A small pudgy hand touched Haruka's cheek, but she didn't open her eyes and showed no sign of having woken up. She welcomed the cool feeling on her cheek, especially when the very hot July weather made it impossible for her to enjoy a much needed rest. She had just been on a two week mission, near the border with the Land of Wind, fending off another attack of the nomads. This year was particularly harsh on everyone in terms of weather and bad harvests, even in the usually prosper Land of Fire, and even if they didn't struggle like the other countries to find food, this was an everyone for himself situation. The outsider attacks were getting deadlier, and the crime rate was higher than ever, so every clan in the Land of Fire was so busy they didn't even have time to waste on any inner fighting.
Once they had made sure that everything was secure, Madara's team was allowed to go back to the compound for a few days's rest. They had arrived around midnight the previous day, and went directly to sleep. Haruka was planning on sleeping in a bit more, but someone had clearly decided otherwise. That someone was her two years old nephew, Uchiha Natsu. If it was anyone else, she would have already chased them out of the house, but the cute little bastard knew that she wouldn't be able to refuse him for much longer. And sure enough, her hand shot up to catch his little arm and she quickly dragged him under the covers in her futon. Making sure that his little head was secure on the pillow, she hovered over him and started mercilessly tickling him. His laughter could probably be heard all over the house. She continued her little torture while saying, "What did I say before about waking me up on my day off?"
He kept trying to fend off her hands, while saying between laughs, "No waking up Haru-obasan! Natsu knows that! But Natsu missed you a big lot!" How was she supposed to be angry at that? The brat really knew how to use his charm. Haruka stopped with the tickling and laid her head next to the toddler who quickly hugged her neck. They stayed there peacefully for a few minutes while he collected his breath as she stared at him. Natsu was clearly the cutest kid she had ever seen, and she wasn't being biased in the slightest. He had inherited his mother's soft and round facial features, but he had his father's fair skin and spiky hair, although he looked a lot fluffier. He wore the classic Uchiha high collar shirt and a pair of shorts. Haruka was amused by bandages around his wrists and ankles. He had started insisting on wearing them to copy his father's casual look as much as he could. Deep black eyes framed by thick eyelashes met her own, and he gave her a big grin.
Finally she sat up, and took him in her lap, while taking a look at her room. The sliding screen door that led to the garden was opened, since the brat never bothered to close it behind him. Ever since Natsu had figured out that the house that shared a garden with him was also part of his territory, he enjoyed escaping his mother's surveillance to barge in looking for his aunt, uncle or grandpa whenever he could. His parents were torn between being worried about his safety or being proud of his clever and imaginative escape strategies. He was already showing signs of a promising career as a shinobi. From the position of the sun in the sky she could tell it was around 9:00 a.m… So much for sleeping in. She asked her nephew who was busy playing with her long untied hair: "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of such a lovely wake-up call?" It took him a few seconds to understand the meaning of her sentence. She knew that she should use a simpler speech, but Natsu was a real prodigy who learned faster than most kids his age, and he enjoyed being spoken to like an adult. Tajima always liked to say that he reminded him of Madara when he was his age. When he understood, he grinned at her saying, "Let's go have breakfast! Otosan and Okasan are waiting."
She smiled at his enthusiastic shout and said, "Give me just a minute, I will wash myself and change, then we can go together."
When she was back from the washroom, she found that he had already raided her closet, and laid his pick for the day on the futon. He was familiar with his aunt's style, so she didn't really mind. When she was done putting on her lipstick as the final touch, she picked him up and pressed a big kiss on his white cheeks leaving a red print, much to his exasperation. They crossed the garden separating the two houses, and entered the living room, where Madara was sitting at the table reading a scroll. Their living room also had a sliding screen door, unlike the other house, and it was left open so that they could enjoy the sun, some fresh air and the view on the garden There was some food on the table, and Haruka could hear Natsuki humming a tune in the kitchen, while probably putting the final touches in the soup that will go in the bowls already on the table. She put down the little kid who instantly went to peek behind his father's shoulder, frowning to try and understand what was written on it. He already knew most of his alphabet, but the kanji on the scroll were still a mystery to him.
Haruka gave her brother a small kiss on the cheek and sat down at the table too, while saying, "What happened to getting some rest today? You tell us that we have the day off, and yet you send your kid to harass me so early in the morning with his cuteness?"
Madara raised an eyebrow. "I only asked him to go and see if the two of you were up, because father left for the office shortly after he dropped by. But I suppose that he changed the parameters of the mission by himself." Natsuki came in then with the soup and a big apologetic grin while saying, "He woke you up, didn't he? I'm sorry about that." Haruka just waved it off. None of them were really sorry. They all loved to have their meals together. Natsu gave his father a big thumbs up. "The mission is a success. Now the reward. Teach me new katas today!" As soon as he was able to walk, they had started teaching him taijutsu. It was a bit sad, but as the future heir of the clan, he needed to start as early as possible. And he enjoyed it a lot. It was an occasion for him to spend time with the adults, especially his really busy father. He liked to show Madara what he had learned every evening to get his praises. And he was advancing quickly compared to his play-mates. Madara gave him a devious grin. "I only give rewards to those who complete all their missions, not just one half." Natsu frowned, and he was about to protest, when he remembered something. His eyes widened and he bolted into the garden running towards the other house while screaming. "Izu-ojisan!".
The three adults around the table started laughing, already knowing what was about to happen. And, sure enough, Izuna's loud shout was heard, followed by what sounded like a small fight. Natsu had a special relationship with his uncle. While he loved hugging Haruka and snuggling next to her, he chose a less cute approach while dealing with Izuna. The two were like cats and dogs. Izuna enjoyed mercilessly teasing him, and Natsu was starting to learn how to do the same, and get under his uncle's skin. So far, everybody would agree that his best move was wrapping Izuna's long ponytail around his small arms while the other wasn't paying attention, and tugging at it as hard as he could. With his growing strength, he now could manage taking away bigger locks of hair whenever he tried, much to the despair of Izuna.
He clearly had chosen this same approach to wake him up that morning, because after a while, a disheveled Izuna, still in his sleeping yukata, appeared on the engawa, holding his nephew by the collar like a disobedient cat, while the later proudly showed the others the result of his harvest. Izuna growled, voice laced with irritation and sleep. "Who unleashed the little demon on me so early in the morning?"
Natsuki sheepishly grabbed a bowl and showed him its contents, "Miso soup?" Izuna's determination to solve the case only lasted three seconds, before threw away Natsu and sat down to eat too. But he still glared at his nephew who responded with a satisfied smirk. The five of them had breakfast together while discussing the news of the clan with Natsuki. She wasn't a part of the border mission, and was able to inform them of all that happened, during their two weeks away.
Truth be told, Natsuki had wanted to go back to her career for a while, but she mostly stayed home to take care of Natsu as well as her duties as the second highest ranking female of the clan. Even if she was the wife of the heir, and had taken over Himiko's old duty, Haruka would forever be the highest ranking female of the Uchiha. She was the head of their hospital, and their most powerful kunoichi as well as a member of their best squad and Tajima's only daughter. But Natsuki was never one to mind such distinctions, anyway. She was even happy with the changes that Haruka had made when she was still filling in for the role. Most of Himiko's all over the place duties were now handled by the new Civil Administration Office, or by the clan's Industry and Trading Agency. The role was now limited to the planning of festivities and the monthly assembly, as well as acting as an official host when delegations were visiting them. It left Natsuki enough time to fulfill her role as a mother, as well as get back in shape after months of no training.
The biggest obstacle had been Madara. He wasn't a misogynistic male in the slightest, and he always defended the right for kunoichi to decide for themselves if they wanted to retire or not after they got married or became mothers. He had also admitted that what he loved the most about Natsuki was her strength and fierceness in combat. But he was still human, and he worried a lot about her. And since he was the one running the clan, he kept trying to find ways to discreetly keep her at home.
After a month of their fighting, Haruka had to intervene, gave him a sermon on how hypocritical he was being, and forced him to put his worries in words so that Natsuki could stop thinking that he was underestimating her. They finally agreed that he would stop interfering with her career, if she agreed to cut back on the amount of dangerous missions she took, and instead focused on teaching an additional ninjutsu class in the school. The deal was satisfying for Natsuki too, because she wouldn't have to give up her career, while more local missions meant that she would be able to take care of Natsu without the need to send him to daycare too often. The whole family organized their schedules to help her, and even Tajima took over some of the babysitting shifts. Convincing him wasn't too hard because he adored his grandson, and loved spending time with him more than he ever did with his kids. His visit to Madara's house that morning was probably to check in on him more than to give Madara some reports he needed to go over.
When breakfast was over, Izuna was the first one to stand up, but before heading back to wash himself and change he asked. "Are we still on for tonight? Did you find someone to babysit?"
Natsu was indignant. "No babysitter. I'm a grown up now. I will go with you on mission tonight. No bedtime."
Madara, who had him in his lap, said in an even tone, "We're not going on a mission, it's just dinner with boring adults. But it's too bad that you want to come with us. Jiji had already agreed to stay with you for the night. I guess I will have to cancel." Natsu did the math quickly. A night with Jiji meant that he could convince the old man to teach him something awesome, while dinner with boring adults was something he could do anytime he wanted. He turned around quickly grabbing at his father's shirt. "No, No, I'm sorry! I want to stay with jiji. I promise I will be good!" Madara faked not being convinced for a while, and finally relented when Haruka and Natsuki pleaded for Natsu too. The toddler wiped away some sweat. Phew, disaster averted.
Haruka gave Izuna a devious smile. "Trust me, no one in here will miss this dinner for all the gold in the world." Her brother gave an exasperated sigh and started walking away while giving them a wave. They were all excited because that night, they were officially going to meet Izuna's first serious girlfriend. Sure, they had all had the awkward morning encounter with some girls trying to sneak out of his room, and were even friendly with some of his "regulars", but the new girl remained a mystery to them. They knew that she was a kunoichi from the border guard regular division, and that's where they met the first time. They also knew that she was a part of the more libertarian faction of the clan, like Izuna. From what he told them, they had enjoyed a pretty casual relationship for a year, before they decided to try the couple thing. And even then, they were still in an open relationship. Izuna's siblings could only imagine what kind of girl she would be, if she was able to keep up with Izuna's interesting lifestyle. Haruka hadn't officially met her, but she had spotted them together in the bar too often not to notice that something was going on. So, after weeks of harassing him, he finally invited them to meet her. Tajima wasn't invited, because he had made it clear that he wasn't interested in meeting anyone that wasn't for sure going to be his second daughter-in-law.