Insomnia

XVII

Neji woke, warm and calm, in a hospital room. He remembered Gaara telling him the twins – Twins! – were all right and all three of them were safe. He shifted and felt someone stir beside him. He slowly looked over at Gaara and smiled, earning a lip quirk in return. Gaara slowly drew his hand over Neji’s face, stroking his cheeks and forehead. Neji began to move, to try and get up, and only looked to Gaara for help.

“I want to see them,”

Neji watched the covers get tossed away from him and let Gaara help him out of bed. The linoleum was cold beneath his feet until he found slippers and pulled on the robe Gaara procured for him. Leaning on the redhead for support, Neji slowly made it out of his room and toward the infant ward. It was slow going, as Neji constantly stopped to peer out of every window at the grounds, memorizing the scenery. Gaara understood, and stood by, lending his arm for support. Already Neji’s vision was beginning to grey, his chakra pathways rerouting themselves back to normal now that no child was growing within him. Gaara let Neji have his indulgences; he’d had his, after all.

Hitatsu had survived Gaara’s assault and the fire. Ibiki and Genma had tracked the bastard down and quickly arrested him – and his little helper, a kunoichi he’d bribed into aiding him. Judgment was passed too quickly for a trial for Hitatsu – the Hokage had given him to Gaara and the redhead was delighted to make the man bend in unusual ways. The kunoichi was merely sent to prison for aiding the fugitive and her mind erased by the Hokage a few days later.

Hitatsu’s body – confirmed dead – had been burned and his ashes scattered to the winds.

Gaara spent his next few days watching over Neji and their children, whom he’d let Hinata name. It was the least he could do, since she had saved their lives. His daughter Hinata had named Ai, spunky little thing, and his son she’d named Ginko, though she’d waited until the boy was certain he wanted to live. Sakura and Tsunade had done all they could to save Ginko’s eye, but though they’d reattached it and tested to make sure he could see, they weren’t completely sure if he would be able to see anything but shadows with that eye.

When he was older, he would be trained to use his eye more than usual, especially if he had inherited the Byakugan. Ai would have an easier time of it, but Gaara wasn’t sure he cared. He’d already decided he’d treat each child the same.

They slowly made their way down the hall, Neji already trailing his fingers along the wall as the shadows at the edges of his vision grew darker. Gaara pulled him into a quick kiss before they stopped at the glass and looked through at their children. Neji felt tears sliding down his face at seeing both children alive and in perfect health.

“They’re beautiful,” Neji whispered. Gaara made a grunting noise. “Who named them?”

“Hinata.” Gaara replied. “I asked her to.”

Neji nodded and leaned closer to Gaara, arming himself against his lover. Gaara only put an arm around his shoulders and sought out Neji’s reflection in the glass. Neji was beautiful, sunlight hitting those moonlight eyes and making them seem a bit more lifelike. Gaara watched those orbs slowly begin to lose focus, to dull and become blind once again. But to Gaara, it didn’t matter if Neji could actually see or not. To Gaara and to Neji, what mattered was that they were alive. That they and their children were together.

What mattered most was that they were a family.

-Owari-