Chapter 16

I don't own Naruto

Naruto's Baby Chapter 16

Ai slowly woke up when a strange smell came to her senses. She opened her eyes, her sniffs could be heard lightly as she was coming to consciousness. The three-year-old didn't know the smell, but she didn't like it.

Then a rather loud beeping echoed in the area, making the girl sit up abruptly. She gasped and noises that sounded like pots and pans crashing into one another. She didn't take the time to realize where she was, but she seemed to know where the door was. She got out of the bed slowly, crawling out and easing herself down from the elevated furniture and walked to the door, opening.

"Morning," she yawned, her hair that was usually in a ponytail was puffed out like a lion's mane, spiky with a nappy nature. She saw the blonde man opening the window and letting out the smoke. He seemed to be the cause of the noise, and all he could do was laugh. "Good morning baby!" He said in glee despite the fact that he had burnt breakfast. "I hope you slept well!" Naruto said gleefully. He threw the burnt food and pain outside the window and tried to air out the apartment.

The girl yawned once more, rubbing an eye sleepily. She looked around, seeing that she was in the apartment that Shizune had brought her to yesterday, but she had left. Her eyes scanned the area and then they fell back on Naruto. "What were you doing?" She asked.

"I was making breakfast," Naruto answered her, still grinning.

She eyed the man and tilted her head, "that's not how Papa makes breakfast."

Naruto's eye twitched when she said that, but he kept up his good nature, especially since this was a huge change for the girl. He had to learn patience, along with his child.

The girl walked over to the western-style table and pulled out the chair, and sat down. Naruto watched her actions, making him smile a bit more. He went down and sat next to her at the table. Ai eyed him a bit, and then asked, "what is for breakfast?"

"Oh…well I was trying to make some omelets and rice, but I left the eggs on the stove for long, and they burnt really quickly," Naruto laughed. Ai looked over to the kitchen and saw a pot was on the stove and knew it was on because she could see the steaming coming out it. What the child had missed was seeing the cookbook that Naruto had opened as he was going to try to learn to cook more things for his child. He had been putting it off when he was on the road with Jiraiya, and now he regretted not picking up some cooking lessons, though Jiraiya couldn't cook either.

Naruto looked over as well and said, "I haven't really had time to go to the store, but I had some ramen, so I'm making some for the two of us," Naruto said. Ai looked at him with wide eyes, "but ramen isn't a breakfast food."

Naruto laughed and put his hand on her shoulder, "ramen is good any time of the day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Naruto stood up and went to check on the ramen, and when it was finished, he put some in a smaller bowl and the rest in the larger bowl. He came back over and put the bowl down, giving the smaller one to Ai, and the larger one was for himself. "Itadakimasu," Naruto chimed and began eating. Ai merely stared at the bowl and looked back at Naruto while he ate. He stopped eating when he noticed the girl not eating. "What's wrong?"

It looked like a lot was going through her head, but she down at the bowl and said, "chopsticks."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and realized what she meant. "Oh right!" He got up and went to get her the chopsticks used for children so that they could learn how to them. Naruto gave her a colorful pair that he had actually got her when he was traveling with Jiraiya for her to use. "Here you go," Naruto said. Ai reached out and took the utensil, and clapped her hands together, "itadakimasu," she cooed and began eating.

Naruto was getting dressed and looked over when Ai was trying to brush her hair. She took one attempt, and when it hurt, she stopped and decided not to bother with it. Naruto sat on the bed and said, "Ai, come here, I'll brush your hair," he said. Ai was shaking her head, and Naruto said, "come on Ai, it needs to be brushed." Ai went over, and Naruto reached over and grabbed the hair brush. He didn't really think about how difficult it was to brush hair.

Ai said down in front of him, and Naruto started at the top of her head and tried to brush down. He noticed how tangled the hair actually was. Ai began to cry out when he began to yank the brush down. "Where do you get this hair from?!" Naruto yelled as he had to wrestle with the now struggling girl with her hair. Ai began kicking out and scream in pain.

When Naruto got the brush out of her hair, he looked and was amazed at how much came out in a knot. He was terrified, not because he could have given his daughter a bald spot, but the fact that he didn't. Her hair was so thick that it was like brush through a web of knots. Ai began to crawl away on the bed, but Naruto had to hold her down once more, "come on Ai! It's no big deal!" He said and began to do this repeatedly until the child's hair was contained with an elastic band and her bangs were brushed out.

Naruto panted at that. "You're stronger then you look Ai," he said as the girl looked was laying down with her hair in the elastic band for about five seconds until it snapped and her hair brushed out. Naruto groaned and said, "you can leave your hair down today."

Ai slipped on her blue sandals along with Naruto. She was finally dressed, wearing a red dress with a white short-sleeve shirt under it. Naruto stood up when his shoes were put on, he bent down and picked up Ai, which she wasn't okay with.

"I'm a big girl!" She pouted.

Naruto laughed and put her down, "okay Ai but stay close to me," he said and took her hand as they headed out. "Where are we going?"

"Well I have to go meet with my teammates today, and I'm going to drop you off at the daycare," he said.

"Who are your teammates?" Ai asked.

"One of them is Sakura, but I'll be meeting the other two members today," Naruto answered. Ai smiled, "Saku-nee-chan is part of your team?"

"Yep," Naruto answered. He was curious though and looked down at the girl, "you call her Saku-nee-san, is that how you see her?"

Ai thought about why, but answered, "daddy and papa told me to since she sometimes watched over me," she chimed, "she watched Zuko and I a bunch of times. He calls her that as well."

"Zuko?" Naruto asked and remember, "Oh yeah, that's Granny Tsunade's son…I wonder what he looks like now…probably a mini-version of Granny Tsunade I'm willing to bet," Naruto said.

"He's my bestest friend," Ai said. "Along with Senji-kun!" Naruto smiled. His child had more friends than when he was that age. It made him feel good. His child wasn't going to be a social outcast. Ai let go of his hand and began skipping ahead of him. Naruto watched as his daughter smile and wave at some of the vendors. "Morning!" Ai waved at some older woman and hopped along.

They headed to the daycare and when Naruto signed the girl in, he told the woman that he would be picking up Ai from now on as her guardian. She eyed Naruto skeptically but marked his name down. Naruto also informed her that Iruka is not to come by and see Ai, talk to her, and especially not allowed to pick her up. Ai didn't miss that from Naruto since she was standing next to him by the time she was being signed in. Naruto knelt down and patted the girl's head, "bye baby, have fun at daycare today," he kissed her forehead and headed out. Ai watched him with a stoic expression and the daycare assistance, Naomi, came over, "come along Ai, we still have a few minutes until everyone else arrives, so let's get you settled in," she said.

Ai walked in and saw her playmates. Well, for the most part. Like many children, some kids didn't get along and other who did. Ai looked around, and when she saw some girl, she walked over. There were two girls. One girl had dark pink hair, and the other girl had brown hair. "Can I play with you?" Ai asked.

The two girls looked at Ai, having seen her around Zuko and Senji a lot, but there was another reason why they knew who Ai was. "Aren't you that girl who has the two dads?" The brunette asked.

Ai smiled and nodded, "Yep. I have a papa and daddy, and I had a new papa now," she said and thought about it, "well, he says he's my papa and I think I live with him now, so I have three papas!" Ai said and remembered how Iruka pushed her out of the house. Her smile didn't falter, though.

The two girls looked at Ai, and tilted their heads, "you don't have a mama at all?" The dark pink hair girl asked.

"Nope!" Ai smiled still.

"Did she die?" The brunette girl asked.

"I never had one," Ai said. Children didn't know that there were some things that were meant to keep to themselves. It's usually to avoid situations relating to bullying or blabbering about something that wasn't their business.

The two girls let Ai join I their fun, as they were playing with some dolls. "Here Ai, you can play daddy!" The girl said, handing her the toy. Ai didn't see the harm, or the difference, and began playing with the girls.

Zuko walked over when he arrived, Shizune dropping him off, and he noticed Ai playing with the girls for the first time. "What are you doing?"

Ai looked up to her friend, "Zuko! I'm playing house with Akiko and Sora, wanna join us?" She asked. Zuko looked annoyed, "why would I wanna play with some girly dolls?"

"Oh no! I have the boy toy! Dolls can be for boys as well!" Ai said as she showed him the male doll. Zuko shook his head, "I guess I should have known better. You are just a girl after all," he said and walked off. Ai tilted his head in confusion. "Zuko!" She ran over and stopped him. "Why did you say something so mean like that?"

"I don't like those girls Ai," Zuko said and turned to glare at them since he saw them looking at him. "They give me weird looks."

Ai hadn't noticed that before, and shrugged it off, "maybe they just wanna play with you, and you scare them."

"I'M NOT SCARY!" Zuko yelled and crossed his arms. Ai knew him better than anyone else other than Shizune and his mother. Ai looked at the boy and laughed. She could never be scared of Zuko, but that didn't mean other students couldn't be. Ai took his hand, "Okay, let's go play together then," she said and waved the girls good-bye while they went to a different area of the room and began playing with a ball.

It wasn't until a boy came over. Ai looked up and said, "Hiya, what's your name?"

"IT'S ME YOU IDIOT!" Senji yelled at the girl.

Ai blinked and looked at the boy. His hair was so short, no length to it but he wasn't bald. "This was all that my dad could save of my hair," he said and sat down. "My dad was so mad at me that I'm grounded from doing anything fun at my house."

Ai's smile faltered, and she lowered her head meekly, "Sorry," she said in sympathy.

Senji smirked, though, "it's fine. It might not be long anymore, but at least it's not like yours Ai-chan," he said and sat down, "I've never seen your hair down before." He said and turned to Zuko, "have you?"

"Once or twice, but it is strange," Zuko commented and pushed the ball toward the Hyuuga child. Senji caught the ball and rolled it over to Ai. "I haven't seen you in a while. What have you been doing?" He asked Ai. She caught the ball and answered, "well, I moved into a new place with a new papa. I don't like him very much," she said and pushed the ball to Zuko. "Really? How come?"

"He doesn't know how to cook," Ai comment. "And he did grab me from my papa's arms a few days ago," Ai thought back, though it was a little longer than what she remembered. "He made ramen for breakfast."

"Ramen? That sounds cool." Senji said. "It was gross, he didn't make it right," Ai replied. "It was pork flavor. I like chicken."

Suddenly the group of kids was called together. They all got up and stood in their assigned rows. The workers at the daycare often had lessons for children, and one of the lessons was the hand signs games. They had to learn hand signs for their next ninja lessons, and this was the most efficient way to learn them to the hand signs.

"Okay students! We're going to go over our hand signs! Everyone get ready," the assistant said.

Sakura and Naruto were walking along after the meeting with the new team Kakashi. Naruto was highly annoyed because Sai was just a jerk to put it nicely. That wasn't the only reason, though. "I heard you got custody of Ai again," Sakura said.

Naruto smiled, "yeah. I did."

"How's she adjusting?" Sakura asked. Naruto's smiled faded, and he looked down, "she keeps saying I'm not her papa. I never thought I would ever hear those words from my own child."

"Then again, she thought Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei were her parents. That's all she really knows," Sakura commented. Naruto glared a bit, "Yeah and I'm mad they tricked me…I know it was just Iruka who lied and Kakashi had no reason why not to trust him, but Ai thinks they are her parents and that's not fair to me. I wanted to take her with me. I never wanted to be apart from my child."

"You know, I never asked because this wasn't my place, but who's Ai's father?" Sakura asked. "I mean, do you know?"

Naruto didn't look at Sakura after that question. With the recent run-in with Itachi because of the Akatsuki, it would have been obvious. That genjutsu used on him, when his stomach swelled, despite it being a genjutsu, brought back some memories he didn't want to think about. "It's Uchiha Itachi," Naruto admitted.

Sakura's eyes widen, and she jumped in front of Naruto, stopping him, "wait a minute! You're telling me that Ai is an Uchiha?! Sasuke's niece?!" She said. Naruto looked at her with an annoyed face, "shout it to the freaking world why don't you Sakura?"

"Ai is an Uchiha! You know she'll have the sharingan, right!?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and clapped his hands together, "YES! I KNOW!" Naruto screamed practically. "I know what this will mean. This means that my child will have the same kekkei genkai that Sasuke has and that Kakashi-sensei possesses. I am aware of this! Now you need to not say this to anyone because that will endanger my child's life, so shut up," Naruto said as they were nearing the daycare.

Sakura didn't take kindly to Naruto telling her to shut up, and she punched him in the face, "how dare you tell me to shut up you loud-mouthed-knuckle-head!"

Students were outside and saw the girl hit the boy, and among them was Ai. She had never seen Sakura punch anyone before and the strength she had was so cool. She wanted that for herself! What Sakura didn't know that she did was implant a tiny seed within Ai's consciousness.

Naruto picked Ai up from daycare once he was able to recover from his hit and took Ai to Ichiraku Ramen. Ai grimaced, "I want food."

"I'm taking you to Ichiraku, we are going to get food," Naruto said as he held her hand, leading her. "But we already had ramen!" Ai whined. Naruto knelt down and said, "Remember what I said earlier about ramen is good any time of the day?" The child nodded. "It's also good all day, every day."

Ai never ate ramen a lot. Iruka knew that it wasn't healthy and Ai wasn't really a big fan of it. She liked her favorite flavor, but she wanted something else. "I want chicken!"

"There is chicken flavored ramen!" Naruto said as he now dragged the girl to the restaurant. Ai was skidding her heels and protesting. "NO!"

Naruto's frustrations were building up before they even reached the restaurant. He turned sharply when Ai kept screaming. "You want chicken?! Here," he said and gave her his froggy pouch. "You're a big girl now right? Go buy some chicken. There's a barbecue place down that way, I'll see you in a while," he said, shooing the girl off.

Ai held the pouch in her hands and looked up with teary eyes from her previous crying. Naruto walked in Ichiraku, and Ai stood there for a few minutes before she began walking off. She knew Konoha fairly well, but being by herself was scary. She walked to the barbecue restaurant that she knew served chicken and a lot of meats that she ate. She remembered coming in with Iruka and Kakashi, and many other people she knew.

She walked up to the lady behind the stand and asked, "can I eat here? I have money," she lifted the pouch. Unlike Naruto's upbringing, where people knew who he was and made him avoid many places, Ai was an innocent child and she went around and knelt to the girl. "Where are your parents?"

Ai thought about the recent events in her life and began crying. The worker took Ai to the counter and sat her down, "stay here, I'll get you some food. What do you want?" She asked the girl. Ai sniffled, looking at the nice lady, "my papa."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you Hokage-sama, but when I tried getting a hold of the other people, they wouldn't answer," the worker said. Tsunade walked in and saw the girl, eating some chicken slowly. Tsunade looked to the server, "there wasn't anyone else with her?"

"No milady. She was just by herself."

Tsunade walked closer and sat down next to the girl. Ai smiled and hugged the woman, and Tsunade picked her up. Tsunade had Ai on her hip and said, "thank you for watching over her," Tsunade said and walked her back to Naruto's apartment.

She had few choice words for the blonde male.