Disclaimer: I own the plot of this story, and my own written words. The original series and characters belong to their respective owners.
The pink-haired doctor sits at her cluttered desk, surrounded by piles of neglected paperwork, forearms propped on the dark wooden surface, fists clenching and unclenching slowly. Outside the expansive window behind her, the first hints of dawn peek over the still-sleeping village in streaks of pink and blue and purple. She throws the document she had been studying onto her desk, leans back in her chair, and rubs the sleep from her eyes.
It had been a late night in the hospital, what with the team of ANBU who had stumbled into the village well after midnight, over 3 weeks late from their mission, in need of urgent treatment.
Sakura and her entire staff of medics had worked through the night until each shinobi had been patched up, or at the very least, brought back from the brink of death.
She had considered going home when she confirmed their last patient was in stable condition. But one look at the clock reading half-past-four and another look at her calendar reminded her that bi-annual health checks for all of Konoha's active ninja were to begin tomorrow.
Or rather, in less than three hours.
She had some other business to attend to anyway. Business better taken care of in an empty lab in the wee hours of the morning. Business she'd rather do without all those nosy lab techs or nurses peering over her shoulder.
Sakura swivels around in her chair to face the window, eyes bleary with exhaustion and barely able to focus on the vista before her. She loved the view from her office. Located on the topmost floor of the hospital's newly finished administrative wing, she could see quite a distance in nearly every direction. The village gates were not quite visible, but she has an enviable vantage point of the main square.
Though the confluence of five of the village's major streets is still blanketed in the shadows of early dawn, she can barely make out one of the first fruit vendors wheeling his cart to the usual spot, setting up for the morning crowds. Perhaps she'll take a stroll before her next shift begins and pick up some fresh mangos for breakfast.
She lets out a long sigh, and swivels back around to face her desk, the monstrous stacks of paperwork, and the truth.
Her eyes find the page she had discarded just moments before. Maybe, in her exhaustion, she had made a mistake. Mucked up the procedure? Tested the wrong vial? Misread the results?
But no. She knew herself too well. No matter how many excuses she tries to make for herself, she knows there has been no mistake. Not in her blood work, anyway.
Haruno Sakura has many titles. Member of the notorious Team 7, former student of the Rokudaime Kakashi, beloved disciple of the Godaime, one of the so-called second-sannin, retired ANBU head medic and President of Konoha General Hospital. She has seen and felt a lot in her 24 years of life.
But soon, she would have a new title. And it scared her more than anything she had ever seen or done throughout her career as a kunoichi…
Mother.