Nara Aya

Part 3

Aya hummed as an arm wrapped around her waist and a warm body pressed up to her back.

“Back so early?” she asked with a smile.

“Hmmm. Missed you.” Replied Shikaku pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.

“You’ve been gone four hours, you’ve hardly had time enough to miss me.”

“I did.” Protested Shikaku.

“So you say.” Hummed Aya turning around in his embrace and tugging him down for a proper kiss.

A kiss that became very much heated in only a few seconds.

“Dinner will be burnt.” Sais Aya in a reproachful tone as the man started to herd her out of the room without breaking their kiss.

“Let it.”

“The children will be home soon.”

“Let them.”

And with that, Shikaku herded them into their bedroom.

When they emerged, Shikaku was smiling like the cat that got the canary and Aya tutted at the mess dinner was.

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It was during family dinner that the news came out.

Both Shikamaru and Naruto had noticed Shikaku being more protective and giving Aya worried looks, and they were afraid something was wrong because of their strange behaviour.

“Are you sick?” asked Naruto very straightforwardly.

“No, boys, I’m not sick at all.” Replied Aya softly, understanding their fear.

“Then what’s wrong?” asked Shikamaru.

Aya and Shikaku exchanged what Shikamaru had dubbed the look, the one they got when they were basically speaking without words. Then Shikaku turned towards them and very seriously asked them:

“How do you feel about becoming big brothers?”

It took a moment for the genin to get the meaning of what he was trying to say. Well, it took a moment for Shikamaru. Naruto was still trying to make heads or tails over being so casually included in that sentence.

“Really?” breathed out the young Nara.

All of Aya’s anxiety disappeared with that one word.

“Really.”

Shikamaru almost launched himself across the table before containing himself, walking around the table and hugging his mother.

Naruto did the same after receiving an open arm and an encouraging look.

Aya wrapped them both up in her arms and closed her eyes for a second, enjoying the warmth of her two sons safely in her hold, before she looked towards her husband, her eyes fierce.

He run a hand through their boys’ hair and settled the other around her small shoulders. He didn’t need her to voice what she was thinking.

Nobody would harm their small but growing family.

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After the revelation of her pregnancy, things changed. It wasn’t extremely obvious, but enough to be noticeable to a keen eye.

And when Naruto and Shikamaru were involved, not even a blind man would be able to miss the change.

Her boys hovered worse than Shikaku around her.

Less than two days after her announcement, Shikamaru had prepared one of the guest rooms and turned it into Naruto’s room, moving him from the rickety lonely apartment he’d been living in and into the main Nara home.

Even Kakashi, in his own way, showed strangely sweet clues of caring―offering to kill a vendor who she complained had overpriced the vegetables or showing up in time and without a protest to what Shikaku jokingly referred to as team-therapy sessions.

Those were going especially well, in Aya’s opinion. With Sakura one warning away from being replaced in the team if she didn’t get her act together and Sasuke’s ego lowering now that someone spoke up for Naruto.

Aya was perfectly happy with how things were progressing.

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Shikaku was in his office when he heard a knock on the door and looked up from the report he’d been busy with.

His wife was at the door, a tray of food in her arms and a slight bump showing in her belly.

She was beautiful, stunning really. With her halo of black hair, her pale skin and her aristocratic features; her sharp high cheekbones, her button nose, her soft cupid lips and her unique green eyes. Her body was petit, as if made to fit right in his arms, with curves in all the right places and hidden muscles. Her baby bump only made her look more desirable.

“Troublesome woman, what are you doing carrying weight?” he asked getting up and taking the tray from her arms.

“It hardly weighs anything!” protested Aya, but let him take the tray.

Shikaku placed it on the desk before wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing her to his body. He kissed her head.

“Still, doctor’s orders.”

She sighed and placed her hands on his chest before slowly pushing him back. Shikaku let himself be pushed back until he felt the edge of his chair against his legs and lowered himself onto it. His wife settled herself in his lap and he smiled.

“The Doctor also said I shouldn’t be stressed.”

“Oh?”

“And right now I’m very stressed.” She remarked with a trail of kisses pressed to his neck.

“Well we can’t have that, can we?” he asked rhetorically, running a hand down her back and to her waist.

All worries about troop movements from Sound and weapon orders for the jōnin were pushed to the back of his head, replaced by the warmth of her body and the softness of her lips.

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Shikaku entered the sitting room silently, with all the stealth of someone deserving of the post of the Jōnin Commander. The sight that greeted him was more than welcome after a hard day at work.

His beautiful wife was sitting on the sofa, with their two boys making her company. Naruto was laying on the sofa, with his head pillowed in her lap right next to her baby bump. Shikamaru was sprawled on the floor, with his head right next to her knee and his eyes closed.

She was rubbing her belly in slow circles, her head lulling to one side and her eyes keenly watching her boys. And she was singing.

Hush now, mo stóirín

Close your eyes and sleep

Waltzing the waves

Diving in the deep

Stars are shining bright

The wind is on the rise

Whispering words

Of long lost lullabies

The dulcet tones of her voice were sweet and calming. Her voice was not perfect, but the surety with which she sang, the love in her voice, reminded him of the first time he’d heard her sing a lullaby to Shikamaru.

It was a memory he deeply treasured and one he’d often visited during the time she’d been lost to them, refusing to let it fade with time as so many other things had done.

Oh won't you come with me

Where the moon is made of gold

And in the morning sun

We'll be sailing

Oh won't you come with me

Where the ocean meets the sky

And as the clouds roll by

We'll sing the song of the sea

Shikaku stayed quiet, watching and listening, memorising every little detail of the scene he was witnessing to visit in his lowest moments. He took notice of the way Naruto’s head was tilted towards Aya’s stomach, probably listening to the babies, or the way Shikamaru’s lips were tilted up in the corners even as he pretended to be asleep, or the love in his wife’s eyes as she run a hand through a head of blonde hair.

I had a dream last night

And heard the sweetest sound

I saw a great white light

And dancers in the round

Castles in the sand

Cradles in the trees

Don't cry, I'll see you by and by

Oh won't you come with me

Where the moon is made of gold

And in the morning sun

We'll be sailing

Oh won't you come with me

Where the ocean meets the sky

And as the clouds roll by

We'll sing the song of the sea

Her voice slowly faded and silence, warm and comfortable, settled over the room. Her eyes seeked his out then and he smiled.

But a small deep part of him couldn’t help hardening with purpose: this was his family and he would die before he lost them.

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Shikaku moved the hand a little to the left where it was pressed to the warm skin of his wife’s belly. They were settled comfortably naked under the bed covers and he was content just feeling his unborn child move.

“So what do you want it to be?”

“A healthy baby Nara.” He joked getting a playful swat to his arm.

“Again? Do you really have no preference?”

“Well…”

He wouldn’t admit it, but he had given the matter quiet a lot of thought.

When Shikamaru was born, he hadn’t cared at all. He’d just wanted their child to be born healthy and strong. He’d been too nervous being a first-time father to really consider whether he’d prefer a boy or a girl.

Now, though, he hadn’t been able to help himself.

“Yeah?” encouraged him his lovely wife.

“I think I’d like it if it were a girl.”

“Oh? Not too troublesome?”

“Troublesome is worth it.”

“Really now?”

“Of course. After all, you’re the most troublesome woman I’ve ever met.”

Aya threw her head back and laughed. It was a genuine laugh, warm and startled.

“So you’d like it to be a girl?”

“Aha. But she’d have to look like you; a little green-eyed girl.”

“Hmmm, as long as she gets your hair…”

“You know Nara heir is not much better than yours.” Laughed Shikaku.

“At least is manageable if put into a ponytail. You know mine isn’t”

“Touché.”

They were silent for a few minutes, Shikaku’s hands still rubbing her distended belly.

“What about you? Do you have a preference?” he finally asked when Aya seemed about to doze off.

“Well… I’d like another boy.”

“Really? Why?”

“I… I’ve missed so much with Shikamaru… I want to see this baby grow like I couldn’t Shikamaru.”

“You will.” Swore the jōnin. “You won’t miss anything. Not with Shikamaru, nor Naruto, nor this little princess.”

“Little princess? So sure it’ll be a girl?”

“Of course. I’ve decided it’s going to be a troublesome little princess. Right, baby?” the kick he got to feel made them both laugh.

“Well, tomorrow we’ll be out of doubts.”

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And out of doubts they were brought.

For Tsunade’s scan showed clearly that they were both right.

They were having a little girl and a little boy.

And Shikaku’s worry only grew, knowing how dangerous multiple pregnancies were even under normal circumstances.

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Naruto sat next to Aya’s bed in the Nara home, listening intently as the woman told him a story about one of the few times she’d gotten to meet his parents.

It wasn’t anything especially serious, no world-saving mission or anything of the sort, but Naruto still soaked every little bit of information like a sponge.

Aya always managed one thing about his parents that nobody else she knew did: she made them sound real, human, and not only like the heroes they were known as.

And if telling him stories helped her pass the time now that she was confined to bed for risk to her and her babies, well, Naruto would happily listen to the most boring story she had to tell.

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The birth was long and hard and Shikaku was more than a bit afraid that they’d lose Aya again. The babies’ position didn’t help matters.

But Tsunade wasn’t know as the best medic for nothing and Aya was as strong as she was stubborn.

After a long and agonising wait, two wailing and fussing children were being swaddled by Tsunade and her helper and Aya laid sweaty and bloody against Shikaku’s chest in their bed.

Still, even weakened as she was, Aya didn’t hesitate in reaching an arm out for her babies and Tsunade slowly and carefully placed both swaddled bundles against her chest.

Shikaku stared at their small reddened faces with more than a little awe and love. They had done it again. They had made two perfect little beings. Two new Nara.

He knew the clan would be overjoyed, but it wasn’t a thought that took much of his mind, busy as it was cataloguing every little detail about his new children.

Their little girl had the typical Nara features, with perhaps a softer nose and a tuft of black hair that could be either’s. Their little boy, however, had the same cattish eye shape as his mother, with paler skin and the same tuft of black hair. Their eyes were closed, but either way it would be a while before they settled into their permanent colour.

“They’re perfect.” And he could hear the tears in her voice.

“Yes, they are.”

Shikamaru and Naruto entered the room soon after, getting their first look at their new baby siblings.

“Boys, meet Nara Shikahime and Nara Shikaru.

Shikamaru run a careful finger down Shikahime‘s forehead and nose whilst Naruto stared mesmerised at baby Shikaru.

“Welcome to the family.” Muttered the blonde.

Shikaku and Aya shared a content smile.