Can I Call You Mine

Chapter 16

Naruto woke up to a sunny bright Saturday morning. The birds were singing loudly to let him know that it was going to be a beautiful day.  But sadly the pleasant morning did not match his mood. 

He rubbed at his eyes before running strokes over the twins which he was grateful that they were still sleeping. Today is supposed to be an exciting day for someone pregnant, well normally if the circumstances had been played differently, but for him he had mixed emotions plaguing his soul.

His family and friends planned a small baby shower at a restaurant that Tsunade chose.  A small, hole in the wall, authentic French restaurant on the outskirts of town, determined that they dine somewhere that didn't have ramen on the menu.  It wasn't that he didn't mind French cuisine, in fact he liked it as much next to ramen, what was bugging him was the fact that his friends and family, with the exception of his parents, were under the pretense that his whole pregnancy and relationship with Neji was like a fairly tale come true.

He didn't want a baby shower to begin with. There was no point in having one when his relationship wasn't even real. But with Iruka, Tsunade and Deidara joining forces to have their way he had no choice but to reluctantly agree to their demands. 

And even though he loved the little ones growing underneath his heart he dammed his life and the state of affairs he would be bringing them into, the nightmare of his and their lives always looking over his shoulder for their father. How he wished they were living in the fantasy world of happy ever afters. 

A tear escaped his eye but he quickly wiped it away. "Well I better start practicing on that smile. I wouldn't want to disappoint your grandparents, aunts and uncles." Speaking to the bump before carefully pulling himself to sit up and moving to the edge of the bed where he let his feet fall and touch the floor.  

Due to his short stature his enlarged womb encompassed his entire torso so when they would stretch, their feet ended up in his back making it painful to do much of anything.  The chore of just moving around and supporting his body was playing havoc on his hips. 

He let out a long sigh before attempting to push himself up off the bed. Unfortunately for him because of the onslaught of the recent growth spurts it took him several tries before he was successfully on his feet. "Soon I'm not going to be able to do this on my own." Mumbling to himself and making sure he was balanced before waddling into the bathroom. 

Neji knocked on the bedroom door before walking into the blonde's room. He was balancing a tray, with breakfast for both of them.  "Naruto." He called out. 

"I'm in here," was the blonde's response from the bathroom.  Neji set the tray aside and took his own plate and sat on the bed, "I brought us breakfast." 

Naruto walked out with a small smile, drying his hands on a small towel as he went to take a seat next to the brunette who handed him his plate.

"Thank you but you didn't need to bring me breakfast, I can eat downstairs too, you know." Not meaning to sound grumpy but he wasn't quite prepared to be cheerful. 

The latter snorted. "You might not want breakfast, but my niece and nephew are hungry." Naruto rolled his eyes at the brunette as he began to take small bites of his food. "How would you know that?" 

The older man looked at him seriously. "They came into my dream last night and told me with their big blue eyes, 'Uncle Neji, we're hungry'." Naruto gave a small laugh, "You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?"

The brunette couldn't help and smile, always happy to make his friend laugh.  "Hmm, and what else did they say?"  Naruto asked curiously after catching his breath.