This has all of my couples in it (First time for InoCho!), and is about the baby names.
I used names I had read in manga before and had really liked (except for Kori, which is a name I made up because I liked the way it looked). So this chapter is about how the parents went about figuring out the names.
(Oh, and I was reading the last couple chapters when I remembered where I had read Rin being used. So, since Tenten and Neji know nothing about that girl and didn't even know she had existed, they just liked the name Rin)
Temari was lounging on the couch reading a book to pass the dragging time when a sudden thought occurred to her, forcing her to lower her book and glare at her husband. "No Shika names." Shikamaru looked up from the paper work that had been forced onto him from work, annoyance clearly written on his face.
"What?"
Temari placed her hand over her rounding stomach, as if protecting the small child that was growing in her. "I don't want it to have a name that start's with 'Shika'."
Shikamaru sighed and would have muttered something about her being a troublesome woman, but with the way her hormones had been spiking he knew to do so would take him down a treacherous path he'd do anything to stay off of. So he swallowed the words and settled for raising his eyes to the ceiling.
"It's tradition, Temari."
She snorted, crossing her arms and stretching out her legs as if she didn't care in the least. "They can get over it." Another sigh from Shikamaru as he gave up on work –though he wasn't too upset about that.
"And why have you decided this?" Temari stared at him as if the answer was glaringly obvious.
"If the kid is Shika-something the name will probably shortened to Shika because it's easier to yell. I call you Shika, and your mother calls your father Shika, and there are God knows how many other Shika-whatevers in your clan. I will not allow for myself or my child to be a part of all of that confusion." Shikamaru sighed and sat at the other end of the couch, watching her carefully.
"Then what are we going to name it?" Temari shrugged. "I don't know, we'll find something." Shikamaru thought for a moment, beginning to idly rub the feet she had callously dropped into his lap.
"I'd like Asuma if it's a boy." Temari tilted back her head and closed her eyes, thinking the name over.
It wasn't a personal favorite of hers but she knew how important Shikamaru's dead teacher was to him, and it wasn't like it was the worst name she had ever heard.
"Sure. But only if you dig a little bit more into the arch. Just. Right. There."
Hinata lay back on the bed, fingers running through Naruto's hair as he pressed his cheek to the large mound of her stomach, a hand gently rubbing soothing circles in the places where the baby kicked. "We still haven't named her." He murmured, trying to listen for the fluttering heartbeat he had heard earlier at the doctor's visit. Hinata continued to read the baby book, smiling gently as she began to twist her fingers in the sunshine colored strands.
"We just haven't found the right one yet."
Naruto stayed silent for a moment, face scrunching up comically as it was prone to do when he gave something serious thought. "I heard from Baa-chan that my parents picked out my name from one of Jiraiya's books. Maybe we could do that."
"Get the name from one of your Sensei's books?" Naruto shifted and raised up to his elbows over her, looking up at her.
"No. Just any character from any book that has the same traits that we want our child to have." Hinata thought back to all of the cute, flowery and sweet names she had been thinking of, and then she thought about how sweet and thoughtful the whole idea was and about how they would be passing on a piece of the grandparents their child would never meet.
"I think that's a wonderful idea." She said, smiling gently at her husband. He grinned at her and leaned down to kiss her stomach, whispering goodnight to their child before sliding up and doing the same to Hinata.
"No."
"Sakura, I really think that you're being too-"
"No, I'm not Kakashi." She snapped as she jerked the plug out of the sink, allowing the sudsy water to drain and flicking the moisture off of her hands. She turned and started to wipe down the counter, glaring at every speck of filth that dared to mar it.
Kakashi watched her carefully, leaning against the island that separated the kitchen from the living room as his eyes were inevitably dragged to her still flat stomach. His lips drew into a lazy and satisfied smile beneath his mask, content with how everything had settled down. It had been a difficult fight, but it had been worth it to end up with this.
Though Sakura would sorely disagree at the moment.
Slapping the washrag over the edge of the sink, she turned to stomp out of the room and into the living room, tidying up the magazines on the coffee table and the crocheted blanket that was thrown over the back of the couch. Cleaning had become her latest outlet for her frustrations since Kakashi had forbade her from training and had warned off anyone else who she had approached.
Damn overprotective bastard.
"Sakura, they're really very nice. I don't see why-" She slammed her hands down on the coffee table, glaring at Kakashi through the hair that had fallen from her pony-tail. "Kakashi, I'm only going to say this one more time, and you will listen." She walked over and grabbed his shirt, dragging him down a bit so that they were nose to nose.
"We are never, under any circumstances, going to name our child after a character in your porn books!"
Tenten eased back in the water and into Neji's bare chest, sighing as the hot bath water eased her protesting muscles. She was sore and tired and pregnant, forced to waddle everywhere while she was unable to train. It made her cranky at times -all the time actually- and she just couldn't wait to get the kid out of her. But said kid was refusing vehemently and was holding on tightly inside of her, deciding to be over a week late.
Neji eased his arms around her, lacing his fingers into hers and placing their joined hands over her stomach, feeling their child beneath their hands. "Are you alright?" He murmured, pressing his fingers in slightly as if to search for any potential problems. She nodded her head and then tilted it back on his chest, closing her eyes to just bask in this warmth and comfort.
He pressed a quick kiss on her shoulder, placing his head against hers so that they could just sit there for a little while and try not to worry, though worries came to Hyuuga Neji far too easily these days with his suddenly growing family.
"We still haven't picked out a name."
"Nope."
"We should have had a definite one chosen when it was due."
Tenten sighed, determining that her husband was just trying to destroy her happy glow. "Neji, we don't even know the sex." He was the one who sighed this time.
"Yes, I know, but we can choose a gender neutral name."
Tenten turned her head so that her eyes could meet with his, a calm and sure -almost serene- look in her eyes. "We'll know when we hold it in our arms. It'll speak to us, after all, we're its parents and we'll see it in the baby's eyes. It's always in the eyes."
Deciding to amuse her Neji smiled and tilted his head back, content to just stay there forever.
"I've found the solution." Ino said, poking into Choji's side to get him to wake up.
"Solution to what?" He grumbled, trying to get back to sleep. Beautiful and loving sleep.
"To what we're going to name our kid!" Ino cried, hitting Choji in the chest lightly as if it were supposed to be obvious.
"Oh?"
Ino nodded, not the slightest bit tired in the face of such a momentous discovery. "Yep. We can't go with the whole clan thing since it will be a huge fight over which on to do first and any way you combine them sounds just stupid. Shikamaru didn't do it anyways, so we'll be fine. I was thinking about flower names at first but then I wanted to add something you like in there, and that's when it hit me," She held up her hands as if to hold off the importance of the moment.
"Fruit." She said, lowering her hands as a huge and proud smile split her face into two. Choji blinked at her.
"Fruit?" She nodded. "Fruit."She confirmed, nearly glowing with her accomplishment.
"It's perfect, right? I mean, the names are cute and all fruit comes from a tree that flowers, and fruit is food! See?" She shoved her earnest face up to his until her eyes nearly threatened to swallow him whole. Choji reached up and smoothed her hair back with one of his large hands.
"Yeah, it's great." He said, ignoring the fact that they had only just found out about the pregnancy the day before.
Ino and Choji's kids are the only one I looked up the meanings for, and that's because I originally wanted flower names but then switched to fruit when the flower names just didn't fit.
I love you all! So much so that I'd slay a bloodthirsty party dragon for you!