Ruminant

xviii

18.

The number of times Nara Daen met their clan's heiress could be counted in one hand, but it always - always never failed to be entertaining.

The little girl's a menace - a headache and a half for both her parents - and too adorable for her own good that everyone not in the know bend over backward to indulge her whims.

Her napping form beneath one of the village's tree, despite her mother's earlier warning to stay within the Nara clan grounds, was a testament to that.

Daen just got back from a year-long mission - the bills needed to get paid and Konoha couldn't maintain defending their side of the war without a solid source of income. He finished it well-enough with his teammate, but unfortunately, he was injured on the way back in a confrontation with a group of Iwa-nin and was forced to take a leave in order to recuperate.

(And to heal, as Shikaku-sama told him gravely, from the death of a teammate and the permanent disability of another.)

Daen was-

He was skittish, too used to moving in an attempt to get his mind off his failures and deficiencies that he had gotten on his clan head's nerves enough that he was charged with unpaid babysitting-duty for a month.

An order that baffled him at first since it was protocol to isolate an injured shinobi first and let them relax their guard in order to avoid casualties, and even after a week in his home, he's still a bit twitchy. Guarding a toddler - his clan's heiress at that would be a challenge and a half.

Which, after a second thought, he then realized was intentional on his clan head's part since it enabled him to achieve multiple goals in one move. Like, it's a worthwhile activity enough to occupy Daen's time and get his mind off things, while, at the same time, Shikaku-sama got an experienced jounin he trusted to watch his daughter who just recovered from an attack inside the village.

But-

("Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly, after realizing the full extent of the clan head's belief in him.)

(Shikaku-sama looked at him. His face marked with tired lines but his eyes unnervingly sharp. "Why wouldn't I be?")

It was challenging.

Shikari was a precocious child. Any attempt to curb her vivacious spirit was met with rebellion. She listened to her mother well-enough - when it suited her at least, but any order that didn't fit her whims were immediately discarded.

Like her recent penchant for patrolling the village, for one.

Or fetching her playmate Uchiha Itachi, the Uchiha clan's own heir, in their clan compounds despite Fugaku-sama's protests, for another.

In spite of her parents' continued attempt to instill discipline on their daughter, any action met the same end - failure. Shikaku-sama got fed up with it long enough that, Daen learned later, he assigned any recuperating shinobi in their clan to keep an eye on Shikari whenever her official babysitters failed at their job. It's a substitute for therapy, apparently, and no one in the clan was complaining. Her mother, Yoshino, who usually kept her in line was busy helping in the war efforts so the genin and academy students in their compound got assigned to the task.

Daen, after knowing that, initially thought that the kids would slack off and leave him with more work than necessary. He was familiar with his clan's antics - especially since he used to do it himself but, to his surprise, all of them were so gung-ho about it, it left him shocked.

Apparently, as Kasuga confided with him as he panted on the floor of their house's living room, the scolding from the clan head and their parents - not to mention the hellish taijutsu training from a "green-spandexed monster" they were put under every time they lost the heiress was a very good deterrent on failing to do the job.