A/N: Day thirty. We're done, guys. This doesn't tie up everything, but hopefully you enjoy it anyway.
Epilogue?
The circumstances between Mother and Father are… odd. As are the circumstances of his and his siblings' creation. Children aren't usually created in some lab tube, with some sleepy snake person watching over their growth. When he learns the actual way humans procreate, he understands why it is that Mother and Father didn't have them the standard way.
Mother has another family, with another man and two other children that are hers by choice.
Father has never married, never given anyone else a second glance. He looks only at Mother, even if Mother will never look at him that way. Father created them in hopes of winning her over, but it would appear that he still doesn't completely understand how people work.
When Mother is informed, he watches as she punches Father through a wall. Her eyes are alight with fury, and her aura is heavy before she directs her gaze over to him and his siblings.
They all expect her to reject them, to sneer and walk away as they are the unwanted creations. When she walks over to them, they're tense as they direct subtle glances to the rubble where Father is located. He thinks Father deserved it.
She gives them a slight smile, and he realises how much he wishes that she would accept them. His tiny heart swells with hope, regardless of how much he attempts to push it down. It's going to hurt, he thinks, when she stands and turns their back on them.
"I suppose I have no choice." Mother sighs instead, and to him she's beautiful and wonderful even if he doesn't know her that well. "I'm not going to let you stay here to grow up like that dickhead over there, so I guess we'll have to clean out some rooms."
He blinks, glancing to his siblings. "Does that mean that we're going with you?" he dares to ask, clenching his fists in his attempt to calm the nervous energy within him.
Her smiles widens a little more, a gloved hand reaching out to pet his hair. He feels almost as though he's going to burst into tears, and he doesn't understand why. Maybe it's because it feels nice, but he can't cry otherwise his siblings will cry and Father hates it when they do.
"Yeah. I won't reject you because of someone else's mistakes. You didn't ask to be made." she replies, and he can't help but lunge for her in an unthinking hug. She catches him with ease, then soon she catches his siblings as he feels them press against his back. "I'd like to know your names."
He leans back with his siblings to look up at her. Her smile is one of endearment and amusement, making his chest swell with joy. It hurts a lot, he thinks. Pleasant emotions hurt almost as much as unpleasant ones, and he wonders why that is.
"I'm Ichirou." he murmurs, then gestures to his three siblings. "They're Shinju, Shou and Souma. We had another sibling, but he was a failed experiment and didn't make it." he explains, blinking when her eyelids become heavy. It makes her look unimpressed, and he starts to worry.
Mother hums as she stands. He has to crane his neck to look up at her, thinking that even if she's shorter than Father, she certainly feels more impressive.
"Let's go, before your father starts chasing me and declares that my acceptance of you means acceptance of him." she directs a frown at the rubble as she says this.
He shares delighted glances with his siblings, then follows after he as she begins to walk away.
Mother's house is largely secluded, located within a forest and surrounded by many kinds of flowers. It's large, like a clan household and he realises it might be when there's a large circular symbol on the door. He can hear dogs and someone yelling about sugar from within the house.
The flowers smell nice and give off a calming effect… perhaps one that is a little too calming, but Father has stated before that Mother's good with olfactory genjutsu among other things. Father can talk about her for hours.
It makes him feel a little bad, honestly. Only a little though, because Father's… well, Father.
Mother registers their chakra into some kind of seal before letting them through, and he almost yelps when another child bursts through and nearly crashes into him on their way to greet Mother.
"Kaa-chan!" the child exclaims and jumps at Mother. Ichirou blinks, taking note of the sable-shaded hair that's tied up and sticks out like a pineapple. "Sumire's taking all the sugar for herself and it greatly displeases me!"
Then the child turns to them, blinking at them with wide eyes the colour of pine. Ichirou and the others blink in return. The few moments of silence seems too long in his opinion.
"Ah, yeah." Mother chuckles, sounding exasperated as she pets the child's hair. "These are your half-siblings, because some irritant of an Uchiha decided to create them without my permission." she explains in a brief and somewhat vague manner.
The other child gasps, rather dramatically. "Holy crispy nuggets! I gotta tell ojiisan!" and then the child runs back inside, his form growing smaller in the distance. "I have more siblings!" he yells from down the hall, which elicits some kind of banging from somewhere further inside.
A man with long and luscious hair of chocolate abruptly appears in Ichirou's field of view, looking both alarmed and irritated as he approaches. Another man appears behind him, with dark hair, rather unusually pasty skin and a peculiar kind of smile.
"They're Uchiha!" the first man exclaims, appalled once he's close enough. He grabs Mother by the shoulders and leans in. "What the actual hell, Sakura? Why? How?"
The pale man kneels down in front of them, examining Ichirou first by grabbing a lock of lightly-coloured hair and then looking at his eyes. "They certainly look like a mix between Sakura-neesama and an Uchiha. That is alarming, and I too wish to know how this came about."
"Chichi-ue had us made in a lab, using both his and haha-ue's DNA." Shinju answers with her soft, monotonous voice. She presses against his back, since she's still shy around strangers even though others are more intimidated by her. It's a shame, since he thinks she looks wonderful as she is.
"I'll kill him." Neji ̶ as Ichirou learns ̶ seethes, about to march off to commit murder but is stopped by Mother who drags him inside like it's no big deal. "Release me! I'll beat that unworthy scum into the ground and make sure he never comes up again!"
Mother attempts to soothe Neji by hugging his head and petting it, which is surprisingly fast and effective. "Later, otouto. We have to deal with the children. I'll have to go have a talk with Naruto about a few things, like if he knew about this all along." her eyes have a particular glint in them, which is a little ominous in his opinion.
"Sounds like fun." the pale man remarks with a slight deviation to his smile. He pokes Shinju on the nose and chuckles when she makes a sound of indignation and surprise. "They are cute, but that is to be expected when their mother is Sakura-neesama."
"Haha-ue is cute, yes." Souma agrees, with a decisive nod of his head. Then he frowns in uncertainty. "No… haha-ue is pretty. No, haha-ue is beautiful!"
Ichirou smiles, feeling lighter than he's ever felt and he hopes his siblings feel the same.
Mother has to go see the Nanadaime Hokage, whom Ichirou knows to be close with Father. Sometimes, the Hokage came to visit but it was almost always to warn Father that Mother would be furious to learn of what he's done. The Hokage has his own child, but he's never married either. Sometimes Ichirou sees them, but they've never interacted.
Left to wander the household, he finds a girl lounging on an arm chair in what appears to be the lounge room. Her legs dangle over the arm rest as she pours a suspicious amount of sugar into a tub of ice cream.
He blinks, noting the colourful flower crown atop unruly and long rouge hair. Then he meets heavy-lidded eyes of mint, and glances at the raised brow directed at him in question. He feels his stomach clench in discomfort, but he steps forward regardless. He doesn't know where his siblings are, so he's left alone in an unfamiliar place.
"You must be one of the new siblings that the other brat's going on about." she remarks, her voice somewhat rough as she devours a spoonful of vanilla ice cream. "I'm Sumire, the little turd that was running around is my little brother Shikaru."
Ichirou blinks again before a light frown mars his face. "Shikaru is a strange name." he notes, gaining enough confidence to sit on the longer couch that's located near her. She chuckles in response, and he muses about how her movements are rather lethargic.
"Mm. How old are you?" she queries then, sitting up so that she's facing him better. He marvels at how her bangs don't seem to be poking her eyes even though they're in the way.
He glances up at the ceiling fan, realising that there's a little charm in the middle. "Biologically, I'm nine. Chronologically, I'm about… ten months. Shinju and Shou are the middle twins and they're biologically eight. Souma's the youngest at seven. We're expected to stop aging when our bodies fully mature."
Sumire squints at him, before standing up to sit beside him. She basically flops down beside him, then brings her legs up to her chest. He leans back when there's suddenly a spoon of ice cream in his face.
"Eat it." she orders, prompting him to listen. He flinches at its coldness before thinking that it's not bad. "I'm thirteen. Shikaru's nine. We have two cousins, but they aren't related to us. They're adopted, like Sai and Neji are."
Ichirou jolts when there's a delighted scream and the cacophony of barking. He leans forward to look at the archway, managing to catch Shikaru and Souma run past with the canines following after them.
"Did you know that kaa-chan's life is pretty absurd?" Sumire randomly comments, glancing at him. "She told me that she had the Hokage's aunt inside her head until she was like, sixteen or something. Her name was Shion, and she had this whole plan to revive herself for the simple acts of getting revenge and because it sounded fun. Then Shion decided to go back to her original world, because she was from a bunch of different dimensions. Some dude appeared in kaa-chan's head to help bring Shion back, you know?"
He frowns, before remembering that Father had spoken about something somewhat similar and probably related. "Chichi-ue says that our ojisan had devoted his entire life to a woman named Shion, then killed himself with her when she came back to life somehow."
Sumire nods with a grin. "Yeah! But that isn't romantic at all, in my opinion. Tou-chan and Kaa-chan are the most romantic. They've been together since they were like, six or something! You should see them when they're together, it's adorable! Guh!" she cackles and leans against him in her mirth. "I bet they're soulmates or something."
He tenses, before finding himself relaxing soon enough. It's rowdy here, but there's no oppressive atmosphere.
"But yeah, anyway." and Sumire stops laughing immediately, which he thinks to be a little jarring as she huffs from mild fatigue. She starts to feed him ice cream and he can't help but go along with her flow. It's not bad ice cream anyway, so there's not much of a loss… or a loss at all, really. "We're a pretty big family and it's only grown bigger now with you and your other siblings."
"You're just going to accept us?" he asks with a tilt of his head. The books had said that it took time before a stranger could really integrate themselves into a family.
She gives an uncaring shrug, devouring some ice cream herself before feeding him once more. "We're a family that just goes along with the absurdity. In fact, It's practically built from absurdity. You'll get used to it eventually, you know? Besides, I think you're a cute little otouto even if half of your genes are from that weirdo clan leader of the Uchiha."
"Are you a ninja?" he murmurs in question, glancing down at her clothes. She's wearing an oversized shirt that seems to double as a dress, with thigh-length socks. He's not sure if she's wearing shorts or not, but he doesn't want to ask. It'd be a question that Father would ask without missing a beat.
"Chuunin, yeah. Kaa-chan's in ANBU with Sai and Neji, her two brothers. Tou-chan's a jounin and also some kind of assistant to Naruto, so his kid often comes over to play. Shikaru's still in the academy, since he didn't want to graduate early. Yuuki and Mao ̶ our cousins ̶ are going through the ANBU Initiate Program's training. Ojiisan's still alive and kicking, with his shady underground business still thriving as well."
Ichirou smiles, even though he's not sure why. "Chichi-ue says that haha-ue is great." he whispers, not exactly sure why he's bothered to say such a thing.
Sumire grins at him. "Yeah, man. She's a boss. You're going to enjoy it here." she ruffles his hair as a form of affection.
He thinks he's going to enjoy it here as well.
They blink at themselves in the mirror, as it's the first time that they've really looked at themselves in a mirror. Father doesn't like mirrors, having said something about how they give him headaches. It sounds worrisome.
Ichirou looks a lot like his father, save for the fact that his hair is a taffy shade. His eyes are the same shade of ink as Father's and the rest of the other Uchiha members, but he thinks there's less of an intensity to his gaze. His hair is unfortunately as spiky and fluffy as Father's too though.
Shou has Mother's eyes and Father's hair, like Shikaru except less… Nara-like. His hair is also longer, and his expression almost never changes. Father's always said that Shou looks a lot like their uncle, but that Mother's never liked their uncle. Shou used to fear that Mother would hate him for that, even if he didn't really say so out loud.
Souma's the one who looks most like an Uchiha, with the dark hair and eyes. Although, his eyes are more of a metal shade rather than the deep ink. His hair is always a mess, since he never brushes it. All three of them have fair skin, which both Mother and Father have.
Ichirou then turns to Shinju, who's the most different of them all. She turned out to be an albino, with long hair the shade of pearl and porcelain skin. Her irises are a shade of pistachio and he's always thought she looks rather doll-like. It intimidates some people, which is unfortunate since she's generally so nice.
They used to wear the simple and plain clothes of the Uchiha clan, but now they've been allowed to choose whatever it is that they want to wear. Shou and Shinju have chosen elaborately-patterned yukata that match one another, although Shou's taken to wearing it as a shirt with pants to cover his legs. Souma's wearing similar pants and a jacket that resembles the typical Nara wear. It's probably from Shikaru's influence, he thinks since they've been getting along.
He himself has gone for something simple and practical, wearing a high-collared and sleeveless jacket with loose-fitting pants and ankle-high sandals. He plans on getting arm warmers soon, but he likes what he's chosen. He feels like a person with individuality, rather than something empty and without meaning.
"You're all adorable." Mother remarks with a smile, as Sumire yawns and leans on Shikaru. Mother then turns to look at her husband, who's leaning against one of the walls and frowning at the floor with his arms crossed. "Are you still sulking, Shikamaru?"
The man in question groans, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "You'd think he would have given up by now." he mutters in annoyance, before glancing over to Ichirou and his siblings. Shikamaru's eyes notably soften at them. "But yeah… They're pretty cute."
"We appreciate you accepting us…" Shinju frowns, unsure what to call Mother's husband. "T ̶ … Tou-san?"
Shikamaru blinks, before his lips form into a small smile and he pushes off the wall. "Well, I don't mind being called that. But uh, aren't one of you meant to be the Uchiha heir?" he queries, walking forward to stand beside Mother.
Ichirou sees the way they glance at each other and the way their fingers intertwine, then understands what Sumire was talking about before. "I'm meant to be the heir." he answers, then meets Mother's eyes. "You said you were going to figure it out…?"
Mother nods in confirmation. "There's still some issues we've got to work out, but it's not something to fret over." she reassures him, beginning to turn. "Are you all ready to go?"
"Should be." Sumire drawls, standing up straight and groaning when she cracks her back. "Dear lord, ow. I'm too young for back pain…" she rubs her back as they all begin to file out of the room, with Shikaru chirping about how Sumire's back pain is from her bad posture. She does slouch often when she walks with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her dress, much like how her father does.
When they're at the cemetery, he and his siblings simply follow the rest of their new family since they know where to go. They stop by almost isolated graves that are located near the field of higanbana flowers, with three of them together in a row.
Mother kneels down, placing down the bouquet of higanbana that she had gathered from her garden on the middle grave. He looks at the engraving, his eyes widening in recognition.
Uzumaki Shion
May you enjoy destroying other worlds with your treasured pets
You're a terrible person, but we miss you dearly
The End
Chapter Word Count: 3,069
Total Word Count: 95,464
Targeted Word Count: 0
A/N: It's complete! It's over! I've done the challenge, whoo! It feels rather bittersweet, because this is the first time I've completed a story. I'm proud though, even if the story's not perfect. Seriously, thank you all for having stuck around until the end. See you whenever.
Reviews are love. Reviews are life. It's never ogre.