Ruminant

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6.

When Shikaku came home from a long, exhausting day of planning strategies with the Hokage, the first thing that he heard from his wife's mouth was, "Shikaku! Talk to your daughter!"

Frowning in confusion, he asked curiously. "Why? What happened?"

Pointing her finger at him irritably, Yoshino replied. "Your daughter went around the compound hitting other clan members and "biting them to death". They even took the time to come in the house to complain, for kami's sake. I tried to scold her but she's completely unrepentant. She's still repeatedly insisting that it's all your fault." She shook her head in exasperation. "Talk to her. I have to finish making dinner."

"My fault?" Shikaku parroted, bewildered.

Yoshino nodded grimly. "She said you gave her permission."

It took a moment before he realized what permission his wife's referring to but when he did, it took all of his hard-won discipline not to face-palm in exasperation.

Shikaku groaned tiredly. "Troublesome."

-----

"It's your fault," His two-year-old daughter insisted for the tenth time, her dark-brown eyes flashing stubbornly.

Shikaku pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"We've been over this, Shikari." He attempted to explain patiently. "When I said you can play with your cousins, I didn't mean you can beat them up, you troublesome girl."

Sighing exasperatedly at the bored look on his daughter's face, Shikaku continued, his voice rising in pitch. "Some of the ones you attacked were shinobi for Kami's sake. You could have been injured or killed!"

"Shinobi?" Shikari inquired, a flicker of interest appearing on her face.

"Yes. Shinobi. Ninja. Someone who protects the clan and the village," He bit out quickly. "But that's not the point, Shikari-chan! I-"

"Shinobi," His daughter repeated, interrupting what's supposed to be his long litany of pleas to see reason. She smirked. "Wao."

"Wao?" Shikaku sputtered, faltering. He looked searchingly at his daughter's face for a moment and was unnerved when he realized that she's excited for some reason.

That realization was more portentous than it should have any right to be.

"Hn," Shikari nodded in satisfaction. "They're good."

"Did you even listen to the other things I've said?"

Looking at him as if the answer should have been obvious from the start, his daughter then demanded imperiously. "Tell me about them. Shinobi."

For a moment, Shikaku debated continuing on in his lecture but he's tired.

Maybe he can continue preaching some other day instead.

Yoshino wouldn't even know anyway.

"That's not how you should ask for things, Shikari," He scolded halfheartedly. "Did you even learn your lesson?"

"Hn." His daughter affirmed, looking at him expectantly.

Troublesome brat.

Giving it all up as a lost cause, Shikaku lied down on the couch, made himself comfortable, and opened a can of worms he shouldn't have opened. "Shinobis are warriors - protectors of the Leaf. In the Elemental Nations, there are five lands..."

As he languidly narrated about shinobi, the Nara clan, and their role in the village, Shikaku willfully ignored how his daughter was practically vibrating in barely concealed anticipation. He wisely decided that it's more troublesome than it's worth and leave that case for another day too.

Troublesome, really.