Hey all, I am trying to make my writing better but I make no promises as to whether it has gotten better or not.
A red haired woman smiled down at her newborn son, her husband standing to her right with his arm wrapped around his shoulder. Also smiling down at their child. The babe had been bathed, wrapped and handed back to his parents like a present. A gift of life. The only thing that would make this better for the two parents was if their family were able to be there at the moment. Minato had been orphaned at the age of six when his parents had died in a car crash involving a drunk driver. He had been taken in by a catholic monastery, having never known an aunt or uncle that could have taken him in. Instead he had been raised by one of the few priests' that had allowed him to see the different points of view in the world. For that reason, Minato had vowed, to not only himself, but also to whatever deity was listening, that should he ever become corrupt in the teachings of the priest, all the things that he feared most should happen to him, in the attempt to open his eyes. If this should fail, may he forever be in torment.
Kushina on the other hand, his lovely wife, had lost her mother on the day of her birth, but from what her father told her, she was almost the spitting image of her mother. Sadly her father had been battling an aggressive form of lung cancer for the past year. The doctors were not giving him much longer to live, but her father was constantly reminding her that he was going to life to see his first grandchild, and how his 'Uzumaki genes' would allow him to live to see the day. As soon as they were able to go. Kushina and Minato were going to take their son to see his grandfather. After all, how could they expect her father to fly for 29 hours and 30 minutes on a flight from Athens to New Zealand.
It had been three weeks since Kushina and Minato had brought their bundle of joy home. Today was the last checkup that Kushina needed. A slight complication had arisen after the birth with Kushina's health and so they had had to hold off on traveling to see her father until she had a clean bill of health. It was nice though when Minato saw his wife bound through the door, proudly shoving a piece of paper his way. "Look! Look! Tsunade finally said I can go!"
Minato grinned while moving to pick up his son who had just woken up crying from Kushina's exclamation. Kushina moved with a speed that seemed to rival her husband in his younger days to get to her son, ending up standing behind her husband. Tucking her head on Minato's shoulder looking down at her son, she whispered a "sorry", "please don't cry anymore", and "I'm sorry Minato, I didn't mean to make him cry."
Minato continued to ease his son back to sleep, while also calming his wife down. His smiled widened when his son slept peacefully, as well as his wife on his shoulder. Given away by the slightest huff of breath, and how quiet she was now. It also didn't surprise him as their son had had a few sleepless nights for little over a week. It was almost as if he could sense his mother's mood declining as more days passed and they could not leave to see her father. Very carefully he placed his son back into his bassinet, glad that he wasn't woken again from the movement. He then also managed to maneuver his wife so that she was cradled in his arms and moved quickly to the bedroom. He gently placed her on the bed, not wanting to face her wrath after just having gotten a clean bill of health only to be injured again.
His footsteps fell silent on the wooden floor in the hallway as he made his way back to their living room. His son was still sleeping peacefully, the cause of a grateful smile that had formed on the older blonde's face. When his son had first arrived he had the features of his father, minus the birthmarks on his face in the form of whiskers, that neither Minato or Kushina understood.
Minato brought himself out of his thoughts when he felt more than heard his stomach rumble. He was happy for the open floor plan in most houses nowadays, as it meant that he could keep an eye out for his son from the kitchen, reacting quickly if needed. With the thought of that in mind, Minato started to prepare lunch for both himself and his wife.
Minato and Kushina happily boarded the plane that would take them to Auckland. It had only taken Kushina and Minato a week to organize the flight that would take them to Athens International Airport. They had given themselves a two month grace period to get the passport sorted for their son. Finally she would be able to see her father and brother again. Her brother had opted to move back in with their father when they found out that he had cancer. He had only moved out a year ago at eighteen, following in his older sister's footsteps but without moving half the globe away.
Kushina's father had remarried after she had turned two, followed by having a son two years later. Kushina was very happy though when she found out later that the person who was not her birth mother, had treated her as though she was her own daughter. She had been very thankful for that, but still had not forgiven the woman for cheating on her father. Her brother hadn't either. They hadn't seen her for nearly seven years now.
At the airport, Kushina sought out her brother who was coming to pick them up. Moving through the crowds, they finally spot the messy mop of red hair. "Karu!" Kushina pulled him tightly into a hug. Seeing as how it looked as though their brother couldn't breathe, Minato was glad he was holding their son.
"You can let me go now, Sis." Hikaru squeezed out, trying to squirm his way into a position where he would actually be able to breathe again. Although very reluctant, Kushina unwound her arms from her brother. "Thank you." His sudden large intake of breath cause a slight blush to form on Kushina's face at the strength at which she had used to hug him. "Hey Minato!"
"Karu, how have you been?" Minato asked with a smile, he knew that the boy looked up to him, but he couldn't figure out for what reason. The only reason that he knew in the first place was that Kushina had told him not all that long ago about it.
"Not bad myself, but things could be better." Hikaru stated before moving over to his brother, taking hold of the baby in his arms very quickly. "Hello my little nephew. It's been far too long since you were born, and I haven't even held you once."
Minato and Kushina smiled at the boy, letting him lead them to the car after they had gathered all their belongings. It was nice to see Hikaru fussing over their boy. Kushina let out a long sigh just as they were about to reach the car.
Minato turned his head towards his wife. "What's wrong?"
"I just wish that Kurama was here as well." Kushina frowned thinking about her twin brother who they had only heard from a number of times since he had left home at sixteen. She knew that her brother loved his siblings and their father. She had wondered what their stepmother had done to him that caused him to leave. But figured that he would tell her when he was ready.
"I'm sure that if he knew, he would be here as well." Minato leaned down to kiss the side of her forehead in comfort. "He would love to meet his nephew just as much as his brother has."
"C'mon you two! Papa is going to be so surprised to see you!" Hikaru exclaimed as he buckled Naruto into the car seat that he had gotten that day so as not to spoil the surprise for his father.
Hikaru chatted happily the ride back to his house. He managed to drag Minato into a conversation for nearly an hour during the first part of the travel. For the second part Kushina was drawn into the conversation, while Minato started to nod off, whereas Kushina had when Minato was talking. Both were glad that their boy was sleeping through the ride in the car though. Although that would mean another late night. "Almost there now."
Hikaru's smiled brightened when they started pulling in the driveway nearly half an hour later. Kushina smiled at her little brother, loving how excited he was for this. And for being able to see her family again. "Papa, thought I was going into the city to see my friends again. I don't know if he expected me to stay the night there at Kaoru's house or not, but he is going to be so surprised."
Hikaru pulled to a stop at the large house at the end of the driveway, having passed the orchard fields where they were growing figs, and maybe a few other plants now by the looks of it. Hikaru opened the door and bound round to the the door that held his nephew. Taking hold of the boy before either of his parents could. He smiled as he walked towards the front door, that was open wide for his return. Their live in housekeeper had left it open, knowing that Hikaru wasn't going to be staying away from his father for long. But also because it sent a nice breeze through the house that would otherwise have been to hot.
Kushina and Minato caught up to Hikaru before he could step into the house with their son and take off. They had surprised him at how fast they were, because they also had all their luggage with them as well. The smile didn't come off his face though, leading them first to their room to drop their luggage off, then out to the back patio to see three figures out their already. Their father and two other males. One who looked very much like her twin.
Minato was suddenly very glad that Hikaru was holding his son, as Kushina faltered and tripped on air, reaching out to stop herself from falling, grabbing onto him for support. Thankfully he was able to stop them both from face planting into the ground.
"Kurama!" Kushina exclaimed as she sprinted to the stunned man before them. Her arms wrapped around the male and were squeezing twice as hard as they had when around Hikaru. "It's been too long! How dare you only call!" Kushina squeezed her poor brother a little bit harder then, his face starting to change colour. The man beside him looked a little nervous.
"You'll have to excuse my wife. It's been awhile since she last saw her brother." Minato smiled at the man, moving over to shake his hand. "I'm Minato, and who might you be?"
The man still glanced nervously at Kushina, who appeared to now be strangling the poor Kurama. Whereas neither or the other two Uzumaki men or Minato had taken too much notice. Of course they would make sure that Kushina wasn't going to kill the man, but they certainly weren't going to interrupt at the moment.
"Aurelio Moretti. Nice to meet you Minato." Aurelio smiled up at the man. "Should we do something about your wife?"
Minato just laughed, but moved anyway as he could now see that Kurama's face was changing color for the worse.
After having gotten Kushina off her twin, they turned around to face their father. The tears rolled over his cheeks. Being able to see his three children altogether again was amazing. As well as seeing their partners with them. It was at this point that Hikaru came into view of his father again, gently handing his grandson over to him. His smile lit up further. The man was positively glowing as he took his first grandchild into his arms. "It's so good to meet you. Naruto."
I realize that this is pretty short, but let me know what you think :)