You know you're a crazed (insert favorite anime couple here) fan when you're constantly getting new ideas to type down as a story of that particular pairing.
I'm completely and totally guilty. NaruSaku has poisoned me! -shakes fist-
Here's another one for you readers. I might make this a two-shot though. I'm still thinking on it.
It's basically Naruto and Sakura having new parent syndrome lol. This first chapter is on Naruto's troubled thoughts.
I might make a separate one for Sakura, still thinking on it.
Yea, I know what you're thinking. What?! You gave them a kid? Already?!
I couldn't help myself though! Come on, Naruto and Sakura would make the greatest parent's in the world. Especially Naruto! They just go through normal problems just like any new parents right? -shrugs-
On a side note, my other story 'To See You Again.' I'll be updating that one soon too, since this new randomly popped into my head story, helped me get even more motivated to type up ch. 2 lol.
Guess I got nothing more to say! Read and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. That baby isn't mine either. Renji Uzumaki belongs to my buddy Tulip-chan and Naruto is the property of Kishimoto. Thank you!
"Whatever they grow up to be,
They are still our children,
And the one most important thing of all the things we can give them
is unconditional love.
Not a love that depends on anything at all except
that they are our children."
-Rosaleen Dickson
He was so...small. In his short twenty-one years of life, he had never seen something so...small.
Intense azure eyes stared down at the object of his thoughts.
'He's so tiny, how can he be this tiny?'
His lips fought to keep the tight line it had formed.
He studied, stared, wondered, all at once.
He didn't know whether to be sad at this infant's smallness or happy that the infant was his.
A shaking tanned finger slowly descended towards the crib. Halfway, a small pale hand reached out for the finger and grasped it.
A small chuckle leaves the man's lips.
The baby, had a strong grip for a small thing.
The blonde man frowned again. The word penetrating his mind even more than before.
The baby gurgles and kicks his crib, almost wanting to get the attention of his absentminded father.
Another chuckle, and the man pulls away his finger.
His eyes narrow in thoughtful bliss. His blonde hair swaying with the wind coming from the opened window of the nursery.
An identical mess of shorter and wavier blonde hair swayed with the blow of the wind as well. The baby's blue eyes staring at everything around him. Completely unaware of his father's troubled thoughts.
A heavy sigh is heard by the baby's sensitive ears and Naruto laughs as the curious wide eyes look around for whatever the sound had come from.
"You just got home kid, and you're already curious about everything aren't you?"
All the blonde man got in return was another gurgle from the baby as it returned to staring at the bright headband his father had adorned on his head.
'So small...'
The man couldn't seem to stay happy, no matter how much his son's baby antics amused him. He still remained troubled.
His hands that had once been crossed over his chest, now clenched tightly around the baby blue crib where the blonde haired infant seemed entertained staring at the shiny headband.
'How can he be so...small?'
He had been in that same position by the infant's little bed since early noon, and it was nearing to late afternoon. And still he remained. His thoughts on his little son, he knew, weren't going to let him concentrate on his paperwork back at his job.
He leaned forward a bit to stare down at the baby, who now had found the orange sleeve of his baby one-piece far more interesting than the man's headband.
The man once again smiled. The baby's blue eyes looked up to stare at his father. He continued chewing on his sleeve.
The blonde man mind popped up a random thought. His son's eyes had a tint of green in them. How strange. He never noticed before.
Maybe he was too busy wondering why the baby was so small.
"Is our son that entertaining to watch Naruto?"
The man's blue eyes turned to focus on the woman standing against the doorway of the nursery. His wife.
"...Sakura...heh, you know me! I find almost everything interesting nowadays." The man gave a wide grin at his wife, who raised a pink eyebrow and walked over towards the crib as well.
"You know...I would have believed you, if you hadn't forced that laugh Naruto." Her green eyes stare at up at him worriedly.
They share equally emotional gazes for a couple more seconds, before the blonde man turns away with a tired expression.
"It's nothing Sakura, just stress at the job that's all." His voice seemed almost mechanical as he spoke. Like he had that sentence planned out in his head.
"You haven't been standing here for nearly four hours staring at our newborn son to relieve stress Naruto. I know you better then that. And you know it." Sakura's voice was stern, yet held an undertone of genuine worry.
The man stares at his baby son, who was completely oblivious to everything around him, far more entertained with his now partially wet orange sleeve.
Naruto takes long and heavy steps to the rocking chair in the corner of the nursery, and plants himself there. He holds a small stuffed fox in his hands, absentmindedly playing with the stitches.
Sakura makes her way to him, and leans down to sit on the floor, right under her husband's blank stare. Her eyes saddened at his troubled behavior.
"Naruto, you're gone again...where are you?" Blue eyes widened slightly at his wife's words.
She always had a way to get to him, her wisdom has never seized to amaze him, even after nearly two years of marriage.
He smiles as he sets the stuffed fox on his lap. "I...don't know Sakura-chan...that's a very good question."
He welcomes the pale hand of his wife as she covers his own tanned one. "Perhaps I'm somewhere even I can't see."
"If that were the case then you probably wouldn't be so troubled by it, now would you?" his whiskered cheeks lift in a small laugh he releases as he listens to his wife's teasing tone.
"I guess you're right..."
Sakura's green eyes stare with increased worry, as his smiling face becomes serious again, and he gently squeezes her hand.
"...Naruto?"
"He's so small Sakura..." His eyes narrow in what she sees as internal fear.
Still she's confused. "Of course he is Naruto. Renji's an infant. No more then a month old."
"I know that Sakura, but...he's small..." Sakura still remained confused, even after her husband added an intense tone in the word 'small'.
"What are you talking about Naruto?" Her hand tightened around his larger one.
His eyes remained down for a moment. He then looked up and stared past her. At the black and orange coat hanging on one of the many chairs in the nursery. Then at the crib, where movement could still be seen.
He then stared at her, giving her a broken smile. Her chest felt that pinch she hadn't felt in a long time.
"How can I protect him Sakura?" He spoke his question nervously, shaking with every word that left his lips.
Her eyes widened in understanding. Her husband, was having first time parent nerves. But his was hitting him pretty hard, as she could now tell.
She couldn't blame him though, up until recently, Naruto never knew what a real family was. A mother, father, son/daughter. He now had one, and the overwhelming feeling must be driving him over the edge.
Sakura didn't know how right she was.
The blonde man stared at his wife as she stared back.
His unspoken questions being given to her through eye contact alone.
'Will I do the right thing? Can I still be there for you and Renji, even as I continue my duty as hokage? Can I still continue living my dream, and make you both happy? Am I a good enough person to even be a father? What if I disappoint him? What if I disappoint you Sakura? What if, I die? And leave him and you alone, like my father was forced to do to me? Will that happen to me too? Will I have to sacrifice my life for my village, and leave him a fatherless child and you a widow? Do I have enough strength to PROTECT him? To keep him safe from everything that dares hurt him? Sakura...'
Her green eyes sting with unshed tears. So much painful questions he was keeping to himself. Didn't he realize how much he was burdening himself with this?
She reaches out to rub his whiskered cheek, as a tear rolls down her face. His eyes remain dry, but she knows. He's cried many times before. He's completely out of tears.
The two of the them remain still, staring each other, reading each other's thoughts. She sitting on the floor, and he on the rocking chair, unmoving.
Then, Sakura gets up from her spot. And she walks back to the crib. Naruto watches with mild interest. His thoughts have overflowed and he was wandering off into a pool of self-doubt.
Seconds later, he hears the familiar baby sounds sounds of his son. He looks up to see Sakura holding their son in her arms, a content smile on her face.
He frowns. "Ne, Sakura...what are yo-"
The blonde hokage suddenly finds himself carrying his baby boy. The baby fuzzes for a moment from being taken away from his mother, but watches with renewed interest at his father's bright blue eyes.
Naruto smiles at him. Even after a month of getting used to him, Renji still made him smile over every little thing he did.
The baby's bluish-green eyes blink as he continues to stare at Naruto. Then he yawns, an action the baby still continues to grow at. The baby snuggles under the closest warmth he could feel, which was right under the crook of his father's arm.
Both parents smile as the infant drifts into a light slumber.
Sakura then looks up to stare at Naruto. The answer to all his troubling questions right in front of his own eyes.
"You just will Naruto." Her voice was sweet and gentle.
Naruto gives her a puzzled look before he realizes the question she answered.
"How...can you be so sure Sakura?" his eyes look at her pleadingly as he holds onto to their son.
"I can't." She answers truthfully, earning a somewhat shocked expression from her husband.
She rubs his free hand gently, and smiles. "No one can ever be sure if they'll protect their child from everything and everyone. It just...happens Naruto. That role of protective father just comes to you. It'll become part of what makes you, you, Naruto...that you won't even realize it happened...but..."
His hand grabs hers and squeezes it as she continues. "Those nights when he can't sleep because the storm scares him. When he gets his first knee cut, or arm cut, and he runs to you for safety. When he tries to hide something from you, just to make you smile and laugh after a long day's work. Those days when you stay home and you and him find the happiest amusement in the simplest of things."
Her green eyes shine with happy relief as she feels her husband's tension growing dim.
She continues. "His first steps, his first word, the first time he gets his feelings hurt. The first time he'll get bullied at. All of it Naruto. You'll be there. There to watch and guide each of his steps. To make sure he finds a path that will lead him to a wonderful life. That's when you'll realize that you've been protecting him all along."
Her eyes drift to their slumbering son as she smiles and reaches over to gently push away strands of blond hair.
"Don't stress about it, and don't beat yourself up over whether or not you'll be able to do any of it Naruto." She whispered. Her breath caressing her baby's cheek gently. He stirs in his father's arm for a moment, before returning to sleep.
"Because you just will...Naruto." The pink haired woman repeats her early words with a more determined edge to it.
The nursery remains silent after that, Sakura and Naruto both watching their baby son sleep away.
Naruto's expression remains hidden under the long locks of blonde hair. His breathing is soft and slow. Sakura could still tell he was staring at Renji.
His hand tightens around hers and he looks up.
She smiles.
His blue eyes release large drops of tears, and they slowly make their way down his whiskered cheeks. Yet, he smiles. A genuine smile.
"Arigato...Sakura."
Her eyes wrinkle as she gives her husband a wide grin. "Ie, it was nothing Naruto."
He chuckles and shakes his head. "It was. I've been worried about our first child together. If we would be able to do everything for him. The moment I saw his face I knew that I wanted to always keep him safe. You and him."
Naruto leans forward and plants a small kiss on Sakura's forehead. "You reassured me Sakura. You gave me back my strength."
He chuckles again. "How do you do it Sakura?"
She giggles as she gets up from the floor again and stretches. "It's a gift my dear! And I give no secrets away to my incredible talent."
"Aa, but my love, your amazing skills will never defeat my love for ramen. Believe it!" He winks at her pouting face as he gently gets up from the rocking chair and makes his way to his son's crib.
"I will one day Naruto. Ramen will no longer be a major part of your diet, believe it." Sakura smirks as he tenses from having his little catch phrase turned on him.
Naruto sighs, and decides to let Sakura win this little fight of theirs, for the day anyway.
He holds his son in both arms and carefully places him back into his crib. Renji squirms from being taken from the warmth, but relaxes when he feels it cover him again in the form of a blanket.
"I should probably go back, I'm sure my secretary is probably running around looking for the missing hokage." He turns around and gives Sakura his signature fox grin.
Sakura grabs the black and orange long coat hanging from a chair and walks over to hand it to Naruto.
"Hai, and we wouldn't want you to be late now would we hokage-sama?"
Naruto gives a nervous laugh as Sakura helps him put on his coat. "Gomen Sakura-chan."
"I know you are. Now here wouldn't want you forgetting your little hokage hat." Sakura laughs at her husband's embarrassed blush as she hands him the hat.
The woman plants a kiss on her husband's lips before leaving the room. She needed to get her son's bottle ready.
Naruto smiles at his wife's retreating form. She really was one of a kind.
His azure eyes turn to look over at crib again. The baby was still asleep.
His hand goes back down and gently ruffles his son's short blonde hair.
He smiles again. This time his thoughts not as troublesome as before. 'He's so small.'
"Yea, but I'll be sure to see him grow. Then he won't be that small, will he?"
A twirl of a coat, and the man was gone. For the moment.
He had to return to his duty as protector of his village.
He would return though, and continue his even more important duty. A duty he was proud of holding.
Protector of his family.
For some reason, I'm finding the ending really corny. But I'll leave it at that.
Finished! Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope I kept Naruto as close to his character as possible.
Still thinking if I should make one for Sakura. Please let me know if you think I should!
Review if you liked it, cause your opinion matters. Well...to me anyway :P
(Tulip-chan! You better review too! Cause your OC Renji was in it lol.)
End.