"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
—James Baldwin
"There you go," Sasuke said as he woodenly poured hot chocolate—as rich as it was dark—in a mug and stepped back to watch his worst critic's reaction.
It flowed slowly as she swirled the mug until the top became a whirlpool of white milk foam that was spotted with cocoa powder.
He knew the bottom was a mass of sugar crystals that had reformed as it cooled—knew that the warm liquid would coat her tongue thickly before flowing down her throat.
Just the way she liked it, he could only hope.
He held his breath, willing her to try it. He was damn near out of chocolate and this was his sixth attempt.
The cup rose deliberately slow to her lips and he watched her little porcelain face, his eyes wide with unknowing entreaty. She held his gaze and oddly enough, the pulse-beat at the base of his throat throbbed erratically.
Those brown eyes.
They were more than chocolate and honey.
They were the rocks against the shore that wrecked ships. They were copper against honey and when they watered—as they did earlier—they glowed like two perfect orbs, the same shade as nature after it rained. They were the rich dirt of Konoha and sunlight shining through whiskey.
They could melt you with their facade of chocolate, but then they would crush you with their under-layer of earth and soil.
Those brown eyes.
Beautiful. Dangerous. Deadly.
They were torture.
"Can I have some more cream?" she suddenly asked, raising her head from the cup to flicker her tongue out and lick away the cream off the roof of her lips.
Faint colour touching his slanting cheekbones, Sasuke added a generous layer, topping it with a zigzag of chocolate sauce. He didn't know why he was even making an effort to be creative. After all, she deserved to go to bed without supper for her rotten behaviour.
"Arigato," she said. There was warmth in her voice—a smile, even.
Annoyed, Sasuke kept staring at her. She was very hard to please—very irritating. He wasn't sure he liked her very much and yet, he would do anything to guarantee her happiness.
Why?
Because Uchiha Reika was the splitting image of her mother—minus the hair buns and perhaps the golden tanned skin—she was as pale and temperamental as he was. Her profile was a delight. Long lashes veiling those big brown eyes, neat nose just slightly pinched around the nostrils and naturally rosy cheeks. She was the picture of perfection—
His heart swelled until he thought it might burst out of his chest.
—the picture of Tenten.
Still, she was nothing like her mother. In spite of her diminutive size Tenten had a big heart, so unused to hurting anyone she was swift to apologize when she felt she had. Her daughter on the other hand had a loose tongue and a heart equally as black as the eyes of the man who fathered her.
Sasuke's dealt her a chilling glance.
He wasn't exactly the greatest of cook but the least the brat could've done was be a bit more sympathetic to their situation, rather than throw tantrums and cry for mommy. Now he was forced to resort to serving her hot chocolate and a slice of her brother's birthday cake for dinner because she refused to eat what was initially prepared.
To be fair to her, the hashed beef stew as too salty and the beef and onions that were supposed to have been thinly sliced weren't exactly thin. He wasn't even sure it had actually been beef either.
The baby, it seemed, was handling Tenten's absence far better than either of them. He had taken his bottle—without protest or complaint—and drank quietly in his highchair. If something tasted off with his formula—Sasuke was certain something must've—Uchito hadn't indicated.
"You promised to brush my hair before bed," Reika pouted, twirling a long strand of hair around her finger.
It was a soft brown, like the bark of an oak tree, not dark but simply gentle in any light with hues of red and gold—the colour of fallen leaves browned and sleek with the first rain of autumn.
Sasuke's back stiffened.
He could not recall having committed himself to such a horrendous and beneath-him task. Besides, looking at the child's hair now, he knew he could never get a comb through it without a gallon of conditioner—a testament of how neglected her hair had been since Tenten left, three weeks ago.
His face twisted into grimace as he imagined the comb mercilessly yanking on Reika's hair until she screamed bloody murder. Its fine teeth would get tangled in those messy curls; they would lap and devour them like a nest of brown mambas.
She hadn't gotten her hair texture from Tenten that was for sure.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're five years old, you should be able to do that yourself," he chided, in an attempt to be relieved of the responsibility.
But the fish didn't take the bait. Reika instead took a long and noisly sip of her drink and pinned him with pleading eyes. "Mommy always did it for me."
"Well I'm not your mother, am I?" he rasped.
Her chin lifted at that particular tone. "I miss her daddy. When is she coming back?"
Sasuke pulled Uchito's highchair next to his own chair and ruffled his hair. "If she's not back in three days, I'm going for her myself," he promised, poking his little nose.
The baby seemed to bounce about and whack his empty bottle against his chair in approval. When it fell to the floor he scrunched up his face as if to start howling but Sasuke held up an admonishing finger.
"I don't like crying," he stroked the tot's peachy cheeks and was rewarded by two chubby little arms stealing around his neck. "I don't like hugging either."
Uchito opened his mouth over the corner of Sasuke's and drooled all over his chin and jaw. It was his version of kissing—sloppy, wet, and somewhat cringe-worthy, yet it turned Sasuke's heart over.
"What makes you think I like having you slobber all over me either?" he chuckled and drew back, tracing Uchito's button nose, the squidgy little lips, the putty chin. "I wish you and your mother would just keep your mouths to yourselves."
He giggled.
He was more like Tenten than his appearance let on and Sasuke was probably a bad parent for admitting it, but he was his favourite child. He might be the exact replica of the Uchiha avenger—down to the birth marks on both their left shoulders—but Uchito was always so pleasant and brimming with energy that he was a constant reminder of his mother.
Reika on the other hand was a demoness. Ditch the brown hair for black, add some purple eye-shadow and she might even past for one of Orochimaru's reincarnations.
Sasuke did not like that he saw so much of his former self in her. If there was ever an enemy formidable enough to make him cower in fear it would probably be his daughter and her likeness to his younger power-hungry self. It was a nightmare. She was already asking questions about Madara, Itachi, Obito and all the other Uchihas who deflected.
"I love ew daddy," Uchito chirped, then he was off chattering in that unintelligible babble that he liked to use.
"Mommy is going to be so mad when she finds out you've been feeding me cake and ice-cream for dinner," Reika revealed grimly, somewhat vindictive.
"Quit complaining, most kids your age would kill for that," he told her. "Besides—" he slipped a piece of cake into Uchito's mouth. "—you won't breathe a word of this or I'll tell her what really happened to those scrolls," he threatened.
Her eyes widened at that, her soft mouth dropping open. Despite her age, she understood the concept of blackmail. It was the language her father spoke when he wanted to get her to do or not do something.
"It's because you keep ruining dinner, isn't it—?" she asked coldly, staring at the forceful set of his jaw, those mesmerizingly beautiful black eyes she wished she owned a pair of, the harsh slant of his cheekbones and the way his mouth was clamped in irritation.
He looked menacing.
"—and breakfast and lunch, and anything else that has to be prepared in the kit—" she added with reproof.
A slashing movement of one lean, long-fingered hand effectively silenced her.
"Eave daddy lone!" Uchito scowled, he too waving his hands angrily.
Sasuke smoothed his hair in an attempt to calm him down. He was Sasuke's protector, always quick to fight with his sister when she was being mean to daddy.
"Yes, leave me alone, Reika," he said laughingly in agreement.
She folded her arms and shot him a look of withering contempt. "Next time mommy leaves I'm staying with Uncle Neji."
He fell into an appalled silence and stared at her as if he couldn't believe his ears. Much to his horror, the girl's eyes welled with tears. But Sasuke would not be felled, his black brows snapped angrily together.
She had some nerve mentioning that name in his house, he silently grouched.
"It's Hyuuga to you," he scolded her. "And you will do no such thing, not if I have anything to do with it."
"Whooga," Uchito volunteered, spitting cake all over himself. "Whooga."
Sasuke was quick to wipe his mouth. "See your brother has got it right," he told her unashamedly smug; apparently impoliteness was something to be praised in children. "Now enough of this nonsense, you're giving me a headache."
Reika shook her head warily. "Uncle Neji knows how to cook and he would've brushed my hair for me."
His jaws clenched in annoyance. This blatant admiration for Neji that he felt coming from his daughter was absolutely unbecoming. He needed to have a serious talk with Tenten about having his kids hang around those pale eyed freaks.
"Eeka! Shhh!" Uchito urged, putting a tiny finger to his lips.
Brown eyes narrowed to slits as they fell on the baby. "Don't shush me!" she hissed. "Everything was fine until you came along and stole mommy and daddy from me!"
He blinked.
"Uncle Neji is the only person who still loves me," she sobbed, tears welled in her eyes and overflowed.
"This is new," Sasuke mused, frowning a little. "Where is all of this coming from?
"Admit it daddy," she cried. "You're not feeding me sweet treats because you can't cook. We could've easily gone to Ichiraku's. You're doing this to kill me off so Uchito will be your only child."
He shot her a look of brusque impatience. "Stop being dramatic. It's not making me like you very much right now."
"You don't like me at all," she shrieked. "It's because I won't possess your treasured Sharingan, isn't it?"
He goggled. How had she gone from critiquing his preparation of warm beverages to his parenting skills?
"That's why Uchito is favoured," she deduced. "I understand that he's little and mommy would have to spend more time with him but you—" she spat the pronoun like it was acid on her tongue. "—you pay more attention to him for another reason."
Sasuke wasn't sure how to respond to that so he kept quiet. Reika was probably more stoic than he had ever been as a child, so one could imagine how unsettled all of this was making him. This much emotion coming out of her was unusual. It took him back to a time when he tried to bake a cake for his dear wife and the gesture backfired on him—just as it had tonight.
The kid asked for hot chocolate and cake, he gave it to her and apparently he was a bad parent for doing so?
"Well I guess we can both agree on something," she suddenly declared. "I wish I was never born too!" she slammed down her mug and stormed upstairs to her room.
Sasuke and Uchito blinked in confusion.
There was no question about who had inherited the full blast of Tenten's fucking-crazy gene.
"You'll come back down these stairs if you know what's damn good for you, squirt," he warned, raising his voice only just slightly. "What has gotten into her?" he turned to his son, who merely shrugged his small shoulders in response.
Just as one door slammed shut another one creaked open and the hair on the nape of Sasuke's neck stood up.
His wife was back.
Just fucking perfect.
He swiftly and deftly cleaned up Uchito, set him on the floor and gave him instructions to go distract his mother while he cleared the table.
Tenten would have a fit if she found out what they had for dinner. Her kind of wrath he could handle with a little creativity, but he'd rather not have to deal with it in the wake of what transpired between him and his daughter.
It bothered him, pricked on his conscience.
"Aye aye daddy," Uchito playfully saluted his father and scampered towards the hall on his wobbly tiny legs. "Heyo mommy! El come back!" he piped on his way out.
Sasuke shook his head and chuckled. That damn boy could be awfully loud and chatty when he wanted to. And he probably would be exactly that for the rest of the night. He had a lot to tell Tenten once she got settled, of that Sasuke was certain.
"Is that mommy's best boy? Come give me a kiss!" Sasuke heard her exclaimed and then Uchito's giggles were filling the living room. "You've put on some weight," she noted aloud and Sasuke winced. "Where's daddy and that grumpy sister of yours?"
Uchito answered in his usual babble and Tenten seemed to have understood because she entered the kitchen shortly after the kid had finished ranting about his father and sister in his own little language.
"Is that so?" she asked the boy, nuzzling his nose with her own.
He nodded. "Daddy and Eeka," he jabbered on.
Tenten chortled. "And what about you? Did you cause any mischief too?"
His black eyes widened as if in appalled disbelief that his mother would question his innocence, "No mommy! Neher!"
"Never?" she arched a brow at him and his growing vocabulary. "Aren't you just the cutest?" Tenten gushed, showering his little round face with kisses.
Uchito did the same to her.
Sasuke scoffed.
She stopped greeting him like that since the kids came into the picture.
If only there was a return policy on children, he thought, shaking his head warily.
"Where's my princess?" she suddenly asked, looking around.
"In her broom," Uchito offered, grinning from ear to ear. Relief was etched all over his adorable features. No one was ever truly relaxed if Tenten wasn't home. "In her broom dying."
"In her room," Sasuke clarified then muttered beneath his breath, "—probably offering up the heads of her teddy bears as sacrifice to her cult."
"Crying?" Tenten enquired thickly, glaring at him. "Why is she crying?"
He fiddled nervously with his collars, "What makes you think she's crying?"
"Uchito just said—"
"—Uchito can barely string three words together to make a sentence," he argued, cutting in. "Don't be ridiculous Ten, Reika—"
"—nine!" the infant clapped, interrupting him.
He scowled, "Stop doing that."
His lips trembled at the sudden edge in Sasuke's voice and he buried his face in Tenten's neck. "Mommy, daddy hairy," Uchito sniffed a complaint.
"Did you hear that? He thinks you're scary." Tenten growled angrily. "Don't snap at him. What the fuck is your problem, Uchiha?"
"Every time I call you Ten, he screams nine," he explained in an exasperated tone.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Aww Chito, you're learning to count already?" the Kunoichi squeaked and proceeded to praised him in that annoying baby voice Sasuke hated so much. "Go get Reika, I brought back a souvenir from The Land of Rice for her to add to her collection."
Ever since Sasuke started doing it when Reika was six months old it became somewhat of a tradition to return with tokens from whichever village their missions took them.
"Give it to her in the morning. It's late," he said in an offhand manner and simply stood there looking expectantly at her, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Like greeting him.
Tenten fixed him a razor sharp look, "I'm giving you the opportunity to go fetch Reika and make up with her before she comes downstairs," she told him warningly. "Because if I go upstairs and find my daughter crying you will be joining Itachi in the ground."
That jolted him, his eyes going huge as he stared at her, startled, and saw she looked to be serious.
He swallowed hard upon the realizing that while given the option he would rather face her than his daughter. Tenten could be shit scary but Reika's words had sent a stabbing little chill down Sasuke's back.
Had he really started to treat her differently since Uchito's birth? And did it have anything to do with the fact that he now had a child who would possess his bloodlimit? His eyes flashed angrily as he registered the astonishing level of his guilt but conceded that it hadn't been a conscious effort.
"Go daddy!" Uchito urged, pointing in the direction of the stairs. He must have sensed the intent in his mother's word and was panicking for Sasuke's safety. "Go et Eeka!"
Sasuke glowered and shifted his weight to one leg. He felt a little bitter about Tenten's neglect to utter a single word of greeting to him. "What makes you think I did something wrong?"
She steadied the baby on her hips and went to fill the kettle with water. "I know you Sasuke. Whatever happened is most likely your fault."
"Let me do that," he offered, dispensing the tea leaves she had retrieved into a mug and dispossessing her of Uchito. "She just got back, give her a break," he chided the fuming boy, set him aside and ushered Tenten around the table.
"Ew elfish daddy!" he stomped his feet in protest.
Sasuke bent to jab his forehead punishingly with his index finger then rose to his towering height, "You're the selfish one, now off you go," he shooed him.
"He is growing so fast," Tenten said, watching as Uchito stomped out of the room in a fit of rage, mumbling a myriad of what could only be baby curses. "I'm afraid one of these days I'll return from a long mission and not be able to recognized him."
"That won't happen," he told her, placing a steaming hot mug of green tea before her. "How was the mission?"
Tenten sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair. "Like any other mission," she said laconically, rolled her shoulders and took a sip of her tea. "I missed you."
He fixed himself a cold drink and sat next to her, "Is that so?" he snarled the words.
"Of course," she met onyx eyes which seemed to pin her to her seat as they surveyed her unwaveringly. "I can't go without my Sasuke-fix for too long. It makes me cranky."
He snorted, despite himself. "Sasuke-fix?"
"You know," she nudged him with her elbows and winked.
He felt himself flush, not simply because of her barely-censored remark but because he had lain awake every night since she left, missing the feel of her silky skin against his and at that small contact he felt a wild fire spread throughout his loins.
"No I don't know," he cleared his throat, trying to still his accelerating heartbeat.
She giggled. "Don't you long for a Tenten-fix too?"
He arched an amuse brow and smirked. "Give me one and maybe I'll be able to discern whether I needed it or not."
It was Tenten's time to go red.
A long-fingered hand came up to touch her hair gently, then the other hand seized her head and held it tilted up so that the light from the ceiling shone directly on to her face.
"What did I tell you about coming back to me all scratched up?" he asked accusingly. "And you've yet to greet me properly."
Before she realised his intention he bent and kissed her, his mouth cold from drink, just brushing her lips at first, then suddenly seeming to take fire.
The love and hunger that had nestled in his soul and made him a better man now reached out with clawed hand around is neck.
His kiss was suddenly hard and hot, wringing from her a faint, distressed sob. She could hear a drumming of pulses, but she could not be sure whether it was her own heart beating or his.
He lifted his head after what seemed an eternity.
Tenten touched her chest as she fought for breath, "Oh you definitely need it."
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the sound of something tumbling down the stairs stopped him. Then Uchito's wails were echoing throughout the house.
"Oh my God," Tenten gasped in horror, getting to her feet. "Uchi—"
Sasuke was gone before she could finish saying his name. She scrambled after him and stumbled upon the sight of her baby sitting by the foot of the stairs with tears streaking down his face.
Her heart and stomach cramped painfully.
"Mommy!" he sobbed. "Eeka eave."
"Did your sister push you down the stairs?" Tenten demanded.
Uchito nodded then shook his head hastily at the murderous glint in his mother's eyes at his first answer. "No!"
"Did he hit anywhere?" she asked urgently.
Sasuke was already on his knees before him, checking that he hadn't broken any bones or hurt himself too badly. "He's fine, except for the nasty bruise on his forehead," he told her as he looked him over, sharingan activated.
She couldn't even breath a sigh of relief. Uchito was screaming at the top of his lungs. "Go et Eeka Daddy!" he shrieked. "Eeka eave."
Tenten's brows furrowed at the crumpled piece of paper he held in his small fist. "What's that?" she asked, bringing Sasuke's attention to it.
He gently pried Uchito's palm open and unfolded the paper. There was something scribbled on it in Reika's large and neat print.
Dear Mommy, thank you for everything. Take care of Uchito. Love, Reika.
"What is it?" Tenten asked, panic in her voice. "Are you sure he didn't hurt his wrist? Give him to me. Let me see."
"Tenten," he said grimly. "Go check on Reika."
"Why, what's wrong?" she looked up from where she had thrown herself down and was rocking Uchito in her arms, trying to comfort him.
"I think she might have ran away," he said slowly.
She rolled her eyes and laughed, "An Uchiha running away? Isn't that becoming some sort of cliche?"
"This is serious," he showed her the note.
She just stared at him open mouthed. Her brain formulated no thoughts other than to register that she was shocked. She closed her mouth, then looked blankly at her feet before glancing back up to catch the genuine worry in Sasuke's eyes.
Disbelief buckled through Tenten. "You can't be serious."
A/N: Yes. You read right. Its a SasuTen family fic. But this is only three chapters long :) It would've been posted to "A Sweet Addiction" as a one shot but 12k words for a one shot is kind of outrageous so I have split it up. Expect this to end quickly lol.
There are like zero SasuTen family fics out there so I wanted to write one. Thanks for reading. Reviews are very much appreciated. Pretty please? ;) If you guys don't keep the flame alive, authors won't either.
Credits to megamac1296 for helping me to piece over the cracks in the plot. Thank you for writing Clandestine. The epilogue really inspired this short story. And shout out to Sayori Hollywood for the encouragement. Of course I would love to thank every single SasuTen fan (and non-fan) who have come across my work and supported me. It means a lot. You guys are like family to me. You are the only ones who value this aspect of who I am. In real life no one really supports my passion for writing.
Thank you :)
I know what you are all thinking... "Uchito Uchiha? Seriously? What the fuck Princess Hyuuga?"
Lol (*^﹏^*)