Title: Strength

Rating: K

Distribution: Just credit me and let me know where it's going!

Reviews: Please! Be my guest!

Disclaimer: I don't own NARUTO! (Only in my dreams)

Main Pairing: SasuSaku

A/N: Read, my pretties! This is another one-shot(ish) thing that helped me get over writers block!

XxX

She couldn't understand herself. Why did she put herself through this? She glared at the man she once loved.

He was strong and he was cold. Mostly, cold in her opinon. His heart was like ice and there were about three expressions that ever crossed his features. Anger- which dominated, boredom, and annoyance, mostly towards her. His favorite expression was plain old expressionless.

Sure, He was handsome, which made her the envy of many girls in Konohagakure. She could care less. At the moment, she wanted to trade places with one of those girls and then THEY could deal with this. With HIM.

"I don't really care what you say, Sasuke." Still plain old expressionless, he noted the absence of the 'kun' that she always placed at the end of his name. He smartly understood that he'd pushed too hard and too far this time. "I'm going. Accept it or don't." She pushed past him, walked down the hall, her head held high and out the front door.

Still stalking down the street, she mentally cursed the day she'd agreed to marry the Uchiha. He'd come back last year, willingly, one ambition down, still one left to squash. The out of the blue six months ago he'd suggested their marriage. At first, the pink haired kunoichi had been over-joyed. The man of her dreams, her childhood crush had asked for her hand in marriage.

But Sakura wasn't stupid. She'd known from the start, deep down inside that he'd pretty much only married her to squash that second ambition. The revival of his clan. (A.K.A BABIES!! Pretty little SASUKE babies!!)

They'd been officially married for three months now. Ino and Tenten had forced Sasuke to suffer through a traditional wedding for Sakura and he hadn't been the least bit happy about it. And for those three months, Sakura had kept her happy face on. Day after weary day. She was tired of pretending that her marriage to the Uchiha was happy. She'd love to shout to the world that she loved that her name was now Uchiha Sakura. But she'd be lying.

She's dreamt of marrying Sasuke since she'd been small. And now, here she was. This marriage wasn't how she'd imagined it'd be with him coming home every night and sharing himself with her and then falling asleep in his loving embrace. No. This was just the opposite. He'd come home every night. There would be agonizingly tense silence and then they'd go to sleep at opposite sides of the bed, not facing each other. Oh Kami, yes, this is what Sakura had always dreamed of. Not. Today was the last straw.

Everyday, she, Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi would get together in the morning at 7 (they'd tell Kakashi 6) to train and then after sparring until 8, they'd go their seperate ways. Sasuke would head to the Hokage's office to see if there were any missions available or he'd stay and train until his opponent had to leave or was too tired to continue. On certain days he'd train with Lee and Neji.

Sakura would head off to the hospital, depending on the day, to work her 12 hour shift. Then around 7:30 that night she'd leave for home and go on with her bedtime routine. (the akward silence and tension so thick you couldn't cut it with a knife)

Lately, he'd been a bigger bastard than usual, staying out at night until it was around 2 and then coming home. Funny thing was, he was never wasted. He was always grumpy. She was sure it was because she hadn't jumped up and down screaming happily, "OH! I'M PREGNANT!" Which she was sure was what he expected. She wasn't planning on shouting it. Or even telling him. Because of his cruelty, she'd decided to be the bitch he'd called her and not alert him to the fact that she was indeed, two months pregnant. He'd been too stupid to use his sharingan on her to see the steadily growing Uchiha chakra that was growing inside of her abdomen. And he hadn't given a care in the world when she'd been throwing up non-stop from morning sickness. She wondered if he was just pretending not to notice.

Today had gone differently. Somehow, They'd both ended up home. Tsunade had informed Sasuke that there were no missions available of his rank for him to take. He'd declined taking D ranked missions, they were much too easy for him and only took up his time. And Tsunade-sama had given Sakura the day off. Coincidence? Sakura couldn't be sure. She'd been greatly surprised when Sasuke had walked into living room where she'd been quietly folding laundry. She immediately slapped on her plastic smile. He'd taken one look at the scene in fron of him and turned, telling her that he was 'going out'.

As she heard the front door open she'd loudly stated that when she was done folding the laundry she'd be going to Ino's and spending the day with girls, ad not to expect her home tonight. To her surprise, he'd reappeared in the living room, angrily demanding a reason to why she wasn't coming home. And when she didn't give him the answer she wanted...

"Then you're not going." An order. That royally pissed off Konoha's most powerful kunoichi.

Which in turn led to the arguement and her stomping angrily out of the house. She wasn't taking this bullshit anymore. Not while she was pregnant. If she didn't do something soon she'd either end up emotionally stressed or divorcing the sonofabitch. No, things were going to change, and Sakura was going to make sure those changes were for the better. She wasn't some weak girl. She was the Hokage's apprentice, she had inhuman strength and amazing talents. She refused to let Sasuke push her around any longer. She was the strongest kunoichi in Konoha. She wasn't going to give him the benefit of the doubt anymore. Either he would treat her right, or he would lose her. And his child.

Though it hurt, she knew why he had chosen her to be his bride. She obviously hadn't been the only available kunoichi in the entire world. Or out of the ones that Sasuke had met. Temari of the sand was available as well as Ami and many of his other fan girls. Sakura sighed. He'd chosen her because of her abilities, intelligence and chakra control. She also believed it was because she was one of the only women he could stand. Probably the ONLY one. And he could only stand her just barely.

Ahe felt a sharp pang of regret in her heart, still unsure if she had made the right choice. She knew her heart would've been better off not married off to the cold Uchiha. It would've been better if she hadn't given her heart to him at all. Maybe then, the person she would've chosen wouldn't have squashed her heart in his hands. She also knew that she probably wouldn't have been able to handle Sasuke being with another woman, let alone marrying another one. She was still in love with the man. Kami knew it wasn't her fault. For a moment she inwardly hated herself.

A few minutes later she was at Ino's front door, still contemplating her life quietly. She knocked twice, waited for Ino to open the door, and usher her inside before she made her way to the couch and collapsed on it, sobbing half-heartedly.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Ino was lost and alarmed. She placed a reassuring gentle hand on one of Sakura's shaking shoulders.

Spilling her heart out to her ex-best-friend-friend-again felt great. Ino's face was stuck in a shocked expression, her wide blue eyes never leaving Sakura's jade ones.

Tenten and Hinata showed up a short time later and were informed of Sakura's upsetting situation and were then sworn to secrecy because of her pregnancy by both Sakura and Ino.

That night, Sakura felt loved. She was grateful for her friends.

There was hot-tempered Ino who knew a lot more about fate and life and just random things than she led people to believe.

There was mature, whimsical Tenten, a skilled weapons master and vivacious amazing kunoichi. (I mean, she GOT NEJI! Seriously, c'mon. There are some pure NejixTen moments.)

Then there was Kind-hearted, shy Hinata. Everything about her was gentle. Even her attacks. (weeeirrrd.)

Morning came and Sakura's biological clock awoke her. She untangled herself from Ino's legs (they'd shared the couch) and quietly stepped over Tenten and Hinata to turn off the mutd television. After sparring and completely ignoring her so-called husband she found herself wearily working until 7:30 came along mercifully. Sakura returned home to find that Sasuke had beat her there. She could hear the shower running. Deciding quickly, she walked into the bedroom and undressed, swiftly pulling on her pajamas and climbing into bed. She was going to make herself go to sleep before he got out.

She shut her eyes and tried to ignore the sounds of Sasuke getting out of the shower. She heard him rustling around, then she heard the bathroom door open, his feet padding down the hallway to their room. When he reached the door way she had to force herself not to flinch. She could feel his eyes boring into her back. She noticed that he hadn't turned on the light.

She heard him throw his towel in the basket across the room and then settle in quietly beside her. She knew he wasn't sleeping. And she knew that he knew she wasn't either. She made a choice and without turning over she said quietly, "I'm pregnant."

He wasn't sure if he'd heard her right. She'd said it so quietly. As if she resented it. Or regretted it. He didn't want her to do either. A sense of relief washed over him. He was finally getting his heir. Girl or boy, he didn't care. As long as he didn't get a pink haired son. Oh to hell with life, if he had a pink-haired son, it was over. He winced at the thought.

A little Sasuke with pink hair. Ouch.

Sakura waited for some kind of aknowledgement. There was only silence.

She began to wonder what he was thinking. Finally, she heard him grunt and move around slightly, but that hadn't lessend the surprise or given her any warning as to what was going to happen next. His arms came around and encircled her. Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. What was he doing? And why couldn't he do it all the time?

He hadn't really touched her since the night she'd concieved. Why was he holding her now? Was it because he finally got what he wanted? She decided she didn't care. That night, Uchiha Sakura fell happily asleep in Uchiha Sasuke's arms. The thing was that once again, she woke up to an empty bed all over again.

To her surprise, over the next seven months, he'd been considerably nicer to her, opening doors occasionally and pulling out her chair in public around Konohagakure. Finally, when the ninth month had arrived, she was more anxious and nervous than anything. She'd declined to know the baby's gender, preffering to keep it as a surprise until the baby was born.

Which was surprisingly soon after. On July 13th, at 7:57 in the morning Sakura sat up abrubtly, awaking her sleeping husband who sat up groggily. He blinked a few times and then vaguely began to wonder why she was wet from the waist down. She answered his un asked question with four words. "My water just broke."

The surprised look on his face was more emotion than he'd shown in years. And Sakura was grateful for it. She would've collapsed onto the floor from the wave of pain that made her gasp except that Sasuke had gotten over his surprise and caught her before she hit the ground. Unbeknownst to the world, Sasuke was scared. He was almost afraid of touching her wrong now that she was in labor. He didn't want to hurt his unborn child. He picked her up as gently as possile while she moaned in pain and sprinted off towards the hospital.

Keep in mind that Uchiha Sasuke, DOES NOT sprint.

However, they arrived at the hospital a few minutes later and Sakura was placed in the maternity unit to have her baby. She laid there swearing and shouting in pain, occasionally yellng obsinities and profanities at Sasuke, blaming him for her pain. "JUST YOU WAIT!" She shouted, cutting off the circulation to his hand that she was squeezing. "JUST YOU FREAKING WAIT." Sasuke didn't care about his hand or Sakura's empty threats. At that moment, all he cared about was that his child was born healthy.

Sakura pushed and pushed, her nails digging into his skin. He didn't move. Finally, at 9:02am, the Uchiha heir was born. Or rather... heiress.

And she didn't have pink hair. The contrast of her dark hair against the pink blanket was obvious and Sakura took the tiny itsy bitsy bundle into her arms.

"Sekaia," she said quietly, the baby cooing at her. Her eyes were bright, yet they were onyx, the same color as Sasuke's. She had Sakura's face shape, Sasuke's forehead and Sakura's strength. Sasuke could see it already. This little girl would one day be even more powerful than he was. Sekaia looked up at Sasuke with her bright Uchiha eyes and Sasuke about melted. This was his final dream. His ambition.

He knew he was home. He was with his wife, a woman that he didn't deserve who had loved him longer than he knew, and his beautiful daughter. The revival of the Uchiha clan. Sakura's strength had helped him reach his goals and he knew he had changed over the last few months. He felt something, deep down but was too proud to admit it was love. He realized that strength had gotten him this far. And not just physical and mental strength. But strength of the heart. His heart. and hers. He stared down at his assumed prodigy and smirked. He was so NOT done having kids.

XxX

(wink wink) Ik, ik, I may not get to that second chapter of SMG tonight. Gomen-nasai. I'm tired but i'll try.

Review!!

---rach