Smile

The door to the Hokage’s office opened and a head of a short, messy blue hair poked in, followed by pale blue eyes, a cute button nose and a cheeky grin. The small boy moved completely into the empty room and shut the door behind him…just as another small body slammed into the wooden door. The boy inside the room laughed cheekily at the whine that carried through the door.

“Kouta-nii-san, let me in!” A small female voice cried out.

The small boy’s smile faltered, his little sister’s tone tugging at his heartstrings. Kouta sighed irritably, irritated that his four-year-old sister could manipulate him so. He opened the door and a small pale girl, with long blonde hair tied back in a single plait, walked in. Her Byakugan eyes shone with happiness and gratitude, having already forgiven her older brother for shutting her out of the room. Like her eyes, her ability to forgive was a trait she inherited from her mother. Kouta’s ability to cave under his sister’s gaze/voice was a trait he inherited from his father.

The seven-year-old boy closed the big wooden door quietly and then ran over to the Hokage’s desk and leapt into the chair.

“Kouta-nii-san…help me up?”

Kouta looked down at his sister, who was standing beside the huge desk looking even tinier than usual. Kouta pouted and hopped off the chair, helping his sister onto the chair and then urged her to sit on the desk, so he could sit in the chair. Once done, Kouta grinned happily, a grin that his mother said looked much like his father’s.

“You know what Suki? I’m gonna be the Hokage after Otou-san!” He grinned proudly at his sister.

Suki looked at her older brother, who looked small, and slightly out of place in the Hokage’s chair. She wriggled around on the desk until she saw a picture frame in her line on vision. Rolling comfortably onto her belly, she looked at the picture…and another next to it.

“Ah, Kouta-nii-san lookie lookie! It’s us and Okaa-san!” Suki said, pointing to the picture sitting in a blue frame. “But who’s dat?” She asked, pointing to the other picture.

Kouta, from his seat in the Hokage’s chair looked at the picture. “That’s Otou-san and his old team.”

“Otou-san doesn’t look very happy does he?”

“He was probably grumpy because he wasn’t Hokage then. Not like me, I’m the Hokage, best one ever!”

“Is that right?”

Suki sat up instantly and Kouta jumped in his seat. “Otou-san!” They cried.

Naruto Uzumaki was leaning casually against his chair, looking down coolly at his two children. He swiftly took off his Hokage hat and dropped it onto Kouta’s head. The hat was much too big for the small boy, and he tilted it back as he looked up at his father.

Naruto grinned. “Yep, looks like the Hokage to me.” And Kouta matched the grin.

“Otou-san, Otou-san!” Suki cried out with a grin, stretching her arms out towards him.

The 28-year-old man swept his daughter into a one armed hug and lifted Kouta up with his other arm, bringing them in for a hug. After placing a kiss on Suki’s nose and Kouta’s forehead, he sat down in his chair, placing Kouta on the desk before him. Suki was settled in his lap, and his eyes suddenly widened in realisation.

“Hey, wait a minute, why are you two here? Shouldn’t you be at Aunty Ino’s place?”

Kouta’s face scrunched up. “Aunty Ino was asleep inside, and Kira tried to kiss me. I pushed her down and ran away…”

“I followed nii-san!” Suki said brightly, bouncing up and down happily in her father’s lap.

Naruto sighed and looked at Kouta. “Next time you see Kira, you have to apologise for pushing her. And Aunty Ino and Okaa-san are going to be very worried.”

“But Okaa-san’s at a Hyuga meeting.” Kouta said, swinging his legs from side to side.

“I know that, but what happens when she goes to pick you up from Aunty Ino’s place?”

Suki scrunched up her face in concentration and Naruto’s frown shattered, making way for a grin and a low chuckle. Kouta looked slightly guilty about his mother’s impending worry.

“Don’t worry, I’ll send clones to both Okaa-san and Aunty Ino. But you have to promise me you won’t run away again.”

Naruto knew it was useless to make a promise like that, these were his children, of course they were going to break the rules.

“Man, I wish they’d inherited more respect for authority from Hinata.” He thought to himself as he summoned two clones and sent them on their missions.

“Otou-san, why are you grumpy in that picture?” Suki asked, pointing at the photo of himself, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi from when they were 12.

Naruto looked at the picture and grinned, thinking to the good old times. “Well, this photo was taken soon after Team 7, that’s my team, was formed. Kakashi-sensei was smiling because…he always was back then; Sakura was looking…like that because she was excited about being on the same team as Sasuke. I was grumpy because I was on the same team as Sasuke and Sasuke…was being Sasuke. It took a while, but I soon learned to love that team, and I smiled in all the pictures.”

“But why don’t you have a smiling-Otou-san picture then?” She asked.

“Because that’s where it all started, and it makes me smile now the see how silly I was back then. How silly we all were.”

“You do look silly.” Suki stated sweetly.

Kouta laughed and Naruto joined in. Picking up the other picture, Kouta studied it.

“Otou-san, why do you have this picture here?” He asked.

“Because my days are very long,” Naruto sighed dramatically. “And I don’t get to see you all the time. So when I’m doing boring paperwork, I look at that picture of you and Okaa-san, and I smile.”

“I’m happy you smile Otou-san.”

Naruto was surprised by the depth of the statement from his son, and smiled genuinely at him, adjusting the Hokage hat on his head. Kouta placed the picture back down and then fiddled with the large hat on his head.

“Otou-san,” Suki asked, looking up at her father. “Do you have any other pictures?”

Without a word, Naruto leaned over slightly and opened a drawer in the desk. He fiddled around in it for a moment before straightening back up, holding a large file. Kouta shifted slightly, so Naruto could lay the file on the desk in front of him. Opening the file, there was a picture of the ‘Rookie 9’, aged 12 and 13.

“Who are all they Otou-san?” Kouta asked.

“Well,” Naruto began. “That one’s me, with Kiba standing next to me. That’s Shino, Shikamaru and Choji. There’s Sasuke, Aunty Sakura, Aunty Ino and that’s your Okaa-san.”

Suki and Kouta looked closer at the picture. “Is that really Okaa-san? Her hair isn’t long.” Kouta said.

“Yep, that’s Hinata. When we were young, she had short hair.” Naruto said, looking fondly at the younger version of his wife.

“Her face is red Otou-san, was she sick?” Suki asked.

Naruto laughed. “No, your Okaa-san always used to blush when we were young.”

“Why?” Kouta asked.

“Because she was in love with me.” He replied ecstatically, finally knowing the reason why Hinata used to blush.

“But why would Okaa-san blush? You were husband and wife then.”

Naruto laughed loudly. “Not back then we weren’t. We were…12…turning 13 when this photo was taken. We weren’t old enough to be married.”

“B-But…” Suki pouted. “Why aren’t you holding hands with Okaa-san. In all our pictures at home, you’re holding her hand, or kissing her, or touching her…” She looked at her father expectantly.

“Well…” Naruto paused. “Back then, I didn’t even really know Okaa-san. She was a classmate-”

“You didn’t love her?” Suki cried, tears coming into her eyes.

Naruto hushed her softly, cradling her in his arms. “Not then, no. I didn’t know her enough. Looking back on it, I wish I did know her better back then, but I love her now so very much.”

Suki seemed satisfied with that and turned the page of the photo album. She flicked through a few more pages and Naruto looked on as his memories whizzed by in the hands of a four-year-old.

“Lookie, lookie, it’s a picture of you and Okaa-san!” Suki cried gleefully. “When was that taken? Were you in love then?”

Naruto studied the picture. “We were…almost 13 then. Okaa-san’s team and I had just finished a mission to get a special bug to help us find Sasuke, who had…gotten lost. When we got to the place where the special bug was hiding, we found out that ninja from another village were also after the bug, and they were going to do anything to get it.”

“What happened Otou-san?” Kouta asked once Naruto trailed off for a moment, lost in his memories.

“They captured your Okaa-san once we found the bug and they said they’d make a trade, Hinata…for the bug.” His two children gasped. “Of course we went to give the bug to them, but we knew they were up to something tricky, so we did something tricky too. Anyway, when we met up with the bad ninja, we saw that Hinata wasn’t with them. Once we gave the them fake bug and got away, we set out searching for your Okaa-san. To cut a long story short, we were captured by the bad ninja and taken to the place where Hinata was supposed to be held captive, but she’d broken free, and everyone thought she’d died.” His children gasped again. “But when they were about to kill us, your Okaa-san appeared and saved us. Kids, she was so amazing then, strong and brave, I was so proud of her. So your Okaa-san saved us, and eventually we had the bug back…but the mission didn’t work out quite the way we’d planned.” He paused to reflect on his idiocy. “But this photo was taken while your Okaa-san was in hospital after the mission. She’d been held captive in cold water for hours! She’d caught a bad cold that made her woozy. I went to visit her in between missions I kept getting, and that’s when this photo was taken.”

“You’re both smiling.” Suki stated.

“That’s right. I was happy to see her, and to see that she was alright, and she was happy to see me.”

“Her face s still red.” Kouta put in, pointing to Hinata’s youthful 12-year-old face.

Naruto studied it. “Huh…I don’t know whether that’s because she had a cold, or because of me. I’ll have to ask her when we go home today.”

Suki had begun flipping through the pages again, pausing on another photo of Naruto and Hinata. She pointed to the picture then looked up expectantly to her father.

“In that photo, we’d finally brought back Sasuke. I accidentally bumped into your Okaa-san on the street. She’d helped a lot when getting Sasuke back, and I was really grateful, so I took her to lunch. That’s where this photo was taken, at Ichiraku Ramen…our unofficial first date.” He chuckled. “She’s said since then that she thought of it as our first date, but I hadn’t known she loved me back then. So to me, it was only lunch with a friend.” Suki’s bottom lipped wobbled. “But it was after that lunch…this photo, that I began falling in love with her.”

“Really?” The little girl pouted.

Naruto nodded and turned the page of his photo album. “See, this picture was taken two weeks later, on our official first date.” He turned the page again.

“Ahh! You’re kissing Okaa-san!” Kouta shouted, pointing accusingly at the picture.

Naruto grinned. “I am. I didn’t even know this photo had been taken until the next day, when Aunty Sakura gave it to me. She said she’d been following your Okaa-san and me since our first date, trying to get a photo of our first kiss. This was our first kiss.” He pointed to the picture on the next page. “And this one was one I took of your Okaa-san after one year of dating. See her smile? It’s because I’d just told her I loved her.”

Suki sat up straight with a grin. “You loved her then? Yay!”

Naruto smiled, but Kouta spoke first, looking at the picture intently. “Okaa-san looks so pretty.”

The two blondes also refocused on the picture, both nodding in agreement. Suki flipped through more pages, acting questions about people that appeared in the photos.

“Otou-san,” Kouta said, pointing at a picture. “I don’t get it. Okaa-san’s smiling, but she’s crying too. What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing’s wrong. She was just so happy at that moment that the happiness spilled out of her eyes.”

“Why?” Suki piped up.

“Because I’d just asked her to marry me.”

Suki squealed in delight and Kouta studied the picture critically. “I still don’t get it.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand when you’re older. But you know that’s not the only time she’s smiled and cried at the same time. When you were both born, she was like that. And when you both started walking, and talking…and when you entered the Academy Kouta, she was so proud of you that she laughed, cried and smiled all at the same time. And of course, when I became the Hokage.” Kouta fiddled with the Hokage hat on his head. “It’s a very good thing when Okaa-san looks and acts like that. It means something very good is happening. But this…” He turned to one of the last picture in the photo album. “I one of my most favourite photos.”

It was a picture of Hinata and Naruto together. They were waving at the camera with one hand, holding each other’s hand with the other. Hinata was dressed in a beautiful white gown, and Naruto in a black dress shirt, silver inner vest, black tie, black pants, and a black coat. Both were smiling enormously, eyes shining with happiness.

“This was on our wedding day…the day we became husband and wife.” Suki made a sound of understanding. “Doesn’t your Okaa-san look amazing?”

The door to the office opened and there stood Hinata, smile on her face and camera to her eye.

“Smile!”