This is a what-if version of my other fic: The Butterfly and the Moth. Basically, this is a fic of my fic, in which everything that went wrong in the original somehow works out. So if you want less angst and hurt, and more fluff and happiness, this is the fic for you. (The beginning is still angsty. Things need a bit of time until they are worked out, but after that, I'm trying my best to keep this fluffy. (I've never written fluff, so let's hope for the best)).

Also: This starts at chapter 34 of my longfic, so this includes spoilers for that fic! A lot of them!

I also wanted this to be more of a collection of drabbles / one shots. But my brain is longfic-addicted. So some chapters might feel a bit more like they are part of something bigger, others might just be cute moments without much context. We'll see. Definitely trying to keep the chapters shorter here though. :')

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Those Three Words

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Akari Hyuuga had never meant to be anything but a good daughter. Her father had raised her to respect her elders, the clan. And she'd naturally accepted all her duties as a daughter and heiress. The priorities she'd been taught had been crystal clear: The clan always came first, then Konoha, and then her personal affairs.

This prioritisation clashed with the one her teacher had embedded in her, the man who was like a part of her family as well. Hashirama Senju, the Hokage of Konoha, who would preach that protecting the village always took precedence. Precedence over the clans, and certainly precedence over the life of an individual.

The two views she'd been taught clashed. Yet she never questioned either of them. Instead, Akari had always tried her best to be a good daughter. And a good student. A good heiress for her clan, and a good member of the village.

And yet she somehow found herself in the middle of Tobirama Senju's office one day, pregnant with his child while engaged to another man.

It was a circumstance that threatened both her clan and the village. Because the Hyuuga allowed no bastards in their main family. And they certainly allowed no other clans to have a claim on their most protected treasure. The Byakugan.

She'd come to his office to tell him about the child. Even if part of her was convinced that Tobirama Senju wanted no children, especially not with her. She'd still meant to tell him.

But there was something off about the man sitting opposite of her while tapping his index finger against his desk, doing his best to avoid eye contact with the woman he'd once had a secret affair with.

It alarmed Akari. She sensed that something was wrong. And yet nothing could have prepared her for Tobirama's next words, that he was the one who'd give her unexpected news that day.

He finally stopped tapping his finger, met her eyes for the first time, and then simply said: "I'm marrying."

One second passed, then another.

Tobirama's words hung in the air. Like they were misplaced, didn't belong in that room with both of them.

They made no sense to Akari.

Another second passed, and another.

Slowly their meaning started to sink in, the implications they carried.

Akari pressed her lips together, just so slightly. The bit of pressure was enough to keep her face straight as she reminded herself that Tobirama and her had ended things. That he had every right to move on and get married.

Except that Tobirama Senju was no man to simply get married.

But while Akari was hesitating, contemplating how to tell him about the pregnancy after his marriage announcement, Tobirama continued nervously tapping his fingers against the desk.

She eventually noticed when it became faster, and noticed that his eyes avoided hers once more.

There was more, she realised. He hadn't even gotten to the part yet that truly plagued him.

Her thoughts started racing. What could be worse than Tobirama telling her that he was getting married?

The answer popped into her head out of nowhere. Everything simply fell into place. And then Akari just knew.

A sudden wave of nausea washed over her again, worse than anything she'd ever felt these last few weeks. Instinct started to take over as her subconsciousness tried to prevent an injury it felt threatening her.

"I'm -" Tobirama finally managed to say, but Akari couldn't listen to this. She couldn't listen to the name.

She needed this to stop. Quickly. So she said the first thing that came to mind. The first words that made it to her lips.

And those three words changed it all.

"I am pregnant."

The sudden revelation not only startled him, but her too. She hadn't meant to blurt it out like that.

Tobirama's lips parted, doubt made its way into his eyes.

"You are what?"

Akari's heart was racing. And she could only stay quiet as she watched Tobirama contemplating whether or not he had misheard. Or if, maybe, she was trying to fool him.

"Pregnant?" he asked to make sure, voice careful, almost like a whisper despite his office being secure. As if it was some forbidden word that he wasn't allowed to speak.

Part of her did want to act like this was a misunderstanding. That she wasn't pregnant at all. Part of her was convinced the right thing to do was to walk out of his office and meet her aunt to rid herself of this mistake that had happened between her and the Senju.

Tobirama took her silence as confirmation. Or maybe he could see the answer written on her face. Because as much as she tried, it wasn't simple to hide the fact that her whole life was turning upside down.

"Are you sure?" he asked, clearly hoping that there was a chance she had simply misinterpreted some signs and drawn the wrong conclusion.

Akari bit her lip, but managed a nod.

"And I'm…?"

Another nod.

He rubbed his forehead, eyes closed.

And then his demeanour changed. Confusion and disbelief were exchanged with irritation and anger.

"How could this happen?" he asked in a harsh tone.

Akari didn't answer. Clearly he knew how it had happened. He'd been a part of it after all.

He got up from the chair, started to pace back and forth in the room. "You told me that you knew when it was safe."

Akari didn't move at all. She simply stood there while still trying to push the little fact that Tobirama was marrying to the back of her mind, not allowing a single thought of his future-bride. She had to lock it away for just a bit longer or she wouldn't be able to have this conversation with him.

"That night, I told you that we shouldn't," she said, trying to remain calm and composed.

"So you knew that this could happen?" he answered, not calm and composed at all.

"You didn't seem to care much. Besides, I took the contraceptive pills."

The pacing increased, became more frantic. "This is unacceptable. I'm supposed to get married. I can't have a child with… with you."

Those last words stung in her heart, despite her brain telling her that they were perfectly reasonable considering their situation.

They'd never been supposed to be together. And they certainly weren't supposed to have a bastard child together.

She knew what she was supposed to do. She'd known from the second she found out about the child. And yet she had to hear the words out loud. From him.

"So you are saying…"

He finally stopped pacing, turned to face her. "You shouldn't have it. You can't."

Akari let the words sink.

She had expected them. But she hadn't expected them to hurt this much.

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In the days that followed, Akari tried to avoid both Inori and Tobirama. Because while Tobirama had never said her name out loud, Akari simply knew that her best friend would be the one he was looking to marry. Her best friend. The heiress of the Uchiha clan.

It simply made too much sense. So much that Akari felt almost stupid that she had never considered this possibility before. If she had, her lips wouldn't have met Tobirama's that night in the cabin. Nothing of this would have happened.

An Uchiha and a Senju, both from their respective main families. A strong union.

One that would bring peace for Uchiha and Senju.

For the village.

But Akari couldn't avoid her friend forever, so when the two girls met after all, and when Akari's assumption proved correct and Inori brought news of a potential wedding arrangement between her and Tobirama, Akari decided that her liaison with the latter had to stay a secret. Because Inori was ready to do anything for Konoha. Even marry the man who had murdered her father. And so Akari decided to do the same. She decided to let go of Tobirama and her memories of him.

A day later, Akari was standing at the lake deep in the woods, the butterfly pendant Tobirama had given to her in one hand, the contraceptive pills that had failed her in the other.

She had to get rid of them, get rid of everything. Every last bit of evidence until only a faint memory remained. And even that one she'd bury so deep in the depths of her mind that no Yamanaka would ever find it.

She dropped the pills in the lake as soon as she arrived. They sank almost immediately.

She held onto the pendant a bit longer, sitting by the waterside, eyeing the ancient jewellery that she had only worn once. The gift from Tobirama, a relic of times long lost.

Part of her was convinced that Inori and Tobirama would get married, that it wasn't just a vague idea they'd discard again, even though Inori had said that nothing was set in stone yet. But Inori believed in this wedding, and Tobirama was the kind of man who would never marry for love, but for the village. The kind of man who had never wanted children, and definitely not a bastard who would only complicate matters. A child that would affect the stability of Konoha, question the structures that had kept their village working.

The pendant had to go.

She closed her eyes. Whenever she concentrated on her own body, she could sense her child's soft flow of chakra. Somehow, it was a part of her, yet was also its own entity. It felt too pure, reminding her of fresh spring water. And Akari almost couldn't imagine this sensation to be gone again.

Opening her eyes, her hand closed around the pendant. She was ready to throw it straight into the middle of the lake as well, drown it together with the past.

But before she could, she felt someone's presence.

And when she turned around, she found Tobirama emerging from the shadows, meeting her at her secret place once more.

Quietly he walked up to her, stopped next to her while his eyes were focused on the lake in front of them.

"I've been meaning to talk to you again," he said.

Akari saw no point in having another conversation.

Tobirama sat down next to her, switched his weight from one leg to the other, unable to quite find a comfortable position. Between them remained a good amount of space.

"Why'd you come here?" he asked.

Akari ignored the question. She didn't feel like telling him that she'd planned on throwing away the gift he'd given her.

When he didn't receive an answer, a soft sigh followed.

"You know about Inori, don't you?"

Again, she gave him no answer, just stared straight ahead.

"It's not that I want to marry her," he continued. "She suggested it and I-"

"You should marry her though," she interrupted him. "I don't want you to reconsider or decline a potential union between your clans because of me."

Tobirama took a deep breath and another sigh followed. "You really think I'll just go ahead and agree to marry Inori while you are pregnant?"

"I want what's best for Konoha," Akari said. "I know you do too."

He shook his head. "There are more important points to consider right now than my clan's relationship with the Uchiha. Who knows of this… situation so far?"

She thought about lying, but was missing the strength to. Akari already felt tired of the conversation, didn't want to be having it. She wanted to be left alone instead, alone with her unborn child.

So she simply admitted, "My aunt, Hitomi."

Tobirama nodded, like he actually approved. After all, Hitomi Hyuuga was a renowned medical shinobi. "So you've talked to her about…?"

He kept skirting the issue, never quite directly speaking it out loud.

"Have you come here to make sure that I'll get rid of the baby?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

He wanted to answer, but was missing the words. In the end, he avoided her question and simply said: "If you really had this child, the other clans would…" He didn't finish this sentence either when he realised that it might come across as self-centred.

Because it would mostly be Tobirama's reputation that would suffer amongst the other clans if they learned of his involvement with her. After all, he was the grown man in this situation who had fooled around with his brother's former student, who, out of all people, had to be the heiress of the Hyuuga clan. The most conservative clan that resided in Konoha. One that expected their female members to stay untouched until marriage. Especially those belonging to the main family.

"Have you told your father?" he asked instead.

And maybe that was the biggest issue here. Not the fact that he would lose his face in front of the other clans, or that there would be no bond of marriage between Senju and Uchiha.

She glanced at him. Sitting next to Tobirama like that, alone in the woods at night, caused her heart to flutter. Apart from their rather short conversation in his office the other day, she hadn't seen him since their time together in Sunagakure.

"You know, we really don't need to be having this conversation," she said with her sweet voice, like the topic was not grave at all. "I'll make sure that no one finds out about us. Especially not my father."

"You make that sound awfully easy."

"You don't want this child, I get it. I won't force you to be a father."

Silence followed. And it lasted until Tobirama finally asked the one question that he'd come to discuss once more, "Does that mean that you are not having it?"

Akari thought for a moment, and found that her mind was suddenly all made up. And while she had been unsure these last few days and weeks, desperately trying to hide herself from the truth, she finally found the courage to admit to herself that there was one thing she wasn't willing to sacrifice. Not for her clan, or for the village.

"It means that this child will grow up without a father."

"Are you being serious?" he blurted out almost immediately. "If your father finds out then-"

"Then what? He'll disinherit me? I'm not killing my child so I can stay the heiress of my clan."

"This is not even a child yet," he immediately replied. "You really want to risk both our lives for a-" He stopped himself, reminding himself that he wouldn't convince her of anything by starting a fight. So with a voice that was slightly calmer, slightly more reasonable, he said, "You are engaged. Soon, you will get married, and your father will make you the next clan head. You really want to throw all that away?"

"Please." She got up in an attempt to get away from him, putting an end to this conversation. It caused her ears to hurt. She didn't want to listen to any of this. "Don't you think I'm aware of all this? I know my father and clan better than you do. So don't sit there lecturing me. I'm not stupid or naive."

Tobirama got up as well, following after her until she stopped again, realising that she couldn't simply walk away from him.

"This child," he started again, speaking the words slowly and deliberately, "is not supposed to exist."

"Well, it doesn't have to exist in your world," she replied with a good amount of spite as she turned back to face him once more.

"It'll be regarded as a bastard by your clan. Or worse, it'll be regarded as a mistake and grow up treated just like that. And yet your clan would also never allow my clan to raise it, even if I wanted to."

"I'll raise it. And I won't regard it as a mistake, because it's my child. I'm not expecting you to be part of this. You don't want it, so why do you even care? I told you, I'll keep this between you and me a secret. One I'll take with me to the grave. So please, just stay out of this."

"Do you think the people in our village are stupid?" he threw at her next. "That they won't notice a child that's half a Senju running around the village?"

"The Byakugan is a dominant trait and will always be inherited. It will have my eyes. And everything else might as well be a coincidence. It's not like your clan has a defining trademark."

"You can't be serious," he commented, shaking his head in disbelief. "We live in a village full of shinobi. These things always come to light eventually."

"Even if they might suspect anything, they won't have any proof."

"This child will be their proof," he almost yelled at her.

Akari took another step away from him, yielding to the tension that had built up between them.

"There is absolutely nothing you could say or do that would convince me not to have this child."

She wasn't too sure yet where she suddenly found all this confidence to have this child. Maybe it was because it seemed like the whole world was against this little being. One who had done no wrong yet, had not hurt a single person, had never made any mistakes.

In the end, it was the mother's duty to love her child when no one else would.

"Then where are we going from here exactly?" he asked, irritated by the whole situation and her unwillingness to take the easy way out. The one that seemed most reasonable to him.

Akari smiled at him, because it was easier to pretend that the whole situation wasn't disastrous. And just a complete mess all around.

It helped to relieve the tension between them just so slightly.

"I've told you," she said, doing her best to sound calm and convinced. "I'll raise this child. And I'll raise it without a father."

She took a few steps towards him again, took his hand into hers to place the butterfly pendant in it.

And then she turned around and walked away, leaving him alone with the decision she'd made.

All that was left to do was for him to figure out if he could accept it.

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A/N

Heyho! Hope you all enjoy this bit of a what-if-scenario. The idea behind this was that when Akari was in Tobirama's office, she simply said the first thing that came to her mind in both versions (the original and this). And in this one, she just happened to tell him the truth, which of course will lead to plenty of changes. :)

I don't want this to turn into a huge fic on its own (since I barely have time to write these days anyway), but I'm definitely looking forward to rewriting/recycling some scenes to make them happier and add some fluff later on. Buuuut for now… there miiight be some more angst up ahead here too considering the current situation. :D