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"Daddy, can Hima play with this, too?"
Naruto turns to his daughter, checking the new toy at hand. She is holding a panda stuff toy, her eyes obviously sparkling in excitement that makes it difficult for him to say no.
"Of course, my darling!"
Himawari's cheeks flush pink and her eyes brightens up, throwing her arms around her father's neck. "You're the best, daddy!"
And with that, Himawari sits down on the carpet, and Naruto gazes at her lovingly, the memories flashing in his mind.
It has been three years ago when he and Hinata knew about the additional bundle of joy that they are to welcome in the Uzumaki Household.
Naruto had just lied down on the couch to get a nap. It was finally his day off after how many weeks, and he had just adjusted his back on the cushion to get as warm as he could.
He was about to close his eyes when her lithe feet came shuffling at the flight of stares, and the worry in her voice made him sit up immediately.
"Naruto-kun..." She said, her face a mixture of anxiety and anticipation.
Naruto stood up and walked over his wife. "Is there something wrong, Hinata?"
Hinata blinked several times and shook her head, while her hand perched on her abdomen. "I... I think I should go to the hospital to have a check-up? I haven't been feeling well recently."
It was enough to make him worry to his wits. "Why? Did you eat something wrong? Or did you drink expired milk?"
The anxious look on her face was momentarily wiped away, as she knew well that it was Naruto who used to drink expired milk. "No, honey." She daintily covered her lips as she giggled. "It feels something like... the first time we had Boruto...", Then, her hand smoothed her abdomen down to her belly.
Naruto gulped, and there was the familiar thrumming in his chest that had never happened until Hinata announced years ago that he would finally become a parent. Without asking, he nodded twice and went upstairs to prepare their things, and to get Boruto from his room.
Three hours after they arrived in the hospital, and three hours while carrying his sleeping son around, the doctor finally announced that his wife, indeed, was pregnant. He inhaled too deeply, careful not to wake Boruto, and gulped down the excitement in his gut. The first time the doctor confirmed that Boruto was in Hinata's belly, he screamed and cried in the hospital and bragged that he would become a father. Right now, though, he could only cry, but the tears fell from his eyes like waterfalls.
It was even uncomparable when they returned to the hospital four months later to check the sex of their baby. Boruto was sitting on Naruto's right lap, and Naruto wondered if his son could feel the tension gnawing in the pit of his stomach.
"Moooom!" Boruto kept a hand on his dad's shoulder, but he reached out to her with his other hand. "Daddy's scared of the injection! Boruto's not!"
Hinata giggled. As much as she wanted to look at her boys, the doctor was running an ultrasound scan on the bulge of her tummy.
While they were waiting for the results, Naruto, Hinata, and Boruto sat outside the obgyne's hospital room. Boruto and Hinata were poking and pinching Naruto's cheeks, trying to rid away the tension (according to Hinata) and the fear (as per Boruto's insistence). When the doctor came out, though, there was not a single smile on her face.
Naruto wanted to snatch away the photo nipped in her fingers, but he restrained himself.
"Dad and Mom..." The doctor said, then lifted the photo. Naruto craned his neck closer to her. "The baby is in great condition. And..."
"And???" Naruto gulped again.
"It's a girl." She finally broke into a smile.
"It's a girl?" The three of them asked in unison.
The doctor nodded, and Naruto bolted from his seat, snatched the picture, and ran around the hallways, screaming and shouting and crying while staring at their baby girl's photo.
Boruto pouted, and turned to his mom. "Has dad always been this shameless?"
"More of bold, I think." There were tears in Hinata's eyes, and she hugged her son lovingly. "You're going to be a great big brother, Boruto!"
"I'm gunna have a little sister?"
Hinata nodded as she buried her face to her son's shoulder. "Yes. And we will do our best to make her happy, okay?"
When Naruto came back, he saw the confusion in his son's eyes, but he heard him say, "Okay mom! I'll do my best to protect her so you won't cry!"
Naruto could not ask for more, and he joined his growing family to give them a shaky embrace. Plans about holding a baby shower, a welcome party, a birthday party, and more other parties came flooding in his mind, heart leaping in joy at the prospect of celebrating with the people who are the sources of his life's light.
"Oi, dad! Daaaad!"
Naruto feels a yanking on his wrist, and sees his son at the end of his hand.
"Dad! Let's play with Hima!" He flashes his set of teeth to his dad and grins.
Naruto mirrors the grin, and says excitedly, "Ossu, Boruto! Now, don't you trip on your own foot, okay?"
"I don't trippp!"
He scoops Boruto and approaches Himawari, who's currently playing with the round circle of her stuffed toys. "Hinata! It's playtime!"
Hinata emerges from the hallway, done from her share of housework. "Alright!"
Naruto knows that he can't ask for more.