Sasuke takes care of the kids while Hinata is off on a mission, only to realize he misses his wife just as much as his babies do.

Himawari was brooding again.

Sasuke had already tried several strategies prescribed by Hinata to deal with his seven year-old's moodiness.

A walk ("I'm waiting right here until Mama comes home!")

A trip to the park (see above).

A play date with Naruto's kid ("Sorry, teme, kid's sick!")

A hot bath (see first item).

The last resort was an odd one.

"Hey, Hima,"

Mismatched eyes cut sharply into his. "What?" At Sasuke's reprimanding glare, she reluctantly added, "Papa,"

"I bought fruit,"

Himawari huffed and wiggled her toes in her socks. She buried her face in her arms.

"It's sour fruit,"

She perked up a bit at this, eyes suspicious.

"Come on," He held his hand to her. "Get off the floor. Let's go to the kitchen,"

She grumbled as she stood, rubbing her cheek with her sleeve. Sasuke continued onwards as he heard her heavy, dragging steps behind him. Himawari looked about as they walked. "Papa, where is Hie-nii and Tsuki-nii?"

"Out,"

More grumbling. "Everyone leaves me,"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Where did she get that awful overdramatic streak from? Certainly not from his side.

"They'll be back soon. You can nag at them when they come back,"

"I will!"

"Heads up," he said as he chucked a bag at her head.

"Papa!" Himawari cried. Her face brightened at the contents of the bag. "I thought Mama said that lemons are out of season,"

Sasuke watched in equal parts disgust and fascination as his daughter went about washing and cutting the citrus. Where she got her preference for sour food he didn't know either. Hinata could exclusively survive on sweets and he wasn't picky either way about food. His disgust grew as Himawari dipped the lemon slices in salt before she ate them. It gave him an ulcer just watching her.

But at least she wasn't curled up on the floor, staring out the window and frowning. Being a father had honed in his patience and tolerance for nonsense, but there was only so much sulking he could take.

Himawari had crept into the living room, where Sasuke was sitting at the kotatsu, blanket pulled over his lap. She had her lemon slices and salt in her palm and quietly slid under the kotatsu.

"Ah!" She said, dismayed when salt spilled onto the blanket.

"We have plates, you piglet," Sasuke said and handed her a tissue to clean up her mess.

Himawari just chewed aggressively in response. He sighed. "Mama is going to come back soon so stop being a pain,"

"Not soon enough," she said, bowing her head. He caught the quivering lip and sighed again.

"It's only two more days," He was comforting her as much as he was comforting himself. A week-long mission, a week without Hinata.

Tsukihisa and Hie were old enough to take care of themselves but Himawari was taking Hinata's absence surprisingly badly. She was normally a gloomy kid, something that Naruto took great delight in pointing out as a Sasuke-trait. Himawari was well-behaved and mature, something that made her much easier to deal with than Sasuke could even hope for. She was similar to him, quiet and intense. She even resembled him strongly, having his nose, narrow eyes, and hair color, though she had her mother's pin-straight texture. The messy spikes fell on Hie's head (literally). Tsukihisa wore his hair long, just like Neji had. Hie had Hinata's softer features and Tsukihisa could be mistaken as Neji's ghost. The twins had looked identical when they were young and Hinata could gleefully dress them up in the same embarrassing clothes (little sailor outfits and sweaters with animal ears on the hood were not amongst Hinata's worst offenses) , but once they grew up, the only thing that remained the same was the face. The twins somehow managed to get along despite the differences in personality; Hie was a hot-head, fulfilling the prophecy of his name; eager to please and sensitive, much like his parents had been as children. Tsukihisa was Hyuuga-stoic, blunt and serious. He didn't mince words, something he and his father shared. He was the cool-headed twin and enjoyed quiet pastimes with his mother. Tsuki could easily out-knit, out-garden, and out-cook any man or woman in Konoha. Their differences were complementary – Tsukihisa pulled Hie out of any fight when Hie was too angry to see he was outmatched and Hie softened the blow when Tsukihisa said something rude, though his efforts had only earned Hie all of Tsukihisa's scorned fangirls.

Sasuke stared out the same window that his youngest had been fixated on for most of the week. Hinata worked almost exclusively in Konoha, wanting to stay with the family, but Tsunade needed as many hands as she could out in Kumogakure. He thought he could handle it easily. It was only one week. One week, one week without Hinata. He woke up earlier than she did every morning as usual and couldn't wake her up as he usually did. Some mornings where he was in particularly mischievous mood, he would tickle her nose with her hair and watch her scrunch her face in irritation. If her feet poked out, he would attack until she squirmed awake. Other mornings, he would just keep his face in her neck and squeeze her until he was too heavy to deal with. Hinata would press her small hands into his chest and shove halfheartedly, eyes still closed.

At breakfast, Himawari refused to leave Hinata's arms, her hair mussed and her face sour and sleepy. She was always more difficult in the morning. Sasuke would be finished stretching and would take Hima from her so that Hinata could finish up breakfast. The boys would come in last, Hie's hair sticking this way and that. Tsuki always helped Hinata set the table and Hie teased Hima until she would tackle him and scratch his face. Hinata breezed through the chaos without a hair out of place. She sent the boys off to the academy with their bentos and a kiss on the cheek. Sasuke had to report to the Hokage, so she would send him off with a kiss. Sasuke made sure to commit it to memory, the sunlight touching and turning everything into gold, the lived-in appearance of their home, Himawari at her mother's side, stepping up on to a stool to help her wash the dishes, Hinata's perfume lingering on him, the warmth of her body and her mouth on him.

One week was a long time, he had realized.

"Papa," Something tugged at his sleeve. "Papa,"

"Hm?" Sasuke focused on the small face staring up at him. He saw the first smile since Hinata left.

"It's snowing!"

Feathery wisps of white fell in the direction of the slanting wind. Sasuke watched in a daze for a moment before Himawari started pulling at him to get up.

"I wanna go outside!"

Himawari's sudden shift in mood was welcome, jarring as it was. Sasuke stood and followed her. By the time he reached her room, she was already in her coat, having trouble with the zipper. She stared at it in frustration.

"Help, Papa!"

"I got it,"

He zipped her up and she grabbed his hand, leading him to get her boots.

"It's settled quite a bit," he murmured.

"There's not enough for a snowman yet," she observed solemnly.

Sasuke watched her play. Himawari looked at her footprints in the snow and shook the snow off of some potted plants. She scooped up enough snow for a snowball and said,

"Heads up!"

He deflected it on reflex.

She frowned. "You're no fun,"

"Tough,"

Himawari went back to playing alone, until two dark-haired figures approached.

"Yo! We're back,"

"Hie-nii! Ow!"

Tsukihisa shot his twin a look, wiping the snow off of Himawari's red nose. "Don't hit her so hard,"

Then he promptly threw a snowball in Hie's face.

Sasuke absently rubbed his arms. It was cold outside, but the sight of his children tackling each other in the snow and shoving snow into each other's face was a heartwarming one.

Hie dumped snow down Tsukihisa's pants.

Aw. How sweet.

Himawari was making a snow angel in the midst of the boys' fighting. She stared up at Sasuke and grinned. "Papa, aren't you cold?"

He shrugged. "Not really,"

She leaned on her elbows, lying on her stomach. "Your nose is pink,"

"So's yours,"

"Papa, Grandfather invited us over this weekend," Tsukihisa said. He shook the snow out of his hair. "We met him on our way,"

"Grandpapa?" Himawari scrambled to her feet and grabbed onto Tsukihisa's arm.

"You know he hates it when you call him that," Sasuke said.

"Yeah," Himawari said with an innocent smile.

"I tried calling him that and he almost Gentle Fisted me," Hie said, rubbing the back of his head as he joined them.

"I tried asking for his permission to marry Hinata and he used the Twin Lion Fists on me," Sasuke muttered.

Himawari was looking to the front, eyes wide. "Who's that?"

Sasuke blinked.

"I'm pretty sure that's-"

"Mama!"

"Hima," A soft voice exclaimed. Himawari had latched onto Hinata's waist and was crying loudly.

"I missed you!" Himawari wailed.

Hinata smiled at her family, hand on Himawari's head. "I'm home," she said.

Sasuke had been bracing himself for two more days of Hima's and his own pouting but it seemed like the source of their despair and happiness had returned.

"You're home early," Hie said, his arm going around her shoulder.

"Mm. Thankfully, the job wrapped up quickly," She said as Tsukihisa put an arm around her other shoulder.

She met Sasuke's eyes, pearly eyes warm and happy. "Hello," she said shyly.

"Hinata," he said. The boys removed themselves and pulled Himawari away.

"They're having a moment," Hie snickered and hugged his twin, puckering his lips at him. "Come here, Tsuki!"

"I'm going to beat you," Tsukihisa threatened and threw him on the snowy ground.

Sasuke huffed, cheeks heating up. He met his son's eyes squarely and said, "Kill him, Tsukihisa,"

"Papa! What the hell? Not the hair, not the hair – "

Hinata's nose was pink, indigo hair blowing over her shoulder. She bit her lip and placed her hands on his shoulders and tip-toed up to kiss him.

The snow was falling, the kids were fighting, and Hinata was kissing him.

When they pulled away, he touched his forehead to hers. "Welcome home."

Some embarrassingly fluffy Sasuhina fluff. It was snowing today so I made some hot chocolate and wrote this.