Say It Isn't So…
"Crap… crap… crap…"
Sasuke paced the hospital waiting room angrily. It was almost midnight, and his wife was having their child. SO WHY THE HELL COULDN'T HE SEE HER!
"I still don't understand why I can't see her!" he practically shouted at the only other person in the room: some guy he didn't know.
"Look man, I told you a million times. I don't work here. I don't know why the system is so 'crapped up' as you so gracefully put it. I don't even know you!" the unfortunate man said.
"What, so you're mocking me now!" Sasuke snarled, his worry and anger pouring out of his eyes. The guy actually cringed.
"Look. I'm sorry I was sarcastic with you earlier. I'm sorry about your wife, but I can't help you." The man said sympathetically.
Sasuke sighed and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm… sorry…" Geez. Even after all these years it was still hard.
He plopped down on the seat next to the man. "I'm just worried, y'know?" Sasuke turned to stare at the door of the room where Sakura was currently giving birth.
The man chuckled. "Yeah, I know how you feel," he said to Sasuke's back.
"I doubt it." Sasuke replied, his back still turned to the guy.
"Actually, I do. My wife and I just had our second child. Believe me, I know the feeling." He replied.
"Hn." Sasuke pretended not to care, a bad habit of his. In reality, he was listening intently.
"I was really worried. What if something happened to her? What if something happened to the baby? I remember thinking, 'God, what am I going to do if something happens to them!' I felt… helpless. I hated feeling that way." The man said, reminiscing with a gentle look on his face.
Sasuke grunted. He hated feeling that way. He hated it more than anything else. In fact, there was a time where he felt more helpless than anything. The funny thing was, he didn't really mind.
Sasuke gulped, trying very hard to hide the blush now spreading across his face. Damn hormones. Yeah, it was the hormones.
So why did he get a funny feeling in his chest and stomach as he watched Sakura quietly close and lock the door and walk towards him?
Sasuke swallowed again, and said, "Y-you w-wanted to talk to m-me?" God, he hated how he sounded. He hated feeling so helpless. So why didn't hate how he was feeling now?
She smiled, tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ear. "Yeah."
He blushed even more. Why did she have to look so good when she smiled?
She neared him, and he stepped back involuntarily. Imagine, he was one of the ninjas who had defeated Orochimaru? And here he was, scared of a girl.
Sasuke continued to back up as she walked closer. "A-about what?" He said, trying to get Sakura to stop walking. If she got any closer, he might do something… he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
Her smiled softened. Sasuke stared at her. He had just noticed… was Sakura blushing?
She was still getting closer. Her green eyes stared into his black ones. "I needed to ask you something."
Sasuke felt his back hit the wall. He closed his eyes, and said, "What…?"
"Can I kiss you?"
His eyes flew open, only to meet hers.
Before he could say anything, and before he could answer, she closed the gap between them and placed her lips on his anyway.
Before Sasuke's brain completely shut down, he thought one thing:
Maybe sometimes its okay to be helpless.
"Hey, are you listening?" the man said, breaking Sasuke out of his revere.
He turned to look at him. "Yeah… sorry…"
The guy just laughed and got up. "I gotta go. Good luck."
Sasuke nodded, and said, "Thanks for… you know."
"Yeah."
And as he was walking away, Sasuke remembered something.
"Wait!" He called out. "What's your name?"
The man continued walking away. "It doesn't matter!" he called back. "Just relax, everything will be fine!" And with that, he was gone.
Sasuke sighed and slumped in his seat. Yeah, I hope so…
Sakura struggled to sit up, weak from childbirth. She chuckled weakly.
I wonder how Sasuke's doing.
She remembered how he went crazy when he was told he couldn't come in, but she wasn't worried.
She stared at her baby, the child she had worked hard to bring into the world. She smiled. It was hard to believe she had made this actual, living, breathing person.
Sakura's smile faded somewhat when they took her baby from her arms. "What are you doing!" she said, worried.
"Oh, don't worry." The nurse holding the baby said. "We're just doing some tests to make sure your child is healthy. I promise, the baby will be returned to you safely."
Her worry subsided somewhat and she lay back down. Yeah, sure. That's what they always said.
"What!" Sakura practically shouted.
"Sakura, calm down!" Kakashi said, placing an arm on her shoulder.
She only shrugged it off. "Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down when this happens!" she yelled.
"Sakura, you're overreacting. Sasuke is only on a retrieval mission! If he is going to retrieve Naruto from Orochimaru's camp safely, he can't do something as rash as fighting anyone! It's a stealth mission! There is practically zero percent chance he will" Kakashi paused for a second, looking at Sakura's face.
She was close to tears.
He sighed, and continued gently. "It is unlikely he will die, Sakura."
She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I just don't want him to die. I don't want to lose him."
Kakashi nodded sympathetically. "No one does. But you have to understand, this is part of being a ninja. Sasuke is a jounin now. There is always a possibility that he won't survive. He knows it, and he accepts it. You have to, too, Sakura."
She only looked down sadly. "I know…" she said softly, so quietly that he barely heard it.
Kakashi said, "He should be back within a month, considering his skill. He's one of the best, remember?" he smirked.
Sakura tried her best to smile. "Yeah."
She sighed. Of course, he had returned safely, even if a little worse for wear. She was still worried.
She was so busy thinking she didn't hear what the doctor who had delivered her baby said.
Sakura smiled at him and said, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" A second later, she wished she hadn't asked.
She looked at him in horror. Just then, the nurse came back with her child, wrapped in a blanket.
Her expression remained the same as she looked at her baby's face, pink hair rumpled. Its green eyes stared back at her.
Oh God. How am I going to tell Sasuke?
Sasuke breathed heavily. Geez, how long had it been? He looked at the clock. It was almost one A.M.
He stared at the door, the anger and worry churning inside him. I swear, if they don't let me in I'm gonna—
His mental threat was interrupted as the door opened. He jumped up.
The doctor smiled at him. Sasuke only mustered a weak one in return. "You can come in now."
Sasuke felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. He hurried inside.
When he saw Sakura lying on the bed, cradling a child in a blanket, he grinned. She looked up and saw him, and smiled in return. HE made his way over to her.
"Hey Sakura, how are you doing?" Sasuke asked gently. He reached over to kiss her on the cheek.
She giggled and said, "Just fine."
He turned his eyes to the bundle of cloth. He smiled even wider. "And who is this?"
Sakura's smile shrank a little. "Oh Sasuke, meet Shin."
He didn't take any notice of Sakura's change of expression. He asked, "Can I hold her?"
Sakura bit her lip and nodded.
Sasuke took the baby from Sakura's arms and cradled it in his arms, stroking its pink hair.
Only then did he notice. He looked at Sakura with a confused expression and said, "Why did you give her a boy's name?"
She winced and took a breath. Oh boy. How was she supposed to say this?
She than said the worst thing she could have said.
"Sasuke, it is a boy."
The End