"Um… excuse me nurse," Hinata shyly whispered. The white clothed black haired women holding a bedpan stopped in her tracks.
"Do you need something Miss?" the nurse asked her with a smile.
"A-actually I was wondering if Sakura had a-arrived yet." Hinata managed to get out. It wasn't that she was nervous, but frozen. The heater in her room was broken and no one could find her any extra blankets.
"I haven't seen her yet. I'll check after I take care of a few things. Maybe I can find a little heater somewhere also."
"Thanks," Hinata called to the nurse as she went on her way. With the little warmth the blankets provided, Hinata covered shoulders and torso and watched out the window for a glimpse of the pink haired konoichi or a certain blonde that might provide her with warmth. To her surprise, after about thirty minutes of waiting, both were walking toward the hospital's front door along with five others. The whole gang had shown up to take her home. That made her feel a little better. But with the heater broken, she wondered if her condition might have gotten worse.
She heard the door open a few moments later and in walked her smiling fair-haired husband with the rest of the young couples Konoha had to offer.
"It's like a freezer in here, do you like being cold Hinata?" Ino asked unaware to the obvious broken heater beside her.
"T-the heater b-broke last n-night, they c-couldn't find anyone t-to fix it nor c-could they find a-any extra b-blankets." Hinata shuddered. The orange clad ninja joined his wife's side at started to remove his jacket.
"W-wait, a-aren't you g-going to g-get c-cold too i-if…" However before she could finish he pressed his finger against her lips.
"Well, the way I see it I could catch a minor cold, or my wife could spend more time in a freezing hospital. I think I'd rather have the first one then the second." He explained as he wrapped her in his warm jacket. From that moment on she slowly stopped shaking. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I'll try to keep you warm till Sakura comes in to see how I am and tell us our baby's gender." Hinata spoke, her head rested against his chest. He placed his head on top of hers and lightly kissed it.
"Speaking of babies, where are Emi and Kisho?" the young patient asked her fellow ninja friends.
"Kisho is staying with his grandparents for a while. Team 10 has been assigned a new mission and will be leaving tomorrow. However, we told them a week sooner that we had a mission the next day. That way we can have some well-deserved alone time before we leave." Ino blurted out to the others.
"Troublesome women, what if my parents decided to visit someone in the hospital today and heard us? Or worse what if Hokage…." Just then Tsunade walked in carrying Emi. Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome…"
"No, I'd like to know what you were saying about me behind my back." Tsunade eyed Shikamaru.
"He was just saying that…"
"INO!" everyone screamed.
"Never mind that, I've had just about enough of you shoving her off on me Naruto." The older woman handed the young patient her child. "You might want to keep her with you here at the hospital if you can't go home today, Hinata. I'll let you since he can't seem to stay out of trouble."
Hinata smiled at the Hokage. "Thank you," She then sent a death glare to Naruto.
"H-Hinata I-I can explain…"
"Oh really? I'd love to hear how I couldn't trust you to take care of simple things while I am sick. Do you think that it's ok because she isn't ours?"
"What? Isn't ours? Of course she is ours, all because we didn't make her doesn't mean she doesn't belong to us." Hinata raised an eyebrow at her naïve husband.
"Ok, one last chance, if you can't take care of her for an entire day, you won't find out the sex of the baby till the day it's born!" Hinata threatened Naruto.
"I-I'll do it, I promise." He lightly picked up Emi and rocked her.
"We'll see…" She doubtfully stated. Just then the door opened again. Sakura entered the room with an ultrasound machine.
"Ok, this room is too crowded to work in, everyone except Naruto needs to leave for the moment." Sakura explained while setting up the best she could with the others in the room. They all left so just the three of them were in the room.
"Naruto, you know the deal, the day starts right now. So I'll see you later." Hesitantly, Naruto nodded and left the room.
"What was that all about?" Sakura asked as she continued to set up the machine.
"Naruto isn't taking parenthood seriously. He keeps pushing Emi on everyone else so he can do what he wants." Hinata replied.
"He just wants to make sure you're alright. And maybe he thinks the baby could get sick if its around you too much… Nope never mind, I agree with you. So the bet was…?" Sakura motioned for her to finish her sentence.
"…He couldn't find out the sex of the baby if he couldn't take care of Emi for a single day." The patient finished the doctor's response.
"I guess that means he really is eager to become a real father…" Sakura giggled.
"What do you mean 'he is eager to become a REAL father'? He already is a father. Does he really not feel like Emi is ours? Like we are just babysitting till Sasuke and Hanabi change their minds?"
"No, I'm sure that's not it at all, calm down Hinata. I just meant he is happy his wife is having her first child. I'm sure he thinks of Emi as his own. He of all people should know what it's like to have others raise you as their own. He had been on his own for a long time before he had anyone he could depend on. So I'm sure its just because he is both nervous and excited about this little one." Sakura rubbed Hinata's tummy.
"Oh, I guess I over reacted. I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous myself." She timidly remarked.
Sakura looked up, concerned for her young dark haired friend, "Why, you'll be fine. Emi is doing great. What makes you so nervous about him?"
"Him?" Hinata caught a glimpse of the monitor after this statement. Sakura nodded, on the screen was their precious little boy. After that Hinata's worries started to melt away. They got the little boy they prayed for.
Just outside the hospital, in a tree near Hinata's room, Naruto watched the two girls laugh and cry about something or other. Not knowing bugged him so he decided to take Emi home for a nap.
On the walk home, all he could think about was 'Am I really that irresponsible? Have I been neglecting my family? First Hinata gets hurt, now I'm being called a bad father…' He sighed then turned his gaze to the sleeping child in his arms. "You haven't seen very much of us since we've been a family, have you?" Emi slowly opened her eyes and looked up curiously at the bright yellow fluff before her. Naruto had leaned over to kiss her cheek when he felt a tug on his head.
"Ow! Emi, let go of daddy's hair," he pulled his head up and felt a slight pain. When he looked back down, the young girl smiled victoriously as she held a little of the blonde's hair in her tiny hand. Naruto couldn't help but smile at her expression. With this, he continued to make his way home.
Once he arrived he placed Emi in her crib and crashed on the bed. He stared at the ceiling contemplating all that he felt he had taken advantage of or had mistreated. While he pondered these things he slowly drifted to sleep.
A bright light made the young male open his eyes only to quickly shut them again due to the severity of the harsh glow. He shielded his eyes the best he could and slowly began to make his way to a dark figure that stood before him. One he could make out the shape of the figure, he reached forward and screamed "HINATA!" However, she did not seem to even acknowledge his presence. Even though he thought his legs were moving forward, he wasn't getting any closer. He continued to scream but this was not accomplishing anything. Then he stopped, for he knew that no matter what he did he wasn't going to reach his goal. All he could do was watch from the sidelines. There before him stood his wife, who finally smiled at him once he stopped. This confused him, he couldn't figure out why nothing happened until he stopped trying. Then the nightmare began, before his very eyes his love was suddenly attacked. Unable to see the enemy, Naruto knew he couldn't do anything and Hinata seemed to be unfazed by it. Her swollen and limp body fell to the ground.
"HINATA! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? HINATA! PLEASE ANSWER ME, HINATA!" Despite his cries of desperation, she never answered him. Then another light bulb in his head turned on.
"Emi, where's Emi?" He looked around the room to find no trace of her. Fear grew inside and he could no longer take not being able to do anything.
His attention was now back on his wife. "Please get up. We need to find Emi. You have to be all right." Tears started to swell up in his eyes. "Please, its not just your life on the line anymore. Think of our child, Hinata." He fell to the ground in despair.
Suddenly he felt a jolt. He woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He suddenly got up and raced to Emi's crib. When he saw the little one sound asleep he gave a sigh of relief. Reaching down into he crib, he picked her up in her tiny pink blanket and walked out to the couch.
"Oh, hello sweetie." He froze, dead in his tracks, "You were asleep so we started the party without you, hope you don't mind." Hinata smiled at him. "So was this little one." She rubbed the top of Emi's head. Suddenly her husband caught her in a warm embrace.
"I'm so glad you're alright. I won't let anything bad happen to this family as long as I live, I promise. I'll be more responsible, and do my fair share of the chores and taking care of…"
"Naruto…" The shy dark haired girl interrupted. He looked down at her smiling face. "You're squishing Emi." His head tilted down to spot the tiny pink blanket between the two of them. He stepped back and gave a slight chuckle of embarrassment.
"Well I guess since everyone's here, let's get this party started."