THE DICHOTOMY OF FAMILY AND GENETICS

Naruto never though much about her own family; then she got one whether it was wanted or not. All of a sudden, she finds herself missing what she had never had, and what she had never missed before. SasuNaru (FemNaru), slight GaaSaku, ShikaIno, KakaRin, JiraTsu, MinaKushi, & YahiKonan.

CHAPTER I
~ SIXTEEN YEARS ~

I think I'll get out of here, to where I can run,
Just as fast as I can, to the middle of nowhere,
To the middle of my frustrated fears,
And I swear! You're just like a pill;
Instead of making me better, you keep making me ill.

Anko Mitarashi was the first to notice. Aside from dating her boyfriend's oldest brother, she worked with Naruto in the record store owned by Killer Bee (thank god the man was as dense as wood), and so they usually saw each other at least once a day.

Naruto had her own similar suspicions (she was occasionally naïve, but she was not stupid) but she was doing a very good job of ignoring them. Of course Anko, annoying meddling woman, felt it necessary to bring them to the front of her mind - which was really where they should have been in the first place.

"You sure you're eating properly spitfire? Or did you just eat Sakura's food again by accident?" she asked as Naruto picked herself up from the floor, raising a concerned eyebrow with the helping hand offered.

Really, when other people began to notice something wasn't right, she could hardly keep ignoring it herself could she? Naruto let the woman help pull her up before moving to the sink and splashing some water on her face; the cold temperature stung her skin, and reality began to drop like a stink bomb.

"I'm fine Anko, just a little tired is all," she smiled at the woman who stood in the doorway apprehensively; it was clear she didn't believe a word of the white lies coming out of her mouth, but she didn't press the matter.

"If you say so kid; there's a delivery coming in at seven that need to be put in the inventory" she shrugged before turning and heading back to the front of the shop.

That was one of the things Naruto liked about Anko - if you didn't want her help, she wouldn't press you. But if you did, shed more than lend a helping hand. Right now Naruto didn't want Anko's help (she hardly ever accepted anybody's help; why should she change now?) so the woman would not badger her.

And Naruto couldn't be more grateful.

Seated on edge of the bath in her boyfriend's home, Naruto pondered the mess her life had unwittingly become.

Naruto Uzumaki had always consider herself one of the normal ones; she wasn't particularly popular, but she had a fair number of friends. She had grown up in a children's care home before moving into halfway-housing with Sakura, but her lack of a family was just one of those things she was used to.

She was generally considered loud and sometimes overbearing by strangers, but those comments usually became affectionate teases; they did not especially concern her. She had a bit of an adiction to ramen, gardening, and metal music (she especially loved ANBU), but that was just what she liked.

She didn't especially care about guys in general either; she had her boyfriend, and she was happily head over heels for Sasuke. Her burnt cadmium-red hair (forced into two ever-so-slightly mismatched bunches), Lapis eyes, and whisker tattoos drew a few raised eyebrows but she didn't really mind that.

Her figure was horribly reminiscent of a chopping board, but Sasuke liked her boobs all the same so that wasn't a problem either. She was not eccentrically intelligent, but had her areas of skill in the arts (she played at grade eight on the Saxophone, and her drawing skills were none too shabby either).

Yes, Naruto had considered herself one of the normal ones; no drugs, no violence, no crazy genetic diseases, no spectacularly failing classes, no abusive relationships to worry about. Nope, her life was pretty damn good and normal.

Or it was in the past tense. For all her normality, the disgusting, minuscule, vomit-pink Plus-sign on the small white stick in her hand was not. It was as if it was mocking her, spitting on the nice life she'd built for herself.

Pregnant. Fucking Pregnant. All right, biologically this could be considered normal, but she was the pill, and she knew from experience that it had worked before, So why wasn't it working now?

She was very thorough with this sort of thing; she had a little disc of the things in her school back, saxophone case, weekend bag, and there was even some over at Sasuke's house, in the top drawer of his dresser, kept out of sight by his boxers! She had marked her dosage dates on her calendar in he kitchen, and on the one that came with her music player, and the one in her phone just to be safe! She had never missed a dosage! Sure, contraception wasn't perfect but…

This was not what she wanted. Naruto did not want a child in her life; maybe that was a bit unfair… She did consider children in the future, but the notion didn't really appeal to her. She'd looked after the babies in the care home when she still lived there, and irritating just wasn't the word.

No, Naruto did not want a baby; The idea was stupid. Preposterous. Infuriating… and terrifying. And completely messed up! She glared back at the white stick in a manner learned from Sasuke, as if she could force the sickly pink Plus to mutate into the refreshing cobalt Minus she had wanted. And had expected. What in the name of hell was she supposed to do now?

A knock on the door and a familiar voice jolted her from her thoughts, and she hastily stuffed the stick and its packaging into the pocket of her jumper, zipping it away from view as the voice permeated through the door.

"Naruto, is everything all right? You've been in there for ten minuets..." Sasuke's mother, Mikoto, asked.

The concern in the woman's voice made her smile; she was like a mother to her. She didn't have a real family, but she had a family all the same - why did she need flesh and blood when she had people like Mikoto, Sakura, Gaara, and Sasuke?

Naruto opened the door, making certain to smile at the woman as she closed it behind her. Mikoto fixed her with a stern gaze, frowning as she placed a hand on her forehead.

"You look pale Naruto, are you sure you're not ill? You're not skipping meals are you?" she asked; Naruto could tell that was only the bare minimum of questions she had, and couldn't stop her chuckle.

"I'm fine, just a little tired from work is all" Naruto reassured her.

It wasn't even a lie really; Anko's sudden perceptiveness had been unusual and unsettling. Mikoto - however - frowned, believing her just as much as Anko had earlier in the day, but she said nothing.

"I don't believe a word of that, but I'll go alongside it for now; mark my words though, if you don't start to perk up I will investigate" she sighed.

Naruto simply nodded in reply; arguing with Mikoto Uchiha went beyond the realm of stupidity and into the valley of the downright lunacy, with a short trip through the forest of foolhardy.

"Come on, Sasuke is going to come looking for a door to break if you don't get back downstairs" Mikoto smiled.

A grin broke onto Naruto's face; Sasuke was such a worry-wart. If he hadn't worried over her every time she disappeared or conducted 'dangerous' behaviour, she would have wondered if he had noticed she was… if he had noticed something was off.

Pushing her complications to the back of her mind for the moment, she followed Mikoto back downstairs for dessert, though she really would have preferred some more of the deep-fried tofu that had been on top the Udon they had just eaten.

Sasuke, despite what Naruto believed, was not simply worrying as he usually did; something had been unsettling her for a while, but ever since she had left her job for the night it seemed to have sky-rocketed.

What it was however, mystefied to him; his girlfriend was very stubborn, and when she wanted to keep something under the rug, it damn well stayed there. He'd noticed that she had been more prone to snapping and swearing lately, so whatever was bothering her must be fairly substantial. Especially today.

He gave her a surreptitious glance as he dug into his bowl of lemon ice; she was picking, barley even nibbling at the dessert she usually wolfed down. What on earth was wrong with her lately? He noticed the scrutinising look his mother was giving her and realised he wasn't the only one who had noticed something off.

After dessert - which Naruto did finish when she noticed the analytical gazes - he stood next to her in the kitchen, drying plates as she scrubbed others in the sink. She babbled away about some sort of usual nonsense, but he was more interested in the change in her appearance.

It was hardly noticeable, but the more he looked at her body the more he noticed little changes. Smell for example; she couldnt go anywhere near Itachi because, according to her, he stank of aftershave/cologne-overdose. That had been at least a foot away from him!

The most obvious change however, was the fatigue; he couldn't say much for during the day, since they went to different schools, but she was usually a bubble of kinetic energy when they met up. Lately he was kissing her goodnight at six pm.

That was just weird frankly. He usually had to fight to leave, or had to leave the flat she shared with sakura at four am just so he could get to his own home and to his own school in the morning - something was screaming at him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

His worry was proven well founded as he pondered; Naruto placed a hand to her head, covering her eyes and leaning over the sink. He was about to ask if something was wrong when her free hand whitened its knuckles around the edge of the sink and she swayed on the spot.

Instinctively, his arm reached out and held her up, catching round her back and his hand resting just beneath her (almost non-existent) breasts. Before he could ask what was wrong, he noticed something else odd.

"Did your boobs get bigger?" he asked bluntly, for it was the only way he really could ask.

Why hadn't he noticed that before now? He'd seen them enough to know for a fact that they were not usually as… as discernible as they were now. Where the hell had they come from? They hadn't been there last week had they? He hadn't noticed if they had!

"I don't know; do they look bigger?" she asked, looking down at her chest in not surprise but alarm.

Why should she be alarmed? She was always complaining that she didn't have any breasts! He'd disagree, since they were there - just not noticeably - and he honestly preferred them that way; Naruto, however, simply hated her 'board' figure. She should be over the moon! Why was she worrying?

"They stick out more" he stated just as bluntly, watching the panic rise on her face.
"Wow; I didn't notice at all" she replied, staring down at the new bumps with an unreadable expression.

Oh yes, she was definitely hiding something, he was certain of that now. He removed his arm - certain she was now stable on her feet. Before going back to the drying of the dishes, he gave one of the new additions a light poke, checking to make certain they were real.

He didn't expect Naruto's reaction at all; she gave a loud yelp and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him with unusual viciousness.

"That hurt! Don't poke me like that moron!" she snapped.

He was baffled; he'd barley touched her! There was simply no reason for such a vehement reaction unless she had some sort of pain inducing disease… God, he hoped not. Cancer horror stories flooded his mind; did breast cancer hurt?

She turned back to the dishes brusquely, muttering to herself about insensitive boyfriends and other words of discontent. He stood waiting for the washed plates to pile up, and gave her body another scan, checking for anything he'd missed.

There didn't seem to be anything else out of the ordinary; everything from the top of her red head to her feet seemed normal apart from the changes he had already noticed. His eyes stopped on a white pencil-like thing sticking out of her pocket.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding to the object when she looked up from the dishes.

She looked at her pocket and her eyes burned with anger and once again alarm, but it was the sheer terror on her face that unsettled him; Naruto stuffed the thing back within the confines of the zipped fabric it had been escaping from, muttering a short reply as she did: "Its nothing."

He could tell from the tone in her voice that any more questions would be a bad idea, and finally resumed the drying of the dishes. He knew he should push the matter, but the terror on her face halted his tongue.

Naruto was seated on her sofa next to her pink haired flat mate with one the first genuine content expression to grace her face for a few weeks. Two weeks after the disgusting and unwanted revelation, Naruto had found her solution.

She didn't really know why she hadn't thought of it immediately, but that did not concern her much. She had already gotten the approval required from two doctors, her usual doctor and a new woman – Nami-whatsit, her name was.

Her situational factors as an orphan in social housing had been a primary factor, but pregnancies took a toll on the body, and consent had been given with the reasoning it could be harmful to her - Naruto was not short, but she was lithe and had almost no unnecessary body fat. Her structure was something that could have made the condition risky at her age.

She had made her appointment at the hospital, and in a few hours, the little glob of unwanted DNA that had taken up residence in her womb would be gone. End of story, end of panic, she would have her normality back again.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket; Sasuke again. She had stayed in today because of the procedure she was to take; she didn't know the routine for abortion prep, so she was sticking to the usual hospital rules of no foods or liquids and plenty of rest. The unfortunate backlash was that Sasuke was getting a little paranoid.

A glance at the clock told her it was time to leave, and it was with a brief excuse to Sakura of needing milk (she had poured the milk down the sink that morning for this very reason) that she closed the door of the flat behind her.

Sakura frowned as Naruto shut the door behind her; she knew the red-head almost as well as Gaara, having grown up in the same care home for the majority of her life, and she knew there was something off.

She had a pretty good idea as to what was so off too; the absence of some monthly habits (like the usual ice-cream binge) and decrease of the usual bathroom rubbish were definitely hints, but Sakura was going to cash her cheques just yet.

She knew how obsessive Naruto was with contraceptives (if it wasn't such a serious matter it would be funny), so it would have to be a disastrous miracle. Not just in the obvious context, but for Naruto too.

Naruto and family didn't mix well, at least not biologically anyway. She had no desire for a family of any kind, if her reactions when they drew babysitting duty in the care home were any indication.

Sakura easily understood that, having faced the same problems herself to a lesser degree; her father was an utter blank – she couldn't recall having one – but her mother had died when she was five. However, she still had her elder sister Tayuya, and she had not been completely raised by the social services – she could even recall brief memories of her mother with some effort.

The same could not be said of Naruto though; the fiery girl didn't know what a real family was like. She didn't understand how they functioned; she could create a likeness easily enough, but having grown up without the real thing it was a foreign concept. Which was why Sakura was certain that if, god forbid, Naruto was pregnant her first decision would be to get approval for an abortion, and therein lay her worry.

The door opened, and Sakura angled her head over the back of the sofa to see Sasuke stepping through the door; she didn't bat an eyelash. Sasuke had been given a key by Naruto the same way she had given one to Gaara (he was only a floor below them, but that wasn't the point).

"You just missed her, she went out to Tazuna's to get some milk" Sakura informed him apologetically.

He shrugged his shoulders and flopped down onto the sofa his girlfriend had been seated on perhaps thirty minuets previously. She could tell by his rigid posture that something was bothering him immediately, and this time there was no question she would cash her cheques on Naruto.

"Has Naruto been… off lately?" he asked quietly, his eyes inattentively glued to the soap she was watching.
"You'll have to specify" Sakura replied uncertainly.

He frowned for a moment in thought.
"It's not much but she keeps getting woozy. She's twitchy, snappish… it's weird" he stated.

Sakura frowned.

"Oh, and her boobs just grew overnight; she should have been dancing but she completely freaked when I pointed it out" he added.

Sakura didn't know whether to congratulate him for picking up on the signs most men were completely oblivious to, or whack him one for remembering the most information about Naruto's breasts.

"I don't know about that, but Tayuya said she almost passed out during PE the other day…"

Sakura hesitated with any more information; she was certain that Sasuke would make connections to her strange behaviour eventually, but Naruto obviously wanted to keep her yet-to-be confirmed… condition to herself. Sakura really didn't think she was doing herself a favour by doing that…

A blaring ring from the phone interrupted her, and she got up to check the number; if there was no caller id, or the number was unrecognisable it was never answered. With all the sellers, the best thing to do was pick up if the caller decided to leave a message or ring them back.

Sakura recognised the area code, but nothing else, so she stood by the phone as it continued to ring and waited to see if the caller was desperate enough to leave a message instead. To say she was not disappointed would be a misconception; horrified would have been a better adjective.

"Hello, this is Dr Yugito Nii from the Konoha General Prenatal Department for Naruto Uzumaki; I'm calling to confirm your appointment at the abotrion clinic. There were some errors by the general staff, and I wanted to discuss the possibility of a later appoint-"

Sakura gaped at the phone; she had her suspicions yes, but they were suspicions! To actually hear medical confirmation that her best friend was not only pregnant, but planning on aborting the child was... very, very different.

It was only the hiss of disbelief from Sasuke that reminded her he was in the room. Of course, by the time she realised that he had overheard the conversation too, he had dashed from the room and out of the door before she had a chance to get a word in edgeways.

"I guess I don't have to tell him then..." she mused before flopping face down on to the sofa; really, even when Naruto was on the other side of town she could cause chaos.

Sasuke's temper was well known; he didn't loose it often, but when he did you hoped to god you were not on the receiving end. If you were, you ran for cover and prayed god would have mercy on your soul (because Sasuke certainly wouldn't).

One important point about Sasuke's temper was that he had never truly lost it when Naruto played into the equation. Oh, they had their moments - one of those had been after a forgotten argument which had resulted in the Sai fiasco- but he had never truly lost his temper with her.

At that moment, as he sat on the bus to the general hospital however, Sasuke was forcing a good deal of self control over himself. If he didn't, he was unsure as to what would happen when he caught up to his stupid, rash, errant red-headed girlfriend.

All right, so maybe she wasn't being stupid with the decision, but didn't he get the option to put some input into this? Chances were he would be all for abortion – the idea of being a teenage father was not an appealing one – but that wasn't the point; this was half his responsibility damn it!

Did she not trust him or something? Was that the reason she had gone behind his back? Somehow he felt he wasn't taking this quite the way he should have; he should have been running for the hills the moment the doctor said the word 'prenatal', but for some reason he was taking more offence to the fact Naruto had hidden this form him.

How had she got pregnant anyway? He'd seen her take those pills enough times to know she was very vigilant with their dosage. He also knew they worked – there had been at least three incidences where he'd either forgotten, been out of condoms, or too drunk to care, and she hadn't become pregnant then! So how?

The bus began to slow as it approached the stop directly outside the hospital; it wasn't directly in front of the entrance, that was for the ambulances, but it was close enough. Giving a quick thanks to the wizened bus driver as he did, he darted from the bus towards the double doors.

To be honest, he didn't really have much of a plan or any thought as to what he would say to Naruto when he finally caught up with her – he just hoped he didn't blow his mouth off as he usually did when he was mad. After a quick verification with the receptionist with the location of the prenatal department, he zipped down the directed corridor towards the lifts.

In the lift, he had a few moments to clam down, and seriously consider the situation he and Naruto found themselves in; abortion? The more he thought about it, the oddly less appealing it seemed. It was...

Ending a life just like that? It didn't sit well with him.

He knew that, logically, it was the best option for everyone; it was a pity logic was hardly ever taken into account for the majority of life decisions. Things like careers, families, it was always what was desired, enjoyed, liked, it was all emotion; It was one of those Dionysian things that played havoc with logic.

Logically, abortion was the right move; emotionally, abortion turned his stomach. The doors opened and he stepped out of the metallic box, taking more care as he walked through the hallways this time. Looking around made him nervous – why did there have to be so many... Pregnant People walking around?

A loud voice emerged from one closed room as nothing but pain and profanities, and Sasuke began to contemplate turning his tail and going back home.

He didn't know how to describe it all; surreal or scary? He settled on both as he followed a sign down another corridor in direction of the abortion clinic. It took several minuets to realise what he was seeing at the end of the stark white hallway, but it completely unnerved him when he did.

Naruto; she was seated on one of the benches in the hallway; head leant over onto her knees. A doctor with the biggest breasts Sasuke had ever seen, and lowly-fastened pale blonde bunches crouched in front of her, seemingly giving instructions; The key words were 'deep breaths' and 'calm'.

Previous panic aside, he walked up to the two women with trepidation; he wasn't certain his presence would be welcome yet... he was no doctor, but he'd seen panic attacks before. Naruto didn't seem to even notice him, but the blonde woman gave him a significant glance – the trouble was deciphering what kind of look it was.

Was he supposed to leave or try cheering her up? He'd never equated Naruto and panic attacks together, but that was what he was faced with. The doctor answered his question for him.

"Looks like you have the neighbourhood watch out for you; go home, and get some rest. If you need anything else feel free to come back," she said soothingly, nodding her head in his direction.

Naruto raised her head an inch to repeat the action, and jerked back to an upright position immediately. She stared for a few moments, and then blinked to check she was not hallucinating; she bit her lip.

"Well, I've got work to do, and you look to be in safe hands; take care of yourself kid" the doctor informed the red-head, standing up and straightening out her trouser suit and lab coat.

Naruto watched her leave instead of meeting his gaze, not moving from the bench. Sighing to himself, he slumped down in the seat next to her, watching the hospital traffic pass them by. Her fingers tugged and twirled the fire-red strands atop her head – a rare sighting of her most strenuous nervous habit.

"How did you find me?" she asked all of a sudden, tucking her knees up under her chin.

The question caught him off guard for a few seconds, he had assumed he would have had to force some sort of conversation out of her; apparently he was wrong.

"I was worried so I went to your place; some Yugito woman left a message" he told her with quiet bluntness.

Naruto made no effort to reply.

"Why didn't you say something?" he asked, getting right to the point; there was no point in beating about the bush with the matter.
"You didn't need to know. I didn't want It, and I didn't expect you to jump with joy either, so..."

She left the obvious conclusion hanging in the air.

"That's not the point! I was worried sick Naruto – you've been acting weird for well over a month now... God, this is just like with Sai! You should have said something to someone, anyone!" he snapped, his voice barley rising in pitch.

She turned to face him for the first time; he could see the wet tracks that leaked from her eyes, betraying panic, fear, and god know what else. If this had made her so upset then why had she gone through with it? By herself no less?

"I know that! I didn't mean... I don't... I couldn't do it! That Thing is still...! I just couldn't all right?" she stated, answering his question with one answered he would not have expected; he had believed that, while she might not have liked the idea, she would have forced herself through it anyway.

"I went in and everything Sasuke; I was sitting on that stupid bed with no problems and then they started explaining and… I don't want It! I don't! But the idea of sucking It out just… I don't understand why I just couldn't get rid of It and be done! I really don't, but I can't!"

She had exploded, waving her arms for emphasis and tugging at the taught roots of her dark, ember-coloured hair, angry tears bursting from their ducts and splashing on her face. He was stunned, not by her decision or her actions accompanying her statement, but by the feeling of relief that flooded his gut. He'd been perfectly fine with the decision itself a few moments ago!

Naruto was right; he did not want the tiny cluster of genes still growing inside her; not because he didn't want children, but simply because they were too young to take care of a baby! Naruto had turned sixteen only three months ago, and his seventeenth was still six months off.

So why was he so relieved? He had no problems with abortion at all; if the situation was desperate – like theirs, he reminded himself – then there was nothing wrong with it. He might not like it, but he understood it.

Understanding it as he did, he should understand this too, but for some god forsaken reason he was glad the Thing was still alive. It made absolutely no sense.

"I don't really care if you decide to do anything or not Sasuke; in fact, you'd be better off ignoring this as best you can, but I can't go back in there. I don't want this Thing, but I can't kill it either" she informed him.

Naruto stood up, pulling her thick yellow duffel jacket on and a woolly blue hat. He caught the notion that she was leaving, and stood up from the seat to follow her.

He didn't really know what to make of this; her last statement irritated him. He knew she wasn't implying that he would want nothing to do with the... Nothing to do with It, simply suggesting the sensible option, but...

What was she going to do? School was a hell no for at least four months in the future, and that meant her job at the record shop was vetoed as well. How did she plan to get through all this? To deal with this unwanted addition?

No, if he really thought about it, she probably didn't have a plan for this. She'd come her expecting to be leaving gene-glob free, not like this, not still supporting another unwanted life. She had no idea what she would do.

He took a grasp of her hand and felt it shaking; she was terrified, absolutely terrified. He felt like it was contagious; he'd been shockingly relieved but that didn't mean he wanted the Thing, as Naruto referred to the tiny being. No sixteen-year-old in their right mind would.

But they were in this situation. Yes, he would ignore Naruto and involve himself with It because he was not a complete asshole; he held just as much responsibility for this as Naruto did, it took two to tango, and without his contribution, Naruto's ovaries had been pretty safe.

That and he simply couldn't trust the idiot to look after herself properly; he knew Sakura, Gaara, and that social worker Iruka would help her out, and he knew it was irrational, but he didn't really trust them with her either...

He'd completely forgotten about Gaara and Iruka. He was going to die; Iruka had never liked him, and Gaara was the manic-protective type; they would kill him, chew up his bones, spit them out, and turn them to cinders with a flame-thrower.

Oh crap.

"I'm Pregnant."

Silence reigned supreme throughout the apartment; Naruto's social worker stared at her dumbly from his seat at the table, and beside him Gaara seemed to have turned into a wooden statue.

"You're what?"

Iruka choked on his tea at the news. Gaara said nothing, but the terror-inducing furrow in his brows betrayed his emotions for him; Naruto sincerely hoped her boyfriend had improved his running abilities since primary school, because the matching expression on Iruka's face told her he was going to doing a lot of it in the future.

"I don't believe I stuttered Iruka" she replied not raising an eyebrow at the man's volatile outburst, she was long since used to them.

"You're joking right? Please tell me this is just a horrible joke..."

He asked, pleadingly, expectantly waiting for the usual smug grin that followed her pranks. He groaned and his head hung when there was no such reassurance.

"Who's the father?"

Naruto spluttered in objection.

"Sasuke! Who else would it be? I don't sleep with random men Iruka, what on earth made you think it would be someone else?" the fire-headed girl raged, slamming her hands onto the table-top for emphasis.

"I never said that, I was just hoping you had a new boyfriend, or you were dating Sai again; I liked Sai," Iruka clarified; his clarification did nothing to improve her irritation.
"That's because you won't take the time to say more than two words to Sasuke!" she snapped, sitting back down in her own seat and crossing her arms grumpily.

She was never going to get past Sai was she? It had been a stupid mistake, but Iruka seemed convinced that it was something else. She had been going through a bad patch with Sasuke, yet Iruka refused to see it for what it had been - rebound.

Really, why did Iruka have to come by today of all days? Why couldn't he have just waited till his appointed visit? Why couldn't her beloved room mate have kept her nose to herself? Sakura just had to go and tell him she had 'something really important' to tell him!

Naruto hadn't been planning on telling Iruka just yet – she barley had a handle on this herself! - but once he'd heard that, he wouldn't take know for an answer! Naruto gave her best friend, who sat beside her with a smug look on her face, an evil-eye that put Sasuke's to shame.

"Naruto, do you know what this means? I thought you were more responsible that this! I'd expect this from Tayuya or Zaku, but not from you! Do you honestly believe that..."
"That's my sister you're talking about Iruka," Sakura informed him without venom.

Iruka ignored her, and Naruto groaned inwardly as the social worker started in on the lecture Naruto had known was coming.

She knew her life was likely up the spout already! She didn't need to be told the obvious! She'd hardly planned on This! She'd done almost everything short of a hysterectomy to avoid it! She had no clue what she was going to do now!

He didn't have to tell her that her life was rather ruined; she knew that without his help, she was the one suffering from the physical evidence after all! Seriously, the boob pain had to stop. Soon. Not only was it painful, but it was a nagging reminder that every word that came out of her social worker's mouth was the unrivalled truth; her life was officially a screwed up mess.

Iruka droned on and on about 'facing the consequences' and 'inability to listen' and 'being irresponsible', and Naruto seriously began to contemplate doing a bunk on the man and staying with Tayuya for the night.

Gaara's bloodthirsty twitching was doing nothing abate her irritation.

Sasuke sat through his evening meal with fluid roboticism; he and Naruto had agreed that his parents should be told as soon as possible, along with Iruka when he came by for his routine check-up, but that was easier said than done.

"Is something wrong Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke swore internally; damn Itachi and his perceptive looks.

"Uh, yeah, you could say that..." he replied dumbly.

The unusually frank answer, lacking his usual stubborn denials, was all that was required for his parents to stop eating and take notice. His mother's gaze was the worst; it was like she already knew and was just waiting for him to spit out the terrifying words.

"Well?" his father prompted.

Oh, well. No point in drawing it out. They were going to find out sooner or later; might as well get it over with.

"Naruto's pregnant" he blurted calmly.
"Sasuke, this is no time for jokes" Itachi reprimanded, after a very long pause.

"...I wasn't joking; Naruto. Is. Pregnant. Bun in the oven, knocked up, gravid, expecting, take your pick; any one works as well as the other"Sasuke informed him.

Itachi began to splutter, and Sasuke turned his gaze to his parents. His mother had a look of resignation on her face, as if something had been too much to hope for, and was leaning on her elbows, massaging her temples.

His father was looking at him as if he had grown two heads, and Sasuke thanked the gods that Obito had moved in with Anko; had he been present, this would probably have turned out into more of a mess than it already was.

"Whose is it? Is it that Sai boy's?" Fugaku asked, looking shocked, and angry.

Sasuke looked at his father incredulously, wondering if this was his father's (god forbid) idea of a joke. The sincere look on his progenitor's face told him that no, Fugaku was not joking. Honestly, they had broken up for two months... All right, so it had been a bit more complicated than that.

A lot more complicated than that actually, but that was besides the point. It had been sorted out eventually; Sai was not a factor in this.

"Mine, obviously; I'm not having this conversation for the fun of it dad"
"...You've had sex?" his father asked, looking more shocked by the physical implication of the news rather than the news itself.

His mother gave her husband a withering look, and Itachi's choking may have been due to laughter rather than shock; Sasuke was quite sure how he was supposed to reply to that, but he did try: "That's not the point."

"Well, I guess that explains a few things" his mother mumbled to herself, gaining raised eyebrows that were not answered from the males in the room.

"How long?" she mother asked.
"I don't know, I only found out yesterday, and that was pure fluke in and of itself" he replied, wondering how thing would have turned out had he not heard that message.

"Fluke?" Itachi asked.
"I heard a doctor leave a message on her answering machine yesterday; she tried to get an abortion, but..."
"She couldn't" Mikoto finished.

"She had a panic attack," he told her quietly; he still couldn't shake that from his mind.
"What do you plan to do?" his father asked; he seemed to have recovered from his momentary shock.

Sasuke presumed he was asking if they wanted to keep the Thing or not, and if not, what they were going to do with It when It did arrive.

"I don't know, Naruto doesn't want it, and I can't say I'm enthusiastic either, but I don't really know what the options are. I've never had to think about them before" he confessed; He didn't miss the frowns on his parent's faces, but he chose to ignore them.

"What about adoption?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke was glad his family were so level headed; matters such as this could be given proper discussion without the screaming and lectures he knew Naruto would get from Iruka when she told him.

"I don't know, but Iruka will probab-"
"No" his father stated, interrupting abruptly.

Sasuke gave his father a puzzled look that was matched by his brother; his mother gave a simple nod of his head, silently agreeing with her husband.

"I don't see another option Father; if Naruto doesn't want the child then there's not really much else they can do – since abortion is already vetoed. Giving the child up for adoption is the best way to go," Itachi frowned, and Sasuke nodded his agreement.

Fugaku and Mikoto gave them both an indecipherable look, but said nothing.

Naruto flushed the toiled as she stood up, moving from the stall to the sinks that line the wall of the girls' toilets. It had been a week since her failed attempt at abortion, and this was her first experience with morning sickness.

She been under the impression it occurred earlier in the morning, but she had never left art so quickly in her life. She hoped to god it wouldn't keep happening at this time of the morning; she knew she'd have to leave school eventually, but that didn't mean she wanted to be the butt of the gossip just yet.

Footsteps behind her told her she was not alone, and a glance in the mirror showed Tayuya's reflection; another of Iruka's charges, Tayuya was just as brash as Naruto, but didn't bother with the effort Naruto took to suppress some of her coarser language.

"What the hell happened to you? Deidara almost had a fucking heart attack when you ran out like that!" she demanded, handing the redhead a few of the paper towels from the dispenser.

"I'm fine, just threw up is all..." Naruto replied in an offhand manner; her thoughts were too full of her first vomiting experience.
"What? Why? You pregnant or something?" the vibrant-pink haired girl asked with her typical brand of bluntness.

Since when did Naruto get sick? Tayuya had been roommates with Naruto back in the orphanage, and she had know Naruto long enough to know that she had never caught so much as a cold in her life. She had the immune system of Wolverine. Illnes didnt even know Naruto's name.

Her only thought was that Naruto had caught some fatal disease; the idea her friend was pregnant was even more ridiculous – Naruto guzzled those pills like they were vitamin supplements.

"A little bit, you got that stuff for indigestion with you?" Naruto asked.

Her stomach was not happy, and maybe giving her digestion a boost would encourage her breakfast to hurry up and vacate her stomach, and thus discourage any more vomiting. Short of a proper stomach settling concoction, Tayuya's indigestion meds would have to do.

"Yeah, course I do... Wait, are you serious? How in the fuck did you manage that?"

Tayuya's eyebrows raised a little in surprise, then widened when she realised her offhand joke was not an offhand joke, then calmed down again. Naruto felt glad to be around her – nothing seemed to worry Tayuya, and it was a welcome relief from the reactions of Sakura and Sasuke (never mind Iruka's).

"The usual way I'd imagine; so do you have that digestion stuff?" Naruto asked, heading over to the exit.
"Sure, sure, it's in my bag; don't have a cow girl..." Tayuya replied.

She was holding open the door and rolling her eyes – god she loved Tayuya, she was so blasé about everything.

"I'm not going to have a cow – didn't you listen when Iruka gave us the Sex-Ed lecture?" Naruto asked jokingly as she headed back down the hallway.
"I could say the same to you"

"Bitch" Naruto stuck out her tongue at the girl.
"Love you too honey" the fuchsia haired girl replied with a laugh as Naruto stepped back into the art room.

Deidara paid no heed to their entry other that a brief glance before turning back to lecturing some poor sap on his sketching technique. Settling back in front of her easel, Naruto resumed her chalk-and-charcoal sketch.

As she pressed the burnt stick onto the paper, all of a sudden it occurred to her that, in just months, she'd have a kid. Snap, out of the blue, it hit her just like that.

The relaxed, albeit worried, attitude she'd had only moments ago completely shattered; was it because the thing would actually exist past a few weeks of suspicion now? Because she had physical evidence that it resided in her, leeching off of her like a little parasite?

The charcoal in her hand snapped, creating a large, dusty-black smudge on what had been a good picture; holy shit, damn, fuckerey and crap! She was really pregnant wasn't she? She was going to turn into a whale, a waddling whale with back pain, heartburn, and incessant peeing needs for months on end before, before...

"Oh god..." she whispered, staring at the messy smudge on her pristine picture, at the black stains on her fingers, before cupping her hand to her mouth.

Realising she wouldn't reach the bathroom in time, she dashed for one of the sinks that came with the room; she was lucky they had large drains for washing away clay and clumps of paint, or the smell would have been awful.

"For god's sake Naruto, if you're that sick then go to the bloody nurse's office! Better yet go home, yeah!" Deidara yelled, though he did look a little worried behind his irritation.

The blonde man yelled orders for Sai (her bench mate and old rebound) to take her down to Kabuto's office. Naruto felt herself being led from the room by the dark haired boy, but little else other than the two twin nauseas lodging in her gut.

I'm not putting a lemon in this, but the subject is nothing like my other stories of the same type, so I put the level up. Naruto's music grade is based of of the UK system, and is the level required for studying at music college. Naruto was blonde originally, but it works out better that she has Kushina's hair here, besides, its a nice change. Boy-Naruto looks like Minato, so Girl-Naruto looks like her Mama.

I'm going to say right now that I have no reason to believe that anyone who grew up in the foster system is as emotionally stunted Naruto is here - I'm sure anyone reading has had a perfectly normal life otherwise. Please don't kill me - plot demands it, or there would be no story later on, and it'll pass. Eventually.

I use an English vocabulary; I will not use American English unless it sneaks in without my notice, so bear with spellings like 'colour' if you are American; they may be wrong to you, but they aren't to me. I have been referring to a programme that aired in the UK on Channel 4 some time ago called 'One Born Every Minuet', Wikipedia, and knowledge from my own mother in this - well, some bits. I drew a line with the gross stuff - so hopefully there has been thorough research (which makes a change from my other stories).

Biological corrections are welcome since I've never studied Biology, and anyone who uses Brittish dictionaries is welcome to criticse my spelling. No flames, and no narking about my lack of imagination concerning new plots - I like family stories. Sasuke seems horribly out of charecter to me, but I've done my best to keep him moody-ish. Anything else is free game.

Hope you liked it.
Nat :)