Hello, my most darling of darlings! Long time, few updates from me, huh?
School has ended, and I am done with all of my classes and finals. Just in time to start my first actual job tomorrow! It's an over the summer on-campus job, and I'm looking forward to it.
Now then, this chapter has been laying around on my document for a bit, unfinished until today! I'm not completely happy with it, but I think it is fine. Not my worst, not my best, but an I'm sorry for not updating in two months.
And hey, I actually coincidentally got this done with an hour to spare to Mother's day. Wooh! coincidences!
Now, let us begin.
Hinata and Naruto adored their children, and this was something no one could even attempt to dispute. How could they when Naruto, at even the tiniest suggestion or mention, was constantly whipping out an astronomical amount of pictures to show them to whoever was around and available to see. And then there was Hinata and the glowing happiness and contentment that seemed to radiate off of her, the amazing and seemingly effortless way she handled five children and the smiles and the laughter that was all too common to hear from her now when many years before the only thing you heard from her was shy silence.
They loved their children and they always would, but there were five. Five. That was a large number to deal with and it was overwhelming a lot of the time, even for two people who had wanted a large family, who had wanted all of their children so badly. They were also all extremely rambunctious, even little Mino when his siblings encouraged him. There was never a quiet moment, ever, and if there had been that would mean that something was obviously very wrong.
And parenting didn't come with vacation time, so there was never a moment to rest. The times when the children did leave for a while it was a short time, and to unload all of their children onto just one person was extremely cruel so they always had at least a single child at the house. And even with the lessened load there was no relief because the ones left behind wanted even more attention and treated the entire thing as a party of sorts, watching movies and playing games and eating snacks without the majority of their siblings there to take attention from them.
Hinata and Naruto adored their children, but they were positively overwhelming at times, one such time being when Hinata's father had popped by for a visit unexpectedly.
Actually, unexpectedly was the wrong word. He had told Hinata he would be coming by earlier in the week but then Kori had informed her, just a day before it was due to happen, that she and the rest of her team were doing a campout for some bonding time, and Mooom, couldn't you please pack some of your lunches? Pleaaaase? They're the best.
And then Yuki and Yuka had decided to forgo their usual trip to the library they were forbidden to go to without supervision and instead practice at making and inventing seals themselves in the back yard. Something had gone wrong, as it always does, and instead of having the seal work in whichever way they had been trying to get it to work they had instead caught half of the backyard on fire. Luckily the ANBU that had been watching them that day had been skilled with water jutsus, and so together they had managed to control the fire and put it out before it spread too far.
After she had gotten done grounding the pair until the end of time Yuka had stuck her lip out in a pout that was so obviously her father's influence and pointed out that they hadn't gone to the library, and wasn't that the only real rule she had given them for their play?
They'd gotten an extra three weeks to their punishment for the smart mouth.
Leo had fallen out of a tree and had broken his wrist, and so she had taken him to the hospital to get it fixed and had left Kori to try and control things with the help of the ANBU. Of course, in her worry as she had carried him off she hadn't bothered to look up and so she hadn't spotted her youngest son sitting up in the branches, hidden in the leaves. Leo hadn't told her until they were on their way back, the young boy going on about his new cast and how he was going to make everyone sign it.
'Hey, Mom, do you think Dad will put one of his funny pictures on it? Kori can draw on it too, she's a lot better at it, and you can do those flowers you're really good at. And I'll let Yuki write on it too with her symbols, and even Yuka, I guess. Do you think Mino got out of the tree yet? He can draw on it first, since he really likes drawing. He isn't that good, though.'
Apparently Mino had been watching Leo clamber up and down the tree, and so the older boy had decided that this was a sign of him wanting to join in. After helping him into the tree, the two had happily played ninjas until Leo had slipped and fell, leaving the younger boy sitting quietly up in the tree all alone.
They hurried home after Hinata learned this, and they thankfully found that a couple of hours ago the twins had discovered him when he had called out. He was sitting at the coffee table nibbling on a triangle of toast and coloring when they had entered the house, and Hinata had sagged against the wall in thanks that he hadn't spent the entire time up in the tree. Though, no matter how relieved she was, the fact that he had even been up there in the first place and that she had missed him was still unsettling.
All in all it was a bit more stressful than most weeks, but it was also alarmingly normal. And so in the middle of all of the bigger than usual mayhem and the normal mayhem – Kori's mornings (maybe they should see someone about that), the twins trying to escape punishment and go to the library (she was serious this time though, so they hadn't been able to sneak past her yet), Leo playing his games and forcing Mino to play along (though now he knew that three year olds didn't go into trees) – she had completely forgotten about her father until he was standing in her doorway and she was staring back at him in shock.
"F-Father!" She gasped, suddenly remembering and cursing herself and circumstances. There were dishes in the sink since it was Naruto's turn, toys were scattered everywhere, Yuki had just overturned a vial of ink onto the sofa by accident, and she could hear screaming behind her in the distinct voices of Yuka and Leo.
Plus, she didn't think she had washed her face yet.
"Mom! Could you do something about those two before they kill each other? I'm getting tired of them and…" Kori stopped her annoyed tirade as she walked into the hall far enough to see the older man in the doorway.
"Grandfather!" The blonde whooped, dashing forward to jump at the bemused older man and practically tackle him into a hug.
Even after all the years and how good he had gotten with the children and how affectionate, Hinata still got a small clench of worry somewhere beneath her chest that he would push them away and scold them for not following proper decorum, small fears from her own childhood.
Instead his hand came up and he patted her head, petting her hair for a moment as he gazed fondly down at his eldest grandchild.
"Hello, Kori. How is your training going?" Kori tilted her head back and grinned at him widely.
"Great! My team just had this camping trip, and we learned this really neat move from Lee-Sensei where you-"
"Gramps!"
"Grandfather!"
The twins came barreling in and plowed into Hiashi, the boys following after, and soon enough both adults were struggling to move all of the children out of the doorway and inside of the house.
Once everyone got inside, they moved to the living room so that they could all sit down and so that they could be a bit more comfortable while the children scrambled over one another to tell Hiashi everything important that had happened in their lives as of recent.
Hinata worried for a moment that her father would have trouble deciphering the jumbled babble, but she was also thankful for it since it gave her just enough of a lapse in his focus so that she could toss a throw pillow over the ink stain.
Once everything and everyone had calmed down a bit and after catching up with each other, Hiashi smiled and got to why he had come.
"I would like the children to stay over at the compound with me for a while." He stated calmly, and Hinata blinked for a moment, sure she had somehow heard wrong.
"I… How many?" She asked nervously, watching as all of the children turned to beam at their grandfather, all of them wanting to go with him on what they knew would be a little vacation of sorts.
"All of them." He stated, as if it were a simple thing, picking Mino up so that the small boy could sit in his lap. The elder children whooped in joy, all of them turning to their mother to beg her to allow them to go while Mino contented himself to just watch.
"I don't really think that's a good idea." She managed to say when there was a pause in the begging, earning a chorus of groans and the begging whines of, "But Mooooom"
"And why would that be?" Her father asked calmly, and Hinata could only stare for a moment. It was obvious he just didn't know what he was getting in to. He just somehow didn't understand that there were five children, each of them with various amounts of their father's devious and somewhat destructive tendencies. They were violent and loud and energetic and she loved them more than anything, but they were a handful.
They'd destroy the compound within hours.
"I… Having all five of them all at once is a bit much. None of them have stayed at the compound since Leo was born, and I don't really think that you're prepared for what they all bring when they're together."
"Oh?" Her father watched her coolly, and she winced because she recognized that look. He was displeased. "And what do they bring?"
Chaos. "They're just… rambunctious. It's difficult to keep up with them and keep them out of trouble."
The kids were all grumbling, even little Mino was looking at her as if he couldn't believe that she was saying such things, disappointment in his clear eyes. Kori was sending her this look as if she should just know better, Yuka was very nearly full on glaring and pouting, and the other two were both sending her looks like she had disappointed them.
"I have dealt with children before, two, if you'd care to remember, not to mention that the compound is filled with many people who will be willing to do something should anything take a turn for the worse or if the children get themselves into trouble." She opened her mouth and was half tempted to say something about how he really hadn't had too big of a helping hand in her childhood, at least, but saying such a thing would be petty and mean and beneath her, and she's ashamed for even thinking such things in the first place. Instead, she just shakes her head.
"Really Hinata, it isn't like I'm taking them far away. They'll still be in the village, and you'd hear very easily if something happened. All I want is some time with them, and so that they can spend time with their cousin as well. Hotaru is a quiet boy, and spending some time with your children may bring him out of his shell a bit." He sent an amused look over to the children, "They should be a bit like your husband in that respect."
Well, what was she supposed to say? It was an awful idea that might very well lead to the complete destruction of the entire village, because that's just how dangerous her children are without supervision. But her father wanted them to all come over so that they could have some time together, and so that they could have time with Hotaru too. And maybe the children would be on their very best behavior, not wanting to risk getting to visit again.
The kids were watching her, her father was watching her, and her resolve to not let any unsuspecting people get overpowered by her children was crumbling.
"I'll ask Naruto tonight." She sighed, and the children all cheered.
"And I will pick them up tomorrow then, unless you contact me to tell me to do otherwise." Her father stated, and he seemed just a bit smug when he looked at her, like he had known that she would fold.
That night, with the children already half-packed since they seemed to have a lot of faith in either their father or their whining abilities, Naruto stumbled into the bedroom later than usual, absentmindedly shrugging out of his clothes and letting them all drop to the floor on his way to the bed. Once he was close enough he practically went limp, flopping down onto the bed face first.
"Sleeeeep…" He groaned into his pillow, and Hinata bit her lip, wanting to let him get as much rest as possible but also wanting to know where he stood on allowing the children to all leave.
"Naruto," She said quietly, poking him slightly, "Naruto, I have a question I need to ask you."
"Whaaaaaat?" He whined, and Hinata sighed, biting her lip because she wasn't quite sure what his reaction would be.
"Are you alright with letting the kids go to the Hyuuga compound and spend a week there with my father and everyone else?"
"Yeah." He sighed, and Hinata blinked because he replied a lot faster than she thought was normal.
"All of the children? You are alright with all of the children leaving?"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure, Naruto?" She asked, almost certain that he had to be just answering her for the sake of answering her.
"Yeees." He whined, "Yes, kids go. Let me sleep." He grunted and turned away from her, and Hinata backed off, still quite worried about what would happen with all of her children let loose without her supervision.
The next morning was filled with the children scurrying around in search for all of the things they had to put last minute into their bags.
"Where are my pens?" Yuka practically screeched as she clamored down the stairs, dashing into the living room to check any place she might have put them.
"I'm sure they have pens at the compound." Hinata soothed as she put a coloring book into Leo's bag, the one that he and Mino liked the most.
"But not these pens. I want my pens." She groaned, dashing right back out of the room and back up the stairs, only to be replaced by another child, this one blonde and bleary eyed.
"I juh-" She garbled, raising her hand a bit before letting it flop uselessly back down to her side. "Avbrza."
"Kori, I need you to get dressed and finish packing, alright?" Hinata lightly placed a hand on the girl's back and guided her to the stairs. "Don't forget your toothbrush this time."
"Gurnv…" Was all the girl managed as she slogged up the steps to her room, dragging her feet and blinking distractedly down at the ground as she made her way up.
Leo was next, hopping from foot to foot up on the upstairs landing.
"Mom, have you seen my ninja figure? The blue one?" He asked, obviously eager and anxious to find it. "I want to show it to Hotaru."
"I think you left it in the bath tub." She says as she distractedly zips up the bag of coloring and other art supplies.
"Thanks!" He shouts, racing off down the hall, "Yuka, your stupid pens are in the bathroom!" He calls, and she can hear the shouts of the two starting and argument on how they had gotten there.
"Mommy." She looks down to see Mino holding up another small coloring book, holding it out to her with a serious look on his face.
"This one too? You probably won't color that much while you're down there. After all, you'll have your cousin and other children from the compound to play with." He continued to hold up the book, so she sighs and takes it, shoving it into the bag with the others. "Alright then. But this is the last one."
There was some more confusion, and some more demands as to the whereabouts of certain items, but eventually everyone got all of their things together and gathered onto the couch.
"Toothbrushes?" Hinata asked, going over a list of things with the children that they needed and might very well forget. Because they'd always remember their favorite toys, but the thought of face wash was usually absent.
"Yes." They chorused, their voices indicating that it should be obvious.
"Socks?"
"Yes."
"And you packed play clothes, not your good clothes?"
"Yes."
"Underwear? More than just one pair?"
"Yes." They all sighed, but Leo but a bit too much emphasis into his, the change catching Hinata's attention. She sent the boy a look, and he fidgeted in his seat for a moment under her glaze.
"Leo, How much underwear do you have packed?" She asked, knowing how much she had put in there but wondering how many pairs he had taken out.
"Oooone." He said, sending her a hopeful look that quickly melted away under her unchanging judgment. "I needed more room for my Kunai Daddy gave me! And that book with the pictures about great ninjas! I really want to show them to Hotaru!" He whined, and Hinata just crossed her arms and sent him her sternest look.
"Go and take out some of the things that I didn't pack and put your underwear back in the bag." She ordered, and he mournfully trudged up the stairs to do as she bid.
"Gross." Yuka muttered under her breath when he came back in, and the boy's big blue eyes welled up with tears.
"Nuh-uh! You're the gross one!"
"How am I gross? You're the one that didn't want to wear any underwear, and that's what gross people do." She sneered, and before the redhead could retaliate again Hinata cut the bickering off.
"Stop. No one is gross, so leave each other alone. If the two of you try to start something again you won't be able to go to your grandfather's." She threatened, a headache starting to throb at her left temple.
Things were relatively quiet and settled for the next couple of minutes, until they heard a knocking on the front door.
"I'll get it!" Leo whooped, scrambling to get to the door first, his siblings hurrying after him so that they could all pounce on their grandfather as if they hadn't seen him just the day before. With a sigh Hinata got out a scroll to seal all of the kids' bags – there was a miniature mountain of things belonging to her children off in the corner that there was no way to transport easily otherwise – but before she could begin the mob hurried back into the room.
"Mom! Let Yuki and me do it!" Yuka cried, dashing forward when she saw what was about to happen, "We can do it!"
Hinata frowned at the eager pair, "The last time you two attempted to play with seals, you set the backyard on fire," She reminded them, "For which you are still grounded for."
"But Mom," Yuka whined, "Please? I promise nothing like that will happen again, especially not with this."
"Yeah, and the fire thing was a seal that we were working on making ourselves. This is just a basic thing that has absolutely no fire or chance of fire involved at all." Yuki reasoned, and Hinata wanted to remind them that this basic thing was so far out of their skill level it was almost laughable, but with two big pairs of pale blue eyes shining at her, she knew there was no reason.
"Let the girls show us what they can do." Her father said from where he stood off to the side, tucking his hands into his sleeves.
The girls' eyes got brighter at the prospect of showing off, and Hinata sighed and motioned for them to proceed, ready to cancel any fun from happening for the next year if they somehow burned her living room down.
They took a bit longer than necessary, showing off so easily and overtly that she was half tempted to call them mini-Narutos, but by the end there were no fires and everything was tucked into the scroll safely.
"Well then," Hinata sighed, turning to her father, "Everyone's bed time is nine except for Kori, she can stay up until ten. Mino goes to sleep around seven no matter what, so they usually eat around five or five-thirty. Yuki and Yuka are grounded, so don't let them do anything too fun, and they are not allowed near libraries. They'll try and escape at night, so watch them. Leo's wrist is broken, and he has some medicine he can take if it starts hurting him. Do not let him put Mino up in a tree." She paused, trying to think of what else needed to be told, not only for the wellbeing of the children but also for the safety of others, but her father stopped her from continuing the list.
"I'm sure if there is anything drastically important, the children will tell me. Relax, Hinata. I'll bring them back in a week, so say goodbye and we will be on our way."
It was over extremely quickly, a hug and a kiss and few words about how she wanted them to have fun and that she loved them, and then they were out the door, out of the house, and out of her sight.
She stood there for a moment, wanting to call them back. This was the first time Mino or Leo had spent so long away from her, what if they missed her? What if they needed her, and she wasn't there? What if Yuki and Yuka tried another seal, and what if they burned half of the compound to the ground or did something worse that she hadn't witnessed their scrolls do? What if someone tried to wake Kori up early?
The horrors that could occur with them out of her sight were too numerous to count.
During her worrying, an unexpected realization hit her as she stood listening to the quiet of a suddenly empty house.
This was the first time in around ten years that she had the day to herself. No children, no Naruto, no nobody. Just her. Alone.
She could do anything. Anything at all.
She ended up cleaning, picking up the children's clutter and witnessing for the first time since they had had the house built an actually clean house. There was no one to go into a freshly cleaned room and scatter toys all over it, no one to whine when she messed up a game they hadn't touched in weeks. It was just her and the now perfectly clean rooms.
After that – cleaning was so much faster without the children around – she was left with nothing really to do, and so she did something incredible. Something she hadn't even dreamed of doing before.
She sat down in comfy armchair that usually held a child or the numerous somethings belonging to a child, brought out a book that had been buried in her night stand for years, and read.
And it wasn't the few short pages or chapter she was usually only able to snatch away before she was summoned by a child, she actually opened up the book to the first page and was on her way to being half done with it when Naruto came home, bounding through the door.
"I'm home!" He called out, jostling her from the world inside of the book, and there was a pause of complete silence before Naruto came scrambling into the room.
"Where are the kids?" He asked, panicked and yet fierce, ready to do what was necessary to get his children back if need be. Hinata sighed and bookmarked the book.
"I asked you yesterday if you were alright with the children going to stay with my father for a week, and you said yes. Repeatedly." She said, sitting up and stretching out the kinks she had gotten from being in one position for so long.
"Oh. I don't really remember much from last night. It was a long day." Naruto murmured, blinking as he thought back over what he could remember. "But… Alright. So the kids are gone. What have you done with yourself all day?"
She held up her book and smiled. "I read after I cleaned. It's been… It's been lovely." She sighed, setting the book down and slouching back into the chair.
"The kids are gone," Naruto said, mostly to himself, "So we can do whatever we want…" He trailed off, and then he was suddenly and fiercely grinning.
"Come on." He urged, darting forward to grab Hinata's hand and pull her up and then out of the room, "There's something I want to do. Something I really really really want to do."
She laughed as he pulled her through the house and into the backyard, a bit puzzled as to why they were outside. That is, she was until he dropped her hand and walked a bit away from her, stretching as he went.
"This is going to be great," He sighed, pulling on some muscles to get them loose, "We haven't done this in forever."
Hinata, who had caught to what was going on, smiled and started stretching as well, eagerly anticipating what was to come.
They hadn't sparred together in ages, and when they had it had always been too short and they hadn't been able to go all out. There was always a child wanting something or wanting to try something they had just done, and if they did ever go all out in front of their children there would be far more bruises and broken bones than there already were.
When they were both finally ready, they both faced each other for a few silent, dragging moments, and then they exploded.
It was an amazing thing to feel again, the burn of so many of her muscles being used, the sting of the hits Naruto landed, the tickle of chakra running through her system and the tug of focus around her eyes. He wasn't going all out against her, she hadn't been training rigorously enough in the past years for him to do that, but for the first time in a long time it was just them and the burn of exertion, and it was beautiful.
It ended too soon for her to be satisfied, but she was happier than she could remember being in recent memory. Her blood was rushing and her heart was thundering, and adrenaline was rushing through her system like an addictive drug she had gone too long without. Naruto scooped her up with a laugh, and they spun for a moment before landing on the ground, her on top of him. The laughed for a moment and kissed for a bit, but then they just lay there trying to gather their breath back, smiles wide across their faces and skin sticking together with sweat.
"I need to start training more. I need to find some time." Hinata sighed, wishing that it could have been like the old days when she could fight against Naruto for well over an hour before getting tired. But there were the kids, and each one of them took up so much time and there was just so much work in just being a mother that she hadn't been able to keep up with being a skilled ninja. It was upsetting, but she knew she didn't wish to go back and change anything, especially not her children.
"You could train the kids, work with them a bit and work yourself when they're practicing on their own." Naruto suggested, and Hinata hummed in agreement. She wouldn't be able to get back to where she had been, at least not anytime soon, but she missed being able to spar with Naruto and she missed that feeling that came with training and pushing herself to go past her physical boundaries.
A few more moments passed with them just lying in a tangle, and she would have been happy to lay there a bit longer, but their drying sweat was becoming uncomfortable. "I'm going to take a shower." She sighed, pushing herself up and stretching a bit so that her muscles wouldn't stiffen up too much. "What do you want to eat?" She asked as she stretched, figuring that when she was done with the shower she would just quickly whip something together just for the two of them. Maybe something that they hadn't been able to have in a while because of the kids.
A light flashed suddenly in Naruto's eyes, and he quickly leapt up. "Don't worry about that! I'll take care of it." He declared, rapidly making a clone that was gone just as quickly as it had been made.
"Alright." She chuckled, rolling her shoulders, "Are you going to stay out here for a bit longer?" He nodded and made a handful more clones to fight against. She hesitated a moment for going back inside, about to tell him not to destroy the yard, but looking around at the black grass she figured that it couldn't get too much worse.
Once upstairs her shower only lasted for about twenty minutes, longer than usual because of the lack of having to hurry because of her worry about the kids destroying something, but it was still a relatively quick shower. She stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself, but her eyes caught on something just before she started to dry off.
She shouldn't.
It would be wasteful.
It had been years, though.
She shouldn't.
But she did.
Naruto stepped into the bathroom about forty minutes later, wondering what was taking so long, it was to a darkened room only lit by a dozen or so candles littered around the room and around the tub where his blushing wife was soaking. The room was filled with the scent of flowers and oils, and steam wafted from the tub to make the room warmer and fog up the mirror.
Quickly closing the door so that all of the warmth didn't escape, Naruto stepped further in and grinned.
"This is nice." He stated, setting down the bag he had brought in and taking off his jacket, then the rest of his clothes.
"I, uh, wanted to take a bath." Hinata mumbled, playing with some of the bubbles.
"Where'd you find the candles?"
"They were behind the bath oils under the sink. I don't know how they got there."
Naruto shrugged and stepped into the tub in the opposite end as her, sinking down and causing some of the water to rush over the edge with the added mass.
"Nice." He sighed, sinking farther down and letting his head rest against the lip of the tub, his legs boxing Hinata in on either side of her. She hummed in agreement and mirrored his position, both of them just relaxing and laying there for a bit, content.
Eventually the water started to go cold, but neither of them wanted leave their cocoon of happiness so instead Hinata pulled the plug and let some of the water drain out before filling it back with hot water, using her foot to turn the handle so that she didn't have to move too much.
Naruto groaned at the warmth, and then he remembered one of the reasons he had originally came in. "Oh, yeah, I gotcha some of those cinnamon rolls you like. The ones from that place."
Hinata smiled and sighed, content. She didn't think that she had been this relaxed in years, nor had it ever been this quiet or just her and Naruto. It was lovely, just the two of them, soaking together and ignoring all of the rest of the world for a bit because for just a moment, a single quiet moment, they were allowed to.
And then thoughts of the children wormed their way in, and everything was very nearly overshadowed by guilt.
"I should be more worried about the kids than I am." She murmured, opening her eyes to stare up at the ceiling, watching the candlelight flicker on its surface.
Her husband grunted. "Nah. They'll be fine."
"But, shouldn't we be a bit more concerned, or miss them a bit more? This is the first time that they've all ever left us."
"They only just left today, and I'm pretty sure we'd realize if something really bad happened. Like parent-senses, or something."
"But…" Hinata sighed, shifting, "Isn't it wrong that I'm just… happy that they're gone?" She ask, biting her lip at just how horrible it sounded. She was happy that her kids were gone. It was just absolutely awful.
"This is the first time you've been able to focus on yourself instead of something kid related, right? It's not bad to be happy about that. The kids aren't your entire life. Plus, they'll be back in a bit, and you'll be happy to see them, and you'll probably be extra happy since you got time to yourself." Naruto grinned at her, "And I'm happy because I finally get you all to myself again, so if you're terrible then so am I. We can be terrible parents together. It'll be great."
Hinata shook her head, relaxing once again. "Fine. We'll be awful, together." She chuckled. Naruto grinned.
"That's the spirit!" He declared, pushing a bit of water towards her. A small amount sloshed over the edge, and Hinata sent him a look.
"Naruto…" She said lowly, able to easily see where all of this could be going. He sent her a broad and sly grin, his eyes dancing with a wicked sort of glee, and then he brought his hand back and sent a wave of water towards her.
"Stop." She warned, and all she earned for her trouble was more water, this time it coming up into her face. "Naruto, I mean i-" Another wave, and this time some of the water got in her mouth. Sending Naruto a half-hearted glare, she spat it out and pushed some water back at him.
It turned into a great battle, both of them pushing water at each other viciously and ignoring the waves that poured over the edge of the tub and flooded the floor. Naruto, the cheater that he was, grabbed onto Hinata's ankle and tried to tug her under so that he could get the upper hand, but she managed to wiggle out of his grip and stumble out of the tub, slipping slightly on the water covered tiles, giggling all the way.
They chased each other around the house, trailing water everywhere and playing together like they hadn't done in years.
The week passed fairly quickly, and Hinata had to stop herself from checking up on the children quite a few times after those first few days. It was extremely tempting to stop by whenever she left the house but, she had always reminded herself, she should be able to trust that her father, sister, and the entire clan who lived within the compound could take care of things. If she checked in on them, her father would probably be unhappy with her and so would the children, all of them maybe thinking that she was smothering them.
So she didn't go by the compound, and instead did a few of the things that she had been wanting to do for a while. She trained for a few hours each day, trying to push her body past the boundaries the years had built without her permission. She read books, so many books, so happy to have those quiet moments alone to get through stories she had long wanted to read. She went to the Hokage tower and helped Naruto with some of his paper work when she got too bored, wanting to spend time with him, and then they'd go to lunch together. They trained together, they fell asleep together, and they just sat together, doing their own things, but together.
Not having the kids around had led to the two of them spending more time with each other than they had in recent past, and it had been wonderful.
The week had been a vacation of sorts, and it had been absolutely lovely, but when the front door burst open and allowed a small ball of energy and wild red hair, she was happy to let her alone time go."
"Mom! The compound is totally cool! There's dojos for training, and there's this weapon collection in this room which is so awesome, but Grandfather said that Hyuugas don't use weapons so it's just a collection to look at, like art. Which is stupid." Leo, who had thrown himself into her as soon as he had entered the room, wrapping his arms around her waist, looked up at her and gave her a curious look. "What did you do while I was gone?"
Hinata chuckled and ran a hand through the wild spikes of his hair, absently noting that it needed a trim. "Missed you, of course." She said, bending to place a kiss on his forehead when he grinned widely at her.
"Oh my God, Mom! You will not believe how amazing the library at the compound is! There is so much stuff about chakra systems and your clan's fighting style, and…" Yuka, who had strolled in and had immediately started telling her mother the marvels of a newly found trove of wonders, trailed off when she noticed the flat look she was getting from her mother and the incredulous look she was receiving from her twin beside her, and then she remembered that she was supposed to be grounded.
"And all of these things and more we have only heard about since we did not step anywhere near anyplace that holds books. There was no reading since we are grounded, and we would never disobey you in such a way." Yuka said, her face straight and her back stiff as she quickly backtracked. Yuki nodded beside her, hands folded in front of her.
"There was no reading, nor was there a library. Just boredom. We were terribly bored." She declared, her face blank of anything that could give her away though her twin had already done a fine job of it.
Hinata shot them both a look that told them that she didn't believe them for a single moment as she moved forward to give each of them a hug. Kori walked in, still talking to her grandfather about something to do with training, Mino holding on to his hand until they entered the house. He let go as soon as they had entered the door and then walked over to his mother, holding up his arms in a silent request that Hinata pick him up. Once he was up in her arms, he placed a wet and sloppy kiss onto her cheek and then snuggled into her shoulder, watching everyone from his perch.
The children all eventually ran upstairs to quickly put their things away, though Hinata knew that they would get distracted half way through and would probably start playing with whatever new things they had acquired on their week away. She smiled at her father and motioned him into the living room, one arm curled supportively beneath the still watching Mino.
"How were they?" She asked once they were sitting, and she nearly burst out laughing at the look in her father's eyes.
"They were… Fine." He paused for a minute. "Though I don't really know if the east garden will ever recover."
Hinata didn't know whether to laugh or grimace, so she just settled on a wince.
"They are extremely energetic," Hiashi continued, "And I think this week with them might have had a big impact on Hotaru. They certainly had an impact on the compound as a whole. I heard one member say that the children would do well for training ANBU to be more alert and ready for battle." He said, his lips twitching in amusement. Hinata chuckled and shook her head at the wondrous chaos that her children were.
"Yes, well, you're not the first to say it." She told him, shifting Mino around in her lap and allowing him to play with her hand. Upstairs she heard the sounds of her children, of Yuka finding something to pick at about Leo, of Kori telling them to keep it down because she was trying to do something, of Yuki getting tired of it and closing her door to shut her door to keep her siblings out, and the Yuka asking Yuki to open the door and blaming Leo all the more.
There was a crash of something and then the thump of a body hitting the floor, but there was no crying, instead just a new round of loud yelling and shrieking from the two most hot headed of her children, and then the voices of the other two joining in. Hiashi looked upwards warily, obviously concerned about what could be going on, his worry proving that the children had been on some of their best behavior for him while they had been gone despite the destruction he claimed had happened.
Hinata just smiled because no matter how good that week had been, it had been too quiet in the house without the children, and the ruckus upstairs just meant that everything was back as it should be. Her children were home, and she didn't think that she could be happier.
Smile still on her face, though she'd hide it in just a minute, she stood and started on her way upstairs to take care of her wild offspring before her father got too worried.
Well, there you are!
Nothing really new with me, though I've discovered the wonders of gelato and I cleaned my room. Plus, I fell down the stairs, but I apparently have resilient ankles because they only got a few bruises and nothing really serious.
Oh, and do you know what is a weird word when it is all caps? LAWYER. It just looks really weird to me, though not too much in this type setting. It's something I noticed when I was working on one of my presintations for class.
And now, it is Baby time:
To the Anon who asked for me to do a chapter about Sasuke: While I do not like the character, the chances of me doing a chapter on what happened to him is actually pretty high since he has such a big effect on the other characters in the universe. But, I'd only do it after the Manga's end so that I can actually come up with a plot that makes sense for why his character is gone, and I feel that I can only do that if it shows a bit more. Right now he's just not there in my head, because I vengefully killed him off due to my dislike of the character.
TheCookieMonster77: Aw, thank you sweetie! And it's fine if you don't leave a big review, just knowing if you enjoyed it is enough, because your happiness is important!
I'll hopefully see all of you soon!