You smiled watching Akaza leave. Once he left your view you walked towards the town you'd been residing in the last couple of months. You saw your door coming into view, skipping up to the doors and throwing them open.

"I'm home darlings!" You called out into the empty hallway of your home. You heard all the doors simultaneously open, hearing 8 sets of footsteps rushing towards the door. "Mother!" They all cried as they rushed down the stairs.

"My darlings! Oh, I'm so happy to see all of you!" You spoke as you crouched down and they swarmed you. You did your best to wrap your arms around all of them but it was far more of a group hug.

Each of the children wrapped around you in some way, some were hugging your back and others your sides. "How were your travels mother?"

"Yeah! How are your other children?"

"Did you bring anything back?"

"Is Mr. Duhin staying here now that you're back?"

"Oh! Will you be staying for long?"

The children asked so many questions in quick succession. "One at a time sweet things!" You laughed, standing up. "My travels were a little stressful but everything resolved itself properly. My other children are doing well, they are very successful and busy people. I didn't bring anything back, I apologize. Mr. Duhin will be leaving now that I am back, and I should be staying for a bit."

You nodded, feeling like you'd answered all of the questions. Ide tugged at your sleeve, "mother. Will you read us a bedtime story tonight? You do it better than Mr. Duhin."

The poor boy avoided eye contact, hand still placed on your sleeve. He was about eight and was one of the most polite children you'd ever met. "Of course Ide," you spoke as you grabbed him up in a hug and obnoxiously kissed his cheek.

He groaned, which quickly turned to laughter as he pushed away from you. You smiled, releasing the boy. "Arita, how was everyone while I was gone?" You asked the oldest boy. He was about 12 and was the one who kept all the other children in line most of the time when you weren't there.

"They did well mother. They listened to Mr. Duhin and did all of their chores." He spoke, rocking back on his heels. You smiled and nodded, glad to hear how well-behaved everyone was. "Well then, such good behavior deserves an award. How does that sound?"

Each child called out their agreement, "Okay then," you laughed at the responses. "I'll make some sweet bread with dinner tonight. Does anyone want to help with that?" You asked as you walked farther into your home.

Three of the children replied: Ruè, Rō, and Suou. Rō was the only boy who volunteered. Ruè was a frequent volunteer to help you around the house. You entered the main sitting room, finding Mr. Duhin sitting in a chair reading a book. "Mr. Duhin, it's good to see you again." You smiled at the older man.

He jerked up from his book, smiling brightly upon seeing you. "Ah, Miss. It's lovely to see you back home. All the children have missed you dearly." He spoke as he stood and crossed the room to stand in front of you and your little pride.

You smiled up at the older gentleman, "well I'm glad that they all did well. I missed them dearly as well," you said as you turned towards the children again. "Well, I best be off Ma'am. My wife has been eagerly awaiting my return," Mr. Duhin bowed lightly towards you before heading towards the door.

"Tell Mrs. Duhin I said hello, and that I wish you both the best!" You called after the older man. He turned, smiled and nodded, and exited the door. You turned back towards the children. "Who wants to go to the garden?" You asked while crouching lightly.

They all cheered and you took them to the garden in the center of the compound. It was a lovely area where you grew quite a few of the necessary foods for feeding everyone. It was sometimes difficult when it came to feeding eight hungry and growing mouths but you always managed.

You took to cleaning the herb beds, the children going around and picking the weeds from all the other plant groups. Each were laughing and chatting as they weeded the dirt.

You had almost finished the first, bucket already overflowing with weeds. "When was the last time you all cleaned these?" You asked without turning around. "Last week I think," Ruè called back. She was one of the older girls.

"Hmm, these seem to be growing faster. We should start clearing the plots twice a week then just to prevent them from becoming overgrown." You stated and stood to dispose of the weeds in the compost box.

You dumped the bucket and returned back to weeding the small area. Sasori walked over to you. "Mother?" She asked, crouching down next to you. "Yes, Sasori?"

"While you were gone... A man came." She said hesitantly. You stiffened, "what did he want?" You asked as calmly as you could. "He wanted to know about you. He kept asking for the woman of the house. We told him you were gone, and finally, after Mr. Duhin assured him it would be a while before you were back he left."

"What did he look like?" Your muscles were tensing exponentially. Every hair on your body standing up. She hesitated. "He-he had black hair and he was taller than Mr. Duhin. He came at night too. I think he's like you mother," she commented.

You were shaking. Muzan had gone after your children. He'd come into your territory and attempted to get information from them. He shouldn't know about them. This was all wrong.

You stood quickly, grabbing Sasori and rushing back into the home. "Sasori I need you to do something for me." You rushed, bending down so you could speak with less volume. "I need you to pack as much as you can. Each one of you needs to take your most prized possessions. I'm going to get a friend to get you all to a safe area, and I'll come to get you when I can." You kissed her forehead.

"I love you all so much. I'll be back, have all of your siblings gather their things. I'll see you all soon to send you off." You murmured as you rushed out of the home. It was still dark, but only for about another hour.

You whistled, and a large barn owl descended from a nearby tree. "I need you to send this letter, and quickly, as fast as you can," you tethered the paper to the bird, rushing it off. You had scribbled as few words as necessary down, hoping that she would understand.

You towards Mr. Duhin's home, feeling sorrow fill your chest at having to tell him that the children and yourself would be leaving. He was sad but understood that you were trying to keep the children out of harm's way. He wished you the best of luck, hugging you before sending you off.

You rushed home, seeing how the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon. You hid within the house, all of the children were in the dining room with their things packed, waiting on you.

"Hello my darlings, we must wait on a letter from Lady Tamayo. You all will be staying with her until I can guarantee you'll continue to be safe with me. I'm so sorry to have put you all in danger." You sighed, head hanging low.

Oka, an eight-year-old, rushed up to you and hugged you tightly. "It's okay mother! We'll all protect each other! That's what men do," he called proudly. You smiled at the young boy, hugging him tightly and kissing his face obnoxiously. He giggled, trying to push away from you.

You released him, laughing as you did so. He giggled but continued to scramble away. The children crowded you, falling on top of you to hug you. You hugged them all back, enjoying the pile of affection.

- - - - - -

You and the children waited two days before a letter arrived. You had been anxiously pacing and trying to make sure everything was in order for when the children had to leave.

Your nerves were a mess and your anxiety had caused you to start picking at your nails again. You hoped you would have been able to get rid of the habit by now but clearly, that was not the case.

You were absolutely relieved when your owl arrived in the middle of the night, Tamayo saying she would be waiting for the children with open arms and would have Yushiro escort them. You hated having to leave them, but it was for their safety.

You kissed them all goodbye, Yushiro would be here soon and you wanted to get them to safety as quickly as possible. Some of the younger ones were crying but you hugged them tightly and told them you'd be back for them as soon as you could.

Yushiro came not long after, a perturbed expression gracing his features. You smiled widely at seeing him again, reaching forward to bring him into a quick hug. His face never changed but he rounded the children up and left quickly with a simple wave.

Each of the children waved at you fiercely but followed Yushiro diligently. You blew them kisses, watching them leave your line of sight. As soon as you could no longer see them you dropped your smile, cheerlessness taking over your features.

You packed what little you could, leaving your home. You decided it was best as you lit a match and threw it into the building. The building went up in flames quickly, and you felt bad for burning your children's home, but you needed to do so to protect them and yourself.

You decided you mine as well keep an eye on Rengoku since you had absolutely nothing better to do, so you made your way towards the butterfly estate. It would take you a few days but there wasn't much else you could do.

- - - - - - - -

It took you a few days and a few moments where you thought you were lost but you finally were able to locate the estate. Even after all these years, you remembered where it was. You elected to stay far enough away to not set off any alarm bells but still be able to keep an eye on everything.

The wisteria made your nose itch but didn't do much else, as long as you stayed far enough away. You put your things higher in the tree, resting against the trunk to get some sleep in.

It wasn't until a few days later when you finally heard that your dear Rengoku had awoken. It had been eerily quiet from the estate but suddenly there was a lot of talking, almost too much.

You'd put more energy into your hearing so you could pay better attention to what was going on. You slept more because of it but hearing how excited everyone was at him waking made warmth fill your chest.

- - - - - - - -

It had been about a week, maybe less, but you had sent a letter to Tamayo two days ago, knowing it would take your owl about 3 days to get there. So you sat in the tree bored out of your mind.

Rengoku and the butterfly estate had been quiet, so quiet that it was making life so boring you decided you would sleep until something else happened. So you tucked yourself into the trunk of the tree and dozed off.

You were awoken by the flap of wings, jerking you out of your sleep. You blinked, eyes still bleary, but tried to find the source of the noise. A beautiful crow was passing with a small letter on its leg.

You smirked, realizing it was probably Rengoku telling Ubuyashiki about you, oh how perfect, you thought, sitting back and waiting.