Hinata groaned, taking off her shoes. Her ankles were starting to feel her extra weight. She remembered the days of early training, but she could at least quit that at the end of the day.

"You are in pain?" Gaara shook his wet hair in a towel.

Hinata jumped. "Oh, I didn't know you came in already."

"You didn't answer me." Gaara pressed, eyeing her.

Hinata smiled, feeling warmed by his constant concern. There was some irritation at the lack of work and his constant coddling, but she understood that it was best she was treated like glass right now. "I'm sore. I think I will have a nice long bath tonight." Hinata got up and sat immediately back down. She hated the spinning feeling all the time.

Before Hinata could open her eyes, she felt Gaara's arms under her legs, and she was lifted. "I'm heavy."

"Your weight is not a problem." Gaara moved into the bathroom and sat her down on the side of the tub.

"So the added weight doesn't make me unsightly?" Hinata asked as she undressed.

"Why would your weight make you unsightly?" Gaara asked while running the bath.

"I thought I might be less attractive now that I've gained so much." It wasn't something that bothered her. The weight would go away, at least most of it. She would blame the hormones for it crossing her mind at all.

"I do not see how." Gaara took her clothes for her.

Hinata smiled at his misunderstanding. At least she was still a good sight to him, even if she looked like a marshmallow to herself in the mirror.

Gaara helped her into the tub, and she laid back with a comfortable sigh. He rested his arms on the side of the tub. "If this whole process is so bad, why do women do it so willingly?"

"It's not always this way. Some women have easy pregnancies. Most don't have much trouble, more than the general discomfort of extra weight and early morning sickness. Then some don't care because they want children and will go through the discomfort of carrying them for that reason." Hinata rolled her head back. "You can't really know how a pregnancy will go. Usually, you can look to your genetics for a guess, but that is not always accurate either."

Gaara sighed, annoyed with her answer.

"With that said, I think this will be our only child because I do not want to risk doing all this again," Hinata stated. "Not even sure if I would be able to."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, since the pregnancy is having such a hard time, I have a high risk of being unable to bear again." She explained. "If I had known all this before, I would have probably terminated to pregnancy to give us a better chance of a healthy baby."

Gaara's face turned down. "Does that bother you?"

"No, I think even if this fails. I will just leave it there." Hinata told him, his face relaxed. "We can't go back and change it all now."

"Good." Hinata felt bad for him, constantly fearing he could lose her.

Hinata set her hand on her stomach, idly rubbing it as she read. The baby shifted again, and she felt a faint kick to her hand. She paused, placing her hand around the same spot again, and another kick came. She smiled excitedly and got up, forgetting her book.

Hinata walked down to the Kage office and knocked. "Excuse me." She poked her head in, and it looked like she wasn't interpreting anything as her husband sat over paperwork. "Gaara, you need to come here."

Hinata moved to the couch, patting the spot beside her, and rubbed over her belly, trying to find the spot she thought the baby would kick next.

"What's wrong?" Gaara asked, worried at the bump.

"Nothing. I need to show you something." Hinata took his hand as he sat down, and she pressed it against the spot the baby was kicking the most frequently. "Give it a second." She told him before she felt the kick go right into his hand.

Gaara's face turned from worried to confused and horrified. "It's trying to get out."

"No." Hinata laughed. "He's kicking."

"Does it hurt?" Gaara waited for another kick.

"Not really, unless he bumps an organ. Then it can be a little uncomfortable." Hinata explained. "It's finally getting strong enough. You can feel it through my skin."

"That is good?" Gaara asked. "It's good that it's hitting you?"

"It's more like a reflex. It's stretching and using the new muscles. It's a little late, but the visible kicking means it's getting stronger." Hinata told him. "That is good."

Gaara accepted her answer.

"Calling them 'it' all the time is getting old." Hinata huffed.

"Isn't there a way of finding the gender?" Gaara asked. She was sure they had heard people in the past tell him what they were expecting.

"I could tell, with the Byakugan, I could have for some time now," Hinata explained. "We just never had a reason to know, I guess. Usually, people like to know what gifts to get."

"Is there harm in knowing?" Gaara asked.

Hinata shrugged. "Might ruin the surprise." She moved his hand to where the baby kicked, and his attention moved largely away.

"I do not like surprises," Gaara stated.

"Are you hoping for anything?" After all, this time being pregnant, why had this not come up before? Maybe because no one had asked her about clothes or blankets or if she knew the gender in general.

"Am I meant to hope for the gender of the child?" Gaara scrunched his face like it was the oddest thing he had ever heard.

His lack of usual reaction to things was always the most amusing thing to her. "Some people do. Some people will continue having children until they get the one they want, even."

"What do they do with the ones they don't want?" Gaara looked even more confused.

"They keep them," Hinata assured him. "It's not that they don't want a boy or girl. They just want one more."

"I don't understand," Gaara admitted.

"That's alright. It is a silly concept, to begin with." Hinata told him.

They decided to ask the medic instead of her doing it herself. She didn't know what to look for in a chakra signature to know the gender of a fetus, and she would be looking through her chakra to do it. There was no need to strain her energy.

Hinata was having a boy.

Temari was excited because she could finally get at least one small gift special to the baby. Hinata made her promise. That is where it ended. Once the medic triple-checked, they headed home to tell Gaara.

Temari could barely contain herself as she was nearly jumping in place. Hinata felt bad for Shikamaru. He was surely going to have to handle her baby craving soon. "Can we get him to guess?" Temari asked as they headed through the door.

"No." Hinata smiled but rolled her eyes. "He's not one for games."

"Can I tell Baki and Kankuro?" Temari begged instead.

"Sure, but remember to keep it down," Hinata pressed a finger to her lips.

"Fine." Temari crossed her arms.

"Hinata-sama." A nin ran for her. "An urgent message for the Kazekage." He handed her his message and bowed.

Temari and Hinata looked at each other in panic as she opened it. "What happened?" Temari asked.

Hinata looked up with concern. "He's gone to war."