Author's notes: I revived Naruto not because I got scared but because his death and revival is part of some grand plan I had in mind. Also because, I wanted to see the blonde witness the growth of his children and of growing old together with Sasuke and doing kinky things in between. To all those who reviewed on chapter 37 and 38 thank you. I finally had the courage to read them. Yey!

Explanation: The poison that had affected Kyuubi… well… It hadn't been discovered at that time when the fox demon was in a rampage. Just like in a real world, some of the medicines we have now had not yet existing few years back, yeah?

Explanation: Naruto's death… I see some movies and hear stories where a person found himself somewhere never realizing that in the real world, he was already considered dead and that his heart had stopped beating. And when he became conscious again, he found his friends and relatives crying over his corpse.

Reminder: Yuuzuki is now 14, Akemi is 9, Miki is 8 and Kisho 4. I can hear your gasps and I know you're surprise because I barely mentioned their age. But in the end of chapter 38, I hinted it by saying about days turn to months and season came and went by.

Chapter 39: Her Idol

A slightly panicking Miki skidded to a full stop in front of the dining room where her siblings were enjoying their breakfast.

Akemi caught the one-inched thorn that was moving in bullet speed before it could pass him by. When he opened his hand the thorn was now turned to ashes. Smirking, he looked at her sister while wiping his hand with a wet towel. Yuuzuki frowned at the playful but quite dangerous attack. Miki ignored her two older brothers and settled her gaze on Kisho who looked sheepish as he realized that he had forgotten to do something.

"Didn't I tell you to wake me up?" she inquired, annoyance and frustration in her voice.

"Sorry, I forgot," was the innocent reply and she almost wanted to pull her hair. She wished Tsunade was easy on her as in a manner her little brother was apologizing but her teacher wasn't. As she grew older, the great medic-nin got stricter, stricter than she was with her aunt Shizune and aunt Sakura. At the age of eight, her lessons' range had widened and her training had become more demanding both mentally and physically. Thus, it wasn't a surprise that waking up early and reaching Tsunade's place on time was difficult.

"Good morning, Otousan," they greeted as Sasuke stepped inside and joined them for breakfast.

"Good morning, chichiue," Miki added as the blonde placed her breakfast in front of her. He smiled at her and nodded, knowing she was already running late.

"Miki, how many times did I tell you about-" Sasuke was rudely cut off by the Uchiha female as she said, "I'm already running really late so please scold me when I get home. Promise I'll listen."

Sasuke just stopped because he knew she would keep her promise. After all, this wasn't the first time Miki had asked her parents to hold off their reprimands until she was less busy. The brunette watched as she gulped down her breakfast, gone was her perfect and prim lady-like table manners.

"I'm done preparing your bentou. It's good for more than one person so share it with your friends," Naruto announced as he finally settled on the table. He knew that except for Kisho who would be going to the nursery school, the rest were just going to train. "Don't forget to take it with you when you leave." All of them nodded and muttered their thanks.

Miki choked on her last bite causing the older Uchiha sibling who was seated beside her to thump her back and offer her a glass of water. She gave him a grateful look and stood up.

Naruto almost dropped his soup bowl as he saw the clothes she was wearing. He gaped at her, "What are you wearing?" And suddenly, all eyes were on her

Miki stared back wondering if she had committed some fashion faux pas then, shrugged that off. She was certain there was nothing wrong with her clothes. The colors complimented each other and according to the most popular fashion magazine, it was currently in – mini skirt and blouse that has a lower than usual neckline and slightly displayed her midriff. She knew she looked good because she had checked herself in the mirror and she and her friends even asked the salesclerk attending to them before she bought it.

Naruto couldn't believe that those were the clothes his daughter and her friends were shopping two days ago. He wondered why he hadn't seen that until now and realized that it was his clone who was doing the laundry for these past few days. Anyway, the shirt revealed too much of her skin and considering the length of her skirt, with just a breeze or slight movement, her underwear would be seen. "Change your clothes," he said.

The blond girl gaped at him with surprise and disbelief. Didn't her father know how long it took for her and her friends to look for clothes that would fit her unnaturally slim body? "But I'll be late and besides I'm wearing under shorts."

The blonde shook his head and remained firm despite the appearing pout on the girl's face. He gave her a warning look. "It's your responsibility to wake up on time," he said, "and whether you wear an under shorts or not, it doesn't matter. Change or you won't leave this house until you do so."

She sent a distressed look to her brothers but found them looking at her passively. They wanted to help her but they also thought her dress was too much and also because they were aware that once their chichiue would use that tone, compliance was the only way to go. When no help came, she pleadingly gazed at the only person who stood a chance against chichiue – her otousan.

"Change your clothes," Sasuke said with finality. There was no room for any arguments, Miki realized that. Unable to do anything but obey her parents, she went to her room to change. She angrily grabbed a new set of clothes and hastily put them on at the same time trying to stop herself from crying. But the more she tried to stifle the urge the more tears fell from her eyes. She was angry at the same time felt betrayed. But why should she be? She asked herself, when from the very beginning she had been alone. From the start she had no ally in this family. She hated them… all of them.

-SasuNaru is love-

Standing in front of Tsunade's office, Miki took a moment to erase the tearstains on her face and take big gulps of air. She thought that since she was already few minutes late for her training, a few seconds more wouldn't matter.

Words of reprimand died on Tsunade's throat as she noticed Miki's red and puffy eyes. This was her first time to see her coming to her training in such state. "Take a seat, Miki," she said cutting off the girl's apology. "What's wrong?"

She looked surprised with the inquiry but realized as her gaze landed on the head medicnin that at that moment they weren't teacher and disciple. Her heart told her that she has found an ally in the older woman. Unheedingly, she told what happened earlier between sobs and sniffs.

When it was over, Tsunade took out the pictures she had confiscated during her years as the incumbent hokage from her drawers. She didn't know she still had them until they fell from her medical references the other day. She was glad she hadn't thrown them yet at least through them, she hoped Miki would understand few important things.

Miki curiously looked at the pictures of a person who was too old to be a girl but too young to be a woman. The blond lady, yes she was a lady with blue eyes looked strangely familiar but at the state she was in, she couldn't guess who the beautiful female was. The clothes she wore displayed a lot of skin because, the female Uchiha realized, they were meant to reveal rather than to conceal; to entice rather than to discourage.

The girl blushed when few pictures had the lady nude but smoke had concealed her private parts. But to her it wasn't the clothes or lack of it that made her sexy. It was how her blue eyes twinkled in merriment and mischief; how her cherry-red lips curved in provocative smile and how she painted herself as an angel who knew the art of pleasure that would put a courtesan to shame by the innocent seductive aura she emanated. In the opinion of the aspiring medic-nin, compared to the models in the magazine she read, the lady was better in more ways than one.

"Who is she?" she asked in a voice brimming with adoration.

"That," Tsunade answered, "is your chichiue."

And the young girl's expression was precious as she stared at her teacher then back at the pictures. She couldn't believe it! Her father was definitely a male yet he could pull a stunt such as this. She could tell this was just more than a henge, her father definitely knew about the art of being sexy.

"At a very early age, Naruto created a jutsu called oiroke no jutsu then later on the harem no jutsu as pranks. But it was effective to all male ninjas regardless of their status and strength. Even Sandaime wasn't spared," she informed. "Those techniques caused me a lot of unnecessary troubles." She frowned as few came to her mind like the time when five bisexual guys found out the object of their desire was really a boy and they decided to take revenge but deciding to punish him with whip and handcuffs. In the end, Naruto sent them to the hospital while the bill of the area damaged was sent to her office to be settled immediately. Or the time when Sasuke found out that Sai had painted few portraits of scantily clad and nude female Naruto. Neither of them was sent to the hospice but the bill of property damage was so astounding that it made the Godaime's head spin in pain and anger.

"Miki, you're beautiful-"

The girl shook her head. She was just pretty, but her chichiue was beautiful.

"If you wear those kinds of clothes, the chances of you being rape or sexually harassed are high," she explained. "You said they don't understand you, well you're right. Men don't understand women and vice versa but we all understand our own kind."

The young girl looked a bit skeptical and quite confused.

"Your parents speak from their experiences. They know how men react to nose-bleed-inducing sight. They understand what desire could do to even the most reasonable guy" she continued. Of course they would because Naruto was a victim of few rape attempts by overzealous men and countless molestation and on few occasions, Sasuke was there to save the stupid blonde like the devil himself. "Your brothers, on the other, are just following their male instincts."

Miki seemed to calm down now as she was worrying if she'd never ever wear any sexy clothes when an idea struck her.

"Your parents and brothers are worried about you because you're their," at this she paused looking for a correct term, "their one and only muse."

"I could wear any clothes I want as long as I've strength and skills to defend myself," she said with her eyes bright with fierce determination. Yes, that must be the case. For her to achieve that, she should train more. Be more serious and from now on, no more waking up late.

"And if you're overpowered?" the older woman asked.

The other grinned cheekily and dreamily, "My handsome knight would come and rescue me." And then she was now in her lala land conjuring situations where her true love would save her bravely.

Tsunade sighed as she saw her glassy eyes and far-away look on her face and decided she should tell Shizune and Sakura to stop lending her romantic pocketbooks.

-SasuNaru is love-

When Miki was walking home late afternoon she was swarmed with some of her more courageous admirers who wanted to walk her home and since her 'no' meant 'yes, I'd love to' to them, she decided to remain quiet. Unfortunately, her silence meant the same thing to them as her 'no'.

As they neared the Uchiha complex, Miki could see her brothers standing by the gates like some grumpy guards. Knowing how they disapproved of the sight of her surrounded by her eager fanboys and not wanting their gates to be tainted with blood she said, "You guys better leave now."

But all ten of them shook their head. They wanted to prove to her that they weren't afraid of her brothers especially Yuuzuki.

"Suit yourselves," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. She had tried to save them.

The moment they stood in front of the three young Uchiha males they regretted their decision. Kisho was giving them the trademark Uchiha glare, Akemi was looking predatory and seemed poised to attack them if he so desired and Yuuzuki had his eyes bleeding red as he coolly stared down at them.

"It's nice to see you again," he said in a friendly manner and with a grin that seemed to be feral.

"Would you like to step inside?" Akemi asked calmly and politely but there was a cold edge in his voice.

"I'd love to," one of the boys said and the others thought he had gone crazy to walk into what would be his grave. "But I had an errand to do," he finished with feigned regret. He bowed and took his leave and the others one by one followed suit, stuttering any lame excuses their panicking mind could conjure at that moment.

"With you guys scaring everybody, I'll end up getting old alone," she muttered with a sigh.

"I'll be with neesan always so you'll not be alone," Kisho assured childishly.

The girl sighed some more before starting to correct her younger brother. "Kisho, what I mean is-"

"You're too young to think of that, Miki/ interrupted a slightly annoyed Yuuzuki. He definitely didn't want his sister to be like hundreds of girls in Konoha who are more interested in boys than ninjutsus. She has more potential to be just a stupid untalented kunoichi.

Miki shrugged. "I'll bake you guys some cookies and in return you'll do me a favor."

Only the youngest Uchiha was eager not only because her cookies were the best but because he was close to his sister. On the other hand, the two were wary. Yes, they loved her cookies but they'd never go shopping with her, if that was what she wanted. Such activity would cause their respective fangirls to drool or swarm them like bees.

"C'mon, follow me," she said and walked inside. The three wordlessly followed her inside the house and into her room. They watched as she rummaged her closet and started throwing all clothes that were too provocative.

"Miki," Akemi said with a frown. "We know you were upset this morning but we're just worried and your get-up almost gave chichiue a heart attack."

"I think running away is best done with no one's knowledge and without help from the people you're running away from," Yuuzuki stated flatly but his eyes were narrowed.

Kisho looked deeply troubled as one thing kept on replying in his mind: Miki is leaving. He wanted for her to stay but after what happened earlier, he guessed she no longer wanted to stay. But if he'd accompany her, he'd certainly missed everybody. He was torn whether to ask her to take him with her or to stay.

"What are you saying? All I wanted is for you guys to place this in a box and hide it," she explained.

"Why?" the blonde boy asked.

"Because I decided not to wear those until I'm strong and old enough." And naturally and sinfully seductive like chichiue, she added mentally. Besides in her opinion wearing these clothes now was just like cosplaying as a lady. A few years wouldn't cause irreparable damage to her reputation anyway. "And just so I won't be tempted even once, I want you to hide it. Hide okay? not burn," she added as she noticed the mischievous glint in the eyes of her oldest brother. She didn't break her gaze on Yuuzuki until he nodded.

"But fashion is fleeting. This style won't be popular later on," her taciturn brother stated matter-of-factly.

Miki posed arrogantly, "a girl especially kunoichi knows how to adapt in any situation. Not to mention, I have a good sense of fashion."

Kisho giggled while Akemi rolled his eyes and Yuuzuki sighed. The Uchiha muse clapped her hands to motivate them, "You better start moving or there won't be supper or cookies for you."

At the mention of supper, the three remembered that both of their parents would be late coming home due to a meeting, thus Miki volunteered to cook for them and made them realized they were at her mercy. How they wished their parents would arrive early

-SasuNaru is love-

Chorus of 'otsukaresama deshita' and 'gokurousama' erupted in one of the meeting room as the Rokudaime ended the quarterly meeting joined by the hokage himself, the elders, the top liaison officers, the highest echelon of ANBU and of the medic-nin association. Quietly but in their usual quickness everybody left the office until it was only Naruto and his secretary were left.

The blonde slid few documents across the table, "Konohamaru, file them in an ordinary folder and label them as what they are. After that, you can leave for home."

The lad nodded. "What about you?"

"I'll stay a bit longer to review the matters that were raised during the meeting."

"Very well just don't push yourself too hard, Naruto-nii," he said in a worried tone. Gone was the professional treatment he practiced just to show he meant it as his friend and not as a subordinate.

The hokage grinned and replied in the same unprofessional manner, "That should be my line. You're the one who's been working overtime a lot lately."

The other just chuckled in response then bid the blond goodnight before he too left.

Half an hour later, Naruto was leisurely walking the path that would lead him home. His movements were as smooth as before as if he hadn't been paralyzed. A smile lit his visage as he felt Sasuke emerging from the darkness and shadows to join him. As if in silent cue, both of them took off the symbols of their status- Naruto his hokage hat and Sasuke his porcelain mask at the same time because without them wearing those, they were just an ordinary couple. The ANBU captain thrust his mask into his pouch before grabbing the hokage hat, silently volunteering to carry it for his wife. Side by side the two walked, the back of their hands slightly brushing against one another.

Sasuke smirked when he felt Naruto clasped their hands, the latter's fingers filling the gap between his.

Looking up to his husband, the blond said, "let's go to the nearby park."

"This isn't a date, dobe," his spouse quickly replied yet he didn't protest when his wife led them to the nearby playground.

Naruto childishly settled on the swing and looked over his shoulder, silently asking Sasuke to push the swing.

"The hell I would," he said and continued leaning against one of the poles holding the swings. But that was before the blonde sent a puppy look to his direction. "Do you still have to use that?" he asked sourly.

The blonde giggled. "Yeah and apparently it's still effective," he replied his spouse started pushing him.

Few seconds later, peals of Naruto's laughter filled the place as he oscillated back and forth, getting closer with the inky night sky but he wanted to get closer. "More, Sasuke, more," he demanded between giggles with the night breeze whipping against his face. "Harder! Harder, Sasuke."

The brunette cheeks grew redder at his partner's demand. In his opinion, it was just so wrong for his dobe to say things like that while he was riding the swing as it reminded him of a very flushed and writhing Naruto wantonly demanding for more. Diverting his mind from his rising urge, Sasuke realized that his stomach was empty and decided to do something about it at the same time stop his dobe from being so damned unconsciously seductive.

"C'mon, dobe. Let's have dinner together somewhere."

"I thought this isn't a date," Naruto teased.

"It won't be if I'll be dragging you with me."

"Bastard." The blonde jumped from the plank as it reached it swing peak and the brunette took the necessary few steps to catch his beloved in his arms and captured his lips for a slow, deep and sensual kiss that left the latter dizzy.

"I love you too, Sasuke-teme," a breathless Naruto said after awhile.

-SasuNaru is love-

Miki's left pointer finger softly tapped her study table as she read about medicinal plants. Once in awhile, in her neat handwriting she wrote notes and comments at the edges of the scrolls.

At the knock on her door, she placed her pen on the table and turned around just as her parents walked inside.

"Welcome home," she greeted politely while readying herself to be reprimanded. She watched as both of her parents seated themselves on the edge of her bed.

"Miki, how many times did we tell you to be self-dependent?" Naruto asked. "You can't always rely on us especially Kisho to wake you up."

In reply, she just pouted.

"Did you forget that using your techniques inside the house is prohibited especially if it is an offense one?" Sasuke added.

"It was just a game and it's not like he can't deflect. If he couldn't niisan-tachi would."

Both men shook their heads in disapproval and the girl knew that her punishment would be handed at the end of this little session.

"And your get-up this morning-"

"Tsunade-sama had already discussed it with me," she said, interrupting her blond father. "And I understand. I even promised not to wear those kinds of clothes until I could defend myself sufficiently. When that happens, chichiue, teach me all about make-up and mature stuffs." She finished with a mischievous wink.

"Make-up? Mature stuffs?" Naruto echoed dumbly while looking at her owlishly. "I don't know-" He gasped as his daughter threw herself to him and clutched his right arm.

"Oiroke no jutsu. Harem no jutsu. You made it perfect because you knew what means to be a lady!"

"Oh," he replied eloquently. He shared a half-worried and half-amused look with Sasuke before they watched their daughter who was now rambling on the things she expects her father to teach her.

Looking at her, the awareness that she was growing up quickly made their hearts heavy and they knew they had no choice but to accept it but why was the thought of letting her go seemed unbearably painful?

TBC

You know how parents always seemed to be so dramatic over their children's growth. Sasu and Naru are experiencing that.

Otsukaresama and Gokurousama mean "thank you for your hard work". The former is polite and is used by junior to his senior; strangers to strangers: acquaintances to acquaintances and sometimes junior to junior if the latter wants to be polite. It's informal is otsukare. Gokurousama is used by senior to junior. The informal is gokurou.