A/N: Hey! I missed you guys a lot. Thank you for waiting so patiently. You guys are the best. So, so much has been happening in my life. Like college eating me alive. More medical problems
(-.-) I was really focused on college (their course load was really heavy), although I really hate my school. BUT I completed my first semester with a 4.0 GPA. I know I haven't been writing much but college was more important. With that said, I hope that everyone's holiday season was spectacular! (:
As of now, I don't have a full schedule. Just two classes, so I'm free to do much more, include write so don't worry, we'll be back on soon enough. So without further ado, I give you Chapter 12.
July 29, 2010
"I'll go get you some. Don't worry about it." Sasuke bestowed a benevolent glance to Naruto, the defined tendons in his arm appearing easily as he stretched his arms out. Naruto felt his dry eyes curiously critique every dire movement. The love and care illustrated into every little centimeter attested to the devotion Sasuke lived to profess. The regular connection his eyes made would have normally established wholesomeness but in reality, it unknowingly displayed uninhibited apathy. He felt the bland, parched taste prickle at the soft buds near his tonsils, amid a horrible cloud of deep psychological depression.
The jerk of his head signified that he did comprehend Sasuke's previous statement granting his voice a shred of clemency, sewing his lips shut.
As the temperature cooled and the room emptied, he looked no further for comfort. The strata of contentedness slowly desisted as the four walls bled from the abuse of Naruto's ailing pain. Slowly, he felt the world enclose on him coming to a brutal end.
The open dresser drawer brutally screamed for the attention of his gander. The rumbles—strangled him as he thought about Sasuke's procedural slight OCD and neatness that kept his room acutely organized at all times. Didn't he notice that he was open? Why would he leave it open?
The trance reeled him in—begging for the notice in the background of Naruto's damaged, conservative psyche.
The journey of misadventure concluded with tragedy as he peek led him to tears.
His trembling hands procured a small velvet box—presumably an engagement one. His presumptions were confirmed when he blindly opened the box—unseeing of the hurt that would soon become familiar. He swallowed, letting his curiosity eat him alive, ticking the box open softly. Inside on the crimson velvet read, marry me Naruto?
He wept, so deeply he could have moisturized the horrendously dry Death Valley, converting it into a vivacious forest.
"He didn't… He didn't want to marry me," He whispered, the light headed sensation piercing his eye sockets, the deep pain calling for another shower of tears.
They had never openly discussed marriage but they both had hinted at it on numerous occasions, especially with the pending addition to their family. But that had all changed when… they lost Serenity.
'He's not in love with me anymore.'
Present Day
September 14, 2011
Chapter 12: Impending Disaster
Naruto 16, Sasuke 17
"So you know how old people drive like snails, right?" Naruto asked at the head of the table, emulating the likes of the elderly.
"You would start the day by offending an entire generation of people." Shikamaru remarked with a sigh as he rested his chin on back of his hands, aggravated.
"Shut up," Naruto snapped, waving his hand at Shikamaru. "So yeah, his hands were literally quivering on the steering wheel, and he was crawling on the road." Naruto unconsciously emulated the hands of an elderly person with Parkinson's.
He imitated the scenario to a tee, his hands wavering as if he were the old man in the vehicle. "Then, I'm driving beside him at a moderate rate."
Kiba looked up at him questioningly. "You mean at 70 miles an hour."
Naruto glared. "You shut the hell up too."
"And then—" He paused, concentrating on the odd churning in his stomach, traveling up his abdomen in a hot flutter. In a sudden lunge, he braced his stomach and hurled onto the nearby floor.
Extraneous gasps including everyone at the table were resounded in the cafeteria. Temari leaped into action and supported the wobbly blond who nearly tumbled off his footing. Sai cringed and moved to hold the other side of Naruto as he heeled to the opposite side of Temari.
Naruto was scared. He didn't know what was happening. Not but a moment ago, he felt like his typical self, cracking jokes about his driving experiences and now, he was loopy and dizzy with grueling stomach aches and strong back pains. What was happening? Was he going to die or something? He really hoped not. He had too much to live for. Too many things left undone.
Suddenly when that thought sped through his mind, he knew exactly what was wrong with him.
Shikamaru quickly handed napkins over for Naruto to wipe his mouth of the puke. He did so. To the group, he appeared to be so out of it, they weren't sure if they should immediately call 911.
Ino jumped and grabbed Naruto shoulder, prompting his scared eyes to connect with hers. "Are you okay, Naruto?" She asked.
Naruto appreciated their worry but he didn't think that he was going to expire right here and now. This was just some freak occurrence. He pretty confident he would be alright. "It's okay. I'm fine, you guys," He weakly muttered.
Kiba sprang into action and safely put Naruto into piggyback style. "Kiba…" Naruto tried to protest but failed. He was already on the move no matter what he said to try to deter his assistance. Kiba wasn't going to listen. He always felt responsible for him and that was never going to change.
"Even though you might feel fine, you should really get checked out."
Ino and Temari looked at each other and then at the duo who exited the cafeteria double doors. The two blonds nonverbally agreed on doing a small amount of damage control.
"What the FUCK are you guys looking at?" Temari blasted across the room, slamming her hands on the table. "Mind your goddamn business and please stuff your fucking faces quietly!"
A still hush incidentally cannonballed the room. Temari's smile was as wide as a slice of watermelon at cafeteria's reaction. "Thank you."
Shikamaru quietly marveled that Temari could be so surprisingly abrasive even while being perfectly polite. He would love address such an oddly eccentric trait but there were more important things in play. Like Naruto's health.
…
Naruto felt awful as he sat still on the examination table in nurse's office. Really awful. Thanks to his abrupt puking he had inadvertently cut the morning brunch short, tainting the stability his friends. Now, they were inevitably worried and scared about the cause of his sudden hurl. He didn't know where all this horror came from but he just wished for it to go away so everything could be normal.
He didn't want to be accused of ruing the day when it was supposed to be a conventional autumn day with run of the mill teachers with their trivial assignments.
He wiped his brow for the thousandth time, feeling the burst of anxiety clouding the process of a proper thought. Were his scatterbrain functioning at full capacity, he would have realized that this was the absolute worst day for this to happen. Sasuke wasn't here today. He was at his prospective University taking an academic placement test. Most likely he wouldn't return for the rest of the day. If he knew what was going on the one day he couldn't be here, he would worry to death.
Great, not only did he accomplish worrying all his close friends, he also made himself feel even worse.
He had a hunch what chaos his body was enduring but if he were to seriously take it into consideration he would have another mental breakdown. He tried to shove those thoughts clear out of his mind. He needed confirmation that this sudden illness was not what he thought it was.
Until then, he would remain on edge.
…
Kiba was holding his hand tightly as they sat quietly in the waiting room. It alleviated all the tension swirling in his rattled stomach. Everything that had just happened over the span of the last few minutes was terrifying but at least he wasn't alone during this beastly experience.
The thin sheet of silence was cracked when Kiba curiously turned to him. "How are you feeling?" He whispered, concerned.
Naruto looked up into his dark, worried eyes, absorbing the whirl of emotions that were floating through the fluctuating levels of sanity in the room.
"I'm not sure," Naruto whispered truthfully to the dark haired man, furrowed his brow as he stared at the combination of their hands.
"But I am a little relieved that you're here with me." Naruto conjured a smile for Kiba unknowing that the friction that displayed were more scarring and more dangerous than the surface of the sun.
He was waiting for the nurse to gather her tools when his partial entourage walked in. Shikamaru and Sai rushed in, appearing winded in the process. Naruto didn't mind though. He actually appreciated it. They still managed to arrive in a timely manner. Naruto surmised that they were still doing additional damage control and then rushed here to make sure he was being seen.
"Can you guys do me a favor?" Panic bubbled on his face and his friends zoomed into the best fanatical fear turning up. He exhaled, his fingers stroking the inside of Kiba's palm. He prepared the rambling thoughts perusing his head.
"Don't tell Sasuke about this under any circumstances. He can't know."
The illumination of confusion radiated in the across the medical tools. Their eyes sparkled with curiosity as they read each other's array of expressions.
Kiba shared the heat of his hand with Naruto but he didn't his delusional attempt to keep something so crucial from the other teen. He knew that a lot had happened. "But everyone saw it. He's bound to find out sometime."
The danger that Sasuke would become belligerently angered by Naruto's condition, loomed over the four teenagers precariously. Kiba and Naruto's eyeballs shrewdly locked and then tore apart from each other slowly. The small pittance that wouldn't have elicited a valid stir in anyone but it only alarmed one individual: Shikamaru.
He wasn't given the opportunity to comment as Naruto flicked a stray hair from his eyes, stress trickling in his true blues. "This is true but let him hear it from someone else. Not you guys. It will at least buy me some time. Okay?"
The trance of Naruto's mellowing blue eyes pushed a subtle nod from the three boys. The automatic response caused Naruto to issue a heart-dropping smile, relief sweeping his previously stern expression. "Thank you."
"If you need anything—" Kiba twisted his fingers into Naruto's naturally unruly mop, his hungry lips vying for Naruto's, but achingly, he settled for his cheek.
Naruto appreciatively matched his kiss, finally admiring Kiba's ability to take excellent care of him, irrespective of their varying circumstances. "I'll be fine." He smiled, his hand covering the length of his cheek, the amount of love he exuded bathed his wrenching fear.
It was all well to say that but there couldn't have been anything further from the truth.
September 15;
Downtown Free Los Angeles Clinic
He dressed conspicuously in an opaque baseball cap concealing his identity, knowing that this was his only option. He didn't want to go to a regular doctor where they would document the visit in face of his family's fragility. Had he supplied his insurance card; there was a sliver of a chance that his father could discover the procedural medical billing and then proceed to question him about the visit. At these facilities run by the government, under the law he was protected from them revealing the nature of his visit under any circumstances without legal repercussions. The relative safety was exactly what he needed.
He already knew that he was being discussed to ad nauseam among his peers because of mishap in the common area but he didn't let that jar his cage. He still needed to get the care that he was aware the school nurse couldn't provide. In a place where Sasuke and his family couldn't uncover what was going on.
Stepping on the concrete platform in front of the parking lot, he ignored the screaming sounding from his jittery tummy. It was a small window; extremely tiny with a foggy tint, smeared with ripe condensation. The rectangular sign read, "Welcome all" with a promising smiley face that somehow discouraged him even more. Still weary, he pulled the door open and walked inside. Glimpsing at the dreggy walls and the quiet office, he still approached the front desk.
He spoke but he didn't remember all that he said. It was a blur and so was the reason for his visit. He sat down blearily playing with his digits, breathing with irregularity. He felt his temperature spike and his head spin. After what felt like hours, he heard his name from behind the clear shield the receptionist sat behind.
A shade of gray masked his function and his false smile coated his anxiety. The doctor took his temperature. Normal. Blood pressure. A little high but normal. Ears normal. Urine test.
He blindly went into the bathroom and peed into the tube just as instructed. When his limbs choppily walked back to the small room, he handed the sample to the lab technician that readily anticipated the return of the tube.
Then the longest minutes of his life occurred.
"Came back clear for the most part." The doctor flipped the sheet, meticulously examining the results.
Naruto pensively peered at the clipboard, his glistening blue eyes marked with apprehension.
"Oh," she unexpectedly squeaked. There was more. "Congratulations! You're pregnant!" She merrily said, thrusting the papers down to her chest.
And the floodgates opened to a plane of tears that just wouldn't cease.
Pregnant.
…
Yeah, so that's where we're going with this story. Backstory will be provided next chapter. That's half written. Should be up soon. I wanted to add Fugaku and Minato's history retroactively but I'm not sure if that should be its own separate story or if I should do a short intermission in this story. I dunno. In this case, I'll decide after the plot progresses a little more. If you'd like, tell me what you would prefer.
(Element will be updated soon. The chapter is just really long, making it difficult to edit -_-")
Thanks for reading. Don't be afraid to leave your thoughts and what not down below.