Nikko struggled against the Kidnapper's grasp. "My papa is going to be so mad!" She tried to threaten. But the ninja wasn't interested. Nikko frowned, the wind and forest rushed by her sight as the ninja dashed through the forest. With a growl of frustration, Nikko bit down on the Ninja's arm. Hard. As hard as she could, without meaning too, she infused her chakra into her bite, giving it increased strength as her mother and sister would with their punch. The Ninja roared with agony as his humerus shattered around her bite and let her go. Nikko dropped to the ground, the forest floor rushing fast from their spot up in the trees, hitting it so hard her breath left her lungs with an "Ugh." Her vision swam and she soon realised that it wasn't from tears. For a moment she thought she was going to die. She'd never felt pain like this. She'd never complain about a headache again. But then as she tried to move, to stand, she felt a surge of pain and wished with all her heart that if it did stop the pain, why couldn't she just die?
She didn't have the ability to sense her papa, she had good chakra control, sure, she just wasn't able to mold too much to sense her papa just yet. So she didn't know if he was on his way, the high pitched sound of birds rang loud like a hammer through her skull and a flash of lighting whooshed passed her sight as she felt herself give over to the pain that shuddered through her.
Sasuke caught sight of the kidnapper as he dropped Nikko to the ground. Terror filled him the moment he heard the crunch of her tiny body as she hit the ground. It fed his rage, the cold, dark rage that clouded his teenage years, he focused on the man who dared harm his beloved sunshine. With one hand he activated his Chidori and speared the kidnapper into the ground. Several more ninja appeared around him and his daughter so he moved a little closer. His Mangekyou Sharingan shifted into active mode. "Don't touch my daughter." He snarled as his Rinnengan flared as well. "Or he will be your example." They rushed at him, their target, Nikko. The easier target.
Sasuke didn't hesitate, sword in hand he took them on. His attention was on his enemies, so when one broke off to try and scoop up Nikko he blocked them. He didn't know where they were from, their headbands were covered. But they gave him a little more trouble than he was willing to admit. It had been a while since he'd taken on this many on his own. He didn't know that Nikko had regained consciousness and was watching as he took down the enemy.
He dodged their taijutsu and Ninjutsu easily. But as one, Futon, moved toward his daughter he rushed to get her out of the way. When she screamed in pain from the sudden movement, it felt like he was in pain. Like his body was broken. And it fueled his anger.
"Suiton!" A ninja roared, aiming a water type move.
"Damn." Sasuke hissed as he tried to hide his sunshine. They didn't make it easy. It was clear now that it wasn't him that was the true target. He had thought they were using his daughter to lure him into a trap. But no. It was clear she was always their target.
He felt that primal instinct flare up in him again and was finally able to hide her in a hollowed out log and put a Genjutsu over it to cloak her before he turned his attention back to the remaining group. There were only four left. Perhaps the fifth one had broken off to report or ask for back up. There was little point. With an ease that was disappointing, Sasuke managed to finish off the four rogue ninja before him and assessed them with a dark expression. While people were scared of Sakura's Mama Bear mode. His own Papa Bear was just as terrifying. He felt his breath hitch. They'd hurt his little girl!
He went to one who was bleeding out, barely alive. "Who hired you?!" He snapped, grabbing it by its neck. "Who ordered you to take my child?!" His eyes widened as the ninja broke a pill in his mouth to end his life faster. "COWARD!" He roared, throwing the corpse to the ground. He rushed back to the bushes where he had hidden Nikko and slowly, tenderly picked her up.
"Where does it hurt my little sunshine?" Sasuke rasped, adrenaline still pumping.
"Papa." Nikko sobbed blood vessels in both eyes had burst. "Papa." She couldn't even form other words, the pain was too great. She gave a sudden, rattled cough and blood spluttered out of her mouth and trickled down her chin. It fueled his rage. And his need to get his precious child to safety.
"Hold on Nikko, I'll get you to Mama." Sasuke said his tone was full of desperation as he jumped into the trees to get back to the village faster.
Sakura sat down behind the front desk of the hospital, she'd finished her surgeries and was on a break. She felt so happy about how she'd gently nudged Sasuke to spend more time with Nikko. He always seemed to be just a little too uncomfortable with her personality. She hoped this time with his youngest daughter would help them both to bond. "You seem happy today, Sakura." Ino beamed changing over clipboards.
"Yeah," Sakura replied, a smile on her face. "Sasuke has taken Nikko on a very low ranked mission to see if she wants to be a ninja-" She began.
At that moment, Sasuke appeared in the middle of the Lobby. "Sakura!" He bellowed, holding a now unconscious Nikko in his arms.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried and rushed to him. "What happened?!" She demanded leading them into a room so Sasuke could put her down in order for Sakura to treat their daughter. What shocked her so much was the fact Nikko's light blue shirt was stained purple now from her blood. Her left arm and leg were obviously broken and her left cheek looked shattered, as if she had fallen from a great height. She tried to get him to put her down, she needed him to let her go so she could be properly assessed-
But he didn't let her go. "Heal her in my arms." Sasuke said in a harsh tone. He was shaking. His eyes were wild. And he was covered in blood. Someone else's blood. Was it Nikko's? Someone else's? Both?
"Sasuke," Sakura began as her hands glowed green. "Sasuke you need to put her down so I can treat her, and you need to tell me what happened."
"No." Sasuke said his Mangekyou was active, his hands clutched her tighter to his chest but he eased his grip when Nikko gave an unconscious cry of pain. "Can't let her go. . .It's not safe."
Sakura stopped what she was doing and cupped his face. Whatever had happened on their so-called "easy" two hour mission had spooked her husband and almost fatally injured her little sunshine. Ren was going to pitch a fit. "Ssh." Sakura whispered to him trying to soothe her traumatised husband into relaxing. "Ssh, she's safe here, I'm here, you're here. She's safe." She coaxed him to put their daughter on the bed, but he did not let her hand go the whole time his wife assessed and healed their daughter. She'd never seen Sasuke so shaken. Not even when he'd encountered Itachi. Or Sarada.
It was clear now that Sakura had been worried about them for no reason. It was clear that Sasuke adored his sunshine. Why had she pushed them to go out together?
"Sasuke." Sakura said, her tone even. She too was panicking, something had happened and it had shaken her normally quiet, near emotionless husband into a completely emotional shaking mess. "I need to know what happened."
"Kawauso. . .Ren. . . Sarada?!" Sasuke said quickly as if he suddenly remembered something horrible. "Are they safe?!"
"Yes." Naruto replied from the door. "Now answer your wife, what happened?"
A clone. Sasuke knew instantly. The loser couldn't come himself?! This was a serious matter! "Someone tried to kidnap my daughter." Sasuke snarled, still shaking. "Their deaths were slow. But they were minions." He stood and slowly and stalked over to Naruto. "And I will tear this world apart to find out who thought it would be a good idea to try and take my family from me." His tone was full of accusations. A cloud of rage hung over him, giving his body a sinister look.
"H-hey!" Naruto began his hands up. "Hey calm down, it wasn't me. I swear it! Everyone here knows not to do anything to your kids. Or Sakura."
"Then who?!" Sasuke yelled, wanting to hit something. Perhaps Naruto himself. "Someone targeted us! Someone knew my daughter would be out there and tried to take her! She's not even well versed enough in taijutsu to defend herself!"
Sakura smiled to herself. Her stoic, silent, single syllable husband was ranting, ready to level the village. "Twice in one week." She whispered to Nikko. "Proof you are loved and wanted." She wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm as she healed the last few broken bones.
"Sasuke, calm down." Naruto commanded. "We're on it. I've already sent some Jonin out to sweep the area, we'll get answers for you. Focus on Nikko."
"Bring my sons and Sarada here now, I will not be happy until they are here." Sasuke stated.
"Well, yeah, Kiba is bringing Kawauso over now, Sarada and Ren have been sent messages so they'll either reply or come back-"
"No!" Sasuke snapped. "They must both come home!" Naruto stared at his best friend in shock. This was not how Sasuke normally acted. Just what had happened for him to become this traumatised over a mission?
"Sarada and Ren can handle themselves-" Naruto tried to reason. But it was obvious from how crazed his best friend was that words were not going to be enough. Perhaps it was time to deflect and allow Sakura to bring in reason. He sighed. "Ah. . .I'll get them back here in person. Stay here with Sakura and Nikko." Naruto's clone disappeared.
Sakura sighed softly. "Sasuke, sit. Deep breaths." She said, keeping her tone even. She felt tears spike, her baby girl was in pain, and her husband was in a deep shock over the possibility of losing her. "You know Sarada is more than able to look after herself."
"Hn." Sasuke grunted reaching out to take Nikko's hand, his knee bouncing from anxiety.
"And Ren is with the team he had from the academy. You know he'll be fine." Sakura continued to soothe her obviously terrified husband. She knew all the signs. For him to show this much emotion about something it was indeed a world ending thing that had happened in his eyes.
Sasuke tried to glare at his wife, but her words were too sound. How could she be so calm!?
"Papa?" Kawauso's voice echoed in the room.
"Kawauso!" Sasuke cried when he heard his son's voice. He let go of Nikko's hand and rushed to him, grabbing him tight in his arms before he pulled back and patted the boy down. His eyes searched every piece of him for signs of injury or pain.
"Papa, Squishing!" Kawauso complained. Kawauso found the reversal quite funny, usually it was their Mama who would clutch them tight enough to hurt. But was it necessary to check his teeth?
"Good." Sasuke said curtly, pulling away with a nod.
"Papa, what happened?!" Kawauso asked as his hands reached up to his papa and cupped his face. His little eyes searching for those silent answers that he knew his papa would give him eventually. "I was playing with Kaoru then my head and arm started hurting. . ."
"Then Naruto showed up and I brought him over." Kiba finished.
Sasuke looked up at Kiba and nodded. "Ah." He said and tried to force a smile. It didn't really work but he didn't care. He pushed his young son toward his sister and sat back down.
"As I was saying. . ." Sakura continued as Sasuke sat down and clutched Kawauso to his body with one arm and held Nikko's hand with the other. Ever since she had given him his left arm back, he'd made full use of it. "If you must see them. . . I'm sure you could stalk their mission- Ah!" Sakura began but as she spoke Sasuke let go of the twins and disappeared in a cloud of smoke . Kawauso took his place sitting by Nikko's side. Sakura gave a huff and shook her head. That man. . .She thought then returned to healing her daughter.
Naruto sat at his desk, staring out the window mainly thinking about what had happened. He had no intention of withdrawing Sarada or Ren. Sasuke was just having one of his weird stress things. "No. . . If someone tried to take Himawari. . ." He mused realising that he would more than likely react the same if it had been Himawari.
"Naruto." Sasuke's voice cut into the silence, startling Naruto into making all the paperwork fly around the room.
"Ah! Damn it! Sasuke it's going to take me hours to sort this out again!" Naruto whined, deciding to wait until Sasuke left before trying to fix the mess.
"Don't bring them back." Sasuke said in his usual single tone.
"Eh?" Naruto breathed. "What changed your mind?" He asked.
Sasuke looked away, his expression arrogant. "Sarada and Ren are my children." He stated. Had his wife managed to talk him out of actually stalking his older children? Yes.
Was he going to admit it to the loser? Absolutely not.
"And?" Naruto asked, wondering where Sasuke was going.
"If someone is stupid enough to try and take my genius children," Sasuke smirked. "They won't live to try."
Naruto made a face. He did not like that look Sasuke got. "Right. . ."
"Anyway, I'm sure you'll want to investigate so I will go and collect the sample Nikko wanted from the farm then be back soon." Sasuke announced then left before Naruto could object.
"And he thinks he's a cold person." Naruto chuckled.
Nikko woke, a few hours later, with a start. "Papa!" She cried looking around. She saw both Sakura and Kawauso asleep, Kawauso curled up on her bed, Sakura sitting on a chair and leaning on the bed. Where was papa? She looked around, was he in a different room?! Was he hurt too?! Then why hadn't mama put him in the same room?! She felt tears prickle in her eyes. He deserved to be watched over just as much as she did!
"Nikko." Sasuke's voice whispered in the dark.
Nikko gasped at the sound of his voice. It sounded okay! Did that mean he wasn't hurt?! Relief flooded through her as she sat up more. She beamed at him when she saw him sneak into her hospital room through the window. Gently, he woke Sakura. Nikko crawled out of the covers and over to her parents hugging them both. "I'm sorry." She hiccuped.
Sakura blinked softly from a bit of confusion and pulled back first from the hug. "About what sweetie?" She asked.
"When. . .When I said I hated being an Uchiha. . . And that I hated Papa." Nikko explained, tears already streaming down her cheeks. "It's not true!" She proclaimed. "I love Papa, and Mama!"
"Yes, Nikko, we understand-" Sakura began.
"No. . .No I mean!" Nikko began and scrubbed her eyes. "Mama is my precious Mama, Papa is my Precious papa! But Mama. . . Mama is alone." Sasuke made a guilty face, as if Nikko knew that he still had to go on long missions and leave them all without him. "No one else has hair like Mama! People talk! I just thought. . ." She looked down. "If I looked more like Mama, that they would stop talking."
Sasuke blinked once as he listened to his daughter talk about what had upset her that day. People had been talking behind them? Still? Well. . . It was natural. They only remembered what he was like as a teenager. Not all he'd done after, keeping the world safe. For his Nikko to be more aware than Sarada had ever been about this. . .
"Ah." Sasuke commented, putting a hand on her head. She wanted to keep her mother company with her hair being the same. He felt more pride bloom in his heart. He supposed no one but he noticed the colour hue of the twins eyes, when he looked at them from a particular angle, when the sun was just right, they had a green tinge to them. It made his heart hurt in a good way.
Sakura felt tears tumble down her cheeks and clutched her daughter tight to her.
"Mama! Mama! Squishing!" Nikko gasped out.
Sakura eased her hold a little, still overcome with tears. Just like Sarada, Nikko was more mature for her years, instead of lashing out like Kawauso, she held it in. She let her daughter go and smiled up at Sasuke, who smiled back.
"But if I hear them talk bad again I'll kick their butts! Shannaro!" Nikko added clenching her fist.
Her parents blinked at her. When had she picked up that mannerism?
Sasuke shook his head. She was his daughter after all. He looked over at Kawauso, the young boy stirred a little.
Nikko looked over at her twin and smiled. "Kawauso." She whispered and shook his shoulder. "Kawauso, I'm awake." She beamed. Sasuke took this chance to gesture to his wife who he wanted to speak to alone.
They moved out of the room while Nikko and Kawauso talked to each other and left the room door open a crack so they could hear the twins. "Someone tried to kidnap our sunshine." Sasuke said plainly. Sakura gave a gasp and he shook his head. "They seemed to know we would be there." He narrowed his eyes to the ground. "She went to get a sample from an unaffected wheat stalk then, they grabbed her." He sighed and took Sakura's hand. Since they were alone he was more comfortable showing her affection. ". . ." He didn't know what else to say. What could he say to convey the terror that beat out the day before?
"I bet she thinks you're a hero now." Sakura smiled up at him. He stared at her in shock. "She's so used to seeing me do things; that she forgets how great you are. But now she's seen you rescue her, I don't think she'll forget that."
"She wants to follow you." Sasuke said, smiling fondly.
"She does?" Sakura asked, surprised. "She's never told me that." She smiled softly, a blush on her cheeks.
"And you should check her eyes." Sasuke added. "She's been complaining that they're itchy all the time."
Sakura blinked. "Itchy?" She repeated. "It isn't spring, she shouldn't have hayfever. . ." She frowned softly and looked in the little window in the door. She watched as their twins talked to each other, Nikko being more animated than normal, until she paused and rubbed her eyes.
Sakura gasped, quietly. She pushed back into the room. Ever since Sarada had become sick and damaged her eyesight, Sakura was always worried when her babies complained of eye pain.
"Sakura. . ." Sasuke began but he couldn't stop her, she'd barged back in and grabbed Nikko's arm with one hand and cupped her face with the other.
"Let me see." She said sternly, her eyes looking for anything wrong.
"Mama." Nikko whined. "I'm okay, just itchy."
Sakura nodded. "I'll go get you some of those special eyes drops okay?" She said. "Mama will be back. Keep her here Kawauso."
Kawauso nodded. "Yes Mama." He said and tackled her onto the bed.
"Aah!" Nikko cried as her brother hugged her tightly in his arms. "Papa save me!"
Sasuke came in when he was mentioned and smirked. "Mama just wants to make sure you don't lock yourself in the bathroom." He said sensing his wife coming back with the drops.
"Okay Kawauso, ease up on her." Sakura said a giggle in her tone.
Nikko gave a sigh. She did that one time! And that was because Aunt Shizune threatened her with a big needle! She laid back on the bed and kept her eyes open as her mother put two drops in each eye.
"Okay Nikko." Sakura said as Nikko blinked rapidly. "If they're still itchy you need to tell me, and I'll give them a more in depth exam okay?"
Nikko gave a sigh and nodded a little. "Okay Mama."
"I'll check them again in the morning, okay." She said putting the empty dropper in the bin then tucked the twins in the bed. "Sleep now my little ones Papa and I are going to finish our talk," She kept her smile soft as she pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks and left the room again, bringing Sasuke with her. "You might need to spend more time with her if it's what I think it is." She whispered to him. "But for now, we should let her go to sleep and worry about this more in the morning, Ino and I are having morning tea at our place tomorrow." She frowned a little. Nikko didn't like Sai and Ino very much. So she tried to hang out with Ino when Nikko was at school.