Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 

“It is good to see you awake and alert after all this time, Gin,” Sakura smiled at her patient.

 

Gin Hyuuga returned the smile, albeit weakly. “Have I really been unconscious for an entire year?”

 

The pink-haired woman's expression faltered and she looked away. “It's true,” she admitted. “But there is more to tell you about when you are stronger.”

 

Gin blinked at her teacher. “Sensei- what's wrong? What do you need to-!” She broke off, her eyes widening and her face growing even more pale than it had been. “Oh, god… don't tell me… He… he didn't make it…”

 

Sakura turned her emerald gaze back to the frail girl. “He?”

 

Gin wasn't listening. “He was trying to protect me… I could feel it, when those things…” Tears filled her eyes. “He died for me.”

 

Sakura moved to Gin's bedside and sat down. “He who?”

 

The poor girl shuddered and didn't reply.

 

The older woman sighed. “I didn't want to have to do this so soon, but it appears I'm forced to.” She stood up and went to the door, calling for Kin, who was waiting on a bench down the hall. She gave the girl her instructions then returned to Gin's side. “There is someone… you need to meet.”

 

Gin's head snapped up and Sakura's heart nearly broke at the look of pure hope in those pale white eyes. “Meet?”

 

The door slid open softly and Kin entered, carrying a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. Gin's gaze was locked on her twin. “Kin?”

 

The other kunoichi sat down on Gin's other side and shifted the bundle so that Gin could see inside.

 

The baby inside the blankets yawned, one chubby hand holding a lock of her dark brown hair. Gin looked puzzled as she glanced back and forth between her sister and her sensei. “I don't understand.”

 

The infant let out a sound that was half squeal, half coo. Gin looked back at the baby and gasped in complete and utter shock.

 

Aquamarine eyes- Haru's eyes- gazed back at her from that cherubic face. The baby smiled, reaching out a tiny hand from the blanket.

 

“Gin,” Kin murmured, carefully handing the little girl to her sister, “I would like you to meet your daughter. She has been waiting a long time for her mommy to wake up.”

 

Gin stared at the tiny bundle in her arms, completely at a loss for words. It was several moments before she could finally utter a question.

 

“I had a baby?”

 

Sakura nodded gently. “Even though you were in a coma, your body still nourished and protected your child for nine months. She was delivered by surgery by myself and Ino nearly three months ago.” She moved Gin's blankets aside, lifting the hospital shirt she wore to show her the scar on her abdomen. “See?”

 

Gin touched the infant's cheek with her thumb, awed by this tiny life that apparently had come from her body. If she's my daughter… that means she's…

 

Tears slipped down her cheeks and dripped from her chin as she held her child closer.

 

Sakura touched the young mother's shoulder lightly. “I know this is a huge shock to you, Gin,” she murmured, “but we need to know: who is the father?”

 

Gin's eyes shot up and locked on Sakura's. “Why?”

 

Kin held up a hand. “Relax. She just needs it for the baby's birth record.”

 

She didn't reply. “Do Mother and Father know?”

 

Kin shook her head. “No, they don't. Sakura-sensei and I have managed to keep your entire pregnancy a secret, and only the Hokage's family and Ino know of your daughter's existence.

 

A blush stole over her cheeks. “Kohaku knows?”

 

Her sister chuckled lightly. “Well, he knows of her- he doesn't know she's yours.”

 

Gin lowered her head and gently rubbed her nose on the baby's cheek. “I can't hardly believe she's mine. Last thing I remember, we were running away from the Iwa guards, and now I wake up and I'm a mother.”

 

There was a moment of silence. Kin cleared her throat.

 

“I named her Shirabara.”

 

For a span of heartbeats, Gin didn't move. Slowly her gaze lifted and met Kin's. “Shirabara?”

 

Kin indicated the white rose resting benevolently in the vase by Gin's bedside. “I thought… you would like it.”

 

Haru's words drifted back to her, seeming to her as if he had said them to her only the day before instead of over a year ago.

 

“Promise me… when you see a white rose… that you will think of me…”

 

“I love it. It's perfect.”

 

“I thought you'd think so.”

 

“…Then you know.”

 

“I know. I'm your twin, after all. And you're terrible at keeping secrets from me.”

 

Gin sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

 

Sakura cleared her throat. “Girls? Is one of you going to tell me what's going on?”

 

The young mother looked beseechingly at the pink-haired woman. “Sakura-sensei, I don't know what to do. My father would never have allowed us to be together. He was just an ordinary shinobi from Suna- no clan name, no noble blood. Father has arranged for us- all three of us- to marry high-born spouses. If he knew that I loved a common man with no name and I bore his child, I don't know what he'd do to me… or to `Bara.”

 

Sakura took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Was it Kisho? He's hardly common, but he's not what Neji would approve of for his daughter- or for his clan. “Gin, you shouldn't worry so much. For one thing, Kisho is still alive- he went back to Suna with his father and cousin shortly after we came and brought you back to Konoha.”

 

Gin looked confused. “Kisho?”

 

“Shirabara's father? The one you believed was dead?”

 

Kin snorted. “That dumbass isn't Shirabara's father,” she said.

 

Gin nodded. “Her father's name was Haru.”

 

Silence. Absolute, deafening silence.

 

“HARU?!”

 

The twins nodded.

 

“Why- do you know him?” Kin asked, oddly curious.

 

Sakura was on her feet and staring down at the two girls in complete and utter disbelief. Yet the proof had been staring her in the face for the past three months- literally. And she had never figured it out.

 

Those eyes. Those aquamarine eyes. Gaara's eyes. Haru's eyes.

 

Oh, SHIT.

 

“We have to get a message to Suna,” Sakura announced abruptly. She turned and hurried to the door, nearly slamming it open in her haste.

 

“Sakura-sensei? What's wrong?”

 

“Someone get me Naruto in here- pronto! We need to get a message sent out immediately!”

 

“Hai, Sakura-sama!”

 

“And get me Aikou while you're at it!”

 

“Hai!”

 

The twins exchanged a glance, utterly confused. Shirabara merely snuggled closer to her mother, cooing and burbling as she chewed on her hand.

 

A few moments later Naruto appeared in the hallway, running like his ass was on fire. “What happened, Sakura? Who else got hurt? Don't tell me someone else died…!”

 

She shook her head and pulled him into Gin's hospital room. “Remember her?” she asked, pointing at the baby squirming in Gin's arms.

 

Naruto scratched his head. “Yeah? I've been changing her stinky butt for a couple months now. Why?”

 

“Didn't you ever look at her eyes?”

 

“I was trying to concentrate on not passing out from the smell, not on her eyes.”

 

“Then look, baka!”

 

Gin blushed furiously as Naruto leaned over and peered at the baby, his bright blue eyes narrowing. Shirabara squealed and giggled in delight.

 

“Yeah? So they're a light bluish-greenish color. So what?”

 

“Is there anyone else you know who has those color eyes, Naruto?”

 

He scratched his head again. “…How should I know?”

 

“Dumbass!” Sakura hit her husband upside the head.

 

Aikou coughed from the doorway. “Am I interrupting something?”

 

Sakura turned her attention to the Suna kunoichi. “No, dear. But there's something you need to know, and if Naruto doesn't start remembering, I'm going to hit him until he does!”

 

Naruto winced. “Come on, Sakura-chaaaaan,” he whined. “How am I supposed to…” He blinked. Stared at Aikou. Turned back to the baby still cooing in Gin's arms. Stared at the baby. Looked back at Aikou.

 

“Aw, hell no.”

 

“See?”

 

Gin looked both incredibly embarrassed and utterly confused at the scene in her room. “No. I don't see. What does this have to do with Haru?”

 

Aikou stepped closer. “Haru? Were you discussing my brother? Why?”

 

Naruto slapped a hand over his face and groaned. “Aikou… I think this kid… is your niece.”

 

Ice blue eyes shot him a look that clearly spelled disbelief. “I beg your pardon, Naruto-Hokage?”

 

Gin looked at Aikou. “Haru… was your brother?”

 

“Is my brother, Leaf-kunoichi. Are you claiming that this child is his?”

 

Naruto carefully took Shirabara out of Gin's arms and held her out in front of Aikou, dangling the poor child from her armpits like some kind of offering. “Look at her eyes and tell us we're wrong.”

 

The red-head gazed at the child, ice blue eyes meeting aquamarine. Her expression shifted to one of surprise. “Impossible…”

 

Gin shook her head. “It's not. The… the night before I was to trap the Iwa guards outside the compound in one of my genjutsus, we…” She blushed furiously. “We knew that we could die on that mission. I would never have thought that that one night would have resulted in something like this.”

 

Aikou turned her attention to the white-eyed girl in the bed. Naruto handed Shirabara back to Gin.

 

“So my brother does not know?”

 

“How could he? I didn't even know!”

 

Kin lifted her hand. “Wait a minute. Haru is your brother? Aren't you the Kazekage's daughter?”

 

“My brother is now the Kazekage of Suna,” Aikou replied. “Our father, Gaara, has stepped down and handed the title to Haru.”

 

Gin and Kin exchanged a stunned glance. “That means…”

 

“…That `Bara…”

 

“…Is the daughter…”

 

“…Of the Sixth Kazekage.”

 

Naruto groaned. “We really need to get a message to Suna.”

 

“Told you so.”