I'd like to inform everyone I have a new fiction posted. It'd be appreciated it if you gave it a look!

22. Expunge

People gawked at her, probably wondering if she was fat or pregnant. For once in her life, she wanted people to think she was fat. She noticed the double takes whenever she walked down Main Street, and she heard children whispering to their parents, "Why is that lady so big?" Their parents would glance in Ino's direction and reply, "She's pregnant…or fat." Awesome. A few more weeks and her baby bump will obviously be a baby bump, and no one will mistake it for a something it's not.

For the past week, Shikamaru always checked on her, asking if she ate anything in the last five seconds or if she experienced any cramping. Ino, whether he called or came to her door, ignored him and continued with her day. As irritating as he might be, he requested she see a doctor, which she agreed to. Within the next day, he called up his mother's doctor and requested for an appointment along with an oath of secrecy—he probably didn't know doctors couldn't reveal anything about their patients, but it was sweet of him to make the doctor cross her heart and hope to die.

"You didn't have to come with me," Ino grumbled, leaning back against the chair, but her stomach stuck out so Ino slouched again, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "You didn't have to do this for me either. I planned on scheduling an appointment soon."

"I'm just curious."

Ino scoffed at his answer. "That's rude. I thought you came for the wellbeing of your teammate, but I guess not," she accused. "You can leave now."

"I'm here for moral support, too, but it's more out of curiosity."

"I thought I told you to leave. You're annoying me." That was another thing about pregnancy that Ino didn't understand. She was rather snappy, especially with Shikamaru, and she had a case of bipolarity. Before being pregnant, Ino thought she was snappy already, but her hormones brought it to another extreme level. Sometimes she felt sympathetic towards Shikamaru, but he asked for it every time he decided to come near her, so it couldn't be helped.

"I think it's the hormones."

"What's that annoying sound?" From corner of her eye, she watched Shikamaru shake his head and lean back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I feel bad that Sakura has to put up with your damn attitude every day," he grumbled under his breath. "I wonder what your parents would say if you talked to them like you do to me."

Ino jabbed a finger in Shikamaru's face, squishing his nose. "I swear if this gets out to my family or friends, I'm blaming you for it!"

Shikamaru slapped her hand away. "They'll have to find out eventually, right? What will you say to everyone when you're the size of a buffalo?"

Ino winced. "A buffalo is a harsh term."

"What are you going to say? You're hiding watermelons under your shirt?"

Ugh, Shikamaru had some nerve.

"Yamanaka Ino," the doctor called just before the tension between the two became awkward.

Without a word to Shikamaru, Ino stood up and followed the doctor through the double doors. The doctor led her into a room that was small and contained a machine with all sorts of contraptions hanging on it and an examination table.

Ino climbed on top of the table and leaned back then watched the doctor turn on the machine, pressing different buttons and hitting the machine with her palms when it wouldn't do what she wanted. Ino looked away, taking in a deep breath.

"Since you haven't had any other appointments, we'll take blood tests after this. You must be curious about the baby, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

The doctor turned to her with a bottle of gel in one hand and the transducer in the other. "Please lift up your shirt."

Ino swallowed the lump in her throat and lifted her shirt until it wrinkled up just below her breast. The doctor—her last name was Akanishi, according to her name tag—applied the cool gel to her stomach, sending shivers and goosebumps across Ino's skin. Ino closed her eyes as the older woman placed the transducer on her stomach, sliding the mechanism across her skin.

Akanishi hummed and jotted notes down on a notepad that she rested on her lap. Ino glared at the ceiling, refusing to take one glance at the screen to the right of her. She didn't want to see that thing, never. Then her doctor said, "There's nothing wrong. Everything looks healthy."

Curiosity overwhelmed Ino. She had to look. Ino had that anxious feeling, like she was a little girl again, and she wanted to open her birthday presents, but her parents wouldn't let her. Except in this case, Ino didn't want this. If she could, she'd take it back.

Ino stared at the screen, watching the alien-like figure kick its legs against her insides. It twisted and turned. As it wiggled around, kicking and punching, Ino concentrated on that certain area, wondering if she could actually feel the jabs, but she only felt the pressure of the transducer pushing against her midsection.

"You can tell the gender! It's a—"

"Please, don't," Ino begged, covering her ears to block out the woman's voice. This nightmare would become more realistic if Ino knew the gender. It needed to remain an object, a parasite that fed off her body. She couldn't even accept the term baby, so how could she accept the terms baby girl or baby boy? The answer to that was simple. She couldn't.

At the age of nineteen—well twenty, if Ino did the math right, Ino did not need a child straddling her hip. She and everyone else knew nineteen was too young to have and support a child. She had too much to live for. She couldn't carry on as a shinobi if she had a child. To top all her problems, this thing belonged to Hidan.

"Are you okay?" Akanishi asked, tapping Ino's shoulder. "You look a little sick."

Ino nodded. "I'm feeling a little sick. Do you think we can reschedule the tests for another day?" She didn't know if it was the baby's movements that made her nauseous, or the reality of being pregnant finally hit her like a wrecking ball, but the room spun, and her ears began to ring.

"Yes, we'll do that. Let's clean you off, and then we can go to the waiting room, and talk there."

"Sure."

Ino didn't expect Shikamaru to be in the waiting room when she arrived, but sure enough, he stood at the window, gazing at the clouds. When the doors clicked shut, he turned around with a warm smile on his face and walked towards Ino. Ino sat down, as did Shikamaru, brushing his knee against Ino's. Ino pulled her leg away and crossed it over her other.

"Since you're about five months now, I'm asking you to start limiting your physical activity. Just because you're a shinobi doesn't mean your stamina will be better than most. You have to think about the baby also. I'll be sending a note to the Hokage, informing her about regulating your missions." Ino's heart dropped. Tsunade would find out everything. Accusations were bound to spring the day Tsunade called Ino to her office to discuss the topic. "Also, I'd like you to start eating more than usual, so you can support yourself and the baby."

Ino nodded, halfheartedly listening. "Is there anything else?" she asked.

"Oh, yes. You might be wondering about it, so I'll spare you the embarrassment of asking it. It is possible to have sex while you're pregnant. You and the baby are at no risk, so you two have the okay."

"Excuse me?"

Akanishi waved her finger between Shikamaru and Ino. "Aren't you two together?"

Shikamaru looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. Ino bowed her head, totally embarrassed. They both mumbled, "No."

"Oh," she said then slowly stood from her seat and hustled out the waiting room.

The waiting room remained silent. No one spoke to each other, especially Shikamaru and Ino. The receptionist whispered into the phone, giggling into the receiver. Ino wanted to chuck a magazine at her face, but that was probably the hormones thinking that.

"So, should we head home?" Shikamaru asked, nudging her with his elbow. Ino stood up and walked out of the room, without waiting for Shikamaru. She heard him catching up behind her, though. "Are you doing okay, Ino?" he asked when he caught up. "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here," he pressed on.

"Can you please leave me alone?" Ino spurted, glaring at Shikamaru's feet. Shikamaru didn't respond, so she left, hoping he wouldn't follow her. He didn't.

"Why don't you two just get married?" Shikamaru asked as he moved around his game pieces. "You two are conjoined at the hip, and she's having your kid, so what's stopping you from getting married?"

Asuma snickered and took a swig of his beer. "Kurenai is stopping me from proposing. She doesn't want to be tied down. She says marriage is the ultimate form of being caged in. She even says that it's worse than prison."

"She's against it that much?"

"She'll come around eventually. I plan on proposing on her birthday."

"If she says no?"

"We'll still be together, just not married. Kurenai is just—shit, you just beat me." Asuma slapped his forehead, cursing at his ex-student for being a damn genius. Shikamaru smirked around the opening of the can as he chugged the rest of his beer. "How did I let that happen again?" his sensei mumbled, taking a deep drag from his cigarette and blowing the smoke into the air.

"If I was completely smashed while you were sober, I'd still beat you."

"Ouch." Asuma smashed his cigarette into his ashtray and sighed. "You look pretty peeved. What's going on?"

What would Ino do if he told Asuma about her being pregnant? Asuma couldn't lecture her about it since he knocked up Kurenai, but he would surely confront of her about it. Then again, both Kurenai and Asuma are in their early thirties while Ino isn't even twenty. He, like Shikamaru, probably thought raising a child at a young age wasn't a good idea. However, if anything, Asuma had to be understanding. Asuma watched Ino grow up, and they shared a close relationship like he did with Shikamaru. At most, he would be disappointment, but would he be so disappointed he would ostracized her?

"It's Ino," Shikamaru said. "She's a troublesome woman."

Asuma chuckled. "You just noticed this?"

"I've known."

"Well, what did you do this time?"

"Do we have to assume that it is always my fault?"

His sensei shrugged. "It's safe to say it's always the guy's fault." Shikamaru nodded. Asuma knew the mind games women played as well, probably better than Shikamaru. Whoever was at fault doesn't matter when it comes to a man and a woman arguing. It's always the man's fault.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm not part of Ino's situation. It's all her fault, and I'm just trying to help her."

"Does she want it?"

Shikamaru hesitated to answer. Did she want his help and company? "No."

"Then leave her alone; she'll come to you when she needs the help." Asuma held out his carton of cigarettes. "Want one? It'll calm you down."

Shikamaru shook his head, but he eyed the cigarette jutting out of the carton. "I'm trying to quit, Asuma. You're not helping me," he grumbled, but he grabbed a stick anyway. "You're a horrible influence," he said with his cigarette hanging between his teeth. Asuma lit it with a chuckle.

With his lips tight around his own cigarette, Asuma agreed with a shrug, "Sometimes."

Ino crossed her legs as she sat on the examination table and bowed her head. Her eyes forced closure, but she pried them open. She waited and waited and waited. The room gave her a headache. It smelled like cleaning supplies, and the light above her shone too bright.

"Ino?" the doctor greeted when he came through the door.

"Hi," she mumbled, lifting her head up and smiling weakly at him.

"You say you're about five months pregnant now?"

"Yes."

The doctor sat in a chair across from her. "An abortion for a woman in her second trimester is more difficult compared to a woman in her first, and it takes a little longer. The procedure itself doesn't take long. It's the preparations." Ino nodded. She subconsciously traced a circle on her circle as she listened to the man. "We must dilate and soften the cervix first. You'll feeling a lot of cramping and discomfort, but it's normal. Then, in a day or two, we'll take it out. Are you all right with that?"