My Lover's Keeper

31. Namikaze-Uzumaki (Part 2)

Shortly after they got married, Uzumaki Kushina had seen her lover go to war. She was pregnant with their first child, that was the only reason she couldn't enrol. But she served in the military still, in a different branch.

The third world war lasted one torturous year. Every day was a prayer he would come back home safe to her and to their beautiful son he has not met yet. A son, she properly named after the bubbly toddler who used to hang out with her when she was much younger.

When news broke that the war was over, her legs betrayed her. It had been too long since she had seen her soulmate. Dealing with night raids and a new born child was a challenge to put it mildly. At times, she couldn't even muster the ability to breathe and the sounds of bombs exploding off in the distance often reminded her of her unfortunate childhood. She did not want her baby to ever experience such ghastly horrors.

The day Konoha soldiers were back, a huge festival was in place to welcome back the heroes and to honour those they have lost defending not only this great nation but those wronged as well.

She saw truck after truck unload soldiers who got embraced by their loved ones. But amidst the many faces, that of her husband was unseen.

Kushina waited in the reception area with her son almost all day long. She watched people come and go. Minato didn't die, she'd have received a letter if he were missing in action or god forbid....dead.

Her son only sat quietly on her lap, looking occasionally towards the gate as if understanding why they were there.
She knew he was smart. He said his very first word when he was only four months old. He now was six months old.

Eventually there were no more soldiers coming in. And the lieutenant who was in charge had noticed.
"Ma'am, I recommend you go home for the night. The rest of the soldiers won't arrive for two weeks." he smiled at her and pinched the cute baby's cheek.

Kurama properly glared at the man for touching him as he despised strangers with a passion. He switched his attention back to the big encyclopedia that Kushina was holding for him since it was too heavy for him. Some words made sense and some words didn't make sense at all, so whenever he struggled with a new word he would simply ask her. She only ever had to tell him once and he would register it.

"Is there a reason why they're late?" She asked.

"They volunteered to help the new united alliance with delivering some humanitarian aids to the people most effected." He informed.

Kurama tapped her hand gently and pointed at the word he didn't know. Kushina read it for him and asked if knew what it meant, he nodded and went back to reading.

Kushina kissed her lovely baby's head.
"You want to mark the page before we head home?"

"Mhm" he nodded and shortly after yawned. Kushina picked him up and thanked the man for the information he supplied.

It was the end of summer, the worst of the heat was over.
She decided to go to the park with her son. For the most part the bombing raids have not done any damage to Konoha.

The country was the biggest in the world and most of their land was reserved to agriculture, so it was easy for them to miss highly populated areas. Especially that their tactic was to have lights off starting 7pm in the city.

It was nice going out without restrictions. The streets were filled of joyous citizens as they chanted the national anthem in celebration.

She knew Kurama was asleep when she felt his tiny head rest on her backa. She smiled at herself but when she looked up she almost froze in place.
"Min-Minato..."