School is a bitch and very, very, very time consuming with homework and whatnot. But I've been working as fast as I can. Sorry for sporadic updates. I hope the chapter makes up for it. If not, tell me.

I know the whole Matsuri ending last chapter was a total cliffy (a lot like my other chapters). But there is a reason behind my madness. Gaara is going to end things with her finally.

I don't own Naruto or any of the characters that are associated with the show.

Chapter 18

End of August

Konoha Meadows

With Hinata

The wind whipped through the park gently ruffling the hair on everyone's head, a signal that although it was still summer, fall was still approaching. Hinata sat on the bench beside Gaara, both watching Haveah and Havana running around with the other kids that had come to the park that day.

"You know they're really beautiful." Gaara said, eyes still watching Haveah and Havana.

"Yeah, they truly are."

"Just like their mother." Hinata's eyes widened, and she turned toward him. She knew that he wanted to be with her. He'd made it apparent every time they were alone with each other. But it had made her uncomfortable when he brought it up or complimented her, which made her heart flutter and her lose her focus on getting over him.

He turned toward her meeting her incredulous stare. "What it's not a crime to tell the truth." A peaceful silence replaced the awkward moment when she looked away.

"Was it hard?" he asked out of the blue.

"Hm? W-was wh-what hard?" she asked, confusion weaving its way into her voice.

"Raising them alone?"

"It wasn't … I-I wasn't al-alone. I had my family to help out. There was some good days where I wondered how I could be blessed with heaven sent angels. Then there were some bad days when I wondered why my kids acted like you when they didn't want to do something." Hinata smiled as she recalled those moments when her children's tempers got the best he her.

"Did they ever ask where their dad was?"

"Gaara, please? Please just stop." Hinata said, not wanting to talk anymore. His eyes focused on hers, silently asking 'why?' "You might not like the answer that you get." she whispered.

"I missed out on a lot. Didn't I?" A wistful smile came unto his face. She didn't reply, knowing that her response would hurt him even more than he was pained already. So to try to help him, she placed her hand on top of his that sat on the bench space between them. Then he turned his hand around, interlacing their fingers together. She didn't object, liking the feeling of his warm hand touching hers.

She could feel a blush heating her cheeks, most likely staining them a pink color. It was like she was a little girl again. 'Just like old times.' she thought, turning to watch the kids again.

Later that Night

The Hyuga Mansion

Dear diary,

Things have been going good. (A little too good.) Gaara and I have been getting along. The twins are adjusting to Konoha, better that I expected actually. They also have started to adjust to their new families. Especially Gaara.

I see him with the girls-they love him so much- and I see a profound bond that I've never seem them have with anyone, not even Jacob. They're just so attached to him already. Just two day's after their first meeting, Veah and Vana started calling him "Uncle Gaara" and I nearly broke out into tears. They only ever called the special men in their lives, fatherly figures, uncle. So it's almost like they're calling him Dad. On top of that, the more time that we spend with Gaara, the more of him, I see in them.

Now I'm starting to see faults in my decision to leave Konoha three years ago. Am I a bad mother because I kept them from him? I thought I had enough reason because he hurt me, but as I think back on my decision: it was stupid and rushed. And I know I can't take it back, not that I would because I love my mom, Jakey, and the rest of my family from Kingakure too much to, but should I apologize? Do I owe it to Gaara for all the things he missed out on in their lives?

TTYL

Hinata

P.S Diary,

In case you haven't noticed, I am in love with Gaara. Big shocker right? I tried to get over him. Even after leaving Konoha for three years and coming back, I still am in love with him. When I left, I wanted to hate him for breaking my heart, but I couldn't. And when I came back and I saw him, I got angry, but even with all of that anger, I could never get over the love I had for him. Does that make any sense? If it doesn't too bad. All this is making my head hurt.

Bye. (For real this time.)

…...

September

The Hyuga Mansion: Hinata's Bedroom

Neutral

A mother, a father and two daughters. A family could be seen when you looked at them. They were asleep. All side by side snuggled into each others warmth.

Gaara had been sleeping over at the Hyuga Mansion for about three weeks now. The play dates that he'd had with his daughter had spilled from daytime activities to midnight movie screenings that ended with all of them curled up in Hinata's bed. Hinata had been reluctant at first with him but she's grown used to his presence.

With Gaara

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"

Gaara was pulled from his peaceful sleep by his cell phone that had doubled as his daily tormenter, his alarm. "Dammit, I fucking hate Mondays."

Growling lowly, and keeping his eyes closed, he reached for his phone that was on the bedside table, but it was hard because something was his chest, restricting him movement. Opening his eyes, he found one of the most heartwarming of scenes awaiting him. His family. Lying on his chest was Havana, a little fist clutching at his shirt. Hinata was lying next to him with her head on his left shoulder and a sleeping Haveah residing on her chest as well. The constant beeping of the phone was tuned out, a distant forgotten memory. He could've watched them sleep forever, but an annoyed groan made him 'wake' up from his daze and turn toward the sound. Hinata was looking up at him from his shoulder. Her eyes were narrowed in grogginess as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"G-Gaara," she muttered softly. "Y-ou h-have to get up. You have s-school today."

"I know. I'm going to get up, but five more minutes okay?" A nod was all he received before Hinata snuggled back into his side and went back to sleep.

5 minutes later

Gaara slowly eased out of the bed with Havana in his arms. When he was out of the bed, he turned and lay the blue-haired two year old by her mom. Reluctantly he walked over to the closet and got out his duffel bag that had his clothes for school in it. Then he went to the bathroom that was connected to bedroom and did his morning routine of showering, brushing his teeth and putting on his clothes, which consisted of a dark red shirt, a pair of black jeans and a pair of black shoes. After dressing he went back into the room and put his duffel bag back into the closet. His phone beeped again, signaling that he only had thirty minutes to get to school, so he grabbed his keys, went over to the bed gave Haveah and Havana pecks on the cheek- he made sure to push back the hair obscuring Hinata's face and pecked her on her forehead-, and opened the door that led to the hallway.

He expected the hallway to be empty like it was every morning, but today it wasn't. The maid was standing at the door, with her hand up, as if she was about to knock. As soon as she saw him, a smile came upon her face. "Good morning, Mr. Sabaku. Sorry to interrupt your morning, but Mr. Hyuga wants to see you before you go to school. He is in the dining room area."

"Okay." he knew what Hiashi wanted to talk about. This conversation had been coming. He'd been spending consecutive nights at the Hyuga Mansion for three weeks now sleeping in the same bed with the man's daughter. Although the twins were in bed with them, it was a matter of principle. Gaara was becoming a permanent part of Haveah, Havana, and Hinata's life and Gaara figured that Hiashi just wanted to lay down some ground rules before him pursuing Hinata in a romantic matter. "Can't blame him. When Havana and Haveah begin to date, I'll probably question or kill the guys they bring home." Gaara thought as he walked down stairs.

With Hiashi

Taking a drink from his black coffee, he stared at the newspaper in his hands. It was time to speak to Gaara about Hinata. The head of the Hyuga family could see plain as day how in love that they were, even though Hinata tried to put up a front. Yet he understood her fears and was going to make that Gaara understood the consequence if their was a repeat of what happened three years earlier that caused Hinata to leave.

"You wanted to see me?" he was brought out of his thoughts by Gaara, who was standing right in front of him, on the other side of the table.

Folding his paper neatly and laying it back on the table, Hiashi looked up at the teenager. The boy's face was the picture of seriousness. "I assume that you know why I wanted to speak to you this morning?"

"It's pretty obvious, why I'm here. Let's just get it over with already."

"Fine. Let's cut to the chase. What are your intentions with my daughter and granddaughters?"

"I love them and I want to be a real family. We will be a family."

"You do understand that she will not forgive your past indiscretions as easily as you think. Hinata isn't as naïve as she used to be. Motherhood has strengthened her."

"Don't you think that I know that? Matsuri was a mistake. And I know that because of that, Hinata is scared to trust me, but I don't care. I'll prove to her that I love her, no matter how long it takes." the teenager shot back, defensively. Hiashi could see that he felt bad, but the Hyuga didn't allow himself to feel any sympathy for the redhead. The boy had cost him his daughter once and he'd be damned if he lost her or his granddaughters again because of the boy's stupidity.

"My daughter does not deserve to be hurt by you again. And if this girl was a mistake, why have you been with her since my daughter left? " Gaara opened his mouth to lie and protest against the accusations, but Hiashi kept going.

"I don't care what you have to say, but I need you to listen and comprehend to the best of your ability. I lost my daughter once and now that she's back I will not lose her again or my grandchildren. So you should watch your actions, because if you hurt her again, you'll have to deal with me. "

The boy stood still, holding Hiashi's gaze fiercely. "I understand."

With Hinata

Hinata had woke up right after Gaara left out of the room. The kiss that he placed on her forehead still lingering. She got out of the bed and absentmindedly walked out of the bedroom, making sure that she didn't wake up Haveah and Havana. She walked down the stairs, hoping that she could catch Gaara and see him off. "Damn, I sound so stupid." Her feet lead her though living room towards the dining room.

She stood on the other side of the door way that led into the dining room. Her father and Gaara were in the dining room talking. Gaara's back was toward her and her dad was looking right at Gaara, so neither saw her as she eavesdropped to the end of their conversation…

"…I'll prove to her that I love her, no matter how long it takes." she heard Gaara say. Her heart started to beat faster. He sounded so strong and determined about getting her back.

"My daughter does not deserved to be hurt by you again. And if this girl was a mistake, why have you been with her since my daughter left?" Hiashi spoke again and her heart shattered. "Why have you been with this girl since my daughter left?" Those words ran though her mind, reopening old wounds."He… He has been with someone since I left? Who is…? Who?" She knew that she shouldn't have been fazed, but she couldn't help but feel like he'd betrayed her. She hadn't been able to get over him and start with someone. Even with Jacob, she still loved Gaara. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the conversation end.

With Gaara

He turned about to walk out of the dining room, only to see that Hinata was standing in the doorway with eyes full of tears. The look on her face meant only one thing. She'd heard.

"Hin-" he started to say her name, when she just dashed out of sight. He was about to run after her when his phone beeped again, signaling that he had only fifteen minutes to get school, a twenty minute drive away. He was torn between her and school, but he knew that he couldn't not go to school because his parents would be all over his ass preaching about how important his education was. Begrudgingly, he walked to the living room and went to the door, opened it and left, not without looking back at the stairs that Hinata ran up and promising that he'd talk to her later.

…. ("Hinata texting" / Gaara texting)

"Why didn't you tell me that you had a girlfriend? + Mother of angels+"

Gaara was sitting in fourth period, when he'd gotten the message, First, second, and third periods had gone by in a blur. Fourth period was a science class and they were supposed to be watching videos on the proper ways to conduct a scientific experiment. The teacher was sitting at his desk, dead to the world and snoring so loud that you couldn't hear the man on the television talk, so Gaara was in the clear to text her back without being reprimanded.

I want you. I've always wanted you. You have to understand that.

"How long have you been with her? Have you had sex with her?"

We got together a little while after you left Konoha. Yes we've been having sex.

"Who is she?"

Promise me that you'll hear me out. He knew that she wouldn't like his answer, so he was going to try to make sure that she wouldn't hate him, but he knew her hating was very likely now.

"Just tell me Gaara. Please tell me the truth. I…I need to know." Even though he couldn't see her, he knew that she was probably crying her eyes out and it was all because of him.

Matsuri.

The Hyuga Mansion

With Hinata

Matsuri. With one simple name her world shattered. He'd been with Matsuri since she left. He was still sleeping with the girl that destroyed their relationship in the first place. It seemed she still had a knack for making Hinata miserable.

Staring at her phone, she didn't realize that she was crying until Havana wiped her tears away and hugged her. Haveah joined in shortly afterward, both of them hugging their teenage mother as she looked at the cell phone within her grasp. He texted again, telling her how sorry he was and how Matsuri would never ever mean as much to him as she did- how he loved her and the twins more than anything and wanted them to be a family, a real family. But those words fell onto deaf ears. Hinata wasn't hearing it. She had started to let him back into her heart because she'd saw how much he loved Haveah and Havana, but knowing that he'd been with that whore for almost three years just destroyed any hopes of their family being complete. Acting purely on the anger with her, she sent the three most hateful words that came to mind.

"I hate you."

Later That Day

With Matsuri

Matsuri woke up to someone knocking on her door. Her head was pounding, another ruthless hangover. She'd been to the club every night since she'd given up on Gaara and every time she'd come home with a different guy to fuck. It had been a foolproof way to get over her heartache or that was what she told herself to feel better. Slowly getting out of her bed, she went to the door not bothering to fix her bed head. Opening the door, she unconsciously sucked in a huge gulp of air and held it. The person standing on the other side of the door… she never expected to see him again. "Gaara," she whispered more so to herself than to him in recognition.

"We. Need. To. Talk." Gaara spoke as he walked in uninvited closing the door behind him.

Those four words caused elation to rush through her body. Most times he'd come over her house and said those words, it usually ended up with a hot round of body-tiring sex. "He's probably realized his mistake and came back to get with me." "Finally you've come back to your senses." she sighed happily. "What'd that bitch do, ditch again for a new town?"

"Don't call her that." he bit out.

"Why not? That's what she is a stupid little bitch that keeps hurting you." she retorted with a laugh. "So tell me how much damage she's done to your ego, so I can now how much …"

He cut her of with, "I said don't call the mother of my children that."

Her smile dropped as she processed his words. "Mother of your children?" she paused. "She had your baby?"

"Yeah. Hinata is the mother of my daughters, and I would appreciate it if you stop calling her out of her name."

"Why'd you come here Gaara?" she wanted him to leave. After what he'd just told her, she was pretty sure that he didn't want to do anything with her.

"I came to tell you its over. I… I mean for real this time."

Fury was all she could feel. "Does he think I'm a fucking idiot? I knew. I knew all along. You were going to dump me!" "Like I didn't fucking know that you didn't want me anymore Sabaku. As if your phone skipping strait to voicemail every time I called you wasn't evidence enough that I'd already served my purpose !" the pressure of tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes, ready to spill. It took all her emotional strength not to break down like a little girl. "This is what you deserve. You took him from her and now that you love him, she's taking him back. That's ironic." A rueful cackle poured from within her at her luck. "And the fucked up shit is that I fucking fell in love with you! I'm in love with you." His eyes were wide. "How could he not know?"

She ran up to him and kissed him, not caring that last night's alcohol still flavored her breath. When he roughly pushed her off of him, the bitter sting of rejection was too much to bear and her hot tears started to pour, smearing last night's already, smudged makeup. Her legs gave out and she ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor.

With Gaara

The putrid taste of liquor filled his mouth when she shoved her tongue between his lips. In his haste to get her off of him, he shoved her off of him and she fell. She started to cry.

He felt like a dick. She was crying her heart out. And all he could do was stand rooted to his one spot and watch the pained girl in front of him, lying of the floor weeping because of his foolish, selfish decisions and actions that occurred over the past three years. To him, she looked so defeated. Like a wounded animal that wanted to lie down and face the end alone. She was balled up on the floor, in the fetal position. "Matsuri. You don't love me. What we have… what we did, it was purely physical you know that."

"I do love you Gaara! I love you more than anything." she replied looking at him. Her face looked horrible. Smears of unnaturally tan makeup, red lipstick and black mascara were all over her face, "Don't you care at all? We've been together for three years. We've been having sex for three years. Do … have I ever meant anything." she whispered.

"Matsuri, on some level I care about. But we both know to what extent that level goes. I want Hinata. I've always wanted Hinata. You know that. I love Hinata and my daughters." he tried to explain to her. "I'm sorry that I did this to you. I'm so sorry."

"I love you." she whimpered pitifully. "How can you leave me for her when she didn't care about you enough to stay with you and raise your children? How can you still love her?"

"I'm sorry." he repeated again. What more can he say? He never meant for any of this to happen. He thought that she had understood what the boundaries of their relationship was, but clearly along the way, her sexual feelings had matured into something that he would only feel for Hinata, love. And he's been so oblivious that he didn't notice her new, stronger affection. If he had, the hurt that he'd just inflicted would have been less if he'd ended it before now. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop fucking apologizing and get out!" she hollered loudly.

Feeling that his presence would only deteriorate her emotions even more, Gaara looked at her and whispered "I'm sorry." before walking back to the front of the house and letting himself out.

Stepping out into the cool air of autumn, Gaara had to force himself from smashing his head against the bricks of the house. How could he have been so stupid as to not see how she had felt? She loved him for Christ sake. Then the whole thing with Hinata hating him, he was a mess.

How did everything go so bad? All he wanted was for him and Matsuri to come to a understanding that he was going to be with Hinata. He wanted Hinata to understand that he loved her and the twins with all of his heart. His thoughts were a rampant wildfire that was consuming him. He rode aimlessly on his motorcycle, just going in any direction for hours until he ended up at the Hyuga Mansion. It was late and darkness had tainted the once cloudy, sunny sky.

Getting off his motorcycle, he prayed that he would be let in. He went up to the door and knocked. His twins and the maid opened the door. "Uncle Gaara!" excited squeals from his daughters made him smile, a little. He kneeled down and they ran into his arms.

"I missed you guys." he said.

"What are you doing here!" a cold feminine voice said. It was demanding to know what was going on, not questioning. Looking up, he pleads with Hinata to let him stay.

…

A Couple of Days Later

Neutral

Things the last couple of days had been rocky. Although she still let him see the twins, she'd become distant. Whenever he spent the night, she'd told him that he's have to sleep on the floor. He knew that she didn't trust him, even after he'd explained that he and Matsuri were done and over with.

With Hinata and Gaara

They were at the Hyuga Mansion in Hinata's bedroom watching Lilo and Stitch… Well they were supposed to be watching the movie. Fifteen minutes into the movie, Haveah and Havana had started a popcorn war, which had ended with a bed and floor covered in salty, buttery popcorn and that they had to clean up. After they cleaned up the popcorn, they un-paused the movie only and settled down again. Twenty minutes later, Hinata and Gaara were watching Lilo and Stitch all alone, for Haveah and Havana were fast asleep in their arms.

It was well past midnight, almost 1a.m. His curfew was long gone, which would most likely get him grounded because he didn't tell his parents that he'd be staying tonight, and she was breaking her promise to herself not to love him again. But neither cared. A familiarly comfortable, yet relatively new feeling had weaved it's way into their hearts. It was nameless, but a feeling that they assumed could only occur because of the little girls in their arms.

When the ending credits rolled on the screen, Hinata stood and with Haveah in her arms and laid her down on the bed and tucked her lavender comforter around her, Gaara following her lead with Havana. She had been the one to initiate conversation. "Another happy ending." Hinata sighed, sadly as she strolled up to the DVD player and opened it off, taking out the disk inside.

He turned her way. The look on disappointed her face intrigued him. "What do you mean? Everything fell into place. Everyone found who they were and got to become a part of a family. What's wrong with that?"

The look in his eyes made her look away with a blush. "That's the just it. Life is never that simple. And there is never really a happy ending in the real world."

"Maybe. But this is Disney that we're talking about. Besides, you used to love Disney movie happy endings when we were younger. What happened to your optimism?"

She never looked back up into his eyes. She kept her head down. "People grow up. Things change. Perceptions of things change. Perceptions of people change."

He knew that her emphasis on perceptions of people change had been referring to him and his infidelity three years before as well as the fact that he'd been with Matsuri, but he knew how to turn her words against her and try to bring up the fact that he'd loved her.

"You're right, perceptions of people do change. Like you'll see that I've changed." He said walking up to her, lifting her chin to face him. Her doubt laced pale lavender eyes were staring into his, he could see the that she was scared. He knew that she had every reason to be, but he couldn't help but want to be the one to make her feel better. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about her." he whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry about Gaara. It's none of my business who you have sex with." she turned her face away from his, but again he grabbed her chin and turned her face towards his.

"Does it matter if I say that I love you? Because I do love you." he said.

She was entranced by the loving look in his eyes. "Can I trust him?" It had only been a few weeks since he and the twins had started hanging out and a few days since he'd told her about him and Matsuri, but each day he'd done something that made her love even more that she had already did. Swept into her feelings and forgetting the uncertainties of her heart, Hinata stood on the tips of her toes and brushed her lips against his.

It was electric. The kiss was feather light, but it had ignited a flame he'd he hadn't had since he was fourteen. He couldn't help want more of … her. Completely acting on instinct, he pulled her close, smashing their lips together. Much to his surprise, she kissed back just with as much passion that he had put into the kiss. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her body against his. "She wants this. She wants you." his inner voice cheered.

His tongue rubbed against her bottom lip and she shivered. Hinata hadn't kissed anyone, but Jacob during her three year hiatus from Konoha, but she'd never felt this way with anyone, but Gaara. "God, I missed this. I really missed this. I missed you so much Gaara!" she thought. She didn't know what came over her, but she got lost in the feel of his lips. When his tongue grazed her bottom lip, she was about to grant him entrance when a soft knock interrupted them.

It was the maid. She had brought some extra blankets for Gaara to make a pallet on the floor. Hinata was glad for the interruption. He had gotten her all hot and she knew her blush was the shade of a tomato. It wasn't something that she was used to feeling, although that didn't mean she didn't like feeling her blood rushing with adrenaline.

"You're really pretty, you know that?" he asked, walking up to her. He wrapped her arms around her, pulling her toward him.

She saw that he was about to kiss her, but she was kind of confused on what they were and how they were supposed to act. Sure she knew they were in love with each other, but that was only one part of it. She put her hands to his chest effectively stopping his mouth's descent to hers.

He didn't like that look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"What are we doing?" She sounded uncertain even to her own ears, but she had to know what they were to each other.

Sighing softly, Gaara started to unfold his covers and make his pallet. When he was done he sat down on the floor and patted the cover. He was silently telling her to sit down beside him, which she did. "To be honest, I really don't have a clue. All I know is that I want to be with you. I want to have a family with you and our daughters. I love you."

"G-gaara, it's not that simple. You know that. We have to think about them too. What if we don't work out? "

"Nata, we haven't even started anything yet. But to answer your question, we'll come to that problem when we get to it."

"But I'm scared. I-I don't want a repeat of what happened last time to happen again okay. " That was the biggest obstacle they face. Her fear of being broken by him again. She knows that it hurt the last time but that was before the babies were born. There are more than just his and her hearts on the line. The happiness of their little girls' was at stake and Hinata wanted nothing more than to bury her attachment to him and just be friends, but she knew Gaara. He always fought for what he wanted most and was as stubborn as a mule. "Veah and Vana are just as much a part of this as we are and I don't want any decisions that we make to affect them in the wrong way."

"Can we just start over then? A brand new slate and just see where everything goes from there?"

"Gaara, that only works in the movies."

"We won't know until we try." he said with wide open arms, inviting her in for a hug.

All she could do was smile at his enthusiasm before climbing into his arms and hugging him. "I love you Gaara."

I really hope I did okay on this chapter. Do you think that I moved this chapter along too fast?

Thanks for adding my story to your favorite stories lists and your story alerts, adding me to your favorite authors lists and author alerts. But more importantly, thanks for reading.