With You in the Future

699.8 (Part 4)

When Hinata came back home, she sighed loudly. Last night and all the fuss really took a lot out of me. And to say it's only the beginning. As she stepped in the kitchen with all her shopping bags, she pinched one cinnamon roll before sitting on the patio.

While she was savouring her guilty pleasure a bird appeared. As it was approaching her, she noticed its particularity: it was one of Sai's drawings and it had in its claws a beautiful bouquet of red roses. Curious, Hinata stood up, ran in the only messy room of the house and searched in a box, looking for a blank scroll. On her way back, she caught a vase. As soon as she opened the scroll on the floor, the bird touched it and turned into words. She recognised Naruto's hand writing right away.

"Hime, I hope everything went fine for you. I'm thinking about you and I'll surely think about you during the mission again. I love you. Naruto"

Once the roses on the dining table, she pressed the scroll against her chest, a smile on her lips "Naruto-kun..." Feeling nervous again, tears formed at the corner of her eyes. Everything will be fine. I have to have faith in our love. Suddenly, she felt her head spinning around and she grabbed the table to stay up. I should get some sleep. I didn't sleep enough last night.

She dragged herself upstairs, put the message on her bedside table and lay down on the bed, one arm on her belly and the other over her eyes. Please Naruto-kun, hurry.

*****

Feeling like she was falling in her dream, Hinata woke up with a start. Still dressed, she sat up and climbed out of bed. With the feeling to be still tired, she stopped before the glass.

She freed her hair and watched it get down onto her shoulders before massaging her scalp. She then pulled off the straps of her dress and let it fall on the floor, now just wearing her underwear. As if it was the first time her eyes were looking at her body, they analysed it. To say I thought I had gained weight because I had less missions. What a big lie. Lips pinched and eyes on her bulge around her waist, she turned around. And it'll get worse.

"Hinata?"

Again, she started and lost her balance, but a hand caught her before she could touch the mirror. Her back collided with another body she knew oh too well.

"Are you ok? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Today is definitely not a good one for me."

"I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting you so early." She assured him.

"Early? What do you mean? Have you seen what time is it? I almost thought you were already asleep, but I saw the bedroom light on."

Realising he must have seen her touching her belly, she turned crimson. "I was about to put some more comfortable clothes for cooking dinner before you arrived." she explained, giving him a smile.

Thanks to that, Naruto didn't seem to notice her embarrassment. "Then I'll change too."

Witnessing Naruto's natural attitude, Hinata relaxed a bit. She even giggled when she saw him fight with his trousers and rolled her eyes when he left his clothes on the bedroom floor. But she added nothing since her own clothes were on the floor too.

Naruto sat cross-legged, now wearing his civilian clothes. He was about to ask her how her day was, but she was faster than him. "How was your mission?"

"So easy, it nearly bore me to death. But I had the opportunity to spend some time with Sasuke and Sakura-chan."

"Really? How are they?" she turned towards the mirror and grabbed a t-shirt.

"In my opinion, life outside the village is too stressful for them. Sasuke was always checking around and Sakura-chan's moods were changing so fast, faster than usual. Apparently, they were back from Kumo and the scroll I had to give to Kakashi-sensei was a report from the Raikage."