"She's kicking, want to feel?" his partner asked in a soft voice.
Naruto didn't answer with words. His hand merely drifted downward over her beautifully big belly, combing up and down until he felt the miniscule motion. It made him feel like a bastard and it made him so happy he could cry.
His little baby was really inside there! A flesh and blood living being was going to come into the world, because of him! It felt like the greatest accomplishment of his life, but all the pregnancies felt like that. Even his half-feral little forest children seemed so spectacular.
To be fair, they were already crawling around at three months old.
Tsume insisted that was conceringly slow for a fangfolks development. Their kind usually were semi-independent by one, gathering their own food at least. Fortunately, that was no issue; they weren't picky eaters, and Naruto was at least strong enough by now to carry a sack loaded with high-density food with every visit. Even with only the 30 gold Sasuki left him with, he would have been fine.
That was completely discounting the mine and its income.
Karui didn't hand that cash directly to him, but it was probably why his beautiful wife never asked him for money, for anything. She was still enchanted by life at the estate. Life in a house with literally two dozen servants, right on the edge of the wildlands; his little lamb said it made her feel like an explorer!
That's where she was now.
With her out of the old manor in town, Karui found it exceptionally easy to keep up private visits with her new baby daddy. In truth, it eased the loneliness of losing her daughter. They still saw each other every other day, at longest, but it wasn't the same without her living here in the house.
Karui felt a little guilty about having a baby with her son-in-law, but she could rationalize it all away. There was a very limited window to get knocked up after Choji died if she wanted to pass off her little miracle as the former mayors spawn. Something she fully intended to do.
Nobles ate that shit up, seeing the mayors and other sparse few elected positions imitate their bloodline-based government. A woman mayor was much more secure in her seat when she was just keeping the throne room for the old steward's son while he grew up. Not that she was particularly worried about the strength of her rule.
For one, there was the fucking giant.
Though Sakura was actually at least a few miles away, depending on how quickly they managed to travel, they'd be back soon though. Still, it was no secret that the team of strange mercenaries who single handedly cleared the plight of the fang folk were an ally of her house.
After all, he'd married Chocho.
As he tickled the back of her neck with a slow continuation of kisses, Karui mused that he was pretty damn fond of her too. Not to mention he was excited to be a father, excited to help nurture and cherish his 'brother in law' to make up for the poor deceased father. Her daughter found that so sweet.
Poor, innocent little angel really didn't expect a thing, even with all the visits.
Almost everyday he'd come into town to check on the claims office, love Temari as much as she'd let him, check for jobs, take notes, and then come check on his dear new mother-in-law. Not that said mother knew about his prior stop; at least he didn't have any reason to think so. No reason he couldn't keep certain things private, right?
It was a question that ate at his head, but nothing about this relationship was normal, and he didn't ask her to get pregnant, in his defense. Also in his defense, it might have the gift of healing, like him. The fangfolks did, though it was much weaker, and Naruto could give no insight on whether it would improve as they aged.
For what it was worth, Karui also insisted that despite the gap in age, her current pregnancy felt like a peaceful dream compared to carrying his wife. She got sleepy far more often and had a voracious appetite; that and some aching was the worst of it. Her first foray into motherhood was a period of horror for the woman warrior.
They'd gotten to know each other much better over these last few months. Unfortunately, though to nobody's particular surprise, Karui was much smarter than him, and quickly got him to spill about his fay ancestry. Piecing together the clues, asking the right questions. It wasn't that hard.
The damn fool couldn't say no to anything she asked now it seemed; she had high hopes for the child's future. Though she was on the fence on whether to push him to worship one of the few gods that might bestow healing, maybe making sacrifices to said deities on their birthday; it might be the best for society, but she couldn't help but want to make them a warrior.
Chocho had shown absolutely no interest in it, and that had been a crushing disappointment that Karui held secret to this day. If their child was a warrior, they could just worship the gods of earth and stone, her gods. Not that Chocho showed so much interest in that either.
She was still young, so young, it was great relief to the older woman when her daughter decided to not get pregnant right away. Better that wait a few years, everyone agreed, though Naruto only through gritted teeth. They had their whole lives ahead of them; what reason was there to rush things?
Sweet God though Karui was beautiful with the extra weight of his little blessing, he couldn't help but fantasize about his adorably chubby wife carrying a child. Temari he figured couldn't or just wasn't interested, given the amount of times he'd creamed her in these past five months, and Tsunade, of course, was too old even if she wanted too.
So suffice to say, he visited the tower in the woods that functioned as the Fangfolk stronghold quite often. It would be the primary reason he didn't often visit his other lovers every day of the week. He worried so much about the children, and Karin, more than halfway through brewing his bastard but still making herself work! To be fair, she was doing an astounding job supervising her builders, and his kids, and the guard; she had more fangfolk corpses than she could keep up. There were more skeletons than she knew what to do with.
Unfortunately, they didn't run or climb near as fast as their living counterparts.
Still, having a not-so-small army in their back pocket, not three days walk from their home, was an idea that Sasuki found very attractive. Even if she did hate Karin. She hated a lot of the things he did, and the ones she didn't know about wouldn't fair well either, but the two of them were still on relatively good terms.
They made love on the morning before she disembarked, kissed, and said they'd miss each other. Even now, here, spooning the beautiful brown woman he had made a child with, he missed his raven and hell, even Sakura to some extent. Last time he went with them, but there was no real danger in the more recent trip to civilization proper; they were basically going to pick up and send off important mail.
A lot of business and papers and signatures and stationary went into turning fifty gold into three dozen sheep delivered to the ass end of nowhere. Still, Sasuki stuck to it, insisting they had the climate for it, shitloads of labor back at the estate twiddling their thumbs, and they needed to turn their cash into an asset proper.
The orchard would take a decade at least to turn into a cash cow for them, and thus they wouldn't be even proper freeholders until then unless she invested in something else. It was a matter of the utmost importance. They needed that meaningless title in order to qualify for even the lowest of tournaments that mattered, and that was the other thing they were investigating while away.
Where could they, and Sakura specifically, compete in tests of might?
It was work for minds sharper than him, and he had obligations here at home. With that thought in mind, he gently turned Karui's face to look at him; he kissed her firmly on the mouth, a lingering kiss, but one that ended in a few seconds. Then he spoke sheepishly.
"I should go, you know; spending too much time here might be suspicious, and, I-"
"-I know. Good luck if I don't see you again before you leave on your trip," she offered as he pulled himself up and washed. Removing a small oil from his poutch and splashing it on his collar and crotch area. Covering the smell of his sin with the scent of sunflowers, their crushed oil supposedly, allegedly, it worked for its intended purpose, and that's all the young man really cared about.
Especially right now.
He still had to squeeze in a visit with Tsunade~"
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