So I wrote the other chapters, and this was actually supposed to somehow be in the last chapter which was originally supposed to span over five days, but then I was like "Fuck it" when I went into writing mode, and for some reason my story just went in a different direction. It's like I always say, my stories seriously write themselves! NOT EVEN KIDDING

On with the story~!


Chapter 9:Burning Secrets in the Fan

Monday February 25: Day 13

Naruto was in a bind, he didn't know if he should find the new story running in the waters of the churning waterfall that is the gossip cycle hilarious or sad. I mean on one hand, it was extremely entertaining to think that Temari was the person, out of all people, that Sasuke spent that mini-vacation from his life with and not Naruto himself. But on the other hand, Temari was Sakura's friend and the thought of her and her boyfriend together pissed her off.

It was the one place a friend doesn't go, at least in her opinion.

And on a whole other third hand stretching out from his stomach, her opinion on that did terrify the shit out of him considering that he was her friend who really did go there and not in the spinning wheel of rumor kingdom! Granted, it was pre-friend phase, but still….hard to admit.

"THAT BITCH!" the sound of bending metal cracked through Naruto's thoughts as he jolted back to reality, Sakura had just punched in a locker, her eyes looking murderous.

"Wait-wait Sakura!" he held up his hands as her attention turned fully toward him, "Look I know Temari, and well I know that she doesn't have that kind of interest in Sasuke….and….well…."

"Are you going to deny her pregnancy?! Haven't you noticed her totally stuffing her face that pig!" Sakura pressed forward, Naruto looked around only to find that they were alone in the hallway. That was kind of the point, Sakura wanted his company, and to avoid the sympathetic stares that meant waiting until long after the final bell rang.

So in other words, they were pretty much all alone at this point.

"No! I'm not denying her pregnancy, come on Sakura!" he pleaded, his back coming into contact with a nearby mass of lockers, "It's just, Sasuke isn't the Father, she was never with Sasuke!"

That made Sakura pause, her eyebrows wiggled together as thoughts streamed in her eyes, finally she focused back on Naruto, "Wait….so you're saying she's pregnant, but it's not Sasuke's….then who is it?"

"Uhhhl….wellll….." Naruto tried to avoid her gaze, but that didn't work because she only moved in the direction of his sight. He had forgotten that Sakura was known for her amazing pursuance skills.

"Narutoooo…." She warned, her hands forming to her hips. He gulped.

"Shikamaru's." The name slipped from his mouth so quickly, it was literally like he was spitting it out. Sakura's eyes grew wide as she pressed herself against a locker next to him.

"I didn't know he had it in him?" she said, rubbing her temple.

"I know right!" Naruto couldn't help but comment, they both leaned there for a second, letting the reality sink in.

"I have to call Temari." Sakura suddenly resolved, picking up the backpack she had tossed nearly half-way across the hall, "Come on Naruto!"

He hoped he wasn't screwed.

Sakura's Mom makes freaking awesome cookies. Naruto sat on her bed shoving cookies in his mouth while she paced around the room, one hand on her hip while she talked into the phone.

"I know!" Roared Sakura suddenly causing Naruto to jump, she noticed and seemed to forcibly calm herself as she continued, "That's not what this is about, you're pregnant and you didn't tell me!"

Please don't mention me, please don't mention me. Naruto's prayers were short-lived.

"Naruto told me, Temari, cut the crap!" Sakura roared to life again, "Why didn't you tell me?! Why did you tell Naruto, but not me! Not Ino, or Ten-ten, or Hinata! What? Were you planning on going through all of this by yourself! With no one?! Are you crazy?"

Naruto was bouncing on her bed by now, waving his hands and shaking his head no at the sound of his name, she stuck up a finger in the air to halt his protests as she sighed, "You're our friend, Temari. Really, you are! That means we're there for you when you need it okay! We'd never betray you or anything! Come on!"

He let himself sink back to the bed, snatching up a cookie that had fallen on the comforter and shoved it in his mouth as he glared at his pink friend.

"Good." The pink haired betrayer replied, "Then you don't object to me telling the others. And Temari, don't worry about a damn thing, I have some black mail on nearly have the school I've been collecting for years!" She smiled after a brief pause, "Bye!"

"What the hell Sakura!" it was his turn to roar as she flipped the phone closed, she only shook her head, "Now she's going to get mad at me!"

"She's not-" the sound of Naruto's obnoxious goat ring-tone cut her off, he dived into his pocket unsurprised to see the name on the caller ID.

"Uh…..hey Temari." This wasn't good, guilt gnawed at him once again. He'd sold her out so easy, it wasn't hard at all. What did that say about him?

"You told Sakura of all people! Sakura!" she roared in his ear, he winced at the sound "What the hell! Naruto you are so dead!"

"Wait…Temari wait…." Naruto rushed for the door and down the stairs as he whispered in the phone. "Look, since I told your secret, I'll tell you one of mine and then you can do whatever you want with it."

She said nothing as Naruto entered the backyard, quickly glimpsing around the yard for any open doors or windows as he went to the corner of the yard and squatted in a corner of the fence. If Sasuke ever taught him anything, it was that you can never be too careful.

"I….I was the one Sasuke cheated on Sakura with….." he closed his eyes, hoping that no one could hear him from here, "We've been secretly dating for like a month or two, well at least we were he broke up with me not long after that weekend…so…you can do whatever you want with that information okay? It's only fair right."

"Naruto…" she replied into the phone after a small pause, "I'm not going to tell anybody."

"Uhh….look, I gotta go." Relief shot through him, massaging every tense muscle, he didn't to keep Sakura waiting, "We'll talk later."


March 4: Day 20

He tried not to stare too much at the towering blonde that was Ino frowning in Sasuke's face as she interrogated him for every detail she could wring out. Only it wasn't working, Sasuke was as blank as ever, revealing nothing as he told her something the blonde couldn't hear causing Choji to drag Ino off. Sakura seemed just as puzzled about the situation walking in as Naruto did sitting at their table.

He watched as Sakura walked up to Sasuke, who promptly ignored her, before she gave up and walked over to their table.

Figures he would be such an asshole. Naruto continued to examine the sighing Sakura with a twinge of guilt weighing down his stomach. "What's up with Sasuke?"

"I don't know." She replied, pulling her notebook out of her backpack, "He's just sitting there spacing out and re-arranging his pencils."

At the word "pencils" Naruto had to hold back the flood of memories involving Sasuke and a table that seemed to steam from the box he thought lay forgotten in the back of his mind.

Well, that was a pretty fun night, they did break that table.

But that was beside the point! He shouldn't be thinking about things like that anymore, Sakura was his friend now!

Well at least now that he was aware of! And with that thought, he shook his head once to shake away the memories and pushed them all back into the box.

Sakura is your friend.


Same Day:

"Look at him." Naruto, Gaara, Kiba and their female companions all glared at the sleeping figure resting casually on the table surface ahead of him. After everyone in the group had discovered Temari's pregnancy, and the name of the father, the new goal at hand was convincing Temari to tell him. Which she still hasn't done, and continues to insist that she simply doesn't have to at this point? Why? Naruto had no clue.

"What an idiot." Ino complained jabbing her fork in Shikamaru's general direction, "Doesn't he realize something is wrong? I've known that guy practically all my life! He's got to be smarter than this."

"Not when it comes to Temari unfortunately, he may as well be Naruto." Responded Kiba, who had recently joined just for the day was let in on the little secret by Ino, his personal gossip companion, and was sworn to absolute secrecy under the condition that if he blabbed his balls would mysteriously undergo an accident and be lost forever.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto complained, throwing a wadded hamburger wrapper at Kiba who only swatted it away mid-air, "I'm not that stupid?!"

"Why did you say that like it was a question then?" he teased back, shutting up at Gaara's glare with an apologetic smile. "Anyway, my point is he's a total coward. Temari is the one who's going to have to do something; otherwise he'll just sit their sulking all damn day. It doesn't matter how much he thinks about it, in the end he won't know what to do. Or he might be in heavy denial; he's good with everyone's emotions but his!"

"If he's that much of a coward then how will he handle any kind of responsibility?" Temari reasoned, beside her Hinata was cutting up a banana for her friend, arranging them in pretty patterns with an intense look on her face as if she was working to come up with a solution to the issue privately. Temari reached out and took the banana pieces from her, setting them in a container as she stood up, her new clothing only adding to the mysterious glowing beauty she acquired recently, "I'm going, I have things to do."

"Bye!" The group called to her disappointedly.

"That idiot better pull his head out of his ass and soon." Kiba growled as he munched away on his food, talking with his mouth half-open. "He's been sulking for days, and at the party he got really wasted. It was bad; I think he's just going crazy."

"You are so disgusting!" Ino nagged, slapping him over the head before calming down with an examining stare in the brunette in question's direction. "But you do have a point; maybe he is going a little crazy?"

"You've been strangely silent Sakura?" Ino commented, causing Sakura to jump in her own skin as she hastily brought a drink to her lips. The table waited for her to swallow as her eyes roamed across their faces.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." The table would have believed her, if she was convincing.

But she wasn't.

"Are we playing a game? Because if so, I want to call bullshit.", Kiba tore the silent moment apart with a hand raised in the air, Ino smacked him slightly hard in the back.

"It's really nothing; I'm just worried about a test that's all." But Naruto knew better, since science earlier today the girl had retained the same mood from being ignored by Sasuke. Didn't he know what kind of damage he causes her? How much pain he puts her through? And for what?

It was all to annoying to think about, so Naruto shoved his thoughts elsewhere.

After all he really had no way of knowing what was coming next.


Sorry for the long delay! My annoying but lovable cat Oreo went blind and then just a whole bunch happened in-between. So I'm sorry! Ch 10 coming soon.