LC; I was just struck by a bolt of pure inspiration!

Naruto; Dear kami, may I ask what this idea is?

LC; Yes, yes you may.

Naruto;...

Sasuke;...Well?

LC; You asked if you could ask but you never did actually ask.

Naruto; Will you please tell us your idea?

LC; Alright! I have a few choice words for ya! Ten, rape, baby!

Sasuke; O.O

Naruto; O\\\O

LC; Ooohh! You like that idea eh? Kinky!

Naruto; NNNOOOOOO!

LC; MWUAHAHAHAHA!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto! However his illegitamate love child is fucking mine! Don't you dare steal this idea!

Chapter 1; Unlucky number 10.

October tenth, surely a worse day never existed for this one subject under Kami's ruling. Nope, Naome did not like October tenth, the day of the Kyuubi's attack ten years ago and her birthday.
It would be more accurate to state that she abso-fucking-lutely hated it in fact. Much more accurate.

So if she hated this day so fiercely, why then could she be found outside on a day that no doubt called for sitting in the darkest corner of her apartment?
Well, it might have something to do with the large pillar of smoke and fire coming from the Red Light district, where she lived.

Why would a child live in the Red Light district of any village, much less one with such a prestigious standing, you ask? Well, she doesn't really know.
Oh she knows the normal facts, like no landlord would let her into their buildings in the better parts of town. She also knew that tiny apartment with barely any rooms was all she could afford on her measly stipend.

She thought though that it was because she was an orphan, so she was automatically given the worst things a body had to offer for her.

Back to the subject of October tenth and her building's untimely demise though. She had meant to stay in her building all day and night long, but it seemed some of the more rowdy neighbors had other ideas.
At least they didn't know about the secret trap door she installed that let her out to the roof. She might have been in trouble then.

Getting off the building was no trouble at all for any academy student, even one as low in the brackets as herself.
So now she found herself hiding behind a bill board for topical cream watching the smoke drifting up the sky and the shinobi running around and trying to put it out.

She felt moderately bad about that, mainly because these were no ordinary shinobi. These were the ANBU and the one they answered to, the Hokage.
Hokage-sama was the only one who cared for her at all, and she knew that up until a month ago he hadn't even known where she lived. When he did find out she had witnessed the utter fury of an aged war-hardened kage.

Back to the present predicament of not wishing to give away her hiding place but knowing the old man was worried for her.
It was a strange concept that, no one felt worry for anyone else in the Red Light district, least of all for her. Not to mention he didn't act the same with every orphan either. All in all it slightly bothered her that he turned his attentions to her, it wasn't the norm.

She had just made the decision to step out and calm the worried old man when she felt arms encircle her waist and a cloth clamped over her mouth and nose.
A smell that in normal circumstances would have made her feel sick was all she registered before collapsing into the mysterious man's arms, unable to stay awake.

The man hefted her over his shoulder and darted away to the shadows, eager to complete what so long ago the Yondaime started.

Many hours later, a groan alerted him that his charge had awakened and a grin spread across his face as her's twisted in horror.
It would only be thirty minutes but they seemed hours to the poor child before he finally grew fatigued and passed out beside her.

Sniffing away more tears as she gently closed her legs, Naome instantly turned to the man to see if he would stir.
He hadn't tied her very tightly, it seemed the man was only a civilian. These knots would hold a normal girl, but she was training to be a kunoichi and considered these knots rather insulting.

She knew what had happened, she knew that she'd never have that same innocence again; it was a danger hazard for all women in the Red Light district.
What she did not know though, was that since she had already become a woman earlier than most, one seed managed to find that egg. Her maturing body would be at fault for what she later would call the most unexpected surprise of her life.

She limped away from the man and briefly looked back, unsure what to do about him. Wasn't she supposed to call the police or something? After the Uchiha massacre though, ANBU had been called in to deal with these kinds of situations.
What was more, unless the Sandaime set specific guidelines, the ANBU hardly treated her with anything bordering decency.

In the end she turned away and limped as best she could up the stairs, happy to see moving around seemed to ease the pain somewhat.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen sighed in relief as he saw through his orb the young girl carefully easing out of an old shed she must have used as shelter.
He would need to do something about her lodgings, but for now he watched her trek to the academy to start another day on her quest for his hat. Perhaps he could 'lose' some money where she would find it?

Naome Uzumaki got to class earlier than her classmates, but she saw this as a blessing and settled down at her desk and slipped into a slumber unhindered by nightmares.
When she awoke again, it was to find that two fangirls, Ino and Sakura, were again fighting for the seat next to Sasuke Uchiha, the last survivor of the massacre.

Fidgeting slightly in her seat, she turned her thoughts away from Konoha's history and to more important matters.
She would no doubt have more difficulty finding a new apartment now that her's had burned down. After all, what landlord wants that risk? She also had no money with which to rent one, or food, or extra clothing for that matter.

Slumping slightly at the thought of sleeping in an alley tonight, she attempted to turn her attention to trap setting.
Normally this would be enough to drive her out of any civilian induced funk, but today she just couldn't make herself get lost in the ins and outs of pulleys and trip wires. Not even the possibility of pranks or ramen made her crack a smile that day.

Strangely enough, she found a small fortune outside after the final bell, seemingly dropped by a careless citizen.
She would normally try asking if anyone had dropped it, but chose not to as a smell wafted to her nose. Ichiraku ramen after a long two days of no food would do wonders for her spirits, surely.

After eating what may very well have been her weight in noodles, she went back to the district and started what she feared would be a fruitless search for an apartment.
She started at the most rundown apartment she could find, and amazingly enough struck gold. As it seemed, the landlady was willing to sell the admittedly tiny complex for just the amount in her little bag.

The lady relinquished the papers and when questioned said she was moving from Konoha because she couldn't make a decent business anymore due to her age.
Instantly realizing this woman had been a corner girl, Naome didn't ask any more questions and only signed on the dotted line as directed.

"Good luck gaki." The old woman sighed as she hefted a last bag onto her cart and slapped the reins onto the horse's backside.
Naome hesitantly waved a farewell before going inside to inspect her new property.

"Least I don't have to pay rent anymore." She mumbled, content with this turn of events. Who knew she'd get not one apartment, but the whole complex for the low low price of 500,000 yen. She even still had enough left over to afford instant ramen until she got her next stipend!

Settling down into the landlady's office, as she now had to live there since she owned the building, she decided to practice her new jutsu.
After all, henge jutsu sounded really cool and kawarimi had saved her life already once! If she used henge, maybe people wouldn't overcharge her for things!

Unknown to all but herself, this started what would aid her in taking care of the little bundle of surprises that she unwittingly carried.
The following two years would give birth to the best infiltration/demolition/trap/stealth kunoichi to have ever graced the hallowed halls of the academy.

Naome meanwhile, had just finished the final touches on a henge she was rather passionate about. She was curious about what she would look like as an adult, and so with a little tweaking, made what she would laughingly dub the Oiroke no jutsu, with clothing.

"I still look like me, but maybe if I change the hair, eyes, and the birthmarks." She muttered in a determined fashion. Struck by inspiration, she made the seals again and when the smoke cleared, there stood a red haired woman with sea green eyes and unblemished features.

She would, many years later, learn that she had just transformed into the spitting image of her mother.

After a final inspection, she set out to begin shopping for some food and perhaps even furniture; depending on how much ramen she bought.
Her brows coming together in sudden worry, she realized she wouldn't be able to buy as much ramen as she usually did. She didn't want to accidentally give away her identity!

Another thought occurred to her, and in it an idea that shook her foundations to their core. She would simply act the opposite of how she would usually act! No one would connect Naome Uzumaki with Ran Yurichi!
Thus dubbing her new form of course.

She stepped into the grocery store and was startled to be greeted by a smile and a welcome. Smiling in what she hoped looked a kindly fashion, she quickly moved to the aisles.
She bought five instant ramens, some eggs, milk, and a jug of orange juice. After all, she didn't want to blow her cover, and she knew how to make scrambled eggs anyway so it was a win-win situation in her mind.

"Hello miss, running a few errands?" The cashier made small talk.

"Oh, hai." Ran answered demurely, trying to act like that girl with the funny white eyes in her class.

"Excuse me for being rude miss, but are you pregnant?" The question caught her by surprise and unbidden, a blush covered her face.

"W-What gave you such an idea?" She asked him.

"Maa, I've always had this weird sixth sense that lets me know when a woman is pregnant for some reason. From your look I'd guess it wouldn't be an absurd theory." The man chuckled as he finished ringing up her items.

Ran was startled at the prices! They were so low! She knew she was overcharged but she didn't think it was by such a large margin.

"Well, I don't think I'm pregnant but maybe I'll take this just in case." She had noticed them sitting near by in the medicine aisle and after hearing that man's prediction, she thought it would be better safe than sorry.

He winked and rung that up as well before bidding her a good day.

She didn't drop the henge, choosing instead to try and get a little experience in the nods of acknowledgement she was receiving. She'd have to be a really good actress to make this work after all.

She unlocked the front door of the apartment building when she was stopped by a voice.

"Excuse me, is Rukia-san here?" A young man asked her. She remembered Rukia being the name of the old woman.

"I'm afraid she's not, I recently bought the entire building actually." She said as politely as she could manage.

"Well then I guess I have to talk to you." The young man said pleasantly.

"You see I need a new apartment." She nodded hesitantly and let him inside her office. At least she knew about getting and giving apartments from when she first bought them. Rukia seemed insistent to teach her the arts of the trade before leaving.

"Ano, it's all in order. I hope everything is to your liking." She said politely, handing over the key to the second story apartment.

(Warning! I don't know or care about exchange rates! They keep fucking changing!)

"With only 20,000 yen for rent I'm sure it will be good enough. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki by the way." He said introduction before leaving to pack his bags.
It seemed she had her first tenant already. Now though it posed a problem. For one, that man she knew was a villager from further up the road where she used to live, and thus knew her. For another, he thought the new landlady of this building was Ran Yurichi.

"I guess Naome will just have to be careful about never being around Ichigo-san." She told herself. She could see the benefits of being paid monthly, and he wouldn't want to stay if he knew she was really Naome Uzumaki.
She'd just have to get a lot of extra training in henge and acting, that's all.

She set her groceries into the fridge and decided to look over the papers about this building. As landlady it would be her job to make sure everything ran smoothly after all!
She smiled to herself, rather enjoying her new found job. If the shinobi thing didn't work out at least she could still make a living as a landlady!

She was rather disheartened to learn that the electricity would need repairs, but everything else seemed in working condition, if in need of a few upgrades.
She'd just have to save up. According to the little chart in her new little office, electricity repairs would cost about 50,000 for the entire building.

"Hmm, it works, it just doesn't work all the time." She muttered to herself.

"If I wait, it will take three months before I have enough to repair it. If I get an after school job though, then maybe I could do it sooner?" She considered. It sounded like a good plan, she'd work on it tomorrow.

For now though, she was tired from keeping up the henge all day and decided to eat and go to sleep early tonight. Tomorrow would be a big day!

The pregnancy test would lay forgotten for a few weeks yet.

One Month Later!

Naome groaned upon awakening and rushed to the bathroom that joined with her bedroom. Thank goodness for small kindness, for if the bathroom were any further away she would've had a mess to clean up and no doubt would be late for class.

"Why do I keep getting sick?" She groaned aloud after emptying yesterday's dinner into the toilet.

She moaned about the taste in her mouth and rinsed it out before catching site of herself in the mirror. Was it just her or did the chest of her night shirt seem a little tighter for some reason?
She concluded that yes, she had indeed begun growing breasts, the first in her class too!

She would have smiled if she didn't notice the accusing pregnancy test sitting innocently in the medicine cabinet behind her through the mirror.
Didn't she once hear that enlarged breasts and sickness were the first signs of pregnancy?

"That's silly, I'm just a kid! I can't be a mom!" She laughed nervously, resisting the urge to knock on the wooden door.

She had tried to forget the test and that silly cashier but no matter what, especially after getting sick all the time, her mind was drawn to the both of them.
She would really enjoy forgetting about her birthday, but it seemed that until she manned up a little, it would haunt her.

Besides, she was a kid! It was silly to be afraid of something that was impossible! Kids didn't get pregnant.

Still though, that day she took the test. Five minutes later she still couldn't bring herself to see the results.
She ended up leaving the test sitting in the sink, to await her return.

She henged quickly and made it about halfway to the academy before darting behind a cart and henging back to normal.
She had gotten into the habit of turning into Ran every morning, to avoid being caught. Satisfied that no one had noticed, she sprinted to the academy.

Iruka was just calling attendance when she burst through the open window.

"I'm here!" She shouted, a grin plastered to her face despite her stomach's attempts to complete a figure eight inside her.

"I see that Naome, sit down." Iruka sighed. He did care for the girl, he really did, but he wished she would make more of an effort!
But nope, as soon as he finished calling attendance he looked at her and she was sleeping soundly. Also, did her face look slightly green? He shook his head to make himself focus before throwing the usual eraser at her head. The thunk was very satisfying.

An hour later Naome again felt that nauseous feeling again. The one that meant either she get to a toilet, or get sick all over her desk.
She tried to hold it back, since she knew she would get in trouble and accused of faking if she asked to go to the bathroom. It didn't work.

Iruka was just getting into the Nidaime's reign when she lost a hold of the apple she'd scarfed down for breakfast all over the aisle.

"Naome are you sick?" Iruka knew he shouldn't have ignored her coloration! His teacher instincts were screaming obscenities at him for his cruelness of marking the girl tardy when it wasn't her fault since she was ill.

Naome finished upchucking and groaned, thumping her head onto the desk and trying to pretend she couldn't taste the foul taste in her mouth.

"Come on, school nurse." She didn't fight very hard while Iruka instructed Mizuki to get the janitor to clean the mess up while he took her to the nurse.

"Why did you come to school if you were sick?" he questioned her gently as they walked down the hall.

"I get in trouble enough for skipping." She pointed out.

"It's not skipping if there's a valid reason behind it." He argued. He paused while the girl groaned again and clutched her stomach. Curse this stupid virus that wouldn't go away!

"Come on, just a bit farther." He urged her. Naome sniffed and nodded, following him as best she could while holding her stomach as though trying to stop it from bursting out of her belly.

The nurse muttered something under her breath suspiciously like 'demon girl' before taking her temperature and everything.
She looked confused at the results for a moment before performing the test again, with a different thermometer.

"Well she doesn't have a temperature, but her blood pressure is a little low." She told Iruka.

"Other than that, she appears healthy enough." The nurse finished.

"She should probably go home though." Iruka nodded and took Naome back to the class to get her things before escorting her home. After all, what if she collapsed on the way home?

"You live in the Red Light district?" Iruka asked, a small blush on his face when he saw a corner girl, or prostitute, waving at him in a provocative manner.

"Uh-huh." She answered, leading him nervously to the apartment she owned, not that he knew that.

"Thanks for walking me Iruka-sensei!" She said bye and closed the door, not wanting him to know she actually lived in the landlady part of the property.
Iruka sighed before turning and heading back to the academy. He'd just have to wait until she was well enough to come to school again.

Once certain she was alone, she went straight to the bathroom. She had put it off for way too long and since the nurse said she shouldn't be sick, that left one option she really didn't want to think about.

An hour later, she roused herself from her stupor to henge into Ran and answer the door. The little pink plus sign she shoved into the deepest part of her mind.

At the front desk stood a young woman with purple hair and dark eyes, wearing a large coat and a mesh shirt underneat, coupled with light brown skirt and shin guards.
She had a Konoha hitai-ate as well.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" Ran asked politely, putting away the lady's cool outfit to be thought about later.

"I need an apartment." The woman said gruffly, eyeing her with a familiar glint in her eye. This lady was suspicious of her for some reason. Did she see the henge?

"Alright, the rent is 20,000 every month. Hold on for a moment while I go get the papers." She said politely, leaving a surprised Anko Mitarashi to go and fetch the contract.

Anko blinked at the woman before grinning. She thought for sure it would be at least 70,000 yen because of her reputation.
Either this lady was new to Konoha or she was one of those open minded smart people! Either way, she could get a new apartment since she came back from a mission to find her's burnt to the ground.

"Alright, I found them. Just sign the dotted line! You'll have apartment 103 if that's not too much trouble." Ran said upon reentering.

"Got it, and thanks!" Anko said with a smile before picking up her mission bag and taking the keys to go and get settled in.

"Oh, before I forget! The electricity is still a little iffy! I haven't been able to get it repaired yet!" Ran called after her. Anko grunted her understanding. Still better than she had expected.

Alone again, Ran walked into her office before returning with an 'out to lunch' sign. She grabbed a purse she had found in the trash and cleaned up then left the building to go on an all important mission.
She had to find out from a professional if she was really pregnant.

She made the appointment and waited for them to call her back. When they did, she got her blood drawn, (As Ran obviously) did a pee test, and waited for the good word.

"Congratulations Yurichi-san, you're going to have a baby." The doctor reported to her in a half hour. Ran blinked before gathering herself, smiling, and thanking him before paying the hospital and making an appointment for the next month.
She'd have to go to the hospital every month in order to make sure the baby was healthy.

Through that entire day, she didn't once think of the possibility of an abortion.

On her walk home she couldn't wipe away the smile on her face even if she took a rag to her face. She would really be a mommy! A kaa-san!
Gone was the nervousness, the nausea, and all the other things that had plagued her for the last month. Nope, she was in a good mood and she let the entire village know about it.

Ichigo-san was just coming home when he found his landlady Ran smiling to herself over nothing at all.

"Did something good happen today Ran-san?" He asked curiously. She turned to him and smiled.

"I'm going to be a mother." On the bright side, at least he didn't drop his groceries.

"That's fantastic!" He congratulated her. She laughed and thanked him before offering to help him pack his bags but he declined. She was pregnant and should rest anyway.

Naome studied her reflection in the mirror. She turned to the side and tried to see if she could tell any differences. Unlike yesterday, today she was all frowns and worries. Today is Thursday.

She had just realized that if anyone found out it was her, and not Ran, that was pregnant, they might kick her out of the academy. If they didn't, she'd certainly be ridiculed and called some unflattering names for certain.

She sighed in relief upon seeing no differences and resolved to buy a very thick jacket or hoodie. At least she could hide the weight gain if she was careful.
She couldn't stay in henge and just miss nine months of school, she'd flunk out for sure! Which brought another worry to the front of her mind.

She had two years before she had to graduate. She wouldn't be taking the exam this year since she would still be pregnant, and thus unlikely to pass the fitness test.
To graduate, she would need very good grades though, because she had to be one hundred percent certain that she would get her hitai-ate.

She would need the money from being a shinobi to afford a lot of things for the baby. The doctor visits alone would no doubt keep her in the red until the baby was born!

She wouldn't go to the academy today, or tomorrow. Nope, she'd be preparing for the baby and looking for a job to help out.
Taking a deep breath, she made the now familiar seals and changed into Ran again. Time for job hunting!

She decided to stay close to home and started in the entertainment section of the district. Obviously she would not sell her body like the corner girls, after all she had already gotten pregnant!
Nope, she went to the bars.

"Excuse me bartender-san, are there any vacancies?" She asked politely, trying to sound grown up.

The man looked her up and down, his eyes lingered on her belly for a moment which worried her a little. He nodded before motioning for her to sit down.

When she left, she had a job for five until midnight every day. Since the academy ended at 3:00 that meant she'd have two hours for training unless she started getting up early.
She'd be a waitress, and asked to mix drinks and help keep the shinobi who came from getting to rowdy while drunk. She got weekends off unless they paid extra.

The alcohol made her feel a little lightheaded but at least she hadn't gotten sick at all during the short interview.
She really did love the Red Light district. No one asked questions, no one looked at you twice, and so long as you didn't piss anyone off they treated you with a sort of passive respect.

Naome decided to get used to early mornings and set her alarm for five in the morning. The academy started every day at eight, so that would give three hours for training, two for homework in the afternoon!
Yep, Naome Uzumaki had decided she would actively do her homework and study so she could bring her grades up out of the mud and the muck.

She admitted to being exhausted the next night, as she was forced to retire to bed at midnight, but she figured eventually she would get used to it.
She left the alarm clock off that night, since she had no school or work or anything. Tomorrow would be for training.

The next morning at ten Naome stood in a clearing with her kunai, practicing her throwing techniques. She had to hit the targets! She had to!
By the end of the hour, she at least got within the outer rings, but there was still room for improvement.

She went back to the apartment and took a shower before henging and going to a bookstore. She would need some books on babies and taking care of them.

Ran got to the store alright and went to the section she thought would have information on babies and stuff.
Soon she came up with a book titled What to Expect when your Expecting. Smiling, she also got a book of baby names before buying both and leaving.

Rather than read though, she went to the same training area from before and got to work on her taijutsu conditioning. Push ups, laps, punches and kicks, those kinds of things.
When she finished that she immediatly set out to work on her taijutsu stances from the academy.

Taijutsu was the only thing she was instantly good at in the academy. Girl or not whenever someone stepped into the ring with her she gave them a few bruises!
She was right under Kiba, who was under Sasuke. She was right above a girl with white eyes, who now that she thought about it, was named Hinata or something.

After that, she again took out her training kunai and shuriken for aim practice. She had to start hitting the targets more often!
After a few hours, she finally decided it was time for dinner and chose to go to Ichiraku's. Instant ramen was all well and good, but she missed the warm homemade broth of the Ichiraku duo.

"Come to think of it, I haven't been sick all day! Maybe I can go to the academy on Monday!" She said suddenly, a grin spreading. Wait till she showed everyone how much better she got over the weekend! She'd show them! No more goofing off for her, no siree! She was going to be serious!

After dinner and a long tale about her absence from the stand, Naome henged and Ran walked out of an alley to go clothes shopping.
Orange T-shirts and white shorts were good for attracting attention but shinobi were supposed to be able to hide, and be all stealthy! Besides, she still needed that jacket.

"Hello customer-san, are you looking for something for your son?" Why would she go to the girl's aisle? It was full of frilly and pink stuff and dresses!

"Hai, he's studying to be a shinobi but he tore his clothes training." She lied instantly. It would be better not to correct the lady. People tended to make up stories about someone's life from what they gathered and setting them straight would only take more time and effort than she had the energy to expend.
She was sleepy, since she didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.

"I need a good thick hoodie, preferably a dark grey and some black shorts." Eventually she also bought some elbow length fingerless gloves that she bet would make her look badass.

"Is there anything else you need?" The man asked her.

"Hmm, I think he mentioned something about practice equipment." Hey, this would be a good way for her to not get overpriced on her weapons! Not to mention she was in the mood to do a little shopping anyway. All girls are at some point.

The man rung up her purchases and again she was both pleasantly surprised and pissed that the prices were so much lower than if she came as herself. Bastards overpricing innocent orphans!

"Thank you cashier-san." She said politely before leaving with her new things. Now even when she started to really gain weight she had a way to hide it! Perfect!

Two Months Later!

Ran heaved a sigh and rubbed her finally extending belly as she bid goodbye to the workers who had just finished repairing the wires that made the electricity so unpredictable.
Now she wouldn't have to worry about the fridge going on the blink and her milk going sour.

Now that the sickness had finally abated she found herself much more energetic with a craving for dango of all things. While she didn't eat ramen as much as she did, it was still her favorite food.
Well, if not for the cravings anyway.

The books she bought said that diet was very important for the baby to get all it needed to survive, so she had bought a cook book and had taught herself more or less how not to burn down apartments.

"Is that dango?" Ran 'eeped' and turned around to see one of her tenants, Anko, looking at the plate she was eating from.

"Hai, I've got a bit of a craving for them." Ran answered nervously.

"...Can I have some?" Anko asked hopefully. Ran blinked as she finally placed the new glint in the scantily dressed woman's eyes. Dango was to Anko what Ramen was to Naome.

"Sure, help yourself Anko-san." She nodded. Anko squeeled in happiness before taking a stick and promptly eating the wonderful little dumplings.

Anko felt a little bad about taking a pregnant woman's food but the woman obviously wasn't bothered. She had avoided contact with the landlady most of the time, usually only seeing her briefly to pay the rent.
She knew from her frankly idiotic neighbor that the woman was three months pregnant though.

"Ichigo-san hasn't been giving you too much trouble has he?" Ran asked curiously.

"I remember him asking me to kick you out for no reason at all! I never would have thought he would do such a thing!" She knew from Ichigo-san about Anko-san's past but she didn't judge. After all, it was the same thing that happened to her and she secretly hoped Anko would turn into a friend, with time.

"I'm...ugh, glad you didn't." Anko said uncomfortably.

"I have no reason to, you pay the rent and act kind enough. Besides, you remind me of a little girl I know." She said slyly.

"I do?" Anko asked, surprised by that fact. Was there a budding young crazy bitch in the village.

"Hai, her name's Naome." This was her test, to see if Anko would be like the rest of the villager's or not.

Anko knew that was the name of the Kyubi vessel. She also knew the kid used to live in the same building as her but when it burned down she stopped seeing the gaki at all.
She wondered what happened to the kid. Did she die in the fire? Apparently not from what this lady was saying.

"I used to live in the same building as her but never met her. What she like?" She asked over another stick of dango. Ran had a lot of dango, thankfully.

"She's energetic, kind, and works rather hard at her studies in the academy. Though she only gets Cs." Ran said in what she hoped didn't sound like she was laying it thick.

Anko humphed before finishing the dango she'd been given and saying bye to walk up the stairs to her apartment.

Ran sighed again before finishing the remaining dango before heading to work at Takimaru's pub. It was almost five already!

Hokage office!

Hiruzen sighed before puffing out some more smoke from his pipe. He was busy pondering how it was possible that out of the entire village Naome was the only one able to evade his orb's all seeing eye.
Sometimes he could find her, usually when she was at the academy, but then there was a good part of the day he couldn't find her at all!

The orb worked by giving the description of the person he wanted to find. Hence, ten years old, blonde, blue eyes, and whisker marks, being his search.
No such luck. Naome had either discovered a way to hide from his orb, or the blasted thing was broken.

The aged kage sighed and ran a hand through his beard. This honestly worried him a good deal. Iruka had reported that although she was now always tired in class, her grades had improved tremendously to the middle of the pack.
On top of that though, she was tired and he feared that she was doing something that was going to wear her out. Iruka guessed she was training and studying at all hours of the day to keep her grades up now. He wasn't so sure.

Perhaps it was high time he snuck from his office to see the young blonde ball of sunshine. Heaven knows it had been too long since he last treated her to a bowl of ramen and listened about her latest prank.
Actually, now that he thought about it, she hadn't pulled any pranks either!

He found her just when she was leaving the academy, looking a little tired but a little better than he had at first feared.

"Naome-chan, how are you?" He asked kindly.

"Hokage-sama." She greeted him politely. She had always been a polite child. He would have preferred it if she called him jiji every once in a while. He knew he wasn't always able to get away and see her, but they were familiar at least!

"Would you like to go for some ramen?" She grinned and nodded eagerly. The number one sure fire way to get Naome Uzumaki into a good mood, offer free ramen.

As they walked he sent side long glances at her. He knew she had a tomboyish fondness for boy's clothing, but usually the colors were vibrant, full of life!
However it seemed she had taken to wearing dark grey and black. Suitable colors for a shinobi, he knew, but for Naome they looked boring. Especially when in contrast with her blonde hair.

Which, he noticed, looked like she had cut it herself with a kunai. He had rather liked her long pig tails, but then he remembered something.
Iruka had once told him that there was a rumor that Sasuke, the last loyal Uchiha, had a fondness of long hair and most of the girls had grown their hair out. It seemed that Naome didn't want to be accidentally confused with a fangirl.

"Naome-chan, what happened to your usual clothing?" He asked once they ordered their ramen.

"Hmm? Well I'm trying to be all serious like a real shinobi." She said simply. The answer didn't ring true to him though, it sounded almost rehearsed.

"And shinobi are supposed to be all sneaky in the shadows, right?" He nodded absently and thought deeper on the matter. He couldn't find any reason why she couldn't wear those colors, it had just been a surprise and he had liked her bright clothes. They made it easier to keep track of her.

After he paid, holding a silent memorial within his mind for his wallet, they separated. He thought briefly of following her, if only to see her new apartment, but chose against it.
His my-secretary-just-found-out-I-snuck-out senses were tingling. If he wanted to avoid singing castrato it would be wise to hurry back to his office.

Meanwhile, with Naome/Ran!

As soon as she couldn't see the hokage anymore she henged and ran to her apartment. She only had thirty minutes to get her waitress uniform and get to work now!
Curse her ramen addiction! At least he hadn't offered Dango, she might still be eating.

Ran burst through the pub's door and clocked in. She sighed in relief to see she wasn't late. She had cut it a little close though, and that she would have to make sure didn't happen again.

"Get to work girl!" The oh so familiar order came. She chuckled and took her tray and little pad and pen to go and take orders.
She listened to the music, and gave the dancing girls a quick nod before moving around the tables.

"Ran-chan why don't you get up on those poles?" The men jeered at her. She giggled coyly and wagged a finger in his direction.

"Your talking to a pregnant woman, surely I don't have anything you'd want to see." She joked. It was a now familiar routine.

Her uniform was simple enough. Obviously it was a little scanty, due to her place of work, but it was conservative enough for a pregnant lady.
Takimaru had almost thrown a fit when he found out she was pregnant and immediately tossed this new uniform into her arms. It seemed he didn't want the customers to get any ideas.

She finished her shift and clocked out, leaving the disappointed crowd behind on her walk home.

As usual, she made it home safe and sound and crashed to sleep right away. The henge vanished, leaving an exhausted academy student.
She slept for five hours before waking up and going through her morning routine. She had a doctor's appointment today.

Normally she scheduled them for the weekend so she wouldn't miss class, but her doctor, Hiroshi, was going on vacation then.
Today she'd be finding out if her baby was a boy or a girl. She hoped it was a boy personally. It felt like a boy. If it were a boy she'd name it Hikaru.

"Well little man, let's get ready." She yawned, walking to the shower to clean away the muck of last night.

As Ran she went to the hospital, dressed in a comfortable kimono that was a little loose in the waist. Her heeled sandals were a dark blue.
Her red hair she had done in a ponytail. All in all one could hardly tell she was a pregnant ten year old.

She was leaning back in the bed now, watching as Hiroshi-san moved the ultra-sound monitor around, trying to get the baby into a position where they could see the gender.

"Ah, here we go." She looked at the screen but didn't see anything different. Just gray and dark gray blobs all over.

"It looks like a healthy baby boy Yurichi-san." Hiroshi informed her. He took pictures and pointed out the male parts to her. All the time, she smiled and kept a single hand resting on her distended stomach.

"Arigato." She left the hospital carrying the pictures of her new baby boy. She couldn't wait to see what he looked like when he was born!

Naome lay on her couch, having chosen to take the day off from any training and simply crashed on the couch after getting home.
She was busy glaring at the clock on her wall at the moment. She was trying to will the hands on the clock to turn back. She had thirty minutes to get to work.

"I don't wanna." She whined. It had been so long since she had given herself a lazy day! Since she last acted like the child she was!

"I'll get fired if I don't go." She finally sighed, hefting herself to her feet and walking out the door, safely in henge.

Ran yawned again as she carried yet another round to table seven. It seemed a large group of shinobi were celebrating over something or other.
Probably got back from a big mission and were celebrating making it back alive and in success.

"Ran! No slacking!" Takimaru scolded her upon noticing her mouth agape. It was already eleven thirty, just a bit longer and she could go home.

"Hai Oyabin!" She called back. Oyabin, the honorable title of boss, which he insisted she call him for some strange reason.

Twenty minutes to go and she would be home free for a good five hours of sleep! That sounded abso-fucking-lutely heavenly!

She walked home, taking a different path from yesterday, just as she always did. After all, it was always fun going through short cuts and Iruka-sensei did say that shinobi falling into patterns could be dangerous.
Anyway, she was walking home, as Ran of course, when something strange happened.

On her way home she noticed a shadow lurking in an alley. She stretched her neck a little and nearly gasped when she saw who it was.
Of all the people she could meet in a dark alley, why would Shikamaru Nara be lying there?

Forgetting completely about her henge, she rushed over to the boy and looked for anything that would suggest he was hurt.
There wasn't any blood, and his clothes weren't ripped or anything. For all intents and purposes, the boy was sleeping.

"Hey, Shikamaru wake up!" She urged him, shaking his shoulder.

Shikamaru's eyes bolted open for a second before relaxing into their usual lazy glow upon seeing a young woman waking him up.

"What are you doing here all alone at midnight?" Ran asked him, seeing he was awake.

"Troublesome. I got lost on the way back from a restaurant and ended up here and crashed." He explained.

"Figured I'd wait till morning to try and find my way home." Ran's brows knitted together. On one hand, he wasn't hurt and would be able to get home in the morning light. On the other, it was cold outside and she felt bad about leaving a friend to brave the dark.

"You come with me to my apartment and spend the night then, you shouldn't sleep in an alley, it's dangerous." She told him. Shikamaru yawned, muttered another 'troublesome' and complied. A bed would be better than the ground any day of the week.

Ran saw how tired the Nara boy was and found herself wanting to carry him. Despite the fact she herself was exhausted, pregnant, and didn't want to give away her identity on accident.

They got to the apartment and she settled him into her own bed and spent the night on the couch, not noticing as her henge dropped and she drifted into a sleep deeper than she usually accomplished.

Shikamaru woke up to the sound of a horrid beeping that he couldn't escape from. He eventually managed to slam a hand on the alarm on the night stand and sighed in relief at the blessed silence.
Until he caught sight of the time.

"Troublesome! Who gets up at five in the morning?" He then remembered where he was, and who had brought him.
He groaned again before laying back down. He would deal with it later. For now that lady had given him her bed and he was still tired, so he slept.

Three more hours later he woke up again, this time to more natural causes. Those troublesome birds outside the window were being too loud.
He sighed before deciding he should get up and see how the lady was doing. He felt a little troublesome for taking her bed last night.

He walked outside the room and stumbled into the living room. He jumped in surprise when he saw his classmate and friend, Naome, laying down on the cushions of the couch.
She was tired, she was snoring, and she was wearing the same clothing as the woman from last night.

That, and she appeared to have put on a little weight.

"Hey, Naome what are you doing here?" He sighed again when she didn't wake up and began to shake her. This was so troublesome.

Naome 'eeped' when she woke up, something she found she did alot when startled. Shikamaru's mind was whirring and he didn't like the conclusions he was drawing up. Sometimes (Always) being a genius sucked.

"Uh, Ran-san lets me stay here! She's really nice! She lent me her clothes cause mine were all dirty!" His first instinct was to accept the explanation. After all, short of inventing a new physical version of the henge jutsu there was no other explanation.

Unfortunately for both of them, he was very good at detecting lies.

"Naome, why not start at the beginning? This is troublesome, but I want to know." Her smile faded slowly and her eyes widened considerably. He was convinced something had happened to his sometimes-running-buddy now and his troublesome brain couldn't get away from the subject of her apparent weight gain.

"You'll tell!" She protested, pouting fiercely. Shikamaru inwardly sighed and muttered something about troublesome women.

"What if I promise I won't?" He offered. If it was something directly harmful to her, he knew it was his duty to tell an adult, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that a lot of things must've been happening to Naome for her to live in the Red Light district.

"How do I know you'll keep your promises?" She asked him in turn.

"Because having you come at me with a grudge during sparring at the academy is too troublesome." She nodded at his point but couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach at the thought of telling anyone. She wanted to be a ninja dammit! They'd kick her out if word got out!

"Naome, I swear on both my clan name and ancestor's pride that I will not tell another living soul what you are about to tell me, troublesome girl." Naome for a minute could only gasp in surprise. Since she had started forcing herself to pay attention in school she knew swearing on one's clan and family was serious.

"On my birthday, I got raped by some douchebag. A month later, the day I got sick in class, I manned up and took a pregnancy test." Yeah, he really hated his troublesome brain. It was always so troublesome when he was right!

"Ran is actually me in disguise, a henge to run this apartment to get paid by the people who live here and get an afterschool job!" He frowned again, trying to discern the lie. Henges aren't solid!

"Naome, henges aren't solid. You should know better than try to fool someone like that." He had sworn on his clan honor and she still lied to him?

"Hey! I'm not lying! What do you mean they aren't solid? Mine have always been solid! Watch!" Her hands came together and 'Ran' popped up again, still wearing the uniform. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed and he gingerly poked the stomach of the transformation. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline when his hands didn't pass through it harmlessly.

"Naome Uzumaki doesn't lie when she says she won't!" Ran said, sticking a tongue out at the now shorter boy.

"Naome, henges aren't meant to be solid." When she didn't understand, he henged into another Ran. She poked him in the chest but her hand phased right through!

"Whoa, weird!" He made her dispel her henge and redo it so he could watch her. The signs were exactly the same, no matter what angle he looked from.

"How is that possible?" He was normally very lazy, as all Nara men were, but they were also all geniuses. To come across something that so clearly made a mockery of everything he knew and confused the heck out of him so much was frustrating.

Meanwhile, Naome had been telling him everything that she'd been doing since her birthday. Shikamaru winced when he remembered that. Being raped had to be the worst birthday present ever, even more so since she was an orphan and the guy was still on the loose.

"But if anyone finds out I'm pregnant they won't let me be a shinobi! They'll kick me out of the academy!" Which explained her reluctance to tell him all of this. He knew they weren't particularly close but they were familiar at least.

"Have you thought about what your going to do after it's born?" He was rather curious to see what she'd do about that actually. Babies required constant care and she couldn't take care of the baby at the academy. Couldn't bring the baby with her either.

From the look on her face, obviously she hadn't. What was worse was that now that he knew so much of the situation, he felt inclined to help! What kind of troublesome situations were he being dragged into?

He did some quick calculations in his head. He knew now that her birthday was October tenth, that meant the baby would be born in July, about midway. That would be during the summer, so the baby would be almost two months before the academy started again. Old enough to be dropped at the nursery from around seven until seven.

Then there was also the problem about the henge. Apparently, anyone who knew about the pregnancy thought it was Ran who was pregnant, and Ran was only a very advanced henge. The question was if Naome would be able to keep the henge up during labor, and for how long?

He asked her if she knew how long she could keep up the henge normally and she stated that she could keep it up for seven hours at least but had never pressed farther than that. That was better than he'd expected and explained why she was out as Ran at midnight. Although he still didn't know why she woke up at five.

"Naome, do you go to doctor appointments?" He knew that pregnant women had to go to the doctor at least once a month to make sure the baby was okay. He also knew that during these appointments blood was often drawn and ultra sounds used. When she nodded, it opened up some possibilities.

"I have an idea but we need more information on your henge and what it can do." That is when they remembered that, unlike Naome, Shikamaru had a family. A family that was probably worried sick that he had never come home. A family with a very lazy but smart jounin commander and nagging mother.

"I'm screwed." He groaned. His mother would kill him! He had never made it home last night!

"Hey Shikamaru, what if I took you home as Ran?" The solution was so simple, yet so sweet! The henge couldn't easily be disrupted, from what he knew, and hard to detect since he knew at least one shinobi lived in this building and didn't know.

"It's the least I can do to repay you for your help!" Naome decided, already making the all too familiar handsigns. Ran changed from her work clothes and put on a green kimono before they headed out.

Shikamaru was amazed when he saw how her personality seemed to do a one eighty when they stepped into the lobby. Suddenly 'Ran' was kind, sweet, and quiet. Not troublesome at all and more than happy to help a little lost boy get home.

"Ne, Shikamaru, how did you get lost anyway?" She wanted to ask how he ended up in the Red Light district since she knew that there were no restaurants in it that let in kids on a regular basis.

"I was actually trying to get my dad to come home from a bar but got turned around." Ah, that made more sense. The Red Light district could be confusing for an outsider, especially at night.

Not five seconds after knocking an imposing woman answered the door. Ran noted that Shikamaru didn't look much like her except for the bone structure.

"Shikamaru-chan!" Ran was completely bypassed by Yoshino darting forward and pulling her son into a hug.

"Please come in so I can thank you for bringing my son home safely!" Yoshino insisted, having assured herself that Shikamaru hadn't been hurt or caught cold.

"Well I found him late last night on my way home from work and took him home with me." Ran explained over tea. Shikamaru was positively stupefied by her act but admitted he was relieved. Naome was not the kind of girl who his mother got along with, but he wouldn't be surprised to find Ran being invited over for dinner in the near future.

"I sent him to find his father! I was so worried when his father came home and saying that he never saw him! I thought he'd been hurt!" Yoshino sniffled loudly. Ran briefly wondered how she would feel if her future son didn't come home one day. She just as quickly crushed the very idea.

"The Red Light district can be dangerous for children. I myself am a little worried about raisng my son there." Yoshino's eyes seemed to widen and she looked down comically as though she had just noticed Ran's somewhat roundish figure.

"How far along are you?" Yoshino asked excitedly.

"13 weeks actually. I only last week learned he's a boy." Ran answered, more subdued but obviously happy.

"You live in the Red Light district? Forgive me for being blunt, but are you married?" Ran blushed and she lowered her head slightly before shaking.

"I was going to be married, but he left." Yoshino cooed sympathetically and comforted the distraught looking red head. Shikamaru found himself fighting the urge to gag and wondered if his mother would notice should he leave the room.

"Do you make enough to support yourself and the child?" The Nara woman asked.

"I should. On top of my job as a waitress I also own an apartment complex, which brings in extra money." Somehow this topic led to vitamins and about proper weight gain during pregnancy, with Yoshino telling Ran she was much too thin and she should eat more. Which somehow brought the topic to Yoshino running upstairs and bringing down Shikamaru's old baby things.

"I couldn't possibly!" Ran protested when she saw the beautiful, sea blue basinet. Shikamaru was dying of embarrassment, even though logically he knew it was really just Naome.

"I insist! Besides these are just collecting dust in the attic!" When Yoshino finally managed to wear Ran down, he was drafted to help move everything. His father came home just as they were about to leave and in turn Yoshino drafted him as well.

"What will it feel like when the baby starts to kick? Does it hurt?" Yoshino had forbidden Ran from carrying anything but a diaper bag. She was now taking this opportunity to speak with Yoshino-san about the pregnancy to lay some of her worries to rest.

"Only nearing the end, the rest of the time it just feels like butterflies in your stomach." The older woman assured her.

Shikaku had come home to find his wife befriending an obviously pregnant woman. He knew the minute his gaze landed on her that she was still early in pregnancy, probably late first trimester or early second. He also instantly knew he'd be seeing a lot of the young woman. Yoshino loved children, especially little children, especially when she had a chance to know the mother during pregnancy.

His son was strangely quiet, but he figured he would be too. No doubt before Yoshino even had the idea for this furniture move the two women had been talking about pregnancy and possibly some of Shikamaru's quirks as an infant. He would be as quiet as possible too if their situations were reversed.

But since they weren't reversed, he was free to mutter the Nara favorite word as much as he liked since his wife was too busy to smack him.

He cast a lazy eye over the apartment they had entered and found it surprisingly clean. Ran didn't seem the type to pay for a maid, so it was likely she did the cleaning herself. He was also surprised to see Anko Mitarashi who seemed to be waiting for Ran's arrival.

"Anko-san, I hope you weren't waiting for me!" Ran cried immediatly, stepping forward.

"Huh? Oh, no I wasn't! I just wanted to talk to you about my rent for when I leave on extended missions." Anko assured the woman. Ever since their talk, Anko had discreetly made an effort to get to know Ran more. In return Ran had taken to smiling bigger and speaking a little louder in the dango loving woman's presence.

"So Nara, what are you doing here?" Anko asked the shinobi standing and holding a basinet. Shikaku groaned, knowing this little meeting would be known halfway around the village by lunchtime.

"Yoshino-san was kind enough to give me her son's old things! I think she's even more excited I'm having a boy than I am!" Ran joked good-naturedly.

After explaining about how Ran had found Shikamaru last night, Anko offered to help set the stuff up and let Ran sit down for a bit. Ran wondered if she should be offended that everyone seemed to think she needed to rest every five minutes, no matter if she really was tired from the long walk.

Despite her wish to take a short nap, Ran made sure to stay awake. She didn't want to even try keeping the henge up in her sleep, especially with so many people in her apartment. So when Shikamaru came to get her and tell her they'd finished setting up everything in the 'nursery', she was up and ready to go!

On a whim she had painted the room with blues and greens and browns just two weeks ago, before she even knew it was a boy! She found she was actually a pretty good painter to, which was a small bonus. She was glad she had now, the basinet and changing station matched it perfectly.

"It's wonderful Yoshino-san!" She thanked the woman again. She couldn't believe anyone was willing to give her these things! She thought for sure she'd have to buy some herself!

"Shikaku-san, Anko-san, Shikamaru-kun, thank you as well for helping me." She bowed respectfully.

The Nara family left after getting her to agree to dinner that weekend, leaving Ran and Anko alone. Ran sighed tiredly and sat on her couch, facing the tv she never even used.

"If you want I could make a dango run." Anko offered charitably. Ran jumped at the offer and handed the woman some money to pay for it all, stating that it was only right since Anko helped set everything up.

Ran groaned aloud exactly three minutes after Anko left and when she was sure no one was around. She dropped the henge and immediately began rubbing her ankles. She usually didn't carry things heavier than a tray of drinks when in henge, and then only for a couple minutes. Who knew it could so exhausting?

"Obviously henge and work are going to be something I train on for a while." Which reminded Naome that she hadn't gone to the academy that day. Shit.

She transformed just a minute before Anko returned and gratefully accepted the dango. She'd worry about Iruka-sensei tomorrow. She had the rest of the day to cook up an excuse.

"If your tired we can talk about that deal for my missions tomorrow Ran." Anko suggested. She could see that Ran was clearly exhausted, although the civilian did a pretty good job hiding it.

"No, we may as well talk now, I'll only be tired again tomorrow." Wasn't that the truth! Being pregnant was exhausting! She was always tired! Something that she had no understanding of, before the world tipped itself to one side.

"Well, I've recently passed the Tokubetsu jounin exams, which means that I've made it into the elite. However the elite also take more important missions." Anko was unused to having to explain such things, but Ran was only a civilian and wouldn't understand otherwise.

"These missions are higher ranked and can take longer to finish, sometimes over three months. I'll be leaving for a three month mission in two days and I need to make sure that my apartment doesn't get new locks while I'm gone." Anko knew by now that Ran was too nice to change the locks like that if she missed a payment, but missing three might be bad.

"Hmm, would you be able to pay when you got back?" Ran asked curiously. Anko did the math and knew that her little A-ranked would leave her with plenty of money to spare, even after paying for missed rent.

"Yeah, so would that be an okay deal?" Ran nodded and the deal was finished over the remaining dango. Anko left to do whatever it is that new tokubetsu jounin do in their free time, leaving Ran alone to revert back to Naome and finally reclaim her bed!

Anko considered herself very lucky to have found a woman like Ran as her landlady. Too many people judged her on her connection with Orochimaru and treated her poorly because of it. Ran knew about her past though, and even tried to befriend her.

If anybody were asked if they thought Anko and a civilian woman could get along, the answer would have been a resounding no. Here they were though, civilian and kunoichi and getting along just fine in the small amount of time Anko could spare. Anko even found herself leaving the forest of death earlier than normal to go to the bar Ran worked at and check up on her.

She had come to think of Ran as a psuedo-little sister. Someone she could watch out for and support and who had a streak of craziness but was always polite, unless angered. The night Anko had witnessed a drunk man grope Ran she had seen that the woman obviously wasn't a helpless girl, like she'd first assumed.

Nope, when the man grabbed her chest Ran's eyes had narrowed, a smile had crept to her lips, and a hand had come down in arch that just happened to meet his face. That hit hadn't been a slap either, but a full blown punch with decent strength, for a civilian woman. Anko had of course proceeded to make sure the man never thought of coming back to that particular bar again, but she knew Ran wouldn't be taken advantage of during her pregnancy at least.

That she cared surprised her, that she didn't care that she cared made her curious. Why was Ran different from the other civilians?
Anko decided that Ran's parents had probably been geniuses or something, to have created a girl who was so polite and open minded.

With Naome/Ran

Naome felt like crying when she heard knocking on her door. She knew she must've slept, since the clock read three instead of eleven like it had earlier, but she felt like she had only just closed her eyes.

"Come in!" She didn't care who it was at this point, she only wanted them to get what they wanted and leave so she could go back to sleep. Finding Shikamaru standing in her bedroom doorway threw that option out the window screaming like a little girl.

"Your really tired aren't you?" Naome gave him her best scowl but knew it's effect was lessened with half her face smooshed into the pillow. She realized she was laying on her stomach and quickly rolled over. She was worried that laying on her stomach might squish the baby or something.

"Why are you back already?" She asked him after a lengthy yawn.

"I needed to get away from my mom." He answered.

"Go ahead and go back to sleep, I'll just take a nap too." He told her.

"I shouldn't, I got work in two hours and it's a thirty minute walk." She really did wish she could sleep some more, but if she did she might over sleep, and missing just one day might get her fired!

"I'll wake you up, troublesome girl." So Naome took the offered chance to sleep and drifted off quickly.

Shikamaru would've chuckled at how quickly Naome fell asleep if he thought it was worth the effort. As it were he simply began walking around the apartment. He hadn't come here to escape his mother, like he said. In truth his mother had sent him here because she thought 'Ran' might need help with something.

As he knew the truth behind Ran's identity, he privately agreed. Naome did need all the help she could get, even though she'd been doing well on her own. She'd been subtle, had hidden the signs, and had developed pretty good acting skills without any help. However it remained that she was only a kid, and pregnant.

On his way here he had bought some books on teenage pregnancy. Despite the fact they were only kids, he figured the books would be better than nothing. Alot of the principles were basically the same, like their changing bodies.

As it were though, he wasn't looking at them. Nope, he was looking at her wardrobe. Naome's clothes were usually thick, except for the shorts and Ts. She had at least three hoodies and two jackets, which kept getting thicker so he assumed these were used to hide her weight gain.

Ran's clothes were thinner and obviously maternal. They consisted mostly of stylish kimonos or blouse and skirt outfits. There was also a copy of her uniform, her other one was probably still in the wash.

He went into the kitchen and looked at her food supplies. It looked like she was able to cook basic meals, judging from the open cook book and some dirty dishes. She was well stocked, she had probably been shopping recently.

The nursery now had a basinet, changing station, and two boxes of baby clothes. Before they had come though, it had held a dresser, some baby toys, and a rocking chair. He admired the paint and opened the closet to find painting supplies, which meant Naome had probably done the painting herself.

The living room had a couch, tv, and a little garden of potted plants. Naome had a talent for gardening, which he never would have guessed.

All in all the apartment was unremarkable. It was tidy, but it looked lived in. The space was open but it didn't look empty. The walls were bare of pictures, like a normal household, but instead there was splashes of color. Shikamaru wondered if Naome had walked through her entire house with a paint brush and merely dabbed at whatever space she felt needed brightening.

The colors were bright. Here was some red, there was orange, and he saw in the bathroom that it was mostly a very bright blue. There was a lot of yellow, the living room was mostly green. They weren't covering any specific place either, and each spot looked messy. It looked like Naome had just thrown globs of paint everywhere.

He went into Naome's room and took a look around. It was the master bedroom of the three-room apartment. It held a queen sized bed with patched up sheets, some purple curtains, a fuzzy orange carpet, a dresser, a vanity with half the mirror missing, and a book shelf.

Shikamaru was pleasantly surprised to see a Go board and wondered if Naome was any good. He then moved on to the bookshelf to see what sort of things Naome read.

There were some baby books, one or two cook books, a kid's story book, a photo album that he'd look at later, and a big history book. He looked at the last one the longest. It wasn't a school book, it was too big, but it said clearly Konoha History.

He took it out and found that it told more than important names and faces and battles. There were details like reasons the shinobi wars were all started, allies past and present, and important info on the origins of the village clans. It wasn't a history book, it was a fountain of knowledge!

Shikamaru looked at the time and saw it was four fifteen. He should wake Naome up now to let her get ready for work. She wouldn't mind if he stayed and read a little though, would she?

As it was, Naome told him he was always welcome so long as he didn't make a habit of going out late. He wasn't sure if she was serious about that or if it was a joke because she looked like an adult as Ran. Either way he knew he'd be heeding her advice regardless, the Red Light district was dangerous for kids on their own, even academy students.

He finished the history book with understanding on a lot of clan traditions that he hadn't had before and decided to look through the photo album since he had spare time before having to go home.

On the front of the album were the words Family Album in formal kanji. He knew Naome was an orphan, but he wondered if that had always been the case. Were her parents' pictures in here?

He opened it but instead found ultra sound pictures. There were pictures of Ran and Naome respectively. There was even a picture of Naome lifting up her shirt and admiring her belly in the mirror. It must've been taken a month back or so though, because it looked flat and unremarkable.

This wasn't an album of any lost family, it was an album of the family she was starting. He flipped through the rest of the book to see if there were any more pictures, but until the end he didn't find anything. At the back was a poem though, apparently written by Naome.

Tiny movements like tiny kicks

Tiny baby, a mother's bliss

Can't wait to give the tiny you

Huge hugs and lots of kisses too

What tiny dreams you might have now?

I would understand someday, somehow

I dreamed last night, your tiny face

An angel indeed, made from God's sweet embrace

How else would mommy know?

How much her tiny little angel has grown?

How else would mommy guess?

If her little angel have some requests?

I know that somehow you could now hear

Oh, what a thrill you will bring us here!

Now hush my baby, it's time to rest

Inside my womb, your own calm nest

May God help me to keep you safe

And always keep you strong, I pray

I love you right before I planned you

And I love you more now that I have you

The poem wasn't the best written, but he could clearly see Naome struggling to come up with just the right words. If he told anyone that Naome would ever write a poem, he'd be sent to the school nurse before he could say troublesome, but after he closed the album and replaced it on the shelf, he wondered what else he didn't know about Naome Uzumaki.

He left and made it home in time for dinner, which they were having at the Akimichi's. His mom wouldn't shut up about the sweet 'Ran' and her little boy she was expecting. Shikamaru knew from the look in Chrona Akimichi's eye when Yoshino said Ran was too thin that Naome would be invited over for dinner very soon.

"So this Ran lady let you stay at her place for the night?" Chouji asked to be certain. Shikamaru nodded and the boy continued his eating like he'd never spoken.

"What's she like?" The question was easy enough to answer but Shikamaru quickly realized he didn't know. What surprised him though, was that he wanted to.

"Quiet, likes gardening, polite, and likes bright colors." He reported loyally. He found himself wanting to say she was a good painter, that she wrote some poetry, and that she obviously loved her baby even though she was only three months along. What did he really know though?

He stayed overnight at the Akimichi household that night. Chrona eventually weaseled out of him that 'Ran' had a craving for dango from what he'd observed before letting them go to bed.

"Hey Shika, you were pretty quiet, is something wrong?" Chouji asked from his side of the twin bed. Shikamaru opened his eyes to see his best friend looking at him.

"Nothing's wrong." He said honestly. Nothing was either, Naome and the baby seemed healthy enough, nothing had happened to him in the district, that crazy jounin woman hadn't tried to kill him.

"You didn't once look out the window at the clouds all through dinner!" Shikamaru realized he'd have to work on his acting if he wanted to keep his promise to Naome. Still, he found himself wanting to tell Chouji, honor be damned. It was only Naome's face when she'd asked him to promise not to tell that kept him quiet.

"I ran into Naome today, she lives in the Red Light district." His friend's eyes widened, as though he'd just discovered the secret to the meaning of life. Chouji seemed to accept his explanation and drifted off to sleep. Shikamaru took a little longer, but sleep couldn't evade a Nara for long.

Over the next few days a new routine was established. Naome slowly started entwining herself into Shikamaru and Chouji's lives, almost without even Shikamaru realizing what she was doing. He would need to ask to find out though. After school Shikamaru would inevitably find his way to her apartment, sometimes with Chouji and sometimes not, helping with her homework.

He would help her try and figure out the absolute limits of Naome's henge, making her randomly transform into various people and objects. When he found out she could change into things much smaller and larger than her, he nearly had a field day with the number of uses that could have.

As expected, an invitation from Yoshino to Ran to meet the Akimichi was delivered soon. That weekend she was invited over and they had dinner together comfortably. Shikamaru introduced Chouji to 'Ran', Yoshino introduced her to Chrona. Chrona then began trying to make Ran eat her weight in food.

"Come now, your much too thin for three months! Help yourself, there's plenty!" Ran was again coerced into accepting another plate of food. At least they had finally made it to dessert and this plate had dango on it.

Chrona and Yoshino had never been ninja, thus they got along well with Ran. Come to think of it, Yuki Yamanaka had never been a ninja either. Ran wondered if she would be meeting Ino's mom soon.

"Okay be honest, did you want a boy or a girl when you first found out." Yoshino asked. It was after dinner and everyone was sitting in the living room and unwinding.

"I immediately wanted a boy but I do hope to have a girl later on. When I find the right guy." Which for Naome, might be difficult. Especially as her having a kid couldn't stay a secret forever.

"Have you thought of names?" Chrona asked next, pouring some tea.

"I've already decided on the name Hikaru." Ran informed them. For a girl she wasn't so sure, but she liked the name Kuina.

Eventually it grew late and Ran bid everyone good bye. She wasn't aware that Chrona had Choza follow her to make sure she got home safely. Luckily, Ran saw the walk home after the long evening the perfect training exercise and didn't dispel her henge.

She made it home, took a shower, and went to bed. She'd had a long saturday and was ready for a nice long sleep!

3 months later!

Naome decided there wasn't enough hours in the day. She worked herself to the bone in the morning at five until seven thirty, ate breakfast, then sat through the academy, then homework for two hours, than work from five till midnight. This left five blissful hours of sleep, which were a good five hours too few.

Naome came to this conclusion whilst sitting in class through a long lecture about the many shinobi disciplines. She shook her head and made herself focus. Who knows, maybe she'd learn something to help her.

"Yet another example of a discipline requiring a lot of study is fuuinjutsu." Naome looked up in interest. Sealing arts? Like storage scrolls and exploding tags?

The extra studying she'd have to dedicate to that almost put her off entirely. She already had too few hours of sleep as it was! Naome watched as Iruka showed some of the students some of the uses for seals, like barriers and intruder detector seals. Things she could definitely use.

Naome groaned and let her head fall onto the table in front of her. She was 24 weeks pregnant, and tired! She thought it was bad before, but at least then she'd been able to walk for a good while before tiring out.

"Naome Uzumaki, wake up!" Her head shot up and she felt her eyes prickling. She'd started experiencing the mood swings she had read about, she knew she had to get it under control or she would start crying in front of everybody.

"'M wake!" She assured him sleepily, not helping matters. Her schedule was really starting to kill her, she needed a break! If only she could just go on vacation or something. She knew that wouldn't happen though, she still had a month of school left.

Iruka sighed in annoyance before returning to his teaching duties. Naome was really starting to worry him. She was even more tired than usual and rings were appearing around her eyes. Her grades had taken another jump forward in the last couple months too. He wondered if she was training for even longer now because it didn't look like she was sleeping.

"Maybe you should slow down on your morning training." Shikamaru suggested during lunch. He had told Chouji to go on outside without him while he spoke to Naome. He still hadn't told his friend, but he was wondering how long it would be until the big boy found out for himself and if their friendship could survive it.

"Your six months along, so obviously it only hurts more to practice now. You might force yourself into labor prematurely." He whispered into her ear, making sure no one could hear them.

It was an underhanded trick, but bringing the baby into the argument usually made Naome do whatever it was you wanted her to. She balked at the mere thought of endangering her baby boy. Shikamaru knew that boy would be the most protected and watched over in the entire Fire Country, maybe the world.

"Maybe I should cut down a bit." Naome mumbled self conciously. She had always known that her kind of training wasn't the most beneficial, but just halting in her regimen made her boil. She found she liked being in the upper echelon's of the class, and she was afraid slacking off now would ruin that.

At the same time, she knew her most recent scores had started suffering from over working herself. It was definitely time to cut back and relax.

Naome suddenly winced, as a particularly strong kick seemed to knock the air from her lungs. Oh yeah, her little boy was definitely going to be a strong taijutsu user.

Shikamaru had never felt the baby kicking, but he'd often seen Naome or Ran wince at the baby's movements. Sometimes he wanted to ask, but it didn't feel right. He wasn't the baby's father, he wasn't his uncle! It didn't feel right to ask to be let in to that little world.

Naome inwardly sighed as she saw Shikamaru's gaze linger on her belly. She knew he wanted to feel, but he never asked. She wondered if he felt embarrassed about asking. She then decided she didn't care and she wanted Shikamaru to feel her son.

Shikamaru's mouth opened in an attempt to protest when Naome took his hand but froze when it was placed on her stomach. Naome had lifted up the hoodie, leaving her belly covered in only a white T and the bump clearly showing.

Shikamaru tensed when he felt something flutter beneath his hand. The baby was kicking, and he was feeling it. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of something, anything, to say but came up blank.

"Whoo, I think Hikaru is trying to show off for you!" Naome grunted. As soon as Shika's hand had landed the little boy was a flurry of movements. She wondered if he knew that it was Shikamaru's hand, then decided he probably did.

Shikamaru regained his wits and eventually lifted his hand to go join Chouji. Naome stayed inside and slept through lunch and recess, just like she always did lately. Or at least, that was her intention.

"What were you and Shikamaru talking about?" Naome nearly burst into tears there and then when she heard the voice of Ino Yamanaka directly above her. Why did people always come when she was trying to sleep? Did they enjoy tormenting her? Was it a conspiracy! Why wouldn't they let her sleep!

"He was in here an awful long time." Oh, and apparently Sakura was tagging along too. This day just kept getting better and better!

"And you've been acting weird for weeks now!" Ino again, slightly louder and helping to nurture a headache Naome hadn't noticed until then.

"Yeah, you finally decide to get serious and then you can't keep your eyes open in class!" Sakura, even louder than Ino. They better not start a screeching contest right beside her or there would be hell to pay and she would demand currency in blood.

"So start spilling!" 'Kami, kill me now.' Naome wished she could just sleep. She needed sleep! If she didn't get sleep soon one of the three of them wouldn't walk out of this room!

Naome had to almost physically stop herself for reaching for a training kunai when Sakura spoke again.

"You know your only ten years old right so you shouldn't be lifting up your shirt and letting him cop a feel!" Naome instantly lifted her head and gave the deadliest glare of her life. Sakura and Ino both backed a step and seemed to freeze, they couldn't even breathe. Naome would later realize she had used Killer Intent for the first time in her life.

"That you would even suggest that makes me sick." She stood up, unable to just sit still with all this hormonal rage boiling inside her. Her son seemed to sense what was happening and she could swear she felt him curling deeper into her for protection.

"If I hear anything like that from you or anyone else in this academy, you know who I'll blame. Spread a rumor like that and expect Hell. Now leave me the fuck alone so I can fucking sleep!" Naome, until now, had never sword at school. Sakura and Ino ran from her like the devil was at their heels.

Instantly all her anger turned to fear. What if they told someone? What if she got into trouble for threatening them like that? What if Shikamaru had heard that? He might decide it was less troublesome to distance himself from her!

Naome sat down helplessly and shot a furtive glance at the clock on the wall. She still had thirty minutes before anyone came back from lunch.

Naome Uzumaki laid one hand on her stomach, stuffed a fist in her mouth, and cried.

After running, Sakura and Ino sat in the shade of the building to try and shake away their lingering panic. Sakura and Ino both competed in book smarts and both realized they had just felt raw KI, something most genin never managed!

"I-I never meant to say that!" Sakura knew she had crossed a line. Ino and her may have been rivals but they both still came together when a juicy secret surfaced. When they witnessed a scene of what looked like Shikamaru feeling Naome up through the window they had immediately jumped to conclusions. This one being that the two were secretly dating.

"God I feel so bad, she looked like she was going to cry!" Ino hated it when people cried around her. It was part of the reason she had first befriended Sakura, because the pinkette was always crying.

"We jumped to conclusions! He was probably just looking at something in her lap!" Sakura whimpered, remembering the utterly hateful look they had been on the receiving end of.

"She definitely hates us now." Ino wasn't sure how she felt about that. She knew many kids were jealous of her brilliant good looks, but she wasn't sure about people hating her. Naome had every reason to hate her too.

Both knew they had to go back in there for class. Both knew they had to apologize. Both knew it had to be done in front of the entire class if they wanted Naome to know they meant it. Both dreaded it at the same time they wished the bell would ring.

Naome was sitting in the same place, although her head was down and her tears dried. She hadn't lifted her head when she heard kids enter the class. She hadn't until she heard them whispering and practically felt them pointing at her.

Hesitantly, she lifted her head to see Ino and Sakura standing in front of her desk. A surge of panic ripped through her and she knew that they were about to tell everyone about her threatening them! She'd get detention for so long she wouldn't remember what freedom tasted like!

"Naome, we're sorry!" Sakura stated it loudly for the whole class to hear. Naome opened and closed her mouth before settling on putting a confused expression on her face.

"We shouldn't have said that about you. You didn't deserve it." Both girls bowed. Naome knew from those silly diplomacy lessons that the girls would stay there until she acknowledged their apology.

"Um, It's okay I guess. I overreacted. I should've explained what you really saw." By now the entire class was confused.

"We want to make up for it, so we're taking you shopping!" Naome straightened up and instantly turned to her left, where Shikamaru was now looking at her. They both knew clothes shopping would mean changing rooms, which meant taking off her extremely thick hoodie.

"Um, well, I-I'd love to but, uh I got a thing that I gotta do. With um, Shikamaru!" She looked at him helplessly, unused the amount of attention she was getting. The only expierience she had with something like this was with Yoshino, Chrona, and Yuki, and that was when they knew she was pregnant!

"You do!" Ino squealed. She knew those two were closer than they looked. Shikamaru thankfully took the cue to save Naome's bacon.

"We were going out for ramen." He yawned, acting less than interested.

"I knew you two were dating!" Iruka looked like he wanted to say something, probably tell them to sit down, but he was also interested in Naome's strange behavior. Was her strange tiredness just a side effect of puberty?

Naome's blushing didn't help the whispers starting to spread. How did she get herself into this mess? Why was she blushing? What was worse, was that she found the idea of dating Shikamaru perfectly fine.

"We're not dating! It's just ramen!" She never thought she would say such a thing about the holy noodles, but desperate times took desperate measures. Besides, Shikamaru looked like he liked the idea even less than she did!

"Oh really, so what exactly was he doing hovering over you during lunch?" Ino asked coyly. Naome invented new shades of red that would make Hinata jealous.

"Um, uh, he was, you see we were only, um, uh...Help me out here Shika." She wanted to cry again. That's how much she was enjoying this.

"I was...I only wanted to look at a book she had in her lap." Shikamaru said lamely, feeling about the same as her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chouji trying to hold in his snickers. The traitor!

"Ssuuurree, we completely understand Shikamaru. You were just looking at a book, something Naome's never touched willingly." Ino purred. She loved teasing people and Naome and Shika were such good targets! This was better than she had imagined.

"Uh, Iruka-sensei don't you have something to say about the village economy or something?" Naome turned to her teacher in desperation, a lecture, anything, to escape everyone's looks.

Iruka came out of his self-induced trance and told everyone to sit down and be quiet rather profesionally for someone who felt like he was watching a drama unfold. Naome visibly slumped in her chair for relief. That was way too close, but now she had a ramen date with Shikamaru. How did she get herself into these messes!

Shikamaru meanwhile had finally managed to put the pieces together and realized what must've happened. The girls had seen him feel the baby but hadn't had a good enough view to see Naome's extended stomach and had drawn conclusions that brought pink to his cheeks.

They had confronted Naome about it and must have said something very offensive because they had even apologized in front of the entire class to make amends. They had then offered a shopping trip and knowing that shopping meant changing clothes, he had been forced to intervene to help protect Naome's secret. Which brought them full circle to the 'date'.

Shikamaru studied Naome and decided he could live through one troublesome date. Naome wasn't as troublesome as Ino when you got to know her. She was pleasing to the eye but not in-your-face beautiful, she was nice, liked gardening, painting, and poetry.

He could do worse, he decided. Besides, they weren't really dating this was just a trick to get Ino and Sakura off their shopping trip idea for now.

School ended and Naome and Shikamaru headed to Ichiraku's ramen. Naome was of mixed feelings. On one hand, everyone else thought this was a date, on the other hand it was ramen!

"I think we're being followed." Naome whispered suddenly. She wouldn't have caught it normally but all her sneaking around as Ran had given her practice at feeling other's eyes on her. Shikamaru nodded, he felt them too.

It seemed Ino and Sakura wanted to watch their little date.

"We're going to have to play along." Shikamaru whispered back. They didn't want their bluff being called and all.

"You've been cultivating a Lavatera plant haven't you? You said they aren't native to this climate, so how is it going?" He asked louder, just enough so their audience could hear.

"Pretty good actually! I've just begun pruning it and the shoots are sprouting like mad! They'll start blooming in a couple weeks!" She said excitedly, happy to talk about her plants. On the top of her apartment building was an old garden that she had immediatly fixed up and put to work as soon as winter was over. She loved doing her homework around a multitude of flowers.

"You know Ino's parents own a flower shop, you should go there sometime." Shikamaru advised her. She did go there as Ran, but they tried to make sure Naome went to places Ran did so that both identity's could have information and not be seen as suspicious.

"I was thinking about it cause I passed by there the other day! I really need some more pots and fertilizer!" He resisted the urge to smirk with mirth as Naome almost walked past Ichiraku's in her detailed list of things she needed.

"Ah, Naome-chan! Shikamaru-kun!" Ayame greeted them happily, already helping her father get their usual orders ready. They often came here after school, although usually with Chouji too.

"You two here by yourselves? So did Shikamaru finally ask you out Naome-chan?" Naome got a betrayed look on her face and invented an interesting shade of red. Shikamaru wondered briefly if Hinata had been giving her blushing lessons.

"Um, well, it's not really a date!" Naome protested weakly. Why was everyone suddenly hooked onto the idea that they were dating? Couldn't two opposite gender friends go out for ramen anymore?

"Why are my girls growing up so fast?" Teuchi sighed.

"Ayame is almost a woman and now my little Naome-chan is bringing boys to the stand." Naome groaned and her head hit the counter with a thump.

"Oh, by the way Shikamaru, if your going to date my little Naome-chan I have to give you the father speil." Shikamaru invented a new shade of pasty white. Naome chuckled as Teuchi lectured him on treating her like 'A beautiful, strong, independent, princess'.

They left the ramen shack and decided to go the the Yamanaka Flower shop, since neither felt like doing homework would be good date material.

"Ohayo, Yamanaka-san." Shikamaru called politely when they walked through the front door.

"Hello Shikamaru-kun, do you know where Ino is? She's meant to be running the register." Yuki returned politely.

"She's been following us since school ended." Naome informed the woman. She could see the stress instantly fade from the woman to be replaced by relief. She made a note to always make sure she knew where Hikaru-chan was so she wouldn't always be worried.

"Well is there anything I can do for you?" Yuki asked kindly. Yuki was one of the few adults who gave Naome the benefit of the doubt, so she always tried to make a good first impression with these kind of people.

"Hai, I need some pots and fertilizer for my little garden." She said. After collecting their purchases and managing to coerce Shika into carrying the heavy bag of fertilizer, they left for her apartment.

Naome gave a huge yawn as she realized how tired she was now. She felt better than she had earlier, ramen usually did that, but now she was exhausted from carrying the pots and they weren't even in the Red light district yet!

"Want to take a break." Shikamaru asked her, nodding his head in direction of the park they were approaching.

"Yeah, but only for a little while. I got work in an hour!" Naome insisted quietly, not wanting their tag alongs to hear.

"That old man works you too hard." Shikamaru had met Takimaru and could honestly say the man rubbed him the wrong way.

"Takimaru's okay once you get to know him. Besides, if not for him I'd be out of a job and out of luck. Doctor's appointments are expensive!" Naome reminded him.

"We should get moving I guess, even though it's troublesome. If your late you might be fired." Shikamaru thought about complaining about the heavy bag but decided against it. The pots were heavier and Naome was pregnant and she wasn't complaining!

They made it with just a few minutes to spare. Naome henged into Ran and changed into her uniform before heading off, leaving Shikamaru to either lounge in her apartment or go find Chouji. Remembering how his friend had betrayed him earlier, he chose lounging about today.

Naome's apartment had changed a bit in the last three months. The walls were all painted now and covered in paintings that she had done herself. The paintings themselves were varied. Most were of buildings, like the academy, the mountains, Ichiraku's, and the Hokage tower. Each painting was shaded differently, like she'd been feeling something different when finishing each one.

The one for the monuments was bright and had the Sun angled just to show the Yondaime in a bright light and managing to shadow the other three faces. Naome did hold the Yondaime in higher regard, he was her hero.

The one for the academy was slightly darker. Whether this was shadowing of the building's purpose to train little assassins or simply because Naome hated school, he didn't know. All the paintings were styled high lighting a seemingly small part of the subject, but somehow drawing your attention to that place until you realized how important it was to the picture as a whole.

In her bedroom were portraits. There was one of him and Naome, at the park and playing. In this picture Naome looked slightly younger and she wasn't pregnant, she wasn't even wearing a jacket although the leaves in the trees were orange and red. Shikamaru was laying on the slide and looked like he was cloud gazing. Naome though was swinging with a big grin on her face.

Shikamaru's brows came together and he looked closer at the picture. In the background, hidden from immediate view, were the monument heads. Naome's face was positioned so it looked like her face was in the place the Godaime's head would be carved. He smirked when he saw that and wondered if anyone else had seen the irony or if it was just him so far.

In her room were her easel and paints, the Go board that they sometimes played at, the bookshelf, and on the vanity there was make up. The bookshelf had some new additions, like some parenting books, a novel that she had fallen in love with, a book on jutsu theories which he'd provided, and some more advanced cook books.

More color had been added as well. The roof of the room had been painted like the sky, with a couple clouds and everything. A sill pot was sitting on the window with some tulips budding and a couple getting ready to bloom.

Shikamaru thought it looked very homey. Having finished having a look around, he decided to claim Naome's bed until he had to go home. His mother was all too troublesome about him being out late now.

Next Day, Six in the Morning.

Naome slammed a fist on the alarm next to her bed and let her feet carry her to the bathroom without even opening her eyes. She had decided two hours with one dedicated to physical training and the other to chakra would be less dangerous than two physical hours and one chakra hour.

At her training ground she did her stretches and started her laps. She was near the top of her class in strength training even though she was secretly pregnant. The only ones who could beat her were Kiba and Sasuke and she made both of them really work for it. She sometimes won against Kiba, simply because she could outlast him, but that wasn't often. Who knew protecting your stomach could make it so hard to win a spar?

After her laps she did punches and kicks, working at the same tree she'd been working at for the past half a year. It was really getting worn down now. When she finished that she moved to push ups, curl ups, and one handed chin ups!

While she didn't always win her spars, she was at the top of the class when it came to brute strength. She wondered if carrying the baby as extra weight helped. No one could beat her at arm wrestling, even though Sasuke made it a point to try at least once a week.

When the hour was over she settled down to work on her chakra. Shikamaru had given her suggestions to help her out with the bunshin jutsu, which she had a lot of problems with. No matter how much chakra she used, she couldn't make the clones come out! At least not without them looking dead!

So he had suggested chakra control excercises! It turned out that leaf excercise Iruka-sensei sometimes made her do as punishment was useful for something after all! She had gotten to a point where she could have fifty leaves on her arms and head and spin them round and round without any falling.

It was while she was doing this that she had an epiphany. Although what surprised her the most was that she knew that word at all.

What if instead of making something stick to her, she stuck to something! An image of her walking around on her ceiling came to mind. That would be the abso-fucking-lutely coolest thing ever!

She hopped up, making the leaves fall from their various perches, and faced another tree. This was totally doable and she was determined to do it! She bet everybody would be so jealous when she showed it off in class!

Apparently the baby was eager for her to try too, since he was kicking her harder than usual now. He felt really excited!

Naome made an effort to calm herself down before she began molding her chakra. She knew that if she let her stupid hormonal mood swings win she wouldn't be able to focus her chakra at all! She focused completely on the tree, she had to concentrate.

Naome opened her eyes and put one foot on the tree. It stuck. She added her other foot, a little higher than the first, and was fully horizontal. Pushing away the thoughts of possibly hurting the baby by falling, she took another step forward.

She was shaky and she sometimes slipped a little, but over all she thought she had done pretty well for a first time. She did fall a couple times, but she always made sure to land in a way the baby wouldn't be accidentally hurt.

She grabbed an apple from home before heading to the academy, her mind abuzz with possibilities.

During class they again spoke briefly about fuuinjutsu and it's many uses. Yondaime-sama had been a fuuinjutsu master! Of course, this made her want to study it even more, but she simply didn't have the time. It would have to wait until she had a slightly less busy schedule. Working a good nineteen hours a day didn't leave much free time.

"Now then, it's time for sparring. Let's go to the dojo." Naome smiled when she heard that. She loved sparring! Being able to learn by beating on people and being beaten on, there was nothing better!

Today she was put with Hinata as a partner. She thought Hinata was kind of weird cause she was so quiet but she guessed she was shy. After all, she had Ran be quiet and shy too and Hinata and 'Ran' acted pretty much the same.

Naome's academy taijutsu sucked, but she didn't really use it. She let her body move on instinct, letting each blow slide into the next as she pivoted back and forth aginst her opponent. This method worked pretty well with Kiba and Sasuke, who preferred head on taijutsu like her. Against Hinata though she changed tactics.

Hinata was smaller than her and not as strong, however she used her clan taijutsu the jyuuken. With it Hinata could completely shut her down with just a few hits, and getting hit with little needles of chakra hurt. What was worse was that Hinata liked aiming for the stomach.

So whenever Naome fought her, she made sure to keep out of reach to try and tire the Hyuga heiress out. She'd go in for a hit if she thought she could, but she tended to stay moving as much as possible. Especially since she knew the Byakugan could see through things, which meant Hinata might see the baby!

She knew that all living things had chakra, and she knew that even babies inside their mom's tummy's had chakra, which meant the byakugan could see them. Whenever she fought with Hinata she made sure to try and channel chakra to augment her moves. Not only did this make her faster and stronger, but it distracted Hinata from looking to closely at her torso.

The fight ended quickly enough when Naome got behind Hinata and kicked her off balance before sitting down on her. In that position it was difficult at best to get any leverage to displace your opponent.

"Winner, Naome Uzumaki." Iruka announced after seeing Hinata couldn't displace her.

Shikamaru as usual forfeited his match against some nameless student. He never even tried, even though she knew he was decent at the taijutsu. He was just too lazy and called it troublesome.

END OF THE FIRST CHAPTER AND I PERSONALLY ENJOYED TYPING EVERY SINGLE LETTER!

LC; Okay, we're done with the first chappie!

Naruto; Great, only about ninety nine more to go.

Sasuke; This is going to take forever, it's too slow paced!

LC; Maybe to you it is but I actually put time skips! I don't usually do that!

Naruto; Whatever, let's just leave already.

LC; Kay kay! Review please!