Author's note: Took me nearly a year but I'm finally here with a new update for this collection! Got inspired by a video on a news site I saw today, so there you have it LOL

Thanks to the following reviewers: rozel; Iraheta 127; solitare1; sasunaru1314; Kalos; TigrezzTail

Warnings: Fluff basically, set a couple of months before Keiko is born.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like this!

Chapter 53

"Are you okay with letting your brother and sister poke the balloon, Kei?" Naruto asked, watching how Sasuke chased after Kiseki and Kenta in the garden to bring them inside.

The cold weather didn't deter the twins whatsoever as they shrieked in laughter; their breaths escaping in white clouds. Kenta's scarf was on the verge of slipping away, but Kiseki stopped long enough to adjust the bright red scarf before she was off again, slipping out of Sasuke's reach before he could catch her. Kenta grinned, seeming to whoop, before he ran after his sister, leading the chase deeper into the garden.

Naruto shook his head amused. He knew Sasuke was just playing around with them. If he wanted, he could easily catch them, but the twins loved the chase game, so their papa had no problems indulging them, even in the cold.

"It's okay," Kei said solemnly; his eyes glued upon the light purple balloon that floated above Naruto's head. "I saw them on the screen when they were in your belly. They can poke the balloon now."

Naruto's smile wavered for a moment before he took a deep breath to steady himself. He wasn't going to think about anything bad today. He was already twenty-three weeks far; he had left the danger zone weeks ago. He could breathe, he could be happy. He was happy. He wasn't going to let the demons from the past cling to him, not when everything was different this time.

"Balloon!" Kiseki cheered loudly when she and Kenta rushed into the kitchen. Her cheeks were a bright red from the cold and she waved her arms around so wildly, her gloves fell right off.

Kenta was panting, obviously having run straight into the kitchen, and his eyes lit up in a similar manner as Kiseki's when he caught sight of the balloon. His scarf had come undone again, the ends brushing against his hips.

"Finally convinced them to come inside," Sasuke said dryly, closing the door to the garden firmly. "You'd think it's summer with the way those two kept running around."

"I'm warm!" Kiseki protested, puffing up her cheeks. She struggled to get out of her jacket, humming when Kei went over to help her.

Before Kei could even turn to Kenta to help him, she bounded over to Naruto, who was still holding the balloon by its shiny white rope. "Balloon for me?" she asked hopefully.

"Not exactly," Naruto said and chuckled when she drew her eyebrows together.

"Balloon for nii-chan?" she questioned next, plopping her index finger in the corner of her mouth.

"Hm, no. You know how you'll be getting another brother or sister soon?" Naruto said, aware of Sasuke coming over to his side, leaning against the counter.

Kenta trotted closer; his gaze momentarily resting on Naruto's rounded stomach. "Yeah, me going be big brother like nii-chan!" he said proudly and his sister giggled.

"Exactly. Now we know whether the baby is going to be a girl or a boy," Sasuke took over, bopping the balloon gently. "And you can find out two if you pop this balloon!"

"Pop balloon?" Kiseki repeated curiously; her eyes flitting back to the floating balloon.

Naruto handed the twins each a knitting needle, carefully wrapping their small fingers around the long metal. "Okay, you two have to be really careful now," he cautioned them. The last thing they needed was having the two of them accidentally stab each other or themselves. "I'll lower the balloon and then you just have to stick this part of the needle in the balloon until it goes 'pop!', okay?"

They both nodded, looking quite bemused as Naruto lowered the balloon until it bobbed gently up and down between them. They each clenched the needle tightly in their fist, seeming quite nervous all of a sudden for some reason.

"Go on," Naruto encouraged them. "Pop the balloon!"

Kiseki and Kenta shared an unreadable look with each other. She pursed her lips while he bit down on his lower lip. They peered up at Naruto and Sasuke and when they nodded in encouragement again, they raised the needles in the air.

Naruto had expected them to go wild and stab enthusiastically into the balloon, but instead both twins carried a look of intense concentration while they carefully pushed the knitting needle into both sides of the balloon. The first couple of tries had the needles bouncing off the balloon's surface, however.

"Try pricking the balloon harder," Sasuke advised.

Kei, meanwhile, just looked on curiously; his gaze flitting between his brother and sister.

Kiseki hmphed, but did as she was instructed with her brother following her lead. This time when the needles jabbed the balloon, both sharp ends went straight through the rubber wall and the balloon exploded with a loud POP!

Bright pink pieces of paper fluttered through the air, some of them decorating the children's heads while most scraps ended up decorating the floor. Sasuke brushed some pink shreds of paper from his sweater before he gently took the knitting needles away from the twins, placing the needles onto the counter.

Naruto dropped the limp string with the remains of the balloon onto the counter next to the needles before clapping his hands together, grinning. "Look at that, you're going to get a sister!"

Kei's mouth dropped open and he quickly rocked back and forth on his heels. "I'm getting another baby sister!" he squeaked; his eyes sparkling.

Both Kiseki and Kenta, however, looked troubled. They looked around the kitchen with Kenta wringing his hands together and Kiseki frowning harshly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto asked confused. He had expected them to be excited about the news, not looking like something had gone horribly wrong.

Kenta licked his lips and peered up at Naruto through his eyelashes. "Where is sister?"

"What do you mean, Kenta?" Sasuke asked bemused.

The four year old gestured at the scraps of paper littering the floor. "Sister, where's sister?"

Kei understood the issue before their parents did. "Our sister is still in dad's belly, Kenta. She isn't in the balloon."

"She's not?" Kiseki sighed relieved.

Naruto didn't know whether to cry or to laugh when he realised why exactly Kiseki and Kenta had looked so apprehensively about stabbing the balloon. They had thought their baby sister was inside of it! Well, at least this proved that they would be careful with the baby.

"No, no, sweetheart, your little sister still has some growing to do before she will be born," he chuckled and ruffled her hair. "She's still inside my belly, not in the balloon, don't worry."

"Not want to hurt little sister," Kenta sighed and stepped forward to press a kiss onto Naruto's stomach.

"I guess I should have explained the concept of the balloon better," Naruto said wryly as Kei, Kenta and Kiseki started eagerly collecting the scraps of pink paper, discussing animatedly which games they would play with their sister once she was born.

Arms closed around him from behind and he leant into Sasuke's chest. "At least they're not crying that they're getting another sister," Sasuke said amused.

At least there was that, yeah. Perhaps they should have opted for another way to announce their baby's gender to their other children. A way that would have involved less thrash, Naruto mused, lightly despairing as he watched quite a few scraps drifting underneath the cabinets and the table, escaping his kids' grabby hands.

The multitude of scraps he would no doubt be finding for the next upcoming days was quickly forgotten in lieu for the hands slowly caressing his rounded belly and the pair of lips kissing the side of his neck gently.

He smiled, resting his hands on top of his mate's.

He was happy.

AN2: Not that long, I know, but it's fluff at least!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.