A/N: It has been more than a year since I have updated this, I am aware. I am truly sorry for such a long delay. Hopefully my life will not be as stressful or hectic again this year, which means I can really sit down and write properly. I really have to stop myself from writing more then two stories at once - it just slows me down. I won't be making such a mistake again, that's for sure.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

A Step Forward

Loud knocking pulled Ino from her slumber. She sat up, eyes groggy and glanced at the alarm clock. It was nine in the morning, and she was not ready to be awake.

The knocking persisted. With a heavy sigh, Ino kicked her legs over the edge of the bed and trudged to the front door. When she opened it, she was greeted by two very forest green eyes, black hair and a mole.

"You were still sleeping?" Hyuuzu Mikan asked, amused. "How boring."

Ino blinked, then shook her head. "Can you come back at a more reasonable hour?"

"Nine is a reasonable hour!" Mikan objected. Then, without further ado, the Suna kunoichi pushed Ino aside and strutted into the house. Ino rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her. Mikan pulled off her black sandals, then turned to face the blonde. "Alright, shower! Then eat something so we can go shopping. I am in desperate need of pumpkin seeds."

"Pumpkin seeds?"

"They are my new best friend. Only thing, along with green apples, I can keep down."

"Oh," Ino muttered. "Morning sickness?"

Mikan nodded. Ino patted her shoulder sympathetically, then disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. Mikan made herself comfortable in the living room. She was halfway through a trashy magazine when Naruto appeared from the study.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Good morning, Mikan. I did not hear you come in."

"I was very silent," was the sarcastic reply. "Or you are deaf."

Naruto chuckled. "How was your trip from Suna?"

"Hot, dry...various degrees of uncomfortable."

"Oh, I see," Naruto mumbled and frowned. Was it him, or was Mikan in a strange mood, even more so than usual? He made a mental note to research moods of pregnant women. He shifted on his feet, then spotted the ring on Mikan's finger. It wasn't new, he had seen it countless times before, but looking at it reminded him of what he now knew of what it symbolised. Gaara and Mikan almost gave up. And the ring would have become meaningless.

Mikan noticed he was staring at her fingers and smiled. "It's okay, you know. Growing apart and growing closer together again."

Naruto snapped from his reverie and smiled weakly. "Thanks. I just hope we can be as lucky as you two."

"The notebook," Naruto began, then trailed off, unsure if he should ask. Mikan just smiled and waited for him to continue. Finally, he sighed: "Gaara wrote it, I can recognise that crazy girly handwriting anywhere. But where did he get the advice from?"

"A wise old woman," Mikan replied, mysteriously.

He wanted to ask who the woman was exactly, but was interrupted when Ino appeared in the doorway, dressed and a towel wrapped around her neck.

"Good morning," she greeted Naruto. "You're still here?"

"Morning," he returned her greeting. "And yeah. I'm not working today."

Ino's eyes widened. "Really?"

Naruto suddenly looked nervous. "Um, yeah. I have some stuff to do here."

Ino opened her mouth to ask what he had to do, but Mikan jumped in and practically grabbed and dragged Ino out of the living room and into the kitchen.

"Breakfast, woman!" she grunted. "I am in dire need of pumpkin seeds!"

Ino laughed and did as told. Naruto, meanwhile, mouthed a 'thank you' to Mikan. The Suna kunoichi winked. She could recognise a man on a mission when she saw one.

After she had purchased a large bag of pumpkin seeds and practically started munching on them the minute the cash was in the merchant's hand, Mikan and Ino stepped back into the busy Konoha streets.

"I love this place," Mikan hummed appreciatively. "The people, the food, everything in Konoha is so bright and cheerful. Reminds me of my mother."

"Your mother?" Ino asked, surprised. Mikan rarely spoke of her mother. In fact, the only thing Ino had ever heard about the woman was that she was dead.

Mikan nodded. "She loved music, cooking and anything colourful. The house was always full of life when she was there. When she died, all of that died with her."

"I'm sorry," Ino offered.

"Nah," Mikan brushed her off. "It was a long time ago, I'm okay now. But I like to remember the good things about her."

Ino smiled. "That's the way to go."

The two women passed a store with colourful streamers in the window. Mikan halted almost immediately, her eyes shimmering in excitement.

"Do you know what I just realised?" she asked. Ino shook her head. "We're pregnant! Which means I actually now have an excuse to go shopping for cute little baby stuff!"

And with that the Suna kunoichi practically skipped into the store. Ino watched her, bemused, then followed. On her way, she spotted a little pink shirt in the window and promptly decided that Mikan's enthusiasm was well-placed.

That shirt was bloody adorable.

Two hours later, Mikan was debating whether she should go for a mustard yellow or a sunny yellow for a small pair of shoes, perfect for newborn feet.

"Why not blue or pink?" Ino suggested.

Mikan's nose twitched. "Blue is boring. And pink is so yesterday. Yellow matches the couch in Gaara's office."

Ino raised an eyebrow, when Mikan erupted into giggles.

"I'm going to assume the couch has a ridiculous backstory to it?" Ino asked.

Mikan wiped a tear from her eyes. "Something like that. It might possibly be where this little peanut was conceived." Mikan petted her belly as she said that.

Ino blanched. Okay, she really did not need to know that. Nope. The images flooding through her head was really not needed.

Mikan noticed the blonde's expression and erupted into giggles again. "Everyone has that reaction when I so much as mention Gaara and sex in the same sentence. Is it really that weird?"

"Yes," Ino replied quickly. In her head, Gaara had always been a non-sexual entity. Untouchable and unreachable.

Mikan clicked her tongue and shook her head. "You silly, silly, person. Then again, I suppose I corrupted him. I am an old woman, after all."

Ino chuckled. At times, she almost forgot Mikan was the same age as Temari. To her, the two of them had always seemed like they were her age, or ageless, for she got along so well with them. Of course, Ino got along with others easily, since she blossomed in social situations. But Temari and Mikan had bonded with her because they saw the world very similarly. To them, it was not just black and white. Good and evil. Yes or no. To them, there was always another story, another edge, another reason. It was why they were able to look past their husbands' flaws and dark pasts, because they understood.

Ino understood Naruto's need to be accepted. There had been a time she felt the same, although when she looked back now, her reasons seemed selfish when compared to his. She just wanted to be popular, to have Sasuke's attention on her. Naruto wanted the village to realise he was not a monster. Their reasons were very different, but they had both been bullied for their behaviours to get what they so desperately had wanted. It was that mutual suffering that brought them together.

Mikan understood Gaara's need to be loved. Neither of them had really known their mothers, and had to grow up without such love existing in their lives. They only had their siblings, and each other. And that was enough for them, but sometimes they dreamed of what could have been.

And Temari understood Shikamaru's silent grief over Asuma. And she understood why he had needed to seek justice for his mentor's death. She did not judge him for it, and she did not push him to mourn openly. Because she did not like mourning openly either.

"Ino?" Mikan's voice suddenly snapped the blonde out of her inner thoughts. Ino looked up, finding Mikan standing with two baby shirt options. "Mustard or sunny?"

Ino smiled. "Sunny."

It was dusk by the time Ino unlocked the front door and stepped inside her house, several bags tucked under her arm. Just as she pulled the door behind her and prepared to kick off her shoes, she tripped over a collection of boxes and nearly landed face first on the wooden floor. She quickly caught herself, however, and stepped back, alarmed to find several boxes piled in front of her.

She panicked. Was Naruto packing? Had he given up? Had she done something wrong? She dropped her shopping bags, regretting that she had been foolish enough to buy the things on a whim. She had only just found out she was pregnant, why did she buy baby things already? Naruto obviously did not want it...

"Oh, welcome home," her husband interrupted her thoughts. "How was your day?"

She looked up at him, surprised he had the gall to stand in the doorway to the kitchen with a small smile on his lips. She clenched her fists.

"What is all this?" she asked and gestured to the boxes.

The smile on Naruto's face faded, and he suddenly looked nervous. Ino felt her heart shatter. It could only be bad news.

"Well," Naruto began as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I was, um, cleaning out the study."

Ino blinked, having not expected that. "What?"

Naruto's eyes darted about the room. "I'm moving all of my stuff from the study to my office or storage. So, I can literally only work when at work. And I'm planning to only work during normal business hours, so I can be back to spend time with you and er, our child. When it is born, of course."

Ino's eyes widened, but before she could say anything, Naruto cut her off by continuing: "And, I was thinking, since the study is empty now, we could transform it into a nursery?"

Ino gaped at her husband. She honestly had no idea what to say.

So she burst into tears instead. Which only sent the man into hysterics.

"Oh my gosh! You're crying!" he shrieked. "I'm sorry! The nursery is a bad idea, isn't it? We should find a new house. With a bigger garden. And a big bath. And..."

"Naruto," Ino hiccuped. "Shut up. I'm happy, you goof."

Naruto sighed in relief. "Oh. So, study-made-nursery is good?"

Ino stepped over, ignoring the fact she still had her shoes on, and wrapped her arms tightly around her husband's waist.

"Yes," she whispered.

Naruto seemed unsure what to do for a second, then he seemed to settle and wrapped his arms around her.

"Were you cleaning the whole day?" Ino asked after a minute of silence.

"Yes."

"Is that why Mikan dragged me out of here this morning?"

"Yes."

Ino laughed. "Remind me to thank her."