Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine

Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. Sorry.

Author's Notes: So many hits to this story already! Whoo! And thanks for 21 reviews so far (I hope I get more nudge, nudge, wink, wink). This chapter contains a bit of a time jump, moving the plot along slightly. Things will start picking up soon… you didn't think I'd let Naruto just languish in Konoha with nothing happening for nine months? Nope, things are going to get interesting. XD (See, now you HAVE to keep reading!). Just so you know, this story probably won't exceed 10 chapters, but (for once) I have a clear line of where I'm going with it, so I'll definitely keep going!

Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 4

Things settled into a routine. Every week, Naruto would visit Tsunade. She would poke him and prod him, obsess about his weight-gain (or lack-thereof), and finally do an ultrasound, which Naruto began to see as the highlights of his week. Shikamaru accompanied him to as many of these visits as he could, except on occasions when he was out of Konoha on missions. On the days when Naruto didn't see Tsunade, he went about life as normally as he could. His morning sickness was manageable, though annoying. He spent time with the rest of Team Kakashi, who remained the only ones besides Tsunade and Shikamaru who knew about the pregnancy.

Naruto still groused about the fact that he had not been able to tell Kakashi and Sai himself. Instead, Tsunade had called them in and briefed them on the situation. Naruto hadn't even been present, and had thus been spared their (he felt) rather humorous reactions. Sai, however, had been a godsend: he dug up so much information on pregnancy (male or otherwise) that Naruto's small apartment was filled nearly to bursting with books he knew he wouldn't have been able to find without Sai's help. Knowing more about the situation certainly helped Naruto's nerves.

It had been three months since that fateful night, and two since he'd found out about the certain consequences. Still, the whole idea about actually being pregnant was vaguely surreal to Naruto at times. Other than the nausea, he had noticed disappointingly few changes to his body. He frequently wondered to himself when he would wake up and find this had all been a very bizarre dream.

On a morning in his eleventh week of pregnancy, Shikamaru came to Naruto's apartment to walk with him to his check-up, as had become a custom of his. He knocked quietly and let himself in at the door, pausing when he did not immediately see the blonde. Loud retching from the bathroom gave him a clue, and he headed off in that direction to see the familiar sight of Naruto hunched over the toilet bowl. With a sympathetic grimace, he knelt next to the blonde and rubbed his back until the sickness seemed to abate. Then he helped him up and led him back to the main room.

Once returned the to refuge of his bed, Naruto cradled his head in his hands. "God… sometimes I hate this…"

Shikamaru, wisely, said nothing.

"I mean… I don't… I don't hate the baby… but… feeling sick all the time… jeez, Shikamaru, I've never been sick before, not like this… I always got better quickly… the books say I've still got a few more weeks of this. Weeks!"

Shikamaru sat down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I… I know it's troublesome right now… but… do you think it'll be worth it? In the long run?"

Naruto smiled slightly. "I know it will be. Just… it'd be nice if I had something right now to show for the last couple months… there's no change… I'm… I'm still not even showing…"

Shikamaru looked down at him, then smiled softly. "Guess again, look. I guess because you constantly look at it, you don't notice so much."

Naruto looked down at his belly and scrutinised it. His stubborn pout softened. True enough, there was an ever-so-slight rounding of his midsection. Hardly noticeable, but it was there. At last he had the physical confirmation that this wasn't all just some extremely elaborate joke. He placed his hand gently over the small bump. It didn't feel like flab – the skin was still firm, smooth. A look of wonderment came upon his face as he caressed it, seemingly lost in thought.

Almost hesitantly, another hand came to cover his own, touching the skin of his belly with a softness that made his stomach do a flip-flop. Naruto came out of his reverie and looked over at Shikamaru. The brunette had a dreamy concentrated look on his face. Suddenly, he looked at Naruto, their eyes catching each other. Something passed between them, though neither could later say what it was. Silence stretched, silence neither awkward nor companionable. The air seemed charged with things undone, or unsaid. Then Shikamaru cleared his throat and looked away, saying they should get going, Tsunade would be waiting. The moment was gone.

--

Another two weeks passed, and now that Naruto and Shikamaru were aware of it, the baby bump seemed to get a tiny bit bigger with each passing day. Naruto began finding it getting slightly harder to fit into his clothes. Though, it wasn't until Kiba poked him and laughingly joked that he looked like he was trying to steal Chouji's thunder that Shikamaru suggested that they start telling people.

"They're starting to notice, Naruto," Shikamaru said. "They've seen you're not training like you used to, and that you're… wider… they're going to start wondering what's going on with you. You might as well get it over with."

Naruto sighed. "I know… I'm just not really looking forward to it… it's going to be the most awkward conversation of my life – and I'm including the time Iruka insisted on teaching me the differences between boys and girls… fat lot of good that did me, now that I think about it," he added as an afterthought, poking his abdomen.

"Would you rather have the awkward conversation now, or when you're actually giving birth?"

"… you have a point," Naruto made a face and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. "So when do you suggest we tell them?"

"As soon as possible. Before they come up with any wild theories. You know what Kiba's imagination can be like."

--

As the rest of the original Rookie Nine (minus Sasuke, of course) were part of that drunken night of daring, Naruto felt it would be better to invite them all for some barbeque and tell them together, then tell anyone else they knew separately as the situation called for it. Besides, it was all he and Shikamaru could jointly afford.

When they had all eaten as much as they could with Chouji there, and the mood was relaxed and friendly, Naruto cleared his throat. He felt a knot of tension in his stomach – he couldn't decide whether to run away, get it over with as quickly as possible, or throw up. He was starting to lean strongly towards the latter, and this time his baby had nothing to do with it.

Their friends had known something was up, of course – Naruto rarely treated anyone to a meal, let alone a large group like theirs. They looked up at the blonde expectantly, and his cheeks reddened at the attention.

"Um… I have something to tell you." Naruto said, looking at all of them. They looked expectant, save for Sakura who, knowing what he was going to say, gave him an encouraging smile. "You remember when we all got together that night a few months ago? With the sake, and the… um… well, you remembered when…"

"When Ino showed us her boobs and then made you kiss Shikamaru as a girl?" Kiba asked, scratching his head. "Yeah, it's hazy, but I remember it."

Naruto blushed brightly. "Yeah… that… well… we, that is, Shikamaru and I… I was a girl, and we were drunk…"

"And we slept together." Shikamaru finished. "And because Naruto was a girl at the time, he ended up pregnant."

Everyone stared. Naruto felt like he wished the floor would swallow him. Part of him was happy it was out in the open, another part wanted to take it all back and pretend the conversation never happened. Mostly he wished someone would say something. The urge to be sick grew ever stronger.

"You're… you're joking, right?" Kiba said.

"Oh my god…" Ino gasped. "Is that why your…" she gestured vaguely at Naruto's belly. The blonde boy nodded.

Hinata looked vaguely hurt, though Naruto had no idea why. But she smiled at him, softly. "A-Are you happy, Naruto-kun?" He looked at her, and a ghost of a smile brushed his lips. "Yeah, yeah, I am."

Chouji was gobsmacked. "Shikamaru! You're going to be a father!"

"I had noticed," the shadow-nin replied, dryly. "But thanks for pointing it out." Chouji, overcome with emotion, tackled his oldest friend and drew him into a bone-crunching hug.

Shino, solid and silent as he always was, nodded towards the pair. "Congratulations." He said in his deep voice.

Naruto felt vaguely overwhelmed. He had expected shock, possibly even anger and outright shunning. The freak, the Jinchuuriki, the outcast of the village, now pregnant on top of everything else. It was absurd. The fact that his friends accepted him without hesitation made him feel so much more than grateful. He had never had a blood sibling, and Sasuke had been the closest he'd come to that. Now though, he knew that his child would grow up surrounded by a multitude of wonderful aunts and uncles, family in all but blood.

It was easy, after that, to tell other people. Iruka became a complete mother hen, stopping by Naruto's place at all hours to see if he needed anything, bringing him healthy food and generally checking up on his well-being. Rock Lee gushed something about the "all-powerful powerfullness of youth!" and struck a weepy pose that made Naruto feel rather embarrassed as it happened in the middle of a crowded street. Neji said little, but Naruto felt he was supportive. Tenten acted like the other girls were prone to do and inspected his baby bump before wishing him her heartfelt congratulations. Shikamaru's family were shocked, but approved that their son continued to show support towards Naruto and their baby.

Tsunade handled the Elders, and Naruto saw little of them. He met with their disapproving glares each time he did though, but he was used to that, and felt no emotional loss because of it. He'd never liked them anyway.

--

Time flowed on inexorably fast, and before Naruto knew it, another two months had passed. Shikamaru was always around these days. He would come by Naruto's home early in the morning, and leave late at night. The habit had begun early on, when Naruto would suffer from horrible morning sickness, especially soon after waking, and in the evening. Even as Naruto's second trimester wore on and the sickness abated entirely, Shikamaru continued to be there. It was a comfort for both of them. They grew ever closer in friendship, both because of their proximity and their shared love for the child growing in Naruto's belly. On the days when he was away on missions, Naruto found he missed him terribly. Of course, Iruka was always there for him, but it wasn't entirely the same thing.

Naruto began feeling the discomfort of being a pregnant man. As Tsunade had said, his body wasn't built for carrying a baby. His hips ached constantly, a complaint he had been assured would get worse if and when the baby turned to birth position. His back hurt. He couldn't move as quickly or as agilely as he wanted to, and he was only five months in. He felt it worse when Shikamaru wasn't there with him. Then, his only comfort was the child he could feel moving within him. The kicks and punches were too weak to be felt on the outside, but Naruto felt them constantly, and each time they made him smile.

--

Shikamaru had been gone for particularly long, this time around. Despite the fact that Tsunade tried to give him missions that could be completed quickly and fairly easily, sometimes they ran into complications that could extend the time by more than a week. Naruto hated it when that happened – he had a tendency to fear the worst whenever Shikamaru didn't come home on time. It made him irritable and weepy, though he knew the feelings were caused by his hormones.

He hated being shacked up at home. He had too little energy to do much in the way of training, not that he could do anything involving Chakra anyway, especially as his womb continued growing every day, using up more of his reserves. Even so, it irked him that he couldn't be out there with Shikamaru, as part of a team, doing what he was born to do.

He was achy and tired, but he couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. He lay on his bed, attempting to read a book, but finding his brain unable to process any of the words. He dozed, hovering on the border between sleep and wakefulness, but unable to exist fully in either.

He heard the door open, and cracked an eye open, expecting to see Iruka with yet another meal for him to try. It took him several seconds to recognise that the tired-looking and dirty individual before him was Shikamaru. Instantly he snapped awake, and grinned. "Hey, where ya been?"

Shikamaru smiled, and sat down on the bed. "We had some problems with some Iwa-nin on the way back. Tenten was badly injured, and we had to wait a while to move her while Ino got her fit enough to travel."

"She's alright though, isn't she?" Naruto asked, worried.

Shikamaru nodded. "She's fine. She'll be in hospital for a couple of days though." He smiled quirkily at Naruto. "Have you been alright?"

"Yeah, just tired really," Naruto answered.

Shikamaru reached out a hand and touched Naruto's belly, rubbing it slightly. The gesture was so familiar to them both by now that there was no awkwardness in it. Naruto yawned, then hissed in a breath as he felt a particularly hard kick. He quickly looked over at Shikamaru, who had a completely surprised look on his face. "Did you feel that?" He asked.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yes… was that… the baby?"

Naruto nodded, a huge grin on his face. "He or she knows their daddy," he quipped. Shikamaru gently caressed the bump. "Our baby…" he said softly. He looked at Naruto, and then seemingly on the spur of the moment reached over and stroked his cheek, pulled him close, and kissed him softly on the mouth.

Naruto's eyes widened, then his expression softened, and they closed, and he kissed him back.

--

Yay, romance at last. XD I didn't want to rush their relationship before now. They've had a bond, mostly one of a more brotherly sort of friendship. It's grown deeper, but until now, they haven't realised that it was love.

Hope you still like this story. As always, constructive criticism is VERY welcome! If you have any ideas on how to improve, please let me know.