Art's A Blast...And So Are You

You walked around the forest thinking about what you were gonna do. You missed the Akatsuki terribly but you didn't want to purposely betray the village. You entered the village and walked into the nearest clothing store. Luckily they just so happened to have maternity clothes that you liked. You bought several pairs of jeans and a few shirts.

As you exited the store, you ran into Neji and Lee.

"Okubyoo, Guy Sensei said you were back!" Lee shouted as he hugged you tightly. You squealed a bit.

"Lee, I think you should let her go," Neji said as he stared at you.

"Oh, sorry Okubyoo, but I was just excited see you back home!" he said letting you go.

"Thanks. Um, Neji, I actually needed to talk to you. Do you mind Lee? If you want we can hang out later." You looked at them hopefully.

Neji nodded and the two of you walked to your apartment. You waved to Lee before turning around to hide the tears in your eyes. The walk to your place was extremely quiet.

"Okubyoo, why did you return?" Neji asked as you closed your door.

"It wasn't my choice. I had escaped from Orochimaru. I stopped to rest and when I woke up I was in Kakashi's arms. I was too weak to move on my own. Neji, I want to know if you can tell me how my baby is doing. I've been under a lot of stress in the last month and I'm worried about it."

Neji looked at you using his Byakugan. "The baby is fine. There is no damage that I can find."

"Thank you so much Neji. You and Hinata were the only ones I could think of about seeing. I don't want the whole village to know. I'm not sure how long I'm going to be staying."

"You want to return to him." You nodded.

"Does Kiba know you're planning on leaving?"

"No. I'm afraid to tell him. The rest of the family are ashamed of me for joining them."

You sat down on the small couch Kakashi brought you from your room at Kiba's home. You were holding your Akatsuki robes close to you. Your fingers traced the red clouds. Your purple nail-polish was chipping off.

After a short silence, there was a knock at your door. Neji stood up and answered it.

"Hey Neji, is Okubyoo here?"

"Hi Kiba. She's over on the couch."

Kiba entered the room and sat next to you as Akamaru jumped in your lap, careful not to put pressure on your stomach. "Hey you. How ya feelin?"

"Horrible. I don't think anyone wants me here except Lady Tsunade, Kakashi, and all of you genin."

"Shikamaru's happy you're here. So is Akamaru, aren't ya boy?" Akamaru barked happily and licked your hands.

You smiled, leaned over, and hugged Kiba. "Arigato, nii-chan. I don't know what I would do without all of you."

"So, how are things between you and Deidara?"

"They were great until Kabuto kidnapped me. I've been listening for him, but I haven't heard any of his thoughts. I'm worried."

"It'll be ok. I promise. Maybe you should see Shino and Hinata. They were always able to cheer you up. I got an idea, we can have a party! I'll invite everyone. I'll come for you later when it's ready." And with that, Kiba and Akamaru were gone leaving you with Neji.

You both sat in silence as tears rolled down your cheeks. You enjoyed the quiet. It was nice to know someone was there with you, which was all you really needed.

A few hours later Kiba arrived and the four of you (Neji didn't leave your side all day) took off for the Hyuuga compound. Hinata's father gave all of you permission to use his home for the party. Once you walked in you were glomped by Naruto. Naruto was one of your closest friends. You always looked out for him, knowing about the nine-tailed fox and not really caring. For you, it was kinda like having a hyper knuckle headed Gaara around. Minus the sand.

"AMOEBA!" he yelled and almost everyone participated in a group hug (my friends and I would do this at school and take up almost the whole hallway).

"Na-naruto...ca-careful.." you choked out as he squeezed you.

"Oh, yea right," he said rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

You looked around at all the faces. You weren't surprised all the genin were there, or that Shikamaru even showed up. You were surprised, however, to see Kakashi, Guy, and Iruka at the party. All three of them smiled, well, you thought Kakashi smiled, and gave you one-armed hugs.

"How are you doing, Okubyoo?" Guy asked, flashing his shiny toothed grin (does Guy creep anyone else out, or is it just me? You have to admit, the man's weird). Guy helped you out a lot with your taijutsu and you were grateful for it. He helped you become amazing in hand-to-hand combat.

"Good, I guess." You felt a little uncomfortable having everyone fuss over you.

"Come on Okubyoo! Come sit down!" Sakura shouted as she pulled you over to the couch and sat you next to Ten-Ten and Hinata. You met Ten-Ten at the academy, though you were already a chunin when you met. Hinata reminded you a bit of yourself, so you thought of her as a younger sister.

'Hi, Okubyoo. How's the baby?' Hinata thought.

'It's good. I had to have Neji check on it earlier. I've been under stress and I was worried about it.'

Ten-Ten then started a conversation with the two of you as you watched Ino yell at Choji for eating a good portion of the food. You sighed, excused yourself, and walked over to them.

"Hey Choji, enjoying the food?"

"Yep, Hinata's a great cook." Ino scowled at him and walked off.

"Yea she is. It's great to see you," you said hugging him. Choji had been one of your best friends since you met him shortly after he became friends with Shikamaru. You hated the way the other kids treated him just because he ate a lot. You knew from the moment you met him that he would be a great shinobi like his dad.

"Troublesome woman." You turned around and hugged Shikamaru.

"It's nice to see you too, Shika." You'd known Shikamaru since Kiba started at the academy. You enjoyed walking with them to school every morning and home every afternoon.

You spent the rest of the night with your friends, hanging out and having a great time. But all the while you couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.