Author's Note: And here we are, back to Gaara. Woo! The drama commences! Yes, there is a sappy part at the end. Deal. Oh, and I'm trying with all my might (if any of you should comment on this) to keep Gaara in character while adding pregnancy hormones. It's very difficult because I don't want to completely make him the 'oh, dearest me, I must cry at everything!' but yet I want to add in emotional change. So, I pray that I've at least accomplished that.

By the middle of the second month, the sand siblings realized something was odd about Gaara's pregnancy. Not that a boy being pregnant wasn't odd enough, but Gaara for some reason seemed to be having extreme pregnancy symptoms. He was throwing up about every ten minutes, he was taking frequent naps (which Shukaku seemed to not want to interrupt), he was eating out the entire house (almost starving the other members of the household), he had almost destroyed the house once in a rage (at Kankuro no less); but the strangest thing wasn't that he was having such extreme morning sickness that Kankuro had almost no more clothes left, or that he slept half the day. The strangest thing of all was the fact that he was gaining weight at an alarming rate. In fact, by the end of the sixth week, he had already gained fifteen pounds.

Kankuro and Temari were extremely worried about their younger brother. With all the symptoms and the weight gain, the older siblings were extremely afraid someone would find out their brother's secret. The village still feared Shukaku. They still wished that he was gone. People still tried to kill him. And no one, absolutely no one, in Suna would want Gaara to have children; not while still connected with Shukaku anyways. They would never accept the child Gaara was going to bear. This created a load of problems for them when missions came up. Temari ended up taking most missions alone now while Kankuro stayed home and 'protected' Gaara. Well, kept him from leaving the house (most of the time). They needed a plan and fast. At some point they'd have to leave or risk exposing Gaara. But who would help them? Where could they go? Most importantly, when?

Break-

Gaara was not the happiest of people right now. His mouth constantly tasted of puke, he was hungry all the time, and the weight gain was becoming noticeable. At only 5'4" and originally weighing about 115 pounds, the extra fifteen pounds were doing nothing for his figure. He mostly stayed in the house with Kankuro, making his brother run to the store every five minutes because of a new craving. On the outside he was having a great time ordering his brother around, on the inside he was seething with anger at what his body was doing to him. And then, one night, while they thought he was asleep, Gaara overheard his siblings talking about him. It was a conversation he would have preferred never to hear…

Two days ago (kitchen)-

Temari and Kankuro were sitting down at the kitchen table, talking in hushed voices. Gaara wasn't in the mood for his siblings flocking all over him, so he sat down against the wall closest to the kitchen door, listening in.

"Kankuro, you can't tell me you haven't noticed."

"But I thought all women got fat and gained weight when they're pregnant."

"No shit? This isn't normal though Kankuro. When women carry children they don't start showing till three and a half to four months into the pregnancy."

"That means what exactly?"

"Alright, let me break it down for you, dumb-ass. Women usually gain about five pounds in the first three months. Gaara is not even three months but has already gained fifteen pounds. The only woman I've ever met that gained that much weight had a long difficult pregnancy. In the end, when she actually gave birth, she didn't just have one baby; she had three. Now I don't know if that's the case with Gaara or not. But this is extremely dangerous. Multiple births are tricky and I'm not sure Gaara is up to the task of raising more then one kid on his own."

Kankuro swore under his breath. Shaking his head Kankuro looked up at her. "What do we do then?"

"We ask Gaara and see if he'll talk to Shukaku about it. If he's carrying more then one kid we're going to have to leave sooner then we expected. People are going to notice quicker; Gaara will be found out. We can't know till we ask though, so let's wait and see. We won't make any permanent arrangements until we're certain."

Gaara fled. He vanished to the roof top where he sat in silence. How could this be happening? He could barely wrap his mind around the thought of having one child, but two, maybe three?

Confused, lost in thought, Gaara failed to notice the shadow, the swell of darkness that vanished around the corner of his house, the silhouette that gave a malicious smile while running into the nighttime mist.

Present time (around 2 and ½ months)-

Kankuro and Temari had finally worked up the courage to ask Gaara about talking to Shukaku. They sat down in the family room where Gaara was sitting on the couch, a faraway look in his eye, and half of a peach shoved into his mouth. The two sand-ninjas sat down and looked at their brother. Kankuro cleared his throat. Gaara looked up at them with a questioning stare and set his peach down. Temari was the one who broke the silence. "Gaara. I know we have no right to ask this and that you don't like talking to him, but we have a question we'd like to ask. You see," Temari looked him straight in the face, "we think you might be carrying more then one baby and we want you to ask Shukaku if that's true."

Gaara stared at her before standing up. He seemed uncharacteristically frustrated as he closed his eyes and turned inward. 'Shukaku.'

'Yes, my pet?'

'How many babies am I carrying?'

'Wow, that was the most straightforward you've been with me for a while, without yelling anyways.'

Frustrated tears welled up in Gaara's eyes. 'Just answer the question.'

'These babies are partially mine; our connection you know. So, more similar to a raccoon, you are indeed carrying three.'

Gaara had reached the final straw. He didn't want children. He especially didn't want Shukaku's children. He wanted all of his problems to just go away. Out loud he shrieked, "It's not fair! I've had enough!"

He grabbed hold of a knife he was carrying on his hip and in one smooth motion swung it down at his stomach. Two things happened simultaneously. Gaara's sand whacked the knife roughly out of his hand and Temari leaped across the room, latching onto his stomach, protecting his babies with her body.

Gaara looked down at her. "Why did you try to stop me? This would solve all our problems. I wouldn't be pregnant anymore and you two could go on with your lives."

Strangely though, when Temari lifted her face, she was crying. "I'm so sorry Gaara. I'm sorry this had to happen to you. But please, don't throw your babies lives away. I know it's not fair and I know it's not right that you have to give birth to children you never wanted. But, please, don't become like father. Please don't ever become like him. You don't deserve that. Your babies don't deserve that. Please." Her last word came out in a choked sob. Tears streaming down her cheeks, Temari buried her face against Gaara's stomach.

Kankuro stood up and looked at his sister and brother. Both were crying and Kankuro couldn't help but go to them. All three kids had forever been haunted by their father's cruelness. But today, today was the first day any of them had ever mentioned it. Kankuro went over and hugged his two siblings; the very first time the three of them had ever hugged.