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-day 29-
It was him: Sasuke, the stranger she'd met at a bar last month. Here at the hospital, with a bandage wrapped around his wrist, looking as stoic and straight-backed as Sakura remembered.
She clutched her purse to her middle, as if she had something to hide. And it wasn't that Sakura hadn't planned to tell him—more that she wasn't sure how to find him to do the telling. Only here he was, the very same day that she came to get the results of her blood test. Positive, of course. She'd known it would be.
Before she could work up the courage to approach him or the cowardice to run away, Sasuke spotted her. It was satisfying that he didn't hesitate, that he wanted to speak to her as soon as he saw her, but she couldn't find much joy in it.
"Sakura," he said. "I didn't expect to see you again."
She clutched her purse tighter. "Me neither."
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She jumped, so startled that she forgot not to look him in the eyes. Damn, he had beautiful eyes. Dark, heavy-lidded, long-lashed. She remembered how it felt to be watched, touched and gently handled while under the scalding heat of his gaze. She bit back something stupid like, you're beautiful, because that sort of thing is what had landed her here in the first place.
"I'm sorry?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke gestured vaguely around them. "You're in the hospital. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Sakura said faintly. Her heart was pounding, breath coming short, and her face had to be ten shades of red. Then she swallowed, opened her mouth, said nothing, and made herself stand taller. "I'm fine," she said. "Pregnant, but fine."
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-day 0-
This is how it happened:
Two round of darts, which Sakura lost happily and spectacularly.
One cup of shochu and three of peach sake.
Four hours of flirting, then twenty minutes of sex against an alley wall.
"Do you have anything?" Sasuke asked, as he slid his hand under her skirt.
Sakura shook her head, wanting to scream, wanting to cry. She was on fire, needed to be touched, held, kissed, had.
Sasuke yanked at her panties so roughly that they ripped. "I could pull out," he said.
This is how it happened:
With one word, one whisper of a breath as Sakura shivered and said, "Okay."
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-day 281-
"I'm overdue," Sakura whined.
"You're one day overdue," Sasuke said. It was a correction, and although he kept his voice gentle, Sakura didn't appreciate it.
She rolled onto her side—a challenge these days, with her belly sticking out like there was a beach ball under her shirt. A very heavy, wiggly beach ball that liked to dance on her bladder at one o'clock in the morning.
"Overdue is overdue," Sakura said. "Ask a librarian."
Sasuke looked like he was trying very hard not to smile. He reached over, placed his hand on her stomach, and sighed. There was a strange sweetness to his expression, almost like contentment. Maybe that's exactly what it was. Maybe there was no almost.
"Are you happy?" Sakura asked.
The baby kicked, and Sasuke's bitten-back smile bloomed into fullness. "I am," he whispered. "Are you?"
She snuggled in, wishing he would kiss her, that he'd touch more than her belly—but that was against their ground rules. No intimacy. They were co-parenting, not getting married. And so far they'd managed to stick to their rules—for the most part.
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-day 23-
She was late. She was over a week late, and Sakura knew why. The reason was a tall, handsome man whose family name she hadn't bothered to ask. He'd had her against a brick wall, and after it was over, Sakura had awkwardly fixed her clothes as he whispered, "Thank you."
As if she'd done him a favor, opening her legs to him behind a bar. It had stung to hear his simple gratitude, although Sakura wasn't sure why.
It didn't matter now. She was late, and if she ever saw Sasuke again she wouldn't say thank you.
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-day 44-
Morning sickness. Sakura almost gagged again, just thinking the words. More like morning, noon, and night sickness.
She left the flower shop early because she kept running to the bathroom to be ill, and Mrs. Yamanaka had taken pity on her. "Go home," she'd said. "Be with your boyfriend."
He isn't my boyfriend. Sakura couldn't find the courage to say it. The truth was too embarrassing: that Sasuke was a stranger who'd moved in to help her through her pregnancy, this pregnancy that their own foolish lust and irresponsibility had brought about.
Sakura walked home, clutching her stomach, swallowing down the urge to vomit every time she passed dumpsters or particularly odorous restaurants.
The doctors at the hospital said her child was the size of a sweet pea. Next week, she'd have a little blueberry-baby. It seemed impossible that something so small could have transformed her body and turned her life upside down in just six weeks, but Sakura supposed that stranger things had happened.
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-day 27-
She'd get her blood work back in two days, but Sakura didn't need it to know she was pregnant. Her belly cramped, her breasts were swollen, and just the thought of food made her nauseous.
She cried herself to sleep, because she was twenty-three, pregnant, and alone. When she woke up in the middle of the night, she cried again, because she was terrified to keep this baby. There were options, Sakura knew. Ones that she'd known other women to utilize, and which she herself had to consider. It would be stupid not to think about it.
Not right now, she decided. She'd see what the results of her test were before she made any decisions. Maybe she'd get lucky, and the choice would disappear like smoke without fire. A false alarm. Simple.
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-day 142-
They had rules, and number one on the list was no intimacy. It would only complicate their relationship and make it difficult for their child if they were on-again off-again lovers. Better to be friends and co-parents.
But then Sakura walked around her apartment wearing only a towel, the pink terry cloth not quite closed over the swell of her growing belly. Sasuke gaped, his dark eyes suddenly bright, voice hoarse when he asked, "What are you—?"
Sakura dropped the towel and whispered, "I need you," because she did. She needed him so badly that she ached.
He took her to bed, and it was even better this time, on her hands and knees in the light of day. It wasn't a stranger inside her this time, it was Sasuke—the father of her baby, her friend, her partner, her love.
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-day 286-
Sakura was still pregnant. She shouldn't be pregnant anymore. She should be a mother with a baby in her arms by now, but instead she was almost a week overdue.
Sasuke fixed her hot tea, rubbed her swollen feet, hummed to the baby, and argued with her about names for their child. Anything to help soothe her fears and ease the ache of motherhood delayed. Sakura could feel their daughter, healthy and happy inside her, but she couldn't meet her yet, and it hurt in a tender way that she couldn't explain to Sasuke without crying.
"What kind of fruit is she these days?" he asked, half-smiling.
Sakura giggled. "She was supposed to be a watermelon at forty weeks. What's bigger than a watermelon?"
Sasuke's smile softened, then slipped away. He looked almost sad when he asked, "Do you love me?"
There was only one answer, only one truth she could give, so Sakura offered it up:
"Yes."
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-day 34-
"Do you want to keep it?" Sasuke asked.
His question was blunt, but not unkind, and he waited quietly for her answer, the very picture of patience.
Sakura touched her still-flat stomach. A sesame seed, that's what the nurse had said. Her baby was the size of a sesame seed.
She looked at Sasuke, still and quiet, his handsome face so composed that his expression was nearly blank. Nearly, but not quite. There was too much life in his eyes, too much vibrant heat as he stared at her, for Sakura to forget how much passion was hidden under the surface.
"Yes," Sakura said, without thinking about it. She didn't need to consider her answer, because she'd thought of nothing else for the last five days.
Sasuke nodded. "All right then."
Sakura wrapped her arms around herself. "What does that mean? 'All right then'?"
"It means I'm here," Sasuke said. "And I'm not going anywhere."
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-day 287-
Sasuke kissed her until the sun rose. He'd only said those three little words once, while Sakura couldn't seem to stop saying them, but she wasn't afraid of an imbalanced love. She knew, somehow, that now that this sweet truth was laid bare it was unbreakable.
"Sarada," she said. "I want to name her Sarada."
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AN: Thank you to the tumblr anon who sent me the prompt "one night stand and getting pregnant AU"! And to Deep Poetic Girl for continuing to support my writing and feeding my SasuSaku feels. Love you, Mel. 3