Choji came bounding through the doorway with all of the grace of a caged bull. The large male frantically spoke as he ran into the room. "I received word that Hotaru -" He was cut short by the woman leaping from her bed, throwing her arms merrily around her cousin.

"Brother Choji!" She exclaimed as they fell to the floor upon Hotaru's impact. Choji hit the floor hard, knocking the wind from his lungs. He sat upright, trying to catch his breath, but Hotaru clung to the man with every fiber of her being. She did not understand why she needed to embrace him quite so fervently, but Hotaru could not hold herself back. Something about the sight of her adoptive brother gave Hotaru the need to hold on to him.

"Hotaru, give him some room to breath." Sakura said as she tried to pry the tall woman from her cousin. Hotaru reluctantly let go of Choji, choosing to remain on his lap. Once the elder Akimichi finally caught his breath, Hotaru's arms were wrapped tightly around his neck again.

"I'm happy to see you too!" Choji jovially remarked as Hotaru rested her head against his shoulder. She took in the sweet caramel scent of her cousin, savoring the feeling of being home in his comforting embrace. There was a slight twinge in her nose as she noticed a new layer to her cousin's scent. It was a hearty, flower scent that Hotaru had never smelled on him before. The smell wasn't one of his one, but rather a trace of someone else on him.

"Orchids?" She whispered trying to place the new addition. She had placed the scent, but to whom it belonged puzzled the girl. She knew somewhere in her memory was a person that smelled specifically of orchids, but her three year slumber was hindering her memories.

"What?" Choji pulled away from the girl. He looked puzzled by Hotaru's words.

"You don't smell right. I mean, you still smell like you, but there's orchids. That's someone else's scent. It's all over you, your hair, your clothes…" Choji's cheeks flushed at the mention of having someone else's scent on him. He quickly looked away from Hotaru as if embarrassed by some fact.

"It's, uh… It's probably my, erm… My wife." Choji hesitantly admitted.

"Your… what? Who?"

"Umm…" Choji looked bashfully away. "Ino."

"Ino?"

"Believe it! it surprised us all, you know?" Naruto laughed.

"I missed your wedding…" Hotaru's gazed dropped to the floor. She felt absolutely heart broken by the news of Choji's marriage. Not that she didn't feel happiness that he had found someone to live his life with, but she was disappointed that she wasn't there to see it happen.

Hotaru sat in the Akimichi home, staring out the window at her snowy back garden. To her, it had only been a couple days since she sat outside on the veranda listening to the village celebrate the Star Festival. But, three years had passed since that day. Hotaru quietly scanned the veranda, remembering everyone's exact positions. Shino had stayed near the door; Naruto and Hinata sat on the grass in front of Hotaru's chair; Choji had stood next to her while the Yamato stood behind her; the rest of the group congregated throughout the porch.

There was a dark stain on the wooden floor, around the place where Shiromaru had been. Hotaru wondered what had made it in the three years she had been gone, not knowing that it was the place where she had coughed up gobs of blood - her family had never been able to get the stain out no matter how hard they tried.

"Hotaru?" Ino's voice reverberated throughout the silent house. Choji was training with his team, while his parents were on holiday at a hot springs. The young Akimichi woman turned to look at the blonde standing in the doorway. Ino held a tea tray as she quietly entered the room. Hotaru graciously accepted the warm tea, turning her attention back to the wintry world outside of the window. The two women sat in awkward silence, unable to think of how to talk to one another. They had never been particularly close, and now that Ino was family, Hotaru had no clue what to say to her.

"Choji told me you brought flowers to the hospital for me." Hotaru's attempt at small talk was weak, but at least it broke the silence.

"Yes, I thought the flowers would help." Ino replied kindly. She was about to speak again when there was a knock at the front door. Hotaru was slightly relieved that there would be someone else at the house to break the silence. After a moment, Ino returned with Hinata in tow.

"Hello, Hotaru." She happily mumbled. A child's head popped out from behind the introverted woman. The boy was maybe two at most, with spiky blond hair, and pale, pupil-less eyes. The child took in the sight of Hotaru, before promptly returning behind his mother's legs. "This is Neji." Hinata forced the small child out of his hiding place. He looked exactly like Naruto, with the exception of his eye and lack of whisker markings on his cheeks.

"You and Naruto must have gotten married not to long after I fell into the coma." Hotaru said after waving to the small boy. He frantically tried to hide himself behind his mother again.

"About two months. It wasn't anything too spectacular." Hinata replied. She quietly moved into the heart of the room and sat down across from Hotaru. With the skill of a mother, Hinata picked up her child and set him on her lap in one fluid swipe.

"And you named your son after your cousin?" Hotaru smiled. She knew loosing her cousin had been hard on Hinata. Neji had become her brother and biggest ally by the time he had passed.

"Yes. Naruto wanted to name him after the man who gave his life for us to be together… If we had had a girl, she would have been named after you." Hinata shyly admitted. The quiet girl looked hesitantly over at Hotaru. She did not know what reaction she had expected, but the look on Hotaru's face was not what she had wanted to see. There was a certain disgust that played across her face.

"Then I am glad you had a boy. As honored as I am that you would make me your child's name sake - and I am, I'm over the moon about it - I would never wish my name or my life as the legacy to which a child was born. Nothing but misfortune and bad luck follow me. I am not someone to name a child after…" The room fell back into it's awkward silence. "But, enough of my self pity. Tell me everything! I want to know everything that has happened in the last three years."

"Well," Hinata pondered her response. "Naruto and I got married, and had Neji. Shino is now the head of his clan and engaged to an Aburame woman, Ayame is her name. She's a nice girl; a little bit more talkative than Shino, but still quite stoic and somber. Lee and Kiba have their own genin teams now - they've had their teams for a little over a year. Both of which are away on a joint mission. Tenten is a member of ANBU now, so we don't see too much of her very often anymore. But she still makes us have a girl's night every once in a while. And, Sakura is working full time at the hospital now. Ever since Naruto became the Hokage, Team 7 has officially disbanded and gone on their own paths. Sai is still in ANBU as well."

Hotaru nodded her head quietly, listening to Hinata's brief introduction to her three missing years. "And, Shikamaru?" Hotaru asked when Hinata had stopped speaking before all of her friends had been accounted for.

"Shikamaru is currently stationed outside of Konoha…" Hinata muttered. Hotaru couldn't believe that the girl could speak any softer than she did normally, but she was wrong. Hinata was almost inaudible as she spoke.

"Do you know where he is?"

"Shikamaru's been the political emissary between Konoha and Suna for the last two years. He left the Nara clan to be run by the elders until he comes back… But, at the rate he's been going, I don't know if Shikamaru will ever be recalled. He's very good at his job over there."

"He's always good at his job. It's what matters most to him." Hotaru mused, turning her attention back outside the window. Ino was about to say something, when a loud bark cut her off. Shiromaru was barking at the back door of the Akimichi main house, asking to be let back inside. Hotaru stood to leave the room before turning her attention to the child on Hinata's lap. "Would you like to play with my dog?" The small boy looked up to his mother for permission to leave, but bounded from her lap before she could answer. He took hold of Hotaru's hand and merrily walked with the tall Akimichi.

"Why won't you tell her?" Ino whispered as soon as the other woman was out of the room. She sat down in Hotaru's chair and stared incredulously at her dark-haired friend.

"Huh?" Hinata asked, looking confused. But Ino knew better. Hinata knew what Ino was talking about.

"Don't play stupid, Hinata. You didn't tell her why Shikamaru took that assignment and hasn't come back to Konoha in two years. She should know why he left."

"The only person who knows why he left is Shikamaru himself. Naruto didn't even send him, Shikamaru asked to go -"

"Yeah, because after a year - one year - of waiting for her to wake up, he couldn't cope. He lost faith, and just like last time we thought we lost her, it was easier for him to runaway than to deal with it."

"Don't be angry with him. We all lost faith that she would wake up at some point, Ino, and that changed all of our lives. Look at you and Choji, you two are married because he lost hope; Shikamaru was gone and you were the only one he could turn to. Tenten joined ANBU to hunt down the men who did this to Hotaru. Naruto was able to convince the Daimyo to increase a police presence around all known illegal gambling syndicates. Konoha's alliance with Suna has never been stronger because of the work Shikamaru is doing. The world is becoming a better place because we lost hope and are doing everything in our power to change that."

"Has Naruto at least sent word to Shikamaru that she woke up?"

"He did. The day she woke up… We haven't heard anything back from him yet."

"What?" Ino asked in disbelief. "It's been two weeks! How could he not even send a message back?"

"I don't know." Hinata mumbled as three figures entered the room. Hotaru walked next to Shiromaru who was carrying the young boy on his back. The Akimichi woman was laughing heartily at something the child had said.