'Minato! Minato!' I screamed while running towards the Hokage office. Another 'Minato!' as I burst through the door, 'I have amazi-' I suddenly stopped when I saw that the room was currently occupied with no one less then my uncle and one of the elders of the Hyuuga clan. Minato's head turned towards me, and a small smile played on his lips, but his eyes remained sad looking. 'Hitomi-chan, why don't you go see your father in the hospital? We'll follow you after we've… discussed some things.' The smile didn't quite reach his eyes, they stayed calm and serious, missing the twinkling spark they usually carried. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong. But when I asked Minato what it was, he just told me to go, with a sad look on his face. For a moment I even thought the Hyuuga elder and Hiashi had pitying looks on their faces. But just for a moment. Hmm… nah, I imagined it. 'Well, okay… then… I'll just go now… bye.' I said as I awkwardly closed the door behind me.

I sighed, and used Minato's flying thundergod technique to teleport into the hospital room. I had given a seal to my father earlier on. 'Hi daddy! Where's Neji-nii? Is he alright?' I asked him hastily, hoping with everything I had in me that the answer would be 'yes'. My father just nodded his had solemnly. 'Dad, is something wrong?' I asked him cautiously, the sinking feeling in my stomach only intensifying. He sighed a heavy sigh and I could see a tear trickling down his check. 'Daddy, what's wrong?' I asked him again, this time with evident fear in my voice. 'I- it's your mommy, she- she-' he wasn't able to find the right words and closed his eyes for a while before trying again, 'she's gone.'

My stomach dropped at least 100 meters when he said that. My brain froze, just like the rest of my body. My breath caught in my throat. What? My mum? Gone? No, no, that wasn't true. He was just making a joke, a very annoying not funny joke. 'Daddy, it's not funny.' I told him, my voice sounding a bit to desperate to convince anyone I really thought it only was a joke. 'Hitomi-chan… she's gone.' He said, looking me right in the eye. I drew a shaky breath before running to hug him. We stood like that for a long time, hanging on to each other as if we were hanging on to her. I could feel the tears running down my father's face and dropping on the top of my head. I refused to cry, though. I did everything I could to keep the tears inside. After a while I broke the hug. 'Dad, where is Neji-nii?' 'He's next door, sleeping.' Was his soft reply, and to my relief he now had a smile on his face, 'he's beautiful.' 'Can I see him?' 'Of course you can, come along.'

We entered a room full of babies. I recognized Neji-nii immediately; he was next to the wall with the window in it, his big, lavender, pupil-less eyes staring right at us. I walked towards him and picked him up, hugging him close to my body. He closed his eyes and snuggled up to me. I couldn't help but smile. He was the most adorable child I had ever seen. I wondered what he would look like when he was grown up, if he would have daddy's face or mum's hair.

Mum…

Tears welled up behind my eyes again, but I fought against them best I could. I wouldn't show any weakness. Then I heard my father's voice, 'It's alright to cry, Hitomi-chan.' I shook my head softly, as not to wake up Neji-nii, who had just fallen asleep. 'No. No I can't. I have to be strong, for Neji-nii.' I said resolutely. My dad smiled again, 'You're very brave, Hitomi-chan.' He told me. Then he hugged me and left the room he said he to talk to the Hokage. I just nodded and let him go.

I don't know how long I sat there with Neji-nii, just sitting and humming and just feeling content with being there, but it must have been a long time. When I looked outside it was already dark. I didn't really care. I just continued sitting there, with my little brother, when finally a nurse came to tell me that I really had to go home because visiting hours were over and other nonsense. I listened, though. I still wanted to see Minato-chan. I left Neji-nii in the Nurse's care and headed for Hokage tower, hoping that Minato-chan was still there. Without the stupid advisors, though.

This time I knocked on the door, not wanting to interrupt something again. I heard an annoyed 'come in.' from the other side of the door and couldn't hide a small smirk. He must think I'm his assistant or something… I quickly altered my voice with chakra, to sound like a middle aged woman, 'Hokage-sama, the fire Daimyo wants to organize a meeting between Konohagakure no sato and Sunagakure no sato, apparently Sunagakure has done something bad again and he isn't sure if the truce will hold. And could you please open that door for me? I've got way too much paperwork to reach the handle.' He grumbled a lot of colourful swearwords and something along the lines of wanting to be home early to see Kushina-chan. I had huge trouble containing my laughter and when the door's burst open and I saw the look on his face when he realized it was only me, I practically fell to the floor laughing. He sighed, turned around, and entered his office again, leaving me on the ground. I quickly got up and also entered the office, before he could slam the door in my face.

'I'm glad to see you're happy as ever, Hitomi-chan.' Minato-chan told me with a somewhat stern look on his face. I pouted, 'What's wrong, Minato-chan? Normally you would have at least smiled at something like that…' He sighed, 'I know… and I'm sorry. I'm just really stressed out. Kushina-chan hasn't been feeling to well lately… And to be frank, I didn't really expect you to be so, erm, cheerful.' I nodded and walked forward to sit in the chair that stood in front of his desk, 'I know… It's just, I can't cry.' Minato-chan looked at me with a worried look on his face, 'You can't cry? It's unhealthy to keep all of your emotions inside, you know.' I nodded again, 'Yeah, I know. It's just, I have to be strong. For Neji-nii.' I told him, a big smile on my face now. He shook his head, a small smile on his face too, 'I'm sure you'll make an excellent big sister.'

Yep, definitely a bittersweet memory. I lost my mum, but I gained one of the most important and precious people I would ever have in my life. And don't get me wrong; I loved my mother, a lot. It was just that when I was hugging my dad, I imagined – in all my 8-year-old wisdom – how lonely it must be to grow up without a mother. Without someone to support you, to be there for you, to sing to you when you can't sleep at night. So I decided I would do that for Neji-nii. I would be there for him, I would support him and I would sing to him when he couldn't sleep at night. And I didn't think I would make a great start by crying. He, pretty selfless for an 8-year-old…

And what Minato-chan said about Kushina-chan not feeling to well. She was suffering from morning sickness. Yes, she was pregnant with the boy who would become a legend, Uzumaki Naruto. Although his birth was one of the saddest memories I have…

Hey guys!
I know it's been forever since I updated, but that was because of a holiday in Morocco! It was soo much fun...
But, yeah. Sorry.
Also, this chapter was a bit short, as some of you might notice. The only reason is because I couldn't think of a better ending for this chapter .
The next chapter will be at least two times the amount of words, so please look foreward to it!

X, Faith Bell.