The next few months were rough for Sango. Every morning, from about seven to noon, she was lying in bed with terrible migraines, running to the bathroom several times to throw up. She was miserable. Lee did the best he could to help, being very quiet in the mornings and bringing her the few remedies safe for expecting mothers. Still, it brought her little comfort. But fortunately for her, the combination of morning sickness, weird cravings, and mood swings kept her thoughts, as well as her friends', off of Sasuke completely.
One morning, a rare one when Sango felt well in the morning, she had gone to eat breakfast with her friends. Tatsumi, perfectly innocent in intent, had asked Sango if the baby was kicking at all yet.
"No, not - ah!" Sango gasped as something struck her ribcage. "Soeak of the devil!" she said, astonished. "What are you, a witch or something? Ow!" she gasped again. "Unh. No doubt about it, this is Lee's child! Sheesh, calm down in there! You're hurting me!" Ruku coughed to hide a laugh.
"What?!" Sango snapped. "You think this is funny?" Her fists were clenched. "Do you know how hard this is to deal with? Do you?!"
"Well, I sure hope not," said Ruku.
"Exactly!" Sango snapped at him. "I feel like crap every day, I'm not allowed to do any harder exercise than walking, and I'm so fat I can't even reach my feet to put on sandals!" She paused and angrily took a bite of her food, not seeming to realize that she had combined eggs, chocolate sauce, and radish into one forkful. Her eyes slowly filled with tears.
"This sucks," she cried. "I haven't even been able to hug Lee from the front for a month because of my freaking stomach, and I've fot another six weeks to go!" She stood up angrily, knocking over a glass of orange juice.
"Oh, sh- er, dammit!" she yelped. "Oh, man, that came out wrong, too! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She sobbed again. "You're all mad now, aren't you?"
"No, no," said Tatsumi, who was the first to speak. They had not been sure how to respond until now.
"Must be hard," said Disura. "It's fine, don't worry about it." Sango smiled.
"You guys! You're so awesome! I love you guys!" she said cheerfully. With that, she left cheerfully, headed home. The other three sat stunned.
"Man, Jakku's lucky he wasn't here," said Tatsumi.
"What... the... hell?" said Ruku.
"You said it," answered Disura. With that, they sank exhaustedly down in their seats.
"Agh! Stupid hormones!" Sango yelled as she threw another crumpled piece of paper to the floor. She was trying to write poetry based on her emotions, but they kept changing before she could finish the poem.
"Why me?" she sighed. The phone began ringing next to her. "Moshi moshi," she answered.
"Hiiiiiiiii Sango!" Yumi yelled.
"Hi, Yumi. What's up?"
"Well, I feel kinda bad. I think I really made Shika mad today. Am I really that annoying?"
"That depends. Do you really want my opinion or are you just asking random questions again?"
"What's a hypotenuse?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Yumi!" called a familiar female voice in the background. "I thought you were just dialing for me!"
"Oh, yeah! Sorry, Kikyo-chan!" Sango heard the phone change hands.
"Sorry about that, Sango," said Kikyo.
"No problem. But, 'What's a hypotenuse?' Really?"
Yeah, I have no idea," Kikyo said apologetically.
"So anyway, what did you want?"
"To chat, mostly. I'm here in town, so I thought doing a girls' day out would be fun. That is, if you're feeling up to it. Plus, maybe I could give you some tips. You know, childbirth and all that." Sango cringed.
"Dang. I was hoping the stork would do all the work for me." She sighed at the thought. "Sure, that sounds great! I've been doing this for thirty-seven weeks. I deserve a break!"
"Thirty-seven?" said Kikyo, sounding almost worried. "Have you taken any classes?"
"Classes?"
"Yeah. Lamaze and stuff like that."
"No. Should I?"
"Yes! Most definitely! Well, now it's decided. Come to the Tsukiyo Onsen at noon tomorrow. We'll go out to lunch and stuff, too, so..."
"Should I bring mon-"
"No! Absolutely not!" said Kikyo. "You'll be doing enough working to pay hospital fees. Trust me. No, this is all my treat."
"Yaaaay! Shopping!" Yumi screamed in the background.
"Yumi, get away from my wallet!" Shikamaru yelled.
"But I just -"
"No!"
But what if I -"
"No!"
"Not even if I -"
"Nooo, I said!"
"You're a meanie, Shika!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So anyway, Sango," Kikyo continued hesitantly, "we'll be waiting for you at noon. Come if you want."
"I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Nope."
"Okay. Bye. And thanks, Kikyo."
"Bye, San - would you be quiet Yumi?! I'm on the phone!" Click.
"Hmm..." said Sango. "Now that I think about it, an onsen sounds awesome! And..." she said, pulling out a sheet of paper from the stack by the bed, "that reminds me. I need to go shopping. Grape juice, lotus candles, chicken, curry powder, rice... Yeah..." she said with a sneaky smile. "I'm overdue for a romantic dinner. I'll surprise Lee when he gets home. Now, to Tanzaku market!"