Opportunity
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Hmm no new votes on what gender(s) the kid(s) should be. So it looks like twin boys are still in the lead and that's what we are going with. Of course this is Sasuke so they'll have younger siblings eventually at some point. *Glares at the author.* I still can't believe that after Sasuke going on and on about restoring his clan, the author expected us to believe that Sasuke had only one kid. Anyway enjoy this chapter.
Chapter Twenty
"The kid is brave. You gotta give him that." Sasuke mutters in amusement from his vantage point of the kitchen window a few months later.
"Mhm. Well it's good that she has a friend." Hinata says and leans into her husband's embrace.
They could see Asa and Akira playing out in the yard. Charger was being used as well a small horse. The dog didn't seem to mind trotting around with the kids on his back.
He seemed well as smug as a dog could get. The puppies who were now…no longer so little were playing with each other. The mother dog was watching them like a hawk.
"Yeah. Let's just hope they don't play the games we do for a VERY long time." Sasuke states.
"Sasuke he's 8. She's 6. It's a little early to be worried about that sort of thing." She laughs.
"I know the Leaf. Kids tend to pair up early here. We are the exception more than the rule." Sasuke continues.
"You are being silly." She smiles and kisses his cheek.
"Maybe. You sure you trust the idiot enough to watch them?" The dark haired man asks.
"Sasuke, Naruto is many things but he is not an idiot!" She protests.
"Yes, yes he is. If he wasn't he would be in my position right now. I'm thankful he's an oblivious idiot." Sasuke taunts.
"Sasuke, be nice." She warns him.
"I am being nice. I could be MUCH more colorful in my descriptions." He says with a smirk.
"But I'm sure he'll manage. He can always make clones." She adds as an afterthought.
"I guess I don't mind if he watches Asa and Akira. They are fairly big. But he's not babysitting the baby until he or she is AT LEAST a toddler. I don't want him to drop our son or daughter on their head and give them brain damage." Sasuke says firmly.
"Alright. There he is." She says, humoring him.
Naruto comes bounding inside the house. The blonde was truly a force of nature. He didn't even bother to knock.
This irritated Sasuke a little bit. He could have been BUSY with his new wife and the idiot could have walked in on them. Fortunately for Naruto, that was not the case. So the blue eyed ninja got to live.
"Hey, bastard! Hey, Hinata. So today is the big day, huh?" He asks cheerfully.
"Yes, we have to hurry. We don't want to keep Tsunade waiting. We get to see the baby on the ultrasound and find out the gender today." Hinata says happily.
"Great! Well don't worry about anything. I can handle Asa and…um whoever the boy is!" Naruto exclaims.
"His name is Akira. I call him Asa's shadow." Sasuke informs him.
"Damn. At that age, we still thought girls had cooties." Naruto laughs.
"Really? But you saved me when we were kids." Hinata asks and blinks.
"Cooties or not, no one deserves to be treated like that!" Naruto says with a chuckle.
"He saved you? From what? When?" Sasuke asks.
"I'll tell you later. We should probably get going. Oh and Naruto I left some ramen in the kitchen for you since this might take awhile." She adds as she heads off with Sasuke.
"Really? Thanks Hinata. You're the best." He calls out as they leave.
"You're welcome." Hinata says and soon enough they get to the hospital.
To say that Tsunade was rather skeptical of the idea of Sasuke as a father, was an understatement. But Hinata didn't appear unhappy. So he must have been doing something right. She never thought she'd see the day.
It didn't matter what her personal feelings were though. She was a medic. She was trained to help people. She wasn't going to ignore a pregnant woman just because she didn't approve of who the father was.
"Did you want to know the gender?" She asks.
"Yes." They both say.
Tsunade performs the ultrasound. The medic blinks. She probably should have seen this coming. But still she was surprised to actually see it.
"Is something wrong?" Hinata asks fearfully.
"No. Not exactly." She replies.
"What is it?" Sasuke demands to know getting a bit irritated by how vague the busty blonde was being.
"You are expecting twins." She informs them.
"Oh!" Hinata says.
"That's great news!" Sasuke says and kisses Hinata's forehead.
Tsunade was shocked at the affectionate gesture. Sasuke did seem genuinely happy about the news. Well why wouldn't he? He wanted to restore his clan and was getting a buy one, get one free special. Leave it to Sasuke Uchiha to be an overachiever even when it came to knocking someone up.
"Yes." She says, sounding less than convinced that it was "great news."
"So are we buying pink or blue clothes?" Hinata asks.
"Pink?" Sasuke asks in outrage.
"Well if they are girls…it's tradition." She says merrily.
"Hinata, no Uchiha is going to be wearing pink. EVER. That's just…blasphemy!" He states.
Hinata couldn't help but giggle at Sasuke's horrified expression. It was so comical to see THAT face on her normally very much in control lover. Sasuke scowls at being giggled at.
"Two boys. They both look perfectly healthy at this point. Congratulations. It looks like we are still on track for a March due date." She informs them.
"Blue I can live with." Sasuke says.
"How generous of you." Hinata laughs.
"I thought so." He says smugly and helps Hinata up.
She takes his hand and smiles down at it. He was wearing his wedding ring. Sasuke for whatever reason had gotten them both silver rings with two emeralds cut into the shape of hearts, resting to each other. She took the heart shape as his more romantic side revealing itself.
"Well that didn't take long. I don't think Naruto or the kids will have destroyed the house yet." She muses.
She blamed it on the trauma of his childhood. But Sasuke was rarely a romantic with words or gestures. He'd tell her that he loved her and she knew he meant it. But he would never be the guy that came home with flowers or gave Valentines Day Cards.
"Don't underestimate the loser's ability to destroy stuff. He's just as big a kid as Asa and Akira. Actually they are probably more mature than him." Sasuke adds as an afterthought.
He was more of a pouncer. He tended to show he loved her through actions. This mostly involved taking he against whatever hard surface happened to be nearby when they were alone.
Some things never change. You two are always going to bicker. But at the end of the day, I know you'd do anything for each other." She says with a smile and heads home with him.
For someone who was so cold to most of the world, his passion ran hot when it came to all things carnal. She thought that it had something to with a craving for love and affection. He had closed himself off for years. So now that he had it, he was making up for lost time.
Hinata smiles as she remembered their wedding. It was a massive affair. Mostly it was Sasuke supporters. But some Naruto supporters had come because let's face it, when you saw a procession that large in the Village Square, you tended to get curious.
She smiled as she walked down the alter. Kurenai didn't approved of the match. But she had logically pointed out that if they waited too long to have the wedding, Hinata was going to have a very difficult time finding a dress for a heavily pregnant woman.
Sasuke had seen the wisdom in this and organized a large wedding in under two weeks. He might not be a people person, but no one could doubt his organizational skills.
Really that was why Naruto and Sasuke complimented each other so well as Hokages. Naruto had the people skills. Sasuke had the technical skills. It was a perfect Yin and Yang situation. (Well it was whenever they stopped trying to kill each other long enough to get anything done.)
"You look like an angel. Too bad you are marrying a demon." Hiashi had told her as he walked her down the aisle.
"Father. Don't call him that." She remembered saying.
"I will because it is accurate and I'm sure he's been called worse." Hiashi responded. (Thankfully, it didn't look like Sasuke had heard any of this or he really didn't give a damn what Hiashi thought of him.)
"You look beautiful." Sasuke says with a smile when his future wife finally reaches his side.
It was true. She was wearing a sleeveless gown with a sweetheart neckline. The top part of it was covered in spirals made out of tiny diamonds and pearls that had been sewn into the grown. The bottom flared into curtains of silk that swayed hypnotically with every step she took. She had a long veil made of lace that flowed all the way to her ankles.
Adoring her head was a diamond tiara and large diamond earrings. The tiara had been from Hinata's mother. The earrings had come from Mikoto's collection. (Fugaku had been hopeless at whispering sweet nothings, so he had shown his affection by buying Mikoto jewelry and a lot of it.)
"Thank you." She smiled at Sasuke.
Asa had been the flower girl. Akira was the ring boy. Both of the children seemed to take their duties very seriously. The crowd had fawned over the cute children.
Suddenly a loud SMASH was heard. Charger had found a cat. The cat had run for its life and they had smashed right into the wedding cake.
"And there goes the cake." Sasuke says and shakes his head in amusement.
"Well at least he lives up to his name?" Hinata had laughed.
"That he does." Sasuke agreed.
The priest rubs the back of his head sheepishly, noting the CATstrophe. Oh well. It was a ninja wedding. He had seen stranger things.
"Do you Hinata Hyuga take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer…until death do you part?" He asks.
"I do." She answered.
"And do you Sasuke take Hinata Hyuga to be your lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poor, until death do you part?" He asked. (The priest looked more than a little skittish to be next to the infamous ninja.)
"I do." He answered.
"Then I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." He said.
Sasuke hadn't wasted any time. He kissed Hinata alright. He did it in a such a way that it left little doubt about how she had gotten pregnant.
Naruto had said something stupid like, "Wait to go bastard!" Sasuke didn't care though. He just flipped Naruto off and continued one of his favorite pastimes, kissing Hinata.
Hinata had smiled into the kiss. She noticed the rude gesture Sasuke made at Naruto. But at this point, she was used to such things. Besides, Sasuke was very good at distracting her.
Surprisingly, the wedding had went off without a fight breaking out. She thought this was mostly due to Charger and the cat's antics and how cute Asa/Akira looked. Some things were universal across the factions it seemed.
Meanwhile, the Raikage heads to the Leaf Village. Naruto genuinely wanted to convince the older Kage that everything was fine. The blonde actually expected him to believe that the Uchiha was not plotting to stab them all in the back. How naïve was Naruto? Very fucking naïve it seemed.
Mei and Gaara had been invited as well. He was relieved about this. Perhaps they could help him in making things right. Sasuke's head on a pike would be a fine start.
"Where have you two been? I've been trying to get in touch with you for months." He fumes.
"My apologies. I was…working on several repairs to my office. Desks just aren't what they used to be." Gaara says with a straight face.
"I see. And you Mei? You've always been so prompt with your responses in the past." He turns his attention to the female Kage.
"My village is working on expanding it's hospital. It takes up a great deal of my time. I am sorry." She tells him and tries not to laugh at Gaara's reference to office repairs.
Yes, he needed stronger desks. His sand was a force to be reckoned with. It seemed when he got excited, his sand did as well.
The red head clearly didn't mean to break things in the heat of the moment, but it almost always happened. He never hurt her though. Besides, it was thrilling to watch the reserved red head lose control like that.
Facts were facts though. She wasn't about to tell the Raikage about their relationship. At least not yet, she didn't know how he'd react to it. He'd probably accuse her of being a cougar. She supposed that was accurate. But Gaara didn't seem to mind the age difference.
"If we were all to attack him at once…" The Raikage trails off.
"It would be suicidal and that's assuming Naruto didn't help him. Raikage, just accept the situation for what it is. Naruto doesn't appear to have a problem sharing his Kage Status. Besides, if you attack Sasuke his supporters will revolt. It will lead to a bloodbath. They have established a fragile peace. Do not disturb it." Gaara says.
"I can't believe you are going along with this. That monster should be dead or at least in prison. He shouldn't be ruling a village! Have you forgotten what he did to the Stone Kage?! That could have been any of us!" He thunders at the younger man.
"I did not forget. You'd do well to remember it. Next time it could be you. I do not wish to lose you, my friend. So I urge you to think this over carefully. It is playing with fire and I'm afraid you will get burnt." He counsels him.
"Mei! Do you hear this? The boy is just going to let the Uchiha get away with everything." The Raikage growls.
"He's not a boy. Yes, I hear it. Unless you have a plan, we are left at an impasse. I don't like it any better than you do. But Gaara has pointed out the situation very logically." She answers.
The Raikage looks at Mei and Gaara. She had been upset that he had called Gaara a boy. It was a figure of speech. He was well aware that Gaara was an adult. Anyone who could lead the Shinobi Allied Forces in battle, was a man by anyone's definition. But she had sounded offended on his behalf.
The two were standing closer together than would have been reasonably expected. Mei had seemed amused at Gaara mentioning his office repair. It couldn't be, could it?
"You two…seem to be getting along well." He observes.
"Yes, Mei's been very…kind. She's taught me many things." Gaara answers neutrally.
"Such as how to break desks during sex, I imagine." He states bluntly.
"Well…I suppose there is no point in hiding it." Mei offers to Gaara.
"Yes, he is my lover. If you'd like to make an issue of it, I'll introduce you to my Boiling Release."
"He is…young. But of age. I don't have an issue with it. Who you take to your bed is solely your concern. But I do wonder if the two of you are not conspiring against me." He says.
"Conspiring against you?! How dare you?! Don't be absurd." Mei growls at him.
"How could you accuse us of such a thing? We are allies! We fought side by side with you during the war." Gaara snarls at him.
"You are both all too willing to accept Sasuke Uchihas as being partially in control of the Leaf Village. It makes me wonder if perhaps he has not threatened you or bought the two of you off." He replies.
SMACK! Mei raises her hand to the Raikage. While she didn't have Tsunade's monstrous strength, she was also a Kage. The phrase hit like a girl obviously hadn't been invented by someone who had felt the fury of Mei's fist.
"YOU STRUCK ME!" He roars.
"You deserved it." Gaara mutters without pity.
"He's right. You did. We've been friends for years. I can not believe you would accuse me of such a thing. Your paranoia is going to get you killed. Better I smack some sense into you, than the Uchiha drive a sword straight through your heart." She warns him.
"Perhaps you are the one who has taken leave of your senses. You are actually going along with this foolishness. You struck me, another Kage. You are defending that damn demon!" He snarls at her and goes in for an attack.
The sand lashes out and sends him flying. Gaara was not amused to put it mildly. He understood the Raikage's concerns. He really did. He shared them in all honesty. But he wasn't going to risk a Civil War over an assassination attempt that would likely end in failure. He certainly wasn't going to put up with his lover being disrespected in such a fashion either.
"If you try to touch her again, I will kill you." The red head warns him.
"YOU WOULD KILL ANOTHER KAGE? YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THE UCHIHA!" He thunders in outrage.
"You are on dangerous ground. How dare you compare Gaara to Sasuke?!" Mei screams at him.
"I dare! The Uchiha killed a Kage in cold blood. The Kazekage just threatened my life." He states.
"He threatened you because you threatened me. That's hardly the same as going off to kill a Kage for no reason." She growls.
"You are both impossible! You've both taken leave of your senses. Has the Uchiha bewitched you both?" He asks and seems to be seriously considering the possibility that Sasuke might have put them both under some kind of brainwashing jutsu.
"I suggest you leave before I lose my temper. No good will come of continuing this conversation presently." Gaara warns him.
"I shall take my leave. I hope you both return to your senses soon. I hear that Hinata is pregnant. We can not allow that cursed clan to continue. We must do something about this situation at once." He urges them.
"Did you just threaten a pregnant woman?" Mei demands to know.
"You can't possibly think that we should allow such a child to come to term. He or she will have the Byakugan, Sharingan, possibly both, or even a new bloodline. They will be raised by a psychotic father. That child will be a terror to all Five Nations." He continues.
"It's one thing to want the father dead. It's another to threaten an innocent baby. I've changed my mind. Mei if you wish to turn him into a scratching post, you may." Gaara says.
Naruto greets Sasuke and Hinata when they arrive home. Sasuke seemed smug. Naruto thought it must have went well.
"So boy or girl?" He asks curiously.
"Twins." Hinata says with a smile.
"Twins?! Holy shit! God damn bastard do you have to be an overachiever on everything?" Naruto teases.
"Both boys." Sasuke ignores the question in favor of wrapping his arms around Hinata.
"Oh well that's good. I don't think the Leaf could handle two female Sasuke's running around." He sighs in relief.
"What makes you think they'll take after Sasuke? They could take after me." Hinata asks.
"Oh good point. In that case, it wouldn't be too bad. But is everything going alright? They are healthy and everything?" He questions.
"Tsunade says they are perfectly healthy. She's due in March." Sasuke answers.
"Oh good. Wait did you feel that?" Naruto asks suddenly his expression going seriously.
"Chakra. Lots of it. Gaara's?" Sasuke tilts his head to the side, as if trying to recognize if it was indeed the Kazekage's chakra signature.
"Yeah that's Gaara's alright. The Kages were supposed to meet us later today. Looks like they arrived early. Feels like Gaara is pissed about something. I better go. Bastard, you should probably stay here with Hinata. The Raikage is far from your biggest fan." The blonde warns him.
"I will. If you need me…send up a flare." Sasuke says and wraps his arms around Hinata tighter.
"I will. Hopefully we can get this all sorted out." The blonde says.
"I hope so." Hinata mumbles and leans into her husband's embrace.
"It'll be alright! Believe it!" Naruto says with a big grin.
"That sounds as stupid today as when you were twelve. You are such a loser." Sasuke taunts.
"QUIET BASTARD! IT SOUNDS AWESOME AND YOU KNOW IT." He shouts.
"Whatever. Loser. You better get going. Something is up. Gaara doesn't flare his chakra like that for no good reason." Sasuke points out.
"Yeah. You're right." Naruto says and he takes off running towards to the other Kages.