Mountains of pancakes adorned the table for breakfast the following morning, the toppings were a variety of syrup, honey, sugar and fruit. The expressions on Sasuke and Yoichi's face were priceless and I wasn't surprised, up until then I hadn't exactly been the best cook in the world but I had been before, regaining my memories had also given me back my love of cooking. Sasuke was meeting with the Hokage early that morning so I'd made sure to be up first to get things ready for him, I made him a bento then checked and packed all of the equipment he would need for a mission. Yoichi had a day off and I was excited to spend it with him, we could use some bonding time.
"Why don't you both walk up with me?" Yoichi's eyes widened at his father's suggestion, getting to see the Hokage up close was a big deal.
"Sounds good, right Yoichi?" I giggled. He nodded enthusiastically and bounded off to get ready. I definitely wasn't as happy as I seemed, I never was when I knew Sasuke would be gone for a few days. It never got easier no matter how long we had been together or how strong we were as a couple. As though he had read my thoughts, he rose from the table and wrapped his arms around me but he was struggling to think of any words of comfort. He hated saying 'don't worry' or 'I'll be back soon' because he knew It wasn't possible for me not to worry about him and he never knew exactly when he would be back.
"You used to leave all the time before we had Yoichi, I should be used to it by now, right?" I said light heartedly but he immediately started to apologise. I had forgiven him a long time ago but it seemed like he still hadn't forgiven himself. Yoichi darted back into the room, his top on back to front and toothpaste around his mouth. He shoved another pancake into his mouth and stood in front of us chewing loudly.
"That was quick." Rolling my eyes I combed through his messy hair with my fingers until it looked like he hadn't just rolled out of bed and just managed to clean his mouth before he wriggled away.
"It's fine, mum! I'm ready, let's go!" He protested.
We were halfway there when Sasuke spotted someone coming towards us. He discreetly dipped his head down and whispered in my ear, "Try not to mention me trying to kill her, it might be difficult to explain." It took me a little while to catch on, even when the pink haired woman was in front of us but then she met my eye with an unpleasant look it all came back.
"Morning Sasuke-Kun!" she beamed to my husband, then crouching down she started speaking to Yoichi, "Hi, how are you?" Yoichi took an instant dislike to her, I had never seen him do that before he was always friendly with everyone. He completely ignored her and continued walking with his father who had only muttered 'good morning'. I started to follow them but she had other ideas.
"I've been wanting to come and introduce myself to you for a while now. According to Kakashi-sensei's ninja dog we've already met but I don't remember it that well do you? You know before the attack by a missing-nin?"
"Not really." I shrugged. What had Sasuke actually told them?
"Nevermind," She smiled at me for the first time but it looked far from genuine. "I'd really like to be friends." I definitely didn't trust her but Sasuke was impatiently shouting me over, I felt so under pressure that I just agreed.
"Great! I'll see you around, Emiko." How on earth did she know my name?
Just before going inside the Hokage's office Sasuke had Yoichi try and spot our house from the windows in the hallway to distract him while we talked, "Back then you told me to use my sharingun and I did. When Naruto asked me what happened and how she got hurt I told him there had been a dangerous missing-nin in the village we were staying in...not entirely untrue. What did she want anyway?"
"To be friends. That's weird, right? Does she still think she's in love with you?" I couldn't imagine why she would want to be friendly with the wife of a man she had feelings for other than trying to cause trouble. For some reason the thought of her chasing after my husband didn't faze me at all, I didn't even feel the slightest bit of jealousy for the time they spent together before he left the village.
Sasuke shrugged, "She's in love with the idea of me, she doesn't know what I'm really like and we've never been together." I know, I remember I'm your first and last, I thought fondly.
I might not have felt jealous but I'm pretty sure Sasuke felt a little envious of Naruto, our son was completely in awe of the Hokage. Yoichi had a thousand questions for the leader of the village and seemed to be amazed at every answer he gave. Naruto even let him sit in his chair.
"Look I'm the Hokage!" Yoichi shouted, picking up a handful of paper work and trying to look busy. "Dad, do an S-rank mission! Mum, make me some more pancakes!" We all started to laugh, he was a very demanding leader! With a gentle knock on the door Hinata came into the room smiling good morning to us all, she looked so happy she looked like she was glowing. She took her place by Naruto's side, taking his hand and then they proudly told us their big news.
"We're happy you're all here, we've got something really important to tell you." Naruto said first.
"We're having a baby!" They said in unison. We hadn't spent much time together since starting our new life in the village but I really liked them both and as a couple they seemed perfect together. They would make brilliant parents.
"Congratulations, both of you!" I beamed. Sasuke congratulated them as well and shook Naruto's hand.
"Umm...Emiko, I was wondering if we could have dinner together later. I have a lot of questions about pregnancy, if that's okay of course?" Hinata asked sweetly. I happily agreed and we decided that she would join me and Yoichi at our home later.
Turns out the real Hokage actually did have an S-rank mission waiting for Sasuke, so we said our very quick goodbyes and left. We didn't like long goodbyes.
"So what's first?" It wasn't very often that we had an entire day together so I'd decided to let Yoichi choose whatever he wanted us to do. I wanted us to have a day so fun that it would be etched in his memory forever. We'd missed out on five years of happy memories, it was time to make some!