Sakura and Hinata sat in the bathroom for a little while, Hinata crying and Sakura trying her best to comfort her.
After a little bit, Sakura said, "Hinata, c'mon now, you have to pull yourself together." Pushing her friend away until she was at arm's length, Sakura then said, "You're stronger than this."
Wiping away the tears from her eyes and face, Hinata said, "I know that you're right Sakura." Looking Sakura in the eyes, she said, "But what do I do? How am I supposed to tell Naruto? And what will I do if he leaves because of it? I can't even bear the thought of it." She started to tear up again.
"Hey now," Sakura said. "Calm down. Naruto wouldn't do that. You and I both know that he can be a little immature at times, but have you ever known him to run away from something?" Hinata looked at her for a minute, and then shook her head. "Exactly, so there's nothing to worry about."
"I know, but I don't want to tell him yet," Hinata said, bringing her right hand to her mouth and shaking her head at the same time. "Even if he does handle the news well, I don't want him to worry about me."
"Okay then," Sakura said. "We won't tell him yet. For now, it'll be a secret between us girls. But Hinata, he's going to notice eventually, so you have to tell him either before then or when he finally does." Hinata nodded with a smile on her face, and Sakura said, "Good, now let's get back. They're probably wondering why we're taking so long."
"Okay," Hinata said. After that, the two girls walked out of the bathroom, and back to their boyfriends, one of them carrying the most precious of secrets.
"Gaara, what do you think of this outfit?" Temari asked Itachi, who was really embarrassed. They were in the women's section of the store. Temari had decided to do some shopping in their spare time, and had insisted on dragging Itachi and Kankuro along with her. Kankuro had already run off.
"It looks fine," Itachi said, barely looking at her, but Temari squealed with excitement just the same. Then Itachi thought, "I thought this girl suspected me at first, but now I've come to realize that she is always like this. How Gaara puts up with it is beyond me." Shaking his head, he then thought, "Anyway, this is taking too long. It's been two weeks already, and I haven't been able to get anywhere remotely close to Naruto. I have to do it soon, or I might be discovered."
Just then, he noticed Naruto, Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke walk into the store. Hinata was holding onto Naruto's arm like he was going to leave if she didn't. It was at this time that Itachi had a revelation.
"Dammit, I've been so stupid," he thought to himself. He smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand and thought, "I don't have to get close to him. I need a way that will make him come to me." He stared at Hinata and Naruto with the intensity to burn a whole through them. "And I think I know just how I'm going to do it." He laughed for a minute, but then stopped when Temari came out in such a skimpy outfit that his nose started to bleed.
Gaara and Tokiko were kissing again in a new hiding place of many. Kisame was away, and Gaara was still tied to a tree, but he didn't seem to mind. He was still enjoying it. The two of them parted, and Tokiko said, "Gaara, it's time that the two of us got out of here."
"The two of us? Won't they come after you if you help me?" Gaara asked.
"Yes, but I don't care," Tokiko said taking a kunai from her belt and cutting his ropes. "I want to go with you regardless." Putting her arms around his neck, she said, "I love you Gaara, and I would even give up my life for you."
"Funny, cause a few weeks ago, you hated my guts," Gaara said with a smirk.
"Aw, c'mon Gaara, you know that isn't fair," Tokiko said. She was about to say something else, but Gaara kissed her out of nowhere, and she was quiet again.
"Okay, if that's how you really feel," Gaara said. "But I won't be able to protect you until the suppressant holding Shukaku wears off."
"Then I think you should give me your arm," Tokiko said. Gaara gave her his arm, and she stuck a needle containing a black liquid into it. As soon as she pulled the needle from his arm, the sand in his gourd started to move to his will.
"You made an antidote," Gaara said. "Thank you."
"Anything for my honey," Tokiko said. She giggled a little when she did. With that, the two of them jumped to the nearest tree, and then jumped away, heading for the town that Naruto and the others were in, which was a few hours away.
"Naruto, I think you need to talk to Hinata," Sakura said to him. It was later in the day, and she, Sasuke, and Naruto were still at the store. Hinata had gone back to the inn to lay down while the others finished up their day shopping.
"Why, is something wrong?" Naruto asked in a concerned voice.
"No, nothing's wrong," Sakura said. "I just think that you need to talk to her. She isn't acting like herself." Then she thought to herself, "I know that I should tell him, but I promised Hinata that I wouldn't."
"I noticed," Naruto said. Then he thought to himself, "There must be something wrong, or she knows something that I don't. Otherwise, She wouldn't be saying something like this."
"Sakura does have a point," Sasuke said. "Maybe you should talk to her."
"Stop worrying about it," Naruto said. "I'll see you guys later." Turning and heading in the other direction, he waved bye to them and walked off, leaving the couple by themselves.
"God, I wish those two would stop butting into my business," Naruto thought. "I had planned on talking to her anyway. I want to know why she's been avoiding me."
"Boy, I figured that it would be obvious by now," said a voice in his head.
"What do you want Kyuubi?" Naruto said to the fox. He didn't feel like dealing with the fox demon right at this moment.
"Man, you are denser than I thought, at least if you haven't figured this out yet," Kyuubi said, taunting Naruto even more.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto nearly shouted in his head. His patience with Kyuubi was starting to wear very thin.
"Think about it brat," Kyuubi said in a calm voice. "She's avoiding you, she's rushing off on her own many times a day, and she's not around in the middle of the night, and when she does come back, she smells like she's been eating sweet food."
Naruto was about to yell at the fox again, when he stopped. Kyuubi did have a point. Where the heck was she going all those times in a day? It's like she was trying to hide something from him. And in the middle of the night, she leaves the room and comes back smelling like sweets. Was she craving sweets? He thought, "Why would she be…?" Then the answer hit him like a ton of bricks.
"Ah, finally figured it out, did you?" Kyuubi asked, chuckling a little. "I wondered how long it was going to take you."
"I think I need to sit down," Naruto thought. Finding the nearest bench, he sat down and placed his head between his hands.
"It really shouldn't be any surprise," Kyuubi said. "You two have been together in bed for the last couple of weeks, so it was bound to happen eventually."
"Will you shut up?!" Naruto screamed in his head. "I'm trying to think."
Kyuubi didn't say another word after that. Naruto sat on the bench for a while.
Finally, a thought popped into his head. "I-I'm… I'm going to be a dad." The thought washed over him like a refreshing summer rain did to the land. "Me, a dad." Getting up from the bench, he ran off, blowing past Sakura and Sasuke, and toward the other end of the store.
Hinata was lying on the bed in her room at the inn. She was staring up at the ceiling with one hand behind her bed, and the other hand over her stomach. She was being plagued with anxiety and worry over what she should do.
"What am I going to do," she thought out loud. "I know that I have to tell Naruto about it, but what will I do if he leaves? I don't think that my heart could bear it." She brought the hand on her stomach up to her chest and squeezed the fabric of her clothes, responding to the pain that was in her heart from the mere thought of Naruto leaving. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" Hinata responded, sitting up on the bed.
"It's me," Naruto said from behind the door. He opened the door and walked inside.
"Naruto, you don't have to knock. We're sharing this room," Hinata said.
"I know, but I wanted to make sure you were decent before I came in," Naruto said.
"Why," Hinata asked. "It's not like you haven't seen me naked before." Hinata may have said this easily enough, but she was uneasy. She could tell that something was up. Naruto was acting weird, and saying things that didn't make sense.
"Listen, Hinata, we need to talk," Naruto said, taking a seat next to her on the bed. Now Hinata was sure that something was wrong. Naruto never said anything like that. To the two of them, their actions spoke louder than their words. However, Hinata merely looked at him and said, "Okay." Then she was quiet, and stared at him for a minute before he decided to speak.
"Listen Hinata," Naruto started. He was looking at the floor while he talked, his eyes hidden in a shadow. "I know."
"You know?" Hinata said, trying her best to hide the worry in her voice.
"Uh huh," Naruto said, now looking her in the eyes. "I know that you're pregnant. Kyuubi helped me figure it out."
Hinata didn't say a word. Instead, she broke down and started to cry. Naruto scooted closer to her on the bed. Hinata had her hands at her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and asked, "Hinata, why didn't you tell me?" His voice was full of compassion and concern when he asked this.
"Be-because… because I was scared," Hinata said, starting to cry even harder.
"Scared? What was there to be scared of?" Naruto asked, hand still on her shoulder.
"I-I… I thought… I thought if I told you that you would leave me," Hinata said, crying the hardest that she had ever cried. Naruto sat there for a minute and let her cry, a sad look on his face. After he let her cry for a minute, he wrapped his arms around her.
"Naruto…"Hinata said, a surprised expression on her face.
"Hinata, I promised myself that I would protect you, no matter what happens," Naruto said as he hugged her. Squeezing her even tighter, he said "And I never go back on any promise." He placed his hand on her stomach while they hugged and said, "Now I make a new promise. I promise to protect you and this child for as long as I live."
"Naruto…" Hinata thought, hugging him back. Then, pushing him out to arms length, she looked at him with teary eyes and asked, "Are you sure that you want to stay with me?"
"Of course I'm sure," Naruto said with a soft smile. Pulling something from his back pocket, he said, "If I wasn't sure, then I wouldn't have bought this." He held up the thing to show it to her, and Hinata gasped.
Naruto was holding a ring. The band was made of white gold and a small diamond was sitting on it.
"Naruto… is that…?" Hinata asked.
"Yes it is," Naruto said. "I had wanted to wait to ask you, just to make sure if this was what I wanted, but now I'm positive that I want this for us." Getting down on one knee in front of Hinata, he asked, "Hinata, will you marry me?"
"N-Naruto… I… I…" Hinata stuttered. She was at a loss for words. Finally, she had an answer. "Yes! Yes I will!"
They embraced, holding each other tenderly, wishing that the moment could last forever.
"Nothing in the world could spoil this moment now," they both thought as the hugged each other tightly. "Nothing."
The two of them were wrong though. Suddenly, the wall was crashed inward. Itachi stood there, still disguised as Gaara, a kunai knife in his one hand.
"Gaara, what are you-?" Naruto started to say, but he was cut short. Itachi, moving with unnatural speed, got behind Naruto and jabbed him in the neck. Naruto fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Naruto!" Hinata screamed. A moment later though, Itachi did the same to her, except that he caught her in his arm and swung her over his shoulder. He dropped his disguise, returning to his normal self, and left a note on the floor next to Naruto. Then he jumped out through the hole in the wall.
"The power of the nine tailed fox shall be mine," Itachi thought as he jumped across the rooftops, heading for the forest. "And this girl will help me get it. Naruto will come for her, and then the power shall be all mine." Taking off even faster, he ran to the woods, already planning on how to kill Naruto.