A.N

The end of a story.

I am trying to keep another one from being thought up. I need a break this has been a full on sprint for me and I'm tired. O_o.

My hope is that Paint With Words will be finished, and after that I can relax a bit to think about whether another story is festering in there somewhere.

To those of you reviewing, thank you so much. I'm glad that this was enjoyed by so many.

If you review after the final chapter, chances are I haven't looked at the review and if you review without a user name I can't really answer. Best thing you can do is PM me I suppose, if you want to actually get a reply.

Much love,

Inky

P.S

This chapter is just because I dreamed it, and it made me smile.

Epilogue: Mornings at the Uchiha House

She woke to the sound of a voice, distant and far away, echoing through the hall, knocking past the door, and into her room. It was soft, whispering, and gentle, and she found herself curling further into her blankets, her blonde hair a beautiful mess of golds and yellows in thick curling locks across her blankets.

Sleepily one sparkling blue eye opened and the blonde stretched, cat like in the warmth of her bed, blinking through the grip of laziness that bound her to her covers.

Until the voice which had been so distant and far away suddenly gained strength and proximity, coming into focus as her brain slowly ebbed into wakefulness.

"Sora! You're going to be late for school again!"

With a gasp she fell out of bed, her blankets, pillows and multiple stuffed animals crumbling into a pile on her carpet. With an "eep!" she shot out of the mess and into her bathroom, brushing her teeth, and hair with each hand, eyes wide and panicked.

"Sora!" Hinata called from the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm coming!" Her uniform was not fitting, it was not fitting, why oh why was this stupid thing not fitting? With a deep breath she shoved herself into her skirt, staring at her hips in the mirror. Since turning 15 everything had been changing, from her cup size to her hip size and now again she was finding that her uniform needed another adjustment, this time to the length. Her legs kept getting longer and as a result the skirt seemed as though it was getting shorter.

Breathless she fumbled with the buttons on her white blouse, throwing a sweater over the fact that it too was having a hard time holding the boobs she had just gained over summer break in place and with a tug to her high socks she stumbled, tripped and rolled down the last few steps, ending on her bum, flushed and breathless.

"Owwwwie... Oka-san..." her whine was soft and from the hall she saw a black head of hair and identical blue eyes to her own lean over in a chair, peering at her.

"She slipped again." Haku muttered, moving to sit back at the table calmly, his chopsticks pulling ramen up high to cool before he began quietly slurping.

"Thanks a lot, baka." Sora gasped, shoving herself to her feet dizzily. "Some brother you are, didn't even come check if I died."

Rubbing her bum and head she stumbled into the kitchen where Haku sat, not even bothering to look at her as he ate his breakfast.

"I checked the first dozen times it happened." He replied, and as his blue eyes opened and he peered at Sora from beneath his black hair she blinked, remembering again how much like Daddy's picture he looked like now. Save for the hair they might as well have been the same person. And just like she thought, the girls at school were crazy over the serious gentle mannered blue eyed Haku. It always made her smirk to see them swooning when he smiled.

Beside him sat their Otousan, who made her break into a smile as she sauntered over, smooching him sloppily on the cheek before plopping on the chair beside him.

"Anything broken?" Sasuke inquired calmly, wiping her lip gloss of his cheek absently as he peered up from the book in his hand.

"No, but thank you for asking, Otousan." she grinned, and then stuck her tongue out at her brother beside him.

"So ladylike." Haku sighed, shaking his head.

"She'll grow into it." Hinata called from the kitchen, smirking much like Sasuke did she shifted her eyes away from Haku, moving instead to serve the eggs onto two plates.

"Are you sure you won't have something else for breakfast?" She sighed, bringing the kettle around to the bowl of ramen sitting between her and Sasuke's breakfast plates.

Sora leaned back in her chair, balancing on the two back legs precariously to look upside down at her mother. Her curtain of blonde tumbled down her back and nearly to her butt, blue eyes smiled at her from her awkward position.

"But we like ramen, Oka-san."

"Scurvy." Sasuke muttered.

"Malnutrition." Hinata sighed.

"Starvation." Sasuke finished.

"It's not starvation if we're full." Haku's reply was quick and before anyone could argue he was up, taking his plate to the sink before kissing his mother on the cheek and heading towards the door. "See you guys later, love you!" Even in his grown tenor voice his good bye always made Hinata smile painfully.

"Y-you're not going to wait for me!?" Sora's chair slammed back to the ground, causing the table to jostle hard and Sasuke primly picked up his coffee cup before anything spilled out of it, not even bothering to look up as she shoved herself to her feet, grabbed an apple with a soft whimper of sadness at her abandoned ramen before blowing kisses at her parents while dashing out the door.

"Be safe!" Hinata called from the kitchen, leaning over the counter, her black braid swinging as she peered down the hall and watched her kids step out into the bright August morning.

"I wish they would eat something else sometimes." She muttered, walking around to place the breakfast plates on the table for herself and Sasuke, who finally put his book down, fixing her with dark knowing eyes. "He survived into adulthood on pretty much nothing else. They'll be fine. And Sora keeps growing like a weed." He muttered a little more darkly. "That skirt-"

Smiling broadly now Hinata stirred her tea. "I'll buy her a longer one this afternoon."

"Please," Sasuke sighed, rubbing at the worry frown between his brows with one finger, trying to dispel the growing signs of sheer terror that his kids seemed determined to inflict on his poor tired mind.

Delicately Hinata leaned over the table, grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him in hard to kiss her. Startled but not at all against the action Sasuke breathed her in, tasting the honey of her tea on her tongue.

"The fact that you worry about them all the time makes me want to kiss you all over." she breathed, and Sasuke stared at her, as dazed as he had been the first time he'd kissed her.

"I have exactly fifteen minutes before I have to go."

"Ten before the twins wake up." Hinata countered, gray eyes studying him thoughtfully, as if sizing him up.

It didn't matter how comfortable she got, her cheeks were still red, her fingers shaky.

"Ten minutes might be a challange." she whispered, already feeling his fingers unbuttoning her shirt.

"I like challenges." Sasuke breathed against her mouth, and it was the last thing he said for at least the next ten minutes...

Just like almost every morning for the last ten years.

The End