𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

All Left

"Okay, cool, I think that's everything sorted."

A couple of days before I was due to head off to the hospital, Kannon and I were at work putting together my overnight bag. As I finished packing it, I let out a loud huff and sat at the edge of my bed, smiling as Kannon helped Ayumi to her feet and encouraged her to walk towards me.

"Come on, come to mummy!" I said with my arms outstretched, my heart melting at the sight of Ayumi trying to take a few steps. She wobbled with every step, and just before she made it to me, she stopped and sat down, making Kannon and I burst into laughter. Giggling, Ayumi turned around to look at Kannon, before getting on all fours and crawling towards me.

"Argh, okay, one, two, three-" With an almighty heave, I bent down and lifted Ayumi up, placing her beside me on the bed. She continued gurgling and smacking her toy on the bed, using my arm to stand up and lean on while she got to her feet. "Can I have a kiss? Hmm?"

Much to my delight, Ayumi promptly lifted her face towards mine, placing a sloppy kiss on my cheek before giggling and letting out a little "Mama!"

"Ahh, she's so cute," gushed Kannon, who sat on the floor with her legs outspread. "I can imagine Sasuke's missing his little girl now."

"Well, if Sasuke stays true to his word, it won't be long until he sees her again," I said with a sigh, keeping an eye on Ayumi as she began rolling around on the bed. I tried not to let my mind stray too far when it came to anticipating Sasuke's return. Especially the 'what if's. They were the most dangerous thoughts I tried to steer clear of, for the sake of preventing myself from stressing about things that haven't even happened.

"I can't believe number two is nearly here." Kannon threw her hands up in the air and lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "Can you? Shisui Uchiha. The second."

"Shisui Uchiha the second," I snorted, fleetingly imagining what Shisui would think of me naming this child after him. "Cute."

Conversation stopped there for a bit, allowing Kannon to mellow out on the floor while I played quietly with Ayumi. 

It was during times like this that I realised just how much I had grown, physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you had told eighteen year old me that I would have two children by the time I was twenty one, I would have laughed in your face. I hadn't planned any of this. What I had planned on was graduating university, finding a good job, and working my butt off until I was certain I was financially and emotionally capable of starting a family of my own, probably not until I reached my thirties. According to my plan, I should have been preparing for my graduation in the coming February... not preparing to give birth to my second child.

They say not everything will go as you planned, and I always knew that it wouldn't be an easy path. But never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined my plans going as awry as this.

"I don't know how you do it," said Kannon, finally speaking as she let out a loud breath of air. "All of this going on. It must be insane."

"I don't know either," I said glumly. "My priorities have changed a lot in the past couple of years. All I care about now is Ayumi and Shisui."

"You're not alone there."

There was a knock at the door, and we both looked at it in curiosity. A surprise guest?

"Hello?" I called out, wondering if it was Naruto or one of the others. I highly doubted it, though. They had all told me that they were back to work, and I wasn't quite sure what that entailed, but it all sounded pretty serious and time consuming. A visit from any of them at this time seemed highly unlikely.