A few days after Fuji was all healed and after her ma had plummeted Yasuda into the ground, Hotoru decided that today would be a good day to spend with her girls.

Kushina always seeking the attention of Hotoru, she felt bad for Fuji as she didn't know of a time where her family wasn't apart from each other, she hasn't seen her parents all lovey-dovey with each other, hasn't walked on the beach with them to pick seashells and such.

Fuji didn't mind, she might remember a time when her father was there, playing with her, running through the fields of tall flowers carrying her as she couldn't walk at the time, chasing butterflies, or when he would try to catch her attention or make her laugh by making funny faces, or when he would purr into her and where she would purr back, or when her mom used to sing her lullabies to sleep every night or even just read her books, she filled that gap that they left in her heart with the training sessions with Yasuda and granny, the cooking lessons with Hyousuke, or even the pottery lessons with Jun, she also taught her how to make statue figures out of clay, but she knows that it was nothing but distractions to keep her from noticing the empty spaces that her parents left, even though she loved them all greatly, it wasn't the same.

Hotoru packed up the food she made, along with some other things, and collected the girls and walked hand in hand with Kushina and Fuji, with a hop to her step as happy as can be, not knowing of the dark thoughts that their heads took a turn into.

She took the girls to the place they used to go to, together as a family, the fields.

There were different sections of flowers on each section, some small others tall, all brightly colored but not as bright as Yuki's garden.

"I hope you two don't mind but I invited a friend to come along, look there she is! Miki!" Yelled Hotoru waving her hands up high along with Kushina's as their hands were still intertwined.

Hotoru's friend from childhood, one of the best vets in the village, Miki Ojo Oki, or M.O.O. a nickname that Miki came up for herself as it's the abbreviation of her name and because she loves cows and also believed that if she were to say it first and fully embrace her name then others couldn't use it as an insult to her person.

When they were younger Miki developed a condition called vitiligo, where her skin loses its melanin, such a beautiful thing that M.O.O. Embraced, she loved it, and when Hotoru and her were younger, Miki would always say she's part cow, even doing so far as mooing like one.

Hotoru smiled a big smile seeing Miki leaning on the wooden fence that separated the field and the dirt road.

"Hotoru!" Miki Ojo Oki yelled back, excited at having a little get together and where she could finally be able to meet Fuji,

They hugged, Kushina had stars shining in her eyes, and Fuji stayed behind Hotoru as she didn't want to be hugged by a stranger.

Hotoru let go of Moo, saw Fuji trying to hide, and promptly shoved her into Miki, where she wrapped her arms around Fuji tightly, cooing at how cute she was.

Fuji hated it but stayed still as to not upset her ma by rejecting her friend.

The day went on, relaxed and joyful, with Fuji enjoying her time with her ma and sister and even Moo, who was a very touchy-feely type person, like Kushina and their dad but they're family so it could be overlooked. Moo however will take some time to get used to.

They painted, collected herbs, and the different flowers that were there, Hotoru fed them the roots of a poisoned flower, Fuji and Kushina took it like it was nothing, their tolerance high up because of their with training, Kushina might not be doing any more princess training but the poison build-up was something she had continued.

Fuji collected some snails and worms to put in Hyousuke's garden to help fertilize his plants, and even to put them in his compost bin.

She dried and pressed some pretty flowers in her book, and whenever she found a dead butterfly, she would pin it in her book as well.

Kushina thought that it was weird but she helped to venture into the field to find any well-preserved butterfly corpses for her book.

They took photos on the camera that Moo had brought, they captured the setting well, other than it being in black and white, Fuji can see all the little details that made it so perfect. Her mother's smile mid-laugh, Kushina's awed face staring at the bright blue butterfly that on Fuji's nose, Fuji who was concentrating on not sneezing, with her nose scrunched up, and Moo who running away from the bees that were trying to chase her for her blue colored hair that looked like some of the flowers of the field, all of it was captured in a timed photo.

Fuji saved it in her book, preserving it with her pretty flowers and butterfly corpses, a scratch book of things she loved.

...

Saying goodbye to Moo, Hotoru, Kushina, and Fuji went down to the water to enjoy the rest of their day.

Hotoru showing Kushina and Fuji how it's done when it comes to surfing, Kushina, and Fuji cheering on until Hotoru wiped out, then they laughed when Hotoru popped her head back up and made her way to shore to take them both surfing with her.

The waves were so much fun to ride, Fuji gliding her hand against the water, she sees the fish in the waves riding along with them, her fishy friends! They came to play! She laughed but before she could stick her head into the water to get closer to her friends, Hotoru had pulled her back and laughed.

Kushina was holding onto Hotoru for dead life, scared that if she were to make one small movement that they'll all fall in,

'a fear of hers since she was a child', Hotoru thought

Kushina was having fun though, so much fun, even getting bolder each time they went.

Sunset came and they watched from the beach, sitting in the sand, drying off from the water, the waves still smacking the shore, Hotoru smiled, "y'know..." she let on

Kushina turned to her mother to pay attention, while Fuji kept her eyes on the sky, she was listening to what her ma was saying though.

"If you listen closely, you could hear the ocean calling," Hotoru said, smiling a soft smile.

"What! Really?! Wait, but why can't I l hear it?" Kushina asked, confused

At this, Hotoru's smile turned sad, and said "not everyone can hear the call of the sea, as some hear calls from the land instead"

It made Kushina even more confused, but she turned to Fuji who was still staring out to the horizon, "what about you Fu? Can you hear the ocean calling you?" she asked

Fuji gave a nod, as she wants to know why every day she heard the calls of the sea.

"There's an old folktale that's told through generations, would you like to hear it?" Hotoru asked before she began telling the story folktale her mother once told her long ago when she was still just a child.

"There once lived strong and ancient people who lived in elegant marble homes in the sea, and one day a young princess who was still just a child saw a young boy with a man that came from the land, they were fishermen, every day he would go out to sea with his father, and every day the princess would follow, where they would meet for only a limited amount of time when the sun hits the water before she would have to go back home, this happened for year's until one day the princess stopped coming to see the boy, but when the princess became an adult she left her behind her home and went ashore to join the people of the land, to be with the fisherman's son that she was so captivated with, she was gorgeous and had bright red hair that glowed in the sun, she was taller than any of the people that lived on the island, her eyes were a shade of violet that changed its color depending on her mood. She adopted their culture, and showed them her own, the fisherman's son asked her to marry him, she said yes, they had a child, blessed by both the sea, sky, and land, giving birth to the first Uzumaki child, but as the years passed the princess felt herself yearning her home, felt her heart being called to the sea where it belonged, so in the middle of the night she left and went back to the sea where she became sea foam, the man was so broken-hearted that he became apart of the earth that connected to the sea and with each wave that hit the shore, the fishermen and the princess reunite, their child was the heart of the small village, old enough to be leader, his heart was called to the sea every day and night, but he loved the land, so he stayed and helped his home where it became the start of Uzushiogakure, and each child that was born after in the island became blessed by the land, sky, and sea, they were born with the heart of eddies"

Kushina was awestruck, she never knew that they had such a cool family tree, but she didn't understand, after all, she's an Uzumaki born on this island so wouldn't she be born with the heart of eddies? Wouldn't she be able to feel the ocean calling her?

So she asked her ma confused, "so wait, why can't I hear the ocean?"

Hotoru sighed, and she looked at her eldest daughter but before she could explain, Fuji had beaten her to it.

"It's because your more land than sea, you'll probably hear the trees calling you more than the ocean Ku-nee," Fuji said finally turning to make eye contact with Kushina as the sun had already set.

Kushina was put off, that's not true! She loved the sea, so of course, she was a part of it, what was Fuji thinking? She huffed, angry at the insinuation.

Fuji just shook her head, then got up and stretched, Hotoru helped Kushina up from the sand, and she gave both her kids a smile,

"come on hm? Let's get goin' home now Kay? I bet Hyousuke is making something delicious!" Hotoru said excitedly

"Yatta!" Fuji shouted, happily

Kushina gave a reluctant smile, and grabbed onto Fuji's hand, tagged her ma, and they both began running to their home with Hotoru chasing after them.

...

Fuji was right, Kushina was more apart of the land than the sea, yes she might love it, but she wasn't born with the heart of eddies. Ever since Kushina was a child she would only stay still just to listen to the stories about Mito Uzumaki and Hashirama Senju, and how they fell in love and built a village together where they defeated the tailed beast, Kyuubi, not the real story, just some small snippets of the truth in a child's story.

Just like Mito-sama, Kushina loves the leaves more than the sea.

Kushina might not see it now, or ever, but the rest of the village does, it's the reason why they know that Kushina will leave Uzushiogakure earlier than the others.

With the war dialing down and coming close to an end, maybe that time that she'll leave will be near.

One could only wonder.

...

The few days, Hotoru put aside her work in favor of training her girls early morning since it seemed that both her mother-in-law Mai and her husband's guard Yasuda were too dim-witted to do it themselves.

The war isn't as active as it was, the climax already passing, the end soon reaching near, meaning that she actually could set aside some paperwork in favor of doing this.

She smiled a happy smile and thought what a wonderful way for family bonding