A/N: Can you believe it, can you believe it...? I've gone back to my old habit of ignoring a particular story for months on end, completely giving up on it, and then randomly updating again! (After all, I did that several times to the story preceding this one...) So, woot!

Maybe it's better this way. Now that mah mad writing skillz have improved, perhaps I can bring the plot up a notch, and take this story into a whole new direction. Make it something exciting and actually good. I don't really know what I'm getting into here, but hey - sounds like fun. ^_~

p.s. I think you should know, I was forced to take out and change a small part of chapter 5, because unfortunately, I didn't look through my story properly enough before I wrote this chapter. Therefore, I really, really had to downsize the graduation part in that chapter.... I kinda wish I could rewrite the whole story. But that's just not happenin'. Too much work.

Time passed with an uncanny slowness. Cheri and Hemiko, since they had finally graduated, were now officially Genin. Their father -Sasuke- attended the ceremony the day they received their Leaf Village headbands. Naruto, however, couldn't make it because he was busy with his duties as the new Hokage. Cheri didn't blame him though - her little talk with Sasuke had finally convinced her to stop being so cold toward her other father. Not to mention, she was strangely beginning to feel the days go by, and it gave her time to really think things through and look at them from another perspective. Whenever she got home that afternoon, Cheri went to her room and looked into her reflection, serious blue eyes - so much like her father's - staring back at her.

Everything felt as though it had rather suddenly, and conveniently fallen into place - like a feather drifting down until it finally touched upon the surface of a deep pool of hidden emotions. The loneliness Cheri had always felt among her family, the distance between her and her sister, the relationship she shared with every one of her dear friends... everything came into clearer focus, and she began to accept, as well as to be satisfied with. Cheri really felt - or at least, she hoped - that she was finally growing up. She was considered a true ninja of Konoha now - a protector of the village; and she should act like one, too.

The graduating class of the ninja academy was placed onto their teams shortly after the ceremony. Cheri and Hemiko were placed together, which was kind of irritating. It was enough that they had to put up with one another at home. However, the other twin girls - Ayame and Amaya - were sadly split up. Amaya would be on the team with Cheri and Hemiko -their's was called Team 3- and Ayame would be put into a team with Yasashiku. How ironically and horribly matched - (seeing as Amaya was the one with the crush on Yasashiku).

Cheri was sympathetic for her two friends. The moment that it was announced that Amaya and Ayame would be on separate teams, the two twin girls stared at one another in shock, clasping hands and about to cry already. They were the ones who should have been placed together. A day later on, Cheri would happen to overhear a conversation between two of their former academy teachers, discussing the matter. "It's for the best," they would say. "The Hyuga girls need to learn to live apart from each other, while the Uchiha girls need to learn to live with each other."

That night, when Cheri confided in her family at the dinner table how she felt bad for the twin girls, Hemiko announced rather bluntly that she was quite unsympathetic. "They'll be perfectly fine, you're just being overdramatic. They're sisters - it's not like they're not going to be seeing each other every day anyway."

Cheri stared coldly at her. "Your attitude makes me wish that they had put us on separate teams. Honestly I don't know how they're going to expect me to trust you with my life." Hemiko snickered at her, and opened her mouth to make another remark, but their fathers stepped in then and put a stop to the slight argument. It wasn't as if Cheri and Hemiko had ever actually really fought before - not with their fists anyway; but Cheri felt that if Hemiko continued acting like this, it was going to inevitably happen.

Then, one hot Wednesday afternoon, Team 3 gathered together for the first time, to meet their new sensei. The three girls were anxious to see the man or woman whom they would be spending so much of their time with over the next years. They all silently worried what their sensei would be like.... It did not take long for him to show. The girls had gotten there early - he was on time. Unknowingly to Cheri and Hemiko, their meeting spot was the exact same place where Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had spent their very first day with Kakashi Hatake - a full nineteen years before.

Their sensei's name was Shinichi Hoshida. He had a strange shade of purple hair that Cheri had never seen on a man before, and his bangs half-hid one of his eyes. The man was tall and thin, muscular in an unobvious way, and young for a sensei. Cheri was relieved by his easygoing manner. As they all got to know him better she realized, even that very first day, that their sensei was an odd fellow. He had a weird way of doing things, but he had a funny personality too and it was impossible not to get along with him. That day, sensei and students simply spent getting to know one another, and Shinichi-sensei treated them to ramen at Ichiraku's.

The man who had run the ramen shop while Cheri and Hemiko were growing up - Teuchi Ichiraku - had finally retired from it some years ago and died. It had been heartbreakingly sad, because Naruto and Cheri had spent much of their time together at Ichiraku's when she was little, and Teuchi had always been so nice to her - like a grandfatherly figure. Hemiko, who had rarely gone to the ramen shop with them in those days, hadn't even attended the funeral.

Ichiraku's was now run completely by Teuchi's daughter, whose name, ironically enough, was also Ayame. She and Cheri were good friends - Ayame had even babysitted her a time or two while Cheri was young. In celebration of her becoming a Genin, Ayame served their ramen free of charge. "You look so grown up, Cheri-chan," she said with a happy smile. The woman had changed since the death of her father, but thankfully had kept her cheerful personality, and rumor also had it that she would be getting married soon.

That night, Cheri and Sasuke waited up for Naruto to come home - he was working late again, and his family knew how all the sudden paperwork he had to do gave him headaches. For about half an hour, Hemiko waited as well, but she quickly became bored and decided to go to bed. Cheri watched her sister's retreating back in disdain. Was Hemiko too good now to even wait for their father - the new Hokage? She should be proud, as the rest of his family were. And yet, once again, Hemiko could only think of herself. Cheri thought, she was so tired of putting up with her selfish sister. It was getting easy to ignore her expected, thoughtless and conceited actions.

Naruto was the one who shook her awake, a few hours later. Cheri hadn't even been aware of drifting, and it was kind of embarrassing, considering that before she'd fallen asleep, she'd been thinking badly of her sister for not waiting up herself. Naruto smiled gently when she opened her eyes. He was crouched down on the floor near her by the couch - Sasuke was still sitting next to her, and her two fathers were looking down at her with warm eyes. Somehow, Cheri had never felt more loved. She felt her face flush a little, as she sat up and smiled genuinely back.

"Your father has been working so hard all night and he hasn't even had supper yet," Sasuke commented, somewhat slyly. He crack a smile. "I say we make him something nice, and eat with him so he won't have to sit alone."

"Like... have a big dinner?" she asked quietly. "In the middle of the night?" This gentle atmosphere had such an effect on her - she was still sleepy, too.

"Why not?" Cheri's fathers smiled at one another lovingly. It was an amazing thing, and Cheri could only wonder at it. Sometimes it just felt like her dads were two teenagers who were crazily in love; it was nothing like the relationship between two people who had already been married for almost fifteen years. But it was only sometimes that she caught glimpses of those moments, and to be in the presence of one like that, to be a part of it.... Why hadn't Cheri noticed such things before? It had only been a few weeks since graduating from the academy, and yet somehow she felt as if that had been part of a completely different lifetime. These fathers who loved her, and her sister, and each other so much - how could she have ever been hateful toward them? She realized that at that time, she'd been being every bit as selfish and immature as Hemiko was.

"What about Hemiko?" her father, Naruto, asked softly.

"She went to bed earlier," Sasuke replied, still smiling. "Should we go wake her up?"

Naruto considered that for a moment, then shook his head. "No. It's probably best to just let her sleep." He turned to Cheri. "Your first training with your team begins tomorrow, and you're going to need as much rest as you can get tonight. I'm glad you waited up for me, but maybe you should go to bed now too...?"

Cheri shook her head insistently. "No way," she protested. "I've got a lot of stamina most of the time. I'll be just fine!" Still, when her fathers' heads were turned, she had to rub at her eyes sleepily.

You know, Cheri thought, maybe she wouldn't mind to have a younger sibling. Were her fathers still trying? Had her and Hemiko's initial disapproval made them change their minds already? She hoped not. After all, the Uchiha mansion was quite large, and Sasuke was still planning on beginning to use the parts she and her friends had took so much effort to clean up. They would need to start adding on more family members, in order to fill such a big place.

Unable to sleep, Hemiko had ended up waiting up anyway. She was guessing it was already sometime in the hours of the early morning, when it began to rain lightly. As mentioned before, it had been a hot day that day, and sunny sometimes, but earlier she'd seen the clouds rolling in. Thunder was beginning to quietly sound way off somewhere, when Hemiko finally left her room. She was curious as to whether her father Naruto had come home yet or not.

To her great surprise, she found the rest of her family all in the kitchen, cooking and eating and laughing happily. They were smiling at one another in a weird way that she couldn't quite describe, and whenever her sister's back was turned, her father Sasuke touched Naruto's face and stole a quick kiss. Hemiko had never before witnessed anything like it. Her fathers, and her sister, so... carefree. They looked like they were making a big sort of dinner - so why hadn't they come to her room for her?

Hemiko had already been feeling down to begin with, but this was really the icing on the cake. Since graduation... well, actually, since the day that she learned the secrets of the Uchiha past, things had ever so slowly began to change in her life. She had spent all that time away from her friends, working with Cheri and her friends on the mansion - Hemiko had grown away from them. She and her friends hardly spoke now, though she couldn't really understand why. Even at the ceremony, when they'd gotten their headbands, her friends had smiled and laughed, and she'd stood near them.... But she'd felt so out of the group, so misplaced standing there. None of them acknowledged her, other than saying hello and goodbye. And now here was her family, who were enjoying such a sweet looking time together, without her. It felt like everyone was forgetting about her. The uncovering of family secrets had only been the start of it, and now Hemiko felt like she was sinking... sinking into herself.

Upon seeing the way that her blonde headed father tapped Cheri's new ninja headband, Hemiko suddenly remembered that her own headband was lying forgotten on her dresser. She'd taken the thing off as soon as she'd gotten home, because it was uncomfortable to wear on her forehead, and it looked kind of ridiculous on her anyway. She found that she didn't really want to wear it. Probably, she just wasn't going to.

She supposed she was officially considered a "ninja" now, wasn't she? But that thought made her want to snicker. Ninja were highly skilled adults, looked upon with importance by the village and the Hokage. Hemiko and the others - they were all just a bunch of kids. What could they do? She didn't feel special or important at all. Why did they even have to wear the stupid headbands anyway? She felt so small putting the thing on - as if it emphasized her insignificance that much more.

Hemiko leaned against the wall, next to the kitchen doorway, and slid to the floor, listening to the sounds of her little family chatting happily away....

Shinichi-sensei seemed really nice, though. Hemiko smiled at the memories. He was silly and unusual, but attractive too. She thought, she wouldn't mind going to training, if it meant seeing him everyday. His face was... pleasing to the eye, and she had definitely noticed. He was so easy to laugh with. She wondered if he would make her feel forgotten too. Would she even be any help to her team? Hemiko had to admit, it felt she hadn't learned much at school. Maybe it was because she hadn't really paid attention. She had managed to pull off most of the things she needed to pass - but she'd just barely passed - something that not even her family knew. Most of her accomplishments at the academy had been through sheer dumb luck. Could she even be a ninja? No. That was it. She simply wasn't qualified for it, and her team, along with the rest of the world, would end up forgetting her as well....

A small tear trickled down her cheek at the sound of her family's lighthearted laughter. With a sigh that no one would hear, Hemiko made her way back to her room, and stood alone at the dark window, one hand pressed to the glass so that she might feel the rain. It felt like there would be a glass like that, although much, much thicker, between her and everything that she had ever wanted.

The next morning, Cheri woke with heavy eyelids to the sunshine pouring in through her bedroom window. She checked the time, only to see that she had but an hour before she would have to leave to meet with Amaya and Shinichi-sensei. Just enough time for a quick shower and a small breakfast - although, before falling asleep the night before, she'd honestly thought that she was stuffed enough to never eat again.

She moved sluggishly. Stamina or no, she definitely had not had enough comfortable sleep last night. She showered first, and then made her way to the kitchen, where, strangely enough, she was met by an extraordinarily beautiful black-haired brown-eyed woman.

Cheri thought, she couldn't remember ever seeing the woman before in her entire life, and yet, there was something oddly familiar about her. The woman's hair was very long and flowing, her skin was pale and her eyes were large. She was slender, and not very big breasted, but she made up for that in sheer beauty. Cheri and the woman blinked at one another in surprise for a moment - the woman seemed sort of bewildered, like she was lost or confused or something. "Uhh..." Cheri really didn't know what to say. Was there a reason for this random woman to be in her house?

Suddenly, a great blush bloomed over those pale cheeks, and in that instant the woman was so adorable that Cheri had the strangest impulse to just hug her. Still the woman didn't say a word.

"Sasuke?"

Cheri turned around at the sound of her father's voice. Naruto was standing just behind her in the kitchen doorway, staring with wide blue eyes at the stranger. Why...? she had he said "Sasuke"?

And a realization hit Cheri like a horse kicking her in the chest. She spun frantically back to the woman, looking closely this time for small similarities. Before, Cheri had been to distracted by that woman's beautiful face to notice at all that she was wearing boy clothes -- her father's boy clothes. Cheri gasped, a long and loud gasp, and suddenly her father Naruto was rushing up and flinging his arms around that woman. She could hear strangled sobs coming from her blonde father's throat.

"What's going on...?" Hemiko asked, coming into the kitchen now as well. As for Cheri, she was too stunned to do anything more than look her sister's way. How could she possibly find the words for an explanation?

Their father, Sasuke, was pregnant.

Surprised beyond words. Shocked beyond thought. Stunned beyond movement. That was how Hemiko felt as she walked with her sister to where her team was meeting that day. As it was, they were running late. It wasn't every day that one woke up to their father suddenly changed into a pregnant woman. Hemiko found herself constantly thinking, again and again, How can this be...? She'd seen him just the night before, in the kitchen. And he had been very much male at the time, she was sure. Now he was to be a woman for the next nine months? Hemiko knew the story well enough, about how she and her sister were born this way, but that didn't mean it wouldn't take some getting used to. Neither of the sisters had actually ever seen either of their fathers in female form before - until now.

And besides, Hemiko didn't want a little brother or sister. Just having one sibling was enough to handle already. Cheri was always constantly nagging at her for all the things she apparently did wrong. It was so annoying. And babies were annoying too. She'd seen plenty of them - in town and such. Always crying or wanting their parent's attention. Again it felt as if Hemiko's family were moving on without her. They would have as many children as they wanted, and forget all about her.

Contrary to the way that Hemiko felt, Cheri was positively beaming. Honestly she was like a little ray of perfect sunshine. Hemiko could have just slapped her. Cheri's happiness only proved everything that Hemiko had been feeling - because obviously, if her sister were happy, it meant that Hemiko herself was miserable.

Hemiko didn't want to have a normal set of parents - one female, one male. She knew that her fathers had been trying to have another baby for a while - as they had told her the night that they'd told the Uchiha secret. Still, even though it was unusual, and her (former?) friends all laughed at her about it, Hemiko had always been quite proud of having two male parents. It was unique; special - something that no one else had. (Well, unless you considered that... Hatake kid. Cheri's friend - what's-his-name. And Hemiko, of course, didn't consider him at all).

But now things were going to be so weird at home. A pregnant female Sasuke, and the Hokage Naruto. How many nights would Hemiko spend alone in her room like she had the night before? Sasuke - her favorite father - seemed to have grown attached to Cheri for some reason, and didn't pay much attention to her anymore. How many nights would the two of them stay up together, waiting for Naruto to come home from work again while Hemiko was left to her own devices?

It was sad. Lonely thoughts for such an early, bright day. The sky had rained itself out in the night, and the clouds were all gone, though the ground was still muddy and gross. It was hot again too. If Hemiko were not so concerned about appearances, she would have tied her long hair up that morning. However, she thought her greatest attribute was her beautiful soft hair, so she never even considered putting it up - not for any occasion. She liked it down, where people could see and marvel at it.

At least one thing about the morning was not so bad. When they came upon the meeting place - in a clearing, among the trees just outside of Konoha - Amaya was not there yet, but their sensei was waiting. Hemiko smiled a little upon seeing him, and he smiled back. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets and face to the sky. He had a blank sort of look in his eyes, but Hemiko didn't really care about that. Yes, he did seem like a daydreamer, but she could tell that he wasn't stupid, and he was really nice. He smiled too much though, and sometimes at the most inappropriate seeming moments.

"Hello," he greeted with that smile. Hemiko gave him a tentative, flirtatious look, to which his expression didn't change in the slightest. He appeared to take it in for just a second, and then he abruptly turned to Cheri. "Good morning."

Cheri laughed. "Yes, it is a good morning!" she replied with a happy light in her eye. Her overexcited-ness was annoying, too. How could someone be so happy about training, and about odd things like fathers getting pregnant? Not to mention - Hemiko's pride was now seriously damaged by Shinichi-sensei's obvious ignorance of her attempts to flirt a little. "Sensei, guess what happened!" Cheri continued to exclaim. Oh here we go, Hemiko thought, and she just wished she could ignore this conversation. However, nosy as she was (yes, she knew that she was nosy, and she liked being that way, thank you very much), she could not resist the temptation of seeing Shinichi-sensei's reaction whenever Cheri gave him the news.

"What, what?" he said excitedly, leaning in and bouncing a little on his toes. Another weird thing about him; he seemed to easily catch on to other people's moods and emotions, and act them out himself as well.

"Sensei, my father's pregnant!"

Shinichi-sensei's eyes grew very large for a second, and then he straightened up, touching his chin thoughtfully. "Well," he said. "That's certainly one I've never heard before." Abruptly, he smiled again. "Good for you!"

Hemiko looked at the man incredulously. How could he be so calm and casual and easygoing about this? True, he had probably learned of Cheri and Hemiko's unusual family situation by now anyway, but still.... One would expect a more satisfactory reply - like shock. Shinichi noticed her look at him then, and he smiled her way.

Hemiko scoffed, and blushed, turning so that she wouldn't have to look at him. So her sensei would ignore her trying to flirt, but he would smile when she looked at him like he was crazy? What a weird guy. She thought he was cool, and handsome besides, but it was possible that his personality - though quite enthralling at first - would become a nuisance and an irritation later on.

"Amaya!" Cheri said then, and Hemiko turned in time to see her sister running up to the other girl. Amaya was just walking into the little clearing, smiling a little. "Guess what!"

Hemiko sighed heavily. This was going to be a very long and miserable day - she could sense it already.

Shinichi-sensei pleasantly asked her then, "Well, now that the last of us are here, what say we get started?"