I haven’t been able to think of a title for anything lately, so I apologize.
Based off of this image by the lovely and talented, @wingcinna
While writing this, I used the name Cinna chose for Kansuke’s MC, Sumire. I love the Dad!Kansuke art she’s been doing and felt inspired!
Note: If I got some things about pregnancy wrong, I apologize! I’m working with second hand knowledge.
WRITING, Y U NO DRABBLE. WHY YOU FIC??
“Read More” to save desktop space ^_^;;
“Saizo? Might I ask you a question about ninja from Iga?”
Saizo stopped when Sumire called his name. She watched his usual uninterested look turn into interest with the lift of an eyebrow when she stated her question and showed that she had a plate of dango for him. He just stared at her for a moment that felt like an eternity had passed before he answered her while deftly plucking a stick of the sweet treat off the plate. They were gone in an instant.
“What’s your question, little lady?”
Sumire looked around before handing him the plate and tugging on his sleeve, pulling him into the garden for privacy. Once there, she took in a deep, fortifying breath to give herself the courage to ask the question she had been considering for several days now.
“What do the ninja villages do to children of shadows who, well…”
“Who procreate?” Sumire whispered the last part, not wanting even another ninja to overhear her words.
She watched his munching of the dango she made, slow, his blood-colored gaze grow sharp as he locked eyes with her.
“It’s a rough road, little lady. Does he know?”
Sumire shook her head at his low voice. “I don’t plan on it until it becomes obvious. I wouldn’t want him to worry because he has Lord Shingen to focus on. Besides, it may still be too early to tell.”
She was glad she didn’t have to tell Saizo who ‘he’ was. He was a ninja of incomprable ability and she knew he had to have observed her and Kansuke spending so much time together in between missions for Shingen.
Saizo’s eyes became unfocused like a dead fish for several heartbeats before he focused back on her. “With the Takeda clan around you, you will like as not have to worry. However, I would not suggest keeping it from him for long. Not that you could, mind you. If he knows, he can protect you from those who would try to take your child from you.”
Sumire felt fear form in her belly and she placed her hands over where she had a sneaking suspicion Kansuke’s child was forming within her. She sensed, more than witnessed, Saizo move past her. Sumire nearly jumped when she felt his hand fall on her shoulder.
“You aren’t alone, Little Lady.” Saizo murmured. “This isn’t something you should go through by yourself.”
She turned to say something in reply, but the second she felt his hand leave her shoulder, she looked and he was gone.
Sumire knew he was right, but she wanted to protect both their child and Kansuke. But how would she do that, if Iga knew there was a ninja child floating out in the world?
Several weeks later, Sumire and Kansuke lay panting in bed after a particularly intense coupling. He had come back from being absent for a fortnight and she had been unable to keep her hands off of him. Which wasn’t abnormal for her - it had been like that with them since she broke through his shell and awoke the sensual man that was hidden beneath.
Kansuke rolled to his side to wrap his arms around her and pulled her close. Sumire had to suppress a shiver at the tingling sensation she felt wherever their flesh touched. Sumire lifted one of her hands until it sat on his bare hip and she gently squeezed his skin, feeling the muscles clench under her fingertips.
Could she tell him? Should she? Sumire felt like she had kept the secret fairly well, not counting Saizo, especially since Lord Shingen had kept Kansuke busy over the last month. How long could she keep up the charade? Lying to the man she loved was never something she wanted to do, but she never thought she would fall for a child of shadows.
She would tell him later, she decided. Right now, she would just enjoy him being with her again.
“Two months?” Kansuke simply nodded as he prepared to leave only days later. “Why can’t Sasuke go on reconnaissance?”
“He’s protecting Harunobu.”
Sumire gnawed on the inside of her lower lip to keep her emotions grounded. She didn’t want to snap at Kansuke, she was just upset because it seemed like he just got back! He set his small bag down and turned to her, offering her a smile he only shared with her.
“All will be well, my most precious one.” Kansuke murmured, but Sumire watched his soft smile dim slightly as she continued chewing on her lower lip. “Is aught amiss?”
Sumire looked from his lips, down to his chest. She was now two months without her cycle and it was becoming more evident that she was with child. With Kansuke’s child.
She opened her mouth and said, “Everything is fine! I’ve just got a little bug is all.”
Kansuke looked her over with a physiker’s eye as if trying to figure out if she was telling him the truth. When his lips thinned and his gaze became even more focused on her, she felt like a lump had formed in her throat that she desperately wanted to clear.
“When were you going to tell me?”
Sumire’s eyes went wide. Did he figure it out? She shouldn’t be surprised that he had - he was one of, if not the, smartest men she had ever met. She should have known he would have put the evidence together. How could she fix this?
“I didn’t want you to worry!” she exclaimed as she gripped the folds of his purple kimono. “With the way Lord Shingen has been lately, as well as being a ninja from Iga, I was worried that telling you or anyone else would bring harm to you.”
“To me?” His dark brow furrowed and Sumire could see heat there, but he didn’t continue.
“I didn’t want Iga to punish you for creating a child without their knowledge or permission. I love you and don’t want to endanger you because i wasn’t more careful when it came to our… nightly activities.”
Kansuke seemed to freeze right then and there, as if a gust of wind in the dead of winter had frozen him as solid as one of the nearby lakes. After several moments of silence, Sumire attempted to get him to focus on her again.
“I…misread your symptoms.”
It was Sumire’s turn to freeze. Kansuke, a ninja practiced in the art of healing, misread her symptoms? How can that be?
He turned his eyes to her again, his gaze begging her to clarify. “Kansuke, it’s still early in the pregnancy, but if I am pregnant, the child is yours.”
Sumire watched as his shock turned slowly to acceptance, then to warm happiness all in the space of a single breath. He gently took her into his arms again and hugged her, burying his face in her shoulder.
