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“Mom?“ He still had dirt in his hair. He liked gardening, but he never came home without some form of remnant.
“Cousin Inoka said I‘m a bastard.“ He found himself in a tight embrace. Mom was angry, not at him, but it was still terrifying.
“Really?“ Her pink hair stood up like a cat‘s, her emerald eyes were a shade to dark and he swore he could feel the chakra under her skin. “What else did Inoka-chan say?“
He swallowed and had to fight back tears. ‘Shinobi don‘t cry‘ he had to remind himself. “She said that because I have two mothers and aren‘t- am not the child of both of you that I- that I‘m not worthy of being the heir.“
His vision was blurry but he did a pretty good job of holding them back. The embrace tightened. When he looked up at her, her face softened a bit.
“You listen here, Inojin. That you are biologically speaking Sai‘s does not invalidate our bond. You are as much my son as you are Ino‘s.“ With a small smile she took a napkin from her pocket and wiped at his face. Appearantly he hadn‘t noticed that the tears had succeeded.
“If Inoka can‘t see past that she does not deserve a place in this clan.“ He nodded, but didn‘t like it.
“Please don‘t punish her?“ Inoka deserved it...kind of, he knew. But he didn‘t want to give his older cousin another reason to pick in him.
“What do I do with a child as kind as you?“ His mom‘s words were sighed but he still heard. Shino-sensei had given them a task to better their hearing only last week. He smiled. He knew that his parents wouldn‘t hurt kin - or anybody from Konoha for that matter – but it wouldn‘t hurt to ask them not to.
“Y‘know what?“ With that his mom picked him. Even after so many times he sometimes still marveled how she could be so strong. “How about we get take-out from Yakiniku-Q and drop it off at your mother‘s work place?“
“Can you ninja-run there?“ His mom smirked and whispered with a wink: “Sure, but don‘t tell your mother.“ He laughed. Mother was scary when she was angry, so better not tell on mom! “Yay, let‘s go!“
His mom took him and threw him – gently – over her shoulder. He was happy that she would help him forget how mean some people were sometimes. “Let‘s play ‘I spy with my little eye‘ on the way!“ His mom agreed cheerfully.
He wouldn‘t trade her for the world.
Owari