Chapter 138: Akari and Riku Mitarashi

After another two days inside the hospital, which was spent receiving various healing jutsu's and tests, we were cleared to return home and begin our journey as parents, much to our delight.

With Riku bundled in a swathe of blankets, Kurenai and I were pushed home on wheelchairs, just as a precaution; one that Anko forced us to take.

Returning to the Compound, we made our way towards our room, telling Mikoto and Karin that we would let them come see the two girls soon, after we were feeling up to it.

Mikoto nodded, glancing down at her disappointed daughter with a trace of nostalgia and a hint of understand in her eyes before she dragged Karin away.

Moving from the wheelchairs to the bed, Kurenai and I sat besides one another as we stared down at the sleeping babies, our lips drawn into a permanent smile.

Akari had been aptly named, as her eyes were the same crimson as Kurenai's, though the overall shape was definitely Anko's.

When she was awake, Akari tended to smile and giggle a lot, further leaning into Akari being the right name; she was a cheerful little thing, and she lit up the room.

As for Riku, she was more subdued and curious, constantly looking around at all the new things and people with warm amber eyes, which drooped just like mine.

She had a small tuft of auburn hair as well, so she looked a lot like a little copy of me.

Though, who knows what she'll grow into in the future...

Leaning my head onto Kurenai's shoulder, I sighed as I looked down at the asleep Riku, before we both looked over at the pursed lips of Anko, who was alternating her eyes between the two.

She was unusually quiet, and her brown eyes were filled with various emotions as she continued to look at her two daughters.

"How does it feel, Anko?"

Smiling gently at the woman who was roughly six years my junior, and now the 'father' of my child, I chuckled as she turned to look at me, her eyes wide as she lowered her gaze again, softening instantly.

"I... dunno. It's... odd. I never thought that this would be something to happen to me of all people. But... happy? Ecstatic? Nervous as all hells? Though... definitely happy."

She reached over and gingerly stroked Riku's cheek, making the sleeping girl coo softly before she turned to the side, away from the disturbance.

Glancing at Cameia, who was staring at the children with those ever stoic golden eyes, I asked "What about you, Cameia?"

The Priestess was quicker with her answer, and firmer.

"Pleasant. I can see both you and Anko in Riku, though not much of Anko. As for Akari, she's an obvious cross between Kurenai and Anko. Their intriguing, cute, and I find the idea of watching them grow to be rather... appealing."

Cameia had started to... warm up to speaking and expressing herself more, though it was mainly words and obvious action that she used to convey those emotions, instead of the nuance that most people relied on.

Hearing her words made me sigh in relief; I had been worried that the addition of children would alter her perspective on this dynamic we have, but thankfully not.

She too reached forwards to poke Riku's cheek, and this time the young girl opened her eyes blearily before grabbing for the finger.

Finding it, Riku pulled it closer before staring at it, her amber eyes still blurry as she examined it, only to release it and yawn before falling back asleep, making us all chuckle.

With them both so deeply asleep, we handed them to Anko, letting her hold her children for the first time since their birth, which made Kurenai and I grin as she gingerly rocked the two back and forth, trying to keep them asleep.

That was how we spent our first night back home; alternating between holding the babies before placing them in the cribs that we had specially made for this occasion, swaddling them up and returning to our own bed, passing out in blissful comfort...

Only to be woken up what felt like moments later to crying, Kurenai and I needing to scramble over to the cribs and care for Akari and Riku, feeding and comforting them, changing them...

That was the start of our sleepless nights, but the warmth and love we felt for the baby girls were unfazed by the crying and neediness of them both; if anything, we were more in love with them after they finally fell silent and stared up at us, giving us moments of happiness as we played with them or booped their noses, listening to their cute giggles.

Now, we had two months to spend with them before returning to the Academy; we could have stayed out, but Kurenai and I both wanted to work, and we were able to come back in the middle of the day to see them before returning to the Academy...

The next day, we needed to introduce the two little girls to all the people that wanted to meet them, with the main ones being Mikoto, Karin, Naruto, and Hinata.

After that, we would see who showed up over the next few days to meet them, bit for now we fell back to sleep, catching a wink whilst we could.