New Beginnings

All the ties from their old life were being severed; some by their choice, some by the choice of others. No charges were brought against Keiko for the death of Iruka which was viewed as self-defense. Their home was sold relatively fast which was shocking considering everyone knew what had happened there. After the pissed off pink haired girl's drunken accusation, Naruto quickly found out which of his friends were true friends as did Keiko. It was a good thing they were moving out of their neighborhood because they quickly become a pariah there. They bought the house she had been looking at with the separate building for her office. The day they moved was the beginning of her thirtieth week. She and the baby had made it to the mark where they would be out of the biggest danger. Despite that fact, she was forced to sit on a couch in the living room of the new house while everyone else did all of the work. They had even hired people to unpack so she couldn't touch anything.

Keiko was thrilled when she reached the thirty eighth week because the baby was completely out of danger and was fully developed. She could safely go into labor at any time now, and she was ready. One morning she was out on the back deck doing breathing exercises while enjoying the gorgeous scenery of the lush gardens in their backyard.

Naruto decided to join her, sitting on the big cushion behind her with his legs on either side of her. He reached around to rub her massive belly while she breathed slowly and deeply. His hands could not help themselves as they slid up to her breasts rubbing the sensitive nipples that immediately hardened under his touch.

"It would be perfectly safe if we had sex now. I don't know if you would be interested but –" her next words were silenced by his mouth covering hers in an incredibly awkward position. His head craned over her shoulder to reach her lips after she had turned her head to look at him.

"You have no idea how badly I want to do this," he murmured against her lips.

Keiko raised her hips to slide her panties off from underneath her skirt while he took off his jeans and underwear. Their position reminded her of their plane ride to Greece when they got married. She carefully lowered herself down on him until she was sitting in his lap with her back to him.

"Oh, honey, oh, my god," he moaned when she slowly began to move. It had been so long for both of them. The feeling was indescribable for them to be intimately linked again. They had gotten comfortable playing around and rubbing each other, eventually experimenting with oral sex to bring each other to orgasm as her pregnancy wore on after the danger ended. This was the first time he had been inside of her in four months and the pleasure and emotional closeness was enough to make her cry.

"Sweetie, I've missed you this way," she panted as he moved tentatively underneath her. Moving so painfully slow seemed to heighten the pleasure after not having sex in so long.

"I'm so glad you're mine. I love you," he whispered, holding her tightly against him. He moved her hair away from the back of her neck so he could press kisses to the sensitive skin there while he made love to her.

"Oh, I love you too," she moaned, placing her hands over his that were flat against her belly.

"Keiko, I'm sorry but I can't wait," he apologized when he climaxed what he felt was way too early.

Keiko smiled contentedly as he held her while she sat in his lap afterward. She loved him with all of her heart, body, and soul. They had a completely new life together. Soon they would have their baby to complete that wonderful new life.

Keiko was sitting in her office completing paperwork when the really hard contractions began. She had been having the random, weak Braxton-Hicks contractions for days. Today was the end of her forty first week. After nearly scaring them to death with a threatened premature labor, now the baby was being just plain stubborn and not wanting to come out at all. She waited until she had several strong contractions in a row before she decided to alert her hyperactive blond husband who was bound to lose his mind when she informed him she was in labor. Despite him being in the house within yelling distance, she texted him that she was in labor and it was time to go to the hospital.

"One, two, three…" she counted, making it to six before he nearly snatched the door from its hinges to hurtle into her office. She squealed in surprise when he easily leaped over the desk and pulled her out of her chair in one smooth movement.

"Let's go have a baby, Mama!" he yelled, literally sweeping her off of her feet and into his arms to carry her to the car. The suitcase had been packed and waiting in the trunk for two months now. It's about time they were finally going to get to use it.

"Who is this?" a young nurse asked who entered the room to bring Tsunade a vial of medication. She was giving Naruto a flirty head to toe assessment as Shizune and Tsunade prepared Keiko for the epidural. "Big brother?"

"Father," Tsunade answered dryly. "And husband."

"WHAT?" the nurse yelled in shock. "Dammit! What a waste."

"Get out!" the irritated doctor ordered. She did not have the patience for that brand of stupidity today. The labor was not going well. Keiko seemed to in an excessive amount of pain and the baby's heart rate had dropped. It had been eight hours and nothing had progressed. She had given her a shot of oxytocin to speed the dilation along so they could get the mother and baby through this delivery safely.

"Naruto," Keiko called weakly when they lay her back in the bed after inserting the catheter in her spinal column to administer the medication for pain.

"Tsunade, tell me honestly, is she going to be all right? Is the baby?" he asked, stroking Keiko's hair as he held the gaze of the doctor who was not hiding the worry she held very well.

"If that baby isn't here by the end of the hour, I'll perform a c-section. They will be fine," she assured with a resoluteness that eased his jangled nerves.

"What do we do now?" he asked, kissing his wife's forehead as she dozed off.

"Wait to see how her body reacts to the medication," she said, sitting on her stool between positioned between Keiko's legs.

Thirty minutes later, Tsunade happily announced they were about to have a baby. She ordered a very sleepy Keiko to sit up and push.

Naruto climbed in the bed to sit behind his wife to hold her up. He massaged her tummy while he urged her to push. He could feel each contraction as it slowly crept across the muscles, tightening each one until her belly was rock hard, then it would slowly release again.

"All right, Keiko, I see the head. A few more good pushes and your baby boy will be here to hold in your arms," Tsunade said to give her the strength and encouragement to get through.

"Come on, honey, he's almost here," Naruto whispered, wiping away the tears that slid silently from her eyes.

It was almost frightening how quiet and serene this whole birthing experience had been. She had never screamed or even raised her voice in pain or to hurl obscenities at him. She would simply wince and hiss or dig her fingers into the pillow behind her head when the pain had been bad. There was no pain at all at this time thanks to the epidural. She was very sedate and silent, grunting with the effort to push their baby out into the world.

"I've got the head," she announced, working swiftly to clean out the baby's mouth and nose. "A few more, Keiko, come on!"

Two more pushes and he was out. Their baby had made his entrance into the world. A soft sound like a kitten mewling was the only sound that could be heard in the room. The cord was clipped and the baby was handed to the nurse.

Naruto could feel the tears falling from his eyes as he watched Shizune clean of the baby in the clear bassinette next to Keiko's bed. He held his wife in his arms peppering her face with kisses. He moved so that he was sitting in the bed next to her instead of behind her. His whole body trembled with the anticipation of holding his son.

"You hold him first, sweetie," Keiko encouraged him.

"Here, Dad. Congratulations," Shizune said, handing the crying, shaking man his child that was wrapped in a soft blue blanket.

"Oh, honey, he's so wonderful. He's the most beautiful thing I've seen since you," he whispered, tears still running down his cheeks.

Keiko cried as quietly as possible as she watched her husband count fingers and toes then kiss each one. She lay her head on his shoulder as he nuzzled the little button nose and kissed all over the baby's face. There was nothing more poignant and sublime in this world than seeing a loving father connect with child. It was the most precious thing she had ever experienced.

"Ichiro Takeshi," he announced, looking down at the baby. First born son who is a warrior.

"All right, Big Daddy, time to hand junior over to Mama so he can eat," Tsunade announced. She continued on to give Keiko a quick tutorial of breastfeeding although Naruto was sure she already knew everything about it because she had bought every book published on the subject.

"Oooh, that's fascinating," Naruto said, watching his wife make her first attempt to breastfeed their son.

Keiko held her breast while brushing the nipple across the baby's lips. She giggled as the baby excitedly rooted around for the nipple, immediately latching on when she shoved it in his mouth. 'Works on men of any age. Here is where the obsession begins,' she thought to herself, laughing quietly.

"What do you keep giggling about?" he inquired, looking down at his son who was making satisfied sighing noises as he happily sucked on her breast. "Yeah, son I know how you feel."

"Ideally, you're not supposed to have sex before your six week checkup. I'm sure you will because virtually everyone does. You," she said, poking Naruto in the chest. She then pointed to his wife's breasts. "Stay away from those for at least a week. Your baby needs all the nutrients produced in those right now. You can play around and drink all you want after that."

"Good god, Tsunade," Keiko grumbled feeling her face grow as hot as her red faced husband's looked.

"Oh, please, sex doctor," she muttered sarcastically. "I'm sure you've had at least one man tell you he's done that in a therapy session."

"Oh, yes, at least one," she mumbled, refusing to divulge exactly how many times she had heard it.

"You two are perverted," he accused, his face a bright pink color. He had been thinking about it when he watched the baby but had no intention of admitting that to them. Surely every father has thought about it.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone to get to know your new baby. Congratulations," Tsunade said with a big smile on her face as she left.

Naruto put his arms around Keiko, holding her against his chest as he stared at their son. He slid his hands down her arms, kissing her neck. "Oh, I can't wait to have rough sex with you and make you scream my name," he whispered, licking her earlobe.

"You're so romantic, sweetie," she giggled, giving him the reaction he was hoping for. "I'm so glad I'm yours. You make me so happy."

"Right back at you, babe. And here's the proof of how awesome we are together," he cooed, touching the baby's cheek which made his bright little eyes pop open.

At this moment, everything was perfect.