Chapter Warning: child abuse alluded to

XLV.

"Can we visit Obito-nii?"

She glanced down at Shisui, her son's hand clutched in his own small one, gazing hopefully up at her. Itachi did not wear his own hope so openly on his face, but she knew her son. Both he and Shisui-kun were still a little too young to understand what was going on, but they did understand enough to know that something had been very wrong with their cousin for while now. However, between Obito-kun's episodes, Shisui's recent placement on a genin team, and the disapproval of Fugaku and Shisui-kun's parents, visiting had been hard.

"We'll check to see if he's free first," Mikoto said, carefully stooping to their level and placing a hand on either boy's head, "If not, I can always take you out to lunch. How does that sound?"

"Okay I guess," Shisui-kun replied for them both.

"Let me grab some things first."

Mikoto signed to one of the guards stationed at their house that she would be leaving the compound then gathered her emergency bag. Even though there was a lot less concern now than there had been when she was pregnant with Itachi about kidnapping or attacks, it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially when she was as heavily pregnant as she was now. She called for the boys once she was ready, amusement curling her lips when they flanked her protectively on their way out. Unnecessary, but sweet.

They eventually arrived at the apartment owned by Obito-kun's teammate, Hatake Kakashi. Obito-kun's legal residence was still listed as the house he had shared with his late grandmother on Uchiha land, but he hadn't been staying there since Obito-kun's last hospitalization. Minato-san had been tight-lipped with explanations, and Mikoto had not felt the need the press. As loathe as she was to admit, her cousin had been deteriorating under the care of the clan. If living with Hatake-san would help, she wouldn't stand in the way.

Surprisingly and unsurprisingly, Kushina answered the door. The stunned look on the redhead's face immediately gave way to a pleased grin.

"Mikoto-chan!" She glanced down and her eyes glittered. "And kiddies!"

"Kushina," the Uchiha woman greeted, well used to her friend's antics.

Shisui-kun frowned, mildly affronted, while Itachi somehow managed to convey exasperation through his blankness. Fugaku would have been impressed; she certainly was. Her friend seemed to know exactly what they were there for, and immediately ushered them in. Obito-kun was sitting with his teammate and his pretty medic friend, eating lunch. The oldest Uchiha boy squawked when Shisui-kun barreled into him, Itachi trailing sedately after and taking the chair at the table between where the Hatake boy and his cousin had been sitting.

"He looks better," Mikoto commented lightly to Kushina, as they left the children to get caught up.

"He does," the redheaded woman acknowledged.

"You do, too."

For a moment, Kushina looked as if she'd been struck, before ducking her head and pulling at one of the long strands of hair that had fallen forward from her shoulder.

"Ah, yeah." She chuckled, the sound a little hollow to the Uchiha's ears. "Thanks."

Reaching out slowly, Mikoto placed a hand on Kushina's distended middle.

"How is the little one coming along?"

The Uzumaki looked up again, the brittleness of her expression smoothing into one of true joy.

"The medic nin told us it would be a boy." Her smile was soft as she said it.

"Maybe they'll be friends," the dark haired woman suggested, moving her hand to her own belly.

"They better be. Better yet, they should be on a team together!"

"That will either be the makings of something amazing, or disastrous," Mikoto said dryly.

"Amazingly disastrous! Or disastrously amazing, dattebane!" Kushina crowed, before calming and looking down again, bracketing her bump gently with each of her hands. "Gonna love you so much baby boy. Mom's gonna take such good care of you, you'll see."

All Mikoto could do was smile, wondering why something so good made her want to cry.

Hormones, probably. She'd blame it on that.

XLVI.

In the middle of the night, she finds herself snapping awake, her body, her clothes, her bed sheets soaked in sweat. Panting, she would lever herself up and out of bed, out of her room. Ghosting through the halls, she would open every door of every room, checking each bed for an occupant. She wouldn't breathe easy until each bed's owner was accounted for. If even one was missing, her mind would spin and her body would seize and she would rush through the rest of the house searching, hunting for them.

It happened every night.

Thankfully, she always found them. Every one.

Tonight was like many nights, standing in doorways, counting heads in beds. Even though she knew where she would find him, she always panicked when the last child wasn't in bed. She rushed to the linen closet close to where her own room was and pulled it open.

There, wedged between the closet wall and a stack of blankets, was Kabuto.

With a shaky exhale, she lowered herself to the floor and crawled a little closer. He was awake, watching her approach with troubled eyes. His arms unfolded from around himself, reaching back for her when she pulled him in and held him close.

Most nights, he said nothing. Just let her hold him long enough to reassure her that she'd truly gotten him back before returning him to his bed right next to Urushi-kun.

This wasn't one of those nights.

"Mother Nonou?"

"Hai, Kabuto-chan?"

"Are you sure I don't have to go back?"

Nonou tensed infinitesimally, then willed the stiffness to go away.

"I'm sure."

"He said we weren't supposed to leave the compound unless we were told. We had to follow the rules. If we didn't, we would be punished."

The sensation of poking needles went off behind her eyes. She squeezed them tightly shut.

"You're not going to be punished."

"He told me my punishment would be hurting you." His voice quieted to a whisper, almost as if confessing a treasured secret. "I never broke the rules."

"He's not going to hurt me," she promised him, unable to keep the sound of how wrecked she was out her words, "He's never going to hurt us again."

"Okay."

Who knew if he actually believed her? Who knew if she'd ever be able to erase the months he'd had to spend in that man's clutches from his mind? Kami knew, she'd never be able to forget what had been done to her, and what she had done. He'd taken her off the street, promising he'd make her better, make her worth something, and she'd believed him. She'd sewn so much suffering before she'd raised her head up and took a good look at the orders she'd followed.

At the children she'd ruined just as she'd been ruined.

It was foolish, thinking that maybe she could redeem herself now. That her hands could save instead of ruin these children. But the hokage seemed to think that she was worth taking a chance on. Capable of rehabilitating and raising these children who bore cracks and breaks in their souls similar to her own.

A cry drew her out of it. The nursery. One baby was crying, and soon, the others would start as well.

Releasing Kabuto gently and standing, she held out her hand to him in invitation. He took it without hesitation and they went to the nursery together. Several of the babies, Eri, Yoshiharu, Ryosuke, and Orino were wailing in full. The last two babies, Hisa and Miki, were awake and unbothered and fast asleep respectively. Nonou let go of Kabuto's hand and went to take the closest crying child, Yoshiharu, into her arms to start soothing. Slowly but surely, she settled one after the other - Eri needing to be settled twice. Soon, she turned to Kabuto and found him lingering near Hisa, the only infant still awake though not crying and staring back at him. Trusting that the baby would eventually drift off on her own, the orphanage matron tugged Kabuto away to his own room.

"He'll never hurt us ever again," she found herself promising him again as she placed his glasses on the nightstand and tucked him in.

She stayed with him, waiting until his eyes fluttered shut and his breathing finally deepened and slowed. And she stayed a little longer after, just because she could.

XLVII.

"This is really not what I expected when you said you needed a favor."

And truly it was. They were out in the ass end of nowhere, better known as Fang country. As if the location wasn't strange enough, the company was as well. Who would have thought those little street rats her teammate had left for would grow up so interesting? Now that she thought about it, Jiraiya seemed to just have that effect. His little student back in Konoha was all set to become the next hokage, if the snide comments she'd been treated to the last time she'd spent in Orochimaru's company were anything to go by.

It was odd, thinking of him now.

Orochimaru, a missing nin. After playing the part of a loyal Konoha ninja better than she had managed in over a decade, he was the one who ended up a missing nin. And Jiraiya, still surprisingly tight lipped concerning that. Since he wasn't trying to wheedle one of usual stupid favors - like sneaking him into the hidden village that consisted almost purely of women - she'd figured he wanted her help to track down their wayward teammate. But this seemed to have nothing to do with that. Maybe.

She eyed the snake coiled around the blue haired woman's neck with narrowed eyes.

"Can you help him?" Jiraiya eventually asked, as she looked over her potential patient.

"Of course," she sniffed.

The damage to the red haired man was extensive. His legs were the worst off, but some of it had healed a bit on his own since however long ago he was injured. The real issue was his entire body seemed warped, withered by something. It was awful and even without his rebel status, if he had been left to seek treatment in Rain, he would've been hard pressed to find anyone who could even begin to figure out what was wrong and try to fix it. Though she didn't have access to the best facilities here in Fang country, she'd prepared and stocked up with everything she should need to be able to treat him. Looking him over once more, she found it was hard to believe that this man had almost single-handedly defeated the man who had once soundly defeated her own team, and on a whim spared and named them instead of killing them.

Tsunade set to work on him immediately, Shizune there with her to assist. The blue haired woman, Konan, was there as well. To help, or maybe to keep her from doing any harm while the man was unconscious maybe. It might've irked her, but she was focused more on her healing and the reptile resting along the other woman's shoulders. When she decided to take a break and allow Shizune to explore (with one of her slug summons to accompany her), she turned her attention on Konan, or more specifically to the snake.

"Are you a summon?"

All she got in response from the snake was a flat stare and a flick of the tongue.

"Yes, she is," the blue haired woman eventually offered.

"Are you her summoner?" Tsunade asked, forcing her tone to sound casual.

"No," Konan responded with a slight shake of her head, "She was sent to us."

"By who?" Was it-?

"We still don't know." The older woman's gaze cut sharply to her at the admittance. "All we know is that she acts on behalf of the one she calls her 'mistress' and that Sensei knows her somehow."

Mistress? Since when had anyone but her teammate had access to the snake contract? Or was it actually him, and this was some sort of ruse?

"What is the summon's purpose?" She pressed.

"To guide us on her mistress's behalf."

"You trust the guidance of a proxy of someone you've never met?"

"We haven't had a reason not to, so far." Konan was serene in the face of Tsunade's incredulity. "Her intervention saved Yahiko, and possibly all of our lives. And it brought sensei, and you, to us."

"Still." The blonde cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is there something she wants?"

"Of course. But we were told we would be allowed to refuse her request if we chose to."

"Sounds too good to be true for you. And like a lousy deal for her."

"It isn't if we accept."

"And will you?"

"I think we will." Konan smiled at the unasked question in her expression. "Everything she's done so far has been in good faith. We've never been the kind of people who disregard that kind of gesture. It also helps that Sensei vouched for her."

Yes, she would definitely be interrogating Jiraiya about this later. Her eyes traced the other woman's face searchingly.

"So what does she want exactly?"

After a considering silence, the blue haired woman eventually answered with a wry chuckle, "For us to stop a bad guy and blow up his secret lair."

Tsunade blinked. "You're kidding."

"The mistress may have phrased it differently, a little more cryptic and dramatically, but I like Yahiko's interpretation better."

The healer pinched the bridge of her nose. It was stuff like this that reminded her why she could only take her teammates, and apparently anyone taught by them, in small doses. She really needed to wring answers out of Jiraiya as soon as she could grab Shizune and get the hell out of this country immediately. Preferably before she let him and his ilk drag her any further into whatever mess this would turn out to be.

AN1: Confession - I bawled my eyes out during the Mikoto/Kushina part. I force depressed myself by watching AnoHana, Glee S5E3, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Kung Fu Panda 2, and I still don't know if it was necessary in helping me write. Just like I made an entire music playlist just to see if that would help (I'll put it in my profile bio in case anyone needs insight into my brain/this story via music). Anyway, at least the chapter is finally out.

Fun-ish Things: Who the hell knew that Obito had a grandma? I didn't. (Sorry grandma, you've been sacrificed for the sake of story continuity.) This chapter was written from all female perspectives and passes the Bechdel test. (Unfortunately, unlikely to ever happen in this story ever again...)

AN2: It's been a while since this happened, but is still important and relevant to me. Two users here on FFnet that I am acquainted with have both been plagiarized by the same user, Seishun-Kyousoukyou. I want to warn all of you to watch out for this user and any other person who tries to plagiarize. No one deserves to have their work stolen and the credit for it given to someone else. If you have any further questions about this, feel free to contact me and ask.