Chapter 3: Dinner with the Uzumaki Family

When Ino returned to the kitchen, the dining table was set and Naruto was moving the wok from the stove to the table. Ino frowned when she realized the table was set for four people. She glanced at Naruto, but his back was turned to her, so he didn't see her questioning gaze. When he finally turned around he smiled.

"You look great," he stated. Ino knew he wanted to say more, but he was probably holding back because of their situation.

"Thanks," Ino mumbled.

"Dinner!" Naruto yelled loudly. Naruto grinned, "Have a seat, Ino."

Ino nodded and sat down at the lonely seat on the left side of the head of the table. She suspected that Naruto, being the man of the household sat at the head of the table. Naruto gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything. Ino shifted in her seat. Footsteps echoed from upstairs and then the girl from earlier that afternoon appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in yellow sundress and her blonde hair was tied up in two pigtails. She glanced at Ino, gave her a toothy grin and then sat down diagonally opposite Ino. Naruto sat at the head of the table, leaving the seat on his right side empty.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "Where's your brother?"

Ino felt her heart leap. She had a son! Ino smiled as she tried to imagine the boy in her head.

The girl shrugged, "I don't know."

Naruto sighed and glanced at Ino, who was staring at the plate before her with a smile on her lips. Naruto stood up and disappeared. Ino could hear his movements upstairs. Ino looked up and glanced at her daughter. She had Naruto's blue eyes, but definitely her blonde hair. Ino shifted in her seat again. She felt really awkward and out of place.

Finally Naruto returned with a blonde boy following him. He looked around five with the same spiky hair as his father, but the same pale blonde as Ino. The boy had blue eyes that shone like diamonds. Ino couldn't help but feel her heart linger to embrace the boy. He was adorable! The boy climbed on the seat on Naruto's right.

"All right," Naruto stated, "let's eat."

As Naruto and the children jumped into a usual routine of dishing and talking about their day, Ino sat silently and ate her food as slowly as she could. If earlier she felt left out, she now felt like a perfect stranger. In her mind, she was supposed to be a young teenager living with her parents and would have bubbly conversation with them. Here she felt alien, despite the fact that she knew this was her new family. Ino mentally sighed.

"Mama?" the little boy sitting across from Ino asked as he tilted his head to the side. Ino jumped and blinked.

"Um...yes?" Ino hesitated and glanced at Naruto. She didn't even know the boy's name! What kind of mother was she? Oh...right, one who ended up in the future somehow.

"Will you play with me after dinner?" the boy asked. Ino blinked. He wanted to play with her? The idea was intriguing – this way she could get to know them. Ino glanced at Naruto again. The blonde was silent, simply watching his wife and son converse while idly chewing on his food.

"Sure," Ino agreed to her son's request. The boy grinned. Ino smiled. Her son smiled like his father. It was cute.

"Will you play too, dad?" the boy asked as his attention shifted to his father. Naruto patted his son's head.

"Sure, Minato," Naruto beamed. Ino felt her throat tighten. Her son's name was Minato. He was named after the Fourth Hokage. Ino knew that Naruto has always looked up to him, but he idolized the Fourth this much that he would name his son after him? Ino glanced at Minato. Well, like his father he resembled the Fourth greatly. It was surreal.

"Oh, so older sisters aren't good enough to play?" Minato's sister hissed. The table fell silent and all eyes moved to the daughter of the family, her blue eyes were narrow. Ino saw herself in the girl right at that moment. It was hilarious.

"Of course you can play too, sis!" Minato grinned as he poked his sister's nose. She did not look impressed and gave him a very cold glare. Ino glanced nervously at Naruto. Was this normal behavior for the two of them? They weren't going to fight, were they?

"Did you just poke me?" Minato's sister growled. Minato giggled as his sister attacked him with relentless tickles. Ino sighed in relief. Luckily the girl was only playing with her younger brother.

"Alright, stop it you two," Naruto finally interrupted, "finish your dinner. We'll play as soon as the dishes are done, alright?"

The two nodded and continued with their meal. Ino couldn't believe how mature and in control Naruto was with the children. He was like a completely different person from the boy she knew.

After dinner, Naruto and Ino washed the dishes while the children played together in the garden under the last few rays of the sun. Ino watched them from the window above the sink and smiled. They looked so happy. So peaceful.

"Great, aren't they?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Ino agreed, "what's her name? I didn't quite catch it."

"Kaguya," Naruto replied, "you named her Kaguya after Kaguya-hime."

Kaguya. The name fitted the girl perfectly. Ino felt her heart swell with love and pride. She was their mother. She produced two beautiful children. It was something she's secretly always dreamed of and now she had it. But it didn't feel right.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Ino whispered. Naruto looked up alarmed.

"For what?" he asked.

"This whole...situation," Ino sighed, "I don't remember our relationship...I don't remember giving birth to the kids. How could I do this to you?"

Naruto shrugged, "I'll get over it. Let's just keep it to ourselves though, okay? I don't want the whole world finding out. Enemies could take advantage of you this way."

Ino nodded in agreement. She especially didn't want the children to know. The last thing they needed was being told their mother wasn't exactly their mother. That she was from the past and somehow ended up in her older self's body. If this could be considered time-traveling at least.

"You go play with the kids," Naruto suddenly stated, "I'll finish here."

Ino thanked him, dried off her hands and rushed outside to join her children. She laughed when Minato attacked her. She stumbled backwards and landed on the grass. Kaguya joined in. Naruto watched this scene with a sad smile playing on his lips.

He was really the only one suffering from this, wasn't he?

Ino tucked the little boy underneath his blue quilt and kissed his forehead. In the few hours she spent with Minato and Kaguya, she fell in love with them. They were the most beautiful little children she has ever seen.

"Night, Mama," Minato yawned. Ino smiled and stroked his soft blonde hair.

"Night," Ino whispered. Minato blinked and scrunched his nose. Ino quirked an eyebrow at his sudden strange facial expression, "Something wrong?"

"You stopped calling me 'honey'," the boy pointed out. Ino froze. She called him that? She didn't know...of course she didn't know! Ino mustered a fake smile and stroked the boy's forehead.

"I'm sorry, honey," Ino whispered, "is that better?" Minato nodded, "Good, now go to sleep, son."

Minato nodded and yawned again. Ino stood up from where she sat beside her son and turned of the lamp beside his bed. She glanced at him one more time, then left the room. She headed for Kaguya's room next. The room was purple, much like Ino's was when she was a teenager and the girl was sitting on her bed reading through some scrolls.

"Aren't you going to bed, Kaguya?" Ino asked.

Kaguya looked up from what she was reading, "Not yet, I promised dad I would study these seals today."

"Oh," Ino breathed. Ino stood awkwardly in the doorway of her daughter's room.

"Say, mom," Kaguya suddenly broke the silence.

"Hm?" was Ino response. Being called 'mom' was still weird to her.

"Earlier this afternoon, you...you didn't know who I was," Kaguya trailed off. Ino bit her lip. Shee really hoped she could keep this a secret from the children, but Kaguya had heard Ino and Naruto that afternoon and she was thirteen years old. She was intelligent and a ninja academy graduate. It would be natural for her to suspect something.

"Oh, that," Ino trailed off. What could she say? That she was her younger self stuck in her older self? No, she couldn't ell Kaguya. Kaguya might tell someone else and then the entire village will know about it. Ino couldn't take that chance. "I wasn't feeling well. I was dizzy, so my sight was blurry. I mistook you for someone else."

It was a pathetic lie, but the best Ino could do. Kaguya looked up from her scrolls and narrowed her eyes at her mother. Ino gulped. Her daughter was very observant. And her glare looked deadly.

"If you say so," Kaguya finally shrugged. Ino sighed in relief. That was close.

"Good night," Ino finally managed to say, "don't go to bed to late, alright?"

"I won't," Kaguya replied. Ino smiled and then left Kaguya in peace and headed downstairs. Minato was like Naruto. Hyper, fun and energetic. Kaguya was like Ino, but somewhere in her blood she had a very serious and calm side to herself. Ino couldn't exactly pinpoint which family member that trait came from. It certainly wasn't her, Ino wasn't known for being the 'calm type'. Maybe someone on Naruto's side of the family?

Naruto was in the living room, reading a book that dangerously looked like 'Icha Icha' or something. Ino sat down opposite him and sighed. Naruto glanced at her from his book.

"Tired?" he asked.

Ino nodded, "Kaguya was questioning me about this afternoon."

Naruto didn't say anything and returned to reading his book. Ino sat calmly and watched him. He really was a completely different person.

After awhile of silence and staring, Ino stood up, "I'm going to bed...I'll sleep in the guest bedroom."

Naruto looked up from his book in alarm, "Why...oh." Ino smiled weakly when he trailed off. Naruto looked away from her and tightened his fist, "I'll sleep in the guest bedroom. You stay in the main bedroom."

Ino blinked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled, "I don't need the en suite bathroom or the walk-in closet as much as you do."

Ino chuckled, "Thanks, Naruto."

He merely waved her off. Ino disappeared upstairs, leaving Naruto to sulk alone.