[Log] Huston, We Have a Baby prt 2

[vlvular_d_fect]

“People do it all the tim-wait, both?”

For a minute, Temari’s heart sank. She had purposely avoided mentioning that she had invited Ukon to go with her, and that he seemed to have considered it. She didn’t see him telling, either, especially since her plan seemed like such a shock to the younger brother. (Which in turn, shocked her-was that a hint of concern she heard right there?)

“I’m going on my own, provided you weren’t to come.”

He crossed his arms like an angry child as he looked down on Temari and shook his head. "You're not going the fuck alone, you're not going at all." Sakon barked as if that ended the conversation; it didn't.

“And what do you suppose you can do to stop me?”

He wasn’t supposed to care. This was just making it harder on Temari, who had fully been expecting to be abandoned, shunned, hated, cast out-anything but protected. And by Sakon of all people. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she also knew she wasn’t hearing things with the way he protested her plan of action. But it was unlikely that he would persuade her otherwise. She had been thinking on this for the past three weeks: planning carefully, asking around, doing research. If anything, this only further cemented her plan. She no longer wanted a better life just for herself, but for her impending family.

There was nothing Sakon could do, the more she spoke the less ground he had to stand on. Like standing on a cliff with the edge falling away, crumbling to the depths of the valley below, the man was losing his grip. He didn't want this child, he forced himself to believe this, but somehow he couldn't just let her go either. Sakon wasn't about to just let Temari up and leave with his child (the one he didn't want), he couldn't. But what could he do to make her stay? Call her in when she left? Well that was just low, and he didn't turn people in for trying to be greater than what they were.

Sighing loudly he threw his fist into the refrigerator and nearly left a dent. "Take Terminal with you," he then hissed as he looked at the blond from the corner of his eye. "If you just have to fucking go and have the bitch, take him with you." At this point, Ukon was in the room from hearing his name.

"That's your kid, Sakon." He said calmly, blinking slowly. "I'm not going in your place." He'd go, but not for Sakon; for himself.

“He’s welcome to come, too, but I’m not going to force this problem on him…he’s got enough to worry about, and it’s your responsibility too.”

Not that Temari hadn’t already had the thought, among the many others she’d had. She was fond of Ukon, to be sure, and temperament-wise, he seemed like he’d make just a good a father as any. But she couldn’t risk giving her child a parent-figure that might not be there in a few short years. It pained her to rationalize it that way, because of what it implied. She hated to think of that. But it was the hard, sad truth.

"You're both fucking insane!" Sakon leaned against the fridge before sitting down on a chair, pulling it out with his foot and slipping into it with a thump. "I can't deal with this shit, I don't want to deal with it." He told them and looked at Temari. "Get out, go home." His forceful words were not backed by the biting tone he usually held, and he hated himself for the simple fact that plagued him. Sakon had feelings for Temari.

Shaking her head slowly, Temari gave a half-hearted shrug, but in truth, she was mildly relieved. That was the Sakon she had come to know in the short time they’d known each other. She wouldn’t let on, but it was intimidating to think now that he might actually show real concern for her, care for her well being. Remorse? That she had been able to stomach. A conscience never hurt anyone. But actively trying to defend her against the harsh realities of life was something else entirely. Something she didn’t want to imagine was true, because if he did care…that gave her little reason to hate him.

“Can’t say I expected much,” she commented as she slowly made her way to the door, hand resting on the handle. “I’ll leave. Just tell me how the hell to get home from here.”

In silence Sakon looked at his brother who had fled from the room with a smirk that the younger hadn't seen. "Bastard," Sakon whispered and stood up. His hands pushed up through his hair by his temples, eyes closing as he sighed and pulled the long strands from his face before releasing the hair and letting it settle. "How the fuck can you not know?" He asked, pointed at the door for her to open it before he crossed his arms. He couldn't just tell her how to get home, because in truth it was still quite a walk and now that it was dark out...

Ugh, fucking emotions.

“How? Oh, I don’t know, I’ve never been here before?”

Still, as much as she might have wanted to get away from him for now, there was no denying that wandering Cena, alone, in the dark, trying to find her way home would not be a wise idea, so she wasn’t about to argue an escort. She would have preferred someone else, but they always said that beggars can’t be choosers. So without further conflict, she opened the door and stepped into the unfamiliar hallway, waiting for her ‘reluctant’ guide.

Without so much as a 'follow me' Sakon led Temari through the hall and outside. Down the steps he went, pausing to glance around before starting off along the sidewalk. He walked with a certainty, head high, but his eyes never stopped moving. Occasionally he'd glance back at Temari, to see how far back she was, and when he found her an unfavorable distance behind, he skipped a step to wait for her. "Come on, come on." He hurried her, reaching out and grabbing her wrist roughly to drag her with him as they passed by a group of people sitting on stoops smoking. The group glared at the two, and Sakon glared right back until the darkness swallowed those left behind.

Temari did her best to keep up, but Sakon seemed to be in quite a rush and seemed to forget that her legs were significantly shorter than his. It was all she could do just to keep him in sight, let alone keep up. Yet every shadowy figure they passed, real or imagined, made her want to get all that much more closer to him, despite how annoyed she was with him. She couldn’t help but remember how safe his arms made her feel, and how she’d like to be in them right then and there, but that was romantic nonsense that she quickly banished from her train of thought. She had no time for that sort of idealistic thinking, nor did she want to. She found it in her to ignore his rough grip, though, since it was better than nothing, even when she had to practically jog to keep up.

And then, they were there. Standing at the foot of the stairs, Sakon released her wrist and shoved his hands angrily into his jean pockets. His head hung slightly, eyes having to look up to see her in the light of the porch. He wasn't sure if there was something to say or do that should have been done, so he remained quiet and waited for her to go inside. Though, Sakon hated that he was just leaving her. Now that he was aware that she would be living Cena (and him), he didn't know if he'd see her tomorrow or ever at all. It was horrible to think that he'd grown attached to such a whiny little outsider who probably shoplifted a pair of shoes to get here...

There were so many things Temari wanted to do and say, now that she was within a few feet of the safety and comfort of her own home. On one hand, she wanted to cause Sakon more pain than he could imagine, curse him out, call out all his flaws, make him actually feel remorse for once. But then, at the same time, she wanted to hold him, be comforted, confess every little thing she’d ever thought, take him inside with her. It was the latter set of desires that frightened her most, seeming to have more weight to them than the former.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” she murmured softly, deciding against doing any of the things on her mind, shuffling her feet under the weight of the tense, awkward air. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

"I dunno, will you?" Sakon asked back coldly. It was all he could do to not say something he'd regret seconds after. Hands still in his pockets, he gave a shrug and took a step away from her. Time to go home and bitch out Ukon and explain exactly what was going down at the studio, including the fact that it might be under the knife. Sakon didn't like the idea of losing his studio and company, brother, and now his freaking child and the mother that went with it.

With her only response a slow, shallow nod, she finally turned her back on Sakon and took a few firm steps forward. But with each step, it felt like someone had attached cement blocks to her feet. She managed to reach the door, jam the key in the lock, and attempt to turn it once before she glanced over her shoulder. This was her chance to come clean that she was turning her back on. It might even be her last chance, depending on how things panned out. She groaned quietly in spite of herself.

And couldn’t believe that she was actually going to do it.

In five seconds flat, she had turned on a heel, rushed back, and forced her arms around him for dear life. Words were not forthcoming as she sobbed softly into his chest, but she hoped the few stray tears that she showed him could convey what words could not.

He waited for her, eyes down until he heard the key in the doorknob. Glancing up, his head turned away and he took a step off back, ready to walk away when her footsteps reached his ears. Turning back, his eyes widened and before he could prepare or even pull his hands from his pockets, he was thrown back onto the ground with his elbows scrapping on the cement. Sakon's shirt felt wet, Temari was shaking, clutching him so tight he thought he was going to be strangled. "Hey, hey!" His hands, now removed from the pockets, jerkily moved around her before snapping away and taking her by the biceps instead.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He asked, but there was not a trace of cruelty in his tone. The scraps on his elbows burned warmly, blood seeping through the small fractures in the skin, but nothing major that wouldn't heal by the next day or so. His rear probably had a good bruise on it, but again nothing he wouldn't get over. She on the other hand, Sakon felt like she was going to fall apart or dissolve into water under his palms.

“What’s wrong with me? I don’t…I don’t even fucking know anymore!”

Somewhere in the process, her knees had also scraped against the pavement, but that was the least of her worries. She rarely cried, let alone to someone, let alone with someone present, and let alone because of someone. Yet there she was, holding on to Sakon as if he might have disappeared on the wind if she let go, biting back further tears. She knew everything that was wrong with her, everything she kept inside and strove to improve every day, everything that showed no progress.

And fight it as she might, she couldn’t help the affection she’d developed for him. She tried to hate him, she wanted to hate him, for conning her, for being such a nasty bastard to her, but at the same time, even in his own, uncaring way, he’d helped her. He’d given her a safe job, granted her reprieves that he didn’t seem to give to his other employees, even seemingly protected her on a few occasions. And so long as he’d still been a jerk in her eyes, she could keep it back, but the moment he started showing real, genuine concern…there’d been no stopping it, and the floodgates had been destroyed.

Sighing, he sat there with his hands on her upper arms, knees bent as he leaned forward and tried to think of what to do. Getting her inside probably was the best option, and he couldn't just leave either. Carefully he got to his feet, arms sliding around her back and under her knees and lifting her clear off the ground with a blank stare. Heading to the door, he kicked it open via boot and knee on the knob. More than once had he had full hands upon coming home with no one to open the door, it became an everyday task some weeks, and so it wasn't a hard trick to perform now.

Once the door was open, he carried Temari in and set her down on the couch carefully with her back to the farthest armrest. Taking his arms back, he went to the door to close it without a word, just waiting for her to talk.

Those arms again, carry her into the house-she prayed that Hidan wouldn’t hear the commotion and deem it time to intrude and see what was going on-then setting her down with surprising delicacy. She watched him move, waiting until he seemingly finished the task, giving her enough time to wipe her eyes dry, although a few stray sobs still wracked her body.

“You must think I’ve gone insane, huh?” She tried a smirk, and a small chuckle. It almost made her feel better to laugh it off as something silly, something she’d done entirely on a whim with no meaning. “Heck, I think I’ve gone insane…”

"Che, fuck no." Sakon replied and sat down on the coffee table, body leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs. "I thought you were totally off the friggen wall when I met you, this is nothing." He pushed a hand through his hair, it seemed to be his nervous habit, and then set his arm against his leg again. "But if you think you've gone mad, well then it's just the end of the whole God damn world." His words were meant to be that of the reassuring and assisting variety for among the swears and sarcasm lay the truth he couldn't say. You're not insane, you're emotional.

“Yeah…end of the world, that’s for sure,” she parroted, for lack of anything better to say. Not that there weren’t a million things to say, so much as she didn’t know what to say first. Nothing seemed to come before the other, each thought fighting for supremacy in her mind. “It’s gotta be when I don’t want you to leave, huh?”

Almost amused, his visible brow raised in question. He didn't understand what she was saying, or rather, he couldn't comprehend why. Why would she not want Sakon to go? They were at each others throats all the time, even now when she was crying he couldn't just be nice and considerate. "You don't want me to leave?" He asked, hoping to clarify the issue. "Well... fuck."

“My thoughts exactly,” she said with a shrug. “Can’t explain it…but…it’s stupid, never mind. I’ll get you some bandages and you can head home…”

It took two tries to stand, but she finally managed, wobbling her way over to the bathroom door, but doing a poor job of actually getting there. She felt as if she could collapse any second, but the sooner he went home, the sooner she could finally reflect on what was going on, which was only hampered by the fact that she didn’t even really want him to leave.

Sighing, Sakon got up and followed her to the bathroom. As she quavered on her feet, his arms came out and slipped under her arms from behind before dragging her into her room. "I think it's time for the princess to take a nap," he said coolly as his arms moved and his hands grabbed her at the waist. Still holding a mix of boredom and amusement on his face, Sakon lifted her onto her bed and reached for her waistband immediately after.

"Consider this your one fucking favor," he then stated and began to undress her with as little emotion revealed as possible.

Despite having to be nearly-literally dragged to her bed, and the exhaustion that once again washed over her for the hundredth and hopefully final time that night, Temari was not about to allow herself to be disgraced even more. She could only take so many blows to her ego before enough was enough, and as such, she resisted, trying to turn over and frankly very intent on sleeping in what she already had on. Yet as much as she was silently begging, please, just go the fuck home already, she couldn’t find it in her. Every attempt at opening her lips threatened to produce something more along the lines of please, don’t leave me, stay the night.

"I don't need any favors," she finally managed to choke out, ever-stubbornly resisting his assistance.

He let go at that, leaving her in her clothing and holding up his hands with a shake of his head. "Fine," Sakon replied as his hands lowered and he gave a shrug. "See you." With that, he left her bedroom and closed the door behind him with a soft bang that wasn't a slam but not a simple click. Out of her room, he walked into the kitchen silently, stole a drink from the fridge and sat down at the table moodily. No matter where his legs took him in the house, they wouldn't take him to the door, and so he would stay with the Princess Bitch. Angry with himself for so many things, he leaned forward on his still dirty though no longer bleeding elbow, and drank quietly.

The seconds ticked by, more figuratively than literally, but Temari was still unaware how much time passed lying there, unable to sleep with so many thoughts and questions plaguing her, but still exhausted beyond belief. Still, she listened long enough to hear the door neither open nor close, to hear the rustling in the kitchen, and feel a small bit of relief. Even if he wasn’t right there next to her, the other side of the wall was consolation enough. She vaguely wanted to know what he was doing, but she also wanted to give him his space-which also meant that she got her space. Sighing into her pillow, she pulled the covers tighter over her, and settled into something somewhere between sleep and consciousness.

And meanwhile, a certain nosy neighbor had been listening in to the muffled voices. Hidan not-so-silently cursed that the thin walls wouldn’t allow him to hear exactly what was going on or being said, just that something had happened out on the landing and there was more than one person in Temari’s apartment at nearly one in the morning. And he had a pretty damned good idea of who it could be.

He was mildly surprised to find the door unlocked. Perhaps at some point she’d just given up trying to lock it, as she knew it wouldn’t keep him out. He shrugged it off, turned the handle and gave the door a push and let it swing open, while he stood, leaning casually against the door frame and was rewarded with the satisfaction that he had been right. He had a clear view of Sakon sulking at the table, and for all he was worth, Hidan couldn’t stifle a chuckle. Most people took Hidan for being stupid, but that was hardly the case. He might fly off the handle a few times, but it hadn’t taken a genius to not only figured out that his neighbor had been boning her boss, but that when she came over every morning asking to borrow something for her incessant nausea. He’d noticed-just as other had-what, exactly, her symptoms were implying. On some levels, he was insanely jealous, but on others, he was about as elated if he’d just been told he was going to be a grandfather.

“Tch…you really fuckin' did get her knocked up, didn’t ya?”

Still, proud as he may be that ‘his little girl’ was growing up, he was still incessantly snarky.

At the sound of the door being rummaged with, Sakon lifted his eyes and assumed his usual hard gaze. However, he'd been a moment late and thus sneered at the man in the door before taking a swig of his drink and staring at Hidan. He wasn't surprised to see him there, Temari had told him about the intruder, and figured that Hidan made other people's business his own; the other person liking it or not.

"I'm sure you wouldn't believe me if I said 'no'." Sakon replied in a flat tone, eyes glancing down at the water before back up at Hidan. He then leaned back in the chair, right arm falling over the backrest and hanging there as he tilted on the hind legs. "So, yes. I did."

“Fucking…wow. Congratulations, man!”

Smart though he may be, tactful Hidan was not. He was entirely sincere, and taking long strides though the living room, he reached the kitchen, pulling another chair from the table, beaming in a way that anyone who knew him might not have thought physically possible for him to beam. Of course, part of him was just trying to be a hard ass and grate on Sakon’s nerves, and the part of him that wasn’t jealous at not being in the other man’s position, was actually proud.

“So, what, you going to Ceno with her now? I’ll have to call Kei and tell him…man, you gotta be fucking excited, seriously. Don’t look so damned depressed, this is fucking awesome!”

It wasn’t hard to see that the feeling wasn’t likely to reciprocated, but when had comments being unwelcome ever hindered Hidan?

"We're not going to Ceno." Sakon protested, ignoring Hidan's first comment. There was nothing to congratulate in Sakon's mind, as he was A; the worlds biggest fuck up, and B; he didn't feel as if this was the time nor place. It's not like he had purposefully tried to get Temari pregnant, it was an accident, no one should be congratulating anyone. If, on the other hand, he had, or more over they, were trying to get pregnant it then became an entirely different story. That was not this story.

"And I'm not depressed. Not about this shit." He motioned a hand toward Temari's room. "This just happened to come at a really bad time."

“Better not be…fuck man, I’d give anything to be in your shoes, seriously.”

Hidan stopped and reflected for a moment. Temari was hell-bent on getting to Ceno, even weeks ago, before she even could have known, and what little Hidan knew of Temari, told him that with a baby on the way, she would want to get to Ceno even more. Admirable, he had to admit, that she was willing to quash anything and everything in her way to raise her family. She would have made a great priestess if he could just convert her…

But Sakon did not seem so interested in the whole idea. Either that or he didn’t know, but his lack of questioning indicated that he was probably already aware of the plans in some way or another. Or he just didn’t care.

“But you’re wrong there, pal,” he said with a shrug, conveniently ignoring Sakon’s complaints, “she’s leaving whether you like it or not, and taking that little shit of a brother you got there.”

"I know," Sakon nodded defiantly. He had pieced together the plot, between Ukon's display to not want to go in his place his brother had obviously already thought about it, and Sakon also knew that Temari would go. It was he, Sakon, who was being the stubborn mule in the situation. It would take quite a bit of convincing, unless the upheaval of his studio came first; which was impending anyway, he would need to be talked into it. A lot.

"But you can't just friggen up and go, I don't even remember what the hell they do if you get caught." He paused and then looked at Hidan warily. "Why do you have 'friends' in Ceno?"

“I’ve got connections everywhere, babe.” Hidan leaned back with a smug grin. “All they fucking do if they catch you is send you the hell back. But I’m calling in a lot of fucking favors to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Or rather, he was blackmailing a whole hell of a lot of people. It all had the same effect in the end.

“Most people don’t do it because they don’t fucking give enough of a shit, but I got the connections, and she really wants out. So I’m gonna help her. Then…then she tells me she wants to take the invalid with her, but that’s not too hard. If you wanna go, it’s no trouble to pull a few more strings, seriously. You all gotta find new jobs, but that’s a given…”

Leaning forward on his arms, he looked across the table at Hidan and then his right hand lifted. Fingers touching his temples, he sighed and then rubbed at his eyes. Feeling the thick liner smear, he looked at his hand and then stood. "Don't call me babe." Stated Sakon and went to the bathroom to wash off his daily dose of makeup. It didn't take long, the removal skill a well practiced one, and he returned clean of face. It was a shame Temari was going to miss seeing him without all the obnoxious color that, while making it look good, obstructed view of his also nice face.

"The studio is going up in fucking black smoke." He announced when he sat down, making sure he was quiet so Temari couldn't hear. "It's got about... one friggen month left."

Hidan was already about as close as he could move in without actually sitting in Sakon’s lap, and petnames was about as far has he went. Still, he adopted the same hushed tone. Maybe there was a time for tact.

“That’s fucking perfect man, now is the time for all of you to get the fuck out,” Hidan said, under his breath yet still excited, the plans forming easily, “no one will fucking ask why you’re all gone, especially if you leave a trail to me or someone you know. They’ll just think a debt collector or an estranged employee offed you, your brother and your woman. Tragic but it works.”

Sakon raised his brows and shook his head with a roll of his dusk blue eyes. "She's not my woman," he returned. Apparently that was all he got out of whatever Hidan was saying, or all he felt like replying to. It did all seem to fit... The studio closing, any of the employees could be pissed and easily take their rage out on their boss, the chick he clearly slept with, and his brother for that 'just in case' moment. But it felt wrong, even if slowly more and more pieces of Sakon wanted to go.

"I dunno," he shrugged and ran a hand through the left side of his hair while keeping the curtain in place on the right.

“Ya fucked her, ya got her pregnant, she’s your woman now, like it or not,” Hidan insisted rather adamantly, ignoring that things didn’t really work that way and most often didn’t. If they did, he’d have lost a lot more of his girls to such pseudo-relationships. “I already told you, man, you got this fucking amazing woman who’s gonna have to start a family with you, and now I’m giving you guys fucking free ticket out of this shit hole. Opportunities like this don’t come up every day, seriously.”

It wasn’t so much that Hidan was vested in giving Sakon a break, so much as he didn’t want to see Temari’s kid go fatherless. That would just be a tragedy he couldn’t handle, and then he might have been the one to off the soon-to-be-former studio manager.

Leaning back again in his chair, Sakon sat there silently and considered all that had happened and what was about to happen. Hidan was partially correct, not about his woman (Temari would never be his woman, so he thought), but he couldn't just let the kid go. As much as he hated to admit it, and he still refused to, Sakon didn't want Temari to be a single mother. He just pictured it in his mind and he wanted to be sick, if she actually turned out to be he might as well take Ukon's illness and hope he died soon.

"Ugh," he groaned after nearly five minutes of contemplation and looked at Hidan with his most angry and unamused face yet. "Don't fucking tell her." He snapped softly, which was really his way of saying thanks.

Giving another smug grin, Hidan sat back comfortably, obviously very pleased with himself, although what he’d really accomplished, he wasn’t sure of. He just knew he’d accomplished something.

“Great, I’ll work on the arrangements immediately.”

Job done successfully, despite not knowing what the heck he was doing in the first place, Hidan decided it was time to take his leave. Badgering Sakon was never very fun, anyway, so he stood and pushed his chair back in (how oddly polite) before making his way halfway back to his apartment, then turning.

“You won’t regret it, swear to fucking God,” he said and gestured again, another meaningless, over-exaggerated gesture.

Not long after Hidan's departure did the day finally take it's toll on Sakon. Tired, he flopped down onto the most uncomfortable couch, and yawned after settling in. "I can't believe I'm fucking staying," he thought to himself, but was too out of it to even consider walking home at this point. Closing his eyes with his arms over his head to hide his face from the dim light he left on in the kitchen, Sakon fell asleep within minutes. By morning he hadn't even rolled over, body half curled up with his hair a mess behind his arms from moving his head into more comfortable places. His left arm hung off the side of the couch, the other tucked under his head and probably numb by now.

At some point in the night, sleep had-thankfully-taken Temari, and a dreamless night had passed. Nothing was better than a nightmare, but that was a moot point when her mornings were nightmares in themselves lately. Upon awaking, she went about the routine she’d develop: crawl off the bed onto shaky legs, support herself on the wall and get herself to the bathroom. It had worked well enough so far.

However, as soon as she’d gotten out of the doorway and was propping herself on the table, she noticed a soft noise coming from the living room, and managed to turn herself to find the source.

Her heart fluttered. She recognized that mess of blond hair, despite any other defining features being lost beneath it from where she was standing. She couldn’t believe it. She’d said she didn’t want him to leave, so he didn’t-willingly or not. It didn’t matter why though. He was still there and that was all that mattered to her.

She had no time to dote on the scene, though, as she was going to be rather sick in a matter of minutes, and stumbled the final few steps into the bathroom, shutting her in.

But she couldn’t help notice that, this morning, she didn’t feel quite as nauseous.