179 Chapter 179: Growth

A week passed from when Cameia had first begun to fulfill the promise we had made to one another, and each day was spent working towards making that promise reality as she displayed her prowess, the golden eyed Priestess becoming more and more virile with each passing hour as we awaited the results.

At home, Akari, Riku and Tomoe were growing progressively larger and slowly maturing, each day becoming something I cherished as I watched them begin to grow, knowing that - while I was likely already pregnant with another baby - I would only be able to watch them grow once, and it was something that I needed to cherish each and every day that I was alive.

Akari was still every bit the cheerful extroverted baby ever, always moving around and curious about what we were doing, trying to figure out why we weren't playing or paying attention to her, which made the red eyed girl pout whenever we didn't give her the attention she craved at all times; sometimes, when we were busy cooking or cleaning, she would pout at us before crying a little, instantly bringing Kurenai or myself over to her and having us hold her to calm her down, which we learned to be a ploy from her whenever she wanted that attention.

It was clever from her, and we had begun to learn that she was a cunning little baby, always getting into trouble whenever she could and trying her hardest to shift the blame to Riku, even if we all knew it was her.

And to her credit, Riku was quite good at shifting that blame back towards her elder sister, the two already engaging in battles of wits at a young age as they stole toys and attention from one another whenever they could, though if any of us tried to reprimand either of them, the other always came out and babbled at us, trying to mitigate the situation as best they could.

Quiet and reserved, Riku spent her time with her books and playing with the small figures that Anko had gotten her, the mini me having the figures battle for her own amusement as she slammed them together, one of the few times she wasn't unusually quiet for a baby.

Though most of her time was spent with the books, which she had likely already memorized with how often she 'read' them, enjoying the beautiful pictures that had been drawn onto the pages and having someone actually read them to her whenever she could, which usually was me since she would crawl onto my lap with her book in hand and show it to me, settling in and waiting patiently for me to begin.

Of course, she wasn't alone as Tomoe would crawl over as well to join us, not wanting to be left out from her whatever her sisters were doing, even if she had little understanding of what was happening; she was quiet when Riku was reading, and boisterous when she was playing with Akari.

Tomoe was the perfect blend between the two, and her uniqueness came instead from whenever she wasn't with her sisters; when Kurenai took Akari on a walk and Riku was being carried around by Karin, Tomoe would drift to sleep swiftly, like she was recharging herself for when her sisters would be back.

Without them nearby, she was a lazy little thing, and it was always amusing to find her asleep wherever she was; atop a mound of blankets, on the table, and even nestled into one of the small cabinets that was built into the wall near the sink.

The three were all slowly growing into their own unique tiny selves with each passing day, and watching them was an absolute treasure that I was cherishing each and every single day.

They weren't the only ones to grow though, as the aspirants at the Academy were making leaps in their training in and out of class, always pushing themselves to be better and do better.

While I had toned down on the amount of extracurricular classes I offered, I still was available enough for the students to get some supervised practice with weapons, which allowed them to work out the kinks of their styles and movements on their own time.

I continued to push them further and further, making sure to keep that push as 'hidden' as possible and incentivize normal, natural - yet quick - growth inside them, using a mixture of things to motivate them; a class dinner, individualized sessions, rewards for each milestone they passed...

Whatever I could think of, I made sure to keep them working at it, even if - from the outside looking in - it appeared that I was overworking them and demanding too much.

The lofty ambitions they had were entirely their own, and the single mindedness of a child was tempered by reality in a gentle way as I introduced them to what they wanted.

I showed them the prowess of hardened Shinobi by sparring Iruka, showed them the potency of my own Jutsu's, showed them the miracles that Healing Jutsu's could bring about...

I made them stare their ambitions in the face and realize how far they are from that ambition, but before they could be crushed by reality, I showed them how to improve, how to work towards that ambition.

Giving them a path to walk and make their own was a blessing and a curse, each one of these students beginning to journey down a path that could - and maybe would - claim their lives as they served the village, and it was something that I struggled with a little whenever I got to witness their bright, pure desires.

But, it was far too rewarding to see them begin to walk that path and start to run, their own talents and abilities slowly given the room and care that they needed to blossom.

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Again, sorry for the long wait between chapters, but it should be back to a regular-ish schedule of once a week at least... I hope, anyways.

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