Nanny or Mommy
Chapter 9: I Love You
Disclaimer: I Don't own Naruto.
"So it's been 2 weeks since you've started living with world-famous Uzumaki and his brats. How's it been?" Before Sakura could even sit down with her best friend she was already being questioned.
"It's also been 2 weeks since I last saw you and this is the first thing you want to talk about and on my day off too?" Sakura finally sat down with her best friend at her old job. She didn't know what she expected when she decided to meet up with Ino at her old workplace. Perhaps a few changes here and there but then again it's only been 2 weeks so it's to be expected.
"You can't dodge this Sakura." Sakura sighed knowing that the only way to get Ino off her back was to spill the beans.
"Ok ok it's been going pretty ok the kids are really starting to warm up to me." She smiled fondly thinking about the kids.
"Woah woah now don't get too attached to them you only have one more year of college to finish then you're helping out at the hospital which means you can't be their nanny anymore." Sakura rolled her eyes she knew all of that and didn't need Ino to remind her.
"I know but I can't help it they're so lovable." Ino blinked taking a break from sipping her vanilla latte. 'Was Sakura gushing?'
"Ok who are you and where is the real Sakura?" Her question was awarded a glare in her direction. Which she plainly shrugged off. "Ok, so you love the kids what about the father of those brats?"
"It's...weird." The confusion in Sakura's voice caught her attention instantly.
"What do you mean?" Ino leaned in and waited eagerly for Sakura to reveal some juicy details.
"Even though he's not around that much I feel like something's different from when we first met. The way he treats me that is..." Sakura didn't know how to describe it and didn't know what the change meant either.
"Maybe he's just being nice to you I mean you're pretty much his saving grace since his kids don't like any other nanny." Sakura thought about it for a moment and agreed with her fully.
"Yeah, I guess you're right but sometimes it's a nice feeling when we all get together like two days ago..."
Flashback
Lately, Sakura has been thinking about their behavior and its effect on the kids. She noticed how much of a potty mouth Naruto had (and her too). Naruto didn't seem to care despite her warning him every time he said a bad word around them. She had to admit she's sort of a hypocrite since every now and then a bad word would slip out of her mouth also but it wasn't as frequent as Naruto's.
So she formed an idea that would hopefully help them.
...
"A swear jar...?" Sakura grinned at the older blonde with the glass jar in her hands that had the words "swear jar" on the front of it.
"Sakura-chan what is a swear jar?" Boruto asked looking at the jar closely.
"I'm glad you asked Bolt. This wonderful jar here is going to be filled with money every time me or your father or any other adult that comes into this mansion and say a bad word." She grinned happily at Bolt while setting the jar on the kitchen island.
"Sakura..." She already prepared herself for whatever Naruto was going to say about the whole idea. Before he could say anything further she dragged him out of the kitchen to speak with him privately.
"I know what you're going to say but I think it's a great idea we don't have the best language like the other day when you were late you used the word shit about three times with the kids..." Her eyes widened when he put a finger on her lips to get her to stop talking.
"I think that's one dollar for the swear jar." Sakura was silent for a moment even when he withdrew his finger and was now smirking all smug like at her. "You asshole I thought you didn't like the idea that's why I was explaining myself and-"
"2 dollars."
"Oh come on asshole is not a swear."
"So if Bolt or Himawari said that word you would let them?" She narrowed her eyes at him and was silent for a moment she didn't want to admit it but he was right. "By the way that's 3 dollars."
With that, he took off back into the kitchen where she chased him until they were caught in a standstill with her in front of the table and him behind it. She glared angrily at him as he kept laughing at her failed attempts to catch him.
He didn't plan on her jumping across to the table to tackle him to the ground.
Flashback interrupted
"Hold on you tackled him to the ground?" If Ino didn't know any better she would think they were flirting with each other in a sort of love-hate way.
"Yeah, it was a sort of an in the moment kind of thing." She blushed slightly as she remembered what happened once she did tackle him to the ground.
Flashback continued
Naruto was sort of disoriented when he hit the ground but was aware of who was laying on top of him. "Wow, you actually tackled me." He winced when she punched him in the arm but was smirking nonetheless.
"I'm definitely not complaining or anything but is there a reason you're still straddling me?" His smirk widened turning into a full-blown grin when he saw the blush developing on her face. She quickly stood up muttering an apology but her weight was quickly replaced by his two kids who decided it would be fun to jump on him.
"Aw come on guys we should finish talking about the swear jar." The kids quickly got off of him and went to their seats at the island (Sakura helped Himawari up to her chair).
"It's a dollar per bad word..." she mumbled while ignoring her boss' smug face.
"Don't forget Sakura-chan you said a bad word three times so you have to put three dollars into the jar." He said all innocent like clearly mocking her.
"The kids weren't even around but, I was getting to that Baka." She took out three dollars and put them into the jar reluctantly.
"Daddy what is those for." Himawari looked to her left where her father sat and stared at him with big blue eyes filled with wonder.
"What are those Hime." He corrected her but wasn't worried about her grammar that much she was only three. "Those are dollars also referred to as money. Money is used to get things this is called buying." He patted her head gently.
"I guess we should decide what to do with the money from the swear jar."
"Hmm how about you kids it'll be your own personal money." Naruto grinned down at Himawari who seemed to like that idea despite not quite understanding what money was or was used for even though Naruto already explained it.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" The only answer she got was a thumbs up. "Alright, whatever you feel is right I guess." She sighed as she stared at her three dollars just sitting there staring back at her tauntingly.
Flashback End
"Wow, you guys seem like an actual family." Sakura laughed not believing for a second that they seemed like a family.
"As if, it's like you said I'm not going to be there for long a year maybe I have a life and a career to further." Ino looked at Sakura with just a hint of doubt. It's only been a week and she could already see how attached she was to the family even Naruto.
"Sakura I just don't want to see you get hurt remember you're their nanny, not their mommy."
Sakura nodded in agreement, "of course they know that and I know that."
"Do they really?" Ino questioned.
.x.
Naruto looked at his waterproof watch for the fifth time in the past 30 minutes. He passed the point of being livid. Because of his nanny's grand idea of painting with his kids to pass the time while she's away here he was bathing his kids that were covered head to toe in the stuff.
Might he add that the water either ended up on him or the floor forcing him to put some more water back into the tub due to their playing? After another 10 minutes of the continued cycle pass, he heard her voice calling to them. He would have got up and met her but he was currently scrubbing paint out of the hair of his crying three year old.
Evidently, he was being a bit rough with shampooing her hair. It's not his fault it was his first time shampooing anyone's hair other than Bolt's and his own a nanny or maid washes her hair for him. "Hime please sit still so I can get all this paint out." He stressed through gritted teeth.
Sakura, of course, found them in the bathroom and boy was it a mess. "Uh need any help?" Naruto glared at her with a look that said 'what do you think?'.
Sakura giggled and took off her shoes and bag before stepping into the wet bathroom. "Why don't I do Himawari and you do Bolt's hair?" He sighed and shifted to the right where Bolt was patiently waiting to get his hair washed.
"I see you guys had some fun with the paint. Maybe a bit too much." Sakura gently massaged Himawari's scalp calming the crying child.
"Sakura-chan I painted our family," Himawari said through her sniffles.
"And I painted a race car!" Bolt said excitedly before making race car noises. Naruto sighed he didn't even look at their pictures and silently regretted not asking them about it.
"Oh, really you two will show me after bath time right?" They both nodded happily. She had no doubt they would show her.
Sakura rinsed out the shampoo and was now applying conditioner. "And how was your day?" Naruto said quietly that she almost didn't hear him over Bolt's car noises.
"Meh Ino and I talked for a bit and ate donuts which I picked up at my old job for all of us."
"Yay donuts!" Himawari cheered with Bolt joining in forgetting his toy car momentarily. Sakura giggled while washing out the conditioner and was now cleaning the rest of the paint off of Himawari.
Naruto glanced at the two females who seemed to be having fun even when Himawari splashed Sakura she kept her cool no matter what. He hated how well she was with his kids but he loved it also. He was always going to be there for them and was glad they had someone else who was also going to be there for them.
"And how was your day?" She asked him once she met his gorgeous blue orbs.
"Well, I practiced my lines left them alone for 10 minutes to find them covered in paint." He sighed thinking about the close heart attack he had when he saw his kitchen floors covered in the paint along with his children.
"I also saw that the swear jar had a few extra bills in it since I left." She giggled when she saw him blush from embarrassment.
"You would swear too if you saw how they looked before the bath." He once again sighed now thinking that the swear jar was a horrible idea. A silence settled over the duo as the kids continued to splash each other endlessly.
"You seem stressed is something wrong?" Sakura asked noticing how cranky he was not to mention the sighs. He thought for a moment if he should reveal his issue to the woman. Usually, if he had an issue he would simply ignore it or solve it himself. For some reason, he didn't want to brush off her concern he just needed to vent for a moment.
"For the past 2 weeks, I've been struggling with my part in one of my movies." Naruto turned his attention to the tub full of mix colored water.
"What are you struggling with?" She questioned genuinely concerned about his issue.
"Evidently I have an issue with saying I love you with emotion behind it and that part is one of the only parts left that needs to be completed for the movie to be done."
She was surprised he was a professional actor and seemed to be struggling with putting emotion behind three simple words. "You've experienced love before right?" He nodded thinking about his kids and his ex-wife.
"Then what's the problem? As long as you remember how it felt to say I love you then you can easily say it with emotion behind it." She thought the answer was as simple as one plus one. He was now thinking that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell her.
He groaned out of frustration. "I've tried I haven't said those words in such a long time."
"You mean you don't even tell your kids you love them." She said in disgust receiving a glare from him.
"They already know that I love them and don't need me to say it every day." She stood up quickly and glared down at him she couldn't believe what she was hearing come out of his mouth.
"Are you serious every child needs to hear those words come out of their parent's mouth at least once a week." She thought that he was at least somewhat of a human being but he proved he wasn't and a horrible father too.
"Sakura it's not that big of a deal." Sakura couldn't even look him in the eyes anymore.
"It is how would you know if they know that you love them if you don't even tell them." Before leaving the bathroom she had one more piece of advice for him because even if Naruto wasn't her favorite person right now he still needed her help.
"If you want to be able to put emotion behind those words just picture you saying those words to the person you love the most." With that, she left the bathroom heading to her own room to take her own relaxing bath.
Naruto groaned and turned his attention to his concerned children. "Let's finish up this bath then I'll read a story to you guys." Although that didn't wipe the concerned looks off their faces that did get them to finally stop playing and exit the tub.
With a towel spread out he wrapped it around Himawari and dried her off then he moved to Bolt and dried him off as well. While they were getting dressed he drained the tub and told Bolt to brush his teeth. Bolt grumbled but nonetheless does as he was told while Naruto took care of Himawari. It's going to be a long night.
.x.
The story he read them was about a knight and some princess and once the story was over he let them tell him about their favorite part of the story. He, of course, wasn't paying attention to deep in thought with Sakura's words playing in his head.
He knew what she was thinking maybe something along the lines of him being a horrible father. 'I'm trying my best it's not as easy as it looks.' He thought as his grip tightened on the book in his hands. His kids were his lifeline but the thought of them even thinking for a moment that he didn't love them because he didn't say the words cut deeply.
It's times like this that he misses Hinata and how patient and sweet she was a total opposite of his nanny. Sakura was a no-nonsense type of person and would tell you to your face if you were doing something wrong. His kids built a bond with the woman that after about three weeks was unbreakable.
"Daddy you're not listening," Himawari whined pouting slightly.
"I'm sorry Hime I just have so much on my mind."
"Like what?" Bolt tilted his head cutely out of confusion. Naruto internally smiled at his son who didn't quite hate him as much when Sakura wasn't around.
"...you two know that I love you with all my heart right." He said nervously looking down ashamedly. He was actually afraid of their answer."
Himawari grinned brightly and nodded. "Yes, daddy I love you too." Himawari hugged him tightly earning herself a kiss on the temple. Bolt, on the other hand, didn't say a word just stared.
"Bolt..."
"D-Dad do you really l-love me?" He had tears in his eyes but wouldn't let his father see them. Himawari stopped hugging her father after hearing her older brother say those words. She wanted to comfort her older brother so she gave him a big hug.
"Bolt, of course I love you!" Naruto felt like a deer caught in front of headlights. Has he ignored his son for so long that he doesn't even believe that he loves him? "W-what makes you think I don't love you?" He dreaded the answer to his question but would take it in stride no matter how heartbreaking it was.
"I-it's just that y-you're not always a-around." Naruto couldn't take it anymore he pulled his son and daughter into a big warm and loving hug. He never wanted to let them go especially if what Bolt said was what they actually thought of him.
"I love you both more than words can ever express. Never forget that." He felt Bolt nod against his chest as he silently cried. Naruto felt really bad for causing his son so much pain and would have not even known it if he had not said anything.
"I-I love you too dad." If possible Naruto hugged them tighter to him and sat in silence for at least 10 to 15 minutes. When he heard their breaths even out he knew that they were fast asleep. Quietly and slowly he tucked Himawari in bed and gave her one last peck with Bolt still asleep in his arms.
"Sweet dreams Hime." He exited the room and was on his way to Bolt's room until he noticed Sakura his nanny leaning against the opposite wall with a small smile. She wasn't there for the story but she was there for the touching moment. She was glad that he was learning and improving his relationship with his kids.
She silently followed him to Bolt's room and watched as he tucked Bolt in saying goodnight as well. His eyes lingered on his son for a little bit longer before finally leaving the room.
He met up with Sakura and chose to walk her to her door which was just a few doors away and across from his own. "Thank you." He finally said after the drawn-out silence between them became unbearable.
They reached their own rooms and just stood there looking at each other. Swiftly she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck drawing him closer into a tight embrace. "I told you I'm not just here for the kids but you too. I just want to help in any way I can."
"Thank you." He said again his hot breath tickling her neck slightly causing goosebumps to form on her body. He backed away from her causing her arms to drop back to her side. He felt like he had to repay her somehow his brain was way behind his actions. Before he could stop himself he put a small kiss on her slightly oversized forehead. Shocking not only her but himself as well. Just as quick as it came it went away when he realized what he was doing.
"G-goodnight Sakura-chan." He quickly opened his door and shut it without even waiting to see how she felt about the small kiss.
'Fuck this is going to be awkward.'
"The regret of my life is that I have not said 'I love you' often enough."
-Yoko Ono
End
Love is a tricky thing I understand where Naruto is coming from. I don't quite remember my parents telling me they love me that often growing up but I always knew that they did because of their actions but I feel it's had a negative impact on me personally. I say that because nowadays when they say it I'm forced to say it back which for some odd reason I'm uncomfortable saying it. Sakura I feel was raised in a household that said it often I imagine Sakura being raised in a setting like the show Full House lmao. It's all about how you were raised to actually choose a side on this topic.
It's fucking frustrating as hell trying to think about how a three year old and five year old speak without making them sound like their older then they are. I'm banging my head on my desk when I reread their speech. I'm failing miserably here T^T. Anyway enough complaining.
Review and tell me what you thought of this chapter or the story so far.
Revised: 12/14/18
