Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto. It was created by and belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Elva knew the second she woke up that something wasn't right. For one, the light was different. In her room at Akatsuki, there were no windows, so the only light she ever woke up to was fluorescent light coming from the hallway. But when she opened her eyes, there was natural light in the room, meaning there had to be a window in the room. It didn't smell right, either. Not stuffy like Akatsuki. Cleaner. And the walls were a different color.

At that, Elva sat up in bed, stiffening. Where am… She stopped thinking mid-sentence. She knew where she was. But she couldn't be there, not really. She closed her eyes tightly, taking a deep breath. One, two…three. She opened her eyes. She was still there. Still not believing where she was, she slowly got out of bed and went to the door. No one was in the hallway, leaving her to search the house. No one was anywhere to be found. Reluctantly, Elva decided to head outside, freezing in the cold weather.

She didn't have a jacket with her, or else she hadn't been able to find one in the house. The streets of Konoha were mostly deserted save for a few random people passing by. To Elva's luck, they seemed to have their own lives to lead, either not caring or not having time to find out new gossip and spread it. Elva reached her apartment building soon enough, and it was there that her plan went awry. Udon sat at the desk, Moegi and another teenager standing with their backs turned to Elva, talking quietly.

Elva was about to wrench her hand away from the doorknob when Udon looked over the unknown boy's shoulder, his eyes lighting up immediately when he saw Elva. He jumped out of his seat, causing apparent alarm in the other two. These were the times that Elva wished it were possibly to spontaneously combust and just disappear, cease to exist. Udon seeing her was torture, but three nosy teenagers was an entirely different problem.

Before she had a chance to start walking away, Moegi had the door open, smiling a little too warmly at Elva, pulling her into the building. For the first time, Elva was able to get a good look at the other teenage boy in the room, and instantly she felt a shiver of panic run down her spine. It was Sanyu. He didn't look exactly angry, nor did he look happy. His face was perfectly emotionless. With a sickening feeling, Elva realized just how bad this meeting could end.

Elva suddenly became hyper-sensitive to the fact that she wasn't wearing a jacket when all three pairs of eyes drifted to her stomach. The part that scared her, though, was that none of them seemed surprised in the least. Still, Elva self-consciously folded her arms across her chest, blood rushing to her cheeks. Moegi was the first to speak up. "Great to see you again, Elva."

Another wave of panic hit her, and Elva automatically stepped backward. After a moment, Moegi frowned, feigning worry. "Did I say something, Elva?" she asked, her tone just barely threatening. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I'm just so happy to see you."

Moegi looked like she was about to say something else when Sanyu stepped forward, causing another instinctive step backward for Elva. He was silent for a beat, then started for the door, taking Elva's arm just as Moegi had and pulling her with him. "I want to talk to you," he said in a low tone. Another wave of panic.

Once they were outside, Sanyu slipped out of his jacket and handed it to Elva. He didn't say anything as Elva shrugged it on, but instead started walking down the street. Elva followed silently, meaning to wait for him to speak first. Eventually, he did. "Look," he breathed out suddenly, staring straight ahead as he spoke to Elva, still walking. "I…don't hate you. I don't like you, but I don't hate you. I bet Konohamaru told you I did."

When Elva remained silent, he went on. "Moegi and Udon think I hate you, too – actually, they have a right to. I told them so." He forced a laugh. "I knew that if I told them, that eventually they would want me to talk to you because I said I hated you. That one day half a year ago…I didn't leave because I was angry. I left because Konohamaru was there. I knew he wouldn't let me talk to you alone. Neither would Moegi and Udon, but I probably could've convinced them to."

"Why did you want to talk to me?" Elva finally asked when Sanyu didn't continue.

Now there was a much longer pause, when Sanyu seemed to be thinking. After nearly a minute's silence, he said, "I'm not sure. At first…I thought I wanted to talk to you because of Haru. But…now I don't know." He sounded like he was about to say something else, but then seemed to change his mind at the last minute, coming to a halt. "…it was nice talking to you. I hope we can again soon."

Before Elva could realize what was happening, Sanyu was gone, heading back to the apartment building. She would have followed him, but someone stopped her just as she turned to do so, taking her arm. She gasped, whirling around, trying to yank her arm back when she stopped. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating.

She pulled Konohamaru to her, trying to quench all of her heartache in that one kiss. The moment she felt his warm hands on her cheeks, her heart thumped loudly in her chest, restarting itself. She could have kissed him forever and never have any complaints, but then someone cleared their throat. Konohamaru pulled away quickly, reluctantly stepping away from Elva. To Elva's surprise, Sasuke was standing there.

"What are you doing outside?" he asked suddenly, frowning. Adding to Elva's surprise, he was acting especially cold right off the bat. "It's freezing. You shouldn't be out in weather like this."

Elva frowned, crossing her arms again. "And why shouldn't I?" she asked, eyes narrowing slightly. "Aren't I just like everyone else? I won't catch hypothermia unless you do, too." She knew she sounded stupid, though. Why couldn't she just let Sasuke say what he wanted?

Instead of responding, Sasuke looked at Konohamaru. "Um…" He cleared his throat, then took Elva's hand, squeezing it gently. "Let's go home, Elva. You must be exhausted."

Elva was about to give in until that last sentence. She wrenched her hand away from Konohamaru's, frustrated. "No, I'm not. I woke up a few minutes ago. Why are you both acting like I'm sick?" The silence had barely lasted five seconds when Elva suddenly looked down at her stomach and back up, glaring at them.

"I hate you," she said slowly, tears coming to her eyes as she said it. Before either of them could respond, she turned on her heel, walking back to the house as fast as she could.

Elva tensed the second she heard the front door open. She hadn't been in the house for more than three or four minutes, and she was already regretting what she had said to Sasuke, and especially Konohamaru. She knew why she had said it, but she hadn't meant it. It had just came out, and that frustrated her. She sat on Konohamaru's bed, quickly trying to come up with something to say, some way to apologize, when he was all too soon in the doorway.

Every thought that had been in Elva's head disappeared. She had been thrilled to see him out in the streets, but for some reason now, seeing him again, she suddenly started crying. She was that happy to see him. Konohamaru, though, didn't know that was why she was crying, and was at her side immediately on the bed, his arms around her. "It's okay," he said quietly, even though he didn't seem to know what exactly was wrong.

Elva laughed, pulling away slightly – but only slightly. "No," she said, laughing a little. "I'm not upset. I'm just so glad to see you." Smiling, she kissed him, then pulled away again. "…I just really love you," she added quietly after a long second

Suddenly Konohamaru was serious. He seemed to hesitate, then sighed, standing up. "Elva…" He trailed off. Elva tensed, sensing something was wrong. Then he shook his head, stretching. "You know what? Let's have lunch. I'll make something. Come on." He offered her a hand, but instead of getting up, Elva pulled him down.

She couldn't remember a time when she had tried to use kissing against him, but now was one of those times. She put her hands at the base of his neck and glued him to her, already feeling him trying to pull away. Her heart raced, her arms ached, it was so hard keeping him in one place. Elva grunted in frustration, but refused to end the kiss. She wasn't going to lose him.

It wasn't Konohamaru that pushed Elva away. Not too long after the kiss had started, Elva felt a sudden, sharp kick. She cringed, turning away from Konohamaru, suddenly sobbing uncontrollably. She bit her lip, trying her hardest to keep from crying out. All of her bottled up frustration was suddenly flowing unstoppably. She felt Konohamaru's arms around her again, but that only made her cry harder.

Elva had no idea how long she sat there crying, Konohamaru quietly holding her, when she finally started calming down. She wasn't exactly calming down, but it looked like she was. She was crying less, her tears slowly stopping, but the more she stopped crying, the angrier she was getting. By the time she had stopped completely, she was shaking, hyperventilating.

"I hate this," she forced out through her teeth, her harsh tone causing Konohamaru to flinch. When he hesitantly backed off, she stood up, fists clenched at her side. "I…" She faded away, then turned to Konohamaru, still breathing heavily. "I-I…hate this. I hate this…thing," she shot, glaring at her swollen belly. "I wish it would just die. I…"

Elva suddenly realized something. "I want to…get rid of it." She looked back up at Konohamaru, a frenzied look on her face. "That's possible, isn't it? I-I can get rid of it at six months, right? It's not too late, is it?"

"I…guess so," Konohamaru said slowly, looking scared. "I mean…are you serious, Elva? Don't you think that's a little…extreme? We could just give it away when it's born."

"If I have to be pregnant another second I'll kill myself!" Elva exclaimed, on the verge of tears again. "I hate being so miserable and helpless all the time. Everyone can see I'm pregnant by now. You don't realize how embarrassing this is. I don't want to have to go outside in Konoha every day and have everyone stare at me. I'm sixteen, Konohamaru. I'm not supposed to be going through this kind of thing yet! Please, I need you to be on my side on this."

"I am, Elva," Konohamaru said quickly, standing up as well. "I just don't…believe in that sort of thing. You're getting close to seven months along, Elva. You're almost to the third trimester. I mean…the baby can almost live on its own, can't it? Why can't you wait just a little longer?"

"How do you not understand this?" she demanded, both hands on her lower abdomen again. "I don't want to give birth, Konohamaru. If I tried, if I wanted this baby, I could get through the humiliation and the act of actually being pregnant. I could try and ignore everyone talking behind my back for the rest of my fucking life about how irresponsible I am. But…even if I did want this baby, I could never give birth, Konohamaru. That's what I mean when I say I'm not ready for this. I can't go through with that."

"I understand," Konohamaru insisted, stepping closer to Elva. She stepped away, biting her lip, trying her hardest not to break down in tears again. "You're…being emotional, Elva. Sasuke told me what you…said. You just need to rest. This will all be over before you know it." The words flowed out like he had memorized them. Suddenly, Elva got a sickening feeling that he meant more than just the baby when he said that. "But either way, don't you think I should have a say in this? I am the father, after—"

"You don't deserve a say in something that's completely your fault." The words had come out of Elva's mouth before she knew what she had said. She stormed out of the room before Konohamaru had time to react.

Author's Note:

Sasori-Chibi Haha, thanks. The play ended...all right, I guess. I mean...well, you can read more later. And it's fine to have a short review. Like...really...I'm still amazed that y'all LIKE these stories! Haha xD But...augh...what was I going to say...I REALLY CAN'T REMEMBER. Okay...anyway...I REALLY WANT TO TALK TO HIM, BUT HE WON'T TALK TO ME. Frustrating, eh? Anyway...yeah...SORRY!

Valbino YES. DRAMA. And, yeah, I totes need to suck it up and go up to him one day. But it's so upsetting, because I'll see him in the hallways, and I'll either start talking really loudly to my friends while he passes or I'll get really quiet and stare at the floor…FOR LIKE, AN HOUR. Like…LEGIT. Really, and I constantly think about him in class and…I…think I have serious feelings for him. It's kind of scary. But tell me how your problem's going! I hope it's better!

The Commander DO YOU REALLY HAVE A TWIN? And yeah, Nick's awesome, too. The show "iCarly" is one of my secret shames…DON'T TELL. Haha…but…uh….yeah. OF COURSE ELVA WAS JOKING. Of…course…no, that's too depressing. She would never do that. But, uh…yeah. I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG. I TOTES DESERVE TO BE KICKED OFF OF FANFIC. LEGIT.

Miso-Uzumaki-Namikaze LOL. AKATSUKI. NARUTO PLUSHIE. Hilarious… But, uh…yeah. I AM SO SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS-LY SORRY! I'M SORRY IF YOU ALL HATE ME, AND I'M…totes taking up your reply time. I'm sorry! I keep doing that…ANYWAY. Haha…tell Itachi I said hey, mkay? Because he totes owes me…well…let him tell you. MYSTERY.

AliKatNyah Like…kicking a puppy sad. YEAH. OR LIKE GIRL KILLING HERSELF SAD. Yeah…maybe like that, huh? Haha…um…yeah. Garrett's cool. Totes. Legit. YOU KNOW IT. Garret, YOU ARE AMAZING. Don't let anyone tell you different…but, uh, AliKatNyah, exactly how many times was he dropped on his…head…? I did that to my cousin once…BUT SHE'S FINE, I SWEAR. OhMyGawd, find a pic of Zac with his shirt off and I'll, like, put aside a day to worship you every year! And…well…yeah. I'll worship you anyway if the bunnies don't kill me?

Um…yeah. So you're all probably raving mad with pitchforks and evil, killer ninja bunnies and stuff, but…I'M SORRY. I know I don't have a good reason but, uh…BLAME JAKE. I swear, most of the time when I'm at the computer now I sit around trying to convince myself not to text / call / email / Facebook / MySpace / AIM him it's insane. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY…just…at myself, though. I can't make myself be angry at him. That frustrates me.

Okay, remember that whole "crying with anger" thing from my last A/N? Well, when OBAMA was elected president, I was crying with HAPPINESS, which has never happened before in my life, either. I was really happy. And I still am! He's gonna be an awesome president, I'm sure. He has aaaaaaall mah support!!!!

The play I was in actually ended pretty well. I learned the part all right, I made great friends with everyone in the cast, etc. Except the last two plays, on this Saturday and Sunday (for some reason, halfway through Saturday, for the second show of the day, it happened), I got pissed. I got really angry at one of my friends for no reason…well, yeah, I know why. Because he knows Jake and Jake WANTS to talk to him. EW.

Well, um…SUPER-DOOPER SHORT CHAPTER. LEGIT. Um…I really can't think of anything to say. But…OH. RIGHT. One of my…creepy friends…that's not really my friend, but he's kind of depressed, so I feel bad for him and talk to him anyway…WELL ANYWHOOS…he kind of asked me out today.

Not directly, but he was just like, "Hey, I made a bet with my friend that I could get a girlfriend. So…please say you're my girlfriend for a week? I want a girlfriend, and I'd like it to be you." And I was just like, "Um…sorry…I don't…want a boyfriend…?" IT WAS SO FREAKIN' AWKWARD. But…yeah. He was just like, "Okay, well…I guess I'll just…pay my friend now, then…" And then walked away. AND I'M SO MEAN, YOU KNOW WHY? TODAY WAS HIS BIRTHDAY, AND I TOTES REJECTED HIM ON. HIS. FUCKING. BIRTHDAY. I'm a terrible person. Like, legit.

Love always,

-Meri Umeko-