less upright to keep the puppy from slipping down into his shirt.
The puppy snuffled a bit and picked her head up. She looked at him and licked her nose sleepily, before barking quietly at him. His dog-speak was rusty, because all of his dogs were chatterboxes except Bisuke and Bull, who both spoke an odd dialect according to Pakkun, but he still understood enough to hear the “Thank you,” and the “he’ll be fine,” in her little bark.
He gave her an awkward snuffle-snort, a “you’re welcome,” and “I’m glad.”
She drifted back to sleep, and Kakashi left Sasuke’s house in good spirits and much more hopeful than he ever expected to be about this plan.
Next stop was Naruto’s apartment, where he greeted another ANBU in a nearby tree before perching silently on the kitchen windowsill, which was the easiest of the windowsills to perch on. The bedroom window looked greased, which was a good and simple boobytrap, through easy to get past if you had the right know-how.
He had to deduct points, though, when he discovered that the window was unlocked and opened nice and quietly. These kids had such bad habits…
Naruto was snoring in his bedroom, and the door was cracked enough for Kakashi to peek in, which he did. His puppy was sleeping in his chest, somehow unbothered by the loud, lung-rattling snores that Naruto was emitting, and rising up and down as he breathed.
One of her ears twitched and she turned her head to face him. She started blinking, and Kakashi made a note to teach his kids Morse code.
HI ALPHA, her eyes said, N IS GREAT. LOVE. HAPPY. COMFY. THANK U.
He blinked in return, HAPPY. GOOD. WELCOME.
She snuffled against Naruto’s chin, and he, in his sleep, reached up to scratch her ear. Kakashi smiled behind his mask and left them to sleep.
Sakura’s place was last, and somehow the most defended. Her window had a paralyzing seal on both the inside and outside, and he was fairly certain he could see two or three, maybe four more etched into her windowsill at various points. The windowsill was also greased, and, to Kakashi’s delight, he saw an alarm trap that was so well hidden he almost missed it.
It was a little textbook, which wasn’t exactly a good thing, but at least she was attempting to protect her space. The rest of the house wasn’t booby trapped at all, but that was to be expected. Her family was a civilian clan, after all.
So, he knocked on the front door. Civilians found it rude when shinobi slipped in and out of their houses, and after all, he had still yet to meet Sakura’s parents. He was greeted by Sakura’s father, who invited him in for tea. He accepted. The boys were orphans, which Kakashi understood intimately, but Sakura had family. Ones family were an important influence in ones life and Kakashi wanted to see what kind of influences he was dealing with, with Sakura.
As it turns out, quite a lot. Sakura’s father was quite overbearing and talked down to Kakashi about how he needs to protect his little girl until she’s old enough to marry and then “I’ll make sure she finds a good man to take care of her,” and then threatened to report him to the Hokage for negligence if his little baby girl got a single scar during her time with him.
It took not quite all of Kakashi’s willpower to keep from chewing the man out, but it still took him some effort. Sakura was a shinobi now and it seemed that her father hadn’t gotten the memo. It was a little odd, in truth, that it was her father and not her mother that was like this. From what Kakashi’s seen with his friends’ teams, it’s nearly always the mother.
He nodded and gave him several very fake eye smiles and nearly sighed in relief when Sakura’s mother entered the kitchen and started whisper-yelling at her husband about “outdated nonsense” and how he was “giving my beautiful and strong daughter a fucking complex” and how “if you don’t get with the present I’m going to divorce you, damn the consequences” because she was “absofuckingloutely sick of you sabotaging Sakura’s career!” and so on. Based on Sakura’s father’s expression, he’d heard this before and didn’t care. Frankly, it was a wonder the woman married him in the first place. Perhaps it was arranged? Or maybe the man just didn't show his true colors until it was too late.
Kakashi couldn’t make this shit up if he tried. Still, he loved a good bit of drama and finally dropped the bomb of why he was really here.
“Well, I suppose I ought to tell you that the real reason I came by was to inform you that I’ve adopted Sakura-chan as the heir to the Hatake clan. The Hokage’s already signed off and Sakura-chan’s already adopted by my clan laws. I just wanted to let you know in person and to give you a chance to be adopted as well, as civilian members.”
Sakura’s father’s face went redder than a cherry and he began spluttering about how improper that was, though Kakashi wasn’t listening to him. No, he was watching Sakura’s mother’s emotional journey as she slowly began to realize that her daughter had just been adopted by a minor but very powerful clan and was therefore set for life in regard to, well, just about everything.
“Hatake-san,” she said slowly but loud enough to be heard over her husband’s protests, “I am honored by your offer and it would be foolish of me to decline. However, before I accept, I must ask: what is your clan’s opinion on divorce?”
“Well,” Kakashi said delicately, “My clan believes that one generally mates for life, but also that one’s puppies- children, my apologies- are more important than a mate.”
Sakura’s mother nodded then delicately placed her hand in the air for him to take. “Then, Hatake-sama, I accept your offer of adoption and would like to inform my clan head that my husband has inhibited my daughter’s growth as a shinobi and that I should like to be rid of him.”
“It will be done,” Kakashi said gravely. “If you wouldn’t mind packing some necessities, I will be able to provide to you a new residence in the Hatake clan home. It’s been a while since I’ve lived there, but there’s seals to preserve it, so it shouldn’t be too dusty. I’ll wake Sakura.”
He stood from the table and left Sakura’s mother, whose name he needed to learn he supposed, and went upstairs to rouse Sakura and her puppy from their sleep.
When he opened her door, however, she and her puppy were very much awake and she seemed quite upset.
“Kakashi-sensei,” she said, in a low, would-be dangerous tone, “What did you just do? I nearly had them happy again! Dad was working on being better for mom!”
“Sakura-chan,” Kakashi said.
She scowled, and her eyes became just shiny enough that Kakashi was beginning to worry she’d cry on him. He had no idea how to comfort crying people and he wasn’t looking forward to having screwed this up already.
“I-” she said, then stopped. Her confrontational stance drooped into a resigned one. “No, you’re right. I was listening, and he was never going to change, was he? I can’t believe I was so-!"
“No,” Kakashi said, cutting her off before she could say 'stupid'. “It’s perfectly reasonable to believe a loved one when they say they’re going to change. Some do. Some don’t. But Sakura-chan…”
How does he tell her that, of his three students, he sees the most potential in her? She could be great. Her chakra control could make her a dangerous Genjutsu master like the Uchiha were once known for, her build could make her a formidable taijutsu expert to rival Gai, her mind could nearly rival a Nara’s. All doors were open for her: she just had to choose one.
He settled on this: “I am choosing you as my heir for a real reason. Please, trust me when I say that you have more potential than your father was letting you see in yourself.”
She wiped away a few tears and picked up her puppy. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
Kakashi nodded and hoped that he’d solved whatever problem she was having. “Good. Now, pack up what you want to take with you. Are you getting along with your puppy?”
He hoped the lighter topic would cheer her up more, and nearly fist pumps the air when it works and she slowly gains momentum in her chatter about how much she loves her dog and how she’d figured out his name- Taiki- and that she wanted to be strong enough, physically, to match him but also she thought that having a big, strong guard dog would make her an excellent medic because she wouldn’t really need a team to protect her so she could move faster and heal more and…
She continued to talk as she zipped up her pale pink duffle bag and left her room and passed her father without looking at him. It made Kakashi’s vindictive little heart sing with joy to see her finally standing up for herself.
Later that night, after he has Sakura and Taiki settled in his old room and her mother, whose name is Tsubaki, he finally learned, settled in his father’s old room, he laughs quietly with Pakkun and the rest of his pack, sprawled on the floor of the living room. Nothing about his night had been expected, and somehow, he really didn’t mind.
The plan was coming along better than he could have ever expected.