(A/N: AAAHHHHH! I'm freaking out right now! NOOOOOOO! Not Kakashi! Why not someone else! Why must the good die so young!? First Asuma, then Itachi, then Jiraya, now Kakashi and Tsunade(?) Who's next? Kurenai? CAUTION: MUSHY CLICHÉNESS LATER IN CHAPTER.
Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto… :'( )
Chapter 18: Epilogue, Ten Years Later
"Kaito, come here, sweetie." Hinata called to a small, wailing boy around the age of three.
He turned and ran toward his mother, wanting her to make things better. "Kaa-san! I got an owie!" He wailed.
Hinata embraced the weeping boy. "What happened?"
"I was practicing my shuriken throwing technique with Tou-san and I scratched my finger on the edge." He said, showing his mother his bleeding pinky finger. "I'm sorry I used one of Tou-san's real weapons. I thought I could throw it good enough."
"Well enough," she automatically corrected, then continued, "Come inside and let Kaa-san bandage it for you." She said, leading the boy inside and sending a glance in her husband's direction. He shrugged sheepishly.
He mouthed 'Sorry,'
Hinata shook her head and grabbed the bandages from a cupboard in the entrance hall. Her family had a tenancy to get hurt. Her children had all been practicing for the ninja academy since the age of three, but none of them had ever been allowed to use real weapons before the age of six. Having finished patching up her son, Hinata kissed it. "There, that'll make it all better." She smiled as he went back outside to play with his toy shuriken, straying far from the metal ones, but otherwise as though nothing had happened.
She followed him to the Uchiha training grounds and watched six of her children practicing the various jutsu and techniques their father had taught them. She also turned to watch Hikari as she walked down the narrow lane with her boyfriend. I can't believe Hikari is twenty-one already. She thought.
"Hey, Kaa-san!" Hikari said, stopping on the porch to greet her mother and turning to look at her half-siblings. "Yo, guys, what's up?" She shouted to them.
Her boyfriend, Tomoaki Kazuya, greeted them all as well. Everyone had already accepted him as part of the family, he had been coming around so much. The feeling was clearly mutual. He smiled at the children and waved as they called out to them.
Sasuke watched his children quickly file out of the training ground and into the house for lunch, then followed his wife, her daughter, and Kazuya inside to the table. Hinata began calling the names of her children to grab their lunches. "Daisuke (2), soup. Kaito (3), ramen. Yuuka (5), rice with eggs. Shiori (7), pizza. Mitsuki (8), sushi. Keijiro (8), tomato sandwich. Hikari, salad. Kazuya-kun, would you like something also?" Hinata asked, handing Hikari her plate. Miyu, their eighth and youngest child, was now cradled in Hinata's arms, asleep.
"No thank you. I ate before I came." He smiled and watched as Hikari slathered the ginger dressing on her salad and ate it quickly; he picked a few pieces of bacon and lettuce off her plate, just so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable eating while he wasn't.
Upon finishing, Hikari walked out the door with Kazuya. "We'll be back later, Kaa-san!" She shouted over her shoulder.
The young woman's mother waved back and turned to walk up the stairs. She had a mission report that had to be filled out from the week before. Being a procrastinator did not help when it came to those.
Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke followed her up the stairs and watched as she put Miyu in her cradle, then walked to their room.
Hinata sat at her desk, placed in her and Sasuke's room for them to finish mission reports and what not. Sasuke walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around his wife. She sighed into his embrace, and, as usual, completely forgot about her work. "I never imagined this would ever happen. Not once when I was younger did I ever consider the fact that I might marry you when I grew up." She whispered, almost silently. "I remember the day I first met and spent time with just you and Itachi-koi."
"Hinata, the Uchihas are going to take your father and me out for dinner tonight." Hinata's mother spoke to her five year old daughter in her soft, soothing voice. "They have two children, Itachi and Sasuke. I expect you to be very nice to them, not that we've ever had a problem with that before." Hinata looked up at her mother as she smiled.
"How old are they, Kaa-san?" Hinata asked quietly.
"Itachi is ten and Sasuke is five. I think you three will get along well. Fugaku-san, their father, said he was going to meet us at a restaurant in town and that Itachi would be babysitting you and Sasuke. Is that okay with you, Hinata?" The shy girl nodded her head. Her mother smiled again and patted her head. "Okay, good. Your father and I will be leaving as soon as the boys get here to meet with Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san."
A knock resounded in the front hall. "There they are now." The elder Hyuuga walked to the front door and opened it gently, revealing two boys with coal-black eyes standing before them. "Konbanwa, Itachi-kun, Sasuke-kun. Thank you for volunteering to babysit my daughter while my husband and I meet with your parents, Itachi-kun." She smiled gently as she ushered the younger Uchihas into the house.
Hinata walked into the room and was immediately met with Sasuke. She squeaked and looked down after meeting his gaze and flinching.
"This is my daughter, Hyuuga Hinata. I expect a good report when I return. Try not to break anything." Her mother spoke laughingly.
Itachi turned his questioning gaze at the elder Hyuuga who was now grabbing her coat. "Hinata is a very shy girl. The last thing I would expect is a bad report or something broken when I come home." The girl's mother explained.
"Are you ready to leave, dear?" Hiashi asked upon entering the room. His wife nodded her head and Hiashi proceeded to wish the children a good evening before leaving the house and locking the door behind him.
Sasuke turned toward Hinata, who was still studying the floor. He reached up to her head and yanked on her hair making her squeak again. He grabbed another handful of her hair and pulled as hard as he could, making Hinata whimper.
"Sasuke, stop that right now." Itachi said. "That's rude. I wouldn't be surprised if she hates you now."
"But all the other girls don't care!" Sasuke protested.
"That's because they like you."
"That was mean Nii-san!" Sasuke turned away from his brother and pouted.
Itachi sighed. He looked down in surprise when something pulled gently on his cloak. "What is it, Hinata-san?" He asked gently, peering at her curiously.
"A-arigatou, Itachi-san. For making Sasuke-san stop pulling my hair, I mean." She bowed slightly when she finished her sentence then looked him in the eyes. She noticed they had changed from a deep coal black color to a blood red crimson. "What happened to your eyes?" She asked quietly.
They had continued to talk all throughout their parent's dinner, almost completely ignoring Sasuke, who sat alone in the middle of the floor, playing with some of the toys he had brought along to the Hyuuga Compound. Hinata was sad to see Itachi leave, but her mother assured her that he would be babysitting her often from now on because their dinner was a success.
All she knew right then, as the Uchihas were leaving the Hyuuga Compound, was that she liked Itachi. He was nice to her and fun to talk to. She hated Sasuke. She would never forget how mean he was to her, and she would never admit to her hatred of him either.
Sasuke only chuckled, recalling one of the diary pages he had skipped over with that information on it. "You might not have ever considered it when we were younger, but do you regret anything you've done?"
"Only that I played dead and wasted years of my life." Hinata smiled. "Nothing else. I am perfectly happy with my life as it is." Her eyes closed. "I love you, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke watched her face as she spoke, and knew that every word she spoke was the truth. "I love you, too, Hinata-chan." He leaned toward her. Just as they were about to kiss, Miyu woke with a wail.
Hinata laughed at the pout on Sasuke's face and left to go comfort her daughter, knowing with all her heart she made the right choice, for it lead her to Sasuke, the man who pieced her shattered heart back together.
(A/N: It's over! –cries- I can't believe it…So sorry about the horrible delay. I kept waiting for an inspiration, but one never came. I gave up and just started typing again, and all this just wrote itself…I can't believe I couldn't think of this earlier. I know it's not very long after that huge amount of time I made you wait, but I thought that if I didn't stop it there, I could never end it. Anyway, I'm going to do a side story oneshot to this about Hinata telling Hikari about her father's identity. Tell me if you think I should add in anything else or if you weren't satisfied with this ending, or you loved it, or whatever. Review please?
Edit: I realized that I never explained the numbers in the parentheses where Hinata is handing out food to her children. Each of those numbers represents the age of the child.)