Chapter 4: BFFs

Thursday's child has far to go - Moegi/Konohamaru

Moegi sat on the smooth flat stone by the side of the stream and waited for Konohamaru. She had arrived there early since she didn't have anything else on her schedule for the rest of the afternoon. It gave her time to think about everything they had said to each other last night.

She had had no idea what to expect from him since obviously neither she nor Konohamaru had ever expected to find themselves in this situation. It certainly wasn't something they had planned, they were only eighteen after all.

Eighteen years old, one week late and with a positive pregnancy test, too.

She'd told Konohamaru last night and he had momentarily been stunned to silence, which, for Konohamaru was really quite something. But she knew how that felt, she herself had been totally mute, unable to actually even think of anything to say, much less articulate it when she'd seen the positive test result.

And she realized she did have an advantage on him in the foreknowledge department just because she was one the who was late and therefore she was the one who'd first had the suspicion and gone out and purchased the test.

What was it Ebisu-sensei was always saying - anytime you go on a mission you should always have your exit-strategy in place?

Clearly she and Konohamaru were lacking an exit-strategy here.

She really had not known what to expect when she told him. Moegi was a kunoichi and she wasn't particularly a fairy-tale-ending kind of girl, she hadn't exactly hoped Konohamaru would swear his undying love for her and propose to marry her on the spot. That was rather cliche. And quite honestly, if he had done that she didn't know what her response would have been.

Did she love Konohamaru?

Yes and no she thought as she mulled yesterday over in her mind, the stream babbling happily as it flowed past her feet. She had loved Konohamaru since she was a kid, as a friend and as a teammate, the same way she loved Udon. But somehow, this last year, the physical attraction between her and Konohamaru had grown stronger until neither one of them could deny it anymore and they had wound up in bed together, as well as a variety of other interesting locations throughout Konoha. She blushed even though there was no one there to see it, wondering if Ebisu really had believed that the wind had blown all those papers off his desk that time. It was hard to tell with those dark glasses he always wore.

But was she in love with Konohamaru? She wondered.

She recalled their conversation last night. It had been right here, at this very spot that they'd met and had the "I've got something to tell you" talk.

Moegi hadn't known what to expect, beyond the stunned part since that was her first reaction, too. She hadn't known if he'd be angry, accusatory, disbelieving, happy or what. How did guys feel about this stuff anyway?

Konohamaru actually ran the gamut, starting with disbelieving, progressing through accusatory, flirting with angry and then settling back down somewhere around disbelieving. He never quite made it to happy, though, she noticed.

The angry part didn't last long and she had to confess that she herself was angry over the whole situation so she understood somewhat how he felt. But the accusatory part hurt, it really did. What? Did he think she had planned this or something? She would never in a million years have thought to accuse him of wanting this to happen, how could he think that of her?

Konohamaru apologized for it quickly enough, though and wound back up in the disbelieving state. After a couple more iterations of the 'are you sure' and 'how did this happen' questions which she responded to with her own by then standard 'I'm pretty sure' and 'I imagine it happened in the usual way' responses he finally quit pacing around the creekbed like a caged animal and sat down on the rock beside her.

"What are we going to do?" she had finally asked.

He hadn't answered for the longest time and when he finally did he was very solemn about it. "Moegi, I think...I think you should give the baby up for adoption."

Moegi had realized that if she was hoping for a particular outcome, say the fairy-tale ending, that she would probably have felt the world crumbling down around her. Since she had not been hoping or anticipating any specific thing, it had instead felt more like a door closing. Konohamaru must have been expecting her to say something, when she didn't he continued on.

"What I mean is...I think it would be better for you if...so you didn't have the guilt if you ...got rid of it."

Moegi had nodded, still keeping quiet, processing what he had said.

Strangely enough, she kept thinking of Ebisu-sensei and those ridiculous platitudes he was prone to spout off, things like "There is no 'I' in team."

Well, yeah, sure. Just like there is no 'we' in any statement that begins with 'I think you should...'

"Moegi?" Konohamaru had whispered to her. "Did you hear what I said?"

She'd nodded her head slightly and responded, "Yes. You're ... maybe you're right."

Neither of them had had much else to say and so finally Moegi had broken the silence and told him, "Look, it's getting late. I'm going to go on home. We can talk about this more tomorrow."

Konohamaru had agreed and an awkward moment had passed between the two of them as they tried to figure out how to say goodnight. They had finally settled on hugging each other.

Moegi had lain awake most of the past night, thinking things through in her head. At first she'd been disappointed although she really couldn't say why. What had she expected?

If anything, his statement, although disappointing on the outside actually gave her a remarkable gift. Clarity.

There is no 'I' in team.

There is no 'we' in a statement that begins with 'I think you should...'

This was her problem.

Clarity.

Once she'd recognized it for what it was it was easier to process the other few things they'd said between them.

Give it up for adoption.

Was he serious?

If there was one thing Konoha shared in common with the other hidden villages it was their unsurpassed ability to produce orphans and fatherless children. Without taking any pride in the fact, Moegi acknowledged that she, Konohamaru, Udon and Ebisu-sensei had undoubtedly created their own fair share of orphans in the number of enemy ninjas they had taken out over the years. She had no illusions that this current peace would last. Since becoming a genin she'd seen wars, outbreaks, skirmishes and peaceful lulls between the villages and nations. There might be a dip in the current output but at any day, war could break out and the nations go back to full-out orphan production mode the conventional way by killing their parents.

She saw no need to contribute to that population by giving birth to one destined to be an orphan from the start.

Besides, she thought of Sai and shivered, who adopted orphans anyway? Didn't they just end up like him?

But if she had a child did it have to be an orphan? Could she raise one by herself?

Briefly considering Kurenai-sensei she had to honestly acknowledge that no, she could not. Not now. She wasn't ready.

Which brought her to the most remarkable part of his statement. Guilt? How could he possibly make such an assumption about her? He was her best friend, her first lover. What had she ever said to him that would make him assume that she would ... feel that way? When had they ever even discussed it before this?

Guilt?

Why would he assume such a thing?

Unless...would Konohamaru feel guilty if she ended this?

Moegi had tossed and turned that night, eventually falling into a fitful sleep. But when she had awakened this morning, at least she had her exit strategy.

Still looking into the water cascading through the stream at her feet, she heard Konohamaru's rushed footsteps headed her way. Moegi straightened and turned to look at his direction, smiling up at him.

"Hi, Konohamaru," she started but he interrupted her, talking in a rush as he sat down beside her.

"Moegi, look, I know I said some stuff last night," he said hurriedly, giving her a hug as he settled by her side. "And it might have sounded like I was mad but I'm not. It's just that..."

"Konohamaru," she started but was interrupted again.

"It's just that I've been thinking it over a lot and what I said, about you giving it up for adoption..."

"Konohamaru..."

"No, wait, Moegi, let me finish. I thought about it a lot last night and I think that that's really the best, the best thing for you to do. I just feel that..."

She thwacked him on the back of the head. "Konohamaru! You idiot! I started."

"What?"

"I started you dolt. My period. I started today. I'm not pregnant."

"What? But I thought you said you were sure?"

"Well, I thought I was sure but I guess I was just late. I guess I did the test wrong or misread it or something."

Konohamaru was laughing with relief. "Did the test wrong? How can you pee on a stick the wrong way?"

Moegi slapped him on the arm and started laughing a little herself too. "Shut up you idiot, I was scared. Okay? I was late and I took the test and I guess I was just nervous and read it wrong or something."

Flopping back onto the stone Konohamaru continued to laugh in relief. "Oh, man, talk about dodging a kunai..."

Moegi smiled down at him, relieved herself to see him happy. It really was better this way. "Yes, we did dodge that one, didn't we? We, um, probably should not play with fire..."

Konohamaru sat up, "Moegi, do you mean not see each other anymore?"

She rolled her eyes, "Idiot, I'm on a team almost constantly with you, I can't help but see you almost every day. I guess I was just thinking we should..."

"Break it off?"

Moegi shrugged, "Take a break? Maybe?"

Konohamaru took a deep breath, "Yeah, maybe."

The two of them sat together for a bit before Moegi finally spoke up, "Say, aren't you and Udon leaving out on a mission this afternoon?"

"Yeah," he answered her. "Some penny-ante lord in some hole-in-the-wall village thinks he's getting death threats. We're just going for surveillence for a few days."

"Well, see you around," she shrugged smiling at him.

He leaned over and awkwardly hesitated the same as he had done last night before he kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you when I get back," he said.

She watched him walk off into the forest in the direction of the village. Moegi settled herself back against the stone, lying back to take a nap. She had a couple more hours to wait. By the time this day was over she would have spent almost the entire afternoon out here.

Dozing lightly, she was eventually awakened by light footsteps hurrying in her direction. Moegi sat up as Hanabi walked into view. "How did it go?" the younger Hyuuga girl asked, her lavender eyes full of concern.

Moegi sighed, "Pretty much as I expected, I guess. He was greatly relieved when I told him my period started."

Hanabi sat down beside her friend, adding. "But it didn't, right?"

Nodding, Moegi confirmed, "But it didn't. My appointment's in the morning. Can you...can you still come with me?"

"Of course. Of course I will." Hanabi responded, throwing her arms around Moegi and hugging her.

"Don't ever tell...."

"Shhh, I won't tell it. I promise. I won't."

Moegi leaned against Hanabi's shoulder. "I feel a little...lonely right now. Do you think you could stay with me tonight and...maybe tomorrow night, too?"

"Yes," Hanabi reassured her. "I can. I will. What are friends for?"

A/N: BFF = best friends forever