HI

Shikamaru's morning started off bright and early. Ino kicked him out of the bed to go fetch the crying child. Shikadai was fussy and hungry. He walked to the fridge grabbing a packet of Ino's breast milk pouring the substance into the bottle. He fed him while she caught up on some rest. He didn't mind, Ino was always with Shikadai taking care of him while he was with the Hokage. Now he was stuck with his child in one hand and a scroll in the other. He has been in this same position now for at least an hour. There has been a new update with the Land of Rain apparently there have been a few shinobi spotted near our territory. Now it was Shikamaru's job to figure out why and how to spot them.

"I wish there were two of me. This is such a drag."

Shikamaru turned his attention to the giggling baby in his arms. He placed the child on a small pillow so he could sit up. "Don't start acting like your mom. You were fine until you started to giggle."

Shikadai giggled again and began to chew on his plushy hands. Shikamaru placed his arms behind him leaning against them. He took in the view ahead of him. His son was a complete copy of him. From the hair to the eyes even down to his eyebrows. Ino really carried another Shikamaru and she didn't realize it.

"Shikamaru!" Ino sang.

"That's my cue to act busy so she won't bother me."

"I heard that you bastard!"

Ino peeped her head in the door of his mini-office. "I thought you might have wanted this." In her hands was a tray filled with snacks and tea. She also had some herbs for headaches. She placed the tray on the floor near the window. She poured him a glass of tea handing it to him.

"How's everything coming along?"

"I've been here for hours wrecking my brain. Maybe I just need an extra hand. It'll be a drag but I think I'm going to have to bring Shiho again."

Ino nearly broke her neck when she heard that name. It was the same woman that was all over him when Master Jayria died and Shikamaru was trying to crack the code. She could never keep her eyes to herself.

"Isn't she the woman who wanted to be around you twenty-four-seven?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He took a sip from his tea trying to avoid her question. He could feel Ino's eyes burning soul, he sighed softly placing the teacup back on the tray.

"She was just helping me back then."

"Yeah helping herself into your underwear. Didn't she ask to sleepover in the library with you?"

"In all honestly she was one who cracked the code during the whole Pein attack. If it wasn't for our two brains then we would have never been able to crack the code."

Ino huffed, "I think it's my hormones that are getting the best of me."

"You're not even crying."

"It doesn't matter if I'm crying, smiling, mad, or scared. Hormones are hormones and now you have enraged them!" Ino shouted, she pushed the falling pieces of hair that framed her face behind her ear.

Shikamaru looked stunned, he began to rack his brain of all the ways he could get out of the situation. Nothing was coming to his mind.

"What did I do?"

Ino scoffed, "You didn't do anything. Like I said it's my hormones. I tend to get jealous easily even with Choji"

Shikamaru looked at her with disgust. What could she possibly get jealous of Choji for?

"Choji huh?"

"What about me?"

They both turned their attention to the doorway of the office. Standing there was their best friend Choji snacking on some chips. His eyes lit up once he saw the baby on the floor.

"I haven't him in months. He looks more and more like you everyday Shikamaru. I bet you're mad aren't you Ino. You carried him for 9 months and he came out like Shikamaru."

"I do wish he had Ino eyes."

"No, I like his eyes the way that they are?"

"Why?"

"Because they remind me of yours. Whenever I look at him and see his eyes they remind me of you. I find myself doing that a lot since you're rarely home. I'm so thankful that he has your eyes Shika."

The room fell silent, Choji was shocked by the words that his fellow teammate uttered. It was quite rare to see Ino's soft and emotional side. While Shikamaru on the other hand was amazed by her. Once he saw Ino carry their child, then birth him after 36 hours of labor he had a whole different view of her. She was one of the strongest women he knew. He never thought she felt this way about Shikadai eyes. She would always complain about how he had no features of her.

His train of thought was cut out by the sounds of her sniffles. He felt like a horrible person. It was true, he was rarely home these days.

"I'm sorry Ino, I'll try to come home more often."

"No, it's okay our parents help out a lot. Sometimes it gets stressful around here without an extra hand. It's okay, like I said it's the hormones."

Ino tried to choke out a laugh. She and everyone else in the room knew that she was faking it.

Choji slowly raised his hand out of fear. Shikamaru told him that since Ino has given birth she was now a ticking time bomb "So now would be a bad time to tell Shikamaru that he is needed at the Hokage's office."

There was no hiding the sad expression on Ino's face. She stayed silent for a minute before grabbing Shikadai. She held Shikadai in her arms before walking out the door. "Dinner will be on the stove…..like always."

Shikamaru sighed, as much as he wanted to run after he couldn't. He felt so bad, he knew her postpartum depression was getting worse by the day and yet he couldn't do anything about it. He began to massage his temples trying to relieve some stress.

"Say, Shikamaru, would it be a bad time to tell you that Kakashi Sensei said it was urgent?"

"How urgent?"

"We have a visitor today. He wants you to go over something with them."

Shikamaru huffed, He pulled out a box of cigarettes from the bookshelf of the office. He was going to need two as of now and probably the whole box before the day if done.

"Give me 15 minutes."

Sakura was now banned from that side of the hospital where Akane resides. It would be high risk for her and her baby to be around Akane or any other nurses. Yuna was the only nurse she was allowed to be around. The weird thing was that Akane was the only one that tested positive for TB. Akane was the only one that tested positive for the strip test everyone else tested negative.

'Maybe if we draw blood again' Sakura thought to herself, something was off, Akane tested positive for tuberculosis on the strip test but what about another blood test?

Sakura let out a frustrating scream, she threw the documents across the room. "Nothing is making sense to me right now!"

Sakura picked up her paper from the ground. She needed a second opinion on the blood results. Sakura walked out of her office to the lab where Yuna resides. Yuna was sitting at the computer going over the lab results from the hidden rain.

"Yuna."

The young medic jumped from her seat. She turned around and saw horns coming from Sakura's head. "Yes, Lady Sakura." She gulped watching her boss march towards her.

"I need you to watch Akane and the hospital while I'm gone."

"O-Okay Lady Sakura, Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little stressed." Sakura grumbled

"What are you stressed about, maybe I can help?"

Sakura placed the lab results on the table. There was a file with Akane's test results and random patient test results. Sakura sat there in silence watching over Yuna who started to scan over the results. The young lab medic didn't know what to say, the only thing she saw was positive TB results. How could something so broad stress you out when you have the answer.

"I'm sorry Lady Sakura but what am I supposed to look at?"

"Oh right, sorry pregnancy brain, here." Sakura placed another folder in front of Yuna. It was from the same patient and Akane. When this patient had Tuberculosis they came in contact with 5 nurses and one doctor. All of them caught the disease and yet when looking over Akane's results there were about 15 people who came in contact with her and no one had had any symptoms. Everyone had been tested and the only one who tested positive was Akane.

Yuna walked over to the filing desk pulling out every known case of TB. "Huh, this is very interesting Lady Sakura. I now see why you're stressed out."

"It's not making any sense to me Yuna. What if this is like a common cold and flu situation. People mistake the common cold for the flu all the time. What if this isn't TB what if this is something more deadly. What if the reason why he let Akane and Kato come without a fight was so he could let them spread something greater than any other disease to Konoha. What if he was experimenting on his people, that's what's making them die." Sakura let out a deep breath, more and more thoughts were now filling her head. She looked over to Yuna who had a stunned expression across her face.

"Lady Sakura."

"Yes, Yuna."

"I think you need to report to the Hokage with your accusations."

Sakura placed her hand on her hips. What if her accusations were wrong? What if she was just making these things up in her head. What if they did have TB but there are no symptoms.

"Yuna by the time I come back I want everyone's test results back here. Draw blood from every nurse, anbu, and shinobi that has come in contact with Akane. Also, get Sasuke down here with Kato and draw their blood too. Once that's done give me a call so we can start comparing results."

"Lady Sakura, What about Naruto? I don't think he'll allow us to draw blood from him."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I'll handle him." Sakura took off her white lab coat placing it on the chair. She grabbed the lab results that she came in with. She went over to the filling basket also grabbing Kato's TB strip results.

"Good Luck Yuna, I'm counting on you."

Sakura left the hospital about 30 minutes ago. Now she was looking for a certain blonde hair male who has been on her radar for the last 30 minutes. She checked the training grounds and the ramen shop, his two favorite spots. Sakura took a rest near a dumpling shop trying to catch her breath. Being pregnant and walking for so long really took a toll on you.

"SAKURA-SAN!"

Sakura jumped at the sound of her name. A pink tint grew across her face as she saw the villagers look in her direction. She slightly bowed trying to get out of the awkward situation she was placed in.

"SAKURA-SAN!"

There it was again, she turned to look in the direction of the voice. In the mixture of the crowd, she spotted Kato running in her direction with the brightest smile on his face. He ran into her snuggling into her growing stomach. Kato started to giggle which made Sakura begin to giggle.

"What are you doing Kato?" Sakura crouched down to his level, fixing her hair. Whoever got him ready for today put no effort into his hair.

"I'm with Nii-chan."

"Nii-chan?"

"Yeah, Sasuke nii-chan"

Kato pointed behind him. Sasuke came into view with his hands stuck in his pocket with an annoyed facial expression.

"I think I pissed nii-chan off."

"Where did you learn that word? You're six, not sixteen."

"I heard Naruto-niichan say it. He said that teme was pissing him off. I asked him what that meant and he said that the teme was making him mad. So I think I just made nii-chan mad so I pissed him off."

Sakura tried to stifle a laugh. Nothing ever went right when she left Naruto and Sasuke alone. Now that Kato is in the picture she was going to be stricter on the two.

"Teme, Dobe, and Pissed are bad words, Kato. Only adults get to say those words okay."

Kato frowned, "But nii-chan told Naruto that he was acting like a child."

"Because Naruto acts just like you." Sasuke appeared behind the young child. He gave him a good flick on the head. "Why did you run off like that?"

Kato turned red from embarrassment. There was a stinging sensation on the top of his head from where Sasuke struck him. "Nii-chan that hurt. You told me to stay by your side but it wasn't my fault that you couldn't keep up with me."

"You should've stayed with Naruto," Sasuke uttered, he was now glaring at Kato. They both had a love-hate-hate relationship. Kato was just giving Sasuke a run for his money.

"Where is Naruto?"

"He told me that he needed to go somewhere. He didn't say where but he had some roses and tulips in his hand."

"Which direction did he go in?"

Sasuke pointed behind him. "We just parted ways about 10 minutes ago."

"Okay thank you and Kato you be good to Sasuke. Also, Sasuke make a stop at the hospital."

Kato shook his head. Sakura gave him another quick hug before continuing her journey. She knew exactly where he was. He would try to go to this certain spot at least once a month. He was now busy with missions and training so he rarely got to go.

When arriving at her destination she quickly found her blonde-haired boyfriend sitting on the ground of the cemetery. From afar she could hear him talking to the tombstones. She stayed quiet underneath the Pine tree. Whenever he was meditating or zoned out she didn't dare to bother him. At that moment she knew he meant business.

"Sakura-chan are you going to stay over there or join me?"

Sakura jumped at the sound of his voice. She started to shift on her feet feeling shy under his stare. Sakura always felt nervous when talking to his parents. It never failed, it always felt as if they were right in front of her. Naruto smiled at her before waving for her to join him.

"Hey, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

Naruto was still sitting down on the ground in front of his parent's graves. He patted a spot next to him on the blanket. Sakura placed her sandals and the files next to his before joining him on the blanket. She glanced at the ultrasound picture in his hand. It was from their last appointment, sadly Naruto couldn't come since he was on a mission.

"It's okay, I was just telling them about the newest edition to the family."

Sakura nodded slowly, tears were brimming her eyes. She closed them laying her head against his shoulder. They both sat there in silence enjoying their company.

"I was telling my dad how at first I didn't care about the gender. All I wanted was a healthy baby but now that Kato has come along all I can imagine myself now is with a boy. I wouldn't mind if we had a girl. I would love that too. I just want that father-son connection that I never had."

"Another Naruto in the house. I can imagine it now."

Naruto started to laugh. "We're going to fight over the ramen all the time. But another Sakura in the house would be two attitudes in the house."

"No way I would rather have another Sakura than another Naruto. Imagine him running around the village painting on your face like you did your dads."

"What's wrong with that? He's just expressing his artistic side." They both began to laugh, Sakura placed her head back on his shoulder. He placed his head on top of hers.

"I hate seeing you sad Naruto." Sakura placed a kiss on his cheek. She tilted his head towards her so she could see his cerulean eyes. They were red and puffy. It seems like before she got there he was crying. It made her heartache even more. She just wanted to give him the world.

"I just wish they were here. I wish they could enjoy the moments with us. I can imagine how excited they'd be right now."

"I know but as cliche, as it sounds they are also here. Our baby is growing inside of me so of course, I know they're looking after you."

Naruto's heart skipped a beat. The blonde ninja smiled sweetly at Sakura before giving her a heartfelt kiss on the lips. Sakura returns the kiss with ease slowly melting against him. Naruto pulled back, catching a glimpse of her emerald eyes.

"I love you so much Sakura-chan."

"I love you too Naruto."

"Not to ruin the moment or anything but why do you have hospital files?"

Sakura gasped, she was supposed to be at the Hokage's office right now. It completely slipped her mind, she was too focused on trying to find Naruto.

"You have to come with me. I completely forgot that I was needed at the Hokage's office. You also have to come with me Naruto."

The pair clean their area before heading to the Hokage's office. Naruto kissed both of his parent's stones whispering an 'I love you'. He intertwined his and Sakura's finger then started his journey to the Hokage's office.

Shikamaru knocked before entering the Hokage's office. He was very annoyed with himself, not only was he late but he had a mad wife at home. A happy wife meant a happy life for him. As of right now, the wife wasn't happy, and nor was he. He had to figure out a way to get a break so he could take them out. Choji on the other hand stopped to get some BBQ, it didn't surprise him though. The entire walk here Choji complained about how hungry he was. Now he was standing inside of the office alone without his friend.

"Kakashi Sensei you needed me?"

Kakashi didn't look up from his paperwork. He kept the pen in his hand scribbling something on a scroll. He pointed to the chair across from his office motioning for him to sit.

"I want everyone to be here before I start."

"Who else is supposed to be here?"

"Sakura, Choji, Naruto and were also having a guest. They should be on their way here as well."

The lazy ninja huffed, he slouched down in the chair to a more comfortable position. There was so much on his plate. He never had time for a nap. Since Shikadai was born he rarely takes naps, Whenever he would try to take naps with the baby Ino would just yell at him for being irresponsible. He closed his eyes letting his laziness get the best of him before he knew it he was out like a light.

30 minutes later Sakura and Naruto appeared through the door. They both walked into the middle of the room greeting their Sensei. Naruto pointed to his sleeping friend, Kakashi only shook his head out of amusement.

Sakura walked towards her friend monitoring his face. This wouldn't be the first or last time he tried to fake sleep to get out of work. "Is he faking it again?"

"No Sakura-chan the baby is kicking his ass I bet."

Kakashi laughed, "No need to pick now Naruto that will be you in a couple of months."

Now it was Sakura's turn to laugh. The color drained out of Naruto's face. He now realizes that he would be sleepless and he would have to change dirty diapers. He shutters at the thought.

Sakura poked lightly at the sleeping ninja and he woke up groggy like usual. Shikamaru glared at Naruto who was now laughing at him. For what reason, the world may never know.

"Alright now that we are all here let's get to business. First Sakura I heard that there were some interesting results from the lab. Do you mind sharing them with us?"

"Hai."

Sakura walked over to his desk pulling out the files. She places Akane's results next to the other patients. It has all of her and Yuna marking on the paper so they could understand her point of view.

"We all thought that Akane tested positive for TB we al-."

"Sakura-chan what's TB."

Sakura glared at her boyfriend for cutting her off. "It's tuberculous," she muttered under her breath.

"Now as I was saying we all thought she had tuberculosis-" she eyed naruto dangerously - " but if you look at these results closely there is no way for her to have tuberculosis. This patient right here was diagnosed with the disease. When this patient did she exposed the disease to six different staff members. We thought that Akane had it but why haven't the 15 plus people caught it even her son Kato has not caught it."

Sakura took a breather making sure everyone was still on track. She glanced at Kakashi who nodded his head for her to carry on. His eyes never left the lab results in front of him.

"It's not making any sense to me. What if this is like a common cold and flu situation. People mistake the common cold for the flu all the time. What if this isn't TB what if this is something more deadly. What if the reason why he let Akane and Kato come without a fight so he could let them spread something greater than any other disease to Konoha. What if he was experimenting on his people, that's what's making them die.

Shikamaru removed himself from his seat. He walked over to the desk looking over the files with the others. "I think you might be onto something, Sakura. So what you're saying is that Akane might not have tuberculosis. She may have something else that could be more deadly?"

Sakura shook her head softly. She glanced at her teacher who now had his whole soul invested into the documents. "Sensei, you wanted them to go back there right?"

"I was still thinking over the matter."

"This might sound crazy but I think they should get a sample of blood or bring a dead body back from there."

"A DEAD BODY!?"

Everyone turned their attention back to the blonde he started to look paler than before. He sat down in the chair staring at them as if they were crazy ones. 'They actually want me to bring back a dead body?'

"Naruto we haven't gone over the details yet." Sakura shot him an annoyed look. It's crazy how his moods change. You would think that he was the pregnant one.

There was a knock on the door, Shikamaru and Sakura were too invested in the lab results to even bother to see who was at the door.

Kakashi stood up from his seat to greet the figure. "Thank you for coming. You actually made it within perfect timing. We were about to go over your topic next. I actually thought that he would have sent someone different this time."

Sakura nearly shitted herself when she saw the figure walk further into the office. She nudged Shikamaru in his ribs trying to get his attention. He shot her a lazy look before looking up at the door. His whole entire body grew tense.

"T-T-Temari?"

Please review it gives me motivation!

I also want to give Sasuke a fling..Who should it be?

DO I SMELL DRAMA...JK...it's a joke...hopefully.