Hello
When Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji made it home that night, Chouji and Shikamaru wasted no time in setting up the crub they just bought. Meanwhile, Hinata and Naruto started putting away the baby clothes in a small dresser that they bought especially for the baby's clothes. They had also cleaned up the whole house and tried to baby proof it as best as they could, going off of what they read in baby books, they covered all the outlets with tape, and put a lock on all the cabinets that were low to the ground, and so on. They set up up everything in Naruto's room so that he could be closer to the baby.
Since Naruto had already expressed his wishes to move into a house in the forest, the others wasted no time in helping him with his goal. However, Naruto didn't know what they were doing to help him with his dream home. Hinata had gone out to the forest area within the village to look for a good location. Chouji was looking into what tools and supplies they would need to start building the house. While Shikamaru looked into ways that they could actually build the house in the forest without being told that they could not. The trio coordinated with each other to make sure they found the perfect spot for Naruto's home, they were planning to tell him about it soon so that they could start planning the layout of everything soon.
Naruto was blissfully unaware that his friends were doing all of this, not just for him, but for them as well.
Life at Hinata's home has been getting a bit more strenuous lately. Her father was a little happy that she was trying to train more, however, she was not making the progress that he wanted her to make. He started training her younger sister, Hanabi, a month ago thinking that a little competition would be healthy for his girls. Hanabi seemed to be making more progress than Hinata did when she was that age, making her father and grandfather praise her more while Hinata looked on. She didn't like the atmosphere that was being created between her and her younger sister. Recently, the rest of the clan has become divided in their opinions about the two being trained in comparison to each other. While most of the main house members were looking forward to Hannabi's future success, the side branch was still holding out hope for Hinata to become the next clan head. She was the firstborn after all.
As for Chouji, everything was as fine as usual. The only thing to note was that his father, Chouza, was starting to keep a closer eye on him. Chouji got the feeling that his father was losing trust in him for some reason. He wasn't completely sure why that was, but he guessed that it had something to do with when Naruto had gone missing for two months straight. Chouji had overheard a conversation between his father and mother about Naruto, it seemed that they were worried about his absence but never showed it when Chouji was around. He found that to be a bit odd, but he didn't want to bring up the subject just yet, it could all be nothing or something very important at the same time.
As for Shikamaru, his mother and father seemed to drift apart a bit recently. He didn't know the root cause of it, but it almost felt like they were trying to hide something from him. They still acted like their usual selves in front of Shikamaru, but it was the subtle changes in their moods that he noticed the most. Shikamaru was no fool, he knew something was going on between them, but he could only guess what that could be without any evidence.
"Hm, uh, hey, guys, what's with all of this negative energy?" Naruto asked suddenly.
Hinata looked up from the onesie that she was folding, "what do you mean, Naru-chan?"
"Uh, well," he looked over to Shikamaru and Chouji who stopped what they were doing to listen. Naruto frowned, "I don't know what's up, but just now, you guys all seemed kind of down."
Shikamaru, Chouji, and Hinata all shared looks with each other. It felt as if Naruto was just reading all of their minds or something. "Uh, it's nothing," Shikamaru said simply to end the conversation. Chouji nodded his head as well, not wanting to go into details about what he was just thinking about.
Hinata looked down at the clothes in her lap. She didn't know why, but she felt like there was a dam inside of her that was about to overflow. She sighed, "uh...my father started training my little sister a month ago," she started.
"Hanabi?" Naruto asked, Hinata nodded, Naruto didn't know too much about clan politics, but he did know that the older sibling was usually first in line. Which made him believe that Hinata didn't have any to worry about since she was the big sister, "well, that's great, isn't it? You guys get to train together now, right?"
Hinata shook her head, "no, it's not that. I heard a couple of the elders talking yesterday, and...I think..." she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think they are planning to train Hanabi to be the clan head instead of me...I know it might sound a little paranoid, but..."
Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other, they both knew what that could mean for Hinata. They may not know all about the Hyuuga's dirty laundry, but they did know some of their traditions. Hinata was the eldest, so she had to be the clan head when she was older. If the current clan head had another child, they would be sent to the side branch with the Caged Bird Seal on their foreheads. However, if Hiashi was training Hanabi, that meant that he wasn't following their clan's traditions. More importantly, if Hanabi was able to become the clan head instead of her sister, then Hinata would be branded with the seal instead and would be shamed.
"But, he can't do that, right?" Naruto asked looking over to Shikamaru and Chouji for confirmation.
"He can do whatever he wants," Shikamaru replied simply.
"Seriously, Shika?" Naruto sighed, "that's not what I wanted to hear right," he was hoping that Shikamaru would say something along the lines of 'no, that's illegal or something. He was trying to make Hinata feel better.
"Sorry, but that's just the reality of the situation," Shikamaru with a sigh of his own. He knows what Naruto was trying to do, but he didn't want to give anyone false hope, especially when he knew better. Shikamaru turned back to fixing up the crib, "the reality is, the clan head of any clan can do whatever they feel is best for the clan. If there was someone that he thought would be better as the future leader of the clan, then he can give that person the training he was going to give to the other candidate. Even if it was his own daughters, I fully believe that Hiashi will put sister against sister until the stronger one proves themselves."
"I've seen it happen before," Hinata said softly. "I was probably only just three or four when it happened, but I remember it clearly. My father used to take me on trips out of the village to meet with other clans outside of the village that we had connections to. One of those visits, I witnessed a clan head that reminded me a lot of my father. He invited us to a tournament between his eldest son and daughter, the two were fighting for the spot as the clan's heir. Everyone thought that the boy would win since he usually showed off how strong he was to all the girls, but he ended up losing and his sister became the clan heir instead."
"What happened to the boy?" Naruto asked curiously.
"He was shunned from the clan," Hinata said as she picked up some more clothes to fold. "He was given an opportunity to prove himself, they would have tournaments between their siblings to see which one of them deserved to be the future clan head. Their father would watch from the sidelines, judging them the whole time while they fought each other with all they had. The last time we were invited to that clan's tournament, the brother seemed to get frustrated by his sister beating him every year. After we left, we got the news that he ended up killing his own sister so that she couldn't challenge him anymore."
Naruto felt a tear roll down his face, "that's awful. I mean, how could a father just stand by and let something like that happen?!"
"Well, it's not really common, but apparently, things like that do happen," Chouji said sadly.
Naruto looked down at the clothes he was folding for a long minute. He didn't think that these things could ever happen, he always thought that parents were supposed to love their children unconditionally. He had always dreamed of having parents to love and be loved by, that's why it was a little hard for him to wrap his head around the idea of a father allowing his kids to fight each other so much just for his approval. The thought made his stomach turn, his hands tightened into fists, "that will never be me." He whispered, "I will never let my kid go through something like that."
Hinata gave him a small smile, "we know you won't. You're too kind for that, huh, Naru-chan?"
Shikamaru chuckled, "knowing him, he might end up spoiling his kid so they turn into a little brat or something."
"I can see that happening right now," Chouji said. Hinata and Chouji both nodded their head.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "no I won't! If anything, you guys are probably going to be the main ones spoiling them!" He looked at Hinata, "you'll buy them whatever toy or clothes they see."
"Wha-" Hinata felt like she had been caught, "n-no I won't!"
"Mhmm," Naruto then looked at Chouji, "and you'll probably make whatever dessert they ask for."
Chouji blushed, "I mean, food never hurt anyone, right?"
Naruto looked to Shikamaru, the Nara smirked, "ane what about me, Naru? What will I do for them?" He thought that Naruto couldn't think of anything, so he was a little confident.
"You're obviously going to be trying to hold them as often as they can when they're little." Naruto started, "and then when they're older, you're going to find a way to make yourself their favorite uncle." Shikamaru looked at Naruto for a long moment thinking about what he just said. Chouji and Hinata were looking at Shikamaru as well to see if he would really do as Naruto predicted. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at the blond for a moment before turning away from him, "mhmm, thought so." He folded his arms as he looked at all three of them in turn, a small smile tugging on his lips, "but, I guess I wouldn't mind if it were you guys."
Hinata giggled, "okay, well you got us." The others laughed as well, they soon got back to what they were doing. When the crib was done, the clothes were put away, and the room looked like it was ready for a baby, Naruto got to his feet with Hinata's help. Naruto's belly was starting to show a little bit, so it would soon be time for him to start thinking about taking care of the baby once it got here. She could tell that he was nervous about the whole thing, but she did promise to be with him when it was time.
"Oh, look at the time," Chouji said looking down at his watch, it was already well past midnight. "It's already so late, we missed curfew."
Shikamaru looked down at his own watch, "troublesome, your right. My parents are gonna have a cow if I come home this late."
"You guys still have a curfew?" Naruto asked rubbing his belly a little, "I thought that stopped once you two were finished being punished or whatever."
Chouji nodded, "no, they only said that we were off of punishment, they never removed our curfew."
Naruto frowned, "that sucks." He yawned, "well, since it's so late, why not stay here? It'll be like a sleepover again, plus, there are plenty of rooms." Naruto didn't want his friends to go home so soon, it might have been late, but every time he was left alone in the house, he felt as if someone was watching him. It was an unsettling feeling that kept him up at night. He kept on imagining that it was Zen who was watching him from the shadows.
Shikamaru shrugged, "might as well. We're already in trouble, we might as well stay the night and see about the consequences later."
With that said, Naruto and friends went downstairs for a late-night snack. They played a couple of games that they had brought with them for times like this. Chouji made hot chocolate for them to drink, and Shikamaru had his laptop with him so after they played enough games, they settled in for a movie. Naruto rarely ever saw a movie in its entirety, so he was more than happy to get the chance. They ended up watching a scary movie called 'Unholy' which kept them all up because of the jumpscares, then they fell asleep watching a random comedy show they found.
When morning came the following day, they didn't wake up until late that afternoon. It was a little after lunchtime when they all got up. Shikamaru was the first one to get up, as usual, his internal clock got him up once he got enough sleep. He crawled out from the mountain of blankets they had piled onto themselves and went to the bathroom, he brushed his teeth and washed his hair for a few minutes then went to go find the clothes he left here. It wasn't like he was trying to move in, they were just there for emergencies.
The next to get up was Chouji, he got up to use the bathroom and got ready. He also left some of his stuff at this house in case of emergencies, mostly following Shikamaru's example. He had his clothes in a small section of the closest one door down from Naruto's room. He got ready and went downstairs to see what he could make for their breakfast/lunch. While he was in the kitchen cooking, Hinata got up and followed the boy's example, getting dressed in some clothes that she had stashed away in the closet of the room across from Naruto's.
Last but not least, Naruto was the last person who rose. He woke up to the smell of french toast bacon, the smell was enough to make him forget about to small movements inside of his stomach that threatened to burst his blatter. "Ooo, this looks really good," Naruto said walking over to the table as Chouji brought out the food.
"And it'll look even better once you get dressed," Hinata chirped coming in front of the garden with Shikamaru by her side. She had a bouquet of colorful flowers in his hands that she brought over to the table.
"What are those for?" Naruto asked watching her set down a small vase that she filled with water in the center of the table.
Hinata put the flowers in the vase with a bright smile, "it's just something to brighten up the table a little. I saw these dandelions growing out by the fence, it thought we could use a little more color here."
"Hm, they look nice," Naruto watched the flowers for a long moment, he got the feeling that he had seen them before. Not out in the garden, but somewhere else, he couldn't remember where though. "I'll get ready, when I come back down, we can head over to my appointment." He started walking away but paused and turned back to his friends, "it is today, right?"
"Yep, so hurry up," Shikamaru said plopping down in the chair, "we've got about an hour to get there. Maybe today we can find out what you're having."
Hinata gasped, "that's right! We only brought neutral colors yesterday because we didn't know the gender."
"Oh, right, then I better get going," Naruto quickly made his way up the steps to the second floor and went into the bathroom. He was a little excited to find out what he was having for a long time now. He thought he wanted a boy, but then there was the possibility of having a girl, either way, he would love them. Once he was done in the bathroom, he went to his room and got dressed before coming down to eat breakfast with his friends. After breakfast, they picked up their stuff and left the house for Naruto's appointment, on their way there, they talked about what they could do for the rest of the day. They thought about going to the movies to see the new releases because it was the weekend, academy students got discounts on their tickets and some snacks. Naruto was getting excited for the day ahead.
As the group walked, they failed to notice that they picked up their tails from yesterday. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio followed after them with Neji not too far behind.
Doctor's office
"Alright, Mia, are you ready to see what you're having?" Dr. Filo asked with a bright smile.
"Yes, of course," Mia replied just as happy, Hinata stood by her, excitement and anticipation were dripping off of them like rain.
"Alright, alright, calm down you two, just give me a second here." Filo tapped a few buttons on the keyboard of the machine and turned the monitor so they could see what was happening. Filo moved the ultrasound wand on Mia's extended stomach to where the baby was located. She looked at the image on the screen for a few seconds then smile, "ah, congratulations, you're having a little girl." He looked over to Mia, "would you like to hear the heartbeat?"
"Yes," Mia said, she felt like she was shaking a bit, from nerves or excitement, she didn't know. Filo nodded and tapped a couple more buttons before the room was filled with the sound of small drums beating. Mia and Hinata were both shocked, they had never heard a baby's heartbeat before, but they were amazed at what they heard. "It sounds kind of like drums beating," she whispered. She looked over to the doctor to notice that she had not said anything for a little while now. "Dr. Filo, is everything alright?"
"Hmm," Filo looked closely at the monitor for a moment, "hold on a moment." She looked over to Mia's stomach as she moved the wand a little to the left, then slightly down, and then a little more to right again. The heartbeat they wear hearing cut off for a moment as Filo moved the wand, it was quiet in the room for a couple of seconds as she moved the wand. Suddenly, just as quickly as the wand had stopped over a certain spot, the heartbeat started up again. However, Filo was not saying anything about it, she tapped a couple of buttons on her monitor and frowned.
Meanwhile, Mia was starting to worry about her baby girl, "is everything okay?"
Filo shook her head, "no, no, everything is just fine, but..." she took another moment to look at the figure on the monitor before she turned to her patient and her guest. "Um, I thought that everything was going well, but it seems that...in addition to have a girl, you are also having...a boy."
Mia was a little confused, "really? How can that be? I thought it was only one?"
"Yes, well," Filo took the wand off of Mia's stomach, turning to her to give her full attention, "I also thought that you were only having one. I thought that, for your size, you could only be having one, but it seems that you are having twins."
"Twins?!" Hinata and Mia said together.
"How?" Hinata was in a bit of a panic, "with my friend be okay to have them?"
Filo wanted to say yes, but she was a realist. She couldn't lie to these girls. If worse comes to worst, then she would have to decide who to save. The babies are not born yet, and when they are, there is a strong possibility that one or both might not survive. Not to mention that if they did, there was a possibility that Mia might not survive the labor. But she couldn't think about that right this second, she needed to calm her patient down before she had a panic attack and put herself more at risk. "To be honest with you, this makes your situation even riskier since there are two of them. What I suggest, for the time being, since you are still a couple of months away from your due date, and you are already so far along, you need to gain a little more weight."
Filo went on to tell Mia and Hinata what they could expect if this was a normal situation. She didn't spare them any detail about the possibilities, but she also tried to keep them positive as well. Even though Mia was still very young, she did manage to make it a full six months, so whatever she was doing, she should keep it up. "Now, since you are more high risk, I am going to schedule your appointments to be at least once a week, every week until it's time. We are going to try to keep those babies inside of you for as long as a week can. As for your training, don't do anything strenuous that will exert too much energy, we don't know what the long-term effects of this will do to your body, so continue to be careful."
Hinata was speechless, she had no idea how they were going to take care of the twins. And what if Naruto died while giving birth? She didn't know if her heart could take that. She looked down to see who Naruto was taking the news, to her slight surprise, he seemed to be taking it well. Naruto had a hand over his stomach, a determined look on his face. "It might be hard, but I've been through a lot. If I can at least give them a good life, then I don't care about the consequences."
"Mia?" Filo started, she paused, she didn't think that there was any other way that she could convince her. The thought of doing a late-term abortion did cross her mind, but that would only do more harm than good. it wouldn't be the first time that she regretted not taking on this case. She could have transferred it to one of her colleges, but she didn't have the heart to give up from the jump. She let out a deep breath, "if that is your decision, then I have already given you all the warnings I can." She turned back to the monitor to turn it off.
"Um, doctor," Hinata spoke up.
"Yes?" Filo paused what she was doing to look back at the Hyuuga.
Hinata looked at the monitor that went black because the wand was no longer pressing against Mia's stomach. She looked down to Mia's stomach, it looked a little chubb from her point of view, nothing at all like what she thought a pregnant stomach should look like. Finally, she looked at Mia, her best friend, "um..." she looked back to Filo, "can we get...pictures of the twins?"
There was an air of nervousness in the air during Hinata's pause, but it slowly disappeared. Filo smiled, "yes, of course."
After the appointment, Mia and Hinata walked out into the waiting room where Shikamaru and Chouji waited for them. "Hey, what took you guys so long?" He asked getting to his feet, "it felt like it was longer than usual this time."
"Yeah, was everything okay in there?" Chouji asked looking up from a comic he had been ready.
Hinata walked over to Shikamaru quickly without saying a word, she pulled him close so that her mouth was next to his ear and whispered. Shikamaru's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, "what? For real?" He asked, Hinata whispered something else in his ear, "oh..." when Hinata was done, she leaned back to see his face. He looked like someone told him that his puppy died, Chouji looked on, clueless about what was said between the two. Just then, Shikamaru's eye fell on Naruto who was standing a few feet away from them, with a heavy sigh, he walked over to him and took his hand, "are you sure you want to go through with this?"
Naruto nodded his head, "I have to, I've already come this far." He placed a hand on his stomach, a small smile graced his lips, "it's the same as before. Just add one more."
Shikamaru felt a little bit of his energy drain from his body but he didn't let it show outwardly. "Alright, then we'll still support you, no matter what happens."
Naruto smiled, "thank you, Shika."
Meanwhile, Hinata filled Chouji in on what happened during the appointment as she did with Shikamaru. Chouji remained silent for a long while before getting up from his seat, "well then..I think that it's time we start preparing. It's going to take a lot more than what we already have to take care of two."
Naruto chuckled, "yeah, I guess that means more shopping for us today as well."
"Then we better get going, we still have half a day ahead of us," Shikamaru said. Chouji nodded and they started walking out of the waiting room. Naruto's smile brightened as she followed the boys, while Hinata remained silent. She just couldn't bring herself to stop worrying about her friend. But she was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed someone waiting for them at the entrance.
Neji was supposed to get Hinata to show up at the Hyuuga compound later today with her friend, Mia, to meet Hiashi. However, when Neji spotted them, he noticed that they seemed to be in a rush to go somewhere. He followed them away to the children's center in the hospital, that's where he watched Hinata and Mia go in. Curious about the reason, he waited for them to come out. He watched their reactions when the two girls came out from the back, he was suspicious since Mia had a hand on her stomach.
This could mean a few things, but Neji was thinking the worst. He couldn't allow Hinata to disgrace the Hyuuga name, he planned to confront them sooner than he thought. He stepped out from his hiding place to block their path when they started to leave. "Hinata, what are you doing here?"
"Nii-san?" Hinata spoke softly, a little surprised to see him, "what are you doing here?"
"I believe I asked you that first," Neji stated with some irritation.
To be continued...