A/N: Seriously, I love all you guys.

Thank you, again, for all the reviews! I absolutely love hearing what you have to say.

Some notes on this chapter:
- Sumire is Japanese for Violet, as in the flower.
- Hachiko means Bee Child. Seeing as she married into a family with butterfly-themed names, I felt it all too appropriate.
- Nishibi, the secretary to Dr. Himawari, has a name meaning Setting Sun. Oh, those Hyuuga.

I bet you can all guess who Sumire is the mother of, no

Hopefully, I'll see you next week with a new chapter; I haven't finished writing it just yet...

Please, as usual, read, enjoy, and review if you enjoyed!

-///-

"Well, that's it," Dr. Himawari said, on a Wednesday three weeks later, in mid-May. "You're officially on leave from all and any missions, Kushina-san, and that is that."

Kushina was absolutely crushed. "Already?!" she said.

"I warned you in time..." Dr. Himawari said evenly, as she took her hands off Kushina's stomach. "You were fully aware that I gave you three weeks at the most. You shouldn't be surprised."

"But... damn!" Kushina said. "I swore that I had more time!"

"Time flies," said Dr. Himawari. She gave a slight smile. "If you look at it that way, you'll be having your baby and back on your feet in no time at all!"

"Thanks for the advice," Kushina moped. She groaned and sighed and made general unhappy noises, which Dr. Himawari more than noticed.

"Don't worry, you'll have the Mommy Class on Sunday to keep you busy," she said, in a pleasant tone. Kushina groaned more.

"Oh, that," she said, sitting up and staring at the ceiling. "Yeah, we'll have to see about that. I dunno."

"You seemed more than willing, three weeks ago," Dr. Himawari said.

"Yeah. That was last week," said Kushina, and got off the cot. "Let me think about it for a bit. See you when, for the next appointment?"

"Four weeks from now," Dr. Himawari said, and Kushina left. Dr. Himawari sat on her stool for a while, before carefully returning it under the cot, and making her way towards her receptionist.

"Nishibi-chan," she said, "could you please write a letter for me?"

"Of course, ma'am," she replied, and took out a pen and paper, ready to write down whatever Himawari said. "To whom is it addressed?"

"Minato Namikaze," Dr. Himawari replied.

-///-

Sunday arrived, and Kushina lazed about her apartment (with her son periodically letting her know he was around, with a small wiggle or two), decidedly not in the mood for any sort of class or business involving Mommies.

Therefore, when somebody knocked on her door around 11 AM, she answered in a pair of boxers and a tank top, looking decidedly unkempt.

Much to her misfortune, Minato stood there with a wide grin on his face.

"Get dressed, it's time to go!" he said, in a disgustingly cheerful way.

She slammed the door in his face. He knocked again; this time, she opened the door a creak, peering at him suspiciously. "What do you want?" she said.

"Your Mommy Class is in a half hour; I'm bringing you there," he said.

Kushina shut the door (trying to slam it as best she could) again. Once more, Minato knocked.

"There is no way in hell I'm going to that class!" she yelled.

"Well," Minato said, thoughtfully, from beyond the door, "I could get theANBU to come help escort you there, if you're so uncomfortable..."

"...FINE!" Kushina yelled. "Give me a minute!"

She was dressed in overalls and a long-sleeved shirt (which was somewhat stretched over her belly, as she hadn't bought any maternity clothes at all), and ready to go very soon after. Her hair was still a right mess. "Goddamn abuse of power, you asshole," she mumbled, as they made their way towards Dr. Himawari's office.

"Don't worry; I'll sit in the class with you, Kushina-san," he said, smiling.

"You'd better," she said bitterly.

As they were about to enter the office, a small peeping noise was heard from above, and Minato looked up to find a small bird overhead. It must not have been a good sign, because his face fell.

"...oh, man, seriously?!" he said, and slapped himself in the forehead. Kushina gave him a strange face.

"What's up?" she said.

"I'm being called away," he groaned. "Kushina-san, I'm so sorry! I really wanted to come! I'll have to talk to you later!"

Before she could get so much as a, "Wait, what the hell?!" in, Minato had vanished in a flash of yellow hair, and the receptionist was at the door to greet her.

"So nice that you decided to join us today, Uzumaki-san," Nishibi said, bowing. "Please, this way. Dr. Hyuuga and the rest of the women are waiting for you."

"But I didn't decide to come today!" Kushina protested, but found herself ushered in an irresistably polite manner, and into a room apart from the room she usually had her examinations in.

Three other women sat with Dr. Himawari, on the floor: One of them was annoyingly blonde, dressed in a fluffy purple maternity outfit. Kushina had to hold back her gag reflex upon viewing it.

The other had plain black hair, and looked rather bored in her plain, cream-colored dress.

The final woman was dressed even shabbier than Kushina, seemingly in drawstring pants and a sweatshirt, and sporting red face paint for some reason. It must have been a clan thing. She also seemed to be the biggest of the lot, in terms of belly size; the other two were more around Kushina's size.

"I can assume from that walk that Kushina-san has arrived," Dr. Himawari said, pleasantly, feeling the patterns Kushina's feet formed as they thumped the tatami. "So nice of you to join us. Please, sit on the floor."

"Uh, thanks," Kushina said, and uncomfortably situated herself between the bored woman and the shabby one, wanting to be as far away from the blonde one as possible; there was something annoyingly familiar about her...

"Is there anyone yet to come?" the blonde asked.

"Mikoto-san," Dr. Himawari replied. "By the way, Hachiko-san said she might bring her son in for next week's meeting, did you hear?"

"No!" the blonde said, looking delighted. The shabby woman's eyes widened, while the bored woman continued to look bored. "Oh, what was his name again?"

"Chouji," said Dr. Himawari, and beamed. "Such a healthy little boy! A little under in weight, but he'll be just fine."

"Oh, I bet he's just adorable," said the blonde, and continued to chat with Dr. Himawari. Kushina yawned, and glanced at the bored woman beside her. She might as well try her luck.

"So, uh, what's up?" she asked. The bored woman tilted her head at her.

"You're the one that got knocked-up by the Hokage, aren't you?" she replied.

Kushina winced, very slightly. Just how fast did word get around?! "Uh, yeah," she replied, and glared a little. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, not really," the woman replied, looking away as the blonde laughed about something. "I'd want to congratulate you, actually. But then again, you sleep with a man once, and you give him all sorts of ideas."

Kushina gave her a bit of a strange look, and the bored woman glanced at her again. "What's your name?" she said.

"Uh, Kushina," she replied. "And you?"

"Yoshino. Pleasure, I guess," she replied. "So, not here by choice, eh? I heard you out in the hallway."

"Yeah, not really," Kushina replied, nodding. "That asshole of a man that got me into this mess dragged me out of my apartment, practically."

"Did he, now?" Yoshino said, sounding mildly interested. "Seems we're a bit alike, then, though my husband's serving in the war right now. So he's out a lot. I come here just to pass the time."

"Huh," said Kushina.

"By the way, that's Tsume-san over there," Yoshino said, pointing at the shabby woman. Tsume gave a jaunty little wave, before proceeding to pick her nose. "She's not half bad. That woman, though," she said, pointing to the blonde, "is Sumire-san. She's not exactly the type of girl you or I might get along with, if my first impressions are correct."

Kushina didn't bother answering, as the sliding door banged open, and a woman in a plain, light blue dress entered, looking somewhat disheveled. "Sorry I'm late!" she said. "Somebody decided to be fussy with his breakfast, this morning. Dr. Himawari, I do hope you don't mind that I brought Itachi today."

"Not at all, Mikoto-san," Dr. Himawari said.

"Oh, thank you," the woman named Mikoto said, putting down her bag as a very small child peered out from behind her legs. "I tried asking Fugaku if he could watch him for the afternoon, but he said he was busy. He just never finds the time..."

Fugaku. Kushina knew that name—he was the head of the Uchiha police team.

She subconsciously groaned. She was dealing with Uchiha, those elite snobs with the bloodline that was more like a cheap way to learn jutsu than a gift, she felt. Already, she was beginning to dread the rest of this class.

Sumire, meanwhile, was melting.

"Oh, Itachi-kun! You're so cute!" she squealed. "I swear, you're so much bigger than when I last saw you! You're such a big boy!"

Kushina and Tsume both rolled their eyes, while Yoshino simply watched on, apathetically. Itachi said nothing.

"Itachi," Mikoto said firmly, "what do you say?"

"...thank you," Itachi finally replied, in a stoic, tiny-child voice, before tugging on his mother's skirt and going, "Do I have to sit next to you today?"

"Yes, my dear, you must," Mikoto said, sitting on her knees between Tsume and Sumire. "Come on, now, sit down."

"All right," Itachi said resolutely, and sat rigidly beside his mother as the class began.

"Now," Dr. Himawari said pleasantly, "is everyone seated?" Everyone was. "Good, I have a newcomer to introduce." She then went silent, and afterwards cleared her throat. "Um, Kushina-san? Would you like to say something about yourself?"

"Oh, me?" she said, and Dr. Himawari nodded. "Well, uh, hi. I'm Kushina Uzumaki, and I got dragged here without my consent."

Tsume gave a series of laughs, almost like an animal sneezing, while Mikoto politely giggled. Yoshino and Itachi seemed equally disinterested.

"Shall I take over from here?" Dr. Himawari said, and Kushina shrugged.

"Sure, I guess," she said.

"Right," said Dr. Himawari. "Kushina-san is about 20 weeks along with a baby boy, due in October. She'll be trying her best to come and attend the classes with the rest of us."

"Wonderful to have you with us!" Mikoto said, in a sunny way that was very annoyingly reminiscent of Minato.

"Sure, whatever," Kushina said lowly. Tsume gave another sniff-laugh.

"Now, won't the rest of you introduce yourselves?" Dr. Himawari continued, nodding her head in their general direction. "Mikoto-san, you first?"

"Oh, of course," she said. "I'm Mikoto, it's nice to meet you. I'm having a boy, due in July. Tsume-san?"

"Tsume; boy too, July too," Tsume said tersely, though grinning.

"Yoshino. Boy, September," Yoshino said, almost yawning.

"My gosh, you guys, you're all being so… impersonal about this!" Sumire said, seeing as it was her turn. "I'm Sumire, and I'm having a little girl in September too."

"WishI was having a girl," Tsume said, rolling her eyes a little. "Just like my little Hana. She'd love to have a little sister." She sighed. "Oh well. Boys ain't so bad, anyways."

"How's that Hana of yours doing, anyways?" Yoshino said, resting her head on her hand. "Isn't she usually with you?"

"I got Kuromaru to take care of her this afternoon," Tsume replied. "Best babysitters, I tell you. Dogs are the best."

"If you washed them once in a while..." Sumire said disapprovingly, wrinkling her nose.

"They do not stink, Sumire," Tsume said poisonously. Sumire stuck her nose in the air and said nothing.

"Now, now, please," Dr. Himawari said, sensing the seeds of a rather nasty conflict taking root, "let's get back on-topic, shall we? We all know that we're having the Daddy Class on the first meeting of each month, which isn't very far from here. Have you all talked to your husbands?"

"I have," Yoshino yawned. "He's coming; got a pardon and all. He knows better than to not."

"Mine too!" Sumire said, jumping immediately back into a perky mood. "Oh, he just can't wait!"

Tsume laughed. "If I had one, sure. Ain't the case with either of my kiddos, though," she said.

Kushina thought on this for a moment, before realizing, "You're not married?"

"Absolutely not!" Tsume replied, grinning. "All my kids are just adorable little 'surprises' from my nights out. I love 'em to death."

Sumire glanced away, disapprovingly. "I honestly can't see how you canlive with bastard children like that."

"At least my husband's not a closet homo, am I right?" Tsume said, and began to laugh alone as Sumire turned bright red. Dr. Himawari held her forehead in her hand, while Mikoto smiled, almost embarrassedly, along. Yoshino and Itachi seemed to be having a staring contest. Neither of them seemed to be winning or losing.

"Tsume-san, please, don't insult Sumire-san," Dr. Himawari said, as Kushina blinked, trying to digest what exactly was going on. She then got the sneaking feeling that she'd like this Tsume, and grinned. "Kushina-san, now, I don't suppose I've had the opportunity to tell you about this. Would you like to ask Minato-san to come with you on June 3rd?"

"Dunno," Kushina said, shrugging again. "The asshole was supposed to-"

She never got to complete her sentence, on account of Sumire.

"Soyou're the one!" she squealed.

"I'm the one...?" Kushina echoed.

"Oh, I heard rumors of the Hokage having a child with someone! I just never expected someone like..." She trailed off, wrinkling her nose as some very obviously rude answers came to her mind, left unsaid, "...someone like you would be the one!" She gave a saccharine smile.

Kushina frowned. "Hey, it's not like I wanted this baby," she said. "It was a complete accident."

"Wait, no way!" Tsume said, leaning forward a little to put her elbow on her knee, and her head on her palm. "You snagged the Hokage?!"

"Yeah, I did," Kushina said, an almost prideful tone in her voice.

"Nice work!" Tsume said, and reached forward with her hand raised for a high-five. Kushina grinned, completely forgetting Sumire as they slapped hands. Sumire rolled her eyes. "How'd you do it?"

"Simple. A little sake, a little sweet-talk, a little sex-" She would have said more, had she not suddenly remembered the small child of about four that was currently continuing his staring contest with Yoshino. "Ah," she said quickly, stopping herself. "Well, you get the point."

"Certainly seems that you've found a friend here in class, Tsume-chan," Sumire said icily. "Finally, somebody you can share your little escapades with."

Before Tsume could retort, Kushina had slammed her fist on the tatami. "I said it was an accident!" she said.

"Sure doesn't sound like one," Sumire replied, smirking.

"Well... it was!" Kushina said. "I didn't plan for this," She pointed to her stomach, "to happen!"

"That's what you get," Sumire said. "Are you planning on marrying him, now?"

"Hey, get off her back!" Tsume said. "We're here to talk about babies and stuff, right? Now how we got here in the first place! Doesn't really matter, anyways," she added, crossing her arms. "It's the same process for all of us. Chick plus dick equals, most of the time, something."

"You vulgar excuse of a woman!" Sumire said, rising to her knees and pointing at Tsume.

"And proud of it!" Tsume replied, laughing. Dr. Himawari was rubbing at her temples with her fingers. This was going to be a very long meeting.

Itachi lost the staring contest, and tugged on his mother's sleeve. "Do Ireally have to be here?" he asked.

"Itachi, you know I can't leave you at home alone just yet," Mikoto said gently. "Maybe in another year, when you join the Ninja Academy." Itachi frowned.

"All right," he said, and continued to stare at Yoshino again, who showed absolutely no interest in the argument going on.

"Have you two cooled down?" Mikoto continued, asking Tsume and Sumire. The women, who had angrily begun not-looking at each other, nodded. "Good. Kushina-san, I'm glad to have you with us. Are you excited about your son?"

"Well... I dunno, really," Kushina replied. "I mean, I'm not going to raise it."

Sumire snorted, and Kushina gave her a glare to end all glares. "Hey, you got a problem with that?!"

"Oh, nothing," Sumire said flightily. "Just finding it interesting how you're so unconcerned with raising your child."

"Hey, you shut your-" Kushina began, but was surprised to find Mikoto interrupting her.

"Sumire-san, please! Hold your tongue," she said, frowning. "I don't like how you're so mean to Kushina-san. Her child is her own business, and what she does with it is hers as well. Kushina-san," she added, smiling at her, "it's all right if you're giving your son up for adoption. Not everyone is really up for raising a child."

"His father's going to be raising him, you know..." Kushina said, somewhat bashfully. Her eyes drifted towards the floor. Sumire gasped.

"You don't say!" she said. "My, isn't that just wonderful!" The way she said it, it could easily have been either sarcasm or amazement. Either way, Kushina was annoyed by it.

"Sumire-san..." Mikoto said, sighing. Fortunately, before another argument could arise, Dr. Himawari cleared her throat.

"Let's get on with some exercises, shall we?" she said. "Everyone spread out."

As they did so, Itachi moved to the door to watch, as his mother situated herself on the floor next to Kushina. She smiled at her, which Kushina didn't very much like, and kept her eyes fixed on the floor as they began a series of astonishingly easy stretches.

She didn't quite know what to think of this Mikoto Uchiha.

-///-

The class ended far longer than Kushina was happy with. She would have been content to sit next to Yoshino or Tsume and talk, but unfortunately, the nature of the class seemed to promote either silence, or death (or both, if you thought about it), so she kept her mouth shut.

Sumire was being astoundingly annoying through the whole thing by constantly glancing over her shoulder at Kushina and smirking. Kushina would respond with annoyed, hateful glances of her own., sometimes accompanied by Tsume. It was about all the satisfaction she got out of the class, giving Sumire the dirty looks she deserved.

Kushina and Tsume had sighed, relieved, when Dr. Himawari said that the class was over with, and that she would see them next week. As Kushina was getting up, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw Mikoto standing over her, smiling, holding her son's hand.

"I really liked having you in class today, Kushina-san," she said. "Hopefully, I'll see you next week?"

"Yeah, sure," Kushina said distractedly, frowning. Mikoto, on the other hand, smiled.

"Goodbye!" she said, and opened the screen door to leave. Her voice was heard in the hallway, after she had disappeared from view. "Oh, Hokage-sama! Kushina-san is in the room, waiting for you."

So the asshole was finally back, Kushina thought bitterly, and stood as Minato came into the room.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly—she couldn't decide) Sumire was the first to speak to him, upon his entrance. "Why hello, Hokage-sama, so nice to see you," she said, her voice sickly-sweet. Kushina rolled her eyes.

"It's nice to see you too," Minato replied, before quickly addressing Kushina. "How did the class go?"

"It was stupid," Kushina said, fully aware that Dr. Himawari and Sumire were still in the room—Yoshino and Tsume had already gone, with Mikoto. "Total waste of my time. Total waste."

"Oh, that's too bad," Minato said. "Do you feel that way, Sumire-san?"

Sumire smiled nervously and waved her hand around. "Oh, not at all! It's just so much fun to see everyone each week!"

"Like hell it is," Kushina said, under her breath.

"Different types of fun for different people, I suppose," Minato said. "How do you think it went, Himawari-chan?"

"Rather well," Himawari said, sounding vaguely exhausted.

"Well, that's good," Minato smiled. "I'll walk you home, Kushina-san. You can tell me all about it then, okay?"

"Fine," Kushina said, and began heading towards the door—but not before sneaking a stuck-out tongue to Sumire. Sumire more than noticed, and decided to do something about it.

"Hokage-sama!" she said. "One question! Is it true that Kushina-san won't be raising the child she's having with you? Because I just didn't understand all that well when the subject came up."

Kushina clenched her fist (her son adding what she felt was a little flutter of protest as well), but Minato merely smiled and replied, calmly, "Why, yes, that's true. We're having a son together, and I'm going to raise him. Now, I'm trying to keep it a bit on the down-low," he added, leaning forward in a way that was entirely too nice, "so if you feel it'll harm my reputation, please keep on the hush-hush until after he's born. All right?"

Sumire turned bright pink. "I-if you say so, Hokage-sama," she said. "Well! I couldn't be happier for the two of you," she added, a little forcedly, with an equally forced smile. "Of course, I'll honor your request."

"Thank you!" Minato said. "Kushina-san?"

Kushina didn't reply, and stomped out of the building. He caught up with her quickly.

"You're too damn nice, you know that?" she said, grumbling, once he was by her side. "How can you even manage the negotiations going on with this goddamn war?"

Not many people in Konoha knew about the current war with Rock; a peaceful civilization was one that was left unaware of the goings-on at the front line, after all. The only reason Kushina knew about the war was because she wasn't allowed to participate in it, on account of her current state. It pissed her off immensely. "Niceness doesn't solve those sorts of things," she added.

"Oh, civility gets you further than you would think, Kushina-san," Minato said, nodding.

"Yeah, whatever," Kushina replied.

"So," Minato continued, "how was the class? Did you make any friends?"

"Eh," Kushina replied. "There was a girl there that wasn't so bad. Tsume, I think her name was. Then this Yoshi-something woman, she was mostly kinda bored. And then Mikoto Uchiha." She looked at the sky upon saying her name. "She was okay, I guess. And then that Sumire bitch was just awful."

"You don't say," Minato said.

"Yeah! I mean, she's... she's yeah," Kushina said, unable to think of any proper adjectives to describe Sumire. "I didn't like her."

"I see," said Minato. Kushina glanced at him.

"Not in the mood for saying much today, I see," she said, sarcastically.

He laughed. "I'm sorry," he said, "I just wanted you to tell me what you did."

"We did stretches and discussion. Really stupid, total waste of my time," Kushina said. "I told you before."

"Ah," Minato said. "Are you planning on attending next week's class?"

Kushina thought on this food a good long while, before nodding. "Might as well," she said. "It'll keep me from getting super-bored."

Minato smiled. "I had a feeling you'd say that," he said. Kushina rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, whatever," she said, before remembering something. "Oh, that's right. You have to come to the class on the 3rd, you got that?"

"June 3rd, is that right?" Minato said. "I could see if I could do that."

"You'd better," Kushina said sternly. "I swear, you have to, to even come close to making up for missing today. In fact," she added, grinning deviously, "I might as well take off some of your 'debt' right now."

"My debt?" said Minato, blinking. Kushina began to walk backwards a little, and unexpectedly formed a hand sign—the tiger seal, Minato noticed. Just what exactly was she going to do to him?!

"Yeah," she said, tilting her head in an expression of utmost arrogance. "Your debt."

In a flurry of legs, she rushed forward and dug her fingers deep into the seat of Minato's pants, sending him flying several feet into the air.

"Uzumaki Family Secret Technique: 1000 Years of Pain!" she said, and watched in satisfaction as he landed and reeled in pain. "Ha, still got it," she said, and smirked. "Consider your debt half-paid, Namikaze!"

And as she walked off, doing a mental victory dance set to the erratic rhythm of her son's kicking, Minato found himself smiling, even though it felt like he had been raped with a steel rod.

"Man, I have to teach that to Kakashi and Obito."