Two months pregnant, though you still couldn't tell, and I couldn't have been more excited. I kept in mind Tsunade's lecture about how much the human body can take of stress and that while I was carrying child I had to be careful not to put my body under it. So basically between working and daddy lessons I had no time to really even think about Sasuke. And If I found I did have time I would start to sing to my baby because Shizune said that singing to babies while they are inside of your stomach lets them know that you are there. Or something like that, basically she said it was good to do so I did it.

Working in the flower shop was normally really fun and relaxing, that is, except when Ino was around. Because than all I could think and hear about was Sasuke. And not just Sasuke but Sakura. And not just Sasuke and Sakura but there wedding as well. Yeah it was all a bunch of crap. And the last time I yelled at Ino…it's like it didn't happen! Maybe I dreamed yelling at her because it seemed my words weren't going through to her head!

"Naruto I don't understand why you aren't taking your duties seriously! It's a big deal to be asked to be the best man!" She raved and I lost it. I had been listening to this god awful rant for at least a solid hour.

"Ino! For all that is good in this world will you shut up. I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment to you and I don't understand why you are making this big deal out of nothing. But you know what Ino if you are so concerned with their life I'll hand over the duties to you. Is that what you want?" When she was silent I snorted.

"What now that I'm giving you the responsibility you don't want it anymore? Make up your mind women!" I was slapped. There was no other way around it. Ino had just slapped me while tears coursed down her face.

"I hate you." She then turned and walked away. I stood there and let the pain finally sink in before reacting. But when my brain finally came to reacting I didn't know how to react. Should I be mad or upset? I had gone too far, that much I could understand but my pride refused to admit that I was wrong. I walked home that night thinking and finding excuses for why I was in the right. It wasn't like Ino could understand the stress I was in and she was definitely in the wrong! I mean why should I have,

"Why should I have to apologize?" I heard a higher voice mimic my thoughts. I turned around to see a little boy and his father standing near a restaurant.

"It doesn't matter who was in the right or in the wrong, what does matter is how you handle a situation. A wise man has to choose his battles carefully and make sure the ones that he does fight will later prove themselves. If you fight useless battles than all you're going to do is cause yourself a lot of grief. Even if the person is asking you to do things that aren't fun it doesn't matter. A strong man does it because he has to do it or because it's the right thing. Do you understand?" He asked and the little boy nodded, his eyes glowing with admiration.

The man was absolutely right and I needed to be an example to my child of what a real man should do and what better time to start than the present! Yeah there may have been tears running down my face, and yeah maybe the boy and dad rushed off as soon as they saw me but none the less!

I thought about what I could do to make it up to Ino when I realized that doing what I had been avoiding was my only answer. It wasn't like I was being lazy, it was just that helping plan the wedding would be like physical proof that I really was losing the bastard and I wasn't going to get him back. When he had said that our kiss was a mistake I knew that he was right. I was his friend, and he was getting married and he was in no way interested in me. Though I wanted Sasuke to be in the wrong I knew he wasn't completely at fault. Yeah sure he was the one who started it but I had just as much power to say no and I didn't. If I was going to raise a child I had to start working on myself so that my child wouldn't follow my selfish behavior as an example.

I went home that night and planned everything I had to for Sasuke and his wedding. I started by planning the bastards damn bachelor party. I knew that the prick wouldn't want to go to strip clubs or anything in that ball park. So of course being the great friend that I am looked at every single strip club Kohahna had. Hey if I had to be miserable than I might as well take some pleasure out of the teme's pain. After I planned where to go for the damn party I went out and bought a wedding gift for the happy couple, which was surprisingly hard. Sakura and Ino had given me the list of all the things that Sakura and Sasuke wanted, which of course were like pots and pans and umbrella holders, none of which I wanted to give them. I was giving the person I wanted most to my best friend. I had to get them an amazing gift that would show my love and support for them. After hours of searching I finally found it and asked the women at the cash register to wrap it for me and headed home. The gift would speak volumes of my love for them and though it pained me to buy it for them I held my head high. It was for the best anyway right?

The next thing on my list was the hardest of all, writing the best man's speech. Now for most best men, I'm sure they wouldn't have even thought about it, but for me, I wanted to write the most epic speech written! I thought about what Sasuke, Sakura, and I had gone through. I thought about the first time Sasuke and I kissed, how I was so madly in love with Sakura but she only loved Sasuke, how Sasuke and I were bitter enemies, how we bonded like nothing I had ever felt before, how Sasuke left the village and me, how I chased after him until finally proving to him I was strong enough to bring him back, how we became roommates and found that our bound had never really broke, how much I missed him now that I was alone again.

By the time I finished writing the speech I found that instead of writing a speech saying how happy I was for the bride and groom it was more like a love letter to Sasuke. I laughed bitterly at my mistake and crumpled the paper and began again this time thinking of the happiness I wanted conveyed to my two best friends.

The next morning I awoke to find that I had fallen asleep on my desk. I blinked fuzzily and pulled the paper that was sticking to my cheek. Rereading my speech I smiled in triumph and began to get ready to work to the flower shop.

"Ino there you are. Good Morning." I said with smile in which she turned her head and 'hmphed' in the opposite direction. I felt my eyebrow twitch and anger coarse through my veins; however I took a deep breath remembering the vow I made to myself last night and dug into my back-pack. Grabbing the speech and the time for the bachelor party I held them out to her. Surprise colored her face as she looked at the objects in my hands and slowly took them from me.

"What is this?" She asked as she opened the papers reading each sheet.

"You did this?" I nodded.

"Yeah…I know I have been annoying you in the past two months and I was having a hard time with some personal issues, but I put it aside and did what you wanted me to do for the wedding." She didn't answer me and walked away. I was surprised and a little upset that after all the trouble I went through that was her only reply? I wanted to chase her down ask why she was still mad at me but I decided to take the advice of the man from last night and decided that this wasn't a battle worth fight for. With that in mind I walked back to front and began to do my job.

"Naruto…" I looked up from trimming the roses to find Ino looking down at me. Ino hadn't spoken a word to me since the day I gave her the speech and time for the party which took all the patience I had not to go and bug her why. I looked up and smiled.

"Yeah?" My reply was silence. It was getting old really fast but I had to learn patience because I would need lots of it to raise my child. So I began to practice and had lots of failure, I learned that taking a deep breath and relaxing was the best way to keep my composure. But it was hard, really really hard. So when ten seconds turned into two minutes I sighed and went back to trimming the roses. This was getting annoying and I was so close to losing it on her. What the hell was her problem anyway? I thought she was the one who wanted me to do all this shit and now she won't even talk to me because I did it? This was getting ridiculous!

"Naruto…you…" I almost snapped the scissors in half when she began to act all shy, but I calmed down and took a deep breath. When I was calm enough I looked back at Ino and waited until she finally would tell what the hell her problem was.

"You're different." She finally said and I my eyes widened in surprise. She must have read the confusion in my face because she sighed and sat on the counter regaining the self-confidence I knew she had.

"I'm not saying in a bad way, you're just…I don't know different."

"How am I different? I'm still the same!" I shouted losing the patience I had been trying so hard to keep.

"It's not in a bad way." She said softly like she was trying to find just the right words to describe the change.

"It's more like you… I don't know grew up all of the sudden you know?" And I kinda did. I was happy; happy that I was growing up and acting more and more like an adult. I had hoped that I could become a man that my child would look at like a hero. Grinning I looked up at Ino.

"Yeah I do understand. Thanks Ino." She looked at me for another minute and finally nodded.

"Yeah…" After that we talked about different things like if she any missions lately if I was dying from lack of. It was nice to have a normal conversation with her without it involving the wedding. Things seemed to be looking up, or well so I thought.

It was finally here, the thing had been waiting for this entire time! After three months I finally had a belly bump! It was small and you couldn't see it when I was wearing a shirt but it was still there! Tsunade laughed after I busted through the door and took off my shirt to show her but all she said was that it wasn't like it just appeared. What I didn't say was that yeah it kind of did because I hadn't noticed it until that day but whatever. Daddy lessons were going pretty good too and I was getting better and better.

The wedding was still going on but I tried to face it with a smile. I thought that having my baby would make forget about Sasuke but I was finding the opposite happen in reality. The more it grew the more I thought about the bastard. What would he say if he saw the child? Would he love him as much as I do? Would he hate him because he was part of me? I found that I didn't have an answer for these questions and chose to instead think about the next step for taking care of Takahiro. So hearing a knock at my door at two in the morning was not expected. Groggily I walked to the door cursing the person for interrupting my sleep.

"Sakura?" So when a concerned and worried Sakura was at my door I was left completely dumb founded.

"Naruto! It's Sasuke he…" I was out the door in a heartbeat. Sasuke had to be in critical condition if Sakura was here so early. I didn't care that I was in my boxers or looking like shit. When did Sasuke get hurt? Did he have a mission lately?

"Naruto hold on!"

"What? Why should I! He is in the hospital rig-"

"He's not in the hospital…" She whispered refusing to meet my gaze.

"What?" She looked up at me finally.

"What the fuck do you mean 'he's not in the hospital'?" I asked my rage completely seeping through my voice. I was pissed. At freaking two in the morning Sakura wakes me up to tell me her god damn relationship problems? Oh ho ho I do NOT think so!

"It's just that…Naruto something is really wrong I just don't know what it is?" She answered rushed.

"Are you kidding me? You woke me up with a frickin heart attack to tell me about a fight? Sakura I am not your god damn counselor! You and Sasuke need to work it out by yourselves! What the hell are you going to do once you guys are married?" I demanded. I was being mean but I thought something was really wrong with the way her voice was shaking earlier.

"Oh shut up Naruto!" She tried to punch me but I grabbed her hand. This was too much.

"Sakura I am being completely serious. I don't mind listening to your problems but you made it sound like Sasuke was really hurt and I panicked." I explained after taking a few deep breaths. Sakura nodded lowering her head down in shame.

"I'm sorry but…well I am really worried. He hasn't been sleeping at all lately and when he does he always has nightmares. When I try to get him to talk about it he either ignores me or looks at me like he might really hurt me. Today he just snapped and began throwing things without saying a word! I'm scarred and he won't talk to me Naruto and I keep asking and asking but it only makes it worse and I don't know what to do!" She finally finished. I knew exactly what she was talking about. Sasuke often did have nightmares which made it hard for him to sleep making it easy for him to just snap. I learned a way to cope and found a way to let him relax to the point of sleeping. But that sort of thing hadn't happened in years and I had assumed that maybe he just got over it. I sighed.

"Sakura why are you here?" I asked once more, having a feeling where this was going.

"Naruto you lived with him for three years…you know how to deal with this right?" She asked pleadingly. I knew she wanted me to tell her how to fix the situation but it wasn't that simple. Plus she needed to learn how to deal with Sasuke without me being the buffer.

"I'll fix it this once Sakura and then you need to figure it out on your own."

"Perfect! Thanks Naruto!" I sighed and fixed myself up.

As we walked to Sakura's house I saw that Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, and TenTen were all sitting outside of the house. They looked up at me and nodded which I returned with a wave.

"Hey guys what's up?" I asked lightly.

"Who cares Naruto just go and fix Sasuke!" Sakura yelled as she pushed me inside. I wanted to turn around and yell at her, scream out all of my frustrations with this scenario. Why was it that I knew everything about the bastard and what to do to make him feel better and yet he still chose Sakura. I wanted to be mad at Sakura but well that was how Sakura had always been; selfish and using people to get her way, even if she did have good intensions.

"Stay outside ok?" I asked before I closed the door.

"Why?" Sakura demanded about to follow me in.

"It won't work if there are any other people around. So just wait outside."

"But!" I slammed the door on whatever she was going to say next.

I sighed and walked around the corner to find Sasuke standing by the couch looking like he really wanted to kill someone.

"Hey bastard heard you were causing some problems so Sakura sent me over to fix it." I said casually. By the way his glare intensified I knew he was not happy about the news. I snorted.

"Stop being such a god damn girl and get over it already. You're making everyone worry." This was all part of the plan. I had to rally him up to the point where he would attack me, which never took long.

Just like I had hoped the bastard threw the first punch and the fight was on. I tried to punch him in the face but he avoided and attempted to kick my feet from under me. I jumped and evaded the contact while throwing in a round kick. He easily caught my leg and threw me across the room causing me to crashed back first into the wall. I dodged a punch that was aimed at my face and leaped around him till I was behind. He quickly turned around and charged at me and I did the same. However as he prepared to punch me I jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist while my arms slid around his neck pressing his head to my chest.

I surprised him for a moment in which he was completely still but the shock soon vanished and the teme began to try and beat me off. He tried to hit me wherever he could but I refused to let go. After some time Sasuke stopped fighting me and held me as he went down on the couch bringing me with him. I was placed beneath him as he laid out on my chest. Then came my secret attack that no one would ever think to do.

I began to talk. There was nothing important about what I was saying, in fact normally it was just about my day or something that was of no consequence to him. I always attempted to braid his hair while I talked about ramen, my house, my hair, his hair. Anything I wanted to talk about I did.

"So last time I went to Ramen Ichiraku I ate some miso and pork ramen and I have to say I was really digging the pork."

"Hn." The strange part was that Sasuke actually listened in a weird way. More like he was listening to the sound of my voice rather than the actual words I was saying. I didn't know why this made him feel better and I wasn't even sure how I figured it out, but somehow I did and when we had lived together these were moments I thought that maybe the bastard felt the same as I did. I smiled and continued to braid his hair.

"Dobe you're getting fat." His voice was muffled by my shirt but I still knew what he said. I felt my face drain of color when I realized that the bastard was laying on my baby bump but soon regained my composer.

"Shut up bastard. Just one too many beers. I just need to cut back a little is all. And I'm not fat you jerk, just a little bigger than normal!" I felt Sasuke's hands tightening meaning he wanted to say more but I cut him off and continued where my story left off.

Twenty minutes later Sasuke was completely knocked out and I heard the door open and looked up to see Sakura standing in the entrance to the living. The look on her face was unreadable as she looked between Sasuke and me. She wasn't happy that was all I knew and before I could really try to decipher what she was feeling everyone else gathered in too and a different but still unreadable look came onto all of their faces.

"What?" I asked in my normal voice guessing since that was what put the bastard to sleep it wouldn't wake him up. It took a few minutes for someone to finally answer me.

"Nothing." Ino replied. Sakura still looked between the bastard and me and the expression was turning darker and darker.

"Ok Naruto I think you've done enough. You should go home now." Sakura said coldly catching everyone off guard. Confused and a little hurt I shook my head.

"But the bastard just fell asleep…He will get pissed if I wake him up now…" Which was true and I knew from a personal account of that. It was something I never wished to repeat again in my life. However Sakura did not look happy by this answer.

"Then we will switch places." She said like she was trying to prove something but I didn't know what or to whom. Confused I nodded. Well I guess if it was that much of a problem that I was here, even if it was Sakura that woke me up at fucking six this morning, but if I was a problem I would leave. So Sakura and I switched places without disturbing the teme's sleep. I looked back at the people who I could tell felt as uncomfortable as I did.

"Ok well…I will see you guys later I guess." I said while walking out of the house. At least I hoped I would.

Hi guys! Whew I finally got this chapter posted! Anyway I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter yet but i really hope you guys enjoy it! I really want to thank those who always review my chapters and I hope that I receive lots more!