Chapter 4: first steps

It was now night time, and Aiko was in her crib pretending to be asleep while her parents were chatting with their voices down to avoid waking her up.

"Well then, take care dear. I'll be back soon, I promise!" Ryohei said, a little sadness from his tone because he didn't want to leave his family but what can he do when he was suddenly called out for an emergency mission and he couldn't refuse since it's one of his principles to help others if they needed him even if he already retired from being a Ninja.

"don't worry about us, nothing will happen to us. just focus on yourself and don't get hurt honey." Tomoko replied with her charming and calm voice.

In the end, Tomoko kicked him out of the house since he seemed like he wouldn't go and kept being clingy. but you can't blame him, he wanted to stay with his beloved wife and daughter.

he actually looked like a big puppy when he whined wanting to stay.

'cute..' Tomoko thought, finally seeing her husband off and going to her bed.

After a few minutes, Aiko was sure she was asleep and opened her eyes then sat up.

'Yush! it's finally my showtime!'

She has been doing a very important and secret training every night..

with determination in her eyes, she held on to the crib and stood up, still her legs were a little wobbly.

and that was, to learn how to use her new infant body perfectly!

First goal is walking , in order for her to walk, all she needs is two steps forward and then another step back to balance herself still with her arms clutched to the edges of the crib.

after walking another step she succeeded in walking around her crib without support. Her grin widened at that she made a huge progress , although the crib didn't have much space but still, a success.

she suddenly remembered her little nephew when he took his first steps how proud she was at that time ,she really missed him and her mom.

'I hope they are doing fine, ' she thought with a sad smile as she sat down after a while she shook her head, freeing her mind from the thoughts and went back to training her little muscles .

After repeating the same process she got tired and gave up under her urge to sleep .

Tomoko woke up to check on her daughter to find her sleeping in a weird position and the blanket had fallen off her body making her look vulnerable and cute.

Tomoko smiled at the scene as she quickly covered her child. She stood there looking at her beautiful sleeping face. bent over kissing her forehead. She then went back to her room to sleep.

[RYOHEI'S POV]

" here are the details of the mission , once again i apologize for calling you while you're in your break. Just add that You are the only one I can trust with this since the identity of the person you have to assassinate is not normal " Shikaku said handing me a scroll that contains the information about this mission .

'it's another assasination mission and outside the village nonetheless ' I thought a bit annoyed as I had to leave my daughter and wife alone , this mission will probably take a few days. I didn't feel like taking this mission at all , but even so I can't refuse either.

I sighed as I accepted the scroll from my friend .

" so how are Tomoko and Aiko doing ? "shikaku asked me while I went throught the informations given to me.

" they're doing great and Aiko is a quite child she doesn't cry that much she is so cute with her big blue eyes " I replied with a grin on my face remembering my adorable daughter , while Shikaku only nodded in response.

" come visit, Tomoko will be happy to have you and yoshino and bring littel Shikamaru " I suggested with a smile.

" sure no problem, I'll visit them as soon as possible " he answered with a smirk and my grin widened as a reply.

After the meeting we both parted ways.

" let's get this mission done " I muttered under my breath while walking to the gates, before I got out of the village and started running. The wind blew strongly, making my hair fly wildly.

[AIKO'S POV]

It's been a week since my dad left for the mission. It's not that I'm worried,I'm just curious about it.

Since mom didn't look that worried about him, I knew he was strong enough to handle this mission.

And for the past few days I kept trying and now I can stand up without falling but I have to hold on something and another thing, Now i can also flip on my stomach!! Finally! My head was too heavy for me but I guess I got used to it now.

and i didn't stop training when my mom wasn't watching over me , when she comes to my room i act like a normal baby giggling and making blabing sounds , when i finish exercising physically i worked on my sensory skills through meditation. it's an important skill especially if i wanted to learn the thunder god jutsu , well that won't be anytime soon that's for Sure.

Basically what i'm doing is trying to sense the chakra around me and with it i try to build a mental image on what's around me based on the chakra i feel.

it's a hard process that I'm still working on, it will probably take me a long time but i'm making a little progress as time passes. Well, I can feel my mom's chakra when she enters the room but I have to focus to do that .

Now I was tucked in my crib chewing on my plastic toy. who said teething was an easy process .

I was in my thoughts when suddenly I was lifted from my crib into a warm embrace .

" How is Aiko-chan doing ?? Did you miss papa ? papa missed you so much "i giggled at his enthusiasm making baby sounds while mentally scolding herself from not noticing him or sensing his chakra i really need to get better in this.

[AUTHOR'S POV]

While her father was talking to her mother, she closed her eyes and focused on his chakra .

Her mother 's chakra is light blue, reminding her of the clear sky in the summer it's felt soothing ,she wondered how her father's would look like.

after a while of focus she felt it , it's a deep shade of orange reminding her of sunset .

Her father's voice bought her off her train of thoughts .

" by the way Tomoko, Shikaku and Yoshino are coming for dinner tomorrow "

"Really ?? That's great, it's been a long time since I saw Yoshino, oh right shikamaru is the same age as Aiko right ? then the two will be friends " Tomoko said with a grin plastered on her face .

' shikamaru ?? oh no as much i want to meet him i can't since i'm clearly trying to not ruin the plot why is this happening '