Shikamaru took a deep breath as he sat waiting for the Hokage to receive him. This was it, he would finally learn the truth about everything that had been going on and make sense of his feelings regarding…everything.
And maybe end things for good.
Shit, he thought, rubbing his hands nervously on his pants. This was ridiculous, he didn't have anything to feel guilty about, he didn't do anything wrong. But that only seemed to fuel the nervous butterfly in his stomach further causing him to slump in defeat.
"How troublesome this day is turning out to be." He muttered under his breath, remembering his confrontation with Ino earlier.
"Your father would be ashamed."
He frowned at the memory of her last words, he knew she'd just been upset at the time she'd said them but it still struck deep because he realized that she was right. He really was pathetic.
He understood that it wasn't the fact that he and Naruto were fooling around with each other that was wrong, but the way they were going about it. Sneaking around their friends and lying to them. Ino probably thought that was the reason he and Temari had broken up. What with those stupid rumors going around about him. Anyone in her place would have come to the same conclusion.
He'd have to talk to Ino later though, when enough time had passed to let her cool off, the last thing he needed was for her to start a scene like confronting Naruto or something.
Speaking of Naruto, he hadn't seen her since the other night they'd gone out to the red light district. He'd wanted to go see her but he'd been hesitant to, at least not until he'd figure things out. Since that night where they'd held each other under the starry sky, he'd been thinking that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if they started dating. Some people may be confused and others a little displeased, but he doubted they made such a bad match that people would outright reject the idea. Naruto though was a hard read on, he wasn't sure if what she felt for him was the same as what he was starting to feel for her. Or she only liked him for sex.
Which was the original plan for him until Naruto managed to find her way in other places other than his cock.
He looked at the closed door of the hokage and let out a sigh. Are least he was hoping he'd talk about it with Naruto some time this week, but he doubted he'd be able to now. He just had a feeling that after this meeting things would get more complicated for everyone.
Shikamaru looked up when he heard the door opening , he immediately got up only to freeze at the familiar face. He'd known that it was more likely than not that she'd come with her brother and he'd prepared himself to expect it. Yet, he wasn't prepared for the onslaught of memories they shared together and the lingering ache their break up had caused. Especially the words they'd exchanged in the heat of the moment.
"You are just a fucking pussy, Shikamaru."
He swallowed hard, making sure his voice was normal when he said, "Temari," he nodded behind her at the office which he couldn't quite see in because of Temari blocking the way. "Is the hokage expecting me now?"
Temari just stared at him, struggling to find her voice as she wasn't prepared for the effect that seeing Shikamaru again had on her. She cleared her throat, admonishing herself for being so pathetic. "Ah no, I…I asked to speak to you first if that's alright."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but shrugged, "go ahead." He said, his usual expression of extreme boredom in place.
Temari visibly winced before carefully masking her own expression with a blank one. "I hope you don't mind if we stepped out a little and found a more quiet place."
Shikamaru frowned inwardly because he did mind, he really had a bad feeling about this, but he was also an adult. He knew this conversation had to happen sooner or later.
With a shrug he turn on his heels and led the way out the tower, behind him he heard Temari closed the door of the hokage's office and followed him.
They walked in tense silence with Temari walking beside him, and with every step he felt like teleporting away from here and back to his apartment. But that would be immature of him and a very terrible idea. Troublesome.
"So, how have you been?" He asked shoving his hand in his pockets, he sent a sidelong glance at Temari catching her grimace.
"Okay, I guess," she let out a sigh, but didn't say anything else.
Shikamaru frowned but decided not to comment. It was stupid of him to try to and make small talk anyways. He led them to a little tea House Ino had often dragged him to. He liked it because people tended to mind their own business in there.
Inside it was quiet, there was only one other customers.
"We won't be disturb here," he said, Temari nodded taking a seat across facing the door so she can see anyone that came in. Shikamaru almost smiled at the familiar habit.
Almost.
He silently took the seat opposite her, unlike Temari he didn't mind his back facing the door, it was his own village after all.
Temari looked at the menu and when she saw the contents she grinned. "Pastries."
Shikamaru smiled faintly, "Ino brought me here a few times, their stuff are pretty good." He didn't mentioned that he'd wanted to bring her here since the first time he'd found out about the place because he knew how much she loved pastries.
Temari gave him a knowing smile as if she knew though, before returning her attention on the menu.
Shikamaru watched her lick her lips, her fingers skimming the writing on the menu board. Her eyes sparkled every time she saw something that interested her. He couldn't help the feeling of pride that he'd managed to do something that pleased her. Temari was always a hard woman to please.
He studied her under his half lidded eyes, she looked the same as the last time he'd seen her. Same sand-coloured hair tied neatly in her usual four buns, same ninja outfit she always wore when she came in konoha except it looked a little dirty from travel, same…everything. He frowned because for some reason he expected her to look different somehow, at least he himself felt… changed.
Temari looked up and caught him staring, she frowned, "What wrong?"
Shikamaru shook his head from his thoughts and the strange wistfulness he felt at looking at her. "Nothing," he cleared his throat and pointed at the menu, "Are you ready to order?"
Temari frowned looking back down at her menu, "there's so much to choose from," she dropped the menu on the table, she looked him with a raised brow. "What are you ordering?"
Shikamaru shrugged, "Just tea," he said uninterested.
Temari rolled her eyes, "Typical," she muttered before calling the waitress.
Shikamaru watched with half interest as the waitress came up and Temari changed her mind about five times before finally decided to order at least half of the menu, completely overwhelming the poor girl. He briefly wondered between her and Naruto if they ever had a competition of food, who'd win. But decided to dismiss the thought because the answer was obvious, Naruto was only defeated by Chouji when it came to food.
"And you, Nara-san, what would you like to have?"
Shikamaru pulled himself from his thoughts. "I will only have tea, thanks."
The waitress nodded a little relieved then left them alone to make their orders.
Temari smiled hesitantly, now that she wasn't distracted she could feel the awkwardness creeping in. She cleared her throat and nodded at him, "You look well." She winced inwardly at that shitty ice breaker. "Hm, I mean, you don't look so bad considering…all that happened." She almost punched herself to keep herself from talking any further.
Shikamaru snorted, "Why, you expected me to look like a zombie with no goals, lose weight and sleep because we broke up?" He couldn't help sounding a little bitter because that's what was exactly how he'd been recently. He barely ate, barely slept, hardly had things he wanted to do (not that he ever wanted to do anything, anyways but that was beside the point) and he didn't even know if the break up was the cause of it.
Temari flushed, looking down at her hands on the table. " Of course not, that came out wrong," She sighed looking at him apologetically, "I just meant that, I'm glad you're doing fine."
But I'm not doing fine, he wanted to say but didn't.
"I know that I probably hurt you," she continued, holding his gaze so that he could see how sincere she was, she really felt terrible about everything that happened. She'd spent most of her time while traveling to konoha going over what she'd say to him when she finally saw him again. Now though, she was completely blank. She felt nervous and it was messing up her speech. She knew all she needed to do was apologize and explain her reasons for doing what she did. But growing up around emotionally stunted people resulted in her being just as bad in dealing with emotionally involving things. Shikamaru knew all of this but he would probably let her sweat it out, not that she didn't deserve it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them, "I apologize, for everything that happened, especially for putting you in a bad spot." She'd given a similar apology to the hokage, because Gaara had not so subtly warn her of the consequences that would happen if she didn't. But of course she'd have done it without his threat anyways, she knew how big she'd messed up.
Shikamaru didn't say anything for a moment, his eyes studying her. She tried not to fidget and met his eyes head-on, she could feel his mind working behind those bored eyes. Trying to figure out everything before She'd even explain, she always loved watching his mind at work. His mind always put him several steps ahead of everyone, even her.
Shikamaru finally nodded, "Tell me everything," he said with narrowed eyes.
Temari took a deep breath, she looked down at the table with a frown as she remembered the reason they'd gotten here. "Suna is struggling…financially, these peaceful times are good but it also means there are less missions available, especially in Suna with the Damyo always doing something behind the scene to sabotage our resources." She looked up and saw that Shikamaru was nodding in understanding, he probably more than anyone in this village knew the state of affairs in the whole world in this time of peace. She knew that konoha was also going through something similar.
"It doesn't help that our Damyo is a peace of shit that refuses to fund the village when it is necessary," She continued, she felt a brief spark of anger before it quickly vanished leaving her exhausted, "The Kazekage and the council have been trying to find ways to make the Damyo cooperate but the stubborn mule isn't returning our letters and requests to see him are being met with excuses. Well," she let out a bitter laugh her hand clenching into a fist, she was surprised when she felt warm hands envelope hers, she didn't look at him but it was easier to continue. "That's when he sent Gaara a letter, he said he was willing to send more missions our way in the condition that I marry one of his nephew."
Shikamaru's brow raised because even he didn't see that coming, he assumed that something drastic must have pushed Temari to lie to him but this…this was another thing. His mind worked fast as he filled in what she didn't tell him and drew a conclusion. An offer like that must have caused the council to have a field day, especially for the fact that Temari was the Kazekage's sister.
He felt his hand tighten on hers, "The council is making you marry him?"
Temari shook her head, "Not exactly, they took this as an opportunity, is more like, they knew that you and I were dating so…" she trailed off with a shrug knowing he'd fill in the blanks.
"They blackmailed you." Shikamaru finished for her, he leaned back on his chair and rubbed his face. This was so much worse than he'd imagine.
"They reminded me of my standing status in the village, as one of the strongest kunoichi in the village I needed to start making sacrifices for my village, either I married you to strengthen the alliance between our villages which could help the publicity bring in more clients for missions or I can marry the Damyo's nephew."
"Those fuckers." Shikamaru could feel anger boiling in his veins, he wasn't one to ever lose his temper and harm civilians but sometimes he wished he was. "They want to use us as publicity? What the actual fuck?"
He was kept from letting out more curses when the waitress returned with their orders. He'd forgotten where they were.
He watched as the waitress brought down Temari's order. He blinked at the tray before letting out a groan, lamenting his wallet.
Temari's somber mood immediately lightened at the sight of them, she looked up at him with a smirk. "I took each of everything, I'm sorry." Except she didn't look sorry with that smug face.
There was at least eight different pastries on the tray. He spotted mochi with kaneko, daifuku, some dango, taiyaki and several other more that just made his head dizzy imagining it going into her stomach.
Shikamaru shook his head in resignation as he thanked the waitress for his tea. He took a sip of his tea watching Temari feast on her…stuff, at least he didn't mind too much, after everything she was going through she could at least get some thing that brought her a little pleasure.
Yes, Temari had tried to trick him by lying that both their council were involved, but he understood why she felt the need to do it. He recognized that he wasn't the best boyfriend in the world, he could be hard to talk to sometimes. In fact the day she'd suggested they got married he'd outright shut her out.
It couldn't have been easy with her own country pressuring her into something she wasn't ready for. He gripped his cup tightly, it wasn't enough that they as ninjas risk their lives everyday as ninjas but they were also expected to give up their choice in who they were to marry as well. She'd come to him for help and he'd failed her. He'd been too far in his ass to see how much she was hurting.
"I'm sorry," he said putting his cup down and looking at her with a frown tugging on his lips, "for being a terrible boyfriend."
Temari looked up at him in surprise, her face softened considerably, she reached for his hand across the table and squeezed it. "I'm sorry for being a terrible girlfriend. I should've told you the truth, maybe everything would have turn out differently."
Shikamaru slowly pulled his hand away avoiding her eyes, "I…I don't know."
Temari felt her heart clench pulling her own hand back, she searched his face as realization dawn on her she smiled sadly. "It wouldn't have made a difference if I'd told you the truth, would it? Your answer would still have been no."
Shikamaru was silent for a while thinking on what to say, he looked up at her a moment and shrugged, deciding on just being honest. "I don't know, Temari, maybe it would have made a difference, maybe not. All I know is that I'd do anything to help."
Temari wrinkled her nose in distaste, "I don't need pity."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "We both know that it's not pity," he sighed, "I care about you, Temari, no matter what happened between us in the past I always will."
It was Temari's turn to sigh, "I know, at the time when I said we should get married that day I just thought," she shrug frowning a little, "We were on the same page, that our feelings were the same."
"Come on, I'm nineteen, just because I'm not ready for marriage doesn't mean my feelings for you is any less."
Temari was silent for a moment before taking a bite out of her dango, chewing furiously so as to avoid screaming her lungs out and scaring everyone in this tea shop. She let out a humorless laugh, dropping the stick on the tray, "Fuck."
Shikamaru frowned, feeling like he'd missed something and then it dawn on him. The Kazekage. Shikamaru had forgotten about his presence in the village. Surely, if his intentions were to apologize on behalf of his sister's behavior he could have just written a letter. His presence must mean something more.
Shikamaru looked at Temari carefully, she was watching him just as intently. "Your brother is here to convince me to marry you?"
Temari snorted, "My brother is a sociopath, he doesn't understand that things don't work that way," she gave him a small smile, "Don't worry I wouldn't do that to you again. We came here to find a solution, with all our heads together I believe will come with something."
She took his hand again looking at him a little shyly, "I just want us to return the way we were," She looked down at their hands, "I know that it will take some work to gain your trust again, but I promise you that I will."
"Temari you don't have to-"
Temari shook her head cutting him off, "I love you Shikamaru and I know you do too, I will be damned if those screw up council be the reason we're no longer together." She bit her lips realizing she was probably being too forward, she removed her hand taking a daifuku and biting into it. "Anyways, we don't need to talk about it right now. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not giving up on us."
Shikamaru smiled faintly to avoid saying anything he dawned the whole content of his tea. He waited for Temari to finish eating and then signaled for the bill.
Outside, he took out a cigarette and lit it, but before he could take a puff it was snatched out of his lips.
He met Temari's disapproving glare, "You're still not allowed to smoke in front of me." With that she broke the cigarette in half and threw it on the ground.
Shikamaru wanted to protest but felt no energy to do so, he instead let out a sigh. "Where are you staying?"
Temari looked up at him in surprise, "I was hoping I'd stay with you." Shikamaru tensed at that, but she then let out a snort, "Relax I'm just kidding."
Shikamaru stared at her for a moment without saying anything.
Soon enough she caught the hint, "Oops, was that too soon? Sorry."
When Shikamaru still didn't reply she took his hand slipping his fingers through hers.
Shikamaru really wished she'd quit touching him all the time, it was just fueling his guilt. But that was the thing with Temari, she always took what she wanted without hesitation.
Temari studied his face her green eyes gleaming in concern under the setting sun. "What's wrong?"
What was wrong? Everything was wrong. He kept feeling like he messed up again somewhere. When he agreed to come with her, he'd made up his mind about breaking things off for good, but now that he knew the real reason why she'd behave the way she did, it felt wrong. But by softening up he somehow gave how the wrong message and he didn't know how to reverse it, or even if he should.
It didn't help that he still had feelings for her. She was strong, beautiful and smart; despite the fact she was going through something so unfair and she knew he probably wasn't going to be any help, she was still cracking lame jokes.
Despite everything, he knew she still wanted to get back together.
And all he kept thinking was blue eyes turned darker to reflect the starry night, holding him awkwardly in her arms (like she wasn't used to giving people hugs) because she knew he needed it.
Shikamaru knew that the sense of guilt and responsibility he felt for Temari was not a good reason to get back together with her. And if they did get back together he would need to come clean about Naruto, the drinking and the smoking (more than usual) but he didn't want to tell her because then he'd need to quit everything.
He wasn't ready to quit everything yet.
"Shikamaru," Temari was still looking at him in concern, but her face softened making look even more beautiful with the orange light of the sunset lighting up his hair. She sighed rubbing his arms the way she always did whenever she sensed he was stressed. "I'm not expecting you to get back with me immediately, not with everything that's happened. I have two more days left before I go home, we can talk about it before I leave if you want."
Shikamaru closed his eyes, took a deep breath then open them and nodded. Two days, that gave him plenty of time to think and come to a proper decision without feeling pressured. He snorted at that, who was he kidding? Everything in his life is full of pressure from various factors.
This was just one of them.
Temari smiled up at him unaware of his turmoil, she went up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, she was taller than most girls but he still towered over her. He could still feel her hand on his arm, a warm weight. Her lips lingered on his cheek far longer that it was impossible to interpret it for anything but intimate and he knew what would happened next before it happened, but he was still not fast enough to stop it.
Before he knew it, Temari's lips was on him, warm an familiar and… forgotten. Has it been really long that they'd last kiss.
He was just about to pull away from her so as to avoid things to be any messier than it already was when something completely unexpected happened, so unexpected that Shikamaru thought he should have expected it.
Naruto stumbled out of the alley right in front of them.
Of course.
Shikamaru fought hard not to react naturally by pushing Temari away. Temari broke off the kiss in surprise, she gave him an embarrassed smile then turned to see at the interruption.
Naruto didn't seem to notice them though, too busy mumbling to herself and looking into the small brown bag in her hand. Shikamaru frowned when he recognized it as one they give at the pharmacy.
Why would Naruto buy medicine at the pharmacy when she'd never had a reason to take them before? Oh right, he thought remembering she'd been sick when he'd been with her, except she'd also said it was a problem with her seal. He frowned wondering why she hadn't gone to the hospital instead or let someone give her a check up like she'd promised him she would. Not to mention that the location was far from where she lived.
Shikamaru shook his head, he was probably overthinking, knowing Naruto she probably thought she could properly diagnose and cure herself without any help.
He was about to call out to her but Temari was faster. "Look who we have here, if it isn't the number one knucklehead kunoichi of the village," Temari called enthusiastically.
Naruto jumped turning to them with wide frightened eyes, she quickly but not subtly hid the bag she was holding behind her back. "Wha-what are you two doing here?" she stammered a little accusingly, she glanced around them as if more people might pop out.
Temari raised an eyebrow, one hand going to her hip, "I didn't know it was a crime to walk around the street of Konoha now."
Naruto winced, shaking her head, "I, sorry," She smiled in apology, she briefly glanced at him her eyes full of different emotions he couldn't place them. "How are you guys?"
Shikamaru inwardly cursed at whoever up there that had a twisted sense of humor. He lifted his hand in greeting but otherwise kept his mouth shut.
Temari glanced at him with a raised brow before turning back, "We are fine, just came from that tea shop over there," she pointed where they came from. She grabbed Shikamaru's hand linking their fingers together, "They make really good pastries, thanks to shikamaru here I will be stopping here whenever I come in Konoha."
Naruto shifted on her feet uncomfortably, she crossed her arms in front of her making sure the bag was tightly in her grip, she glanced at where Temari pointed nodding, "Yeah, it's a pretty nice place." She glanced up at Shikamaru again, "Hm, I didn't you were in town Temari, how long are you here for?"
Shikamaru shifted uneasily on his feet, wishing he could be anywhere but in this situation right now.
"We'll be staying here for two days."
Naruto frowned, "We?"
Temari sent Shikamaru a smirk, she said pleasantly, "Gaara is here too."
Naruto's face had the opposite effect Temari was hoping to accomplish. Naruto blanched taking a step back, "G-Gaara? Really?"
Temari frowned, this time she looked impatient. "Yes, and what's wrong with you? You're acting strange."
There was an awkward pause, Temari gave him a bemused to which he shrugged. Naruto was herself in a weird predicament, he'd have acted as awkward if it'd been him.
Shikamaru's brow furrowed slightly at her appearance. She looked like she hasn't slept whole night with bags under her eyes. Her hair looked unruly and her clothes looked even more baggy than usual. She looked tired and stressed, he hadn't seen her look this bad since the time Sasuke was away from the village.
"Are you okay, Naruto?" He asked before he could stop himself.
Naruto blinked as if surprised she was still standing here in front of them. she nodded smiling widely. "Yeah, I'm great, just dealing with some stuff." Her eyes involuntarily went to the hand holding the brown bag her grip on it seemed tighten even more her knuckles turned white.
She nodded at them, "Well, it's nice seeing you both but I've got to go, please tell Gaara I will see him before he leaves." She said a little too enthusiastically before waving at them, the next moment he and Temari were enveloped in thick smoke that left them coughing.
"Wow," Temari said using a minimize version of the fan she carries on her back to clear the smoke away, "That was…weird. Is she okay?"
Shikamaru's eyes were still on the spot Naruto had been, his expression was contemplative. He glanced at Temari to find her looking at him with a slight frown on her face, he shook his head, "I don't know, but I doubt it. I didn't want to get involved but I think I would need to get Sakura to check up on her."
"That would probably be best, I doubt she's the type to ask for help when she needs it," She chuckled slightly but then her expression turn considering, "Although, I wonder what she was hiding in that bag, she seemed very eager to get away from us."
Probably had to do with the fact that she wanted to get away from the awkward situation she was in, Shikamaru thought, but then again she was acting a little strange with that bag. The fact that she'd decided to go to the pharmacy instead of the hospital to see Sakura, Shizune or even the hokage for whatever she seemed to struggle with worried him.
He went over everything he knew about Naruto and her seal, he tried to remember if he'd ever witness or heard anything similar happening with her but came up empty. He didn't remember Naruto having that problem when they were sleeping together (he'd have noticed her throwing up) they haven't been together for a little more than a couple of weeks so it must have been very…recent. Shikamaru froze as he could feel the pieces come together to make a picture. He shook his head, because no way that was possible, he was probably just over thinking again.
No ways his luck that shitty.
But then he remembered Naruto's fearful and guilty glance towards him, he'd mistaken it for her being in Temari's presence.
"Shikamaru?"
He blinked at Temari who he'd momentarily forgotten, he tried to remember what they'd been talking about. He took a deep breath shoving his hand in his pockets to hide the fact that they started shaking, and not because he hadn't smoked since morning at Chouji's (was it just this morning he'd been there?).
"Whatever is in that bag can't be anything but trouble." He muttered more to himself than to answer Temari. He looked at her careful to hide his worries, "Where did you say you were staying again?"
Temari raised an eyebrow at him, too smart not to have noticed his strange behavior but didn't mention it. "I don't know yet, but all I need to do is find Gaara's immense chakra," She shrugged then hesitantly, "Are you dropping me?"
It was Shikamaru's turn to hesitate before nodding, "Sure."
Temari smiled and he force himself to smile back despite the churning in his stomach.
Naruto paced around her room as she waited for what was turning out to be a long five minutes of her life. She bit her lower lip as she stopped to check the time on her wall. Only two minutes had passed, damn it.
She walked over her bed and sat, her feet tapping impatiently on the floor.
"Maybe I should go check it now, surely it doesn't have to be five minutes." She said standing back up to do just that. She heard an impatient sigh from the deep recess of her mind.
"Naruto, if the instructions says to wait five minutes then I suggest you wait five minutes!" Kurama growled, Naruto could feel his frustration mingling in with her own fear and anxiety making her more on edge. "Plus, have I not told you that you do not need it, my own examination is as accurate as can be."
"I just need to be sure," Naruto said stopping in front of the bathroom but afraid to go in, she sighed turning back to go seat on the bed again, "I think I will just wait for the five minutes to be up."
She felt the fox roll his eyes, "I'm pretty sure this test will tell us exactly what the other four tests did."
Naruto's eyes involuntarily swung on her desk where the test kits she'd bought at the pharmacy sat. She had to go on the other side of the village in the district mostly populated by civilians to buy them, she'd disguised herself as a plain brunette with brown eyes, totally unremarkable.
She'd been so afraid someone might see through her transformation jutsu, despite the fact she'd perfected the art long ago, and expose her that she'd been a wreck in front of the clerk as she tried to ask him what she needed.
Seeing Shikamaru and Temari on her way to her apartment had been like a punch to the gut. She'd almost thrown up right there in front of them. She was so afraid they'd be able to guess what was in the bag that she was sure she came off a little rude. She'd need to apologize to them the next time she see them.
It was so typical that she'd see the two people she least wanted to see on the day she found out she was…Naruto shook her head, gripping her thighs tightly.
She took a deep breath, standing up and walking over the window. It had been more than enough time for the test to be ready but she didn't move to check. She didn't have to see the result, because she knew it would be the same as the four other tests like Kurama had said.
All positive.
"Fucking damnit," She breathed running her hand through her hair, she quickly pushed her window open to let in some fresh as she could feel herself suffocating. "What have I done?" She whispered into the night.
"I believe the correct question is what are you going to do now?"
The gravity of her situation seemed to smack her in the face like a bucket of cold ice, she shivered before quickly closing the window, no longer wanting it to stay open.
She went back to two days ago after Shikamaru had dropped at her apartment with one last deep kiss. She'd felt so giddy for reasons she couldn't quite explain, so pleased at how the night had ended up.
She'd been just about to go brush her teeth and head to bed when she'd noticed her calendar.
Her smile had fallen off when she'd seen the date. She remembered feeling confused and a little bewildered when she realized she'd missed two cycle of her menstruation without noticing. Had she been that distracted?
She'd went to bed wondering what had caused the oddity. Sure her period never came in the same date and sometimes it even came late but never had she missed one month, let alone two.
The next day she'd ask Kurama to check the seal in case that was what was causing her all these problems, it was then the bastard had nonchalantly dropped the bomb on the her.
"I thought you'd realized by now that you're carrying an offspring, even you can't be so stupid as to miss all the signs that has been hailing." Was his response when she'd asked why he'd failed to inform her earlier.
Prick.
Now Naruto walked over her full length mirror, she studied her reflection intensely. From the mess that is her hair to her toes.
For some reason Naruto expected her appearance to look different or something, sure she looked a little skinnier because she'd been puking everything that she could stand to eat but other than that nothing had changed. She still had the same nose, the same eyes, the same mouth and even the same height. She slowly lifted her oversized shirt to reveal her flat stomach, toned with years of physical exercises. She ran a shaking hand over it and when she didn't feel anything unusual, she poked it.
She waited with baited breath but when nothing happened she frowned, squinting up at her stomach as if expecting a baby to suddenly poke it's face through her stomach.
"Idiot."
Naruto flushed dropping her arms to her sides. "I was just checking," She grumbled heading over to her the bathroom.
She ignored the kyuubi's disdainful snort, turning on the tap by the sink and throwing some cold water on her face. She caught sight of the test tube and grabbed it, she stared at it for a long while, the plus sign mocking her. With a frustrated growl she snapped the stick in half with barely any effort flinging the pieces behind her without looking where it landed.
So many emotions were going through her, she couldn't get a handle on any of them. Her hands started trembling as she thought of what this meant for her and her future. This couldn't be happening, she thought her whole body trembling now, she was not ready for this.
She remembered Shikamaru standing there staring at her intently with Temari holding onto him possessively. Naruto could never tell him, it will ruin his future. She would never do that to him, especially now that he and Temari were finally together again. She would need to do this on her own.
"What am I going to do?" She whispered at her horrified expression in the mirror above the sink, "What am I going to do?" She repeated with a shaky voice.
She could feel bile rising in her and with a groan she threw herself down in front of the toilet and resigned herself to puking until her gut ran dry.
It was maybe thirty minutes later that she picked herself up, washed her face then dragged herself to bed. Only then did she curl herself into a fetus position and let the tears fall.
Poor Naruto, what is she going to do?
Hi guys, Sorry I'm late! All y'all need to know is life is really hard to live sometimes.
First things first, I really really loved all the reviews thank you everyone for taking your time to write them. I appreciate the support. I'm sorry I didn't reply to some of them, I was out of touch for a long time and by the time I saw the reviews there were too many of them. And I was a little embarrassed too of how long this story is taking, and I know how frustrating it is to be left hanging on a chapter. So I was a little shock to see none of the reviews said "bitch why the hell aren't you updating?" or something similar, anyways I'm really sorry and this time I will really tried harder not to take as long as I did.
This chapter felt a little rushed and dry, but at least the story is moving forward.
I apologize for the mistakes, was just really excited to post it so I can start on the next chapter.
If you guys have any questions please feel free to pm me.