2 months

Asami's eyes fluttered open when she felt a pair of strong hands circle around her waist. A tiny smile settled on her pale face as she let him lift her off the couch. He knew that he had woken her up, yet he didn't put her down. He always continued.

 ''Just go to bed if you're tired.'' Madara muttered as he felt Asami's legs wrap around his waist and her arms around his neck. 

Asamisimply hummed in response and buried her face into his shoulder, inhaling his scent as his damp hair tickled the side of her face.

Not only had she been using his heavenly smelling shampoo, but ever since Keiji bought another body wash for him since the usual one wasn't available anymore, she'd also been secretly using that one. ''I still don't really understand it.'' Asami spoke, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. ''You complain all the time but you don't stop carrying me.''

Madara grunted and placed his hands on the back of her thighs to support her. ''I'm not complaining.'' He grumbled quietly as he turned around and walked away. ''This is an exception anyway.''

Asami raised her eyebrows and pushed her upper body away from him, creating some space between them. Her eyes locked with his, and Madara sighed at the look in her green orbs. ''Oh?'' She mused, a smirk tugging at her lips. ''And why is that?''

Madara rolled his eyes and started walking up the stairs. Instead of answering her question, he decided to ask one of his own. ''Are you feeling better?''

Asami hummed and pressed her cheek back against his shoulder. ''I'm good.'' She twirled his long locks around her finger, but made sure not to accidentally pull at them. She had always loved the way he stood out from the rest by having long hair. It reached his slim waist, but it never made him look girly. If anything, Asami thought it only made him look manlier.

''Is Kou already asleep?'' 

''Of course he is.'' Madara opened the door, which was standing ajar, further by kicking it lightly with one of his feet. ''Do you even know what time it is?''

''Obviously, I do not know.'' Asami muttered, her fingers trailing his spine through his shirt.

Madara bent down and slowly put her on the edge of the bed. While he retracted his hands, Asami kept hers on his shoulder, keeping him at eye level. ''It's past midnight.'' He said, taking her hands and placing them on her lap. ''Go to sleep.''

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Asami grimaced when she felt another pain shoot through her back. She whimpered quietly and changed her position again, hoping that it'd reduce the discomfort, but it didn't.

Her lower back was already hurting now and then, the mild pain bothering her during daily chores and sometimes it'd grew so intense to the point where it was interrupting her sleep, just like now.

She slowly opened her eyes and was faced with Madara's back. She had the urge to reach out to him, embrace him and hope that his warmth would somehow ease the pain, or at least distract her from it, but waking him up because she couldn't sleep would be selfish of her, so she decided not to.

Asami pressed her lips together and silently pulled the sheets off of her. Slowly, she sat up and put her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. The wood creaked under her weight and she quickly looked over her shoulder, her eyebrows slightly raised.

Madara was still asleep.

Releasing a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, Asami quietly walked towards the closet and opened its doors. After looking through all the clothes and other things they had stored in there, she finally found the hot water bottle she'd been looking for.

Taking a warm shower now would probably wake Madara, so she decided to use a hot water bottle to ease the pain. She closed the closet and walked as soundlessly as possible to the bathroom. Letting the faucet run, Asami waited until the water turned hot before she filled the hot water bottle with it.

When she raised her head and looked into the mirror, she was shocked at the paleness of her face. Never had she seen herself like this, even when she was incredibly sick, and it scared her. While she stared at her reflection, Asami suddenly felt burning water stream over her fingers. She hissed and pulled back her hand, quickly turning off the faucet. Silent curses left her lips as she partially emptied the overflowing hot water bottle. After that, she squeezed the air from the bottle and screwed the plug back into it.

Asami let the faucet run again, this time waiting for the water to become cold, and put her hand under the flow. Sighing, she ran her other hand down her face when she felt her eyes hurt slightly. She just wanted to go to sleep already, not stand there for another few minutes, soothing the burn with cold water.

After a while, Asami decided that it was enough and she turned off the faucet and took the hot water bottle. She turned, ready to leave the bathroom when someone coincidentally entered it. Asami shrieked when she bumped into him and stumbled back in surprise, letting the bottle drop to the ground.

A hand took her arm firmly, keeping her in place, while he bent down and took the hot water bottle from the wooden floor. 

Asami blinked, placing her hand on her chest as if that'd slow down her erratic heartbeat. ''Don't scare me like that,'' She breathed, taking the bottle from his hand. ''It's really not funny.''

''I'm not laughing, am I?'' Madara murmured. ''I heard you curse.'' He started looking around the room, his eyes falling on the toilet before he turned his gaze back to her. ''Were you feeling sick again?"

Asami shook her head and pressed the back of her hand against her back. ''It's my back that's killing me this time.'' She spoke. ''That's why I wanted to fill the hot water bottle, but I accidentally burned my hand a bit.'' Asami saw the look in his eyes and quickly added another sentence to her explanation. ''It's fine now. It barely hurts.''

Madara raised one of his eyebrows, not really buying it, but he didn't ask any further and started talking about something else, which Asami really appreciated. Madara wasn't the type to worry about everything, but even he had his moments.

''Was it also this bad when you were carrying Kouta?'' Madara asked, leaning against the wall. ''The nausea and the back pain, I mean.''

''I was a bit sick at the beginning, but after that... Not really.'' Asami brought her hand to her stomach, thinking back to her previous pregnancy and let out a chuckle. Even though she didn't feel very good, she could still let small laugh escape. Her fingers brushed over her abdomen, a smile growing on her face at the thought of having another baby. ''This one is giving me a pretty hard time though.''

Madara simply stared at her, wondering how she was able to smile so radiantly while feeling unwell so often and suffering from back pain frequently as well. He still needed to find out what was so great about being pregnant. What he was looking more forward to was what came after these 40 weeks. ''I can ask Keiji to take Kaede with her next time he comes.'' Madara suggested. ''Maybe she knows something that'll help.''

Asami smiled and nodded. ''Thank you.'' She spoke gratefully, not taking her hands off her still pretty flat stomach as her smile turned into a sheepish one. ''I think I can use her advice.''

Asami may know some medical ninjutsu, just like Madara, but extensive knowledge on things like these was something they both didn't have. Of course, Asami already learned a bit from her previous pregnancy, but she was clueless of what more she could do against the pain she was suffering from now.

Madara hummed and pushed himself away from the wall. ''I'll contact Keiji tomorrow then.''

Asami nodded again, trying to suppress a yawn. She put a hand in front of her mouth when she was unable to stop it.

Madara sighed. ''Let's go back to sleep.'' And he turned around and walked away.

Asami followed him back into the bedroom, a fuzzy and pleasant feeling spreading through her body as she watched his back. Him being here still felt unreal to her sometimes, especially at times like these.

A few years ago, no one would come when she was vomiting in the bathroom, or when she was too tired to leave her bed. She had no one to share her happiness with when her bump started showing, and there was no father to show her baby to when Kouta was born.

But he was here now.

And he was going to see it through until the end this time.

The both of them,

together.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Boy or girl?

Sorry it took so long!! I found it pretty hard to write this chapter. I wanted it to be a good start of the last part.

I've read all the comments on the first part (was deleted after publishing this chapter). Some of your wishes won't come true :( Satisfying everyone is simply impossible, and I already had a plan in mind, but I hope all of you will enjoy this nonetheless!

What do you think? :)