"Tenten, we're leaving!" shouted Neji from the front door of his and Tenten's house located within the Hyuuga family compound.

Tenten didn't respond at first. Then Neji heard a baby's cry coming from the other room.

"Tenten, is everything alright?" shouted Neji. When he received no reply again, he turned to the two children who were with him. "Can you two wait here for a minute while I check on Tenten?"

"Sure!" answered Aiko.

"Uncle Neji?" asked Kiro. "Is everything ok with Emi?" Although he was not really their uncle, that is what the twins called him because of the closeness of their two families.

Neji looked down at the children currently in his charge and smiled. "She's just fine. Emi was just born not too long ago so she requires a lot of attention. Since she can't talk like we can, this is how she tells us something is wrong." He walked away from the twins and towards the back rooms of their house to check on his wife. Not more than a minute later, Tenten appeared holding baby Emiko Hyuuga in her arms. Neji followed closely behind.

"Is she really alright?" asked Aiko.

"She's fine. She only needed to be changed," said Tenten.

"Again?" asked Neji. "But I just changed her."

"It's not like she plans when she is going to fill her diaper, Neji. She just does," explained Tenten who was inwardly laughing at her husband. Neji Hyuuga was phenomenally logical and serious about everything. When Emi was born and their world got a bit more chaotic, he still struggled accepting how things seemed to work now, most of which did not follow logic at all.

"Are we ready now?" asked Neji.

"Hn!" said Kiro with a nod and led the way.

They walked through the streets of Konoha towards their intended destination. When it was finally in sight, Kiro and Aiko took off running.

"Hold up, kids!" shouted Tenten after them.

"It's alright," said Neji. "It's not like they can get past the front desk without an adult anyway."

Neji, Tenten and Emi made it to the front door and entered the lobby of Konoha hospital. Inside, both Kiro and Aiko stood there looking a little lost. When they saw Neji and Tenten come inside after them, they ran up to them.

"Where are Mommy and Daddy?" asked Aiko.

"We need to ask that nice lady over there," answered Tenten who then corralled the children over to an information desk.

"Where are my Mommy and Daddy?" asked Aiko once again, this time to the hospital worker.

"My how you two have grown," noted the lady behind the desk. "Only yesterday you were born here yourself!" She reached to pick up a bowl from the desk and held it down for the kids to look into it. Inside were small pieces of candy and she allowed each of them to take a piece.

Next she opened a large book and ran her finger down the page. "Here it is," she said aloud to herself. She looked up at both Neji and Tenten and informed them, "Hinata Hyuuga is on the 2nd floor, in the maternity ward, room 215. The baby was born this morning so she should be resting right now. Just knock lightly before you enter."

"Thank you," said Tenten before turning to head towards the nearest set of stairs.

As they walked, Neji explained, "Kiro, Aiko, your Mommy had another baby this morning…"

"...so her belly isn't big anymore?" asked Aiko.

"It's probably still pretty big, but the baby no longer lives in her belly," explained Tenten.

"Ooohhh," said Aiko, not really understanding any of it.

"She is probably very tired and sore," continued Neji. "We will need to be very quiet and gentle with your Mommy, ok?"

Both twins nodded.

They found the room with no difficulty. The door was open so they could see Hinata's feet on the bed and Naruto sitting in a chair near the end of the bed. To get their attention, Neji knocked on the doorframe very lightly.

Naruto's head snapped to the side when he heard the noise. He smiled. "Oh hey Neji," he greeted.

"Daddy!" shouted Kiro as he spotted his father and ran towards him. Naruto had been by Hinata's beside for about two days now so the twins had not seen him for a bit. That being said, missions lasting more than two days weren't unheard of, but they did miss him each and every time he was gone. And this time, not only was Naruto gone, but their Mom was not there with them either which made it just a bit harder.

"Hugs?" he said aloud and both kids jumped into his arms.

"Hi Hinata," Tenten finally greeted her friend. "How did it go?"

"A bit easier than last time," Hinata admitted. "Not only was it my 2nd time, but I only had one baby to deliver this time around."

"Yeah, I can see how that would be easier," Tenten joked. "I've only had one and I can't imagine carrying and giving birth to two at the same time."

Neji stood off to one side a little uncomfortable with the situation. He, as ever, was very formal and serious. The socialization aspect of having close friends was still not his forte.

All heads turned once again when another light knock was heard on the doorframe.

"Lady Tsunade?" questioned Neji when he saw who it was. "Uh, to what do we owe the honor?"

"I'm just checking in on Hinata here," she said casually enough. "Are you feeling alright, Hinata?"

"Y-yes, thank you very much for your concern," answered Hinata.

"You guys should have seen her," started Naruto. "Granny did a great job all last night delivering Hokori."

Eyes turned once again to the Hokage. "But why - ?" started Tenten.

"I had originally expected Sakura to be the one delivering the baby," explained Hinata. "After all, she is the medical shinobi I chose to visit during my pregnancy. Unfortunately, she was unable to come for the birth."

"Unable to come?" repeated Neji. Then it dawned on him and his mouth gaped open.

"You're not saying that she's….," started Tenten.

"You got it!" interrupted Tsunade. "If her baby is born today, then the two of them will share a birthday!"

"What were the chances, right?" asked Naruto rhetorically.

Yet another light tapping on the doorframe was heard. All eyes turned to see who it was.

"Ah, here he is," said Tsunade. In walked a nurse with a baby on a cart.

"It's feeding time," said the newcomer.

"Oh, we should leave then…," started Tenten.

"It's alright," said Hinata. "I'm used to it by now. It's not a big deal if you want to stay."

The nurse picked up the baby and held it for Hinata to take from her. It took only a quick adjustment of her loose gown and the baby latched on almost immediately and began to drink.

"Wow," said Tenten. "That's was quick."

"I've had lots of experience," said Hinata. "You'll get used to it soon enough."

The nurse walked back out of the room and the Hokage turned to leave as well. "I'd better go back and check on Sakura," said Tsunade. "It's a good thing she prepared me for this well ahead of time…not that I was expecting both of you to go on the same day."

"Give her our best when you see her," said Hinata.

"Yes, please do," added Tenten.

Tsunade nodded and walked out of the room.

"So how are you two doing?" Naruto asked of his kids.

"Miss you and Mommy," said Kiro. "When are you coming home?"

"Tomorrow…probably," Naruto answered. "And we'll be bringing Hokori with us. He's a part of our family now."

"Can he play with me?" asked Kiro.

Naruto laughed. "He's a little too small now. He's even younger than Emi and you've seen how much care and attention she needs."

"I'll help!" shouted Aiko.

"I'm counting on you," said Hinata to her daughter.

OlOlOlOlOlO

Tsunade entered the birthing room down the hall to a near silent atmosphere. Sasuke was sitting in a chair next to Sakura's bedside, holding the one hand she held out for him. Sakura was still and had her eyes closed – an ordinary onlooker would have thought she was just sleeping. Sasuke had his head down and was seemingly concentrating on something when the Hokage entered. When he heard her enter, his head popped up and he nodded politely to her.

"How is she doing?" asked Tsunade quietly.

"The same," whispered Sasuke back.

"I've never seen anyone as calm and in control as she has been. That perfect chakra control and her medial ninjutsu abilities are definitely making this much easier than most women have it," noted Tsunade.

Just then, Sakura exhaled and opened her eyes. She noted the Hokage was back in the room. "How is Hinata?" was the first thing she asked.

"In much better shape than when she delivered," said Tsunade. "She's all cleaned up and the baby was feeding when I just left her. Neji and Tenten brought the twins to visit and meet the baby, too."

"Does the baby have a name yet?" asked Sakura.

"Hokori Uzumaki," answered Tsunade.

"That's lovely," said Sakura. "I believe it means 'to be proud of' or something to that extent. M"Lady, thank you again – not only for helping me through this, but taking care of Hinata as well. I'm just sorry I couldn't be there for her."

"I think she'll forgive you," said Tsunade. "And you're welcome. Not that I'm doing much here – you've got this completely under control with all the training you've had." She pulled up a small bench and placed her arm between Sakura's legs. Sakura knew this meant that her progress needed to be checked.

Sakura winced a bit as Tsunade checked her.

"Well?" asked Sasuke.

"Do you feel the need to push yet?" asked Tsunade. "Your contractions should be quite frequent at this point and if you aren't already feeling the urge to push, you will very soon."

Sakura gasped for a quick second and squinched her eyes. A contraction had hit unexpectedly …apparently, she had spent a bit too much time talking and not concentrating. She squeezed Sasuke's hand to the extent that he called out in pain.

"No urge yet," she said once the pain level had gotten back to tolerable again. "But I will begin pushing when the urge hits as long as you think I'm ready."

"You are good to go," noted Tsunade.

"Sorry, but I'm going to start meditating again," said Sakura. "It's much more…tolerable when I'm focused."

"I don't blame you one bit," said Tsunade.

Sakura made herself comfortable and closed her eyes once again.

"You should consider yourself lucky," Tsunade said to Sasuke. "You have no idea how hellish this can be for both the woman and the man without abilities such as hers."

OlOlOlOlOlO

Hokori sat off to Hinata's side in a small bassinet as his mother dozed, covered in the warmth of the last rays of sunshine shining through the window. Naruto had a few scrolls with him and was perusing them in the same chair he sat in earlier at the end of the bed. As it was entering evening, the door was now closed.

Then that all too familiar tapping near the door was heard yet again. Naruto didn't want whoever it was to wake Hinata, so he leapt from the chair to see who it was and what they wanted. He opened the door to find Sasuke standing there.

"Sasuke? Is everything alright?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, uh, Naruto," Sasuke replied seeing his friend open the door. Although he was the one who technically did the knocking and the visiting, upon seeing Naruto he suddenly felt a bit strange.

Naruto squeezed out into the hallway and let the door close behind him. "Your eyes are red, Sasuke," he noted. "Is Sakura alright?"

Sasuke just started laughing to himself. It was apparent to Naruto that his friend was acting weird and the laughing was more of a release of tension than anything else.

"Dobe, I'm a father," said Sasuke matter-of-factly. Naruto understood now what was going on. It was the flood of emotions that occurred after your firstborn had finally arrived. His entire world had just changed in just a few seconds.

"So what are you doing here, baka?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura's sleeping and they took the baby to the nursery. She was amazing. No outbursts or cries of pain at all...she was in control the entire time. I hardly even knew when the baby was being born other than Granny telling me what was happening," Sasuke explained.

"I can just imagine since she is so skilled with her chakra...but she probably ended up exhausting herself in the process," said Naruto. "And?"

"And what?" asked Sasuke. He saw the questioning look on Naruto's face, then he understood. "It's a boy. We named him Kasai. And he's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.