Chapter 2:

Mission: The Village

A/N: Decided to post since I'm on winter break and have plenty of time. The first chapter was something I wrote a while ago and decided to expand on the idea. This story will start off slowly then BAM comes the angst.

Everywhere the trio went they received strange looks from the villagers. They even heard whispering along the lines of them having a child. At one point Sakura almost snapped when the staring became too much of a nuisance. If she didn't have Shinachiku in her arms, she probably would have lost her temper at the constant staring the villagers did.

"They act as if they've never seen a baby before." Naruto felt slightly guilty the staring was probably because of him. The villagers didn't hate him like they use to, but that didn't mean they liked him let's just say they tolerated him.

Naruto sighed and glanced at his crush and the baby she was carrying. "How close is the baby store?"

Sakura suddenly stopped in the middle of the road it was a good thing it was still pretty early, so the paths weren't as crowded. Naruto focused his attention back on Sakura when she stood frozen in place. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura bit her lip a nervous gesture he just realized she has. "I-I don't know where the baby store is." Naruto blinked trying to register what she just said. Her blush was as clear as day embarrassed right where she was standing.

"Oh, that's fine we'll just ask for directions." That didn't seem to ease Sakura's embarrassment. She was indeed a prideful woman that was one of the many things he liked about her.

"Come on that person looks like they know the way." Sakura nodded and trailed behind him.

"Kon'nichiwa Misu but I was wondering if you knew where the baby store is?" The lady stared for a little too long her eyes go from Naruto to Sakura then Shinachiku. "What a cute baby you two must be proud to bring such a handsome boy into this world." The lady walked past Naruto and went straight to Sakura and Shinachiku. His little chubby fingers gripped her shirt as he sucked on his thumb. His forest green eyes were filled with curiosity and wonder as he took in his surroundings.

"Look, lady, we're kind of in a hurry so could you tell us whe-"

"Oh, I'm sorry I can't recall where it is." Naruto gaped at the strange lady who had just messed up Shinachiku's already messy hair. Naruto tried not to be annoyed, but he just couldn't help it.

"Well, then you're no help see you around." Naruto grabbed Sakura's elbow and pulled her away from the woman.

"Geez, she was no help can't believe we've lived in the village all our lives and can't even find a simple store." Naruto sat on the bench worn out already. Between the baby and the constant staring, he was already exhausted which was so unlike him since he was usually full of energy.

"Naruto are you ok you seem... tired" Naruto plastered on a false grin to ease Sakura's worries, but it seemed she saw through it.

"Fine don't tell me the truth I'm just trying to be a good friend come on Shinachiku let's go find the store ourselves." Sakura was about to leave without looking back until he called after her.

"Wait Sakura-chan! I'm sorry I just haven't been getting enough sleep." It was the truth actually he hasn't been getting any sleep because of his constant nightmares that seemed to have picked up over the week. Sakura's gaze softened as cerulean met emerald truth deep in his irises.

"Alright, Naruto you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Let's just find that store and get the things we need to take care of Shinachiku." Naruto nodded excitedly his energy seemed to come back.

Sakura watched him start marching away with only one thing in mind getting to that baby store. Sakura then looked down at Shinachiku who was surprisingly quiet. "Come on Sakura-chan."

Sakura gasped and snapped out of her thoughts she sped up to catch up to Naruto. She felt oddly elated at that moment, and she couldn't figure out why. Her happiness only increased when she spotted the store down the street. She held on tightly to Shinachiku and ran to the store leaving a confused Naruto behind.

Shinachiku starts giggling enjoying the breeze on his face from her run. "The store is this way Naruto!" Naruto blinked then ran after her quickly catching up. Sakura grinned up at Naruto having found the store herself swelling her pride. Naruto chuckled and opened the door for her attempting to be a gentleman. "Thanks."

"Hello welcome to my store." An old lady about 70 greeted the trio since it seemed they were her first customers of the day.

"Hi we need help we are inexperienced about babies so could you help us pick everything we need for them," Sakura smiled nervously at the woman who continued to smirk at them both.

Silence settled around the group for at least a minute before the woman finally decided to speak up. "Of course, I'll help you young folks out it's not easy being new parents." Sakura was about to tell the woman that they weren't parents, but she continued speaking not giving Sakura a chance to retort.

"Come follow me grab a cart you'll need it." Sakura grabbed a cart and put Shinachiku inside of it. Naruto and Sakura exchanged quick glances before following the woman.

"From the looks of that little guy, he's maybe 10 or 11 months old maybe older so what you're going to need are some formula and baby food. No cows' milk until you know for sure he's 1." The old lady put in containers of stuff that looked a lot like powder and small jars of mashed up fruit and vegetables along with other stuff he lost track of.

They walked to another aisle that was full of different brands of diapers, changing tables and bath necessity. The lady started throwing packs of diapers and powder and baby wipes in the cart and handed Naruto the box that was the changing table.

Without a word, they let the woman pack stuff into the cart ranging from toys to pacifiers to blankets and clothes plus more. The two teens could only imagine the price all the stuff was going to cost. Naruto had to summon clones to help carry the stuff. Shinachiku clapped his hands happily at all the stuff just for him. Once they were getting some of the stuff in brown bags, all three of their stomachs were growling, and they were most likely broke.

Everyone except the old lady who was bagging the items and Shikachiku were unhappy including Naruto's clones. "You should know that we have a half off whole purchase for new parents sale. So I ask are you both new parents?" Sakura and Naruto exchanged glances they caught the knowing undertone in her voice. It was obvious that she didn't do it for every new parent that came in but was generous enough to do it for them.

"Yeah, we are Obasan." The price was cut in half and was a bit more affordable and left them with some to spare.

Sakura and Naruto were both thankful for the kind old lady's help and compassion. "Thank you for everything." Sakura bowed, and Naruto followed her lead bowing also.

"It was no problem at all just helping young folks out. Now you two take care of that little boy life's going to throw you obstacles but I know with each other you'll get through it." With one last thanks, they parted from the store. Naruto had the idea to use Kage Bunshin to take the stuff back to Naruto's place since it was way too much to carry their selves.

"That was really nice of her to cut the final price in half." Naruto nodded in agreement not really paying attention but instead making faces at Shinachiku. It was good to keep Shinachiku distracted since it was obvious that he was getting pretty hungry and when babies get hungry they cry.

It seemed that by thinking about Shinachiku not crying caused him to cry then and there. It was amazing how loud a baby could cry. Sakura attempted to calm the baby down, but nothing was working. She let Naruto have a go at calming the little blonde down but just like with her he continued to cry. "He's hungry, so we'll just hurry and get home and feed him." Sakura must not have noticed it, but Naruto did, her little slip up caused his heart to soar. He outwardly grinned his signature fox-like grin that lit up his whole face. Sakura had to turn away from him to avoid getting blinded.

.x.

They finally reached Naruto's apartment trying to avoid and ignore the looks everyone gave them. It felt good to be able to calm Shinachiku down finally. The teens walked into the apartment with a crying and hungry baby. They found the bag filled with food and got a spoon to feed Shinachiku. "Here comes the train Shinachiku." Sakura made engine noises for added effect. As the spoon full of mashed peas came closer Shinachiku's cries only got louder if that was possible.

Sakura sighed after another failed attempt at feeding Shinachiku the disgusting looking stuff. "Please eat it Shinachiku." Instead of eating the peas he smacked it away from him. The food stuck on the wall to Naruto's displeasure.

"Sakura-chan even I wouldn't eat that." Sakura glared at him frustration clear in her eyes. Naruto went through the bag of food looking for the least nasty looking jar of food he could find. He grinned at the jar of applesauce in the bag.

"Here Sakura-chan try this." Sakura with no other options took the jar opened it and put it out in front of Shinachiku. The little blonde sniffed and looked down at the new food in front of him. Sakura smiled encouragingly at him to try it for her. The two caretakers were on the edge of their seats waiting to see what he was going to do next.

To their relief, Shinachiku opened his mouth and allowed her to put the spoon in. Without any issues, he ate the applesauce until it was all gone and even stopped crying. "Thanks for the help Naruto."

"No problem Sakura-chan but now I'm hungry." Naruto really was hungry and hoped Sakura and him could eat at Ichiraku ramen.

Sakura chuckled and handed Naruto Shinachiku she went back to the bag and pulled out a bottle and some formula. She also found the pacifiers and put a blue one in Shinachiku's mouth. Sakura goes about preparing a diaper bag (that the older lady told her about) full of the necessity for Shinachiku. Sakura looked around for a moment before finding what she was looking for the stroller. "Now we can try this."

Naruto was surprised it almost sounded like Sakura was excited. "O-ok Sakura-chan," Sakura smiled gently at the two blondes before gesturing to Naruto to follow her out the door. "Sakura-chan can we head to Ichiraku ramen?"

"Oh, Naruto how many times have I told you that Ichiraku is unhealthy especially if you eat it every day." Naruto had a look on his face that begged her to reconsider. And like a sucker, she fell for it. "Fine, we'll go." Naruto set Shinachiku in the stroller and fastened him up.

Sakura watched with gentle eyes at the way Naruto treated Shinachiku with such kindness as if he was his own. She held on tightly to the strap of the baby bag when Naruto even ruffled his blonde hair. "He would make a great father." She thought to herself refusing to voice said thoughts aloud.

Sakura began walking away from the display that made her heart beat a bit faster then it should. Naruto noticed her abrupt departure and quickly followed behind her pushing the stroller. "Sakura-chan you didn't tell me you were leaving," Naruto whined before she could say anything back a couple of girls around their age walked up to them. "What a cute baby is he yours?" Naruto was going to say no but was cut off.

"Of course he is they look just alike." One of the girls said.

Sakura rolled her eyes and stormed away repeating to herself that she wasn't jealous. Naruto called out to her and somehow got past the crowd of girls that formed in a matter of minutes. "Sakura-chan why do you keep walking away."

"Well unlike you I'm hungry." He could tell that there was something deeper than that but left it alone. They walked to Ichiraku in silence neither feeling the need to say anything.

Naruto received looks from all the females they walked by. Sakura damn near snapped at each girl that walked up to them and asked to hold Shinachiku. Naruto being an idiot doesn't feel the rage rolling off of her. The little ramen shop came into view, and she had never been so happy to see it.

Sakura unknowingly sped up to get to the shop faster. "Sakura-chan..." he wasn't an idiot as much as everyone thought, but he knew that she was upset at him he just couldn't figure out why.

"Ahh, Naruto my favorite custom-" Teuchi looked down to where his hands were connected to...

For once Teuchi was stunned to silence, he glanced at Sakura then at Naruto and then at the sleeping baby. Ayame came from the back with a happy grin on her face until she noticed her father's stunned expression and the three before them. "Awww he's such a cutie!" Ayame slid over the counter to get a closer look at the blonde that to her looked like a carbon copy of Naruto.

Teuchi began chuckling finally snapping out of his shock. "Come on and take a seat I'm sure you're hungry this one on the house."

Ayame was busy gushing at the child. "I bet you're real popular with the females now Naruto." Sakura snorted and walked past them to take a seat at the counter. "The usual Sakura?" Sakura sighed and nodded with a tired smile. She really needed a new place to eat at it was bad that Teuchi knew her order by heart.

"We always knew you two were going to get together, but we didn't know you two would have a kid already." Sakura began coughing choking on her own saliva receiving worried glances from everyone.

"No no no I think you're mistaken this is just a long-term mission that Tsunade forced on me. Also, Naruto and I aren't together," Sakura said with defiance as if the thought of having a child or even being in a relationship with Naruto wasn't possible.

"Oh ok, can I hold him?" Sakura calmed down and nodded to the young woman. Sakura turned back to Teuchi who just arrived with two bowls of ramen one for her and one for Naruto.

"Thank you." She grabbed a chopstick and broke it apart. "Itadakimasu." Before digging into her ramen, she glanced over at her blonde friend who was usually the first to dig in.

"Naruto? Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh uh yeah." Naruto sat down beside her with a sad expression. He was still thinking about how strongly she disagreed with them actually being a couple. "Itadakimasu." He said slowly before eating at a normal pace. Sakura sighed before also digging into her ramen she would just have to talk to him later.

It seemed that the longer they stayed and ate Naruto's mood shot back up. Although the issue still bothered him he didn't want Sakura to worry about him.

Sakura being done eating first was given Shinachiku by Ayame. It was a surprise that Shinachiku was still fast asleep. Ayame watched the two closely as they communicated and looked like a family. From an outsider point of view, it looked like they were really a family if you didn't know the situation.

"He actually looks like a clone of Naruto," Sakura smiled down sadly at the child in her arms her eyes tracing his every feature.

"I guess he does." The comforting silence was interrupted by a loud shriek behind them. Standing with the flap lifted and gaped openly was her best friend (although that could be debated) and rival Ino Yamanaka.

"You went and got knocked up?!" And after that loud yell came a baby's cry from her arms. Just another day in the strange life of Sakura Haruno.

.x.

A/N: Don't forget to review.

Japanese translations:

Kon'nichiwa Misu-Hello miss

Itadakimasu-Thanks for the food

Revise: 1-13-19