The cabin's candlelight flickered dimly, the air thick with awkwardness.
The Uchiha itched to clarify they weren't close to the guy on the floor.
Tamao, unfazed, rambled on.
Tsukikage sipped tea calmly, used to this.
He glanced at Mikoto, who stared intently at the swaddled infant in Yakari's wife's arms.
"This lord jests well," Yakari said, chuckling, breaking the tension.
Izumi's eyes sparkled. She stood, approaching Yakari's wife excitedly. "Can I hold the baby?"
Yakari's wife looked to her husband, who nodded, smiling.
She gently passed the child to the pretty girl with a tear mole.
Izumi took the baby, her face blooming with joy, eyes aglow, rocking the child as lovely as jade, trying to soothe its wails.
Her civilian Uchiha parents perished in the Nine-Tails' Calamity. Since then, Izumi adored children, finding their newborn souls the purest, deeply comforting.
"Wah!" The baby wasn't impressed, crying harder despite her efforts.
Izumi's willow brows furrowed, flustered. The baby didn't like her.
The familiar scene stung, and she glanced at Tsukikage, but his calm face showed no concern for the cries.
Izumi was stuck.
"Let me," Mikoto said, taking the swaddle. Izumi didn't resist, relieved.
All eyes turned to Mikoto.
The radiant patriarch's wife, driven by maternal instinct, checked the baby, massaging its body with practiced, gentle hands.
The cries softened.
The Uchiha noted Mikoto's natural ease, unlike Izumi's clumsy rocking, as if she were destined to be a tender, virtuous mother.
Izumi pouted, feeling slighted.
The baby still whimpered. Mikoto frowned, puzzled.
Yakari's wife's brows knit, a flicker of worry crossing her face, fearing something amiss.
Izumi smirked subtly.
Mikoto pursed her lips, returning to her seat, ready to use her old trick for lulling baby Sasuke to sleep.
But as she sat, the cabin fell silent.
The cries seemed an illusion.
All looked at Mikoto, marveling—worthy of the patriarch's wife!
Mikoto, surprised, glanced down, her lips parting, brows tightening.
Tsukikage was gazing at the wailing infant, who, sensing his stare, opened tiny eyes, stuck out its tongue, and met his gaze.
Big eyes on small.
"Mmm!" The baby squinted, grinned, and waved chubby hands, performing the art of face-changing, reaching for Tsukikage's embrace.
"What's this…?" The Uchiha exchanged glances.
Mikoto froze, her elegant brows lifting, eyes wavering. Her proven soothing methods paled against Tsukikage's mere look.
She, a mother of two, knew the baby wasn't hungry, ill, or scared—just fussy.
"This…" Yakari and Miri were baffled but sensed their child preferred Tsukikage over the tear-mole girl or noble lady.
Izumi's lips parted, murmuring, "Grandma said babies instinctively gravitate to those gentle, kind, and pure of heart…"
The Uchiha's faces twisted. Tsukikage was once gentle and kind, sure, but pure of heart?
They owed him for his sacrifices, but one Uchiha wanted to ask, "Can a man eyeing a widow be pure?"
Mikoto's brows furrowed. She handed the swaddle to Tsukikage, who hesitated, then accepted.
In two lifetimes, he'd never held a child, feeling awkward, careful not to hurt it. He soon found the right touch, unaware of Mikoto's softening gaze.
"Mmm…" The baby, nestled as if in a warm bed, lay still, eyes closed, sleeping soundly.
The Uchiha watched Tsukikage, gentle as water, holding the baby, then recalled his ferocious slaying of Danzō—a stark contrast.
Mikoto half-believed Izumi's words but added a new label to Tsukikage: "Loved by infants!"
Tsukikage's gaze softened, cradling the baby, waiting with the others for Minamikaze's return.
Yakari tried again to persuade them to stay overnight, but Tsukikage declined.
An hour later—
Bang! The cabin door swung open.
"Captain Tsukikage, we're ba—" Minamikaze and two teammates froze mid-step, struck by thunder from a clear sky, gaping.
At the table, Tsukikage held a baby, Mikoto beside him, the scene serene, warm, and familial.
"No… I was gone an hour, and now there's a kid?" Minamikaze's scalp tingled, adjusting his glasses, stammering, staring at Tsukikage and Mikoto, seeking an explanation.
The trio half-feared Mikoto's radiant smile saying, "Yes, we have a child!"—a worldview-shattering moment.
Tsukikage and Mikoto looked to the door.
Minamikaze's group held a rope, its end tied to a middle-aged man in red underwear, leg hair like seaweed, bruised, cowering behind them, trembling.
Tsukikage frowned.
The others, including Yakari, wore bizarre expressions. Yakari seemed to recognize the man but kept silent.
"What's this?" Izumi asked, wincing at the sight.
Minamikaze snapped out of it. "This is Kikyō no Sato's famed doctor. He was… saving someone when we found him."
The Uchiha doubted his credibility.
"Saving someone in his underwear?" Izumi scoffed.
Minamikaze said bluntly, "He was in Kabukichō's VIP room, surrounded by women. He refused to come, so we roughed him up. Asked what he was doing, he said he was saving those poor women!"
Tsukikage handed the sleeping baby to Miri. "Take him to the bedroom—unsuitable for children."
Miri, blushing, shot the sleazy doctor a glare and hurried off.
Mikoto's face flushed, embarrassed, inwardly lamenting Minamikaze's choice.
Tsukikage approached the doctor, sizing him up. "Medical ninja?"
The man nodded, voice weak. "Fought in the Third Great Ninja War. Konoha Hospital sent me to the border."
Tsukikage grabbed his canvas collar, lifting him like a chick to Tamao's side. "Do your best to treat him."
The doctor glanced at Tsukikage, his timid eyes pierced by the youth's sharp gaze, unable to meet it.
"F-Fine, I'll help, but you promise to let me go after!" he ventured.
He'd been hired by rogues before, always treated courteously. This rough, domineering crew was a first.
"Hm." Tsukikage tossed him beside Tamao, saying no more.
Tamao, weak, glared at the doctor. "Brother, this guy's at the pinnacle of frailty—unreliable!"
The doctor, carefree now with Tsukikage's promise, squatted by Tamao, chuckling, "A doctor cannot heal himself!"
(End of Chapter)