Hinata looked uncomfortable. She held her mid-abdomen and made a distressed face, but still, like everything else that he had noticed, she said nothing. This was different though, she wasn't actively hiding this distress. "Are you alright?"
She looked around for her cup of tea. She took a large drink of the cooling liquid, but her face didn't change from distress. "I think I have heartburn." She muttered uncomfortably.
He had heard of the condition before. However, he had never experienced a sensation he would be able to label as 'heartburn.' It did not look pleasant. What he did not understand was the condition was not considered severe, but it caused extreme discomfort.
"What is it like?" He wondered aloud.
She took another drink of her tea. "Uhm, well, it's not your heart really, more just below where your stomach starts. It's partly caused by your stomach acid in the area at the end of the line that goes to your stomach and irritates it. It's more like medium irritation rather than feeling like it's burning."
He couldn't imagine her explanation, though now that he was fully human with no beast, maybe he would experience it one day.
There are marks forming on his back." Hinata frowned, examining the pale scar-like marks coming from his spine. They made their way over his back as they faded at the tips. They looked like lighting… no, they look more like veins.
"His chakra veins are under extreme distress as we reroute them, it's burning his skin, but he can't feel it. Most of it should fade as the chakra settles. Though the ones at his spine, where the harshest problems were, may stay." Hinata nodded. Scars were a small price to pay for the amount of damage he had sustained.
"Do you mind them?" Gaara wondered, looking over his shoulder.
She shook her head. "Scars have never bothered me." She lifted her hands to prove her point.
The full truth was, she couldn't let scars bother her. Her slender hands, though they looked delicate, were heavily calloused. They showed years of wear with endless thin white scars from overtraining. Properly healing her hands was complicated. They were her primary weapon. It had to be done correctly to ensure her technique wasn't affected, but the Hyuga healers at home were never gentle, and repeat trips left her sore. She learned to heal the damage she did to keep away from them. She wasn't a qualified healer, anything else, and she had never meant to be. She was a tracker, not a medic.
The medic left the room. Hinata laid her hand on his shoulder and leaned her face into his back. He was doing much better now. He was able to sit up after treatment, which was a massive improvement. She hoped it was showing they were no longer as painful or that he was dealing with the pain better. She hoped for the former.
He brought his hand up to rest on hers, leaning his head back to meet hers. She looked at their hands together. She was sure that she had noticed it before, but she found it interesting how their hands differed. Her hands were petite and narrow. They appeared soft and fragile but were coarse from years of calluses and use. His hands were larger and more imposing compared to hers. Yet, his hands were soft, only holding callus from his pens.
She hummed, closing her eyes. She felt her heartburn again, making her extremely uncomfortable. She was told that it was a symptom of her pregnancy, and as such, she could only use certain remedies. She wondered if the whole pregnancy would be this uncomfortable. She remembered the complaints of a woman expecting, but her perception of it was that it was a minor inconvenience. Her discomfort seemed to be persistent and relentless. She hoped that it was just her perception, and there was nothing wrong.
Gaara stretched back. His skin no longer hurt from merely moving today. It was a comfortable relief, but it was going to be short-lived. He was given a break between the work on his back, which was the most painful, and the work on his limbs that was going to have to be a lot more intensive. As he understood it when it was explained to him, if it was done improperly, he could lose function of his digits or his limbs entirely if he ever did any damage to them.
As his pain had faded, his mind cleared. He found he could focus on his wife. Hopefully, he could conclude her behavior.
He understood in part why she would hide her condition from him. She was told explicitly he was not to have added stress, and he was sure in general, she did not want to worry him. She was usually very open when she just did not want to talk about something, even if she had to put it off until a better time. This made him think back to before they found out he was injured. He had noticed there was something wrong when they were in the bedroom. She had made it clear she did not want to talk about it. That might have been this situation, which was why she hadn't acknowledged it. She had already told him she didn't want to talk about it. She could be waiting for the appropriate time.
He could only come up with two possibilities. His condition or the problem was far more complicated than any others she had brought to him before.
The latter concerned him. There was scarce he feared in his life, but losing her trust was among his worst fears. If there was something he had done and she felt she needed to keep silent about because she was too kind to bother him while he was sick, he couldn't hope to rectify it. He couldn't apologize for something he didn't know was wrong.
Her comforting hand on his knee calmed his mind. He looked over at her, and she offered a smile. "Feeling better?"
"Yes." He could hope that it was not as bad as his fears were telling him if she was still here by his side, even she wasn't that self-sacrificing.
...Right?
Temari watched her stretch into another pose. "You're still not going back to training." She wondered, looking at the odd ways she bent. She turned her head and made a face. "How do you even do that?"
Hinata tried not to laugh at the twisted face of bewilderment. "I'm under doctors' orders not to. I would train in secret if I didn't see them every day." She excused.
Temari shrugged, accepting her dodge. "But really, how do you do that."
Hinata giggled, waving her to come down with her so she could show her some of the flexibility stretches.
Hinata smiled from ear to ear. Gaara had eaten three full servings of dinner before deciding he was done. At this rate, he would hopefully gain back the weight with no trouble. He was going to need it if he was going to go back to training. She, on the other hand, had gained more weight despite finding it increasingly harder to eat. She kept her activity low to combat her nausea, keeping her from eating as much as she should.
She was getting to the point where the medic was considering having her eat and deal with nausea for a few hours before allowing their throw up. This way, she was at least digesting something and wasn't sick all day. It was becoming clear that she was not going to have an easy pregnancy.
Gaara, however, was looking better every day. His color, though always pale, was getting back to his skin. He was no longer grimacing all the time. His face had stopped hollowing. With the nutrition that the Hyuga was giving him in the dense vitamin full meals, he would get back his plushness in his cheeks again soon.
Despite her discomfort, she couldn't be happier. She hoped by regaining his health, the stress would be lifted off of her. She was more hoping that it was the only cause of her problematic pregnancy. She was due back to see the medics a week after she and her husband moved back into the Kazekage tower to see if she had any positive change. If not, they were going to try some methods of boosting her health.
Gaara curled his arms around her shoulders and pressed his face softly into her neck. It felt very odd to be back on the office couch curled up with the blanket she kept on it. She pushed the paperwork she had brought in with them off her lap and wrapped herself around his waist, and leaned on him. "Does it feel good to be home?"
He nodded into her neck. The Suna Hyuga were very hospitable to him. However, he did not like the way they kept their home or lived their lives. It was too ritual, too neat, and kept. Hinata was the perfect level of kept. She neatened his papers and always was tidying, but the Hyuga compound felt sterile.
They lived so traditionally it was uncomfortable to watch mainly because he did not want to interrupt. The way they served dinner was so formal even when he couldn't sit up to eat. He understood much better now why Hinata found it uncomfortable to live there and why it was difficult to transition to Suna culture. Though they had their traditions, they were never so formal to make every day like to ritual.
Right here was comfortable. He closed his eyes, taking his wife's warmth. He would be happy if he never had to step foot in the building again.
Hinata frowned in the mirror. There it was. There is no hiding it without her shirt on anymore. The bump was coming in quickly, and despite the fact she gained weight all over, it was a baby bump. She was glad that her usual Suna outfit of the black wrap dress and pale over-robe had the sash around the middle. It hid the effects the bump had. The scarf had done well to hide her chest growth, but soon there wasn't going to be much in the way of denying it. It would be suspicious if she suddenly changed her clothing choices. Gaara was already curious why she started wearing sweaters and baggy clothing to bed though he never mentions her weight gain to her. If he had felt the bump, he hadn't said anything.
She was sure that he did not know. She knew he had never really been near a pregnant woman before, so he was not going to see the symptoms apart from a normal sickness. She had finally had to address that she was hiding. She was 'sick' from him. She excused it as he was in far worse condition, and she didn't want to bother him with it. She told him that she was having it taken care of, and she didn't wish to talk about it. He looked visibly relieved. She wondered how much she had worried him by not coming up with some kind of lie rather than hiding it. She didn't want to lie to him, but she was very glad he was happy to leave the subject that with the promises, she was fine.
She would have to tell him soon, but her trips to the medic were starting to become concerning. The pregnancy was not progressing to its fullest. This was the time she was supposed to start showing, but she was still not showing as much as they predicted she should. She was worried that if she told him and he started to like the idea, then they lost the child, she would break his heart, and he would blame himself in some way. He was always like that, never thinking he deserved anything but what happened to him.
She would keep her secret for a little longer and then ask the medics if it was safe to tell him.
The medic looked down away from her eyes and frowned.
Hinata felt the worst was to come. She closed her eyes, waiting for her answer with a heavy heart. "30 to 40 percent."
She bit her lip, feeling the wave of sickness.
"I'm sorry I can't give you anything higher than that at 14 weeks. You shouldn't still be struggling to eat. You should be thriving and eating everything you can. You shouldn't be in as much pain. Your hormones are all over the place, and we can't keep them in the right range. We can't pin down what is wrong, but you may be completely fine. Some women have horrible pregnancies and a fine birth. Some have a comfortable pregnancy and then a terrible birth." She explained with an apologetic look.
"Alright. Thank you for your honesty." She bowed her head. She was conflicted. That was a very low view of how the pregnancy was going to go, but she couldn't hide it from him forever. She also didn't know if her heart could take it if she were to tell him and then have complications a few days after.
What did she do?
"I wish I could be more helpful." The medic expressed.
"There is nothing more that you could do. Please don't be upset." She assured.