Chapter 25: Interlude
'My voice won't work.'
Her lungs are starting to drown from the smog of gunfire continuing to fill the area, haze of gray surrounding her on all sides making it far too difficult to breathe…
To think.
She risks glancing back over to Toneri and yelps, silver eyes frozen in time as the river of scarlet only widened around his head.
Death. This is her first time really and truly seeing it in front of her.
Hinata pushed her gaze down at her legs, flinching as the blood slowly started to trickle towards her feet.
'Get up, go find Tsunade! Anybody!' Her thoughts start screaming in rapid succession.
Only her body won't follow the commands, paralyzed in fear.
"Sorry I'm late. I didn't think Toneri would resort to such a low; it had to be done." A familiar voice calls out to her and Hinata straightens, legs finally obeying her in starting to stand.
Jiraiya helps her up the rest of the way, twisting her from the scene. Its only when they're out of the maze of fog does she finally start to take in gasps of clear air.
And everything immediately begins to sink in, the alarms blaring around her, Tsunade's voice questioning what's happening before yelling for an ambulance and the police. The growing rigidness and paleness of Toneri's body as a team of paramedics flock over him…
'I'm alive.'
She's immediately pulled into another person's arms before the weight of it all makes her cry out again, sigh of warm relief drifting against her neck.
'Neji?'
"Ah, thank goodness you're okay Hinata! I was surprised even slightly annoyed when Jiraiya had pushed ahead like he did, but I'm glad now for him and his brazen actions." He spoke quickly and gently, squeezing at her a bit tightly before assessing her for any damage.
Hinata managed a short nod, even though most of his words had blended together and there's far too much noise to properly think as her head dizzily pounds.
"Give her some space Neji. She might pass out crushing her like that." Jiraiya suggests and Neji loosens his hold just enough for her vision to not completely fade out.
Bile swims up on her tongue she hurriedly forces down again, ignoring the burn it leaves returning down her throat. Now isn't the time to be getting sick again, pushing shaky palms into the depths of her jacket.
Police swarm up to them in just a few short minutes, forcing her mind to replay the image over again like a shattered record.
"What made Mr. Otsutsuki pull his gun on you?"
"Had he been stalking you for a while now?"
"Do you remember anything in particular he said to you in his last moments?"
Fox ears pop out leading only to a further stream of questions and Hinata bites at her lip to not yell at them, to lose control…
"Enough, stop making her have to relive it!" Naruto snaps, pushing his way up through the crowd. His eyes are crimson and harsh, fox ears and tails out in full view for all the officers to see.
Most immediately step back in fear, but others surprisingly don't budge at all.
They've already heard the stories about him by now.
Hinata brightens at his presence, meeting him halfway as he pulled her in. In his arms is the perfect safety net, the guard against the chaos and mess that always seems to transpire around them.
"You're okay, I'm so glad the old man and Neji were here." He breathes out, kissing and thumbing away at her tears until there's nothing left.
He growls at anyone who gets too close, hair bristling up and Hinata gently pats at his hands to keep him relaxed. She turned back to the remaining officers, speaking up firmly and clearly.
"I'm sorry, but there isn't anything left to tell you that I haven't already. It's been…a very trying period and I would just like to go home and be with my husband and son now."
Tsunade nodded in agreement, fixing a glare on the team of men. "You guys don't have a problem with that, do you?"
Their silence says it all.
And for the next few days, she buries herself from the world. Phone calls go unanswered, people pass in flurries by the door Naruto keeps at bay until eventually she has to go back to class and face the painful reality of the ripples of all the actions she and Naruto have done and their results that have somehow spread to all facets of her life now.
A torrent of rain distracts her during Biology, the gentle pattering of rain against the windows and lightning streaking the sky nearly helps her tune out all the whispers and pointing.
"That's her, isn't it?"
"Yeah, the one that guy committed suicide over, right?"
The story has become so sickened and twisted by now, her friends haven't been able to stop the ball of rumors.
She turns to face the too loud whispering pair of men and they freeze at the sight of her casual smile.
"Just so the story is clear, Toneri was mentally sick before he tried to kill me and himself, there was no secret feelings or relationship, and my husband is not a monster if you think it's bad to defend your wife from a man like him."
They only nod slowly, afraid to speak at seeing the haze of dark red sinking into her eyes. The sharpening of fangs and her nails…
"Good, make sure to pass the truth on!"
Nobody speaks about it again for the rest of class.
-X-
"Papa!" Boruto exclaims, running around his legs and clinging on to his jeans when he refuses to immediately give him the attention he wants.
It doesn't matter what time of day it is, his son has no limit to his energy even if he can clearly see he's trying to finish up mopping the kitchen and various other chores.
But eventually he gives in when he sees him preparing to puff out his cheeks in an adorable pout.
His only weakness.
"What is it Bolt? Papa can hear you just fine, you don't need to yell." Naruto muses, squatting down to his son's level.
"Mama's stomach is too big!" He points, gesturing to Hinata who was currently sleeping on the couch after finishing an evening shift. She had only just recently started going back to classes and work, no matter how wary he still was of the idea.
"You don't need to follow me, people are staring." Hinata insisted, flustering when Naruto only leaned closer into her, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist. A tail brushed up against her back and she sighed as an old woman nearby shrieked at the sight.
Guess he wasn't going to listen.
"No! I'm not risking getting you or the baby in danger again!" He replied smoothly.
He had promised Hiashi and Neji this as well, but more so he made this promise to himself.
He'd never let Hinata go through such a painful thing again. Not alone.
Hinata huffed, shaking her head. By him always walking with her to her classes or to the hospital, he put himself at risk for always being late to his own destinations. She absentmindedly rubbed at her stomach, most people could see it now that she was expecting…
'Please don't let the other doctors or nurses treat me differently now that I'm back. Please don't give me too light of loads.'
She still wanted to learn, to grow just as much as her first day of stepping into this internship.
They approached the main lobby of the medical center, they were finally opening the closed off section of the pediatric ward today. It would be awhile before she could work up the nerve to go back for her next appointment with Tsunade, walk those same floors…
Though for now, the room buzzed with the air of staff and patients walking by, same smells of powerful disinfectants, betadine, and powders breeze by them and Naruto begrudgingly slips his arm out from around her.
"So…ready to go back?"
He smiles a bit as her lavender eyes shine, adjusting her white coat on properly.
"Yes."
He hadn't considered really all the people who would comment on Hinata's changes this time around, the fox ears she occasionally gained when she was listening for something intently or even the tails she gained when he nuzzled too closely to her.
It was all normal to him.
And of course his own son would grow curious.
Naruto blinked, glancing from Bolt to Hinata. "Huh?"
"She's been eating too much! It might burst!" He goes on, wildly gesturing with his arms. His bright blue eyes sparkle with worry and he barely stifles a laugh knowing he has genuine concern over the matter.
"Mama is okay. It's just your sister growing, remember we have bedtime stories about how your sibling is growing in her tummy." Naruto explained.
It's not enough to convince him though, Bolt beginning to stomp his feet and create tiny footprints on his freshly cleaned tiles.
"It's not funny!" He huffed out at Naruto's snickering.
Naruto moved to ruffle his hair, sighing at his grumpiness. It wasn't just his worry over his mother's health that was perhaps bugging him…
It was all the changes a new baby brought.
And perhaps he had finally realized that when he saw his bedroom in their now two-story home was no longer the same. Gone were his favorite toys from infancy he suddenly begged to have back, his new room no longer holding the familiar warmth of blue and white walls he had long been accustomed to waking up to as they went through the moving process.
However, his sister's soon to be room on the other hand he noticed was the primary center that was taking away his parent's attention, suddenly becoming filled with his old belongings, his old books…
Eventually, he and Hinata should've expected his reaction that night.
"Mine!" He snapped, pulling down a box of his old belongings causing a sea of stuffed animals to tumble to the ground.
The sound instantly stirs Hinata, but Naruto is already racing up the stairs.
"Boruto Uzumaki, what do you think you're doing?!" Naruto stated, blocking him from escaping out the room when he caught sight of him at the door.
He paused for only a moment at the sharpness of his tone before his hands grip tighter on to one of his old teddy bears, cotton pushing out from the corners of the legs nearly threatening to burst under his hold.
"This is mine." He whispers with less conviction, hot tears prickling into the corners of his eyes as Naruto began to approach him slowly. He wrapped the bear behind his back, as if maybe it would instantly be hidden.
Naruto quieted, staring at the haphazard sight next to them before sighing. "Don't you want to share these when your sister gets here?"
Boruto shook his head, tears coming faster making his cheeks a shade of dark pink.
"No!" He screeched, and Naruto sees it too what Hinata pointed out to him once.
Tiny nails sharpen as his eyes flash red.
"What's going on?" A sleepy voice beckons behind them, Hinata hovering by the door. Her eyes slowly roam over the room before falling on Boruto.
"Did you do this?" She questioned, drowsiness abruptly gone from her voice.
And rapidly Boruto quiets, sniffling and looking away. "Mama, I-"
"Did you do this Boruto?" Hinata only repeats.
Boruto quivers, scuffling at his feet under both of his parent's staring. "Yes."
Hinata silently points to a lone chair in the corner, and he gulps, knowing what is coming.
"Time out chair for making a mess. Now."
The room becomes painfully quiet, Boruto's sniveling filling the silence every once in a while as he drags his feet over to the spot.
'He always listens to her easily.' Naruto mused, watching as Hinata stared at him from the corner of her eye.
"I was hoping we could avoid a meltdown." She whispered, crouching beside him to study the distinct blocks and stuffed animals that had been gifted to Boruto over the last year or so now mangled or ripped apart across the carpet.
Many of them he had outgrown or hadn't shown interest in for months.
"Even though we've been teaching him about sharing and becoming a big brother, I think it was finally starting to sink in for him what that truly meant. What it would mean he would lose in a way." Naruto murmured back.
'I never had siblings, though it's not like Mom and Dad really had time to think about more children back then…'
Hinata watched his expression before standing up, gesturing for Boruto to come out of his time out.
"Bolt, I want you to feel my belly. Papa told me you were worried." She explained, reaching out for his hand.
He hesitates for only a second before accepting her hand, cerulean eyes widen at the brief sight of stretch marks that run like cracks along the sides of her stomach, pressing his hand into the warm center.
A tiny foot pushes back on him and he jumps back in shock, running back over to Naruto in alarm.
"Your sister was just saying hello. Be nice to her okay, she's going to be looking up to you." Hinata giggles.
Naruto nudges him to go back with a light pat to his shoulders and Boruto slowly eases his way back over, resting his head lightly against her belly. It was still confusing to him, how did his sister even get into Mama in the first place? How was she going to look?
He gazed down to the shirt that Papa had told him to wear proudly: "I'm going to be a big brother!" in light green lettering with a picture of big and little lion in the center.
"Yes Mama."
-X-
"It's time for a girl's day out! You've been cooped up in the house for way too long!" Ino exclaimed, waving Hinata's arms up and down excitedly.
"Yes, and now that we know you're having a girl; we can brainstorm baby names!" Sakura added in.
Hinata laughed at their excitement, true spending most of her days catching up with school, work, and properly moving into the house she hadn't hardly given her free time to herself in weeks.
Naruto clapped his hands alongside them, feigning interest.
"Yes, can't wait to gossip about the guys and talk about how great they are in bed! Or discuss that one patient who kept asking for the Dilaudid!" He squealed.
Sakura sent him a look, jade eyes narrowing. "Shut it. We don't talk about you nor do we sound like that!"
Naruto only smirked. "Oh, if not me then Sasuke perhaps?"
Ino luckily stopped her from wiping that silly grin off his face.
"Let's get going Hinata, we made that reservation for 2:30 and it's almost 2:10 now!" Sakura stated, glancing at her watch before heading out the door with Ino close behind.
Hinata glanced back over to Naruto, wondering what he would do alone in the house with Boruto at the Hyuga manor.
It's a quiet Sunday, afternoon light pouring over their newest furnishings casting them in pretty glows. Jiraiya had come by earlier in the day with various boxes from Naruto's childhood, insisting now he finally had the space to keep them.
"Are you sure you're not going to get bored? You should text Sasuke or Kiba, you haven't talked to either of them in a while." She suggested.
Right, because Sasuke wouldn't just give him a flat look at the idea of 'hanging out'. Most of his ideas for 'fun' involved reading long winded paperback books or watching some boring old business movie he would fall asleep in the middle of.
And Kiba who had Akamaru's muddy paws deliberately pounce in him greeting the last time they met up…yeah, no!
"Nah, I'll probably just look over these collections the old pervert brought over or maybe go for a walk!" He reasoned.
But before Hinata can get up to leave, he swiftly turns her around and pulls her close. Her lips taste of cinnamon and tea and she reddens as he parts a hand through her hair.
"Make it up to me later, okay?" He breathes by her ear before letting her go.
Pink burns into her face even more, though she gives him a quick nod.
Really though, he wants to think up good baby names as well and surprise her when she returns home.
"It should be something that means something bright, hopeful. Representing everything you two have been through." Hiashi notes, wiggling Boruto on his leg to his happy shrieks of delight.
Neji nods in agreement from beside him. "Most Hyuga women have been named after things based off the Sun, light, or things of that nature."
He thought then of the wildflowers he liked to pick when they traveled through the grasslands, colors in deep ranges of bursting fuchsias and golds down to subdued whites and purples.
His daughter would be born sometime around late spring to early/mid-summer in which those flowers bloomed at their brightest. Hinata had been so excited the first time he took her there and Boruto had nearly gotten lost adventuring through too tall weeds and stems that went far past his head.
It was approaching winter now though, morning rains and cold nights left the fields dead and iced over creating a patchy white and auburn landscape for miles.
He glanced down to the first of many boxes Jiraiya had delivered, tearing open the tape in one swoop.
Littered inside are a series Make-Out Paradise books from over the years, complete with his signature and photo in each one. 'For when you and Hinata want to try out new ideas!' reads a sticky note of the first book on top. It's his wedding present all over again.
…And he would hardly call his porn novels 'childhood memories' he wanted to hold onto.
Though oddly beneath his novels are magazines and seeds he and Hinata can use for gardening. There are flowers and plants, some that aren't even known to grow in Konoha covered in various articles and front covers making curiosity get the best of him to briefly read through them.
'Hmm, at least he remembers some of our hobbies.' Naruto considered, peering down into the box to see if there's anything else.
Neatly wedged in the corner, sunlight hits an amber petal.
Lifting it up reveals an entire flower, pressed and dried against a clear glass frame. Kushina's signature sits in white cursive in the corner, one of her first creations.
A shadow box.
His mother's point of leisure for lazy spring afternoons, the kitchen would often smell of honeysuckle, roses and jasmine as he helped pass her glue and water to freeze bouquets and gifts in time for newlyweds or engagements.
Her smiles were the biggest back then at seeing people's reactions to her work, those were the same hands they would come to find like a monster's someday, forgetting the beauty she used to weave...
The only ones left in the box are the ones she wasn't able to deliver and his eyes roam for a long time on a sunflower display wrapped in a white thread.
It was to be for a couple about to celebrate their daughter's first birthday.
'This is what we can pass on.'
-X-
"What about Botan? Sayuri? Tsubaki? Help us out here Hinata, you said you were thinking about flower names after all! Am I going to have to ask the ladies at the call center for suggestions too?" Ino listed out, counting off on her fingers the most common ones she could think of.
"Botan and Boruto? Ino, are you even thinking straight? Those sound way too similar and they would get mixed up and possibly even made fun of!" Sakura mused.
"I said maybe a flower name! Naruto and I still have plenty of time to think it over." Hinata emphasized, shaking her head at their behavior before they broke into an argument again.
They were more serious about this than they were!
She sipped at her water idly, true a name was important as Father, Neji, and even Hanabi had been reminding her over and over as the weeks went on, though she was sure the perfect one would come to them in time.
Lunch had been spent discussing the topic fervently and now the sky was drifting off into ribbons of reds, oranges, and purples soon to be an endless black.
And still without a name yet.
A chill breezes through the air and Hinata sinks further into her jacket to stay warm, clicking her tongue to get their attention.
"So…what would you two name your own children?"
Ino sighs, waving off the question though her face gains a tinge of red. "First Sai would need to understand the concept of procreation."
Sakura sent her a puzzled look. "Seems like he understands it just fine from some of those drawings of his…"
"Oh, he can draw the act and discuss it for hours, but I err well I'm not 100% sure if that all translates to the bedroom. We fool around yes, but never that far. Not yet."
Hinata turned her eyes to Sakura. Lilac meets Emerald before she nervously shuffles with her fork.
"What, I don't have any experience either!"
Ino's lips quirk up in one of her typical cat-like grins. "Those hickeys you tried to hide from me the other day beg to differ. I guess Sasuke does open up to certain people."
"They were from my curling iron! Geez, I showed you the blisters that popped up from the burn."
Ino simply lets out a low tsk. "Excuses, excuses."
Hinata giggled, straightening up to save Sakura from further teasing. "I'm glad we can all sit like this. People still send me and Naruto strange looks, that I know is something that will probably never change. But at least they don't immediately run away, try to hurt, or curse us out in public."
She rubbed at her stomach when she felt her daughter move again, wincing at the slight pain.
Just as active as Boruto.
Her yawning stops them from keeping the conversation going and Sakura suggests she stop by the labor/delivery unit if she ever gets a chance for ideas before they part.
She's been there before actually, making time during her breaks and lunch hour just to explore the area, to familiarize herself again with the soft melodies that play to announce a birth, the gentle rocking of chairs echoing down the halls…
"I'm home."
The house is dark save for a light on in the kitchen and upstairs and it still takes Hinata a minute or two to sometimes figure out where she is when she wakes in the middle of the night. Maybe Naruto has already fallen asleep? She did get home later than she expected though it's barely past 8 o clock.
"Guess who?" A voice purrs by her ear as she takes off her shoes, Naruto doesn't even give her the chance to ask a gentle "Who?" in return before she's whisked up into his arms.
His woodsy scent invades her and she sighs, leaning up on the tips of her toes to kiss him. It's delicate and light before Naruto decides to deepen it, pressing her up against the wall.
Hinata turns her head for a second, catching her breath. "W-Wait, is this safe to do at this stage in my pregnancy?"
Naruto hummed into her neck with a nod, lips leaving a path at her collarbone moving down. "I asked Granny during your last check-up."
It explained why then she had smacked him and given him flyers instead of a proper response.
He lifted her up then and to their bedroom with ease, fingers greedily moving to touch every part of her skin.
"No way am I done with you yet; this is a rare night where it's just the two of us alone."
His fingers glide and race over the curve of her breasts, flicking against her nipples until they harden and his mouth moves forward sucking them until all he can elicit from Hinata are tiny gasps.
Hinata shivered, hands reaching up to his waistband and coiling around his girth as he rocked into her.
He peels off the remainder of their clothes, cock teasing at the folds of her entrance as her dampness easily slides him in.
"Naruto…please." She whispers out between thrusts, nails digging into the blades of his shoulders. His fox tails keep her place and brush against every pleasure point, teasing her as she teeters closer to orgasm.
"Please what?" He growls back, lifting her just slightly off the bed so he can go deeper, so that she can feel every part of his essence. His want.
A moan falls out of her before she can manage to continue on. "No more teasing. I…I want to come."
As soon as the words leave her lips he picks up the pace and the world blurs away, she hears the sound of Naruto's low groan and a warm liquid enters and splashes around her.
Her whole body feels like jelly, legs shaky when Naruto slowly pulls out of her. Sweat clings to both of them and somehow she manages to find the strength to scoot closer to him as he wraps an arm around her.
Beneath the scent of sex and his colognes she smells sunflowers.
Naruto nods at her questioning look, grinning breaking across his face.
"I thought of the perfect name."
-X-
Himawari's delivery feels easy in comparison to Boruto's.
Her water breaks in the early in the morning before sunrise instead of hours of having to wait pacing the halls up and down throughout the day into night.
Still, her body is still hyper aware to every sense and her stomach revolts at the smell of blood during the first hour of contractions.
"You're doing okay Hinata, I'm here." Naruto's voice whirls somewhere from her side, not letting go of her hand despite his own starting to take on a profound red at her squeezing.
"Yes, concentrate on Naruto's voice; not the pain." Sakura adds in. Her cervix is almost completely dilated, crowning will happen any moment now.
She's doing the delivery all the way this time, Tsunade only watching on standby for any emergency.
Pain shoots down her body, searing her like electricity and she follows Sakura's commands to keep pushing until a sharp cry echoes out.
And pain quickly turns to joy.
Tears cloud her eyes seeing a tuff of violet hair like her own, two matching sets of whiskers on the side of her pink cheeks.
"Himawari, it's nice to finally meet you." Naruto whispers, nodding to Hinata as they watch Tsunade and Sakura finish taking her vitals, assessment, then swaddle her in a pink blanket.
Her cries quiet being relaxed against Hinata's chest, watery blue eyes briefly open to the world then close again.
A knock comes from the door, Hiashi poking his head in with Boruto holding onto his hand. "Is it okay for us to enter now?"
Sakura laughs, gesturing them in with a wave. "I'm sure you were pressed against the door waiting for the cry."
"Are you okay Mama?" Boruto asks carefully, beaming when she urges him to come over. Grandpa whispers for him to use his indoor voice and walking speed and he tenses, remembering and dropping his run to a walk.
He's been prepared for this day, propping himself up on the bed slowly and tilting his head to see.
"Hey, she has whiskers like mine and Papa's!" He shouts, instantly covering his mouth and apologizing profusely.
Naruto patted his head, watching as his Boruto followed his Mom's directions in giving soft strokes to Himawari's head.
'I have it.'
His successes in rising up at his job, in school, it all came from a chance decision in dialing that once sleazy phone service.
Because it was through that call center he met Hinata, someone who loved him entirely despite his fox features, his goofiness, and the emotions he wore too easily…
"Thank you."
Hinata gazes over to him, drowsiness from the pain medicine kicking in. "Hmm?"
'My perfect little family.'
He shakes his head, swallowing down the urge to cry. He shares this joy with her after all.
Their sunshine.
-x-
Posting a bit earlier than usual; once again a big thanks to all my readers, reviews, favorites, and follows! No one actually guessed it would be Jiraiya who shot Toneri, but that's okay because it was so much fun reading everyone's responses! So, next up is the epilogue! Boruto's coming of age along with some fun Naru-Hina family antics! I have so many ideas and references I plan for the epilogue considering it was one of the first chapters that gave me the idea for this story it may end up being 2 parts.
I might not be able to do my usual 2 week updating considering I have a family reunion to attend and then a wedding (my own brother's who encouraged me to write my fanfiction in the first place!), but I'll be writing out my plans in the meantime!
Stay tuned; until next time!
Enjoy. Review. Favorite. Follow!