..Chapter Nineteen..

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Naruto exhaled slowly as he shut the door behind him. It hadn't been easy, but, it was a good first step. It wasn't the way he had ever intended she should find out, but, maybe it was meant to be. Fate had a funny way of allowing things to work out on their own for you.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto looked at his wife. His beautiful, headstrong, soft spoken wife. She had chaged in so many ways since they became a couple; but, in many ways still she would always be that shy little girl that blushed everytime she saw him.

"I'm fine." He glanced over at Neji and Tenten. "You should go see your son. We all need to before he goes back to the stands. If he can. Regardless of what happened--"

Neji put up a hand to interrupt him, "I know. This still needs to be kept under wraps. We'll all handle it together."

Naruto nodded and looked over at Kakashi. He smile faintly. "Thank you. I just couldn't trust anyone else to watch the door."

Kakashi seemed to laugh with his one good eye. "Always at your service... Hokage-sama." His voice was soft.

Naruto let out an irritated sigh. "Quit that. Or I'll send your wife out on another long series of missions, you crazy old bat."

He seemed to take on an expression on fear for a moment. But, for whatever reason came back to his senses it seemed. "How did you--"

He stuck his tongue out at him a moment, once more reminding everyone of just how big of a kid he was. "I'm might be dense sometimes, sensei. But, I'm not stupid. I do have access to both your files in detail."

He seemed to chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "I suppose we've been found out. And here I wanted to surprise everyone with another ceremony."

Tenten wrinkled her nose. "Somehow, I just can't see you married, Kakashi-sensei."

Neji smirked. "Who is the lucky girl anyway?"

Naruto turned to him, hands on his hips. "No one you'd know in detail. Hatake Rin is her name. She's running Kei's team and a former ANBU Black Ops like Kakashi. Although... she joined much later."

Kakashi patted Naruto's back several times. "Go on. Shin is waiting. I already told him not to speak about Kei to the medical team."

All four of them nodded and left down the hall, leaving Kakashi to once again guard the door.

He sighed and pulled out a familiar novel as he leaned back into the door. "The things I do for love..."

ooo

"Sharingan."

Kei blinked from her standing position in front of her 'parents' and uncle. "What?"

Sasuke came forward and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He motioned for her to join him.

After a moment and few brief thoughts, she did.

Sakura moved to sit on the other side while Itachi simply took a seat in a nearby chair close to the mattress.

Sasuke looked down at her. "The eye technique you posses. It's called Sharingan."

She seemed to take this in quietly. Could she help it? She was still in a state of shock. In the matter of a few hours she went from finding out her eyes had changed, finding out her parents weren't her real parents, all the way to finding out her father's friends were her parents. What was she suppose to call her parents now? Naruto and Hinata? It just didn't sound right.

Still, she didn't want him to think she wasn't interested. Even if she'd only just learned he was her real father, she still cared about him as she had before.

"You might want to retract it though," he smiled slightly and motioned to her eyes.

"Huh? Why?" She arched a brow. And then someone tapped her shoulder. She looked over at Sakura. Her mother.

She smiled down at her. "Because, like any technique, Sharingan uses chakra. Even as I speak you're using it up. And you don't want to exhaust yourself."

Kei nodded and closed her eyes, and like any technique she called, willed it away. When she reopened her eyes she felt a little heady. It was odd, going from clearly seeing the world to... normal.

"You'll get use to it. The first time always leaves you slightly off step." Itachi was saying.

"So," Kei looked over at him, "You're my uncle. I'm not sure what I should call you." She sighed and bit her lower lip. "Any of you."

Sakura glanced up at Sasuke and then back down at Kei. She reached for her hand, somewhat unsure... but she knew the little girl wouldn't pull away from her. No, she looked at her. Sakura smiled. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I know this is going to be hard on you. It already has been. We're just happy... we're just happy you don't hate us." She sighed, but continued. "When I found out I was pregnant with you.. I was deathly afraid. I don't wish to speak ill of Sasuke, but, we were both different people then. I was worried if I told him, he might force me to abort you."

Kei's eyes widened. She looked over at Sasuke and then back to Sakura. Her eyes narrowed a bit. "Why?"

Sakura reached out and caressed her cheek; eventually brushing hair out of her eyes. "As I said, we were both very different people then. Sasuke only ever shows that heated, angry, hateful side of himself anymore in battle. Where it's needed most." She watched as Kei took that in. When she nodded in understanding Sakura continued. "Much to my surprise, he didn't want to do that at all. He became as worried as I was. You see, we always wanted children, but only after he defeated Itachi. But, you know that story already." She smiled faintly again, but let it drop.

"When we brought you to Konoha we originally thought Tsunade would take care of you. It was only after her refusal that Sasuke brought up Naruto. We knew if we left you with him and Hinata you would be in good hands. We always worried about you; but, Naruto would never have let anything happen to you. So, despite never having had contact until now... we believed you were ok. We had to."

Kei almost felt stupid asking, but she did anyway, "Why?" Like she needed to hear it for herself.

"Why?" Sakura seemed to think the answer was obvious as well. But, she indulged her daughter anyway. "Because we love you. You were our guiding light all these years. There were many times I just wanted to give up. I wanted to come home and hope for the best. I wanted to start my family and end the senseless chasing. The endless years I wasted away from you. Away from my friends and my one last chance at happiness." She ignored the single tear as it fell. "I always wanted a family. And I always knew it would be with Sasuke. I always knew it would be in Konoha. I wanted to make my dreams, his dreams of reviving the clan, come true." Another tear fell. "You are apart of those dreams, Kei. There hasn't been another Uchiha child born before you since Sasuke that survived the tragedy they brought on themselves."

Kei reached out and hugged her mother. She smiled as she felt the woman embrace her tightly. You couldn't hear her crying, but, Kei felt the ebbing tears hit her body from above. She was happy. It hadn't been the most eventful day. But she was happy. She wasn't alone anymore in her gift. She wasn't an ugly duckling anymore. She'd managed to turn into a swan and find her family.

She had an uncle, a mother and a father. All of whom loved her and didn't look at her with eyes speaking questions of failure. She no longer had anything to prove to anyone. She was content. And even if she had to wait years to know the truth, she understood. These people were in just as much pain as she was.

"I love you too," she whispered into her chest. It was a belated response, but Sakura didn't seem to care.

She ran fingers through her child's hair and kissed the top of her head. If the child in her arms only knew how long she'd waited to hear those words. If she only knew. She blinked as she felt arms around them both and looked up to see Sasuke as he embraced his family.

Kei turned in her mother's arms then and reached for him as well. She wrapped her small arms about his waist and hugged him for all he was worth.

Sasuke hugged back, running a hand down her head. He looked up at Sakura and smiled. After a moment though, he felt the child leave him, scrambling off the bed. He watched as she scampered over to Itachi.

She grinned at her uncle. "You need love too, sour face." And then she was leaping into his arms.

Itachi took on a look of wide eyed fear for a moment and then braced himself for the child's attack. He just barely managed to catch her as she embraced him. He couldn't help a rather loud grunt though. she hadn't knocked the wind out of him, but it hadn't felt good either.

He looked down at her a moment and sighed. "Sour face? Isn't that disrespectful to your elders?"

In response she stuck her tongue out at him. "Nope. Not when they don't smile." She grinned for a moment as a thought occurred to her. "I know, you need a kiss, Uncle."

Both Sakura and Sasuke watched with avid fascination and restrained mirth as the little girl reached up and kissed Itachi on the cheek.

Kei pulled back with a curious smile as a ting of red crossed over her uncle's cheeks. "Uncle? Are you ok? I didn't embarrass you did I?"

In response the older man simply grunted.

She smiled again and hugged him more so than the last as she sat in his lap. "You are. I'm sorry, Uncle."

Itachi sighed and allowed for a small half smile as he pulled the girl's head to his chest. "You will be the death of the family, if not me personally, child."

Sasuke was continuing to suppress a smile over the antics across the room as he stood up. "Well, we need to explain one more thing, Kei." Sakura stood up next to him.

She looked up at them both. "Yes?"

"No one can know you're an Uchiha yet. Not until Orochimaru and the Akatsuki are no longer a threat to us anymore."

Kei felt her heart drop and looked down into her lap.

Sakura sighed. "We hate to ask this of you, especially after everything you've went through today. But... you can't use Sharingan either."

"What?" Her face was awash with fear. She'd just learned the technique! It was the reason she no longer felt different! And now she had to keep in a secret? No, that wasn't hard. What was hard is she couldn't even use it...

"Hold on," Itachi was saying. "There's no reason why she can't use Sharingan."

Sakura frowned as he placed her hand son her hips. "What are you saying? People will know what she is the minute she uses the technique."

He shook his head. "Only if they see the technique. Others will simply assume she's faster and easier at reading movements than most. We've still got a while until she masters the hypnosis and mind manipulation abilities."

Sasuke took pause at that. "How do you plan on keeping people from seeing them if she uses them?"

He smirked. "Use your head, little brother. Just buy her a pair of shades or goggles. It's as easy as that."

Sakura blinked. "I suppose that could work... But, isn't there a chance older--veteran--ninja will pick up on her quick assessment of the situation?"

He nodded, "Of course. But, you can't stifle her."

Kei grumbled. "You know, it's rude to talk about someone when they're in the same room."

Sakura smiled down at her. "We're sorry."

Sasuke sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Alright, it's a big risk... but it's better than the first idea." He looked over at Sakura. She didn't looked happy about it, but she nodded anyway. He looked back down at Kei. "Alright, until we get something to shield those eyes of yours do not use them. Ok?"

She nodded. "Yes, Papa."

He blinked. He looked over at Sakura who was equally surprised. When he looked back down at Kei she was smiling.

"Is that ok?"

"Is what," he asked.

She blinked. "To call you Papa?"

He felt a wave of pride sweep over him. He pushed it down though even if he couldn't help the smile that came. "Yes, but, only behind closed doors."

She nodded. "Ok."

Itachi stood up and brought Kei along with him in his arms. Even while doing this he replaced his mask. "We need to get going. Naruto has most likely already returned to the stands."

Both of them nodded and replaced their masks.

Itachi looked at Kei. "Uncle can't carry you anymore, Kei. We're leaving the room and we don't want to raise suspicion. Alright?"

She nodded as he set her down. If he couldn't hold her than that also meant she couldn't even hold her parents hands. She frowned, understanding perfectly how Sakura and Sasuke must have felt. She took that feeling and made it a hundred times worse... really making her want to cry.

How had they survived it? All this time keeping the secret? Staying away from her? and then when they got here... Oh... Kami... now she finally understood why Sasuke had cried when she hugged him the first time. He must have felt so torn... it'd been the first time he'd held her... since she was probably a baby.

She might be an Uchiha... but, like any Uzumaki... she was incredibly good at understanding people. She decided then that she would be strong for her family. The newer part of her family. She wouldn't love... Naruto? It still didn't sound right. But, she wouldn't love him any less just because she loved Sasuke. It would be the same for Hinata and Sakura. They were all her parents... she'd just gained more of them.

She grinned, looking up at them. Yes, she would still call Hinata and Naruto her Papa and Mama... She had to be the luckiest girl under the sun to have so many loving parents.

"What are smiling about?" Itachi asked.

She kept right on smiling. "I'm smiling because I have two moms, two dads and one more uncle. Who wouldn't be smiling?"

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AN: I know this chapter wasn't that long. Without this author note it's not even really over my 3000 word mark that I usually prefer. But, I'm ok with it. -smiles-

Kattylin : Oh, ok XD It's just the way you let the '...' It made it seem like you were unhappy about it. XP S'ok. Thanks for the review.

NicolerrogersXX : Me too! I only thought it fitting, as explained in the last AN, that he should do it.

Kalimr : -blush- Thanks. And yeah, I did catch the repeating 'And then' -wrinkles nose- Why did I do that? Oh well, it still looks good. I'm glad you enjoy my story. Although, at this poit, it's turning out to be more of a novel and much longer than I anticipated.

Superme383 : You were? Good! That was intention! I needed to get Hinata in there somehow. And I couldn't see Naruto or anyone else standing up to her about what she was saying. If Hinata did it... well... I think it would have made more of impression her. Glad you liked it. Thanks for the review.

KirimixxChan : I was so going for that! -grin- I wanted to build the anticipation until he told her. Glad to make your day! It's my hobby!

MidnightShadow : Thanks! If you liked this one you should check out my others. Although, they are Yaoi.

Lady Rini : Thank you for that response. That kind of input is important to me.

And to all others! Domo Arigatou!

--Blade