"Hi, Rin-chan." He places a vase of flowers on the bedside table, where they are the only real color in the room.
"It's been a while."
"I'm sorry. I wish I could be here for you."
"Not just me," she says, and does not look at him.
"I know. But it's hard to start thinking of it that way, you know? All I see is my beautiful, talented student languishing away in a hospital bed."
"I'm not languishing," she contradicts him. They share a small smile.
"Yeah. You look good."
"Haha, right. With my ballooning waistline."
He reaches out to lay a hand on the swell of her belly. "I meant…your face is glowing. You're beautiful."
Like any other girl her age would, she flushes brightly. She never looked this young when she was slipping out of her skirt and stockings. Is he a fool?
She brushes off the doubt in his eyes and asks with a grin, "How's it going on the front?"
"We're losing," he says honestly.
"You look tired. Are you eating enough? Sleeping okay?"
He knows both those questions are spoken by her medic training, but he wonders whether she really believes any of them will ever be able to sleep at night. "Shouldn't you worry about yourself?"
"I don't worry," she tells him firmly and lines in her sixteen-year-old forehead say it's a lie.
"Good. Have you thought of any names?"
There it is that glint in her eye that declares he finally said the right thing. "Oh, a few."
"What's your favorite?"
"Naruto."
That's a strange name, he thinks, but he lets her continue.
"I want a son who will grow up to become something. Maybe Hokage like his father." She threads a hand through the locks of hair framing his face. "Maybe handsome like his father."
"I hope he's mostly like you."
"I hope…" A yawn spasms through her body, and she puts a hand to her mouth. "I hope…maybe…my son won't have to live in a war."
Her eyes are already drooping closed as he stands up, placing her hand gently by her side as it slips from his. If he is weary from battle, she is twice that from feeding her own life into the one forming inside her. "So do I."