The sound of footsteps echoed through the apartment as I prepared dinner. Naruto and Sasuke were outside training; there was only one other person who would be entering my apartment at this hour.

"Welcome home, Kakashi," I said softly as arms snaked their way around my waist.

"I'm home, Kaede." I felt his masked lips press a kiss against my neck. I sighed constantly at his touch.

"You know, the boys are outside and probably will be for a while..."

"None of that now, Kakashi; I'm making dinner! Go read your pervy book or something!"

He chuckled and pulled his book out of his pouch.

"The boys both passed their exams at the academy today."

"Really? Naruto too? Your training must have paid off, Kaede. He wasn't doing that well in school last time I checked."

"He'll be a splendid ninja soon enough. He just needed to find the right motivation."

"What did you tell him to motivate him."

"I told him our little secret."

"You haven't even told Sasuke yet. Or confirmed it. It's just your suspicions."

"Even if I'm wrong, telling him motivated him. After all, you know how protective he gets over the three of us."

"I suppose you're right."

I chuckled. "I always am."

Soon enough, dinner was done and the boys were called in. Kakashi did the dishes while I tiered up the house a little bit, not daring to go near Naruto's room. Then Kakashi and I spared. He won. We showered and went to bed.

"...Hey, listen: I'm not ready to talk about what happened or who it is I like, but I'll tell you when you get back from your mission, ok?"

Obito smiled at me. "Deal! I'll hold you to it!"

He gave me the thumbs up. I watched him walk away. Then rocks came crashing down from the sky, crushing him.

"Obito!"

"Kaede! Wake up!"

I was pulled from my nightmare as Kakashi shook me awake; Naruto and Sasuke were standing in the doorway. I was shaking.

"Obi..to...I saw him die...I saw him..."

"Kaede, you're okay." Kakashi said as he held me. "Go back to bed, boys. I've got this."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks before nodding at Kakashi and leaving the room.

"It's been a while since you went to see anyone. Come with me tomorrow. Seeing them will do you some good."

"If you say so..."

The next day, I went to pay a visit to the graves of my fallen friends and family.

"Mina, sorry I haven't been by in a while." I said to the graves. "Naruto and Sasuke keep me busy. Being a mom to two young boys is hard. I don't know how you did it with three kids, Okaa-san. I've been training hard with my medical ninjutsu, Tomoyo-sensei. You'd be proud of me. I've been thinking about seeking out Tsunade-sama to learn more, but, if it might be difficult for me to travel soon, so I'll probably stick with learning what I can at the hospital. I work in the maternity ward now. You guys know how much I've always love babies. I wish you all could be here now. I saw you in a dream again, Obito. I saw you die. It was so painful so watch that. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you, Kakashi, and Rin. I wish I had told you that day before you left how I felt about you. I never got to confess my love to you, but you were so in love with Rin that I was scared of losing you as a friend. It seems so silly now. If I could go back, I would have told you. Itachi, I remember, thought I was silly for worrying about confessing to you when you got back. Speaking of Itachi, I haven't heard from him since that night. I hope he's alright. I know what he did is awful, but he's my little brother. How can I not worry about him? I worry about him all the time. I wonder if he's taking care of himself. He's probably not. He never thinks of himself first. Always a ninja, never a man. He needs to take care of himself. I wonder if you guys will ever forgive us for what happened that night."

I sat there and talked for hours. Kakashi came by and brought me food around midday. He even joined me for a little while. But eventually had to go meet up with his new genin: our boys and Haruno Sakura. I laughed about that match up to my fallen loved ones.

"Okaa-san and Kushina-ba-sama would have loved this. Their sons on the same team."

"There's one thing from all those years ago that still bothers me to this day...that masked man. He had the same chakra as you, Obito, except it was so cold and full of hatred. It was you, but it wasn't you. It was like you had some evil twin out there. I know this: he's involved with all of this some how. The night of the Kyuubi attack. The night our clan was massacred. That man was involved somehow."

an: sorry if this was a little dialog heavy. reviews are appreciated :)