Ino stood outside of Shikamaru's apartment.

She had come to tell him of the great news she had just received- she was pregnant. With his child.

So imagine her surprise when she heard she heard the voice of Temari no Sabaku, speaking in hushed tones with her boyfriend of four years. Ino didn't even know that Shikamaru was friends with the Suna kunoichi.

"Shika, you'll have to tell her sometime." Temari said softly. "The longer you hold off, the worse it'll be."

"It'll crush her, Temari." he replied. "Wasn't losing Asuma enough? Dammit! This is such a drag."

Ino had heard enough. Chocking back a sob, she reached into her purse and pulled out a notebook and pen. She tucked the note under his door, knocked once, and took off.

"What was that?" Temari asked, her head snapping towards the door. Shikamaru stood up and opened the door. Seeing no one was there, he glanced at the ground. On the ground was a note. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was from Ino, he could tell by the dainty writing.

Dear Shikamaru,

Shikamaru stiffened. Ino only called him that when she was really pissed off or extremely sad. For him, both were really bad. He read on.

I don't understand exactly what's going on, or what Temari has to do with it, but I think it would probably be best if I left for a while. Leaving you and the sand sibling to do what you please.

Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and I have been offered a mission . For my own sake, I'm not saying where. But Neji, Sasuke and Naruto are going with us.

I also have some news.

I am with child. I understand that you will consider this 'troublesome', so I don't expect anything from you. If you want, I won't even say the baby is yours. Hell, that would probably be easier on both of us!

I love you. I always will.

Goodbye, Ino.

"I told you to tell her." Temari chirpedfrom behind him. "If you'd just told her of the mission in the first place, you wouldn't be in this mess, now would you?" Shikamaru growled.

"I probably wouldn't be in this mess if you and Kiba would just stop dating in secret, and actually come out as a couple!"

"It's not my fault Kiba's mom doesn't like me!" she whined.

"It is, really. She would probably like you if you hadn't blown up half her house."

"The house got in my way! How is it my fault?"

Ino's POV...

"Are you sure your okay?" Sakura asked, for the billionth time in the last twenty minutes.

"For the last time, forehead," I seethed. "I'm fine. I just want to keep moving and get as far away from Konoha as I can."

"We would have been long gone by now, if Dobe hadn't insisted on us stopping for lunch in the first village we came across." Sasuke muttered, draping his arm around Sakura's shoulders.

"I was hungry!" Naruto snapped. "What's wrong with that?"

"The fact that you ate before we left!" I replied. "And you know damn well the smell of the food made me nauseous! Pregnancy tends to do that to women!"

"Well how was I supposed to know it was gonna be that bad?" he replied. "I didn't expect you to have to spend twenty minutes vomiting!"

"If I wasn't so tired," I threatened. "I'd deck you."

"I'm not scared of a crazy pregnant chick!" he snorted.

"Naruto." Hinata said, rubbing her temples. "P-please shut up.

"Nah, he can keep talking." Sakura said, a wicked glint in her eye. "I wouldn't mind having one less person on this mission anyways."

"But Saki-chan!" Naruto pouted. "I thought you loved me!"

"And we thought you had Hinata for that job." Sasuke said, smirking.

"I am offended!" Hinata said. She was kidding, but seeing as she was facing away from Naruto, he couldn't see her smile.

"No! Hina-hime! Don't be mad! I was just kidding!" Naruto dropped down to his knees, hands clasped together. "Forgive me."

"Okay!" she said, turning to face him. "You forgiven." Now I faced away from them.

A week ago, that would have been me and Shikamaru. I felt a single tear slide down my face.

"Ino?" Sakura asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I will be." I said, my voice stronger than I felt. "For now, can we just get to as close to Suna as we can? I can't handle knowing he's so close to me."

I don't think I've ever seen Sasuke look sympathetic.

"He's a dumb ass, Ino." he said.

"If you or Naruto ever do something like this to my girls, I will slaughter you and every one you love."

"Isn't that redundant?" Hinata asked. "I mean, wouldn't you have to kill us and most of the villagers of Konoha?" I glared at her.

"Do I honestly look like I care?" I asked.

"Well you should!" Naruto exclaimed. "Protecting the girls would be useless if you just killed them afterwards!" I picked up a rock and chucked it at his head. He ducked. "Missed me!" in his cocky-ness, he didn't notice the handful of rocks come flying at his head.

Every single rock hit him.

"Warning: do not piss off pregnant Ino." Sakura muttered to Sasuke, who nodded in agreement. I smiled.

"That's the best idea I've heard all day!"

"It would be." Naruto muttered. I threw another rock at him.

"Any input, Hinata?" I asked. "You've been awfully quiet."

"Neji and Tenten are right behind us." she said. "Well, Neji is right behind us. Tenten is riding on his back." I snickered.

It was times like this when I wanted to just lock Neji and Tenten in a closet together until Neji admitted that he was in love with her. The Hyuga was almost as stubborn as Sasuke.

And it took almost a year to get him to admit that he loved Sakura.

"Hello, my friendly peoples!" Tenten shouted, coming into view. Actually, Neji was in view. Compared to him, Tenten was so small that she couldn't be seen.

"Hi, Tennie, Barbie-san!" I swear I saw Neji's eye twitch.

"Barbie-san?" he ground out. I shrugged.

"You remind me of a Barbie. I mean, nobody real looks like you do."

"Are you implying something?"

"Ignore Ino." Naruto said with a wave of his hand. "She has hormones."

"Ohmigod!" Tenten said suddenly. "Guess what?"

"What?" asked Sasuke dully.

"Anko's pregnant!" she squealed. "Oh and she's somehow convinced Tsunade to let her join us on our mission, so her and Kakashi will be joining us in Suna."

"Why?' I inquired.

"'Cause she went around town and the only pregnant was you, but your going on a mission with us, and she felt lonely, and...O! Shiny rock!" She slid off Neji's back and picked up the rock.

And then she threw it at Neji's head.

"Ow!" he grunted. "What the hell, woman?"

"That was all I wanted the rock for." she said with a shrug. "Come on girls! The night is young and I want a nap!"

I think I saw the boys roll their eyes.