Chapter 12
Parenthood
It felt as though she had just rested her head on her pillow when the cry of an infant had woken her up from a fleeting second of sleep. She rolled over onto her back as the baby continued to cry. Sakura reached out for Sasuke and when she felt no one next to her, she panicked. Propping herself up, she groggily looked around in the dark and saw that she was all alone.
"That bastard," she mumbled as she pulled the covers off of her and walked over to the twins' crib.
Tsunade had come to the hospital the other day to check the twins' health since they were born three months premature. Though they were small—which was to be expected—their vitals seemed to be healthy so she allowed Sakura to take them home. Her shift at the hospital had ended later than she expected, so when she got home, she wasn't surprised to see Sasuke already asleep. Luckily, she had already set up their crib a few days ago. It had been hers when she was a baby, borrowing it from her mother for now.
Suzu had been the one who was crying and Sakura knew exactly why, so she took the baby into the kitchen. She balanced her in her arms as she heated a bottle of formula in her microwave. As that warmed up, she tried to soothe the baby girl by lightly bouncing her in her arms. The trick started to work as she started to calm down, and when the bottle was done and checked, Suzu eagerly took the bottle. Now, the room was filled with silence except for the tiny sucking sounds coming from Suzu. Exhaustion was starting to set in until familiar arms wrapped themselves around her waist and a kiss lightly brushed her neck.
"Where have you been," she hushed, not to disturb Ria in the other room, "Sasuke?"
He didn't respond and simply placed his chin on her shoulder, staring down at Suzu. She was nearly done her bottle.
"Were you up on the roof again?" She continued to question him, wanting to hear his voice after such a long and tiring day. But she felt him nod instead of vocally responding. "What did you do today?" Now this question wasn't going to be a yes or no answer, so hopefully she'd get him to respond.
The baby had finished her bottle and looked up at Sakura with her bright violet eyes and smiled a dimpled smile. Sakura was a bit surprised at the dimples since neither parent had them, but somehow it was fitting for Suzu. She smiled back and placed the bottle on her table beside her. Sasuke's arms left her as he went to lean against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. Sakura went back into her room, put the baby back in the crib, tucked her in, and kissed her on the forehead before returning to the other room.
She walked right up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands reacted to her and placed themselves on her hips as he slowly opened his eyes and touched his forehead to hers. "How was your day?" She asked.
"Not as exhausting as yours." He responded. "You should be in bed."
"I would be but the baby needed me, so now I'm awake." With every word, she got closer to his face until her lips rested against his on the word "awake." She kissed him tenderly, and as if it was automatic, he kissed her back. There was something distant about the kiss as he didn't put forth his usual vigor. Pulling back, she asked, "What's wrong?"
"Why do you think there's something wrong?" Clearly, he was trying to avoid the question.
"Did you forget that I'm a medical ninja?" She placed her hand where his ribs were and pressed down hard, causing the Uchiha to give a little grunt of pain. "What did you do this time?"
"I was just sparring to get my reflexes back." He winced as Sakura continued to inspect other parts of his body. "I decided to start with taijutsu and was working with Lee this afternoon."
"Are you crazy?" She was as loud as she could get without raising her voice and waking the babies. "You haven't trained or done anything in the past five and a half years, and you expect to keep up with Lee? Baka..."
"That's exactly why I have to train so hard. I've been out of commission for five and a half years, and there's no way I'm going to be left behind." He seemed genuinely troubled by this.
Sakura stopped her prodding and grabbed his face in her hands, carefully looking into his eyes. She saw his determination and a hint of fear, which almost brought a smile to her face in an almost cruel way. It wasn't that she liked his fear; it was just the thought of Sasuke having fear about something so normal was pleasing to her. She felt as though he was starting to really become apart of this village once again after so many years of being called a traitor.
"I love you so much, Sasuke." She kissed him again but this time it was filled with more vigor. He was a bit surprised, but this time he responded back immediately with life of his own. It didn't feel automatic but completely genuine as he pulled her closer to his body. Her tongue trailed his bottom lip as he turned around and put her on top of her counter.
His hands were fast and she was perfectly distracted as he unbuttoned her shirt. She felt the heat of his hands as they moved to unhook her bra. While he was distracted with that, Sakura went to lift his shirt off of him as he complied and allowed the material to slip right off his body. She ran her slender fingers down his chest and abs and noticed more bruises and welts that weren't there before. Sasuke didn't seem to notice her staring as he kissed the crook of her neck and placed his hands at the hem of her pants.
"Sasuke," she panted and he simply mumbled into her neck as a response. "I need to treat you."
He smiled and pulled away. "Are we going to play one of those games? I thought you were tired?" He joked.
"No, we're not playing a game. I seriously need to treat those wounds." She said sternly. He simply tsked but didn't fight her. She snapped her bra back together before placing her hands over his ribs first where the pain had seemed the worst. "Stop complaining. If you let wounds like these go untreated, they can become infected and then it would not only be harder to treat but you'll complain even more."
"I'm fine and I didn't need any treatment." He muttered as he winced at the new pain in his abs that she was now treating.
"Maybe you should work on more chakra building exercise. I'm pretty sure your stamina has diminished as well, and that training shouldn't be as dangerous." She tried to convince him.
"Sakura, you don't have to worry about me." He had leaned in to whisper in her ear as she tried her best to concentrate on healing him.
"You don't understand, Sasuke. I do worry about you because I'm afraid of losing you." She admitted and ceased her medical treatment. Her hands had balled up in her lap as she diverted her gaze from his.
He placed a hand under her chin and brought her face up so that their eyes reconnected. "Sakura," he paused to lick his lips, "I don't want you to ever worry about that because I promise you I'll never leave you again."
"Oh, Sasuke!" She flung her arms around his neck, bringing him close to her and nearly causing her to fall off the counter. Sakura merely held him close as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.
Sasuke could feel her exhaustion and soon felt his own. So, he scooped Sakura up into his arms as she remained still in his arms, and he made his way into their bedroom. He went to lay her on the bed but her grip was like iron and she wouldn't let him go. Being as careful as possible, his body hovered over hers as he tried to climb over her now sleeping body. He smirked to himself as he plopped down onto his side of the bed and pulled the covers over the both of them. As soon as the blanket covered them, Sakura pulled herself closer to him and intertwined her legs with his as he slung an arm over her waist.
He gave her a light kiss on her forehead and she gave a pleasant sigh in response. "Good night, Sakura."
It was one of the most pleasant dreams of her life, but when one of the babies awoke crying at the break of dawn, it vanished. All she was left with was a pleasurable feeling and a giddy mood even though she was sad that her dream had faded. Sakura didn't realize how tangled up she was with Sasuke until she went to move. Their legs were intertwined and his arms were securely wrapped around her, and if it wasn't for a crying baby, she'd want to stay like that forever. But sadly, she wriggled free of both his arms and legs and swung her feet over the edge of her bed.
All of this moving must've woken up Sasuke because he reached out and grabbed her wrist, nearly pulling her back into his hold. "Where are you going?" He asked.
He pulled her back into bed and put the blanket back over her as he now sat on the edge of the bed. "I got this one. You go back to sleep." Sasuke then went over to the crib and picked up a screaming Ria, and almost immediately, the child was silent albeit for a few hiccups.
He knew this kid wasn't hungry because he could smell the problem before he even picked him up. Sasuke went into the kitchen where he'd seen the diaper bag the night before and placed Ria on a dish towel on the counter. Opening up the bag he pulled out what he needed to change a diaper—baby powder, baby wipes, and a fresh, clean diaper. This was going to be his first time changing a diaper but how hard could it be?
Opening the dirty diaper, he was impacted with the smell and turned his head from the sight. Sasuke knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience, but he had been in war and those memories weren't as messy as this diaper. He didn't know what to do now, so wanting to get the sight and smell out of the way, he threw out the dirty diaper. Then he decided to wipe the kid, but as he was finishing that up, Ria decided to use the bathroom again.
Urine sprayed everywhere as it arched and nearly hit Sasuke—luckily his reflexes were still good and he dodged the attack. He had released Ria's feet and was now standing beside the kid as he giggled at the Uchiha. He cocked an eyebrow and placed the clean diaper over the child, stopping the flow.
"You found that funny, huh?" He finished the diaper and picked Ria up, keeping eye contact with the boy. He could see what Sakura meant by him having the same golden eyes as his father as well as that natural intelligence, but there was this innocent warmth that they held which separated the two.
Someone was clapping and before he looked over, Sasuke knew it was Sakura in the doorway. She had a large grin plastered on her face as she made her way over to the two boys. Reaching out her hands, she was signaling to take Ria from him and he happily complied.
"That was very...entertaining." She stifled a giggle but not a smile. "Anyway, you're doing very well."
I'm not doing that again." He told her as if that was final.
She raised an eyebrow and turned her attention to Ria who was smiling in her arms. He cooed at her touch which brought a smile to her face. Sakura went over to the refrigerator and pulled out the baby formula. After she heated it to the right temperature, she handed Sasuke Ria and he easily cradled him, though he was wary of the boy. She then handed him the formula and taking the clue, he fed Ria the bottle.
'Now this is easy,' he thought as Ria easily took his breakfast.
Sakura watched as Sasuke stood there with the utmost patience. She would have never imagined that Uchiha Sasuke could ever be like this, especially after all the hell he'd caused for Naruto, herself, and all of Konoha—for that matter. This was all short lived, however, after he took the empty bottle away and Ria immediately spat up on him. She took the baby from him as he grabbed a paper towel and tried to clean his shirt. A vein started to pulse in his forehead as he avoided eye contact.
"Sasuke, don't get mad." She told him as she held the baby protectively. "This stuff happens all the time."
"All the time, huh? Then why has it only happened to me?" He asked through gritted teeth. It was obvious he was trying to keep his anger controlled.
"It's happened to me at the hospital, but I got through it." She sighed. "If you want, I can do the changing and feeding. Boys are trickier to change and Ria has a sensitive stomach."
He only grumbled as he threw the towel away.
"Come on and get changed." She told him as she took him by the arm.
"Why?"
"Because," Sakura looked back at him with a smile, "we're going to the park."
Sasuke didn't like the park. He was expecting it to be a lot quieter, but instead it was filled with little kids ages five to ten, and they were all screaming. He thought that because it was colder there wouldn't be anyone, and he could have a nice quiet morning. Well, after today, the park was going on his DO NOT VISIT list. The only reason why he was here was because of Sakura.
She had borrowed two strollers from the hospital and had bundled the babies up as they were too swollen with jackets, scarves, hats, and mittens to even wiggle around. Sasuke was "lucky" enough to push the girl, Suzu, around while Sakura took care of the boy.
Right now, he sat on a hill with Suzu's stroller right next to him as Sakura pushed Ria on a swing just a few feet away. The girl didn't make any noise and he was starting to like it, but after a few minutes went by, he thought she was getting awfully quiet. He got up and peered into her stroller to see her sound asleep as her breath was visible in the frozen air. He didn't know why but the next thing he knew, he was taking her out of the stroller and held her in his arms as he sat back down.
Suzu woke up from all the moving around, but she still didn't make a sound. She simply stared at him with those big round violet eyes of hers. He cradled her close to him because of the cold and looked down toward her. Just then, she smiled for him and Sasuke felt this overwhelming warmth seep into his body.
He sighed, "You know, if anyone saw me holding you, they'd think I grew too soft. And in this world, you can't be soft." She cooed at him and tried to reach for his face, but her clothes got in the way and she couldn't reach his face. Sasuke tried to hold back a smirk. "What's so funny?"
Suzu giggled even louder, and this time he couldn't hold back his smile.
"I'm not too good at all this but—"
"Sasuke?"
He turned around at the familiar voice and saw the-number-one-knucklehead-ninja of Konoha standing right behind him. He was dressed in heavier clothes than usual and was holding two cups of piping ramen. Naruto seemed a bit perplexed as to why Sasuke was in the park holding a small child.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. He started to approach his friend.
"I should ask you the same thing, dobe." Sasuke muttered under his breath.
"I'm just passing by, but you on the other hand, are you smiling?" He sat down and carefully cradled his cups. Looking at what Sasuke was holding, Naruto couldn't help but to crack a smile. "Is that Suzu?"
"Sakura's taking care of them."
"So why are you holding her?"
Sasuke remained silent, and the grin on Naruto's face grew wider. Finally, Sasuke sheepishly muttered, "She told me to watch her."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Uh-huh, sure."
"Anyways, what are you doing with two cups of ramen? Are you some kind of pig?" Sasuke changed the subject.
Naruto laughed. "If you think two cups of ramen makes me a pig, clearly Sasuke, you've forgotten how much I can eat. But no, I'm just holding Hinata's cup while she went in a store. I think she saw something she liked."
"So, you and Hinata, huh?" Sasuke had no idea why he was talking about something so trivial as Naruto's love life, but as long as he wasn't the one being asked the dobe's questions it was all good.
Surprisingly, the blonde ninja had blushed. Sasuke wasn't sure if he'd ever seen him blush before except when he made silly passes at Sakura, of course. He looked nervous. "Uh, yeah. You know what? I think I really really like her."
"Do you mean love?"
He nodded.
Sasuke smirked because he knew that feeling. His eyes wandered down the hill toward the swing set where Sakura was still pushing Ria. Apparently that kid really liked to swing, either that or Sakura saw him and the dobe having a heart to heart and didn't want to disturb. He caught her eye and she winked at him and so far it looked like his second theory was the answer. "There's nothing wrong with that." He answered, surprisingly. Maybe this normal life thing wasn't going to be as hard as he thought, though he did feel a little weird that he was giving advice to Naruto.
"But I don't know if I can say the words." He said sheepishly.
"Sakura told me that Hinata already told you she loved you, is that right?"
He nodded.
"And you know you love her, right?"
He nodded again.
"Then what's the problem?"
He shrugged. "I've never told anyone that I loved them."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was sort of in the same book since he never told his father he loved him, and rarely ever told his mother or brother that he loved them. So, he was just as much out of practice as the dobe sitting next to him. But when he told Sakura that he loved her, which was hard to do, it felt right afterwards. Thinking back, he should've said it sooner. "Trust me, if you say it, you'll feel better."
Naruto turned to face Sasuke, "You know what? You've changed, Sasuke." He smiled, and Sasuke, trying to keep his cool composure, turned away—making Naruto's smile that much wider. "Well, just a little at least."
"Naruto? Naruto?" Hinata was calling just a little ways away. From here, Sasuke could see that she was wearing a dress despite the cold. It was a soft shade of lilac and gave her skin a sort of creaminess that could rival even Sakura's. She didn't completely neglect the cold chill as she wore a white overcoat and an oversized lilac hat with a white trim. Her raven hair blew in the wind, making it her only dark feature as her eyes were as light as the moonlight.
Sasuke cocked his head toward her. "Go on. And trust me, it'll be worth it."
Naruto gave his friend a grateful look before getting up and heading over toward his girlfriend. If there was a couple that complimented each other to an infinite degree, then they were it. They were both great influences on one another. Hinata calmed him down and made him think rationally while he gave her courage and the strength to keep on fighting. They were destined to be together.
"What were you two talking about?" Sakura had snuck up behind him after Naruto had left, causing Sasuke to nearly jump—his senses must've been getting dulled.
He sighed, trying to hide the fact he didn't sense her. "Nothing in particular." She didn't really need to know about their real conversation.
His answer didn't seem to convince her, but she shrugged and let it go. "Come on. We should head back before the twins get a cold." She placed Ria in his stroller and took Suzu to put her in hers.
Sasuke looked down the hill toward the park. Everyone seemed to be leaving as it got closer to lunch and he realized something. All in all, spending the morning at the park wasn't that bad of an idea.
Naruto and Hinata decided to take their lunch back to Naruto's place on account of the cold weather. She didn't seem to notice his newfound nervousness and he was thankful for that. Once they got back, he cranked the heat up and brought out a thick blanket. Hinata was in the kitchen while Naruto got to work in the living room.
He moved his sofa so it was up against the window and pushed the coffee table right next to it. Then he placed the blanket down on the floor. It seemed like a good spot for an indoor picnic, but something else seemed to be missing. He crossed his arms as he tried to think. Then it hit him. He went into his room and grabbed a few pillows off of his bed as well as a few candles from his closet.
Naruto placed the pillows on the blanket comfortably and then lit the candles. They were all scents that Hinata liked because she was the one who had bought them. Some were lavender while most were jasmine, but the one he liked the most was lilac because it reminded him of her. Speaking of the voluptuous devil, Hinata came out with two bowls of ramen balanced in one arm while she had a bottle of champagne in the other. She smiled at the scenery that Naruto created while he got up and helped her with everything. After she fetched two glasses—he didn't have wine glasses but regular ones worked just as well—they sat together for their picnic lunch.
She poured the champagne and he handed her a bowl of ramen. "So did you get this while you were in that shop?" He asked after taking a glass.
Hinata smiled. "Yeah. I thought you'd like it."
"Well, it's a good thing that we moved inside then, huh?" He matched her smile and took a sip. Naruto never had champagne before but knew that high class people drank it on special occasions. After his first sip, though, he came to the conclusion that he didn't like the taste too much, but not wanting to hurt Hinata's feelings, he drank it anyway.
She took a bite of her ramen, but Naruto continued to stare at her. For the first time in his life, he didn't want to eat ramen. Hinata saw that he wasn't eating and after she swallowed her bite, she asked, "What's wrong?"
He shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. I just, um," he scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Clearly, there's something wrong. You never not eat ramen." She set her bowl down and got closer to him, trying to see if there was a physical ailment she could solve. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
Again, he shook his head. "Well, actually..."
"You know, you can tell me anything you want. I don't want you to bottle things up, okay?" She looked genuinely concerned.
'Concerned for me,' he thought. Sighing, Naruto was about to say those three significant words when somebody knocked on the front door. He was both mad and relieved at the same time as he got up to get answer the door. To his surprise, it was Tenten. She was dressed in her usual attire except she was wearing her green Chunin vest. Tenten rarely wore that and when she did it was usually for top ranked Konoha missions. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her jaw was set. For whatever reason she was here, she wasn't too happy about it.
"Tenten?" Naruto said and got her attention.
"Hokage-sama wants to see you and Hinata immediately. Is she here?" Tenten tried to peer over his shoulder to find the young Hyuuga but stopped.
"Yeah," he nodded, "she's here. We'll be there soon."
Without another word, Tenten left towards the Hokage's office. Naruto shrugged and closed the door. He was going to tell Hinata what happened, but it seemed that she overheard the weapons' specialist because she was already cleaning up their picnic. She looked a bit sad at the sudden message, but when she looked up at him, she smiled. It was a warm smile that only Hinata was able make.
He smiled at her. "Do you need anything to change into?"
She nodded.
"Good thing I did the wash." He chuckled. "There some of your clothes in my room. You can change in there."
"Um, Naruto?"
"Hm?"
"What were you going to tell me before Tenten knocked on the door?" Instead of going closer to his bedroom door, she approached him. Now, she was an arms length away.
He knew what he wanted to say, but the words got caught in his throat again. She continued to look into his eyes and when he knew he could no longer reach those words, he grabbed her and pulled her close. Their mouths seemed perfectly molded to fit each others as she immediately responded to his kiss and closed her eyes. This seemed easier to do than say three words and so he put all of his emotions into the kiss. He let the love he felt for her flow through him and into her as she moaned into his mouth. Her hands dug into hair as he tried to pull her closer to his body. In their embrace, Naruto had barely noticed that they were moving until his back was against the closed door. She seemed so fragile in his arms and he was afraid that she was going to break, but Hinata must've sensed his hesitation because just then she bit his bottom lip—reminding him that she was just as tough. He grinned against her lips and ravaged her. Now he was the one doing all of the pushing.
He moved their tangled bodies towards the couch where he cornered her. Her skin was smooth under his calloused hands and he couldn't help but to feel every inch of her. Naruto slid his hands under her dress and across the flat surface of her stomach. She giggled against his lips from the sensitive touch but quickly drowned in their never-ending lip-lock. He removed his hands from under dress and moved them south so they scraped across her elegant and creamy legs. She was sensitive to this touch as well and stopped him by wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him even closer to her body. Giving up, he simply settled for her waist and propped her up so she was sitting in his lap. They broke apart and as their breathing deepened, their chests hit one another. Hinata touched her forehead to his with her eyes closed while he stared at her. There was a trickle of sweat coming from her brow and he felt a bit pleased that he was able to make her as nervous as she made him.
"I love you," he panted. Naruto was a bit surprised at how easy the words came out and kissed her again. He laughed. "I love you, Hinata."
Her eyes had opened the first time he said it and she barely registered his second kiss. When he said it the second time, she smiled at him. "I love you too, Naruto." A tear started to form but he caught it with his finger, wiping it away.
Neither Sasuke or Sakura were surprised that Neji told them to go see the Hokage. The only thing that concerned them, though, were the twins. Sakura had taken them to Shikamaru's so that he could watch them and was relieved that he took up the request. She was also happy that Kurenai was there so that they at least had someone with experience. Sakura told him that it was probably a small mission and they'd be back sometime tomorrow at the latest.
The thing that surprised them was the fact that it actually was a mission, but not a D-rank or a C-rank. It was a B-rank. Sakura was used to B-ranks and she was sure that Sasuke would handle them well too, but it was his first official mission since leaving Konoha nearly ten years ago. She wasn't sure if that was the right rank in missions for him to do after rejoining their forces. Another thing that surprised her was that there was going to be another squad accompanying them.
Team Gai was already at the office, except that Gai sensei was missing—though that wasn't that unusual. Neji, Tenten, and Lee were more than capable of handling a B-rank mission without their infamous sensei. Naruto and Hinata were already there as well, which meant that the only person missing was Squad Seven's infamous sensei. But it didn't seem that Tsunade was going to wait for him.
"Alright, thank you for gathering. Seeing as both squads are here, I can start with the debriefing." Tsunade said. "For Team Gai, I'm putting Neji as the squad leader and for the newly reunited Team Seven, I'm appointing Sakura the squad leader."
"What?" Naruto cried out. Ever since he was bumped to Jounin—he was granted the title after the Fourth Shinobi War—he was dying to lead a team of his own. Too bad for him that Sakura was the responsible one on the team.
"Naruto, you're not ready to lead your own team so until then, I'm putting Sakura in charge of Team Seven. And seeing as Kakashi isn't accompanying you, I've asked for Hinata to help you track and sense." The vein in Tsunade's forehead was already beginning to show. "Anyway, here's your mission. You are to go to Kirigakure and assist the Mizukage on a special mission. There had been a prison riot and some of the top criminals sent there have escaped. All in all, there are twenty missing ninja. Fifteen of them were captured after the war while the last five are all new to the Bingo Book. Because there isn't a lot of information on the last five, I advise you to be careful."
