Dedicated to: crazee (Guest Reader)

NB: Non-Massacre. Itachi resides in the Hidden Leaf Village.


Chapter Seven

My Everything

...

There was no light seeping through the heavy drapes hanging by the windows of the bedroom when Tenten jerked from a restless slumber. A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand told her that she still had a few hours before Sasuke had to leave on his mission.

So she laid there, her head resting on his shoulder, one leg draped between his, her fingertips slowly drifting over his chest. She wished he didn't have to go.

He made a soft noise and closed one hand over hers.

"You're needed." His voice came out hoarse with exhaustion.

She blushed, her thoughts immediately straying towards the gutter. "A part of me likes when you leave on these long missions," she purred, fanning the shell of his ear with her breath. "The goodbyes are always worth it," she said in recollection of last night.

He opened an eye and arched a brow at her. A smirk tugged on the corner of his lips. Her eyes sparkled merrily, and she showered his face with soft, sensual kisses, startling him with the unexpected show of affection.

"That's good to know but I wasn't talking about me," Sasuke informed her flatly. Still, his body reacted to the hunger in her kiss.

She blinked in confusion and coloured with embarrassment.

A bloodcurdling wail whipped through the air, bruising the silence. In the distance the sound of a few fluttering wings drifted away in panic as birds sought refuge from the earsplitting shrill.

It was the same thing every damn morning; like clockwork the thing went off at 2:45 a.m. How something so unaware kept up such consistency, Tenten would never know.

She sat up, pushing her tumbled hair out of her face. "It's your turn," she informed him, amazed that he could always sense the cry before it came.

He groaned in protest. His fingers twitched, itching to stick themselves inside his ears, to block out the sound. "It's always my turn."

She growled and jabbed him in his side, "Get up."

"I have to leave in the morning; give me a break," Sasuke grumbled into his pillow and inched away from her least she decided to replace those fingers with a kunai knife.

Tenten folded her arms and kicked him out of frustration. "That's no excuse," she told him unsympathetically, her eyes like cold brown pebbles. "You should have considered that these things didn't come with an on and off switch before you asked me for one," she pointed out with some tartness.

He lifted his head from the pillow and fixed her a chilling glare as he came to full consciousness. Fury blazed in his eyes and his mouth compressed in annoyance. It was the kind of look that sent enemies cowering in fear on the battlefield. However, it had somewhat of the opposite effect on his wife. In fact, everything about his forbidding temperament threw her different signals. The only time she appeared completely intimidated by him and his reputation was when his gestures towards her were thoughtful. She said a nice Sasuke was a scary one.

He would never understand why though.

But Tenten was a jigsaw puzzle in her own right. Sasuke supposed that was the reason he harboured the deepest kinds of feelings for her. Her mind wasn't an opened book, she kept him on his toes—guessing—wondering. He had to exercise caution around her, as comfortable as he was in their relationship. He appreciated that greatly. It meant that he had to put some actual effort into getting her to warm up to him.

Unlike the rest, she didn't swoon over his good looks or skills. She challenged his masculinity by chastising his pretty features and questioned whether he could have been half the shinobi that she was if he hadn't the luxury of his bloodline.

No one who had ever blatantly doubt his abilities had lived to tell the tale—for he made certain they experienced the worst of what Uchiha Sasuke had to offer on the battle ground—and there hadn't been a single person alive who had sparked his interest. Not in the least bit. Not until Tenten.

She both infuriated and intrigued him on levels beyond his comprehension. Trying to court her had been of series of sustaining occasional blows to his ego and escaping death by something sharp and intent on killing him. He had a couple scars to show for his troubles as she did a couple burns from his fireball jutsu. Her idea of an ideal date entailed sealing scrolls, deadly metals and a sucker dumb enough to volunteer to be her target dummy.

She had refused to function like a normal girlfriend and drain his wallet by demanding diamonds, pearls and expensive dates. Tenten preferred to spar and then spend the rest of the evening patching up both their injuries. She was terrible at medical ninjutsu but Sasuke was content just sitting back and let her experiment on him. He discovered then that he rather liked the feel of her hands against his skin. They weren't soft but they weren't callous either. They were the hands of a woman who led two very different lives.

As awful a medic as she was, he would trust no one else with his life if he were to sustain serious injuries. He would prefer to die in her inexperience hands than anyone else's. Lucky for them both, they were never placed in such a scenario. Sasuke was almost certain he would've died. A gratifying death it would have been too. He trusted no one else with his body. There were a few instances where Sakura and Ino had tried funny business when he was either unconscious or went in for a routine check up.

Tenten never gave much regard to his near perfect physique. Before they got married she had been awfully squeamish about touching his naked flesh. It wasn't the kind of starstruck shyness some of his fangirls possessed either, simply put she found it inappropriate. He had laughed at her and she had blushed so much her ears went pink that day.

It was only after they were legally hitched that she had a problem keeping her hands to herself. Still, whenever Sasuke decided to get touchy she would fumbled over her words, go red and assume the role of a bride who couldn't understand why her husband found her so exquisite. And exquisite she was, he couldn't get enough of her. There was something very appealing about a woman who was sure of herself but there was something even sexier about a woman who didn't know the extent of her allure.

Tenten was far too modest for a woman, who, in his opinion had it going on in every department. She was intelligent and witty with an open mind and the ability to reason. Conversation broke easily between them which was something of a novelty for the Uchiha. Not many people could hold his attention longer than it took to tell them to get lost. Tenten had a way of enslaving his regard and make him listen to whatever she wanted to say.

She also had a tendency however, of purposely trying to get on his nerves as she deemed it highly entertaining to witness his ill-tempered tantrums.

Sasuke scoffed just hearing the word in his head. He did not throw tantrums.

"Don't give me that look," Tenten hissed at him, pulling the covers away. If she witnessed his slight shiver then she gave no indication. "You're hardly ever here—" her expression was pensive and dejected but her smile was merciless. "—so when you are, I think it's only fair that you endure some of the torment as well. Get up!"

Stoically he took the blow and hid the fact that he reeled from it. His stomach cramped guiltily. He didn't like leaving her on her own, especially not in the state that she was in. But it couldn't be helped. The recent outbreak of swine flu in the village left Anbu in a dry spell. The number of agents the hokage had at his disposal had been significantly reduced; after all, being a top ranked shinobi didn't grant invincibility. It however meant double duty for those who were healthy enough to undergo missions.

"This is the last mission for a while," he assured her drily. When he saw that she was unmoved he looked sheepishly at her. He felt her hurt and wanted to ease it. Tenderly he persevered. "I promise."

Tenten exhaled sharply. "A promise is a comfort to a fool," she bit her lip and forged on grimly. "I'm not cut out for this kind of life Sasuke."

He flinched, not liking where he knew the conversation would head if they prolonged the argument.

"It was merely a sacrifice I had been willing to make because I love you," she looked at him with hopeless pain in her eyes as if she contemplated a bleak future.

Another thin sound of distress found Sasuke sitting up and fighting his way out of the bed. "The least you could do is pretend to not regret it. You are my wife after all, this is your duty," he grated before groggily trudging to the nursery.

OoOoOoOo

"Duty?" the words echoed on hot, angry breath and she stormed out after him. "I don't know where you got that idea Uchiha."

Thoroughly disconcerted, she yanked the lapels of her robe closer together at her throat and trekked down the hallway. She could hear the low murmur of Sasuke's and another small voice; they grew louder as she continued along the corridor.

Their private quarters on the Uchiha Compound was more of a spacious home within a home. Two stories of rooms guaranteed them plenty of privacy. There was little chance of running into anyone else unless they wanted to. When Sasuke's parents had told her they made certain there would be plenty of space for the children (that they demanded), they hadn't been exaggerating.

They had their own state-of-the-art kitchen, should they choose to use it, separate bedrooms and baths for kids—Mikoto and Fugaku insisted on at least half a dozen grandchildren, three from each son—and a spacious living room that boasted the same spectacular lakeside view as the rest of the estate.

Every room was beautiful. And comfortable.

The nursery was probably Tenten's favourite. In her wildest dreams she couldn't have imagined anything more perfect. From the way the light through the many windows bathed the fairytale murals in a dreamy glow each morning, to the mahogany sleigh crib and matching chests—which were so numerous, every item of clothing in a small store could have fit among the drawers—the room was completely wonderful.

Instead, only Uchiha Satomi's belongings filled them.

Tenten had started decorating the nursery before she was born almost a year ago and Sasuke, who had thrown a fit one day when he'd returned from training early to find her perched on a ladder attempting to paint the walls, had done the painting.

She spent a great deal of time in the nursery, adding little touches here and there, often going out and shopping for furniture and toys with Lady Uchiha. There really was very little left to do by that time but Tenten still kept adding little stuffed toys and tiny infant sized clothes. It was all she could've done to busy herself and control her anxiety when Sasuke had been away, which was more often than not.

The colour scheme was cream and primrose. She had started out with pink but came home from a medical checkup one day to find that Sasuke had changed to colour to something more "gender neutral" as he'd put it. She hadn't protested too much because she had found lavender soothing and prettier.

When she told him that it reminded her of Hyuuga eyes, the room was immediately repainted. It took days before Sasuke could look at her without drilling daggers into her skull with his piercing black gaze. The word Hyuuga was strictly off-limits in his house.

She found his touches elsewhere in the nursery as well. He brought back souvenirs and toys from the various villages he had to travel to during Anbu operations. Stuffed dinosaurs, mean-looking teddy bears, toy alligators, anything a little girl would dread. Tenten chose not to acknowledge them in any way and every time she came across one, usually insidiously hidden amongst the toys she had bought, she would relegate it to the furthest corner of the room.

Still, she couldn't help a few giggles at the thought of Sasuke purchasing toys, it seemed somewhat comic.

There was a quite a collection forming in the area which she had dubbed The Village Hidden in Terror. She did not know why he kept buying those things and she refused to ask. He never mentioned the heap of toys that she had stowed in the corner, just kept doggedly adding more and more to the nursery.

He must've thought buying a couple hideous toys was going to make up for his absence.

Tenten sighed and shook herself. She ran a gentle hand over the slightly protruding mound of her stomach, trying to ease the restlessly moving baby beneath her touch. Two children was enough, she brooded to herself. If Sasuke thought they were going to continue competing with Itachi to see who would reach a tally of three kids first, then he was sadly mistaken. This wasn't what she signed up for when she married him. She would not be domesticated like a civilian bride.

She stopped in the doorway and blinked up at her husband who was cradling their crying nine month old daughter tenderly in his strong arms against his chest.

He was crooning gently to her and Tenten was transfixed by the sweet picture they presented. She was the only person who had the privilege of seeing Sasuke at his most unguarded—when he was human. The brunette couldn't help but feel the powerful punch of the sight. A man and baby. She had long convinced herself that she didn't need either of those things. Now that she had them, she couldn't bear the thought of parting with them.

Sasuke looked up suddenly and saw her standing in the doorway. His hair was messy and standing up in spikes—more than the usual. He was wearing nothing but a loose pair of sweats hanging low over his hips. She was forced to mentally relive mere hours ago when those hips had been bare and—

She dragged her eyes from the distracting sight of him and entered the room. "I'm not having any more of these things!"

"Your mother keeps referring to you like an inanimate object," he told Satomi, nudging her waving fist with his finger. She latched on, tipped her head back and beamed beautifully up at him. "Are you that much trouble?"

"Toe-toe!" she exclaimed, seemingly in disbelief, two baby teeth accompanied her gummy grin. "No!"

Tenten walked over to them and peered over one bulging bicep into Satomi's adorable little face and smiled in amusement. "It's tou-san, Satomi." She corrected, leaning over to drop a kiss on her forehead and felt Sasuke tense when her cheek brushed against his chest in the process.

They both paused awkwardly before Tenten cleared her throat and stepped back. She dropped into the padded rocking chair and tucked her feet up beneath her and watched as he continued to pace and gently talk to the fuming baby.

"She's a nightmare isn't she?" he asked the child. "I guess I should count myself lucky that I keep getting sent off on missions then?"

The child nodded and sent Tenten a cautious little look out of the corner of her onyx eyes. Then she was swept up in a sea of giggles and idle baby talk.

"I'm a nightmare?" Tenten suddenly snapped, a maelstrom of suppressed frustration welling up in her brown eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if the kid had started howling because she saw your face in a dream. You look like you've murdered fucking Daffy Duck and plastered his ass on the back of your head."

"Says the life-sized mickey mouse," Sasuke countered.

"Listen here Uchiha," she hissed, squinting in pain as she felt the baby kick again. He was awfully active whenever Sasuke was around, usually he kept himself quiet. Satomi had been the same way when she was in the womb as well. It was like they knew his voice—sensed his presence.

"Listening," Sasuke informed her casually.

"The only way you're getting a third child is if you carry it yourself," she declared angling her neck defiantly. "These two are already driving me crazy and one hasn't even been born yet."

"Is Itachi not behaving himself?" he looked at the hand she had clasped around her middle. He and his brother had decided that they would name their sons after each other should either of them get a boy. "That's my boy, keep her riled up for me."

Tenten scowled at him.

Satomi arched a brow, stuffed a finger in her mouth and looked frantically around the room, "Tachi?" her little brows furrowed as she geared up to cry, "Toe-toe, Tachi?"

"Itachi is asleep Satomi, something you should be doing," Tenten rasped.

The girl had taken quite an unhealthy liking to her uncle. It was a near impossible feat to peel her off Itachi once he took her in his arms. Of course, Tenten took full advantage of this, pinning Satomi on the older Uchiha every opportunity she got. The kid was bad-tempered and fussy, her antics drove poor Tenten over the edge and back. Thankfully there was always an unsuspecting Itachi around for her to dump Satomi on.

"Toe-toe," she pouted, pounding her tiny fists on Sasuke's chest.

He fixed her a stern look but his voice was low and reassuring, "You'll see Uncle Tachi in the morning."

Tenten chortled, "Never thought I'd see the day you spoke baby outside our bedroom," she teased.

A tinge of colour stained Sasuke's pale cheeks. He turned his face away and swallowed a retort. He would not give her reasons to further mock him about how he was behind closed doors. He couldn't help that during intimacy he got overwhelmed and became vocal. There was a limit to how emotionally constipated a person could be. Everyone eventually breaks, it just so happened that he did whenever he was intimate with his wife.

"Can-can, Tachi?" Satomi twisted her neck to look at Tenten.

"Uncle isn't here, we were talking about nii-san," the Kunoichi rubbed her stomach and watched as Satomi's eyes follow the moment of her hand in obvious fascination.

"Nii!" she sang it repeatedly and clapped. "Nii!" a trickle of drool glistened on her chin.

"For the last time Satomi, it's kaa-san," Tenten pronounced, drawing out both syllables. "Kaa-san."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Give it a rest Can-can."

"This is between me and my daughter Toe-toe—" she told him sibilantly, "—so butt out."

"She'll get it right eventually," he waved her off. "You're expecting too much from a child who isn't even a year old yet."

"She's an Uchiha," Tenten reminded him. "My expectations are high."

He wasn't flattered, "Be realistic."

She sighed and drew circles on her stomach. "The book that I've been reading said—"

"—wisdom comes from experience," Sasuke cut in sharply. "You won't find it in some rip-off guide to child rearing."

Tenten closed her eyes and leaned back against the chair. "I didn't grow up in a family with parents or siblings Sasuke."

He stole a glance at her. Her delicate features were contorted with something he couldn't accurately pinpoint. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"Maternal instincts and the likes don't come naturally to me," she admitted softly. "I've only ever had to fend for myself. I despise vulnerability. As a child it wasn't a luxury I could afford. I guess it scares me that I may not be able to be the mother our children deserve because—because..." she stuttered. "...I've never had to care for anything or anyone but myself before. No one had cared for me either so this is—difficult."

"I think in the beginning nobody knows what they're doing," he told her.

Satomi was trying to stuff her fingers in his mouth. He bit down on one gently until she yanked it away only to helplessly replace it, thinking it was a game.

"But I don't think its against your natural grain to care, you're just feeling overwhelmed."

"You keep leaving me."

"I know."

"I have to change a dozen diapers a day," she complained. "And clean the kitchen every time Satomi decides she wants to feed herself and makes a mess of the place."

"Hn."

"And baby Itachi has been giving me morning sickness again," she sobbed. "You're not here to pull my hair back so it doesn't get puked on."

"Hn."

"I miss training and my team."

"Hn."

"Satomi keeps sticking her fangs in my skin whenever I tell her she can't have something."

"Serves you right. She should have whatever she wants, she's my kid," he told her arrogantly.

Ignoring his comment, Tenten continued to vent. "I miss you at nights."

"Hn."

"Your brother's backrubs aren't nearly as relieving."

"Hn—what?" Sasuke almost choked. "What do you mean by that?" his eyes were dark and killing.

He didn't like the idea of anyone touching his wife. He hated it so much that whenever he introduced her to anyone he made certain they bowed instead of shook hands. Nobody touched Tenten. Itachi must have seen a coffin that he liked because he was a dead man.

Giving her back rubs? Sasuke mentally shrieked.

"Your mother called me fat the other day," Tenten was sniffing at this point. "And she didn't apologize."

"Hn?"

"I don't think I've gained that many pounds. But I can't help it if I crave a certain type of food."

"Hn." Sasuke was slowly tuning her out, he was too busy plotting his brother's demise.

"Do you think I'm fat?"

He saw it coming from a mile away. "No Tenten," he sighed. "I wouldn't think you were fat even if you were twice the size of Choji," he recited monotonously.

She smiled at him like the psychotic, hormonal woman that she was. "That's why I love you Uchiha. You always think before you speak."

It wasn't so much that Sasuke thought before he spoke. The memory of the thirteen stitches he had to get after he made the mistake of calling her chubby was still fresh on his conscience.

"Toe-toe, eep," Satomi yawned, rubbing her eyes with the back of her tiny palms. She went off into a subdued babble which sounded more like grumbling.

Sasuke eventually sank down into the second rocking chair beside Tenten's, while he tried to soothe his fidgeting daughter. Her jabber eventually died down before she fell back asleep.

OoOoOoOo

Tenten looked over and scowled when she realized that Sasuke had fallen asleep too. Satomi was firmly anchored to his chest and held in place with a broad hand on her tiny back.

She looked from the man to the infant and marveled at the similarities between them. Satomi had his mouth and there was something about the set of her brow that was one hundred percent Sasuke—she always seemed to be glaring. Satomi had a little of his temper and everything else, Tenten admitted, struggling to find a feature to link herself to the child.

She found none.

She got up quietly and went over to pick Satomi up. Sasuke's brow furrowed when she tried to move his hand and instead tightened his grip slightly.

"Toe-toe," she whispered with a jeer. "Let me put her to bed."

His eyes fluttered open and he smiled when he saw her leaning over him. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Okay, Can-can," he murmured and relinquished his hold on Satomi, ducking his head to drop a loving kiss on top of her soft blue-tinted hair.

Tenten was aware of him getting up and following her to the crib. He stood directly behind her and watched over her shoulder as she put the baby to bed. She was intensely aware of him and of the fact that all that stood between them and total nudity was her nightgown and his boxers.

"She looks a lot like you," he whispered into her ear and she jumped at the feel his hot breath on her skin.

"Do you think so?" She asked hopefully. "Just a minute ago I was thinking she didn't look like me at all."

"She does," his hand came to rest on her shoulder and she tensed at the feeling of his warm hand on her bare skin.

Her breathing went shallow. His hand swept down her shoulder in a gesture that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than a caress and shackled her upper arm loosely, he brought his other hand up to grip her free arm in a similar fashion.

He gently dragged her back until she was leaning against his hot, hard chest and he released his grip with a rumble of satisfaction. His strong arms encircled her waist and he simply held her as they both watched their sleeping daughter.

She relaxed against him and tilted her head back to rest against his shoulder. "Do you think Itachi will be as perfect?"

"Of course he will, you're carrying him," he murmured into her ear, his low voice brimming with love and pride.

"Don't think you can sweet talk me into having another baby," she warned him off. "After Itachi, I'm done."

He chuckled and touched her swollen middle, "That's what you said about Satomi."

She swallowed against a dry throat and told him stiffly, "I figured she would get lonely."

He kissed her neck, "So will Itachi."

"Do I look like a vending machine Uchiha?"

"If you were, we'd have quite a number of children considering how a vending machine operates and how many times I've—"

Tenten stomped on his toes and growled, "Shut up!"

He nibbled on her ear and she continued to peer down at their grumpy little bundle of miracle for what seemed like hours.

"Sasuke," her voice took on a serious tone and the Uchiha tensed. "I uh—even if I complain, I need—I want—" she seemed at a loss for words and he frowned. "Thank you," she finally said and he turned her slightly to look down into face, visibly surprised by her words.

"For?"

"For giving me everything I never knew I wanted," she said after a long pause. Her voice was thick with emotion and she met his eyes directly.

"And what would that be?" He asked turning her fully in his arms.

"A home, a family. The life I never had growing up."

He smiled slightly. "You're probably just motioning through a mood swing."

"What?"

"Soon you'll return to discreetly planting paper bombs in my drawers and chasing me around the house with kunai knives yelling that you are going to fucking kill me," He laughed it off.

She tightened her grip on his hand, "I'm serious. I take you for granted most of the time and never once stopped to acknowledge the fact that I had actually snatched Uchiha Sasuke."

He was unamused, his ego hadn't woken up as yet it would appear. "Stop talking like that."

"It's true," she looked down at her bare feet. "I didn't have anything to offer yet you married me."

He nudged her chin up with his finger, "That's not true, I had everything to gain from marrying you."

"Like?" she arched a curious brow.

"You." He said without hesitation.

"I hardly see myself as any consolation."

"You don't have to," he pressed his lips against hers. "You are my everything."


A/N: A little fluff is good for the soul, I suppose. Thanks for Reading. Reviews are always appreciated.