"New chapter! Sorry if it's a little slow..." -BX3

"GRRAAHH!!" The woman growled punching the air violently "That IDIOT never changes. He treats everything like it's a GAME!!" She closed her eyes and counted to 10, calming herself down. "I've really gotta take care of this anger problem…" She thought "Still… as the Hokage he should know better than this! He's gotta realize he can't just shirk his responsibilities, especially someone of such a high rank as he!"

She walked up to his desk and started organizing the various papers all over his desk. She looked up. Something on the calendar hanging on the side wall caught her eye. She walked over to it to get a clearer look. She read to contents of the calendar and smiled. "Hm… I see. Well I guess this once isn't too bad… but he's in for it tomorrow… For sure!"

Her thoughts were interrupted when she looked up at the clock. "It's getting late… I should head home." Sakura walked over to the cracked window to close it, checking to see if anything else needed to be done. When she was satisfied, she left the room, closing the door behind her. The calendar shifted a little from the wind. On it was something bolded and circled in blue ink.


Chapter 3

Kagestu's Birthday

"Here you are. Three bowls." The woman behind the counter brought the three customers their bowls of Ramen. One was an average bowl, one was filled with all types of assorted toppings, and one was a rather small bowl with 2 slices of egg. The family of three got their chopsticks ready, a scrawny diamond-eyed child, a gentle faced mother and a certain blond haired father. "Itadekimaaatsu!"

"Enjoy your meal, Hokage-sama" said the woman from behind the counter.

"Hmm? Aww c'mon Ayame-chan…" The man said, scratching the back of his head. "You don't have to get into all those formal things. Just 'Naruto', okay?"

"Thanks you for da ramen Ayame-neechan!" Chimed the little girl.

"You're very welcome Kagetsu." She said smiling. She went to the back of the shop to tend to the supplies.

Kagetsu sat in between her mother and father. Though she looked almost nothing like her father, from her mannerisms, one could surely tell their relation. Hinata slowly ate her noodles in a(n attempted) polite manner, slurping occasionally, as Naruto and Kagetsu noisily slurped down large helpings of noodles at a time. They both gulped down their soup in unison and yelled "More please" as if they were identical twins.

"Coming right up." Ayame called from the back room.

"Thank you!!" She yelled back, happily. She felt something land on her head. It was her father, rubbing her head yet again and smiling down on her.

"Sorry I waited 'till late" he said in his gentlest voice. "But I do still hope you're havin' a good birthday."

She nodded her head. "Yuh-hu! I am! I am, papa sir!"

Ayame arrived to hand Naruto and Kagetsu their bowls of ramen. They both didn't hesitate to destroy the bowls like they did the previous ones.

"Oh that's right" said Hinata, pounding her palm. "I almost forgot. It's getting so late and we haven't even thought about what you want as a birthday present."

"Yeah you're right." Naruto said after swallowing "So, how 'bout it, kiddo? What is it you want on your birthday?"

"Wha I want…?" Kagetsu took in another mouthful of noodles as she thought. She pondered for a little while. What exactly did she want? "I want…. Oh! I want summa those throwings star things, so I can play ninja with Ichigo and Aoi-chan."

"Okay" murmured Naruto, assuming she was talking about fake shuriken.

"Really?! Okay! Oh… an', um… can I get da new +Chappy da Rabbit toy?"

"That new plush toy? Well sure, I don't see why not."

'He's spoiling her again', thought Hinata.

"Okay…" Kagetsu said joyfully. She decided to take this advantage and run with it "Can I get a thousand sweet things?"

"Well…" began Naruto, but he was quickly interrupted my his wife

"We're gonna have to pass on that sweetie…" She said, smiling.

Kagetsu shrugged this off and diverted her attention back to her ramen. Hinata shot a glance toward Naruto.

"C'mon, give me some credit." The Hokage mumbled. "It's not like I was actually gonna give her a bunch of candy." He also decided to go back to his ramen. Hinata decided to finish off the rest of the soup in her bowl.

Kagetsu decided to speak again after eating the last few noodles in her bowl. "Well… there is one more thing that I want."

"As long as it's nothing unreasonable." Said her mother. Naruto was listening in as he finished off his ramen.

"Um… okay. Well, um… I wou'd like some ninja stars… an' I really want Chappy da Rabbit, but…" She gave a shining smile as she told them… "I wou'nt care if I didn't get any of that stuff if… if I could be… a Big Sistur!"

Naruto sent a flurry of chewed noodles over Kagetsu's head and straight toward Hinata. Fortunately, Hinata had the reflexes to guard her face with her empty ramen bowl.

She kept her smile consistant as she said "That would be something 'unreasonable' Kagetsu…"

Naruto could be heard coughing in the background.

"Honey… I'm home…" The pink haired woman opened the door to her home to find a rather awkward sight. Her husband stood with an irritated look on his face. He was holding 2 children, atleast about 5 months old, one lay on his right shoulder, the other on his left. His clothes were smeared with something white, most likely baby food. He was sweating and his black hair was unkempt. Well, more unkempt that it usually is.

The woman couldn't help it, she just started to laugh. "You're…" she tried to say in between laughs "You're so pitiful."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't make fun of me, Sakura." He said, his voice matching the look on his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" She said, her laugher dying down. She put the groceries she had in her hands on a nearby table and took one of infants. "I guess we both were pretty busy today. C'mon, let's tuck these two in, and then we can rest."

The husband yawned in response and followed her into the small room. Two cradles stood across the room from each other. One was dark blue and the other was pink. The mother laid her daughter into the cradle and kissed her goodnight. The father laid his son in the opposite bed and softly stroked his head, his fingers gliding across the boy's soft hair.

The coupled plopped down on the couch in their living room, both exhausted.

"Ah, crap… what a day" The man sighed "Sakura-chan, you're cruel leaving me here with those monsters."

"They're not monsters." Sakura responded back "They're just a little hard to handle. Still, they look so peaceful when they're asleep huh?"

"Hmm…" he answered back.

They both were silent for a while, watching the images on the television screen. There was a commercial on, advertising a shipping service.

"Sakura-chan…" He murmured softly, so softly, Sakura thought she'd imagined it at first. "Let me ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Do you think… that I'd make a good father…?"

"What kind of question is that? You had a full day with the little ones didn't you?"

"Yeah, but that's just like charity work. Feeding, changing, and making sure they get enough sleep, enough air. It may be tiresome work, but it's something I can handle."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I'm just wondering… if I could be a real father-figure. Teaching them wrong from right, managing their lives. Am I… really cut out for this?"

"Well it's a fine time to think of that now…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just that… sometimes I look at them and ask myself 'what type of dad am I gonna be?'"

"You're going to be Sasuke Uchiha." She wrapped her arms around his torso and laid her head on her chest. "And I'm sure you'll be a great father to them. And besides, you have me with you, right?"

The husband just gave a small "Hm…" They both were silent yet again, watching the images on the television screen.

"Sasuke-kun…"

"Hmm?"

"You could use a shower."

"Ha ha… come on! Hurry up!"

Naruto and Hinata trailed behind their ecstatic daughter. They watched her run around, swinging and dancing with her new rabbit plushie. She occasionally slowed down when she felt she got too far and yelled back at her parents to 'hurry up.'

"Ugh… man was that awkward." Said Naruto, rubbing his head with his free hand (his other arm was around his wife). "To think she would ask for somethin' like that. I thought little kids liked being only children 'cause they'd never have to share things."

"What's even more awkward is that your whole explanation on how we needed to 'call in' and order for the stork to bring us a new bundle of joy.'" Hinata said, giggling.

"Oh c'mon, I panicked!"

"You told her that a magical world of people needed to know what we look like in order to pick from a 'baby tree.' I doubt even she believed a word of it."

"I'm glad you found it amusing." Naruto scratched his head again before continuing. "Actually… I've kinda been thinking about another kid also."

"Wha…Really? But why?"

He responded with a blush and a goofy laugh. "Well it's just a thought that crosses my mind every now and then." He chuckled again, a little embarrassed about what he was about to say "It's kinda hard to put into words. Well it's like, I've been around children a fair amount of times all my life and they certainly are something. So rambunctious and full of energy. But… I don't know… there's something about having your own children. When I look at Kagetsu smile, it's like…" He went back into the habit of scratching the back of his head "Well, without sounding to schmaltzy I guess I can say… I feel really good inside."

"Hmm… that's true" Hinata answered. She watched as Kagetsu ran toward a local villager, an old lady that looked to be in her early 50s. The lady kneeled down and smiled at Kagetsu as she showed her rabbit toy to her. The lady laughed cheerfully.

"Still, what about you and your title of Hokage? I'm sure you know how I feel about you even being here in the first place." Her husband turned away from the accusing glance he got from her "And anyway, I mean, Kagetsu is already a handful, and you're so busy. How will you find the time?"

"I can make time. My bein' here proves it doesn't it?"

Hinata pondered this for a moment "And you're sure about this?"

Naruto nodded. "I know, like you said before, I'm busy and I sure wouldn't want to leave you at home and have you overload on work everyday; that is the last thing I'd want to do. But, well… the best thing in life that's ever happened to me was becoming a dad and it took my own daughter for me to realize it." Naruto suddenly realized he was still rubbing his head and stopped. "Of course, it's all up to you, Hinata-chan."

He still had his eyes averted turned from earlier and turned to see Hinata leaning a little bit closer toward him.

"I think it sounds wonderful. And if Naruto-kun also thinks so, then it's settled."

Naruto said nothing back. They looked on at their daughter as she danced happily with her new toy and wondered if she'd make a fine older sister.

"Then I'll guess we'll be 'calling in' soon, huh?" Naruto said humorously

A light blush spread across Hinata's face "How about… say… tonight?"

"To…night..?"

Kagetsu stopped dancing around for a minute and notice she'd strayed too far again. "C'mooonnnn! Hurry up!"


"Well, there goes another chapter. Next week, the story takes a different course when one of the characters has a strange occurence. Who or what will it be? I hope you keep reading long enough to find out!"

"To all the faithfull readers that have read so far, please leave you comments telling me what you think. Also, there's nothing wrong with more views, so tell your friends :).

Until next time!" -BX3

p.s.: '+' Bleach Reference...