I'm back with chapter...umm 10? yea, chapter 10! I hope all of you enjoyed another look into the strings that make TAT with that extra chapter of matoko and ichimaru. As you all know, I told you this chapter would be sasuke and hinata remembering special moments from their past. In other words, special memories of their twins! Also this is a prologue of sorts, before we go into the story plot that I mysteriously gained for this story. o.o Yea I know. Anyways. This chapter is also a time-skip! That's right, the time-skips are here lol. So in this chapter, four years have passed since the original TAT one-shot plotline. I'm still thinking on whether or not to end TAT and continue it in another story. -is extremely confused- Also, the italics in this chapter are for flashbacks, just for any that might get confused. For now though, enjoy and please review if you do, I'd appreciate it! Have a nice day everyone!
Thank you muses for your wonderful reviews, I would add some wonderful and witty comment, but the authoress has been in a bummed out mood with the confusing current manga chapters of naruto. But I haven't forgotten any of you, and I love you all!!
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, but to kishimoto-sama, the man who will cause the mass protest of all itachi and sasuke fans in the world. That's right...I went there :P
Another disclaimer: All children created from the original characters of 'Naruto' are mine please no stealy!
"Is it physically possible to be this damn tired from just being at the academy for three hours?" the agitated uchiha man mumbled to no one in particular as he laid on his bed a pillow covering his face.
He felt a smaller weight lay down on the opposite side as the giggle of his wife echoed through the room. "Now sasuke, you can't possibly be this tired could you? Then again, being the head of the renewed uchiha clan must be tough, every single clan leader spoke to you at some point during the genin graduation didn't they?"
"Damn right they did, and all their questions we're either completely rhetorical or too personal for me to answer completely. It's like they've never asked another leader questions before!" hinata smiled sympathetically at her brooding husband who's mumbled words held a lot of anger.
"Gomen sasuke, but at least it's over and you can relax." hinata smiled and scooted over to her husband, and began to comb through his hair.
Peeking over at his wife the uchiha man asked, "What about you hinata? You've walked as much as I have and you don't seem to have broken a sweat."
"Hmm, I've done more tedious work than simply walking sasuke. After all I had two twins to carry with me when I went shopping." hinata giggled at her own words, but sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. He had been so consumed in gaining a high jounin status back then, he never paid mind to help hinata with their twins when they were still infants.
"Gomen...hinata.." onyx eyes drifted up to stare at the clear eyes of his wife.
"It's all right...there's not much you could do now...after all." hinata stopped her fingers in sasuke's hair and listened outside where the laughter of children could be heard. "Our twins...are genin now...true shinobi of our village."
The uchiha lets a small smile appear on his face as he closes his eyes again. "Hai, they are...aren't they?"
Both parents smile at each other as they hear the agitated shout of their son hikaru as he tells his 'best friend' renji to leave matoko alone. Renji's shouts are also equally loud, proclaiming he can do what he wants now that he's a full-fledged genin. The softer voice of matoko is barely heard over the two boys, she desperately and vainly trying to end their petty squabble. The voices of Rei Lee and Yutsuko Inuzuka could also be heard, trying to help the young uchiha girl separate the boys, and arguing about which one of those said boys had the right reasoning.
"Look dobe, I don't really give a crap if you're a genin or not! But flirting with my sister isn't in the criteria of a ninja you dimwit so stop it!"
"Pfft, you're just being an overprotective pansy again you teme! And I wasn't flirting! I just wanted her to show me her new hitai-ate that's all and I was gonna show her mine."
"What's the freakin difference dobe! They're both blue and have the leaf emblem on the front...we all have that. That was the most sorry excuse I've heard from your mouth renji.
"Ne... renji-kun, nii-san, please stop fighting! Kaa-san and tou-san are really tired and we'll bother them with our shouting."
"gomen matoko-chan, but your brother's being a super extra pain in the ass today!"
"Feh, I'd say the same thing about you dobe, but that be giving you too high of a compliment."
"What was that teme?! Why don't you say that a bit closer to my face!"
"...A-Ano...nii-san stop it! Tou-san will get mad and make you clean the dojo again."
"Just give up mato-chan you know how hikaru-kun and renji-kun are when they fight over you...though I wish hikaru-kun would at least fight over me for once." the inuzuka girl mumbled as she gave a weary look to nothing in particular
"Keep your distance inuzuka..." Yutsuko shuddered as she heard the threat given to her by hikaru.
"Ehh...gomen ne hikaru-kun I was just joking." hikaru turns back to renji as yutsuko laughs nervously.
"As much as I think this is hilarious and entertaining, we should let mato-chan handle renji-san and hikaru-san, our youthful energy won't be enough this time yu-chan!" Rei, smiles wide as her green shirt blows with the sudden appearance of wind.
"...I guess you're right rei-chan...gomen mato-chan!! we tried but it looks like you're the only one that's gonna be able to separate hikaru-kun and renji-kun!" The brown haired girl smiles sympathetically.
"Good luck mato-chan! And don't forget all of our graduating class has to go back to the academy to get our new squads and sensei's tomorrow!" rei yells to matoko as she waves to her.
"good-bye hinata-sama, sasuke-sama!"both girls yell to the uchiha couple as they begin to walk home.
"Bye rei-chan, bye yu-chan see ya tomorrow!"matoko yells back before returning to her referee job.
Sasuke continued to watch long after the two girls left, as his son and the uzumaki boy dueled it out over any little thing, now far passing the whole 'you touched my sister you moron' fight. His lips quirked up into an amused smile as he watched his bewildered daughter still trying to separate her brother and best friend from each other. The smirking man moved closer to the window, to get a better look of his 'grown' children. His wife followed and let out a small giggle as her son bonked renji on the head.
"I think I'll take back the whole they've 'grown up' I've been having in my head." sasuke's amused onyx eyes looked down at his wife who nodded gently and stared at the bickering boys.
"Hai, they may act this way...but I do remember a certain uchiha boy who acted the same way around his best friend too." It was hinata's turn to look with amusement in her eyes, at her scowling husband who pouted and turned to look at his daughter.
"Yea, but looks like genetics goes both ways hinata, our daughter is biting her lip, poking her fingers together and still not being able to talk loud enough for the boys to hear. Just like her mother." the man chuckled as he felt the small punch his upset wife gave him, as she blushed deep red and turned to look away from him. "I was joking hinata, now come back over here woman, I need company." though still pouting, hinata reluctantly returned to look out the window with her husband.
Minutes pass as the uchiha couple watch the fights between hikaru and renji dwindle down back to matoko. The poor girl long since giving up, and instead choosing to help her little four year old brother yuki tie her hitai-ate properly around his neck. Sasuke is about to suggest to his wife that they go down and end the boys fight before he himself will have to fight the dobe of a hokage for letting his son go that far with hikaru, but notices the spaced out look hinata has as she absentmindedly rubs her flat stomach.
"Something wrong hinata?" her husband's deep and worried voice breaks hinata from her deep thinking as she turns and shakes her head, smiling.
"Ie, it's just...seeing hikaru...matoko...they're twelve now...and genin. It just brought back some memories is all." her eyes show the true motherly love she has for her children as she turns to look back down at hikaru and renji, who now seem to be talking about their upcoming days as new genin.
"Memories huh? What sort of memories hinata?" sasuke asks, curious to know why hinata seemed so nostalgic all of a sudden.
"mmm...d-do you remember the day you found out I was pregnant with our twins..." hinata giggled before continuing, "Even though at the time we thought they were only one baby." the light skinned woman turned and smiled wide as her husband groaned and went to lay back down at their bed.
Plopping down the uchiha man sighed and said, "Sadly I do, god the was the most embarrassing day of my life. You realize that hinata right?"
Looking down one last time at the now calm boys, who were playing with matoko and yuki, hinata walked back over to the bed and laid down next to her husband and cuddled next to him, holding tightly to his arm. "Sasuke, it couldn't have been that embarrassing for you, after all that was the day you found out that you would finally be restoring your clan." the man smirked at the sarcastic and teasing tone of his wife and kissed her forehead gently.
"Hai, the day I found out that my family...would grow."
'No...maybe...m-maybe if I-I take another test...it'll...I-I don't want to get my hopes up too soon...or sasuke's.' The petite eighteen year old woman breathed in and out in heavy gasps as she wiped away some sweat from her face. She was kneeled over her bathroom sink, a small pregnancy test held tightly in her hand. The plus sign on the once blank space of the test, echoing inside the woman's mind. 'I-If it's true...t-then I'm...p-p-pregnant...one-one more test, just to be...a-absolutely sure.' with her mind set on making sure it was true, the young wife activated her blood-limit, the byakugan. Urging her heart to stop it's increased beat, hinata directed her all-seeing eyes down to her lower stomach. Her mouth opens to release a soundless gasp, and tears begin to roll down her cheeks. The four pregnancy tests proved their accuracy, as the young woman slides down the door of the bathroom, a weak but sad smile on her face. 'S-So I'm p-pregnant...heh...I'd be more happy i-if I k-knew what sasuke thought about this, s-sasuke...' Hinata would stay in the same position for the rest of the afternoon, her colorless eyes in a faraway daze only she knew about.
"Damn naruto and his stupid raising status ideas. 'Oh, lets help out the old lady teme, It'll give us good points with tsunade-baachan and we'll be in anbu in no time'. Pfft, should have known the dobe was lying through his fuckin teeth. That's the last time I listen to any of his useless words." a very pissed off uchiha talked to himself as he walked through the empty streets of the uchiha compound. His so-called best friend once again ruining his mood, and making think why he ever came back to konoha.
A small smile appears on the young jounin's face as he stares at the lit door of his home. "I damn well don't know why I came back...but...I know why I stayed." stretching out his muscles the uchiha continues walking and enters his home.
As he drops his pack and weapons pouch on the large table near the entrance, sasuke notices something that isn't normal in his house. The warm aroma of a freshly made dinner made by his wife. Hinata usually has dinner ready way more earlier than when he gets home, since his shift ends whenever his daily missions end. The uchiha passes rooms as he walks towards the kitchen, where the lights were the most brightly lit. as he entered his weary onyx eyes catch the slumped form of his wife, sleeping on the kitchen table. A troubled expression on her face. Walking over, sasuke kneels down to hinata's level and shakes her gently.
"Hinata, as sexy as you look sleeping...I'm kinda hungry so, wake up woman." hinata's eyelashes flutter before opening revealing dull eyes that quickly widen in alert at seeing the familiar face of her husband.
"Ah, a-ano sasuke! W-When d-did you get here? What time is it? Are you o-ok?" the young woman's frantic questioning was stopped as a pair of lips met hers in a gentle but deep kiss.
"It's nice to see you too hinata, now about that dinner, looks like you just finished making it huh?" the uchiha loved making his wife blush unnecessarily especially when she began to talk incoherently like that. His triumphant smirk continued on his face as he made his way over to check the meal his wife had prepared.
Shaking herself from the wonderful feeling of her husband's seductive kiss as she called them, hinata once again returned to her anxious and worried self. 'H-H-He's here, now I-I just h-have to tell him, t-that's all. J-Just tell him y-you're pregnant hinata! I-It's not that d-difficult.' hinata's eyes widened as she looked over at her husband, who had a suspicious look on his face as he held a spoon full of her miso soup over his mouth.
"D-Did you say something s-sasuke?"
"Yea, I asked you if anything special happened while I was gone? Weren't you paying attention?" an eyebrow rose as hinata tensed and walked rigidly over to him and grabbed the spoon from his hand.
"I-I'll serve you your dinner sasuke, please go and sit down you must have had a hard day at work." hinata smiled at sasuke but quickly averted her eyes, she couldn't look at him right now.
"Hinata? What's wrong, you're acting pretty strange..." Sasuke was more convinced something was wrong as his wife simply shrugged off the question and passed him to put the plates full of food to the table for dinner.
The young man decided it was best to let his wife think over what it was that was bothering her, and let her come to him. So sitting down he broke open his chopsticks and began to eat. Not five minuted into the meal, sasuke noticed his wife's plates were completely untouched. Looking over at her, sasuke stuffed a potato into his mouth and asked. "Ne, hinata why aren't you eating..."
"I'm pregnant sasuke!!" the loud rush of words from hinata reached the man's ears as sasuke began to choke on his half-chewed potato.
The young woman opened her tightly shut eyes, expecting a shocked looking sasuke, instead receiving the image of her husband chocking on his food. Eyes growing wide, hinata quickly rose from her chair and ran over to her husband positioning herself in the Heimlich maneuver. Her small arms around her husband's waist, hinata began to push in and up against sasuke's diaphragm. After a minute of this, the guilty potato escapes sasuke's mouth, and the uchiha collapses against his shaking wife, who puts him gently on the floor. Hinata's worried eyes trail over the pained looks her husband's face had, and began to wipe away the sweat that had formed on his face. Sasuke groans as he feels his wife's cool hands on his face. He opens his tired onyx eyes and smiles weakly at hinata.
"gomen.." he coughs. "I just didn't think you'd be so forward about it. I thought you'd wait until..after dinner." the young man gets into a sitting position as he smirks at his wife.
"...S-Sasuke...? H-How did you f-figure it out? I-I was p-planning o-on telling you myself." hinata's eyes widened as sasuke nudged his head towards the far kitchen counter, where four well placed pregnancy tests shined with the glow of the stove light. A bright red covered the woman's face as she stood up and quickly went to grab the tests before running over to the couch covering herself with the pillow nearby.
The uchiha sighed and grunted as he stood up from the floor. He took slow steps as he went around the couch to kneel beside his wife, who was trying fruitlessly to suppress her tears and her small squeaks of embarrassment. Sasuke tried to remove the pillow blocking hinata's face, but was met with a small shove of his wife's hand.
"Hinata, the pillow isn't going to help you here."
"I-I know. I-It's just...I-I d-didn't want y-you to find o-out that way. I wanted t-to t-tell you." clear watery eyes peered at sasuke with embarrassment.
A blush covered the uchiha's cheeks as he leaned against the sofa's edge and let out a heavy sigh, "Well, I would have liked to have found out through you too, but those tests pretty much gave me the answer." though he intended his tone to be humorous to try and lessen the tense feeling he was getting from hinata, his wife only looked at him and nodded. "Hinata...what.."
"You're not mad then?A-About...m-me being pregnant?" the uchiha's eyes widened as he turned to look at his wife, who wiped away some of her falling tears.
The woman let out a small gasp as she felt two strong arms embrace her. "You're still as stupid as the day I met you hinata. I-I would never be mad at you...even if you made me choke on a potato because of your 'news'." sasuke mentally let out a sigh of relief as he heard hinata giggle slightly against him.
"Looks like our...family's going to grow, ne hinata?" sasuke tightened his hold on hinata as she nodded.
"Hai...it i-is isn't it?"
"I was two months pregnant when I told you that...and we found out about our twins three weeks later, remember sasuke?" hinata looked up at her husband who nodded as he kept his eyes closed.
"Yea, and when tsunade told me during the check up I just had to be eating those stupid bag of chips." sasuke's eyes twitched as hinata laughed at the memory.
"..H-Hai..." she stopped to keep laughing. "You choked on those as well, and tsunade had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on you too."
The man moved around in the bed to get comfortable before coughing and looking at hinata. "Could we change the subject here? I told you those days are by far the most embarrassing of my life."
"Gomen...but I was so happy I was having twins, though...those two did s-scare us w-when they were born ne, sasuke?" the woman's clear eyes shined with worry for a moment as she recalled the memory.
"Hai, I thought we were going to lose one of them..." his eyes darted off towards the far wall of their bedroom where a picture of a small indigo-haired baby girl smiling at the stuffed bunny she held, stood. "...Matoko..."
Hinata nodded and moved her body to lay back down on the bed. "...Hikaru was the first born...and matoko arrived more than two minutes later...b-but...she wasn't breathing..."
Sasuke's eyes darkened for a moment as he went back into his own account of the birth of his twins. "Our kids are very weird...or their bond was forged even before they were born...because hikaru stopped breathing right after matoko came out."
A frantic Uchiha walked back and forth around the door to the labor and delivery ward. His onyx eyes were drained of emotion as his thoughts drove him mad. An even more anxious hyuga neji and hiashi sat by, their colorless eyes edged in worry. Sasuke was one to always keep a calm aura, but this was hinata and his children and she's about to give birth. Now was not the time to keep up to strong cocky uchiha persona he usually kept. A scream of pain and anguish came from behind the double doors causing the uchiha to try to reach for the handle to go inside.
"Control yourself uchiha, sakura-san told us that hinata-sama's pregnancy is high-risk because of the twins and her heart condition. She'll let us know when we can enter." the cold tone neji spoke to the uchiha angered the man more as whirled his head to glare at the hyuga head.
"Shut it hyuga! That's my wife in there and she's in pain right now and I can't do a damn thing about! How the hell do you think I should feel? All clouds and sunshine?!" angry onyx eyes met agitated pale ones as neji and sasuke stared each other down.
"And she is my daughter uchiha. I am just as worried for her and her children's lives as you are. But all three of us must remain calm for her. It'll scare her more to see us in such a bewildered state." the calm and stern voice of hiashi hyuga quited down sasuke and neji as they both silently agreed with the man's words.
Sasuke lets go of the door handle and slides down the cold white wall of the hospital. He covers his face with his arms as his forehead meets his knees. Neji gives the anxious uchiha a sympathetic stare before settling back down on the hospital chair, hoping things will get better soon. Tense minutes pass by as all three men wait for any sign of the pink haired medic. The door of the ward suddenly opens as a frantic sakura enters and looks for her ex-teammate. Her green eyes widened as she spots sasuke standing up quickly from his spot on the wall. Her white coat is covered in splotches of blood as she grabs sasuke's hand and begins to drag him inside. She nudges her head for the two hyugas to follow behind. As they enter deeper into the large delivery room of the ward, sasuke's ears pick up the most wonderful sound he's ever heard in his nineteen years of life. A baby's cry. As sakura opens the door, tsunade is sitting in a chair by the end of the bed, directing hinata to continue her pushing. Two nurses are cleaning up and covering a baby, and from sasuke's view a baby with a patch of black hair on its little head. Sakura points to the baby, silently telling neji and hiashi they can see the little one. Sasuke is about to follow but a pale hand stops him, turning around the uchiha frowns as he notices the tired and worried look on his pink haired friend.
"Sasuke-kun... hinata's not doing so well with the little girl..." sakura whispers as she turns to look at her panting friend. "...Tsunade-sensei has been checking for five minutes now..and..the baby might be a stillborn sasuke..." sakura looks at sasuke as his eyes widened and he looks between his newborn son and his wife.
Tears start to form on the man's eyes as he gently grabs sakura's shoulders. "...Sakura...please...please j-just I don't want to see hinata hurt and hate herself for not being able to save her baby girl...please...s-save my daughter." the pink haired woman's own eye's begin to water as she sees the strong and calm face of her friend sasuke collapse in front of her.
Gulping sakura's clasps her hands around sasuke's and smiles at him, "You're my teammate and one of my best friends sasuke-kun...I won't let your daughter die...without fighting it with everything I got."
Releasing her, sasuke nods and turns to walk towards his son, he couldn't let hinata see him like this. She needed to remain strong to deliver their second twin, their little girl. Neji and hiashi gives him a small smile as they separate to let him see his first born son. A tear rolls down the uchiha's cheek as his dark eyes meet the equally dark eyes of his baby son.
"Well...have you and hinata-sama given him a name uchiha?" neji asked as he looked over sasuke's shoulder at the squirming baby on the table.
"..Yea...we decided on ..Hikaru." sasuke's empty sullen voice answered as he continued to stare at the baby boy, HIS baby boy.
"Hmm, a nice name uchiha." sasuke gave a ghost of a smile as he heard the quiet reply of his father-in-law.
A large scream from across the next room caught the three men's attention as they quickly dashed into the delivery room again. Tsunade and sakura are slouched over hinata's open legs, sakura apparently holding something in her arms. Hinata breathes in and out deeply trying to regain lost oxygen, at the same time trying to see her baby daughter. Tsunade shakes her head at her pink haired apprentice as she stands to tell hinata the news. Hiashi and neji hang their heads and tighten their fists as sakura makes her way towards the three men. A pink blanket that should be moving is still, holding a lifeless little baby girl. For sasuke, his whole world had frozen, the room seemed to be moving in a slow pace leaving him behind. He can hear his heartbeat as it slows down, sakura getting closer and closer to him, that dreaded pink blanket in her arms. His onyx eyes meet with sakura's green ones. His eyes grow wide as she passes him and places the little girl on the table. She grabs an A.D.D. and places the small patches on the infants chest. The machine shows the 'clear' sign on the screen and sakura pushes a red button.
"Clear!" sakura's voice echoes through the room, as the baby's chest rises from the electrical shock her body is receiving. Seconds pass as the six people in the room watch for any reaction from the baby girl. All their heads hanged down as the baby made no response. Hinata began to cry holding the blanket around her body close to her. Hiashi and neji decided to leave the room, thinking it best to leave the parents alone.
Sakura's eyes glowed with more determination as she again readied the A.D.D. and pressed the red button to send another wave of shocks through the baby's body. Once again the baby made no response. Hinata had turned away from the scene and covered her face with the pillow. Sasuke looked at his wife, feeling the pain from her hit his own as well. All the adults in the room turned to look at the doors that opened revealing the two nurses holding the blue blanket that held hinata and sasuke's other twin baby. The two nurses placed baby hikaru on the table and gave sakura a forlorn glance.
"He stopped breathing just couple of seconds ago sakura-sama, we're sorry. We tried to revive him, but he hasn't responded." the nurses bowed their respects to hinata who had once again covered her face into her pillow and began to cry again. Sasuke looked back and forth between his wife and his little babies. The uchiha felt completely numb, he didn't know whether to go to his babies, or comfort his wife. 'But what comfort could I give her?'
Both hinata and sasuke look in the direction where sakura was, watching her place another set of patches on hikaru to prepare him for an electrical shock. "Ready, clear!" the shock brought no response from the infant boy.
"Sakura enough..." tsunade pleaded as she watched her apprentice fruitlessly try to bring the twins back to life.
"Ie, I can't...I made a promise to sasuke-kun and hina-chan...that I would do whatever it takes to bring their babies into this world alive, I can't give up now...I can't." tears fell down the medic-nin's face as she kept up the shocks.
Hinata smiled gratefully at her dedicated friend, while sasuke gave sakura a grateful look of his own.
Ten minutes pass. Two more shocks are given to hikaru, and the second one makes him breathe. Sasuke and hinata give each other happy glances from across the room, one of their twins were alive. Tsunade leaves hinata's side and walks over to sakura who has stopped her movements and seems to only be staring at the babies on the table. Sasuke walks over to hinata and gives her a comforting kiss on the forehead, the young woman smiles, and grabs his hand. The uchiha couple wait anxiously to see of their little girl. Both of them look on in shock as tsunade and sakura began to laugh, and roll the table towards them. Sakura smiles at sasuke and hinata and begins to speak.
"Hina-chan you did a great job, and I'm sorry for making you worry like that. You almost lost your two wonderful twins, but...they must really love you both..and each other." sakura continues to smile as she points at sasuke to come look at his twins.
The uchiha raises an eyebrow, finding it strange of sakura's behavior after just being through a life-and -death situation. Sasuke stands up from the edge of the bed, not before helping his wife into a sitting position on the bed so she can see her babies as well. Sasuke's eyes grow wide at the sight before him. His baby twins were both awake and breathing, holding each other's hands. Hinata is shocked as well, but smiles as she cries again, this time in joy.
"It looks like hikaru, stopped breathing because of his baby sister. The moment the nurses brought him to her, sakura was able to bring him back to life. It appears he grabbed her hand and began to wail. For some odd and miraculous reason, this action helped the little girl to breathe again. Sasuke, hinata...you two have some miracle babies on your hands." tsunade smiled warmly at them both as she explained the situation.
"Hai, Matoko...and Hikaru...are our wonderful miracle babies, ne sasuke?" hinata asked her husband as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently.
Sasuke just nodded, and watched as his two twin babies continued their curious stares of their new world, not once letting go of each other's hands.
"It seemed just yesterday when all of that happened to us sasuke. And now our little twins aren't so little anymore." hinata giggled as she entwined her fingers with her husband's,still enjoying the warmth of his hands after all these years.
"Yea, we never told them this story either did we?" the man asked, still keeping his eyes closed.
"Ie, I think it's not necessary for them to know they're our miracle babies, ne?"
"I suppose not, as long as they're still alive it's all that matters." sasuke let a content look fall on his face as he listened to the yells and voices of his children.
"After that experience it made me glad yuki-chan was just another normal delivery. I don't think I could have handled another scare like that." hinata spoke with a small tome of fear as she clutched her chest, where her heart was beating.
"I'm just glad I didn't lose you either hinata. That, would have killed me." sasuke embraces his wife, as he holds her hand that clutched at her chest.
"Sasuke..." hinata mouthes out as she meets her husband's gaze. A tint of pink covering her cheeks.
"Still as shy as ever I see. We still need to work on that hinata...don't we?" a smirk graces sasuke's face as he entangles his legs with his wife's and gives her a soft kiss on the lips.
"S-Sasuke...stop...the kids m-might see." the blush on the woman's face intensifies as her husband begins to kiss her neck.
"They won't. They're too busy celebrating their success as genin. We can have some fun, while they have their own, ne...hime?" the smirk on the uchiha's face only increases as his wife begins to react to his soft kisses.
"S-S-Sasuke...we're...g-going to get c-caught..."
"Ie, just relax hinata...I won't go that far...until tonight anyways. Now..."
Both sasuke and hinata feel a cold sweat as they hear the door being opened.
"Ne, tou-san, kaa-san. Wha..." Hikaru stares wide eyed at the strange and very wrong position his father and mother are in. "Oh my god!! ewuhh damn, I did not want to see this! Geez tou-san! Couldn't you have picked a more...'better' time to do this??" sasuke's left eye twitches as he removes himself from hinata and sits on the bed. Hikaru makes gagging noises as he tries to rid himself of the awful image.
"Ne, nii-san? Have you told kaa-san and tou-san yet?" matoko pops her head in, her hitai-ate around her neck glowing with the room's light.
"I was gonna, but I caught tou-san trying to do the nasty with kaa-san..." hikaru nods grimly as matoko makes a face as well.
"Ewwww, but kaa-san never lets tou-san do anything nasty till it's night time." the twelve year old girl shudders as she too, tries to get rid of the awful images in her head.
"Yea, well guess they wanted to celebrate our graduation in their 'own' way." hikaru smiles wide as his father throws him an evil glare.
"Gomen, for interrupting you tou-san. We just wanted to check up on you both." matoko smiles as she pushes her brother, so both of them could enter their parent's room.
"It's all right. Not what is it you two, I thought you were playing outside with renji?" sasuke's asks as he rubs his aching head, the stress from not having his time with hinata getting the better of him.
"We were, but renji had to go home cause uncle naruto planned some celebration thing at ichiraku's for the dobe's graduation into genin status." hikaru walked over and jumped on the bed to sit next to his father.
"Yep, and all our other friends left too, cause their parents are making them a celebration dinner for graduating too." matoko looked on innocently at her parents, hoping one of them would catch what she was trying to say.
"We showed up didn't we? What more could you two possibly want?" sasuke winked at his wife, as she giggled at the joke he was making with their twins.
"Tou-san!!!!" both twins whine as they give their mother puppy dog-eyes.
Still giggling, hinata shook her head and stood up from the bed. "How could I possibly deny them their special dinner after those adorable looks they gave me sasuke."
"Yes, how can you deny them..." Sasuke began to laugh as he watched hikaru blush the implications of cute being compared to him.
"Nee-nee!! where are you?" the twins turn to see their baby brother enter the room. Yuki opens the door and smiles as he sees his whole family smiling at him. "There you are nee-nee! And you too aniki!" the little boy runs to his twin siblings and hugs his sister first and then his brother.
"You found us yuki-kun! Good job!" matoko giggles as yuki lifts his chin up in pride.
"Yea, way to go squirt! Now go tell tou-san what you, matoko, and I want." hikaru ruffles his baby brother's hair as the small boy nods.
"Hai, aniki!" yuki grins at his father and runs as fast as he could and attaches himself to his father's stomach. "Hi tou-zan!"
Sasuke tries to keep a blank look of indifference on his face as he stares at his youngest son, but soon loses and smiles as his son looks up at him with dark grayish eyes. "Hello yuki...what is it?"
"Nee-nee, and aniki made it into umm..umm geninini and they should get a really big dinner to celebrate, ne tou-zan?" Yuki had managed to climb onto sasuke's back and placed his head on top of his father's smiling down at him as he spoke.
Hinata tried to hold in her giggles as she watched the extremely cute scene between her yuki and sasuke unfold.
"Hmm, I suppose they do deserve it...these two are the top of their graduating class...and they've got a pretty good hand on their eye jutsus...but it'll really come down to the wonderful woman who makes our dinners." sasuke's eyes rolled over to face his wife who was trying to hide her laugher as three sets of onyx eyes stared at her in curiosity.
Yuki muffles his giggles in his father's hair as he continues to hug his father's neck. "Go aniki, tell momma why you should get a specialer dinner."
Hikaru nods and walks over to his mother. "Ne...I think we should have a really special dinner...because hikaru really loves kaa-san's fried potatoes with the tomato sauce you put on top of it...and mato-chan would love some of those dumplings you make too." Shiny onyx eyes stared up at hinata as her oldest twin pouted at her, trying to convince her to make them their special dinner.
"All right, if it'll make my babies happy then I'll make you all your dinner." matoko clapped her hands in joy, hikaru letting out a soundless yes in victory, and yuki shouting out a yea.
"Of course, I expect you to help me hikaru, after all you're the one that wants this the most." hinata twitched hikaru's nose gently as she giggled.
"...Well, okay...deal kaa-san!" the uchiha boy smiled wide as he shook hands with his mother.
"Then let's get that dinner started, shall we hikaru dear?" matoko and sasuke both laugh as hikaru extended his arm to let hinata hold onto it. Mother and son both walk passed the rest of the family and stand at the exit of the room.
"Kaa-san and I are gonna make the best dinner you've guys have ever seen! And then we're gonna have her awesome dumplings for dessert."Hikaru gave his family a thumbs-up sign.
Sasuke is about to retort and embarrass his son a bit more when a small gust of wind enters the bedroom, making a small envelope on his night table fall gently to the floor. The uchiha head is the only one to see it, and he picks it up from the floor. His onyx eyes widen as he recognizes the letter, the letter he received from itachi's son four years ago. 'Why now? I've almost forgotten about this letter. I shouldn't react so strongly by seeing it again...but..." sasuke looks at his daughter who is sitting on the floor beside him on the bed. 'Why is it a feel such an ominous feeling from it...after all this time? Matoko...' sasuke stares at the back of his daughter's head, the ominous feeling her was getting only increasing as he watched her laugh and smile with the family.
"Tou-zan...tou-zan?" sasuke jumps slightly as he looks down, his son yuki had gone down from his back and was now looking at him with a worried pout. "Are you okayz? Doesh your tummy hurt?" sasuke smiles weakly and ruffles yuki's hair.
"Ie, I'm fine. Just got caught up in my thoughts that's all." he gave a reassuring nod to his wife, who also seemed concerned. "Better yet, you should go help your mother and brother with the cooking yuki." sasuke smirked as yuki nodded fervently and ran over to stand by his mother.
"Hey! How come you and mato-chan are the only ones not cooking tou-san?" hikaru complained as he threw a somewhat angry glare at his father.
"Because me and tou-san have helped kaa-san with dinner all this week. Isn't that right kaa-san?" matoko stuck out her tongue at her brother hikaru, as hinata nodded her agreement.
"Come along you two, we've got a lot of work to do if we want to make this dinner super special." hinata winked at her husband as she pushed out an excited yuki and a pouting hikaru from the room and towards the kitchen.
The room soon became eerily quiet, as matoko and sasuke remained int their spots in the room. The girl coughs trying to get rid of the sudden tension in the room. She stands up and dusts her white capris before turning around to smile at her father.
"Hehehe, we should probably go downstairs and help them, or kaa-san will give you the burnt potatoes that nii-san made." matoko rubs the back of her head nervously as she talks, trying to ignore the intense stare her father was giving her. "Well...umm, I'll meet you down there tou-san." the twelve-year old turns to leave, but is caught by her father's strong hand. She turns and gives a questioning look to her father. "..T-Tou-san?" her pearlescent eyes widen as she is forced on her knees and her father holds her face gently in both of his hands. "...P-Papa? W-What is it?"
Sasuke's eyes do not leave his daughter as memories begin to flood into his mind. When matoko was a year old and had managed to climb the eight foot slide in the park, she had slid down to the bottom, but hurt her knee in the process. He bandaged it up, but he had never been afraid for someone else's life as he was with his little girl. When she turned four, his brother itachi, had successfully managed to kidnap her. He had wanted to kill himself for letting his sick twisted brother get a hold of his daughter. Hours after he had his final battle with itachi, which ended the man's life, sasuke with the injury in his chest still seeping blood, had gone out to look for matoko. He was bent on finding her, whether it killed him or not. Sasuke had cried for the first time since matoko had been born, when he found her huddled inside a hole in a old oak tree. He felt a immense wave of relief wash over him when that four year old little girl opened her pearlescent eyes and smiled at him. He had vowed that day, to never let anything hurt his precious matoko again. When she was six though, sasuke found out, that he was also included in the list of things that could hurt her. He could still see it in his mind. His harsh, cold, and insulting yells. His sharingan rotating with each word he threw at matoko. The tears that fell down his little girl's face as he hurt her more than any weapon could. He had called her useless and weak. To this day, he still doesn't know why he did what he did, but he has regretted it ever since. Of course not all his memories were bad. The first word she spoke was 'papa'. When she had learned how to walk, she followed him wherever he went, and though he never admitted it, he loved the way her little feet tried to mimic his own large steps. Her first drawing was a tree and him standing next to it. Her first festival naruto had won her a purple bunny, and she had given it to him as a father's day gift. On his twenty-fifth birthday, matoko and hinata had baked him a chocolate vanilla swirl cake in the shape of a tomato, because his daughter had requested it that way. The first time she received her report card, he loved the look of happiness and glee she had, when he patted her head and gave her a kiss on the forehead for her perfect grades.
Now, looking at this twelve-year old girl, her face already changing with her teenage years coming up. Looking more and more like her mother everyday. Sasuke couldn't help but worry, what now? Would she still come to him with every little problem? Would he be there to listen in the first place. Does she think it childish to hug her father every morning before leaving out the door for her daily activities? Is he really ready to admit that matoko, his matoko was growing up? And though he wishes he could, he knows he can't stop her?
Sasuke plants a small kiss on matoko's forehead as he remembers his fondest memory of matoko. When he walked up to that little crib and saw little pale feet wiggling around, and those beautiful pearlescent eyes staring at him with as much curiosity as he was watching her. And that smile, that cute little smile she had given him.
"And to think...I could have lost you matoko...' Sasuke thought as he embraced his now twelve-year old daughter into his arms. 'I'm coming to the part of your life where I won't and can't say what I want so bad to say, where I want to...but I know I can't get in your way. Your dreams, and your hopes...is something I need to accept...is a place where I can't follow.'
"P-Papa?"
"You...are so...amazing...my matoko..." a blush covered the girl's cheeks at her father's murmured words. "I'm glad...life didn't take you away from me, I am proud to be your father matoko. Please just...never forget that."
"H-Hai, p-papa..."a content smile fell on matoko's face as she finally returned her father's embrace. Taking advantage of her father's affection, affection she only sees given to hikaru.
Daughter and father separate and look at each other, a content look on their faces. Sasuke pets his daughter's hair and smirks.
"Now, let's get going, or those burnt potatoes are gonna be yours.." matoko sticks her tongue out as she nods and runs off towards the kitchen, intend on beating her father.
Sasuke stands from the floor and looks over at the letter on the table. The small smile on his face turns into a frown. The letter seems to mock him and his memories of matoko. 'Why is it, that I feel that matoko is slipping farther and father away from me every time I see this letter.'
"Tou-san! Hurry up or nii-san's going to get dibs on the food first!" matoko's voice echoes down the hall as she waves to her father from the door leading to the living room.
"Yea, yea I'm coming." sasuke walks out of the door and follows after his daughter. As he watches her walk ahead of him, the uchiha gets the same foreboding feeling in his heart again. "She's slipping away I can feel it, her becoming a genin has increased this feeling in my chest. What's making it much worse though, what's making me recall such wonderful memories of matoko and me...is the fact that I feel I'm the one making her slip away. Please...let me be wrong.'
Hope you all enjoyed it! Btw, I'll point this out now. I suggest all of you ingest this sweet father-daughter moment between matoko and sasuke, cause...it's the last one for awhile. My story's angsty side will begin to show next time!