Stormy Nights

"Sasuke."

It was a quiet whisper, one that normally wouldn't have awakened the head of the Uchiha household. But the soft, sweet, comforting, and familiar voice that had never failed to catch his attention before pulled him out of his slumber, as if it were directly calling to his heart. Of course he would respond. And so, he opened his eyes.

"Hm?"

His wife stirred in his arms, her dark, indigo hair tickling his nostrils, and he instinctively pulled her closer. It was only then that he noticed the whistling wind and the flashes of lightning accompanying the deafening thunder and torrents of rain crashing on their bedroom window.

Sleeping with Hinata always guaranteed a peaceful night's rest; he was seldom bothered with anything else.

He yawned sleepily into her neck, trying to shake himself out of his dreams. When his mind had cleared, little voices reached his ears from amidst the noise of the storm.

"Ssh! You're going to wake up Mama and Papa!"

"B-but I can't! I'm scared!" a tearful voice whimpered. As if the skies themselves heard the tiny voice, the thunder crashed even louder than before.

"I think you need to put them back to bed," Hinata sighed as the sounds of crying got a little louder.

"In a bit." Sasuke mumbled, tightening his hold around her waist. He secretly like hearing the voices of his children—his children!—fill the once empty Uchiha compound. It was a welcome change from the ghosts and spirits he had once thought he heard roaming its halls. To think that he and the love of his life produced such wonderful creatures.

"What's going on in here?" The bedroom door slid open.

"Onee-chan!" came a shuddering sob. There was a sound of bedsheets rustling. Sasuke imagined the owner of the voice colliding into his older sister's embrace. "I'm scared!"

"It's okay, Rai-chan, you're okay." Sasuke could practically see his eldest daughter soothing her younger brother. His and Hinata's eyes were open as they laid still, listening to the exchange from down the hall. At only six years old, like her two triplet brothers, Hiruko was already attuned to the needs of her younger siblings. She was gentle, like Hinata, with the quiet authority that Itachi once had.

"Shut up, half-eyes!" piped a new voice. "Don't be such a baby!" The crying only got louder.

"Don't call us, half-eyes, Tsuru-nii, you meanie stupid face!"

Hinata sighed with an affectionate, but exasperated, shake of her head. Sasuke knew he would have to have a talk with his kids about name-calling.

"Kaminari, be quiet," came an authoritative voice. Kosen, their reliable eldest boy, always reminded both Hinata and Sasuke about their own Itachi and Neji, the way he looked after his younger siblings. "Tsurugi. You know what Okaa-san said about saying that to the twins. And I told you to stay in bed. Hiruko, hurry up and calm Raiden down before Otou-san comes. Yaoke, get Tsurugi back to bed."

"Tsuru, come on, let's go," another voice urged worriedly. "We're not supposed to be up."

"No fair! If you get to be up, I do too!"

"Tsuru, be quiet!" Hiruko whispered fiercely.

"Get off me Yao-nii, you duckbutt!"

The normally soft voice of the youngest triplet had a sharp edge to it. "I'm the duckbutt? You're the duckbutt, you duckbutt! Look at your hair!"

"Look at your hair!"

Now sounds of a scuffle started to come from the room. Sasuke took this as a sign to drag himself out of bed.

"Do not fight!" Kosen hissed.

Tsurugi whined, "Onii-chan, I want to stay with you!"

A loud whimper came from another one of the rooms down the hall.

"Uh-oh." Kaminari gasped. "Onee-chan, is that Shia-chan crying?"

"Oh, great, now Okaa-san's going to wake up," Hiruko said anxiously. "Onii-chan, stop them from fighting!"

"I'm trying!" Kosen growled.

A deep voice much more frightening than the thunder outside interrupted them. "Why are you all not in bed?"

"Papa!"

"Otou-san!"

All pairs of frightened, wide-eyed Hyuuga-Uchiha eyes stared up at their father's figure in the doorway. Sasuke's arms were crossed as he took in the scene before him. Hiruko held a tearful Raiden in her arms, with his twin, beside them. Kosen, ever the dependable older brother, held a scowling Tsurugi and an irritated Yaoke apart.

"Rai-chan is scared, Papa." Kaminari squeaked as she held onto her older sister's arm.

Sasuke sighed and he walked over to the futon, sinking down on its sheets, lowering his face to where the boy was holding on to his sister's neck. Sasuke gave him a small grin, beckoning the four-year-old to come to him with a quick jerk of his chin. Raiden immediately leapt into his arms and buried his face in his father's chest calming instantly when he realized his father wasn't angry.

"All of you, come here."

Kosen released his hold on his brothers and they gave each other one last glare before heading trying to beat each other to their father's side.

"Tsurugi," Sasuke told the boy that was almost an exact copy of himself as a child. "Stop picking fights with Yaoke."

With a pout, he muttered. "Yes, Otou-san."

Turning to the boy who was, in contrast, almost a clone of Hinata as a child, if she were the opposite gender, he said, "Yaoke. Don't fight back. You're older."

"Okay, Otou-san." Yaoke stood a little taller beside Kosen. Although he was part of the triplets, he didn't seem to have as much authority as Kosen and Hiruko, although he was only younger than them by five and three minutes respectively. It felt good to be recognized as one of the eldest siblings, too.

"Thank you, Kosen, Hiruko."

Kosen nodded proudly and Hiruko beamed, settling in closer to her father on the futon, opening her arms so that Kaminari could climb onto her lap.

Sasuke turned his attention the boy who still hugged him tightly around his waist. "Raiden, are you scared of me?"

"No, Papa," the muffled voice responded. Raiden moved his head back to look at his father in the face. One teary white eye and one tear black eye stared up at Sasuke, matted, indigo hair framing the boy's face messily.

"Well, then. You don't need to be scared of lightning and thunder." Sasuke reached out to smooth the boy's hair. "Why? Because I am lightning. I am thunder. You are lightning. You are thunder. Your name—and Kaminari's—say so."

Sasuke repositioned the boy onto one lap and stuck out his left hand. Kaminari came up behind her twin, her eyes the exact opposite of his, with an excited expression, giving Raiden an encouraging smile. Hiruko slid her arms around her father's neck and Kosen, Yaoke, and Tsurugi formed a circle around them, faces filled with delight.

"Chidori," Sasuke whispered. And with the sound of a thousand birds, sparks of lightning came from his hand. With its light, Hiruko and Yaoke's byakugan eyes were illuminated against the dark room, along with the mirror images of white, byakugan and black, sharingan eyes in Raiden and Kaminari.

"Are you scared now?"

"No, Papa," Raiden breathed in awe.

A small giggle interrupted the fading chirps and the dying light.

All pairs of eyes looked up to see the matriarch of the family leaning against the doorway with their youngest sibling on her hip. The toddler had her hand stuck out reaching out in delight. "Again!"

"Mama!"

Hinata smiled, her long hair spilling down her shoulders, matching the head of hair of the two-year-old she held in her arms. "Back to bed, all of you. Come on. Otou-san will show you more tomorrow."

The triplets rose reluctantly from the futon, giving their father a begging glance. He smirked. "Listen to your mother."

Hiruko released her hold on her father's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek before giving her younger twin brother and sister one, too. She pulled Tsurugi's and Yaoke's hands towards the door, with Kosen close behind.

"Good night, Okaa-san," She said happily, reaching up on her tiptoes. Hinata bent down to press her lips against Hiruko's forehead, then Tsurugi's. She ruffled his messy hair as he slid past her. Not wanting to be left out, Kaminari jumped up from the futon and ran towards her mother, asking for a kiss before turning and running back to scramble into her own futon. Yaoke reached up to squeeze his mother around the waist as she kissed him. Kosen gave Hinata a kiss on her cheek in return before reaching out to pinch his baby sister's and calling behind him, "Good night, Otou-san."

Hinata blew a kiss to the boy on Sasuke's lap. "Good night, Rai-chan." Her eyes twinkled. "Maybe one day, you can teach Shia-chan not to be scared of storms, too, ne?" She pressed her cheek against her youngest daughter. Shiawase laughed happily as she grabbed a fistful of Hinata's hair, her black eyes shining with delight.

Raiden nodded eagerly. "Nn! 'Night, Mama."

Shiawase waved to her brother one last time over Hinata's shoulder as she left the room.

"Okay, back to bed," Sasuke said, guiding his son back into his futon. Raiden snuggled into his sheets as Sasuke tucked them around his small form. "Get some rest."

After he was finished with Raiden, he turned to ruffle the boy's twin sister's hair in the futon next to him. She responded with a sleepy smile before burying her face deeper into the pillow.

Before Sasuke could get up to leave, he heard a tiny voice. "Papa?"

"Hm?"

Raiden motioned for him to come closer. Sasuke bent his head so that the boy could whisper in his ear. "Thank you, Papa." Raiden whispered sleepily, tears and fears forgotten already. He wrapped his small arms around his father's neck and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

Sasuke swallowed as he tried to choke back the happiness he could feel about to burst out of his chest. He would never tire of hearing those words. "I love you, too," he answered gruffly.

The happy tears he felt stuck in his throat never seemed to disappear, even when he was back in bed with Hinata, his arms around her slim waist once more. "Our kids are kind of amazing, aren't they?" he asked into the back of her neck.

Hinata turned so that she was facing her husband and encircled her slim arms around his neck. Her eyes were bright as she gazed up into his, giving him a tiny, happy smile. "You might be a little biased. They are your own, after all." She gave him a small kiss on the nose.

"Another one?" Sasuke teased, as he pulled her closer.

Hinata buried his face in the crook of her neck under her chin so that he couldn't give her a kiss on the mouth, clutching his head tightly. "No way," she laughed. There was a short pause before she sighed contentedly, as she relaxed her hands. Instead, she let her fingers lace through his hair softly. "This is fine."

Sasuke chuckled. He breathed in as well, letting the smell of her hair fill his nose. "This is more than fine."

That night, the Uchiha family fell asleep to the sounds of the beating of their hearts pumping against their chest, much louder and much more significant than any sound a storm can make.

It was blood, it was love, and it was home.