THE DICHOTOMY OF FAMILY AND GENETICS
Naruto never though much about her own family – her background never seemed important to her; a moments carelessness meant she got one whether she wanted one 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 VII
~ NINETEEN YEARS ~
Because of you I never stray
too far from the sidewalk.
Because of you I learned to play on
the safe side so I don't get hurt.
Because of you I find it hard to trust
not only me but everyone around me.
Because of you... I am afraid.
Naruto glared at Sasuke as he began to unpack some of the kitchen utensils his mother had insisted on giving them; the glaring match lasted for a few seconds before Sasuke snapped.
"Not you too!"
Naruto grabbed the box from his hands and began to rearrange the objects he had already unpacked. After two more days of Toddler TV Terror (at Mikoto's insistence), Naruto had finally had enough. She had deliberately broached the topic of finding a flat of their own at the dinner table, and now barley a week later, they had one. Iruka had, with help form Fugaku, found them the place on the council's reduced housing list.
Gaara wouldn't have to worry about somewhere to stay if they got the sofa-bed figured out before he arrived, providing they got it unpacked. The furniture had been dug out of Sasuke's attic and cellar. It was a bit old, but was perfectly usable. The only things that the had actually bought were the couch, and a few general electrical things like extension plugs.
The tv had come from Sasuke room, and the two single beds from the house had been pushed together with a double mattres over the frames instead of singles. All of Tamamo's things had been moved into a room of her own (she had been sharing with Naruto previously). It wasn't a big flat – the kitchen was more of a few counters at one end of the main room that served as a living room, a bathroom, and two bedrooms – but the area was safe enough.
They didn't have a car, so that had made finding a place so quickly easier too. Naruto had a nagging suspicion about how easily Fugaku had found it though... Something about the smug little smirk on Mikoto's face was suspicious, but Naruto didn't want to brood on it – she had to get the kitchen sorted before Tamamo began demanding food, and Sasuke's presence in it was a disaster waiting to happen.
"The only difference between your food and Itachi's is that his doesn't look like it will kill you; mine looks bad and isn't the best in the world, but at least it won't give people a stomach ache" she informed him pointedly.
"I can use a microwave just fine!"
"Do we have a microwave?"
That shut him up; the only one they could find in the cellar had exploded just before Tamamo had been conceived. That hardly passed safety standards.
"Go sort out the bedrooms; I'll do this and the living room. You aren't going to be using it, so get out of here before I kick you out" she ordered, waving a mechanical whisk like a pointer.
Sasuke stared at it for a few moments, before disappearing, albeit grumbling to himself. Gaara arrived later that day, and with his help, everything was pretty much unpacked; there were still a few smaller boxes to deal with, containing clothes and such, but the majority of it all was finished in one day.
Tamamo, for her part, was very pleased to see Gaara, but was even more pleased with how still he was when he was sitting down – he seemed to move less than Itachi did, and that meant he was perfect for scribbling.
The next day, Tamamo was left with Sasuke, and the two older redheads made their way to Konoha Maximum-Security Detention Centre.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at Gaara as they took their seats in a familiar room – it wasn't the same one she had been in before, but it was so identical that it might as well have been. He was slowly beginning to turn into the block of wood Sakura had warned her about.
He sat rigidly in his chair, staring at the door where Sasori would emerge from; there was a clang from beyond it and he jerkily turned towards her; his expression was blank, but the way he stared was enough to tell her that his nerves were already getting the best of him.
"What if he tries to kill me? He's a doctor, or was, so he'll know where to hit won't he?"
This sounded horribly familiar; hadn't Sakura reacted like thin when she first me the man?
"Gaara, that's what the guard is for" she told him, giving his rigid shoulder a soothing pat.
"But-"
Whatever Gaara was about to say next was never discovered; the door grated open and Sasori was escorted inside with another guard. His face was as blank as Gaara's, and he sat down without a word.
Naruto stared at the two of them as they stared at each other without a word; Gaara still looked like a human tree trunk. She poked his shoulder inquiringly, and he almost fell out of the chair – it was only his hand grabbing on the table leg that kept him from hitting the floor.
He glared at her and she stuck her tongue out in retaliation; the interaction drew a tiny, short, almost inaudible chuckle form Sasori, and Naruto grinned widely at him.
"I told you she had an Oedipus complex, didn't I?"
Gaara glared at her, before turning to Sasori and quietly introducing himself. There was a long pause before he got onto the main reason for his visit. Sasori was visibly surprised when Gaara told him that Sakura wanted to know when he would be up for parole.
"There's an annual hearing in October, but-"
"Gaara that's perfect! You guys are coming down for the parties and the holidays anyway, so Sakura can find a lawyer or something in time for it!" Naruto exclaimed, almost hopping up and down in her seat.
Gaara vigorous nod was the only indicator of his matched opinions on the matter. Sasori was staring at them wide eyed, seemingly shocked or confused by something.
"What does the hearing have to do with it?" he asked, frowning.
Naruto would have pounded the man's head on the table if she wasn't certain the guards would have been irritated by the action – was the man an idiot? Apparently so.
"Because she wants, and I quote, 'the aisle thing', and unless you get out of get out of this... err, building...? Unless you get out of here, Sakura can't have 'the aisle thing'. Sakura is a bit bull headed when she's determined enough, so I'd start thinking about packing up" she told him bluntly.
Gaara nodded. Sasori remained wide eyed.
"She wants me there?" he asked in astonishment.
"Are you deaf? I just said that! What part of 'the aisle thing' don't you get?" Naruto asked irritably.
"But-"
"No buts! If I have to listen to Sakura whine about how she didn't get it because you feel guilty or some other crap, I will castrate you! I'll be waiting with a set of garden shears when your sentence ends if I have to hear that! Sakura. Wants. 'The aisle thing'. End of story!"
He stared at her, and Naruto sat back in her chair rather surprised at her out burst; Sakura would be miffed, but she'd still get married even if Sasori couldn't make it. Where had that come from?
Gaara had raised an eyebrow, but apparently her outburst had done the trick, because Sasori finally gave up his objections. He ruffled Gaara's hair before being led back to his cell, much to Gaara surprise – the action turned him back into a tree trunk.
"He ruffled my hair" Gaara murmured, still stunned, as they sat down on the bus that would lead them back to the flat.
Naruto snickered at him as she dug around in her rucksack for her music player.
"Guess it means he likes you" she told him, finally locating the battered machine, then moving on to find the headphones.
Gaara was quiet, contemplating the days events as she continued to ransack her bag. She had just managed to find the stupid headphones (only one of which actually worked) when his next intonation jerked them from her hand in shock.
"Sakura told me to make you call Kakashi"
Naruto spluttered, as she grabbed for the headphones again; how did Sakura know she hadn't called him yet? Was she psychic?Damn her, damn her and her new psychic powers!
"She thinks you'll be be too nervous to call him unless someone makes you do it; you might as well get it over with, because she'll know if I lie. You know what she'll do then."
Indeed that would be hell on earth. Stupid Sakura and her stupid brain. She really was too damn smart sometimes. She tried sending a pleading look to Gaara, but was not very surprised when it failed miserably. Grumbling to herself about meddlesome friends, she pulled out her mobile phone instead of her headphones.
It took a long time to find Kakashi's name – she really had to delete some of the numbers in her phone book. She didn't talk to half the people on it any more. By the time she finally located it, her hand was shaking. Gaara, lovable friend that he was, glared at her.
She squeaked in fright and hurriedly pressed the call button.
Naruto sat nervously on the sofa, watching Kakashi's daughter as she helped Tamamo scribble on a piece of paper. Rin was working, and the usual sitter was busy, so he had brought her along. Momo had brown hair like Rin, but the spiky quality of it, and just about everything else was Kakashi.
Naruto felt very anxious as she perched like a statue on the edge of the sofa, trying to keep her eyes focuses on the two girls in front of her; she didn't really know what this would entail. Iruka had never involved her in the process directly when he had searched.
"It's a fairly simple process – I've led quite a few, and most of the time I've found something, even if it isn't much. Just make sure to give me as many details about what you do know as you can. I can work around a lack of information, but if you forget to mention something, then you're just making things harder" he told her.
She nodded, and there was the creak of the door opening as Sasuke returned from his parent's house and began kicking off his shoes.
"There are a few things that I was left with... I still have them. Would those be any use?" she asked, raising her head to look over the sofa; Sasuke gave a two fingered salute in greeting to the two of them.
"Please – you'd be amazed how useful the smallest thing could be."
Naruto nodded and got up from the sofa, careful to avoid stepping on any stray crayons – god forbid she should step on a crayon. She dug around in the bottom of a cupboard in the bedroom, pushing aside the box containing her belts, and the heels Sakura had bought her that she still couldn't walk in.
Finally, at the back of the cupboard on top of her old textbooks, she found it; Iruka had even kept the stupid box she'd arrived in. after digging it out, she dropped it on the bed. She turned to dig around in a plastic tub on her beside cabinet, and finally dug out the crystal necklace she usually wore before tossing it in the cardboard box.
She didn't have enough jewellery for an actual jewellery box – it was mostly cheap stuff, and she lost most of it. The only items of any value were her earrings, a few bits and pieces for Sasuke and Sakura, and the crystal she had been found with. So she kept it all in a plastic tub beside her saxophone polish.
She picked up the box, and paused again before picking up the toy fox that sat on the windowsill. It had made a yelping fox noise once, but the voice had died when she had spilled a can of fizzy pop on it, and it was a bit dog eared and faded. It was really the only thing in the box, bar the necklace, that she actually liked. Even if she did use it for taking her frustrations out on for the most part.
She dropped it into the crumpled box and went back into the living room. She had to laugh at the sight that greeted her. Sasuke was being attacked by the two little monsters; they were moving his arms all over the place for drawing purposes, and Kakashi was mumbling about Tamamo being a bad influence on Momo.
She sat down beside him and handed the objects to Kakashi to look at one at a time. He carefully examined the fox, necklace, blanket, baby clothes, and finally the scrap of paper with her name on. Then the box itself. Kakashi examined the items one by one, his eyes seemingly noticing things she never had. His eyes widened as he gave the necklace a closer examination.
"Naruto do you have any idea how valuable this necklace is?" he asked.
"No – I thought was a common old garden crystal... I take it it's not?"
He shook his head frantically, examining the chain rather closely; she half expected him to pull out a monocle or a magnifying glass.
"This is one of the Senju Diamonds – they're very rare! There are only a few in existence... the vein they were mined from was destroyed in the first inter-continental war..."
He examined the linking section on the chain, searching for something.
"There it is... They all have a registration number, and they're usually herilooms for the most part change hands. The information attached to it usually changes when it gets handed on, but the old records are still viewable. If I take this to any jewellers worth their salt... Naruto, whoever left you on that doorstep probably had a good reason for it"
He gestured to all the objects.
"I recognise some of the names here, like on that fox, and they aren't cheap ones. That fox probably cost about ¥19,000 – it's handmade down to the last thread. I know because I bought a dog from the same brand when Momo was born. That's not the sort of money you spend on a baby you're about to abandon, not without a very good reason..."
Naruto was, for lack of a better word, completely and utterly floored by this; she had never noticed anything special about the things she had been left with. The fox was cute, and the necklace was just that. A necklace, not a 'Sebglu Sapphire' or anything special.
"How old were you when you were left at the orphanage?" Sasuke asked suddenly.
"About... about a month old, maybe a little older..."
Her head was whirling – she'd never thought anything of it. That month had been the time her parents had decided they didn't want her after all, but... was it the other was around? That didn't make any sense either.
"We're already getting headway here; I can phone the companies who made all this, cross reference and see if any names pop up. I can even use the box – this isn't a mass shipping box. I can find out which company used it and where they dilivered to around that time, and check them..."
Kakashi seemed to be drooling at the thought of being nosey and annoying buisness companies with her abandonment issues; she decided to take it as a compliment.
He stared at the piece of paper in thought.
"I can run this handwriting through the police system... see if anything crops up... Oh, I'm just trying to cover all the bases – in all likelihood, nothing will sow up"
Naruto nodded, not in the least bit offended; she wanted to find but who had dumped her on a doorstep and why. Even more so now that Kakashi had told her all this. Kakashi flipped the piece of paper over and frowned.
"This was written on a hotel bill... Did Iruka check to see if anyone there remembered anything?"
Naruto shook her head.
"He tried, but it was closed down before he started looking. It was near the old Sarutobi Memorial Hospital – the one they knocked down for that buisness park – so he tried looking for something in the records office, but he didn't find anything."
Kakashi nodded.
"Not surprising – any patient files would have been moved to St. Tobirama's, or Konoha General after it was knocked down."
He jumped up, packing the things into the box, and picking up his jacket.
"Can I take these with me? I'll get them back as soon as I can, but I really want to get started on this..."
"Go ahead" she replied, still a little dazed – Kakashi hadn't even started yet, and he had already noticed more than she ever had in the years since she had started searched, and given her a completely different view of things in the process.
Iruka might have noticed, but he had never mentioned it. She supposed that was because he had never found anything. She heard Kakashi run out of the door, and the though it was not slammed, it jerked her out of her daze to notice he had forgotten something in his haste.
She counted three seconds before the door burst open again. Kakashi snatched up his daughter, pulled her arms through the sleeves of her jacket, sent a gaze that clearly begged them not to tell his wife, before darting out again.
Tamamo began looking around, startled by the sudden disappearance of her playmate.
"I think he's more excited about this than you are" Sasuke noted noted.
"I think you might be right..."Naruto replied absently, picking up her rather confused daughter.
Kakashi had, with some input from herself and Sasuke, placed a new view of her parents upon her, replacing the almost vehement hatred and anger that had been there since Iruka had told her she had been abandoned.
It wasn't by any means gone – she had still be abandoned, whether Kakashi's statements had any relevance or not. That fact wasn't going to change, and she would always resent them for it but...
But the mere idea that they had wanted her, if only for a short while, was too appealing to completely ignore.
Naruto's nineteenth birthday was the same as all her other birthdays.
The party that Sakura and Ino had somehow found time in their hectic schedules to plan was loud. Sakura had manage to drag people out from the woodwork that she hadn't seen in years – Lee and Tenten had come back from college again for the holidays. She hadn't seen them since the unexpected baby-shower almost two years ago now.
It was good to see all her old friends from school – most of them had disappeared for college like Sakura – but she couldn't bring herself to fully enjoy it, even watching Tamamo.
The girl was in her element, fussed over by the girls and being horribly spoiled by the boys – Naruto had seen Kiba sneak her two extra slices of cake already – and Tamamo positively glowed with happiness, milling about underfoot with Mujiro and Momo.
But even watching her daughter enjoy herself, the same feeling swallowed the back of Naruto's mind. Today was not her birthday; it was probably in the middle of September, or even the end of August, but it was not October. She had done a lot of thinking after the first meeting with Kakashi, and she had done a lot of examining of the objects in her 'box of issues', as Sasuke liked to call it.
She had been loathe to even look at it unless she was feeling particularly, angry, irritable, or just plain old miserable before. Now that she actually looked at the objects... she was irritated that she hadn't noticed before. The blanket for example – it was plain, but it was thick, and fluffy – it was warm.
Someone had cared enough to make sure she didn't freeze to death in the early hours of October 10th. They had spent a fair bit of cash on that fox, and had left a heck of a trinket behind too. Those were not the actions of someone who could care less if she dropped dead in the street.
Those were the actions of someone who actually cared, someone who wanted her to make it through the night without catching more than a cold. But it was marred by the fact that she had still been left on the doorstep. Her parents obviously hadn't cared enough to keep her.
With that sort of knowledge, it was not all that strange to be a little more grumpy today than she normally was. Sasuke didn't ask why she was unusually terse this year, nor did she have to explain it to him, but Sakura was a different matter.
Once the party was over, and Tamamo was safely asleep, she hunted her down.
Sasuke had already fallen asleep, and Naruto had seated herself in the dry bathtub as per the norm with a lingering bottle of sour, apple-tasting alcoholic stuff that had been on offer for those who had been old enough to tie their shoes.
This was the one thing she hadn't shared with Sakura - not deliberately, but considering how Sakura reacted to some things, she hadn't been exactly eager to share it either. Tayuya knew though, Sasuke and Gaara too, but they didn't share information like gossips.
Sakura hadn't noticed since she usually went back to bed about 3am, and considering it was only one night a year, she didn't really have much opportunity to catch her in the act.
It was the one night she would allow herself to border on drunkenness – she had never actually managed to get drunk, despite a few attempts, including the trip to see ANBU in Rock country, but she seemed to have an absolutely iron stomach and impregnable tolerance of it.
She had been doing this since she was old enough to be depressed about it, and had found out where Izumo (the chef at the orphanage) had kept the key to the liquor cabinet. She hadn't drunk anything when she was pregnant though.
Indeed, she had been so awed by the sudden realisation she wanted to keep Tamamo, she had almost forgotten this annual ritual. She did remember though, and had substituted the drink for enough ice-cream to give her a two-day-long brain freeze.
She had been happily dozing off to the sounds of her music player when the light in the bathroom was rudely turned on. She pulled an arm in front of her eyes, grabbing for the shower curtain that ran along the side and pulling across sharply.
"Go away Sasuke... Go pee in the sink or something!" she muttered irritably; Sasuke knew better than to use the bathroom in the early hours of October 11th.
There was a muffled squawk, and the sounds of someone falling over, before the sound of the curtain being sharply drawn back. Sakura stared at her red haired friend in complete surprise, then in mild horror.
"Naruto... why are you in the bath at 2am?"
Naruto looked up at her, adjusting her eyes to the sudden brightness, and held up the bottle.
"Drinking... Care to join me? It's a good night for it... Nice and warm in here" she replied, dangling the green bottle temptingly.
Sakura stared at her in horror, staring at the absolute seriousness on her friend's face, then the bottle; Sakura made a strangled noise and lunged for the bottle, intent on pouring it's contents down the toilet.
Recognizing the dangerous look immediately, Naruto snatched it back out of reach, away from the danger of Sakura's outstretched talons.
"You could have just said no..." she grumbled, taking a swig from the bottle.
Sakura remained horrified.
"Naruto, stop that! Why...? What..?." Sakura stumbled over the question.
Naruto sighed in defeat, knowing her night of uninterrupted private depression was over, and tapped the other end off the bath with one hand. It seemed some explaining was in order.
By the end of the explanation, Sakura – now seated in the bath with her knees drawn up - was running her fingers through her hands and eyeing the dwindling bottle.
"So... Every year, you dig out some drink, and camp out the bathroom with your MP3 player?"
"Pretty much... Sure you don't want some?" Naruto replied, handing out the bottle again.
Sakura snatched it up and took a long gulp; she instantly made a face and began to cough and swear as the sour liquid washed down her throat. She stared at Naruto in horror. Again
"What the heck is this? Have you been drinking this all night?"
"Dunno – Kiba brought it, but yeah pretty much" Naruto explained as if explained everything – which, since it was Kiba, it did.
"Why didn't you just say you hated the parties?" Sakura demanded, eyeing the bottle again.
"I don't! I just hate the day – it's not really my birthday is it? It like... a fill-in or something..."
Naruto caught the look on Sakura's face as she eyed the bottle, sighed in resignation, and handed it over.
"And you do this every year?" Sakura asked after a quick, short glug.
Naruto nodded; tossing a rubber duck of Tamamo's back and forth in her hands absently.
"Wow. You are so damaged – why are you so damaged? I know you were in the orphanage longer, but Gaara was only a kid when he came, and I wasn't that old either, and it never bothered us as much as it gets to you... " the pink-haired girl asked, handing the bottle back.
"Gaara had Temari and Kankuro, and you had Tayuya... You didn't start out there, and you both had families first. Granted Gaara's parents were complete psychos, your dad is locked up for euthanasia, and your mother had more diseases than a hospital waiting room but... You had something to build on, even if it wasn't for long."
She looked up to make sure Sakura was still listening – she nodded, taking another glug.
"You don't have that when you're in there from the beginning. Sure, some kids are lucky and social services can get some information on their families, but that's kind of hard when the only thing my parents gave me was my name. I don't know if I was born in August, September or October, or if I'm even from Fire Country. My parents could come from Rock Country...
"I had to build everything myself. Yes, I had help from Iruka and you and Sasuke and his parents but... It's just not the same... For all I know my dad could be a clown! A freaking clown!"
Naruto shivered in revulsion at the thought; she loathed clowns.
Sakura seemed to consider the thought for a long time; Naruto knew it wouldn't make sense to her, it was half the reason she hadn't draw attention to her annual alcohol binge in the first place. Sasuke didn't get it very well, but Naruto wouldn't really expect him to – he had always had a family, so he just couldn't relate.
Sakura would probably do better, but not by very much. As she had told her, joining later was different from growing up in an orphanage. Sakura, Gaara, Sasuke, they all knew where they came from. They had files and documents saying so – her birth certificate wasn't a birth certificate. It was a day-found-on-the-doorstep certificate.
Sakura decided not to say anything, instead handing the half empt bottle back – Naruto took a long drink.
"You know what really makes me mad?"
Sakura shook her head.
"If Kakashi's right, and they really did care like he thinks, then it's even worse, because they still dumped me in a freaking ramen box! It makes me sick to the stomach to think I almost did the same thing to Tamamo! What kind of person do you have to be to dump a baby you've taken to time to look after? How do you do that?"
Sakura stared at her for another long moment as she swallowed the remaining half-bottle of sour liquid.
"Did Iruka ever try to send you to therapy?" she asked curiously.
Naruto grimaced; that idiot had not been worth the money Iruka had paid when he realised she had issues (her school had written a letter about an essay on family that had alarmed them a little bit). They had immediately gotten off on the wrong foot, so she had replaced the coffee in his office coffee jar with dirt one afternoon. Things had gone rapidly downhill.
"He tried for about a month – it didn't really work though, so he gave up."
"I see that."
Sasuke walked into the bathroom on the 11th of October and was greeted with one of the oddest scenes he had seen; Naruto and Sakura snoring over the edge of the bath with a empty bottle that had once contained alcohol usually consumed in shot glasses.
He had slowly backed out, very, very slowly – Gaara had woken Sakura up after drinking once, and the bruises had taken two weeks to heal. Naruto never managed to drink herself stupid no matter how much she consumed, but he wasn't about to wake her either – he had his own bruises from such attempts.
By the time they had both returned to more human temperaments, Tamamo was waking up, and Gaara was beginning to recognise that his irritation came from hunger. He was beginning to root around in cupboards like a foraging animal in winter. That lasted for several minuets before Naruto realised what he was doing and chased him out with an electric whisk – no-one went in the kitchen.
Apparently the whisk had been used to beat eggs, because despite the dodgy look of the food, omelettes were being shoved under their noses, and by the time Sasuke and Gaara actually managed to get their hands on some (Naruto and Sakura kept stealing them from their plates), Kakashi came bursting through the door in a manner that was far too excitable for a morning.
"I've finally got some replies from those companies, and I've dug some information up from the old Sarutobi Memorial patient register." he informed them around a mouth-full of omelette that had been originally heading towards Gaara.
"Really?" Naruto asked, looking up from the pan of dodgy-looking eggs and cheese.
Kakashi nodded.
"I took that necklace to one of those designer shops in the Sannin district – you know the street I mean, the posh-people one - anyway, that was a dead end." Kakashi stated, finishing his omelette.
"Whoever gave you that changed the previous details first – they completely erased the previous ownership records on request, then made you the official owner"
Naruto frowned at the news – that had been one of the best links they had found. Knowing it was a dead end was hardly motivating, but she kept quiet – Kakashi wasn't finished.
"I've talked to Iruka too, and he admitted that someone had set up a bank account for you – fairly decent sized thing with instructions for any healthcare costs to be taken from that and that you were sent to Konoha General for them. That's pretty much gone now, but I tired chasing the account details. There wasn't anything there, but I think it says a lot."
It did say a lot. It said that her parents had been concerned about her welfare – it said it in a big way. Iruka had never mentioned this to her at all, but if he had, would it really have changed anything? She would have still been an orphan as far as the requirements went.
"I gave up there for the moment, and concentrated on finding the old records from Sarutobi Memorial... That was a little more productive – I managed to dig out a patient roster; under the assumption that your parents gave you their last name, there were three women with the name Uzumaki who gave birth around the time you were born."
"Only three?" Sasuke asked, pulling one of Tamamo's feet into a sock.
"Sarutobi's wasn't very big - anyway, I looked up two of them, but they didn't result in anything and the third one seemed to disappear off the face off the earth. Completely dead trail."
"That doesn't really inspire hope Kakashi" Sakura complained around a mouthful of eggy mush.
Kakashi took a gulp of water.
"I was just getting to that" he informed them pushing back his empty plate. Without a word, Gaara picked it up and took it to the sink, glaring Naruto away from it before she could start to object – she let it pass since it would save washing up later, and he had better sense than to touch anything else.
Naruto sat back down on the sofa where the meal had been taking place – there wasn't a table yet – and Tamamo immediately clambered onto her lap, half dressed. Sasuke glared at her, still holding a sock and a pair of miniature jeans. The little girl was an absolute speed demon.
"I began looking for the owners of the hotel the bill with your name on came from, and they don't live too far from here. I rang them up on the way here, and they said you could stop by any time to talk to them – if you don't want to I can go for you, but-"
"I'll go" she replied quickly, holding onto Tamamo as Sasuke tried to get her other sock on – it was difficult since she kept pulling off the other one once he was finished. Tamamo hated matching socks for some reason.
She wanted to get the answers herself; it wasn't that she didn't trust Kakashi or anything, but she needed to hear something from someone. She would never get the answers she needed, the certainty that she needed, if it come a second-hand source. She had to have that.
If she was constantly trying to discern what had been going through the minds of her parents when they had left her, it would follow her for the rest of her life, and it wasn't something she wanted be followed by.
Naruto climbed out of Kakashi's car, staring at the house in front of her – the people inside had owned the hotel her supposed mother had stayed at or almost a month, if the price on the bill had been anything to go by.
It was a typical traditional-modern merging that seemed to be flooding Konoha at the moment, on one storey. They must have done well for themselves from that hotel – it was in a nice area of town.
She had her doubts they would remember anything – it had been almost eighteen years ago – but Kakashi was adamant that it was worth a try. She had brought the bill and the necklace and the fox toy with her in the hopes they might jog some memories. She felt sick now, taking the steps towards the door with Kakashi.
He knocked on the door when she momentarily forget how to use her hands; there was a patter of feet behind the door, then it was opened by a woman with grey hair, strands formed into a bun and held in place with two decorative sticks. Naruto had never gotten the hang of those things.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Hello, we spoke on the phone this morning. My name is Kakashi Hatake?"
The woman's eyes widened in familiarity.
"Oh, now I remember! You must be Mr Hatake's employer I presume?" she asked holding a hand in greeting out towards Naruto.
Naruto felt her throat dry up – all she could do was nod.
The woman held the door open, introducing herself as Koharu to Naruto as she stepped inside the neat, well kept house. They were taken into a sitting room, and then the woman approached the business for the visit.
"You said you wanted to ask some questions?" she started, talking to Kakashi.
Kakashi began explaining the situation, and all the leads he had encountered so far that had led him to her old hotel. By the time he had finished, Naruto had finally found her voice.
"That's all we really know right now, so we – I was hoping you'd be able to shed some light on this woman, whoever she is. I know that isn't really very helpful, so I have a few things with me that you might remember..." Naruto added, once Kakashi had finished speaking.
She was digging through her rucksack for the fox and the bill - she had already take off the necklace. The woman was a little surprised, but she nodded all the same, and took hold of the toy Naruto handed to her with a certain degree of care. She turned the fox over in her hands, examining it. They stopped when they came to one of the front paws, staring at a black patch that had never come out in the wash.
"I ordered this. I looked after you quite a bit, Homura too. Woman kept disappearing out for work, and we offered a babysitting service. I remember holding the catalogue out so you could pick yourself. Didn't even look at anything else in the thing. Homura spilled a bottle of ink all over the foot after I opened the box to make sure it matched the one in the catalogue. The woman asked me to place the order while she was out – blonde I think. Fancy and well-to-do sort if that gem of hers was anything to go by." she stated, quite calmly.
Naruto was stunned – she remembered that much? It had been so long ago though! She was equally stunned that the woman had been something of a carer before she had been left in Iruka's care.
"I don't suppose you'd know anything about her at all? Anything would be helpful, even if it seems insignificant..." Kakashi egged.
The woman frowned in concentration.
"I remember that one all right – fancy woman like that showing up in our cheap little hotel? She came in all of a fluster one night with a baby, you. Looked like the biggest bomb she had ever seen had been dropped, but not like she'd had a baby recently. Still, she came in all a fluster and booked a room for a month or so. She had me order that there fox one night, and once it had arrived, she walked out out with... Well, you and the toy. Came back a few hours later and checked out by herself."
Naruto said nothing – the information was staggering, and kept her tongue from making any kind of sound – but Kakashi seemed full of questions.
"I don't suppose you noticed anything else that could help us find her? Where she came form, or her job?" he asked.
Kakashi sounded far more excited than he had in months. Naruto wished she could share his excitement, but how did you get excited over information like that? That was solid evidence that someone – her mother presumably - had abandoned her. It wasn't the kind of information to get excited about – actually hearing from someone's mouth stung.
"Can't say where she came from – very tight lipped on that sort of thing she was, but she seemed the posh type. Blonde, looked like she was from one of those well-bred families. As for her job, I think she worked in a hospital. Always had a nurses outfit on when she came back for the night at any rate."
Kakashi asked several more questions, and then the meeting was over. As the woman escorted her them to the door, after a promise to contact Kakashi if she remembered anything else, she scared the fire out of Naruto by giving her a surprisingly strong hug.
"I don't know why she left you, but if the look on her face when she came back that night was anything to go by, then you can be certain she didn't want to leave you. Looked like she'd given up the earth she did" she whispered, before releasing the redhead.
Naruto smiled, not really knowing how to reply before following Kakashi back to the car.
21 days later Naruto could be found staring out of window in a kiddies play den; it was the sort of thing with ball-pools and slides that Iruka had taken them al to for birthday parties when she was a kid. Today was Tamamo's second birthday, and the girl was giving the employees of the place several headaches.
There was an under three section, and Tamamo persisted in invading the over three section; most parents would have been worried, but even Fugaku had chortled at the grumpy expressions of the staff as they tried to persuade her to come out of the giant ball pool.
It had taken some saving and a lot of overtime at Killer Bee's, but they had saved enough to pay for the extortionate fees; Ino and Shikamaru had brought along their lazy boy, and Kakashi had dropped off Momo before darting out again. Gaara was there too, but Sakura was busy talking with a lawyer about her fathers upcoming parole on her mobile.
Sasuke's parents and brothers were there too – it was almost surreal seeing so many similar people in one place. There was no doubting that Sasuke was related to them. Tamamo too – she had her hair colour, and presumably the eyes of either her mother or father, but her face her nose and the shape of her eyes... If her hair was black she would have been a miniature Sasuke.
It was making her wonder which of her parents she looked like – that Koharu lady had said the woman who had been looking after her was blonde, so was it her father she looked after? Did he have red hair? She didn't really know what to think of them any more. There was so much that screamed that they had cared about her, that she had been wanted, but there was a nasty argument to that that encompassed her whole life.
How could they just abandon her like that? If they had been able to set up a fund for healthcare and had their hands on that necklace Kakashi had been so excited about, then money certainly couldn't have been a problem could it? If there were extenuating circumstances, then what were they?
If one of her parents had died, then maybe she could have understood, but she didn't know about her father, and her mother had obviously been around enough to look after her for a month or so. Besides, it wouldn't be that good of an excuse for dumping her on a doorstep in the middle of October.
"Mama! Play balls, play balls!"
The voice and the tug on her skirt hem jerked her attention to her red-headed daughter; her eyes were sparkling with the sheer glee of annoying the staff and the fun she was having. Naruto grinned and let her pull her towards the ball pool, holding her hand out to the smaller one.
As Tamamo pulled her along, she wondered not for the first time how she could have considered doing the same thing to her own daughter as had been done to her; she remembered justifying it, making sure that there was contact information left behind for her daughter if she wanted it in later years, but it was still the same thing.
Only Ino, a sudden gust of wind, had kept the apple from falling on the family tree roots. Sasuke was watching her with an odd expression, but she ignored him. If she dwelt on this for the whole party it would spoil it, and she hadn't worked five extra overtime shifts to do that.
Later, after the festivities had ended and she was perched on the edge of the bed staring t the toy fox, Sasuke broached the subject.
"You were kind of out of it at the party..." he started.
"It just odd when everyone looks so similar..."
He stared at he for a moment, then the sat up in the bed and leant over to stare at the bedraggled toy, chin leaning on her shoulder. He toyed with one floppy worn fabric ear as another arm circled her waist.
"That's not what's bothering you this time – its not the first time everyone has grouped up like that" he informed her pointedly.
Naruto wished Iruka was here – in spite of everything, he still wasn't sold on Sasuke. That brief rough patch after Tamamo was born hadn't helped his opinion at all, and she knew he placed the blame on Sasuke even if he never said it. He always said Sasuke wasn't observant enough, but if he wasn't, then how would he have picked up on the rot of her unease?
"...I don't know what I'm supposed to think of them Sasuke; they put so much effort into making sure I was looked after, but they couldn't be bothered to do it themselves, and then I think about Tamamo, and that I nearly did the exact same thing... I've never met them, but I'm so similar to that woman it's... scary."
"Not that similar – she's blonde, you're not. She dumped you, but Tamamo's still here. You aren't that similar." he replied.
He was right of course. It didn't make it any easier to process though. Maybe there had been extenuating circumstances that had forced her mother to give her up, but she had been in extenuating circumstances too hadn't she? She had barley turned sixteen, and she had still been in halfway housing, and then her school had kicked her out, but in the end, she hadn't dumped Tamamo.
Her mother had been older, and Kakashi and that Koharu woman didn't think she was short of money. She must have had a stable job, so she obviously lived somewhere of her own accord, but having all that still resulted in dumping her in Iruka's care? How the hell did that work? How in the hell was that right?
"You can hate them you know; just because they did care, it hasn't changed much has it? You're perfectly entitled to still hate their guts if you want to."
See Iruka? Sasuke was so observant she didn't even need to speak sometimes.
Sitting between Sakura and Tayuya was very awkward. Words had not been exchanged over the subject of their father since Sakura had stormed home a month before Tamamo was born. As they sat in the benches of the courtroom with the lawyer (a wide eyed creep called Yamato), it wasn't hard to miss the tension hanging over their heads.
"Court will take a break as the jury convene over the parole of Mr Akasuna. All rise"
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and quickly hurried out to the hall, desperate to get away from the tension hanging in the air. She really didn't understand why Tayuya was so mad at their father. Call her biased or hypocritical or whatever, but she really didn't see what the man had done to deserve her hatred.
It wasn't his fault their mother had died, and as far as she was concerned if their Gran had wanted him to give her a lethal overdose, he wasn't exactly a murderer (there were even people who had heard her asking him to do it). She glanced around the hallway, and quickly spotted Sasuke talking with an orange haired man.
Tamamo's hand was fixed in his own, and she was staring at the bright-haired man with more piercings than could be counted with absolute fascination. Sasuke caught sight of her and picked up Tamamo, pointing her out to the tiny red head. The reaction was immediate – there was a loud yell of 'Mama' and she began holding her arms out.
The irritation on Sasuke's face was priceless as she approached, taking the girl from his arms and blowing a raspberry on her ear.
"She never does that for me..." He muttered, earning a snicker from the orange head.
"That's because you frown too much – who's orangey?" she asked, glancing at the stranger curiously.
Sasuke paled a little, seeming to grow nervous.
"That's my supervisor Naruto!" he hissed, sending the man an alarmed sidelong look.
It seemed Sasuke's worry was unnecessary though; the man let out a huge laugh, before ruffling Sasuke's hair (much to her boyfriend's irritation). He turned to face her and held his hand out with a greeting grin on his face. She got the odd feeling she had seen him somewhere before.
He gave her an odd look, a considering one she had seen on Tsunade's face several times in the past, but then he grinned again and took her hand in a firm grip.
"I'm Yahiko – I like her Sasuke, she has a sense of humour..." he grinned, turning towards his young charge in the world of electrician-ing. Sasuke was ignoring him.
"Is he like this all the time? I've been trying to break that stubborn glare of his for months but I'm not succeeding..."
"It's a default setting" she replied; Tamamo clamped her arms around her neck after talking a long hard look at the man's piercings.
It seemed she was not as fascinated by them close up – she even went so far as to bury her face in Naruto's hair – she tended to leave it free-flowing with a clip for her fringe now, though she still used her bunches as well. Sasuke seemed to like it, and it made her look a little more grown-up.
"Have I met you before?" she asked curiously.
Yahiko shook his head, but he still had a grin on his face.
"No, you've probably met my little brother though – he works at General. We look similar despite the hair dye, so people confuse us more than you'd think."
Now that surprised Naruto, but she was more shocked by the gaping jaw on Sasuke's face; hadn't he bothered to ask? Judging by his expression, he had been curious as well, but really, he had been working with the man for months now! Surely it had occurred to him to ask?
"You're Minato's brother?" he asked in disbelief.
The man looked like he was about to explode in laughter, but before she could question him further, or even ask why he was there (Sasuke had a day off to keep an eye on Tamamo – she wasn't quite old enough to go inside a parole courtroom just yet), there was a call for those attending Sasori's hearing to re-enter the courtroom.
After unlatching her limpet-like daughter, and depositing her back into her fathers arms, she hurried back inside with Sakura and Tayuya.
"I can't believe he actually got the parole" Sasuke murmured, shifting his sleeping daughter on his lap as they watched Sakura and Tayuya celebrating with Gaara at the other end of the table.
Gaara had booked a huge table at Gai's the minuet the verdict had come through to celebrate Sasori's release from jail. Naruto had already surprised them with her own news; she had talked it over through the phone with killer bee, and he had no qualms with giving the man a job at the Konoha branch of his growing 'music empire''. Killer Bee was a very relaxed employer.
"Well they had a strong case originally – there were plenty of witnesses when their Gran asked him to do it, and that worked in his favour. The laws on euthanasia were stricter when he was sentenced though..." Naruto replied, slurping a bowl of ramen.
Her eyes were mostly on Tayuya; the moment the verdict had been released, she had turned around and flung herself at her father before the restraints could be taken off his wrists, bawling as badly as her crybaby sister (Sakura had a hard punch, but there was no denying that she could be quick to cry).
Naruto didn't know what had been going through her friend's mind, but she was certain that in had something to do with false hope and let downs. It was good thing she had sorted it out herself, because Naruto had been sorely tempted to box her ears today. Watching the family reunion was still as odd as seeing Sasuke's family all clustered together though.
It did distract her from her mother though – she was beginning to wonder about her father. Kakashi hadn't managed to find any original links to him from her box of issues, but he was trying to dig anything up on her mother's past relationships. He hadn't found anything of a Kushina Uzumaki being an employee of the old Sarutobi hospital, but he was chasing the patients he had found in the maternity ward again.
The lack of information on her father was almost a cause for hope – he might be more traceable if he was still alive. And if not, there was always a chance that she might find someone related to her on her mothers side in the process.
Tamamo gave a short cough in her sleep before nuzzling into Sasuke's shoulder again; for all his complaints, she always preferred using his shoulder as a pillow when she got the chance. Naruto couldn't blame her – they were comfy shoulders. Sasuke frowned at the noise and put a hand to her forehead.
"She's been coughing all day..." he murmured, drawing Naruto's attention away from the party.
"All day?"
"She was coughing yesterday too remember?"
Naruto frowned and placed a hand on the girls forehead, pushing Sasuke's hand aside; she didn't feel too warm, but after the last time she had been sick, she wasn't taking any chances. Sure, it had been two years ago but still... She began digging around in her bag for Tamamo's jumper – Gai had the heating turned up on full blast since it was November now, but it couldn't hurt.
"I'll call Minato tomorrow – he gave me his number" she replied, carefully treading the girls arms through the sleeves with some help from Sasuke.
"The name of squirts disease is... a cold. I'll give her a few inoculations, but there's nothing to worry about this time"
Sasuke let out an expulsion of bated breath; Naruto didn't seem as relived as he was openly, but she had given Tamamo another check with a baby thermometer that morning, and her worry seemed to have dimmed since.
"That's it?" he asked as Minato handed Tamamo back to him.
The doctor turned to a drawer on one of the medical cabinets and puling out a couple of needles, before heading for a cupboard. He withdrew a small container of something looking antibiotic-like.
"Yep. Just a cold – I can't blame you for worrying though. Hold her arm for me?"
Naruto obliged, taking hold of her Tamamo's arm and holding it out for him as he fiddled with the needles; it was a good thing the girl was still half asleep, or she would have been fussing a lot. Needles were one of the few things that could turn the girl into a screaming monster.
"Isn't that man who was released from the prison the day before yesterday a friend of yours? I saw the paper this morning" Minato asked taking hold of Tamamo's arm himself and carefully puncturing her skin with the needle, injecting it's contents into her bloodstream.
"Sasori? Yeah kinda, two of the girls from the home are his kids, and we know them pretty well. I went to to the hearing yesterday. Do you know him too?" Naruto asked, eyeing her twitching daughter warily - if she woke up now then it would take at least fifteen minuets to calm her down.
"I know of him; he was sentenced about two years or so after I started my medical training – he was pretty famous in medical circles, a good plastic surgeon. Prosthetic limbs and stuff – he was even in one of my old textbooks... What about you? You tried looking your parents up at all?"
It was like being at a hairdressers; most people probably didn't have such a casual conversation with their child's doctor, but even when she had been recovering from giving birth, Naruto had found the head of of Konoha General's paediatrics easy to talk to. When Tamamo had come down with pneumonia, they had actually become what she would call good friends.
He already knew of Iruka's previous attempts to find her parents, and had even gone so far as give her a mini lecture when Sasuke and Fugaku had disappeared in search of coffee after the intervention. She had no qualms with being frank with the man, and Sasuke actually liked him – he had him on a plinth, a little higher than his boss and just below Itachi.
"Yeah, we didn't find anything on my mother really, just where she stayed and and a few other bits. All the records came from Sarutobi Memorial so most of them are dead leads now. Kakashi's looking for her, but he's focusing on my dad now. I haven't heard anything from him in a while, so with any luck it means he's dug something up..."
Minato pulled a fresh needle from the drawer and stared the second injection, an odd frown on his face.
"I wouldn't rely on Kakashi too much. He sounds like he knows what he's doing, but PI's do have their limits. I've used one before, and their investigative abilities only go so far. I know that sounds mean, but its probably better in the long run not to get your hopes set on him too much."
Naruto already knew that – she didn't asked why he had needed the aid of a PI though. It seemed like a sensitive subject for him, so she had avoided it. She wasn't offended at all by the advice – it was perfectly sound, and Kakashi had already explained much the same thing (not without a little boasting though).
"Minato, there's a boy just come in with... Naruto? Is that you?"
Naruto looked over her shoulder to be greeted with the blonde woman that had been her obstetrician and midwife, as well as responsible for an intervention on Fugaku's request; her face broke into a grin.
"Hey old bat!" she grinned as Minato finished the last of the injections, just as Tamamo shifted awake in Sasuke's arms, looking a little surprised at her clinical surroundings.
"I've told you a thousand times not to call me that! what are you doing back here? I though I'd seen the last of you!" she grinned in reply.
"Tamamo has a cold – I just finished giving her a couple of jabs."
"Jabs? Minato, at least try to sound professional..." Tsunade instructed her son with a roll of her eyes.
"Naruto, we need to go – doesn't your shift start in a couple of hours? You said Sasori was starting today..." Sasuke reminded.
Oh bugger – she had completely forgotten about that. Thank god Sasuke had a decent memory.
"Argh... I forgot about that... Okay, is everything done here? Its going to take forever to fill out the paperwork before we leave!" Naruto asked, turning back to Minato.
"Yep, all done, wait a moment though. I have to give you a couple of forms to fill out..."
Minato rummaged around in another drawer and scribbled his signature on a couple of forms before handing them to her; Sasuke was already standing by Tsunade at the door.
"Thanks for seeing us this early, it was good to see you again too. Nice to see you too old bat!" Naruto grinned before picking up her coat and following Sasuke out of the door.
She was almost positive that she heard Tsunade yelling a protest as they walked down the hallway.
A few weeks passed, and it soon became December; there hadn't been much snow the year before, but there was that year, and Tamamo seemed to find the huge drifts of it when it fell more appealing than Christmas decorations.
As was tradition in Sasuke's family,the whole lot of them piled into the back of Fugaku's station wagon, and they drove out to the mountains surrounding the sprawling city in search of pine trees.
Even in his car it was a bit of a squeeze; Fugaku and Mikoto in the front, Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi in the middle, with Tamamo shifting over the laps of her parents and uncle, and Obito, Anko and Hana (whom Itachi had recently started seeing) squashed in the back. The car was only supposed to fit seven people so it was a squash.
After finally arriving at one of the forestry plantations on the edge of the city, the chaos started; Tamamo had been enthralled in kicking the snow with her wellies, and Obito had only encouraged her by carefully throwing a softly mad snowball at her. Most girls her age might have cried at the bad aim, but Tamamo found it amazing. She put on an evil little smile that had Obito running of to help his father chop down the first of the trees that would be tied to the roof of the car.
Tamamo chased after him, hurling much harder snowballs at him after some instruction from Anko and Hana, and he ended up running away from her, calling her a demon child as she pelted him with snow; Itachi was outright laughing until she changed her target and pelted him in the face with one. After that, the Christmas tree expedition had degenerated into an all out battle.
She, Tamamo, Sasuke, Mikoto, Hana, and Anko had hidden behind one dense copse of bushes, whilst Itachi, Obito and Fugaku had hidden behind trees on their own, cursing them to the high heavens; after emerging victorious, Tamamo promptly fell asleep after demanding Sasuke carry her, and they returned to the job in hand.
Fun aside, Naruto was putting some extra hours in at Killer Bee's; there was no point in having the miniature tree in the corner of the living room when there was nothing to go under it. Well there was, but Naruto wanted to try and get a bit more under it. She didn't spoil her daughter much (unlike Sasuke, who was neatly twisted around her little finger), so she wanted to make the most of it.
The only drawback was that she didn't see either of them as much, but apparently Sasuke's mother was five steps ahead of her once again if the sight that greeted her three weeks before Christmas was anything to go by.
"Sasuke? I thought you were going to take Tamamo to see your parents?" Naruto asked, entering their small apartment and catching sight of her boyfriend slumped on the sofa.
She caught sight of half a microwaved lasagne on the table and her mouth began to water; thank god they had got a microwave now. She wouldn't have been up for making even a sandwich, and if Sasuke had made something from scratch it would have killed her.
"I did – she sent me back. She was complaining about not seeing her, and Obito was there too, so they've kidnapped her for the night; dad said he'd drive her back after my shift tomorrow..." he replied, getting up from the sofa to snatch the lasagne and bung it in the microwave before she could reach it.
Raising an eyebrow, she flopped onto one of the chairs and watched as her boyfriend began pressing buttons on the microwave with a tentative finger; Sasuke could use a microwave, but it was still a very slow process, and he often had to go hunting for the instruction manual to make sure he wasn't going to blow it up.
"What's all this?" she asked, eyeing the reheated micro-meal lasagne in curiosity as he plonked it down in front of her; there also seemed to be a box of micro chips on the side of the plate.
Sasuke said noting and handed her a fork; she thought about what he had said about his mother then glanced at the microwave food. This was a Sasuke's attempt at being romantic. That was all it could be; she didn't know whether to laugh at him or kiss him. It was adorable either way – he really couldn't cook, though he had improved since they moved out of his parent's house.
Sasuke said nothing as she ate the food – which didn't taste half bad really – but she could see the nervous frown on his face all the same; once finished she stared at him for a few moments, before getting up from the seat and kissing him. The lights were on the fritz again, beyond Sasuke's skill to repair, and neither of them had thought to buy candles or a torch, so the only light was from the moon.
They had some big windows in the kitchen-living room part of the flat, so it shone through the whole room; Naruto couldn't help but think about how weird a date this was. Micro-food and no lights. It was still nice though. They hadn't had any time to themselves in a while.
"Bloody charmer" she grunted, dumping her cleared plate in the sink before following him to the sofa; The tv picked up about three channels (one of them black and white), but instead of tuning it onto one of the stations, he handed her one of the controllers for the games console that had been taken from his bedroom; it was still well used since it entertained Tamamo, and was permanently plugged in.
Unlike Tamamo, Naruto could play the proper shoot-'em-up games, and she took a manic delight in actually beating Sasuke at one of his favourite games, even if it did take four hours to accomplish; Sasuke glared at the screen, as if blaming it for his loss, and Naruto snickered at him for a few moments before kissing him. Sasuke's pride was too sensitive sometimes.
He remained stony faced, so she crawled onto his lap and kissed him again. She got a bit more response that time, and grinned as he kissed her back; she kissed him again, with some enthusiasm, and felt his hands slipping under her shirt as his tongue brushed over her lips and against her own.
He got so responsive that he didn't even care when her own enthusiasm pulled them off the sofa and onto the floor.
I updated because I think I was on the verge of being given back all the bad Karma I've been working off. Very nearly finished this story - in terms of the chapters I've written up. Only a few more to go. This story seems so long compared to my newer ones - I use more pages and use a smaller font for it so I can write more... It's actually somewhat exhausting to write.
I love it though - of all the stories I've written with pregnancy in them, this one is the best.
Song quote is from 'Because of You' by Kelly Clarkson.
Hope you liked the chapter!
:)