Nikko came home after lunch with Sarada. Kawauso was already at Kaoru's house. And Ren was obviously out on a mission and would be gone for about a week, maybe more if he didn't get too excited. She was about to call out to her mother and father when she saw a note in the usual spot and went to see what it was.
Nikko,
Your papa and I have gone out for lunch with Naruto. I left you something in the fridge in case you're hungry.
I hope you had a good time with Sarada. I can't wait to hear all about it when I come home.
Xoxo Mama
Nikko rubbed her eyes, she always cried when her mama left notes. She still wasn't sure if it was out of love or loneliness or both. She looked at the time, and went over the intel she had gathered so far. Sarada said she was off training with her icky boyfriend, her parents were out as were her brothers. That means empty house and no one to breathe down her neck.
"Yes." She thought. "I can practice and no one can stop me!" She quickly went to the kitchen and wrapped up the sandwiches her mother had made her as well as the rice balls with tomato flakes that she liked, (that was totally tasty, Sara-nee is a liar) and ran back out to the lake. The spot she had pummeled was magically fixed. Strange. That was of no matter to her. She'd have to ask Naruto-ji chan when she sees him next. But right now, she just had to keep practicing that jutsu!
Sakura and Sasuke returned home around three in the afternoon, hand in hand. "We're home!" Sakura called into the silence. "Nikko?" She called changing her shoes and went through the house quickly while Sasuke was more lazy in the removal of his shoes. He could hear his wife's gentle footsteps on their floorboards around the house, calling their sunshine's name. He frowned a little. He didn't think Nikko would ignore them. Not after yesterday. He put his feet back into his shoes as Sakura's brisk pace grew closer to him.
"Sasuke!" She came back changing her shoes back into her out of house shoes. "Nikko isn't here!" She sounded annoyed. "There's no note, I've told her a hundred times to leave me a note if she's not gonna be where she is supposed to be and her food is gone!"
Sasuke gave a sigh and did his shoes back up. "We should go look for her, call Shikamaru and Sarada, see if she is with either of them. Then join me in town."
"Yes, dear." Sakura said going next door to Sarada's apartment while Sasuke left the building to search for their youngest child.
Sasuke searched the whole town, well, everywhere Sakura had told him that his twins liked to frequent. Unlike him and Kawauso, Nikko did like sweets, so he made sure to check every sweet shop in the village. As he felt that strange panic in his gut, the same he felt when Naruto dropped that Sakura was pregnant in the middle of his last mission, he felt his feet move a little faster.
He tried chakra sensing her again, but truth be told, he wasn't that great at it to begin with and Nikko didn't have a large amount of it either. Maybe they should get the kids their own cell phone too. And learned to use it properly himself. Atleast at times like this, he could just call them up instead of fretting like this. Damn it, Kiba was never going to let him live it down.
When Sakura didn't meet him, the dread grew heavier. Had she given up already?! No. No Sakura would never give up! Perhaps she'd enlisted the help of others. While he didn't let it show on the outside, inside he was paper bagging it. Hard. After how she was when he had arrived home last night all upset, so full of insecurities. He was sure they had squashed it down but bullies are relentless. What if they found her alone again and managed to undo all their talk from last night. If that was the case, he was sure she'd gone somewhere to hide, but he just didn't know where, and Sakura not meeting him made him worry. So he went to the only other person he knew who could help him find his little girl. Naruto. At Least the dobe and his Senjutsu will be useful at something.
"What is it teme?" Naruto growled from behind a stack of paper. "I'm busy dattebayo- wheh!?" He grunted as Sasuke yanked Naruto from his chair and out the window. "Hey!? What's all this about!?"
"Stop yelling and help me look!" Sasuke snapped dragging Naruto over rooftops.
After the third one Naruto made them stop. "Look for what?" He asked, his tone insisting. "If you don't tell me now I'm going back to work-"
"Nikko is missing!" Sasuke snapped, shaking, his eyes active. Some would think rage, but Naruto knew better. With a wild look in his eyes, Naruto knew Sasuke was. . . scared.
"Nikko?" Naruto breathed. "Right, where have you looked?" He put a calming hand on his best friend's shoulder and sat down. "You didn't have to drag me out like this, you bastard. I'd have tracked her from my office"
Half a minute later, orange hue highlighted the Hokage's eyes as nature's energy filled him and he reached out to get a location on where she was. "Found her." He said, smiling fondly to his best friend. He'd get a kick out of where she was and what she was currently doing while her father fretted about her safety. "I think you should go get her."
"Where?!" Sasuke asked, his tone urgent.
"Your lake." Naruto laughed. "Just like her old man, dattebayo."
"Don't let her hear you say that." Sasuke quipped back and gave a nod leaving Naruto in the dust. Naruto raised a brow. What did he mean with a remark like that?
"Aah man." Naruto whined. "I have to go back to work."
Sasuke arrived at the lake just as the sun was starting to set. His eyes widened as he watched his daughter make a fireball the size of her head, then get frustrated and throw a rock from a pile she had at her side, into the water. Given some of the damage to the shore of the lake, he reasoned she wanted a less destructive way to handle her frustration. So like her mother.
"Nikko!" He said sternly when he reached the beginning of the pier.
Nikko jerked a little in shock and turned slowly. Sasuke felt all the blood drain from his face, her cheeks, her chin and some of her nose was burned. Sakura was going to throw a fit when she saw, and Sarada was going to get into so much trouble for leaving her sister unsupervised. If she was going to teach her Fireball technique, she should know that it's dangerous to practice unsupervised and Nikko will be too full of eagerness to be left alone for the rest of the day. He and Sakura expected her to look after Nikko the whole day, not just the morning, not only that but Sarada, being the older sibling should have had more sense than to teach such a dangerous, but impressive technique and not keep a closer eye on her impressionable younger sister. Was Dobe and his son rubbing off on his most reliable child? He frowned. Itachi didn't do something like this when Sasuke was young, right? His frown deepened in thought.
No, by this age Itachi had forced their father to pay more attention to Sasuke than him. He thought it through a bit more. Was it supposed to be her subtle hint that he needed to spend time with Nikko more? Was he taking too many shifts at station? No, that couldn't be. Sarada was confrontational, she'd have come at his throat if that was the case. Perhaps Sarada had been called on an urgent mission and couldn't find someone for Nikko. Then why hadn't she dropped Nikko off to Temari? Or Naruto? Why leave her alone?! Whatever the case, he'd have to talk with Sarada later.
"Papa." Nikko said blushing. "Look! I've been practicing! Sarada-nee taught it to me this morning!" On top of that, she re-bleached some of her hair from the constant heat of the flames.
She made the hand seals and let out another fireball. She put in every bit of effort into it and let out one the size of her body. He smiled and put a hand on her head. "That's my girl." He said.
Nikko blushed darkly. "But I can't keep the size. . ." She made a face. She couldn't remember the word so she changed it. "The same. Sometimes they come out really big, sometimes small."
"Ah." Sasuke said as he picked her up. Nikko immediately put her arms around his neck and laid her head tiredly on his shoulder. Taking her bento box with them, he carried her home.
"Is mama mad I wasn't home?" Nikko murmured in his shirt. Sasuke gave a single laugh through his nose.
"Just wait and see." He replied as they spent the rest of the journey home in silence.
"We're home." Sasuke said when he opened the door. He was sure that one of Naruto's clones had told Sakura that Nikko had been found and that Sasuke was going to get her, but that had not stopped the look of worry that was written all wife's face from creasing deeper when she spotted them.
"Nikko!" Sakura shrieked rushing to the door and grabbed her tight.
"Mama! Squishing!" Nikko replied. And although Sakura had let up from her tight hug, she was too worried to apologise for the tight hug. Her baby had come home from her adventure, with her face all burned! "Your face!" Sakura interjected. "It's all burned!" Her hands began to glow. "What on earth have you been doing?!"
"Becoming a proper Uchiha." Sasuke replied on her behalf, pride in his voice. He blinked when he saw Ino and Temari sitting in the kitchen. Kawauso and Kaoru on their game in the living room.
"By hurting herself?" Sakura asked, not understanding in the moment. Too busy healing her baby girl. "And where was Sarada?! I asked her to watch you until we got back."
"I told her I was fine." Nikko insisted. "Why is Kawauso here?! He should be with his friend having a sleepover!"
"You went missing dummy!" Kawauso replied not missing a beat. "So mama invited the whole village into our house to find you."
"Kawauso!" Ino cooed. "Don't talk to you sister like that!" .To which Kawauso blushed a little. "Sorry Aunt Ino." He replied.
"Ha! Beat you!" Kaoru cried
.
"Wait! No fair!" Kawauso shrieked. "Rematch!"
Nikko blushed and clung to her father. Of all of their friends, Ino scared Nikko the most. She was always so weird around her father and a bit mean to her mother.
"Where were you?" Sakura asked and she finished healing Nikko's cheek. "And what have you been doing?"
"Practicing the fireball!" Nikko replied beaming. "Sara-nee taught it to me." She beamed proudly. Her face fell a little. "I can't keep it. . .con. . .con. . ." She frowned up at her father who nodded, with encouragement. "Consistent." She sounded it out then grinned. Sasuke smiled soft and put a hand on her head. Now that he was used to it, he liked that she had changed her hair to match her mother. It highlighted just how much she looked like his darling wife.
"You'll get there." Sakura praised. "You're our daughter after all."
"A good arm too." Sasuke commented off handedly.
"Eh?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Nothing mama!" Nikko replied quickly. "Is aunt Temari here?!" She asked just as quick, changing the subject. "I thought I heard her voice." Sakura smirked softly and moved so Nikko could rush over and greet her aunt.
Kawauso paused the game. "Can I go back to Uncle Kiba's house now?" He asked his parents. "Kaoru didn't bring anything over to stay."
Sakura turned to her husband. "Anata?" She asked softly.
"Ah." Sasuke replied. "Go." He gave his son a poke when the child rushed over to thank him. "Be good."
"Yes papa." Kawauso replied beaming.
"You gave us all a real scare, Nikko." Temari scolded holding the child on her lap.
"Really?" Nikko asked, amazed. "I thought nothing scared you?" She breathed. Her aunty Tem was a fierce kunoichi. Shikamaru-ji had told her how her Aunty Tem faced against the strongest of bad men and never even flinched. Aunty Tem was as brave as her mama, if not braver. She paused in her thoughts. . . Nah, her mama worked with injured people. That made her more brave.
Sakura watched from the door. Temari was a great babysitter. And she treated the twins like her own. She was there even when Sakura's water broke.
Ino gave a yawn. "Well. . . I'm not needed so I'll go home, see you around Sakura." She said offhandedly, hugged her best friend and with a wink at Sasuke and left the Uchiha home.