Mission: Baby

Mission: Deceit

Chapter 17:

Mission: Deceit

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Naruto knew that once he left the ramen shop heading straight "home" wasn't an option. The stranger continued to follow him adamant about seeing Aimi. So he had to put his amazing ninja skills to action in order to lose him. He cut between alleys and once he was close to his destination he used chakra to crouch on the side of the wall.

Naruto dangerously narrowed his eyes when Haisuke came down the alleyway and looked around for a few seconds for him before leaving. He silently wondered why the stranger was trying so desperately to visit Aimi. There had to be more to the story than just friends and even if they were Aimi told Sakura she had none so she was either lying or telling the truth and Haisuke was the one lying. Either way he no longer wanted to leave Sakura and Shinachiku alone with Aimi because at the end of the day she was still a complete enigma to them.

Not wanting to risk getting followed again he took to the rooftops to get home. He landed in an alleyway once the coast was clear and went into their temporary residence.

Once he walked in their room he noticed immediately that Aimi was missing."Sakura-chan we need to talk. Where's Aimi?"

Sakura looked up from the bed where their charge lay still feverish. "She said she was going to grab some clothes and come back." Naruto nodded hesitantly before putting the food down on the table.

"I met a guy at the ramen shop who said he was friends with Aimi and wanted to see her. He was so adamant about seeing her he even tried to follow me." Sakura looked concerned. She put a fresh wet cloth on Shinachiku's head and got up to sit at the table with Naruto.

"Aimi said—"

"I know but let's be honest here we know nothing about anyone here for all we know everyone could be lying." Sakura frustratingly grabbed her hair from the stress of both the mission and Shinachiku getting to her. Naruto slowly took her hands before she ended up pulling out her natural pink locks. He pecked the back of both her hands causing Sakura to blush bright pink. "Relax, we'll figure this out. I'm sure everything will be okay."

And to be fair he was right because in the middle of the night with everyone fast asleep one person woke up or should we say child. His fever broke and his green orbs opened to look around his surroundings. A loud growl came from his stomach and he realized he was hungry and the only way to communicate that in toddler terms was to cry. So he sat up and wailed, probably waking everyone in the vicinity.

Sakura sat up quickly and looked at the source of shrill cries. She gasped once she saw the blonde sitting up and bawling his eyes out. She couldn't stop her own tears as she picked him up and hugged him tightly while pecking the top of his head. "You're alright."

Naruto groggily rolled the wrong direction and rolled off the bed. "Ow."

"Naruto look, he's awake!" Once his sleepy brain caught up to what she just said he got up on the bed to see if what she said was true.

Once both pairs of eyes were on Shinachiku he stopped wailing long enough to look up at them with watery eyes. Sakura cried more tears of joy once she saw those green eyes that she could get lost in, kind of like a forest.

"See Sakura-chan we just had to not give up hope." Naruto said with a wide grin on his face as he held Shinachiku's hand.

Sakura smiled at the older blonde fondly before rewarding him with a peck on the cheek. "You're right Naruto."

Naruto grinned back at her before turning his attention to their charge who looked like he was going to cry at any moment. The blonde quickly stood up and looked through their stuff and found baby food and a spoon for the cranky kid.