Starting over

#96 Epilogue

Timeskip 10 years

Temari POV

"Mama, look who came over!", I heard Kira shout, while Amara,her twin sister, was with me. I chuckled as I walked through the hallway into a large room. I smiled as I saw Kira run up to me and clasp her arms around my legs. I smiled and picked the small girl up, carrying her into the room and dumping her on the couch, causing her to giggle and Amara to demand the same. I complied and soon enough the two were rolling around and playing on the couch. "Glad you made it.", I heard a familiar voice say. I turned around and smiled at the woman, that stood behind the kitchen counter, that occupied the other half of the giant room. Matsuri smiled back at me while, continuing to prepare the meal for the evening. "You know, that the twins would never have forgiven me, if I would miss it.", I said with a chuckle, while leaning against the counter, watching the two redheads wrestle on the couch. "When's Gaara gonna be here?", I asked, while realizing that the attention of the two kids had shifted back to me and they were coming at me. "He should be here any moment. Food will be ready in a bit, too. How are you doing, though?", the blonde replied, while I was trying my best to keep the two little kids from toppling me over. I was just about to answer Matsuri, as I fell to the floor and the two redheads began to climb all over me.

"Hey, get off of her.", I suddenly heard my brother's voice. "Daddy!", they both screamed as they instantly got up and jumped into their father's arms. "Thanks.", I said, chuckling. "Oh, come on, I know, you love when they do that.", he replied with a devilish grin on his lips. "Well, I see everyone's already here.", came Kurama's voice from behind us. "You have perfect timing as always Kurama.", Matsuri said, while Gaara and his kids set the table. Matsuri brought a big bowl of Ramen to the table and we all took a seat.

After we had eaten, the kids insisted on playing with Kurama, before they went to bed, so the trio went to their room.

"So tell me, how have you been? It's been a while since we saw each other.", Gaara asked, while we did the dishes. "Well, I finally managed to get Iwa to agree to let me open a Namikaze Spa outpost in their village, so we finally have a spa in every one of the great villages. But other than that, nothing new.", I replied with a small smile. After Naruto's death I had put my weapons away and had taken over the Namikaze Spa. We managed to expand from just one location to over a dozen in the whole elemental nations. Most of these new locations only had public room and at most two private pools, making the original Namikaze Spa still the biggest of them all, but it proved to be a good decision, since most of the people, didn't want to travel two or more days, just to visit a spa. Having taken the manager position, I was required to travel around to attend to some business, so I often was out of Suna for an extended period of time. "That's good to hear. But that's not what I meant.", Gaara replied. I sighed and looked down, idly playing with my ring. "It's still not getting easier. I mean it's been ten years, but it still hurts, every day. But I have learned to live with the pain and I know, that Naruto will be with me forever.", I said, while holding the ring close to my chest. We finished the dishes in silence and went over to the couch afterwards, where we chatted for a bit, before it was time for me to leave. "Want me to come with you?", Matsuri asked, as I put my coat on. "I'll be fine.", I said with a small smile, before saying my goodbyes and getting onto the streets of Suna. I saw many houses with black flags in their windows and smiled. Even ten years after his death, a lot of people remembered my boyfriend for all the good he had done the village. Walking through the village I eventually made my way to the graveyard. Unsealing a blanket I slowly made my way to Naruto's grave and put the blanket down. 

"Hey Naru. It's been a year already."