"What?" Kiba practically screamed as he almost fell out of his chair and knocked out all his teeth. Hinata gasped and put a hand over her mouth, and their daughter just sat there blankly staring at me. "You have a daughter? Since when?"
"Can you watch her tomorrow or not?" I repeated.
"Wait, back up!" Kiba said. "When did you get a daughter?"
"Almost a year ago." I responded. "Could you watch her?"
"Next thing you'll tell me is that you have a wife." Kiba said.
"I do." I said.
"You do?" Hinata said, looking shocked.
"Since WHEN?" Kiba practically screamed.
"We're going out for our ten year anniversary tomorrow… so that's why I need you to watch my daughter."
"Ten years?" Kiba yelled. "WHAT?"
"Kiba, calm down." Hinata said.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Kiba said.
"I thought the fact that I lived with her made it obvious." I said.
"But…" Kiba stuttered. "There was never a wedding!"
"About that…" I said slowly. "There sort of was."
"You didn't invite us?" Hinata looked hurt.
"No one was really invited." I replied. "Just my father and her mother."
Kiba leaned back in his chair and gave an exasperated sigh. "You've had this secret life this whole time, Shino! I'm appalled!"
"Kiba." I said. "Don't lean back in that chair. If it breaks, Tsuma will kill me."
"Shino!" Kiba exclaimed as I entered the academy to speak with him. "What are you doing here? You don't have to be here. Your daughter's only like… two."
"I know." I said.
I was quite conscious as to the age of my elder daughter.
"Well? Did you not hear me? I asked why you were here! Not that I mind, but I'm still curious."
"Remember how I had a daughter two years ago?" I said.
"OBVIOUSLY!" Kiba said. "I remember finding out about her last year… I didn't even know that you were married! You never told me!"
"Well yeah." I said. "I know you were mad because I didn't tell you that Tsuma had a child."
"It's about TIME you apologized!" Kiba declared.
Apologized? What?
"I was just telling you that Tsuma had another baby so you wouldn't find out later on your own." I said.
"Aburame Shino?" I was greeted as I scaled the stairs to the third floor, to the delivery room where my son was being born.
"That's me." I said.
"I'll just tell you now so you can stop worrying—"
I looked at him. Who was worried?
"—your second daughter was born with no complications at 8:04 PM!"
I stopped in my tracks. "Daughter?" I said.
"Yes." Said the doctor, looking excited. "She is gorgeous, and your wife is waiting to see you."
I looked at the floor and then at the doctor. "Are you sure?"
The doctor looked puzzled at first. "About…what?" he said.
"That it's a daughter." I said. It should have been obvious what I was talking about.
"…Yes…" he hesitated.
"Congratulations, Shino!" Kiba exclaimed, grabbing me and giving me a big hug. "You certainly have gotten busy lately, haven't you?"
I hope he didn't expect me to respond to that.
"Though, next time, you should tell me when she gets pregnant."
What did he want from me?
Maybe I shouldn't tell him that my second daughter has been born for almost three months.
"What are you going to name him?" Kiba asked curiously. "Her?"
"Her." I said painfully. "We decided on Jijo."
"Well congratulations again!" Kiba said, getting WAY to enthusiastic about something that should not be celebrated. "I can't wait until I have your daughters in my class!"
I glanced at the clock. Tsuma was expecting me to be back because she didn't want to have to take care of the two babies.
"I have to go now." I went to the door. I had to stop as a child blindly ran through the doors of the academy, nearly crashing into me. After the moment's distraction, I looked back at Kiba who was still grinning a gigantic smile. "Will you tell Hinata?" I requested.
"Why, you don't feel like it?" Kiba said.
Why bother myself with going to his house to tell Hinata if he was going to see her at the end of the day anyway? But it would be easier to just agree with him rather than explain my logical reasoning. "No, I don't."
"Fine!" Kiba said. "I'll tell her! She'll be so happy for you and she'll probably want to come over!"
"Whatever." I said as I left the academy building.
I sighed and looked up at the sky. Once again, I had failed at producing a male heir.
I wondered if it was worth it to try again, or if I should just give up and deem myself a disappointment to my family. My father and mother certainly were lucky to have given birth to a son the first time around so they could do without the letdowns of having numerous daughters.
I entered my home and looked around.
"Tsuma…" I said, glancing around the corner, but I heard her hushing me.
"I just put Jijo to bed." She said. "And Moujo is down for a nap."
"Oh, we'll be quiet then." I said.
"I don't think so. I have to yell at you."
"Do you?" I said, trying not to sound irritated with this blunt confession.
Her eyes then filled with infuriated rage. Her usual calm demeanor immediately exploded as she advanced towards me and pushed me. I was a bit taken aback by her physical attack, so I stumbled. She was quick to shove me again, so I backed away from her.
Finally, as she went to hit me again, I grabbed both her arms.
"Shino!" she screamed. "I hate you!"
"Tsuma, what is the matter?" I said, trying to hold her in place as she struggled to get free.
"I hate you, I hate you, I HATE you!" she rampaged as she started stomping her feet, going into what resembled a temper tantrum.
I could only blink and wait for her to explain herself.
I heard Jijo begin to cry and watched as Moujo poked her head around the corner, wondering what was going on.
"Stop screaming and tell me why you hate me this time." I said.
Abruptly, she wrenched herself away from me and stormed to the other side of the room, standing the corner with her arms crossed. Moujo ran in and looked around, confused, as Jijo continued to cry for attention.
"Mommy!" Moujo announced, pointing at Tsuma.
"Shino…" Tsuma said, and she sounded like she was crying. She turned around and, sure enough, there were tears in her eyes. This was the first time I had seen Tsuma cry.
"What is it?" I said.
"You promised you'd tell me if you had anything planned for our family." She whined. "And you said you always keep your word!"
"I do always keep my word." I reminded her. We had had this conversation just this morning before I had gone to tell Kiba about Jijo.
"Shino, let's be honest with each other from now on no matter what." Tsuma said with a sigh as she got out of bed.
"Sounds like a plan." I said. I was pretty sure I had been doing that since the first day I had met her.
She didn't say anything.
"So do you have any secrets for me?" Tsuma asked.
"Not really." I answered. "I find myself to be pretty much an open book."
"Well, I don't find you to be pretty much an open book. I don't find you to be an open book at all, actually."
"What would you like to know?" I said.
"What are you doing today?" Tsuma said.
"Visiting Kiba."
"Why?" She made a face.
"To tell him about Jijo."
"Why?"
"He has a right to know."
She had a frown on her face. "You hang out with him too much and—"
"You hate him." I said as I got out of bed as well. If I was going to catch Kiba before his class started, I'd have to get moving.
"Then WHY?" Tsuma said.
"Why what?" I asked.
"I took another trip to the doctor." Tsuma said.
I froze.
"I'm pregnant again."