Washing the dishes while she held onto her still-infant son was probably not what sensible people did while the entire village was fighting the Kyuubi. But what else was she supposed to do? Fugaku had told her to stay here and keep their children safe, he had told her that he would be back and that he would be safe and that everything would be okay.
Another roar from the Kyuubi shook the house causing Sasuke to start crying once again. Mikoto bounced her son patting his back gently. Itachi had been a quiet baby, never fussing, never crying, Sasuke was by all accounts a loudmouth brat that screamed whenever he was put down. "Hush now baby, everything's going to be okay, it's alright daddy will come home, he will. I know he will."
But she didn't know. It had already been, how long? An hour? How could the battle not be decided by now? Her heartbeat was going crazy and she held onto Sasuke for dear life. She should run. They all should have ran, Konoha the village was less important than Konoha the people.
"Mom," Itachi said in the quiet way he spoke to everybody, so calm and polite. He pulled on her leg. "It'll be okay mom."
She almost believed her son, Sasuke's cries began to die down, and once again the Uchiha household fell into that familiar silence that she once found suffocating. Even now it felt like the world was in mourning. But compared to the roars of the Kyuubi it was a welcomed sound.
The sound of battle had faded, they had won, the Kyuubi was gone for now. That had to be it right? There was no way the beast would be silent if it had won. Unless it had ran, or they had led it away from the village. No, she needed to hold out hope. The beast was dead and Fugaku and the rest of the clan would be returning shortly.
Everything would be fine.
Glass shattered in the living room, shocking her out of her thoughts. Itachi ran off towards the sound as fearless as ever. Moments later he came back holding a broken picture frame. It was of her and Fugaku. "This fell."
She felt weak, her stomach had fallen out and her heart was going crazy, the world began to spin and blur. It was just a coincidence, probably just got knocked off balance by the Kyuubi's roars or stomping, it did cause the ground to shake several times. It was bound to happen.
A knock on the door made her jump. "Itachi, stay here. Hold your brother."
Itachi took his little brother holding him just how she showed him too. "Okay."
There was more knocking, it was growing frantic. Stepping gingerly to avoid the shattered glass Mikoto crossed their living room and slid open their door. The flames that erupted beyond the compound blinded her for a moment, and the smell of blood drifted into the air. How many people died? Where was Fugaku? And who was knocking?
"Mikoto," It was Kushina. "I'm sorry, Mikoto, I'm so sorry." She was crying, and holding something, a child! "Please take care of Naruto."
Kushina shoved her son into Mikoto's arms before she fell to the ground in a wordless heap.
"Kushina?!" What happened? Where was Minato and Fugaku? Where were the other ninja? Why was the village on fire? What else was going on? No, focus on the here and now, Kushina was bleeding, half naked, but she was breathing. "Itachi!"
She pulled Kushina into the living room as her son entered still holding Sasuke. "Take Naruto and put him with Sasuke in their crib, after that go out and see if you can find any survivors."
Her son was competent, he was already in the academy, he could survive, and she'd join him. As soon as she made sure that Kushina wouldn't die.
XXXX
Kushina blinked up at the ceiling. It was a lovely wooden ceiling where the support beams were visible and no insulation could be seen, probably was freezing in the winter. Her side hurt, it was wet too - probably from her own blood - why wasn't she in the hospital? She should probably be in the hospital. Not that she wanted to be in the hospital. That placed freaked her out.
But Minato would want her in the hospital and… oh. That was right. Minato was dead. How many of them died? She lost count, numbers were hard when she was wrestling with the Kyuubi. It all blurred into fire, death, and pain. Except for Minato. His smile, his last gift to her. A chance to raise their son.
"Naruto!" Kushina shot out of the bed, where was her child? Her sweet baby boy! He had to be nearby she needed to see him. Pain froze her as her side felt like it was being attacked by a cheese grater with each individual nerve being tweaked and twisted.
"H-hey!" A girl -how did she not notice that there was a girl sitting right next to her bed?- squeaked. She was young, with long black hair and a bandage wrapped around her head that covered one eye, while other bandages were along her arm and legs. "I don't think Miss Mikoto wants you to move."
"Mikoto?" Images of last night snapped into mind, Fugaku sacrificing himself to save her. No, he died for their village, not just to protect her. Her head burned as she tried to remember more of what happened. The Kyuubi attacked, It broke free from her, no, that wasn't it. It was.
The memory screamed in her mind tearing at her entire body with wicked nails that drove her from the truth. Her thoughts were pushed away and towards what she could think about. Her son. She had a son, a beautiful baby boy.
"Naruto." She breathed out, thoughts of her son had a soothing effect on her mind, like a foot massage. But for her brain. Naruto! Right she needed to see her son make sure that he was okay! She turned to the girl who had scooted away from her bedside looking slightly scared. "Hey, could you bring my son Naruto? He's just a baby."
The girl wrinkled her nose at Kushina as she thought about the request. "Is he the loud one?"
"Probably, with blond hair too." Kushina tried to laugh at that. She pictured her little blond bundle of joy crying his eyes out and making a fuss simply because he could. He was an Uzumaki he was bound to have lungs.
"Oh, that one!" The girl scrambled up a smile on her face like she wasn't even injured bouncing on her feet as she moved to the door. "I'll go get him!"
Kushina allowed a smile to fall on her face. Naruto was alive. That was good. But, who else was survived, Mikoto did, what about the rest of the village. She remembered seeing great swaths of flame, screams, destruction. She remembered Minato a clear as day, the pain of Naruto fat head as she gave birth. Then there were those eyes. And Fugaku.
"Gah," Kushina winced as searing pain drove her away from the thought. Even thinking about remembering what she wasn't supposed to remember was like a knife scraping against her eye. With a groan, she flopped back down onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. It wasn't a dream, dreams didn't hurt like that. She let out a laugh. "Great, I have PTSD."
Inoichi was so not going to be told about this. She could get through this. Her mind was her own, and she was an Uzumaki it would fix itself eventually… probably. All she needed was a little time and then she'd be herself again. In the meantime, she had to be a mother for her son.
Footfalls sounded from beyond the door, and the girl entered holding a bundle of joy in her arms like a pro. "Here, his name's Naruto, right? I like him, he doesn't cry when I hold him like Itachi's brother does."
Kushina sat up again, the pain in her side already fading. And vanished completely the moment she touched Naruto. He fused slightly, then he opened his blue eyes and smiled at her. "Hey there pretty baby," She returned his smile pressing her forehead up against his, their noses touching. "I'm your mama, Ku-Shi-Na"
Naruto gurgled and grabbed at her hair.
"Your father liked my hair too," Kushina mumbled, she would not let the tears out. Not now, not in front of her son. Never in front of her son. "He was a brave strong man, but a little bit on the girly side and constantly worried about everything. He was smart too and he loved you. So always remember that he loved you even when you become a bratty teenager and want to blame all your problems that your father left you, never forget that he loved you more than anything in the world. Well maybe, you wanna share first place with me kiddo?"
Naruto gurgled at her and tugged at her hair. He was so strong already!
"He's really cute," The girl said scooting close enough to Kushina that their shoulders were touching. Slowly the girl offered her finger to naruto who grabbed at it, his little hands holding onto it for dear life.
"Yea he sure is. When I was pregnant with him I was so afraid that he was going to be one of those ugly babies!" The girl laughed but Kushina was serious, she had nightmares that Naruto would look like Jiraiya. "Who are you anyway?"
"Oh, I'm Izumi Uchiha, Itachi rescued me last night. He and Miss Mikoto are out looking for others. They told me to make sure you and the babies were alright." Izumi's smile died, and Kushina saw her for what she really was. A scared little girl who was trying to act brave and was in desperate need for an adult. Shame she was stuck with Kushina.
"I'm Kushina Uzumaki, nice to meet you, Izumi." A small sense of normality. "Are there any others?"
Fresh tears poured down the girl's face and those motherly instincts that Kushina long ignored kicked in as she shifted Naruto into one arm and pulled the girl into a small hug. Izumi hugged Kushina like her life depended on it, a wet spot forming on her shoulder where the girl buried her face. "My mommy is gone, Daddy hasn't come back yet. But nobody else has either. Why did he lie to me? He promised he would be back."
"There, there," Kushina mumbled rubbing small circles into the girl's back. "You'll make it through this, I promise ya'know. You've b done a great job taking care of Naruto, and Sasuke to so it's okay to cry and take a break ya'know. It's okay to cry."
Kushina wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, it wasn't until Naruto began to fuss until they separated. "Izumi, can you hold Naruto for a second I think it's time I stand up."
"Oh no," Izumi wiped the tears from eyes, adopting the kind of stern look only a bossy little girl could have. "Miss Mikoto said that I have to make sure that you stay in bed and don't do anything stupid."
Stupid Mikoto even when she wasn't here she was bossing her around and stuff. Kushina pouted. "But I get jittery ya'know I'm not made to sit around and do nothing!"
"No." Damn bossy little brat.
"Hey I know, what if you bring Sasuke in here and I'll watch over the babies and you go get Mikoto for me?" That got the girl to think about it for a moment.
"Okay," Izumi said as she stood, eyes still ever so slightly puffy. "I'll go get him, but you have to promise you'll stay in bed. Miss Mikoto said you never go back on your word so you have to promise me."
Damn her only weakness… well that and ramen, and that thing Minato did with his… not the time to think about that. Still, Mikoto was so off the Christmas card list for letting a child know about her weakness. "Fine, I promise not to get out of bed, but I can't promise to do anything stupid cause I am stupid ya' know?"
Izumi giggled at that before she left. Moments later she appeared with a baby bag and a crying baby in her arms. "This is Sasuke, he really doesn't like me for some reason, I think he only likes Itachi or Miss Mikoto, so uhh good luck."
Kushina accepted her duty of dual wielding infants. Her strong little man reached out and began to try and grapple Sasuke while still gripping a strand of her long red hair. Sasuke looked ready to fuss again and was tearing up at Naruto's prodding. "Hey there Sasuke, do you remember me? It's me Auntie Kushina."
Sasuke stopped fussing and looked at her. His eyes were wide and focused only on her. Then he grabbed a handful of her hair like Naruto did.
"No fair," Izumi whined. She stood at the door ready to leave. "Why does he like you but not me?"
XXXX
Taking care of babies was easy. And really freak'n boring. Already she had fed them - at the same time! One on each teat- changed their diapers and taken a nap with both of them. As long as she gave them equal amounts of attention and a stand of her hair they were perfectly happy to just be babies doing baby things. Which, was pretty much eat sleep and poop.
It was during the nap that Mikoto decided to come and set her free from the boredom, leaving Itachi to make sure that they were put in Sasuke crib.
Mikoto had insisted on changing her bandages first thing, years of ANBU training at work she guessed. Which is why Kushina sat mostly naked on Mikoto's bed. Something that had only happened one or two times in the past.
"So how bad is it?" Kushina asked, holding up an arm for Mikoto reapply the bandages around her midsection. She had no idea where she had gotten that wound from, or any of her wounds really. Most of the important stuff was still intact at any rate.
"Bad," Mikoto replied a few needles and stitching threat dangled from her mouth. "Most of the Uchiha district is burned to nothing, or rubble, Not even half the clan is left. Konoha isn't much better, the entire east side is rubble, and there are still fires in some places, this house is was only spared because of a barrier Fugaku put up before he left."
Kushina winced as Fugaku's name seared across her mind just thinking about him was like staring at the sun. What happened to him? Why did thinking about him with last night hurt her? "I don't even remember what happened last night."
"Most don't, Lord Sarutobi has been placed in critical condition, so right now we don't even have a Hokage right now, Hiashi Hyuuga and Shikaku Nara are the go-to leaders it seems, they're doing their best." Mikoto sighed and began to stitch the wound on kushina's side.
She barely felt it the needle entering her skin, only the slight bit of tugging as the skin was brought to a close. "I thought you would have taken care of this last night."
"I was in a bit of a rush," Mikoto's morose look turned into that of a playful cat. "Besides, I knew that you'd survive for a little while if I just bandaged you up, you're too stubborn to die."
A heavy silence filled the room as Mikoto finished up the wound and reapplied the bandages.
"Kushina," Mikoto said with a heavy heart, her voice trembling through her hands did not. Kushina was pulled into a hug that had her head resting on Mikoto's shoulder. "You don't have to be so strong all the time."
"What are you saying?" despite her confusion Kushina quickly found her own arms wrapped around Mikoto's waist as she slowly rocked her raven-haired friend. "That's just how I am ya'know, just let me and Naruto crash on your couch and Sasuke crib for a few weeks and we'll be out of your-"
"It's okay to cry," Mikoto choked out interrupting Kushina.
Tears welled in her eyes against her will. "Mikoto, I'm not going ta-."
"It's okay to cry Kushina."
That did it. Those words broke the dam and Kushina let it all out. Her life with Minato, their future as a family, all the little moments she had planned with Naruto were now nothing more than a dream. Her husband, the first boy to give her the time of day, the first person in Konoha to actually think she was worth something was now gone.
Her entire life as she knew it was gone again.
"At Least I have you and Naruto, Mikoto." Two grains of hope against an ocean of despair.
She lost track of time as she and Mikoto both cried, inside this bedroom, they would let it all out, so that once they went outside and faced the world. They could do so with strength and determination.
XXXX
Izumi was hungry, well she wasn't really hungry. She didn't feel like eating, but Itachi was hungry, and the babies were asleep. So it was her duty as the biggest kid here to take care of the little kids, and that meant getting one of the adults to make them dinner. Mikoto probably, Kushina looked like she didn't know how to cook.
"They went into Miss Mikoto's bedroom," She mumbled to herself as she snuck around barefoot in Itachi's home. She eventually found it, a large sliding door at the end of the hallway. One knock, no response, two knocks, no response. That was weird, this was where Itachi said they went. "Miss Mikoto? Miss Kushina?"
Slowly she opened the door peeking her head in. Moments later she slid the door back shut, blushing. She might be young, but she was old enough to know that when she saw two adults holding each other, naked in bed it was something to be embarrassed about.
"Did you find them?" Itachi said in that bored unsurprised way that he always had. He had Sasuke in his arms with Naruto slobbering on his head, grappling his hair like a monkey. For a newborn, Naruto had the hand strength of a god.
"Oh uh," Izumi tried to hide her blush at the sight she had just seen. "They're asleep." Not a lie. "So I thought I'd let them keep sleeping."
"Okay," Itachi shrugged handing Sasuke to her. "I'll go make us noodles then. You try to keep Sasuke from crying."
Easier said than done, Sasuke hated her.
AN: Been wanting to do a proper Mikoto x Kushina fic for a while. Hope you all enjoy! Follow me on Tumblr! I post art that gives me ideas there! Time to work on... idk... Flowershop romance or Sakura Hyuuga next. Also go read The Klutz that Entered my Life by Yangster! it's fluffy!