Greetings.

Hey there! I know it has been forever, but school has been hard and I have been helping Volleys-chan with her stories, so no time for mine.

But I figured you'd all go mad if I at least didn't tell you about Deidara meeting his family. So, here it is.

No art quote for now, but maybe later when I get the time.

From Leaf to Flower

ARC 2

Chapter 13

Meet the Family

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Amariris was up early morning. She had gotten a bath and was clean as a whistle. She had Aunty Ino pick out one of her prettiest outfits that made her look like her mommy. She held onto her bunny plush and entered her brother's room. She woke Rei up and he grudgingly got up long enough to decorate her hair with a half crown like their mother's but instead of sharp spikes, soft white feathers, pulling a few strands into gentle twists.

She thanked him and he groaned, falling backwards onto his bed with a thump as he went back to sleep. She skipped happily to her mother's room, sneaking a peek inside to see her mother readying herself for the day.

She peered over at the door and with a unspoken word, gave her daughter a sign that she could come in. She trotted in with a quiet step, approaching the bed to see her father's sleeping form.

"He should waken soon," Sakura told her in a quiet voice, "Sit by the chair and look over him while I go get him some breakfast."

"Okay," She said, sitting happily on the chair pulled up to the bed for her.

She watched her mother go before watching her father. She was happy to have a father. She loved her mother dearly, but she had always wanted a father to dote on her and be there to give her kisses and hugs like she watched other children have. Alchemy even raised the children he had let into his home with hugs and kisses and kind words of endearment.

She was not stupid, she was brilliant and a shining star- her mother told her often. But she wanted that love. Having a father meant the world to her. Jiji was wonderful, but she wanted a daddy. Like Nawaki.

Her father was handsome, she mused. She might have been five, but she knew what she thought of as handsome. Though he was ill and thinned by lack of eating, she still thought him handsome.

The window that her mother left open let out a gentle breeze, birds singing happily outside. It seemed as though the sounds of the wakening world brought him to consciousness. His eyes fluttered for a moment as he wakened. Amariris held her breath as she held her bunny tighter, staring intently at this man.

Deidara's eyes fluttered open, he felt better then yesterday, but no where near healthy again. His head felt stuffy and felt as if the world was spinning if only just a little. He sniffled as he tried to resituate himself, turning towards the vanity, where Sakura was usually quietly getting ready for the day as to not disturb him.

He froze when he met the stare of two jade eyes that were not Sakura's.

It was a little girl, curled up on a chair holding a white bunny, dressed in something similar to what Sakura wore all the time. Little wings sticking from her back that didn't even pass her shoulders and a delicate white dress. Definitely something that Sakura's best friend Ino had gotten a hold of. She wore a little crown of feathers and had the most dazzling jade eyes and silver white hair that was translucent in the morning light.

"Hi," she said shyly, hiding halfway behind her bunny, "You woke up."

Deidara found himself lost for a moment before he swallowed a lump in his throat, "Yeah… I woke up…"

She peered at him through her lashes that were tipped white naturally, her jade eyes sparkling as she squirmed a bit. Finally, she moved again, offering him her bunny.

"This is Usagi, she's my bunny that I've had since I was little. When I'm not feeling well, she makes me feel a lot better." She told him as she waited for him to take hold of the bunny.

He took it lightly in his grasp, noticing how nervous he felt. He couldn't get over those eyes. Anything else would have him thinking her someone else's daughter, but those were Sakura's eyes. She was Sakura's, this he knew.

"Thank you," he managed as he laid the bunny next to him, still staring at her with wide eyes.

She fidgeted a bit longer, since she no longer had her bunny to hide behind, before talking again.

"Um… your breakfast is on the way. I was told that I would watch you while you slept… I didn't think this far ahead." She confessed as she played with a ring of keys on her ribbon belt, "Don't be mad, okay?"

"No… It…it… it's fine," he said.

He couldn't think straight anymore. Had she really given up on him? Did she find someone else for a while? How else could this child be explained? His heart felt like it was crushed. She looked nothing like a Gashu. His clan had only blonde hair and blue eyes. Not jade. He loved those eyes, but they were impossible for a Gashu.

"You look sad. Did I do something wrong?" She asked, cocking her head to the side, "Cause I don't want you to be sad… It's just I've never had a daddy before, so I don't know how to act around you."

Deidara's eyes shot back up to her, staring at her for a minute, waiting for her to continue.

"Mommy said that you finally came back to us… I mean, Jiji told stories about you, but… I never thought I would really get to meet you." She said, leaning forward a bit, "do you really like explosions?"

Deidara nodded dumbly. This child… was his?

"What's your name?" He finally blurted out, staring at this child that was a picture of beauty.

"Amariris," she said, smiling happily at him finally talking, "My mommy named me after a flower cause she is named after a flower. Jiji says it fits."

"It does," Deidara agreed, his voice croaking.

He was still trying to absorb the idea that she was his little girl.

"Forgive me for asking, but my head is a little foggy, yeah. Your mother is Sakura, right?" He checked, making sure he was hearing this right.

"Yes, and you are my daddy," Amariris said with a smile, "Mommy was worried about how you'd take it. Don't be mad at her, okay?"

Deidara nodded again, dumbstruck.

Amariris turned her head away from him, smiling up at someone from across the room.

"Hi mommy," she said in a loving tone, "I already explained it, but he seems a little…" her eyes flickered back to his before looking back at Sakura who he could now sense, "despondent."

That was a big word for a child, Deidara mused in the back of his mind. Sakura came up with a tray of food, setting it on the table across the way before picking up her daughter and sitting her on her lap as she quickly checked on him, snapping her fingers in front of his face a few times to make sure he was not staring off.

"Deidara, are you okay?" She asked worriedly, "I meant for Ammy to wait, but… are you alright?"

"She's… ours?" Deidara wanted to clarify once and for all, not just with the words of a five year old.

"Yes," She said as she stroked his hair lovingly, "This is your daughter, born of our passion."

"Ew, mommy, that makes it sound icky," Amariris said as she crinkled her nose.

"But it is true," Sakura said, kissing her child on the temple and getting a giggle from the little girls lips, "Now that you have freaked your father out, go downstairs and get your breakfast with the rest of the family. I will be down shortly."

"Are you going to tell him? Or are you going to show him?" Amariris questioned her mother with a hard stare, "You can't dodge everything mommy, Baa-chan says so. Sometimes you must hit instead of dodge."

"That is your lesson in fighting, my dear," Sakura said as she set the girl down and patted her bottom to make her go.

"Yes, but it works in and out of a battlefield," Amariris said before looking at her dad again, "I will come in later to talk, 'kay?"

He nodded wordlessly, never once taking his eyes off of her. He stopped her before she left though.

"Wait," he called out to her, her pausing at his command, "Do you have the kekkei genkai?"

She looked at him strangely before showing him her palm, wagging her tongue out at him with a happy wiggle, "don't all Gashu clan members do?"

"Right," he whispered, watching her leave in a skip.

"She will be turning six soon," Sakura said as she stood up and got the tray, setting it over his lap.

"She… really is mine?" Deidara asked, looking over at her in a loss of words.

"I have been with no other, Deidara. Do not doubt my loyalties," Sakura told him, raising her head up a bit in her own pride, "I was only yours. That little girl is your daughter."

Deidara didn't know why, but the thought made him dizzy. He could feel Sakura using her chakra to keep him from passing out when she had reached out and laid a hand on his temple.

"You are not allowed to pass out, Dei-kun," She whispered as she sat on the bed next to him, "I have more to tell you."

"R…Really?" He breathed, "I'm having a hard time with finding out I have a little girl, yeah."

"I noticed," she smiled, "this is why I was afraid of telling you about her."

"No more secrets like that Sakura," Deidara told her, still feeling faint with surprise and excitement and all sorts of other emotions.

"Then I guess I should mention her twin brother?" She whispered, touching her lips against his swiftly.

"T-t-twins?"

"Fraternal," Sakura told him, "One boy, one girl. Rei and Amariris, my soul and my flower."

"Can I… Can I meet him?" Deidara breathed, his heart fluttering with excitement.

He was a father. He had a little girl and a little boy. His wishes had come true long ago!

It made sense now. She vanished because she was pregnant. He was on Tsunade's list, not because of him screwing around- okay maybe screwing around- but getting her pregnant. The thing she kept avoiding… it was that he had children. That was why she was so turned on by him being able to handle Nawaki; it was because she had children and she was excited that he liked them. That's why she had said the thing about pregnancy being long and tiresome!

"Eventually. He's a bit mad at the moment, confused about you." Sakura said, her smile fading, "but once he sees you as someone who loves him for him, he will open up." Her smile came back, "He's a lot like you, but a lot more vain about his looks."

"This is why you disappeared, yeah?"

"Yes, they are yours, I could not stay in Konoha and claimed that they were of the Gashu clan like I can now. Haitaka protected them with his clan being apart of Hanagakure."

"I see…" he nodded, his head was still spinning, "I'm sorry I got you kicked out."

"I didn't get kicked out, I left with a group for a branch village that is not so branch like anymore." Sakura said with a light, breathy laugh, "But no being sorry. I am not. I was only sorry for doing it behind my loved ones' backs."

She kissed his head as she pulled her other hand to his other temple and held him there for a minute.

"But I never regretted you." She whispered before sitting up and patting his leg under the blankets, "Now, I have to go see that everyone is at breakfast, and I will try to be back to introduce a couple of my kids to you." She smiled really wide and before he could question her she continued, "I kinda adopted a few odd balls. Three live with me and about… eight I have shared guardianship over."

Deidara raised a brow, "What possessed you to do that, yeah? Not that I mind."

"You'll see," Sakura sang-song before pulling his tray up further on his lap and standing, "I'll be back soon and this had better be empty."

"Blech," Deidara grumbled when he pulled himself up and looked at his porridge.

"You don't get to be picky," Sakura told him, kissing his temple before walking away.

So, slowly, and with a lot of bad manners, Deidara ate the food, watching the door. He finished it eventually, setting it on the floor, and laid back down, watching.

He must have dosed off because the next thing he realized, he could feel small movements on the bed as the blankets dipped down as something or other crawled about on the bed.

"Don't do that," Sakura giggled softly, pulling whatever it was off the bed and made it whine.

"But, I wanna play wit' nii-kun!" It was Nawaki, he realized.

The boy liked to come in when no one was paying attention to him and he slipped by his parents, which was rare. They always found him talking to Deidara and Deidara chatting pleasantly with Nawaki.

"He's still unwell, you have to be careful, okay Nawaki-chan?" That one he recognized as Amariris.

He had already committed everything about her he had observed to memory.

"O'tay, A'mei, hm."

"It's alright," Deidara mumbled, forcing his eyes open to look at them, "I am awake, yeah."

Sakura was squatting down low so she was with height to his little girl who smiled happily to his conscious state. Nawaki was on Sakura's lap, waving his hand gently.

"Ah! Aniki!" He said in a happy manner, "We come to say hi, hm!"

"Someone has been learning bigger words," Deidara said with a smile, "Aniki is a new one."

"He's copying me," Amariris said with a shrug, "He heard me call Rei that and decided that it was what he wanted to call you."

"I see, yeah." Deidara said with a light chuckle, "Now how was your breakfast?"

"Really good! Azora-chan makes the best food! Baa-chan and Jiji-kun have this really bad habit of making terrible food. Nawaki won't even eat it, and Mommy has no patience with the kitchen. Aunty Ino was there, she usually is already off trying to catch some guy. I think she's just decided to see who she thinks is the cutest and most skilled out of all the male shinobi populace and-" Sakura cut off her daughter's story as she clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Ammy," she warned, "I told Ino to not go any farther in her rant and I will ask you not to talk about such private things."

She removed her hand. Amariris turned around and looked somewhat confused.

"But doesn't it take sexual intercourse to fertilize a female's egg?"

Deidara choked on the air, covering it up with a couple coughs from his flu. Sakura lifted her eyes skyward and quietly asked 'why' to Kami.

"Yes," she finally said, "it takes two to make a baby. I would appreciate it if you didn't say such things around other people though, alright?"

"Of course. But you're my Mommy and plus, I've known how babies were made since I was three. Nawaki knows what I'm talking about anyways."

"Ah! Like Mommy wit' Daddy! And Sakuwa-nee wit' Aniki, hm!"

Sakura covered Nawaki's mouth, laughing nervously, "That's enough from the munchkin."

Deidara and Amariris passed it off as Nawaki thinking about how the twins were made. Only Sakura knew he was talking about when Tsunade told him that Sakura was making Deidara 'feel' better when he had been on the verge of death.

"Well anyways," Amariris continued on, "Breakfast was really nice. Aunty Tenten came in with Uncle Neji and Aunty Hanabi and she brought with her Voodoo-chan and Meikai-chan. Rei-nii-kun was all mad because Meikai-chan doesn't let him get away with anything. She's gets him all riled up, its funny. Then Voodoo-chan takes control of the situation before Aunty Hanabi steps in and punished both of them and made Meikai-chan stop. Arisu-chan was saying something about you. It's funny, she uses pronouns when talking about you, Daddy."

"He asked you how breakfast was, not a bed time story," Sakura laughed at her daughter's overeagarness.

Amariris looked at her mother before looking back at her father who seemed a little lost, so she decided to keep it simple.

"Meikai dumped water over Rei and the other boys when he and Ichigo and Kagerou began to fight again about art. Voodoo kept Meikai from getting into a fist fight with Rei afterwards and Arisu figured out the equation for slowing down time in the sight of the user. Oh, and Nawaki threw his porridge all over Jiji-kun."

"Oops," Nawaki laughed.

Deidara glanced up at Sakura with a dazed look.

"I told you that he was your son." Was all Sakura said about the matter.

Amariris continued on just a little bit more, "I also told the others that you were up here. They want to meet you."

That, he could understand without a doubt.

"Sure, one at a time though please, yeah." Deidara told her, as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Kay! I'll go get them!" Amariris cheered before gracefully running out the door.

"They will have some very familiar features," Sakura warned with a sigh, "Ichigo and Kagerou look very much like their relatives."

"Kagerou?" Deidara questioned, "Ichigo?"

"You'll understand in a second," Sakura said, sensing the first one to come.

It was Ichigo. She didn't even have to look to know her daughter would pick him first. She had always done things like this since she had met him. She held his hand more often than her own brother's. Not that Rei wasn't totally against hold her hand. He said it was gross, cause their mouths touched and it felt weird.

Deidara's eyes grew wide as he looked at the boy.

"This is Ichigo, he's Karin and Sasuke's child," Sakura told him, "Though he's not too fond of his heritage."

"You tend to be against your father when he names you Strawberry because you look too much like your uncle," Ichigo stated in a calm tone, his natural red eyes landing on Deidara, "You really are the older version of Rei."

Deidara could sense what Sakura's chakra signal was trying to relate.

'Be nice to him.' It whispered to him.

"Thank you, I guess," Deidara said as he looked at the boy who would not cross the threshold to the room.

"I don't go into Aunty Sakura's room," Ichigo clarified, catching on to what Deidara was thinking, "It wouldn't be polite."

"You're more than family now Ichigo," Sakura said with a tired smile, "You can come in."

Ichigo looked at the threshold before looking back up and shaking his head slowly, "No thank you, Aunty Sakura. I must go now, Arisu wasn't behaving well when I left. Nice meeting you Deidara-san, hope to see you again."

He left, leaving Deidara and Sakura and Nawaki. Deidara turned to his lover when he finally found the words to say.

"That had to have been the nicest most polite Uchiha in existence, yeah!"

"He gave up his surname," Sakura corrected him, "But I know what you mean; he came that way."

Next was Arisu, she had no problem entering the room in her upbeat way.

"Hi! You are the one Arisu kept seeing! You came, you came, you came! It took you such a looooooong time too! Now what is your name?"

"Erm… it's Deidara," Deidara said in a nervous tone.

There was something off about this child who invaded his personal space without so much as a thought. Her blue eyes seemed strange and synthetic to him and her nature was… off.

"Deidara? Okay! Arisu will remember that! Arisu never forgets a name! Never! Uncle Deidara is going to stay a long, long, loooooong time! Arisu knows so!"

With that, she bounded off in happy pursuit of her shadow, right out the door.

"She has some mental problems, but trust me, she's better than when we first received her. Ichigo is very patient with his sister." Sakura told him with a smile.

"That… was an Uchiha?"

"I had to replace her eyes," Sakura told him, "Hers were what drove her mad. Trust me, when we had received her from Karin, she was muttering illegibly. Okay, no doubt Kagerou is next. He is… going to be very… familiar."

"What? Is he the mini version of Sasori?" Deidara snorted in humor.

"Yes." A voice said from the door, a child that looked exactly like a child version of his Danna standing there, "If that is the name of my other."

"Kagerou," Sakura said, shifting Nawaki on her hip, "This is Deidara."

"I know," Kagerou said with a shrug, making his way in and close enough to Sakura that she picked him up too. "I have memories of him from my other."

"You… are…" Deidara started.

"I am the other half of Sasori, I guess you could say," Kagerou said in a bored huff, "When Suna still had his core, they took his DNA and made me with it. I am somehow connected to him, but he is unaware of me."

Deidara would have laughed, but it was just too… scary. There is Sakura's hold was a little boy, delving in what Sasori protested: human contact. He was resting his head on Sakura's chest just the right way that his ear was pressed against her flesh. He was also taking his hand and rubbing his knuckles up and down her arm subtly.

"He's the human version of what Sasori might have been," Sakura said, kissing him on the temple and getting an upset look from him before setting him down to wander off, "He just acts like he hates affection. He's a glutton for human contact."

Deidara nodded weakly.

"Ah, Aniki no lookin' good Aunty Sakuwa!" Nawaki noted.

Sakura had been right about one thing, every time she had told him he wasn't able to handle it. He wasn't able to deal with the huge download of information that he had received. He wasn't healthy enough not to get overwhelmed by the emotions that spilled out of him like a flood and he couldn't help that his mind was racing at a thousand thoughts per second. He couldn't help but pass out at the overload of emotion and thoughts. Sakura just laughed lightly as she kissed his nose. He was just like his father sometimes.

When Deidara woke, Sakura had fallen asleep. He wanted to think it was all just a weird dream, but he could see it now. Her chest had become bigger because of motherhood, her figure hadn't been as nice before hand and that had to explain the toy bird she was currently snuggling. It reeked of her, which was wonderful, but it probably had been a gift for the twins.

He realized that she had moved him back under the covers, there was still daylight, so she must have fallen asleep while taking care of him. He took her gently in his hold and pulled her close, to hold her close in his arms and think. He coughed a little and sniffled, but he kept it low as to not wake her.

"She fell asleep over an hour ago, if anything she is in the middle of her sleep cycle. If you're quiet enough, she won't wake." A voice said from behind him.

Deidara looked over his shoulder, withholding a gasp only so he didn't wake the rosette. He slowly pulled away from her and sat up, looking straight into the two ocean deep blue eyes of the young blonde sitting in the chair.

He was glaring at Deidara, like Sakura had warned. He wasn't at all as happy as his sister had been when meeting him. But Deidara didn't care. He was meeting his son, his child.

He was dressed in an elegant kimono, a obi tied in an elegant bow resting on his hip and his hair was pulled into an elegant bun and braids. Expensive chopsticks in his hair and he looked almost like the most exquisite doll made for a everyone to admire.

"Rei?" Deidara asked quietly as to not wake Sakura.

"Yes," Rei sniffed as he narrowed his eyes, "But if you think for a moment that I came here to be friends with you, you're wrong."

Deidara looked at his son gently. Sakura was right. He was not to be won over easily by simple matters. He, if anything, was as stubborn as he was.

"You're here to ask me something, yeah." Deidara already knew.

"Yes," Rei nodded, glaring at his father, "What do you intend to do now that you've found Mom? Are you going to steal her away from us? I won't let you."

Steal her away? Deidara looked at him confused. It wasn't helping that he couldn't think a straight line.

"Steal her? What are you talking about? I want to keep her right where she is. She isn't a bird to be caged and she isn't something to be owned, yeah."

"Pretty words," Rei scoffed as he leaned forward, "But anyone could say such things."

"You're right," Deidara nodded, his eyes narrowing as well.

How dare this child think so little of him? He was going to fix that as quickly as possible.

"Anyone can say words, but it is the chance to live up to those words that is important. I love your mother, Rei. I have loved her for years, never once wavering in that love, yeah. I might have lost hope for a while, but it has been six years since I had seen her… I couldn't help but think the worst."

"And now?"

"I will stay by her side," Deidara said with a strong tone, "I am not about to lose her again. I will stay by her side even if I have to go through hell to do it."

"And what of Uncle Gaara and Uncle Naruto?"

"I will do whatever it takes, yeah."

Rei closed his eyes and folded his arms, thinking for a moment, before looking back up to his father.

"Do whatever you want," he shrugged, "But if you as much think that you have won me over; you are wrong."

"Would it be alright with you if I married you mother?"

Rei's eyes snapped onto Deidara again in shock.

"I want to be around, if that is alright." Deidara told him calmly, "I want to marry your mother. But if you do not want me to, I will wait."

"Then you would be waiting forever," Rei said, getting up and heading for the door, but not before adding, "But for her sake, marry her. You make her happy."

The door closed and Deidara listened to the silent footsteps disappear. He laid back down and pulled Sakura closer. She seemed to have woken after Rei had left.

"Hi," she whispered groggily as she hugged him close, "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," He said hoarsely, laughing lightly, "But I met Rei."

"You did?" Sakura asked, lifting herself up with an arm, "How did that go? Is he mad?"

"Discontent," Deidara said as he reposistioned himself to rest better, "But," he smiled, "He did say I could marry you, yeah."

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked at the door and then at Deidara, but he was already asleep once more. His flu taking the better of him. She smiled as she lovingly brushed her fingers through his hair before heading off to find Rei.

If what Deidara said was true, then she was going to smother him in kisses.

So please, critique me, it will not discourage me from writing. If I make grammar errors, please, point them out.

Thanks.

Unknown Artist of Hanagakure