Author's Note: Oh, wow. I hadn't realized this chapter was so long until I separated it for posting. My apologies. I can't really break it apart, except for dividing it in part I and part II like the other. Since I'm posting both parts today, either way, I don't see a point.
Next chapter will have two alternatives. The bad ending, which will be posted as a separate story, and the good ending, which will continue on in the next chapter. Then, there will be an epilogue-like chapter, and the sequel will pretty much take off from chapter 11, but it will be far more fast paced.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10 : Saying Goodbye
"Gaara?" Naruto called fearfully when she went limp inside his arms.
She had fainted.
He tried to open the door of Dr. Himi's office, but it was locked. Both her and Dr. Mieko were sharing the same office for now, and considering Gaara's situation, at least one of them was supposed to always be in that office. No one was there.
Cursing, he lifted her into his arms and strode down towards the nurse station. "I need a obstetrician, now. Is Dr. Himi off duty?"
"I'm here, Hokage-sama." he breathed out a relieved sigh when he saw the doctor talking with three nurses inside the station.
"Something is wrong with Gaara. She said she couldn't use her chakra." he told her quickly as she walked up to them. He didn't like the look the nurses exchanged.
Before he could say anything, his clone appeared with a jar full of sand. The sand flew off the jar to cover Gaara's stomach like a blanket. To his concern, most of the sand fell to the floor midway, then started floating strangely like it had been doing before.
Dr. Himi walked up to them and placed her hands on her covered stomach. The sand started moving, as if Gaara was in danger, but it didn't move to attack the doctor. She still looked warily at it.
"You're a jounin, you can deal with her unconscious shield. Tell me what's wrong." Naruto told her sharply when he saw the doctor was hesitating.
"Yes, sir." she said quickly. As soon as her hands began to shine she flinched, as if something had hit her, and the sand became even more erratic. She grimly turned to the nurses and nodded, "I need an ICU room." Both quickly rushed away.
The third nurse, who had left as soon as the doctor had approached him, came to him with a stretcher. "Place her here, Hokage-sama." she requested in a quiet voice.
Once Dr. Himi stepped away, Naruto gently laid Gaara on the bed. His clone started scooping the sand off the floor, pouring it on the bed by Gaara's feet.
Dr. Himi turned to him, looking extremely serious. "Hokage-sama. Her chakra system is collapsing, and nothing can be done." she informed him slowly once Gaara was settled on the thin mattress. "I'll leave her on observation so we can take her into surgery as soon as possible. You can stay with her if you wish."
His body went cold. "Surgery? You can't do surgery on Gaara. The sand..."
Dr. Himi's expression became grim. "She's dying, Hokage-sama. If we remove the children as soon as her shield becomes inactive, we might be able to save them." she explained neutrally.
Naruto couldn't wrap his mind around her words.
"She... She isn't... She's alive! Why aren't you doing anything?" he demanded, angry at her complacency.
"Nothing can be done." she repeated, as calm as before. He growled and pulled on Kurama's powers to heal Gaara. "Don't!" the doctor exclaimed. Naruto gasped as an electrical shock ran up his arm almost as soon as he touched her. Before he could do anything, Gaara's sand shoved him away so strongly he tripped over his feet. He quickly regained his balance and the sand fell limply to the floor. "Don't try to heal her, Hokage-sama! You can't do anything, and the backlash might kill your children too." she warned tightly.
"How do you know if you haven't tried?" the doctor just watched him with a pained look. "She can't be dying."
"You can stay with her, she might become conscious again during the day." she explained wearily.
"How long until...?" he couldn't finish the sentence, the words got stuck in his throat.
"I don't know. Kunoichi are usually unable to detect anything at so early an stage, you can only tell something is wrong because of her kekkei genkai. When the convulsions start, it can take anywhere from ten to twenty hours until death. She'll likely remain alive for at least a day." he squeezed his eyes shut.
The doctor reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it away. "Don't."
"Forgive me, Hokage-sama." she bowed.
He turned away from her and hesitantly reached towards Gaara again. Now that his chakra was at rest, he didn't feel any shocks when he touched her. Her arm was warm.
She looked like she was just sleeping. She couldn't be dying.
Unbidden, the image of her lying dead in front of him came from his memories to haunt him. She had been so pale, so cold. But right now, she had a healthy flush on her cheeks, her chest was moving up and down with her breath. She was alive.
"Hokage-sama. I'll take her to her room, come with us." the nurse who had brought the stretcher requested gently.
"The doctor hasn't tried to do anything, there must be something..." he began.
"This has no cure, Hokage-sama. She isn't our first patient to experience it and she won't be our last, there's no need for us to bring her and your children more harm and suffering with needless exams." the nurse explained gently – far gentler than most nurses he had met.
He silently followed her as she pushed the stretcher down the corridor, holding tightly onto Gaara's hand. The room they were in was small, with place for four patients, but all the beds were empty.
"Help me place her on the bed?" Naruto took Gaara in his arms, then gently laid her on the hospital bed. He watched in silence as several monitors were attached to her. "We're not going to put her on IV drip, trying to get around her shield will probably do more harm than good. If she feels thirsty, there's water here." she tapped a jar on the bedside table.
"I understand why chakra can't cure her, but isn't there any medicine you can give her to make her better?" Naruto asked from the nurse.
"Anything that tampers with her chakra would only hurt her, Hokage-sama." the nurse told him with a shake of her head. "If there's anything you need, press the call button." she pointed towards a button near Gaara's head. He nodded silently unable to get any words out.
The nurse removed the sheet from the stretcher and poured Gaara's sand by her feet, only then she left the room. Naruto was left staring at the monitor screens – everything looked fine, nothing was red like before. There was nothing wrong.
"You can't be dying. How come you look fine and..." his voice broke and he pressed her open palm against his eyes. "You can't leave me. Please wake up. Tell me you're going to be fine."
Gaara didn't move.
It was his fault. She was dying because of him. But thinking like that made him feel even guiltier, because he didn't want to regret his sons. He didn't want to wish they had never existed. But he did.
"I'll tell them you loved them." his voice broke as he promised her out loud. "I'll be the best father in all of the Land of Fire."he squeezed her hand. "I'll love them. Just, please wake up one more time." he begged of her.
She wouldn't have passed out if he had brought her sand along. That was his fault too. She could be awake...
...Awake and suffering, knowing she was going to die. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't wake up at all. If she was awake, she would know. He couldn't keep the truth from her, it wasn't right.
"Don't wake up." he forced himself to whisper, then leaned over and rested his head against her stomach as he watched her peaceful face through his tears.
Gaara was strong. She should be one of those rare active ninjas who grew old, gray and wrinkled, because nothing could kill them other than time. Yet, there still weren't any wrinkles on her face, she was still beautiful. She barely looked any older than twenty, even if she was almost thirty like him.
"You can't die yet. Why aren't you fighting back? Why did you let me kill you?" he whispered through tears. Gaara didn't give him a response.
He started when he felt one of the babies move against his cheek. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, listening to them, love and hurt filling his chest. "You two have to survive." he whispered. If, after everything, none of them survived... He couldn't even bear the thought.
He opened his eyes again and watched Gaara, trying to clear his mind of all thoughts but the image of her lying there, peacefully sleeping. For a while, he could do it, listening to the hushed sounds coming from outside, and his sons' and Gaara's heartbeats inside her.
He didn't know how long he sat there, until a strange feeling washed over him. He hesitantly sat up, looking around the room, wondering what had brought on the feeling.
His heartbeat stuttered when Gaara's sand, still fluctuating by her feet, suddenly fell limp to the bed. His eyes went to the heart monitor first, expecting to see a flat line, but her heart was still beating.
She was alive, but her sand had stopped doing that... Did that mean she was going to be fine? He felt hope fill his chest.
He nearly jumped off his chair when the door opened, and let out a heavy sigh when he saw it was only Dr. Himi. He hadn't felt her approaching. "Hokage-sama." she bowed after she closed the door behind her. She was holding a bag, and he eyed it askance.
But he quickly ignored it, innocent as it looked. "Dr. Himi! Something's different! Her sand stopped acting weird, can you check to see if she's alright?" the doctor eyed the sand blankly, but then she nodded firmly and walked up to them.
Unlike before, the sand didn't act like Gaara was being threatened as she approached. That wasn't good, either, because Gaara's sand had always acted off around her. Gaara didn't really like Dr. Himi, even if she respected her. Gaara didn't like doctors, period. Her sand acted off around all of them, unless it was Sakura or Tsunade examining her, or sometimes Dr. Mieko.
Did that mean she got worse, instead of better? She was so bad that her shield wasn't functioning anymore? He curbed the urge to pace as he stared at the doctor, clenching his teeth to keep himself from asking her if Gaara's condition was worse. At least this time she was giving her a proper exam, instead of a failed attempt at one.
"Her condition remains stable, Hokage-sama. In fact..." she acted a little suspicious, glancing outside the room. "...since you brought Kazekage-sama to the hospital so quickly, before the onset of convulsions, there may be a way to cure her."
Naruto's eyes widened, and he stared at her. "A way? You said there was nothing you could do!" he finished with a whisper when she placed a finger over her lips in a request for silence.
"Officially, there's nothing I can do." she said grimly. "This treatment is dangerous, and it hasn't been fully tested. It's a dangerous gambit, and I might lose my license if other people realize I'm doing this... but it's shown promise during research."
Naruto watched her warily. "...It might hurt Gaara?" he wondered quietly.
She gave him a single nod. "You see, the threat to her life currently lies on her chakra. Because her circulatory system's been damaged, it's out of control and causing damage to her organs. As time goes by, she will start to suffer irreparable damage to her organs and brain, that's what causes death." Naruto felt his throat constrict as he listened to her explanation. "The treatment consists of draining her chakra until it can no longer damage her while her body works to repair her circulatory system. But she will be so drained that she might potentially die from chakra drain. Would you like me to try?"
Naruto froze, watching the doctor. She watched him back, calm, waiting for an answer. He couldn't...
...There was risk to Gaara's life, but what would happen if she didn't try? "Is there any chance she'll recover on her own?" he asked quietly.
"No. Her body will be unable to heal while her chakra is breaking it apart." Naruto squeezed his eyes shut.
"Heal her." he decided, his heart heavy.
"I can't do it here. My career will be jeopardized if anyone finds out. I'll release her, and treat her in your home." he felt even more anxious, but he hesitantly nodded. She removed several papers from the bag she had brought and asked him to sign them – they were release forms, placing the responsibility of Gaara's health on his shoulders. He didn't hesitate to sign once he had read everything.
She placed the papers on the bedside table. "A nurse will be here to take the documents." she explained as she carefully began to turn off the machines and remove the wires from Gaara. "Here. You have a way of getting us out of this room without anyone seeing, don't you?"
He nodded. He carefully lifted Gaara in his arms, taking along the sheet which held her sand. "Hold onto my arm." As soon as he felt her grip strong, he transported them into their bedroom. He gently laid Gaara on their futon, then watched as the doctor opened the bag and started removing wires from it.
He watched in silence as she set up a much smaller monitoring device, then secured it to two of Gaara's fingers and her thumb. As soon as the numbers appeared on the screen, it started to beep – it sounded like the emergency beeps that made nurses come when something was wrong.
"We need to lower this marker." she pointed to a bright red number on the corner of the monitor. "I will do so by lowering her chakra reserves." she pointed to another, blue number. It read "99%", but when the doctor hit a few buttons, it read "9937" instead. "I'll leave this machine here so you can monitor her. If, at any point, her heart rate becomes red, or her chakra reserves go bellow ten marks for more than two minutes, you need to give her a chakra transfusion. Do you know how to do it?"
"Yes. I've learned it." he agreed. It was an essential skill on the field, he had taken too long to learn.
"Good. Sit down and get settled, then, this will take a while." As the doctor sat by her side and rested her hand over her stomach, the number quickly began to drop, but still slow enough that he was fairly sure they could stay hours there until they got her reserves in the single digits.
Naruto settled by Gaara's side, half on the futon and half on the floor. He reached for Gaara's hand and held it, his eyes alternating between watching her, and the lowering number.
The minutes dragged by, until he saw Gaara was starting to get pale. He threw the doctor a concerned look – she was very concentrated on her job, so he said nothing.
When Gaara's hand became cold and started to sweat, he didn't hold his tongue. "Something is wrong." she looked up, startled, then looked down at their joined hands.
"She's losing chakra too quickly. Cold sweat is an usual response." she guessed right his concern. Naruto sighed heavily and looked at the monitor. Her chakra reserves were less than a third of their initial amount now. A glance at the clock told him they had been at it for almost an hour, but the numbers were dropping quicker now than they had been at first.
He watched as Gaara grew even paler, and her hand became cold as ice. His eyes filled with tears as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand, but he said nothing.
Ten minutes later, he started when the machine's beeping became louder and more alarming. Her heart rate and chakra reserves were blinking red numbers. The doctor did something, then her heart rate once again stabilized, but the beeping didn't stop.
"...Is this alright?" he asked shakily.
"Yes, she's suffering from chakra exhaustion. That's what we're aiming for." she explained calmly. Naruto squeezed Gaara's hand.
Naruto watched in alarm as her chakra reserves dropped and dropped, until it was eight and the monitor's alarm was blaring. But the only number that had been red at first was now blue, and Dr. Himi didn't seem alarmed.
She took a flashlight and shone it on Gaara's eyes. She seemed satisfied with what she saw. "She's taking well to the treatment." she told him firmly.
Naruto swallowed. "Are you sure?" a single nod was his only response. "Her chakra reserves are bellow ten marks."
"Her body will fix this soon. As soon as it does, I'll leave. It might drop once again, only worry about it if it drops bellow five marks, or if it stays bellow ten marks for more than two minutes. If either happen, give her enough chakra to go above fifty marks, but bellow a hundred." She stood from the floor, then covered Gaara with and eiderdown. "Keep her warm and hydrated. She must remain drained for at least two hours, ideally five hours, but no more than ten. Once about five hours pass, get her levels above one thousand, at least, if they haven't recovered on their own."
"You're going to leave?" he asked shakily.
"I must. You can't tell anyone it was me who treated her." Naruto swallowed, but nodded slowly.
"...Do you need me to take you back?" he asked quietly.
"I need you to watch her closely. I'll get back to the hospital on my own." she told him with a shake of her head. Before she even finished speaking, Gaara's chakra reserves suddenly rose until they were at eleven marks. A pained groan came from her lips, and Naruto paled as he watched her shiver. "That's not unusual. Remember that being drained isn't good, specially during pregnancy." Dr. Himi explained.
"...But she'll be fine now?" he asked quietly.
"She'll be fine. The worst risk to her life was during the draining process. The babies were also unaffected. Just be careful to give her a transfusion if you see any of the signs I warned you of." he nodded quickly. "I'll be taking my leave then."
"...My clone will see you out." he told her quietly, part of him wanting to beg her to stay. Dr. Himi wouldn't take well to that, though – she had never been as helpful as she was being at the moment, specially with him. She liked Gaara about as much as Gaara liked her. She was still one of their best – as she had just proven.
After she left, Naruto turned to watch over Gaara once again, squeezing her cold hand tight between his, glancing at the monitor every few seconds. It was fluctuating wildly – anywhere between nine and thirty marks, but it never got over nor bellow those amounts, and never for more than two minutes.
Almost five hours later, it stopped fluctuating and slowly, steadily, it began to rise. At just bellow fifty marks, he held his breath when he saw her eyelids flutter.
"You're waking. Wake up, wake up, please talk to me." he whispered, suddenly feeling all the hope he didn't dare to feel for hours. "Come on, Gaara, let me see your beautiful eyes." he begged. "Wake up, talk to me. You can do it."
The first thing she was aware of was that someone was gripping her hand tightly.
It was hard to think, let alone pay attention to her environment, but the ninja in her forced her to catalog what was happening. She heard someone whispering words she couldn't understand.
Naruto.
She felt him kiss her forehead and struggled to open her eyes. It felt like forever, but she finally managed.
She felt exhausted.
"Gaara!" Naruto murmured, "You're awake. Thank god!"
She looked around, feeling confused. She wasn't supposed to be here... "Home." her weak whisper conveyed her confusion. Naruto's mouth turned into a bitter smile as he reached out and ran his thumb fondly over her cheek.
"Home." he repeated, nodding. "They could do nothing for you in the hospital. Dr. Himi wanted to try something on you, but it was illegal. The treatment hasn't been tested yet. So I brought her here." Gaara looked around, expecting to see the doctor. "She left a few hours ago."
"...hours?" she asked weakly. "...exhausted..."
"She drained nearly all your chakra. It'll take a little while until you're fully recovered." Gaara's eyes widened. Naruto was right – she was drained. There was so little chakra in her body she couldn't even feel her sand.
Her chakra levels were down to dangerous low. If this was the untested 'treatment', she could definitely understand why Dr. Himi could get herself in trouble by performing it – and potentially killing her patient over an ineffective treatment.
"But it worked. You're alive." Naruto breathed out in relief, running his thumb over her cheek. "You're alive."
She tried to raise her hand, and only then she realized her hand was connected to something. She weakly turned to the side, and saw a small machine much like the ones at the hospital sitting on the floor by her side, monitoring her pulse and other things she couldn't tell.
She closed her eyes and it was hard to open them again. "Please stay awake. Don't leave me." Naruto whimpered, squeezing her hand.
"...too tired..." she murmured. She was feeling the urge to sleep again, and it was messing with her thought processes. She could see Naruto was desperate, so she tried to force herself to stay awake. For him.
He talked with her, trying to keep her from sleep, but it didn't take long before she could no longer discern his words. His voice, though it was intended to keep her awake, soothed her and made her few safer.
It suddenly felt like she was falling and she jerked awake, gripping Naruto's hand in a desperate effort to keep herself from falling. "Gaara!" Naruto watched her with worry as the machine by her side beeped in alarm at her pounding heart. "I'll get Dr..."
"'S ok." she quickly slurred, interrupting him. "Need sleep." she had experienced the feeling before, several times, just before sleep took her. A doctor said once it happened because she was too reluctant to fall asleep.
"Don't sleep! She'll be here soon." Naruto told her louder, squeezing her hand.
But she couldn't fight sleep. It triggered a fear reflex, and her sand's reaction no doubt upset her chakra system. She needed to surrender.
So next time she felt sleep coming, she allowed it to overcome her.
She startled awake to see a shining hand over her chest. "...lucky she's alive." Dr. Himi's was chiding someone.
"She cured her." Naruto told her stubbornly.
"There's no cure to a chakra system collapse. She lied to you in an attempt to kill your wife, you're lucky she was incompetent and didn't manage to." the doctor corrected him. Gaara had closed her eyes again, only listening to them.
"How do you explain the fact Gaara's alive and well if she didn't get treated, then?" Naruto ground out. "Why would she even have gone through the trouble to steal that machine from the hospital if she didn't want her alive? You said she was already dying, why bother risking getting caught at all?"
"I don't know, Hokage-sama. But you should have realized she meant no good when she suggested draining your wife of chakra. That's not a treatment – most times we need to do chakra transfusions to keep people alive!" the doctor chided again.
"The way she explained it made sense. She's not an enemy, she probably just used a genjutsu so she wouldn't be punished if her attempt failed. She didn't need to worry, I signed the waiver." Naruto argued.
"You're being too naive, Hokage-sama." the doctor took her hand back. "Your wife's fine now, but you should bring her back to the hospital so we can monitor her health."
"No." Naruto growled. "You told me yourself there's no cure. Everyone there, all that they did was look sorry she was dying. No one did a damn thing..."
"There's nothing to be done in these cases." she doctor sighed.
"Then leave my house and let Gaara rest. If you can't do anything, then don't." he snapped.
"We can save the children once..." she began, but Naruto cut through her words.
"Fuck you." he cried out. "You're not going to wait until Gaara dies just to cut her open. If you can't do anything, just get the fuck away from my home."
Gaara forced her eyes open just in time to see Dr. Himi stiffly bow towards him. "When she dies, you need to bring her as quickly as possible. Time's of essence."
"Leave, now!" Naruto ordered her, so loud Gaara winced as his voice rang through the room.
"Hokage-sama." she ground out, attempting to be polite, then left in a blur of falling leaves. Naruto growled once the two of them were alone.
"Naruto..." he quickly turned to her, and she could see his eyes were deep red, and the marks on his cheeks were a lot more pronounced.
"Gaara, you're awake!" he rushed to her side and held her hand again.
"I feel better than before." she told him quietly. It wasn't an effort to move anymore, even as she felt tired. She could also feel her sand – it had reformed into its usual gourd as soon as the doctor had left the room. When Naruto saw it, his face lit up with so much hope and happiness.
"You're cured." he said shakily, holding up the container of sand. "The treatment worked. You're all better." she watched him in confusion.
"Cured of what?" she asked quietly. She was alarmed when Naruto's eyes filled with tears.
"Nothing. Nothing really. It doesn't matter anymore." he told her through weak, relieved laugher.
But it did matter. Naruto looked pale and exhausted, and if she understood anything from the tail of the conversation she had heard, "I was dying."
Naruto's face contorted into pain, as if she had kicked him in the stomach. He gently placed her sand down, then knelt by her side and held her hand. "You almost did. Someone saved you. I thought she was Dr. Himi, but apparently she fooled me with a genjutsu. I wish we knew who she was, she would do far better as our doctor than her."
Gaara squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, Naruto." she said quietly. His eyes were still full of tears. "...I'm really sorry for making you feel so much pain. I should have pushed you away."
Naruto looked indignant. "What? You don't really think I would be fine with your death if..."
"You wouldn't be this sad." she cut him quickly, reaching over with her other hand and running her little finger over his falling tears, the monitor still connected to her index and middle fingers, as well as her thumb.
"Yes, I would! You've always been important to me, Gaara. You were what I could have been, you became what I wanted to be. I've always looked up to you..." he stopped with a sharp intake of breath as she covered his lips with her two free fingers.
"I wasn't your lover. We weren't this close before... My death wouldn't make you cry this much. I've encouraged your feelings for me to grow, knowing I won't be here to reciprocate them." Naruto looked crushed as a sob shook his frame.
"Stop saying that, you're not going to die." he said faintly, his lips brushing her fingers.
"I am." she told him quietly. "Apparently, I nearly did." she hid a wince as his grip on her hand tightened. "Maybe I should move into Shikamaru's..." she gasped in pain as his grip tightened even more. Naruto's hands opened and let hers go.
"No! You're not going anywhere. Please." Naruto leaned over and hugged her, lying his face over her chest. "Don't leave me, not now."
"It's best that I leave you while I'm alive, so you have time to get used to it..." she began, but he interrupted her.
"No! Don't do it, please don't. If you're so sure you're going to die, let me say goodbye." she swallowed painfully, tears filling her own eyes.
"Then say it." her voice sounded deeper in her pain. "I'm listening. Say goodbye."
"Not now. Not like this." Naruto whimpered, holding her tighter. "Let me do it my way. I need more time."
"We don't have more time." her words were barely a murmur.
"Then give me as much time as you can. Promise me?" she closed her eyes, letting her tears fall.
"You're trying to..." he interrupted her.
"Promise me? Stay with me." she grit his teeth.
"Naruto..."
"I'll be fine. What difference does it make, if you leave now or later? It'll hurt the same. I can deal with it. Give me a little more time. Please." Gaara looked down at him when he moved, so their eyes met. His eyes were blue once again, but the whites were reddened from his tears.
"It won't hurt the same." she disagreed. But she couldn't say no to his eyes, they were begging her not to. "I'll stay." she whispered weakly.
Naruto buried his face on her neck and held her tight once again. "Thank you. Thank you."
"...You won't thank me later." she murmured, feeling her chest heavier with guilt.
"Yes, I will. I'll never regret this." she tensed.
"Don't you dare promise me that. You have the right to regret a mistake." she told him tightly.
"It's not a mistake." Naruto mumbled.
"Yes, it is. No matter the outcome, this is a mistake. At worst, I'm making you a widower before you're thirty, at best, we might both get heartbroken from the backlash of a relationship rushed during stressful times." Naruto snorted against her neck.
"You're not comparing us to those idiots who got married during the war, are you?" he snickered.
"I am." she sighed, exasperated. Naruto laughed. "It's not funny." she frowned.
"It's just, I got this image in my head, of you acting like one of those heartsick teenage girls being dramatic in the war." he said between chuckles. Gaara pursed her lips and said nothing else. "I promise I won't make any drama if you decide to divorce me." he sounded far too cheerful for the words he was speaking.
"You should take this more seriously." she said grimly.
"I am. I'm taking you seriously. But I still doubt we have anything to do with them." she sighed at his words. "If nothing else, I have a genius wife who thinks everything through for both of us."
"Who's been irresponsible like a teenager for the past several months." she loathed to admit it, but it was nonetheless true.
"Do like Sakura and blame everything on the pregnancy hormones." he suggested. Gaara huffed, but she felt a small smile curving her lips as he started to tell her about the stupid things his friend had been up to lately.
It didn't take long for Naruto's melodic voice to lull her into sleep once again. This time, Naruto just lied by her side as she relaxed and closed her eyes, instead of trying to force her to stay awake.
Naruto shook her awake hours later. He served her several fruits he had cut up, and she realized she had eaten nothing today. "What time is it?" She asked quietly as she sat up.
"Two in the afternoon." he replied quietly. "I told Temari what happened, and she said she'll come visit you in two hours. Do you want me to tell her you need rest?"
She shook her head as she chewed on a piece of apple. Once she had swallowed, she replied aloud. "No, that's fine. I feel better now, just a little tired."
"Your chakra reserves are full again. I don't think you need this anymore." he removed the sensors from her hand, then unplugged the machine so it would stop beeping. Naruto hadn't told her yet what had happened, but she could make an educated guess. She didn't want to see him sad again, so she didn't ask. "I've asked Tsunade to try and find the doctor who treated you."
She frowned, trying to remember what had happened earlier. "Someone impersonated Dr. Himi?"
"Yeah. They were bad at it too, I should have realized she was being too nice. She actually explained what was happening, instead of acting like my lack of a medical training made me stupid." Gaara nodded slowly.
Naruto continued. "Everything she told me, it gave me an idea. I've talked with Tsunade about it, and she thinks it might work... Do you remember how you used to take Shukaku's power from your seal?" she nodded. "Do you think you can push your own chakra into the seal?"
She frowned. "Yes, but won't that be dangerous?"
"No. Your seal is directly connected to your chakra core. Doing that isn't dangerous like, say, manipulating your sand. If you make sure you're constantly drained, the risk to your life shouldn't be as high. But if something goes awry, you can always take your chakra back."
"The seal wasn't designed to do something like that... What if it starts leaking?" she asked quietly.
"I'll change it. It won't leak. I have a few ideas in mind. Tsunade only said that you should make sure not to drain yourself too much, because the babies need your chakra to develop." Naruto grinned. "But once you start doing that, you should be fine. You'll still be at risk, but the risk for women with chakra drain is ten times lower than the risk we're facing now."
"Shouldn't you be talking with Dr. Himi about this?" Naruto's put upon expression was answer enough. "Dr. Mieko, then?"
"I did. Tsunade knows more stuff about chakra storage, though, because of her seal." he tapped the middle of his forehead to illustrate his words. "Both of them said it's risky, but at this point, it's worth a try. They'll explain it better to you later." She nodded in silent agreement.
"Here." she placed a full cup of tea in front of her sister. Temari was looking around their house – it was already organized, and the inner garden was mostly tended to. The pond was clean, and they had removed all the weeds and dead plants, but the living plants and trees needed to be cropped.
"The garden looks better." her sister commented. She nodded slightly. "Are you and Naruto going to live in the compound while you're in Suna, or do you intend to get another place there too?"
She sat frozen for a second. She didn't know how to answer her sister at all. Temari seemed to read her unsaid words in her body language after a while, because she pursed her lips. "You should start thinking about that. The council will probably start demanding your return when the twins are a year old." Temari sounded too defensive not to have realized Gaara didn't think she would ever return.
"We will stay in the compound." she said to appease her. Realistically, it would have been better to live with Naruto in another building, considering he was the Hokage and most of Suna's secrets were concentrated in that building. But realistically, if they bought another house, Naruto would just have to sell it again when she died.
"Are you sure? I don't think the council will be happy with that decision." she frowned.
"The twins will be safer there, and that will be enough for them. Considering your children will be Naras, and Kankurou has no intention of settling, the twins are their only chance of having people of our bloodline as ninjas of Suna." she bluffed, and Temari nodded slowly, buying her phony argument.
"That would make sense." she sighed. "I still can't believe all this..." she shook her head slowly, then paused to sip her tea. Gaara watched as his sister's eyes trailed down to stare at her unbound breasts. Temari had been one of the people who had been the most shocked at finding out she was a woman, because she had never even suspected anything. "Why did you never say anything?"
"It was irrelevant." she explained uncomfortably. Temari's eyes narrowed.
"Irrelevant? You're pregnant! Were you really planning on giving birth on your own?" she demanded. Gaara set her jaw and stared at her sister.
"That's basically what I'm going to do. My sand shield stops nearly all medical interventions. They can't do anything but watch." she reminded her. Temari gritted her teeth.
"But you didn't know that. Your decision was pure irresponsibility." Gaara looked away. "Why, Gaara? If you had told us earlier..." her voice weakened.
"It wouldn't have mattered." she told her.
"Yes, it would! Things wouldn't have gotten this serious! They could have controlled..."
"Their medicine isn't working now, I doubt they would have been able to do anything for me then." she interrupted her sister. Temari shut her eyes.
She looked angry, but she said nothing. Temari set the cup down with a clink and stood. Gaara sighed, believing she would walk away and leave the house, but to her surprise, Temari walked around the table and knelt by her side.
Gaara was shocked when her sister reached out and wrapped her arms around her. She tensed and sat awkwardly in the hug at first, but then hesitantly wrapped her arms around Temari's shoulders when she felt a silent sob wrack her sister's body.
Temari showed no other sign that she was crying. They sat there, hugging each other for what felt like forever. Gaara felt her back start burning with pain from the awkward position, but she didn't try to move, nor did she complain. Temari needed this. She was grieving her death.
"I love you, Gaara." she whispered against her ear. "Forgive me for being the worst sister..." her voice disappeared. Gaara patted her back, feeling her own eyes fill with tears, unable to say anything to her sister. She needed to tell her something, anything, but the words were stuck in her throat.
Temari sniffled and gently pushed at her shoulders, parting them away from their hug. Her mussed make up was the only indication she had been crying, but Gaara's eyes were still full of tears.
"I'm leaving for Suna tonight." her voice was once again composed. Gaara was confused by her sudden decision. "The Elder council doesn't want all three of us here in Konoha, and Kankurou wants..." she licked her lips. "He wants to talk with Naruto. Be the big brother, and everything." she finished with a small smile.
Kankurou wanted to say goodbye to her. She nodded silently.
"I'll watch over your duties there until the twins are born, then I'll return to visit you. I guess by then you and Naruto will be able to use the shadow clone trick you mean to use in order to live in both places at once, right?"
"You'll become Kazekage, then." she corrected her in a whisper. Temari looked like she had slapped her, but Gaara was sick of tiptoeing around this. She did it with Naruto every day. "I've reached the ninth month. My chances of survival will be lowered each day I remain pregnant. You should prepare yourself for the possibility that I won't survive."
"You're acting like you have zero chances. It's not like that." Gaara smiled weakly at her sister.
"So are you. You're here, saying goodbye to me. That's fine. I'm not offended, Temari. I know you're not giving up on me for being cautious. Above everything else, we're ninjas, and we haven't survived this long by ignoring evidence." Temari closed her eyes and looked defeated. "You were a good sister, Temari. Our relationship didn't start off well, but I thank you for all the support you have given me for all these years. If it wasn't for you and Kankurou, I wouldn't have achieved everything that I did. I was only able to return for the dark place I was in because the two of you held my hands and guided me while I was blind." tears began to fall from Temari's eyes again.
"You... I'm happy to have seen you grow into the great woman you became, in spite of everything that happened to you. I'm sorry I hurt you when you were young, and I'm sorry you never grew to trust me completely." Gaara averted her eyes. "I really hope I'll have a second chance to earn your trust. Please don't give up, Gaara, you're the only person who has the weapons to fight this battle. You and Naruto. Remain strong." Gaara closed her eyes when Temari placed her hand over her tattoo. "Mom is here, watching over you. She will help you have a safe delivery, just don't give up. I know you already have, everyone can see you already have, but you have to take up arms again. Draw hope from that endless of well of hope that is your husband. Please."
Gaara chuckled at Temari's description of Naruto. She was right, really. She opened her eyes to see Temari smiling. "You're so happy. Naruto's making you happy. I wish all this shit didn't have to happen for you to get together, because he's clearly good for you. Naruto is placing his hopes on you, place your hopes on him, too. He can heal you. You will survive."
Gaara stared at the floor. Maybe he could. But... "The chances are still low." she reminded her. "He can't heal me from a chakra backlash." Or maybe he could, if his seal worked...
"So they say. They also say you should be dying right now. I've read about this disease. Women who have it look really ill. You don't." Temari told her firmly. "Whatever you and Naruto are doing, it's changing everything. As far as we know, you might even not be at risk at all. The doctors just won't admit they don't know anything out of pride." Gaara just sighed. "Promise me you won't give up, Gaara."
"I promise." she agreed, hesitantly. Temari grinned and patted her shoulder.
"Good! I'll return when my nephews are born, then. I'll expect you to introduce them to me properly." she stood up, then reached down to help Gaara to her feet. Gaara took her hands and allowed her to pull her up. Temari hugged her again. "I'll see you soon." she said firmly.
"If you don't..." Gaara trailed off when Temari placed a finger over her lips.
"You promised." she reminded her, eyes narrowed. Gaara's expression softened.
"I'll see you soon." Gaara repeated her words quietly. Temari smiled, then turned and walked away. "Be a good Kazekage." she whispered once the door closed behind her sister.
Naruto's idea worked.
As an unfortunate side effect, she was always exhausted and oversensitive nowadays. But being inside the water helped her relax, and Naruto was more than happy to stay there with her, helping her float and making her company. They were going to a pool, now, instead of the river, and the water was far warmer. The pool was in the Sarutobi's house, and Konohamaru had been more than happy to welcome them in his home whenever they needed it.
This morning, she was just too tired to leave her futon. Not that Naruto allowed her to sleep.
"What?" she mumbled, when he nudged her for the third time.
"Are you going to watch the fireworks with me tonight?" Gaara groaned.
Today was the last day of the year. It was a special day, and had she been in Suna, she would be dragged around parties from dawn until dusk, so people would leave her be on the first of January.
Naruto was probably experiencing something similar now. Only thinking about it made her want to sleep. She closed her eyes. "I'll take that as a no." he said after a low chuckle.
"Can we watch it from our backyard? Alone?" she murmured, hopeful.
"Are you sure you don't want to go out? You haven't really socialized a lot lately..." he was worried.
"Do you really want me to go to a social party, where I'll be expected to wear a dress and stand up for hours?" she grumbled.
"Sakura will throw a private party. Friends only. You can probably spend the whole party lying on her couch and no one will mind." he offered.
She wrinkled her nose. "I would never do that, Naruto. It's disrespectful."
"She'll probably do it, herself. She complains about back pains all the time, now. She isn't even showing." Naruto mumbled. Gaara only hummed and turned her back to him. "You don't really complain about back pain."
"Complaining about it won't make it hurt any less." she murmured.
"So, it does hurt?" she turned around and stared at him. "Ok, ok, that was a stupid question. Do you think a massage will help?"
"...If you massage me, Yuraku might take it as invitation to kick me." she pushed her fingers into her stomach, and her child predictably moved. "See?"
"I mean your back." Naruto reached over and rubbed her back. She sighed in pleasure and closed her eyes. "Let me try." he stood and moved behind her to massage her back.
She enjoyed if for a few minutes. Then, a stab of pain took her by surprise. "Ow."
"Sorry." Naruto patted lightly the stop he had been massaging.
"...It wasn't you. I think this is a contraction." she placed a hand against her navel. Naruto froze behind her.
"Contraction? Are you going into labor?" he turned her around and looked into her eyes. Lying on her back made the pain worse.
"Maybe." she said hesitantly.
"I'll call the..." she grabbed his hand before he could stand.
"Don't panic, Naruto." she admonished him. "It might be a fake contraction."
"What if it isn't?" he watched her with worry.
"If it isn't, we will know soon enough. Just continue massaging me. It feels good." she turned on her side again, offering him her back.
"If you're sure..." he said hesitantly, complying to her wishes. She only hummed in agreement.
They were fake contractions. They came and went with no apparent pattern, and they only served to grant her wish to stay home. Naruto was freaking out too much to take her to any party. She probably shouldn't be feeling amused at the way he was panicking – maybe she should be panicking herself.
"Are you sure...?" Naruto began when he saw her wince.
She couldn't help chuckling. "I'm fine."
"I don't see what's funny about this." Naruto pouted.
"You're too stressed. Go out and have some fun. Leave a clone with me." she pushed on his shoulder.
"No." he scoffed. "You're insane to be suggesting that. We should be in the hospital."
"I'm not in labor." she repeated for the umpteenth time, this time smiling.
"What if something is wrong?" he fretted again.
"I would probably be feeling it. Being in the hospital always makes me feel worse, and there's no reason for me to go." she shook her head.
"Can I bring Sakura here, then?" she just waved her hand, wordlessly telling him to do whatever he wanted.
When Naruto returned ten minutes later, and he repeated to her the telling off Sakura had given him over the phone, she laughed again.
Sakura came over either way, for Naruto's peace of mind. He stopped worrying when she came to the conclusion nothing was wrong, and told them to go on a walk to try and relax.
Walking in the woods did make the contractions stop. Naruto decided to make a picnic for them over the hill during dinner.
As midnight approached, she sat in Naruto's arms, with her back against his chest as he sat with his back against a tree. Neither were looking at clocks, but they knew the moment midnight arrived, because the sky lit up with fireworks.
"Happy New Year." he murmured against her ear, caressing her stomach. "I hope this will be a really happy year for you."
"Happy New Year." she turned her head around and kissed his cheek. At the last second he turned, and kissed her lips instead.
They watched the fireworks, and once all of the dark smoke dispelled, they sat and watched the stars together, until she fell asleep inside his arms.
It happened suddenly, over the night. In the last day of December, only select few knew Naruto was married and expecting children.
On the first day of the year, the Hokage Tower was getting flooded with letters of well wishes and gifts for the children. Everyone was speculating who was the mystery woman – Hinata was a very common guess, and an elaborated conspiracy theory about a sordid love triangle between Naruto, Kakashi and Hinata was going around like wildfire.
Sakura was struggling to keep her pregnancy a secret even more than before, least everyone think she was the one expecting Naruto's child – several people who knew already did. It helped her that she was just barely showing, she didn't even need genjutsu to hide her stomach. She was still keeping her daughter's father a tightly guarded secret, she wouldn't be able to refute people if they said Naruto was the father.
As to how the rumor spread, Gaara's best guess was that someone who knew drank too much alcohol in a party. Possibly a nurse, as most of Naruto's friends – including a clone of himself – had attended the party Sakura and Ino threw, and no one there would spread rumors while sober. It might have been one of the elders, but in that case, they were breaching their own rules against letting people know.
Naruto was having the time of his life with it – he sent several clones to the Hokage Tower by late afternoon, and they were opening all the gifts, and sending them storage cards full of photos so she could see.
"Gaara, look at this." Naruto laughed, showing her a doll that looked like him, in Hokage garb.
She studied the photo and shook her head, smiling. "Creative."
"I'm going to try and see if I can find this doll for sale, and get one for them. I wonder if they have dolls of you in Suna?"
"Possibly." the thought was somewhat disturbing. Dolls for children seldom looked blank faced, and seeing a Naruto-like grin on a face that looked like hers had the potential to be very creepy. "What are you going to do with all those toys?"
"...I don't know. Shikamaru wanted to burn them, but that doesn't sit well with me. I think I'll just ask Tenten to store all of it in one of her special storage seals for dangerous weapons, and leave it in my office."
No matter how many screenings were done by any number of highly skilled ninja, she refused to accept from strangers anything she knew her children would put in their mouths. Naruto, himself, was reluctant. At least the most sensible people had given Naruto money or gift cards to exchange for toys, instead. Envelops with these were easily the majority of the gifts sent. She didn't mind the books and decorative pieces, since their children wouldn't be touching them without their supervision – those Naruto was sending to the intelligence section for a month so his ninja could be very throughout with their analysis.
"Look at this!" Naruto laughed, showing her baby boots, created with wools of several shades of orange. The effect was very beautiful. "They can have this, can't they?"
"No." she scoffed, but she was smiling. He didn't look at all disappointed.
"I'm going to keep those in my shelf as decoration." he decided.
"You're aware it's unlikely whoever sent these made them in a morning, right?" Naruto beamed at her.
"So, if I find them for sale, can I buy two pairs?"
"Why not?" she agreed. He leaned in and kissed her lips, looking excited.
"You're the best wife ever, have I ever told you that?"
The three days of New Year celebration became a celebration of the news of Naruto's children as well. Naruto still had his hands tied, unable to give an official statement, despite the fact he really wanted to. But he smiled and thanked everyone who personally congratulated him, even strangers on the streets, and that was enough confirmation for most people.
She was glad people of Konoha were so happy about his children. Sometimes she wondered how people of Suna would react if they knew. She doubted their reaction would be good – to the news that their male Kazekage was really a woman, and pregnant. The thought of their rejection alone made her sad, so she didn't dwell on it.
Naruto had gone overboard buying toys and clothes with the money for the gifts, and one of the empty rooms was now a very colorful playroom.
On January 5th, her brother arrived from Suna.
"You have a pond in your house. Nice." Her brother remarked as he glanced curiously around the inner garden.
She was sitting on the floor by the low living room table, watching him silently. His eyes softened when he turned to look at her.
"You look happy." the words prompted a smile to turn her lips.
She was happy. Naruto seemed to have a small radar on him, every time she caught herself thinking about her health issues, he would distract her with something silly. Something which almost certainly made her smile.
"It's hard to be sad around him." she said vaguely.
"Ah. Naruto never lets sadness rest, does he?" Kankurou mumbled.
"I'm sorry." she told him quickly, almost as soon as the silence began to settle between them. "For not telling you earlier. I..." she trailed off and placed her hands on her stomach when Yukio moved.
"I'm sorry too. All of this is my fault, after all." he offered her a bitter little smile. Her eyes widened.
"No. No, it's not your fault, Kankurou." he turned away to look at the cherry tree outside. She felt cold. She had blamed him to his face for her night with Naruto, more than once. But to think he might actually feel the weight of her death on his shoulders chilled her blood. "It's not your fault." she repeated firmly.
"I got you drunk. You wouldn't have been careless with contraceptives if you were in your right mind. You would have been fine." Kankurou's voice weakened as he looked to the sky.
"I wouldn't have been a mother. I would never have given another person life. If you must feel responsible for this, then thank you for giving me this opportunity." Kankurou turned to her, his expression blank. "I spent so many years taking people's lives, Kankurou. This time... I'm giving someone life. It's an indescribable feeling. I would never have felt it if not for this. So blame yourself for that." she finished with a smile, tears filling her eyes.
Kankurou scowled. "This is so unfair. You don't deserve this shit." he cursed, looking away. "You deserve to be happy. I wanted you to be happy, to have someone nice by your side. You deserve to have the kind of love only a lover can give you." She felt tears run down her bare cheeks.
"I'm happy. I have Naruto... He's doing his best to show me what a husband's love feels like. Thank you, Kankurou." she put as much feeling as she possibly could in her last three words. She didn't want him to spend the rest of his life blaming himself for her death, he didn't deserve that, and that would have been her fault.
When he looked at her again, there was so much pain in his eyes. But he was smiling at her. "I can see you're not lying, but..." he didn't need to finish his sentence, she could see the grief in his expression. "...That's why this is so unfair." he finished in a whisper.
There was nothing she could say for that. She couldn't agree, and she couldn't disagree. Life was just... Life. It's fairness was in the eye of the beholder.
Kankurou straightened up and walked towards her. "I'm glad to see you're doing well. You don't look sick like before." he squeezed her shoulder. "I have some stuff to do, but I'll come visit you later."
He was in Konoha just to talk to her. Kankurou wasn't busy, but she could see he was seconds away from crying, and her brother loathed crying in front of anyone else.
"See you later." she said softly. When she heard the door click shut, she covered her eyes and cried. Her brother was in pain, and she felt so guilty. She felt guilty for unthinkingly making him feel responsible, she felt guilty for not trusting him before.
She didn't feel Naruto approach, so she was badly startled when she felt him kneel behind her and take her into his arms. She sagged against his chest, and placed her hands over his as he gently rubbed her stomach.
"Have you ever had a slow dance with a lover?" he asked suddenly. She silently shook her head, her throat too tight to attempt a spoken answer. "We'll have to correct that."
A shadow clone walked across the room and clicked the radio on, playing the soothing, instrumental music she favored sometimes. Naruto stood and pulled her to her feet, placed his hands on her waist and held her close against him and started to sway on his feet.
She blinked when his clone pressed himself flush against her back, once again resting his hands on her stomach. She leaned against him as the original rested a soft kiss on her forehead.
Her eyes closed as they swayed together for a long time. As her sadness was soothed, being surrounded by Naruto made her start to feel... something else.
She started again when another clone joined them, wrapping his arms on both of Naruto's waists and resting his face on the crook of her neck. She couldn't hold back a breathless chuckle. "Naruto!" she murmured. "Am I supposed to have three lovers?"
"If you want." she blushed as the clone whispered huskily against her ear. Naruto grinned against her skin. "I'm going to take that pretty little blush as a 'Yes, I do'."
"It really means 'Idiot'." she whispered, her last word cut out as Naruto took her lips into a kiss, and all his hands became a little more daring over her body.
Just like that, he made her forget her sadness again.
Her brother returned the following day, just as she had expected. What she didn't expect was the huge sealing scroll he brought with him. It was even bigger than the ones he stored his puppets in.
She was curious, but she didn't ask. This time, Naruto remained with them to have tea and talk, at Kankurou's request. The talk remained light.
"So, are you telling us what's that, or not?" Naruto asked Kankurou for the sixth time, once the conversation fell into another natural lull. Kankurou scoffed.
"Impatient, are we?" but he moved to spread the scroll by the low table, between Gaara and him. Gaara peered at the storage seal – it looked more complicated than average, but she wasn't knowledgeable enough in seals to know what the extra details meant. "It's just a few things I brought with me from Suna, for Gaara."
"What? I thought I had already gotten all her essentials." Naruto wondered, crawling behind her until he could see the seal more clearly. "Hm, looks delicate. That seal always fails."
Kankurou grimaced. "Don't say that. It was hell for me to bring this all the way from Suna, if anything's broken..."
"I could have brought it with the Hifuujin." Naruto reminded him. Her brother huffed.
"Too late now." he activated the seal, and a huge box was unsealed from the scroll.
In Matsuri's handwriting, at the side, it was written, 'For Gaara'. She felt her chest tighten – she hadn't said goodbye to Matsuri. She didn't have the heart to say goodbye to anyone but her siblings and Naruto so far. It was selfish of her, but she just couldn't.
"A gift from Matsuri?" she wondered quietly.
"Not really. Not only from her. They're from a ton of people from our village, she just packaged it so it would arrive here in one piece. Open it." Kankurou lobbed a kunai at her, and she caught it easily. Hesitantly, she moved and very carefully broke the sealing tape.
She pulled the box open, and she saw a layer of cotton inside. Very gently she lifted it up, and her breath caught as she saw what was under.
"Geez, you were brave to bring all this glass in that seal." Naruto remarked, carefully lifting up a wind chime made of iridescent pink glass. The box was full of them, glass chimes of all colors and with all details, each cradled carefully in cotton, each one beautiful. "Safe birth, Kazekage-sama." Naruto read aloud the inscription on the paper hanging from the chime in his hands, looking surprised at the words.
Gaara covered her mouth with her hands, a single sob shaking her body as she stared at the box through tear filled eyes. Naruto looked alarmed at her. "Gaara?"
She couldn't answer him, sate his confusion. She was thankful when Kankurou leaned in and placed a hand on her shoulder, explaining to Naruto. "It's a Suna custom, Naruto. When a woman is pregnant, you give her a glass object to ward off evil spirits and protect both child and mother from everything that can go wrong in childbirth. The most common gift is a wind chime, so the sound will invite in good spirits."
"Oh." Naruto murmured, looking over the box with new eyes.
"We started getting these when I let the news of your gender and pregnancy leak from under the council's guard. The compound is brimming with them, but I couldn't bring them all, Matsuri stored the ones she liked best inside this box, after we screened them for traps."
Her people wanted her to live. They knew she had lied, and they still wanted her. They didn't hate her.
She really had become needed.
The sound that left her lips was strangled laugh, instead of the sob she was sure it would be. Naruto moved towards her and held her as she started to shake with silent laugher, her eyes full of tears.
"We got a life sized glass statue of you, too. It's pretty awesome, but I couldn't bring that here." Kankurou showed them a photo, a wide grin on his lips. The statue was of her usual battle pose, with her arms crossed over her chest and her gourd on her back. The gourd was hollow and full of sand.
"Holy shit, that looks awesome!" Naruto gaped. "It looks just like Gaara!"
"We have really good glass artisans, they're one of Suna's specialties." Kankurou said proudly. The next photo he showed was of thousands of wind chimes hanging from the ceiling of the front hall of the Kazekage compound.
Gaara turned away from the sight and buried her face onto Naruto's chest as she cried.
Naruto rubbed her back slowly, silent.
"Come on, Gaara, no time cry." he shook her gently after a few minutes. "We have to hang all of this up. I wonder how we're going to do that."
She looked up to see him form the clone seal, and suddenly the room was full of Narutos arguing with each other about punching holes on the ceiling or spreading ninja threads on the whole house to hold everything up. The second idea won.
She watched as Naruto and Kankurou set themselves to work – Kankurou was using his chakra and a puppet technique to strengthen the threads. As they worked, their living room was starting to look like a clothesline had been built near the ceiling – except it was full of tinkling wind chimes.
Some of the objects weren't chimes. She had gotten snow globes full of sand and figurines of sand spirits too.
"Hm, this one is wrapped." Naruto remarked as she picked up something on a gift box. It read 'For Hokage-sama' on the slip.
"This is for you." she told him with a confused blink, then held it out to him. "It has Matsuri's handwriting."
"Huh?" He opened the box and pulled from its cotton bed something which was definitely not a chime. It was an ornamental lantern, made from glass as well as wrought metal that shone with red and orange colors. Gaara's eyes widened and Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Wait, I think I remember this."
"...That's just Matsuri being Matsuri." she murmured with a smile, after they exchanged a long look. Naruto grinned at her, and he set the lantern on the table by her side.
She only realized what his grin meant when a clone came up to her and gave her a match box.
Gaara hesitated, but then she accepted the match box and carefully lit up the small candle attached inside the lantern.
"I'll treasure that." Naruto whispered by her ear, then delicately picked up the lantern and took it away.
She could only smile at him in response.
Naruto kept the lantern on a small table by their window, near a photo Sakura had taken of them, where both of them were smiling and holding her stomach. For the next two days, he asked her to relight the fire every time the small candle needed to be replaced, and she gave him a kiss every time she did.
"Why are nights always so hot here?" she fanned herself to try and ease a bit the stuffy feeling. It wasn't really helping.
Being inside Naruto's arms as they sat on the ground of their inner garden probably wasn't helping her case, either. They had been watching the stars, but she was feeling so hot there was sweat prickling her eyes. She never realized how annoying sweat was, until she couldn't use her sand armor to absorb it anymore. He laughed, "Says the Suna guy." he teased.
"Suna's heat is infinitely better than this wet, suffocating feeling." she muttered, unhappy. She was too lazy to stand and leave his arms, though she was sure it would have been more effective than the fan.
"How about we..." Naruto's words were cut by a sharp intake of air, and his eyes narrowed. Gaara was immediately alert, paying attention to their surroundings. Naruto seemed to have sensed something off, and he only ever looked that serious when he sensed an impending battle.
"Naruto?" she asked warily when she sensed nothing. All she heard was the twinkling of some of the wind chimes they had hung outside.
"We found spies in the hospital. They're Uzushio ninjas, the same ones who tracked our sons in Suna, and they know we noticed their presence." her eyes widened as she looked at him. She wasn't sure she could fight, not as tired and drained of chakra as she was, and not with her physical reflexes shot as they were. She watched him anxiously. "They're not going to find you. Come on." he stood up and pulled her to her feet. Gaara hissed as she felt a sharp pain on her lower back. "Gaara?"
"I'm fine. I got up too fast. Where are we going?" she asked quickly.
"I'm going to take you to the cave where I was born. I've put wards there to keep anyone from tracking you. I'm attracting them to the opposite direction."
A strong sense of deja vu hit her, and she looked at Naruto wide eyed at the memory the feeling summoned. She was well aware of the history of the Fourth Hokage's death, Naruto had told it to her once he had gathered the bits and pieces he heard from others.
"You're not using yourself as a bait?" Gaara breathed, anxiously. "It's you they are after, Naruto!"
"It's not. Their target changed when they found out you're pregnant. But don't worry, no one will get their hands on you. Come here." Naruto gently hugged her from behind, wrapping his hands around her bulging stomach. Another clone materialized and grabbed her sand gourd, which was resting against the tree.
Seconds later, they were inside the cave, which was lit up with emergency lights. Sakura and Tsunade were tersely standing there. "Naruto, are you sure...?" Sakura began as soon as they appeared.
"Sakura, I need you here more than I need you by my side. I'm fine, and I have Kakashi, Hinata, Sasuke and Karin with me." Tsunade crossed her arms and pursed her lips.
"Naruto, getting the two of us here with Gaara is completely pointless. Where are doctors Mieko and Himi? They're the ones who can help Gaara if she goes into labor." Naruto sighed shakily, running a hand over his hair.
"Dr. Himi is dead, and we think they're controlling Dr. Mieko's mind somehow. They were both talking about inducing Gaara's labor tonight, that was how we noticed something was wrong. When Ino managed to break their control over Dr. Himi's mind for a second, she killed herself and asked us to be careful of Uzushio as she lay dying." Naruto mumbled.
"Damn this." Tsunade cursed. "Couldn't they kill any other doctors?" she demanded angrily, looking at one of the walls.
"They're after Gaara, so they would attack her doctors. Really, we can't trust any doctors but the two of you tonight. We found two other gynecologists dead. The two of you likely weren't attacked because... Ah!" Naruto gasped, and a pained expression contorted his face as he held his head. Seconds later, he dissolved in smoke.
"Naruto!" Gaara cried out in panic. She hadn't even seen the moment he had replaced himself with a clone! Jutsus which hit him weren't supposed to affect his clones, either, unless he was dead or grievously hurt.
She felt a sharp pain in her stomach that brought tears to her eyes from moving too fast. She hissed when, seconds later, a strong cramp hit her, and fell to her knees, holding her stomach.
"Gaara!" Sakura rushed to her side, grabbing her just before her knees touched the sand that had gathered to soften her fall.
"No, no, no. Don't do this to me, kid! Don't you dare go into labor, we're not obstetricians." Tsunade walked up to them with a grimace.
Sakura placed her shining hand on her cramping stomach. "This is a contraction." she said breathlessly.
"Damn it!" Tsunade cursed, then looked around. "Naruto forgot to bring the alcohol."
"Tsunade shishou!" Sakura cried, scandalized.
"Help her to the bed, Sakura. Giving birth on the cold ground isn't going to help her survive." Tsunade ordered through ground teeth, moving around to assess their supplies.
"T-This is only the first contraction." Gaara stuttered, trying to reassure them though she felt terrified at the mere thought her time may have arrived. What terrified her more was the idea of what might have happened to Naruto.
"Then let's hope Naruto won't take more than half a day to get rid of those bastards and secure the hospital." She sounded absolutely sure Naruto was alright, and Gaara clung to that. She shakily walked towards the bed, supported by Sakura through her pain. "We don't have anything here but water and fucking towels. That idiotic little..." Tsunade growled.
Gaara closed her burning eyes, trying to swallow past her painfully tightening throat. "Shishou! Get a hold of yourself." Sakura hissed from her side.
Both of them helped her lie on her side, then Sakura stood by her, holding her hands over her stomach as she monitored her. Tsunade helped her out of her trousers, then covered her with one of the clean, warm blankets that someone – likely Naruto – had stored there for them.
"The babies are fine. This isn't a training contraction as far as I can tell." Sakura explained calmly once she finished her examination. "Gaara's blood pressure is above safe levels, and her chakra circulatory system is in distress."
"Sakura. I'm going to use my chakra to stabilize her. You'll waste as little chakra as you can. I don't know how long we will be here, but we need to be economical, just in case." Tsunade's voice was serious and composed this time.
"Yes, shishou!" Sakura nodded sharply.
"Gaara, get as much chakra as you possibly can inside your seal. Only stop when you feel like you're about to pass out." She nodded silently at Tsunade's words, and concentrated on doing just that.
Tsunade rested a hand on Gaara's wrist, and the other over her heart, and she sighed as her healing chakra eased the pain she had been feeling on her chest.
"Let's get you through this with two healthy little pests, kid." Despite her fear, she smiled at Tsunade's determined words.
"Please don't kill yourself, Naruto." she whispered. She fervently hoped that night wouldn't play out the same as the night twenty-seven years ago. The night Naruto was born, and both his parents died.