Move along
A few weeks later
Naruto was now about three months pregnant. He couldn't believe it himself, but it was true. Because of how young he was, he needed to have regular check-ups with Dr. Filo every two weeks until the last month where he would have to be under close watch by his friends until his due date. Naruto was nervous to see how everything will go since the doctor had told him about all of the potential health risks he could experience along the way. So far, the only thing that bothered him healthwise was the occasional morning sickness that would come on and off throughout the day. Naruto was pretty sure by this point that it should no longer be called 'morning' sickness, but 'all day' sickness instead. It was bad enough to the point that he would get dizzy from standing up too long, but thankfully there was no need for him to go through all of this alone.
Shikamaru was acting more like the protective big brother throughout the day. While they were at school, he would watch Naruto like a hawk, making sure that everyone that came in contact with him didn't get too close. Naruto thought it was both cute and annoying that Shikamaru was acting this way, it felt a little overbearing since he wasn't used to anyone looking out for him at all. He went from barely anyone carrying about his well-being to having three people only care about his well-being.
Naruto was starting to wonder if they might be spending too much time together because of this.
Hinata, much like Shikamaru, was acting like the very overprotective older sister who always gushes over their younger sibling, praising them for almost everything they did. If she wasn't doing something along those lines, she was busy calling Naruto 'cute' and looking for clothes and accessories to make him 'even angelic/doll-like than he already was'. Naruto worried that she was forgetting he was still a human boy going through a weird situation. Then again, Hinata's big sister act distracted him from all of the weird feelings he was having, not to mention the worrying thoughts about Zen he would have from time to time.
As for Chouji, he stood to be the only balance between the two. If Hinata and Shikamaru were like bodyguards for his cause, then Chouji was the one person the made him forget that he was even in danger in the first place. He was nice to talk to, like a warm teddy bear who was always around to listen to his problems. Not to mention that Chouji was starting to get really good with his cooking skills. Naruto felt that if Chouji ever got tired of being a ninja in the future, he would make a killing as a chef.
With the three of them by his side, Naruto felt each day pass by like a summer breeze. Calm and relaxing. His school life wasn't how it used to be, he didn't get kicked out or blamed for something pointless, and he was more than happy to see everyone greet him in the morning. Apparently, if since everyone thought that Naruto was missing from the village, then everyone seemed to treat every day like heaven on earth.
Although the Sandime Hokage was still looking into the reason behind Naruto's sudden disappearance, his ANBU were not really trying their hardest to find him. Naruto did see a couple of ANBU lurking about in the shadows, they didn't seem to be doing much searching. In fact, the group that he saw just looked to be hanging out. Aside from those few ANBU he saw, Naruto has barely seen any sign of anyone looking for him, no posters, flyers, or rewards posted anywhere around the village. Not that he was too worried about them finding him just yet. He felt as if he were on vacation.
Of course, because of Naruto's new lifestyle, he was able to walk about the village in broad daylight without anyone glaring at him like before. Because of that, he was able to get a job as an assistant librarian as Mia, the pay was decent enough for an academy student. From Monday to Friday, Hinata would walk him to work at the Konoha Central Library after school where he worked part-time until six o'clock. Shikamaru and Chouji would come to pick him up and walk him home after work where they would all have dinner together, then study before the three of them head home. Naruto was happy for this schedule since it made him feel safer, reassuring him that his friends really were determined to support him.
Academy
Mia sat down in her seat tiredly, she yawned softly. "Oh my, late-night, Mia?" Ino asked as she passed by her desk to get to her own.
Mia shook her head, "no, I'm just tired from studying, that's all. The end of the year exam is coming up quickly," she explained.
Ino chuckled, "yeah, it is, but you're still new, so you don't have to stress out about it too much. You'll get another chance to retake it later if you don't pass this time." The Yamanaka took her seat in the row in front of Mia before turning around to face her. The two of them had not really been friends for long, but it was long enough for Ino to become intrigued by the girl who seemed to suddenly appear in the village. Mia's first day at the academy filled Ino, and some others, with some questions since some of them, heard their sensei talking about how sensitive her background was. Mia herself didn't talk too much about where she came from or her family, all that anyone knew about her was she was not from the village and she had an older brother and sister.
Mia shrugged, "even though that might be true, there's no reason for me no to try my best on the exam."
Ino chuckled again, "you're such a bookworm, but at least your forehead isn't half as big as Billboard Brow over there." She pointed her thumb over where Sakura was sitting in the front row of the classroom. The pinkette turned her head towards Ino and made a face at her, Ino turned to her with a smirk, "and you're prettier too."
Mia sweatdropped, she did not want to be a part of their ongoing battle yet again, so she turned to Hinata who was sitting next to her. The Hyuuga was giving Mia the usual worried big sister look that Mia became accustomed to seeing on her face. "Are you sure you're okay?" She whispered soft enough for only the two of them to hear, Mia nodded, Hinata sighed, "okay," the two turned back to their textbooks, Hinata was going over some questions with Mia before their class was finished with their study hall.
At the same time, Kiba was busy staring at Mia. She was the angelic girl that couldn't seem to leave his mind since the first time they met, even though he tried. Mia's sigh was music to his ears, her voice was so pleasant that he was in heaven. Kiba sighed, he could stare at Mia all day long and still wouldn't be bored, he wished he could, but in reality, he couldn't really get close to her in the way he wanted. The main reason for that happened to be Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji, those three were always with her, no matter where she seemed to go. It was a little annoying, but he could always watch her from afar.
"You know, that's kind of creepy," Shino's voice came from Kiba's left suddenly, making them jump.
Kiba glared at the Abarame, "what's up with you? You don't think that's calling the pot a little or something?"
Shino was unfazed by the comment, mainly because it was wrong, "it's actually, 'the pot calling the kettle black', but more importantly, stalking is considered a crime."
"W-what? Really?" Kiba asked surprised and nervous, "wait, you're one to talk, you're pretty creepy yourself, Shino."
Shino raised an eyebrow from behind his glasses, "oh? How so?"
"Seriously man? Do you even need to ask?" Kiba asked the other boy seriously, "you cover your face with your jacket and shades all the time to the point that no one knows what your face looks like. On top of that, there are bugs living inside of your body twenty-four-seven, if that's not creepy, then I don't know what is." Kiba sighed, "not to mention how you seem to sneak up on people so easily, it's hard to get a read on you even when you say you're supposedly in the room," he muttered as he folded his arms in front of his chest. He didn't really care much for Shino, but if he would respect anyone in this class as a future ninja, it would have to be Shino for the reasons that he had just mentioned.
"I see...However, I must correct you on one fact," Shino started. "My bugs don't live inside of my body twenty-four-seven, since I am still in the academy, I am allowed to let them out into a special case while I sleep at night." Kiba just rolled his eyes at that and went back to watching his angel talking to the other students, Shino just sat back and observed everything as usual.
During lunch
Naruto had lunch with his friends as usual. He made sure to keep up his act as Mia since he had caught Kiba, as well as a few other boys, staring at him when they thought he was paying attention. Naruto could only guess that these boys might have become fans of Mia for some reason or another, but it's been just about a month since he entered the academy as Mia and they just keep following after him like some kind of stalker. They might have been worse than Hinata before they become closer. Naruto sighed, Shikamaru and the others noted the troubled look on their friend's face.
"What the matter, Naru-chan?" Hinata whispered since she also knew that they were currently being watched.
Naruto shook his head, "nothing, it's just that, I wish they would just get over me already. I know my disguise is cute, but it's mostly just freckles, colored eyes, and long hair. The rest of it is still me."
Hinata shared a look with the other two boys, "um, yeah, they're probably just because they haven't seen anyone with curly hair that color before." She glanced at Shikamaru for backup, "right, Shika?"
The Nara sighed tiredly, "right," he agreed, know for a fact that it wasn't just Naruto changed appearance that everyone was working themselves about. It was most likely the personality that they didn't get to know before they wrote Naruto off completely without trying to get to know him at all. Then again, Naruto's choice of hair color was a bit unique to the point that he really had not come across anyone in the village that had the same color. "By the way, Nar, why did you pick that hair color? I mean, I've never seen anyone around the village with it."
Naruto nodded, "it's just a color that came to mind, I guess, so I don't really know where else it could have come from."
Their hushed conversation came to a pause when Chouji noticed their sensei walking over to them. "Guys, heads up," the Akamichi nodded his chin in the direction of Iruka, they all turned to face the tanned chunin as he got closer, and notice that he wasn't alone. Naruto saw the Sandime Hokage walking behind Iruka, the old man was staring directly at him, he didn't know why that was since he was very sure that his disguise was still in place.
"Good evening guys, I hope I'm not bothering you too much, but I have someone here that would like to talk to you," Iruka said. Naruto also noticed that the chunin was staring directly at him, now he was starting to worry, was he not holding up his act as well as he thought? No, that couldn't be, it was a simple disguise that not even he could mess it up, right?
"Um, okay," Naruto said nervously.
The Hokage came to stand next to Iruka with a bight smile on his face, he looked at the young girl with curly honey-colored hair and sparkling eyes. "Hello, my dear, it is a pleasure to meet you, would you mind if we talked for a little bit?"
Naruto was starting to get really nervous now, but he tried to keep calm in the face of the old fire shadow. "Alright," he nodded and slowly got to his feet with as much grace as his buckling knees could manage.
To be continued...