The warm rays of the morning sun filtered through the window, the glare of bright light shining on Sakura's face and rousing her from a peaceful slumber, with a tired groan, she rolled over so that her back was to the intrusive sunlight, sighing contently as she nestled deeper into the bed.
She was just about to fall back to sleep when she realized the unusual quiet of the room, most noticeably the absence of Naruto's deep snores beside her. Reaching out her arm in blind searching, still half expecting the contact of a solid form, Sakura was met by only empty space, her hand landing on the unoccupied spot on the mattress next to her. Her eyes opened blearily, finally taking in the reality that she was, in fact, alone.
Even for the relatively short amount of time she'd been married, Sakura was used to the routine they had established early on, and part of that was Naruto was very, very rarely ever awake before her. The few times he had been, which Sakura could count on one hand, was because he had to be up early for a mission or had to attend to some other emergency. It was strange to wake up to an empty bed; she liked the comfort of awaking to her husband at her side, even if his obnoxious snoring had taken more than a little getting used to.
Shifting her tired gaze to the bedside clock, Sakura found that it was later than she had expected, nearly eight-thirty. She let out a low moan of exasperation, irritated to have awakened at what she deemed a late hour, as she was accustomed to starting her day much earlier, generally at five-thirty or six. Sitting up, Sakura rubbed at her eyes and tried to expel the fatigue clinging to her sleep fogged mind.
After a moment, she threw aside the comforter and stood to pull on a pair of sweatpants over her shorts and putting on one of Naruto's t-shirts over her thin camisole. Sakura never liked wearing too many layers of clothing to bed, she tended to get too warm and subsequently ended up tossing and turning and unable to find a proper night's sleep. Then there came another factor in the form of Naruto, who not only exuded what she would consider an abnormal amount of body heat, but also had the proclivity to latch onto her in his sleep, burrowing himself against her in a tight embrace.
Working out the tangles in her short hair with deft fingers, Sakura fixed her hair in a semi-efficient knot high on the back of her head, ineffectually tucking the shorter strands falling into her face behind her ears, only to have them fall back again. Her hands traveled down, smoothing tenderly over the almost imperceptible bump in her belly, the first tangible evidence of her pregnancy that for the earliest months had not seemed quite real.
Suddenly, Sakura was startled by the sound of a loud crash from the kitchen followed a familiar voice cursing. She opened the bedroom door and made her way down the hall, the acrid smell of something burning stinging her nostrils, and a hazy cloud of smoke filling the air. The source of the commotion was none other than Naruto, standing in the kitchen next to the stove, blowing on his hands. A pan lay on the linoleum floor, evidently the cause of the crash she'd heard. The smoke was much thicker here, making Sakura cough and wonder why the smoke alarm hadn't gone off yet.
"Naruto, what are you doing?"
"Ah, Sakura-chan," said Naruto, his voice strained as he tried to ignore the painful throbbing in his hands. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"You didn't, I was already up," she said, quickly opening a window to air out the room. "I thought you would be at the office by now, why are you still here?"
"Uh…" Naruto scratched his cheek with his index finger, a nervous gesture of his that immediately tipped Sakura off.
She put her hands on her hips, fixing him with a stern look. "Naruto, what did you do? You can't skip out on work, you know that."
"Huh… No, no," he shook his head emphatically, waving his hands as if to stave off Sakura's anger. "It's not like that, Sakura-chan, I send a bunshin."
Sakura rubbed her temple with one hand. "A bunshin? You can't rely on kage bunshins to do your work for you, if Shishou figures out you send a bunshin, she'll probably send you through the wall." It was not the first time Naruto had done something like this, so she wasn't surprised, or even angry, so much as she was irritated. Tsunade always gave him a thorough scolding for it though, saying a Hokage should handle these kinds of things on their own.
With a dismissive gesture, Naruto said, "Baa-chan's just jealous cause she never had the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to help her out with all that boring paperwork."
"You never change, do you?" Sakura sighed, her tone lenient.
"I'm not trying to get out of work or anything," Naruto hurried to explain, "I just, um, wanted to make you breakfast. You always make us breakfast so I wanted to do it for you for once. It seemed like a good idea at first," he said with some embarrassment, looking around at the mess he'd made of the previously neat kitchen. Spilled flour on the counter and the pan of burnt eggs on the floor; the endeavor certainly hadn't gone as smoothly as he would have liked.
All he wanted was to do something nice for his pregnant wife, something simple like making breakfast so she wouldn't have to and he completely botched it, this was why his mornings had always consisted of uncomplicated things like cereal and toast. He was a total klutz in the kitchen. Naruto thought it would be nice to do something for Sakura since she did so much for him and countless others. She worked at the hospital and helped him with his work, and she made all the meals even though she could easily have hired someone else to do it, and seemed to enjoy it. She was constantly doing this or that, and she deserved to have something done for her now and then.
Taking a potholder in her hand, Sakura grasped the handle of the pan that Naruto had apparently burned himself on, the sight of the burnt eggs stuck to the pan turning her stomach queasily. It seemed Naruto had forgotten that eggs were one of the foods she currently could not stand even having near her, the way they looked and smelled was enough to make her instantly nauseous.
Setting aside the pan of the offensive food, Sakura held out a hand which began to exude to soft green glow of her healing chakra. "Let me see," she said, and Naruto extended his hands out to her, palms up. The damage was already repairing itself and such a minor wound by Naruto's standards did not require her assistance, but he appreciated the cooling affect her chakra had on the throbbing sting in his palms.
"So what happened in here exactly?" asked Sakura, the ethereal light of her chakra fading as she ceased its outward flow.
"I just turned my back for a minute, and then there was all this smoke, so I grabbing the pan – I didn't think it'd be hot," Naruto groused, his features taking on a childish pout and throwing an accusatory glare at the pan.
Sakura turned off the still lit burner and said, "Well, you probably shouldn't have had the heat on so high." She heard Naruto groan behind her and felt an amused smile tug at her lips in response to his frustration as she reached for a bowl of batter that was sitting on the counter.
She was just about to voice an offer to help when she looked into the bowl at what she deduced was pancake batter, though the consistency was thick and lumpy and she felt her stomach lurch even as she thought, it needs more milk. Then she was rushing to the bathroom, holding her middle and leaving Naruto to stare after her dubiously, listening somewhat guiltily as she heaved into the toilet.
"Man, this really wasn't my best idea," he commented ruefully to himself.
He was ready with a glass of water and helping hand when Sakura's bout of morning sickness had passed. She accepted the water gratefully, using half to wash the bilious taste from her mouth and gulping down the rest for her parched throat and allowed Naruto to lead her back to their room. She still felt a bit woozy and was relieved once her head touched the pillow.
"You just rest for a bit Sakura-chan, and I'll make tea and some toast, alright?" Naruto suggested, pulling the blanket over her.
"Okay," she murmured back.
Naruto smiled down on her warmly, affectionately pushing back a strand of pink hair from her forehead, his thumb brushing over the purple rhombus seal. It wasn't quite what he had in mind, tending to Sakura while she dealt with the less pleasant side-effects of her condition, but at least he was able to do something for her, even if it was just tea and toast.