Blue
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters featured in this story... (but if Naruto would like to own me I'd be happy to arrange something! (jk XD))
You could sort of call this the first part to my Naru/Saku color based drabble series and my first shot at a Naruto fic and my first attempt at writing a fic in general in a long time so I might be a little dry around the edges. Also,let's just say that for the sake of this story Naruto knows everything regarding his background and history. You can come up with "how" yourself :)
Blue.
Sakura was almost completely sure she had put on the same pair of blue socks that morning.
As Sakura lay with her hands folded neatly against the sheets of her bed attempting to relax and "take it easy" as Naruto had so carefully instructed before leaving to do important "Hokage business" that most likely involved no serious business of the sort and rather an afternoon of regular calls home by the hour, all Sakura could really do was stare at the large mound of a belly obstructing her vision and wonder whether or not she had in fact put on matching socks that morning.
Of all things that Sakura could have worried about with her first baby on the way, she had decidedly agreed with herself that if she were going to expose herself to hours of painful labor in order to push out Naruto's child that may or may not have already inherited his stubborn and energetic behavior – an already obvious trait with the way it'd been kicking the past few weeks – she was going to go through with it with a good clean pair of matching socks.
Still, Sakura wouldn't be able to figure out if her memory served true for another hour or so anyway when she'd be ready to make the heaving motion of pulling her legs out of the blanket and getting up out of bed.
These days it usually took her an entire intake of air and a great deal of will power to actually roll onto her side and move off the bed. Most attempts at this were met with about a half an hour of contemplating the action and ultimately falling asleep in defeat.
That was of course when Naruto wasn't around. Sakura never realized how peaceful their apartment actually was, as she had spent just as much time out of it as Naruto did while she worked as a medic. This was of course until she became too pregnant and moody to help others. When the apartment was quiet and Sakura was left to shuffle around and make busy being the homebody she was so not accustomed to being, Sakura could only do a number of things with the bumping belly she had grown to love so dear over the past eight months. The first, was sleep in general. This had become a personal favorite of Sakura's in more recent weeks so she spent most of her time on the bed her and Naruto shared doing just that. The second, was a direct effect of the first and that was sitting on her bed reading books of all the pregnant sort involving pregnancy, labor, and the all around "what to expect when you're expecting" but after a few frightening diagrams, Sakura had found herself too traumatized to continue and this lead to the third and final task of eating to her heart's content as an attempt to distract from the previous. And so went about Sakura's day a peaceful and remote experience.
"Sakura!- I'm home!"
That is until Naruto came home.
"Sakura! Where are you! You gotta take a look at this."
Naruto almost always come home with a resounding enthusiasm. Not to be misunderstood, it was affectionately welcomed and what one would come to expect of someone already as enthusiastic as Naruto, but Sakura found it exceptionally ironic that Naruto spent most of his time telling Sakura to relax when all Sakura wanted to do was tell him that he should do the same.
"I'm in the bedroom Naruto, what is it?" Sakura called from the bed as Naruto and his wide grin entered the room.
"Look here," In all his self contained excitement Naruto had forgotten to take off his shoes and flung himself belly down onto the bed next to Sakura with his feet hanging off the edge, his grim spreading from ear to ear.
Sakura leaned forward as Naruto inched closer to show her what he had brought home and she found his surprise was actually quit ordinary.
"A baby name book?" Sakura asked slightly skeptical.
"Ya, can you believe they have these sorta things? Chouji gave it to me today at work. He said it got mixed in on accident with a bunch of cooking books he bought and he had no use for it so he gave it to me." Naruto began flipping through. "I was reading it the whole way home and look it has your name in it, too.
"Sakura - delicate, loving and affectionate." Naruto read off staring at the page, his eyebrows knitting together. "Hm."
Sakura looked up, "What?"
"Well, I guess that's true." Naruto smirked keeping his eyes on the book while moving to flip another page.
Sakura snatched the book from Naruto's hands and whacked it over his head in one sweeping motion.
"What do you mean, you guess that's true!"
Naruto laughed, "I'm kidding! You're all those things and more!" he convinced reaching toward her as she turned her body away in irritation.
"Stupid. I'm plenty delicate…" Sakura crossed her arms over her stomach and glared at Naruto from the corner her eye. "… and loving too."
"No doubt you are." Naruto smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
Sakura wrinkled her nose and her glare softened as she reached down to grab the book.
"You think you're so funny… Let's see what this says about your name." Sakura flipped through the book and when it came upon 'N' she was at a loss.
"Hey, yours isn't in here." Sakura frowned.
"That's because I'm one of a kind." Naruto answered with a smug expression that caused Sakura to roll her eyes and pushed the book toward Naruto before falling back into her previous relaxed position.
"Ya, well Mr. one-of-a-kind, you said yourself that you read the book the whole way home. What exactly did you have in mind for naming our child, hm?" Sakura raised a brow and sunk back on her hands in a comfortable yet threatening position.
The man lifted his brow in return to his loved one's request and smiled. Naruto sensed a challenge.
"If you really want to know… " Sakura nodded, urging him on.
Naruto continued taking a breath, "Nato."
Sakura's eyes widened. Only one thing came to mind.
"Natto?" she was at a loss of words. "fermented soybeans? You want to name our first born Natto as in, as in fermented soybeans?"
"No! well, " Naruto struggled for an answer even though he knew quite well what he meant, "ok, I know what it sounds like, but that's not how I came up with it."
Sakura was skeptical again. "Explain?"
"So, when I was reading through the name book I kept thinking back to Jiraiya-sama's story and how I got my name and how original it was and I thought it was so cool how my name has this whole story behind it right so I figured that maybe we could name him after my father "Konoha's Yellow Flash" that'd be a great story to tell the kids don't you think? " Naruto explained with such exuberance that his ending words mirrored the excitement flashing across his face.
"But your father's name is Minato."
"Right."
"But you want to name the baby Nato?" Sakura was still trying to grasp his reasoning.
"Right."
"Why not just Minato?"
Naruto didn't expect this to be so difficult.
"Well, then it'd be confusing because people would call him Minato and if , by chance, he ever grew up to be Hokage too then he'd be Hokage Minato Jr and people would say "oh he's the fourth Hokage's son right?" and then I'd have to explain that "no, he's my son the other Minato" and a whole load of mess would have to be explained. So, I shortened it."
Once again Sakura was at a loss of words. "…Right."
Sakura sighed.
"And if it's a girl?"
"Same."
Sakura smiled to herself halfheartedly.
"I love the idea Naruto, but I've been thinking a lot about this, too." Sakura answered matter-of-factly crossing her arms and her legs in unison.
"Oh ya? Ok, let's hear it." Naruto kicked off his shoes and leaned back on his elbow interested.
With her eyes closed, Sakura answered affirmatively.
"If it's a boy, Raiyo. If it's a girl Nade."
Naruto paused for a moment and then made a face as if he was thinking hard about this. "I dunno…" Sakura opened her eyes to peer at Naruto. "First, I think we gotta ask someone what they think about it." Naruto gestured toward Sakura's protruding tummy.
"Naruto, I don't think- "
Before Sakura could do anything Naruto already had his right ear to her stomach and his opposite hand protectively spread across Sakura's side where her hip met the curve of her belly.
"Baby," Sakura smiled to herself. Sakura didn't know if the feeling came from the warmth she felt as Naruto spoke against her belly or the way she just felt when Naruto would turn his whole attention to the baby as if he already knew it was the single most precious thing in the world. "Mommy wants me to ask you if you like her names or mines."
"You're making her choose?"
Naruto looked up and grinned. "Yep. He doesn't mind." Making a clear distinction regarding the baby's gender.
"And what does she say?" Sakura pressed in opposition.
Naruto pressed his ear back against Sakura momentarily and paused before answering. "He says he'll think about it."
Sakura laughed. "I like how you're already putting words into our child's mouth."
"Aw, but just think of how quick he'll learn everything. Just like his dad!" Naruto's face lit up again.
"Yes, the baby will surely come out of me talking and asking for ramen no doubt."
"Hey, I grew out of that!"
"Is that so? Where did you take me to eat the other night?" Sakura shot back.
"That's besides the point!" Naruto answered pouting slightly, his pride withered.
Sakura smiled and ran a hand through his golden hair. "But, I love your habits... and I'm sure the baby will love them too, no matter what we call him."
"Or her." Naruto replied returning the smile and closing his eyes to rest his head back against Sakura's stomach, holding her closely and sinking into that wonderful and familiar feeling he loved to come home to.
"Ne, Sakura," Naruto asked after a few minutes of silence had passed.
"Ya?"
"You never told me why you picked those names."
"Well," Sakura's voice softened and she continued just barely above a whisper. "I got the idea from Jiraiya and Tsunade's names. Since they were kind of like parents to us."
"Hm.." Naruto responded quietly as he continued to lean against Sakura's warm body.
Times like this reminded her distinctly of moments earlier in her pregnancy before her belly had grown to its enormous state and Sakura smiled pleasantly to herself as she noted his position - Naruto's arms had formerly been able to wrap themselves entirely around her waist and he would lay, childlike, with his head pressed against her stomach just as he was doing now, except in a silly attempt to listen for any sounds their baby was unlikely to make at the time. Sakura knew that Naruto was aware just as well that the only sound he'd probably be able to hear was the gargling noise of her stomach sounding her cravings, but regardless Sakura could understand better than anyone just how much comfort the small gesture meant to the both of them.
"Sakura-chan..." She could remember his words clearly. " I can't wait till your belly gets big and round!"
"Why?" Sakura frowned. "So, I can get too fat to walk around?"
"No," Naruto laughed. "The sooner your belly gets big the sooner the baby comes! Besides, I'll just carry you around everywhere if that's the case."
Sakura sighed.
"Naruto, what do you really think about all this? You know, about us becoming parents?"
Sakura watched as Naruto's face grew suddenly calm and thoughtful just before leaning forward to wrap his arms around her fully.
"I think we'll be great. I know we'll be great, because we're in this together."
Sakura looked down as Naruto shifted his position, bringing her thoughts back to the present.
Naruto was right. The physical difference was only a reminder of how quickly time had passed.
To have endured so much without a proper family to belong to, this was a comfort that Naruto and Sakura could only describe in moments like this – moments that made the two truly feel that they belonged to something important.
This would be their family – always.
Sakura's train of thought was shortly jolted back to reality and her eyes flickered toward Naruto as he called her name once again.
"Sakura?"
"Hm?"
"I think the baby decided he likes your names." Naruto quietly replied, not looking up.
Sakura smiled and hummed a quiet response as she felt her eyelids begin to droop back toward that warm and familiar place with Naruto beside her.
The End
A.N: So, it's pretty obvious that I was in a sappy mode but I didn't have the heart to label this one WAFF... I tried with all my might to avoid labeling myself in that category! Nonetheless, I hope you liked it and yes I do sorta have a thing for saying the word "belly" ha ... kindly sue me XP