Desire is a State of Mind
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. It's been a bumpy ride, but I hope that you all enjoy the grand finale of Desire is a State of Mind. Oh and if you're interested, please feel free to check out some of my other stories.
Chapter Notation: This takes place five years after the last chapter.
New Story/Request Response: Oh and for the guest reviewer who made a request for another Suki Story, I just posted it. It's called Dangerous Kitten.
Chapter 21
"Mother, Father, have you seen my sandals?" Minato calls out desperately.
Naruto tries his best not to laugh at, but it was hard not to. It was pretty obvious what had happened. Natsuko and Nariko had struck!
Naruto chuckles and smiles. "They're probably underneath one of your sisters' beds." Yes, that was right. He was a father now.
Five years had passed since his wedding to Suki and now they had three children. Minato was their eldest and currently their only son. Natsuko and Nariko were their twins.
"You've got to be kidding me." Minato whines.
The elder blonde quickly shakes his head. "Nope, I'm afraid not." His son should know this by now.
Nariko was only two, but she was already a prankster. Of course, being two her pranks weren't too elaborate yet. Though she did seem to enjoy dragging her elder sister Natsuko along for the 'fun.'
Suki shakes her head and sighs as she comes down the stairs with two giggling toddlers following her. "I imagine that you're looking for these." The Uchiha Matriarch holds up a pair of sandals in her hands. "Girls, what do you have to say to your brother?"
"We're sorry." They mumble in unison.
Naruto highly doubted they were. Well maybe Natsuko might have been a bit, but not Nariko. She was currently engaging in a giggle fit and trying her best to look innocent.
Minato sighs as he takes his sandals from Suki. "Thanks, Mother." The poor boy's nerves were probably fried, but that was likely because today was the big day.
Their son would be attending an open house of sorts. Next year, he would be enrolled in the Academy. So it was a really big deal to the aspiring ninja.
"Of course." She smiles. "We should probably be going." That was true. "I imagine that Uncle Itachi and Aunt Konan will want to come with us as well." They had about an hour to get there and yeah, Naruto was still adjusting to the whole Itachi and Konan being a thing, thing!
Minato smiles. "Alright." He really was the spitting image of his grandfather in so many ways.
He'd inherited Naruto's spiky blonde hair and Minato's face. Though Suki's presence was still known. He had her skin tone and obsidian black eyes. Not to mention, her eyelashes.
Well at least the color her eyes were when her Sharingan wasn't activated. Obito's Rinnegan and other eye were kept well hidden and only to be used in emergencies on clones. Luckily, they hadn't had to use them yet and Naruto prayed that day would never come.
Suki nods and the family starts out of the house and heads towards Itachi's house in the Uchiha District. The house that he shared with Konan and their son. Hitomu.
"Fun! This gonna be fun!" Nariko giggles as they all walk together, her raven black pigtails swaying from side to side as she walks.
Yes, that was right. Their youngest daughter liked wearing pigtails. Something that still mortified Suki, but she had given up trying to 'reason' with Nariko.
Their daughters were identical twins. So it was actually a good thing that Nariko preferred her pigtails and Natsuko preferred wearing her hair down. It made it easier to tell them apart. Well that and the fact Natsuko was quieter.
"Yes!" Natsuko smiles as her sapphire blue eyes look around the district excitedly.
They'd inherited his eyes and whisker like markings. Yeah. He had no idea how the whiskers happened either. Their skin was creamy white and only a shade or two darker than Suki's. They definitely had their mother's hair and face though. (Other than his chin).
"Minato, why don't you go knock on the door and see if they're up yet." Suki smiles encouragingly at her son.
"Okay!" The aspiring ninja takes off quickly to do exactly that.
Itachi chuckles inside his house as he gestures for Konan and Hitomu to follow him. He could sense his family's chakra signatures coming straight towards them and well, it was best to be prepared. With that in mind, he quickly opens the door.
"I see that Minato is ready to go to the Academy." Itachi smiles at them and Suki just nods with amusement dancing in her eyes.
"Yep!" Minato jumps and down excitedly. "I'm gonna be a real ninja! I can already do the Rasengan and activate my Sharingan and everything!"
That was disturbing. "How on Earth did he learn how to activate his Sharingan this early?" Itachi shoots his sister a worried glance as Hitomu races over to his cousins.
Hitmou was his pride and joy. Honestly, Itachi had been rather surprised when he found out Konan was expecting. Sure, she had technically still been in her childbearing years, but neither of them had actually expected it to happen.
"There was an incident with Kisame dressing up as a clown for his birthday." Suki rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "His teeth and the makeup combined with Kisame's size kinda scared the Hell out of him."
Oh right. Itachi remembered that day. Hmm. Strange, he hadn't noticed his nephew's eyes going red, but he had been rather distracted by making out with Konan at the time.
"Right." He nods. "That would do it."
Hitmou has inherited his mother's blue hair, but otherwise well his son was the spitting image of him. He was also three and very inquisitive to say the least.
"Uncle Naruto, what's it mean when mommy yells at daddy at night?" He looks up at his uncle. "She does it really loudly and asks him to do something harder. They won't tell me anything. They say they're playing grownup games."
He was also very articulate. So much so that both of his parents blush.
"Um…" Naruto looks at Suki helplessly. "Maybe, your Auntie Suki can help you."
She shakes her head and sighs. "They're engaging in a type of training that only adult ninjas can do. It involves kissing and other things." The Uchiha woman shrugs gracefully.
Ah. Nice save. That should be sufficient because now his son looked rather disgusting.
"Kissing is gross." He shakes his head. "I don't know why grownups always try to suck each other's faces off."
Konan smiles and ruffles his hair. "You'll understand when you're older." After Zetsu and Obito were defeated, the Akatsuki just kinda fell apart and Konan had ended up in the Leaf. "Anyway, we should be going. We don't want to be late to the open house." The rest as they say, was history.
Much older, preferably. The boy was only three, after all. Hitomu deserved to be a kid while he could.
"Yes, let's get going." Itachi smiles as the Uchihas made their way off towards the Academy. "We wouldn't want to be late." This was bound to be quite the interesting day to say the least.
Suigetsu grins as he gets back from a mission and enjoys a nice fancy dinner with Kisame. They had finally done it. They had saved up enough cash to start their own business.
"So that should do it." He smirks. "We'll be giving out sword lessons in no time."
Kisame nods in agreement. "I imagine the kids will love them and it will drive their parents crazy." That was true, the white haired ninja muses. Of course, that was just an added bonus in his mind.
Parents could be so annoying sometimes. He had seen how Suki, Naruto, Itachi, and Konan fussed over their kiddies. It was annoying.
Seriously, they weren't made of glass. Let them take some risks once in awhile. They were going to be ninjas one day. It would do them some good. Oh wait. He was getting off track here.
"Oh good." Sai smiles pleasantly as he walks into restaurant with Ino at his side. "There you are." He lays down some scrolls on their table. "I drew up the designs you requested for the flyers."
Oh wow. These were pretty badass. "Thanks." Suigetsu grins at him. "This is going to be awesome. So how are the two of you?"
Ino and Sai both smile. Oh boy. Nooo! This couldn't be happening again.
"I'm pregnant." Ino giggles happily.
Honestly, what was with everyone? It seemed like everyone was on some semi top secret breeding mission. Everyone was having kids lately.
Kisame just smiles at them. "Congratulations. So I take it that things are going well in the flower shop?" They both nod at that.
For goodness sakes, Suigetsu couldn't believe that Sai was doing something like working in a flower shop. Ino was one thing, she was a chick. Sai wasn't though. Where was his pride?
"How are Karin and Jugo doing?" Sai smiles at them politely. "Oh and what about Kabuto?"
Suigetsu decides to take the lead on this one. Someone had to. "I guess they ran all sorts of crazy mind probes on him." That's what he had been told anyway. "Because they actually decided to put that freak in charge of running the orphanage and supposedly he's doing a good job. The kids gush over him and shit." It was creepy.
Sai and Ino blink at that. Yeah. That was his reaction too, but whatever. At least, Kana was dead. He had never liked that woman.
"Apparently, Jugo retired from being a ninja." Kisame shakes his head in disbelief. "He's now running an animal hospital." Yeah. The big love seemed to love it though. "Oh and Suigetsu what happened with the banshee?"
That was the weirdest thing. "She opened a jewelry shop." He shrugs at that. "Karin must have been saving her pay from working with Orochimaru or something. The Banshee is doing pretty damn well."
Ino beams at that. Gods and Goddesses only knew why. That woman's head was still a mystery to him.
"So everyone got a happy ending then?" She giggles.
Oh. So that was why. "Yeah." Suigetsu nods. "Looks like it."
Kakashi shakes his head as he looks around the Academy. So it was all about to start then. He had to be in charge of the Open House because Naruto felt it would be biased to do so when Minato was exploring the Academy.
"Welcome everyone." It wasn't scheduled to start for another half hour, but a head count had confirmed everyone was here. "We're all so glad that you could make it." He smiles at the crowd. "As you know the Academy is a very important part in any ninja's life and provides a solid foundation for all our aspiring ninjas to begin their careers."
That felt so odd to say. Iruka was actually chuckling at him in the background too. Which meant that it had sounded even more odd than Kakashi thought it did.
"You tell em, Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto laughs in the background.
There were times when it was hard to believe that Naruto was a grown man with children of his own. Not only that, but he was also Hokage now. Kakashi had already retired.
He'd never wanted the job anyway and Naruto wanted it almost more than anything. The only thing that the sapphire eyed ninja wanted more than to be Hokage was Suki and their children in his life.
"Yes, right." He chuckles. "So you're free to look around the Academy and of course, I do encourage you to interact with your child's or children's future instructors as well." He felt so horribly awkward. "There are also refreshments available and they're all free of charge. Without further ado, you may begin exploring."
As soon as those words were out of his mouth, parents and relatives of children made beelines towards Kakashi and Naruto's family. Oh boy. This was going to get ugly.
"Is it really true that you have the Sharingan already?" One girl looks at Minato.
Minato nods and smiles. "Yeah." He activates it. "See? I can do it. It's all thanks to Uncle Kisame being creepy too." Well if nothing else, he certainly was a social lad. Bright too, even if he did let his sisters push him around.
The rest of the Open House proceeded fairly normally, much to Suki's relief. Of course, the twins had run everywhere, but that was only to be expected.
"Oh my, this is so lovely." One of the other parents calls out as she gestures towards the floor of the hallway. "They actually grew grass, roses, and wildflowers for us to walk on."
Suki groans at that and gives her eldest daughter a look. "Natsuko?" The girl's name meant born in Summer and she had been named well because she had a powerful Earth affinity, especially when it came to 'pretty flowers.' (Though Suki knew that was likely because she was two and she could only assume her daughter's 'attacks' would grow more fearsome with time).
Natsuko gives her an innocent look and that's when Naruto starts laughing. "Looks like it wasn't just her." He points outside the window. "Nariko made a pool and people are swimming in it." By pool, her husband meant that the two year old had filled a large crater from Sakura's training with water.
Nariko's name meant Child of Thunder and she also lived up to it. She could already use a primitive form of the Chidori and had a powerful water affinity.
"Well at least Minato is behaving himself." Suki sighs. "Mostly, other than showing his Sharingan." Then again, he was four. What kid wasn't going to show off their Sharingan at four?
"Not so much." Naruto sighs as he points outside. "He started a bonfire. Had to show off his fire affinity." Well at least it was only a bonfire.
For now anyway, they really should get out of here. Though Suki was most assuredly not in the mood to press their luck further. The last thing any of them needed was for a wildfire to start because Minato wanted to show off.
"Right." She sighs again. "Well let's go tell the others we're leaving and grab Minato." Then, they could head home.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Naruto grins as they do exactly that.
A few hours later, Naruto was relieved. The kids were finally in bed. So it was just him and Suki. Sitting on the roof of the house and overlooking the entire Uchiha District.
"It's beautiful tonight." Naruto smiles as he warps his arms around her.
Suki nods and sighs. "Yes, it is." She then smiles at him a bit wistfully. "I used to hate the Full Moon. It was a Full Moon on the night it happened." Oh.
His wife didn't need to specify what it was in this case. Naruto knew that's what was on her mind.
"Well I'm glad that you found out the truth and that I don't have to keep chasing your sexy ass all over the Five Nations anymore." He grins at her.
Suki smiles and nods at that. "That's true and I'm very grateful for that fact." She smiles and kisses him. "I never thought that Orochimaru suggesting that I should learn Genjutsu would lead to this, but I'm grateful it did."
Suki had found love and a family because of the Sannin, even if that hadn't been Orochimaru's intention. Indirectly, she supposed he was responsible for all that and her becoming a member of the Leaf's Interrogation Unit. Her Genjutsu came in handy when it came to making creep's talk.
"Me too." He smiles at her. "Also the Genjutsu was pretty hot."
"Well that's because desire is a state of mind." Suki shakes her head and smiles. "Most of the time the fantasy is better than the reality."
She had felt guilty about it back then. Using such a cheap trick on him, but it had worked. One couldn't argue with the results.
"Unless it's us." Naruto laughs. "Then the reality is better than the fantasy."
Suki laughs at that and nods. "That's very true." With that thought, maybe it was time to prove it. "You're right about that and it is a beautiful night, but I know something even more beautiful than the stars and moon." She offers him her hand. "Properly utilizing the Soundproofing Jutsu."
Naruto laughs and nods as he takes her hand and they Flicker back to their bedroom. Seriously, the Soundproofing Jutsu could be a thing of beauty Suki thinks to herself as they rest of the rest of the night in each other's arms.