Binding Souls

Ramen Time

Welcome back, guys!!

let's go into the story ;)

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It had been a few years after Mei and Gaara's wedding. Suki had won the "Labor Bet." It was truly amazing that the Kazekage had survived his wife's delivery without being burned alive.

Their bet had been simple. Losers had to tell the other their husband's size. Suki was surprised to learn that Gaara and Naruto matched in that area. Hmm weird. Maybe it was a jinchuuriki thing.

If she had a more scientifically curious mind, she might propose someone make a study of jinchuuriki sizes. But really it had only been for a laugh. She had no interest in anyone else's "equipment" beside her husband's. Mei had been equally amused as Suki at the results.

Gaara and Mei had named their only child Katsumi. The name meant victorious beauty. It seemed the Kazekage didn't want his wife to risk another pregnancy so late in her childbearing years. Mei for her part seemed just fine turning all her attention onto her only child and Gaara did the same.

Mirai was now seven, Itachi was five, and Katsumi was three years old. The Trio as they were often called were now inseparable whenever Katsumi was brought to the Leaf for a visit. Gaara came to the Leaf often to see his sister and Naruto of course.

"Make splash splash," Katsumi says to Itachi.

"Okay," he chirps merrily.

They were at the lake. It was a beautiful summer day. "Splash Splash" as Katsumi called it simply meant Itachi created a giant water slide.

Gaara hadn't been too thrilled about this concept at first. But there were several Jonin and higher ranking ninjas around. If something happened, he was positive they could rescue her. That and Katsumi had inherited Gaara's, "Ultimate Defense." (Some restrictions such as Chidoris may apply.)

"How big can you make that," Mirai asks.

"Pretty big. Mother gets nervous if I make it too big though," he answers the oldest of the Trio.

"Oh. Well I guess you shouldn't make it as big as you can then. Your mom is scary when she gets mad," the young girl observes in as somber a fashion as any seven year old was capable of doing.

"Yeah. Very scary. Even dad doesn't really want to make her mad," Itachi agrees and nods sagely.

"SPLASH SPLASH. WEEEEE," Katsumi cries out as she spirals down the water slide.

"Your son seems rather popular with the girls," Gaara tells Naruto in a bemused voice.

"Yeah. I'm just glad that isn't antisocial like his mother used to be," the blonde muses.

"I heard that," Suki says.

Suki was about six months along with twins. So she had opted not to swim or wear a bathing suit. Why had they waited so long before trying again?

They weren't sure if there would be another attack. But they decided that four and a half years had been long enough. They couldn't put their lives on hold forever out of fear of what might happen. And now they were expecting twins, a boy, and a girl.

"Well you know it's true. You never hung out with other kids when we were their age," Naruto says.

"I had good reasons for not doing so," she scoffs.

"Yeah. Wow, Gaara your daughter is a little Dare Devil. Did she just cannonball off of the slide," Naruto asks, blinking.

"Yes, she did. She takes after her mother. Katsumi has figured out the sand will protect her and she can get away with being more bold than most," Gaara says with a sigh.