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Note: If you haven't already, kindly reread this fic. It is completely revised and changed from the previous one.


Gaara gave off a depressed sigh, sitting down where the nurses directed him. Temari had insisted on sending him to the hospital the moment they got into Konoha, not even bothering to pretend like there was nothing wrong with her statement. When he'd questioned why, she hadn't even bothered to answer, she simply sped up and got him a private room despite the scowls the nurses sent him. Perhaps he wouldn't have been too upset had he not saw a head of pink rushing off after Temari.

Sakura had saw them.

She would tell Naruto.

His stomach began to knot up with fear, soothed by a burst of chakra he hadn't released. He glared down at it, his finger going down to poke it and being blocked by hissing sand. "This is all your fault," he muttered, his lips in a frown. "You've been making me eat far too much and not regular either." Indeed, he hfad the certain taste for fried green tomatoes on rye bread with mayonnaise and some peanut butter with nuts. Speaking of which, Temari had better come back with that sandwich soon.

"Gaara?" Gaara lifted his head up quickly at the call of his name, not having realized that someone had opened his door.

"I'm a really useless ninja," he stated blandly. Tsunade blinked at the words, turning to send a grave look to Temari as she gave off an awkward shrug.

"He gets these moods a lot these days."

"I see…" Tsunade walked into the room and closed the blinds along his window, her hands a bit shaky. "Gaara, I'm going to give you a check up, okay? It'll be as quick as the one I gave you months ago if you recall it." He nodded, nervously lifting up his baggy cloak as she gestured him to. Her hands filled up with chakra and she sat it on his skin. Both Gaara and Temari shot a surprised look to his gut, both knowing how protective the sand was over it the last few months. Tsunade licked her lips, allowing her hands to move a bit lower. She sucked in a sharp gasp as she reached the underside of his stomach, spiking his curiosity with the simple action.

"Is something wrong, Lady Hokage?" Temari questioned, biting her lips in worry.

"…Proof," she stated simply, removing her shaky hands. "I must say, I hadn't quite believed you when you said it."

"Kankuro and I didn't really believe it either," she stated, bowing her head a bit.

"Believe what?" Gaara wondered, a bit peeved that they were leaving him out of the conversation. "And where's my sandwich, Temari?" The blonde ran a hand through her hair, removing the quick ponytail she had taken to wearing these days and letting her hair fall down unrestrained. Gaara fingered his own hair after noticing how long and well taken care of hers was, sending one of his split ends a scowl.

"I'll get your sandwich," Temari stated, talking over him as he said something about being jealous over the state of her hair. "You wanted mayonnaise and peanut butter on rye bread with fried green tomatoes, right?"

"Peanut butter with nuts," he corrected. Her face pinched up with revulsion.

"Have Shizune take you to get that made," Tsunade stated, her own face a bit green. After Temari left the room, she turned back to Gaara, pulling his cloak down to give him back his privacy. "Tell me, how has things been going with yourself since you left? Any pains, tenderness?" The Sand Nin frowned in thought, wondering about it.

"Well, I've been able to sleep everyday since I left," he admitted. "Shukaku has yet to talk to me, as well; he usually just grumbles a bit. Um," his eyes went down to his stomach, "I've been eating quite a bit, too, as you can clearly see. I have back pains, my chakra gets drained for no reason at random times of the day, my feet are starting to swell a bit, my…" Tsunade gave a small smile during the mini rant, noting how much the normally closed off boy was talking. It was…strange, unnatural, for a boy to get pregnant. Such a hard concept to wrap her mind around, but it seemed to be a good thing for him, despite him not knowing about it.

"If you were anyone else," she stated suddenly, cutting him off mid sentence and getting an annoyed glare, "you could work out all of those clues and come to the right decision yourself." It was rather true, she realized. Any woman would have figured it out by now, even quite a few men, but she doubted Gaara had ever experienced, nor cared to, a pregnant woman before. He was completely clueless about what was happening to him, probably blaming it all on himself. "If you truly are seven months along," she continued, deciding to drop a few hints, "then that would mean it happened about…two months before your three month mission."

"…I have no idea what you're talking about." He deadpanned. She smiled and ruffled his hair, truly a bit happy as no sand sparked up to block it.

"I know." A bit of guilt ate at her insides; she wasn't too sure of it, but she thought she was the only one who saw this unexpected pregnancy as a good thing. Gaara was changing, but it was a good change. "Naruto misses you, you know?" Those seemed to be the wrong words to say. Gaara's face clammed up, his skin whitened a bit, and small bursts of chakra were going through his stomach rapidly.

"I don't want to see him," the redhead stated, biting at his lower lip. "No, I don't want him to see me; no visitors, at all, unless it's Temari and Kankuro."

"But-"

"He can't see me like this," he cut her off, waving his hand to encompass himself. "I'm too fat and useless; he'll leave me and then I'll have to kill him." He blushed at her bemused face, gesturing to himself again. "Look at me; I look like a whale." Tsunade blinked her eyes rapidly for a long, tense minute, then burst into laughter.

"Lady Hokage?" Temari questioned, walking into the room with a questioning face. Tsunade merely shook her head, trying to get her laughter under control as Gaara gave her an annoyed pout. "Um, I've got the sandwich." She waved the thing in the air. Gaara stared at her for a moment, before he put a hand to his nose and covered his mouth, gagging.

"B-bathroom." He dashed out of the room, leaving Temari gaping at his back and making Tsunade laugh a bit louder.

"Don't you dare tell me I made this monstrosity for nothing!" Temari shouted, waving the sandwich in the air again. The sound of dry heaving answered her, making her stomp her foot in protest. "Damn it, Gaara!"

"You know how they are," Tsunade gasped in some air. "Wants something one minute and vomiting the next." A disgruntled glare was shot at her as the sister turned to trash the food she had painstakingly made.

"Gaara has visitors," she snapped, walking from the room in a huff. All amusement abruptly left Tsunade as she turned to see the door open. Sakura peeked her head inside.

"Tsunade-"

"Out." The Hokage cut her off, her brown eyes sliding to the bathroom door where Gaara was still heaving. Quickly, she stood and ushered Sakura away, closing the door behind her and turning to see who she'd brought. A barely noticeable flinch left her as she saw the anxious face of Naruto.

"What's wrong with Gaara?" The blonde asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine." Tsunade assured, holding out her arms when he tried to duck passed her and get to the door. "No visitors."

"I thought you said he was fine!"

"He is fine," she scowled at him.

"Then why no visitors?" Naruto whined, his blue eyes pitiful as he abruptly sagged. "You know how much I've missed him." Tsunade sighed, her eyes softening immediately.

"Of course I know how much you've missed him, but Gaara specifically asked for no visitors."

"But-"

"Especially you." She cut him off, hating the look of hurt that crossed his face. "He said he doesn't want you to see him." Sakura frowned, completely puzzled as Naruto began to mope.

"So, he wants to see Naruto, but he doesn't want Naruto to see him?" Tsunade nodded, knowing that she would be the first to figure that out with the words she'd used. "Why?"

"In his own words," a giggle left the Hokage's lips, "he looks like a whale." Silence descended amongst the three, before Sakura joined her with a giggle of her own.

"I don't care if he looks like a duck!" Naruto shouted. "I want to see him!" Tsunade grabbed him by his hair, which he had allowed to grow out in his depression of not seeing Gaara and this time for no apparent reason. The blonde winced, reminding himself to get it trimmed as he was pulled from the ward, Sakura following the two whilst sending worried looks to the door. Though she hadn't said anything, she still recalled that conversation she'd had with him at The Konoha Café; she truly did hope everything was alright.

From behind the door, Gaara watched them from a crack in the door, his face quite red. He waited until their voices faded before hurrying out of the room. He knew Naruto; the blonde would insist on visiting him regardless of his wishes. A bit of warmth shot through him at the thought, making him scowl and blush all the more. "I am not a love sick teenager," he muttered.

"I would certainly hope not." The voice made him pause in his steps. "What are you doing here, Gaara? And what the hell happened to you; you look like you swallowed a ball." Gaara's eyes twitched as he turned to see the cocky face of Kiba Inuzuka, his large white dog crouched a bit away from his owner warily.

Smart dog.

"Did you just call me fat?" He questioned, his eyes quite blank. Normally, he'd allow the boy a bit of leeway in the way he talked to him; after all, his brother had become good friends with the dog boy after saving his life. Not to mention, he was quite fond of Akamaru as the dog loved to stay up with him some days when they visited. But his owner was a bit thick and every bit arrogant, never realizing how offensive his words were until after the person he said them to got upset. For once, however, Kiba seemed to realize that he was in a dangerous spot as a worried furrow came to his brow.

"I didn't call you fat," he stated after a long moment. "I said you look like you swallowed a ball." Well, maybe he didn't quite realize it. Gaara's eyes narrowed dangerously, making Akamaru let out a strangled whimper. Less than a minute later found a satisfied Sand Nin walking away from his room, happily bouncing up a bit of sand. In his room, out cold to the world, lay Kiba, his head with quite a bruise. Akamaru lay at the foot of his bed with his head in his paws. That was the scene that Naruto burst into a mere two minutes later, having managed to outrun Tsunade and Sakura and headed back up to the room.

"It seems he knows you better than you thought," Tsunade chuckled ruefully, watching Naruto sputter at Kiba's prone form.

Gaara sneezed.

With a small frown, he ducked into a random room, ignoring the injured woman inside as he looked out the window. He climbed out without a second thought after seeing he was on the first floor. His eyes traveled to the windows on the hospital, seeing a streak of orange and black frantically running by, before he placed a hand on his lower back and, sticking to the shadows, began to walk off. "I shouldn't have climb out the window," he stated, wincing as a sharp pain danced along his spine. "Stupid idea." Honestly, he wondered how the Akimichi's put up with the added weight and not become useless like he certainly did.

"I hate being fat," he muttered, feeling frustrated tears coming to his eyes as the small walk began to make his feet swell. "I'm going on a diet; a starvation diet." With a sigh, he plopped down beneath one of the windows and gripped a bit of the grass, leaning his head back against the wall. "I'll start tomorrow," he promised himself.

You will not, Shukaku murmured, making him jump at the sudden sound. A big well of anger swelled through him, though it came from the beast and not himself. You're a whiny little bastard, did you know that?

"That's the kettle calling the pot black," Gaara hissed. "And considering you were in a kettle-"

That's not how that phrase goes, the demon interrupted, a bit put out really. The two settled into silence.

"M'tired," Gaara noted, laying down on the grass.

Me too, Shukaku stated, yawning. Being a mother takes a lot out of people. The two remained silent, Gaara's eyes closing of their accord before the words registered in his mind, making his eyes abruptly snap open.

"…Say what?"

"Gaara!" The shout was practically wailed in his ear as Naruto suddenly picked him up and held him close, only backing off as his stomach was nipped in warning by the sand surrounding Gaara's own belly. "Ouch," he noted blandly, looking Gaara over with a well meaning eye. "Where the hell have you been??" He shouted, pointing a finger in Gaara's face. The redhead bit it, watching in satisfaction as he hastily drew it back to himself and began to suck on it with an annoyed face.

"Don't be rude," he snapped, crossing his arms over himself. Discreetly, he shuffled his robes, something he'd chosen to make him appear swamped by the folds of cloth and not his rolls of fat; He had just about died when he saw stretch marks on himself in the changing room. But of course, Naruto was looking as right as rain, skinny, tanned, shoulder length hair with no split ends, looking a bit like the Fourth Hokage to be honest. He looked good, which was not a major morale booster at that moment, especially since his lips were chapped, his face was rotund and his hair was a bit dry and split ends were everywhere. Bed head was not a good look on him. "I thought I said I didn't want you seeing me," he snapped, frowning at how good he looked.

"Well, that's too bad," Naruto stated a bit petulantly as he noticed the glare he was receiving. Quickly, the blonde gave Gaara a once over, his blue eyes not even widening in shock at the changes that could be clearly seen. "I don't even know why you're so angry; you look good to me. All you did was gain a bit of extra weight," Gaara's eyes twitched, "which you can easily burn off with a steady diet and exercise," Naruto continued quickly. Unlike Kiba, he quite knew when he was in dangerous territory and what to say to diffuse it.

"Do you mean it?" Gaara wondered, staring down at his stomach. "I don't look like I swallowed a ball or like a-like a whale?"

"Of course you don't look like a whale," Naruto rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"…But I looked like I swallowed a ball?"

"No!" The blonde held up his hands as a bit of sand swelled around his feet. "Gaara, you can easily burn off the extra weight when you get yourself back to training."

"Oh…Then, can you get me a chocolate and strawberry roulade and some grape popsicles?" The redhead licked his lips as an incredulous expression was given to him. "I'm hungry," he clarified, his midlife crisis apparently over with.

"…I'll get you whatever you want if you go back into the hospital with me."

"My feet are swollen," he stated blandly, staring down and blushing when his stomach blocked them from view. He cursed himself in his mind, not even protesting as Naruto picked him up and jumped through a nearby window. By the time he was put back to bed, with a pale Kiba apologizing for saying he looked like he swallowed a ball, then apologizing to a pissed off Naruto as he realized that he was one of the reasons Gaara needed extra reassuring about his size, Gaara had completely forgotten about the short conversation he'd had with Shukaku. It wasn't until everyone had left the room to allow him to sleep did he even recall the strange sentence.

That day, he dreamed of little Naruto's terrorizing the world.