The daughter of the Hokage was looked upon as somewhat of a treasure to the hidden village of the leaf. They all wanted to see Konoha's newest darling, so much so that when the Hokage and his wife walked together on the streets the citizens crowded around, trying to get a peek at the baby's shiny blonde hair and unclouded white eyes, to see the famed smile that had managed to charm anyone who saw it, even the stiff and seemingly unfeeling ex-head of the Hyuuga who –rumor had it- had been seen cooing over his first grandchild.

Everyone who saw the cherub faced child instantly fell in love and cooed over just how sweet she was, how delightful she was and what a good girl she was.

Her parent's wished that those foolish people could see her now.

Hinata continued to walk the same path back and forth across the nursery that she had for the past twenty minutes, jiggling the baby in her arms to try and calm her howls, wearily wracking her brain for any clue as to what her daughter could want.

"We've fed her, changed her, rocked her and walked with her to Suna and back. Why won't she just go to sleep?" Hinata looked over at her husband, giving him a sharp look that she would never have given him years before due to her complete hero worship of him, the great Uzumaki Naruto. But marrying and then having a child with him had certainly given her a spine, his love building up her self-confidence so that she could stand up for herself, even to him. That, added with the late hour, the baby howling like a banshee in her arms and the lack of sleep due to said baby added up to one very irritable Uzumaki Hinata.

"Just go to sleep Naruto. I can deal with this just fine on my own."

"No, I'll stay up. It's not like I could ever fall asleep with her screaming like that anyway." This badly worded statement earned him another look from his wife as she shifted the baby to her shoulder, rubbing her back soothingly as she murmured to her.

Naruto watched from the rocking chair, his sluggish brain trying desperately to come up with some plan to get his daughter to sleep. He thought briefly about a sleeping jutsu but dismissed the idea since when he had suggested it the other night he had gotten a look from Hinata that very well could have killed him if it had been able to.

Hinata yawned widely, pausing for a minute to sway tiredly in place as she searched for her bearings, only to be jolted from her light daze by Kori's cries reaching a higher octave that threatened to shatter their ears. Seeing the sluggish way his wife moved and the weary draw of her face Naruto stood and walked over to her, holding his arms out for his daughter.

"Really Naruto, just go to bed. I don't want to be responsible for you falling asleep during some important dignitary meeting or something like that." Naruto merely continued to hold out his arms until Hinata slipped the struggling baby into them, shuffling over to the rocking chair to slump gratefully into it .

Naruto continued on the same path that Hinata had taken, talking to Kori in a low voice that would have made Hinata's insides melt had she not been so goddamn tired.

"Shush, Kori. Stop crying, Baby, or else me and your mom are going to cry right along with you. And you don't want to make her cry, do you? It'll just break your heart if you see her cry, because it sure breaks mine. So why don't you just quiet down now and get some sleep, because we could all use some sleep right about now, right?" But she ignored his pleas and continued to wail, making Naruto –a grown man, a fearless ninja, the great and powerful Hokage- want to whimper. "What can I do to get you to stop crying?" Naruto asked desperately, practically weeping.

"Try singing." Hinata suggested, her words slurring as she prayed that the blurriness that surrounded her vision wouldn't be permanent.

"What?"

"Singing. Your voice is very soothing, maybe that will help."

"But not my singing voice! I don't sing!" He shouted, the baby's cries getting louder due to the shock over his sudden outburst. Naruto's face became panicked as he tried even harder to calm her down, his eyes desperately meeting Hinata's and asking –begging really- for the answers. "Why don't you sing?"

"Because I want to hear you sing." She said, yawning again. At first it had only been a suggestion that she figured they'd just pass over because it seemed kind of ridiculous. But now that she had said it, now that she was thinking about it, she really wanted to hear him sing.

"Hinata…" Naruto wined, but Hinata remained firm, though she hesitated at the next and final step she'd have to take to get what she wanted.

Hinata had very few cards she could put into play to get her way in their marriage, probably because Naruto spoiled her by giving her everything she asked for and more. She could never withhold sex from him –the begging face he put on always and inevitably melted all of her resolve- though the silent treatment worked if she had enough time to work with, but only if she used it sparingly. But now that she had had Kori, she was aware of another card -a powerful card- that had been placed into her hand.

"Naruto," She paused, wondering how to word it, wondering if this would even work. "I went through sixteen hours of labor. The least you could do is sing." There was a moment of silence that made Hinata question the decision and the effectiveness of the ploy but then Naruto's shoulders slumped.

"Fine." He grumbled. "But you have to go out in the hall."

"Why?"

"Because this is embarrassing." He grumbled, shoving her out of the nursery and shutting the door in her face. Hinata blinked at the wooden blockade before her before pressing her ear to it, straining to hear him.

"Hush now, sweet baby, it's alright.

You don't have to cry.

The stars are out and the moon, it shines.

The onyx sky, surrounding the world in dreams,

Softly dances to the song of your sleeping sighs.

Close your eyes, travel upon lands unheard,

But promise you'll return home."

Hinata blinked, her lips curving into a sleepy smile. She had no idea what lullaby that was, but his voice was raspy and deep, soothing her frayed nerves and prodding even her towards sleep. And apparently it had the same effect on their daughter because her cries had faded as he had sang until final and blessed silence had finally filled the house.

She slowly cracked the door open and peeked in, watching as Naruto eased the now peacefully sleeping child into her crib.

"Finally." He sighed, and Hinata nodded.

"Where did you learn that lullaby?" She asked, not really speaking the words as much as mouthing them, desperate not to wake the baby now that they had finally gotten her down for the night. He shrugged as they slipped out of the room, using all of their stealth abilities as ninjas to get out of there and hopefully into blessed sleep.

"I didn't know any so Kurama told me what to say. He's actually a pretty good singer." Hinata blinked and stopped just outside the door.

"Naruto, how does the nine tailed fox know lullabies?" He shrugged, both of them standing in the doorway for a moment to bask in the beauty of the silence. "I don't know, but he is an ancient demon fox, maybe he picked it up somewhere. All I know is that he said it was really old."

Hinata smiled softly at the thought of the great demon fox singing her infant daughter to sleep and held out her hand to Naruto, who took it gratefully.

"Now," He whispered, pulling the door shut behind him, "We can finally get some sleep." The door closed with a distinctive click that made the two freeze, staring wide eyed at each other as the inevitable happened.

Upon hearing the click –which had been no louder than the sound of a gentle whisper- the young Uzumaki shot instantly awake, searching for the soothing company of her mother and father in the dark. And upon finding herself alone the small blonde had thrown her head back and began to once again scream so loudly that it seemed like even the ANBU guard stationed outside the house could hear it through the silence jutsu that surrounded the house.

Naruto clenched the doorknob in his hand, banging his head on the wall beside the door again and again, calling himself and the action of closing the door stupid with every thud of his forehead meeting the solid surface of the wall. Hinata whimpered in despair, leaning her forehead against her husband's strong back as she watched the sweet dream of actually getting some sleep fly away, fading to dust as it went.

"Sleeping jutsu." Naruto muttered desperately, listening as his daughter's cries gained in volume the longer they abstained from entering the room. Hinata actually considered it for a moment but then shook her head, though she wanted to cry from just how tired she was. Naruto nodded and sighed, trying to forcefully rub the tiredness from his face.

"Come on." He muttered, opening the door, wincing as his daughter's shrieking and unmuffled cries filled his ears. "Let's try this again." And they walked inside, leaving behind all hopes of being well rested when the sun came up as they entered.

Okay, I can't say to much this time. (In school and class is about to end)

My parents said that this was me when I was little and that the only thing that would shut me up was listening to the Eagles Desparado on loop until the cassette tape wore out.

to xaburame15- Oh! my poor baby! I'm glad i could make your day better, even marginally.

I love you all!