I don't own naruto.


The ring of the doorbell woke Sasuke up immediately, and he groaned, leaning toward his window to look out of it, wondering who would want to anger him by waking him up. Out by the porch, Itachi grabbed a pebble from the ground, throwing it into the open window when he saw his younger brother's shoulder slightly showing.

"Bratty man. You know I'm down here," Itachi muttered, holding two dark purple suitcases by his side.

Beside him, a woman leaned down onto his arm, her head only going up to his shoulder. "Itachi, do you really have to leave today? It's so early in the morning…" she felt him softly peck the top of her head.

Looking up, he glowered at his brother's house. "I'm sorry, Ino. But I truly have to go. I'm needed somewhere else." and he tilted her chin toward him, dipping his head lower to kiss her lips. "It'll only be a month."

"A month is forever. I hope this doesn't happen again …it was so sudden." she kissed his shoulder, feeling the muscles underneath them. "You really don't have to wake up so early just to make sure I get to Sasuke's."

"No, I have to. The kids to Inoichi, and you to Sasuke. I cannot let you stress out anymore. The last time was a fright." and he felt her arms tighten around his before she pressed her forehead to it. "I know I shouldn't worry about you, but look at you; you seem so fragile at times…"

Ino pulled away from him, gasping. "I do not!" she proclaimed.

He gave a smile, pulling her body toward his. "You do," he said, pressing his lips against hers.

With a jerk, he pulled away from her as Sasuke slammed the door open, his shirt wrinkled, his pants thrown on, and an obvious scowl on his face. "It's five in the fucken god damn morning!" he was fuming to just being woken up.

Itachi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulders, trying to calm his younger brother down. "Consider this preparation for the future and you are supposed to be sent out early."

Rolling his eyes, he pushed his hand away. "No one ever gets sent out this early." he ran a hand through his messy hair several times.

"Well this is your first time then." Itachi gave a kind smile, only to receive an ignorant one in return. "Alright, take care of my wife. Children are at Inoichi's." he looked down at the sleepy blonde at his shoulder, bending over to kiss her lips before holding her hand out to Sasuke. "I'll see you next month."

Itachi swung Ino's multiple suitcases toward Sasuke before giving Ino one last kiss on her forehead, looking at her face before leaving.

Sasuke tilted his head to the side, seeing Ino's eyes closed and her weight onto him. He walked into the house, placing her onto the couch before walking back outside to pull her suitcases into the living room.

Taking a glance of her, he carried her, bridal style to his room, lying her down onto his bed before covering the body with the dark blanket he had on his bed. "Itachi should have known I wasn't going to let her into my guest rooms…" he walked back downstairs to the couch, pushing the cushions to the side to pull out a fold-out bed from underneath.

Mumbling something under his breath, he crashed down onto it, making it shake softly before it became stable.

~'.~'.~'.~'.~

Sasuke heard the faint footsteps of someone before he opened his eyes, his mind unsettled about what he should do with the person, and that's when he realized that it was Ino. Her blonde hair flowed over her shoulders gently, creating a goddess scene for him.

"I made breakfast…" she pointed toward the tray of food by his side. "I know you don't like sugary food so…"

"You know, it wasn't a requirement for you to make me my breakfast," Sasuke interrupted, looking at her as she stepped back several feed, nervous for an unknown reason.

"I know but since I'm living under your roof and we've previously been together. I guess it's just better if I just make something for you to eat. When we were together, I remember that you always complimented my cooking."

"You like bringing up the past, don't you?"

Ino looked out from underneath her blonde bangs, her lips parted slightly, and she pressed her hands together behind her. "Being around you just brings things back to mind." she played with the light strands of her hair.

He stood up, pecking a kiss onto her cheek to feel the heat immediately flow to them before he even pulled away. "Want to take the twins out to the park? Karin is meeting up there with us."

She turned around toward him, brushing her bangs back. "That's not much of a choice."

"I know."

Ino looked up at the clock. "What time?" she twisted her strands softly, sitting down on the bed where Sasuke's body was just sitting, feeling the warmth of it. She heard the soft munching of his mouth against the bread.

"Afternoon, right after lunch." he wiped his fingers against his loose pants, picking up the tray with one hand before he walked off into the kitchen. "Do you want to leave early to pick them up?"

"Um …I don't know. You're choice. Just wake me up later…" she leaned against the bed, pulling the blanket over her body softly, smiling as the scent of Sasuke filled her nose. "Goodnight in the meantime."

"You know, you can just go upstairs and sleep." he pointed his thumb behind him and toward the stairs that led up to his room. "It's better up there."

Ino pulled the blanket higher to her nose. "I'm fine where I am."

"And I want to watch T.V."

"Go watch it then."

"I want to sit on the couch, not a crappy fold-out bed." he rolled his eyes at her smiling face, stopping when she saw her smile widen, and she pulled on her loose strands of hair, covering her arms with it.

Rolling his eyes once again, he walked out of the room.

~'.~'.~'.~'.~

Ino looked at herself in the mirror, admiring the silky long hair and the beautiful, sparkling blue eyes. Her hair was pulled back in its signature high ponytail. "Hurry up, it's been an hour." the banging on the door began.

She unlocked the door slightly, seeing Sasuke all dressed up already. "Daddy's house, right?"

"Yes, yes. Daddy's house," he repeated, mocking her language slightly before grabbing her wrist, pulling her out of the bathroom as he walked in swiftly, locking the door behind him.

Tying her shoelaces, she looked up as he walked out of the bathroom, pulling her shoelaces together to tie it into a knot before standing up. Sasuke kneeled down in front of her, placing a hand onto her knee slightly, letting it slide several inches inward before he pulled his head from underneath the bed she sat on, revealing a shoebox.

He removed his hand from her body, sitting down on the carpet of the floor to pull his shoes on. Ino felt the heat rush up to her cheeks, and she stood up, walking out of the room quickly to avoid any other embarrassment.

She sat in the backseat, meeting Sasuke's eyes several times in the mirror and she looked down at her lap instead, pulling her small hand purse onto it. I can't wait until Itachi comes back …I stand being around Sasuke like this…

The ride was short, not as long as it should have been since Ino was daydreaming as much as she could to get her mind off Sasuke. "Ino, we're here," he said, opening the door for her to only see her in a dazed state.

He snapped his fingers over her eyes, seeing them blink in shock before she looked at the fingers, and then the person they belonged to. Sasuke held out his hand gently for her to take.

She also stared down at his hands for a few second before finally taking it. "Mommy!" both of them ran from beside Inoichi and toward their mother, kissing each of her cheeks when she pressed a finger against them.

With her hair swinging, she moved away from both of her boys, kissing her father's cheek. "How were they? They didn't give you too much trouble did they?" a worried look crossed her face.

"Do not worry about them. They were quiet, extremely quiet today. I was half expecting them to put a prank on me suddenly."

"You look tired, Daddy. Go in and take a nap!" she pointed up into the direction of his bedroom.

The blonde man looked at where she had pointed. "Princess, this really isn't n-"

"Now, Daddy! You look like you're having too little sleep! Now's your chance to rest." without waiting for an answer, she spun him around, pushing him toward the direction of his room. "Don't stay up writing your book!"

And she slammed the door shut, turning around to see both of the twins behind her wide-eyed. "Were you always so pushy?" Itsuki asked.

Ino slowly bent down, kissing his forehead. "No, it's just for his own health! Now hurry! You don't want to be late for the park, now do you?"

Smiling, she gestured Itsuki and Shunya into the car, kissing their foreheads once again. "And we're going to meet Karin's sweet little boy there too," she said.

"Kentaro."

Ino nodded her head. "Yes, Kentaro."

"He has weird eyes," Shunya stated, looking down at his shirt.

"What? You don't like them?" she brushed his bangs back. "They're a lovely shade of purple."

"That's because you're in love with purple," Itsuki said, "Can we go swim in your pool later, Uncle Sasuke?"

Sasuke made eye contact with Itsuki in the mirror. "Who told you about my swimming pool?" his eyes glared at who he obviously thought it was.

"Dad," both of them said at the same time, staring at each other before giving a knowing smile to each other.

Just as the car stopped, Itsuki reached his hand out, pushing the door open, and Shunya immediately hopped out, Itsuki crawling over Ino swiftly before he also joined his younger brother.

Bringing a hand over his eyes, Shunya stood on his tip-toes. "I see Karin and Kentaro already!" without waiting for any other instructions from their uncle or mother, they raced off on the lane to Karin and her son.

Ino looked at both of them helplessly. "I don't want to run that much in these shoes," she said, frowning noticeably.

"You were on the girls' track team in high school, now get to running," Sasuke said, slamming the door before running after both of them at the same time.

She pouted. "My feet are going to hurt like hell tomorrow…" and she raced after them.

Being that she was in such bad shape she ran after him. Before she finally met up with them, she stopped by an ice-cream truck, deciding to pick up a snack for all of them. Ino stepped in front of the children on the swings, pushing a vanilla ice-cream cone into Shunya's hand as he jumped off the swings, ignoring the pain as the seat of it slammed against his back. "Oh here, Itsuki, Kentaro."

"I don't want," Karin said, shaking her head. "I don't really like ice-cream."

"Thanks," Kentaro said, eyeing the ice-cream as the blonde held it out to him.

"Here, Sasuke." Ino held it out to him as she watched both of her sons gleefully eat it.

Sasuke stared at it, shaking his head. "I don't like sweets, and you know it."

She shoved it into his hands, pointing at it before saying, "At least hold it for me, I'm going to push Itsuki and Shunya." Ino leaned forward, brushing her hair back as she pushed her sons. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Sasuke brush against the ice-cream slowly before he licked his lips, nodding before beginning to eat it.

Ino smiled softly, watching as Karin lifted her son from the seat, sitting him down onto the ground. "Did you hear? Suigetsu is back, he's making his way to the park when he comes home. I think he's already home though," Karin said, brushing the little boy's hair back. "Aren't you excited?"

Kentaro shrugged, digging into his pocket to pull out a lollipop. "You are eating ice-cream so, don't even think about eating candy right now!" his mother snapped the plastic stick of the end to pull it away from him. He sighed, eating the crunchy bottom part of the ice-cream cone. "Kentaro, how can you not be excited about your father coming home?"

"I don't get to see him that much to begin with and he didn't spend that much time with me before he left so…" his voice trailed off noticeably and he reached into his jacket, pulling out a deck of cards instead. "Let's play poker to soothe our minds instead."

Ino stared at him. "Who taught him to play poker at such a young age?"

Karin shook her head disapproving. "He walked in on Suigetsu, Sasuke, and Jugo playing poker, and they ended up teaching him."

The blonde turned around to see Sasuke popping the last of the ice-cream cone into his mouth. "You better not teach my boys poker."

"I won't," he said obediently.

"And you ate my ice-cream."

"I was hungry and you were offering it."

"You declined."

"And then I accepted when you weren't looking. Simple." he wiped his mouth with a tissue, shoving it back into his pocket before stepping forward toward Shunya, pushing him softly.

She opened her mouth to argue but decided against it when she saw how happy Shunya was being with his uncle, and she gave Itsuki's seat a gentle push.


I promise action in the next chapter T~T ...but review for this one?