I feel like I'm rocking it right now. Although this story always tends to make me feel a little unsure of myself. I am a fair way into the next chapter which I want to say it a good sign but let's not jinx myself. Also for anyone keeping up with Boruto. This filler land is hilarious. I swear some of the plots look like they are spoonfed directly from fanfics. There was an episode with a possession style summoning! I wasn't even planning on going back to my other story but possession style summoning was literally what I was trying to make up for my characters. A DECADE AGO! After seeing that episode all the plotbunnies for that story are bouncing around my head again. Anyways. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Kayla sat stiffly in Kurenai's living room. Rose had practically manhandled her to sit, then abandoned her, taking the fresh bag of groceries into the kitchen.
Kurenai was graciously going along with whatever ham-handed plan Rose was obviously cooking up, bringing a cup of tea and sitting opposite to the awkward sand ninja.
Kayla shifted nervously, wishing she had stayed in bed. "Sorry for intruding, I honestly have no idea what Rose is up to."
Kurenai just smiled gently, "She's always looking out for the people around her. If she thinks we need to talk then there must be some reason." Kurenai relaxed back in her chair, a hand absentmindedly resting on top of her stomach.
The movement caught her attention and suddenly Kayla realized what looked different about the Joūnin. The bump of her growing belly was more prominent when she leaned back, a realization that made Kayla sit forward. She sucked in a sharp breath, "You're pregnant?" The words felt like they burned her as she blurted them out. Her hand shot over her mouth realizing how rude that sounded, "Sorry I didn't mean to assume or pry. A um… friend of mine in the sand village is expecting so I've got babies on the brain…" She trailed off lamely.
Kurenai seemed surprised but settled back with a knowing look. "If your 'friend' is near your age that must be quite a shock."
"Yeah… It was a surprise, she's not sure what to feel or do. She doesn't want to give up being a ninja but she doesn't have a choice now." Kayla grumbled.
Kurenai took a sip of her tea thoughtfully. "I worried about that once before I was pregnant. I worried for my students, and how my change in lifestyle would affect them, I worried about my village and my comrades and the people I swore to protect. But being a mother doesn't mean I'll never be a ninja again, I haven't decided whether or not I'll retire from active duty after my maternity leave. Your 'friend' can always decide to return to being a ninja after her child is older."
Kayla nodded, getting lost staring into the cup of tea. "Yeah, you're right… she's just… scared of being a bad mom I guess."
Kurenai smiled, "I think it would be more strange if she wasn't scared."
Kayla felt a little better, relaxing and chatting casually till Rose brought out lunch. Apparently, Yoshino had been teaching her to make summer squash soup.
Lunch went well and soon enough Rose and Kayla were headed back to the hotel. Rose smiled at Kayla while they walked, "so?"
"So what. You almost surprised me into outing myself." Kayla huffed, not as mad as she seemed but not happy with Rose's meddling either.
"That was a terrible lie. I'd be surprised if she bought it, but she's a good person. I don't think you have anything to worry about." Rose skipped down the street next to her jovially.
Kayla rolled her eyes. "You are the worst."
Rose shrugged. "You seemed in a better mood after you talked to her and I think she appreciated the company too."
Kayla watched out of the corner of her eye but didn't say anything.
Rose's smile dropped, "She's been visiting Asuma's grave every day. But she seemed happier today than I've seen in a while."
It shook Kayla to think about the implication. Kurenai would be a single parent because of the Akatsuki attack. Kayla could have been in the same situation.
"You and Shikamaru are going to help look after her and her baby, right?" Kayla asked quietly.
"Of course." Rose smiled again. "It sucks that we live so far apart that I can't help you just as much but I'm sure Temari will help you if you ask her. She seemed worried about you yesterday."
Kayla sighed but let a small smile through, "I think she's already trying to help by bringing me here. She heard me talking with Gaara and figured out what neither of us knew how to share. She knew that you'd be the only person I would open up to or actually listen to so she got me to come on this mission."
"Well, she is almost as smart as my boyfriend," Rose smirked.
"Careful, " Kayla chuckled, "She would hurt you for that."
"As if I'm not used to that with you." Rose countered with a laugh. "You make sure you send me an invite to meet the baby, or if there's going to be a wedding."
Kayla's gut squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of a wedding but she tried to keep it off her face. "Of course."
With the mission completed, for now, it was time for Kayla and Temari to return home. Rose saw them off at the gate and they began the three-day trip back. It wasn't going to be like the silent trip to the Leaf.
"Temari." Kayla started uncomfortably. "I want to be with Gaara and face everything ahead of us together." Temari's smirk at her admission almost made her clam up but took a breath and continued. "As much as I want to believe what you said… That we can do what makes us happy and things will turn out fine, I just… can't. I'm afraid that if we do the wrong thing, the council will convince the villagers that Gaara isn't suited to be Kazekage and he'll lose everything he's worked so damn hard for." She paused, coming to terms with her decision. "I always end up doing the wrong thing, I have made so many mistakes. I don't want to cause him any more pain… So I need your help to make a plan."
Temari nodded, she smiled a cockeyed grin. "Then that's what we'll do."
When Kayla and Temari arrived home 3 days later they headed straight for the Kazekage Tower. There was a tense atmosphere hovering over the streets they weaved through. The Akatsuki showing themselves again so soon had everyone on edge. The city was abuzz, rumours spreading anxiously between shinobi and civilians alike. A few vendors tried to stop Temari, looking for any news from their trip to the Leaf. When they did finally make it to Gaara's office he and Kankuro were sorting through massive piles of paper, looking overwhelmed and haggard.
Temari scoffed as she dropped the mission report on the desk with the rest of the mess. "So we're away for a week and everything falls apart, is that it?"
Kankuro looked properly annoyed at his sister's jab but Gaara just looked relieved to see them. Glancing over both of them subtly, "I assume the mission went smoothly."
"We hit a dead end without more information from other villages, the Hokage sent a request out but who knows how long that will take." Temari shrugged off the question, sharpening as she asked her own. "Speaking of new information, when were you going to tell me and Kankuro that Kayla is pregnant."
Gaara looked up from his work sharply and a sudden shifting of sand snapped the door to his office shut. Kayla went red to her roots but resisted the urge to outright disappear. They needed to get on the same page, even if Temari's methods were jarring.
Kankuro dropped the stack of papers he was working on, surprise and discomfort bordering on disgust mingling on his face. "Pregnant like 'going to have a baby'?"
"Yes, that's what pregnant means Kankuro, keep up" Temari snapped, "how are we supposed to help you if you keep secrets from us." She explained to her youngest brother in a slightly softer tone.
Gaara stood up from the desk and walked around to stand with them. He didn't want any of the authority of the Kazekage to affect this conversation. "I was planning on telling you later this month. I read it was common to start telling family around the 3-month mark." His calm tone was odd for the situation.
"You can't be thinking of keeping it. You guys can barely even be considered adults. Why would you even want a kid?" Kankuro seemed to have snapped out of his surprise.
"It's not that simple asshole. We didn't do this on purpose!" Kayla growled out.
Gaara used his sand to surreptitiously check for anyone sneaking near his office. "Shukaku involved himself without either of us knowing. A fragment of its chakra is being housed within the baby and threatens Kayla's life if we try to remove it."
Both of his siblings turned ashen at the statement. Seemingly unable to come up with any sort of response.
"It would be dangerous if anyone knew about this. It must stay between us." Gaara continued.
Kankuro nodded, looking sick.
Temari squared Kayla with a hard look, "You didn't tell me that part."
Kayla shrugged, finding it more difficult to resist the urge to disappear now that the truth was on the table. "I told you enough for you to understand." She huffed.
Temari wasn't satisfied with that answer, "We just spent three days agreeing that for any plan to work, we all have to know what's going on, all the cards on the table. Are you hiding anything else?" She spoke imperiously, putting her hands on her hips.
Kayla scowled, her anger starting to get the better of her, "It doesn't matter."
Temari rolled her eyes, "It all matters! I can't make a good strategy if I don't have all the pieces."
"It doesn't change anything!" Kayla was almost shouting. She struggled to wrestle down her temper, speaking next in a low strained voice, "What does it matter that when Shukaku's chakra was attacking me I had nightmares of a kid. That it told me when Gaara was gone and killed me so Kankuro's interrogation buddy had to restart my heart. It doesn't change that fact that I'm stuck like this and there's nothing we can do to change it." She took a deep breath, trying to rein in her outburst. "I'm fucking exhausted so I'm going to go lay down. If any of you can think of a way to prevent the council from using all this nonsense as a smear campaign against Gaara, I'd feel a whole lot better." She disappeared, finally caving in to the urge to retreat from the uncomfortable situation and left for home.
It was hours later before Gaara came home and found her lying flat on the bed with her head propped up, looking at her stomach. Gravity pushed her stomach down and away from her navel revealing a small bump.
Gaara approached with a curious look. Kneeling down next to the bed to be eye level with the first physical sign of the growing baby. Wonder flitted over his face and his hand twitched on the bed like he was subconsciously stopping himself from reaching out to touch. "Do you want to talk about the dream?"
It was the lesser of the two things she had let slip on her last outburst. She wondered maybe if he was playing it safe to test how willing she was to talk. Kayla grumbled, not exactly pleased but resigned to the fact she would have to talk about it eventually. She took a deep breath and told him everything. The child with two forms. The throne of bones and the bloody oasis. The gentle smile and the sandcastle. The final message that Gaara was dead. In the end, she finally tore her eyes away from her body, looking at Gaara's face to gauge his reaction, "Do you think it means something?"
Gaara remained impassive, nothing so shocking in what she said to break his concentration on the small mound. "The few times I slept and let Shukaku take control, the nightmares were terrifying. Even after he had his way he would torture my mind." He paused as if lost in thought for a moment, "do not give it too much significance."
Kayla watched the carefully neutral look on his face and the slight twitch of the hand closest to her. "Do you want to touch it?" It wasn't till after the words left her mouth that she realized she had said it out loud. She blushed and looked away. "I needed to remind myself it's real." She admitted quietly.
He hesitated a moment, then reached his hand forward to rest on the small bump. It was softer than he imagined yet more solid. It was too early to feel any movements but he held his hand there all the same. "Remind yourself?"
Her lips turned down to a slight scowl. "When I first had that dream it felt so real. By the time it told me you were dead I couldn't even doubt it. In my mind, we were going to collect your body and I would have to deal with whatever this was on my own." She took a breath trying not to let her mind wander to where that would have taken her. "When you were alive all of that weight vanished. I know that you did die and it was only thanks to Lady Chiyo that you were alive again but suddenly the dream had been wrong. It made it feel like just a silly dream I never had to think of again. But then… you told me what Shukaku had done and it all came rushing back. I didn't want it to be real and I stubbornly held onto that but I knew you were right without the testing. It's like a war with myself; I know it's real but the part of me that is so afraid just keeps looking for ways to pretend it isn't." She reached over to the bedside for the book Dr. Amai had given her on her first appointment, flipping to a dog-eared page and handing it to Gaara who took it without moving the hand on her stomach.
He looked down the long list of first-trimester symptoms. Nausea, fatigue, food aversions, heartburn, constipation. The list went on and on. It was a wonder women wanted to get pregnant at all. "I didn't know you were feeling ill."
"I'm not." She sighed, frustrated, "none of these things are happening to me."
Gaara blinked slowly, not understanding the problem, "Isn't that a good thing?"
"No-Yes-That's not what I… Urrrgh!" She covered her face with her hands. "I don't want to feel sick, but maybe if I did I wouldn't have such a hard time convincing myself this is real!" She spoke through her hands.
Silence stretched between them. Gaara still holding his hand over the growing baby and Kayla still covering her face. After a few moments, Gaara removed his hand and Kayla could hear him rifling through something.
"Would this help make it more real?" Gaara asked softly.
Kayla lifted her hands just enough to peek over at him. He had shifted his stance to have one knee on the ground and held up a small ring box.
"Will you marry me?"
TAAADAAAAAA! I don't even really know what to say about this. I actually was really unsure about the marriage thing but I think this is the best way to do it. Thank you to Dark Rose Charm and nightgem14 for reviews and I was actually shocked by the number of favourites that happened last chapter. Thank you so much!