I am so sorry. So, so, so, so sorry for not updating. School started back and life has been so freaking hectic. And I rewrote this chapter like five times. But I finally did it. I finished chapter 17. I hope that it was worth the wait.

Chapter 17

Judge Marshall's Office

With Gaara

Gaara, his parents, Hinata and Hiashi were seated in the office of someone that he'd just met known as Judge Marshall. A contract about Hinata letting Gaara seeing the kids had been drawn up and they were here to sign it. "Why does me seeing my children have to be so formal?" Gaara hated the fact that Hinata treated this important, emotional matter like a business deal. It hurt him to know that this was only about Hinata keeping the girls and not so much as to what was morally right; she really didn't want him in their children's lives. But he'd take what he could get.

Hinata was to sign first since she was the one who had the most rules that she wanted to be followed. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. She was just too beautiful. The way she bit her lip as she read over the contract, no doubt making sure that everything was to her liking. Though he hated the fact that she was taking her sweet time reading over the contract, he couldn't say that he didn't enjoy watching her from the corner of his eye.

Her lovely dark blue hair was in a high ponytail, bangs shadowing her forehead. She was wearing a dark and light purple-checkered button up shirt that she'd only buttoned in the middle with a lavender tank top underneath and a pair of light purple jeans. On her feet were a pair of dark purple ballerina flats that completed her wholesome ensemble. (Gaara and his parents arrived before Hinata and Hiashi did; therefore, when they walked in he got a very pleasant view of her outfit when she walked in.) It was different. The clothes that he'd seen her in on their earlier run-ins with each her were skimpy and short, but the clothes that she'd had on today had made her look like her old self, or how he remembered anyway. Innocent and beautiful.

When the contract was given to him, Gaara quickly scanned the words and the bulleted points. He was going to sign it even if everything wasn't to his liking because he knew that compromising on Hinata's terms would mean that he'd get to see his children- plus he had two terms of his own that he wanted to be followed. And sign is what he did. He took the contract and signed his name on the solid black line next to the big black bold X that came after Hinata's name under the section of the Parents of Haveah and Havana Inoue.

Parents of Haveah and Havana Inoue

X Hinata Isabelle Hyuga- Inoue X Gaara Sabaku

He looked at their names side by side couldn't help but think that her and the girls last names would look and sound way better if they started with a S.

Parents of Haveah and Havana Sabaku

X Hinata Isabelle Hyuga- Sabaku X Gaara Sabaku

'Yeah it would be so much better that way.'

With Hinata

The last thirty minutes had been excruciatingly painful for Hinata. She along with her father, Karura Sabaku, Uryu Sabaku and Gaara sat in front of Judge Marshall's desk in his office. They had all just got through signing the contract that would finalize Hinata agreeing to let Gaara see Havana and Haveah. Gaara's part of signing the contract was that he was that he agreeing to her terms.

1. Hinata had to be present every time Gaara came to see Haveah and Havana or took them somewhere.

2. Gaara and his family were allowed to visit the girls at the Hyuga Mansion, but Hinata and the girls would never go to the Sabaku home unless she gave her consent to do otherwise.

3. No one was allowed to tell Haveah and Havana that Gaara was their father until Hinata deemed it the appropriate time to tell them and she was going to be the one who told them the truth.

Gaara also had terms of his own, which she had to agree to. But there weren't that many, and she could live with his terms. At least, she could try.

1. He could take the girls outside of the Hyuga Mansion, though she'd have to be there of course.

2. Hinata would not treat him disrespectfully in front of their children. They would be civil towards one another and she would bury her grudge against him in Haveah and Havana's presence.

Their parents were signing the contract because their children were still minors and needed parental consent. Now they were listening to Judge Marshall speak, like closing up the meeting.

"Ms. Hyuga and Mr. Sabaku just remember that no prior problems that you have had should come in the way of this arrangement. This is an opportunity to for your daughters to meet the other part of their family. It's expected that all of you make this transition easier for them. Is that understood?" the salt and pepper haired man asked seriously.

"Yes sir" she and Gaara said in unison. Hinata was a little upset that she had to agree to be on friendly terms with Gaara. How the hell was she supposed to be nice to the boy that broke her heart? But she couldn't go against it now for she'd already put her John Hancock on the contract, which meant that she agreed to be civil towards Gaara for the sake of their children.

When the meeting was over Hinata and Hiashi got up and walked into the hallway. They were going over to Xavier's house to pick up the girls because the girls had wanted to spend the day with their Grandma Kurenai, uncles, and aunties, who were going to be leaving Konoha later that night to go back to Kingakure, though the twins didn't know that.

Just as she made if out of the office, a hand grabbed gently on to her wrist. She whirled around defensively, only to see that it was Gaara behind her. Hinata tried to loosen the tenseness that had flooded through her veins and calm herself down. She promised herself that she'd try to be a little more civil when they met because the girls were going to be around. Why not start now?

"Is th-there s-something wr-wrong Mr. Sabaku?" Hinata questioned softly as she gently tugged her arm out of the taller boy's grip.

"Um, Hinata. I just wanted to say thank you… My dad said that you didn't want to do this at first, but you are letting me see our children, so I just want to say−"

"D-don't… Do-don't th-thank me-me. This would've happened whether or not I gave the say-so. My dad was going to do this anyway. And if you can't beat, 'em join 'em." She retorted.

But he persisted, and a gleam in his peculiar colored eyes caught her attention. The way he was looking at her made her want to look away and not be sucked into the whirlpool of unidentifiable emotion, but the raw intensity of his turquoise-sea foam green gaze made her keep contact. Why was he looking at her like that?

"But you still didn't have to agree to sign the contract. You did, so thank you." The sincerity of his thank you coupled with that smoldering look in his eyes made her heart palpitate and a familiarly foreign heat start at the tip of her toes and rush to her cheeks, no doubt turning them a hue of pink, like it did when she was younger.

"Y-your welcome." it was a lame reply, but it was the best that she could come up with. She was about to walk away when he whispered 'wait'. Again, she turned to face him. Another look was present in his eyes now, one that she could identify. Nervousness. He was looking down, but she was getting impatient. Being in his presence too long at this proximity could damage her will to not love him anymore.

'Get on with it.' She cleared her throat as inconspicuously as she could. He seemed to get the message because he started to speak.

"I was kinda wondering could we take them to the park when we um you know… meet." He was now flustered. Now he was rambling. "Cause kids like parks and they're kids. So yeah…" it was cute, but as soon as that thought passed her mind she mentally reprimanded herself for being weak and letting her anger fall, but she quickly recovered.

"So can we go to the park?" She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. A smile made its way to his face, that heat that caused her blush intensified, and now she was sure that her cheeks were turning red. "Alright meet me at Konoha Meadows on Saturday." The park's name sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it in her memory.

Therefore, she just shrugged the déjà vu off and stuttered. "Um-um. Y-yeah okay." with that she walked away as fast as she could to her dad, who had opted to wait for her at the big glass door of the entrance. "I have three days before I have to see him again. Three days until my daughters meet their father. Three days to get my emotions in check. I have time but tonight, we have to say goodbye to part of our family."

The Hyuga Mansion

Later That Night

Her family was gone. Her Kingakure family anyway. They'd just left about an hour ago. They were going home they couldn't stay on their Konoha vacation forever but promised to keep in constant contact. Of course Jacob and Gabriella would come back to go to the University, but they wouldn't be around all of the time to help her out with transitioning the girls into their new life. She wouldn't be able to this alone.

"You won't be alone. We are still family." Jacob had reminded her before he left, but he didn't understand. He didn't see the temper tantrums that the twins had thrown when they'd left. Flailing limbs kicking and punching. Little faces red from screaming and crying. Or their eyes filled with sadness. No one could console them. She tried. Hiashi tried. Xavier tried. Neji tried. Hanabi tried. Hell, even the maid had tried. But they didn't want anyone but their Uncle Jacob, Grandma Kurenai, and Brother Hayden. They had tired themselves out and just went to sleep, with an occasional whimper from them. She was on the bed beside them on the side that wasn't beside of the wall. She was watching them sleep. She'd been watching them since they'd closed their eyes. They would've looked peaceful had the red hue of anger disappeared from their normally pale faces or if the dried salt lines of their tears hadn't been recognizable.

"You have your father's temper." Hinata whispered, a wry smile alit her face, but her face was contorted in pain. "How can I bring Gaara into you lives when you are still trying to get used to being without the rest of our family?"

…

Three Days Later

Konoha Meadows

With Gaara

Today was going to be a good day. He could feel it. He was going to meet his daughters officially today. Man was he pumped and nervous as hell. As he rushed down stairs to pick up an apple for lunch, since he'd spent all morning trying to find something good to wear. (He wanted to at least look decent for his not only daughters, but also Hinata.) He knew that she still had some feelings for him and he'd made a vow to himself on the day of signing the contract after their little conversation that he'd try to not only be a good father, but also get Hinata to realize that she was still in love with him he'd seen that lovingly look that she had in her eyes and that blush that shaded her cheeks when she looked at him as they talked. The latter was going to be a difficult task, but he promised himself that he'd try his best to make sure that his children didn't grow up in a broken home.

Now Gaara was sitting on a swing in Konoha Meadows waiting on Hinata to come with their daughters. He had been sitting idly on the swing for about forty-five minutes, but they weren't late. He'd been so excited about meeting his daughters that he'd left home early. When he got to the park, his mind was flooded with the wonderful memories of their childhood when they came to this park to watch the summer sunsets. The swings caught his attention.

And that was why he had been sitting when he saw three shadows on the ground in front of him. When he looked up, he saw three of the most beautiful faces that he'd ever seen in his life. Hinata and their daughters.

He focused his gaze solely onto Hinata. She was tense, he could tell. They way her shoulders were squared, the way her eyes darted around frantically in recollection, and how she held one of their daughters' hands in each of hers, tightly. She remembered.

With Hinata

Konoha Meadows wasn't just any un-special park. This was the park of their past, the one where Gaara used to watched sunsets with her. The one where Gaara asked her to be his girlfriend. She directed her eyes toward his searching for an answer as to why he had wanted them to come here. When she saw nothing reflected in his gaze, she left the one word question pass her lips.

"Why?"

She received only a puzzled stare. "Why was he playing so confused?"

"Why did you bring us here?" her voice was cracking. The loving memories were too much. Again, she was met with silence. "If you can't answer, then we're leaving."

"Don't. I-I'm sorry. I thought… never mind. We can go somewhere else. Just please let me see them?"

Hinata could only nod slowly in response. How could she have said no? The look in his eyes was begging her to stay and she had no other choice but to comply. "It's just like when we were younger. I'm bending to his will. I can't. I can't get hurt again. Please don't let me get hurt again.," she prayed to God.

"Can I?" she knew what he'd been asking, could he talk to them.

"Ye-yeah."

He kneeled down to be at their eye level and held out his hand. "Hi, my name's Gaara. I'm an old friend of you mom's. What are your names?"

.

.

.

With Gaara

Wind rushing through his hair, the sounds of little girls laughing happily, as he ran through the grass trying to catch the fast brick red-haired and dark blue-haired bundles of energy. He was at the park with Hinata, Haveah and Havana.

Gaara had been so nervous 5 hours ago about Haveah and Havana rejecting him, but all his worries turned out to be a waste of time. They actually liked him. That was proven by the way they ran through the park calling him to come and catch them.

"Can't catch us. Can't catch us!" they chanted in a non-stuttering unison as they ran hand in hand away from Gaara. The whole little game had been faked on his end; he'd made sure to slow his pace down so they could draw out their game for longer. When he started to tire of the game, he sped up his pace and easily caught them, one girl for each arm and started tickling them.

That plan soon backfired because four small, dainty hands snaked around his stomach and started tickling him. As soon as his body fell to the ground from the constant laughing induced convulsions that wracked his body, their little hands sped up their movements. The tears that he cried, unknowingly, from the laughter made his vision blur causing Haveah and Havana to look like blue and red fuzz balls.

With Hinata

Hinata had been watching Gaara play with the girls and it made her heart ache. He was so good with them and they liked playing with him. They all looked like they were having fun, like they belonged together, but Hinata couldn't join them. She couldn't put on a happy face and smile and pretend that she was happy being around Gaara, falling in love with him even more that she was already. That's why she opted to sit on the bench instead of putting on her mask. (She couldn't say that she wasn't glad that he made Haveah and Havana feel better by taking their minds off them moving to Konoha so suddenly and not seeing the rest of their family.)

At first, she had watched them play and interact, but when she could no longer stand the fuzzy feeling that she got when she saw him smile at the twins, Hinata started to look around the park that happened to be so familiar.

The memory of the summer they spent at the park watching the sunsets together came flashing back.

"I like you." Gaara said flat out with a pink blush starting to come onto his cheeks.

.

.

.

"No, Hina. I mean I like like you and I want to be your b-boyfriend. Please don't cry. " Gaara explained. His blush was only getting redder.

.

.

.

"O-Oh o-okay." Hinata sniffled. She really didn't understand the logistics of the sacred Boyfriend and Girlfriend thing because she was only four. Neither did Gaara. All they knew was that it was something people did when they liked each other as more than friends.

Tears stung her eyes and were about to fall when she heard. "Mom-mommy, co-come play with us." Havana's voice jolted Hinata out of her reverie. The dark blue haired little girl was standing in front of her. So was her sister. They had their lower lips poked out with puppy-dog eyes. She couldn't resist. "That's another way they're like their father." Hinata thought as she got up from the bench that she'd been sitting on and walked with her daughters to the playground… where Gaara was waiting.

With Gaara and Hinata

The girls, Hinata and Gaara played the rest of the day away. When the colors of the sky started to swirl with the colors of the setting sun, Hinata wanted to leave and take the girls back home, but Gaara insisted that they stay and enjoy the sunset. Hinata would've went against it if her daughters weren't excited about the 'pretty swirly colors' of the sky.

Now both Hinata and Gaara were sitting on a swing with one of the twins in their laps, both fast asleep. The sun long gone and the black of night being illuminated by the street lamps that lit the walkways and the occasional glow of a firefly. A stifling silence consumed them. No crickets chirped. No sounds. Only awkwardness. Though the silence was suffocation and mosquitoes were biting them neither could force themselves to break the silence and say that it was time to go. Their minds were too focused on the almost kiss that they shared.

Flashback

They were playing another game of tag. The twins had been it. Havana chased Gaara. Haveah went after Hinata. Hinata and Gaara were chased around the grass in circles. The twins were chasing them toward each other, but Hinata and Gaara didn't notice. They were too busy trying to keep from being caught.

"UMPH!" Hinata and Gaara crashed into each other, falling to the ground. Hinata had landed on top of him. Her legs were parted. Him, on his back between them. Their faces were close together, breaths intermingling with each other. Time seemed to stop as they stared into each other's eyes, transfixed by their close proximity. They were so tuned out to their surroundings, their only thoughts being:' I wonder what those lips will feel like against mine.'

They started to close the distance between their face, but stopped when they heard one of their daughters scream. "Mommy!" Realization at what they were about to do in front of their daughters brought a blush on to Hinata's face as she jumped up and stepped away from Gaara.

Maybe it was destiny, maybe. But Hinata couldn't shake off the revelation that their children had unknowingly chased their parents into each other's arms. Was it cosmic?

End of Flashback

His heart was pounding in his ears. "We almost kissed. She almost kissed me!" in his mind, his inner self was doing a happy dance. He looked down at Haveah, who was asleep in his arms. Then he looked over at Hinata to see that Havana had fallen asleep also. His eyes lingered on Hinata for a few moments more. The blush from earlier still gave color to her cheeks. She hadn't been mean to him lately, actually, she was a stuttering mess again. He'd reduced her to a stuttering and blushing mess again. There was still hope for their love to flourish.

"This is my chance to talk to her." Gaara thought. Hopefulness filled his soul at the prospect of having another normal conversation with Hinata that wouldn't land him a punch in the eye, and it was all thanks to his daughters. But just as he opened his mouth to speak, Hinata beat him to it.

"W-we sh-should g-go." She insisted, getting up from her swing, making sure to support Havana better. Hinata had been trying to sort out her hectic mind ramblings, but when she couldn't she looked up and finally realized that her daughter was asleep with her head on her shoulder. Looking at Haveah who wad been sitting with Gaara, she saw the same thing. That's why she wanted to leave. He rose from his swing and the walked out of the park, with her right next to him.

They began their walk back to the Hyuga Mansion. As they walked, Gaara decided that he wanted to break the silence that enveloped them and wanted to talk about some thing. "Truce." that was the icebreaker, making sure there was a cessation of verbal hatred and anger before any had resurfaced.

Hinata couldn't believe her ears, he wanted to call a truce. He wanted to stop fighting, mostly have her to stop berating him. As she pondered the offer she figured that it really didn't matter, the hate fireballs would have stop being thrown because of their daughters, so she thought, "What the hell? Might as well." "O-Okay"

"Can we talk about us." a simple direct question from the red haired boy.

"I-I thought you said you wanted a cease fire. Bringing up something that will make us fight won't do anything, but wake up Veah and Vana." her voice was hard and cold.

"Sorry. That questions off the list." He joked trying to lighten the mood. Then Gaara realized that he knew nothing about his daughters. Gaara wanted to know more, so he decided to start a conversation on that subject. "Okay, I won't ask you that anymore. So when's their birthday?"

She hesitated, but answered anyway. "Um th-they we-were b-born on April 25th , 2-2009."

Though Gaara wasn't looking in a mirror, he knew that his eyes had widened considerably. His daughter's were two years old! He'd missed a whole fucking two years of their lives, but then the reality of another problem presented itself. He had done the math in his head. Hinata left in August, a couple weeks after they had sex and she found out that he cheated.

Nine months from August was May. That meant: "They were born early." a lump had built up in the back of his throat. Didn't that make them premature and didn't premature children have a harder time in life than others. He looked at the little girls in his arms and held her close. 'I can't lose them, not since, I've just met them.'

"Y-yeah." Hinara stuttered. The sound of his footsteps stopped and when she looked back, she saw Gaara cradling Haveah close to his chest, a hand stroking her hair, lovingly. Hinata slowly walked up to Gaara. "What the hell was wrong with him. One minute he's fine, the next, he was acting all strange." "Um G-Gaara?"

"Is there anything wrong with them, a birth defect or something?" curiosity and worry compelled him to ask her. He didn't want to lose his daughters.

"No, their fine." he started to walk beside her again.

The rest of the walk was silent. When they made it back to the Mansion Gaara begged Hinata to let him help her tuck the girls into bed and the desperation in his voice made her give in. After tucking them in and leaving, Gaara to the sky and thanked God that his little girls were okay.

Club Aphrodisiac

With Matsuri

The bathroom smelled like vomit and sex, but she was a club so what did it matter. This was the quietest place with good service that she could find inside of the club to talk on her phone. Ring. Ring. Ring. "We are sorry. The person that you wanted to contact is not available. Leave a message after the beep… BEEP" an automated voicemail voice said.

No answer. AGAIN. When did he ever anymore? "I guess that he's done with me." Matsuri whispered to herself, wiping the tears from her eyes. She knew it had been coming. Hinata would come back and destroy Matsuri and Gaara's semi-perfect relationship. It had been the cause of her many- unmentioned-to-Gaara-sexual-slip ups (cheating) over the past three years. But now instead of Hinata coming back being a far away paranoid fantasy, it was a real live nightmare. At least now, she wouldn't feel bad about finding someone to satisfy her because he'd dumped her.

With that, she looked into the mirror one last time. Her skimpy red dress was showing just enough cleavage to entice any man within a 100-foot radius. She had decided that she needed more red lipstick and eyeliner. When she was done, 'fixing' herself up, she went into her purse to find her fake I.D. It made no sense to her why a consenting eighteen year old couldn't get an alcoholic drink because of the stupid of the 'you have to be a 21 year old to legally consume alcohol' rule. But that didn't matter because according to her I.D. Margaret Pierce was 21.

Making her way through the hot and sweaty crows grinding against each other along with the suggestive lyrics of the song, Matsuri made her way to the bar, only grabbed by the wrist and be spun into a robust chest. She looked up to find a tall, sexy brunet man standing in her way. "Wanna dance?"

'Aw what the hell?' she thought. She leaned up in her five inch heels and whispered coyly in his ear. "I would love to."

Is this okay? If not tell me and I'll rewrite this chapter. Thank you for reading, reviewing, adding my story to your favorite stories lists and your story alerts, adding me to your favorite authors lists and author alerts.