Hey, hey.

Back to just Naruto and Hinata. Living alone. This chapter has a lot of reflection going on for Naruto. Not really a fluffy chapter. More like angst and comfort. Still, enjoy!

"Man. Gaara knows what he wants. The guy met Star a year and a half ago and now look. We just came back from their wedding in Sauna."

Naruto held an umbrella over Hinata and himself as they walked to their home. It was raining and since they were used to the weather in Amegakure, Naruto had already taken it upon himself to buy the biggest and widest umbrella he could find. Almost like a beach umbrella. They've been living in Amegakure for some time. He knew always to be prepared for the weather.

Naruto was holding the umbrella with one hand, and his other hand was supporting Hinata's lower back as they walked. Hinata smiled at Naruto's silent way of protecting her, while one of her hands lightly gripped his black trench coat that he wore. "I am sad to see Star leave, but I understand she has finally found someone that loves her as much as she loves them. I am truly happy for her."

They made it home and Naruto unlocked the front door and watched Hinata step inside. He walked in behind her and placed the umbrella in the corner to dry. "Yeah. I know you two had grown really close. I'm sorry Gaara had to screw everything up by falling in love."

Hinata giggled at Naruto's light joke and smiled brightly at him. "Oh Naruto-kun!"

Said person grinned at Hinata as he hung up his coat and took Hinata's clear rain coat and hung it up as well. "It's just me and you again, but it was nice seeing some of our friends for a bit. Sakura and Sasuke's little girl Sarada is freaking adorable! She looks just like Sasuke, but has Sakura's bright energy."

Hinata nodded her head and smiled in agreement. "Yes. I was happy Sakura let me hold her. She is a perfect little baby. Not fussy or anything."

Naruto watched Hinata walk into the kitchen and already knew she was preparing them snacks and tea. "Yeah. Shikamaru and Temari's son is a good combo of the both of them. Shikadai. His eyes are Temari's, but everything else Shikamaru. He's a super quiet baby, slept the whole wedding ceremony. Oh! Ino and Sai's baby boy too! Blonde hair and blue eyes, literally Ino's twin."

Hinata giggled at Naruto gushing over their friends kids. She understood why he was doing this though. It was unintentional, and Naruto loved kids. Also, they were the only ones with no kids out of all their friends. Even Star walked down the aisle with a plump baby bump.

Naruto walked into the kitchen and gently hugged Hinata from behind. He had to be very gentle with her, especially for the next few months. "We'll be like them soon though." His hand went under her shirt and rubbed her tiny baby bump. Hinata was only 20 weeks pregnant.

Hinata giggled at Naruto. He was so excited when they found out she was finally pregnant. It actually did take some time. It didn't happen immediately. Naruto and Hinata took trips to doctors, dietarians, fertility clinics, and therapists. Anyone that could help in this process. It was over a year of them trying.

Just to find out the ninja lifestyle on a woman caused a lot of future complications. Turns out suffering life threatening wounds back to back wasn't good on a women's body, especially if she wanted to conceive later down the road.

Hinata wasn't a medic-nin. She was the ninja out on the battle field that needed healing. She was saved by medical ninjutsu many times, but it proved not to be fast enough to save her reproductive system. One particular battle scar that greatly affected her body, was the fight against Pain. When Konoha was attacked.

It took a long time when the doctor pinpointed that scar as the culprit for Naruto to not blame himself. If Hinata didn't risk her life to save him. This would never have happened. She wouldn't be struggling like this. Scared throughout her whole pregnancy that she would miscarry or have a still born.

Before Hinata became pregnant, and Naruto found out what caused her complications. He completely shut everyone out. He didn't answer calls or messages from Kakashi. Not Sakura or Sasuke. He even ignored his parent figure Iruka. Tsunade herself had to travel to Amegakure to ease Naruto's nerves that this wasn't the end of the world.

Hinata was still alive. She was perfectly healthy. She was still with him, and if it was meant for them to have children they would. That it wasn't his fault or Hinata's fault. It was the price to pay with battles and war. A moment in time Hinata would never take back, because it saved someone she loved life.

That pulled Naruto somewhat out of his depression, but what really got him out of his dark hole was his wife.

Hinata being the beauty that she was. She assured him every single day, every single minute and every single second. That none of this was his fault or hers. This was the lifestyle that they chose as ninja's and it came with repercussions. Literally the same thing Tsunade said. Same thing his family said, but it meant something special coming from the love of your life.

Hinata wouldn't let him shut her out. She was there for him 24/7. Proving even more to be his rock.

She was perfect. The most understanding, loving woman that Naruto has ever met. He adored her. Cherished her and thanked the heavens for giving him another chance to have Hinata. So, of course Naruto pulled through that brief dark time. He had to. If he felt this bad, he could imagine how Hinata felt.

She was the one that told him she wanted his child. That she wanted to experience being a mother. So, Naruto knew if he felt bad, Hinata probably felt awful. She needed him, just as much as he needed her. Hinata would just never admit it. She would silently suffer, and Naruto refused to let that happen.

Naruto and Hinata talked about it. In the future, they will adopt. If they have another child through pregnancy down the road. Fine. If not. Who cares. There was no pressure. Naruto would never pressure Hinata for children. She has blessed him plenty enough. They've been through enough together. Since they were children. They could live their life now how they wanted.

Hinata could feel Naruto smile in the crook of her neck as their baby started to flutter in her belly and Naruto felt it. "I know you wanted to tell Sasuke and Sakura. I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I will feel more comfortable in the third trimester to share this."

Naruto kissed the curve of her neck and let go of her. He leaned against the kitchen island and watched Hinata finish making snacks and start to pour some tea. "Eh. I wasn't too upset. I got to gush over everyone's babies. It was a little annoying having the 'sympathy' looks because everyone thinks I'm envious or something. I don't know how many times I have to tell you or everyone else. Having kids is a blessing and would be cool, but it's not going to ruin my life Hinata."

What had hurt him was WHY Hinata wasn't able to conceive. That is what ate at his mental. If it was some other reason, Naruto would have been a stronger person during this.

Hinata blushed at this because she did in the beginning think if she couldn't have Naruto's child, that he wouldn't love her anymore. That she was a failure of a woman, but Naruto sternly told her once, to never think like that again. That he wouldn't allow it and wouldn't forgive her if she downed herself like that again.

The point of them making this move to a new village. Changing their life around and being pretty much on their own without their family's around was for their own personal growth. Naruto found himself out here, and Hinata did as well. They found what true joy felt like and looked like. He refused to have her regress like this over body damage that happened from a career she was forced into.

That was another thing. Hinata never wanted to be a ninja, yet she ended up becoming the strongest Hyuga. The cost at being the strongest wasn't worth it though. Naruto understood that now. He's understood that not only from looking at Hinata's family, but from his love-hate relationship he had with Sasuke.

Strength and competition put a wedge in between him and Sasuke when they were genin. Sasuke couldn't be happy for Naruto and Naruto hated the recognition Sasuke got for being perfect. Naruto wanted to be the best and the strongest, and Sasuke wanted to continue being the best and strongest for the sake of avenging his clan, and having Uchiha's be the top name in Konoha.

Sasuke saw Naruto as a hindrance from achieving his goal. All the bonding they created over time crippled because of this. Wanting to be the strongest cost Naruto years of living a normal life. It cost him years of having a brotherly bond with Sasuke.

Sometimes Naruto would think, if Sasuke never left and just found another way to his problems. Sasuke and Sakura would have already solidified their feelings for one another. Naruto would have moved on way before sooner, and this joy he was feeling now with Hinata would have come sooner.

All assumptions. This was the biggest hurdle in their relationship for him to get over. The 'what-if' assumptions.

Naruto shouldn't look back at the past so much and be bitter. Yet, it reminded him that this distance he's created between him and his loved ones was needed. Naruto didn't need to see his old teammates every day, because these thoughts would continuously flood him. It would anger him on time he had wasted. The 'what-if' scenarios would keep popping up in his head.

What if he loved Hinata sooner? Would she almost die the way she did? Or would he have protected her better? Sasuke could have been there to help him, instead of Hinata risking her life. Hinata would be happier right now. They would be happier right now if the right things happened and people in this world weren't selfish.

Again, assumptions and again, reason why Naruto was happy to be away to tend to his dark thoughts. He was glad he was in Amegakure. It was like a big FUCK YOU, to the Konoha civilians that now fake loved him. To the Akatsuki, that thought they ran this village and could hide here while damaging the world. To everyone that thought him too stupid to see Hinata. To live outside Konoha walls and make it in this world.

That dumb, blonde kid. That annoying orphan kid. That kid that didn't know real pain or understand the world. That dobe and loser. Look at him now. Changing one of the darkest places in the nations. Bringing prosperity here. Raising his family in a place he once feared. Yes, a major 'fuck you' to his past.

"Naruto-kun. You're sinking. I can feel it."

Naruto blinked and looked at Hinata. She was holding his tea cup and was offering it to him, but he was so spaced out he didn't even notice. Naruto looked at Hinata apologetically and accepted his tea. "I'm sorry. I guess this subject does bother me more than I thought. The older I get, and the more I see what war and our lifestyle has done to me and you in the long run. The more I realize I have grudges against more people than I thought."

Hinata looked at Naruto. Concern etched on her face, but he smiled at her as the two went to sit on the couch. Naruto made sure Hinata was nice and comfortable before he sat down beside her. "I'm just happy with our decision to stay here Hinata. I'm happy that it took us a while to even get pregnant. It's all given me time to really sit down and think about things. Everything we've been through since we were kids."

Naruto lifted one of Hinata's legs and placed it on his knee as he rubbed her foot. Watching as Hinata melted to the touch. This brought him joy. "When we were really young. You were kidnapped, and I grew up in an orphanage. I was outcasted from the general public. Seen as a monster, and you were blamed for everything wrong with your family. Your kidnapping, that by the way, you still have nightmares about. I know Hinata."

His wife, she sometimes mumbles in her sleep when she's having a nightmare.

"You were blamed for that. You were blamed for your uncle being killed, and I will never bash Neji, but I will say he was wrong for blaming you as well. You were outcasted from your family and lost your mom. Your dad gave you so much anxiety, its…it's just INSANE Hinata. Even Neji said you had so much trauma in you, that you shouldn't be fighting. Yet they pushed you to be a ninja."

Naruto bit his bottom lip and shook his head. Not yet ready to make eye contact with Hinata. "The villagers treated me like utter trash. Like I was this evil monster. They didn't help a pitiful, dirty kid that was begging for someone to help. Instead they overcharged me on things. Wouldn't feed me when I had little to no money, even though they could see I was starving. They just let me wander around the village in all weather conditions blaming me for an attack that I wasn't even a part of. I lost my parents the same way they lost loved ones, but somehow everything was my fault."

Hinata rubbed Naruto's hand on her foot. Understanding why he wasn't looking at her. Knowing he just had to get this all off his chest. "Everything was always my fault and it was the running gag that I couldn't do anything right. That I was stupid. Sometimes I feel like people knew I struggled with jutsu's because of Kurama and my Uzumaki bloodline, but just never cared to tell me, or properly help me. They just made fun of me and called me a street punk. I became that street punk because they kept forcing it on me. So at that time, I figured I'd at least be good at that."

Hinata pulled Naruto to her and he rested his head on her chest as she massaged his scalp. "I was so deprived of basic human interactions. I didn't even know when I met you, that you were so broken. I just thought you having a nice big house meant you had no reason to be upset. I was so far gone with social interactions. I thought you were sick when you were actually blushing around me 24/7. Like I have to be the biggest idiot to not catch on that you really liked me. When I think about everything, I wanted to deck myself in the face at least two times a day."

Naruto now had his arms wrapped around Hinata's frame and he closed his eyes as he rested on her. Hinata now holding Naruto in a protective, comforting manner.

"When I got to team seven. I was just so freaking happy to be a ninja. I wanted the adventures and had no clue about life. That most ninja's that have 'adventure' are the most broken people walking this earth. Just waiting to die. My sensei being one of them. I didn't understand that Sakura and Sasuke back then, were people I shouldn't have tried to push myself on. They genuinely didn't like me. Granted, I didn't really give them a reason to like me, but that was my coping habit. To be that way, and no one could see through it, and that really hurt me. It really bothered me that people actually thought I was some annoying, stupid, arrogant street kid Hinata."

Hinata kissed the top of Naruto's head and he just snuggled more into her. "Sasuke kind of figured me out and accepted me first, even though he tried his hardest to hide it. Then Sakura. They became my family. Team seven is all I knew as family, and now that I'm older I realize that there is no way I would want my child to grow up in a 'family' like that. We were just trying to make it. Kakashi was broken. Sasuke was broken. Sakura was going through an identity crisis."

Hinata lightly tapped Naruto's head. "Naruto! Don't say that." He could tell Hinata was stifling as smile and laugh.

"Oh let's be honest now Hinata. Sakura when we were younger was going through some serious identity issues. She was on a roller coaster friendship with Ino, over Sasuke since they were in single digits. I'm convinced she only had long hair back then because of that rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. I'm also convinced that's why you were okay with having short hair."

Hinata finally laughed at this. Almost like she was caught in the act. Naruto's had time to think a lot of things over. "Still. Team seven was broken before we even started. The ninja system was broken for so long. No one tried to continue what my father wanted to do, and that was to separate young ninja's from war and dangerous missions. There is no reason, now that I think about it, that me and you should have experienced the hell we had. There is no reason I should have been so eager to jump into danger like that. I feel like we were okay doing it, because our life back in Konoha wasn't that grand. So, we were fine leaving it to go somewhere dangerous."

Naruto finally sat up and looked at Hinata. He smiled brightly at her with passion and determination in his eyes. "Here. In Amegakure. I want to fix that. I want to put my father's dream here. I learned that I do love Konoha. I love our friends and my dysfunctional family in team seven. I love all of that…in moderation. I can't take it all the time. I can't be the leader Konoha needs me to be, because deep down, I cannot forget the past. I can forgive, but I cannot forget."

His smile slid off his face and his eyebrows furrowed together in frustration. "They broke you Hinata. I will never forgive them for that. I will forgive Konoha for my past, but I cannot for yours. They took away your dreams and ambitions. I…I don't think you understand how much it hurt to see you fading away for over two years after the war. Now, you're okay. I just want to protect that. Forever."

Hinata smiled as she wiped away a tear that slid down Naruto's cheek. She was his everything and he was hers. Children really didn't matter to him, just them being happy did. He was really her joy. "Naruto. I love you so much."

Naruto chuckled as a small sob escaped him. "I love you too. I seriously cannot believe that we're out here on our own. Me being a Kage for a village other than Konoha. You a retired ninja. That was the first in your family to leave Konoha, and thrive somewhere else. We're on our own Hinata, and I didn't know it would feel this awesome. I don't feel alone at all."

Hinata leaned in and gave Naruto an eskimo kiss. He knew she was too shy to actually kiss him at this moment. Naruto smiled at her and cupped her cheek as he kissed her lips. "You're amazing Hinata."

Hinata tried to shy away from him, but Naruto smiled as he pulled her back to him. "You're strong. Beautiful and everything a guy could ask for."

Hinata held her burning cheeks and shook her head. "Oh Naruto! You spoil me too much."

Naruto gave her a flabbergasted look. "I spoil you? No freaking way! You spoil me! I get away with pure murder with you sometimes Hinata. You take care of me so much. Like you even let me find my joy before you found yours! When this whole journey was for YOU to begin with!"

Both Naruto and Hinata laughed at this. When they calmed down they proceeded to eat their snacks and drink their tea. "Naruto. I-I umm went to the orphanage last week. To volunteer again while you were working."

Naruto hummed at this as he was actually getting a little tired. The tea doing its job at relaxing him. At the same time it amused him that Hinata was telling him this.

He knew Hinata's every move in this village. No way she could go to that new constructed orphanage and he didn't know already. "Yeah? It's nice that we have our own set up here now, and that we don't have to keep sending them to other villages. This village is now well off, and the orphanages are smaller too. Less kids in it, because I'm really trying to hold parents accountable or find the kids a really good home."

Hinata smiled happily at this. Naruto really did do a good job on that project. Kids in the orphanage here weren't nearly as depressed as she thought they'd be. The adults in the orphanage were way more loving. "Yes. You did an amazing job. There is a little boy there. He's young. About two and a half years old. His name is Kawaki."

Naruto smiled at this. "The toddler with the multi-hair color? Blonde sides and blackish on the top. Almost like your hair color?"

Hinata blinked at Naruto. How did he know that? He remembered so much with his busy schedule running a village. "O-Oh! Yes. Him. He's quiet. I feel as if his parents that left him, their past makes it hard for people to want to adopt him. They feel as if he might be a bad apple like his parents. Some people do not understand. I understand. I understand what abuse looks like, and how it sometimes makes you act differently than the rest of the children."

Naruto slowly nodded his head as he looked at Hinata. He's been watching the little boy as well. He saw the same things Hinata saw. This made Naruto smile, because he was going to bring it up to Hinata soon too. "You want to adopt him too?"

Hinata picked up on the grammar, that Naruto wanted to do this as well. "You feel the same?"

Naruto smiled at her and stood up to stretch. He reached for Hinata's hand and winked at her, "You know I do. You know I wanted to adopt too, and I appreciate you taking the time to go to the orphanage to understand it more. I see it's grown on you, so you go there frequently now. Thank you. For always trying to understand me more."

Hinata blushed at Naruto figuring her out so easily. She took his hand and he helped her up. "I would really like to welcome Kawaki to our family. Before we have our own." Naruto had a thoughtful look on his face as he nodded his head. "That sounds pretty good to me actually. We'll see if adoption is really for us that way. Welcome him before Boruto comes."

Hinata paused and looked at Naruto completely confused. "Boruto?" Naruto just grinned at Hinata as he tugged her into their bedroom to get ready for bed. "Yeah. I like that name. What about you? Reminds me of Neji, a nice tribute to him. Ya know?"

Hinata bit her bottom lip and gave Naruto a wet smile. "H-How do you know we're having a boy? We won't find out until Monday. When we go back to my doctor." Naruto pulled Hinata to his chest and continued to grin at her as he started to chuckle.

"Call it a hunch."

End of chapter.

This chapter was titled, 'Space', because Naruto has realized for him to be a better person. Happier and able to love the family he made out of team seven, he was going to have to give space between them. Seeing them everyday wasn't good for him, because Naruto has learned it's okay to not be forgetful of his past or the people that played a key part in ruining it. He's learned he doesn't really want Hinata in that environment. When in the beginning of the story, he wanted nothing more but Hinata to go back to Konoha.

On a realistic standpoint, it would be very surprising if a female as a ninja didn't suffer in the fertility realm after battling the way they have. Hinata and Sakura, from their generation has taken the craziest damage and hits. So many things play a part in conceiving a child. It is not easy for everyone. Body damage, stress, being fertile. So many things, and it doesn't just affect the woman. It affects their partner too. It brings a dark cloud in the relationship. One that our duo was able to conquer.

So, next chapter will be the introduction to little Kawaki Uzumaki! Excited to write him differently! See you Friday.