Chapter 18

I don't own Naruto

Naruto's Baby Chapter 18

Onyx color orbs opened softly. The girl who possessed these eyes was finally awake after her usual eight hours of slumber. She looked around her surrounds, seeing how the only natural light source was the sun outside her room. She sat up, yawned and got herself out of bed. Her bedroom had changed considerably since her apartment was destroyed many years ago from one of the attacks against Konoha, something she had no memory of. She painted her walls a teal color that matched her white furniture. She looked over to her outfit that she had picked out that day the night before. It was her favorite yellow sweatshirt-dress that she wore pink leggings with.

Uzumaki Ai was seven years old now.

She went to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror for a moment before doing her daily routine. Her hair had darkened since she was a toddler, now a soft brown color. It was about down to her waist regarding length, but she had short bangs that went to her eyebrows to help frame her face. She grabbed her hairbrush and grabbed some of her hair that had only thicken even more since she had grown up. She began brushing, knowing to start from the bottom and working her way up to work out the knots better, a trick her aunt-Ino had taught her since she had long hair to work with. Ai also brushed her teeth, and splashed her face with the cold water from the sink, smacking her cheeks to not only wake herself up but to assure herself that today would be a good day if she kept her attitude upbeat.

Ai left the bathroom and went to the kitchen, passing by some photos that were hung on the wall by her dad, Naruto. Showing memories of the two of them together for major events in her life since her fourth birthday. There were four photos on the wall. One was of Naruto and Ai, smiling to the camera on her fourth birthday months after Naruto had returned to the village, one in their new home together, the apartment Ai was living in now, one in which Ai, Kakashi, Naruto, and Iruka-sensei were in it together, and the last photo of Naruto's team back when he was a genin.

The girl went to the kitchen and was disappointed once more to see it empty, and yet, she expected for Naruto not to be in there anymore. She went to the fridge and opened in, leaning down and pulled out some leftover chicken and rice from last night's dinner. She heated it up in the microwave, and after the two minutes of waiting, she sat down and began eating.

Ai looked at her wall, particularly at the clock that hung on the wall and sighed. It read 9:03 in the morning. She got up, rewrapping what little food was left on her plate and put it back in the fridge. She walked back to her room and grabbed her book bag, filled with her notebooks, some textbooks, and some of her ninja supplies. She also grabbed her spare key from the counter, locked the door after slipping her blue sandals on, and headed to the academy.

Ai made it to the academy within fifteen minutes, as she was in no hurry even to go. She was already late; it wasn't like her being there any sooner would make her punishment be any less. She walked through the halls of the academy, and when she reached her classroom, she paused for a moment, and took a deep breath, having to mentally prepare herself for whatever yelling was going to take place on her.

She walked in, and all of the students looked over at the sudden noise at the front of the class. The female sensei looked over, seeing Ai walk in. No comment was made, and that surprised a bit, as expressed by her eyes widening a bit. Ai turned and headed to her seat in the front of the class. She put her book bag down and pulled her notes, and just started taking them, like most of the other students in her class. Despite her tardiness to class, Ai was doing fairly well. She wasn't the brightest student, easily average in all of her subjects, but she was not flunking any of her subjects.

The bell for break rung only an hour later, since her arrival, and all of the students sighed in relief as they all enjoyed their lunch break. The sensei looked directly at Ai and asked if she could come with her. When she heard that, Ai merely got up, grabbing her belongings and followed the sensei out.

The woman had pale skin and black hair that was pulled into a thick bun and lipstick on. Ai knew she was a new instructor, as she had introduced herself as that earlier in the school year. Ai only knew her as Sadoru-Sensei. She was a nice lady, but she did yell at Ai whenever she was late. So Ai was curious as to why she wasn't being yelled at today.

Ai was taken around the corner, away from the classroom, and Sadoru placed her hand on her lips. "Enough is enough Ai," she started off. "You've been tardy for three weeks straight, and some days you don't even bother showing up to class," she scolded firmly, but it wasn't the yelling Ai had grown accustomed to. Ai lowered her head a bit, remaining quiet. The teacher looked uneasy, as being strict wasn't as easy as the other teachers made it look. "Ai, why have you been showing up late all of the time?" She asked, trying a new approach.

The girl looked at the sensei and then back down, at her feet, watching as her toes curled a bit with uneasiness. "I don't have an alarm clock," Ai replied softly.

The teacher looked bewildered and didn't really believe that it was the sole reason why she was so late. "What about that parent of yours? Isn't Naruto-san making sure you're waking up?" She asked. Ai looked even more uneasy, as she clutched to her bookbag handles that rested on her shoulders, "um…I go back to sleep whenever he wakes me up," she lied, and it was painfully obvious that she was.

Sadoru looked uneasy and sighed, "please stay after class today Ai, and I'll make sure you get caught up in your notes and assignments," she said. Ai nodded and smiled a bit, "Thank you Sadoru-sensei," she said.

"Go have lunch with your peers, the class will start back in an hour," she said, and Ai nodded and rushed back in the room.

When Ai reached the room, she went over to a boy with hair so light blonde that it looked could be mistaken as white in a certain light. His eyes were brown, like his mother's, and he had red marks at the edge of his eye corners. The guy sitting next to him was an unmistakable Hyuga boy with long hair, pulled in a little ponytail, his forehead showing his widow's peak. "Hey, Zuko! Senji!" Ai said in greeting.

Senji huffed and looked at the girl, "so Ai, how much trouble did you get in this time?" He asked. The boy had been developing a snide-personality with a know-it-all attitude.

"None, thanks for asking," Ai replied with low growl of annoyance in her voice. She hated how Senji was acting, especially since this was a new behavior for him. What on earth had gotten with him anyways? Zuko looked over at the girl who he saw as his younger sister and asked, "so Ai, are you excited about the wedding?"

Ai looked at Zuko with a frown, then away, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you look like someone just kicked a puppy in front of you," Senji asked and looked at Ai, "you still upset that Hinata-sama chooses Mirai over you for the Flower Girl role of the wedding?"

Redness came to Ai's cheeks and said, "no, it's nothing like that. It's just as she said; I'm too old to be the flower girl." Ai was more mortified than anything and was biting the sides of her tongue to remain quiet about how upset she was getting.

Zuko could tell that Ai was getting mad, and decided to change the subject, "so mom's back in town for the wedding. You know she'll wanna see you again Ai," he said with a soft smile. Ai stepped back, "Yeah," she said and felt a little uneasy still.

Some girls looked over, "you're talking about the wedding for Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga right?!" The girl with pink hair asked as she was sitting behind Zuko and Senji. The girl next to her had light brown hair as well and cooed as well. "That will be an amazing wedding. Everyone is going to be there to celebrate their marriage!"

"Hinata will be so beautiful in her gown!"

"And Naruto-san is the best choice. He's the Hero of Konoha after all! No one is better!" The two girls began to daydream, and Ai was even more uncomfortable. She knew people adored her dad since he saved Konoha many years ago, but now that she understood that it was mostly females doing it, she felt disgusted.

That was her dad after all.

In fact, the attention he had been getting since she could remember had been getting worse since this marriage thing started. Before anymore was said, Ai went to sit back down in her assigned seat at the front of the class. The teacher walked back in and called class to order and resumed her lesson.

Ai stayed after school like she was told to do and began copying the teacher's lessons from early in the morning. She remained quiet, diligent, unlike Naruto. Sadoru frowned a bit as she wanted the child to write. She could see how hard the girl was trying to keep up with the other students, but something seemed to be weighing on her mind. "Ai," she knelt down in front of the girl. "If something is bothering you, anything at all, you can come to me," she said. Ai looked at the caring woman's face and then slowly closed her notebook, "I've finished copying the notes," she said and had the book back. Sadoru was hoping to get some more out of her, but she didn't want to force her. So she took the book, "again, anything at-" she was cut off as she could hear some kids laughing loudly outside, but when she looked out, she only saw the memorial statue for the third Hokage defaced. "Oh no!" She said and turned to Ai. "Ai, I must head off, but please try to come to class on time tomorrow morning," she said and began running out. Ai got up and went to the window to see what had happened, and saw the memorial bust covered in graffiti.

Ai left the academy shortly after and walked along the streets of Konoha. She walked into the stationary store and found an alarm clock. The cheapest was around 800 yen. Ai removed her bookbag, opened it, and dug around for her change purse, which was the frog one Naruto left for her, and it was empty. She sighed as she put it back in her bag. She started to head off, but a thought came to her. Why don't I just take it? After all, no one waking me up early…and it's not like the store person needs it. It's in a box after all. The thought was sudden, and she eyed the clock wearily. It was tempting. She looked around to see if anyone was watching her. When she thought no one was looking, she reached out to grab it, but she stopped herself. I'm not a thief! She told herself and began to march out of the store.

Ai felt an uneasiness in the pit of her stomach as she walked away. She wished she could do so things without being back sometimes. Like the graffiti or taking something she needed. She didn't even know why she was such a coward. Shinobi weren't cowards! Wasn't she training to be a shinobi as well?

Ai began running off and saw Konohamaru. He noticed Ai and waved her over. She smiled and ran over. "Hi Kono-onii-san," she said. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm making a video for your dad and Hinata's wedding as a gift," he said, "I'm getting everyone to congratulate them on the video for their happy union!" He said. Ai tried to hid her unhappiness, and merely laughed nervously. "You know Ai; I don't have one from you, do you wanna give one? After all, it's your family! Hinata will be your new mom, right?"

Ai really didn't know how to answer that. She backed away from Konohamaru, but he wiped out his camera and said, "okay Ai, you're on!" Ai stiffened up when she was being recorded, but that wasn't the reason she didn't say anything. She looked uncomfortable on screen. Miserable. Konohamaru sighed when he realized that Ai wasn't going to say anything. "Hey, what's wrong? Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?" Ai asked, hinting some aggression softly.

"You know, such a downer," he said. "You should be happy. You're getting a new mom and your family will be even bigger." Konohamaru turned the camera on and began recording the girl, "now give your new mother a huge welcome into the family!"

Then, Ai finally asked, "what if I'm not happy?"

Konohamaru was surprised by that, but still recorded, "why wouldn't you be happy?"

Ai was filling with some mixed emotions. Mostly bitterness and annoyance, and even some anger. However, she knew if she expressed any of that, she would only draw attention to herself. Wasn't it better to just stay quiet? She didn't want to get in trouble, unlike in school. Ai began to walk away and Konohamaru just shut off the camera. He knew he should go after her and make her talk, but it seemed like she didn't want to.

Sadoru was staying late at the Academy, grading over some tests that had been taken earlier in the week. When she came across Ai's test, she thought about the girl. She knew wrong, but was it in her place to intervene?

The instructor jumped a bit when she heard knocking and saw Iruka. "Oh, Iruka-sensei," she said. The man joined her, "how's it going Sadoru-sensei?"

"It's going okay for the most part," she answered and frowned a bit, "I do have one student whom I'm concerned about," she said, looking at Ai's test once more. "I don't know what to do to make her open up to me," she admitted.

"I know it's difficult to have students develop a trust to you, especially since you're new, but you'll find out. It's never easy at first," Iruka said. Sadoru apologized for being a bother, but Iruka just shrugged it off. A lot had been on is mind, especially with Naruto's wedding coming up. His and Naruto's relationship had returned to a similar place, and Ai's custody had remained in Naruto's favor, especially after the war. He was a hero now, and without a doubt, would be Hokage in the years to come. He had recently been granted the title of jonin and Iruka had noticed that while he was studying from that, and recovering from the war, Naruto and Ai had gotten so close.

It broke his heart and made him feel good at the same time.

Iruka had promised that he would keep a certain distance away from the girl since he didn't want to make thing even more complicated like before. Besides, he and Kakashi had a lot more to worry about. After all, Kakashi had become Hokage, and he was about to take an exam to being the vice-principal of the academy. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it Sadoru-sensei, but I think it's time to head home for the night."

She nodded, "you're right Iruka-sensei," Sadoru got up and headed out with the teacher.

Ai arrived back to her apartment before it got too dark. "I'm home," she told no one, as the flat was empty. She took off her sandals and walked inside, taking off her bag from her shoulders and put it on the kitchen table, unzipping and dumping its contents onto the table. She rummaged through and pulled out her notebook, and like any good student, she began to study…or whatever it's called when one just stares at a notebook written in her handwriting about things she barely understood.

When she heard her stomach growl, she got up and went to the fridge, and pulled out the plate of remaining food. She reheated it, just like she did earlier that morning, sat down, and ate.

She went back to "studying" once more, while she ate and when she grew bored of that, she stopped and looked around her apartment. It seemed barer than when she and her dad had moved into it. She knew why he was moving things over to their new house. Apparently, the apartment they lived in now wasn't big enough to house Hinata. She grew angry when she thought about Hinata. She used to like her before she and her dad started dating. Ai remembered it wasn't even that long ago when they began to spend more time together. Then the days from when he came home grew fewer and fewer. Ai looked over to the calendar on the wall, next to the fridge, and had been marking down the days until their wedding. Only four more from her count. The date was circled in red with a flower over it.

"She's going to be your new mom Ai, you should be happy," Ai said in mocking Konohamaru to herself. Ai flung her pencil that she had been holding and accidently threw it across the kitchen, flipping in the air before it landed against the wall on the other side of the apartment. Ai got up and went to get it. She picked it up and said, "if I left it there, I wonder how long it would before anyone had noticed it was gone."

That was when she had gotten an idea. "I wonder how long it would take for people to know when I'm gone."

Ai dropped the pencil and ran to her room, and began to grab some clothes, and started stuffing her bag with them. She repacked her shinobi kit, with a few kunai and shuriken, and even the last few snacks she had in the kitchen. She had slipped on her sandals, turning out the lights, and left the apartment.

Ai looked up and smiled at the moon. It was her only guiding light in this vast step into this adventure. She really had no area, in particular, she wanted to go to; she just wanted to see how far she could go before anyone noticed her disappearance….if they even noticed her disappearance.