Chapter 53.
I don't own Naruto.
Enjoy.
First Person Alice!
One of the things that suck about being me, is that someone always needs me. Sure, I like taking care of my loved ones and I honestly don't mind being depended on, but sometimes, I'd like to have some time to myself.
But, because I'm me, that's almost impossible.
Like now, for example.
I was lying on the couch, eyes closed, seconds away from napping, when I hear footsteps approaching the living room. I knew from how quiet and fast they were that it was one of the kids, but I was much too comfortable to bother opening my eyes.
That is, until I heard a sniffle.
My eyes snapped open and I was instantly in Mommy-Mode. I looked towards the door and cocked my head to the side when I saw Sanaa shuffling into the room, her head bowed and a pained expression on her face.
I sat up. "Sanaa?"
She sniffled. "Icy."
I extended my arms towards her. "Come here sweetheart. What's wrong?"
She walked over to me and allowed me to pull her into my lap. I hugged her tightly and stroked her hair, allowing her to rest her head on my shoulder. I rested my cheek on her hair and rubbed her arm.
"What's wrong, Sanaa?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"Sanaa, it's okay. You can tell me." I soothed.
She glanced at me. "My hands hurt."
I raised my eyebrow. "Your hands hurt?"
She nodded. "Really bad."
"Can I see?" I asked.
She gingerly opened one of her hands and held it up for me to see. I made to grab her wrist to keep her hand from shaking, but she jerked it away from me. "Don't touch it."
"I won't honey. You're shaking it. I was just going to hold your arm still." I explained. I grabbed her wrist and held it still, looking closely at her hand.
Her palms were bleeding very, very slightly and the skin was cracking around the crevice where her hand-mouth would be. I frowned. "Sanaa, where's your daddy?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. You and Tachi are the only grownups here."
"Did you do anything to your hands?" I asked.
"It might have been from when I fell while training earlier…" Sanaa stated. "But they've been hurting since last night."
I sighed and dug into my pocket. I fished out my cell phone and dialed a number before holding it up to my ear. Two rings later, my call was answered.
"What is it, Alice?" Sasori asked.
"Hey Sasori, I think Sanaa's hand mouths are coming in." I stated. "I'm not sure though. She did scrape her hands while training with Tiburon and Cielo earlier."
"Where is she?" Sasori asked, a strange tone jumping in his voice.
"On my lap." I told him. "They look painful." I kissed Sanaa's head. "Where are you?"
"Coming home. Deidara, Kathryn, and I will be there within ten minutes." Sasori informed me.
I nodded. "Good. Deidara probably knows more about this than anyone else."
"Indeed." Sasori agreed.
"I'll see you in a few." I told him. He returned my farewell and I ended the call. I tossed my phone on the coffee table before returning my attention to Sanaa. I stroked her hair. "Sanaa, have you noticed anything else changing about your body?"
Sanaa looked at me. "I'm taller than Tibby. And I'm the same height as Cielo." She looked down at her hands. "And my chest hurts every now and then. Mommy says I'm getting boobs…"
I rolled my eyes. "It's about time you started growing into a young woman. You'll be noticing a lot of changes about your body soon. But don't worry about any of it because it's natural. However, if you get scared or something, or just want some answers, your mother and I can answer all of your questions and Sasori will be happy to check on you."
Sanaa nodded. "Okay." She looked at me. "How come Tibby and Cielo aren't changing?"
"Girls mature faster and earlier than boys do." I informed her. "Because we're awesome."
She giggled. "Girls rule."
"And boys drool." I finished with a smirk.
She leaned into me. "I love you, Icy."
I smiled. "I love you too, Sanaa. Very much so."
"What are you two doing?" A voice asked a few minutes later.
"Hi Tachi." Sanaa greeted.
Itachi rumpled Sanaa's hair before taking a seat beside me. He kissed my cheek and met Sanaa's gaze. "Hello Sanaa."
"Sanaa's hands are hurting her." I informed him.
Itachi frowned and he took Sanaa from me. He gently took Sanaa's wrists into his hands and looked at her sore hands. He ran his fingers along the back of her hands before glancing at me. "Her Kekkei Genkai should be coming in soon." He ran his fingers over the back of her hand again. "I can sense the chakra flow and it's beginning to mass where the mouth will form."
Sanaa stared at her hands before looking up at Itachi. "How come it hurts, Tachi?"
"The pain will not last, Sanaa." Itachi assured her. "Just like Tiburon's eyes hurt him when he first developed his Sharingan, your hands will be sore for a little while. It is only natural. It is a vital change to your body's makeup."
Sanaa pouted. "Will they bleed?"
"Probably just at first." Itachi soothed. "However, with your medical Ninjutsu and Sasori's medical skills, the blood will be nothing more than a minor annoyance. It won't be a problem, Sanaa."
"Promise?" She asked.
Itachi poked Sanaa's nose. "I promise." He stroked her hair. "And if it is a problem, the pain will only last for a little while."
"Sanaa, un."
The three of us looked towards the door to see Deidara walking into the living room, a frown on his face. He took Sanaa from Itachi and sat down with her on the other couch. He took her hands into his hand looked at them closely.
"Yeah, her hand mouths are coming in, un." Deidara confirmed. "Mine did the same thing, yeah."
Sanaa looked at Deidara as his hand licked her. "Does it hurt, Daddy?"
"Only for a little bit." Deidara admitted. "Just when the teeth come in." He kissed her forehead. "But it'll be okay baby yeah."
Sanaa shivered. "I'm scared, Daddy."
"Don't be scared." Deidara soothed, hugging her. "Danna will make sure you're not in too much pain." He glanced at me. "And Alice will make you all of your favorites yeah."
Kathryn smiled and kissed Sanaa. "It's a sign that you're growing up, Sanaa. Pretty soon you'll be able to make pretty birds just like your Daddy. And, you can bite Tibby when he's being mean to you."
Sanaa giggled and I rolled my eyes.
Sasori glanced at Deidara as Kathryn distracted Sanaa with goofy things she could do with her hands. "How long, Brat?"
"I'd say within the next four days un." Deidara explained. "This stage starts, then the mouths move in a few days later within a few hours. It's during that time that when the real pain comes yeah."
Sasori ran a hand through his hair. "This will be fun."
"At least she doesn't have the mouth on her chest." I mused.
Deidara nodded. "I've never felt a worse pain before yeah."
Itachi glanced at Deidara. "What should we look for?"
"Or are they just going to come in while she's sleeping?" Sasori questioned.
"There's nothing to look for." Deidara sighed. "Trust me Danna; we'll know when they start coming in un."
And know we fucking did.
I was walking down the hallway, humming to myself as I headed back towards my bedroom from Kathryn's room, having just dropped off their now clean sheets, pillow cases, and blankets like I do every week. It was nighttime. The kids were asleep, and us adults were the only ones awake still.
At least, until a scream ripped from Sasori's room.
My head snapped around and I hurried back down the hallway. I threw open Sasori's door. Sasori was using his chakra strings to hold Sanaa down. Deidara had rushed into the room and was holding Sanaa's face between his hands, whispering soothing words to her and stroking her cheek. Kathryn stood by Sasori, looking like she wanted to cry with Sanaa.
"Fuck." I growled. "Sasori, I'll help hold her down, try and ease some of her pain."
Sasori released Sanaa when I pinned her to the bed to keep her from trashing around and potentially running off.
"D-Daddy!" She whimpered. "It hurts yeah!"
"Shh, shh." Deidara whispered. "I know baby. I know it hurts. But it will be over soon un." He kissed her forehead. "Just focus on me and don't think about the pain. Look at me and listen to me, okay yeah?"
Sanaa shook her head, tears pouring from her eyes. "I don't want hand-mouths no more yeah!" She screamed again when Sasori grabbed her hand. "No Sori-D-Danna! D-Don't touch it!"
"The fact that her pain woke her up is not helping the matter." Sasori growled. He looked at Sanaa. "It's okay, Sanaa. I'm going to help make the pain go away."
I glanced at Sasori and my eyes narrowed at the blood pretty much pouring from Sanaa's hands. I maneuvered myself so Sanaa couldn't see her hands even if she tried to and I glanced at Kathryn. "Want to help Deidara distract her?"
Kathryn tore her gaze away from Sasori to look at me. She opened her mouth to comment but was cut off.
"Kathryn." Sasori grunted. "Go and get Itachi. Make it quick. I'd send Alice so you could stay with Sanaa, but Alice is stronger than you and will be able to hold Sanaa down to keep her from hurting herself."
Kathryn nodded. "O-Okay Danna."
"Sanaa will be fine, Kathryn." Sasori assured her. "I promise. I would never let anything happen to her."
"I know." She said quietly. She hurried from the room.
Sasori winced when Sanaa screamed again. "I'm sorry, Sanaa."
She sobbed. "Daddy, make it stop, yeah!"
"Danna's working on it, baby." Deidara told her. "It won't last for much longer, Sanaa. We're making it hurry un." He kissed Sanaa's forehead. "You're being such a big girl yeah. I know it hurts un."
"I don't want my hands no more." Sanaa gasped between shuddering breaths and choked up sobs.
"You're a ninja, Sanaa. You need your hands." Sasori told her.
Deidara brushed Sanaa's tears away. "It's almost over, Sanaa." He glanced back at Sasori. "Are the teeth showing yet, un?"
Sasori shook his head. "Not really, no. It hurts her too much when I touch the gums so to speak."
"Shit." Deidara growled. "That's the worst part."
Sasori glanced at the door when Kathryn called his name and he nodded at seeing Itachi. "Itachi, I know this is strange to ask, but I need you to put Sanaa under a Genjutsu. This is too much pain for her to handle."
Itachi stared at Sasori. "You mean she's in too much pain for you to handle, Sasori." He sighed. "This will not kill her, but I can see her condition is too much for the three of you. However, unless Deidara and Kathryn ask me, I will not put her in a Genjutsu."
Kathryn looked at Itachi. "I just don't want her to cry anymore."
Itachi looked at Deidara. "He has the final decision."
"Brat." Sasori grunted.
Deidara looked away from Sanaa. "What, un?"
"I asked Itachi to come here to put Sanaa in a Genjutsu to help her block out the pain." Sasori explained. "He won't do it unless you agree to it though."
Itachi looked at Deidara when the blond frowned. "I would never hurt, Sanaa, Deidara. You know that."
Deidara frowned. "But normal Genjutsu won't be enough hmm."
"I am a master of Genjutsu, Deidara." Itachi explained. "I will be able to soothe her." He held up his hand when Deidara glared. "I would never use Tsukuyomi on a child now, especially not Sanaa."
Deidara did not look like he approved.
"Dei, Itachi won't hurt Sanaa." I soothed. "You can trust him. This is to help your baby. Look at her, Deidara."
Deidara looked at Sanaa for a long moment before looking at Itachi. "Fine un."
Itachi grabbed my shoulder and I moved over for him to sit in front of me. Itachi looked at Deidara. "If you would like, I can bring you into the Genjutsu as well."
Deidara closed his left eye. "Just do it, un."
Itachi nodded and his Sharingan span. "Sasori, do what you can. I do not want to keep them in here for any longer than ten minutes."
Sasori nodded. "I will."
A scream ripped from Sanaa just before she essentially went limp.
I sat beside Sanaa, holding Kathryn's hand and occupying her when Sasori got out a syringe of some really low level pain killers for Sanaa. I distracted her while he injected Sanaa with it and helped Sasori with the bleeding when he was finished.
"Her teeth are beginning to come out." Sasori stated. He pushed the tiny tongue sticking out of Sanaa's hand out of his way and he prodded the puffy and tender gums. "At the rate they're growing, they should be done within ten minutes."
"How long has it been since Itachi took them into a Genjutsu?" I asked, looking at Itachi.
"Five minutes." Sasori said quietly. "She'll just have to deal with the pain. It should be more bearable because of the painkillers I gave her."
Kathryn raised her eyebrow. "You gave her painkillers?"
"When you went to get Itachi." Sasori lied.
"Oh." Kathryn nodded. She returned her attention to Sanaa. "She'll flip out if she sees all this blood."
I waved off her concern. "When she goes to sleep after all this is done, I'll change the sheets and clean these."
"Hopefully Deidara's right that the pain only lasts for a little while..." Sasori mused. "I don't want to listen to Sanaa crying."
"He knows more about hand mouths than anyone else." I stated. "So he probably is right."
We sat there quietly for a while, Sasori keeping up a steady flow of medical chakra into Sanaa's hands to lessen the damage and blood. Kathryn was carding her fingers through Deidara and Sanaa's hair while I sat behind Itachi, my arm wrapped around his waist and my chin resting on his shoulder.
We were content with waiting until we heard a whimper.
My eyes snapped open and I glanced at Sanaa to see her start wiggling. She tried moving her hands but found herself unable to when I pinned one of her arms down and Kathryn held down the other. Sasori tightened his grip on her wrists, eyes locked on Sanaa's face.
Sanaa opened her eyes and looked at her hands, whimpering when the pain they were causing her spiked. "Hurts, Sori-Danna."
Sasori smiled slightly at Sanaa's tired slurring. The painkillers were starting to make her tired. "I know, Brat. It will be over soon though. You're almost done."
She pouted. "I wanna be done now. I'm sleepy yeah."
"I know." He soothed. "It'll be alright."
Itachi shifted and turned his head slightly to glance at me out of the corner of his eye. My arm around his waist was stroked gently by one of his hands while his other came up to caress my cheek. "Alice."
"Welcome back babe." I smiled. "How'd it go?"
"We played hide and seek." Itachi stated. "Sanaa won."
I laughed lightly and kissed his cheek. "You're sweet."
He pressed his head against mine. "Hn." He glanced at Deidara. "Satisfied?"
Deidara looked away from Kathryn who he had been kissing and frowned at Itachi. "Whatever, un." He looked back to Sanaa who was yawning sleepily. "Thanks yeah."
"You're welcome, Deidara." Itachi nodded. He glanced at Sasori. "How is it going?"
Sasori looked at Itachi. "She will be done soon."
Deidara looked at Sanaa's hands from his spot. "This hand is done, un." He informed us, touching Sanaa's right hand gently. He then poked her left hand. "This one is almost done. The molars are coming in a little bit slower, yeah."
We all glanced at Sanaa when she whimpered. Sasori was healing her tender gums for her and getting rid of the blood. His actions were obviously bothering her because she was throwing a little bit of a tantrum. She pulled her right hand out of Sasori's grip when he allowed her and she looked at it.
Her tongue rolled out of the mouth and her hand smiled at her. She smiled. "It's cute!"
I laughed. "You're cute, Sanaa."
She smiled at me before her smile faded and she scrunched up her face in discomfort. A few silent tears fell when she clenched her eyes shut and she clenched her now healed hand, trying to blot out the pain. A moment or two later, however, that relaxed.
Sasori released Sanaa's left hand and she inspected it tiredly. That hand smiled at her and she giggled tiredly before yawning. Lowering her hands from her face, she reached for Kathryn. "I'm sleepy Mommy."
Kathryn smiled and scooped Sanaa up. "So go to sleep baby. Who do you want to stay with? Me and your Daddy or Danna?"
Sanaa rested her head on Kathryn's shoulder. "All of you."
Sasori rolled his eyes at Sanaa's answer. "Give her to me, both of you get ready for bed and bring your blankets and pillows in here."
Kathryn giggled at Sasori's willingness to adhere to Sanaa's request. "You're so sweet, Danna." She kissed Sanaa's cheek. "Are you your Danna's girl, Sanaa?"
Sanaa nodded and reached for Sasori. "My Sori-Danna."
Sasori took her and shooed Kathryn and Deidara into their room. He thanked Itachi and I quietly while he swayed slightly with Sanaa in his arms. Itachi and I bade him and Sanaa goodnight and said our goodnights to Deidara and Kathryn when they returned.
After taking the bloodied sheets off the bed and grabbing a few from a linen closet, Itachi and I left Sasori, Sanaa, Dei, and Kathryn to get settled in for the night.
We walked back our room together and got in bed after I washed the blood off of me in a really quick shower. We cuddled and soon, worn out because of the epidemic of hand mouths, we fell asleep.
Yeah...
Fun Fact: There are two golf balls sitting on the moon.
Answer: The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spiderman, Magic Mike... yeah.
QotC: Favorite thing about Anime in general? Is it the life lessons? The smexy male characters? The humor? The art? The stories? What?
When I asked last chapter if you guys read my author's notes, I didn't mean you had to lol. Half the time I don't read other author's notes either. The story content is everyone's main focus and I get that. In fact, I expect that. However, some of the questions you guys asked me in reviews and messages I've answered multiple times. To be truthfully honest, I only read the author's notes of about three stories and that's pretty much it.
I would like to apologize for the longer wait. You guys got to 20 reviews a few days ago and I should have updated then. I didn't though because I literally have done nothing more than just sit here and stare at my ceiling. I've fallen into another severe state of depression and I want nothing to do with anything. This happens fairly frequently, but some stages of my depression are worse than others. :/ So I'm sorry about the wait.
See you.
