Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Life Without Her ❯ Chapter 7

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sasuke and his two daughters only spent a few days at Naruto's, before he decided to rent a hotel instead. He could easily affored this until the house was safe to move back into. It turned out the fire damage wasn't that bad. Sure, many of their possessions were lost in the fire, but things can be replaced.

Naruto never asked about Ino, but his worst fears were confirmed when he saw the new report. He was just glad the girls weren't watching TV when it was on. They were worried enough about their mother. He found it rather inspiring, how the Uchiha family was able to deal with this crisis.

Despite being pregnant with her daughters at the time, Ino had attended Naruto and Sakura's wedding. She'd never stopped missing her childhood friend and was doing everything possible to get her home safely. Naruto always declined the various invitations to go visit the Uchiha home, and he now regretted this. Still, he had no doubt Sasuke would be able to raise his daughters on his own for as long as he had to.

Naruto then made the mistake of watching a special report about the Akatsuki's recent activities. At the end was a list of women believed to have been taken by this group. Sakura and Ino were near the end of that list, and seeing their names didn't improve his mood any. Just thinking about it was more than he could stand.

Fortunately, a welcome distraction came the next day, in the form of Kakashi and Anko's daughters. He'd almost forgotten about having to look after them. He didn't mind, since it would take his mind off recent events.

Naruto finally had a chance to meet the girls, Keiko and Nami. They were named after characters from two then-popular manga series. He never saw the appeal in naming one's kids after fictional characters, but who was he to judge?

"Hello, Mr. Uzumaki?" said Nami.

"You can call me Naruto," he said.

"I'm not sure," said Keiko. "Dad says it's disrespectful to do something like that."

"Come on," Naruto said. "What he doesn't know won't hurt you."

"So, Mr. - I mean, Naruto," said Nami, "is there anything for us to do here?"

"Well," Naruto replied, "I was thinking we could go to the park."

"Yaaay!" Keiko said. "I love the park!"

Once they were at the park, spent much of their time just watching their surroundings, although the girls went off for a while to play with some of the other kids. Suddenly, though, Keiko had a serious look on her face.

"Naruto," Keiko said, "don't tell anyone else I said, this, but..."

"But what?" Naruto asked.

"Well, you see, we know what happened to our mother."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Nami and I found out about Orochimaru, what he did to Mom, everything. We've let her believe she's managed to keep us ignorant because we don't want to worry her."

"Not that it's any of my business," Naruto said, "but that doesn't seem right. Your mother's tried really hard to keep it from you, and if you already know you should tell her that."

Keiko nodded. "You're right. I'll talk to her as soon as I get the chance."

The rest of their visit went uneventfully. Finally, Anko came to pick up the kids.

"I'm glad to see the girls in one piece," she said.

As they were leaving, Naruto could overhear Keiko talking. "Mom," she said, "there's something you need to know."

After they were gone, Naruto couldn't help wondering how well Anko would take the news.

Nonetheless, he hadn't been in such a good mood in a long time.