Chapter 146 - Freshwater Pearl

Upon entering Ninako's room after lunch, Hinata clothed herself in a stiff, official air.

"Ninako," she said, "you're going on a mission with me today."

Her niece was sitting by the window, knees drawn to her chest as usual, and she lifted her head slightly. "A mission, huh…"

"Yes. Hanabi decided that you've had enough time to recover to start returning to work," Hinata said. "Nothing too strenuous at first, but you'll be working all the same."

Ninako sighed. "I suppose that's fair. No reason I shouldn't be…"

Instead of comforting and correcting her, Hinata merely nodded. "You'll be with me, too. Nothing more intense than D-rank for a while. We're going to be leaving for an assignment this evening, before dinner."

"Already…?" Ninako lifted her head again.

"Have an overnight bag packed by five," Hinata replied.

"All right, Aunt Hinata…" Ninako said gloomily.

The obvious dip downward only minimally bothered Hinata, if only because she knew what would shortly follow.

As expected, Ninako was dressed and had her bag ready in the evening, and Hinata had similarly prepared, for appearances, replacing her usual kimono with pants and a jacket.

"We'll be back by tomorrow morning and get our meals on the way," Hinata explained. "Come, now, let's go."

They walked together, in silence, down the snow-lined streets. Ninako held onto the straps of her backpack, her head low and her eyes a dull white. Hinata tried not to look back at her too much, only leading the way.

But as they began approaching the Uchiha compound, a spark of recognition flit across Ninako's face. "What are we doing over here…?" she said.

"We're on a reconnaissance mission within the village," Hinata replied.

"Reconnaissance…?"

"Mm. You'll be collecting information to report back to the clan."

"Oh…" Ninako's face dulled again. "Why here, though…?"

"I don't question orders," Hinata said.

She could see, as they approached the new Uchiha house, vast and flat, that flickers of excitement and panic were alighting on Ninako's face, and she was clutching her bag's straps tighter.

"Aunt Hinata," she said, as they approached the gate, "why are we here…?"

"Because we have to," Hinata replied, and rang the doorbell.

A young girl with wild hair answered the call—Karai, Hajime's favorite sister.

"Ninako-san! Hey, is that you?"

"Hello, Karai-chan, could you get Hajime for us, please?" Hinata said.

"Yeah, totally! Come on in, I'll be right back with him."

Hinata entered the foyer, but Ninako stood, frozen, just outside, shaking her head.

"Ninako," Hinata said, "what's wrong? Come in."

"I can't, I can't do this," Ninako muttered.

"Ninako, you have to."

"I can't! No,I, I shouldn't…!" She was starting to gasp a little. "Aunt Hinata, I was just starting to forget…! Why are you…?!"

Hinata went back outside, if only to put a comforting hand on Ninako's arm. "Because you shouldn't forget."

Ninako was making high, panicked gasps now, her eyes tightly closed. "We're going to get in so much trouble, you shouldn't have done this, I can't do this…"

"It's okay, it's okay," Hinata said. "There's no danger. Nobody's going to punish you. You need this."

But Ninako kept shaking her head, her knuckles turning white where she gripped her backpack. "No, I don't, I can forget, I just need a little more time, I just need-"

"Ninako…?"

Hajime had appeared in the open doorway. He looked at once tired and bewildered, deep creases under his eyes. His mouth was slack with astonishment.

And immediately after their eyes met, Ninako ran forward and buried her face in his chest, clinging to his back.

"Ninako, it's… it's really you…" His voice was breathy and weak, and he hugged her back with all the strength he had left. "I thought I'd never see you again…!"

"S-same here…" Ninako managed, her face still pressed tightly against him.

They stayed where they were for a while longer, feeling the warmth and the shapes of each other, as if their bodies were starving for it.

"H-How did you manage this…?" Hajime finally said, breaking the willing silence.

"Orders from the top," Hinata said, smiling a little. "Ninako is to gather intelligence on the Uchiha clan's condition, and return in the morning to report back to her family."

"Return in the morning…?" Ninako pulled away to look back at Hinata, confusion in her tear-flooded eyes.

"I wasn't being entirely truthful; this is a solo mission for you, Ninako," Hinata said. "I'll be by in the morning to pick you up. I expect a full report, now."

And Ninako, for the first time in weeks, truly smiled. "Aunt Hinata, thank you so much…!"

"Don't thank me," Hinata replied. "Just gather as much information as you can. And," she added, crisply, "I expect Hajime-san will be a gracious host."

"Oh, uh, of course…" Hajime said. "I'll take care of her."

Hinata nodded, closing her eyes. "Very well, then. I'll see you in the morning."

And closing the door behind her, Hinata left them be.

"Oh, you should—take your pack off," Hajime said, after some time passed without either of them letting go of each other.

"Oh, I—guess you're right." Ninako slipped the straps off her shoulders, and wiped at her eyes with her first. "I didn't even notice it was still on…"

They immediately embraced again, Hajime putting his arms around her back and taking in the smell of her hair.

"I can't believe it," Hajime said, "I can't believe you're really here…"

"Yeah, it almost feels like a dream," Ninako said. "I can't even remember the last time we saw each other…"

"Almost seven months ago. Give or take a few days."

Ninako pulled away to look into his eyes. "Were you… counting the days?"

His face, already reddened with the beginnings of tears, flushed further. "Y-yeah, maybe a little…"

And there was another miracle, then: Ninako laughed, and she squeezed him. "You haven't changed. I'm so glad."

"You're… welcome?" Hajime said, and she nestled against his chest further.

This time, to break the silence of another long embrace, it was Ninako that spoke: "Hey, so… are we just going to stay here all night, or are you going to let me in?"

"Ah! Yes, of course, I mean…" Hajime snapped away sheepishly. "Go ahead and take off your shoes, you can leave your stuff up here I guess…"

Ninako laughed again, slipping off her shoes with old easiness. "Sure, sure… We should probably go tell your family I'm here, too…"

"Ah, yeah…! Gosh, Ninako, so much has happened…" Hajime began to lead her down the hallway. "I mean, the new house, obviously…"

"Obviously," Ninako said. "It's been… seven months, after all. Give or take a few days." She nudged his arm, smirking weakly.

"Y-yeah," Hajime said, looking at his feet. "And, uh, my mom and dad are separated now, so I'm the clan-"

"She finally left him?" The energy of the shock brightened Ninako's voice significantly.

"My mom…? No, no, uh, it was my dad that left…" Hajime replied, running a hand through his bangs. "He's, uh… living with Uncle Naruto right now, I guess…"

"Wow, you'd think I'd have heard about that…" Ninako said, her voice softening.

(Feeling, for the first time since it fell over her, how much the shadows usually weighed upon her.)

"Yeah, it's pretty… widespread gossip Outside, I guess," Hajime said. "But, uh, all the same…"

"Ninako-chan! Is that you?"

They'd reached the kitchen, and Ino, of course, noticed.

"Hi, Ino-san," Ninako replied, waving.

"What are you doing here?" Ino stepped away from where she was chopping peppers, brushing her hands off on her apron. "Hajime, did you plan this?"

"I dunno, I'm… apparently here on orders," Ninako said, shrugging. "I'm supposed to gather information or something…"

"Oh, of course you are," Ino said. "Come here, come here, sit down, I bet you're just dying to know everything."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting… caught up on things," Ninako said, before Ino ushered her to the kitchen table. "Though, um… I'm kind of hungry, so could I get a snack or something first…?"

"Dear, of course! Why didn't you say anything before?" Ino said. "Hajime, you take care of this girl while I get her something to eat!"

"Sure, Mom…" Hajime said, while Ino busied herself in the pantry.

And he got Ninako caught up, sitting with her at the table, one of his hands touching hers. He told her about Karai's promotion to chuunin and Inou's new job in the police force, and Takeru's injuries and rehabilitation, and the new presence of Yakata at the flower shop with Nadeshiko.

Karai joined them, eventually, embellishing where she could, sitting eagerly at the table with them. And Ino brought over a bowl of rice crackers and cups of tea before that, listening in with a sweet smile of her own as she continued to prepare dinner. Inou and Takeru were both out, the former at work and the latter with Shikake, so the meal would be eaten when they both came home.

In a way, it felt like returning home, even though Ninako hadn't been an invited guest of the Uchiha family in years.

But the peace was very suddenly startled by the wet sound of an infant crying somewhere within the house

(Hajime hadn't said a thing about the baby to Ninako.)

The conversation, which had drifted into Karai's recent missions, immediately stopped, and even Ino put down her knife.

"Hajime, I'll go take care of that," Ino said, after a few seconds passed without anyone doing anything.

But Hajime shook his head, getting out of his chair. "No, I… should go. Ninako, why don't you come with me…?"

(He hadn't told her anything.)

"…yeah, I suppose I ought to," she said, every bit of her eager energy disappearing. She got out of her chair, and silently followed Hajime through the hallways.

They came to what she had to guess was the baby's room, but aside from the crib and the changing table in the corner, there was no indication that it was a nursery. The walls were a plain white, undecorated, and there were no toys to be seen anywhere.

Hajime went up to the crib, and picked up the blanked-covered shape within. "Oh, what's wrong…?" he said, sounding genuinely worried. "I just changed you…"

Ninako, however, lingered at the door, not even going in.

Hajime noticed. "Ninako, it's all right, you can come in," he said, bouncing the crying thing in his arms, looking up at her. "There's nobody in your family keeping you from seeing him now."

A word yanked at her heart.

Him.

"It's a boy…?" she said.

"Yeah." Hajime managed a slight, worried smile. "It's a boy."

She chanced a step inside. "You mean you can… tell?"

His worried smile turned puzzled and awkward. "O-Of course I can, I mean, I change his diapers every day, so it's kind of…"

Ninako's mouth was trembling, though whether it was out of fear or because she was about to cry, she couldn't tell.

"Ninako, what's wrong…?" he said, his voice only barely soft, so as to cut over the cries.

"I-I'm so sorry…!" The tears came rolling down Ninako's face, and she pressed her chin into her chest, unable to look at even Hajime.

He came closer, the thing still in his arms, still making that wretched noise. "Ninako, what do you have to be sorry for…?" he said.

"That you have to… deal with that thing all by yourself…" She sniffed. "Please, you don't even have to treat it like it's human in front of me, I already know…"

"Like it's human…?" Hajime bounced the bundle in his arms to try and calm it. "Ninako, of course our son is—human, why would you say…?"

"I saw what it looked like, I saw, it was all… messed up because of me…" Ninako was gasping in between her words, now. "Didn't even have… a, a face or anything…"

"Didn't even…?" Hajime shifted the bundle to one arm, and lifted Ninako's chin with the other. "Ninako, that can't be true, our son-"

She jerked her head sideways, away from his hand. "Please, you don't have to lie to me…"

"I'm not lying to you." She could see in her peripheral vision that the bundle, now making weaker cries, had shifted to his other arm.

She didn't answer, just wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"Here, look at our son. He… he has a face. He's fine." She saw his arms reaching out further to her, as if trying to pass it on to her. "See? Look at him, Ninako."

Ninako closed her eyes, lifting her chin, trying not to cry harder.

"Ninako, please…" Hajime said. "I don't know why you're acting like this, but…"

"I saw what it looked like, I saw what it looked like…" she murmured.

She felt the warmth of Hajime's arms pressing against hers, and a soft, heavy load pressing against her chest.

"Hold him, at least, all right…?" she heard Hajime say.

Her arms were shaking. She didn't want to.

But she felt an almost familiar squirming against her skin, and one by one her hands rose to cradle the blanket-covered thing.

"Now look at him, okay…?" Hajime said. His voice was growing softer. "It's all right."

The cries were beginning to cease, reduced to shivering little whimpers.

She didn't come around to wondering how a fleshy, inhuman blob could cry; perhaps the shadow-warped thinking allowed for such a thing to make such a noise.

But then she felt a tiny hand reach for her thumb, which was resting somewhere near the creature's head. And she felt that tiny hand hold onto her.

The thing that had come out of her didn't have arms, or hands, or fingers.

Almost fearfully, she slowly opened her eyes, and looked down at what was in her arms.

It was a baby.

And it looked human.

It had a human face, round but wrinkled with the recent crying, and a mass of wispy black curls for hair.

And his hand, five fingers and all, was holding onto her thumb.

"This… this is our son…?" she said, not even looking up.

"Yeah, our son," Hajime said.

She didn't want to move her arms, for fear of dropping or disturbing the little thing. "We had a son…"

"Yeah, we did."

And their son, no longer even crying, yawned and stretched inside her arms, and wiggled within his blankets, pressing his head against her chest.

"He's…" Tears were welling up again, but this time, they were glad ones. "He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Hajime…"

"Yeah, isn't he…?" He took a few steps so that he was standing beside her, now, and put one arm behind her back. "Everyone says he looks like me, but… I totally think he looks like you."

She actually began to laugh a little, running her fingers over the little hand that was gripping her thumb. "That hair, though, that doesn't come from either of us…"

"Nah, I'm sorta puzzled by that, really…" Hajime said. "Anyone in your family with curly hair?"

Ninako shook her head. "No, he must get it from your family…"

"Mm."

They stood together, just watching the child as he yawned again.

But something caught Ninako's attention, pricking at the dream again, when the child's eyes opened.

"What's with his eyes…?" she said, struggling to see their color through his thick lashes.

Hajime didn't say anything, stepping back a little.

The baby sleepily blinked and opened his eyes further, and she could see that the entire visible surface was gray and clouded, like dull metal.

"The… day he was born, after your dad brought him to me, we, um… took him to the hospital to get his shots and birth certificate and everything…" His voice had grown uncertain and weak. "And… during his check-up, they…"

Ninako finally looked away from the child, and saw that Hajime almost looked scared.

"They what…?" she said. Her heart began to pound. "What's wrong with him…?"

"…well, they aren't sure, it can't be absolutely certain until he's older, but…" His head hung low. "Our son is probably completely blind, Ninako."

Ninako's breath caught in her chest. "Blind…?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how to tell you, but—is something funny?"

Ninako had absolutely burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, so… so you mean to tell me that an Uchiha and a Hyuuga, the clans with the most advanced eye jutsu in the world…" She stopped to catch her breath. "That when they have a kid together, it ends up blind?"

"I-I guess so…?" Hajime said.

Ninako was almost cackling at that point. "That's… that's absolutely fantastic… Man, if Hanabi-sama knew this was gonna happen… no wonder they thought he was an abomination! Oh my goodness…"

"Ninako…?"

The volume of her laughter had disturbed the baby, who began wailing again. "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry, I'm sorry little guy, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm not laughing at you…!" She bounced him and held him closer to her chest in what was undeniably a cuddle. "When you grow up you'll learn to appreciate irony I guess…"

"So… you're okay with this?" Hajime said, cautiously.

"Okay with this? This is perfect," Ninako said, and when she smiled at him, there was light practically beaming out of her face. "It's hilarious! So what if he's blind?" She bounced her son a little more, soothing him noticeably. "It sure beats thinking he was an… an amoeba or something."

"Amoeba…?"

Ninako laughed again. "Never mind. Oh, little guy, you are absolutely perfect, you are the best and I love you." She tucked the baby closer to her, speaking now to him. "You are not a parasite, no you aren't."

Hajime decided it was better to enjoy the absolute bliss in Ninako's voice over her bizarre choice of words.

"You wanna feed him?" he offered, after a while. "I figure he might be hungry."

"Oh, that would be great. I'd love to," she said.

"All right, all right, we can get a bottle in the kitchen," Hajime said, and began leading her out.

"By the way, Hajime," Ninako asked, in the hallway, "what did you name him?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you…?" he said.

"You did, you dope," Ninako said, before turning to the baby. "Your dad's so absent-minded…"

"Hey, you were kind of… never mind," Hajime said.

(With Ninako's mood so drastically improved it would possibly be dangerous to bring up her panic.)

"Well, what's his name?" Ninako said. "Or did you not give him one?" she added with a smirk.

"His name's Kumori," Hajime said.

"Kumori…?" Ninako said. "As in 'frosted glass,' or 'cloudy' or what?"

"'Cloudy', I guess," Hajime said. "I mean, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw his eyes. A cloudy day, I mean, all overcast. They're the same color."

"Kumori…" Ninako tasted the name, looking at the baby's face as she did so. "Yep, you did a good job."

Hajime sighed, shaking his head. "Glad I didn't disappoint," he said, half-joking, half-sincere.

There was noticeable relief on the faces of Ino and Karai when Ninako entered with the baby in her arms and a smile on her own face. As Hajime prepared the bottle for the feeding, Ninako held Kumori at the kitchen table, gently twisting her fingers around his curls.

"Isn't he just the cutest thing?" Karai said.

"Oh yeah," Ninako replied. "He's amazing."

Kumori fell asleep again after Ninako fed him for the first time, but she kept him in her arms a while longer while they all waited for dinner to be prepared. She put him down with Hajime when it was time to eat, after Inou and Takeru finally came home. And even though conversation with her was spirited, (especially from Takeru, strangely) she rushed through the meal so she could return to the baby's room and hold him.

Hajime had a rocking chair in his bedroom, now, which he let her use. And she spent the better part of an hour just looking at Kumori, taking in every one of his features, his face and his little hands and feet.

Of course, Hajime offered his bed to her when exhaustion got the better of her, bringing about yawns, her head nodding toward her chest where she was sitting.

"Only if you share with me, though," she said, putting Kumori back in his crib.

"Of course," Hajime replied.

Though he wasn't yet tired, Hajime lay down beside her and stroked her arm and talked to her gently as she fell asleep, before he found himself drifting off as well.

But Ninako did not rest easily; he found her getting out of bed every now and then to "use the bathroom," but from the sound of the door opening and closing next door, he knew she was with Kumori.

"You know," he told her, entering the baby's room after following her, "he can sleep in the bed with us, if you want."

"Can he…?" Ninako's eyes shone like pearls.

Hajime nodded. "Yeah, let me get his blanket."

He put Kumori between them on the pillows, where he kicked at the air for a while after before quieting down. Ninako fell asleep just watching him, and Hajime fell asleep watching her, feeling such a warm right-ness in his heart that when morning came, wake-ups and all, he felt rested for the first time in months.

Hinata came to pick up Ninako after breakfast. Ninako had long since given her hugs and goodbyes and promises, and her face was closed as she took her pack and left through the gate, not even waving behind her.

"So?" Hinata said. "Did you gather much information?"

"I did," Ninako replied, without enthusiasm.

"Well?" Hinata continued when Ninako didn't say anything. "How is the child of Uchiha Hajime? Is it well?"

Just like that, Ninako began smiling uncontrollably. "He's got the most adorable curly hair, Aunt Hinata, you wouldn't even believe it."

"Curly hair, is it?" Hinata said. "And it's a boy?"

"Yeah," Ninako said. "I have a son."