Chapter 162 - Third Movement: Bluebird
Ooda was very careful coming to Konoha, for his June visit. But he still managed to attract too much attention.
He traveled from the Land of Lightning to Konoha in a First Class transport car, with a smattering of other fairly wealthy folks, and wore a large scarf and sunglasses to keep his face covered.
Only, this time, it really was for privacy, rather than shame.
And even with that, people still began recognizing him. School-age children pointed and whispered - wasn't that the guy from the Scissor-Man movie? Was that the guy on the pirate posters? Some older girls tittered amongst themselves, recognizing him from earlier dramas. When a child finally approached him, gingerly, with a notebook, Ooda bent down kindly and smiled. "For a fan? Of course."
He signed a few more autographs, as he went along, but politely excused himself afterward. "I'm sorry, terribly sorry, but I have an appointment to meet."
It was a well-polished persona, appealing without being overt, friendly without being overwhelming. And it all but dissolved as he approached the Uchiha compound, where Nadeshiko had told him to meet her.
He swallowed, took his sunglasses off, and passed through the gate.
Han was waiting for him, on the porch of the main house, swinging one leg in the air, watching dragonflies. As soon as he saw Ooda, he rocketed off and threw himself into the man's arms. "Daddy!"
"Hey there, Han! It's good to see you," Ooda said. "Where's your mother?"
"Over there," Han said, slipping down and pointing.
Nadeshiko was wearing a plain, white dress, gathered high and flowing. She smiled at him as she approached him, but there was a gleam of discomfort in her eyes.
Still, he embraced her, feeling her arms wrap tightly around him. "Hello, love," he said, in a breathing-voice, soothing and smooth. "It's going to be okay."
And his worry was bumped quite unexpectedly aside when he noticed what was between them. "You're showing!" he said.
"I am," Nadeshiko replied. "Only two more months."
"Goodness me…" Ooda pulled away and got a full look at her, and the little thing they were making. "It seems so much more real, seeing you now."
"Mm. It does," she replied, lowering her eyes.
"Hey. It's going to be all right." He brushed his hair out of his eyes, for her, and only her, to see. "We're not going to hide."
She reached up and touched his face, his expression of trust, and hugged him, tightly, one more time.
"Hey, when you guys are done smoochin' can we go inside?" Han said, rocking impatiently on his feet. "Grandma's making food and I'm hungry."
"Yes, Han, of course," Nadeshiko said. She held onto Ooda's arm as they went into the house, and did not let go until it was absolutely necessary.
(Sasuke watched all this, from the kitchen window.)
(Trying to persuade himself.)
The family was gathered in the kitchen, like they always did for these sorts of things, and there was almost audible shock when Ooda came into the light.
"Everyone," Nadeshiko said, finally releasing him, "this is my partner, Takada Ooda."
Karai broke the ice wide open, and explosively too. "So, uh, I saw that trailer for the Suzume Kuro movie and, um, what's it like working with Juji Gyo?!"
"...oh, um, he's… all right," Ooda replied.
Karai smiled with her mouth open, before holding out a hand. "Oh, sorry, I don't think we've met! I'm Nadeshiko's younger sister, Karai."
"Ah, hello!" Ooda shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you too."
"You should have told us it was someone we knew!" Inou continued. "Hi, you, uh, probably don't remember me. Yamanaka Inou, I was… involved in that upset about you about ten years ago."
Ooda turned his head as he tried to recall, and then gasped. "Oh, you interrogated me, didn't you! During that whole Orochimaru thing. That was so long ago."
"Yeah, we ended up kinda sharing a headspace at one point." Inou laughed uneasily, and extended his hand almost too quickly. "No hard feelings, right?"
"None at all. It was mostly my fault, anyways." Ooda let out a perfect laugh and shook Inou's hand. "It's nice to meet you again under… considerably better circumstances."
"Yeah, for sure," Inou said.
"Uchiha Ninako, huge fan," was next, as she pushed forward. "The Scissor Man made me cry so much."
"My mom told me the same thing, so I'm glad," he replied. "And you must be another brother?"
"Uchiha Hajime, my pleasure," Hajime said. "I'm glad you're here."
"An' that's my cousin, Daddy. Kumori," Han said, tugging on Ooda's billowy shirt. "He's gettin' a lil' brother too."
"Now, Han, we don't know what it's going to be, yet," Ninako said.
"Oh, you're expecting as well?" Ooda said, and an inquisitive expression entered him. "How far along?"
"Five months," Ninako said.
"Is that so? Well, then." He smiled. "Looks like our children will have cousins of a similar age. That should be nice."
"Oh, is he here?" Ino came down with Sasuke. "Hello! It's so wonderful to meet you!"
(She obviously hadn't just been giving her husband a pep talk out of sight.)
"You're Nadeshiko's mother, I imagine?" Ooda said. He shook Ino's hand with both hands clasped over hers. "It's wonderful to finally meet you." There was a marked pause in between. "It's… nice to see you again, too, Sasuke-san."
"Mm," Sasuke said. He did not shake Ooda's hand.
"So, Nadeshiko told me we're having something of a feast in my honor?" Ooda continued, his too-natural laugh smoothing the transition. "I'm honestly flattered."
"It's the least we could do," Ino said. "After all, you've treated our Nadeshiko so well."
"Mother, please…" Nadeshiko said.
"Well, it's your birthday, too! I couldn't resist," Ino said.
"And we're gettin' cake too, right?" Han said.
"Yes, we'll have cake," Ino said.
"Well, then! If there's anything I can help with, I am at your disposal," Ooda said, bowing.
"Oh, please. You're our guest. You don't have to do anything," Ino said.
"Yeah, seriously, let us take care of it!" Karai added.
"I would like to... have a few words with you, Ooda," Sasuke said, almost blurting it out, his voice a burning iron that flattened the good cheer of the room.
"Oh, Sasuke, do you have to do this now?" Ino said.
"I want it out of the way. Please come with me to the living room, both of you." There was no room for arguing in his tone, not even for Ino's usually-skilled negotiation.
Nadeshiko kept her head down, her hands on her belly, as if she were a prisoner walking to her execution. Ooda kept his hand near hers.
Sasuke closed the door behind them, after they all entered. "Sit, please," he said. "This won't take long."
"Sasuke, you told me you were going to be reasonable," Ino said, hiss-whispering, as Sasuke took his place across from the other couple.
"I am being very reasonable," Sasuke said. "I just wanted to set some things straight before we continue with things today."
"Anything you need, sir," Ooda said.
Sasuke wheeled around, his face stern. "Please, never call me 'sir.'"
"...ah, I'll keep that in mind…" said Ooda.
"So, I imagine you two have been involved for a significant amount of time?" Sasuke began pacing the living room, his arms behind him, as if he were an interrogator.
"We, um… began seeing each other about three years ago, I suppose," Ooda said.
"Would you say you've been good to her?"
"He's been very good to me, Father," Nadeshiko said. She still kept her eyes down.
Sasuke looked down on her, apparently unimpressed, before continuing. "Supported her financially and emotionally, I hope?"
It was here that Ooda began to feel less scared and more perplexed. "As best I could, Sasuke-san."
"And you've been a good role model for Han."
"I can only hope."
Sasuke nodded a few times, maybe satisfied, maybe not. "Why, then, have you not proposed?"
Ooda suddenly felt like his insides were a few inches off-center, in his body. "What?"
"You're clearly devoted to each other, and from what I can see, you're doing a decent enough job as her partner," Sasuke continued. "And now you're having a child together. It would be the responsible thing to do."
Nadeshiko, appearing barely affected, looked to her mother for any sign of knowing. Ino just shrugged, bewildered, back.
"Do you have any intention of marrying my daughter?" Sasuke said.
"...well, if it were… approved by the family, I absolutely would," Ooda said.
Sasuke scoffed. "You were waiting for my approval?" He looked at Nadeshiko, with what could be seen as pity. "You're an adult, you don't need to go waiting for my approval. Especially when it comes to the people you love."
"...I'm sorry, I just… thought there would be issues considering my… background," Ooda said.
"The only issues I would have would be with your present behavior," Sasuke said. "And I hope you haven't done anything to qualify for that."
"I… hope so, too," Ooda said.
"So, then?" Sasuke said. "Unless you have an alternative plan in mind, can I expect you to become my son-in-law soon?"
"We don't have any plans, Father," Nadeshiko said. "You'll know when we do."
"Very well, then," Sasuke said. "That's all I wanted to hear. You can go back to the party, now."
He marched out of the room with his hands behind his back, chin up, face frozen in a patriarchal scowl.
"...I was certainly not expecting that," Nadeshiko said, since Ino was still in the room.
"Neither was I, but… well!" Ino said. "You know how your father is, Nadeshiko."
"I can't tell if he was mad at me or…" All Ooda could do was shrug. "Was he giving us his blessing?"
"...let me go talk to him. You two enjoy yourselves." Ino got up, and began out of the room. "I'm very glad you're here with us today, Ooda."
"Thank you, ma'am," Ooda said.
(Once they were alone, Nadeshiko leaned against Ooda's shoulder, partly for comfort, partly out of craving. They hadn't seen each other in months, and the dry-powder smell of his skin made her feel wanted, and more at peace.)
Ino caught Sasuke in the garden, walking aimlessly among the trees of the compound. "Hey? What was that about?" she said.
"I was being nice," Sasuke said.
"You sounded angry."
"I'm trying to be nice," Sasuke said. "I really am."
"While terrifying Nadeshiko's boyfriend?"
Sasuke groaned slightly. "Did it come across like that?"
"Just a little."
He groaned again. "I really am trying, Ino, I just…"
Ino put her hands on his shoulders. "Take a breath. You're doing okay, but you could do better. You at least showed some approval."
"I just hope I'm not… disappointing Nadeshiko," he said. "I hope she knows."
"I'm sure she does," Ino replied.
Sasuke handled the rest of the visit with about as much civility as he could muster. The upside of this was that nobody was insulted, and he got a great deal of knitting done. The downside of this was that Sasuke hardly spoke and his back ached with stress by the end of the day, and everyone noticed how little he was talking.
Everyone else had a good enough time, anyways. Ino had made a feast that was more than just in name only, and Naruto and Yakata came by later in the evening to say hello to everyone, once the work day was finished. At Nadeshiko's insistence, Ooda told the story of how Yakata had set them up together, and where the daffodil-name had come from.
"Gahh. When I find my soul mate? I hope it's as adorable as that," Inou said, sighing. "Jeez, sis, you get all the luck."
(Sasuke merely stood in the background, listening, learning.)
Ooda couldn't stay long. Another day with the family, where he was treated kindly and fed grandly, passed before he had to take the transport back to the Land of Lightning.
"Two more months," he told Nadeshiko, laying down beside her in bed, his hand laced in hers. "Two more months and I'll be home with you for as long as you want me to. No projects, no distractions. Just the four of us."
Her eyes were warm with sleep and comfort. "The four of us?"
"You, me, Han, and… our little one." His hand rested on her belly, where their child slept and grew.
"The four of us, yes." She put her hand on his, and let it rest there a while.
(But in the night, as Nadeshiko slept, Ooda lay his head near her belly, near their child, and he prayed.)
("Please, little one. Please be normal. Please be normal." He whispered as softly as he could, the words almost not leaving his mouth. "I don't want you to suffer. I want you to be loved. Please be normal. Please be normal.")
But even the humblest of plans are still powerless against biology and fate. And Nadeshiko's baby ended up coming early.
Han was at school, and she was weeding in the garden when the contractions started. Dismissing them as just cramps or fatigue at first, they soon grew too strong and too frequent to be ignored, and fear began to knot itself into her mind.
"No, no, no, not yet, please, not yet…" She sat down on her porch and called out to her mother with urgency that Ino had never heard before.
Mother, please, call Ooda, call Ooda now, it's the baby...
Ino, pegging up laundry, nearly dropped the sheet she was working on.
The baby? Is it time?
Yes, I'm absolutely sure, I can't reach the phone, he has to be here...
Calm down, honey. I'll call him right away.
Ino rushed inside, wiping her hands on her apron, and searching for the number that Nadeshiko had given her on the fridge.
"What's going on?" Sasuke came in, almost summoned by the clatter, as Ino dug through notes.
"It's Nadeshiko, she went into labor," she said, not looking up. "I have to call Ooda."
"Call him?" Sasuke said. "How long is it going to take him to get there?"
"I don't know and I don't care," Ino said. "He needs to be here."
She suddenly felt his hand on her wrist. Gentle, but firm. "Maybe it's... for the best that you don't call him."
Her face was tight with outrage. "Don't call him?"
"Even the fastest transport from the Land of Lightning is going to take hours, Ino. He's not going to make it." He seemed almost remorseful. "Save him the disappointment and just call him once the baby's here."
Ino breathed in deeply through her nose.
And slapped him.
"Sasuke, you have done some… really, really foolish things in your life, but this is just-" Her mouth quivered. "No matter how much you don't approve of him, I am not letting you punish Nadeshiko like that." She grabbed the phone, as if making a point, and continued searching, making a great deal of noise.
Sasuke held the raw skin of his cheek, where she slapped him, before quietly, and necessarily, getting out of the way.
(For both their and his sakes.)
The number that Nadeshiko gave her led to Ooda's voice mail, and after three tries, it was apparent that he wasn't home. Ino sucked in her disappointment and got the medical kit she kept around for emergencies, and went over to Nadeshiko's house.
Nadeshiko sitting on her knees, still on the porch, with her face pinched-in and focused. "Did you call him…?"
"No, honey, he didn't pick up," Ino said. "Is there another number I can call?"
"His… assistant, her number is on my fridge…" Nadeshiko exhaled.
"All right, all right, I'll go get it…" Ino rushed with hurried steps into the kitchen. "Is there anything else I can get you?"
"Just… call him, please," Nadeshiko said.
The assistant picked up, at least. But she wasn't much help. "Oh dear, that'll mean so many cancellations," she said. "The premiere's in three days, and there are interviews…"
"Where is he now?" Ino said.
"Halfway across the city. He's not scheduled to be back for at least five hours," she replied.
"Well… find him and get back to me," Ino said. "You have Nadeshiko's number, don't you?"
"Of course I do, she's on his speed-dial," the assistant said. "As soon as I know, I'll have him call."
"Please," Ino said, and hung up.
She decided to be kind to Nadeshiko and tell her that his assistant was off getting him, and that he would be calling them back very, very soon.
Ooda ended up arriving at the house before then.
It wasn't that he'd gotten the call from his assistant, and gotten on the first transport to Konoha that he could without calling to let them know.
No, he arrived, gasping for air, less than an hour after Ino had even touched the phone.
"Is everything all right, did I miss anything, is everything okay?!"
Ino had just barely begun to set out the supplies delivered from the hospital in Nadeshiko's bedroom. "Ooda?"
"Ooda…!" Nadeshiko's smile was as elated as it was disbelieving.
"Really, is everything all right? How far apart are the contractions? Has your water broken?" Ooda was rolling up his sleeves, hastily dropping his bag on the floor as he got to his knees beside Nadeshiko's bed.
"I'm fine, nothing's happened," Nadeshiko said. "How in the world did you get here so fast?"
"You're not going to believe this, but…" Ooda looked up, still catching his breath. "Your father came and got me himself."
"You're joking!" Ino was halfway through setting out latex gloves. "Sasuke did?"
"Him and Naruto," Ooda said. "They tracked me down and rushed me back here so I… wouldn't miss it."
"So quickly?" Nadeshiko said.
"Naruto has… means," Ooda said. "It was… well, a little terrifying, to be honest. He was a giant fox."
"My word, he hasn't done that since the War," Ino said. "Did Naruto persuade him?"
"I got the impression it was… the other way around, actually," Ooda said, and quickly forgot his line of thought was Nadeshiko tensed with another pain. "Easy, easy, I'm here…"
The business of the coming child took over all other thoughts, and Sasuke, happily, faded into the background of his own home, and waited.
The true story - and one that Sasuke would never elaborate on - was that as soon as Ino had left for Nadeshiko's house, he quietly put his shoes on, shut the door behind him, and ran.
The only person he knew that was fast enough for the task at hand was Naruto. And he went to the Hokage Manor for that reason, and that reason only.
He did not expect to find his other daughter there, in his office, flicking through paperwork like a card-dealer. "Karai? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Uncle Naruto wanted a day off, so I'm filling in for him," Karai replied. "Why, what's up?"
Sasuke didn't think for a moment why Karai was in Naruto's office, or filling in for him. He needed to find Naruto. "Is he home?"
"Yeah," she replied. "Why?"
"I just need to find him," Sasuke said, and left without another word.
"Uh… seeya, Dad," Karai said, waving, before returning to her work.
Sasuke entered Naruto's house without asking, or taking off his shoes. "Naruto, I need you."
He was in the middle of fixing lunch, an apron tied around his neck. "Uh, hey Sasuke, what's the matter?"
"We need to get Ooda as fast as possible. Nadeshiko needs him."
Naruto began to remove the apron. "Why, what's wrong?"
"Their child is coming. You can get him here fast enough."
"What? How?"
"You know how. I need to ride you." Sasuke paused. "Don't look at me like that. Bring out the nine-tails. He's fast enough."
"To get Ooda?"
"Do I need to repeat myself? Come on, we need to get outside."
(Sasuke's resolve and his worry mixed together in navy-blues and molten golds, and Naruto took it in with confused enjoyment.)
Naruto waited until they were a fair distance away from Konoha - at least away from the major roads - before he shifted and changed, and part of his body became that of his enormous, sleeping friend's.
("Come on, buddy. Just this once," Naruto coaxed, and Kurama rolled over and allowed it.)
Sasuke sat comfortably behind Naruto's new ears, keeping his eyes half-closed as the wind whistled past. "You can track him. Find him. Please."
"We'll find him, don't worry," Naruto replied, his voice amplified to a massive growl.
With his full speed, his full size, the journey from Konoha to the southern Land of Lightning took hardly any time at all. Sasuke could barely hear and stumbled as he dismounted, but Naruto caught him as his body swirled and shrank to human form.
"Where is he," Sasuke managed.
"I'll lead you," Naruto replied, pointing. "We'll find him."
The violet star-nebula of Ooda's chakra was easy enough for Naruto to track. The problem came with side-stepping security, and buildings, and all the other things in the way. It was lucky that Naruto was so recognizable, and his excuse of "an emergency" wasn't questioned by most.
Ooda was preparing for a television interview, when Naruto barged in, Sasuke behind. "Yo, Ooda!"
He was halfway through a makeup application, and everyone in the room seemed to simultaneously blink.
"Come with us, now," Sasuke said.
"Uh… e-excuse me...?" Ooda said.
"Come with us," Sasuke repeated. "It's Nadeshiko."
That got Ooda out of his chair. "Nadeshiko? Is she all right?"
"She's having your child. And I suggest if you don't want to miss it, you come with us."
Sasuke stretched out his hand.
"Well?"
"Oh, and I'm your ride!" Naruto added, waving a bit too cheerfully.
"...I'm sorry, ladies, I think this means I have to go," Ooda said, pushing in his chair after him. "This is an emergency."
They left swiftly after, without words, with only Ooda's satchel on his person.
On the street, however, Ooda asked, "Is everything okay? Has something gone wrong?"
"The only thing that's wrong is that you're not there," Sasuke replied, and said no more.
His only other action was to help Ooda up on Naruto's back, after he transformed again - which Ooda handled admirably enough - and to keep Ooda steady between Naruto's ears, as they sped back across the farmlands of the continent.
Once they reached the city limits of Konoha, however, Sasuke stepped aside. "Take him to her house. You can handle the rest," he told Naruto.
"Why... what's up...?" Naruto was out of breath, for the first time in probably years.
"Just do it," Sasuke said. "A father should be there for his children when they're born. I have no place. Go."
His eyes looked at them, but his face was away.
"You need an escort, Ooda-kun?" Naruto asked.
"I can make it myself, thank you," Ooda replied, and he ran off.
Naruto waited a while, before going to Sasuke, confirming the safety of things, and walking with him, gently and slowly, back to his home.
That was the story, and that was what he would never tell.
If anyone would tell, it would be Ooda, but only after the blood and the water had been cleaned away.
There were more important things to tend to in the meantime.
Han was kept busy at Hajime and Ninako's, at Nadeshiko's request, when school ended for the day. Nobody was present in her home but her mother and Ooda, which was how she wanted it. It was a calm and a warm space, that late July, with nothing but the sound of the wind through the flowers outside to give it music
Ooda did remarkably well, requiring almost none of Ino's medical assistance. "This isn't the… first baby I've delivered," he said. "I mean, when I worked at my mother's clinic, I helped a lot," he added, quickly.
"First one that's actually yours," Nadeshiko replied. He couldn't even feel nervous, thinking about that.
(The only thing that had him nervous was what she'd convinced him was an impossibility.)
And as suddenly and quietly as it had been conceived, the child was born.
It was a girl.
Ooda delivered her himself, catching her body as she fell from her mother, and she was wonderfully, safely, pink as she took her first, crying breaths. "It's a girl," Ooda said; there were tears in his eyes. "We had a girl."
"Oh, thank heavens, a girl, finally!" Ino handed Ooda towels to wrap the baby in, and he began the work of cleaning her off as Nadeshiko finally laid back against her pillows.
And then the baby's skin began to clear.
And he saw.
"No, no, please, no," Ooda murmured.
White.
Beneath the blood and the squeezed, hard-pressed blotches of skin, she was as white as bone china.
As white as he was.
Ooda closed his eyes tight, knowing, knowing, that his daughter's eyes would be like his too.
"Ooda, what's the matter… is she okay…?" Nadeshiko said.
He couldn't say anything as he passed their daughter to her, putting her on Nadeshiko's chest, wiping his eyes on his clean sleeves.
Nadeshiko sighed, and it was a loving sigh. "She's even more beautiful than I thought she'd be," she said.
"She is beautiful, Nadeshiko," Ino said, sitting by her, observing. "What a pretty little nose!"
"We'll have to give her an equally beautiful name." Nadeshiko looked up. "Ooda, I named my last child. I think it's your turn."
Ooda pursed his lips, blinking even more, almost unable to look back. "I can't possibly think of one, yet."
"We'll have time." Nadeshiko returned to her new daughter, stroking her forehead as her cries subsided, and the white skin around her eyes shone with drying tears.
Even with all of the happiness on her face and in her voice, Ooda still had to fight against the aching, sour feeling that he'd somehow failed.
Because it had happened. The baby had turned out like him.
And now his poor, pale daughter surely faced a future of ridicule and self-consciousness, never knowing the pleasure of not being noticed.
(Much less a future where her grandfather loved her.)
As the house was cleaned, as the visitors were let in, there was nothing but love and sweetness towards the new child - well, sure, Han was disappointed that he had a little sister instead of the wanted brother, but she won him over soon enough, and he was very gentle in handling her, a proud smirk on his face. Everyone else wouldn't stop talking about how cute she was, Yakata especially, who greeted the girl with a bouquet of fragrant purple orchids, and a knowing smile.
(He was later, unquestionably and unanimously, named her godfather. Nobody else came close.)
All of this, and part of Ooda still wanted to regard it as politeness, or that inescapable, seemingly universal belief that all newborns were adorable, regardless of the deformity. Happiness and shame curdled within him, but he put on a good face for Nadeshiko's sake, more than anyone else.
At the very end of the day, when dinner and homework and other things called the other relatives home, Sasuke finally came by to see his first granddaughter.
He hesitated at the door to Nadeshiko's bedroom, a bundle under his arm. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said.
"Not at all, Father," Nadeshiko said. She'd had some time to doze off, earlier in the afternoon, and her voice was clear, untired.
Ooda was with her, and he said nothing.
"Has everyone else had their time?" he continued, as he came in.
"I believe so," Nadeshiko said. "Would you like to meet her?"
"Please." Sasuke put down his bundle, and knelt next to Nadeshiko's bed.
The baby was wrapped up beside her, on her own little blanket, and Nadeshiko picked her up carefully so as not to disturb her. "Gently, now."
Sasuke took the baby and set her into the well-used crook of his arm, and the wrinkles on his face relaxed. "My, what a lovely little girl she is," he said. "And she takes after her father, I see. I'm sure she'll be a great beauty when she grows up."
The sincerity and depth in his voice made Ooda feel almost uncomfortable. It was unbelievable, yet… there it was.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" Sasuke continued.
"That's up to Ooda," Nadeshiko said.
"Ah. Well… I wonder if Tamako would suit her," Sasuke said.
"Tamako, huh… Um…" Ooda awkwardly looked about the room. "What… makes you suggest that?"
"Well, when she was younger, I would… call Nadeshiko my little bird, so I suppose that would make her…" Sasuke shook his head. "Ah, nevermind. It wouldn't be a fitting name."
Nadeshiko covered her smile with the tips of her fingers.
"Here, you can take her back." Sasuke offered the child to Ooda, who took a moment to process the action, and handled the passing oddly. "I have, um… a bit of a gift, if you don't mind taking it." He reached for the bundle, and passed it to Nadeshiko. "A receiving blanket. A new one."
"Thank you, Father," Nadeshiko said. She held the package in her lap, and did nothing more.
"Well, I ought to go help your mother with her dinner." He began to rise, stiffly, as if his muscles were sore, and headed for the door. "You're going to be a good father to that little girl." He threw the words behind him, as if they meant nothing at all. "If you treat her half as well as you've treated my daughter, anyways."
Sasuke was a good while gone before Ooda spoke again. "Did he… just say I was going to be a good father?"
"I believe so." She smiled with her eyes and with her mouth, and reached for the package. "I wonder what kind of receiving blanket he made. The one he made for Han was just lov…"
There were no more words, as the blanket unfolded.
There were flowers, there. Made of lace, and embellished with crochet for the petals. Delicate, hand-stitched dianthus flowers and daffodil blossoms played across the edges and met at each corner, with snake-like ribbons that led them to each other and formed elegant knots beneath.
"Our flowers," Nadeshiko said.
(It had only just begun as a plain, knit square, to work out frustration, and past judgments, and fear.)
(The flowers came later, as the stitches became easier to count, and beautiful patterns formed for the framework out of unfeeling math.)
(It had taken him a while, but Sasuke finally, truly convinced himself that he could trust Ooda with the daughter he'd failed to mend himself.)
(Or, at least, in his opinion.)
"Do you… think that means he approves of me?" Ooda said.
"Quite possibly," Nadeshiko said. She took the blanket and passed it to Ooda, who wrapped the baby in it. "At any rate, it's a lovely gift."
Ooda couldn't help but continue from there. "Tamako, though… where did that come from?"
"I believe," Nadeshiko said, "that he also trusts you enough to handle his attempts at humor."
"...I still don't get it," Ooda said.
"Probably for the best," Nadeshiko replied.
The days that passed were necessarily quiet. Ooda phoned his assistant to tell her what had happened, and she managed to set out a press release about the nature of the emergency that called Ooda away from the much-anticipated movie premiere. The paparazzi were too charmed with the story to be mad about his lack of presence, and gifts were sent from co-stars and collaborators, collected in Ooda's house, to be delivered later, when he'd had his time with his family. The movie did well enough without him, anyways.
They ended up naming the girl Hatsumi. Ooda told his mother so over the phone, trying not to tear up as he relayed the news. "She's... beautiful, Mom. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"I can't wait to see her," Karin replied.
(From his words, she almost expected the child to be sand-colored, pink-skinned, and she was overjoyed to be wrong.)
(Sure, it wasn't like Ooda was talking about himself, there, but hearing that, seeing her, told Karin a hell of a lot.)
She brought Osato along, for the necessary visit, since Suigetsu and Shingetsu were who-knows-where tracking bounties, and she wouldn't be able to tell them the news until they called her themselves. Sure, she had sent a little buzz to Shingetsu's neck, a little "Call your mother!" that he was used to, and didn't convey anything specific. But her two beloved problems would get in touch with her soon enough, and learn the news in time.
Karin carefully savored every moment with her first official grandchild - since Kiine's daughter wasn't tied to her explicitly, nor were Fuzan's girls.
(Neither were Kiine's other children - identical twin boys named Agito and Akito, born later the following year - nor a child of Yuki's own named Yukari, though Karin had been the one to assist in making her, on account of Yuki's fussy genes.)
(When Yuki began expressing pangs of parental longing, Mikan directed him to Karin, who told him everything he needed to know about his body and what it would take for him to have a child.)
(Ultimately, he ended up swallowing his pride and used his own body, cold and perfect for his kind, for the purpose. Just that once, and never again.)
Osato, meanwhile, brought Ooda no small degree of embarrassment in asking Nadeshiko some fairly explicit details about the birth process, and if they'd kept the placenta so she might dissect it.
(Ooda may have strayed from the medical profession, but Osato followed the path with passion brighter than the bluest flame. As she grew, she stalked diseases and cancers like a big game hunter, and she celebrated her victories with equal relish.)
(She would change the world in a way her father never could have, in cells and chemicals instead of pain, and new life.)
Karin also came by, later the next year, with the whole family - Suigetsu and Shingetsu included - for the wedding that inevitably resulted.
With Ino's encouragement, Sasuke gave a more formal blessing to Ooda, complete with an offer to be adopted into the family, last name and all - though Hajime handled that part, mostly, since he was the head of the family and all. Ooda only accepted the offer after Nadeshiko encouraged him to view it as a genuine expression of trust, especially since Hajime and Sasuke had teamed up to make the offer as legitimate as possible.
The marriage itself was a small, private affair on the Uchiha compound, smaller even than Hajime and Ninako's, but everyone that needed to be there had been well-invited.
(Rather than kissing like any other couple would, at the end of the ceremony, Ooda took Nadeshiko's hands in his and gently kissed them, one, then the other. And Nadeshiko brushed back his hair and kissed his closed eyes, one, then the other.)
("Must be an Uchiha thing," Suigetsu whispered to Karin, but she nudged and hushed him, trying not to cry.)
During the couples dance at the reception, and in between smirking at Suigetsu's awkward attempts at a waltz with Ino, Karin took Sasuke's hand and sighed.
"I wonder what she'd say," she told him.
"Who?"
"Me, when I was younger. If I told her this was the closest I'd get to actually marrying you." She paused. "Maybe if I developed a time travel jutsu I could do just that. Discourage her, or something."
"You can't... actually do that, can you?" Sasuke said.
She laughed, and pressed her forehead on his shoulder. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
And Sasuke, no longer so reviled by touch or by history, laughed in return.
Other grandchildren followed, for the Uchihas.
Takeru and Saya, first off, never adopted another child beyond Kizuna. They were well-set for the long run, thank you very much, and enjoyed their distance from the rest of the family, since it was far easier to be witty (and kind) in letters than it was in speaking. Sasuke still visited them, from time to time, usually accompanying Naruto as his excuse. Kizuna in particular was a quick and eager study when Sasuke taught him how to knit, during one visit, finding pleasure in the repetitiveness of the patterns.
Hajime and Ninako had a daughter of their own, in October, exactly as expected. She was born in a hospital and with her father present, which were Ninako only two stipulations, and she was as bright and sweet and blind as her older brother. She was named Mimei, for the gray of dawn that her eyes resembled, and was Hatsumi's constant companion as they grew up.
Hatsumi (to her father's complete and utter relief) was hardly ever harassed, for her skin. On the contrary, it became a subject of envy as she grew up, since it immediately linked her to her increasingly-famous father, like a nose passed down through generations, or eyes. She grew up equally at home in gardens and on film sets, and she looked out onto the world with golden eyes that thirsted for detail.
(Her only complaint, in her opinion, was her older brother, who at once was stiflingly affectionate and eager to tease her.)
(Han's first act upon obtaining a Sharingan was copying Kotoji's spooky-face, inherited from his father, and using it on his little sister. That earned him a few day's grounding, but he swore it was worth it.)
(How he obtained the Sharingan was another story. When he was ten, he sneaked out in the evening with Yuuhi Megumi, a classmate with a similar craving for shenanigans, to see a horror movie that was very much too scary for either of them. It wasn't until they were walking home, clinging to each other and jumping at shadows, that Megumi remarked that his eyes looked weird and bloody. Convinced he had somehow caught a vampire virus or something, Han and Megumi ran screaming home in opposite directions.)
(Nadeshiko managed to calm him down and explain that what had happened to him was entirely natural and not a vampire virus. His punishment was her walking him to and from school at all times for a week afterward, to ensure he wasn't going anywhere without her knowledge. Han burned with embarrassment, but being able to scare Hatsumi in new ways was a fine reward. Even if he was grounded afterward.)
(Megumi, meanwhile, received a good talking-to from her parents Benio and Haruhi, and she promised with all sincerity that she would never go to another scary movie again. At least, not kind-of alone, anyways.)
Inou also produced an heir, after finding stability and a blessed lack of drama with a quiet Yamanaka man named Hokuto. Hokuto was, in every way, Inou's opposite, from his blond hair to his tall, stocky build and mild temperament. Through means and medicine, they became the fathers of a sharp-eyed daughter named Inori. She was distant from her cousins, though it was more to do with the self-gazing personality she developed, rather than her parents' own choice. As she got older, she explored minds like they were constellations, and Inou's pride for her was stronger than steel.
Karai, on the other hand, had no children of her own for a good, good long while, but that didn't bother her. She was, however, chosen as Hokage in her mid-twenties, to the surprise of only her immediate family. She even waited until the day of her appointment ceremony to let them know about her new position, so that her news wouldn't outshine anyone else's. Even in the highest seat of power, old and humble habits remained with her.
("If they didn't see it coming," Naruto said to Sasuke, about it, "then, man, she must really be quiet at home!")
(Sasuke, of course, had seen it coming, but said nothing about expectations or goals, and left his praise and his pride quietly with her after the fact.)
(To crow and to cheer would be left to other people, no matter how uncomfortable it made her. Which she didn't mind at all.)
And so on, and so forth, the family expanded, and time traveled on.
And as his collection of grandchildren grew, it became apparent that Sasuke had a favorite.
He would deny it at every instance, of course. He treated all of his grandchildren with the same measure of kindness and encouragement, from Kumori's career as a sensor-nin, to Hatsumi's hobby of filming everything she saw with a second-hand camcorder.
But with Hatsumi, there was an enamel in his eyes, a warm coating, that came with only glances, and outlined his smiles.
Perhaps it was the fact that, as Nadeshiko and Ooda later found out, Sasuke and the girl shared a birthday. But that seemed like too superficial a connection.
Or perhaps still it was the fact that she was his first granddaughter, and as such held special rights for being spoiled, above the other children. But Sasuke wasn't that sort of person.
The truth of it was that Hatsumi represented, to Sasuke, the summary of all things healed. She had come into existence through kindness and love, and a past defied and discarded.
And, best of all, without any of his involvement.
And, as such, she was more precious to him than any jewel or technique he could have ever acquired.
And that was how he was content to have it be, for the rest of his life.
THE END
Though there is an appendix still to post, and art as well, the end is still the end, and there are thanks to be given.
I owe enormous, unending thanks to both ckret2, who helped conceive the story, and Eucyon, who midwifed it into the world.
And I want to thank you, each and every one of you, who read and followed this story, for however short or long a time, and watched it grow.
Without any of you, I would never have been able to achieve this.
Thank you, again.
Until next time, cheers!
- Rii