Snippets of Affection

Written by: Gavy

Apparently, my creative juices don't flow before midnight. Nevertheless, I had fun writing this and hope everyone enjoys reading it. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. :)

The characters of Naruto do not belong to me.

Chapter One

At an early age, Sasuke realized that he just wasn't cut out to blend in with the norm.

There were certain moments in life when it presented an opportunity to show a man what he was skilled at. And to Sasuke, it showed him that he was quite adept at strategic assassination.

But contrary to popular belief, people who killed for money such as himself were not homicidal lunatics bent on killing the innocent and undeserving. Actually, when he thought about it, his coworkers and himself did society more of a service doing what they did. It's just that, they did it in a more creepy-as-fuck fashion, where they couldn't be recognized for their accomplishments. Killing people mercilessly and disappearing into the darkness didn't cope well with others it seemed.

Despite the horror the public would have responded with, it was surprising, how many clients they had. There was always a never ending list of people who resented one another; so much in fact that they would call upon such brutal and secretive means.

Not that Sasuke was complaining though. The pay was generous, and it gave him excitement and thrill that most people lacked in their daily lives.

That didn't mean nothing was bound to go wrong though. Sometimes the task took a turn for the worse, and injuries were a common occurrence.

Like now: It wasn't like he couldn't handle the situation, but his blasted gun just decided to say, 'to hell with this', and jammed up the moment he was going to blow his target's brains out.

He did manage to finish his assignment, albeit with a bloody right hand, but he figured a few bandages would be enough to heal him. But the excruciating sensation that burned through his hand made him realize that the pain was more unbearable than he thought, and a trip to the hospital would not be such a bad idea after all.

...~...

The receptionist paled as she saw the state of his hand, and when he was questioned the cause of the wound he just answered, "allergies."

Bewildered by his ambiguous response, she merely nodded her head without questioning him further, convinced by his naturally serious look.

After all the hassle of paperwork and whatnot, a doctor finally patched him up, shaking his head and muttering "kids these days," completely ignoring the fact that Sasuke was a fully grown man.

He really didn't want to stick around after that, but the nurses implored him to stay in the waiting area so that they could go fetch him some pills that would help with the pain. They squealed simultaneously when he nodded indifferently, and scattered down the hall with vigorous momentum.

So here he was, sitting in an empty room, flipping channels through the small television, utterly bored. He finally settled for the evening news, when unsurprisingly, his own handiwork was displayed as the announcer fervently talked about the mysterious death of Orochimaru.

Too absorbed in the headlines, he was unaware of another presence entering the room.

As censored pictures of blood spattered floors and other useless areas that had nothing to do with the actual death flashed through the screen, Sasuke nearly jumped when he heard, "It's a scary world, isn't it?"

Sasuke whipped around to face... well, a swelled belly. After a brief pause, he looked up from his seat and saw a very real, very pregnant lady, with peculiar indigo hair and pupil-less lavender eyes. Shaking out of his daze, Sasuke recalled that she had actually spoken to him.

He nodded and simply replied, "It is."

At his response, she smiled down at him, and for a moment his mind drew a blank because for one thing, he was not used to pregnant women striking up a conversation with him. Well actually, he couldn't remember talking to a pregnant woman ever.

So he just watched her take a seat on the couch beside his chair, debating whether or not to help when she sank down with quite some effort.

After she was settled in, gently stroking her baby bulge, Sasuke became lost as to what he should do next.

Should he say something else? Was the short, barely existing conversation over? What the hell did pregnant women talk about anyway? Why was he even fretting over this? Shit.

Before the pandemonium in his mind could grow further, the woman spoke once more. "What happened to your hand?"

There was a pause. You know the dead man on the screen? Yeah, I did that. "Allergies."

There was an 'oh my' look before she nodded her head in understanding. She then straightened, turning to her bag beside her. "Oh, I have some pills here that could help you. Your allergies seem to be very severe."

Sasuke continued to stare blankly at the woman shuffling through her stuff, and it never occurred to him to tell her that some nurses were already bringing him medication.

The pills must have been at the bottom, because the woman literally stuck her whole arm in, digging around for the small, plastic canister. Finally, looking like an explorer discovering some precious relic, she produced the pills from her hand, rattling it for good measure.

Before Sasuke could reach for the offered medicine though, the woman suddenly flinched harshly and dropped the container with a loud "Oh!"

...If Sasuke was surprised, he certainly showed it.

He stood up urgently, and sensed a new kind of panic seize him as the woman gripped the armchair, her face wrung with pain.

That definitely wasn't a good sign.

Moving his arms awkwardly around the moaning woman, Sasuke was unsure if he should actually touch her or not.

Squeezing his brain for anything, Sasuke was offered a moment of logical thinking: If she was pregnant, then there must be a father, right?

"The father," he muttered to himself almost desperately, "We need the father."

She was sweating bullets. "There...there is no father," she ground out.

Well, fuck.

In the back of his mind, Sasuke wondered if he had offended some kind of higher power in the past. Surely only a vengeful deity could throw him into such a baffling situation.

But amidst Sasuke's inner turmoil, something in the heavens decided to give him a break before he lost it, and sent a tough-looking nurse their way.

...~...

Sasuke calmed down after someone qualified took control of the scene, and when a proper bed was placed beneath her, the woman seemed to be feeling better as well. The pain seemed to come and go, but he learned that this was quite normal.

In between contractions and painful dilations, Sasuke came to know about how the unborn child became fatherless. She obviously left out the private details about her life, but Sasuke caught the gist of it.

Apparently, her anal family did not approve of the man she chose to love, but being young and prone to being rebellious, she decided to anyway. In a moment of impulsiveness, they eloped, but fate just happened to point its finger at them and say, 'fuck you guys in particular', because a fatal accident left her pregnant without the support of her family or her lover.

There was something so tragically beautiful about the story that Sasuke had a hard time believing it. But he doubted this woman had a penchant for lying.

Not really knowing what to say, all he could do was listen and nod, while fluffing up her pillows by the demands of the butch nurse.

Initially, he wanted to leave after the nurse took over, but just looking at her sitting on the bed alone made the picture seem very wrong.

So he sat through her breathing exercises, and although he knew he wasn't the ideal person to be by her side, at least he had the decency not to walk out on a woman about to give birth...

But in a few minutes he desperately wished he had.

It started out with another painful gasp, and after that, all hell unfettered and broke loose: the room itself erupted into chaos as more nurses flooded in, and poor Sasuke was helpless as he got stuck in the torrents, forcibly being swept into the delivery room along with the woman.

He wasn't given any time to adjust to his new surroundings, and between the doctor and nurses scrambling around, Sasuke was caught off guard as a stray hand grabbed at him. Instinctively, he gripped it with his own uninjured hand to stop the wild motions, and it took him a moment to realize that it was the woman.

And she squeezed. Hard.

Trying not to scream bloody murder, Sasuke grunted and vowed to always consider that women were actually stronger than they looked.

...~...

After what seemed like twenty years of 'push!' and the screams of a woman in labour echoing in his head, Sasuke came to the decision that these last few hours were the most agonizing in his life.

He didn't come out of his stupor until he heard the joyous "It's a healthy boy!" from the nurse.

Ignoring the pain of having both of his hands mangled, Sasuke took a glance at the new mother cradling her baby and couldn't keep the awe out of his eyes.

As her hair fell in waves over her shoulder, she was encased in such a special glow that Sasuke considered her the most divine being he had ever seen. Granted she looked beyond tired and worn, but looked so blissful and complete that in a moment of uncharacteristic yearning, Sasuke wondered if he would ever have this in his life.

Watching the mother and child for a few minutes longer, Sasuke's eyes widened as a sudden realization hit him like a bullet to the head.

How stupid was he? He didn't have to wonder at all, when everything he wanted was sitting right in front of him. And Sasuke always prided himself in being a logical man that seized the opportunity given to him…

"E-excuse me, I just wanted to thank-"

"Let's get married."

The woman went rigid, a look of pure shock on her face.

Unmoved by the rising silence of the room, he vaguely realized that he didn't even know her name.