Ino's POV:
The boys are gone…Shikadai left on Friday and Inojin left this evening (Saturday) to go to Neji's for his sleepover with Boruto. The house is empty, my parents just left. My father offered to help me up the stairs and my mother offered to help me get ready for bed but I refused, I hate feeling so useless. This is the first night I've been on my own since before my wedding, which I still can't fucking remember. The doctor said that it will take time and that sometimes these memories don't come back until we least expect them, that the memories will come back in their own time and that trying to force it on myself will only cause me more stress. I hate not remembering important times in my life, like how I got like this. I was told how I got like this but I don't remember any of it and I sure as hell don't remember being so docile to let someone just do something like this to me.
I'm still not the best on my feet so I'm currently using two wheel chairs to get around the house, one upstairs and one downstairs, surprisingly I'm able to get myself up the stairs to the wheel chair I have left up there but to get back downstairs I need somebody's help, or I would slide down on my bottom, I can't trust my legs going down the stairs and my head gets a little dizzy and disoriented trying to go down the stairs so I usually just accept the help from someone to get down. To put it simply if I go upstairs there's no way I'm coming back down until morning so before I do that I make what I can of the rest of my night, I make myself a snack and wheel myself into the living room. I think about what has been happening so far around me, I was told about everything and everyone that's different compared to what I remember. I learned that most of us have children and a life that doesn't always allow us to get together which has been changed since I've been put in the hospital. I've been told that Naruto and Hinata are currently not on good terms and that is why Inojin has gone to have a sleepover at Neji's instead of Naruto's. I've been told about my team and about current events happening in the world.
As I'm finishing my snack I look at the time and decide I should go to bed, it's getting pretty late and Choji and Karui will be coming to visit in the morning. I bring my dishes to the sink, deciding to wash them in the morning, and make my way to the stairs.
Hinata's POV:
It's the night of the sleepover and I am so grateful for my cousin for allowing my child to have a friend over. Neji has been entertaining the children while I've been making them dinner. He was such a big help and has been a big help since I've come to stay with him. I'm forever in his debt and so grateful to have such a wonderful cousin.
As I was finishing up I started to think about my encounter with Naruto the other day. He wanted to talk about us and our current situation. He told me that he is ready to make the changes that needs to be done to have us back home again. He's made our spare room into a office and has hired an assistant as well as someone who if needed can fill in for him in the office, of course they wouldn't be making any big decisions or anything like that just mainly they would be debriefing shinobi on missions and assigning missions as well as taking note of any important issues Naruto may need to know when he gets back into his office. This person would be someone that organizes documents by importance so that Naruto can more efficiently tackle the paperwork in his office. He almost begged me on his knees to come back, I told him that I needed more time to think about it, I wanted him to show me he can do this not just tell me what he has done because I wasn't about to bring my children right back into the same situation with their father so I wanted to make sure he understood that this change needs to happen and it needs to stay it can't go back to the way it was. It wasn't fair for me or him and especially not fair for the children to have to go through all of this just because of his career.
Earlier today I went to visit Ino, she wanted to talk about the sleepover and to thank me for doing this for her and Inojin. She really seems to appreciate all that everyone is doing for her and her son and wants to make that known. She still seems pretty weak and her memory still isn't the best but she is doing better and making small strides to improve. She is determined to get better and to figure out her life once more but seems to be pushing herself too hard. I know that she must feel useless especially considering the mindset that she is in since she doesn't remember what she had been through. I hope that once Shikamaru comes back that she would be more relaxed so that her body can adjust at its own pace and her mind can as well. Right now she is pushing too hard and I believe if Shikamaru was here staying with her he would convince her to take it easy even if that's not her style at all.
Ino hasn't talked much about anything that happened between her and Sai, she hasn't asked about him or about anything that has happened between Temari and Shikamaru. She has mentioned that Shikamaru wasn't answering questions she had which I guess would make sense because he is out of town he probably would rather answer her questions in person. She has many questions that only Shikamaru can answer and she is very much frustrated with her situation which is understandable. She is unwilling to accept help but that comes to a point where she has no choice but to ask for help and I am worried about her, especially with the boys being out of the house. I'm afraid she will get herself into a situation she can't get out of. I've informed Choji about my worries and he plans on checking in on her tonight just to make sure she is alright. He agrees that this could end badly if she has managed to convince her parents to leave her alone, we both know that her parents are more than willing to help her but will also back off if Ino insists on them leaving. Choji said she can get up the stairs on her own but cannot get back down unless she has help, which means if she's on her own she won't be trying to come down the stairs once she has gone up them, this is what worries me…
Shikamaru's POV:
I've been in Suna for a while now, one of the babies has been having some trouble since the birth so I had to stay longer then desired, she is doing better now and is safe to travel but to make completely sure we are keeping her in the hospital for another few days. Since I'll be here for at least another week I decided to have Shikadai come so he can meet his siblings and see his uncles. He seemed excited to come but when he arrived he seemed nervous so I decided to take him to the hotel we will be staying in to see what he has been worried about.
He told me how he felt about possibly seeing Temari again, I was surprised that he called her by her name and not by mama but I guess he had decided in his own mind that she no longer deserves that title. He told me he didn't want to see her and that he talked to mama about it, that's when I found out that he had started calling Ino 'mama', he told me that she said he needs to talk to me about it, she said to him that he needs to understand that calling her that could hurt others so soon after his mothers departure. She also told him that he should still call his mother by the title of his mother and not her name but he refused to listen to her because of the hurt he felt for what his mother had done. I agreed with Ino, though I also don't like what Temari has done I want Shikadai to respect her as his mother despite what she has done. Shikadai didn't want to listen to what I had to say, he told me he didn't want to see her and that was it. I told him that he cannot call Ino 'mama' because she and I are not married and that he has a mama, even if his mama isn't very nice. I told him if he really wanted to call her mama we could talk about it when we got back to Konoha. Once we settled his belongings in the hotel room we got ready for bed so that we could head over to the hospital in the morning to meet his siblings.
The Next Morning…
We headed to the hospital where the twins were staying, the hospital was nice enough to allow both babies to stay in the hospital while one of them was still needing their care. Kankuro and Gaara were there to meet us and we all headed up to the paediatric ward and down the hall to the room they were being kept in. Once we arrived Shikadai's eyes light up as he walks towards the two beds that state 'Nara'. I smile as he gazes at the beautiful babies laying in their beds.
Shikadai looks up at me and smiles, "Papa, what are their names?"
I smile and walk up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, bending down a bit I point to the baby that was having some issues "That is Shikina, she was recently seen by the doctor and is right now doing really well." Then I pointed to the other baby beside Shikina, "And that is your other sister Shikako. She has been doing well and will come out of the hospital as soon as Shikina is feeling better. What do you think Shikadai?" I waited anxiously for his answer, I knew he was excited for his new siblings but I wasn't sure how he would react once he has seen them in person.
It took a few minutes for Shikadai to respond, he was watching the babies carefully before turning to me with a big smile, "Papa I am so excited to be able to bring them home and introduce them to my friends and to Inojin and Auntie Ino and baabaa and Jiji! I'll help with them, I promise and I'm sure Inojin will help too." His smile light up the whole room, his uncles came up to us and Kankuro smiled as Gaara stared on as usual though you can tell the scene affected him as well.
I smiled, "I'm so proud of you Shikadai. I'm excited for them to meet everyone as well. As soon as they can travel we will go back home."
Later that day…
Our day was a busy one, after we left the hospital we went for lunch with Kankuro and Gaara and then we hit the marketplace while Kankuro and Gaara went back to work. We went to the local park that evening so that Shikadai can play with some of his friends he has made here over the years. The parents of the other children were also my friends so we got to catch up on things and they shared their condolences about Temari and I's separation. They didn't know the whole story for why we separated but they wanted me to know that they will not turn their backs on either of us and that whenever I'm in town to let them know so that we can get together.
As it started to get dark Shikadai and I headed back to the Hospital to say goodnight to the twins. Once again Kankuro and Gaara met us there. We went up to the room and Shikadai sat by their cribs and smiled down at them, "Goodnight babies, see you tomorrow" I smiled at the sweet scene and walked up to the cribs, Kankuro and Gaara following me, "Goodnight my little troublesome angels. We'll be back in the morning to see you, Shikina you keep getting stronger my little warrior so that we can take you home alright?"
Kankuro and Gaara said their goodnights as well as the visitor hours ended and we headed out of the hospital. We invited Kankuro and Gaara to our hotel room just so they could spend some time with Shikadai, they may not get much time with him while he's here considering they have been busy at work lately so we will take as much as we can when we can. When we got back to our room Kankuro started a game of Go Fish with Gaara and Shikadai as they caught up with each other. Shikadai told us about how it was going living with Inojin and Ino, he talked a lot about Ino and how she was doing. I could tell by his voice that he was doing much better with the time that has passed and that he really does love Ino as a mother. He talked about how everyone has come together to help us, Inojin and Ino. I'm glad that he is doing much better with his situation and that all of our friends and family have come together to help us during these difficult times. Things have been changing so much lately that I didn't know how it would affect the children but it seems to be going well and I think that's thanks to Ino and Choji and their emotional support to both Inojin and Shikadai. They've been great with them even if Ino doesn't remember much and Choji has his own family as well.
Suddenly my thoughts have been interrupted by a knock at the door. I stood up to answer so that Shikadai and his uncles can continue their game. Going up to the door I wasn't sure what to expect but one of the things I for sure didn't expect was a leaf nin huffing and puffing as well as a Suna nin standing right beside him. I looked at them quizzically and said, "What's going on?"
The leaf nin panted as he said, "Nara-san I was told to get this to you immediately." He handed me a letter and fell to his knees in exhaustion. By this time Kankuro and Gaara had gotten up to see what was going on as the Sand nin said, "You are needed in the hospital."
