Hello everybody. Sorry this chapter is a little later than all the other ones, but I've had some stuff happen recently and had to put updating on hold for a minute. I also got a really bad stomach flu (that I still have) and I currently feel like absolute hell.

I hope you enjoy. :)

"I hate him." Bolt mumbled, ripping up grass that caught between his fingers, blue eyes narrowed ahead of him.

Sarada sighed, looking up at the sky, glancing at Bolt through her peripherals.

"It's not entirely his fault, you know? Your parents weren't happy, Bolt. Unhappiness is never anything you want to live with. Your mom seems happy, right?" She questioned him tentatively, noticing the rough way he was ripping out the earth faster and faster.

"I guess." He replied, eyes still glaring into the distance.

"W-Well, that's something, right?" Sarada said, rubbing the back of her head, smiling uneasily.

Silence.

"I still hate him. He's such a jerk! He's never there for us, I think this is an excuse for him to stop trying. This way he can disappear for good and be done with his children."

Sarada closed her eyes, tucking her chin onto the tops of her knees.

"Listen, Bolt. You should talk to him about this. Face to face. It might help you feel a little better." She murmured, not looking over at him, but feeling his hackles rise at what she said.

"Really? Man, why didn't I think of that?" He exclaimed, angrily, sarcastically.

Sarada did lift her head then, raising a twitching eyebrow at him.

"Hey. I'm just trying to help. Nothing will ever get accomplished because you never confront him. Stop being a coward and just do it!" She yelled, raising a fist, making him squirm, lowering himself away from the black smoke that was starting to rise out of her sharingan activated glare.

"O-Okay." He stuttered, putting his hands up in defeat.

"Kind of a nice place for a Wednesday Naruto, what gives?" The Nara head asked, crossing his arms across his chest, sitting back.

The blonde smirked, taking a sip of his hot tea.

"I didn't think it wise to discuss what we were talking about the other day in my office. Do you?"

Shikamaru sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"Leave it to you to remember that little bit of the conversation." He muttered, looking around the empty restaurant wearily.

"I forget nothing. You know that, Shikamaru." Naruto said, grinning.

"I'm happy with Temari. I haven't done anything with Ino. Nothing has happened, and nothing will. But.."

Naruto listened.

"But. I remember what my feelings were for Ino all those years before, and sometimes...I think about what it would be like to have her beside me."

Silence.

"When we were teammates, we argued constantly, always butting heads, snarky remarks, and...I feel like I'm doing something wrong every single time I think about them." He muttered, drawing his cup of hot sake towards him, taking a sip.

Naruto crossed his arms as well, tilting his head back, memories rushing through his own mind.

Silence.

"Did you love her, Shikamaru?" He asked, without looking back at the ebony eyed male.

Silence.

"Yes."

Ah. There it was.

Clenching his fists, Naruto sighed, understanding exactly where the other man was coming from.

"But, I love Temari. She's shockingly just like Ino. Just...rougher around the edges, where Ino was soft, and comforting when she wanted to be. Like...when Asuma-Sensei died, she would sit beside me, saying nothing, just...running her finger over the top of my hand. It wasn't much, but...it spoke volumes that she knew what kind of comfort that I needed, without me having to say anything at all."

Yeah. Naruto understood that too.

Silence.

Blue eyes watched the man across the way, noticing the uncomfortable edge he was starting to acquire, so he changed the topic.

"Sakura is pregnant." He blurted, cursing himself.

Shikamaru nodded, sighing.

"Yeah, I know. I witnessed her get horrifically sick in her office the other morning. She told me she had eaten something bad."

Naruto rubbed his temples, downing the rest of his hot tea, wishing he had gotten something stronger.

Silence.

"We've got to keep it under wraps for a little while, it'll look bad for Sakura, and her trial. Not to mention my status as the Hokage, but, that isn't the most important thing to me at the moment."

Shikamaru was a little shocked at that statement.

"Don't care about your job?" The Nara male inquired.

"Of course I care about my job. It's what I've wanted for years...but, it's driven a huge wedge between me and the children I have now. And I need to fix that. I can't keep putting my job in front of my family."

Shikamaru smiled, nodding his head, agreeing fully.

Naruto smiled back, but feeling a wave of uncertainty and underlining guilt fall over him again.

"So, his surgery is scheduled for next week?" Ino asked her pink-haired friend.

Sakura nodded, spooning some miso soup, blowing on the heat.

"Are you excited?" Ino asked, smiling lightly.

She was, honestly. However, she had so many other things on her mind, such as concerns, and what ifs.

What if the child died?

What if the bone graft wasn't good enough?

What if this test run was proved futile and the body rejected the graft?

What if she botched the surgery?

"Sakura. Calm down. I can see all those gears turning, stop psyching yourself out."

Silence.

"Ino. I need to tell you something." Sakura murmured, looking around, guilty expression on her features.

The blonde woman arched an eyebrow, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"What's going on? Has something happened?" Ino questioned.

Sakura fiddled with the hem of her dress, swallowing back a thick lump of nerves that worked its way up her throat.

"I-I.." She began, taking a breath to steady her voice.

Ino tapped her fingers on the table.

"Come on billboard, you can do it. It can't be that terrible."

Silence.

"I-I'm...pregnant." Sakura whispered hoarsely.

The blonde woman's jaw dropped, her chopsticks clattering to the table.

"What?" She asked, a little too loudly.

Sakura bit her lip, grabbing her glass of water, chugging half of it down.

"But-how-why-w-who-WHEN?" Ino asked, nearing hysteria.

"Please. Calm down, Ino. You're starting to make a scene. I never should have told you about it." Sakura scolded her, annoyed now.

"Okay..okay. Sorry. You just...completely caught me off guard. I'm so confused."

Sakura only sighed in response, eyes never leaving the table, a little too ashamed to look up at the other Kuniochi.

"It's not Sasuke's? There's no way it could be his." Ino whispered.

Sakura shook her head slowly.

"Oh man. Sakura, whose is it?" Ino questioned, voice low.

Silence.

Sakura slowly rose her eyes to meet Ino's and bit her lip, blushing profusely.

"Oh shit."

Sakura felt tears fill her eyes, feeling utterly ashamed.

"S-Sakura. You're going to have Kakashi-Sensei's baby?" Ino hissed, blue eyes wide, brows pinched together.

The pink-haired Kuniochi gave her a deadpan expression, not knowing whether to be offended or humored at her statement.

"Ino. It's not his baby. What in the world is that? He was my teacher!" She hissed right back at her oblivious friend.

Shuddering, Ino ran her hand through her ponytail.

"It's Naruto's." Sakura said, voice shaking slightly, afraid of what her friend would say.

Silence.

"Oh wow."

Silence.

"Uh...when did this happen?" Ino asked her, voice low.

Sakura wrung her hands together, bile rising in her throat, knowing she would have to tell Ino about the affair.

"U-Uh, it started more than a month ago. Remember that night at the bar?"

Ino nodded her head slowly, a hint of disbelief laid in her eyes.

"Oh damn. How many times since then?" Ino asked.

Sakura rolled her eyes, fingering her water glass again.

"Does that really matter? The point is that it happened."

Ino sighed, sitting fully against the back of her chair, rubbing her temples slightly, still confused, and fully concerned towards her friend.

Silence.

"I don't know what to do." Sakura mumbled, feeling tears overlap, a sob curled deep in her chest.

"Hey. It'll be okay, Sakura." Ino said, not entirely confident in that statement, but knowing the pinkette needed to hear something positive.

"How?" Sakura asked, feeling dread clutch her chest, making her sobs come out harder and harder.

Ino reached across the way and grabbed her friends hand, stroking the top of her fingers.

Silence.

Calming down a little bit, Sakura looked up at the blonde, noticing a question etched on her features.

"What do you want to ask, Ino?" She said, sniffling.

Silence.

"I'm not sure if I should ask it at this moment." Ino responded.

Sakura shook her head, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin.

"Just ask me. I don't deserve tact at this point." She murmured, feeling her eyes start to burn with more tears.

Ino just glared a little bit, completely disagreeing with that statement.

"Why Naruto?" The blonde Kuniochi asked, keeping her voice as low as she could.

Sakura blanched at the name but took a deep breathe, closing her eyes, seeing the blonde mans face in her minds eye.

"I...I love him."

Ino was stunned for a second, but refrained from saying anything, not trusting herself to respond until she recycled the words once or twice over in her mind.

Honestly though, this revelation wasn't that farfetched, Ino had a feeling that Sakura always cared about Naruto more than she let on. Why she never acted on her feelings, Ino never knew and never brought it up.

"Do you still love Sasuke?" She asked before thinking, closing her eyes, hoping she didn't offend her already distraught friend.

Sakura blanched even more at that question, but turned the answer round and round in her mouth, hoping she didn't sound too much like a homewrecker.

"No."

Ino looked Sakura over sadly, understanding why her friend didn't have feelings for her husband anymore.

He was never here. Even when he could be.

"Well. What are you going to do now?" Ino asked, treading lightly still.

Sakura took another sip of water, finding her calm.

"I filed for divorce and plan on confronting him the next time he's here. I've talked to Sarada about it. I know this is the right thing to do."

Ino nodded, agreeing with her.

"It's not that, truly." Sakura started, sniffling again, "I know what my marriage is, and with the sense I know he has, Sasuke does to."

"What is it?" Ino said.

"It's what I did to Hinata and Naruto." Sakura murmured, feeling more tears trek down her cheeks.

Ino looked her over, digesting her words.

"Sakura. Hinata wasn't happy with Naruto. I can tell you that much. I talked to her on several occasions and...she wasn't happy. And it wasn't because of Naruto. I don't think she ever wanted to be a stay at home mom, and she was too afraid to disappoint her father. The only thing Hinata has ever wanted, is to do the name Hyuuga justice."

Silence.

"Their marriage was already falling apart. No offense to Hinata, but Naruto needs someone to ground him, to tamper down his sometimes immature attitude, and reckless behavior."

Sakura could agree with that, but decided to not say anything.

Silence.

"Well. What's done is done. The only thing you can do now, is move forward. And you know I'll be there for you every step of the way." Ino said to the other Kuniochi, grabbing her fingers again, throwing a wide smile, squeezing her hand gently.

Naruto was stamping papers, when he heard the door to his office open that night.

"Shikamaru. I told you to go home. It's past ten o'clock, you know how pissed Temari gets when you're late."

Silence.

Rubbing his temples, blue eyes drew up and clashed with black onyx's...

That did not belong to Shikamaru Nara.

Sasuke.

"Dobe." He levelled, a wave of anger taking over his features.

Shit.

"I think we have a few things to talk about." The darker haired man murmured, strolling across the room, taking a seat across the way from the blonde Hokage.

Levelled glares hit the other, and the room fell into immeasurable silence.