It had been a year and a half since Naruto and Hinata were married. Shanan was twenty-three, Kakashi was thirty-four and Naruto and Sasuke were twenty-one.

It had been a busy year for weddings, it felt like they had all attended so many of them. Sakura and Lee. Neji and his wife, Tenten. Ino and Sai. Shikamaru and Temari...

Now that Naruto was married, he didn't spend as much time with Shanan as Sasuke did. In fact, Sasuke was easily Shanan's closest friend these days.

Kakashi certainly trusted Sasuke with her more than he ever trusted Shikamaru and was glad to not have to smell him on her anymore. Every part of Shanan was his now. Just like in the Kaitei. And just like in the Kaitei, Shanan had gotten pregnant. And not just her, but Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Temari, Tenten and several others.

Sasuke had expected that she would one day get pregnant, but it still stung him when he'd first heard the news. However, he was an expert at keeping his feelings hidden from Shanan now, since they spent so much time together. He hadn't forgotten about their dance at Naruto's wedding, but she hadn't given any other indication of ever wanting to maybe kiss him since.

Shanan being pregnant only made him more protective of her. She was the wife of the Hokage and both he and Kakashi knew that she could be a target for anyone wanting to get to Kakashi. So Sasuke had been made her unofficial, secret bodyguard. Which meant that Shanan was his mission. Kakashi had gotten the idea from Minato Sensei, of course, but since Shanan and Sasuke were close, he wouldn't have to watch over her from the shadows and he even slept in Shanan's old room.

Sasuke had just returned from grabbing a few things for his room and Shanan looked up at him from the kitchen table as he walked through the door. "What's that you're wearing?" she asked.

He looked down at the clothes he'd just bought. "The vest?" he asked as he looked back up at her.

"Oh, Sasuke, no. No, no, no."

"No? No, what?" he asked, visibly alarmed as he set his bags down by the door.

"Take it off," she said as she went back to her toast.

"What? Why?"

Shanan didn't look up again. "It's just not good, Sasuke."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he took the vest off as Shanan got up and disappeared into her room with half a piece of toast. She stayed gone for a few minutes and then came back out with a simple enough zip up Jacket that had a small Uchiha crest on the front and threw it to him before she sat on the couch.

"Where'd you get this?" he asked as he tried it on.

Shanan shrugged as she finished her toast. "I bought the jacket and embroidered the symbol on. I remembered seeing someone with a similar one in the Kaitei and thought they had good taste, unlike you. But I saw the wide neck that you like and grabbed it for you.

Sasuke laughed nervously at her. "Oh, well, how does it look?

Shanan looked up and smiled at him. "Much, much better and like you're not trying too hard."

"Too hard, for what?"

"How should I know?" she asked as she laughed before looking at him very seriously. "Never wear a vest again."

Sasuke smiled and shook his head at her. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"I'm aware."

Shanan was due in about six weeks, and every night she and Sasuke made dinner together and put Kakashi's away for him and then ate and then read next to each other on the couch. Shanan didn't ever sit with her legs over him the way she did with Kakashi, she just sat next to him until she fell asleep. She missed having Kakashi home, but she was happy Sasuke was there at least.

"You know, we used to do this all the time." Sasuke said a bit mindlessly.

Shanan looked over at him excitedly. "We did?"

Sasuke's eyes widened.

Shanan whispered at him, completely amused. "Did you just reveal some of our past to me?"

"No..." he obviously lied as he looked around.

"Sasuke! Shut up..." she said as she sat back and went back to her book.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Fine... We read to each other all the time," he said as Shanan brightened. "This book I'm reading now, actually... it was the last one you read to me. But... we never got the chance to finish it."

Shanan frowned at him. "But, why didn't we?" she asked.

"Because I left," he said simply.

"Did I know you were leaving?" she pressed.

Sasuke sighed at her. "You know, this is why I don't tell you things. I know you'll ask me follow up questions that I can't answer."

Shanan was torn between being mad and understanding. But, for whatever reason, she had a hard time being mad at Sasuke.

"Well, thank you for telling me that," she said as she smiled. She was always happy to learn anything new from him.

Sasuke nudged her playfully with his elbow as he smiled and she jumped suddenly and grabbed his hand to place on her bump.

"You just scared the baby," she said as she laughed and held his hand in place.

The baby rolled under Sasuke's hand, and he looked at Shanan, mouth agape, in complete awe of her.

Shanan wasn't sure what he was feeling just by the look on his face. But she thought that he might have been horrified. "Oh... was that ok?" she asked him as she let go of his hand.

He nodded gently with an intense look in his eyes as he pulled his hand away and sat back. His heart was suddenly racing and he had to sit quietly for a minute to calm himself.

"Does... that happen a lot?" he asked her timidly.

"The rolling?" Shanan laughed. "All the time! Kinda makes you sick after a while. Oh hey, I meant to ask earlier, but will you go to my appointment with me tomorrow? Kakashi is heading out to meet with Gaara first thing in the morning so he won't make it and I really don't wanna go alone."

Sasuke looked at her and nodded. "I'd be happy to, Shanan." Kakashi had made it a point to go to all of them so far, so this would be the first time he was able to go to one.

They finally went back to reading their books, but after about ten minutes, Shanan grabbed the throw blanket and leaned against Sasuke and fell asleep. He truly didn't mind closing his book and snuggling up with her to make sure she was comfortable, in fact, he looked forward to it every night.