A Tough Life

Epilogue

12 years later

He watched as she slept, it wasn't her first mission, nor would it be her last. By shinobi standards she was technically an adult, an adult of all of twelve years old. Gaara shook his head; no she'd always be his baby. His daughter turned in her bed mumbling something in her sleep before snuggling up to her pillow holding it tightly. It honestly was times like this where he realized how young his daughter still was. Walking over Gaara picked up the stuffed purple bunny from the floor and tucked it into the bed along with the sleeping child. He smiled softly brushing her hair from her face as he kissed the top of her head, she was his entire world. Silently he walked from the room.

O0o0o0

Long red hair flashed around the corner as a girl ran through the halls of her home, she was late it was her very first solo mission and she was late. Not a good first impression for her shinobi career. Grabbing her shuriken holster and her Suna headband the girl tied the headband to her right arm and the holster to her left leg. Grabbing something to tie her hair back with the girl didn't bother wasting time hurrying through the building and running out the door. Not for the first time the red head took after her uncle and jumped from the window sprinting to her destination. She'd been briefed by the Kazekage of her mission last night, she was to represent Suna and play diplomat to a team from the leaf village and show them around the desert village.

Sprinting full out the girl made it to the main gates in record time and seeing no leaf ninja she breathed a sigh of relief, she wouldn't want to disappoint the Kazekage, after all the girl hated it when her father ever looked at her in disappointment. Finally after only several minutes she could see a group speeding towards her on the horizon, and not for the first time did she wonder who it was she'd be escorting through Suna. Catching a flash of blue hair and opal eyes the girl beamed and hurried over to the group.

"Minato-kun! I haven't seen you in almost two years!" the red head said happily hugging the bluenette making his face turn red.

"Hey Naminé-Chan." The boy said with a shy smile.

"Hey Naminé-Chan, are you the one to escort us to see the Kazekage?" Their team leader Tenten asked with a smile.

"Yeah." Naminé said with a beaming smile. "Come on, follow me." She said leading the group into the village. "Who are you two? I'm Naminé Sabaku." The red head said turning to walk backwards as she faced Minato's teammates.

"I'm Kaya Inuzuka." A brown haired girl said with a grin. "This here's Ume, she's my ninja hound in training." The Inuzuka girl said gesturing to the puppy on the top of her head as it panted in the heat.

"I'm Toshi Aburame." The young male said with a slight wave.

"Well it's nice to meet you both." Naminé said with a bright smile. She turned continuing to lead them to the Kazekage's tower. The trip only took a few minutes and in no time they had made it to her father's office. Naminé knocked on the door waiting for permission to enter and once her father answered she entered announcing the arrival of the Konoha shinobi.

"Thank you Naminé, now if you don't mind you've been requested for assistance at the hospital in the medicinal herbs sector."

"I'll be there immediately." She said bowing just as she was to leave a voice stopped her.

"Could I help too?" Gaara blinked hearing Minato's voice but after a moment he smiled softly.

"Sure, go with Naminé, the two other genin may go to their temporary housing, Naminé please bring them there on your way to the hospital."

"Of course." She said leading the teens from the room. Tenten stood in silence looking at Gaara who still was staring at the door his daughter had made her way through.

"She's beautiful Gaara, you've done a wonderful job hiding her." Tenten said jokingly.

"She's just like her mother."

"Well she looks just like you, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss." Tenten said softly making Gaara blink and look up.

"I'm sorry to hear of yours. Losing a child…I cannot imagine the pain you must have felt to go through such devastation, especially with him being such a young age." Tenten looked hurt as pain flashed in her eyes.

"I've learned that there are times where you can't protect your child from everything, and when you try to sometimes it just doesn't work. Hizashi would have been four years old this month."

"You can't blame yourself for an act of nature completely out of your control."

"Sometimes I think Neji blames me…I still blame myself thinking that maybe there could have been something I could have done to prevent it, that I should have seen some kind of sign, that something was wrong with him, he was perfectly fine and went so suddenly."

"Do not blame yourself." Gaara said once again as Tenten raised her head nodding. She they traded scrolls and the brunette dismissed herself. Gaara bowed his head as she left his office. Nothing he knew could compare to the pain of losing a child, his wife had several miscarriages in the last few years, the most recent being only two weeks ago, she was four months along. Even though it hurt, he knew it was nothing in comparison to Neji and Tenten's pain; that was something he wished never to experience.

He had come close to learning this pain when his daughter was born; she was born prematurely, almost two months early after a man attacked his wife just days after she entered her 8th month of pregnancy. By all counts neither should have survived the attack, however they were his miracles. His daughter weighing 3lbs and 2oz was born blue and practically lifeless, the cord having been wrapped around her neck, had begun to take in lifesaving air, and his wife who had begun hemorrhaging after delivering their daughter had somehow been saved and pulled through surviving to see another day, to see her family. Gaara could remember his daughters first days at home; she'd stayed in the hospital for weeks until she was healthy and weighed enough to be brought home. He had refused to let anyone but Nia touch her for the first few months. It was not because he did not trust his siblings, it was because he refused to let her go or put her down. His baby was attached to his hip at all times so to say.

O0o0o0

None of the villagers save for medical staff had seen his daughter and Gaara planned to keep it that way. Picking up the small bundle he vanished in a swirl of sand arriving at his home where his wife, who was still recovering was waiting for them to return, he knew she'd be in the nursery. As he made his way up the stairs his suspicions were confirmed when he found Nia sleeping soundly in the rocking chair by the window. Gently he stroked her cheek rousing the brunette from her sleep, and as she blinked her eyes open Nia took notice of the small bundle in his arms and smiled. Understanding her unspoken demand by the look in her eyes he laid their daughter into Nia's waiting arms.

"She's beautiful." Nia said softly smiling, for the first time she was able to hold her daughter in her arms. Like Gaara she'd been able to touch her through the incubator, but because of the baby's weak immune system they couldn't do much else. Their daughter had a head full of thick dark red hair much like her fathers. Just sitting there holding her daughter in her arms had Nia feeling so content.

It wasn't long until their child began to grow, trying to talk and crawl around, that was when Gaara learned that she was much like him, he'd taken Naminé to the small sand garden inside the mansion as he tended to his cacti, which after a close almost accident he learned to keep them on much higher shelves. Naminé had been in her playpen kept away from the sharp needles of her fathers cultivated cacti when Gaara had noticed swirls of sand moving around whenever his daughter moved around the pen, crawling from one side to the other. Curious Gaara picked the little one up placing her on the cool sand and watched as it followed her as Naminé crawled around finally sitting near her father and reaching up for him, it was a sight that never failed to warm his heart.

Gaara lifted the nine month old straightening out her little yellow sundress and fixing her shorts as he did so before walking from the room, his daughter in his arms looking attentively around babbling cutely as she did so. Today Nia had put her hair into two cute little pigtails, and Naminé had already destroyed them, pulling one out as she now chewed her fingers. Walking past the maids and servants Gaara made his way to the kitchen where he grabbed jars of baby food, his lunch and a bottle from the fridge, all with his daughter still in his arms. Today's lunch was last night's dinner, salted tongue and gizzards, it already had his mouth watering as he heated it up, quickly heating the bottle after and shaking it when it was done. He'd learned to do this after Naminé had burnt her mouth one time. He'd felt terrible and had given her juice and cold milk for weeks despite Nia's protests that babies needed warm milk to sleep, lucky for the baby that Nia decided to breast feed.

After getting their lunches set up the red head placed his tiny copy into the highchair next to him and opened the baby food, today it was turkey and sweet potatoes for lunch with mashed mangos for a treat after. He alternated feeding himself and his daughter watching as the mashed food was soon in her hair and on her clothes, her mouth open and ready for more food to eat. He had to stop several times to clean her up and wipe the tray down. As he made his way to grab another bib, the original was filthy now, Gaara watched as Naminé reached for his food and hurried back over not wanting her to choke.

"You can't eat this, its Daddy's food." Gaara said lifting the plate and moving out of her reach.

"Da foo!" Naminé said reaching for the plate still.

"No."

"Da!"

"No."

"DA!"

"No."

"Gaara what are you doing?" Nia asked laughing as she walked into the kitchen back from her shift at the hospital.

"She wants to eat my lunch." Gaara said feeling as though he sounded very childish at the moment. Hearing this Nia laughed as she pulled the ingredients to make a salad from the fridge.

"So let her, break it into small pieces and make sure it's not too hot or spicy." Gaara nodded and broke several pieces into small bite size morsels before putting one in the baby's open mouth. It was funny, she reminded him of a little sparrow. As it turned out, much to Gaara's surprise, his daughter liked his favorite food…no one liked his favorite food so that small fact made him smile, along with the fact that she ate more of his food than he did, her eyes lighting up in delight with each bite. Finally Nia swept down lifting the little one from her chair and walked from the room allowing Gaara to eat his lunch in peace, he knew Naminé was in desperate need of a bath and a nap now and allowed his wife to steal away their child for the time being.

Once he was finished he walked to the nursery watching as Nia cradled their baby as she sat in the rocking chair, Naminé falling steadily towards sleep.

"She's getting so big." Nia said softly. Although she was only nine months old, Naminé was roughly the size of a seven month old.

"But she's still small." Gaara said gently rubbing the infant's head as she slept. Nia stood and gently placed her in the crib, holding her breath as Naminé stirred for just a moment before settling back to sleep.

"She's so beautiful, just like her mother." Gaara said hugging Nia from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder as Nia lay her head against his.

"She's so much like you, did you know that? She makes the same faces you do you know."

"Yeah I know, Kami I'm gonna have to beat boys off left and right with every kind of jutsu I know. You do realize that were screwed when she gets older right?"

"Oh I know, it'll be a vicious circle, you beat up the boys I patch them up and send them back to you." Nia said with a laugh making Gaara laugh softly.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" he said softly.

"Not recently no." Nia said with a smile turning to kiss her husband on the cheek.

O0o0o0

Yes, his daughter was certainly growing up, his baby wasn't a baby anymore Gaara hated the very thought wondering if there was some kind of reversal jutsu to make her little again. There were times when she was a little girl and just wanted to be with him just because he was there. Gaara loved those moments, and as she grew they grew farther and more in between. Night had soon fallen and Gaara was praised in how his daughter handled her mission guiding the Konoha shinobi around the village. Tonight the Konoha ninja would stay and leave early tomorrow morning. As they sat around the dinner table, their meal just finishing up Gaara stood and after a kiss to his wife and daughter he walked back to his office, he had a busy day today and was overwhelmed with paperwork which he'd only put a tiny dent in. Naminé watched as her father walked away from the table and frowned.

"Mama, why has Daddy been doing this lately? I feel like we don't ever get to see him anymore." Naminé asked quietly but loud enough for the brunette to hear in the other room.

"Baby, Daddy's job can get really hectic sometimes, and he has a lot to do. As the Kazekage it's his job to run this entire village, it's not easy and it's a lot of work to be done Lovie."

"I know it's a lot of work but sometimes it's like he just vanishes…sometimes I'm afraid he just won't come back." Hearing this Nia turned to face her daughter.

"Naminé what would ever make you think your father would just leave us?" Nia asked pausing in her task of drying the washed dishes.

"Well, I was talking to Minato-kun's teammate Kaya…and she said that when her dad would get really busy he'd go away for days at a time and one day he just never came back." Naminé said softly looking at the ground. Nia put down the plate and walked over to her daughter wrapping her arms around her and pulling the red head close.

"Oh Baby, sometimes those things happen, I won't lie and say they don't because they do. However that being said, your father will never leave me or you ever. We will always be a family, he will never leave you and neither will I. We've been together now for seventeen years and known each other for almost twenty one. Trust me when I say that Daddy's here to stay my love." Nia said smiling down at her daughter tilting the girls face up to look at her.

"But…but I never get to see him anymore. I see him when I'm going on or returning from missions but that doesn't count and neither does dinner time either. I just want to spend some time with my dad." Naminé said escaping her mother's embrace and walking from the room as Nia stared sadly after her.

O0o0o0

Gaara was working diligently in his office when a knock came from the door and quickly it opened revealing his wife.

"Gaara do you have some time?" The red head looked up from his papers and noting the serious expression on her face quickly nodded and placed his papers aside.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"How much longer are you going to be working late like this?" Nia asked noting the overwhelming amount of paperwork on his desk.

"Nia I have to get this all done before the end of the month, that's in three days and I really don't want the council to get on my case about this." Gaara said quietly rubbing the back of his neck and sighing.

"Can I ask you a question without you getting upset?" this made Gaara blink, every time Nia set up the conversation up with this line they were discussing something abnormally serious.

"Of course, why wouldn't you be?" Nia took a breath before letting it out slowly.

"When was the last time you spent some time with Naminé?"

"Tonight at dinner."

"No Gaara, I mean excluding designated meal times and mission briefings. When was the last time you spent time with Naminé in a father to daughter kind of way." Gaara let this sink in as he thought about and his answer made him feel terrible.

"Almost two weeks ago, damn it." Gaara growled putting his head in his hands, he'd always been very family oriented, sure the village hadn't laid eyes on his daughter until after her sixth birthday (she just had to go to school) but still, he'd always been focused on the welfare of his wife and child so the fact that he had been unintentionally neglecting his daughter hit him hard.

"Babe are you ok?" Nia asked, Gaara shook his head.

"I feel terrible she must be so upset."

"Well, all Naminé wants to do is spend some time with her father and it's early on a Friday night and she has no missions tomorrow…Let me handle the paperwork, go spend some time with our daughter." Nia said with a smile as Gaara stood from his desk. As they traded places the red head pulled his wife into a kiss and smiled at her.

"Thank you."

"Any time Babe, any time." Nia said as she sat behind the desk pulling paperwork towards her.

O0o0o0

Gaara walked through Suna heading towards the house and paused when he noticed the silhouette sitting on the roof of the mansion. Every Friday night, weather permitting Naminé and Gaara would sit on the roof and watch for shooting stars. Walking towards the building he noticed as his daughter stood heading for the door on the roof. With a burst of speed that would make even Lee proud Gaara made it to the roof before his daughter reached the door.

"Sorry I'm late." He said softly watching as his daughter froze and quickly turned around.

"Daddy! You came!"

"You thought I forgot?" Gaara asked quietly watching as his daughter looked away.

"Well you've been really busy lately and I didn't know if you'd have the time…" Gaara walked over and placed his hand on his daughter's head.

"For you little one, I'll make time, you need only ask."

"But…what about your job?" Naminé asked meekly. Hearing this Gaara knelt down to his daughter's level.

"What about it? My jobs just a job, you are my world Naminé. There could be hundreds of other things I could do for a job but every day I'd come home to you and your mom. Always." Gaara watched as his daughter's eyes began streaming and he grew panicked, what did he do wrong! ? Panic and confusion flew out the window when the twelve year old hugged him tightly knocking him to the ground.

"I love you Daddy."

"I love you too Naminé." Gaara said patting her head awkwardly as he held his daughter tightly. "Don't you ever forget that either, I love you and your mom more than anything else in this world, you both are my most important and cherished people I'd do anything for you because I love you to death and then some, understood?" His daughter nodded once again and pulled away from her father.

"I understand Daddy. Are we going to look at the stars tonight?" Naminé asked a hopeful tint in her voice.

"Of course we are Little One, let's go. I have some place special to show you first though." Gaara said lifting his daughter up as he stood. "Come." Together the pair made their way into the desert, Gaara leading the way until finally Naminé paused.

"Something's weird, it feels like my sands being tugged in that direction over there." The girl said pointing ahead of them making Gaara smile.

"That's because it is, there's a mineral deposit over there and that's where we're going." He said walking towards the magnetic source.

"Oh…why?"

"You'll see." Gaara heard his daughter sigh and he smiled softly, she might be sighing now but he knew his daughter would love this place. They arrived five minutes later to a rocky out cropping and immediately Naminé looked at her father skeptically.

"You took me to see a rock?"

"It's a special rock." Gaara said simply walking around the edge until he slid into the fissure on the side his daughter following close behind. Soon enough he entered a cavern that led out into an oasis and the girl stared in shock at the pool of water surrounded by all of the lush greenery.

"How does this place even exist?" she asked in awe.

"It's how it was formed, most of this area's closed in so when the heat of the day comes and the water evaporates instead of ascending into the sky the water vapor reaches the ceiling keeping the water inside, watering the plants." Gaara said trailing off watching as his daughter looked around in wonder.

"It's so pretty here." Naminé said softly.

"This is my special place, when I was younger I'd come here to think…not so much now though but if you can't find me in the village, I'm probably here." The red headed male said softly. Naminé smiled at him.

"So if you go missing I can hunt you down?" this made her father laugh.

"I'll never go missing Naminé, in my world you are my sunlight brightening my day, and your mother is my moon lifting the darkness from my night. Never would I willingly part from you two."

"And when there is a solar eclipse or a new moon? What then?" she asked quickly.

"That's when you're in Konoha, I know you'll be gone for a short while and you'll be back soon but that doesn't stop me from missing you both…now come, let's watch the stars." He said walking towards an area bathed in moonlight, Naminé following and lying down next to her father snuggling up under his arm. Together they watched the starry sky shift as hours passed and soon enough it began to grow colder, the desert heat quickly vanishing and being replaced with the desert's moonlit biting cold. Gaara sat up and noticing his daughter asleep beside him lifted her into his arms and carefully made his way from the cavern like oasis carrying her back home feeling as she nuzzled her head against his chest. They had made it home and following behind them was Nia who entered mere moments after with a smile on her face.

"I see you've had your father-daughter time?"

"Yeah, our usual Friday night." Gaara said with a soft smile as Nia followed him into their daughter's room, she was already in pajama pants and a t-shirt so luckily all the brunette had to do was pull the sandals from her daughter's feet, and once that was done Gaara pulled the blanket aside resting his child gently on the bed and covering her back up once she was settled watching as she snuggled up under the blankets. Nia leaned over kissing the red headed girl and with a smile to her husband she walked from the room. Gaara too leaned over kissing the top of his daughter's head.

"No matter how old you get, you'll always be my baby. Good night Little One, I love you." And with that he closed the door, and with a silent prayer hoped her life would remain as peaceful and happy as it was. She was a ninja and soon enough she'd be out on dangerous missions fighting dangerous people, Gaara honestly wondered if he was sheltering her too much, he knew the chunin exams were coming up and wondered what Baki was doing to prepare Naminé and her team. He thought upon this as he walked into his room to see his wife lying in the bed and drinking a cup of tea. After changing he joined her.

"All of the papers are finished." Nia said watching as her husband's face fell in shocked disbelief.

"How did you manage that?"

"Shadow clones." Was her simply reply as Gaara shook his head.

"That was ingenious."

"I have been told that I'm quite bright when I try…what's on your mind?"

"Naminé's growing up." Gaara said softly resting his head on the brunette's shoulder as she placed her empty tea cup on the table and wrapped her arms around him.

"I know babe, she's growing so fast."

"I don't like it, the chunin exams are coming up soon, missions get very dangerous at chunin level." Nia smiled softly her hands running through his hair.

"Again I know, but have faith in her…our Naminé is a strong one, she's sweet with a big heart and like you she takes no one's crap." Nia said with a laugh making Gaara grin slightly before it fell.

"I'm afraid for her, because I know Naminé will be too hard headed to be afraid for herself."

"That definitely sounds like our daughter, well, all we can do is give her the tools she'll need to survive. Teach her like you have been to control her sand Gaara, you've been slacking, we all are teaching her something, you, me, Temari, Kankuro, and Baki. Hell our daughter knows enough about medicine to be a nurse at the hospital, and as much as I'd like to give her that job I know she won't take it, she wants to keep people safe, protect her friends with her own strength."

"She is like me…maybe too much so for her own good."

"Well she certainly has your attitude…and your stubborn streak." Nia added as an after-thought making Gaara blink and look over at her.

"I'm not stubborn."

"Yes love you are, you're stubborn and hard headed and mulish when things aren't going your way, and our child is the same exact way."

"Ok, ok, I get it…" Gaara grumbled turning off the light leaving a scowling Nia in darkness. She climbed over him and facing the red headed male the brunette snuggled close to him.

"You never let me finish." She said softly her head tucked under her husband's chin. "She's brutally honest, and smart, and clever…and her smile…Gaara that smile you love so much, she got it from you. All of our daughter's best qualities come from you." Nia said leaning up and kissing the shocked red head.

"That's impossible…she's so much like you."

"But everything on the inside, her inner strength, her endurance, her will to succeed and improve and keep everyone safe from harm, that comes from you. Yes she may laugh like me, and have that weird little ear freckle, but her attitude and patience and grace are from you, her cool intellect, and her no prisoners mindset are yours."

"We created a perfect combination of us didn't we?" Gaara asked quietly making Nia laugh softly.

"Yes we did and she's perfect, I'd never change her for anything on this earth." She kissed his lips and settled into his arms. "Let your racing mind rest Gaara or you'll never get to sleep." She said softly soon falling into a peaceful slumber as Gaara held her safely in his arms. Closing his eyes his thoughts were of only his child, Nia was right, she was strong, and stubborn, and smart as all hell…maybe just maybe she was ready to face things past the genin level…The thought made him scoff, never, Naminé would never be ready…at least not yet…Gaara wasn't ready to let go of his baby girl just yet, and as the image of a brown eyed little red headed girl reaching up for him entered his mind, a smile graced the Kazekage's lips he too fell asleep.

The (official) End

This is the end of A Tough Life, thank you all who have stayed with me through this story and all of my pain in the assedness, for that I apologize. The sequel for this story has also been posted today, it's Called Dangerous lives and is in the point of views from Gaara and Nia's daughter and Naruto and Hinata's children, it's a joint sequel and I hope you guys like it, the prologue has been posted, well kinda prologue and character index so you all know who to expect, thank you my beloved readers. If anything I hope you review this chapter just so I know who's still here if anyone, laters guys I'll miss you and writing this story, but all good things come to an end, and the end is now.