Innocent silver globes belonging to those of a child glimmered up at him in awe. Chuckling, he ruffled the tuft of raven black hair that had a slight tint of red to it, the one and a half year old gurgling happily at the action.
"You look so much like your mama, y'know?" He mumbled softly, his heart aching as he did so. That was strange. He had thought that he had gotten over it already. Summer didn't love him the way he did her, she loved Tai even before the other blonde had gotten with their last teammate.
Hearing his soft voice, she spun around. "Papa!" She cried out after seeing his bright beard and blown back hair. He resisted the urge to grind his teeth in frustration, in anger, as the child hit an unhealed wound. That she wasn't his child, that Tai let Summer go on that last mission by herself…
That Summer was dead… Gone… Never coming back.
And Tai… BAH! Haruto clenched his fists tightly in anger, the action made Ruby flinch as if she could sense the anger rolling off him. He had left his second daughter with him as well, again, only taking care of her for a year with Summer until she died almost three days ago, dropping her off yesterday, talking to Yang for a few hours before he predictably left again, this time on the hunt for the creature/s that killed his beloved wife just mere days ago.
The stronger blonde remembered seeing Tail looking at least ten years older than he actually was, and last Haruto had heard, he had gone to Atlas in search of clues alluding to her death.
Even though Haruto wanted to do the same, he was fine being a part-time father for his God daughters.
Hell, he hadn't even gone to Summer's grave at the Cliffside Altar, which their other friends who had gone to visit the grave had dubbed, of the Snowy Forests of Vale, high in the mountains.
Forcing his anger to diffuse, he looked at her adorably confused face with a worn out visage before taking a deep breath and giving the girl a fake smile to placate her teary eyes. "Sorry kiddo. I just look a lot like your dad."
"No Papa?" She questioned, melancholy forgotten, clearly having a difficult time telling him apart from her father.
"No Papa. Uncle Haru." He confirmed and corrected. Unhappy, she stood up shakily in her red onesie that fit her tiny body snugly. Swaying slightly, the toddler did her best to walk straight at the man with confidence but looked much like a new born red panda with all the stumbling she did. Haruto chuckled as he moved forwards and caught the girl under the arms before she could trip on her own feet. Picking her up from her armpits, he brought the girl to his chest and cradled her caringly.
Like the daughter he never had.
"Mama?"
"She's… not here, Ruby." He began rocking his arms, slowly lulling the child into a peaceful slumber to distract the toddler. "But don't worry your silly little head about her for now, Ruby…" Ruby tried fighting the sandman, rubbing her baby knuckles into her closing eyes, groaning the usual intelligible baby language; probably about how unfair it was that he was so comfy. As she was drifting off to sleep, she smiled, somehow understanding his last words despite having the vocabulary of a three page children's book.
"Your Uncle Haru's here for you, baby." He set the child back into the cot, next to her sleeping big sister who had grown quite a lot over the last three years whilst in Haruto's care. At the big number of four, her blonde tresses reached the little arch just above her backside and her lilac eyes were constantly filled with mischief, excitement and overall, fun. Currently, Yang was twisting and turning around; eyes shut tightly and seemed very uncomfortable in the cot, whining as though she was a puppy having a nightmare.
Haruto slowly lay Ruby beside her half-sister, who when feeling the familiar presence of Ruby, grabbed her and pulled her into a sisterly embrace, finally calming down from her fit. It came to a surprise that she didn't really care that her father had another daughter with another woman who, to be fair, he married. He supposed she was young and didn't grasp the concept yet, either that or, she really wanted a little sister badly.
"And your big sis, Yang, is here for you too, darling." Haruto released a sigh, "I wonder if she hadn't run away, would you even be here, Ruby?" Figuring that it wasn't time for such thoughts, especially since it was so close to bed time as well as work tomorrow, he picked up his phone from the bedside table and tapped away at it before he put it back down and dragged himself into the bed beside the cot, falling asleep alongside the sleeping toddlers without tucking himself in.
The phone was still on, and the message from his employer could be seen.
Willow: "Bringing daughter to mines for an excursion, you are to protect her at all costs. I do not want those Grimm from the forest getting anywhere near her."
Haruto Uzumaki: "Acknowledged."
In the morning, Haruto woke up before the two sleeping children did and made breakfast for himself, eating quietly and washing the dishes before he whipped out his phone and dialled the number 2 on quick dial.
Buzzing for only a second, the phone was picked up and a female voice answered the call. And despite the time, was young, energetic and sprightful.
"Hey! Mr Uzumaki!" His contact, the red headed Eleanor Valkyrie could be heard, as usual, smiling behind the phone.
"Please, Eleanor, call me Haruto." He mumbled, running his hand down his face in embarrassment.
"No can do, I can't call you so casually, it's not respectful! Especially since you're my senior and still considered the best student in Signal, even three years after graduation!" She chirped happily, and as much as he enjoyed Eleanor's company, Haruto decided to get to the point just in case she talked her head off, something that happened very often with her best friend, the silent Asian beauty, Hua Mulan.
"Fine, do as you wish, I'm only checking in to see if you were free to babysit for a few hours while I'm at work."
"No problem, Mr Uzumaki! I'll be there in five minutes."
"Thanks, Eleanor, you know what to do." Haruto hung up the phone, reaching into his pockets for his wallet. He brandished the leather object and pulled out multiple Lien notes, currency in Remnant. Placing half of it under the fruit bowl at the dining table for Eleanor to order breakfast, he grabbed a piece of paper and a marker, writing down what the girls needed to do when they woke up. As much as he trusted Eleanor to do her job, the girl was a complete scatterbrain when it came to remembering important things. Finishing the note off with a smiley face, Haruto pasted it on the fridge; one that he had bought three years ago after that crazy night and ensured that it would not catch fire.
Looking up to the ceiling, above the cot, where the pair where cuddling each other with Ruby sucking and drooling on Yang's thumb, making the girl giggle in her sleep, he noted that the tags was still there. One was the orange Uzumaki spiral and the other was a simple one that looked much like an alarm.
It was a ritual he did whenever he left the house while Yang, and now Ruby, was alone at home. His Fuuinjutsu skills were limited in this world, and he had never appreciated the art, but he had managed to create a seal that would alert Haruto to any presence both hostile and not that entered his house forcefully. The last thing he needed to come home to were missing girls or… well, he didn't want to think about it. Nodding after he ensured that the tag was in place, he turned to the door and opened it, grabbing his scythe, disguised as a compact suitcase, on the way out, locking it before he dug the key into the flower pot that was beside the front door and used the empty snail shell that sat in the dirt to cover the metallic head that stuck out like a sore thumb.
It was something that Eleanor had come up with, and would not forget easily, after she fooled Yang with a ridiculous story about snails turning into keys when they passed over to the afterlife.
But, Haruto had to concede a point to Yang, who managed to convince Eleanor that invisible creatures, fairies, named Nargles would eat the paint off her toenails when she wasn't looking or was asleep. Not liking the idea of having invisible toe-paint eating fairies doing what they did, she immediately stopped painting her toes cerulean.
Haruto smiled at the memory of Eleanor running to the sink and scrubbing her blue toes with the kitchen sponge, wailing at how she didn't want the Nargles to touch her toes. Yang was laughing hard, the child rolling on the sofa as she watched her nanny do so.
Looking at the fancy wristwatch Diamant had sent him as a birthday gift, he clicked his tongue as he noticed that he was late.
"Time to get to work."
And with a flash of orange, he vanished.