"The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles." ~ Doctor Who, The Doctor

.30

Inoichi was dead to her. She decided, staring blankly at the medic ninja who'd just delivered some rather ill-timed news to her. Hibiki was just meant to be getting her regular health evow since she'd missed the last one with all the preparations for the Yondaime's welcoming ceremony. Minato had been the hokage for exactly two months now, Hiruzen had officially stepped down last month so it had just been her and one of her favorite blondes running things.

To say it had been a tad bit chaotic would be the understatement of a lifetime. Minato and Hiruzen have given several projects to work. The goal was to make this a smooth transition as possible. Which meant a rather hefty workload for herself, Hibiki was definitely in charge of lots of things for the Hokage. Even more so now since Minato had taken the hat. He respected her position in intelligence and he respected her view on things. It was a rather nice feeling.

The train of thought subsides she pulls herself back to the present. To that current problem.

She took a deep breath. Letting the information she'd been given circle around in her head for a moment longer, trying not to let herself become distracted. With everything that had been going on she hadn't realized just how close the next hurdle was becoming. How fast it would creep up on them. Somehow she'd managed to spare her brother, spare his female teammate, spare her own sensei. Somehow. By some greater power than she dared claim as her own. Hibiki kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, the big 'GOTCHA'. It overwhelmed her thoughts these days.

What terrible thing would happen now? For the moment she pushed that dreadful feeling back deep inside her. No need to think about it now. It didn't help the problem at hand.

After another second she decided that it wasn't all Inoichi's fault. Maybe. Mostly it was her own, for not paying attention.

"Kano-san?" Itoka the poor medic who had the unfortunate task of tending to Hibiki most of her career finally spoke, summoning the younger woman from her own head. Hibiki blinked at her as she already started to run a hand over her own face to discourage the headache that was beginning to form.

It wouldn't do her any good to have a headache now. Served no purpose, helped the situation not one bit. She needed a clear head.

"I'm okay Itoka-sensei, just not what I'd been expecting to hear. Thank you for letting me know." Hibiki stood glad she still had control over her own bearings. Itoka nodded appearing satisfied by her answer.

"Good, I'll make a notation in your personnel file that you are being removed from the active duty roster for the time being. Congratulations Kano-san you are going to be a mother. Be back in four weeks." Itoka left after that leaving Hibiki to herself.

Hibiki took another deep breath before leaving the clinic herself. She needed to think. Needed to figure out what exactly this meant. Oh kami, she pinched the bridge of her nose, she would have to tell Inoichi. They'd never talked about having kids, they weren't married, they didn't officially live together, there was the whole Uchiha thing too.

God this was going to be a freaking nightmare to deal with.

She groaned, kami she couldn't believe she'd even let this happen. Quite frankly this was not ideal at all. What an absolute disaster. The thought made her feel extremely guilty. Pregnancy, a baby, she should be grateful but at the moment all she felt was annoyance for the disturbance. Apprehension instead of the excitement she should have felt sunk in. She wasn't sure she could do this.

After another deep breath she headed towards the Yamanaka compound where she knew her boyfriend was spending the day. He had actual clan duties he had been neglecting so he was tending to those today instead of his usual job of running T&I.

Another thought hit her. Hard.

She was going to have to stop working as hard as she did.. Hibiki sighed again, she ran a rather stressed hand through her dark hair. To top it off she didn't want to think about what this would mean for her genie team. Her team that she has been holding back for a very specific reason. The Uchiha would try to undermine her authority with them for sure.

And now she was thinking about it… she could feel the migraine forming already. It was going to be a long day. One she hadn't really been prepared to deal with at this time.

No, this was indeed all Inoichi's fault. She was going to strangle him… maybe… possibly… she'd decide when she got to his house. Yes, that seemed like a good plan, it allowed her more time to think.

Plans needed to be made.

…

There were many things that the head of intelligence prided himself in. His stealthy take over of T&I, finally working up the courage to ask Hibiki out, his ability to handle any new situation with a level head. Most of the time. Except… for right now.

Pregnant…

To say he was surprised would probably be the understatement of the century. They'd been so careful. This was exactly the type of problem neither of them were ready to address yet. Neither of them had ever really talked about children. The conversation hadn't come up. There were a lot of things that they hadn't really discussed,

Now Inoichi knew that he should be reacting by now to Hibiki rather unexpected statement. That he should feel some type of excitement. He did want children, specifically he wanted them with her. This should be good news. Yet all he felt was apprehension.

By the look in her eyes he knew that's what she felt too. Well at least he wasn't an asshole for feeling this way.

And instead of excitement, instead of joy, all he feels is guilt. She already had so much on her plate. Inoichi reaches for Hibiki, he runs his thumb down the side of her face. He feels the old faded electric scars at the base of her jaw. He remembers how strong she is.

If anyone could handle this, she could. They could.

So instead of the apology he almost gives her. Instead of regret and guilt. A sense of urgency floods his very being. Of need, desire.

He suddenly doesn't understand why he waited so long. Why it took so long to come to this point. To this place.

Her problems were his problems. Their goals. Their future. Inoichi couldn't imagine it any other way. He wanted forever with her. Family with her.

So this what love feels like.

Instead of an apology. He smiles, leans forward kisses her forehead and speaks softly into her crown.

"Marry me."

And without any hesitation and perhaps a slight smirk at the edge of her lips.

"Yes."

Whatever would come next, she knew she could face it with him. They would face it together.

….

Kushina to say the least was not impressed. Staring sternly at her friend from the otherside of the kitchen bar. Vaguely amused? Sure. But not at all impressed.

"You got married without me." The red head pouts poking out her lip. Hibiki rolls her eyes, while contemplating how to break the next bit of news to her friend.

"I already told you it was a spur of the moment thing. Sort of reminds me of your wedding hime." It's pointed and Kushina ignores the implications.

This was not a debate about the small wedding ceremony that she and Minato had right before his inauguration. This was about Hibiki and Inoichi getting married with no ceremony and just signed papers.

"You could have at least had a ceremony. Invited your friends, drank a little, danced. It could have been fun." Hibiki scoffed. Who did Kushina take her for?

"When have I ever been known to dance?" Cause drinking was certainly off the table. Hibiki was almost sad, she would miss sake.

Kushina just pouted even more. "So was there any other particular reason you decided to ransack my apartment this morning?" Hibiki questions still trying to figure out how to tell Kushina she was pregnant.

It shouldn't be this hard. But Kushina is her best friend and honestly she's more terrified for her reaction than she was of Inoichi. Funny it wasn't. Kushina was the closest thing she had to a sister. The last thing she wanted was for the older girl to be upset with her.

The last Uzumaki in the village sighed Hibiki watched her closely and made a note of the way the other woman's hand fell gently against her abdomen. "Yes there was. I'm pregnant!" Well then. Hibiki can't help the over enthusiastic smile that forces its way on her lips.

Absolutely ecstatic. So things were still on some form of course. Awesome.

"Congratulations!" Hibiki carefully leaned over the bar to wrap her arms around Kushina's neck.

"Looks like we're going to have babies close in age." Hibiki mutters slyly after the hug, smirking at the dumbfounded look on her friends face.

To say the least neither Minato or Inoichi were expecting the loud giddy squeal that greeted them.

….

The irony of the situation at hand was rather, uh ironic. It seemed Inoichi wasn't the only idiot in their group to knock up their girlfriend. Hibiki gave the Nara a rather unimpressed look from her side of the shogi board.

They'd come over for some reason or another. It hardly mattered since she always got roped into playing this stupid game with Shikaku. On the bright side Chouzo and his wife were also there which meant there was food.

For a person who only ever ate small meals at a time she'd never imagined she would be this hungry. Apparently fetal chakra development made the cravings so much worse.

Just great.

"The chunin core girl?" Inoichi has to ask for clarification since Shikaku hardly brought his girl around. Too much trouble or something. He offered a nod of affirmation.

All Hibiki could do was shake her head at how ridiculous this was. Cause it was super ridiculous, like a bad romcom or plot line.

"So, basically you're all screwed."

Chouzo's wife giggled as the men groaned.

….

Hibiki sat at her desk, she had some very important decisions to make. The last few days had been a whirlwind but it was now time to get back to reality. They still had enemies out there.

He was still out there.

Uchiha Madara.

And all the problems arose with him. The Zetsus, the potential Kyuubi attack, death of her friends. Her family.

She ran a hand through her tangled hair. A sigh falls from her lips. This was starting to actually stress her out. Too much. Just too much going on now.

So many different changes. The echoes didn't even sound the same anymore. Nothing was the same.

"-for your thoughts?" She missed him entering it seemed.

The Sandaime was rather good at sneaking up on her.

"You're out late." He smirks.

"Was taking a stroll, saw a light on. I thought to myself-surly a woman who just found out she was expecting would not be working late hours. And yet here you are." She would have rolled her eyes at him if she wasn't feeling so uncertain.

And suddenly for the first time in her rather long and strange life the need to ask hits her. It didn't matter before. But now…

She had to,no, she needed to know.

"Why me?"

She was barely fourteen when he asked her to fix the war. Wasn't high ranking, had tried her hardest to stay under the radar. Tried so hard to just work from the background, quietly working towards her goal.

"Because you always knew there was a better way. You know, so they don't have too."

And In that moment Hibiki had a small epiphany.

"How long? How long have you known?" Accusation feels her tongue, her expression contorts into disbelief. The old man offers a sly smile.

"From the day your mother had you, I knew you'd be special."

He'd always known the truth about her.

XOXOX

Hello! It's been a while! This chapter has taken a while to put to word due to limited time I have being a mom to a six month old. Anyway… I hope you like it. For now this is a temporary end to Echo. I revisited the idea of adding more chapters at a later time but my life is consumed by my son and I have two other stories I need to focus on and finish. I have enjoyed this journey writing Echo, enjoyed every moment even when it was difficult to write. Thank you all so much for taking this journey with me!

I wish you well! Have a wonderful day/night/morning/evening!

Sincerely, La'Rae