Broken Hearts, Shattered Dreams

[18]

It had been nearly six months since they'd told everyone that Ino was pregnant. Naruto was pleasantly surprised that Ino's parents took her being pregnant so well. He chalked it up to their being a very open family and wanting desperately for grandchildren. He did think it a little odd that Inoichi was so open about…sexual matters regarding his daughter, but Naruto was never one to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Besides, he had other things to worry about.

The fact that Ino was pregnant didn't bother him. Ever since he was little, Naruto wanted a large family. What worried him was that he didn't know how her pregnancy would go. Since they both had a human background, he suspected she would go the full nine months and give birth to a child with fox-like traits. But there was no way to confirm this until she gave birth. There was so much to do and so little time to do it.

Being king meant he could come and go as he pleased in the fox realm. That was a definite boon. In the past few months, he had left much of the ruling to the council, with the knowledge that if they got too power hungry, he'd do something…unpleasant to them. No one wanted to challenge the king so the fox realm was being run as a tight ship.

Negotiations with the other bosses had been absolutely great. They all had emissaries going between realms, relaying messages and offering to help one another with whatever problems they might have. Naruto smiled as he lay in bed with his arms behind his head. Things were going so smoothly and if he had his way, they'd go smoothly for years to come.

The kids' training was great. They all caught onto their respective styles quickly and were fast becoming extremely talented in several fields. Juugo was deadly with his Muay Thai and had obliterated several training posts. His knees and elbows were like iron and once he had you in range there wasn't much you could do to stop him. Karin was like fluid grace come to life. The little girl had developed a hard head too, and those headbutts she used were dynamite. She'd knocked Lee for a loop one time…and that's saying something. Lee was loopy enough already; there was no need to add to that.

Naruto's smile widened as he thought of his son. Hikaru had come the furthest but then again, he had several years on his siblings. His feral 'Freestyle' was nearly on a level with the Inuzuka's own bestial style, but he lacked the pure physicality they had. Hikaru focused more on quick strikes and decapitating moves. Kiba had begun coming over frequently, bringing Hinata and their daughter with him, to gauge Hikaru's progress. Kiba kept his level down to that of a genin's but he was having trouble keeping up with Hikaru. Not to mention, his new dog, a pup of Akamaru's, wasn't fully trained yet and was still in the silly puppy stage. He nearly had his ass handed to him.

Naruto heard a sigh beside him and turned his head to see Ino snuggle her way further into his side. He chuckled and reached down to rub her swollen belly. She let out a contented moan at the contact and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. He had been correct when he had guessed her hormones would be more out of whack. But, instead of becoming more outrageous and outspoken than she already was, Ino became somewhat meeker and housewife like the further into her pregnancy she got. She wanted to be petted and massaged all the time. Basically, she wanted to be treated like a queen.

Naruto pulled his hand away from her belly, eliciting a dissatisfied groan from his wife, until he began to rub and massage again with his tails. He thanked Kami for the useful appendages. They saved him a lot of trouble over the past few months. As Ino drifted further into sleep, his thoughts turned back to the past again.

Hinata had been a delight when she came over and her daughter loved to play with the kids. She had a small crush on Juugo and the little boy had no idea what to do. He'd asked Hikaru how he handled Kaoru and the pinky blonde just shrugged.

"I don't know how to handle her. She pretty much does what she wants. I'm telling you, Dad cursed me with bad luck with women."

When Ino heard that she had brained the poor child with one of her tails while telling him that Kaoru was a sweet girl and he'd better give her a chance. Naruto chuckled again as he remembered how the boy had finally conceded and promised to give her a chance, while swearing to find a way to get back at his mom. Ino's content purring beside him brought him to other thoughts.