Dreams
Unbroken
Chapter Nine
"Itachi!" Eneko cried, surprised. He held onto her tightly, despite her struggles to get free. Itachi glanced at the three children before leaning down close to his wife's ear. She blushed slightly, and whimpered, trying to pull away from him.
"Eneko, when you left I was the father of one. How am I now, three days later, the father of three?" He demanded, pulling her away from the house. Eneko's eyes widened before she smiled up at him and pressed her lips against his.
"Itachi, what I'm going to tell you will be shocking for a while, but you've got to understand that I consider all three of them to be my children and that's not going to change." She warned him. He nodded and motioned for her to continue. Eneko sighed softly, rubbing her arm nervously. "Well, when I was kidnapped at the Akatsuki, I realized that I was pregnant..." Itachi's eyes immediately widened and he grabbed onto her arms in shock.
"You knew all the way back then and you didn't tell me? Didn't tell anyone?" He insisted. Eneko's eyes filled with tears and she nodded in shame.
"I know, it was a bad idea, but the whole Akatsuki battle was going on and I felt that we needed all the help that we could get, even if I couldn't do as much while pregnant." She murmured softly, tears spilling out of her eyes.
"It all makes sense now…" Itachi started, his eyes widening in realization. "The reason that you kept getting sick, the reason you got so tired so easily. I thought you said that you went to Tsunade and she told you that you weren't pregnant." Eneko smiled sheepishly. "You never went, did you?" She shook her head and he sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "Continue please."
"Well, anyway, during the fight with Pein, all that was going through my head was 'I have to get him away, I have to get him away from my family'. I wasn't thinking about you, or about Niji, or even about my unborn son, so I used some of my life chakra to teleport myself to the otherworld. I meant to just transport him to the ocean and dump him there or something, but it turned out we were standing right on a portal to the otherworld. I got to the otherworld and passed out. When I woke up, I was being cared for in the house of an older woman whose name was Joy in America. She told me that I had to stay with her at least until I had the child, so I did, and I learned all that I could from her. A few months later, Sachi was born.
"I wanted to go back to you, so I stayed with Sachi, who looks just like you by the way, and told him stories about the times I spent here. When he was two, I started across the world, trying to find a way back to you. When I got to Japan, I met Ijin, who looked exactly how I pictured Niji would look like. When Neko came back to them and I found my way home, I always planned to go back and get Sachi, but then I had that premonition at the school about Taki and Neko…Itachi, it was like seeing our own deaths…" Eneko's voice trailed down to a whisper and she pressed herself into his embrace, a new wave of tears falling down her face. He hugged her tightly, petting her hair gently.
"So Niji and I snuck away to Suna, because that's where the portal to Japan is. We warned Taki and Neko of the danger, but…but it wasn't in enough time. As we were going to the hotel, Ijin ran up to me, covered in her parent's blood, yelling that they were dead. It was my fault, Itachi. If I never would have gone to Japan, I would have never met Taki and he and Neko would still be alive… So I took Ijin in and adopted her as mine. She can be like Niji's twin sister from the otherworld. Please, Itachi, don't be mad. I only did what I thought was best." She sobbed quietly into his chest. Itachi pet her hair gently, trying to calm her down.
"Eneko, I know that you're in pain right now, but you've got to calm down for the children's sake, okay?" Eneko nodded and wiped the tears out of her eyes quickly. Itachi leaned down and kissed her gently. "Don't worry, Eneko. You may be in trouble with both me and the hokage for leaving without permission, but I wouldn't send Ijin or Sachi away. Now, you've got some introductions to do. I have ten years to catch up with my son and a daughter to meet." He smiled. She smiled happily and hugged him.
"Thank you Itachi…" She whispered softly, close to his ear. Itachi blinked in confusion and looked at her.
"For what, Eneko-chan?" He asked her quietly. She smiled happily and kissed him again.
"For understanding me this time." He smiled at her and she smiled back. She took his hand and started pulling him toward the house. "Come on now, Itachi, you've got children to meet." He nodded and allowed her to pull him to the house. Niji looked up as they came over and smiled, rushing over and hugging Itachi.
"Dad!" She cried. Itachi laughed and hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead. Sachi and Ijin both looked up apprehensively as she said the word 'Dad'. They shared a frightened look before looking back over at their father and sister.
"Niji, you shouldn't run off with your mother like that. She's a bad influence on you." Eneko made a scoffing noise while Itachi and Niji laughed. Suddenly Itachi looked over at his other two children and smiled. "Introductions, please." He said in a slight-demanding tone. Sachi stood up straighter.
"My name is Uchiha Sachi and I'm ten years old." He replied immediately. Ijin's eyes widened and she saluted quickly, causing Eneko to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.
"I-I'm…well…. m-my name is Sukimora – I mean Uchiha Ijin a-and I'm twelve. Sir!" She added quickly. Itachi smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch.
"Don't worry, Ijin. You're welcome in my family. Welcome." Ijin visibly relaxed with a happy expression on her face and then Itachi's gaze went over to Sachi, who stiffened. "Sachi, my son, we've got some catching up to do, you and I." Sachi grinned and punched the air.
"Yeah! That'll be fun!" He cried happily. Eneko, Niji, Ijin, and Itachi all laughed. Sachi joined in too after a while and then the whole family started moving everything back into the house. Eneko smiled over at Itachi, who was talking with Ijin and Sachi. Niji caught her mother's gaze and moved over closer to her as they were moving a few more things back into the house. She opened her mouth to say something that looked important from the look on her face when a voice yelled from across the house.
"Hey, Mom! Ijin's got no chakra!" Sachi yelled. Eneko sent an apologetic look over to Niji before turning toward where the voice came from.
"I already knew that, Sachi, honey. It's because she's originally from the otherworld. Don't worry about her, she'll be fine." She called back. Eneko let out a sigh and turned back to Niji. "Now, what was it you were about to say before we got interrupted?" Niji looked away for a moment, before turning back to her mother.
"Hey, Mom? Shouldn't we tell Naruto that you've got two more kids all of a sudden when you haven't been pregnant for ten years?" The green-eyed girl asked quietly. Eneko's eyes widened and she put a hand slowly to her forehead.
"Of course! Naruto! I knew I was forgetting to do something!" Eneko scolded herself under her breath before turning around and cupping her hands around her mouth. "Itachi! I've got to go get Naruto to call a meeting! We've got to introduce our newfound children! I'll be back in a few minutes! Don't teach Sachi any fire-type jutsu that could burn the house down! Love you, bye!" Eneko smiled over at Niji, ruffled her hair, and then sped out of the house.
Houses sped by quickly as Eneko smiled softly to herself. She was ecstatic that her son got to finally come home, and though she was still feeling guilty about how she came to adopt Ijin, she already loved the girl like a daughter anyway. Eneko sighed happily to herself and spun around once in the air, forming a hand seal.
"Wings of the feathered dragon." She murmured softly to herself as wings burst forth out of her back with a familiar ripping sound. Eneko stayed on the ground momentarily as the full force of the trouble she would be in hit her. She gulped nervously as she thought of what she was going to say to her hokage. People scurried back as she took flight and landed on the roof of the hokage office building. Naruto, who was already on the roof, gave a quick start backwards as the preoccupied woman deactivated her wings with a flurry of feathers.
"Eneko?" The blond man asked softly as one of his eyebrows rose. Eneko looked over at him slowly, as if she wasn't sure that she should be there. "Why did you deliberately disobey me and go back to the otherworld? I gave you a direct order and when that happens, I expect you to follow it." He scolded harshly. Eneko flinched and looked away.
"Naruto?" She asked in a quiet voice. Naruto's harsh demeanor faded immediately and he put a hand on her shoulder.
"Eneko, what's the matter?" He asked quietly. She looked back at him with tears in her eyes and her head bowed.
"Have you ever had the feeling that what you were doing surpassed your want to obey your hokage?" Naruto paused and nodded. "Well that's what happened with me, Naruto. I'm so sorry that I disobeyed you. I was already planning to go back anyway, but when I got that vision…it was just too much to handle." She smiled wickedly at her own tears. "It turns out that it was all in vain anyway. My friends Taki and Neko are dead, killed by Payne's hand." Naruto inhaled quickly, knowing how devastated she was on the inside. Suddenly, Naruto was taken aback as Eneko's gaze met his and he saw her fierce passion. "And their daughter is now my daughter. Naruto, would you call a meeting for me? I'd like everyone to re-meet my three children."
"Three?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "You only told me of two, Eneko. Where on earth did the other one come from?" The hokage demanded, confusion and curiosity overshadowing his better judgment that it may not be right to ask.
"The third child? Naruto, you're going to hate me for this, but when the Akatsuki abducted me, I found out that I was pregnant. Kisame was the only one who knew." Naruto's eyes lit up with fire as he grabbed Eneko by the arm and pulled her close. She stood about half-a-head shorter than him and was easily overpowered. Eneko glared up at him, daring him to say something, but he just glared at her for a moment longer before letting her go.
"You will be punished later for disobeying my orders, Eneko, and I don't care if it was better judgment. I will call that meeting though. We will meet at your house in five minutes." Naruto said as he disappeared. Eneko activated her kekki genkai and flew back to her home. She saw Itachi and her children waiting for her outside and dropped down, deactivating her wings and landing on the ground with feathers falling around her. Itachi saw her expression and his gaze turned from curiosity, to worry.
"What happened, Eneko?" Eneko smiled at him, grasping his hand and making him pull her close. She laid her head on his chest and sighed softly.
"I'm in trouble. BIG trouble, but Naruto's gathering everyone up and is meeting us here in a matter of minutes." She pressed her face into his chest. "Itachi, I had no idea that I could ignite Naruto's temper like that." Itachi wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"What did you say to him?" Itachi asked curiously, catching Niji's gaze and sending her a silent message to take Ijin and Sachi inside.
"I told him about me being pregnant ten years ago." Eneko murmured quietly. Itachi's eyes widened and he pushed her back to look at her.
"Eneko, that wasn't his temper. It was Kyuubi's. We've found out that Kyuubi gets upset when Naruto's upset and that was Kyuubi telling you that it didn't appreciate you not telling Naruto so that everyone would be saved some heartache. You're going to be fine. Don't worry." Eneko's eyes slowly widened as the realization hit her and she nodded slowly.
"Now all we have to do is wait, right, Itachi-kun?" Itachi smiled and nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Don't go looking so upset when Sasuke gets here. If Naruto hasn't told him, I want to see the look on his face." Itachi grinned mischievously. Eneko laughed and nodded, turning her gaze to look out for her family.