9 Months to Go

New Character!:

Inato Aburame: Age/17, Hair/Brown, thick, straight, reaches the middle of her back, Eyes/Brown, always covered by her dark purple shades, Special/Inato's body is inhabited by the kikaichu, like all members of her clan.

Erika stood frozen like a statue outside the front door. She was so nervous! What if he didn't want it? Of course, she knew Shino would never leave her over something like this, but STILL, it was really nerve wracking!

Taking a deep breath, Erika slowly opened the door and walked inside. Shino was nowhere to be seen. He must still be out training. Sighing, Erika sat on the couch and rubbed her tummy absent mindedly, thinking of what it would be like to have another kid. Would it be a girl or a boy? Which of its parents would it look like? What kind of personality would it grow up to have?

Erika nearly had a heart attack when she heard the door open. Shino walked in to find Erika with her hand over her heart looking as though she'd seen a ghost.

"Don't scare me like that! Fuck! You nearly gave me a bloody heart attack!" Erika screamed.

"Sorry," Shino said, kissing her. "So what did the doctor say?"

"Uhhhh…" Damn. Erika had spent so much time thinking of what the baby would be like, she hadn't bothered to think about how she was going to tell him! Eh, what the hell, might as well just come out and say it, right?

"Well, um, she told me…"

Just then there was a loud knock on the door. Whew. Saved by the bell!

Erika jumped up and ran to the door, opening it to see Shino's younger sister, Inato.

Inato nodded to her. "Hello, Erika-chan. Is my brother home?"

Shino walked over to the door. "Inato. What is it?"

"The Hokage needs to see you. She said she had a new mission for you."

Shino nodded. "I'll go there in a minute." And with that he just closed the door. No good byes or anything. But then, he and Inato had never really gotten along.

"So… what were you about to tell me?" Shino asked, turning back to Erika.

Erika looked at the ground and started rubbing her palm, a habit she used whenever she was really nervous or stressed.

"Um… I'm…" Erika found herself unable to finish and just pointed at her tummy.

When she didn't hear anything, Erika looked up. Was Shino mad…?

He was just standing there staring at her. Sometimes she wished he would show a little more emotion. It was so hard trying to find out what he thought!

"Are you, um, mad…?" Erika asked timidly.

After a minute, Shino shook his head slowly. "No… just… surprised."

Erika nodded. "So I guess you're finally gonna be a dad."

"Mm-hmm."

Later that night, Erika called up Curry to tell her.

"So he's ok with it? Awsome!"

"Yeah. I get so nervous over these things, and it always ends up being completely cool. But NOW I remember that the hardest part is yet to come."

Curry grinned, forgetting her friend couldn't see her.

"Nine months to go!"