Chapter Text
Kamihara Kakashi is born with a birthmark. It is shaped as a scar, etching on his left eye as if someone had carved it with a sharp object. There had been stranger birthmarks so no one said anything.
The moment Kamihara Kakashi was born, lightning flashed in the clear sky. It was brief, a blink and you miss it moment. There was no thunder that followed. Everyone chalked it off as someone using a quirk.
When Kamihara Kakashi was born, he did not cry. Instead he squinted his eyes and gave an odd sound, as if complaining about the bright lights. Not all babies cry the moment they are born, no one thought twice about his actions.
There had been many coincidences when Kamihara Kakashi was born, despite this there had been no suspicions of him. After all, who would have believed he is not a baby at all?
Hatake Kakashi died in his sleep. It is a peaceful death, fitting for someone who had lived such a hard life. The world mourns his passing, but they will move on.
Hatake Kakashi died in his sleep. But then he opens his eyes and he sees a bright light.
Kamihara Kakashi is an odd baby.
He does not cry much, only when he needs something. He cries when he is hungry. He cries when he is thirsty. He cries when he needs a change of diaper.
But besides all that, he does not cry. He does not cry when his toy falls off the crib. He does not cry when he wakes up from his nap with no one around. He does not cry when strangers come.
Kamihara Kakashi is an odd baby.
He always stares. He stares at the servants, especially those with mutant quirks. He stares at the electronic devices, his eyes would squint as if he is trying to figure out what it is. He stares at the food Shinya would eat around him, his mouth would drool as if knowing it would taste good.
Kamihara Kakashi is an odd baby.
(Kakashi really wants to know why some of the people look weird, what those strange devices are, and if the food tastes as good as they smell.)
Shinya wonders how he had become a father. He remembers how, back when he was in UA, his class had been asked what they planned in their future besides hero work. Shinya did not write fatherhood down.
Yet here he is, a single father to a baby.
Shinya spends a good portion of his spare time reading parenting books and asking parenting forums. He still has a year at most before the actual parenting starts, but Shinya likes to be prepared.
On his side, Kakashi suddenly sneezes. Shinya froze, staring at Kakashi. The baby's face scrunched, looking adorable. "Cute."
Kakashi slowly blinks, his head swaying side by side, his lips pursing, it is as if he understands what Shinya said.
Cute . Shinya coos at his son, his hand sneakily snapping pictures. Kakashi's eyes narrowed, attempting to glare at Shinya only for the man to coo louder.
(Kakashi hopes no one asks his father about his earlier years. The amount of his black history the man has is terrifying.)
Family<3
The Oldest : [ Photo of Kakashi wearing a dog pajama. His right hand is clenched on one of the dog ears. His eyes are closed, showing he is asleep. ]
The Oldest: my son<3
Idiot of the Family: wtf
The Oldest : shush
The nursery is painted in blue and red. The walls and ceiling are blue, while the floor is red and covered with red carpets. His crib is white, but his pillows are in blue and red. There are shelves on the side, one in blue and one in red. The blue shelf is covered with toys while the red one holds blankets, pillows, and a few children books.
Kakashi does not have a favorite color. Perhaps he has a soft side towards pink, blue, black and orange, his students' respective colors, but he himself does not have a favorite color.
If he has to answer, he would choose green. Green like the color of the vests chunin and jounin have as a uniform. Green like the trees that covered Konoha, making it truly be the village hidden in the leaves.
But now, Kakashi can admit that the blue and red combination is growing on him. The two colors contrast in aura, yet it gives Kakashi a warm and fluffy room.
At six months of age, Kakashi starts crawling. Typically it would be a celebration, yet Kakashi proves to be a troublesome child once he starts being able to go to places on his own.
"Kakashi!"
It has become the norm in the Kamihara home for the servants and Shinya to run around and turn the house upside down looking for the missing child.
It took little time for everyone to realise it was basically impossible to keep an eye on Kakashi and prevent him from disappearing. The boy would vanish even if the person keeping watch would only blink for a moment.
To make matters worse, Kakashi appears to have inherited Shinya's skills in blending with the surroundings. Thus tracking down Kakashi becomes one huge hide and seek game.
" 'kashi!" Shinya gaped in horror as he saw his son happily clapping on top of a shelf. The fact that Kakashi had somehow climbed it made Shinya dread even more the day Kakashi learns to walk.
(Kakashi learned that being a baby means gaining access to new trolling ways. Seeing the adults around him running around like headless chickens searching for him became his new pastime.)
"Happy Birthday, 'kashi."
Ninjas celebrate birthdays by getting drunk. Birthdays means having survived another year in one's life as well as another year without those who no longer have theirs. Kakashi, having just turned one, cannot get drunk for obvious reasons.
Instead his new father covered the corners of the house with balloons and pasted a happy birthday sign on the walls of Kakashi's nursery and the dining room.
Kakashi finds himself dressed in a blue royal kimono, watching his father and the servants sing the birthday song. Soon afterwards, they started eating cake in front of him.
Kakashi pouted, annoyed at being unable to eat cake on his own birthday. He hears his father laugh behind him, before feeling a soft thing being pressed on his side.
It was a toy. A ninja wearing blue and red, with long silver hair and a face mask. "This is Edgeshot." His father said, satisfied with his fixated stare on the toy. Kakashi would later find himself fanboying over Edgeshot, becoming the hero's biggest fan.
For now, however, Kakashi holds the toy, reminding him of himself, closely. He watches the people around him mingle, chatting and laughing freely. His father sits behind him, eating a cake and snapping pictures.
His eyes returned to his toy, Edgeshot's fierce look giving an odd sense of comfort. Kakashi likes it.
(Kakashi would later wonder whether his past life ever had a birthday like this. One where he didn't feel the lack of presence of his precious people, where he can still call himself innocent.)