Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plotline.
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Seven kids, seven crying and hyper kids, seven kids to deal with all by myself, the universe must hate me.
At six in the morning, while the sun was still rising over the top of the Hokage Monument, I awoke to a wail. My instincts forced me to run to the crying child and comfort it, as I through open my front door I was surprised by the visitors I had.
Standing on my small porch stood the Uchiha family along with the Nara family. Shikamaru carefully held a sleeping Asuma nestled between his forearm and his chest. With his other arm he held a smiling Ino around the waist while she held the hand of six year-old Shikochi, who had a bright smile on like his mother. The Nara's stood close together and I smiled faintly before turning my gaze to the Uchihas.
Kito stood proudly next to his father holding his mother's hand tightly and strongly gripping Chinochi's small four and a half year-old hand. Chinochi's twin, Jinka, lay asleep on Sasuke's back, pointing out the fact that she had been carried all the way to the house and must not have awoken once. They family stood close together too, and it pained my heart a little to see their happiness.
Finally I noticed tiny little Hinata standing in the back whispering to her children. Ankiko stood shyly behind her mother's leg, grasping them and glancing at different people every couple of seconds. Hinata brushed back a bang and gazed back lovingly at Hazami, the youngest being only a year old, burrowed between her slender arms.
I motioned for them to come inside and asked quietly why they were all here this early. "Mission for the two new teams and Hinata is covering for me at the hospital. Sorry to dump all of the kids on you at the last moment." Sakura explained lightly as the rest of the parents said goodbye to the children and laid them in the nursery. The nursery that was only ever used for their children even though it had once been for mine.
Sakura said her own quick goodbyes and then they all left quietly. I wanted to get more sleep but I needed to check on the kids first, making sure they weren't trying to get into my weapons again. When I looked into the large room I found them asleep.
Shikochi's brown hair was sprawled across the pillow on the bed he shared with Asuma, whose dark hair was neatly in a ponytail. Kito shared the other bed with his brother and sister, none of them, had inherited their mother's brightly colored hair. Lastly, Hazami sucked her thumb gently, blond hair curling on her face while her sister slept beside her in the crib. Ankiko resembled her mother in everyway but as she sleep I saw a familiar sleeping cap donned on her raven hair.
Slowly I made my way to the couch so if one of them woke up I would hear them. I lay down and burrowed into the small blanket I had grabbed from the nursery. I attempted to get to sleep, but I just couldn't anymore, I wasn't tired. Letting loose a soft sigh, I stood and began cutting up a fruit salad for lunch and took a swig of chocolate milk from the carton. Luckily I didn't have to make breakfast because they already had been fed.
After finishing the fruit salad I heard a faint cry from the nursery and hurried over. Hazami had begun crying and had awoken Shikochi who had picked her up and began rocking her after sitting in the rocking chair. I stood in the doorway and tried to hear what he what he was singing.
" Don't weep pretty baby, don't weep pretty baby. Your momma's gone away and your daddy's gonna stay, don't leave nobody but the baby..." his quiet voice sang as he comforted the child, it was then that I realized that Hazami had stopped crying.
Shikochi kindly rocked the baby some more then began speaking to her. " You know Hazami-chan, you don't have an older brother. My mommy says every one needs an older brother to protect them from meanies. I'm gonna be your older brother okay? I promise I'll be the best older brother ever! If a meanie every bugs you just tell me and I'll beat them up." He smiled down at her tracing her jaw line with his finger.
"You wanna know why I'll beat them up? I bet you do. It's cause I'm gonna be a an awesome ninja like my daddy and your daddy and even Kito's daddy, but I'm not gonna be as scary as Kito's daddy," Shikochi proudly announced as Hazami began to snore lightly.
He stood up with the small child, ever so carefully, and put her back in her crib. After patting her forehead he shut the crib and crawled back into his own bed where his brother began clinging to him. Shikochi closed his eyes and with a peaceful smile, fell back asleep. I felt tears run down my face and I wondered if he had lived would he have been like Shikochi, so caring at such a young age. I forced my thoughts off the subject and made my way to the kitchen to make breakfast for myself.
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At noon I heard a loud knock on the front door while the kids busied themselves with lunch. Kito and Shikochi ate first and were now helping the younger ones eat without totally ruining their clothes and eating some of the food. I was feeding Hazami myself from a small jar of smushed peas. She was being difficult because Hinata had just recently stopped breast-feeding her. I walked over to the door while trying to get Hazami to take another bite when the person knocked again.
"COMING!" I yelled and took long strides to get to the door in a few seconds. I pulled the door open with the hand that wasn't holding Hazami and the food and tried again to get her to eat more food. When I looked up I almost dropped the baby with white eyes exactly like the man in front of me.
"Neji?" I asked shocked by the man in front on me whose eyes were focused on his niece's. I opened the door wider and silently invited him in. He politely bowed and entered shutting the door behind him.
"Not to be rude or anything, but what in the world are you doing here?" I asked with a confused expression on my face that turned apologetic when I realized I still sounded quite rude.
He smirked and answered, "You're going to need help watching seven kids and I'm going to help, especially since two of the little ones are my nieces." Then he smirked and took Hazami from my waist with one strong hand and clasped his other hand over the baby food. As he pulled his hand back to him I swore he had just lingered his hand on mine, but I pushed that idea away and lead the way to the kitchen.
When we entered the kitchen Kito was leading Jinka and Chinochi back to the nursery and Shikochi was helping Ankiko walk to nursery as well. He looked up at me and saw my surprised expression so he stopped for a moment.
"It's nap time for everyone except me and Kito, I can't lift Asuma though and he fell asleep at the table." He explained then continued on to the nursery. I glanced over to the table and sure enough, Asuma was sleeping soundly on his chair, curled up into a ball.
Slowly, I eased Asuma into my arms and turned to Neji, who had already finished feeding Hazami. "How did you get her to eat her food?" I asked and walked towards the nursery, knowing that he would follow.
Faintly I heard him answer, "She just likes me better." My teeth clenched onto my lip and I glared at him. We both set the kids down on or in their designated sleeping area and noticed that Shikochi and Kito were wearing jackets and hopeful smiles.
"Can we go to the park, please?" Kito asked, eyes going into full puppy dog mode, something I knew he learned from his mother. I couldn't ever say no to two little boys, one with puppy eyes so I nodded.
"Alright we can go, but! I have to ask Kiba and have him watch the younger ones while the sleep." I answered and started heading towards the window. Neji was already there and jumping out the window by the time I took my first step. A few minutes passed with Kito and Shikochi grabbing a sand bucket and a shovel, before Neji returned. Trailing behind him with his large dog was Kiba.
When Kiba landed I hugged him and squealed quietly even though we were now in the living room. I released him and smiled brightly giggling happily. When I took a step back I saw Neji glaring at Kiba and my smile faded.
"I'm so happy for you! Ino just told me the other day that you're engaged! When is the wedding? I can't wait I love going to weddings!" I exclaimed over-exaggerating it a bit so Neji would get the point that Kiba was engaged. Kiba smiled proudly and pet Akamaru on the head, scratching the dog's ears.
"Well thanks so much for watching we should be back in about an hour and the park isn't too far." I said giving him one more tight squeeze before turning to Neji and the boys. Neji walked out the door and we all, excluding Kiba, headed to the park.
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Okay finally another chapter, sorry for the wait but I was really busy! Hope you enjoy this chapter!