So I kind of had this other idea stuck in my brain, that I decided to share with you. There might be one more when I get around to it (thanks to The-AU-enthusiast). But for now this is it.

It's not very long but I hope you'll like anyway.

Little bump

Naruto desperately waits for the bump to show itself.

He is positively giddy when he comes home from his mission. At first he had adamantly refused to take the mission – considering Hinata's condition, but in the end she had cast him only one look and he hadn't dared to refuse. She was not a porcelain doll that needed constant protection nor was she ill and in need of constant support.

But all of that is in the past, because now he is back – and just in time.

She's stirring something on the stove when he comes in.

"Welcome home!" she greets and looks over her shoulder to give him a smile.

Naruto answers with a bright grin of his own and steps behind her. His arms sneak around her waist and he rests his fingers gingerly on her warm stomach.

"It's good to be back," he murmurs into her neck. "Don't I get a kiss?"

Hinata smiles and cranes her head back. Naruto smirks against her lips as she hums in approval. Then she turns back to the food. It smells delicious but Naruto is concerned with something else and frowns down at her.

"Hinata? Is the baby still there? I mean shouldn't your belly be bigger and all?"

He sounds so troubled by the lack of a pregnant belly that Hinata can't quite hold back the giggle. She turns around to hide her face in his chest – which would worry him if he didn't feel the slight tremors from her laughter.

"Naruto, I'm only eleven weeks along. Not everyone shows the same."

"But you're so tiny! So if there's something in there… shouldn't we see it?" he scrutinises her belly closely and Hinata laughs again.

"I promise you, there is a baby in there and he or she is perfectly fine," Hinata peeks him on his pouty lips. "I went to the doctor's only three days ago."

"It's definitely a girl – a father feels such things!" Naruto exclaims proudly, then he crouches down to face her stomach. "Hi there little princess, this is your daddy speaking. If you could grow a little faster, so I can see you, that'd be great. But if you can't I'll still love you – so no pressure."

Hinata bits her lips to keep from laughing – her husband is the sweetest man and she's the luckiest woman.

"Hinata," Naruto whines and looks up at her with big, blue, pleading eyes. "Can we now tell everyone about our baby?"

"Naruto, we talked about this," Hinata explains as Naruto gets up and takes the soup from the stove to put it on the table. "Three months then you can tell anyone – just to be safe."

"But…" Naruto wails, then he sighs. "Fine, but that's next week right? Then I get to tell everyone?"

"Yes Naruto, next week we get to tell everyone," Hinata emphasises. "Let's eat?"

Naruto's eyes flicker to the set table and then back to her. He narrows his eyes to her stomach and then he looks back at her.

"Say Hinata," he says and approaches her slowly. "Will it hurt the baby if we…? You know?"

"Well," Hinata smiles. "I have it on the doctor's word that it's absolutely fine…" she doesn't get to finish because he already picked her up.

1 Week Later

"Are you hearing something?" Temari looks up from her lunch and looks at Shikamaru questioningly.

"Huh? No? …. Wait, I think… Oh, no!" the man gets up from the table and makes his way to the living room. Temari follows closely by.

But he is too late, before he can lock the door Naruto burst in the room followed by an apologetic looking Hinata.

"Guess what? I going to be father! Yes, you heard that right - I'm getting a baby!" Naruto yells exited. Then he points an accusing finger at Shikamaru. "I made life! And what did you do with your life?"

Shikamaru impassively points at Temari. The clearly pregnant woman – four months along – stands next to Hinata. She whispers to the dark haired woman.

"So…I suppose you have nothing to do with making-life-thing, then? I mean clearly the hard part is over," she jibes good-heartedly.

"I am so very sorry. He's been doing this since morning. Sometimes he manages to get into houses of strangers." Hinata shakes her head but her eyes sparkle happily as she watches how animatedly her husband makes use of his arms to accent his points.

"Fine Shikamaru, you might have beaten me on this, but my child will kick your child's arse! Because my little girl will be super awesome, not a lazy bum like yours!" Naruto laughs menacingly.

"Right," Shikamaru deadpans. "My future child is sure to feel insulted at the appropriate age."

"You don't think my little princess can take your lazy kid?" Naruto asks with narrowed eyes.

"You already know the gender?" Temari asks surprised.

"Of course not. Naruto is convinced it will be a girl – but I don't think so. I think our little child, will be a boy," Hinata shrugs. "We won't know for several weeks, but he's hyped because he had to hold it in for almost six weeks. I didn't allow him to tell before the first trimester was over."

Temari nods in understanding.

About a month later Hinata finally starts showing. It's been a rough day for Naruto as Sasuke and he spent the whole day training. He's exhausted when he falls into bed with Hinata. Naruto lays crosswise with his head resting underneath her breast. He yawns and turns his head to the side, his eyes zeroing in on the baby bump. He had known that there was a baby on the way, had boasted about it – still does to be honest, but it hadn't really registered. Not truly, not until now. Now he had this proof staring him in the face. His fingers ghost over it.

"What if I'm terrible at it?" he asks quietly.

"Terrible at what?" Hinata closes the book and watches her husband as he stares at her tummy.

"At being a father. I know you'll be a great mother and all. But me – I don't know how to, I mean babies are so tiny and I'm all clumsy and… I never had anyone to teach me!" he twist his neck to look at her. "What if I'm terrible at it?"

"You won't be." Hinata tells him with all her deeply felt conviction. "You'll be an amazing father."

"You can't know that."

"And how do you know I'll be a good mother?"

"Because you're – you're you! I mean you're warm and loving and gentle and kids love you."

"But Naruto, you're all of these things as well. I couldn't imagine a better father than you."

He sits up with a troubled expression. "But Hinata, I've never… I have no experience with children – or parents. I'll be terrible at it. I'll probably drop our little girl or I'll forget her in the shop or…"

Hinata laughs, she doesn't mean to but Naruto is just so – he always blows things out of proportion.

"Naruto, you won't do any of that. I promise you! And I don't have any experience in being a mother either."

"I don't usual get things right on the first try," he admits.

"You've done fine as a husband and I don't think you've been married before," she points out.

"Sure that's because it's you! It's easy with you. You're perfect!"

She blushes at the compliment and ducks her head. He grins cheekily.

"Well, so are you," Hinata says with a shy gaze in his direction. "I'm scared too, you know? Why do you think I keep reading all those parenting books? I don't want to make a mistake. But then I think that you'll be there with me and then I am a little less scared. Because we're in this together."

He smiles at her and leans in for a long kiss. "Thank you Hinata. I love you – both of you," he adds as he peeks on her tummy.

"I love you too. Thank you for being with me."

When they find out later that the child is going to be a boy, Naruto proclaims he knew so from the start.

…

Boruto is fascinated by bump.

He keeps looking at the slightly rounded belly of his mother after he learns that there's a baby in there. At first the five year old thought his mummy was simply eating too much cinnamon rolls (which incidentally she does). After confirming with his father that it was not good to tell her that, the little boy didn't comment on his mother's weight gain.

It is after his parents sit down with him and explain about the new baby and his responsibilities as a big brother that he hears about the baby-in-the-tummy business. And apparently he was in there once as well – how a big boy like him fits in there is a mystery to him.

"But how did it get in there? Can I see it?" Boruto scrutinises his mother's stomach critically. "Isn't it a bit tiny? How can it be so tiny – I'm all big?"

Boruto is very displeased by the answers he gets. It's not very helpful to have his father all flustered shouting something about magical bees and flowers and magic. His mother was much more level-headed but she was busy calming his father and by then Boruto already lost interest in the matter.

Two weeks later he finds his mother napping on the couch after he comes home from the academy. Her hands are resting on her stomach and she lays on her side.

Careful not to wake her Boruto approaches her and looks intently at the sizeable bump. A little sister was in there, so he was told, a while ago. He crouches down and misses how his mother's eyes flutter open and a small smile appears on her face.

"Hi there – can you hear me?" Boruto whispers to the bump, his lips almost grazing the material of Hinata's shirt. "Are you even in there?"

Boruto wonders if maybe he can hear the baby, of course babies can't talk but they babble, don't they? So Boruto slowly, cautiously presses his ear against the bump.

"Hello baby, are you there?"

He flinches back in shock when he feels a kick to his ear, it doesn't hurt but he hadn't expected it.

"She likes you," his mother says gently and ruffles his hair. "It means she knows your voice." She takes his hands in hers and places them on her tummy. "Go on, talk to her."

"But what should I say?" Boruto wonders and takes his hands back at the kick that follows. "Mummy, she did it again!" he says happily and returns his hands to his former position.

"Hi baby, this is your cool older brother speaking. You should hurry up and get bigger, so we can play. Oh, of course you need to get out of there first – I still don't get how you got stuck in there but the way you are now you're too tiny. So grow up quickly," during his speech the kicks have gotten more frequent.

"Babies are a bit useless you know, so maybe you'll come out finished already? Like me, you know. And then we can play together…"

He keeps talking and explaining what he's planning to do once she's there and Hinata fights the tears that are threatening to escape from her eyes. That is the scene Naruto walks in on.

"Oh, daddy wants to feel the baby too!" Naruto exclaims with excitement and eagerly puts his hands next to his son's. He stretches his neck toward his wife and receives a kiss.

"Daddy! Don't disturb the baby! She has to sleep sometimes you know? I was just telling her that, now you've woken her up again."

"Daddy disturbs the baby, is that it? Just you wait, maybe I'll check your tummy," Naruto grins mischievous at his son.

"Daddy no!" Boruto manages before his father grabs him and tickles him merciless until they are both out of breath.

After that Boruto becomes very protective of the little bump, he's constantly checking if the baby's still kicking, he makes sure nothing knocks into his mother and he glares away every stranger that asks to touch it (strangers including Hanabi, Shikamaru, Kiba and Shino, Kurenai and even Hiashi).

When Himawari is born the protectiveness switches from the bump to the sister.

…

Himawari is oddly suspicious of the bump.

She has many questions regarding that so-called baby bump. How did it get there? Where did it come from? How did the babies get inside?

When Boruto tells her, she used to be a bump she hits him with her stuffed bunny.

And everyone seems to be going crazy. They keep talking to the bulge in her mother's stomach. She's seen mummy do it and daddy does it all the time (the bump even gets a kiss) and even Boruto (her beloved, cool brother) is all happy when he talks and the babies kick at him (seriously who's happy about being kicked). She's tried it and she's not impressed, it's not even a strong kick, she can kick much stronger than that.

But she supposes there are upsides to this whole bump-thing. If there are indeed babies in there, then she will be the big sister and that means she'll no longer be the baby of the family. Instead she'll be a cool older sister, just like Boruto is a cool brother to her.

Mummy explained that the babies aren't able to do much (it doesn't surprise Himawari in the least – what can a bump do anyway?) so they'll rely on their big sister. And that's Himawari, so she needs to help them.

Himawari really wishes they'd get out of mummy – not only because she'll get to be a big sister, but also because they are hurting mummy. Everyone wants them to kick, but Himawari can see that it hurts mummy and so she keeps telling Naruto and Boruto off. And she also knows that mummy's feet hurt and that she's always tired. So she regards the bump suspiciously from the corner of her eyes.

It keeps growing and it becomes less of a bump and more of a balloon. It makes it hard for mummy to move but mummy doesn't complain, instead she looks at the bump with the same loving eyes she uses to look at Boruto and Himawari and daddy.

The balloon gets a lot of attention but mummy and daddy make sure Himawari is involved in everything. They even show her a blurred picture in black and white and tell her that those are the babies. It's all very suspicious (because that picture does not look anything like a baby is supposed to look like). She better keep an eye on the big balloon.

When Boruto tells her that the babies won't like her because she doesn't talk to them, Himawari swallows her pride and approaches her mother one evening.

"Mummy?"

"Yes, Hima?" Hinata looks down, usually she'd kneel but with the pregnancy it was hard to get up.

"Will the babies hate me because I don't talk to them?" she asks timidly.

"Of course not, Himawari. Who told you that?"

"Boruto."

"Did he now?" Hinata picks her up and sets her on the counter so she can whisper to her. "Do you want to know a secret?"

Himawari nods eagerly.

"When Boruto talks to the babies, he tells them all about you, he goes on and on about how nice and cute and sweet you are. And so do daddy and I. They'll definitely love their big sister," Hinata tells her.

"Would it be better if I talked to the balloon?"

"The ballo… Oh, you mean the bump. You don't have to, if you don't want to Hima. You'll have plenty of time when they are out of the 'balloon' to talk to them and to get to know them, and they you."

"Good, because talking to a balloon looks very stupid," Himawari nods seriously and jumps of the counter.

When the twins are born Himawari makes sure to talk to them all the time so that they'll learn her voice.

Thanks for reading!