A/N: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. Would love to hear your thoughts :). Slow-burn romance.

Yumi. A name given to her because of its simplicity, not for any premonition or hope. But its meaning would one day create itself.

She wasn't dropped at an orphanage or even in town. It was chance. Or fate. Or as she would one day believe, maybe chance and fate are one and the same, just perspective. Whatever it was, her life would always begin and end with him.

Almost home.

He blurs through the trees, branches slick with the torrential rain. Water weighs down every inch of his standard jonin garb. Two figures follow quickly in succession after him.

A small chakra signature signals from his right.

His eyes quickly dart in that direction and he comes to a sudden halt.

The two figures flank him - Tomiko Hyuuga, a pale woman with piercing translucent eyes on his left. And Akio Nakamura, a shorter, stockier man on his right.

"What is it?" Akio asks in a tone void of any formalities. Tomiko eyes him from the side with disdain.

"Hatake-sama, do you sense something?" - Akio rolls his eyes.

Sakumo points east.

"A weak chakra signature from that direction. It's not moving, but if it's coming from so close to the village we need to assess the area."

Tomiko nods and activates her byakugan. As she locks on to the signal her brows furrow in confusion. She quickly scans the entire surrounding perimeters as well.

"So?" Akio asks.

"A child...a baby."

A BABY? Out here?

Thunder crackles loudly in the sky, the rain unimaginably heavier than before. Shit.

"Let's move." Akio and Tomiko quickly nod at his side.

They disappear in a blur.

The hospital smells permeated thickly through the air - a fine dance between sickness and sterilizer brought to an aggressive stampede by the moisture of the storm. Sakumo leans against the white wall, staring unflinchingly at Door 332.

He had dismissed his team hours before. Tomiko left with a terse bow, while Akio gave a mild struggle to persuade him home. Both refused any farewells for each other. He'd need to work on that before their next mission. Yes, their relationship had always been tense, but not to this extent.

Five years ago he would have dropped the baby at the hospital entrance, turned in his report, and slept soundly in bed. But that was before his son. Sakumo smiled to himself.

My son. The kid looked just like him. What Sakumo always considered a pity, since his mother was beauty in every sense of the word.

And just as he was getting a bit too sentimental, Door 332 slams open.

Kaya, the primary medic for the night shift, looks him in the eye. Her face is pale from fatigue.

"Is she -"

"Quite well." For the good news, Kaya looks strangely perturbed. While Kaya was one of Konoho's best medics, when she was not in the operating room a social discomfort took over.

"May I?" He is already walking for the door. Kaya's hand comes up to block him gently.

"Hatake-san, her chakra is - well it's not uncommon for chakra channels to be a bit unstable amongst newborn if their chakra channels develop too early - but in her case, I'm concerned more for the opposite condition."

"Ah, a girl." He smiles to himself. He'd always wanted a daughter and son.

"...Yes."

"And she's too stable?"

"For a newborn, definitely. But, her body has been near-freezing for at least two hours. Her survival instincts may have kicked in and we're seeing a pseudo-stability, parallel to a boost of adrenaline stamina. The usual treatment is a simple seal that dissipates naturally over time as chakra builds in an infant's body. Doing so in this case could hurt her development..."

"Then it doesn't seem like there's issue here. Thank you for your assessment Kaya-san."

She understands his dismissal.

"Hai, Hatake-san. I expect her to wake up tomorrow"

He nods as she shuffles away down the hallway. Peeking over the edge of the crib he sees her still heavily bundled, but no longer in the wet rags he found her in. Tufts of soft brown hair peek out of the white sheets.

There would be questions and curiosity and disapproval. But for now, just a child asleep was enough. So tomorrow he would deal with it.

Sakumo leans over to run his hand lightly across her cheek - a splotchy, dusted pink plump. Just centimeters away, he stops himself. He really is getting soft. She's not his, but she is someone's.

He slips away in the shadows, heading home. Two days and he would leave for a month long mission. Time with his own son came first, always.