Forever Mine

Chapter 50

[One Month Later]

"Goodnight, guys!" Naruto waved Shikamaru and Temari off as they headed back home for the night.

Sakura and Ino smiled to themselves knowing the shadow user was surely going to get an earful for a comment he'd made about Temari's overeating even though she was only two months along. He needed to watch his mouth, especially once her hormones begin to act up. They could already see Shikamaru confused and hopeless while sighing even more than he already does.

"We're going to get going, too," Sai mentioned before grabbing a hold of his wife's hand. "It's getting late."

Ino nodded and then smiled over at her best friend. "See you in the morning?"

"You don't—"

"I'd love to," she cut her off as she walked away. "I'll bring the breakfast."

Sakura could only stand there, shaking her head in amusement and gratefulness.

For the past month, Ino had been joining her for breakfast every morning, which Sai insisted was fine as it allowed him to head to work earlier to finish more work. Every afternoon, Hinata joined her for lunch and sometimes Naruto joined, too. And every evening, she was either invited over for dinner by Ino or Hinata, or the entire group went out to eat together just as they had tonight.

Sakura loved it and couldn't be happier to have such wonderful friends. They were purposely distracting her from things she didn't want to think about.

They didn't pry about what happened, they simply accepted Kai was gone and it was over. They didn't constantly ask how she was doing, being mindful of how she might feel if they did. They never mentioned Kai or even Sasuke. Not even Naruto who loved bringing up his teammate had said his name in her presence.

Konoha 12 were simply there for her and silently letting her know she wasn't going through it alone, always involving her in plans. It made her feel lighter. She thought it'd be hard talking about it, but she quickly realized it wasn't.

The group couldn't help their conversations always leading to them talking about their kids. What gender they'd be, who'd they look like, if they would be friends, and even joked around about at least two of their kids falling in love with each other. Everyone was genuinely happy about the thought of having little ones soon, even Sakura herself smiled at the thought of having a part of herself constantly at her side.

The only woman in their group that wasn't currently pregnant was Tenten, but to their surprise, she wasn't all too down about it. She was just as excited as them, even claiming to help take care of them whenever they needed.

Tenten had been smiling a lot lately, and whenever she left the village for days, she would always return happier than when she left. They all figured she was secretly seeing someone. And they all already had an assumption on who it was, Temari being the one who tipped them off.

"I'll walk you home," Naruto jerked his head toward her apartment's direction, his hands in his pockets.

With Hinata having dinner with Hanabi for the night, it gave him another hour before needing to head home himself.

"Hmm..."

"What?" Sakura questioned his humming.

"Nothing, you're not showing yet." Naruto straightened up and continued walking down the street after taking a look at her. "Neither is Hinata."

"It hasn't even been two months yet," she shook her head.

"Hinata will be two months next week."

Sakura wondered how far along she was herself. She wasn't entirely sure. She only knew that she wasn't as far along as Hinata. Maybe behind by two weeks. She hadn't been ecstatic about the news in the beginning, which meant she only did the necessary tests. Now she wouldn't know for sure until her checkup next week.