It was hard to leave the shared quarters that you and Genji called home. A few times you stopped packing to stand in the middle of the boxes to just…be sad.

Genji spoke your name, bringing you back to the present.

“What?”

“Perhaps you should concentrate on your babies, Mama.”

“Why?!”

“You have only packed half a box,” he said flatly.

You pouted next to your tiny box, which sat next to his pile of bigger boxes.

“Fine,” you replied in mock anger. You walked a few steps to find the babies, then stopped. “Wait.”

“What is it?”

“They’re sleeping.”

Genji sat up straighter in confusion, not sure what you’re getting at.

“They’re both sleeping!” you exclaimed, talking excitedly with your hands. They had been for hours now.

You lay down in the middle of the floor to cry happy tears and then cry out all the stress you built up since the babies were born. Genji crawled over to comfort his temporarily-crazy mate, purring, kissing, and gliding his cheek along the side of your face until you calmed down.

“You take a break,” he said. “I will keep working.”

You got a second wind after letting the stress out, however. You kept packing until Ichiro woke up.

The bunker, which had been hastily upgraded a little. The bedrooms were small, but there was enough for you, Hanzo, and the babies to get their own rooms. The major bump in the road to settling in at Eichinwalde wasn’t what you expected.

Genji spent a lot of his time checking on, and taking care of, Hanzo. His exhaustion was worse than yours. He needed to be brought food and helped to the bathroom, or his stitches would hurt. With Genji home the whole time, and not away on missions, it wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be. Hanzo begrudgingly accepted his brother’s help. Genji expected nothing less than this sort of attitude from the man. He went to bed at night, proudly nuzzling into the back of your neck.

Then Genji wore his armour off in Hanzo’s view. In Hanzo’s defence, he didn’t it coming, either. He was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions, all of them negative. At first, he yelled at Genji to put some clothes on, his ears facing forward in alert.

“I will dress how I like in my own house, Hanzo!”

Hanzo’s ears flattened back. He hunched forward, as if a real cat bowing its back upwards.

“Oh, to rub in my face what I did to you?”

Genji’s expression softened. He pleaded, “No-”

“I don’t need your pity!”

The argument went around in circles after that, with no logical path or solution in sight. Maybe Hanzo was tired. Maybe he needed professional help to sort through his feelings and thoughts. Most likely, it was both. And he wouldn’t stop until the kittens started to scream with him.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, and padded the slow prowl back to his room to lie back down.

Genji sighed. He sat down at the kitchen table to run his fingers roughly through his hair. You watched him, a bit afraid he’d start tearing at it next.

“Honey?” you asked tentatively.

“I’m fine,” he said, letting his hands go still on top of his head. They held it up, his eyes staring at the surface below. “I have to be. Someone needs to tend to him soon.”

Knowing Genji, that was half him sadly accepting the situation, and half him pulling himself together to do what he felt needed to be done. He knew this wouldn’t be easy when he decided to do it. You nodded to yourself, planning to let him take care of it and hold him later in bed.

They ended up being silent around each other for the most part, and ignoring the issue until they felt better about it. You thought that was dysfunctional, but it wasn’t your business, you supposed. Hanzo was soon well enough to help take care of the kittens to let you sleep more.

“I cannot wait until you have to chase your kittens like our mother had to chase you.”

“The day will come,” Genji agreed. He nodded sagely.

“Like,” Hanzo paused, “that time you ran into traffic,” he said with a knowing, arrogant, yet tired, smirk.

“A couple of bicyclists hardly counts as ‘traffic’.”

“They fell over trying to avoid hitting you!”

“I didn’t know they feared our family so much they would throw themselves to the ground,” Genji muttered. “I was four.” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “I remember that day. Our mother took us for ramen, and I fell in love.” He grinned, rose-coloured glasses falling over his vision.

Hanzo ripped them off with his next statement.

“You burned your tongue and screamed about it.”

“I was not the screamer. That was you.”

Your arrival interrupted the bickering.

“The cow has left the barn,” you said from the doorway.

Even though you had help, you couldn’t help making sure no one needed you to breastfeed. It was weird not to. You rubbed your tired eyes wih your knuckles. You stood there in your bedclothes, dishevelled, and frankly, looking awful. Hanzo was the only one who would have judged you for looking like this, and he was too busy being irritated at his own appearance and his inability to take proper care of it. You had a free pass to be a lazy slob.

“Go back to your stall. We have things under control,” said Hanzo.

You spluttered a bit, then laughed uproariously. Genji had long since stopped being nervous about you taking Hanzo’s comments seriously. Something about being tired morphed your sense of humour into a slightly different animal. Personally, he thought Hanzo could be less bristly, but he was grateful you two got along. Hanzo volunteered often to help with the kittens, and that made him your new best friend.

In fact, it was he and Genji who came up with the idea of going on a hike of sorts. Except, the area around Eichinwalde was hilly and easy for two tired parents to traverse. Hanzo was tired, and still in bed, the morning that you decided to go, but he was insistent on not letting that stop you. He said he would take care of one baby, since Genji loved the idea of taking both his kittens out for a walk. Taking just one was a good compromise.

“B-but…”

“It is useless to argue, My Mate. Hanzo is stubborn. You should do as he says.”

You still hesitated.

“I have the energy to attend to him if need be,” Hanzo promised.

“Alright,” you conceded. You bent down, tenderly cradling Ichiro under his head and tiny body. You tucked him in the space between Hanzo’s arm and his body. “This is just weird for me to leave my baby, okay?”

“Yes, Mama,” Genji said cheerfully. He kissed your shoulder. He loved how you fussed over your babies. “Come on.” He gently led you away from the bed by the hand. You squeezed it.

It was hard for you to switch from constantly juggling two kids to half that. You turned back to Hanzo to remind him of something important, but both he and Ichiro were already asleep. The baby’s soft face in innocent slumber. Hanzo was just as relaxed. You couldn’t wake him now. The last urges to fuss finally slipped your mind, and you were lighter. More free.

Genji went ahead of you to fetch Sae. He emerged from the bedroom wearing his visor. Sae always wore a confused expression while seeing his human face for some reason. You thought he should make her suck it up and learn to love it. But Genji wanted to spoil his little girl to the limit in his own way. He may have been compensating for the fact that she was not born able to control her own tiger spirit.

Maybe it didn’t matter. He was sweet to her either way.

“How’s my baby girl?” you asked, your voice filled with love. You leaned down to peel back the soft, mini blanket he used to carry her. To keep her protected from the hard parts of his arms and chest.

Sae’s eyes popped open, and then she squeezed them shut, fussing and waving her tiny clenched fists.

“She was sleeping,” Genji lamented.

He could somehow use his ninja abilities to cart around the babies in his arms without waking them. Ever. Made you jealous.

“It’s okay to wake her if we’re taking her outside.” You looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “And no, you can’t just carry her the whole time. That’s what the baby carrier is for.”

Genji whined and cuddled her closer.

“Don’t you want her to see everything?”

“…Fine.”

You were right about the baby carrier. Genji tucked Sae into the baby carrier facing outward. Her little legs dangled out of the bottom. She immediately stuck a finger in her mouth and went to work making it wrinkly from too much saliva.

“Genji, did you bring her soother?”

“No. I forgot.”

Oh, well.

You two wandered out into a meadow with tall, green grass tipped with brown. The vegetation moved in the breeze in gentle waves. The Sun spent most of its time hiding behind fat, fluffy clouds.

Genji strode to the top of a softly-rounded hill. He carried the baby bag, while you mindlessly followed behind, carrying nothing. You were simply in a state of existence, letting your stress unwind slowly. Genji was indispensable right now. No one else could do this for you. You looked around at all the scenery. A dark green, coniferous forest stood proudly in the distance. The tall grass stretched towards it. Purple clover flowers dotted the meadow around you.

Genji stopped on the hill and you halted your advance as well, just behind him. You were letting him lead today.

Genji got his pointer finger hooked in Sae’s grabby fist. He directed her to point her arm at the forest. He enunciated a Japanese word for her, putting emphasis on the consonants. The barest of boops on her nose and then he points at sky himself. He says another word.

“Honey, she can’t see that far at that age.”

You feel really bad. You do. You didn’t even remind him she doesn’t understand the words.

“Hmph.”

Genji squats down with Sae. He picks a clover flower and brings it to just in front of her face. He tells her what it is, and she grabs the bloom with her fist, crushing the purple in her fingers.

Genji chatters excitedly in Japanese. “She likes it!” he says, translating for you.

“Yes, Honey,” you dutifully answered.

Genji stands again. You watch the clouds float by. The wind is slow, and the clouds move leisurely. Just like you hope how this day passes.

“I am hoping exposing her to the language early helps her learn it later.”

“If she inherits your intelligence, she’ll be fine,” you said. “But there’s nothing wrong with trying, I suppose.”

“Don’t think I did not see you slipping a compliment in there,” Genji purred. “I hope she inherits Hanzo’s obedience. We do not need two of me in this family.”

It pained you, but you agreed. A young, teenage Genji doesn’t sound easy to parent.

Your parental sixth sense was telling you to take Sae back home. Also, you missed your baby boy.

You both made your way back. As you got closer, you began to hear Ichiro’s cry. It echoed off the stone buildings.

“Damn,” Genji said. “He will bring the dead bastions back to life with that screaming!”

You hurried a little faster to the house. You found Ichiro in Hanzo’s lap. The baby was red-faced and crying painfully loudly. Hanzo eyes were equally as red, and he had a lost expression. The full bottle of formula on the table next to them told you everything.

“He refused…he won’t…”

“It’s alright,” you told Hanzo, taking Ichiro from his lap.

The baby continued to cry as you carried him off, vibrating your brain around in your skull. Genji placed the baby bag on the floor next to his feet, then contemplated Hanzo. Deciding between being honest and perhaps poking the bear or to play it safe and ignore Hanzo’s appearance.

“What are you looking at?” Hanzo snapped at Genji. Then he growled at himself and brushed some hair back with his fingers. “Sorry. I am frustrated.”

“No worries. Even Mama loses patience with them. Babies screech a lot, Hanzo.”

You returned with a quiet Ichiro, attached your breast. You plopped down in the chair next to Hanzo. His gaze crawled up your naked top half with a confused frown. You had skipped putting a shirt and your nursing bra on to save time.

“I really wanted him to stop.”

“I see.”

“Do you, Hanzo?” teased Genji.

Hanzo’s ears folded back.

“If you are accusing me of looking,” Hanzo seethed.

“I would not blame you,” Genji continued with a light tone. “She is very attractive.”

Hanzo scoffed.

“I just got this guy settled!” you said. “If you don’t stop, I’m gonna make one of you burp him.”

“I will do it!” volunteered Genji.

That was unexpected. However, Hanzo didn’t argue with Genji while he was holding a baby, so it had the effect you were hoping for. You traded offspring and then handed Sae to Hanzo.

“Here, take this one. Cries less.”

“Marginally,” Hanzo muttered. “I can hear them both through the walls.”

Hanzo complained, but he loved his niece and nephew. In no time at all, he was speaking to Sae seriously about how he will do her hair when it grows out more.

“Will you match?!” you asked excitedly.

Hanzo eyed you.

“There can be no question! Of course we will match,” he said, tucking her closer in his lap.