Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
A/N: To be perfectly honest, I didn't really enjoy writing this chapter. I don't know, it was just... such a drag to write for some reason. Ever have those moments? I think it was just me being a procrastinator though, so don't worry.
Anyway, sorry it took so long. I warn you, this is a lengthy one. Enjoy :)
As Cheri walked the hallways with her full bucket of soap water and the mop in one hand, she wondered about a lot of things, such as why her father was acting the way he was. It was so strange; she'd never seen him act that way before. And however much she tried to just shrug it off, she couldn't get rid of the bad feeling in her stomach. There was something there - a secret, she thought.
She entered the room she'd been planning for so long to work on, and smiled to herself. This room was probably the whole reason why she'd decided to clean the mansion up in the first place. As she slopped some of the suds onto the floor, dipped the mop into the water, and began to work, she thought back on all the good times she and her friends had been having lately. Cleaning this place up was a lot of hard work, but it was enjoyable when she had people to help her. They laughed, had fights with dirty soap water and dust rags, startled one another by jumping out from behind corners unexpectedly... For the first time in what seemed an eternity, Cheri had what she felt was a life worth living.
Still deep in thought, something suddenly caught Cheri's attention - a dark spot. She scrubbed at it, but it refused to come up. As she continued to wash, the mop revealed a bit more of the spot, then a bit more. It took quite a while to get the spot completely uncovered - it was quite large, and no matter how she scrubbed at it, it just wouldn't come up. It was a dark stain on the floor, soaked into the wood. What was it, she wondered? It looked like it had been some kind of liquid, whatever it was.
Oh well. She reminded herself to ask her father later about something to remove stains with, but probably she would just have to paint over it.
Cheri continued to clean, but for some reason her eyes wouldn't leave that spot on the floor. It took up quite a bit of the room, and it was very noticeable now that the floor was clean. And whenever she thought of Sasuke, her father, the bad feeling she'd had only grew. For some reason, she was sure that stain was blood.
Around noon and feeling uneasy, she finally left the room, sure that she wouldn't be able to down anything for lunch. The raw bad feeling in her gut had only grown over the hours, and she needed to talk about it with somebody. Unfortunately, the only somebody she seemed to be able to find was Hemiko.
Cheri's twin was sitting on the couch in the living room, silently reading. This was a common pastime of Naruto's as well, and as far as Cheri knew, that was one of the very few things that Hemiko and Naruto actually had in common.
"Hemiko?" Cheri asked.
It was a long moment before her sister replied. "...Yeah?" Hemiko finally asked, looking up for a brief moment.
"Have you noticed dad's been acting strange lately?"
Another long moment as Hemiko's eyes scanned the page. "What?" She looked up again and this time didn't immediately put her head back down. She was trying to focus, but her eyes were still lost in whatever dreamland she was living in.
"Dad - Sasuke - have you noticed he's been acting weird lately?"
Hemiko shook her head. "I don't know. I'm trying to read, Cheri." She buried her nose back into her book.
Cheri gave a frustrated sigh and left the room. With lack of anything better to do, she went back to her cleaning site - the room with the stain. Would that be how she thought of it from now on?
But when she returned, instead of finding the room empty, she found Sasuke standing there in the doorway. His back was to her, and she couldn't see his expression, but he didn't seem to have heard her approach.
"Dad?" she asked.
He turned around slowly to meet her gaze. His eyes were wide and frightened. The bad feeling in her gut reached its peak. There were tears in Sasuke's eyes. "My parents were killed in this room."
Sasuke was emotionally distraught. Cheri had run off to find Naruto after Sasuke had made his startling statement, and Naruto had brought Sasuke back into the living room. Now Sasuke sat on the couch, in the spot that Hemiko had been sitting in earlier while reading, his head down and tears slowly trickling down his cheeks. "Dad?!" Hemiko was close to screaming at him now, and there were tears standing out in her own eyes as well. She'd been calling to him for a while, asking what was going on, but Sasuke hadn't even looked at her. "What's wrong with him?" she demanded of Naruto and Cheri, tears choking her voice.
"It's okay Hemiko," Naruto sighed. "Sasuke's okay he's just... trapped in the past right now. He probably can't even hear you. He gets like this sometimes."
"But..." Hemiko trailed off, gazing at her father.
"What's going on dad?" Cheri demanded. She had to admit, she was close to tears herself. Her heart was pounding loudly - she wondered, what had Sasuke meant by what he'd said? "I just don't understand! I mean, he'd said that..." She trailed off as well, unable to speak the words. Cheri looked at her father - Sasuke - and saw emotions causing havoc inside his mind - his eyes looked dead.
Naruto sat by Sasuke on the couch and pulled him close. Sasuke did nothing. He lay against Naruto like dead weight, unblinking. "Kids," Naruto said gravely to them. "Go to your rooms and stay there for a while. I'm going to get Sasuke calmed down for now. I'll explain later."
"Dad!" Hemiko screeched. "H-how can you say that? You want me to be trapped alone in my room for hours, wondering what's going on? How can you do that to me?"
Cheri glared at her selfish sister. The one who needs attention right now is our dad - not you, Cheri thought bitterly.
Naruto looked annoyed as well. "Then take a nap," he snapped. "Do anything you want - just go."
Hemiko knew when to obey him - that had been Naruto's Hokage-in-training voice. Stiffly, the girl bowed, and fled the room. Cheri however, stood there for a moment, looking sadly at her two fathers. "Cheri, please go." Naruto sounded exhausted.
She stood there for a moment longer, just watching the two of them. Naruto apparently opted to ignore her. Slowly, Cheri's feet moved her forward before she even knew what she was doing. She knelt down next to the couch so that she was eyelevel with Sasuke's face. He still didn't blink. She was inches from him and it seemed he couldn't even see her at all. She could feel Naruto's gaze on her.
Cheri placed one hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Daddy, I love you," she said sincerely. And until that moment she had not realized how true it was - as much as they did not understand one another, Sasuke was still her father, and Cheri still loved him.
Something flickered in Sasuke's eyes - a different emotion. He blinked once, and his eyes focused for a moment. Fresh tears spilled down his face, falling into Naruto's lap. "I love you too sweetie," he said quietly. And then he looked down, and was lost in his mind again.
Cheri and Naruto looked at one another for a moment, and then she stood, and quietly left the room.
Good news came for them that night. Cheri had fallen asleep after the incident with her father, and she hadn't come out of her room since. She was woken hours later by her father, Naruto, grinning down at her. "Great news Cheri," he whispered. "Starting tomorrow, I'm the new official Hokage."
At first Cheri was confused, forgetting what day it was and all that, but when she heard her father say that, she gasped and immediately sat up in her bed. "Really?" she asked. He nodded excitedly. "Oh, daddy!" she cried, and she threw her arms around him happily.
He chuckled into her hair. "Want to go with me to tell Hemiko?"
"You haven't told her yet?"
He grinned and shook his head. "Nope. I wanted you to be one of the very first people to know."
She grinned back at him just as widely. Then, suddenly, she remembered everything that had happened before. "How's dad?" she asked quietly.
Naruto's face grew somber. "Sasuke is... doing better. He's sleeping. He calmed down a lot. I haven't given him the good news yet."
"Well why don't we go tell him then?" Suddenly a little light bulb popped up above her head. "And why don't we have a party too? To celebrate? That would cheer dad up."
Naruto chuckled. "You don't know your father very well, do you?" She was confused. At her look he explained, "Sasuke usually hates parties, and he surely wouldn't want one at a time like this - when he feels emotionally weak. But then again, Sasuke's changed over the years, so maybe we can give it a try."
Cheri agreed to go fill Hemiko in while Naruto woke her (other) father. Cheri walked into her sister's room without knocking - a habit that she and Hemiko had picked up when they were little; they were twins, and as much as they disliked each other at times, still, they had no secrets. Cheri wasn't surprised to see her sister sitting under her reading lamp with a book in her lap, but what she was surprised to see was Hemiko staring out of her bedroom window with tears streaming down her face. Apparently the events of earlier that day were still fresh in her mind.
Cheri, who was in a slightly understanding mood, slowly walked over to her sister. Hemiko began to wipe the tears away. "You've been crying this whole time?" she asked quietly, and she made her voice sound just a tad bit incredulous. Hemiko didn't reply. More seriously Cheri added, "Dad's just found out some good news. Naruto. He's going to become Hokage tomorrow."
Hemiko looked up at Cheri, a mixture of emotions on her face.
"Look if you're still worried about Sasuke, you shouldn't be. Dad says he's doing better. He calmed down and laid down for a nap. Tonight we're going to have a party to celebrate Naruto becoming Hokage, and hopefully seeing all his friends will cheer dad up again."
Cheri watched as her sister turned the idea over in her mind. "A party?" she asked. Cheri nodded. "Can I invite my friends?"
"I don't know. You'll have to ask dad."
Hemiko nodded. "Alright."
The party went very well. All of Cheri's friends were there, as well as Hemiko's, and not to mention Sasuke and Naruto's friends of course. Even the current Hokage (soon to be former Hokage) was there - Tsunade herself. Every time Cheri came into contact with the woman she found herself surprised that one who had been Hokage for so long could still look so young, and so she had to keep reminding herself that Tsunade had a special transformation technique that allowed her to appear any age she wanted to be.
Cheri also wondered what it must be like for Tsunade to attend a party in celebration of someone else taking over her job. Tsunade, however, seemed almost... glad for it - she seemed almost abnormally grateful, in fact. With a full sake cup in one hand, Tsunade threw her other arm around Naruto and left it draped about his shoulders. "I gotta tell ya - I'm relieved," she exclaimed loudly, pressing her face close to Naruto's in a way that made Cheri wonder if the woman were not already drunk. "Being Hokage is waaaaay too much pressure and responsibility. Whew! I'll be glad to be rid of the title." She grinned largely before throwing her head back and downing the contents of the sake cup.
She laughed loudly then and shook Naruto playfully. "I admit when we first met I didn't think you were Hokage material, but boy you've sure proved me wrong." A round of laughter went around in agreement. Tsunade refilled her cup herself, threw her arm back around Naruto, and immediately proposed a toast. Everyone drank - everyone except for the children, of course - even Sasuke, who was standing quietly not too far off in an out of the way place.
To Cheri, the party did not seem to be helping Sasuke one bit. He wasn't socializing at all, and nobody approached him - after years and years of being around the Uchiha, people knew well when to avoid him. However, when Cheri pulled Naruto aside to question him about it, he told her not to worry. He told Cheri that Sasuke was doing much better than he usually did after one of his bouts - apparently this had happened before.
It plagued Cheri to know what it had all been about - why Sasuke had freaked out like that - and it threatened to overcome her several times during the party. As a result, she was in a bad mood most of the time, which caused her to be a bit snappish whenever someone talked to her. It was not that she was trying to be mean, or even that she was angry - she was just a bit annoyed by the fact that here she was worrying her little head off, and there was no chance for anybody to tell her what the heck was going on.
So, people began giving Cheri the same looks they were giving Sasuke, and avoiding her just as much; even her friends stayed away from her. Jokingly, someone said, "She's definitely got Sasuke's attitude." A few people in the crowd laughed at that. Cheri scowled at them all and crossed her arms grumpily, but Sasuke looked up and gave her a weak smile, which made her feel a little better - relieved, at least, that he was well enough to know what was happening around him, and to smile at his daughter.
Then, something else happened, and it was quite different from the "something" that Cheri was expecting. Amaya approached Cheri, absolutely bubbling with enthusiasm. "Guess what Cheri?" she whispered excitedly. Cheri raised a skeptical eyebrow - she'd never seen her friend this keyed up before. Amaya was literally bouncing on her heels with joy - the girl couldn't seem to stand still - and the excitement that seemed to be coursing through her caused her voice to raise a couple octaves. "Never mind, you'll never guess." A grin threatened to break out over the girl's face. It made Cheri curious, and for a moment it took her thoughts away from Sasuke and her family problems.
"What is it?" she asked warily.
The grin won over and Amaya laughed happily. "Oh Cheri, Yasashiku talked to me today."
It took Cheri a moment to get it - Yasashiku talked to her everyday, that was nothing unusual as far as she knew - but suddenly understanding hit her, and she smiled at her friend. "That's great Amaya! What did he say?"
The girl laughed again, and the next she said all came out in a rush that Cheri could barely understand. "Well, I was really nervous and stuff because I've kinda been wanting him to talk to him about it, so at first I decided against it. I was like 'I'm definitely not going to!' but then Ayame got annoyed and told me to just do it, and then I talked to Mika and she said so too!" She took a short breath. "Sooooo then I just walked up to him, and I was all nervous, and I almost chickened out but then I just told him I liked him and he gave me this really weird look at first like he didn't understand, but then he said that that was cool and then..." she paused to take a bigger breath "...he held my hand!" She squealed kind of quietly. "I'm so happy!"
Cheri grinned at her enthusiastic friend. "I'm so happy for you Amaya!"
"Thanks!" the girl laughed, obviously relieved. She hugged Cheri animatedly.
"Don't look now," Cheri whispered in her ear, spotting Yasashiku in the crowd, "but here comes loverboy - walking your way."
Amaya jumped a bit at that, and her eyes grew wide as she spun around on the spot. Yasashiku walked up to them casually, looking bored and kind of embarrassed. Amaya seemed unsure of what to do, and her eyes flickered to the walls and the floor and the ceiling and back to him. "So, uh..." he trailed off, running a hand through his hair.
"Yeah?" she asked with a tiny smile when he didn't continue.
He grumbled under his breath for a minute, and he wouldn't look at her. "You wanna go for a walk or somethin'?"
She flashed a bright grin. "Okay."
Cheri watched in amusement as Amaya and Yasashiku quietly snuck out together. Quickly she found the rest of her friends and filled them in. Most of them just laughed, but the guys all rolled their eyes. "You seem to be in a better mood now, Cheri," Kiyoshi noted as he pulled his little sister - Kichi - closer to him. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on her, but the girl was shy around the teenagers. She looked up at Cheri with large, curious eyes. Usually whenever Cheri tried to talk to the girl, Kichi would just hide behind Kiyoshi. The two of them were pretty close, as far as siblings went.
"Hm," Cheri replied, idly thinking back on the issues from before. Her eyes searched for Sasuke in the crowd, and she found him standing near Naruto around some of their friends. He seemed to be in a better mood as well, and Cheri relaxed a little.
Eventually, someone happened to noticed that Amaya and Yasashiku were missing. Shikimaru was the first to realize it. He'd approached Cheri and the others, casually asking where Yasashiku was while his eyes scanned the crowd. Cheri shared looks and smug smiles with her friends. "He went out," Ayame replied simply.
Shikamaru, hearing the amused edge of her voice, looked down at them then and obviously could see the glee in their expressions. "Out where?" he asked suspiciously.
"Out with Amaya," Cheri answered, and Mika giggled. Even Haru and Kiyoshi grinned at that.
Shikamaru seemed stunned. "He went out with a girl?" He blinked a few times in surprise at the notion, and then laughed as he breathed a sigh of relief. Shaking his head, the man turned away to tell the other party guests.
Upon finding out where their daughter was, Neji of course fretted, but Hinata just laughed and held him still. "Amaya knows how to take care of herself dear," she told him. "And I'm sure little Yasashiku would never do anything in the slightest to pressure her. He's quiet, and he gets in trouble a lot, but he's a good kid." Shikamaru looked pleased at that.
Neji grunted, but still winced at the thought of his daughter out with a boy. He looked very uncomfortable, and very unhappy. His eyes kept flickering over toward the door as if he were ready to bolt out of the party and drag his daughter back to where he could keep her in his sight. Hinata, Cheri thought, was the only thing really keeping him back.
One by one the party guests eventually left, seeking the refuge of their own homes. Once the very last of them was gone - Shikamaru leading an embarrassed-looking Yasashiku - Cheri turned to her fathers for an explanation of what had happened earlier that day. She wasn't sure where to start or what to say, but her fathers must have known what it was she wanted. Even Hemiko, who was sweeping nearby, looked up in curiosity. The girl's expression was confused, and even a little hurt. Cheri didn't blame her.
After discerning his daughters' expressions, Sasuke quietly left the room. Surprised, Naruto watched Sasuke leave and then looked back at his daughters helplessly. Angry now more than anything, Cheri let out an explosive sigh. Naruto gave her an apologetic look, and then followed after his husband. Hemiko's face grew even more somber and her gaze dropped to the floor and continued to sweep.
After a short moment of indecision, Cheri stalked out of the room after her fathers. Surprisingly Hemiko didn't try to stop her.
Cheri figured that they had gone to their own bedroom, so that's where she headed. She loved her parents' room. She had always. She loved the way it felt so comfortable and at home in there. As children she and Hemiko had spent plenty of time in that room, especially at night whenever they had nightmares; they would sleep in their parent's bed. But most of all, probably, Cheri loved the colorful splashes of paint that covered the walls - the result of an apparent paint fight that Naruto had once mentioned.
When Cheri approached the bedroom, the door was closed, but she could hear someone talking inside. She recognized her father - Naruto's voice. "...tell them sometime," he was saying. Sasuke replied with something too low for Cheri to hear, so she pressed her ear to the door.
"Sasuke, please, your daughters are worried about you. They have every right to know the truth and besides, by now they must know that we've been keeping a secret from them." Sasuke didn't reply, that Cheri could hear. "We can hardly put this off any longer Sasuke, it's time to tell our kids the truth about what happened here. About what happened to you."
Curiosity rolled over Cheri in waves and threatened to overcome her. She had the strongest urge to just open the door, step inside the room, and demand to know what the hell they were talking about. She contained herself, though, and waited to hear something else.
Suddenly, the door opened. Cheri stumbled back in response and looked up with wide eyes at her fathers. After the moment of surprise passed, Naruto sighed. "Cheri..." he started.
Anger flared up within her, and she interrupted. "Something you need to tell us?" she demanded. "What are you hiding?"
Naruto hesitated, then sighed again. Sasuke kept his eyes on the floor. "Come on," Naruto said, placing a hand on her arm so as to lead her away. She moved unwillingly.
Back in the main room of the house, Hemiko was standing in the same spot, still sweeping the floor, but she looked like she wasn't paying much attention to what she was doing - her eyes were glazed over and she was crying a little. As Cheri and their fathers stepped closer, Hemiko looked up at them, and a few more tears trickled down her face. She didn't look particularly sad - just concerned.
Once again, Naruto sighed. "Come on everybody," he said. "We'll go in the kitchen, drink some nice warm tea to calm everyone's nerves, and then we'll get all of this out in the open."
Cheri and Hemiko silently followed their fathers into the kitchen and sat together at the table. Sasuke sat at one end, closest to Hemiko and across from Cheri, and across from Hemiko was Naruto's seat. The clock on the wall indicated that it was nearing midnight. There was a long day ahead of them the next day, Cheri knew, but it looked like they would all just have to be tired. There was no way she was going to spend the rest of the night trying to sleep, worrying about all this.
Naruto served the tea soon enough, while Cheri and Hemiko waited in impatient silence. Finally their father sat and Sasuke let out a long, heavy breath.
"So," Naruto started. "As you've probably guessed by now, there's something, about this house, that we haven't told you about." He looked down at the table near the end of his sentence. He grimaced. "You have to understand, it's not that we didn't want to tell you, or that we've been keeping secrets from you, we just... there wasn't ever a way to bring it up. We didn't know how to say it."
Sasuke had his face in his hands, eyes closed. Naruto did not continue. "What is it?" Hemiko prompted quietly.
Gravely, Naruto turned to his husband and took one of Sasuke's hands in his, taking it away from Sasuke's face. "I think you should be the one to tell them." He said so quietly. "I don't really know what happened - I wasn't there. Besides, it's your house. Your family. It just wouldn't be right coming from me."
He and Sasuke looked one another in the eye for a long time, and then Sasuke turned to his daughters and launched into the story of his tragic childhood.