Hinata groaned, taking off her shoes. Her ankles were starting to feel her extra weight. She remembered the days of early training, but she could at least quit that at the end of the day.
"You are in pain?" Gaara wondered, shaking his wet hair in a towel.
She jumped. "Oh, I didn't know you came in already."
"You didn't answer me." He pressed, eyeing her.
She smiled, feeling warmed by his constant concern. There was some irritation at the lack of work and his constant coddling, but she understood that it was best she was treated like glass right now.
"I'm sore. I think I will have a nice long bath tonight." She got up and sat immediately back down. She hated the spinning feeling all the time.
Before she could open her eyes, she felt Gaara's arms under her legs, and she was lifted. "I'm heavy."
"Your weight is not a problem." He moved into the bathroom and sat her down on the side of the tub.
"So the added weight doesn't make me unsightly?" She asked as she undressed.
"Why would your weight make you unsightly?" He asked while running the bath.
"I thought I might be less attractive now that I've gained so much." She shrugged. It wasn't something that bothered her. The weight would go away, at least most of it. She would blame the hormones for it crossing her mind at all.
"I do not see how." He wondered, taking her clothes for her.
She smiled at his misunderstanding. He had no clue what beauty standards were, so it wasn't a matter if it was attractive, but rather if he was bothered. Knowing he wasn't filled her with warmth. At least she was still a good sight to him, even if she looked like a marshmallow to herself in the mirror.
She was much bigger, her chest being the most annoying. She already struggled with some of the largest sizes for comfortable chest wear. She had half a mind to ask Tsunade what she recommended, but Hinata wasn't even sure she wore any half the time. She couldn't go back to wrapping as her breasts were sore with her hormones getting ready for breastfeeding.
Gaara helped her into the tub, and she laid back with a comfortable sigh. He rested his arms on the side of the tub, looking at her face. "If this whole process is so bad, why do women do it so willingly?"
"It's not always this way. Some women have easy pregnancies. Most don't have much trouble more than the general discomfort of extra weight and early morning sickness. Then some don't care because they want children and will go through the discomfort of carrying them for that reason." She rolled her head back. "You can't really know how a pregnancy will go. Usually, you can look to your genetics for a guess, but that is not always accurate either."
He sighed, seeming annoyed with her answer.
"With that said, I think this will be our only child because I do not want to risk doing all this again." She mumbled. "Not even sure if I would be able to."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well since the pregnancy is having such a hard time, I have a high risk of being unable to have bare again." She explained.
His face turned down. "Does that bother you?"
"No, I think even if this fails. I will just leave it there." She told him, his face relaxed.
"Good." She felt bad for him, constantly fearing he could lose her.
Hinata set her hand on her stomach, idly rubbing as she read. The baby shifted again, and she felt a faint kick to her hand. She paused, placing her hand around the same spot again, and another kick came. She smiled excitedly and got up, forgetting her book.
She quickly walked down to the Kage office and knocked. "Excuse me." She poked her head in, and it looked like she wasn't interpreting anything as her husband sat over paperwork. "Gaara, you need to come here."
She moved to the couch and patted the spot beside her, and rubbed over her belly, trying to find the spot she thought the baby would kick next.
"What's wrong?" He asked, looking worried at the bump.
"Nothing. I need to show you something." She took his hand as he sat down, and she pressed it against the spot the baby was kicking the most frequently. "Give it a second." She told him before she felt the kick go right into his hand.
Gaara's face turned from worried to confused and horrified. "It's trying to get out."
"No." She laughed. "He's kicking."
"Does it hurt?" He asked as he felt the bump, seeming looking for it again.
"Not really unless he bumps an organ. Then it can be a little uncomfortable." She explained. "It's finally getting strong enough you can feel it through my skin."
"That is good?" He asked. "It's good that it's hitting you?"
"It's more like a reflex, it's stretching and using the new muscles. It's a little late, but the visible kicking means that it's getting stronger." She told him. "That is good."
Gaara accepted her answer.
"Calling it 'it' all the time is getting old." She huffed.
"Isn't there a way of finding the gender?" He asked. She was sure they had heard people in the past tell him what they were expecting.
"I can tell with the Byakugan, I could have for some time now." She explained. "We just never had a reason to know, I guess. Usually, people like to know what gifts to get."
"Is there harm in knowing?" He asked.
She shrugged. "Might ruin the surprise." She moved his hand to where the baby was kicking, and his attention moved largely away.
"I do not like surprises." He mumbled.
"Are you hoping for anything?" She wondered. After all, this time being pregnant, she wondered why this had not come up before. She guessed it was due to the fact no one had asked her about clothes or blankets or if she knew the gender in general.
"Am I meant to hope for the gender of the child?" He asked curiously, scrunching his face like it was the oddest thing he had ever heard.
She felt herself smile. His lack of usual reaction to things was always the most amusing thing to her. He was so naive for a grown man. "Some people do. Some people will continue having children until they get the one they want even."
"What do they do with the ones they don't want?" He asked, looking even more confused.
She giggled. "They keep them." She assured him. "It's not that they don't want a boy or girl. They just want one more."
"I don't understand." He admitted.
"That's alright. It is a silly concept, to begin with." She told him.
They decided to ask the medic instead of her doing it herself. She didn't know what to look for in a chakra signature to know the gender of a fetus, and she would be looking through her chakra to do it. There was no need to strain her energy.
She was having a boy.
Temari was excited because she could finally get at least one small gift special to the baby. Hinata made her promise. That is where it ended.
Once the medic triple-checked, they headed home to tell Gaara.
Temari could barely contain herself as she was nearly jumping in place. Hinata felt bad for Shikamaru. He was surely going to have to handle her baby craving soon.
"Can we get him to guess?" Temari asked as they headed through the door.
"No." Hinata smiled but rolled her eyes. "He's not one for games."
"Can I tell Baki and Kankuro?" Temari begged instead.
"Sure, but remember to keep it down." She told her, pressing a finger to her lips.
"Fine." She grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Hinata-sama." A nin ran for her. "An urgent message for the Kazekage." He handed her his message and bowed.
Temari and Hinata looked at each other in panic as she opened it. "What happened?" Temari asked.
Hinata looked up with concern. "He's gone to war."