Chapter 14: Oh Baby…
Month 3: April
Kushina slumped on the couch of the living room, lulling in a numb stupor. The doctor's words still reverberated in her mind, yet they seemed to refuse to sink in. It all made sense, but…really?!
Oh god, she moaned. What am I going to do? …And how am I going to tell him?
Before she could ponder on this very long, Minato walked in the door. He took one look at her and was at her side in an instant. She knew that she probably didn't look all that hot, but did she really look bad enough for him to radiate so much concern?
"Hey, you okay?" he murmured, looping an arm around her shoulders.
"Ugh," she groaned and sagged against his side. "I went to the doctor today."
He instantly tensed. "What did he say? Is it anything serious?"
"Hmm, I'd say that it could be classified as serious," Kushina sighed and fiddled with the hem of her shirt.
"Oh god," he muttered, sounding rather panicky. "How serious? It-it's not terminal, is it?"
She pulled back and squinted at him, baffled. "Terminal?" she repeated blankly. "What…?" And then she caught on to his line of thinking, and punched him in the shoulder. Hard. "You idiot!" she snarled. "I'm not sick with any fatal disease. I'm not going to die!"
"Oh—oh good," he smiled in relief and rubbed tenderly at his sore arm. "So…what is it?"
Kushina folded her arms over her chest and stared sulkily at the nearby coffee table. "I'm pregnant."
"…Huh?"
"You heard me," she grumbled, glancing at his stupidly blank face out of the corner of her eye. "I'm pregnant."
"…With a baby?"
"No, I had an affair with one of the Inuzuka's dogs and I'm going to have puppies," she spat sarcastically. "Of course, I'm pregnant with a baby!"
"…Really?"
"Yes," Kushina sighed, "really."
Minato stared at her, open-mouthed and thoroughly stunned. Then, slowly, she watched it morph into a smile so wide she was surprised that it didn't break his face. And despite her sour mood, she found herself smiling a little in response.
"We're going to have a baby?"
"No, I'm going to have a baby, and you're going to sit nearby, sweat, and get your hand broken," she cheerfully corrected him.
He only laughed and pulled her onto his lap to better kiss her.
Month 4: May
Kushina stood outside of the specialty clothing shop and glared at it. She didn't want to go in there. But she barely had any clothes left that fit. And it was only going to get worse in the coming months.
"This sucks!" she sulked as she hesitantly approached the front door. "Stupid baby…making me fat."
She managed to get her hand on the handle, but paused.
I could try to get by with sweatpants and baggy T-shirts, she mused, her free hand tracing her baby potbelly. But that would only work if I stayed inside the whole time. If I went out in public like that, I'd look like a lazy slob…
She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully.
They make maternity pants, right? It's not all just dresses… I'll just get a bunch of outfits with pants. Surely I can find something in here that isn't ugly or a dress.
With fresh resolve, she opened the door and stepped inside to start shopping.
But several frustrated hours later, she ended up leaving with a stack of dresses, and no pants.
Month 5: June
He leaned back in his office chair and sighed. It was a fantastically nice chair; a cushy leather-covered thing that swiveled. Sometimes, when he'd been injured and bored, he'd temporarily taken desk jobs to pass the days, and he remembered how uncomfortable those wooden chairs had been. There were some definite perks to being Hokage.
Minato glanced up at the clock and determined it was as good a time as any to take his lunch break. But before he could leave his office and decide on a place to eat at, Kushina arrived. And she brought lunch with her in the form of bento boxes.
"Hey, I was just about to leave for lunch!" he grinned, gratefully accepting the food.
"Glad I caught you then," she smiled and settled herself in a nearby chair.
As hungry as he was, he had trouble keeping his eyes off her and focusing on his meal. She definitely looked pregnant now and it really brought it home to him that this was real; that this was really going to happen. In a few more months, there would be a baby totally dependent on them. Minato hadn't quite decided if he was more thrilled or terrified by that idea yet.
"I had a doctor's appointment today," she announced.
Minato's next mouthful of rice froze halfway to his face. "Oh?"
"Relax, it was just a regular check-up," she assured him. "Nothing's wrong."
"Oh good," he sighed. "So…how's it going?"
"Very good according to the doctor," she answered. "Things have progressed far enough that he could even tell what the sex is."
He blinked, startled. "They can do that?"
"Of course they can! They've got this machine that's supposed to show you pictures of the baby, but the screen's so blurry I can never really see anything. It's like the worst black and white television set ever." She paused and seemed to reorient her thoughts. "Anyway, do you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?"
Minato thoughtfully weighed his choices. He could stay ignorant and be surprised, but he'd be the only one to not know—Kushina clearly already knew. Or he could find out now and be better prepared…
"Tell me."
"It's a boy," she smiled and rubbed at her rounded stomach.
"A boy…" he murmured in wonderment. A son… Wow.
Kushina jolted him out of his thoughts before he could get too swept away in the joyful rush of this new knowledge. "Would you have been disappointed if it was going to be a girl?"
"No," he smiled faintly, "I'd be happy with either one. It's just…it makes it easier to imagine the future, you know?"
"Yeah." She glanced down sharply and brought both hands to her belly.
"What is it?" he asked, already half out of his seat. Please don't let anything be wrong. Please—
"It's nothing, I just felt him move," she replied.
"Oh." Minato felt rather silly and almost sat back down, but changed his mind and walked around the corner of his desk to kneel beside her chair. "He's moving in there?"
"Yes," she nodded.
Then she took his hand and guided it to a particular spot on her belly. At first he didn't feel anything and he wondered if he'd missed the brief bout of baby activity. But then he felt the faintest fluttering underneath his fingertips and gasped out loud.
"Wow," he breathed.
"Hmm… You're not going to be able to keep your hands off my tummy now, are you?"
He just laughed and snaked his arms around her waist. "Nope!"
Month 6: July
Minato moaned at the insistent poking in his back.
"Mi-na-to," Kushina sing-songed.
"Mmph," he grunted into his pillow.
"Yo, Namikaze!" She jabbed him harder.
"Whut?" he mumbled, trying to work through the sleepy fog in his head.
"I'm hungry."
Crap, he groaned and squinted at the glowing numbers of his alarm clock. "It's two in the morning."
"So?"
"Alright," he sighed and staggered out of bed and yanked on his robe. "What do you want?"
"Strawberries," she decided.
Minato frowned. "But we're out of strawberries."
"So?"
He scrubbed tiredly at his eyes. "Okay, strawberries. Anything else?"
"Some grapes and pineapple would be great," she added. "Oh, and some vanilla frosting."
"Okay," he yawned and started groping around for his wallet. "That's it?"
"Hmm…and some pickles."
Minato shuddered. "Alright," he muttered and stumbled off to find his shoes. "I'll be right back."
After an adventurous trek to one of the few grocery stores open twenty-four hours, and some rather odd purchases, Minato returned to find Kushina waiting for him in the kitchen. She looked quite cozy and cheerful in her robe (which was actually his old robe that she had appropriated for herself) and even though he was tired and wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed and sleep, he smiled and sat down across from her. He chuckled at her when she dove into the grocery bags with the enthusiasm of a small child tearing into birthday presents.
"You know, I went through the cabinets, and we're out of ramen," she remarked.
"So?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "We're out of ramen."
"Oh," he sighed and rested his forehead against the table top. Why?
Month 7: August
The Hokage Manor had a nursery in it. The Shodai Hokage had built the house after his children were grown and the Nidaime Hokage never had children, but the Sandaime had married and had children while in office. But Kushina had found the pale blue walls of the room too bland and boring, so he was re-painting it.
After weeks of consideration, she'd settled on a darker, stronger shade of blue. That had been easy enough to paint. But now he was tediously painting the swirled leaf symbol of the village in white in a border all around the room…and that was taking a while.
At least she was satisfied with the old baby furniture, he sighed and carefully rubbed at the back of his neck, hoping he didn't get any paint on himself. I don't have to paint any of that, or replace any of it. I just need to finish painting this room…
"Has your brain fried from the paint fumes yet?"
He glanced up from his painting to see Kushina peering in through the doorway. "No, I don't think so."
It was a Sunday, and she'd slept in, so she was still wearing the sweatpants and overly-large T-shirt that she'd spent the night in. But in spite of her rumpled appearance, he thought that she looked fantastic. If he didn't have smears of white paint all over his hands he would've gone over and hugged her.
"Good morning," he grinned. "Or should I say, good afternoon?"
"Hmph," she snorted. "I'm living for two people right now; I can sleep in however late I want."
"Of course you can," he smiled. "Did you have a good sleep?"
"Yeah," she yawned widely and did some stretching of her arms and back. "I'm going to make myself a nice late breakfast. You want some?"
"I'm almost done with this bit of wall," he sighed. "I'll be down in a bit, okay?"
"Sure," she smirked and left him to his painting.
But before he could get back to his painting in earnest, he was interrupted again.
"Hokage-sama."
Minato turned to the window to find a small, slight ANBU with a dog mask and spiky silver hair crouched in the window.
"Kakashi, we're in private; you don't have to call me that."
"This was sent to your office," Kakashi informed him, holding out a small package wrapped in brown paper.
"Oh?" He walked over and glanced at the rectangular bundle. "It's from Jiraiya-sensei," he muttered. "Could you open it for me? My hands are all covered in paint."
Kakashi obediently tore away the brown paper to reveal…a book.
"'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja'." Minato blinked in surprise when he read the author's name. "Jiraiya-sensei wrote a book?!"
Month 8: September
Kushina was feeling rather fat and bored as she drifted through the halls when she stumbled upon the conversation drifting out of the kitchen.
"Come on, don't say that," Minato protested. "I thought it was great!"
Who's he talking to in there?
"Each chapter really seems like a page out of your own life, sensei," he continued. "It almost reads like an autobiography."
Jiraiya's here? She tilted her head thoughtfully. They're talking about that book, eh?
The white-haired Sannin had sent them his first published work a few weeks back. Minato had been thoroughly excited to see what his sensei had turned out, but Kushina had been skeptical. Really, what sort of book would a pervert like him write? However, she'd read it and been pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah, but…it didn't sell at all," she heard Jiraiya complain. "Maybe I should try and sex up the sequel a little… That's my real forte, after all."
I'm sure it is, she snorted to herself and paused just out of sight of the doorway to see what else was said.
"The way the protagonist refused to give up, even at the end… That was really cool." Minato laughed a little. "He's just like you, sensei."
"Heheh…" the older man chuckled in embarrassment. "You think so?"
"Actually…" Minato began, hesitantly. "I was thinking…"
"Hm?"
"We want to raise our child to be a shinobi like the one in your book!"
Kushina smothered a laugh at Minato's enthusiasm. You sound like such a dork…
"That's why we've decided to name him after the main character in your book," Minato informed his old teacher. "What do you think?"
"A-are you sure about this?" the Sannin sputtered in shock. "It's just a random name I came up with while I was eating some ramen—"
Kushina decided to make her entrance then and join the conversation. "Naruto…" She smiled and rested a hand on her round belly. "It's a beautiful name."
When Minato had first suggested the idea to her, she'd laughed it off. But the more she thought about it, the more it grew on her. Now she couldn't think of any other name that would suit their son.
"Kushina…" Jiraiya breathed, startled by her support of the idea. Then he got all embarrassed and rubbed sheepishly at the back of his head. "Hahaha… Hoo boy… If I name him, that makes me his godfather, right? Are you sure you want that on your heads?"
"Absolutely!" Minato declared as Kushina came to stand by his shoulder. "You're a man with true skill… An example we should all follow. I can't think of a finer shinobi than you."
His personal habits might not be the best, but he's not one of the Sannin for nothing, Kushina agreed. But, she silently vowed, still smiling sweetly, if you pervert our son, I will kick your ass!
Month 9: October
Minato glanced out his office window at the Hokage Monument and grinned. The construction of his likeness had just been completed and they were taking down the scaffolding from the face of the cliff. The giant stone head really didn't look much like him, but with his messy hairstyle, he hadn't had high hopes for the accuracy of it.
Still, he was up there beside the Sandaime and the Nidaime and the Shodai. That made his position as Hokage all the more real, somehow. Now it was set in stone. He was the Yondaime, and it was pretty cool.
But there was one thing that he was looking forward to that easily beat out the thrill of his making it onto the mountain. Naruto was coming soon. Maybe a week or two more, and then he'd make his grand entrance.
It was thrilling, it was terrifying, and it was going to be amazing. Every time he thought about it, he couldn't stop smiling. Kushina was more than ready, too; she was tired of complaining about her back and swollen ankles and never being able to sleep at night because Naruto kept kicking her.
Very soon, he and Kushina would join the ranks of their friends and comrades who had a child. Admittedly they were some of the last to enter parenthood. The only people in their age group and social circle that they were beating were Hiashi and his wife, whose daughter wouldn't be born for nearly two months more. But still…
This is going to be great! he grinned. And after Naruto comes, I'll ask her to marry me. Feeling energized by his excitement, he glanced at the wall clock and considered his schedule. I think I can get away with leaving the office now. The paperwork can wait…
However, his escape plans were thwarted by the arrival of a bird-masked ANBU operative. The young man dropped from one of the ceiling panels into a kneeling position. The trapdoors in the ceiling were usually only used by chuunin he summoned for a task or important messengers that needed direct and immediate access to him. Judging by the harsh breathing of the kneeling ninja, he guessed this was an important messenger.
"Yes?" he prompted.
"Hokage-sama," the ANBU panted. "News from the Fire Temple."
Minato blinked. "What is it?"
"The Kyuubi has appeared…"
