Chapter Text
Pale sunlight stretched slowly across the wall as morning entered the quiet living room of the main residence in the Uchiha district. Dust motes were visible in the beam of light, some swirled in dance while others seemed suspended in motion.
The golden light stretched until it touched the edge of a low coffee table, where a tray of tea was set up next to an open scroll. Hinata was no longer reading the contents of the scroll, her attention had since drifted to the garden beyond the open window. At the flowers swaying in the light breeze. Flowers that she had planted in the first year of their marriage. Now, during the warmer months, they were in full bloom.
Some were taken from her mother’s perfectly preserved garden, some were from seeds purchased from the Yamanakas. And some, special and not native to Konoha, were gifts from her husband’s travels. She was staring at one of those now, clusters of little white dots against green. Delicate in appearance but tenacious and wild.
Hinata’s thoughts wandered, as it was prone to do whenever the house was too quiet. It twisted and turned through memories, oftentimes good but sometimes bad. In her lowest, her mind twisted through regrets and grief. Missions that she couldn’t set down, deaths that she caused or couldn’t save, what she could have done better. The why’s and the what if’s.
But those thoughts rarely lingered as they used to do. It had stopped holding her hostage. There was something about this place, their home, that chased away those turbulent thoughts and painful memories until only peaceful and joyful ones remained. Moving into their home was one of them, the inexplicable happiness of starting a new chapter in her life with her husband, in the house that they had rebuilt together. Their sanctuary from the world.
It had belonged to Sasuke’s family, passed down through generations in the main household of the clan. It held many history, withstood the test of time, witnessed unspeakable horrors, and endured the silence of being mourned and forgotten. Now, it once again knew the warmth and tenderness of being lived in, of being the source of comfort for the people under its roof. It was no longer a museum preserving the pain, loss and anguish of the past. It was a home, once more.
Home. Her husband had not been home for nearly a month now, sent away on another dangerous mission. That was how it was. She was married to one of the strongest and most powerful men alive, who had fought in wars against evil men and god-like beings. Who himself was a being as close to gods as men could be. As such, it was her husband who was sent to the frontlines, to answer every danger that called and every threat that needed to be silenced.
While Sasuke Uchiha was a legend of immeasurable power to others, to her, he was just a man. He was her husband, her heart and soul. He was the prayer she would whisper, hands clasped and head bent, for his safe return. He was the pillar, the comfort, the strength that tethered her in the chaos of the world.
He was the father of her child.
Hinata drew her gaze away from the garden to stare at the rolled up letter neatly encased in the message capsule. Inside it, in her careful and practiced penmanship, bore not only the news of her pregnancy but her heart.
This was not how she wanted to announce it, not at all how she imagined telling Sasuke about the tiny life they had created together. She wanted to wait for him to come home, to hold his hand and look at his face when she told him. To be held in his embrace as she shed happy tears, to feel his own joy in the kisses he would press against her skin.
Yet fear and worry gripped at her heart like icy skeletal hands. Fear that intensified after every visit to her sensei’s, especially after she had told the older woman of her pregnancy.
Kurenai never said anything to incite those emotions within her. She didn’t need to.
Hinata could see it in the way her sensei’s eyes lost focus, as though pulled into a distant part of her mind, somewhere painful and far away from them. She saw it in the way that she held Mirai a little closer and a little tighter, regret and guilt behind the kisses she pressed into her daughter’s hair. She could see it in the profound sadness and sorrow showing through the cracks in Kurenai’s fortress whenever Hinata placed a hand over her still flat belly.
As days turned into weeks, her restlessness and unease began to grow and fester. The fear sitting in the back of her mind whispered things which turned into nightmares that woke her up at night. Nightmares where Sasuke would meet his end without ever knowing that she was with child. Their child.
And so, when the first light touched their sanctuary this morning, chasing away the darkness and fear left behind by the night terrors, Hinata had written the letter. She had wanted to refrain from interfering with Sasuke’s classified mission, not wanting to be a distraction that would cost him anything. But Hinata knew she had to put herself at ease for the sake of the child she was growing.
All this stress and anxiety were not good for the baby, nor for her.
She picked up the small knife from the tray that she had used to cut up an apple, bringing it and the message capsule to the windowsill. Her lightweight yukata rustled as she settled down on the cushions of the window seat.
Hinata sliced the pad of her thumb and formed the hand seals to summon her husband’s hawk. It ruffled its dark feathers and stretched out its wings as the smoke dispersed, sharp eyes tracking her every move. She slipped the message capsule into the slot tied around its chest, then reached up to brush her hand down its feathered back.
The moment she withdrew her hand, the large hawk flew out of the window, taking to the sky with abnormal speed. Hinata remained by the windowsill, watching until it disappeared in the distance, her hand resting on her flat stomach.
The next morning, Hinata sat in front of her vanity, brushing her long hair until the tangles from sleep were undone and the strands began to shine under the boar bristle. Another restless night, another dream that chipped away at her peace of mind.
This time she had dreamt of Sasuke’s hawk summon circling an endless sky, unable to find its master because he was trapped between the folds of dimensions.
Hinata had woken up and told herself that the dream was just her paranoia taking shape. Her clan’s midwives had told her that the change in her hormones due to the pregnancy would manifest in many different ways, especially mentally and emotionally. She reasoned with herself that it had amplified her anxiety and her overactive imagination.
In a day or two, Hinata told herself, she would receive his response. And she would wait with a lighter heart for his return when his mission ended. She just needed him to know and her heart will be at ease.
Her hand paused mid brush when she felt the shift in the air. As though the mere fabric of existence had been ripped, where the sound barrier was temporarily obscured and became deafeningly silent.
Then, the static electricity of a chakra signature that she would recognise through any lifetime.
At once, Hinata had dropped her brush, letting it clatter to the wooden table, and gotten to her feet. She ran, pushed open the sliding door of the master bedroom, bare feet pattering against the hardwood floor towards the living room, towards the door that opened up to the backyard. She gripped the handle of the shoji door with both hands and slid it open to reveal the garden.
And her husband, standing in the middle of the rustling flowers and herbs, his dark cloak and hair fluttering in the breeze.
Sasuke was already advancing towards her, his footfalls heavy from bone-deep exhaustion but certain with his conviction to reach her. Hinata let out the breath that she hadn’t realised she was holding, tears welling up in her eyes at the familiar sight of him.
Sasuke’s strong arms gathered her into his chest and she felt her body collapsing against him, her own arms wrapping around his neck to keep him close. It didn’t matter that he was covered in the grime of his travels, she clung onto her husband and pressed her quivering lips against his neck.
He had his face burrowed into the dip where her shoulder met her neck, breathing deeply to fill his lungs with her scent. The comfort of being home, holding his wife in their tranquil sanctuary, made the clenching ache in his chest unfurl. It was as though his mind, body and soul could finally ease now that he had Hinata in his arms again.
Sasuke didn’t want to release his hold on her, but he forced himself to pull back because he wanted to see her face. He had missed her with such aching fierceness that every breath felt like it burned in his chest.
Hinata’s pale eyes, softened by the early morning light, met his dark ones before her gaze swept over his features. Her hands slid up his neck to hold his face, her palms warm, and soft and tender.
“You’re home,” she breathed, relieved.
He answered not with words, but with the softening of his eyes, of his hand sliding down her side until it rested lightly on her hip. His eyes dropped to her stomach, gaze weighted, before flickering back up to her.
Hinata felt her chin quiver again. She bit her bottom lip, a tender smile curving at the corners as she nodded once in confirmation.
“I’m pregnant,” she told him, because she needed to say those words to him and not have them exist only in the form of ink on parchment. “We are going to be parents.”
She watched as the reality of it sank in for him. The way his breathing changed, his hold on her tightened, the imperceptible flickers of emotions dancing behind his dark eyes as he processed it all. As though he hadn’t allowed himself to believe it until he had confirmed the truth in her presence.
Hinata smiled, a tear sliding down her cheek when Sasuke cupped her face and kissed her. She felt everything he couldn’t say, every hope and joy and gratitude pouring into her, lighting up her soul.