Part 6
Why did I set my alarm clock this morning?!
I swung my arm and hit the snooze button as hard as I could. Unfortunately, no matter how comfortable I tried to get I could get back to sleep.
"Dammit," I growled, punching the mattress. I stopped trying to go to sleep and struggled to get out of bed. It was difficult to swing my legs over the side of the bed thanks to my very large stomach. I braced myself there and took a few deep breaths. "Just two more months…just two more months…"
I forced myself to my feet and hobbled over to my desk. A golden framed photo sat there alongside a notepad. I managed a smile as I picked up the picture frame and the notepad, staring down at my baby.
"Good morning," I greeted the photo. Even though my baby wasn't really there but was still in the womb, I felt a bigger connection with the sonogram photo because I could see her.
I glanced at the notepad. "Um…good morning Keiko, Yuri, Tsubaki, Akane, Momo, Yuki, Asuka, Kana, Fuuko, Satsuki, or Remi."
I frowned and picked up a pencil and crossed off 'Asuka' and 'Remi'. "Hmm…I was hoping it'd be easier to settle on a name…"
I flipped the steno pad a few pages, where three boy's names were written. "Takuya, Hisoka, and Masashi. Well, that's the best I can do." I dropped the notepad on the desk and carefully set down the picture frame.
I got dressed and took my time going downstairs. I loved days off. I loved them even more as my due date came. It was getting harder mustering up enough strength to go through even a four-hour shift at the flower shop. I was almost hoping for the time when I'd be forced on permanent maternity leave, or something.
I didn't hear a lot of banging around in the kitchen, which meant Lee had already left for the day. Good; I didn't wanna have to pick through a spicy breakfast again.
But I found another cause for irritation when I entered the kitchen. A big boxed lunch I'd spent an hour preparing last night was still sitting on the counter. He forgot his lunch. Again.
"Dammit," I grumbled. I'd been looking forward to just lounging around the house all day. But it looked like I had to go take idiot his lunch.
And it didn't help that it weighed about 4 kilos. But I sucked it up and headed outside, silently praying he was still on the training grounds with his team.
People didn't stare at me as much as they use to. But considering my growing size some of them took me for an invalid and wanted to carry Lee's lunch for me. I mustered up as much kindness as I could and declined their offers. I know they wanted to help me, but I think I could carry a freakin' lunch box by myself, no matter how heavy it was.
It still took me a half hour to reach the training grounds, though. But I was very relieved to see that Team Gai was in fact there. Lee and Neji were engaged in a vigorous skirmish, exchanging quick blows. Gai instructed them from a good distance away and Tenten was sitting under a tree calmly sharpening her kunai. I didn't want to interfere with their training, but at the same time it would be stupid to just leave his lunch there and go without saying anything. So I waited for them to stop. I didn't have to wait long; Gai-sensei spotted me almost immediately.
"OI!!!!!!!" he boomed unnecessarily. Lee and Neji stopped very abruptly. "Hey there little missy!!!!"
"Um…" Great, now all four of them were looking at me weird. I forced a smile and came closer. "I'm sorry to disturb your training, but Lee-san forgot his lunch and—"
"That is it!!!!" cried Lee, snapping his fingers. "I knew when I left today I had forgotten something!!!!"
"How very nice of you, Sakura-chan!!" said Gai, taking Lee's lunch from me. "You're a good little housewife!!!!"
I had the strong urge to kick him. He knew damn well about the charade!!!
Lee ran over and bowed. "Thank you so much Sakura-san, for bringing me my lunch again!!!" He turned to Gai. "May I have my lunch, Gai-sensei?"
"Now remember Lee!!! The true meaning of teamwork is in sharing!!!"
"Um—"
"Now then!!" he held the lunch box high and turned to Neji and Tenten. "Who wants some lunch?"
"If it's Lee lunch, no thank you," said Neji curtly, looking away.
"Is my lunch not good enough?!" demanded Lee, clenching his fists.
"Your lunches usually have volcanic spice in them, which I don't particularly favor."
"Do you dare insult this delicious lunch Sakura-san put so much time into?!"
"Lee-san—" I said.
"UNFORGIVEABLE!!!!!!!!!" Lee lunged at Neji rather comically. And predictably all Neji had to do was land a single blow and Lee went flying.
I pressed a hand to my face. "Unbelievable…"
"I wasn't insulting your cooking, Sakura," said Neji, walking over towards me. "I just don't like spicy foods."
I laughed nervously. I wasn't use to talking to him directly and I had to admit he was pretty intimidating. "I don't like spicy foods either. But Lee-san likes it and so I figured I should make him what he likes."
Neji said nothing to this. I suddenly felt very self-conscious as he looked me over. His eyes rested on my stomach for a good few minutes, his expression unreadable.
Finally, he turned around and walked away. "We need to get back to our training."
"TRUE ENOUGH!!!!!" declared Gai, not at all worried that Lee was sticking out of a tree. "More training and THEN lunch!!!!"
I bowed slightly. "I'm sorry again for bothering you!!"
"Tsk tsk!!!" Gai shoved his finger in my face. "Never say that, Sakura-chan!! You shall never be a bother to US!!! Feel free to stop by anytime you wish!!! Tenten, come and say hello to Sakura-chan!!!"
I realized Tenten hadn't joined us; she was still sitting under the tree. I looked in her direction and grew cold. She didn't look the least bit happy to see me. I didn't know her too well, but I've never seen that look on her face before.
"Come, Tenten!!!" insisted Gai, oblivious to the look on her face.
"It's fine, Gai-san," I said, feeling very uncomfortable. If Tenten didn't want to talk to me, it shouldn't be forced.
But Tenten got to her feet and walked over to us. Her head was lowered so I didn't have to see that look. But she didn't look up, even as she stood in front of me.
"There, that's more like it!!" said Gai happily.
"How are you doing, Sakura-san?" asked Tenten stiffly, her eyes on the ground.
"I-I'm all right," I said.
"And your baby…how is he?"
"She's doing fine, too."
"Ah." Tenten lifted her gaze enough to look at my stomach, much like how Neji did. I wrapped my arms around my stomach.
"And how are you Tenten-san?" I asked uneasily.
"I'm all right. I guess." She looked at Gai. "I really need to sharpen those weapons."
Gai looked a little startled, but he covered it up with his usual smile. "All right then!!! Go forth, Tenten!!!!"
Tenten nodded and went back to her spot without saying anything more.
Gai laughed nervously. "Tenten's usually like that when it comes to her weapons!!!"
"Yeah," I said, not really convinced.
---
It bothered me for a while after that. That wasn't the first time Tenten was cold to me. I ran into Team Gai a lot and she either pointedly ignored me or barely spoke to me. She never said anything directly rude to me, but it still bothered me.
I wound up in a small café. I took a booth in a dark corner and had a cup of tea. But I idly stirred it and stared out the window, trying to figure it out. I didn't know her that well, but Lee always talked about how nice she was. Was she just nice to everyone but me?
I stopped stirring as a thought occurred to me. Was she just jealous? Neji and Tenten were still in the dark about this true paternity battle. They though Lee was my baby's father. Was that why she was upset.
Wait…was she in love with Lee?
"Oh shit," I grumbled, ducking my head. I was caught in a real mess. I didn't expect our lie was gonna really hurt anyone. Now I had some weapons specialist really pissed at me.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Well now. What're you doing all by yourself in this corner?"
"Nothing really, Kakashi-sensei," I mumbled, not even turning around. He chuckled and took a seat across from me. I was startled to see Sai take a seat next to him and Naruto practically fall into the seat next to me. "Are you all done for the day?"
"In a manner of speaking," said Kakashi cheerfully.
Sai reached across him and grabbed the thick menu. "Okay then…I'll have three of these, two of that, two of those…oh, and three of this—"
"Isn't that a little much?" asked Naruto, grabbing another menu. He flipped through it. "I don't see any ramen…"
"I don't think it's too much," said Sai cheerfully. "I just wanna make Sakura more comfortable."
I growled at him, reaching for Naruto's kunai.
"And I'd appreciate it if you didn't throw a weapon at me."
I dropped my hand.
"So how's your baby doing?" asked Naruto, talking at my stomach though he addressed me.
"She's doing all right," I said, sipping my now lukewarm tea.
"So you found out the gender?"
"No, not yet. I'd rather be surprised."
"Then how come you keep referring to him as a girl?" asked Sai, flipping through the menu.
"How come you refer to her as a boy?!" I shot back.
"All right, calm down," said Kakashi, raising his hands for peace. "There's a reason I called us all together."
He did what? He just showed up with Naruto and Sai!!
Kakashi glanced all around us as if to make sure no one was listening in. The nearest customers were at a table ten feet away. He leaned in close and motioned for us to do the same. "I got a very important message from Hokage-sama a while ago."
"Is that why you were nine hours late today?!" grumbled Naruto.
"What message?" I asked.
Kakashi looked directly at me. "As you know, we cannot directly make contact with Orochimaru yet. But, we have agents out in the fields monitoring him."
"You know where he is?!" Naruto almost shrieked.
"No," said Kakashi impatiently. "But we have agents out there listening and watching for the latest news on him; we do the same on the Akatsuki. It's about the only way we get any leads on either group."
"By listening to rumors?!" I grumbled.
"Sakura, I'm talking about ninja who are trained to filter out bullshit from fact. That's how we've found out what we know so far."
"…What did they find out?"
Kakashi glanced around again and leaned in even closer. "For the time being, it looks as though Orochimaru halted his activities."
"Eh?!" cried Naruto. "Halted?!"
"Keep your voice down!!"
"What do you mean by 'halted'?" asked Sai.
"I mean his Sound village and him haven't made a move. He's almost completely healed and logic would say it's about time for him to take over Sasuke, right? But according to our sources, he hasn't."
"But…" I started getting worried. "But we don't know that. They might've stopped because of this."
"Sakura, if Orochimaru's anything he's an exhibitionist. Remember how much of a spectacle he made of destroying our village and killing the Sandaime Hokage? He has one of the last surviving members of one of Konoha's strongest ninja families. Why would he want to hide his own power over him when it would be a lot more effective in making an impression by doing this possession as publicly as possible?"
I saw his point. "So…why have they stopped?"
"We don't know yet," said Kakashi simply. "But this has Hokage-sama worried. She said 'knowing Orochimaru, he's either making preparations for something big or he something's bothering him'."
"You mean—my baby?!" I almost screamed it.
"Like I said, we don't know yet. But it's rather convenient that the Sound have slipped under the radar just seven months into your pregnancy."
I clasped my stomach with both hands.
"So what you're saying…" said Sai softly. "Is that Orochimaru heard about her pregnancy and stopped Sound temporarily either because he already knew about it or he was to investigate it?"
"Pretty much," said Kakashi.
I felt like I'd been sucker-punched. It had taken me a while to cope with being pregnant, especially under the circumstances that happened to me. And we'd tried so hard to squash any rumors about who the potential father might.
Was that all in vain?
"Sakura-chan." Naruto's voice brought me back to reality. "Don't let Orochimaru scare you. I'll protect both you and your baby!!!"
"We all will," said Kakashi. "And we'll get to the bottom of what Orochimaru's doing."
"Looks like you're the center of attention now," said Sai, turning back to his menu.
I kicked him as hard as I could in the shin.
---
"Sakura-san, are you sure you are feeling all right?" asked Lee for the millionth time.
"Yes, I'm fine," I said over my shoulder. "I'm just a little worried, that's all." When we'd both gotten home that night I'd told him about what Kakashi told me. I could tell it worried Lee, but he covered it up by over-worrying about me.
"I swore I would protect your baby and you and I intend to keep that promise!!"
I couldn't hold back a smile as I turned to the stairs. "I know, Lee-san. Just be sure to take care of yourself."
"Do not worry!! I am very capable of taking care of everyone, including myself!!"
Something occurred to me then before I started up. "Lee-san…do you know if Tenten-san's feeling all right?"
"Tenten? Hmm…not that I know of. She's been a lot moodier lately but I don't think she's sick or anything. Why, did something happen?"
He's clueless, I thought silently. Aloud I said, "Oh, it's nothing. I'm going to go to bed early tonight."
"Okay, Sakura-san!! I will clean up before I go to bed!!"
"Thank you." I took my time going upstairs. All the while I could hear clattering in the kitchen.
I couldn't blame him for what someone else was feeling. It would probably make Tenten feel better if she knew Lee wasn't actually the father. But I knew better than to take that risk, especially since Tsunade threatened to kick my ass.
"Everyone's gonna find out sooner or later," I said bitterly. I didn't like that Orochimaru just stopped everything. Though I'm more than happy it gives us more time to save Sasuke, I had to admit it was very well timed.
Well, it could either be well timed or something he's pulling out of his ass.
I went into my room and walked over to my desk. I picked up the photo of my baby. In just two months she would be born. I was scared about what was going to happen when that time came.
"We can get through this," I said aloud, more to myself than to her. "I know we can. We have to."
I looked down at the list of baby names next to the where the photo. Frowning a little, I picked up the pencil and crossed off 'Fuuko' and 'Yuri'.
I don't usually do this, but just as a head's up the next chapter is 'the moment of truth'. Although, you'll have to see what kind of moment of truth it is.
