Okay Guys so here's the next chapter!
It's out early because today is the day my friend turns 21! Yay for her, and the legal consumption of alcohol she can partake in!
Ahem.
Anyway.
Hope you all enjoy, and I hope you liked the pregnancy thing. Yes, she's pregnant and no Kakashi is not aware.
I DO NOT OWN ANY NARUTO CHARACTERS
(=^.^=)
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New Beginnings
Chapter Seven
Lovely Dreams
"You have to tell him."
Silence, then…
"I can't."
The Hokage frowned, hazel eyes narrowing. "Haruka… he deserves to know."
A flinch. "Tsunade-sama… I just… I can't."
"Haruka!" "It's war!"
The two women stared at each other, one with anger and the other desperation. Obsidian eyes welled with tears that she refused to shed.
"What Kakashi needs…" She said, her voice firming with determination. "Is to focus on the war."
Tsunade shook her head sadly. "I don't want you fighting like this."
"Tsunade-sama… I will do everything I can to protect my village."
"You should be doing everything you can… to protect your unborn child."
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"Ouch." Haruka said, putting a hand to her forehead. Her head had been killing her ever since she got up this morning, and she wasn't sure why. The woman shook it off though, and continued to move around the kitchen, she was trying to get breakfast done because Ryou would be back from morning training soon and she knew he would be hungry.
"Mommy?"
Haruka looked down at the little girl who stopped next to her. "Yes, Ayaka-chan?"
Silver hair fell over onyx eyes so like her own, and the little girl's belly grumbled. "I'm hungry." Haruka laughed a little, bending down to scoop the five-year-old into her arms. "How about some juice to hold you over, hmm? Breakfast is almost ready."
"Mhm." Ayaka nodded, and Haruka set her daughter down in one of the vacant chairs at the table. She glanced at the toddler in his highchair, and sighed when she saw he had gotten more food on his face, and in his dark hair than anywhere else.
"Oh Michi-chan, you made such a mess." She said with no small amount of affection. She set the juice down in front of her daughter, wiped the one-year-olds face clean, then went back to gathering up breakfast, and placing it on the table.
"Tadaima!"
"Okaeri!" Haruka called back, setting the last few plates on the table. She looked up in time to see her eldest child walk through the door. He was covered in dirt and his short silver hair was all over the place, but his dark eyes were lit in excitement.
"Mom, guess what! Gramps showed me this really cool lightening technique! I still can't do it quite yet but I'm sure I'll have it down by Friday!"
Haruka walked over and gave her son a hug, he had just turned twelve last weekend and as a present his grandpa said he'd show him a new jutsu. The boy grinned at her before heading to the table for breakfast. Ryou briefly stopped to kiss his little brother on the head and hug his sister, but then he was eating with gusto.
Speaking of his grandfather, Haruka gave the man a hug, when he walked through the door too. "Hello Sakumo-sensei. Was training good?"
Hatake Sakumo laughed, and smiled at her. "Yeah, Ryou's been working hard."
"Jiji!" Not a second later Sakumo had his hands full of little Hatake. Ayaka loved her Jiji and she knew that he was completely wrapped around her fingers. "Just like her daddy." Haruka murmured, completely ignoring Sakumo's mock glare.
"Where is Kakashi?" Sakumo asked moving towards the table.
"Oh he's—" There was a knock on the door, "Ah… excuse me Sensei." Haruka left the kids with their grandpa, and went to see who was knocking. When she opened it she was immediately hugged by Takako. Her goddaughter was fourteen now, and she has shot up like a weed, towering over Haruka's small frame by half a head.
"Hi Auntie Haru!" The Nara girl said. "Mama wanted me to come over early because Shika was being a brat again."
"Tako-chan… you realize Shikamaru is twenty-seven right? He's married and has a kid… how can he be a brat?"
Takako huffed a breath, making her way inside. "Doesn't matter, Aniki will always be a brat."
"Well the party will be starting soon, so try to keep civil." Haruka asked with a smile. Her goddaughter smirked. "No promises, Auntie."
A few hours later Haruka's back yard was filled with people of all ages. Everyone was here, she could even see her parents over by the food table mingling with Shikaku and Yoshino. The Hatake woman was trying to enjoy it as much as she could but her head was killing her. Ever since she got up this morning there had been a dull throbbing in the back of her skull.
"Hey, Haruka, are you alright?"
Dark eyes looked up as her name was called, and Haruka saw her best friend walking up to her. Kushina was the type of woman to age gracefully for sure, and the Hatake woman found herself slightly jealous even though she herself didn't look a day over thirty.
Haruka wasn't sure why she felt sad looking at her longtime friend for a moment, but, like her headache, she pushed it aside, giving a warm smile to the redhead.
"I'm fine Kushina. Where's Minato?"
"He's over there with Naruto talking about a new seal their working on." She gestured, and true to her word Naruto, Minato, and Jiraya were huddled together muttering to themselves. "I swear my husband and son are going to blow up the world one day with a bad seal!"
The two women laughed, and Haruka winced at the throb it caused in her head.
"Haruka?"
Blinking rapidly, she looked at Kushina again. The pain was getting worse and she could barely see straight "Yeah… I…" Her knees buckled beneath her, and her vision went white.
"How many are there!?"
"The Zetsu clones are closing in!"
"We need a sealing team!"
"Naruto should be here soon!"
"Haruka are you there?!"
"Haruka!"
Obsidian eyes snapped open to see a group of people huddled around her. Her eyes locked with Kakashi's, and his held such worry for her, but all she could think was "When did you get here?"
He barked out a short laugh, before he gently hoisted her up. "I got here just in time to see you fall over. Have you been working too hard again?"
"Um… I don't..." She blinked, and looked around her. "I thought I saw…"
"Saw what Haruka?" Kushina asked worriedly.
The Hatake blinked slowly. "Nothing, I… it was nothing." Then she laughed. "I really must be tired, ne?"
The party went on normally after that, but the pain in her head was still there, if only a dull throb at the back of her mind. Later that night after the two little ones were put to bed, Haruka was in the kitchen doing the dishes, Kakashi had tried to say that he would do them, but Haruka knew Ryou wanted to spend some time with his dad.
So she pushed them in the living room, and left it at that.
Haruka could hear them talking, and she was humming quietly under her breath. Today had been a good day and she was happy. All her loved ones were there, and all was right in the world. Suddenly though, Haruka blinked and the clear water running out of the pipe turned red.
She pulled her hands out quickly, but when she looked again there was no blood… just soapy water.
The pounding in her head got louder and harsher, so she decided to hurry up and go to bed. She must really have been over working herself, but for the life of her Haruka couldn't remember what she had done to warner such exhaustion.
Come to think of it she couldn't remember much of anything.
The more she tried to think about it the more the pain in her head increased, and Haruka could feel her legs giving out beneath her.
She heard a startled cry of "Mom!" right before her head hit the floor.
"Eternal Tsukuyomi?"
"Yes… we believe that your Mangekyō Sharingan can disable it, or fight it off for a short period of time."
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
"Stay away from the front lines."
"I need to fight with my village!"
"You need to be safe for the village, Haruka! And for your baby!"
Honey eyes filled her vision, before they were overtaken by red and black.
Sleep. 'What?' Sleep. 'No… No, I need to help in the war!' Sleep.
'Sleep?'
Yes, Sleep… Everything will be okay.
…Okay?
Everything will be… okay.
"Ryou, when is Mommy gonna wake up?"
Who? "I don't know, Aya-chan, Dad said Mom was just really tired." Wasn't she just…
"I want her to wake up now, she's been asleep forever!" What about the war? The front lines? What about…
"It's only been a day, Ayaka." What had she been thinking about?
"You two are very loud, you've woken your poor Mother up."
"Sorry, Auntie." "Sorry, Aunt Mikoto."
At the name Haruka's eyes snapped open, only to close again cringing at the bright lights. Apparently they took her to the hospital after she passed out. She looked to her left and saw her two oldest, then to her right to see a face so much like her own.
"Mikoto." NotMokototshe'sdead
"Hey, nee-chan." The Uchiha Matriarch turned to the kids. "Why don't you too give me a minute with your mom, hmm?"
Quick hugs were exchanged, wrongwrong and with the promise to bring back food and Dad Kakashiisn'tadadnotyet, the two kids were gone. There was silence for a long moment as the two women tried to find something to say. Then Haruka blurted out.
"Mikoto… do you ever feel like… something is missing?"
Her sister looked at her, pulling up a chair to sit next to the bed. "Sometimes." She admitted easily. "But, it's nice here… isn't it Nee-chan?"
They stared at each other for a moment, before Mikoto sighed and looked away. "Maybe you should take a break. Stay at home until Michi is a bit older. Kakashi is worried about you, you know?"
Haruka shut her eyes, and leaned back trying to ignore the pain in her head. Thisisn'trightit'snotright "I have dreams sometimes." She admitted, quietly.
"Dreams?"
"About war, and death. I see blood when I'm washing the dishes, and when I look at my kids… sometimes I don't know who they are."
Silence fell over the room. "Does that make me a bad mother?" Notamothernotyet
"Of course not." A hand grabbed hers and for a second she almost jerked away from the touch. It felt cold, like death. BecasueMikotoisdeaddeaddead. But then she opened her eyes and saw her sisters worried face, and the clammy touch faded into warmth.
"You're just stressed." Mikoto said. "How about I take Michi and Ayaka for the weekend, hm? Ryou can stay over at his teammates house. How does that sound?"
It sounded good, and she agreed. Everything would go back to normal thisisn'tnormalit'swrong... then when she was left alone with her thoughts, Haruka couldn't help but wonder,
Who were her son's teammates?
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"So she just said she would take the kids?"
Haruka nodded, as she dressed Ayaka in her coat and hat. Notherdaughter. It was fall so the air was slightly chilled and she didn't want the five-year-old to catch a cold. "She said she wanted me to relax. That I was too stressed."
"Sounds like Mikoto."
"Right." Haruka muttered. She sat on the couch and squeezed her eyes shut, the throbbing in her head getting worse for a moment. The next thing she realized Mikoto was at the door and ready to take her kids for the weekend. Nothersnothers
"Bye Mommy!"
"Uh, bye baby girl." Haruka gave her a hug, kissed them both on the forehead wrongwrongwrong, and then they were gone, leaving Kakashi and her alone.
"So," Kakashi said slowly, sitting down next to her on the couch. "What now? It seems like it's been forever since we've had a kid free weekend." That'snotrightnotrightnotright
"Can I ask you something?"
The question was asked in a meek tone of voice, and it seemed to startle him slightly, but he nodded anyway. "Was there ever… a war? I mean…" At his look, she explained. "A Fourth Shinobi War?" BlooddeathMadaraJuubi
"No." Kakashi said, dragging out the word. "The last war was the third war, we haven't—well I mean there were some brief skirmishes when Team Seven was around sixteen, but other than that."
"Team Seven?" Haruka asked, "With… Naruto, Sakura, and… Sasuke?" Sasuke'sgoneSasukeleft
Kakashi furrowed his eyes in confusion. "Yes, two of which are jōnin, and one who's training to be Hokage—Haruka… you should know this."
A sigh escaped her lips, and she stood up. Haruka began pacing the floor, she felt like she was trapped with no way out. The throb had turned into a pounding. Kakashi just watched.
"Something doesn't feel right though!" She began in earnest. "I've been getting headaches, and I can't remember simple things! I have no idea who my son's teammates are, or why seeing Kushina makes me overwhelmingly sad! And the dreams I've been having have only made it worse."
"You've been stressed—" "It's not stress!"
There was silence, one minute Kakashi was on the couch and the next he was standing before her, his hands caressing her face. Haruka wanted to lean into those hands, let him take care of her and stop thinking, but the feeling of wrongwrongwrong kept pounding against her skull and chest.
She took a step back.
Kakashi sighed, dropping his hands to his sides. A look of frustration crossed his face and what he said next made Haruka pause.
"I don't understand why you keep fighting it."
Haruka's mouth went dry. "What?"
A lone grey eye narrowed at her. "You have everything you want, right? Me, the kids, your friends, your family. So why is it you keep digging when you can be perfectly happy here!"
His voice had taken on a slightly desperate tone. It was tinged with sadness and Haruka felt guilt overcome her for a moment. Even if he was wrongwrongwrong this was still Kakashi, and she loved him.
"I remember fighting." Haruka said slowly, keeping an eye on him even if she was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt her. "I'm not sure why, or who, but I was fighting to protect something."
Unconsciously her hand slid to her abdomen. It was flat now but there was a ghost feeling of it being slightly larger, and it almost made her panic.
Taking a deep breath, Haruka tried to smile.
"This world, whatever it is… it's not right." She could see Kakashi frown at her words. "I just have this feeling, and I think I need to act on it."
Chakra started to build up behind her eyes, and as if he knew what she was doing, Kakashi started to panic. "No! Wait, Haruka, please! You can be happy here, I promise."
The first level of her Sharingan activated, and before her eyes it looked as if the edges of the world had bled away slightly. Even more chakra now, and she could see a lone tear trail down Kakashi's cheek.
"Please stay with me." He whispered.
Blood instead of tears are what ran down her own face, and she wasn't sure why her heart was breaking. "I'm sorry." She said, just as quietly. A the Mangekyō flared to life in her eyes she watched as the color seemed to bleed right out of him, and Kakashi disappeared into the background.
And then Haruka new no more.
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It felt like years later that Haruka was sitting in a hospital room getting checked over by a nurse. She, along with thousands of other shinobi, had woken up in egg-like casings, tired, disoriented, and not knowing what had happened.
"Alright, Yamasaki-san, everything is fine with your heath."
"The baby?"
The medic smiled. "They baby is perfectly fine too. It seems you had been unconsciously sending all the chakra that wasn't being drained to your womb to protect it. Well, almost all the chakra. Be glad that didn't kill you."
Haruka nodded, her shoulders sagging with relief. "Thank you, Medic-san."
The shinobi nodded, and Haruka took her leave, more people than just her needed to be checked on after all.
Walking through the rows of tents, seeing all the families and loved ones come together in relief now that the war was over… it had Haruka slightly jealous. She wasn't sure where her people were, Naruto, Sakura, and most importantly Kakashi.
It wasn't until a few hours later that she could make out the familiar chakra on the edge of her field. She was no sensor, but it was hard to miss Uzumaki Naruto. She also knew that wherever Naruto was, Kakashi would surely be close.
'If he survived' Haruka shook that thought off. It had been bugging her since the moment she woke up and the dark haired woman would be damned if she let her doubts get to her now. But the mind was a fickle thing and it kept whispering to her as she made her way closer to Naruto's location.
'What if he didn't make it?'
'What if you're all alone?'
'What if he ended up like Shikaku?'
"What will you do if he's dead?'
He thoughts cut off though, the moment she got Naruto into her sights, because standing next to him—barely, but very much alive, was Kakashi.
A sob broke its way free from her throat—later she would blame the pregnancy hormones—and she darted across the camp. Barely hearing his grunt of pain, Haruka slammed herself into Kakashi and held on tightly.
There was this insane fear that if she let go he would disappear.
Her whole body was shaking with the sobs she was holding in, and Haruka barely noticed Kakashi clutching her back just as tightly. Suddenly she was pushed away from him, and before she could protest his mask was down and his lips were on hers.
It was like finding water after days in the desert.
In the back of her mind she could hear cheering and catcalling, but all she could focus on was Kakashi. Kakashi's warmth. Kakashi's heartbeat. Just Kakashi.
Briefly she wondered why he would willingly pull down his mask in front of tons of people, but then realized that he had a light genjutsu up. This caused her to break from their kiss and start laughing into his shoulder.
Damn Hatake knew exactly why she was laughing too.
Naruto cleared his throat after a moment, causing the two of them to look at him. The blonde shinobi grinned and Haruka smiled at her best friend's son. Looking at him now, Haruka could see both his parents in him… it made her proud.
Even if she was internally freaking out about the half of his arm that was missing.
Naruto must have seen her slight panic because he chuckled. "I'm gonna do one last sweep, just to make sure there aren't any more Zetsu clones. Then I think I want some ramen… it's been way too long!"
His statement caused the shinobi around him to laugh, before they started going back to their own business. Haruka watched—no matter how many times she seen it already—in awe as the golden glow took over Naruto's form.
The Uzumaki got a concentrated look on his face, but there was no sign that anything was wrong, and he quickly came out of his Bijuu cloak. Haruka was just about to turn back to Kakashi, fully intent to see that he was thoroughly okay, when Naruto addressed her.
"Haruka-neechan?"
She looked at him curiously. "Yes, Naruto-kun?"
A pause. Then,
"Why do you have two chakra signatures?"
It seemed as if the world had suddenly zeroed in on her, and she felt Kakashi tense next to her. The silver haired man turned to her, his two (and how had she not noticed two) grey eyes piercing. "What?" He whispered.
Haruka could feel the color drain from her face.
"Um… I can explain."
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OMAKE
(As Requested by the Birthday Girl)
"Sorry what?"
"I need your advice on a matter concerning women."
Haruka did her very best to remain straight-faced, but looking at the twelve-year-old in front of her, she couldn't help but crack a small smile.
"Kakashi, you're twelve."
The look she got was one full of sass, and she almost lost her composure. The poor kid was so serious all the time, and Haruka supposed she could at least try to take this seriously as well.
"Okay." She said sitting down. They were in the training field after one of their sessions. "What kind of advice?"
This seemed to make Kakashi pause, and the young Hatake shifted awkwardly where he had sat down across from her. Clearing his throat, Haruka was just able to hear him mumble out something.
"Older? Oh! You like an older girl. Well that's alright everyone has their types." Haruka smiled at Kakashi. "Did you just want the basics on how to talk to her?"
Watching the red creep up his face, Haruka smiled a little wider. 'Aww, he's embarrassed. That's adorable.' Kakashi nodded his head stiffly.
So Haruka sat with him for a while and told him everything she could think of on how to treat a girl. She felt sadness overcome her though, when she though it ought to be her sensei teaching his son these things, and pushed away the lingering feelings of anger and betrayal at him leaving them alone.
She also felt slightly guilty about not being in her sensei's son's life more often, but she had drowned herself in ANBU after Sakumo's death, and had only recently resurfaced.
When she was packing for her mission later that night she made a promise to herself that as soon as she got back, Haruka would spend more time with Kakashi. He wouldn't have to be so alone anymore.
Two weeks later, a twelve-year-old boy stood in front of the memorial stone staring at the name that had recently been carved on it. He refused to let the tears in his eyes fall, but he did place down a simple bouquet of flowers.
Purple Hyacinth and White Azalea.
Sorrow of a first love lost.
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Alrighty guys!
This one is super early compared to the last one which was super late, but it was a present so meh.
I kinda want to try the thing I did with my other story so… If I can get 10 Reviews, then I will post the next chapter on Friday.
If you guys are into that then let me know.
P.S. I do not study the meanings of flowers and google was my friend on that one. If I messes something up then just let me know, but I'm pretty sure it's okay how it is.
Hope you enjoyed!
Till Next Time,
Ja 'Ne!
(=^.^=)
