Chapter Text
It was a wriggling bundle, and it was giggling deliriously as tiny hands reached out towards Obito’s direction.
“What’s this…?” Obito asked, frowning as she took a step back, turning to look at her roommate.
Kakashi shrugged, face emotionless as the one-year-old baby giggled and gurgled, wriggling on the bed.
Frowning, Obito glared at Kakashi, before turning to look at the child, squinting.
“Don’t tell me, this is your son?” She gasped, taking a step back as she saw Kakahsi’s murderous glare.
“What the fuck are you talking about, you idiot? Does it look like I’m his Dad?”
Obito blinked, staring at the baby again. He was still a tiny little thing, and the hair on his head was very fine, but it was an obvious greyish-white, the exact same shade as Kakashi’s.
“Well, yeah.”
Kakashi sighed, suppressing the growing headache at the sheer idiocy of his roommate.
“No. He’s not my son. Dad passed him to me earlier, and told me that he needed me to help take care of him for awhile, before running away before I could ask more.”
Obito blinked. “Oh. Okay.” Then she turned around, trying to get out of there before the bad feeling in her gut came through.
A hand clasped her shoulder, and the woman jumped. “Obito.”
“Y-yes?”
“Take care of him. His diapers and milk powder and everything else are in that bag over there.” Kakashi waved to the huge sports bag sitting beside the child.
“What! No way! You brought him in, and he’s obviously the same blood as you, so why do I have to do it?”
“Because I’m your landlord, and if you don’t want me to tell your family exactly why you’re living with me, then you better do it.”
Obito gritted her teeth. “God dammit Hatake, always using your landlord position to boss me around. I’m a college student! I’m too busy to take care of your hell spawn!”
“He’s not my son. But sure, maybe I should give a call to your uncle and aunt…”
Obtio gulped, her brain automatically bringing up memories of Aunt Mikoto during her last year of high school. The normally kind and sweet Uchiha matriarch had turned into the devil, scaring the crap out of her sons and even her usually stoic husband.
“No! Don’t do that, do you want me to die?” Obito hissed, stepping in front Kakashi to block his way.
Kakashi stared at her. Obito sighed, before relenting. Curse her idiocy, which landed her in this horrible situation where she was at beck and call of her ‘landlord’.
“Fine, but on days when I have class, you’ll have to watch him.”
Kakashi shrugged, before leaving the room.
“Goddamn jerk.”
Then she turned around, blinking as large, unwavering, black eyes stared at her in curiosity.
Shoot! She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Better watch what I saw around you, huh. Don’t want your first words to be anything nasty.”
.
Obito sighed as she trudged up the stairs to her apartment, careful to pull her scarf up so that it covered her nose and her cap so low that it cast a shadow across her eyes.
“I’m back!” She sighed closing the door behind her as she took over her shoes and coat.
“Hn.” There was a soft grunt, and Obito turned around, blinking as she saw a haggard Kakashi (which was something new, despite living together for about two months now) sprawled on the couch, glaring at her as the tiny toddler slept on his stomach.
“He just fell asleep?” Obito asked, peering to look at the sleeping face. It was curled into a content little smile, and Obito couldn’t help but smile as well.
He’s definitely cuter than Itachi and Sasuke when they were at his age.
Kakashi nodded, freezing when the tiny fist gripped on to shirt. “I’m fucking tired. He wouldn’t stop crying, and if I move even a little, he’d wake up crying again.”
“Yeah, babies tend to be like that. But sleeping like this isn’t good for his posture.” Obito answered.
“And watch your language around him,” she added as an afterthought.
Kakashi stared at her, before sighing. “Whatever. Help me get him off, but don’t wake him up.”
Obito stared at Kakashi. “That’s kind of impossible.”
Kakashi stared right back, a silent threat behind his gaze.
“Fine, fine!” She sighed, bending to Kakashi’s will (and not facing Aunt Mikoto’s wrath) gently picking up the sleeping toddler and letting his body lean against hers.
“I’ll bring him to the bed.”
Kakashi shrugged, standing up and stretching. “Whatever, I have to go out anyway, I’ve got class.”
Obito sighed, watching as Kakashi walked off, before peering at the little boy in her arms. “Isn’t he nasty? We’ll, let’s not care about jerks, hm?”
.
“Well then, I’m off.” Kakashi sighed, pulling his scarf around his neck as he slung his bag over his shoulder.
Obito looked up from her seat at the kitchen table. “Ah, yeah. You have club activities today?”
Kakashi nodded, before turning around to close the door without saying anything else.
“What a jerk.” Obito sighed, about to go back to her work before a soft wailing voice broke out, causing her to rush to her room.
“Yes, yes, I’m here. Geez, you’re just as demanding as your… brother.”
The baby stopped crying, sucking on to his thumb as Obito carried him to the kitchen, putting him in the baby chair.
Obito blinked, smiling as she stroked the baby’s fine grey hair. “Well, dinner time!”
Baby Hatake cheered, and Obito smiled.
.
Sitting in her usual spot, Obito sighed as she stared off into the distance, seemingly day dreaming as they waited for their next lecturer.
“You know, for a kid, he’s surprisingly well-mannered.” She mumbled to herself, doodling in her notebook. “Or maybe it was Sasuke that was just plain nasty, even as a baby?”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say about your youngest cousin.” A voice called from behind her, and Obito jumped, turning around.
“Oh. Itachi. What are you doing here?”
Her younger cousin shrugged, placing his writing materials on the table. “I missed yesterday’s lesson, so I’m here for a make-up lecture.”
“Haha.” Obito laughed weakly, sighing. As always, the hard-working and genius little cousin, putting me to shame. She thought, thinking about her rocky attendance record.
“By the way, what were you talking about, a kid?” Itachi asked, looking at her with his usual poker face. “Why would there be a kid in the dormitory?”
Obito froze. “Ah-ha, hahahaha,” she laughed nervously. “Um, that is, a kid,” she started, cursing herself for being a horrible liar.
“Ah, Obito.” Kurenai greeted, “and Itachi.”
The younger Uchiha nodded his head in greeting. “Good morning, Kurenai. Was there a kid at your dormitory a few days back?”
“What?” Kurenai asked, confused.
“Itachi!” Obito hissed, sweating nervously. “Ah Kurenai-” Obito stuttered, panicking. Oh god, Itachi was going to find out about the truth, and then he would tell Aunt Mikoto and I’m done for!
Deciding to take pity on her poor friend, Kurenai smiled. “Ah yeah, I was helping Asuma take care of his nephew the other day, and Obito was with me. Right, Obito?”
“Haha, yeah. Konohamaru sure is a troublesome kid, huh?” Obito followed up smoothly, smiling in gratitude at her friend. Kurenai winked back, and took her seat just as their lecturer entered the classroom.
Thankfully, Itachi kept quiet and concentrated on the lesson like the nerd he was, and Obito sighed in relief, leaning on Kurenai’s shoulder.
“Thanks, Kure. You’re a life saver.” She whispered.
Not taking her eyes off the whiteboard, Kurenai smiled slightly. “Well but I don’t think he seemed to buy it. Whatever you’re up to, you best be careful, Tobi.”
Obito hummed, before sitting upright and going back to her notes.
.
“Alright, that concludes the lecture for today.”
Obito sighed closing her notebook as she tried to wrap her head around the new material she learnt today. “My head hurts.”
Kurenai laughed. “Well yeah, you say that everyday.”
“Bye Kurenai, bye Obito.” Itachi waved at them, smiling a little before exiting the room.
Kurenai blinked. “Well, despite his looks, he seems pretty attached to you.”
Obito snorted. “Yeah well, I did take care of him when he was a baby, after all.”
“And yet here he is taking the same college-level classes with his older sister.”
“Well, we can’t all be geniuses, can we?” Obito rolled her eyes, smiling a little as she packed her bag.
Kurenai raised an eyebrow. “Well yeah, but it seems to say something when your cousins and your boyfriend are geniuses.” The red-eyed woman turned to look at her friend. “What are you, a genius-magnet?”
“One, and how many times do I need to say this, I’m not dating Hatake. So what boyfriend are you talking about? ”
“And yet you know who I’m talking about.”
Obito flushed, gently smacking Kurenai’s arm.
.
When she returned to the apartment, Obito blinked as she stood face to face with Kakashi holding a wailing toddler at arms length, a slightly annoyed expression on his face.
“What took you so long?” Kakashi asked, irritated and impatient, trying not to shout above the wails.
“Huh? Wasn’t it your turn to take care of him?” Obito asked, hurriedly putting her things away to take the crying child into her arms. “Why’s he crying?"
“I don’t know. But I can’t work with him crying like this.” Kakashi shrugged, running a hand through his hair. He had bags underneath his eyes and his shirt had patches of stains and wrinkles, and Obito had to blink again, taking a step back to really take a look at Kakashi.
He seemed… tired. Haggard, even. Nothing like the usual charismatic senior that had girls in their college and university fawning over him.
Deciding to take pity on the poor man, Obito sighed, adjusting her grip on the baby, who’s wails had subsided into little sniffles as he clutched onto the Uchiha’s scarf.
“Alright, just let me bundle him up.” She replied, ignoring Kakashi’s incredulous stare as she stepped into the apartment and brushed past him. Her room mate huffed quietly, running another hand through his hair as he wandered off towards the kitchen.
The child giggled as Obito buttoned up his coat, and Obito smiled, humming under her breath as she wrapped a scarf and stuffed a wolf-shaped hat on top of his head, covering the fine strands of grey hair.
“Now we’re ready!” She said softly, carrying him gently and hugging him tightly, cooing at the adorable bundle in her arms.
.
Obito smiled at the baby as she made her way to the door, before stopping in surprise.
“What are you doing?”
Kakashi looked up from where he was crouching on the floor, working on some plastic latch. He raised an eyebrow as he spotted the two of them, before straightening himself, stepping aside to reveal a comfy-looking black stroller, with little wolves and plastic ninja-stars dangling off the hood.
Obito stared, unsure what to say.
“It’s a stroller, idiot.” Kakashi rolled his eyes, blinking in surprise as Obito turned to him with a frown on her face.
“Language, Kakashi.” She reminded him again.
“But a stroller? I didn’t know we had one!”
“Came along with the kid. It was folded in the storeroom the whole time. You can’t possibly be thinking off carrying him in your arms all day?” Kakashi asked, giving his room mate another impassive stare.
Obito flushed, which was partially hidden under her scarf. Well, my arms would be sore and tired, but yeah. She kept her mouth shut.
Kakashi sighed, and was about to head back to his room to finish the rest of his assignment before stopping, seeing that Obito was still frozen on the spot, a slight look of confusion on her face.
“Um.” The Uchiha started, unsure of her words. “I’m really glad that you brought out and assembled the stroller, but how am I going to get this all the way down the stairs on my own, while carrying a kid?” She mumbled, latter half of her sentence trailing off, like she was talking to herself and trying to think off a way to get everything down on her own.
Oh. Right. Kakashi blinked, and if he was anyone else he would have smacked himself on his forehead.
Instead, he sighed. Why do I create more problems for myself?
He grabbed his coat, and held on to the stroller. “Come on, I’ll help you."
.
Baby Hatake gurgled happily as Obito strapped him into the stroller, adjusting the buckle and cushions.
“Comfy?” She asked, before sharing a smile with the one year old. Kakashi stood at the side, watching them quietly with an unreadable look on his face.
Standing up, Obito moved to take the handles of the stroller, bending her head over to assure the baby that she was still there. Kakashi cleared his throat.
“Then I’ll get back to work.” He stated, running a hand through his hair and looking thoroughly lost from the display of motherly (?) affection in front of him.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks.” Obito grinned, waving to Kakashi.
A few more uncomfortable seconds went by.
“Call me when you get back, I’ll help you bring the stroller up.” He mumbled, before slowly shuffling back into the apartment.
Obito stood there, staring at the greyish-white hair that was swaying in the wind, tightening her grip on the stroller.
Baby Hatake cooed, large eyes on his caretakers, making a small noise of confusion.
Coughing slightly, Obito shook her head, trying to focus.
“Well then, let’s go on an adventure!"
.
They ended up strolling in the park, with the weather just perfect and the atmosphere calm and relaxing. Obito hummed as she walked along the pavement, pointing out things for the little toddler strapped into the stroller, occasionally stopping to fuss over him, making sure he was warm and properly buckled.
“Oh look. There’s the field.”
Taking a seat next to an empty bench, Obito pulled the trolley so that it was stationary beside her, and held the tiny hand as she pointed out what was happening on the field.
“They’re playing baseball, and it’s that guy’s turn to bat next. Do you think he’ll have a strike out, or hit a home run?” Obito asked, putting two stuffed toys in front of him.
“Eughf…” Baby Hatake mumbled, staring at the two toys before glancing back at Obito. Confused and unsure what exactly was expected of him, he hesitantly grabbed on to the ‘home run’ wolf, before using his other hand to grab onto the ‘strike out’ wolf, bringing both close to his chest.
Obito grinned. “Now, I wonder what that means…"
There was the sound of the bat coming into contact with the ball and they both turned to see what happened. The group of boys, probably aged between seven and twelve, were all running as the ball flew away from the batter.
“Oh! First base!” Obito cheered. She turned to give a little ‘boop’ to the tiny nose. “Good call on that one, sir!”
This went on for a few more minutes, with Obito running a little commentary like a sports commentator, asking her ‘partner’ questions using stuffed wolves and getting a little too excited as the game got more exciting.
“And he takes the base! Tell me, sir, what do you think of his batting? Good? Need improvement?” She asked, wriggling two soft toys in front of the toddler.
“Ahg!” Came the answer, and a wolf was chosen.
“I see, I completely agree!” She cheered, but was cut off when she heard giggling. She looked at the baby.
“You’re not giggling.” She mused, tilting her head in confusion. She turned around and spotted a few ladies sitting on the bench a few steps away, giggling and waving at her. By the looks of it, they were most likely the mothers of the boys that were playing on the field now.
“The two of you are so adorable!” One of them called, giving a friendly smile as she waved Obito over.
“Yes, so cute!” Another agreed.
Obito flushed, slightly embarrassed by their comments. She wasn't aware that they had an audience. “Why don’t we go say hello to our fans, hm?” She stood up, pushing the stroller to the bench.
“Oh my. You’re even cuter up close!” The women cooed, smiling at the approaching baby.
Obito smiled, standing beside the stroller.
“How old is he?"
“About a year old,” she answered, smiling at the happy baby that was being fawned upon by the women.
“Well, he’s quite the charmer. He'll definitely grow up to be a handsome one!” One cooed.
“Oh, and his eyes looks just like his mother’s!” Another commented, looking up at the young black-haired woman.
Obito froze, before letting out a nervous giggle as her face got redder and redder with each comment.
“You’re so young, but you take really good care of him! We’ve been here seeing you play with him!”
“Oh, you guys live at the old apartment block, right? Must be tough, there aren’t any lifts there!”
“Oh dear, that sounds tough! How do you manage?"
“Ah, I saw her Husband helping her earlier. He was quite handsome too. No wonder their kid is such the charmer!”
The women continued cooing and giggling, talking amongst themselves about how Obito was 'so pretty and capable with adorable, charming son’ and how she was ‘so lucky to have such a handsome, thoughtful husband’.
Red as a tomato, Obito stood there, tongue-tied, trying to find a way to clear up the huge misunderstanding they had, looking at Baby Hatake only to find out that he didn’t really care if he was being labelled as the ‘adorable son’ of the bastard she was living with.
“Um… Actually, I’m not his…” Obito started, voice weak and pleading.
“Mom! Let’s go home! I’m hungry!”
In the midst of their talking and gossiping, the baseball game was over, and the boys ran up to their mothers, staring at Obito and Baby Hatake curiously, their loud voice cutting off Obito’s words.
Talk about bad timing! Obito sighed, trying to continue her efforts of clearing up the misunderstanding, but with the appearance of the rowdy boys, the mothers were all preoccupied.
“Oh, look at the time! I need to start on dinner!”
“Good bye, miss!"
“Uh… Goodbye…”
Obito stood there, a little lost as she watched the mothers pack everything in a flurry of motion, still polite and waving at her as they left, though this time pre-occupied with their sons.
“Is that the baby’s mom? She’s pretty.” One of the boys commented a little too loudly, bringing back Obito’s flush full-force.
“We'll clear up the misunderstanding next time. I don’t really want to be known as the lady that’s married to Kakashi.” She mumbled, looking at Baby Hatake, who just smiled and continued playing with his toy, completely disinterested now that the field was empty and they were left alone.
Obito sighed. You’re just a year old, you don’t understand what I’m saying, do you?
“Right. I need to start on dinner too…”
.