Authors notes: To Annee my most beloved reviewer, that's right the rest of you are slackers. I don't think you caught my brief edit to my last chapter, but I do in fact know all about crazy pregnancy hormonal madness because I have a kid...
Actual Authors notes: So who wants to be my 100th reviewer? Eh eh? I figured I would have hit that by now, you know?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
There were several moment in my life that I could think of, where time had seemed to just stop in one moment. This was one of those moments. I knew that my sole purpose in coming here was for this very reason, but I found myself thinking that it was far to soon to have children. So much about the future was still up in the air, whether or not living in Konoha would be permanent or not. Even my allegiance here wasn't even self confirmed. My sense of self lately had been thoroughly destroyed, and now to top everything off, we had a kid on a way. The only thing that was certain was that I now knew that this news was far to early.
"Say something." My spell of thoughts was instantly broken, but I was once again trying to find m way through foreign territory. My silence on the matter was clearly making her upset, but for the life of me I couldn't think of what to say.
"We can do this." That was the first thing that popped into my mind. I reassured her with a nod and climbed onto the couch with her, pulling her into me. After a few moments I became aware of her silent crying. I could tell that she had to be thinking roughly the same things that I was. We didn't have a choice now, but to tackle the situation head on. Having a kid though wasn't the end of the world. Many people had done it before us, and we were far better off than some. It was just the initial shock that would need to wear off first.
It didn't take long for her to fall asleep lying in my lap, the wet mark on my pants had long dried, while I sat there in thought. There was so much to prepare for, and yet I didn't want to get ahead of myself. Nine months was a long time, but I knew that it would be over before I knew it, and that was what got to me. Years had a way of flying by lately.
A few hours passed by rather quickly and soon my stomach growling for food woke Sakura up from her crying induced nap.
"Hungry?" She laughed at the noise. It was good to hear her laugh at something after our recent bout. Hopefully her mood didn't change. "Let's go eat somewhere. I need to get out of the house." I felt the same way, somehow the walls just seemed to be very confining. Even though the house was rather large and spacious.
"Definitely." She grabbed my hand and helped me up off the couch, even though I didn't need it. I soon found it just to be a pretext to grab my hand though. They never came apart until we reached the restaurant. The air in general had just changed around us. If I was forced to put a word on it, it would be happy. Which was an odd feeling considering the overall circumstances. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.
"So who should we tell first?" That was a question that I had been dreading for some time. I was sure whoever she ended up telling first would end up blabbing it to everyone in sight. figured personally didn't have people to tell. Which for a moment brought up some dark thoughts, but I quickly ignored them. Sakura herself had more than enough friends for the both of us. Though I already knew who she wanted to tell first, though considering her recent loss to her that might not be the case. The two had a past about as complicated as mine and Naruto's. A dysfunctional friendship on a good day.
"I don't really care." It was true, and I tried my hardest not to sound like a dick when saying it, but at times I figured everything that came out of my mouth sounded like that. Luckily she didn't seem to take any offense to my words.
"Tell who what?" The voice alone made me want to leave. I apparently had rotten enough luck for my dysfunctional friend to show up. Now I knew who we were telling first. If he hadn't already been informed. He was the Hokage after all, and I could only imagine that the news that one of his best medical ninjas was now impregnated by the last of the Uchiha clan. I could just picture the headlines. I could also imagine that there would be a few people who wouldn't be pleased. I didn't need to bother with them though.
I watched Sakura's mouth start to open with words that would likely lead to an obnoxious congratulatory slap on the back. Mentally I braced myself.
"I'm pregnant! I just found out today." Sakura was clearly excited about it. Though I was sure that deep down she was dreading the future a little, but if she wanted to play happy that was fine. Naruto gave Sakura a hug, but not before the congratulations that I knew he would give me. The action stung, and I had to stop myself from punching him. There was something about the way he did it that told me he was jealous. Though I knew for a fact that he had his chance with her a long time ago. I found it to be slightly cruel of her to come onto him like that. Things would have been way different though if he had just accepted her.
It was crazy to think about how many small decisions had led to the present that we were in. The sheer fact that we were even together in our present circumstance was incredible. We both slept in a bed with someone who a had attempted to kill the other. I was beginning to wonder if I had any friends I hadn't tried to kill at least once. The sad truth was that none were coming to mind. If only there were some sort of reset button to just undo the past. That was all just wishful thinking at best.
Naruto proceeded to order something from the menu. I was surprised that he could even digest something that wasn't ramen. I really didn't mind the fact that he just butted into our dinner. My hours of thinking included thoughts of trying to be a little more...tolerant, of Naruto. He had his moments still.
"Say where's Hinata, I figured you would have brought her with you, since you apparently have some free time."
"Yeah running a village is a pain, but it's totally worth it. Though you're right let me go get her. Give me a second." The show-off literally meant a second. He flipped on of his strange kunai in the air, it hung briefly in the air for just a moment before an outstretched hand caught it again. If one had blinked they would have missed the action all together. Now another person was with him, the girl I hadn't seen for just a few brief days. She was looking to be in much better spirits despite the fact that she looked like she wanted to throw up from being teleported through a space time jutsu. It took her a moment to even realize that she had moved. Naruto could have at least gave her a warning. If he ever did that to me, I would stick that kunai somewhere that he would be in absolutely no hurry to get to.
"We're back!" I could see Hinata almost smack Naruto for a moment but restrain herself. Apparently she didn't care for his madness all the time either. I had to admit that I was slightly amused at her display. It was just good to know that I wasn't the only one.
"So Hinata, guess what Sakura's pregnant!" One day she was going to have to teach him some social skills. I knew that she had them. She was always quiet and never imposed to much. I was beginning to think that maybe they balanced each other just perfectly. I glanced over st Sakura, who I could tell wasn't happy with the fact that Naruto was just telling people. I wasn't sure about Hinata and Sakura's relationship. I never imagined them being friends. They came off as co-workers who just got along with each other.
This all led to an awkward pause that left Hinata frozen in the spotlight. I guess the other were waiting on her reaction. Though in some respect she was like me and didn't really know how to respond. She just sat across the table silently. Though with a distinct smile on her face.
The dinner continued on without her response, until after what seemed like an eternity we finally left to go our separate ways. I didn't really care where the other two went, so long as we could have some decent quiet time between the two of us. Naruto's loud mouth had literally given me a headache and I really just wanted to sit or lay down somewhere. We headed home as the sun started to set, walking close together. The cold evening air was just a signal that winter was on its way. Still the lingering warmth from the inside of the house was a nice adjustment.
I led Sakura to the couch and lay down on it with her. There wasn't much room, but our bodies were still cold from the air outside, so neither of us were about to complain. I reached up behind me and grabbed the remote off the top of the couch where Sakura liked to store it. I clicked on the television, something that I figured she was going to have a lot more time for rather soon. I still didn't care much for watching it, but nonetheless I flipped around the channels till she told me to stop on a particular channel. It was some type of movie. I placed the remote back in its usual spot before wrapping my arm around her.
The movie seemed like it was straight out of one of Kakashi's book, and sure enough it was the movie adaptation of the book. I was unfortunate enough to not find that out until the end. Which I had somehow forced myself to watch. I hadn't even noticed that Sakura had fallen asleep, or how late that it actually was. I slipped off the couch as carefully as possible and headed for the kitchen. My throat was rather dry at this point. I downed a glass of water and went to flip off the lights.
I made my way silently to Sakura's side, from the light from the television I could see the content smile on her face. I bent down and picked her up as slowly as I could manage and breathed a small sigh of relief after I was sure that she hadn't woken up. I carried her to the bedroom and put her down on the bed. I grabbed a towel, after the whole day I needed a shower. I covered Sakura up with the blankets before I left the room. I left the door cracked so it wouldn't creak on my way back in.
The hot water was surprisingly pleasant despite the fact that I was rather warmed up from Sakura's excess body heat on the couch. After getting dry and dressed I headed back into the room. Only to find it empty. I figured she must have gone to get a drink. I waited a few minutes in the bed, but still she never came back. Something in the back of my mind was pushing its way forward. She wasn't in the house. I shot out of bed and quickly checked all the rooms and sure enough she wasn't anywhere in the house. She most certainly wouldn't have left on her own without saying something. That wasn't like her in the least. Someone had managed to take her while I was in the shower.
I burst out the door, but had no idea where to look. Anyone could have taken her anywhere by now. I was going to need help if I was going to find her, and I happened to know the best sensor in all of Konoha. Though I really didn't want to talk to her, hell I didn't even know if she would even be willing to help me in the first place. Though she was my best shot to find Sakura, and no one could hide from her. I ran back inside the house and grabbed my equipment and got ready for a fight. Whenever I found the ones responsible for this, they would be dead.