Ch. 19: The Rest of Their Lives

True to his word, they met up with everyone for dinner at Ichiraku's. Itachi and Kisame joined them. Things were a little awkward at first but slowly, conversation smoothed out with the help of those like Naruto and Sakura and Ino to push it along. Even Sai was well enough to come. He sat surrounded by those who cared and welcomed him with open arms. Naruto put a bowl of ramen in front of him and ordered him to eat up to regain the rest of his strength. Sitting back, Naruto slung an arm over Hinata's shoulders as he talked with Sasuke and Sakura. The room filled with chatter and laughter.

Miyuki leaned back and just watched them all. For the first time in years, she didn't pray for anything to happen. Instead, she sent up silent thanks to whatever force and put her on the path that led her here no matter the difficulties or tragedies. For the first time in her life, she regretted nothing because it all led to this moment. Kakashi took her hand under the table giving it silent squeeze.

Things were finally settling into place for everyone. With all impending doom finally gone from their lives for the time being anyway, everyone had a chance to focus more on their lives. After nearly a month with no trouble, they finally began to relax. With that, an invitation to Gaara's wedding arrived for the Hokage and Team Kakashi brought a lot of excitement to the village.

Miyuki was happy. She probably would have been bursting with excitement if she wasn't so tired all the time these days. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her really. No nightmares to keep her up. Not with Kakashi there to keep them away. Her training was suffering for it too. She hadn't said anything to anyone yet because otherwise she felt fine. Just tired. Physically, not emotionally. In fact, her emotions seemed eager to jump all over the place leaving her to keep up with them. Frustrating didn't even begin to cover it.

She finished packing for the trip to Suna then had to sit. The room spun on her and she grabbed her head in a lame attempt to steady herself. The next thing she knew, she was laying on the bed. Frowning she tried to remember how she went from sitting on it to laying on it. Damn it. Maybe it was time to see a medic about this. She pushed herself up to a sitting position again. The last thing she wanted right now was to be getting sick. Not with a wedding to attend. She wanted to check in on Sasori too.

Kakashi walked into the room and tilted his head at her. "Are you alright?"

She nodded with a reassuring smile. "Just making sure I didn't forget anything. Just decided that I'm all set."

He closed her bag for her and set it next to his. They had stopped pretending not to be living with each other and were now living in her home together. Guy had been so excited about it he practically moved all Kakashi's things for him in record timing. Sitting next to her, he pulled her close. "Good. Then you will get some rest. You've been tired lately."

She winced. Miyuki had hoped he hadn't noticed. "I'm okay."

"I'm sure you are, but rest is important."

Miyuki gave him a wry smile as she felt the blush creeping over her cheeks. "And who's fault do you think it is that I'm not getting all the rest?"

He couldn't help the smirk. "Mine of course. But you'll rest tonight. We have a long journey in the morning."

She nodded in agreement.

The next morning, Miyuki woke feeling nauseous. Taking in deep breaths, she ordered her body to calm down. After a moment, it did, much to her surprise. Looking over to see Kakashi was still sleeping, she slipped out of the bed and made her way to the kitchen. Oddly enough, she was hungry. Frowning, she wished her body would make up it's mind if it wanted to eject everything in her stomach or have her add more. The two weren't supposed to go together.

Kakashi joined her a little while later. He raised an eyebrow at her choice of oatmeal. "You hate oats."

"I usually do, but it's what I wanted today apparently." She frowned at the bowl. "Tastes change I suppose."

He chuckled.

After eating they grabbed their bags and met up with everyone at the village gates. Only Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hinata, and Team Kakashi would be going. Tsunade left the village in Shikamaru's capable hands while she was away. Ino promised to keep him focused on the job. He rolled his eyes and called her troublesome.

Kakashi kept a careful eye on Miyuki as they traveled, especially once they reached the desert. Her kekkei genkai made the desert a very uncomfortable place for her under normal circumstances. With whatever was going on with her, it seemed to be worse than normal. Still, she seemed to manage okay up until they reached the gates of Suna. She stepped through and suddenly collapsed. Kakashi caught her before she hit the ground.

"Miyuki?!" he snapped out as he tried to find what was wrong with her.

Tsunade and Sakura joined him with Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata looking on with worry.

"What happened?" Gaara and his family hurried up to them.

"Don't know yet," Tsunade answered as she stood. "May we take her to the hospital so I can examine her more thoroughly.

Just as she spoke, Miyuki stirred and opened her eyes. She found herself looking up into Kakashi's worried face. "I passed out, didn't I?"

He nodded. "How do you feel?"

"Honestly, I feel fine now," she answered with a frown as she sat up. "I was a little dizzy and tired before."

Tsunade considered Miyuki with a thoughtful look. "I still want to examine you."

Sighing with resignation, Miyuki nodded in agreement. Kakashi started to follow but one look from Tsunade had him stopping. He knew her rule as well as anyone. No one too close emotionally was allowed in her exams with patients. They just got in the way. Sighing in acceptance, he followed the others to the rooms Suna was providing for them to wait impatiently. The moment Miyuki walked into their room, he pulled her into a hug demanding answers.

"I'm okay. Lady Tsunade is waiting for a few more test results before she tells me what she thinks it is, but she did tell me I was most likely going to be fine," she reassured him quickly, snuggling into him. She felt him relax and smiled. "Sorry for worrying you."

"Just make sure that whatever Lady Tsunade says you need, you do. I don't want whatever it is to get worse."

She nodded in agreement. "I promise."

Things went smoothly afterwords. The wedding between Gaara and Reina took place the next day. Everyone laughed and cheered for the couple. No one was surprised how uncomfortable all the attention made Gaara though Reina seemed to take it in stride. She didn't let go of Gaara's hand once during the ceremony and following celebration.

Miyuki saw Reina give his hand the occasional reassuring squeeze and smiled. To Miyuki's horror, she felt her eyes sting with unshed tears and silently cursed. She hated crying and rarely did it. These days she could barely see a puppy without wanting to cry. She hoped whatever was wrong with her would go away soon. Taking in deep breaths she forced herself to calm down, relieved to see Kakashi didn't notice her moment of weakness. He was talking with Sasori and Kankuro about how things were going at the puppet core. Thankfully, she made it through the wedding and ceremony without any mishaps. The next morning, she was sitting with the others during breakfast. They were discussing when to return home when Tsunade joined them.

"Miyuki."

"Yes?" Something about the Hokage's smile made Miyuki very nervous.

"I got some interesting results back from the exam. Actually, I had them yesterday, but during the wedding didn't seem like the right time to tell you."

"Is something wrong?" Kakashi asked, worried.

Everyone fell silent.

"Nothing wrong," Tsunade assured them. "But you do need to prepare yourselves."

"For what?"

"For your future little shinobi of course." Tsunade's smile widened.

Miyuki stared at her silently for a long moment before saying, "What?"

"You're pregnant," Tsunade answered patiently.

Kakashi and Miyuki exchanged a silent look of surprise as everyone else erupted into cheers. Finally, Kakashi wrapped and arm around her shoulder to pull her close so he would whisper in her ear where only she could hear, "Not what I had planned but good news anyway."

Miyuki smiled at him. Lifting her glass, she said, "To the rest of our lives."

He nodded, clinking his glass to hers.

The End