Ten Years Later

"Ichiro! Shun! Get your butts in here now!" I yelled out the back door, scanning the surrounding forest for any sign of my boys hiding in the shrubbery. Not that I expected to spot them even if they were – they'd long since mastered the shinobi art of concealing themselves in the leafy surroundings encircling our home. Or was it just the boyish art of avoiding their mother they'd mastered? It was hard to say for sure and my lazybones husband wasn't giving any indication that he knew either.

But I didn't mind. Not really.

Ichiro, five, and Shun, four, were spirited lads and they loved playing in the woods as much as I had when I was their age – I couldn't very well complain when I'd done exactly the same in my time. Still, I was certain that if I let them they'd hide out there all day, completely forgetting about lunch and dinner – and bedtime too I'll wager! And that was something I simply wouldn't allow. Nope. It wouldn't do to have my beautiful sons running around without a proper meal in their bellies.

Turning away from the door, I re-entered our kitchen and stirred the potato and leek soup again, smiling to myself when I felt the tiny flicker of chakra stir within me. At twenty-eight weeks gone, my stomach was the size of a melon and every so often my little girl would give me a cheerful kick to remind me she was there. It was hardly necessary; it's not as if I were likely to forget seeing as I'd nagged Deidara constantly since Shun was born about getting his butt in gear and giving me a daughter. Now that I'd gotten my wish it was all I could think about. Imagine; my own gorgeous baby girl! I couldn't wait and Ichiro and Shun were looking forward to having a little sister too.

I felt the presence enter behind me from the hall and grinned to myself like a silly lovestruck teenager. They say that the fire dies down when a couple has been together as long as Dei and myself, but whoever 'they' is they're wrong. Our love only grew stronger with the years and I still got butterflies whenever he was around; my heart still sung when I meet his perfect blue eyes and I still considered myself the luckiest woman on earth to have him.

It seemed like only yesterday we'd fled Waterfall Village together. The years had been tough but we'd fought through together and each day only made us stronger.

"Hey gorgeous." he greeted, coming up behind me and wrapping his strong arms around my waist to rub my swollen belly. "What's that delicious smell, un?"

I laughed and craned my head back to give him a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Potato and leek soup, love. It'll be ready soon." I replied, leaning into him as he trailed butterfly kisses up the side of my neck.

I never tired of Deidara's tender side – the side he'd nurtured slowly over time since leaving Akatsuki to run away with me. Of course, Akatsuki was old news these days. They'd disbanded the year before Ichiro was conceived, which was a spot of good luck in my opinion because it had meant we were free to claim the old hideout as our home, putting an end to the endless travelling and providing a suitable environment to bring our children into.

"No. That's not it, un." he hummed against the sensitive skin behind my ear. "It smells way tastier that soup."

"Alright, what is it you want?" I laughed, turning in his arms and gazing up into his wonderful blue eyes. So far, our children had both taken my eyes – a molten gold colour that was set off by their white-blond hair beautifully. It was a shame really. Deidara's eyes were so much better.

"Who said I wanted anything, un?" he smirked, pressing his forehead against mine. "I just wanted to pay my girl a compliment is all."

"Sure you did. Spill." I breathed, stealing a quick kiss and grinning as he blinked in surprise. Deidara was so delightfully easy to get information from a quick kiss here, a light touch there and he was practically telling me his life story. He was nothing but my willing little pawn when I turned on the seduction.

"I, uh, just wondered if Tsukai and Hidan could use the guest bedroom." he stuttered, shivering involuntarily as my small hand ghosted up his shirt and over his bare back.

My mood immediately soured and I withdrew my hand with an irritated huff.

"Of course Tsukai can use our bedroom. She's welcome here any time – you know that." I grunted, returning to my soup with a scowl, making it obvious that the offer was for his sister and no one else.

"Mizuko..."

"No Deidara. I will not have that... that animal in here again! Polluting our sons' minds with bad language and violence and... and heaven knows what else!" I exclaimed, whirling on my other half brandishing the wooden spoon from my soup pot.

"Tsukai promised she'd make him behave this time. And besides, he is the boys' uncle, un." Deidara pointed out, hands raised against my wooden weapon – he knew I would be perfectly happy to smack him with it if he pushed the wrong buttons.

"Humph." I snorted, giving him a withering glare. "Uncle indeed! They may be married but I'll never accept him as anything but the annoying ex-priest he is."

Hidan was one of only three surviving Akatsuki members, the others being Deidara and Kisame. We still saw Kisame from time to time, and I was glad of that – except for Deidara, he was the person I was closest to within the group. Hidan and Tsukai's visits were even less regular, and although I missed Tsukai a lot when she went off on her long journeys, I missed her husband decidedly less.

I was of the steadfast opinion that Hidan should still be buried in the Nara clan's forest in Fire Country. Lucky for him – and to my continuing annoyance – Tsukai had tracked him down and put the pieces of his body back together again. And although he'd given up Jashinism for Tsukai's sake and had thus become mortal again, I had yet to find a way to kill him and make it look suitably accidental.

"C'mon Mizuko. He'll be good this time, un. I promise." Deidara muttered, enveloping me in a warm embrace and planting little kisses over the bridge of my nose.

I sighed, knowing I'd know no peace until I relented. "Alright fine. But you tell him that if he puts a single toe out of line, he'll be spending the night in the boys' tree-house!"

"Duly noted." he smiled, sealing my lips with one last kiss – this one deeper and longer than the others – before turning and taking his seat at the table.

It hadn't been even five minutes when the front door suddenly went.

I turned and narrowed my eyes at Deidara, who shrugged innocently and continued reading the magazine Kisame had sent him last week (free of nudity and triple X material, as were my orders to the old shark). Something told me I'd been played.

"Deidara, do me a favour and go bring the boys in for lunch while I answer the door." I called to him on my way into the hall.

Opening the front door, I was greeted by two familiar faces. One was very welcome. The other, not-so-much. At the very least, Hidan brushed up well. He had the decency to be fully clothed this time

"Is it safe yet?" the blonde haired woman asked with a pleasant smile.

"Tsukai!" I beamed, drawing her into a hug and eyeing her 'husband' over her shoulder. Holding her at arms length, I raised an eyebrow at her stomach critically. It could just be me, but I thought it seemed a tad bigger than last time. "You putting on weight, girl?"

She blushed and nodded, moving back and taking Hidan's arm in hers with a shy chuckle. To my surprise he smirked proudly and pulled her in close – he wasn't normally one for public displays of affection. Then, not so surprising, he puffed his chest out arrogantly like a man who'd just won the world weightlifting competition.

"Yup!" she chirped happily. "We're having a baby, Hidan and me."

I laughed and pulled her into another big hug, talking away at her at a hundred miles and hour. What sex was it? When was it due? Was she excited? What would she call it? You know; the usual stuff.

"Hate to interrupt but could we move this to the kitchen? I'm starving!" Hidan boomed in his typically conceited voice. I turned to him in slight shock and resentment. He hadn't sworn once in that sentence! Looks like Tsukai's training was starting to work it's magic.

"I hope you've got your dog well and truly muzzled this time, Tsukai." I warned her, hating to ruin our reunion by talking about that self-righteous jerk.

"He'll be on his very best behaviour this time. Won't you honey?" Tsukai asked him sharply, daring him with her eyes to disagree.

"Sure thing. Good as gold – that's me." Hidan dismissed, surprising me again with the lack of profanities.

"I'll believe it when I see it." I muttered, leading our guests to the kitchen where Deidara and my boys were just seating themselves at the table. Along with two extras I hadn't expected.

"Kisame? Naoku?!" I gasped, stunned (and if I'm being honest, slightly suspicious) by the arrival of so many guests in so little time.

"Hello Mizuko. Long time no see." Naoku greeted, wrapping an arm around me briefly and looking very ill at ease. The last time we'd met had been three years ago at Shun's first birthday and he hadn't been very comfortable then either. I'd assured him time and again that none of the ex-Akatsuki members would lay so much as a finger on him (not if they didn't want to face the full wrath of an enraged Mizuko that is), but my words never had much effect on him. He always had the look of a man surrounded on all sides by enemies. I'd come to the conclusion that I should just consider myself lucky he still sneaked away to see me once in a while, and leave it at that.

"It is!" I chuckled, looking him up and down and noting the little changes. He'd grown a bit in ten years and his hair was still as long as ever, but his face had lost much of that girlish quality it once had. I noted the new uniform with a pleased grin, pointing up at his head where a white mask with decidedly feline features sat haphazardly. "ANBU now, eh? When did that happen?"

"Last month. I just finished my first solo mission and decided I'd drop in and say hello." I raised an eyebrow. Something wasn't right here; I mean all of my friends around at the same time without me knowing a thing about it? I smelled a rat.

"Well it's always good to see you, Nao. How's Mei?" I quizzed, thinking about Naoku's girlfriend and my old friend for the Academy days.

"Fine. She's got her hands full with running the café most days but we're talking about getting a place together."

"That's great! I'm really happy for you, Nao." I gushed, glad that he was finally settling down with a nice girl. It was about time he got himself a little wife and kids.

"Yo! Am I just here for decoration or what? Give me some love, sweet cheeks!" interrupted a loud, laughing voice. I turned to Kisame with a wry smile, wrapping my arm around his thick neck (with difficulty!) and placing a great big kiss on his blue cheek before turning to the kids.

"Boys, go wash your hands before lunch. If you eat it all you can have some ice cream, 'kay?"

"Yes, mommy." they intoned, leaving the kitchen in a flash, racing each other to the bathroom.

I indicated for all of our guests to take a seat and asked Deidara to fetch more chairs from the cupboard under the stairs. When he returned and when everybody was sitting with a steaming bowl of soup in front of them – thank goodness I'd made an extra large batch – I probed for the reason behind their sudden appearance.

"So... To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this afternoon?" I queried, blowing gently on my spoonful of soup and shooting a sharp look at Ichiro and Shun, who were wrestling noisily at the end of the table.

"We were in the neighbourhood," the all answered at the same time. I cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Deidara from the corner of my eye. Something was definitely fishy here.

"Is that a fact?"

"Hey! Hey mommy! Guess what! Uncle Kisame taught me a new move today!" Shun giggled, and promptly made a hand sign. The result was a rather pathetic – though impressive for his age – water clone morphing from the sink water.

"Wow! Very good Shun!" I praised, narrowing my eyes at Kisame. "When did he have time to teach you that, sweetie?"

"He's been playing with us all day!" Ichiro chipped in, grinning at his Uncle who shamelessly grinned back.

"Oh? He failed to mention that. Seriously, what's going on guys?" I frowned, looking around the table.

Deidara sighed, getting to his feet and ruffling our sons' hair. "You were meant to keep that a secret, un!" he chuckled, moving around the table until he was standing in front of me. I looked up into his twinkling eyes, anxious.

"What is it? What's the matter, Dei?" I gulped, grasping at his hand for comfort. To my shock, he got down on one knee, continuing to look into my eyes as he spoke.

"Mizuko, un. We've been together for ten years now and they've been the greatest ten years I've ever had. We've had two wonderful sons together," he said, nodding at Ichiro and Shun who gave him the thumbs up. "We're expecting our first daughter, un," He gave my belly a tender rub with his free hand. "And we've pretty much done all the things any other couple would do together. Except one."

He took a deep breath and, in a clear strong voice, asked me the question I'd never thought to hear falling from his lips.

"Mizuko Shinoske, will you marry me?"

I was utterly stunned. We'd discussed marriage before – of course we had – but the timing had just never seemed right. The first chunk of our relationship had been spent on the run; the second chunk bringing up our children. But now he'd finally popped the question. And really, there was only one thing to say.

"Yes!" I cried, throwing my arms around him and kissing every inch of his face I could reach. When I met his lips he opened his mouth, and we kissed like it was the very first time. There was no one else in the room but us and I was totally, utterly happy.

"Hey, hey! Easy on the lip action there! There're kids here!" Kisame rumbled, laughing his deep, sonorous laugh.

I resurfaced reluctantly but didn't release Deidara's hand from mine, looking around at my friends with a massive beam on my face. It was the perfect ending to my tale of misery, woe and – most importantly – all conquering love. There were only two people absent who I wished could have been there to share in my joy, but even if I couldn't see them I knew they were close by, watching me and protecting me. My best friend Hiroshi, who'd died all those years ago to save me. And of course my mother, who'd died right here in this very house, of an incurable illness, with her loving daughter, son-in-law and grandsons.

Despite everything that had happened to me – those long, arduous months as Akatsuki's captive, the torturous days after my escape, and the years of hardship as a fugitive with Deidara – I was finally getting what I'd always wanted. My happy ending. The perfect ending to a story full of pain and suffering.

And as I looked around the table into the faces of the people I loved, I remembered my old philosophy. The one that I'd abandoned so long ago now: 'If you're not dead, you have nothing to complain about.'.

That one may have been proven dead wrong but no one could accuse me of lacking the ability to adapt. My new philosophy was this:

'If you're not dead, you have nothing to complain about... but it sure as hell makes you feel better!'

And as Hiroshi would say: 'Ain't it the truth!'

DONE! At long last this story is OVER! :D I'm so happy I could cry! I can get on with my life now! XD