Take my Hand

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters created by Kishimoto Masashi. I
am only borrowing them for the purpose of fanfiction.

A/N: Hello all, new day, new chapter. I've been swamped for the past
couple of weeks and have had no time to write. I'm gonna try and get this story
again rolling as soon as possible. Even if that mean finishing the story
ahead of time and just posting the chapters like twice a week. Well, here goes the next installment of this
story!

---

Chapter 11

Hinata, Gaara, and Yusuke arrived at
Sunagakure and were greeted with ecstatic praises. The streets were lined with
sand shinobi and villagers alike, all joyous at the return of their kazekage
and his new bride, and were jubilantly celebrating in the streets.

Hinata was smiling shyly at the
villagers as they passed and looked at Gaara affectionately. He was giving the
villagers a ghost of a smile and would occasionally look down at Yusuke. The
boy had really grown on them over the last leg of the trip, Gaara especially.
Although he would never admit it to a living soul of course, and would deny it
every time Hinata brought it up.

Gaara was curious, however. Hinata
had been very happy and he was going over the past couple days to see if he
could catch when her mood had changed. The carriage gave a lurching halt and
the couple stepped out and proceeded inside, Yusuke in tow. It took all of five
minutes for Temari and Kankuro to take a liking to Yusuke and immediately set
off with the boy to get him a room and the necessary things a growing boy would
need.

“ Gaara-kun…” Hinata said, gazing at
her husband. “ I need you to show me where our rooms are so that I can go take
a nap, I’m kind of tired from the ride.”

Gaara smiled at her and nodded. She
had been sleeping a lot over the past couple days in the carriage and took it
as that she was just still recovering from her ordeal six days ago. “ Of
course, follow me…” he said. Guiding her to one of the wings of the tower, he
opened his bedroom door to see that all of her things had been moved into his
room and kind of melded with his tastefully. He gave a brief nod of approval
and led his wife to their bed.

“Don’t sleep too long, I’m sure that
they’ll be calling for lunch any time now.” He said, kissing her forehead as
she settled onto the pillow.

“ No worries, I won’t Gaara-kun.”
She replied sleepily. Hinata’s eyes drooped closed and Gaara kissed her temple
once more before leaving the room.

---

Gaara sat in his office, going over
the report that Baki had made in his absence and nodded at the progress that
Kankuro and Jii-san had made with getting supplies to the new town that they
were settling. Jii-san and Kankuro had
even gotten ahead of his schedule so that he wouldn’t have as much work to do
for the next week. That meant he would be out of his office just after lunch
most days. Gaara smiled and thought of Hinata. He hadn’t asked her anything
about a baby because it had just slipped his mind and that he was also worried
sick about his wife. He finished looking at the paperwork and stamped and signed
everything that needed to be. Finishing early, he folded his hands and rested
his chin atop of them. His mind drifted back to just after Hinata’s surgery and
played it over in his mind.

“ No worries, we’re just fine..”

Gaara bolted up straight and bolted
from the room. He passed everyone as if the shinigami were chasing him and flew
into the bedroom. There he saw a beautiful vision. Hinata was sitting at her
vanity, brushing back her long violet locks as the sunshine nestled on her
shoulders, giving her an angelic appearance.

Hinata turned around and sweetly
smiled at her husband. “ Are you taking a break Gaara?” she said demurely as
she rose to stand.

Gaara closed the distance between
them and kissed her passionately. “ Why didn’t you tell me?”

Hinata smiled. “ I did, remember?”

Gaara shook his head. “ That wasn’t
telling, that was hinting…” He replied, a smirk on his face. He caressed her
belly and kissed her sweetly. “ You found out that night, didn’t you?”

Hinata nodded and relished in her
husband’s embrace. “ It’s a bit sudden, but I’m pleased none the less…”

Gaara kissed her abdomen sweetly,
right over where their child was growing in her womb. “ Temari is gonna have a
fit when she finds out she’s going to be an aunt so soon.” He whispered. He
stood and kissed her once more. “ I love you, Hinata…”

Hinata looked up at him, her eyes
becoming wet at his words. She kissed him fiercely and rested her forehead
against his when she pulled away. “ I…I love you too, Gaara-kun.” She returned.

Gaara swept her up and against his
body, placing her on the bed and making love to his wife for the rest of the
afternoon, work be damned.

---

Several weeks passed and Hinata
started showing more signs of pregnancy. Her morning sickness started rather
suddenly after Temari had made her breakfast. They were waitiing until they told
the council about the heir to be to tell Gaara’s siblings and her family as
well. Temari was in the midst of cooking Hinata’s omelet when she heard her
sister-in-law retching into the waste basket.

“ Hinata? Are you alright?”

Hinata nodded as Temari handed her a
moist cloth. “ Yes, Temari-chan. I think I ate something that didn’t agree with
me.” She replied, smiling.

Temari shrugged and helped her
little sister up. “ Just try to keep light on your feet then. I personally feel
you should go lay back down for a little while longer.”

Hinata shook her head. “ I’ll be
fine, Temari-chan. I need to talk with my doctor anyways about a few things?”

Temari narrowed her eyes
perceptively. “ Like what?”

Hinata smiled. “ Nothing much. My
cramps have been pretty bad this month and I wanted to make sure nothing was
wrong.” She replied. She wasn’t lying. Her cramps had been pretty bad for the
past couple of days. She wanted to be sure that wasn’t going to start any
problems with the baby.

Temari seemed pacified for the
moment, but looked as if she wanted to discuss it further. Hinata calmly ate
and went to the doctors.

“ You’re having cramps? What’s the
level of pain on a scale of one to ten?” she asked, gently palpitating Hinata’s
lower abdomen.

“ To be honest, the pain is about a
six or seven. Yesterday was the worst though, I was crying it hurt so bad.”
Hinata replied. “ What’s wrong?”

Chiyu Te’s brow furrowed and she sat
down. “ For some reason, your baby is already emitting a chakra force…And the
both of yours are clashing. I need to send word to Tsunade-hime and Haruno
Sakura about this…”

Hinata sighed. She knew it was going
to come out sooner or later amongst her friends, she just wanted the family to
find out first. “ Everything else is fine with the baby though, isn’t it?”

“ Yes, so there is nothing to worry
about. Just try to focus on something soothing to calm down your little one in
there and it may help the chakra outbursts.”

---

Gaara sat down as the council took
their place, ready to speak Gaara about his nuptials and if the couple was
expecting yet.

“ The council has assembled, and now
we shall await upon the Kazekage to debrief us on the latest happenings.”
Jii-san said.

Gaara sighed and stood. “ Most of
you are aware that I have taken a bride to assure the peace between Sunagakure and
Konohagakure. That bride is Hyuuga Hinata, now Sabaku no Hinata. We have
recently learned that she has conceived, and will bear a child in approximately
eight and a half months.” He said, and with that last statement, took his seat
and waited for the meeting to end. Funny
how that wound up to be. The baby will be born not too long after Naruto’s birthday.
He thought.

Gaara walked into his bedroom to
check on his wife, and smiled softly when he saw her sleeping. Kankuro and
Temari were out with Yusuke, getting him trained up and ready to enter the
ninja academy. He was getting spoiled rotten by the two and everyone was
enjoying every minute of it. Gaara slipped in gently so as not to wake her, and
spooned her body as he came into contact with her warm body. He had kinda
fudged to the council by saying the baby was due in about eight months, when in
all honesty, Hinata had conceived on their wedding night in early February. He
could only imagine how Naruto would react if he came to know that their child
would possibly be born on his birthday.

All right! I’m gonna be a uncle! BELIEVE IT!

Gaara suppressed a shudder at the thought,
and kissed his wife’s shoulder. He couldn’t wait to see how she looked, her
belly swollen with their child and waddling around. He wasn’t sure how he was
going to handle her hormones however. They were bad enough as is with her just
being female. That’s not true. Hinata’s
not like that. He thought afterwards. He had made sure that she was doted
on hand and foot now. She was going to be a pampered mother while she was
expecting and afterwards as well. He would see to it.

Hinata stirred slightly and closed
her hand around the one on her abdomen. “ Arashi’s been giving me chakra fits…”
she whispered. “ That’s what Te said was going on. She’s almost certain that I’m
only about seven weeks along, even if the baby is as big as he is already.”

Gaara nodded. They had decided that
no matter if it were a boy or girl, they were going to name the baby Arashi,
for the little stormy ‘tantrums’ that they had caused in the womb. Hinata was
almost certain it was a boy whilst Gaara thought they were having a girl.

“ I still say you conceived on our
wedding night…”

Hianta smiled. “ We’ll just have to
wait and see, won’t we koishii.”

Gaara smiled. He absolutely adored
her when she called him that. “ I guess we will, koibito.”

---

A/N: Not the longest chapter I’ve written,
but definitely the waff-iest. BTW, quick translation for the two words.

Koishii-beloved

Koibito- Sweetheart

I loved writing this chapter because it made me think of when my husband
and I first found out we were expecting our daughter. We both thought we were
having a boy, but his mom was adamant that we were having a girl, only because
she wanted a grand-daughter so badly. Well, anywho, hope you all enjoy and be sure to let me know!