Her disheartened gaze met the pair, her lack of pupils unneeded to match the dark sadness hanging over her soul's windows. Making sure to stretch the fabric to accommodate her widened hips, the former Hyuuga heiress slowly lowered one long, pale leg into the denims, noting the considerable space taken. Lying down, she fruitlessly snuck her other aching foot through the tunnel of fabric, the skin of her bloated belly disagreeing with the rough fabric as she pulled the button across. Her tongue poked out of her mouth as she begged to the heavens for a fit, however snug it may be. Much to her dismay, heaven's doors seemed closed to prayers.
"Stupid fucking pants!" Hinata snapped in hormonal rage, ripping the clothing from her body and hurling it toward the open balcony doors. The pants caught the guardrail of the marble, spared by the winds from falling to the weed-ridden garden some twenty feet downward. Amidst her fury, Hinata felt a strong kick in her tummy. She released a small whimper and squeezed her eyes shut as a shooting pain spiralled through her hips, her to-be daughter unhappy with her mother's sudden motions. With her body's only coverings being a large T-shirt belonging to her husband and a pair of red cotton panties, Hinata retreated under the warm covers of her empty bed, both furious with and ashamed of herself. "How could I let it get this bad?" she asked herself, making sure to lightly rub the surface of her stomach, a small tear accompanying another painful kick from her little inhabitant in the same spot as before. "What's wrong, Hana-chan?" the lavender-eyed muse whispered to her belly button, laying a loving, albeit weak kiss on her navel. Hinata gazed through the open doors to the balcony, peering at the lone star that pierced the weakly shining sun's rays. Fingering her wedding band, she spoke to the sky,
"Naru-kun, you were supposed to be here this morning."
Sucking her Chakra pool almost dry, the navy-haired wife activated her Kekkei Genkai and searched the outskirts of the village for her beloved, drawing a blank as she completed a full three-sixty view. She released a deep sigh and what felt like tears as she perused the inner city, hoping to catch a crimson Chakra signature out of the corner of her eye walking toward the Hokage tower, handing in a mission report, and then leaving his team for her location. To her dismay, as the deadline for her baby-daddy's return drew to a disappointing close, a final sweep of the town yielded no results of moment, bar kids rushing home, rebellious teenagers lingering in the approaching dark, and a small handful of couples relaxing in Konoha's central park, spending the night in each other's arms. "As I should be in his," Hinata hissed with trembling lips, her whole body crying for her husband's sun-kissed face and lean muscles and...overall gorgeous looks. She was almost conscious of her mood swing as she erupted in quiet tears, smearing the droplets onto her blazing cheeks and hating her husband for being who he was. She cursed his inviting velvet lips for ever meeting her dry, cracked mouth; she despised his powerful, muscular frame, still making small circular motions over her bloated stomach; her heart burned with rage for his hero status in the village, while she had barely been able to visit a friend's home throughout a majority of her 37 weeks of pregnancy; above all, at the time, she despised how much she loved him, and how he wasted his time on his small, fat failure of a wife, when any woman or kunoichi in the village would gladly run naked throughout the town in exchange for a meeting between her lips and those of Naruto.
"If I were him, I'd cheat on me, too," she coughed in a fit of sorrow.
Again, the navy-haired beauty stopped talking. She cursed herself, and wished she could take the thought back. To no avail, Hinata sobbed. She wailed for her husband of three years, promising she would kick the baby weight as soon as she could. Her cries seared her throat and eyes, depleting her Chakra thus further. Pulling a second pillow over her face, she begged for him not to cheat on her; she pleaded into her secondary headrest,
"COME HOME TO ME!"
As her lonely tantrum tapered off, an all-too-familiar husky voice softly spoke,
"Hime, please, calm down." Hinata couldn't believe her ears. Her voice stay lodged in her throat as she removed her makeshift scream-suppressor, peering to the direction of the voice.
There, her husband stood leaning on the doorframe, his light tan skin both dirty and beautiful. Even given the cloud of dirt that powdered small areas of his skin, and the fatigue he made no effort to hide in his voice, Hinata reached out her arms, wordlessly calling her beloved to her teary-eyed, sweating form.
Naruto thoughtlessly approached and kneeled next to their bed, his face barely inches from his wonderful wife's. One of his silk hands caressed her face, wiping away warm tears as she yanked his lips to hers, her body relishing its chance to reacquaint itself with her soulmate's touch after eight long, painful days and nights. Before her lips had enjoyed their fair share of attention, Naruto slowly pulled away and leaned his forehead against her own, his one hand dropping to her stomach and massaging in small circles while she raised her back from the bed. His tired eyes agreed with his quiet, exhausted tone as he spoke,
"What was that all about?" Hinata could barely muster enough dignity to answer without embarrassing herself.
"I-It was nothing...just...I-I...I really needed y-you here with me," she sputtered between sharp breaths, grasping and fumbling with her husband's free hand. Naruto interlocked her fingers with his and delivered the gentlest of squeezes. Locking eyes with her man, no scientist was needed to know Naruto didn't believe her. His long, weary stare begged for a straight answer in the same way his cramped muscles begged for a long night's sleep. She craned her neck to look at her denims on the balcony railing, subconsciously squeezing her legs together beneath the blanket. Following her line of sight, the blonde released a deep sigh.
"Hime, we've been over this a hundred times," he remarked. Hinata felt a small pang of anger in her chest as she replied,
"I know it's not a big deal to others, but it matters to me!" She could feel the argument beginning all over again. "S-Some of us have to deal with not being p-perfect, you know?" she managed through small coughs. The disappointment in Naruto's tone was louder than his actual voice as he tiredly expressed,
"Hime, please, not this aga-"
"No!" she interjected, tightening her grip on his hand. "Why won't you listen to me?!"
"Hinata." His voice was far more stern, but Hinata could tell he was not angry. No matter what was said between them, neither ever snapped or yelled at one another.
Yet another area where he's better than I, she thought.
"You're just going to beat yourself up over nothing again" Naruto declared, continuing in a quieter tone as Hinata placed her other hand beside her husband's on her stomach.
"You must know it's all true, then!" she exclaimed.
"I never said anything of the sort."
"If you don't want me to talk about it," she began she began with a racing heart, "you must know that it's all true!" Her eyes again swelled with an ocean of tears, unable to meet her husband's gaze as she continued. "Why else would you not want me to talk about my fat hips or eating habits or my aching EVERYTHING? What other reason would you have for not wanting to hear me about trying to fit into my jeans? I've ruined our marriage!"
Throughout Hinata's small tangent, Naruto had half-listened to her rant, not because of lack of interest, but due to lack of energy. However, her last statement snapped his eyes wide-open, and kept his heart on edge.
"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous," he remarked with a forced smile, probably hiding his anxiety better with the grime on his face.
"I-I've cut us down to the bare minimum! We have m-money, but we can't enjoy spending it. We can't go out anymore because I can b-barely leave the bed without being sore like I've just trained for a f-f-fortnight s-straight. You're always in the house if you're not bound to some mission because you're worried I can't handle this on my own, and the worst part is that...I don't think I can, either! I'm never pretty anymore, and I can already see these stretch marks coming in, and...and..." Naruto frowned deeply, listening to his wife's pouting and feeling his heart ache whilst she traced small red lines on her waist..
"At this point, there are no benefits to loving me. I completely drain the both of us."
Naruto could almost hear his heart shatter as his wife's raving drew to a close.
Wow.
Reflecting his emotions as she expressed her fickle thoughts, Hinata retracted both hands and covered her face, sinking beneath the covers and averting her eyes from her husband's gaze despite how it had comforted her before.
Before long, Hinata felt Naruto leave the bed. Much like her slim figure, she was sure she had just killed her husband's love for her. She wheezed and coughed and bawled, wondering what to do with her broken heart, and her baby's broken home. Thankfully, the thought was not necessary as Naruto's weight soon sank her side of the mattress again.
"Hime, please look at me." Hinata was hesitant, to say the least. What could he possibly wish to do? "Please, hime." She could feel his palm resting on her right thigh, shaking ever so lightly. She sucked her breath in and breathed out massively, pulling the blanket down just enough that her entire face was visible. Their eyes met once again, but seemingly in a different way. Naruto did not seem so beautiful, then. His eyes were red, his skin dirty, his lips trembling, and his wounds reopened.
"Hime, you don't understand why I love you." His statement perked Hinata's ears and made her heart beat faster.
"l don't love you for your gorgeous looks, or your brilliant personality, or your awesome..erm...maternal qualities, or any of that stuff at all, although they are big plusses. Like being a good kisser, you know?"
He leaned his head down to hers, heart worn proudly on his sleeve. Even with her insecurities, Hinata could never resist her husband's kiss, nor could he resist hers. They locked lips ever so softly as night settled over Konoha, stars illuminating the sky like large, white candles. The kiss felt better than it ever had before. Naruto's lips were more desperate in their dance, moving faster and faster with fine delicacy and, as always, exquisite taste. Being the first to remove himself from the embrace (however reluctantly), Naruto continued,
"I love you, hime, because you accepted me for who I am. You loved me when no one else would even give their time to look at me." His one hand again rested on her belly, a small kick meeting his touch as he picked up his thought, not without a small groan of pain from his wife.
"So, hime, I-Hey, Hana-chan! Quit being so rough with kaa-san, will ya?" Hinata, for the first time in what felt like forever, showed a pearl smile, the pain of her daughter's playtime masked by the ecstasy of seeing her husband enjoying himself so much with her.
"I think she's telling you to finish what you were saying," Hinata managed without a stutter, her unfading smile complemented by her rosy cheeks. Naruto returned the smile softly and went on.
"Anyway, like I was saying: In my eyes, you are the perfect girl. You are my princess, and I owe all my successes to you, because I could not have accomplished any of the things I've done without your help, love, and support. That's why it's easy for me to love you so much, even with those stupid stretch marks: because you love me even when I have this." He raised his navy ANBU mesh armor, revealing his lean abdominals, as well as an Eight Tetragram Seal. She reached out and felt her lover's seal, his body warmth going against her cold, clammy skin.
"And I know you feel that way about yourself now, but...I mean...come on! You must know how ridiculous you sound when you say those horrible things about yourself!" She could not resist a grin as Naruto threw his arms into the air. "It's not funny!" he exclaimed with a mirrored smirk. "When you call yourself fat, or a drain, or whatever stupid things you're saying, I feel as though I made you feel like that." Naruto's face contorted for a second. "I haven't made you feel like that, have I?" Hinata shook her head resolutely, reaching out and once again clasping her husband's hand, no long nervous in his clutch.
"I-I'm so-"
"Don't be, hime. There's no need to apologize."
Lying next to her and occupying the thin sliver of mattress that remained on Hinata's side of the bed, Naruto finally was able to grow accustomed with the ever-inviting pink pillow that normally found itself only able to know Hinata's delicate features. They then shared the small bag of cotton, both sets of eyes hanging on each other without effort. With a final movement, Hinata planted a kiss on the knuckle-head's nose and rubbed it with her own, bringing a final smile across either face. On the balcony, a potent gust of wind shifted the jeans to hang in the balance, their inevitable journey to the ground finally beginning, and then ending just a moment later. With her mind at ease, and her husband's arms nestled tightly around her, Hinata embraced sleep's warm clutches, feeling Hana-chan do the same as the to-be mother closed her eyes.
Hooray! Another chapter! No need to waste time here, so just some footnotes:
- I tried to make Hinata's emotions a bit over the top to coincide with hormonal swings, so please excuse if I overdid that.
- Excuse the obvious symbolism XD
- I have never been so confused with my own writing over the placement of hands.
With that, have a great day, beauties :P
