The Crowd
It was the next day after the fatherhoods had been revealed, the houses had been bought, the furniture moved in, the nurseries made and the last few things left was for the marriages, the consummation and then the physical exams. Once those hurdles had been crossed, life would be going back to normal, a new type of normal, but normal nonetheless.
Everyone had showed up as told and while not everyone looked their Sunday best, at least they had showed up and shaved, which made people stare at the clean-jawed Asuma, but respect him at the same time, even Shikaku felt just a pinch better about it.
"Ok, now if you ten will line up here and each couple take hands, then we will begin," said Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was going to conduct the exchange of vows, and Minato was at the front row. His eyes were scouring over everything and his chakra was flared up, so they suspected he was making sure that these were real ninja here and not shadow clones or even someone else in a transformation jutsu.
"Good," said Hiruzen. "Now turn to face each other and keep your eyes on each other's eyes, show your commitment to this."
He was listened to, but commitment wasn't really on any of the ten people's faces. There was pain, reluctance, regret, unhappiness, sorrow, uncertainty and whole lot of other sad distressed emotions.
Hiruzen cleared his throat, then said, "Gaara, Sasuke, Kankuro, Asuma and Kakashi, do you take Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru and Iruka, to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to comfort her, honor and keep her, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, so long as until the children you have fathered are eighteen?"
The natural vows had been heavily edited to fit the situation, but a vow was a vow and ninjas are bound to their words.
There was a bitter quiet.
"Say I do," instructed Minato. He didn't sound bullying or being mean, but very serious and there was a tight growl to his tone.
"I do," said the five men in voices like the two words had been wrenched out of them.
Hiruzen nodded and continued. "Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru and Iruka, do you take Gaara, Sasuke, Kankuro, Asuma and Kakashi to be your wedded husband, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to comfort him, honor and keep him, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, so long as until the children you have mothered are eighteen?"
There wasn't as long as a pause on the she-male side, probably because they wanted this security for their children and knew they needed a husband to help this burden. "I do," the mothers said.
"Amen," said the parents and let out heavy breaths that it was almost over.
"Please sign the contracts, including your full name and that of your clan and your ninja position if owning one," said Hiruzen, directing the five couples to the five long marriage contracts. The typing was in teeny lettering, only Sasuke and Kakashi could use their Sharingan to read it accurately, Neji still had no chakra to use any type of jutsu.
The contracts were signed quickly, probably because the Fourth Hokage had been circling them, breathing down their necks and eyeing the paper to make sure they were signing correctly. Then it was over and there was approving applause, much louder on the Uchiha and Hyuga side who had to have been the happiest group of people out of the entire mess. The six babies were in nurseries at the Konoha Hospital, being looked after by Shizune and Tsunade personally, for there was still studying to be done on the little ones though they would be going home with their newlywed parents.
