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Kakashi stepped into the room. A single lantern illuminated a woman lying on a futon. The rest of the room was draped in layers of shadow, making the woman’s pale face eerie. He frowned and looked back at his “hosts”.
The Leaf jonin had been sent to the Mist Village with an official dispatch from the Hokage. Tsunade was concerned that she hadn’t heard from the Mizukage since she’d taken office. All the other kage had sent their congratulations and due acknowledgements of Tsunade’s legitimacy except Terumi Mei, the Fifth Mizukage. Fearing a war or some sort of backlash, Kakashi had been sent not only to deliver the news personally, but to gather all information possible and report back. However, the moment he’d entered the Mist Village, he’d been rushed into what he understood to be the Mist’s equivalent of Hokage Tower and then shoved into a room with this sleeping woman.
Kakashi gave his two escorts a questioning look.
“You asked to see the Mizukage,” the one said in a gruff voice, “there she is.”
Kakashi felt like he was going to do a lot of frowning today. On closer inspection, specifically of her face, the woman did appear to be the Mizukage. Was she dead? Were they trying to frame him for something?
“Ask him,” the second man stage-whispered in his mousey voice.
Kakashi was tired of games. “Ask me what? What is this?” He gestured around the room but not at the Mizukage directly.
“The Mizukage has been asleep for a year. It’s a jutsu of some sort, she’s in a type of stasis. She’s alive but,” he gestured at her to finish his point.
“Okay,” Kakashi drew the word out slowly, trying to put the pieces together. “And you want me to undo the jutsu?” Rushing Kakashi in here made a little more sense, these men seemed desperate. If anyone in the Mist could have fixed this, they’d had a year to try.
The gruff man grunted but the other man was practically vibrating with excitement. He nearly elbowed his companion. “He may as well try right? Right?”
“Was there a seal or did anyone see the jutsu?” Kakashi began.
Addressing Kakashi for the first time, the mousy man nearly shouted in his excitement. “You have to kiss her!”
There was a long pause.
“Excuse me?”
The gruff one grumbled out, “only a true-love’s kiss can break the jutsu.” His crossed arms and eyeroll indicated what he thought about the whole business.
Kakashi wasn’t any less incredulous. “What?”
“It is written!” Shouted the mousey man again.
Kakashi looked between the two men, extremely confused. He was beginning to think the whole village had gone mad.
The gruff man rolled his eyes again, “just kiss her already, then you can deliver your message to our interim Mizukage.”
“Why in the world would a kiss break the jutsu?” Kakashi asked. “And how do you know what the jutsu does? Who did this to her?”
“It is written in the great book of prophecy, passed down from the time of the pirates. It states that-”
The gruff man cut him off. “Do NOT give away village secrets to this foreigner. Let him try and begone!”
“Why would I kiss your Mizukage?” Kakashi repeated, stalling for time.
The gruff man suddenly smiled. “Because we will kill you if you don’t.”
The mousey man spoke up, “and we’re out of options.”
The second comment was too disturbing to consider at the moment. Kakashi didn’t have time to point out the amorality of kissing a sleeping person when his life was currently being threatened. He raised his eyebrows at the gruff man. “You’d really start a war over this?”
“The village needs strength and Chojuro is not…ready.” The man practically growled. He pulled out a kunai, the curved kind Mist ninja favored. “Now kiss her.”
The mousey man continued to quiver with excitement.
Tsunade had told Kakashi not to get into any trouble, or at least not to get caught. He was uncomfortably reminded of his father being blamed for starting a war. Then he had an idea.
“I just have to kiss her, that’s it?” Kakashi clarified.
“Yes.”
“And if I’m her true love?” Kakashi asked. His snark earned him another grunt.
The mousey man answered. “Then she’ll live happily ever after, with the twins of course.”
Any amusement that Kakashi had gotten from the absurdity of the situation evaporated. His body became unnaturally still and the other men tensed at his reaction. The Leaf ninja slowly turned to regard the Mizukage again. He didn’t know how he hadn't noticed. Between the coverlets and the impressive mane of hair combed out around her, it wasn’t immediately apparent but once he was looking for it, the swollen belly was impossible to ignore.
Kakashi looked back at the two men, fury in his eyes. “How long did you say she's been asleep?” It was a rhetorical question. Kakashi’s memory was excellent and the men knew it.
The mousey man cowered under Kakashi’s gaze. The gruff man growled. “We don’t have to justify our bloodline breeding to you.”
“An incredible opportunity,” the mousey man giggled nervously.
Disgust turned into fuel for his resolve in a blink. Kakashi had to get the Mizukage out of here. He didn’t know how, or what he’d do afterward. Maybe he’d become a missing nin and work covertly for the Leaf? Tsunade couldn’t afford to protect him officially, not after kidnapping the Mizukage, but he could be a spy.
Kakashi considered his options as he stiffly turned and knelt beside the futon. He decided to stick to his original plan since it seemed like he was complying. That would put them off their guard.
The Mizukage’s hair was like a cloak of fire the way it was spread out around her. It was strange, Kakashi thought, she didn't appear to be breathing but the muscles in her hand had tone. Their fingers linked together, like two pieces of a puzzle. Before anyone could protest, Kakashi lifted the back of Mei’s hand to his mouth and kissed it through his mask.
“That’s not the way you’re supposed to,” the gruff man began. He was cut off by a gasp. Mei’s eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up. Her belly prevented the motion and when Mei saw it she gave a startled cry.
“It worked it worked!” The mousey man shouted with glee. The gruff man simply stared.
Kakashi’s heart raced. He wouldn’t have a lot of time. He hadn’t expected Mei to actually awaken. He’d planned to take her to Iron and leave her at one of their hospitals with an explanation, at least as far as he was able to give.
His mind was working on backup plans when time seemed to stop. Mei’s green eyes met his and he forgot what he was doing for a moment.
“L-L-Lady Mizukage, you’re awake!” The gruff voice stuttered out.
“Am- am I pregnant?” Mei ground out. Her eyes were as unrelenting as a lava flow.
“W-well Lady Mizukage, we weren’t sure if you’d ever wake up and you’re the last of your bloodlines so we um-”
Mei shot boiling acid at the gruff voiced man. His face melted off in seconds. His dead body thumped to the ground, the remains of his head oozed onto the floor.
Kakashi stared but only for a moment. Mei was struggling to sit up since her abdominal muscles were now stretched out over a womb containing twins. The Leaf jonin held out his hand wordlessly. Mei took it and pulled herself up.
Mei’s eyes locked onto Kakashi’s hand, traveled up his arm and to his face. “And who are you?” Mei asked, all business.
Kakashi opened his mouth but the mousey-voiced man piped up. “He’s your true love!”
Mei turned to the prophecy-keeper and spewed a glob of lava at his head. The molten rock fused to his face. The man dropped immediately, the heat charring his brain. The sound and smell of sizzling flesh filled the room. The temperature rose several degrees and Kakashi shifted his weight uncomfortably. Mei was still holding his hand.
“You were saying?” Mei asked. She released his hand and absentmindedly wiped a drop of lava from the corner of her mouth.
“I was going to say I’ll get you out of here, but you’re awake now and,” Kakashi surveyed the two bodies now cluttering the doorway, “don’t appear to need my assistance.”
“On the contrary,” Mei glanced down at her full belly and breasts that were distinctly larger than she remembered them. “I’m going to need some assistance, I just don’t know what kind.”
“Perhaps we should relocate?” Kakashi suggested.
Mei looked like she wanted to argue but then reconsidered. “Fine, my office.”
“It’s my understanding that someone named Chojuro has been Acting Mizukage?” Kakashi wasn’t sure if this information was going to get his face melted off but he'd been in riskier situations. He couldn’t think of any examples right then, but he was sure he had been.
“Interesting,” was all Mei said. “My apartment then, Chojuro is a creature of habit; I doubt he moved when he took over.”
Mei was correct, her apartment was unchanged. A few of her things had been moved to her…tomb was the best word for it, Kakashi decided. It had felt like a tomb in there, a perpetual wake, a room of mourning over a woman who not only was still alive, but had two new lives growing within her.
“You wouldn’t know anything about,” Mei gestured at her belly.
Kakashi held up his hands. “I came to deliver Lady Tsunade’s message in person, that is all.”
“Lady Tsunade,” Mei began, as if processing. “Senju Tsunade is the Hokage now? The…Fifth?”
“Correct,” Kakashi reassured her. She seemed to be feeling out the timeline so her next question didn’t surprise him.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“They said about a year,” Kakashi replied. “Lady Tsunade didn’t receive an acknowledgement from you upon her appointment, that is why I’m here.”
“Then why am I awake now?” Mei asked. Her hand had unconsciously rested on her belly. She glanced down, gave it an awkward little pat, and put her hand at her side.
Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. “I should probably start from the beginning.” The explanation didn’t take long, since he only had to explain the last ten minutes of his life.
“You’re my true love?” Mei asked, skeptical. Her eyes gave him a once over and shrugged. “Not bad, a little old.”
“I was born with the hair,” Kakashi deadpanned.
Mei regarded his face. “What’s under the mask?”
“A sensitive nose,” Kakashi replied. “Now what-”
“Oh,” shot from Mei’s mouth. Her eyes were wide and her hand went back to her belly. “Someone in there kicked.”
“They did say twins,” Kakashi commented.
“Yes,” Mei frowned at the thought. The frown deepened, then she sighed and her hand rubbed over her belly as if on instinct. “Well, settle down you two, Mom and Dad are talking.”
Kakashi stared at her. “I didn’t-”
Mei waved him off. “I know you didn’t but you’re my true love apparently so congratulations, you’re a father.”
“I um-” of all his plans of escape, Kakashi hadn’t considered becoming the father of these children. Still, if only true love’s kiss could undo the jutsu and it had worked even through his mask… “Okay, I’ll do my best.” What could Kakashi say? It wasn’t his responsibility? Mei had literally woken up from a year-long jutsu-induced nap and was now responsible for two infants. He hardly had grounds to complain. Mei was taking it remarkably well actually.
“So what’s your plan?” Mei asked. She crossed her arms over her swollen bosom as if expecting to be impressed.
“Well, I’d planned to take you to a hospital in Iron and leave you in their care, then go on the run. I wouldn’t be welcome in the Leaf after kidnapping the leader of an ally village.”
Mei raised her eyebrows. “You wouldn’t take the babies and raise them in the Leaf?”
“That would be bloodline theft, Lady Mizukage,” Kakashi replied.
“Is that only a problem when it’s from another village?” Mei asked.
Kakashi stared at her for a moment, not comprehending. She tapped her left eye with one unpainted fingernail.
“It was a gift.” His tone was flat.
“Sorry. You can tell me that story later.” Mei hummed, thoughtful. “And what’s your plan now?”
Kakashi took a slow breath in through his nose. “I thought I’d follow your lead, this is your village,” Kakashi replied diplomatically.
“Ah, well, seeing as we’re to be wed, I’d like to see your home first. Let’s travel to the Leaf. The babies will be safe there until I can figure out what the situation is in the Mist.”
“Wed?” Kakashi blinked.
Oooo Sleeping Mizukage oooO
“I think it’s a lovely idea, congratulations!” Tsunade said when Mei announced their impending marriage. Kakashi smiled weakly by her side. He’d been told that weddings felt like a whirlwind but this was ridiculous. Negotiations of the marriage contract immediately followed and went on for several hours. Kakashi had been invited to participate, but as Tsunade’s chosen successor, not as Mei’s betrothed.
“You’re fine with the Leaf raising our children if we die?” Kakashi was reading the fine print with a magnifying glass. He looked at the women before him. “The Mist could start a war over that.”
Mei shrugged as if war was a way of life which, Kakashi supposed, it was from her perspective. “If Chojuro is in a weak position of power, then he won’t. He can’t afford it with the scandal of how I came to be pregnant. Whether he knew about it or not, he’d take the fall. No, he’ll allow the romance angle to do its work.”
“And the Leaf would enjoy an alliance with the Mist,” Tsunade pointed out.
With the marriage contract ironed out, Terumi Mei and Hatake Kakashi were married. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto attended the ceremony with various levels of enthusiasm. Guy and Tenzo had a challenge to decide who’d be Kakashi’s best man. Guy was thrilled when he won, only to be disappointed when Kakashi picked Jiraiya, who didn’t show up.
Mei had the twins three days later. Tsunade did a medical check on the mother and babies but was not at the birth itself since there was enough blood to cover the floor. Shizune handled the actual delivery.
In the hospital, Mother and children rested comfortably. Kakashi watched them sleep from a rocking chair next to the bed. How had he gotten here? His thoughts didn’t get very far. In a role-reversal with her babies, Mei woke up crying.
Kakashi held her hand and kissed it, like he had that day. It seemed like the right thing to do. Mei smiled at him, tears still in her eyes.
“They say you should sleep when the babies do,” Kakashi said kindly.
“I dreamt about not being able to wake up,” Mei admitted. Her tears were steady but quiet, like rain making its way down through the trees.
Kakashi’s smile faltered. “Oh, um.” He wasn't sure what to say.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this. I’m sorry I got dragged into this,” Mei admitted.
Mei immediately felt guilty. She loved her baby boys but her emotions were all over the place. Sometimes they didn’t feel like hers. They were hers though, and they were wonderful but they were also a lot of work. In the hospital, people were bringing her meals, helping her learn to nurse them, and letting her sleep as much as they could. But soon she’d have to leave and take those babies out into the wide world. They were so sweet and tiny and helpless. She didn’t know if she could do it, raise them, the way they deserved to be. She despaired.
Kakashi hummed, then said, “I’m not.”
The words cleared the storm clouds swirling in Mei’s mind.
“Really?” Mei was astonished. She was well aware how Kakashi had been quietly but steadfastly marching with her through this whole process. All the while he'd stayed calm and supportive. Why?
“I never would have been able to start this on my own. You, the kids, I would have messed it up somehow. But to have this-”
“Dropped in your lap?” Mei suggested.
“I was going to say, this gift, given to me.”
Mei’s eyes glazed with more tears.
“How can I not protect it?”
“You see this whole mess as a gift?” Mei wasn’t upset, just confused. She’d come to terms with her condition the way she’d handled most things in her life: make the best of what she’s given. There were only so many things she could change or control. The rest needed to stay irrelevant.
“Well it got us the boys,” Kakashi pointed out.
Kakashi offered a finger to his son and it was quickly gripped by a tiny hand. Kakashi’s chest filled with a balloon of warm feeling that he couldn’t contain. Mei took the other boy’s hand. The twins dreamed on, their round faces placid, their mouths sweet little ohs. Their dreaming faces made Mei want to kiss their cheeks and never let them go. It was hard to deny, the couple loved the twins. They were adorable.
It was impossible to know yet, their eyes were dark blue now but would change as they grew, but Kakashi hoped they’d have Mei’s green eyes.
Mei broke into Kakashi’s thoughts, not for the first time. “Is this happily ever after?” Her smile seemed fragile, hopeful.
Kakashi smiled back. “I think it can be.”
The End