A grain of truth

II

It was already nearing sunset when the three boys finished arranging the furniture in Naruto’s room and living room, the kitchen and the dining room and the baby room which was the only thing needing attention was left half done, all four of them agreeing to continue tomorrow morning since it’s a Saturday.



“Aaaaah!!! Finally!!!” Kiba all but collapsed in a tired heap on the couch sighing with relief, Shikamaru taking his place on the floor and resting his back on the couch’s leg while Shino sat on the single couch next to the one Kiba was occupying, Naruto placing a tray of beverages and snacks on the glass table.



“Only the kitchen and the baby room to go.” Shikamaru yawned, relaxing finally after realizing that it was actually the first work he had done that made him sweat, and he didn’t know why it felt good.



“We should be thankful that Hinata’s cousin owns a place near the university belt.” Shino, out of the three was the least tired looking although he was the one who got to move the most and was now standing unbothered and hands deep in his pockets against the wall behind the couch.



“And a 2ldk too!” Kiba blurted out quite proudly, looking up at the now installed light up the high ceiling and he couldn’t help but cringe right after, remembering what emotional and physical torture he had to experience before Naruto moved in one of the wealthy properties that Neji had inherited from the family.



*2 rooms with a living room, dining, bath and kitchen



Hinata’s family clinic was supervised by her friend and family doctor Haruno Sakura, who had recently just inherited it from her mentor. When she broke the unbelievable news to Naruto, he was the only one to personally hear it with the said blonde and he felt more nervous and confused than Naruto himself who had just remained quiet all through the brunette’s rant with the doctor out of disbelief.



It turned out, that Naruto knew of his condition right after entering middle school, he worried more about what his family would say to him than the pregnancy itself, knowing full well that his family was a closed Christian who believed of celibacy before marriage and considered homosexuality as taboo.



It was that night that he broke more rules than what he can remember hearing from his righteous father. They knew of him being a hermaphrodite, but since they had grown him in the ways of the Ten Commandments and countless reminders they never had to worry about him getting pregnant.



But now it was different, when he had first heard of those three words confirming of his earlier worries the world suddenly closed in on him and the only thing he could feel was his blood rushing up his head and his heart beating so fast he blacked out after.



All through his quiet sobs inside Kiba’s car, the brunette was one of the first people to console him even though the reality itself still hadn’t sunk in on Kiba’s part, the fact that Arashi, Naruto’s true father had died of conceiving him didn’t help. When his surrogate parents, a distant relative of Arashi’s took him in, the topic was a closed subject, a taboo, and he knew full well that they despised Arashi resulting to them pushing their beliefs on Naruto so much that he was slowly getting pressured, well at least his mother was more open minded.



Kiba was also the person who had volunteered with great courage to come with Naruto to break the news to his parents being the loyal former baby sitter turned best friend that he was, he received all the blows the blonde’s father let loose that was meant for Naruto, when he kicked him out and disowned him Kiba squeezed him in inside his small apartment and put through his cravings and mood swings.



Naruto had a hard time convincing Kiba not to kill Sasuke that time when he heard about the bastard’s reaction, and it saved Naruto. Kiba just saved Naruto from feeling so alone without Sasuke by his side.



More than anything else, Kiba to him was a true friend through and through. And it was that that put Kiba in a tight spot one time while the brunette took him to a shopping spree as his birthday present.



+++



“Kiba I kinda feel bad about this…” Naruto blurted out suddenly as he looked away from the set of baby bibs and milk bottles on one of the shelves in the baby section of the supermarket inside the mall and turned to Kiba who was already on his way to the exit.



“Hm… ah? Come on let’s go look at some clothes for you.” The brunette took him by the hand, coaxing him for a set of maternity clothes with the reason of Kiba being constantly perturbed every time he would see Naruto struggle to zipper his pants up.



“Eh? What? No-no way Kiba!!! What are you saying I AM NOT wearing any girl stuff!” Naruto hissed through gritted teeth when he noticed the other customers looking at them peculiarly.



“Naru don’t be so stubborn, what’re you, trying to choke on your kids? You can’t keep on wearing jogging clothes you know. Besides, you won’t be able to fit on them anyways.” Kiba smirked back at him, leading the pouting blonde towards a store that specializes in maternity clothes and other baby stuff with more variety.



“Did I just hear you call me fat!?” Naruto hollered, snatching his arm away from the brunette as his chest heaved with the raging hormones taking over him.



“Dude you’re not fat, you’re pregnant. It’s a given your waistline would grow duh.” In the four months that he had began living with the blonde, Kiba had learned to control the mood swings coming from his best friend. He thought he never had to deal with that shit because Hinata was always understanding and kind, then again, Naruto used to be always understanding and kind too before the mood swings set in, so it helped him a little when he took Hinata out one day and realized the raven haired woman’s ‘period’ had arrived. It was an understatement to say that she was scary but he managed.



“But still!!!”



“Besides, I’m pretty sure you’re housing girls in there.” Kiba pointed at the round bulge on Naruto’s abdomen, “Since if they’re not wouldn’t you be looking so haggard now? You’re beautiful if not cute.”



*It’s a saying here in the Philippines that if you’re pregnant with a girl you look blooming and beautiful, and your abdomen’s round, if it’s a boy it’s pointed and you look like shit, though I doubt that. Still I couldn’t help putting it here.



“D-don’t call me that!” Naruto was unable to follow Kiba with a good retort, the complement soothing the blonde’s bruised ego and thus making him blush a good deal and before he knew it he was already inside the dressing room of the store, fitting on maternity dresses that seemed to suit Kiba’s taste since he was never one to have a good eye on girl things.



“Here.” Kiba handed out with a smile the pastel blue off the shoulder maternity dress with a white lace stitched just below the bust line and the rest put into a single ribbon at the back, the rest of the lace reaching down to the waist if it had any.



“Thanks.” As Naruto’s hand slipped out of the curtain of the dressing room to take the dress, Kiba rested his back on the wall adjacent it, a couple more clothes hanging by his arm.



“Hey what was it that you said earlier? You feel bad about what?”



“Oh… well this morning, I heard you talking to someone on the phone. You’re cancelling about something. Your girlfriend right?”



“Ah…”



“Hey I appreciate all the stuff you did for me Kiba. But I can’t help but feel like I’m imposing on you… it’s like you’re leaving other stuff for me you know?”



“Nah she understands. Besides, it’s your birthday today. I’m sure Shino and that lazy bum would be surprised later at the resto once you show up in a dress.” Kiba had to hand it to Naruto, he had good instincts but he’s not blaming him for anything. It’s not like Naruto asked to be pregnant or he wanted his parents to disown him. When he was being bullied in senior high Naruto, who was a middle schooler and his kouhai that time was the only one who stood up for him and helped him in things not many friends would be able to, had he not met the blonde he wouldn’t know what could’ve happened to him so this time it was his turn.



The brunette then gestured for the saleslady to give the blonde the brassiere she picked out, although Naruto wasn’t growing any breasts thank god, Sakura had advised Naruto to put up with the cross dressing for a while until he had conceived, since walking around in a maternity dress with no breasts at all would be… just peculiar.



“Ugh… do I really have to wear this?” Naruto cringed as he held out the brassiere in front of him with one hand and stared at it with disgust.



“Uh huh, had to had to.” Kiba could barely suppress the giggle that was threatening to bubble outside his mouth, and Naruto couldn’t help but be thankful and at the same time shudder at the fact that he knew how to wear it since he had watched plenty of times his mother wear the brassiere in front of him on his childhood every time she would rush out into her work.



*That’s right, it happens that your mother’s feeling liberated enough to dress in front of you.



“Crap. Kiba could you help me with the zipper?” Kiba’s smile turned into a grin that was almost splitting his face as he went inside the dresser that was big enough for the two of them, and blinked, quite unbelievably at how Naruto fit almost perfectly in the dress as he pulled the zipper up on the back of the maternity dress.



“See? Man, I never thought you could pull this off! Look at you!” Kiba dragged the blonde out the dressing room to find himself staring at the image in front of him with the same bewildered blue eyes and blonde hair caressing his neck.



“Look, the dress matches your eyes. Right girls?” Kiba commented behind him which made the other sales lady giggle in answer around them.



“Yes, certainly mister. Your wife is very gorgeous.” One of the sales ladies said, receiving all the other clothes Naruto had put on and liked somehow to be put into the counter.



Blue almond eyes turned into round ones in surprise at the address, aiming to correct the misconception of the two of them but Kiba interfered, putting an arm around his exposed shoulder and grinning back in answer.



“Of course, doesn’t she look the cutest?”



“How many months?” The other woman asked, curiosity getting the better of her.



“Going on four.” Kiba answered for him, he was still caught in the question on why Kiba was acting the way he does.



“Eh? Only four? But your tummy looks almost six already.”



“That’s because we’ve got triplets coming on the way. No need to congratulate me.”



“Triplets!? Oh my… that’s one hot husband you got there madam.” She winked at Naruto who just laughed uneasily, not sure of whether to box Kiba’s ears out or thank him as he realized that Kiba was just pretending since people tend to think of other things when they see a pregnant woman shopping with a man who’s not her husband.



The guy was saving his face, he should be thankful not offended. And with that thought in Naruto’s mind he looked up at Kiba who met his gaze and smiled gratefully which the brunette returned with a smirk.



Hinata’s grip on the clothes if possible tightened even more as she stared hard, painfully at the pair just a couple of meters from her, she didn’t want to believe it but she was already having doubts about Kiba. Recently the time they have together have been decreasing and it’s getting more and more of an issue between them whenever Kiba would cancel their date for ‘his friend’ instead of spending time with her.



She understood at first, since it’s Naruto after all, they haven’t had the chance to meet yet but from the way Kiba’s eyes would sparkle with admiration and liking every time he would talk about his friend’s pranks and their years of goofing around together it seemed to her that Naruto was very important to Kiba, much like a brother would to his younger sibling.



And as she saw the affectionate meeting of the pair’s gazes she felt something bump against her back and she looked up, surprised and then the look of hurt coming back as she realized that she had taken a step back and bumped on her cousin, understanding dawning on him and he looked more angry than her from the way his brows were knitted and his forehead wrinkled.



“Onii-san I…” Her voice got caught in her throat and she felt something hot and wet escaping her pallid lilac eyes as two broad hands squeezed comfortingly on her shoulders.



She should have gone with instinct when Kiba told her not to go to his apartment for a while with the excuse of it being renovated when it burned down. Of course, when she dared to take a peek at the apartment, it indeed was burned but it was far enough to not affect Kiba’s place, but being the trusting Hinata that she was, she complied.



It was too late when she realized that her, being caught in her pained musings, her cousin had suddenly marched in angry steps towards her two-timing boyfriend and twisted the brunette’s arm towards him. Faster than Kiba could react her enraged cousin had already launched a powerful right hook on his face, rendering Kiba sprawled, confused and shocked on the floor.



“You two-timing DOG.” The man growled, his black waist-length hair whipping against his back when he put his whole weight on the punch he released before snapping his head to the equally shocked blonde, Naruto jerking back at how the venom on those eyes dripped on the glare he sent to him but recovered quickly and glared back at him after.



It shocked Neji but it didn’t make him intimidated none the less, and he put his attention back to Kiba, the brave face of the beautiful woman still etched reluctantly in his brain.



The man fisted at the dizzy Kiba’s collar, wrenching him up and his hand already aiming to release another blow when Hinata called out to him in panic, small trembling hands grabbing at his arm.



“Neji-nii stop!!!” Hinata squeaked, her voice shaking but eyes determined to halt whatever her overprotective cousin’s got in mind, she had seen Neji snap once, and she was the reason that time too, it made her rethink of her choice of men a thousand times or they would never be able to live by the end of the day.



“Don’t you EVER show your goddamn FACE in front of us again…” Neji’s low growl was laced with warning as he let go, Naruto coming to the brunette’s rescue right after and glaring bravely at Neji.



“Be thankful you’re pregnant BITCH. Hinata let’s go.” The well versed man who was never someone who uses an expletive cursed. Even though her feet felt so heavy, Neji’s hand on her shoulder encouraged her to move out of that place, tears streaming down her eyes even as they had already arrived home. Three years. Three years and one day she sees her boyfriend with some pregnant woman, proud and all that she was carrying his CHILDREN. The man who Hinata was supposed to marry next year was proudly telling those women earlier at how beautiful his WIFE was. And indeed, she was beautiful, she looked young… younger than she was and it just hurt.



Something dawned on Naruto as he helped the still shocked brunette stand up when he heard of the name of the woman with the same features as the enraged Neji.



“You alright?” The place where Kiba was hit was bleeding a little, the corner of his lips and the area just above the cheek bone was producing an ugly violet color and it was his fault.



“Well… I feel like shit right now to be honest.” Naruto didn’t want for Kiba to pay the clothes after that, he felt so guilty at what happened and it made him want to hide forever at how the women were exchanging meaningful glances at each other. They were probably thinking him as a mistress.



“Kiba? Why don’t we just go home, you have to be treated-”



“Oh this? Don’t worry, this pales in comparison to your right hook Naru.” Kiba tried to chuckle as he changed lanes, Naruto growing more and more uncomfortable every time Kiba would wince at the injury. “I’ll explain to her don’t worry. It’s just a simple case of misunderstanding.”



“She heard you no doubt. Kiba we need to explain to her. The way that cousin of hers looked he’d never let you talk to her, much less see her. They’d never believe you especially if she’d heard that stuff a while ago. And how are we going to explain THAT to Shino and Shika?” Kiba’s answer to that was a long and heavy sigh and they spent the rest of the time to the resto in uncomfortable silence.



“Kiba’s an idiot.”



“Right.”



“Come on you guys I need some comforting here!” Kiba hollered in the driver’s seat as he put up an annoyed face on the rear view mirror, glaring on the two dark-haired men sitting comfortably in the backseat of his car, not at all appreciating the fact that he was being called an idiot plenty times than he can remember.



“You’re already getting a lot of that from your wife Kiba.” Shino managed to suppress a smirk at the blushing Naruto beside Kiba.



“Kiba it would be better if we wait for things to settle down before you see her.” Naruto suggested which the brunette just nodded in answer.



“Or you’d be dead before you get to explain anything.” Shikamaru added, leaning back to the back of the seat and closing his eyes in the process.



“But it’s already been a week and she still won’t answer the friggin’ phone, fuck!”



“It would be better if I talk to her instead. Just… bring me to her house so we can get over your angsting already.”



“Yes. A girl to girl talk would be the most proper way for Kiba not to get hurt.” At that Naruto shot a glare at Shino who remained indifferent towards him and just looked at the view out the car.



“Naru…”



“Hey, it’s my fault anyway… besides, I should start finding my own apartment after this. Even if we get to explain Hinata will still feel uncomfortable if she knows I’m staying at your place.”



“I guess you’re right.” Kiba let out a sigh of resignation, parking at the building where Shino and Shikamaru were rooming together. And right after the two dark haired teen bid them goodbye, Kiba drove past the building and his heart started to beat faster with anxiety.



Neji couldn’t remember how many times he had gone to offer his cousin food, she had been crying all day in the guest room and not even moving under the covers of the single bed. He cursed, his mind already thinking of ways to liquidate the cursed veterinarian in ways unimaginable but the ringing of the doorbell interrupted his thoughts and he saw the least person who he wanted to see that day.



“Hi.” The blonde greeted uncertainly, managing to put up a small smile as his hand went to cup at his abdomen out of nervousness.



The expressionless man scowled down at him, his grip on the doorknob deadly as he stared at the object of his beloved cousin’s heartbreak.



“I want to explain. It appears you’ve just misunderstood some things.” Naruto tried, but Neji looked so pissed that the blonde wouldn’t be surprised if he was strangled to death right then and there by the man.



“We heard and saw EVERYTHING. What is there to explain?” His voice, though low and cool made Naruto want to run, he was beautiful but also a frightening sight to look at.



“I think… it would be better if you call her and let me in. It’s quite long.” A moment of silence where Naruto stood under the raven’s strict scrutiny before the man stepped aside to let him in, observant eyes following the well curved woman despite her condition, tanned skin and soft features, long hands and he wondered if it was because of that that made Kiba betray his cousin. Wait. That woman was the cause for his cousin’s misery…



“Wait here.” Neji muttered before going to the general direction of the guest room.



As Naruto fought the urge to sit seeing as he was an unwelcome guest, his eyes wandered inside the well maintained apartment complex, it had cool toned colors like white and the lightest shade of blue, clean and organized that even the abstract interior designs reminded him of Sasuke’s place.



“You… wanted t-to talk?” Naruto snapped out of his musings, blue eyes narrowing in pity as he took in her eyes that had reddened from constant crying no doubt and her splotched face. He nodded, taking a seat on the couch which Hinata had offered out of inborn kindness and the will to be civil in front of her considered rival.



“First of all… I’m not Kiba’s wife.” Neji who was in the process of gracefully sitting beside Hinata sat down quite heavily as the statement caught him off guard, leaving him to stare wide eyed openly at Naruto.



“Please just listen. We’ve been friends for a long time, I… got pregnant by a guy who ran from his responsibility and just left me hanging. Because of my condition I had to leave the dorm I was in and my family disowned me the moment I told them. Kiba was the one who helped me through all that.”



“But what about-”



“That time… Kiba was just saving my reputation. You know about his mother right? He knew what it felt like to be looked at like that. Because she raised him single handedly when his father ran off he didn’t want me experiencing the same thing her mother had received.”



“While your argument maybe convincing, I refuse to accept such an excuse. Even saying that you two are friends, letting a single woman to live with a committed man such as himself… you can’t blame us for not being unconvinced as we are now.” All through Naruto’s explanation Neji watched the pain and bitterness cross the blonde’s face at the mention of his situation, he had to be really tough to talk about what had happened. And he couldn’t help but be convinced, although his ego and logic made him say something otherwise.



“Listen, we’ve never met before but Kiba loves you so much, he often talks about you even when he was still courting you. When he followed you from your intern job at the hospital to your house, when you thought he was a stalker but he turned out to be Hanabi’s dog’s vet… I know all that Hinata. You’ve known each other for five years… and you’re supposed to get married next year. I even know your family doctor, Kiba brought me there although we didn’t get to see you…”



“Yes… but… but… I saw you two… he… he looks so… happy…” Hesitation and doubt crossed the immaculate face of the delicate woman, an uncertain frown marring the outline of her features as her eyes threatened to well with tears.



“Then I’ll tell you one more thing Hinata.”



“Eh?”



“My name is Uzumaki Naruto.”



Kiba didn’t know what possessed Naruto to tell them about his real condition, but it sure as hell convinced Neji enough that the guy offered the lower floor of his place for Naruto to rent at a very affordable price with the excuse of doing it as apology for punching Kiba and calling his best friend a… a… well that was already in the past but Kiba was more than convinced that Neji had an ulterior motive behind it. He just had that aroused look on his face every time Naruto would come visit Hinata with him before the move in.



*This is actually the first time where I can’t decided on who’s going to end up with Naruto! Gah!