Sakura had spent the entire evening sitting in her bed scouring the internet for information about Gaara.

'It's nearly 2:30 in the morning...'

She lifted her arms above her head and held a long stretch before rubbing her tired eyes. Her vision had started to blur hours ago from staring at the bright screen for so long. Despite putting in so many hours, the little bit of information she did find only left her with more questions.

Searching his name brought up two things: a single article published 7 years ago by the Suna Times, and an obituary. The article discussed the mysterious homicide of Rasa Sabaku, the mayor of Suna. Sakura was unable to find anything that indicated there was an ongoing investigation, leaving her to assume the case had gone cold and his murderer was never identified. He left behind three children, but their names were not given in the article. Following his death, the position of mayor was swiftly succeeded by a man named Madara Uchiha.

The obituary she found was for Rasa Sabaku and stated, 'Rasa is survived by his three children Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara Sabaku.' Along with these words, there was a photo of Rasa included. Gaara and he looked strikingly similar, there was no denying it. This had to be his father.

There was nothing more she could find. Gaara and his siblings had no digital footprint beyond mentions of them in the article and the obituary. She closed her laptop and pushed it to the unoccupied side of her bed.

'Madara Uchiha... maybe he's related to Sasuke somehow?' she speculated. He was yet another mysterious person in this rabbit hole she was heading into. How strange, Sasuke never spoke of his family while they were together, and now, she had learned of the existence of two other Uchihas in one day. She leaned back into her pillows and looked up at the ceiling, pondering the information she had just learned and her new questions. How was Rasa, a man who held such a high position in his city, murdered and no suspects were ever named? Why did it seem like his murder was just swept under the rug? Why couldn't she find anything more about Rasa or Madara, two very high-profile men?

Sakura reached for her nightstand and grabbed the photo of Gaara that she snagged off the evidence board earlier. She stared at it intently, as if he was going to speak from the photo and tell her everything she wanted to know. '...And why was Gaara's photo posted up on a DEA evidence board?' She sighed and set the photo on the laptop next to her. Naruto was sure to have some of the answers she was looking for, but this meant she was going to have to convince him to share confidential information with her.

She picked up her phone and sent a text to Naruto: 'Sorry it's late, hope this doesn't wake you. Dinner tomorrow? I'll buy.'

She rolled onto her side, pulled the bed sheets up to her chin, and closed her eyes. Sleep would not come easy tonight.

xxx

As expected, the workday was long and exhausting. The little bit of sleep Sakura allowed herself to have was nothing more than a tease. She fought to keep her eyes open and focused on the road as she made her way to Naruto's house.

"Almost there," she said, trying to convince her brain to stay awake.

With Naruto working as a DEA agent and Hinata as a successful journalist for the city, the two had done very well for themselves financially and the beautiful, affluent suburb they lived in was proof of this. All the houses in their area were large and well-kept, lawns and gardens were always perfectly manicured, and not a single pothole on any of the streets. Compared to the noisy and bustling city nearby, this area was much more slow-paced. The only sounds in the air were that of birds chirping and children playing outside. This was the type of place Sakura had always envisioned herself raising a family in, rather than her tiny apartment in the middle of a chaotic city.

Sakura pulled into the driveway of Naruto's home and grabbed the large bag of Japanese take-out from the back seat. As she made her way to the front door, a very excited Hinata was there to greet her before she could even knock.

"Sakura, it's so nice to see you!" she said cheerfully, "please, come in!" Hinata extended a hand to take the bag of food from Sakura and brought it to the dining room table. "Naruto's upstairs finishing up some work, he'll be down soon. Do you want anything? Water? Tea?"

"Water is fine, thank you Hinata," Sakura said. She removed her shoes at the door and went to take a seat at the table. It felt so good to finally sit back and relax after the long day she had.

"You look exhausted," Hinata stated as she came back with a glass of water. She set it down in front of Sakura, who quickly chugged the entire thing.

"Yeah," Sakura said with a deep breath once all the water was gone, "work has been keeping me pretty busy."

"Well," Hinata said with a soft smile, "I'm so glad that you decided to come over. I hope we can help take your mind off things. You deserve a break." Hinata took the empty cup and went to refill it. When she came back, she began taking the food out of the bag and opened the containers to let it cool off.

As soon as Sakura caught a whiff of the food, she threw her hands over her nose. "I'm- I'm so sorry," she said, hands muffling her words.

Hinata quickly closed the food containers, "No- I'm sorry, Sakura," she apologized, "are you okay? Can you make it to the bathroom? Should I get you a bag?"

"No, just give me a moment," she breathed, "it'll pass."

Hinata watched, concerned, as Sakura took a few slow, deep breaths.

"Naruto told me," she shared, "I hope you don't mind that I know."

Sakura hummed and nodded, "It's okay," she said, "I'd never expect him to keep a secret from you."

Hinata sat across from her and extended her hands as comfort. Sakura obliged and gently squeezed them as she breathed through the nausea.

"...They say that after the first trimester, you'll start to feel like yourself again," Hinata said.

"I hope so," said Sakura, "I can barely stand the smell of anything. I've practically been living off of crackers for the last week."

"If you don't think you can eat the food you brought, we've got plenty of crackers!" Naruto's voice echoed from the second floor. He came rushing downstairs to greet his friend. "Hope you haven't been waiting too long, I was trying to finish my work before you got here but this case has me so busy around the clock."

"It's okay," Sakura assured him, "I just got here, and besides, I'm not in a hurry to eat."

"Well I'm starving," said Naruto, immediately reaching for the bag of food.

"Naruto- wait," Hinata stopped him, "the smell is making Sakura feel sick."

"Whaddya mean? It smells great!"

Hinata scowled at him.

"Please don't worry about me," Sakura insisted, "the nausea comes and goes throughout the day. I knew this was going to happen and I'm not going to let it stop me from enjoying time with my friends."

Naruto was quick to scarf down every last bite of his food as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. Long after he was finished, the three friends sat around the table, laughing and reminiscing about old times. For a moment, Sakura had forgotten the real reason she came here. It wasn't until Hinata announced she'd be going upstairs to take a shower, leaving Naruto and Sakura by themselves, that she remembered.

"So... Naruto," she started, awkwardly clearing her throat, "that case you're so busy with... I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Oh? Well, uh... shoot for it, but there's a lot I can't say about it."

"I know. Normally I would never ask you to do such a thing... but I have my reasons."

"Reasons?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

She was reluctant to speak. 'Do I really want to know?' She could stop now. She could just go home and never find out the truth. Surely, telling people that she 'didn't know' who her child's father was would be a lot easier than admitting he was some potentially violent criminal. On the other hand, nobody had to know the truth. If was bad enough, she could feel more secure in keeping it to herself. Naruto wouldn't say anything.

"Sakura... What's going on?"

"Um..." she slowly reached into her pocket, pulled out the photo of Gaara, and set it on the table face down. Naruto reached for it and flipped it over.

"Where did you... did you take this from my office?"

Sakura nodded, her eyes beginning to glisten with tears.

"Why?" he asked.

"Who is he?" she choked to get the question out and fought back the tears. "Why was he on that board?"

"Sakura, I can't tell you that..." Naruto frowned, "do you know him?"

Sakura gasped softly as the tears escaped and ran down her cheeks. Her only chance at convincing him to tell her about him was for her to tell him the truth.

"Did he hurt you somehow? Come on Sakura, tell me what's going on here,"

"N-no." She wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve and took a deep breath. "Do you remember when I told you that I didn't know who it was?" she asked with a slight tremble.

"Who it was? Huh?"

"You know, when you came over and you found that test in my bathroom..."

"...Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled. "I don't know what you're trying to..." He paused while his brain put all the pieces together. When Sakura placed a hand over her stomach, that's when it clicked- "this guy?! This is the guy?! You're pregnant and it's his?!"

Sakura hung her head in shame. "I'm so sorry, I know what I'm asking you to do is a lot," she said meekly, "but I can't find anything about him online. He's not from around here. And even if I were to ask him directly, I'm not so sure I'd get the truth. I just want to know what he's done and what he's capable of before I consider him to be a part of my child's life."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. He looked at the photo of Gaara and then back at his friend as if he were studying her. Her expression was serious yet desperate.

"I see..." he finally said with a sigh and mirrored her expression, "this stays between us."

"Right," she agreed.

"A confidential informant that works for Sasuke tipped us off about him a few months ago," he began, "he wasn't even on our radar until then. We don't know how he got involved with them, but he's been a drug mule for the Akatsuki for several years now. He travels between Suna and Konoha frequently to make deliveries for them."

"Akatsuki? That... that gang?"

Naruto nodded.

"But... they're not here," she said, "you said a long time ago that the DEA scared them off."

"I was wrong," Naruto admitted, "they've been here for over a year now as far as we know. They own that new nightclub downtown."

"The Blood Moon?"

"That's the one. We believe they launder their drug money through it, but it's gonna be tough to prove that."

"So Gaara is part of this gang?"

"Sort of," he said, "not quite. According to Sasuke's informant, he's an unwilling participant. They've been forcing him to work for them this entire time."

Sakura closed her eyes and let out a breath of relief.

"Sasuke believes that once we arrest him, we can get him to talk, and then the Akatsuki will begin to unravel. Or at the very least, we'll know more than we do now."

"Once you arrest him?" she repeated, "he'd still go to prison even if he helps you?"

"At first, yes. But I can't say for sure that he'd stay there. It depends on if he talks or not, and what kind of information he has to offer. If it's valuable enough and he's willing to testify in court, he may get immunity."

"And you have enough evidence to arrest him now?"

"Not yet, but we will soon," said Naruto, "the informant told Sasuke about something that's gonna go down in two days at the nightclub. Gaara is supposed to be there to pick up a large package, we're guessing drugs, and the informant is going to wear a wire. Once he leaves the property, we're going to get him."

Sakura leaned back in her chair, distraught. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to learn, but once again, she was left with more questions than answers.

"Sakura," Naruto said firmly, "he's still a criminal. Even if he's truly forced to do this. You need to stay away from him. At least until the investigation is finished and we know more about him."

"I understand..." she said, staring down at the photo of Gaara on the table.

She knew that Naruto was right, however, something in the back of her mind was nagging her to continue investigating this man on her own. What if he didn't talk when they arrested him? The Akatsuki was notoriously violent and would scare just about anyone into silence. What if he didn't get immunity, whether or not he talked? What if he was a good person who was about to spend years in prison for things he didn't want to do? She locked eyes with her friend, her expression deadpanned. Her mind was already made up: she was going to get to Gaara first.