Chapter 10: Flower Girls
-Hinata
2 months have passed since Naruto and I got married. I was still trying to find places in our cozy little home to put all the wedding gifts. I finished my breakfast and looked at all the cardboard boxes littered around our house. I sighed; might as well get to them eventually.
I looked at the clock: 5:00 a.m.; I was up early. I pulled out a kunai knife and slit open the top of a fairly large box. I put the knife back and pulled the flaps open, revealing what was inside: a coffee maker. I reached in and grabbed the gift tag:
To: Naruto + Hinata
From: Sakura
I smiled. At least Sakura didn't give us another "baby-maker" blanket. We had those coming out of our ears.
I pulled it out and set it on the counter-top. I'd set that up later. I turned and went back to the box, moving some wrapping peanuts out of the way. I stared at what I found. A book? I reached in and picked it up, turning it over to see the cover. "Memories of a Lifetime" was embellished into the cover and underneath, a picture of me and Naruto kissing at our wedding. I blushed and opened up the cover to read who it was from: Kakashi, Guy, and Tsunade. I secretly thanked them and put it slightly open on one of our many display shelves.
Suddenly, I heard ruffling from the other side of the house. I walked over to the hallway and tried to see if anyone was coming. I saw nothing. I brushed it off as nothing and turned around, walking back to the open box.
Before I knew it, I was hoisted up into the air and caught by Naruto. After I'd recovered from the shock, I told him, "So you were up, Naruto."
He laughed. "Is that a crime, Hinata?"
"Maybe. How much do you want your bail to be?"
"How about a kiss?"
"Okay," and I made a pretend hammer, banging it on the air. "Bail set at one kiss," I said in a manly voice before turning my head to kiss my husband.
-Kiba
"Here come the newly-weds," I whispered to the rest of the shinobi standing in line once I caught a whiff of their scent. Akamaru barked in agreement.
"Which direction?" Sakura asked me, looking behind us.
"Southeast," I whispered back, patting Akamaru's head.
Sakura started spreading it down the line to all the other ninjas. Tsunade came down from her office, looking at the faces of the shinobi on duty today. "Where are Naruto and Hinata?" she asked in an authoritative voice.
"Late," I muttered.
"Trying to skip work, huh."
"No, they're coming, Sensei," Sakura interjected, giving me a cold glare.
"They better be."
The leaves behind us swirled in a whirlwind and Naruto and Hinata joined the rest of us. "You're a little late, Naruto."
"Yeah, I know, Kiba."
"Naruto and Hinata," Tsunade said in a loud tone. "You are about 5 minutes late."
"Sorry, Tsunade-san," Naruto told her. "We were uh…looking through our wedding gifts."
Sakura burst out laughing. "Are you sure you weren't doing something else?" Then the whole line of ninjas started laughing.
"No Sakura, we weren't doing that."
"I would hope not Naruto, not when you're on duty," Tsunade told him, a little irritated. "Anyway, if each of you will come forward, I'll give you your missions."
-Sakura
The shinobi of Konoha had been on missions for about a week straight now. At least this coming week we had mostly off. I threw my bag down and flopped onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. I wonder what Naruto and Hinata were doing right now. Probably on another one of their post-marriage dates. I shook the thought of what would happen after that out of my mind; I wasn't as perverted as Jiraiya was.
I turned my head to look at my clock: 11:00 p.m. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep. At least tomorrow I didn't have another mission…
-Hinata
I got up a little late, feeling kind of sick. As I stumbled out of our bedroom and into the family room/kitchen, I noticed a slip of paper on the countertop. I went over and picked it up:
Hinata-
Went out early this morning to Ichiraku's.
Meet you at the Hokage's place at the normal time.
Love you lots,
-Naruto
I sighed and laid the note back on the countertop. I groaned and held my stomach; I might be too sick to work today. I sat down in the couch as another wave of nausea washed over me. Just then, I realized I wouldn't be able to hold it back and rushed to the bathroom, throwing up last night's dinner.
As I cleaned myself up, I noticed the package of pregnancy testers someone had anonymously given me. It wouldn't hurt to check…
-Naruto
I prayed she wouldn't be late as I stood in the office, looking at all the ninjas slowly pile up. I stared at the clock: 10 minutes until she was supposed to be here. Hinata, where are you?
-Hinata
Mixed feelings came over me as I stared at the pink cross in the window. There was no way I could've gotten pregnant on the first try, so I took the test again. Another positive. Why was this happening to me?!
I turned to look at the clock and realized that I was extremely late. I hurried and got dressed, praying that Tsunade wouldn't punch my lights out.
-Naruto
Hurry Hinata, I thought as I watched Tsunade gather her papers and start to head down. If you're not here when she does the headcount…
"Naruto," someone from behind me whispered and I jumped, half turning around to see who it was: Sakura.
"Oh, it's just you Sakura-chan."
"Where's Hinata? You know Tsunade-sama's temper. If she's not here real soon…"
"I know, I know. The thing is…I really don't know where she is or what she's doing."
"Well, you better find out right now, she's coming."
I looked up and saw Tsunade descending down the steps. I swallowed hard. I turned around to see if there was any sign of her: nothing. C'mon Hinata, hurry up.
"Naruto!" Tsunade commanded.
"Yes," I responded kind of shakily.
"Where is your wife?"
There was no way she was going to let this slide. "I don't know."
You could tell she was angry. Wait, more than angry, pissed off. "I told you not to be late again… you know how that takes time out of the day, time we could use doing missions. So why are you late?"
"Uh…I-I really don't know where or why-"
"Sorry, Tsunade-san," a familiar voice interrupted while a hand landed on my shoulder. "Naruto, I need to talk to you," she whispered, looking a bit anxious.
"We'll be right back," I told Tsunade, turning around to go with her to a secluded place. "What's up?" I asked once we had gotten there.
"I knew you wouldn't've believe it, so I brought proof," and she pulled something out of her pocket.
"Is that-"
"A pregnancy test? Yes."
She gave it to me and I stared at the little pink cross in the window, my jaw dropping a little more each second. "Y-Y-You're…P-P-Pregnant?" She smiled sweetly at me but I could tell that she was worried about how I would react. "T-That's…Great!" Her tensed body relaxed a bit.
"But here's the thing Naruto…I've had really bad cramps all day today…I'm not sure I'll be able to work…"
"It'll be fine. We'll talk to Tsunade about it."
"Thanks," she told me and turned around to leave. "Are you coming?"
"Yeah."
---LATER
I walked through the door, holding a larger-than-normal stack of paperwork. "She's really laying it on you," Hinata observed, eyeing the large stack of papers I'd laid down on the coffee table.
"Yeah, no breaks from being the Hokage," I responded, plopping down into the couch. She scooted a little bit closer and curled her arm inside mine so that our elbows were locked. Then, she grabbed my hand and leaned into me so that her head was resting on my shoulder.
"How long do you think it's going to take you?" she asked, still eyeballing the large amount of paperwork.
"I'm not sure," I told her, rubbing my eyes and yawning, "Maybe past midnight."
She sighed and kissed me for much longer than normal. "Don't be too late to bed, you might get sick."
"Don't worry, I won't be." And she went off to bed, waving one last goodbye to me.
-Hinata
I could easily feel it. The pain was extremely bad but not as bad as being punched in the gut by Tsunade. I tried to keep the impediment screams from coming out and I sat up, looking around for Naruto; he was no where in sight. I laid back down as the cramps got worse and I instantly realized what happened next: my water broke.
I started to panic a bit and called for Naruto, trying to take deep breaths. He rushed in through the doorway and, just like me, instantly realized what was going on. "My water broke Naruto."
"Um…Okay…Just stay like that…" and he came over and carefully picked me up.
I groaned. "Just hurry," I told him, trying to sound like I wasn't in too much pain.
Before I knew it, we were in the forest, traveling at a blinding speed. I tried to keep my groans to myself and just bear with it, but some of them escaped my lips.
"Are you alright?" he asked, obviously concerned.
"Y-Yeah…I'll be fine."
He sighed while keeping a steady pace. "You're lying again, aren't you?"
"Nothing gets past you, does it?"
He smiled and said nothing else. Everything was happening so fast that I barely realized that we had gotten to the hospital already. Once we were inside, we found Sakura sleeping behind the counter.
"Sakura-chan, get up!" Naruto called, still holding me.
Sakura slowly opened her eyes and moaned, "What?"
"Hinata's water broke; she's going to be delivering any second."
That news woke her up and she promptly hopped out of the chair and came over, looking at the situation. "We have to get her to delivery," she told us and immediately turned to head down the hallway. "Follow me!" she called and ran down the hall; Naruto followed.
-Sakura
"Push!" I shouted; Hinata tried with all her might, taking a deep breath, and pushing again. A head popped into my vision. "Come on, push again!"
"I'm…trying!" she screamed at me. I looked at Naruto, still holding her hand, and his horrified expression. He had obviously never seen Hinata like this.
"You're almost there; push again!" I told her once most of the body was out. A large groan came from her and I got the baby in my arms, swaddling it in a blanket. "Congratulations, it's a girl," I told her, handing the baby to Hinata. The expression she wore on her face made it all worth it. Just then, it hit me that she was the one that was supposed to have twins; where was the second one? "Oh, Hinata, you have to keep going. There's supposed to be 2!"
She handed the girl to Naruto and began to push again, while Naruto skillfully held the baby in only one arm. "I don't think I can keep doing this…"
"Yes, you can. You have to keep going." She continued to push but I saw no end in sight; not even a glimpse of a head. Was it already dead? Just then, I saw a little round head in view again. "Oh, it's coming! Keep going!" and she continued pushing. Finally, I was able to swaddle the other one in a blanket and hand her to them. "It's another girl." That perfect expression came back to her face, and, suddenly, all those hours of groaning became worth it.
Only then did I realize the time: 6:30 a.m. "Oh geez, I have to be at Tsunade's place soon."
"Yeah…Can you tell her the news for me?" Naruto asked.
"Sure can. But first, we need to set you guys up in a room," and I started to clean up.
-Naruto
"See you guys later!" Sakura called before she left the room, dressed to do a mission.
"Naruto…" Hinata started, "What should we name them?" Only then did it occur to me that we hadn't even picked out any names.
"Um…How about Hana?" I asked.
"Flower? No…But I think that's a good track…What about a specific type of flower?"
"Hmm…" and I started to go through my vocabulary, "How about Ayame?"
"Iris, huh…I like it. Which one should we give that name to?"
"The one that has your hair," I told her, pointing to the brunette.
She grinned. "Okay, what about the other one?"
I racked my brain for another name that wasn't too common. "Kiku," I suddenly blurted out.
A large smile spread across her face. "Chrysanthemum…It's so perfect. Ayame and Kiku…Our dream come true…"