Chapter 192: Father & Daughter Talk

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~Adult Himawari Image~

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Kael sat on the edge of his bed and looked around the apartment. He had been gone for weeks, yet there was no dust on the shelves, no clutter on the table, no stale air hanging in the corners. Someone had clearly been coming in and cleaning while he was away. After the system’s ridiculous quest notification earlier, he had forced himself to calm down. In this timeline he was not her father. Whatever existed between them in some other version of events did not automatically apply here. The choice was still his. For now he pushed the thought aside and tried to settle back into ordinary habits.

Night came and the decision still sat unresolved in the back of his mind. Restless, he stood, crossed to the window, and slipped out onto the narrow ledge. A short climb later he pulled himself onto the flat roof of the building. The village spread out below in soft pools of lantern light. At the far edge of the roof, sitting on the low wall that overlooked the street, was a familiar figure.

Himawari.

She heard his footsteps and turned. The moment her eyes met his, her face flushed deep red. She half-rose as if ready to vault over the side and disappear.

"Wait," Kael said quickly, raising both hands. "I understand."

She froze, still poised to jump. "What do you understand?"

"I know you were cleaning my place while I was gone. What I walked in on earlier was just a misunderstanding."

Himawari slowly settled back against the railing. Her ears were still pink. "You... know. I’m sorry. It’s weird, finding someone else in your apartment like that."

"You’re not just someone," Kael said. "You can come by whenever you want."

She hesitated, then sat down fully on the wall again. After a moment she patted the space beside her. "Can you sit with me for a minute?"

"Sure."

He dropped down next to her. For a while neither of them spoke. The night breeze moved across the rooftops and carried the distant sounds of the village settling in for the evening. Himawari kept her gaze on the street below, but her shoulders were tight, like there were too many things she wanted to say and no safe way to say them.

Kael broke the silence first. "We’re related somehow, right? In your timeline."

Her head snapped toward him. "Why would you say that?"

"Nothing solid. I just feel closer to you than I do to most people. Like family." He shrugged. "You don’t have to confirm or deny anything. I’m only guessing."

Himawari looked away again. She could not tell him the truth. She could not say the words *you are my father*. The risk was too high.

"If you want to talk about anything," Kael added, voice easy, "you can. No pressure."

A long minute passed. Finally she spoke, still staring at the street.

"I was only cleaning. I thought you were away on a mission and... I wanted to do something useful. I wasn’t trying to smell your clothes." Her ears went scarlet the moment the denial left her mouth.

Kael let out a quiet huff of laughter. "Could’ve fooled me. Next time just ask if you want a souvenir. I’ll leave a clean pair of underwear on the table with a little bow on it."

Himawari made a strangled sound that was half protest and half embarrassed laugh. She covered her face with both hands. "That is not funny."

"It’s a little funny."

She peeked at him between her fingers, then slowly lowered her hands. The tension in her shoulders had eased a fraction.

"Where were you, anyway?" she asked. "You were gone a long time."

"Mission," Kael said. "Nothing dramatic. Just took longer than expected. Place looks better than when I left it, though. Thanks for that."

Himawari nodded, picking at a loose thread on her sleeve. "I didn’t want you to come home to a mess. In my... in the place I come from, I used to do the same kind of thing. Small stuff. It made me feel like I was helping."

She stopped there. The rest of the sentence—the part about a father who never came home, about standing in an empty Hokage office that still smelled like him—stayed locked behind her teeth.

Kael did not push. He simply sat with her while the lanterns below flickered and the wind tugged at their clothes. After a while Himawari shifted closer and, almost tentatively, rested her head against his shoulder. Kael stayed still and let her. The contact seemed to drain the last of the nervous energy out of her. Her breathing slowed. The rooftop felt quieter somehow.

They talked about nothing important after that. She asked what he usually ate when he was too lazy to cook. He admitted to an embarrassing reliance on instant ramen and the occasional egg. She told him, with mock severity, that a growing shinobi needed actual vegetables. He asked whether she preferred the view from the roof at night or at sunrise; she said night, because the village looked softer. The conversation drifted, light and easy, the earlier awkwardness fading into something almost comfortable.

Then, without any warning, the atmosphere changed.

Himawari lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him. Her eyes moved, almost unwillingly, to his mouth. Something complicated and frightened and yearning moved behind her expression. In her own timeline the love she felt for her father had never had anywhere to go after he was gone. Here, sitting beside a living version of him who did not even know what he was to her, that love was twisting into a shape she did not recognize and could not control.

Kael saw the direction of her gaze and went still. He did not lean in. He simply waited, giving her the choice.

Himawari made it for both of them.

She closed the small distance and pressed her lips to his.

The kiss was clumsy and too quick, more impulse than intention. The moment their mouths met, her eyes flew wide. She jerked back as if burned, one hand flying up to cover her own lips.

"Wait—wait, this is wrong—" Panic flooded her voice. "This is so wrong—"

Before Kael could say a single word she spun, planted one foot on the low wall, and dropped off the edge of the roof. He lunged forward, but she was already gone, landing lightly on a lower balcony and vanishing into the dark between buildings.

Kael remained kneeling at the edge of the roof, the night air cool against his face, the faint taste of the brief kiss still on his mouth. Below him the village continued its quiet business, unaware. He stayed there a long time, staring at the place where she had disappeared.

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