Disclaimer- I don't own any characters except Kimiko, Nao, Izumi, Shin, and Megumi, (and so on and so forth.)

"He's late." Shin whined.

Nao raised an eyebrow at Shin's especially whiny behavior. "Get over it, Shii-chan. He's always late."

Ino's blood boiled up in her son. "What did you call me?!"

Kimiko sat in silence. Usually she'd stop their fighting, but she was tired, not to mention, she hadn't even been herself since Megumi's attack. All she did was walk the streets alone, though at night she could go train with Nao. He'd always go home earlier than her, and afterwards she'd still just wander around. She had only spoken to Nao. She refused to even speak to Shin.

"Yo!" Sasuke greeted them as usual.

"Where were you?" Shin asked.

Now, Sasuke wasn't nearly as late as Kakashi had always been with him. He was a little more responsible- as in he didn't make up insane excuses.

"I got caught up in some annoying business." He muttered.

The man glanced at Kimiko. "You gonna talk to me today, Kimiko?"

His daughter glanced up lazily. She shook her head, and went back to staring at the ground in front of the tree she was leaning on.

"Well, too bad. You have to. I have to talk to you and Nao. Shin, you can go home." He said.

Although he wasn't happy about having to leave after waiting, he sighed and muttered. "With pleasure."

After he was gone, Sasuke motioned for the twins to join him on the ground. When they did, Sasuke sighed, not really sure what to say.

Well, what am I supposed to say to them?! He wondered. 'Hey guys, I guess I should tell you that I'm your father'?! No way! I'll just start with the Chuunin exams… maybe we can work it out from there…

"I want to know what happened." He said finally.

Nao looked his sensei over. "Where?"

"At the Chuunin Exams." He told them.

Kimiko shrugged her shoulders, and Sasuke heard his daughters voice for the first time in a week. "Why would anything have happened? And why would it matter? We passed, didn't we?"

"What you said is true. You passed. But there are some… complications." He told them.

"What kind of 'complications'?" Nao asked.

Sasuke sighed and put his face in his hands, massaging his eyes. They really weren't making this easy on him. He could imagine why; it's not like he'd wanted anyone to know when he'd gotten the curse mark. "Guys, I'm just going to put it out there, because we have to help you."

This peaked the twins' interest, and they sat up. "Did you meet Orochimaru, or not?"

Kimiko and Nao's eyes shot open. Just thinking of him, the pain shot up both their necks, to the point where they could barely sit up. Sasuke forcibly removed Nao's hand from his neck, and he saw the curse mark. It was just like his.

"So you guys did meet him. And he gave you what I have…" Sasuke's vice trailed off as he seemed slip into a daze.

"Sasuke-sensei?" Nao looked at him. Sasuke shook himself, and looked down at the boy. "What do you mean, 'what I have'?"

The raven-haired man wordlessly took off his shirt. He slipped it off with ease, and then bent down, allowing them to see his neck. As the two leaned forward, they saw the very thing that they had been thinking about for the past week. It looked different, in a way, though. Around it was a circle: a seal. Someone must've sealed its power away, and the two knew it was for a good reason. When Sasuke leaned back up again, putting his shirt back on, he saw Kimiko's eyes had glazed over.

"Hey." He pushed her chin back up. "Megumi's okay. It's this things fault," he said, tapping her neck. "You didn't do anything. The first time I used it was involuntary, too. Someone had pummeled your mother into a pathetic state. I got angry, and it took over. I ended up braking his arms, and I probably would have killed him if your mother hadn't stopped me."

"How?" Kimiko asked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "How… how what?"

"How did she stop you?"

"She grabbed me from behind." He told them.

Nao pressed further. "So she hugged you."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes."

"That's how Izumi stopped me." He said, absentmindedly.

"Interesting." The man said.

Kimiko leaned back. "Sasuke-sensei?" the man looked at her, and nodded, telling her to go on. "Well… that is… do you… do you love our mother?"

The three looked at each other in silence for quite a long time. Curiosity gnawed at the younger children, and anxiety clawed at the elder's stomach. A wind passed through the training area with ease. Sasuke silently wished the words would just flow out of him with no difficulty, just like the wind smoothly rode through.

"I'm married." He said finally.

Kimiko raised an eyebrow, now. "But you don't love Karin-san. I can see it in your eyes."

Sasuke's breathing began to quicken. It was amazing how fast his daughter could catch onto things. He didn't know what to tell them. The truth was always a good choice, but he knew that all the years he worked, all the years of pushing his feelings aside, all the years of hurting himself for them, would just end right there if he told them the truth. So once again, he swallowed his feelings and his hatred towards the woman causing all this, and gave a simple explanation. "I don't love her. I don't love your mother…"

"But… you must have at one point." Nao said.

Sasuke looked at his son again. "What?"

"If you hadn't, we wouldn't exist." He said.

Now it was Sasuke's eyes that shot open. Half of him wasn't surprised that they knew, but the other half had desperately wanted to be the one that told them who he was.

"We know." Kimiko said. "We know everything… Father."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. Yes, it's true. Now I only have one question." The twins' eyes turned curious as he looked down at them. "Do you accept me as your father?"

Nao and Kimiko looked at each other. They sat there like that for several moments, as if having a conversation that no one else could hear but themselves. They finally looked back at him, each wearing a genuine smile; something that had begun to seem foreign to them. "Yeah. We do."

Sasuke could no longer contain himself. He gave his children a gentle, caring smile. They looked shocked, but happy. They'd never seen him smile, which made it an even bigger deal to them, considering he was smiling at them. They couldn't contain themselves either. They jumped him, hugging the heck out of him. Usually, no one could enter Sasuke's personal space, but these were his children, which he hadn't held since the day they were born. He hugged them back, and everything was… almost sorted out.

"So," Sasuke said coming out of the hug. "This means either one of you, or both, will get the sharingan."

"We already have it." The two pointed at each other with a face that looked like it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

The raven-haired man was truly taken aback now. "What?"

"During the Chuunin Exams… they just like… awakened." Kimiko said.

"I'm so proud of you both, you know that? Rookies of the year… awakening your sharingan… all the progress you've made over the past years… it's amazing to me, I guess."

His children smiled. "Yeah."

Kimiko's eyes narrowed, and her eyes turned red. "There's someone over there." She said, pointing to a cluster of trees and bushes. Sasuke and Nao turned and looked over, following the direction her finger was pointing to. Sure enough, a person emerged from the bushes.

"Eh…?" Sasuke looked confused. "Kakashi?!"

"Yo!" the white-haired shinobi called with a wave.

Kimiko and Nao looked at each other. "Kakashi-oji-chan?" (A/N: Oji-chan is for uncle, or someone in their middle aged years, such as Kakashi.)

"Hey, Kimiko, Nao, Sasuke. Since we're both here, Sasuke, I don't see the issue of us telling them together." Kakashi said.

Sasuke hung his head. "Since when are you to the point, Kakashi?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I dunno."

"Hello! Two confused kids here!" Nao said.

"Well," Sasuke began, "as you know, the third exam is in a month. When I took the exam, Kakashi personally trained me, one-on-one. Now, it's your turn." He looked over at Nao. "I intend, if you'd let me, to train you, Nao. I've gotten Sakura's permission and everything."

Nao's eyes lit up. To be trained by Sasuke! It was a huge deal. "Yeah! Sure!"

"And Kimiko," Kakashi said, gaining the attention again, "would it be horrible for you to train with me? In your spare time, Sakura intends to teach you medical ninjutsu, but I would be your official instructor."

Kimiko nodded, beaming. "Okay!

"Awesome." Kakashi and Sasuke said.

THE NEXT DAY…

"It's time you learned a very… well… powerful move, Kimiko." Kakashi said.

Kimiko cocked her head to the side. "What kind of move, Kaka-sensei?"

Kakashi smiled. He loved that question, but moreover, he loved having an enthusiastic student. Sasuke had been great to train, but training Kimiko was a whole new experience, for she actually seemed like she was excited to be there.

"Well… I taught it to your father for these exams. I think it's extremely helpful…" he said, his voice trailing off as he slipped into thought.

Just as long as she's not paired against him…

"I'm ready, Kaka-sensei!"

"What kind of move, Dad?"

Sasuke loved being called "Dad" by Nao, so he smirked. "Well, I was taught this by Kakashi. It's… really… cool."

Nao laughed at his father's hesitation to use the word 'cool'. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, questioning what was so funny. Nao shook his head and hand, as in, "Never mind, you wouldn't get it."

The Uchiha nodded. "Well, let's get on with it, shall we?"

"Whoa!"

Kimiko looked as the dust cleared. "That was amazing, Kaka-sensei!"

Kakashi brushed his fingertips against his vest in mock…er… pompous…ness…? "Yeah… it was… wasn't it?"

"Mr. Humble pie." Kimiko muttered.

"Sugoi!!" (amazing)

Nao stood in shock as he looked at the rock his father had just decimated. It was truly amazing to him. Even on missions, he'd never seen Sasuke do something like that. It was a wonder that he didn't use it more often!

"You ready to try, Nao?" Sasuke asked.

The boy nodded enthusiastically. There was no way he was missing learning that move! "Hell yeah!"

Sasuke smirked. "Then go for it."

"Then go for it, Kimiko."

The pink-haired girl nodded. "Hai!"

"Hai!"

Nao looked at the rock, then at his own hands.

I hope I can do this! (Okay, now the bold is the twins together.)

Hand signs… think… oh right!

The two were, unknowingly, learning the same jutsu at the same time.

Okay… go! Monkey, dragon, rat, bird, ox, snake, dog, tiger, monkey! Now… gather the chakra in my palm… and…

"CHIDORI!" they yelled, and threw the balls of compact lightning and chakra at the rocks that were in front of them.

"Impressive, Kimiko!" Kakashi yelled to the girl. "On the first try… that's insanely impressive! I'm proud."

Kimiko huffed and puffed, but she held her head up and smiled at her teacher.

"Great, Nao!"

Sasuke smiled a small, but proud, smile at his son. "To get that on the first try… it's amazing!"

Nao breathed heavily, but held a smirk on his face and held up on thumb.

Now I just gotta do well at the Chuunin exams!

A/N:

Hmmmm. I thought this one was veeeeeryyyyyyy…. Ummm… okay. It was fun to write though! (Do you know how hard it was finding the correct hand signs for the chidori?!) Haha! Sorry if using bold words and dialogue for transitions confused you, my dear reader. If you don't get who's taking when, just ask me!

Next begins the Chuunin exams! I also must apologize for there being no problems in the story. But you simply MUST believe me when I tell you that it's going to change from the Chuunin exams and forward from there! I just thought that him talking to them about being their father was supposed to be an important, mushy moment! –hugs self for dramatic effect-

REVIEW! I always end it like this, so there is nothing left to say but REVIEW! (AGAIN!)

UchihaKyoko