Chapter 156 - Salted Martjes

Nadeshiko was twenty-four years old when she went on her first vacation.

She announced it on Sasuke's third New Year home with the family, after everyone else had recapped their big news.

Takeru, for the first time, wasn't actually present, though he presented his news in the form of a VHS tape that accompanied his usual letters.

"Father, Mother, everyone, I want you to meet Saya, my fiancee," he began, immediately.

Saya was rich, to begin with, and also beautiful and very tall, with a defined upper lip that could have cut through steel. She was also about as clever, self-absorbed, and vain as Takeru, which meant they were an obscenely perfect match.

(She was also the first and only woman whom Takeru had actively worked at getting to know as a person, and to love genuinely, and he was about the same to her.)

(Before Saya, Takeru was charming, clever, and he knew how to make women laugh, but very few of them had the stomach to go any further, no matter how much his personality sparkled.)

(Before Takeru, Saya was a socialite in both the positive and the negative senses of the word, and she had the ability to get into any establishment by knowing the right people, yet at the same time had no close friendships.)

(Since neither of them were terribly fond of love stories, it was best to say that once they connected, they were set for life, and spent their days wonderfully in love with each other and in happy derision of everything and everyone else.)

"You're all invited to the wedding, which I assure you is an enormous honor," Saya continued, after Takeru. "We'll be sending along details as they come."

"...well! At least they thought to let us know somehow," Ino said, brightly, as the tape concluded.

There wasn't much else that was surprising; Inou had moved into the Yamanaka compound on his 20th birthday, and his family had attended the ceremony and party that accompanied his naming as clan head - Sasuke willingly and proudly included. Chouko had similarly joined him in her duties to her family, earlier in the year, but Shikake had left the Nara clan at a bit of a loss when she rescinded her heritage and went to live permanently in Sand. Her chosen replacement was a feeble second-cousin named Shikkari, who was wholly untrained for clan politics but chosen by Shikake nonetheless.

(Shikake viewed the whole ordeal as just desserts, and maybe even revenge. She'd been born or kept or whatever because her father had been too lazy to claim a non-offspring as his incumbent, and he settled for a bastard in the meantime because that was easier.)

(Shikake had absolutely no intention of doing anything but living her life the way she pleased, and that involved making puppets as her uncle Kankuro's partner.)

(In a way, she was exactly like her father, except that she actually settled her accounts.)

His duties thus passed on, Inoichi retired for good and moved to a resort town in the southern Land of Fire, with a comfortable little condo and absolutely nothing to worry over. He left the flower shop in Nadeshiko's care, which she was more than happy to receive.

Sasuke and Ino had similarly settled into retirement; Sasuke's students had all found employment - for Kyou, at the archives, for Sunao, at the school, and for Go'on, wherever there were trees that needed tending - and he was quite content to take long walks around the city and joust verbally with Naruto, in his office and in his home, catching up on his reading in the meantime. None of it was much of a change for Ino, save for the marked lack of stress that was present.

Kumori was due to start school in the spring, and Karai had been promoted to jounin before Inou, and was working personally with Naruto on a great many diplomacy missions in the smaller countries of the world. Her great triumph was in peacefully resolving a border dispute in the Land of Hot Springs, though barely anyone at home heard about it. Outside of Konoha, she was developing a grand and glorious reputation, but she remained humble and quiet to anyone that personally knew her.

(Though, in private, she told her father of her little victories, and he never, ever hesitated to tell her how proud he was of even the smallest accomplishment.)

(Naruto worked with her often, and Sasuke heard things, so of course he eventually approached her, because there was no way that she'd make the first move.)

(Karai had not allowed herself to feel that she'd had a bad relationship with her father, not with how everyone else had been treated. His ignorance of her had been processed as a blessing, though one that tied her limbs down and kept her from growing.)

(His encouragement of her was like sunshine. Where she'd smiled before, because nobody else was smiling, because she had to, she now smiled because she truly felt it.)

(Even though she refused to change putting others before herself. That was just how she was made, in her opinion.)

Nadeshiko, following all these surprises and not-so-surprises, said at the dinner table, "I'm going to see the world, starting next week."

"Nadeshiko!" her mother said. "I didn't expect this out of you!"

She nodded. "I figured it was about time I give something like that a try."

"Anything in particular that brought this on, sis?" Inou asked her.

Nadeshiko paused, as if thinking, before she replied. "Not wanting to waste my adult years. I haven't really done anything exciting yet, in my life."

"Aw, c'mon, Nadeshiko," Karai said. "You've done plenty of exciting stuff."

"Breeding flowers is hardly exciting to most people, but thank you," Nadeshiko replied.

She left via transport as announced, the following week, and her parents and Karai saw her off; everyone else was too busy with work, though she hardly minded.

She was absent for the better part of the rest of the season, sending frequent letters with pressed flowers from the various regions she was visiting. It's so wonderful seeing flowers in the wild that I've only ever seen in my garden, she wrote to Yakata, in one of her letters.

(Do visit Shusuke for me, while I'm gone, she also wrote to him, and Yakata dutifully obeyed.)

(Even though it had been so long, and Nadeshiko and Shusuke had actually had an opportunity to meet and speak with each other about their past, she still enjoyed visiting and cleaning his grave every Saturday, perhaps out of habit, or perhaps because, by then, he'd grown from a guilty shadow to a faint, but present, friend.)

She returned, finally, in late March, in time to celebrate Kumori's entrance into the academy, and she was welcomed warmly back.

Shortly after coming home, she fell ill with what Ino attributed to "vacation crud," and took to her bed. However, it took her a good long while for her to recover; two weeks after her return and she was still sleeping away most of the day, and her face grew dangerously gaunt.

Ino tended to her, whenever she was called - Nadeshiko would always apologize for the inconvenience, which Ino clucked away - but Sasuke, to everyone's surprise, visited her daily, in the morning and evening, to make sure she was comfortable and that the house was clean. He made her fresh tea, an herbal blend she liked that brewed up a deep red color, and brought her things from the store if he noticed them missing from the cupboard.

Inou similarly came by on a regular basis, though mostly to talk. "Seriously, you want us to call a doctor?" he asked, one day.

She shook her head; her hair was braided and fell over her shoulder. "I had a house call already. I'm just exhausted and need to rest," she said.

"I think that you're more than a bit exhausted, sis," he said, and she smiled to try and assuage him.

She did recover, eventually. But she carried herself differently after that, walking slower, and speaking more softly.

It was Kumori who got the family to intervene more seriously; after spending an afternoon with his aunt, he came home quiet, and worried. "I think she's real sick, Mom," he said, telling her how things went.

"What makes you say that, sweetheart?" Ninako replied.

"There's this… thing inside her chest," Kumori said. "I know it's not her heart, 'cos it's like… lumpy."

(Ninako was not at all a medical ninja, but she knew what tumors felt like to sensors.)

"Well, then, we'll just have to ask Aunt Nadeshiko if she's okay," she told her son.

She brought it up to Hajime, who brought it up to his mother, who brought it up to Nadeshiko, who sighed and said she'd set everything straight, regarding her health, the next time they had a family meal.

"It's not a terribly urgent matter, so I can wait to tell you all," she said. "It's not as if I'll be dead by tomorrow."

"So there… is something the matter with you?" Ino said, not at all comforted.

"It's nothing worth worrying about," Nadeshiko replied.

The dinner could not have come soon enough, for the family. By the time Nadeshiko actually showed up, it was all but guaranteed that she'd gotten some form of cancer and was keeping quiet about it to save them all trouble.

"As I've said before, I'm perfectly fine," she finally began, after Ino insisted Nadeshiko talk with them before the meal even commenced. "I'm not sick, I've just been tired lately."

"Then what's that thing in your chest, Aunt Nadeshiko?" Kumori said, cutting straight to it. "Like, by your heart."

"It's not in my chest, Kumori, but it's fairly close, I suppose," Nadeshiko said. "It's a baby."

Inou screamed first. "What? What the hell?! You're pregnant?"

"I am," Nadeshiko said, perfectly calmly.

"What? Since when? Nadeshiko!" He slapped his hands on the table, almost scowling.

"Does that mean you have a boyfriend? I wanna meet him!" Karai said.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ninako said.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Everyone, please, let her talk!" said Ino. Things quieted down, after that. "Nadeshiko, how did this happen?"

"I decided that I didn't want to wait for someone to come around and marry me, for me to be a mother," Nadeshiko said. "So I went and had it done artificially while I was on vacation."

"No!" Ninako said. "Really?"

Nadeshiko nodded. "I'm not exactly marriage material, I realized. Can't let that get in the way."

"C'mon, sis, give yourself a little credit," Inou said. "You just haven't met the right person yet."

(Nadeshiko had given dating a try, meeting men in cafes and bookstores. Some of them might have lasted more than a dinner or two, if she hadn't given off such an air of disinterest or dislike.)

(Of course, this was all to do with attitude. Nadeshiko was of the opinion that she was highly undesirable, and that anyone looking to date her wasn't interested in anything but her money or her reputation.)

"At any rate, I gave this a lot of thought, and have made all the necessary preparations," Nadeshiko said. "I wanted a baby, and now I'm going to have one."

"Do you have any names in mind?" Karai blurted. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet? Do you want to know?"

"Karai, one question at a time, please!" Ino said, but Nadeshiko waved her hand.

"I don't mind. And I'm having a boy," Nadeshiko said. "I'm thinking of naming him either Ikaru or Han."

"So you did find out!" Karai said.

"I wanted a boy to begin with, actually," Nadeshiko said. "So the family would have at least one boy guaranteed to have a Sharingan."

The room prickled with silence. "Is that so!" Ino said, in a tone more suited to clearing her throat.

"Nadeshiko?" Sasuke's voice sounded heavy in the air. "Are you doing this because it's what you want, or because it's what you think I want?"

Nobody dared speak up, for fear of interrupting.

"It's what I want," Nadeshiko said. "The Sharingan and all. I had genetic testing done and my eggs selected so that my son will have the best chance of developing it when he's older. It's my responsibility, after all."

"What do you mean by responsibility?" Sasuke said; the interruption felt stiff, as if he hadn't experienced the past few seconds.

"As a woman of the Uchiha clan," Nadeshiko replied. "I can't stand by and let our bloodline die out."

"Nadeshiko, that's entirely untrue," Ino said. "You shouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing! You should have children because you're ready for them, not because of… things like this."

Sasuke, however, didn't say anything, just keeping his eyes away.

"Regardless of the reasons, I will have a son," Nadeshiko said. "And, time willing, he'll be able to continue our family's bloodline. I'm due in October, anyways, so it's too late to convince me out of it."

"Nadeshiko, we would never do that!" Ino said. "I just wish you'd talked to us about it before you went through with this."

"If I had a husband, would we be having this conversation?" Nadeshiko said. Her voice was strained, even sad.

"Well, I…" Ino couldn't go any further.

"My reasons are my own, and I hope that you all respect my decision," Nadeshiko continued. "The least I can ask is that you're kind to my son, when he's born."

"Well, duh, Nadeshiko, of course!" Karai said, so nobody else would have to. "Why wouldn't we?"

"...illegitimacy, I suppose," Nadeshiko replied, even though everyone present knew what she really meant.

"So Kumori's getting a cousin, then!" Ninako said; Karai had taken enough turns, in her opinion.

"What's a cousin mean, 'xactly?" Kumori said.

"When your aunt or uncle has a baby, sweetie," Ninako replied.

"Oh. Cool," Kumori said.

"I'm sure you'll be a great mother, Nadeshiko," Hajime added. "You need any help from us, you just ask."

That was that, as far as Nadeshiko's family was concerned.

But Inou, privately, was furious.

He wasn't angry at Nadeshiko - well, he sort of was - but he was even angrier at Sasuke. And the worst part was that it was probably nothing he'd actually done, at least not recently. That was the meat of it.

He waited until his next weekend off, to visit his sister, and let the anger fly. After all, he didn't want to cause a scene, or anything, especially since it was obvious that Nadeshiko was seeking understanding for her plans when she made her announcement.

"So, why are you still trying to get Dad's approval?" he began. "Like, is there even a need, at this point? If anything, he's the one that needs to work at it, not us, and, uh, definitely not you."

Nadeshiko calmly finished her sip of tea. "You're talking about my son, aren't you?"

"Can't think of anything else it could be," Inou replied. "I mean… you said yourself you're doing this for the family. And I know that you mean him. Nobody else cared about things like that."

"Inou, this isn't because of Father," Nadeshiko said. "I'm simply being logical about this. Karai and Yakata are too young, and Hajime is with Ninako. I'm the only one that can carry on the line, at this point."

"But that doesn't matter, Nadeshiko," Inou said. "Like, who honestly cares if nobody has a Sharingan after our generation? Dad's even okay with it, I mean, with Kumori and all."

"It's a birthright of our clan, Inou," Nadeshiko said.

"That's Dad talking, not you." Inou paused. "And, like, not even Dad right now. That's the Dad that almost killed me when I was fourteen."

"I'm not doing this for our father, Inou," Nadeshiko said.

"Then what?"

"I told you before," Nadeshiko said, "it's to keep the clan's bloodline alive. It's my responsibility."

Inou groaned in frustration. "Nadeshiko, honestly! I mean, I'll respect your decision, it's your life and all, but… you really didn't need to do this! Like, even if this really isn't about Dad."

Nadeshiko blinked a few times, slowly. "I suppose I shouldn't have said anything, then," she said.

"No, you should have said something. Before you went and… went through with this," Inou said. "Like, normal people don't plan having kids for the sake of logic or whatever."

"So I'm not normal, am I?"

The urge to backpedal hit Inou like a bucket of cold water. "No! No, no, no, I never said that!"

"I see," Nadeshiko said. She lowered her eyes. "It's all right. It makes sense to me. And I'm not normal, I know that."

"No, no, no - sis, here, listen to me." Inou put his hands out on the table, his fingertips touching the saucer of her cup. "I love you, sis, I do. And I want you to be happy, I really do. But you having a kid because you feel it's your responsibility? How can you be happy with that?"

"It'll make things easier for everyone," Nadeshiko said. "That would make me happy."

"But not, like, finding someone that really loves you? All of you? And having a kid with them because you both want to?"

Another pause for thought. "That would be… unrealistic."

"Nadeshiko…"

"It's the most reasonable thing to do," she said. "And besides, it wouldn't be fair to expect Karai or Yakata to go through everything I've had to do, in order to have my son."

"Y'mean with the… genetic testing and stuff?" Inou said. Nadeshiko nodded. "Where'd you even go for that, anyways?"

"Karin-sensei's clinic, on the west coast. The hospital's obstetrics ward referred me there. She's the leader in in-vitro techniques and genetic testing," Nadeshiko said. "It was hardly easy, but I knew I could trust her."

"Hm. Yeah, but…" Inou sighed again. "Nobody's making you do this. And… well, heck, it's none of my business if you feel Dad hasn't done enough for you, because come on, but I really don't think he cares, at this point."

"Mm."

"C'mon, don't give me that. You deserve way better than to have a kid just because it's convenient for everyone else," Inou said. "Come to think of it, have you even talked to Dad about this?"

"Yes. He respects my decision, and looks forward to meeting his grandson," Nadeshiko said. "That's better than I expected."

"Of course he does… Nadeshiko," Inou continued, after another sigh, "after this kid is born, I'm really going to have to give you self-esteem lessons. Because you could use them."

"I don't think you'll need to bother, but thank you," Nadeshiko replied, and left it at that.

It comforted Inou, after that conversation, to see that Sasuke truly did seem to be as supportive as Nadeshiko said he was. Shortly after her announcement, he began work on a receiving blanket and a set of new baby clothes for the imminent arrival. And their relationship was about as good as it had been for the past few years - which, if it were any other two people, wouldn't be considered much. They met to discuss books and family over tea, but not much else.

(But because of who they were, it was more than anyone expected, especially Nadeshiko.)

(Inou, thinking about everything he'd heard, thought that this was probably more than Nadeshiko felt she deserved, for all that Sasuke had to work through.)

(Of course, that was just his take on things. Nadeshiko's true thoughts were as unreadable to him as they were to anyone that wasn't a Yamanaka.)

(Her confidence and her unnecessary martyrdom he would deal with later.)