A/N: This is my revised entry to my own challenge on Naruto100, the last chapter in this collection. I like this one a lot better than the last one.
Your Daughter
Every time she looked at her daughter she thought of him. The girl's pitch black hair, the little coughing fits she had every now and then that made her mother's heart skip a beat remembering her father's condition. Her gentle, reserved manner, the way she did everything with that inherent grace. She was without a doubt every inch her lover's son.
From the time she was little, her daughter asked many questions about her father. What was he like? Was he brave? Why isn't he here? It broke her mother's heart. She retired from the Anbu to take care of her daughter full time with the help of her daughter's three "uncles", her mother's friends. As her daughter grew and blossomed, her mother watched lovingly. Her daughter was all she had now, after his death. And it pained her so that he had never known her. She should have told him that she was late, should have told him she thought she might be pregnant. But she didn't.
Her daughter was skilled with the sword. Her 'uncles' were fond of helping her practice, blocking as their 'niece' tried valiantly to strike them. His swords still lay by her bed, waiting to be gifted to her daughter when she was ready. She was so skilled her mother thought she might master the technique before he had.
They visited his grave once a week, going to lay a flower before the memorial stone and pray. Since she had left the Anbu and was only a reserve now, she felt no shame in crying before the stone and her daughter. Her daughter was usually silent, sometimes speaking quietly to the father she had never known as if he could hear her. She hoped he could.
She kept his picture by her bedside, and while she knew that some had been interested, she never pursued another relationship. Her daughter was her life now, and she lived for her. And as she watched her daughter was him grow, she couldn't help but smile with pride and touch his name on the memorial fondly.
"Your daughter is truly a beautiful girl, Hayate…"