Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!
Summary: A second series of ficlet requests - details are on my tumblr. All SNS, only modern AU so far. I'll give a summary and any warnings in the first note above each ficlet!
A/N: Ahh! You are all so generous, oh my goodness. I now have a backlog I'm working through but I will be knocking them out one by one - if you'd like to grab a place in line, feel free to send me a message! This is awesome. Thank you all so, so much. I hope you like the stories!
This ficlet was requested by SingingTurtles, who asked for Sasuke and Naruto babysitting their grandkids. How cute is that!
Ficlet summary: Canonverse, in which Naruto and Sasuke are babysitting their grandkids.
Ficlet Series 2
2 - Canonverse feat. Grandkids
"Okay," said Manami, running a hand through her fiery red hair. "I think I have everything. Do we have everything? Let me—"
"You have everything," Sasuke told her. She bounced on her feet and peered over his shoulder—she still had Naruto's body language, even to this day.
She ran a nervous hand through her hair again, and Sasuke felt the smile on his lips.
"One week feels long," she said, "to be so far away."
Sasuke let out a small laugh.
"You'd think," he told her. "Now, imagine if one of your children moved to Suna—"
"That was temporary!"
"Three years is not temporary," Sasuke said, "and I counted every day. Go on, you're going to be late enough."
She laughed, ducking her head.
"Okay. Um."
She looked over his shoulder again, and Sasuke breathed out as her eyes flickered to red. It was a new sight—or, well, older now. It still felt new to Sasuke. Manami's sharingan had come earlier than Akari's—too quickly, in Sasuke's eyes, although she'd taken to it well. He'd certainly felt the terror as little Akari had fallen over an edge after failing to grab ahold of her older sister—
She'd been fine, of course—Sasuke and Naruto still had their speed and their reflexes—but they were all a little shaken. Sasuke most of all, he thought, for he'd been hoping to make his daughter's life as...easy. Without a burden. And the sharingan was a powerful gift, but Sasuke had chased that power before…
Naruto had been quick to reassure him—and he'd been right, of course. Infuriatingly so. Naruto always seemed to be right about these things. Manami's sharingan had done little else but supplement her life—in a world full of peace, where jutsus that had once been used to kill had been rethought, relocated, repurposed—
What was a sharingan, except a way to look at what you loved?
She laughed, and turned back to Sasuke.
(It was another moment before the redness faded.)
"They're little terrors, you know," she said, as Sasuke fought with the lump in his throat. "We'll be back this weekend, but—I know they want to stay another two weeks, but are you sure you're okay with—"
"Yes."
"Dad, come on. I know Akari's coming up after that and I know she's bringing the baby—don't you want at least one night of uninterrupted sleep?"
Sasuke let out a small laugh.
"I sleep next to your father," he told her. "No such thing exists. Come here."
She stepped forward, and Sasuke pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"Be safe."
"I will. I'll see you soon. I—" she laughed, hopelessly staring after the kids that were already tugging Naruto back and forth across the hall. "Well—tell them I said bye. And that I love them—all of them."
Sasuke smiled and leaned against the doorway.
"I will. Stop stalling."
She laughed and stumbled back a few steps, raising a hand to wave a few times before she was finally on her way. The weather was good, the sky was clear...it looked to be an easy day's travel. And she'd be back soon enough, with the rest of the family in tow—both partners, Akari, the new baby…
He sighed, and closed the door.
"Ready Grandpa?!" came a yell, and Sasuke laughed. You could tell, he thought, which one of them was being called merely by the tone of their voice—
"Chaaaaarge!"
If they sounded like they were up to no good, it was definitely Naruto.
"Raaa!" Naruto bellowed, charging through the house like a bull—Itsumi on his shoulders as the horns—
"Bam!" Itsumi said, poking Sasuke in the shoulders. "Gotcha!"
"Ha!" Sataka said, running straight into his legs. Sasuke stumbled back with the force, picking her up as she laughed.
"What have I walked into?" he asked, as Sataka tumbled around his outstretched arm. "Attacked in my own home—"
"We're a bull!" Itsumi sang, bouncing on Naruto's shoulders—
"Grr," Naruto said, waggling his eyebrows at Sasuke—
"I don't think bulls growl," he said—
"Sataka!" Naruto commanded. "Bite him!"
"Yes, sir!" Sataka said, grabbing Sasuke's arm again—
"Wh—Sataka—Naruto—"
Sataka let go, cackling right back into one of Naruto's arms—the other one stayed up, on Itsumi's kicking leg—
Sasuke breathed out.
"You're all agents of chaos," he told them, and Naruto grinned. "I was under the impression that you were hungry."
"We are!" Sataka yelled, spinning around. "We are, we are—"
"After you tried to bite me?"
"I wasn't gonna!"
"I put him up to it," Naruto insisted—
"I know," Sasuke told him, and Naruto laughed.
"Okay, okay, let's let grandpa cook—wanna play pop the clones?"
"Yeah!" they yelled, and Sasuke surreptitiously hovered around Naruto as Itsumi climbed down.
"Close your eyes!" Naruto said, putting his fingers together— "three, two...go!"
"Aaaaaahhhh!" they yelled, charging through the house—it was a game of Naruto's creation, and their quickest way to tire out the bundles of endless energy that kids seemed to be. It was some mix of hide and seek—if the seeker got to punch everyone they found.
"Got one!" came a shout, and Naruto laughed and peered into the hall.
"Nineteen more to go!"
The screaming continued, and Naruto wandered back to him.
"So you're a bull today," he greeted him, and Naruto laughed. Sasuke automatically passed him a pot as he passed by…running over his grandchildren's tastes in his head…
"I am," Naruto said, running the tap over it. "Twins, Sasuke. I dunno if we would've survived them. How's Manami?"
"Good. Sentimental." He took the pot back. "Complaining about being away from the kids."
Naruto laughed.
"Big talk coming from a girl that moved to Suna!"
Sasuke ducked his head to hide his smile.
"I think Gaara was ready to kill me with how much I wrote him—"
"He loved hearing from you and you know it. Garlic?"
"Here," Naruto said, reaching up to a top shelf. "He—"
A door opened.
"Inside the house," Naruto called, "all the clones are inside the house!"
The door slowly shut again.
"Kids," Naruto sighed.
"Kids," Sasuke agreed, but he was smiling, and so was Naruto. It was such a potent, brilliant joy. Just the sight of a face. Sasuke had once thought only looking at Naruto was enough to have him know the ins and out of happiness, but then—
But then, every day had only been better.
"I thought retirement would be quieter," Naruto said, and it made Sasuke laugh.
"And what have you retired from? You sent four letters this morning."
"That's—those were just advice! And stuff! It wasn't work!"
"Was it about work?"
"No!" Naruto insisted, but the smile broke his face.
"Liar," Sasuke told him, and Naruto laughed.
"I—yeah," he said, "I suck at slowing down."
"Thank god," Sasuke said immediately, "look at what we have in the other room."
Naruto laughed again.
"They're awesome," he said. "Aren't they? I can't wait to see what Akari's little one is gonna be like. Has she told you any names?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"Only that they're taking a few more days to decide," he said. "I think we'll find out with everyone else."
"Probably—oh," he said, startling that same way he always did when a clone was dispersed, "they just found two more."
"How much longer does that leave us?"
"A few minutes, at least," Naruto said. "I've hid one good."
Sasuke glanced back at him.
"If it's on the ceiling again," he said, "I think that's the first place they check now."
Naruto laughed.
"Yeah—they do, they got that one already. Y'know Sataka can climb walls already? He's like a little Sakura."
"Don't let her hear you say that," Sasuke warned, "we'll never hear the end of it. Akari said she wanted to be a medic-nin once—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know," Naruto laughed, "I was there. I feel like I understand her need to be a cool aunt way more now that I'm dying to be a cool grandpa."
"Are you dying to be a cool grandpa?"
"Oh yeah," Naruto said, resting his chin on Sasuke's shoulder. "The coolest."
"Hm," Sasuke said, shifting the pot on the stove. "Looks like you're my rival."
He felt Naruto's smile against his cheek.
"Bring it on, pretty-boy."
A/N: This one actually took me ages - I've never actually sat down and planned SNS kids, and I got so hung up on names that I'm just going to tell you about it all. Please keep in mind that I have a babbling baby's understanding of Japanese, but! From what I understand, it's uncommon (or not done at all) to see kids named after their parents. What you can see, though, is names that share kanjis, even if the names are pronounced differently.
So! Manami (愛美, 愛海, 真名美, 真望) was Sasuke and Naruto's first daughter - she shares Naruto's 愛 (love), Mikoto's 美 (beauty), Mikoto's & Minato's 洋 (ocean), Mikoto's 望 (hope) and Kurama's 真 (truth). Akari (明空) was the name that Naruto adored, though, because it h as 空 (sky), which can be in both Sasuke and Kushina 's names - so Sasuke caved for their second daughter.
Sataka (佐鷹) and Itsumi (愛) are more direct references to their grandparents, with Sasuke's 佐 (to help someone), and Naruto's 愛 (love). It doesn't hurt that 鷹 is hawk and Itsumi also shares 美 and 洋 :)
Take those all with a grain of salt - I hope they're (at least relatively) accurate. And now I'll stop rambling - thank you all again, and I hope you liked this fic!
See you soon,
- Kinomi