All night and into the early morning hours, the events that led up to Sakura's newfound situation played on repeat in her mind. Had it not been for her alarm clock ringing, Sakura would've stayed fixated on the wall next to her forever. Groaning, she rolled over and turned it off. The hours had gone by quicker than she expected.

'Better make that appointment with a doctor...' she thought, reaching for her phone. After doing so, she lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, expressionless. 'What am I going to do?' There was still a chance the test was incorrect, however, she had already convinced herself of her fate. She had a few days before this would be confirmed by the obstetrician.

Kids were always a thought in her future, but it was supposed to be with Sasuke after they purchased a home large enough for more than two people. Currently, she was living in a mediocre one-bedroom apartment in the middle of a busy city. There was no room for a child to live and play here. Though she made decent money and could possibly make it work, the thoughts of buying her first home, preparing for a baby, working full-time, and raising a child all on her own made her head spin. She'd have to change her entire life and even then, would it be enough? Could she provide not only the materialistic things, but the love and care a child needs as well?

Nobody had to know if she chose to abort, but this was not a thought that had crossed her mind just yet. She had always been in control of her life until recently, even when thrown a curveball. This was so much more than a simple bump in the road, though. This was a life that was going to flip hers upside down, and she couldn't even fathom the thought of that.

She repeated her thought from earlier, out loud this time, "...What the hell am I going to do?" She had run out of tears to cry, so instead, she released a deep, frustrated groan, covered her face with one of her pillows, and screamed as loud as she could. When she finished, she heard the muffled sound of something banging, followed by a voice. She pulled the pillow away from her face and listened for it again.

"Sakuuuura!" someone shouted, followed by more banging.

"Naruto..." Sakura grumbled and rubbed her tired eyes.

"Sakura!" he shouted again, continuing to bang on the door, "Come on, open up! I know you're in there, I saw your car in the parking lot!"

"I'm coming!" she shouted from the other side. Naruto backed up from the door when he heard her stomping towards him. She violently swung the door open and scowled at him. "Do you know what time it is? I have neighbors ya know."

Naruto stood in front of her with a toothy grin on his face. "Wow, you look rough!" he said. Sakura's short pink hair was tangled and sticking out in different directions; her face pale with dark circles under her eyes from crying and not sleeping all night, standing before her friend in nothing but a stained white t-shirt that reached her thighs and a pair of light pink shorts. Naruto held up a brown paper bag, "Can I come in? I brought you some breakfast!"

Catching a whiff of the greasy food, Sakura held her breath, afraid she might vomit, "I'm...not hungry. But thanks-"

Naruto invited himself in before she could ask him to leave. "I'm sorry to come over unannounced," he said, making his way to the kitchen, "but you haven't answered any of my calls or texts since that night at the bar. So I figured I'd just show up and surprise you." He took a seat at the kitchen table. Sakura cautiously eyed the bag of food as if it was some sort of threatening entity and hesitantly sat across from Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I honestly haven't felt like seeing anybody lately..."

"That's not good for you, you know," he said. "I know that you're still upset about Sasuke, but you're the coolest girl I know. You can't be sad about this forever. I bet there are hundreds of other guys out there who would give you so much more than Sasuke ever could!"

"Shut up, Naruto..." she mumbled and rubbed her temples; she was already developing a headache. A common symptom that came with Naruto's presence. He was right, she needed to move on from him, but Sasuke wasn't her main concern at the moment.

Naruto rustled through the bag of food and pulled out a greasy breakfast sandwich. When he unwrapped it, the smell became stronger and immediately made Sakura feel sick. Her stomach heaved and she threw her hands over her mouth.

"Uh... are you okay, Sakura?" he asked. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, desperately fighting off the urge to vomit. She jolted up and ran for the bathroom. "Sakura?! What's wrong?" His question was answered by the unpleasant retching sounds coming from the bathroom. He waited for the sounds to subside before checking on her. "I- I'm so sorry, Sakura. If I knew you were sick, I wouldn't have bothered you."

Sakura flushed the toilet and shakily climbed to her feet. "No... it's okay. I'm sorry, Naruto," she apologized, grabbing a hand towel to wipe her mouth, "I haven't quite been myself lately. I'm glad you came by. It's... a nice surprise. Even if I'm not feeling well. And I'm sorry that I hit you the last time I saw you. I should've stopped and listened to you, but... I wasn't thinking straight."

"Don't worry about that, Sakura," he said, "you ought to know that doesn't change a thing about our friendship."

Sakura attempted a faint smile. "Thank you, Naruto-"

"Hey, what's that?"

"Huh? What's..." Sakura followed Naruto's eyes to the empty pregnancy test box she left sitting on the sink. "Oh- oh! That? It's just an old test, I forgot to throw the box away." She looked back at him with a nervous expression.

Naruto, suspicious, narrowed his eyes and pointed to the evidence sitting on the very top of the garbage can in plain view: the pregnancy test itself.

"The Sakura I know is a neat freak," he said. There was a tense silence between them. "Sakura..." Her face turned bright red and she could barely make eye contact with him. Naruto gently grasped her face and made her look him in the eyes. "Are you...pregnant?"

"Naruto," she breathed, eyes beginning to water. She thought she had drained every last tear during the night.

"Does Sasuke know?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"You need to tell him," Naruto insisted, "I know you two aren't on good terms and he really broke your heart, but this is important. He needs to know, and you shouldn't have to do this alone!"

"No, Naruto. I can't tell him."

"Why not?"

Sakura scoffed and pulled his hands away from her face. Naruto was unaware of the truth, so she knew she couldn't fault him for his question.

"Well then, I will help you! And then whenever you're ready to tell him, I'll be right by your side no matter what he-"

"It isn't Sasuke's," she said quickly, cutting him off.

"...Huh?" he looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Because, Naruto, Sasuke and I haven't been together for over two months now," she explained.

"Well... it isn't mine right?" he asked, looking frightened.

Sakura groaned, "Idiot, you don't have any clue how babies work, do you?"

"I mean... yeah, I guess that doesn't make sense," he said. He was thinking so hard that Sakura could almost see the cogs rotating in his brain. Then suddenly, he looked horrified. "Bushy brows?! He followed you that night at the bar! Did you guys... you know..."

"No!" she denied, matching Naruto's horrified expression.

"Then who? ...Shikamaru?" he took her increasing scowl as a 'no,' and then proceeded to keep guessing, "Kiba? Shino? Neji? Choji? Kakashi? Kakashi's a little old for you don't you think?"

"Would you knock it off already? No, none of them!"

Naruto took a deep breath before blurting out a series of random names of nearly every male he could think of that they knew in Konoha City. He was beginning to turn blue in the face, not stopping to take another breath, very determined to find out who this man was. Sakura reached out and slapped her hand over his mouth to stop him.

"Shut up, Naruto!" she demanded. She gave a deep, frustrated sigh before saying, "I don't even know who it is, okay?"

Naruto raised a brow, even more confused than he was earlier. "Oh... I think I get it now," he said, voice muffled by the hand that was still over his mouth, "it was multiple guys at once, like an orgy? Sakura, that's a little scandalous of you, don't you think?"

Sakura raised a fist, ready to punch him in the face, "Naruto, you idiot!" she intentionally hit the wall behind him, leaving a deep hole in the drywall. "It was just one guy, Naruto. ONE. I didn't ask him his name, and I don't know what I'm going to do about this. But no matter what I decide... I'd appreciate it if this just stayed between you and me." Naruto nodded and she removed her hand from his mouth.

"I'm here for you, Sakura," he assured her, "no matter what you decide to do. I'm not going to push you into any decisions... but Uncle Naruto has a nice ring to it, don't you agree?"

"I guess it does," she agreed, "...but I haven't made any decisions yet. I have an appointment tomorrow to confirm that the test was correct. There's a lot to think about... and I don't think I'm ready to have a child right now. Especially not with someone I don't know."

"I don't think anybody is ready for this kind of change, Sakura," he said, "the only thing I can guarantee is that I'll be by your side no matter what."

For the first time in what felt like ages, Sakura smiled for real. She wasn't alone.

xxx

Gaara and Kankuro sat across from each other in the dimly lit kitchen of Temari's house, silently staring at their phones. Both of them were men of few words that comfortably enjoyed a nice silence.

"Hey guys!" Temari's voice rang out from the other room, "look at what I found!" She entered the kitchen with a large box that she could barely hold with both arms and dropped it on the kitchen table between Gaara and Kankuro. Dust went flying from the box, causing Gaara and Kankuro to cough.

"What the hell?" Kankuro managed to say in between coughs, "where did you get this from, some ancient catacombs or something?"

"I was cleaning out the attic," she said, "check this out!" She reached into the box and grabbed a photo album, opening it to a picture of the three of them when they were all kids. "Let me show you my favorite one." She flipped through it until she found the photo she was looking for and showed them. It was a photo of a smiling baby Gaara lying on his belly with his naked butt proudly displayed. "Look at how cute you were! You don't smile enough these days."

Gaara, embarrassed, snatched the photo album from her and tossed it back in the box. "We've been waiting on you for over an hour," he grumbled.

"Don't be so sour," Temari teased and took a seat next to Kankuro, "we've got plenty of time to talk business, no harm in a little fun. Besides, we only get to see you for a few weeks out of the year."

"When are the plants going to be finished?" Gaara asked, choosing to remain sour. "I've been here for four weeks now, they were supposed to be ready when I arrived. It's nice to get away from Matsuri for a while, but I need to get back and sell this product."

"Why don't you just break up with her?" Kankuro asked, "you never have anything positive to say about her."

"And besides," Temari interjected, "it's not like we're that fond of her either."

Gaara ignored the question. Truth be told, he wasn't ready to take on the responsibility of anything drastic that she may do if he broke her heart.

"The plants?" Gaara asked again.

"We'll start harvesting them tomorrow," said Kankuro, "then you should be ready to leave with the product within the next few days."

"Good," Gaara replied, "the Akatsuki has been on my ass about it all week."

"We had a bit of a late start this round," said Temari, "but at least you won't have to worry about getting out of the city. Marijuana laws are becoming laxer here. The police don't really pay it any mind now. We may even see it become legalized in the next year or so. Maybe by then, we won't even have to use the flower shop as a front anymore."

"That would be good news," said Gaara, "but the same cannot be said for Sunagakure. Laws are just as strict as they've always been, and if it becomes legal here, I fear that they might crack down on the borders. It'll make it tough to transport the product."

"I suppose we should start thinking of another way to get it there while we're ahead then," said Kankuro. Gaara and Temari both nodded in response.

"That's certainly what the Akatsuki would expect us to do," Temari sighed, "it doesn't matter how difficult the law makes it for us. We're trapped under their thumb for the foreseeable future."

"We start in the morning then," said Gaara. He rose from his seat. "I'm going to bed now." He walked towards the doorway to exit the kitchen and stopped at the threshold to turn around and say one more thing. "Temari."

"Hm?"

"I want you to take some of my cut from this batch," he said, "use the money to buy a washer and dryer. I'm tired of going to the laundromat every time I come here." And with that, he walked off.