I do not own Naruto...

Before long, Hinata looked up, "Shika…," she started, "I've been having these recurring dreams for many, many nights… I'm so scared."

Recap:

"Well, I never thought that the shadow could also move as fast as lightning…" Kakashi stated while the occupants in the Hokage's office exchange worried looks.

Shikamaru didn't stop jumping from ledge to ledge and running as fast as he could along the lower roofs encircling the tower. He just kept jumping and running… running and jumping. Never in his life had he moved in such rapid speed. He figured he wouldn't be called the 'sluggish genius' if he'd been moving this fast before.

His heart was beating terribly fast. It wasn't due to his movements and pace but to the fears that was slowly building within. The only consolation here is that the hospital is only a stone's throw away from the tower. As he ran, his mind raced through the events from two nights ago.

...

...

The Nara genius stirred from his sleep when he realized that Hinata wasn't lying beside him. With sleepy eyes, he squinted for the time on the table clock to see that it was already past two in the early morning. He was convinced that Hinata was in the bathroom, adjoined to their room but, when he realized that there was no light coming through the door, he sat up.

'Where is Hinata?' he thought.

Yawning while stretching his hands, the shadow wielder thought that he would go look for his wife. He took his time tying his hair into a tight, short ponytail before standing up slowly and shuffling out of their room. Realizing immediately that the house was in slumber darkness, he began to feel apprehensive and wondered where his wife could be.

As he walked toward the stairs, Shikamaru caught sight of a door left ajar. It was the door to the room beside theirs, meant for their coming baby. Taking a peek through the door, he could barely see the outline of his wife. Hinata was sitting in a corner of the room. Trying not to startle her, he made a soft coughing sound before slowly ambling into the room.

"Hinata?" the Nara called softly as he narrowed his eyes to get a better look at his wife in the dark.

His voice startled her a little before she immediately wiped off the tears on her face. Until that moment, she had been sitting in a couch, looking out of the window, though not particularly paying attention to the intensity of the full moon, while silent tears flowed freely down her beautiful face.

Sensing something amiss, the shadow wielder strode forward and knelt down in front of his wife.

"Hinata, were you crying? What's wrong…?"

Hinata shook her head as she suppressed more tears from forming in her eyes.

"Was it the baby? …Did it kick you hard? Did it hurt?" the Nara continued asking, all the while trying to figure out what was bothering his wife.

Hinata kept quiet and only shook her head again. She was trying to hold her tears in and was afraid that talking to her husband now would only threaten more tears from her pale eyes.

Unconvinced, Shikamaru gently held both of Hinata's hands, pleading, "Hinata… tell me what's wrong."

Unable to control herself anymore, the Nara wife leaned onto her husband's shoulder and cried, her tears accompanied by muffled sobs and hitched breaths. Startled, Shikamaru rested his head on Hinata's and started stroking her long dark hair. He had never seen his wife so distraught and couldn't help feeling anxious.

Before long, Hinata looked up.

"Shika…," she started, "I've been having these recurring dreams for many, many nights… I'm so scared."

"Dreams?" the Nara asked confusedly.

She nodded before closing her eyes in a futile effort to stop more tears, her body shaking uncontrollably as she desperately tried to contain her emotions.

Placing a hand on her cheek and wiping off some tears with his thumb, Shikamaru asked, "What dreams?"

Slowly looking up to catch her husband's inquiring eyes, Hinata recalled, "I'd dream of my mother every night."

The shadow wielder raised an eyebrow, surprised at the information.

"I'd be back in my father's house… in her garden… my mother's garden. Then I'll see her standing there. She was in her white Kimono, the one that they put on her when she died… I've missed her… I'd walk nearer to her and she would smile when she sees me."

With the brightness of the moon emanating through the window, the Nara looked searchingly into Hinata's pale orbs as she lingered to call to mind the dream that she had.

Drawing a deep breath, she continued, "There were flowers everywhere. Beautiful, beautiful flowers… just like how it used to be… I'd pick some up. They had beautiful colors…"

At this, Shikamaru noticed that his wife had a faraway look on her face, almost like she was caught in her own dreams and was actually imagining herself back in her father's house. But when she came to, he could see that she looked sad… even scared.

"But then the flowers… the flowers would start to bleed… Blood would spill out of them - lots and lots of blood. My hands… they… they would be covered with them," Hinata related with fear.

Furrowing his eyebrows, the shadow wielder tried to make sense of what his wife was relating while she lifted both hands, studying them as if certain they were stained with blood.

Painfully, she continued, "I'd look at my mother and she would have this… this… sorrowful look. So… so sad. Then… there's blood everywhere. They'd keep rising and…and I'd be covered with blood. It would come up to my feet… and then my knees… my waist. I'd… I'd hold on to our baby…"

In fear, Hinata wound her hands around her belly as she would in her dreams. She was clearly afraid. Afraid for her unborn child. Afraid of how real the dreams had felt.

Quietly, Shikamaru shifted onto the couch, sitting beside his wife, embracing her from behind. He placed his hand over the swell of her stomach while his fingers entwined with hers. He then rested his chin on her shoulder in a comforting manner as he slowly tried to decipher what his wife was telling him.

"I want to run but I… I can't move and… and I can't see you anywhere." Hinata went on. "I'd try to call out for you but nothing would come out. And the blood would come up to my face. I… I couldn't breathe. I was… I was drowning… Then… then I'd wake up."

When she finished recollecting, Hinata leaned against her husband, while fresh tears flowed down her cheeks. "Shika, I think I might die… I'll die just like my mother."

Inhaling deeply, Shikamaru muttered, "Hinata… you will not die." Then, slowly turning her around to face him, he held her hands and said, "It was just a dream. It didn't really mean anything."

"But… it felt so real."

Bending over to place a soft kiss on her hands, the Nara contemplated the situation before trying to give a convincing answer to his wife.

"Your dreams simply revealed your apprehension and excitement about the whole pregnancy thing…" he started. "You're being protective of the baby while at the same time, you're afraid of the inevitable. It's just… anticipations mixed with fears."

"But Shika, I've had the same dream for many, many days and…"

"It's nothing to worry about… really! You're just being nervous and… and scared! That's all!"

"But…"

"Now don't start behaving like a small girl. You're going to be a mum soon. Everything will turn out fine. I'm sure you can handle childbirth," he said as he placed a hand on her stomach and gently rubbed it.

It took many seconds before Hinata sighed in defeat. Perhaps, it would be coherent to accept her husband's rationale. She considered that she might actually have over-reacted to the dreams and it was actually her anticipations that had played with her mind. Almost immediately, she gave a half smile when she deduced where his way of explanation might have come from.

"You have been reading the book, didn't you?" she asked.

"What… book?" the shadow wielder raised an eyebrow, trying to look naive.

"The one Sai lent to you."

"Well…"

"Don't try to act innocent here…" Hinata threatened jokingly.

Her husband nodded in defeat.

"I thought you said you would never touch the book…," Hinata teased. "Imagine the Nara, the great all-knowing genius going as low as reading 'An Idiot's Guide to.'"

"Okay-okay, you got me this time," Shikamaru laughed. "I read the book out of boredom. But… it did provide some insights."

"Did it?" Hinata asked candidly. "Does that mean that everything is going to be fine?"

"Sure… You're going to be fine."

"And our baby?"

"Our baby is going to be fine too."

Hinata smiled. She was feeling more optimistic than before.

After a pause, Shikamaru stood up. He offered a hand to his wife who took it and stood up slowly. Pulling her into a hug, he said, "You should go to sleep now. You need to rest."

Hinata nodded. Then, looking into her husband's eyes, she smiled before emitting, "I love you."

"I love you too," he said as he gently planted a kiss on her forehead, only grateful that the room is dark enough to conceal his worried state. 'Could there actually be a hidden message behind the dreams?'

...

...

Jumping down a roof and finally running towards the entrance of the hospital, Shikamaru instantly spotted his best friend. The Akimichi was running as fast as he could with Hinata in his hands before the shadow wielder caught up with him as they both entered the hospital. Immediately stopping Chouji in his tracks, the shadow-wielder was terror-struck at the sight before him. Not only was Hinata drenched with blood from her lower back down, Chouji's piece of clothing was also filled with big blotches of fresh red stains.

Without a word, Shikamaru moved forward and took Hinata from Chouji's chakra-enlarged hands, realizing right away that his wife was only barely conscious. In desperation, he sprinted through the hospital, looking frantically for help.

"You're going to be okay…" Shikamaru uttered as he ran. "I've got you… You're going to be okay, Hinata… you're going to be okay."

"Shikamaru!" someone shouted from a corridor on his left. "Over here!"

Turning around quickly, the Nara found Ino signaling for him to her direction. He made to run towards her before Hinata started to struggle in pain. Sensing her distress, he stopped for the briefest of moments to find Hinata, with her eyes closed, extending her hands to grab his shirt.

"Shika…," she muttered weakly.

Immediately after, Ino came up to the shadow wielder just as a pink-haired Sakura hurried behind with a mobile stretcher. Without hesitation, Shikamaru laid Hinata onto the stretcher while she held on to his shirt.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Sakura placed her chakra-induced hands on Hinata's stomach, trying to get a better perception of her situation.

Then, creasing her eyebrow in confusion, Sakura said, "There's something strange there…" Soon, the pink-haired medic looked up before shouting, "She's losing too much blood. We've got to get her to the operating room now! Ino! Go get Shizune and Tsunade! Quick!"

Without further delay, the long-haired Yamanaka ran off to look for the two medical specialists while Sakura and Shikamaru pushed the stretcher towards the operating room.

As they hurried, the Nara could feel Hinata's hands tightening around his. Not allowing it to go unnoticed, he squeezed her hands.

"You'll be fine…" he emitted. "…You've got to be."

He knew then that, not only was he trying to comfort his wife, he was also trying to convince himself she'll actually be okay.

Arriving at the entrance of the operating room, Sakura ordered, "Shikamaru, you've got to stay out."

"No!" the Nara countered, still holding on to Hinata's hands.

"You can't come in! You've got to stay out!" Sakura threw back before the door was opened from inside by two medical staffs.

"No, I want to be there!" he argued.

"You can't!" Sakura shouted before she ruthlessly pushed the shadow wielder away and wheeled the stretcher in, closing the door immediately.

Shikamaru was about to run through the door before he felt two strong pairs of hands pulling him back. With determination, he tussled vigorously.

"Let… me… go!"