On the way to the Ramen shop the two passed the familiar shops and restaurants Hinata had known all her life. Many of the occupants in these shops and sidewalk café's waved hello to the blue eyed wonder dragging her mother along behind her. Yumi was very well known in Konoha, for one reason or another. Yet, despite her unconventional popularity she had a charm as magical as her father's; there was no way for anyone not to like the girl even if they looked down on her mother.

When they walked by the school the little girl holding Hinata's hand stopped in her tracks and turned toward the fenced bars. Hinata followed her gaze to the court yard where young children played ninja tag and learned to jump off trees.

"Mama?" Yumi's small voice drifted up to Hinata's ears and she cringed a little at the question she knew was going to come. The question rose every time they passed the ninja school.

"When I go to school?"

"In two years." Hinata answered and stroked her daughter's hair. The children playing in the yard some waved at them.

"That long time." Yumi groaned waving at the kids older then her, she seemed to be trying to devise a plan in her head that would let her slip through the bars and join them.

"It seems far away now but it won't be."

Yumi pouted in a way she knew her mother was lying but didn't say anything to that. Hinata had to hide a laugh; two years never seemed that long. Right now looking back it seemed four years just flew by in a flash. How fast would it go by before she was meeting her daughter outside those very doors with a new a familiar forehead protector on her head? Or worse how fast would it be before Hinata waited those agonizing nights waiting for her daughter to come home safely from a mission.

Suddenly Hinata had to force herself to hide any emotions conflicting with the notion. Being the child of two ninjas it was almost expected Yumi would follow in those footsteps. It was expected the little girl would start school to be a trained killer and would graduate six years later and begin life as a new Konoha ninja. When Hinata was younger and she held the new born in her arms, she made a wish that maybe her daughter wouldn't be so fascinated with that dangerous lifestyle. But so far, that didn't seem to be working.

"Know what kind of ramen you want to eat?" Hinata said changing the subject, she took the little girls hand and waved good bye to the children playing tag behind the fence.


The next week she stayed with Naruto. It was much more comfortable then she would have thought. Instead of avoiding her; Naruto spent most of the time asking her all sorts of questions about the baby and her health. He even didn't let her so much as make her own food at times. She pretended to be annoyed with it at times but secretly loved being pampered so much.

They didn't talk much about their current situation. They both seemed a little lost in playing house for the time being; Hinata couldn't decide if this was better or worse. She liked not trying to think up things to tell the remaining men in her life or prepare for any kind of storm that would be heading her way. Yet she couldn't help but feel they were avoiding an important subject. But Naruto seemed to be enjoying her company as much as she was and who was she to rain on anyone's parade?

She woke up alone, which was unusual since the past week she woke up tangled in sheets and limbs. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up in the bed. She was sure her hair was a bundle of tangles and knots; she needed a brush as soon as possible, among another things.

She heard him moving around in the kitchen; she didn't think twice about it, she moved in search for him. She walked behind him wrapping her arms around his waist; she snuggled into his back and breathed him in again. Her breakfast for the day…made her very nauseated. She ducked into the bathroom getting to the toilet in just enough time not to spill everything onto the floor. This was not how she wanted to start the day.

When she washed up properly she saw Naruto looking guilty outside. She walked up to him placing a hand on his arm careful not to get too close to whatever he was cooking.

"Didn't mean to make you sick…" he said scooping whatever he was making.

"Were you making…" She looked at the contents in his pan, it made her a bit queasy to look at it but she made the effort. It looked like eggs, even some sausage pieces in the pan along with some onions? Her heart sank and suddenly wanted to take it and gobble it all up in an instant.

"Naruto were you making breakfast?" She saw his face redden in a blush.

"I…sort of…but you got…sorry about that, guess I should have asked you what you can eat."

She didn't have anything to say to that, she reached out grabbed for him. She wrapped around him so tightly with out warning, she swore she felt him stumble back a bit before regaining his balance.

"Hey…what…what's wrong?" He asked into her head.

"Sorry." She said into his chest, instead of the huff of a laugh from him she just got a hard hug in return. They didn't move from their spot for some time, instead they held a conversation with out moving.

"Are you going to go find Kiba and Shino?" He asked and she nuzzeled herself into him a little more. She really didn't want to go looking for them, but trued to her word Sakura had gone out of her way to tell her. And if she knew Konoha, and she really did, a scandel was already in the making with the Konoha towns people. Time to say good by to her time with Naruto for a bit.

"The sooner the better, I need to find them before they go looking for me at my house. What about you?"

"I have things to do; I'm sure I've avoided Sakura enough for the week."

That's right. Sakura. Ten-Ten mentioned something about seeing her and Naruto fighting, that's why she had come to see Hinata in the first place. Strange how such a topic went completely unnoticed in her small stay of bliss she had here. In the whole wonderful week she had lived in, Sakura didn't exist, her father didn't exist, no one existed but them. It was their own world. But that world was over now and it was back to the real world.

"Why were you fighting with Sakura that day?" She asked releasing herself from his grip; she looked into his eyes and received a sheepish double take.

"Um…how did you know…"

"Ten-Ten told me. She said she saw you, so what were you fighting about."

"This is how rumors start." He said avoiding her gaze, she couldn't help but agree but she also wanted to know why they were fighting in the first place. "Sakura asked me how it went last night and when I mentioned I had left she…jumped to conclusions. I just need to go and set the record strait, it will be fine."

"And what is the record?" She asked, she still wasn't completely clear on it all. They hadn't really had a deep meaningful heart felt disscussion about their future. No, instead of being mature about the situation like the teenagers they were they made up from their disagreements...several times...all week, there wasn't much room left for discussion. Thinking back it may have been smarter to stop him from his advances and actually talk; but how could she possible be expected to say stop when the said ninja had just gotten out of the shower and wore nothing but a towel and had proceeded kiss her gently awake from her nap...

"I'm not running away Hinata." His reasuring voice snapped her out of her memories and the blush faded from her face when she looked back into his reasuring blue eyes.

She smiled at him shyly which he responded with a small kiss on her forehead. It was all she needed to know. He wasn't leaving, he wasn't abandoning her, and he was in this with her no matter what choice she chose he wasn't going to leave. He excused himself to get dressed and she did the same. Her clothes were dry now even if they did have a faint smell it was better then running around in Naruto's clothes.

Once she was dressed she said good bye to Naruto and they parted ways. Naruto made his way to the hospital and Hinata went to the best place she could think to find her team mates. As she headed toward their usual meeting place after mission something bumped into her with almost enough force to knock her over completely, staggering she saw her assailant and her blood went cold.

"Hinata?" Hanabi's dark hair flew widely in the winter wind; her clothes were wet and muddy in spots leaving Hinata to believe she was just coming back from training herself.

"H-Hanabi!" Hinata stuttered trying her best to smile at her sister. Just as she was about to jump into excuses she relaxed, Hanabi didn't know she had been hiding at Sakura's and Naruto's place for the past week. Hanabi didn't know she was pregnant at the moment, all Hanabi knew was that the last time they saw each other was right before her mission.

"Where have you been?" Hanabi asked; her eyes cold and suspicious. Hinata hated those eyes, they were like her fathers.

"On a mission…"

"No you weren't." Hanabi cut her off with a stern voice; sometimes she really resented Hanabi and her harshness.

"What?"

"I just talked to Kiba and Shino; they asked me where you were. Something about you being sick?"

"Um…yeah I was. I was at Sakura's house, I was too sick to go on this mission. Please don't tell father, I didn't need him to see me as weak." She covered up as many holes in her story as she could. Hanabi seemed to consider this and then nodded in agreement.

"Be that as it may, now that they're home you expected to be home too. I'll see you at home." Hanabi said and left.

Had it been anyone else Hinata would have been scared Hanabi would let something slip to her father, but being sisters they had an unspoken bond, and when the other needed it the other would act. As far as Hanabi knew Hinata was sick and too scared to tell their father otherwise, even if Hanabi suspected she wouldn't ask. Not yet anyways.

She continued her way to her team mates meeting place in deep thought. She replayed how she would tell them in her head, no matter what she said to herself nothing seemed right.

They were doing their regular routine. Back from a mission and already Kiba was itching to get back into the battle field. It was always him who dragged them off to polish off any thing they messed up with on their previous mission. Shino would go along with this saying he had nothing better to do. Hinata however, would disappear for the next few days, seeking some rest and relaxation at a certain blond haired blue eyed ninja's house.

When she saw them pause she made her presence known to them, they greeted her with smiles and worried eyes. Akamaru jumped on her and she instinctively reached to protect his giant paws from going near her stomach. Hoping the other boys didn't see this she turned her attention to them quickly.

"How did it go?" She asked now stroking the calm dog behind his ears.

"It went." Kiba said clearly interested in other things. "What about you? Sakura said you got sick, are you okay? Was it really bad?"

"Sort of, but I'm getting better now." She said and they began to talk about what had happened on the mission. Hinata noticed quickly she was avoiding the subject, and if she didn't say anything soon it was bound to bite her pretty hard later on.

"Oh yeah I wanted to ask you. We ran into Hanabi this morning…" Shino uncharacteristically spoke up. "We asked where you were and she said she was under the impression you were with us. That's confusing us Hinata."

Kiba began to yell at Shino, something about an agreement not to mention that to her until she brought it up. But Hinata locked eyes with Shino, he was looking at her and through his glasses she knew he knew something was wrong. He knew there was no sickness that kept her from the mission, he knew her very well, now he was just waiting for an explanation.

"It's alright," She started silencing Kiba. "I need to tell you two anyway, I don't want you hearing it from anyone else."

"Hear what?" Kiba asked; he looked skeptical and confused; Shino was just patiently waiting for her explanation.

"Sakura wasn't lying to you, I was sick. Very sick, I was throwing up and very fatigued, I was not fit for any mission."

"But your better now right?" Kiba asked, she smiled lightly at him. Sweet Kiba, he only wanted her well being, he didn't care if she lied to her family where she was, he didn't care what she said as long as she was okay.

"A little. I still throw up a bit, and I get really tired really easily…and…I…" There was no easy way to say it. "I'm going to tell you two something, but I need you to promise me something first."

"Promise what?" Shino asked with out hesitation.

"Promise me you won't hurt…anyone."

"What?"

"Just promise." She repeated more sternly then before. The both grumbled their agreement and she began to choose her words carefully.

"I…I can't go on missions for a while…I'm…I…got…pregnant…"

"You got what?" Kiba asked his voice didn't sound as angry or shocked as she had expected. When she looked at them she saw he was looking at her confused.

"What did you get?" He asked again. She looked between the two of them where Kiba looked confused Shino looked stoic. He had heard every word she said; maybe he was still trying to digest it.

"I'm pregnant." She said louder.

The reaction was what she expected. Complete silence followed by outrage. Kiba began to yell incoherent curse words while Shino remained as stoic as ever. While she waited for the outrage to calm down she wondered how here family would react if her team was acting this way. Maybe she really should anticipate the beginnings of a shinobi civil war.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Kiba's shout broke her thoughts. She jumped up wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind just in time before he stormed off in the direction of her lover.

"No Kiba you promised!" She pleaded to the heaving young man.

"That bastard, not even the decency to use protection…"

"It wasn't like that, you promised me." Hinata continued pleading, she looked and Shino for help who simply coughed his interruption, it was small but it was enough to stop the wild dog boy.

"Sometimes these things happen even when precaution is taken." Shino said staring at a tree; he seemed to not even want to look at her. That hurt. She brushed it off, she would have her time with Shino alone if need be.

"But even still!" Kiba argued jumping out of Hinata's grasp; Shino ignored him and turned his attention to her.

"This is explains why Hanabi had no clue what we were talking about. Though I would expect about now Hanabi would be mentioning something to Neji who would be getting suspicious of you."

Hinata cringed at the thought.

"Who else knows?" Shino continued, ignoring her obvious flinch at the sound of her family's names.

"Sakura and Naruto." She answered looking at the ground.

"And us." Kiba finished apparently calm from his previous rampage.

"And you." She agreed. "And I would like that to continue until I tell others." She looked at them and then added please.

"What has Naruto said on the subject?" Shino asked again ignoring anything she did or said.

"He said he wasn't going to run away." She repeated his words to her; even now they gave her comfort.

"At least." Shino said not looking at her. What was that supposed to mean? Where they upset at him about this? This wasn't really the reaction she had hopped for.

"Please, don't be made at him. It's just as much my fault as it is his."

Kiba let out what sounded like something between a laugh and a growl.

"We're not mad…more shocked then anything else, I mean there are people we would expect this from," Hinata didn't know why, but when he said that Ino's face flew into her head.

"But you, not you. Maybe Naruto, if it was somebody else, but not with you." Kiba looked thoughtfully into the trees before continuing. "If you have to quit for the time being who's going to take your place?"

"I don't know, I would think I have to talk to Tsunade about that as well. And then get reassigned to a desk job for the time being…" Why did it sound so foreign saying it out loud, she knew this was coming.

"Have you talked to Tsunade about this?" Shino asked no moving to stand next to her.

"No, not yet."

If Shino thought she should have done or said something, or should be doing something he kept quiet about it. Maybe he sensed her tension?

"So then what's your plan of action?" Kiba let himself drop next to her; he seemed more relaxed then before.

"I don't know…I still need to…I need to tell my father…"

"You're really going to tell him? I always thought you'd just run away, well I would anyway."

Hinata smiled and suppressed a laugh; she couldn't count how many times she had thought of that. Just getting her thing and running away from Konoha completely. If it wasn't for those damn ninja laws and the whole boyfriend being so devoted to Konoha she may have just taken that option weeks ago.

"I was given some time, and then Tsunade will take action according to the law."

"The law?" Kiba asked just as confused as Naruto had been.

"Hinata is still living her father's house," Shino voiced over them. "Therefore he is to know of all things that would interfere in her occupation as a ninja. Right?"

Hinata nodded pulling her legs closer to her. The rest of the time with them was spent recapping the mission she missed out on and how Kiba and fallen in a ditch in the snow. By the time they were done there was no talk of her pregnancy or Naruto or even her family. It was breath of fresh air she didn't even know she needed.

On the way back to the town they walked like they used to. There was laughing and teasing, there was jokes and blushing between the three of them. When Akamaru barked they looked up to see Kiba's team running toward him yelling.

"Duty calls." Kiba excused himself from his friends and off toward his team who seem to be yelling something about exploding tags and smoke bombs. Hinata laughed but it was cut short when she caught sight of her cousin making his way toward them.

"Hinata." Neji looked as stoic as Shino only much more threatening.

"Yes Neji?"

"Your father would like a word with you."

"M-my father?"


TBC - The meeting with daddy meets a dangerous end.

AN: I'm so sorry it took so long. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out asap. I started a new original fiction of under my same user name. Its a fun twist on the tale beauty at the beast. Take a look and please be patient with me, I work crazy hours and I have a house hold to help run. I do my best with the time I have.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!