"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune rushed across the field hospital until she stopped, panting, in front of the hokage, a scroll squeezed in her hand. "You've got to read this."
"If you haven't noticed I'm a little busy at the moment!" Tsunade snapped. She turned her attention back to a medical ninja who was giving some sort of report.
"M'lady, it's about Sasuke. He was in the village—" Tsunade suddenly turned and snatched the scroll from Shizune's hand.
"Sorry, this'll have to wait," she said to the medical ninja as she unrolled the scroll. While she read, her expression changed from irritated to horrified. Finally, she slowly looked up at Shizune.
"Get whatever essentials we'll need. We're heading back to the village immediately!" She held a hand against her forehead and closed her eyes. "To think he could get past our defenses so easily. And to think that happened to one of our best kunoichi! Sakura never should've left..."
"Sakura?" Ino said. She'd stopped next to them, a big box full of medicine in her hands. "Why? What's wrong with her?"
It had been a week since the attack on Sakura and she was back at the hospital, this time for a pregnancy test. All the doctors had tried to convince her that it was too early, but Sakura had insisted. Now, Naruto was pacing back and forth in front of the hospital room. He stopped and scratched the back of his head as he impatiently watched the door. It was still shut.
"Gah! Why do these things have to take so long?" he complained.
"It's only been five minutes," Sai said. He was holding a basket full of 'consolation gifts,' as he called them—chocolates, apples, and a card. It was his idea, to which Naruto had quickly agreed and insisted had been his plan all along.
"But it seems so long! I hate feeling so useless!" He sighed and slumped into the chair next to Sai's. "I can't do anything except sit here and wait."
"Sometimes, just being there for someone and showing them you care is the most useful thing you can do," Sai said. "At least, that's what I read. The book didn't really say what kind of circumstances that worked for, though." Naruto looked down at his hands.
"Is that really all I can do?"
The hospital door finally swung open. Naruto was on his feet at once.
"So? What are the results? Tell me already!" he demanded.
"You can go in and speak with her now," the nurse said. She stepped aside and gestured for Naruto and Sai to enter the hospital room. Naruto pushed past her, impatient to see Sakura, but when he did see her, he stopped dead in his tracks. Her head was hanging and tears were pouring down her cheeks. When she saw Naruto and Sai, she looked away. That reaction could only mean one thing.
"We brought you a consolation gift to help you feel better," Sai said, placing the basket on the bedside table. Sakura said nothing. They all stood there in silence for a moment, Sakura staring at her blanket, Sai at the basket, and Naruto at the ground. There was a somber air engulfing all of them. No words had to be said—they all knew the results.
"Naruto," Sakura said suddenly. "Will you come here?"
"Huh?"
"I said come here!" Quickly, he obeyed, rushing to her side.
"Yeah? What do you need?" he asked. Slowly, Sai began backing away to the door, but neither of the other two seemed to notice. Sakura took a deep breath before continuing.
"I'm sure you've probably guessed it already, but I..." She closed her eyes and let out a steady breath. "I'm pregnant."
The door clicked shut, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone.
"Sakura, I don't—" Naruto began, but she shook her head, cutting him off.
"You don't have to say anything. There's nothing to say. I... I just wish I would've been stronger! I made it so easy... I couldn't do anything..." The tears in her eyes welled and spilled over onto her cheeks once more.
"Sakura..." She wiped the tears from her eyes and attempted to sit up. Hastily, Naruto put his arm around her and helped her into a sitting position. She offered a faint smile.
"I'm not completely incapable yet," she said. But the smile quickly disappeared, and Naruto did not remove his arm from around her shoulders. She looked back at the bed, the wall, anywhere but the boy sitting beside her. "I just feel so ashamed! I'm supposed to be a strong kunoichi, but I couldn't even protect myself from this. How I feel—violated, dirty, and ugly... You could never understand. I can't even look at you. How will I face my parents? How can I when I'm like this?" Naruto's hand lightly gripped her shoulder.
"You know, Sakura," he began softly, "no matter what that jerk did to you, it's not your fault. You're still the beautiful, amazing girl I've known all my life. Nothing can ever change that." Sakura found herself staring into his bright blue eyes, so comforting and mesmerizing, and then tore her gaze away.
"Thank you," she murmured. "But I can't bear for everyone to know! My parents, our friends—I don't want them thinking I'm a weak coward! But they're going to find out about the baby, since I've decided to keep it." Naruto blinked at her.
"You're not getting an abortion?" he said for clarification.
"No, I'm not," she said firmly. "I decided before I came in here that, if I was pregnant, I was going to keep the baby. But now that I know I am pregnant, everyone else is going to find out. Unless there was a way to get them to think something else happened..." She trailed off, shooting Naruto a quick glance. Then he realized what she meant.
"Wait, you want me to pretend to be the father?" Sakura's face turned beet red.
"What? No, of course not! Why would I want that?" she exclaimed, but her face just became redder and redder. "Besides, if you did, people's opinion of you would change. No, not for me, you can't—"
"Sakura." She stopped and looked at him. She took a quick intake of breath and her heart began to flutter in her chest when she saw the tenderness in his expression. "I don't care what people think of me. If me pretending to be the father will help you handle this pain, I'll do it for however long you want me to. No one will have to know what really happened." Once again, tears began pouring down her cheeks.
"Oh, Naruto, thank you so much..." She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. After a moment of surprise, Naruto relaxed and held her closely.
"Am I interrupting anything?" a voice asked. Naruto and Sakura quickly pulled away from each other to see Tsunade leaning in the doorway, arms folded and one eyebrow raised. Standing behind her was Shizune.
"Lady Tsunade!" Sakura said. Her sensei crossed the room until she was standing over the bed. Her expression softened when she looked down at Sakura.
"About five days ago, a messenger bird arrived with word of what had happened with Sasuke. I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Tsunade said.
"When we found out what happened, we came immediately," Shizune added. "Thank goodness Kakashi organized a team quickly enough to pursue Sasuke, but we're going to have to tighten security here, and—"
"Shizune!" Tsunade barked. "We'll talk about that later! Now, Sakura, I'm not going to try to explain why I'm so surprised you're trying to have a pregnancy test so early. It's only been a week since his attack on you! How could we possibly know?"
"The test came back positive," Sakura said evenly. Tsunade's mouth dropped open.
"What?" she said.
"What was that you were saying about it being early, Grandma?" Tsunade completely ignored Naruto and leaned over the bed.
"How is that possible? We don't have the ability to detect the unborn baby any time before three weeks!" Sakura sighed.
"I know just as much as you do. And anyway, I just had a weird feeling, so I decided to get tested… and these were the results." Tsunade bit her lip for a second before abruptly turning her back to Sakura and marching to the door. The nurse was still standing outside, her foot tapping against the polished tile floor.
"You! You're positive she's pregnant?" Tsunade asked the nurse. The nurse looked up in surprise
"Well, yes, the tests came back positive, ma'am, but could you just lower your—"
"Then come inside!" The nurse quietly obeyed, stepping carefully around Tsunade. "How could she possibly know she was pregnant so quickly? She couldn't. So that must only mean it's someone else's—" Sakura's face began turning red with anger and embarrassment.
"Hey! You think that I'd—" she started, but the nurse interrupted both of them.
"Before you two get worked up, the analysis showed that she never had intercourse before of any kind, consensual or otherwise. So this baby can only belong to the one who took advantage of her one week ago." All the anger seemed to drain from Tsunade as a shocked realization dawned on her face. "None of the doctors who have worked with her so far can explain it, but… this is how it is."
"So this is Sasuke's child? But how could that be possible?" Shizune said, and shook her head. "I don't understand!"
"Hmm… I don't get it either," Tsunade mused. "Could it be something strange with Sakura's reproductive system? No, that still wouldn't make sense… Nurse, are you positive the analysis reports are correct?"
"Absolutely," she answered.
"Well, either way, we're going to have to get rid of the baby. For her to drop out of this war because of that—"
"Oh yeah? And are you just going to keep on talking about her like she's not even here? Like she's some sort of test subject?!" All eyes in the room turned to Naruto. He was no longer sitting; he was standing with clenched fists and his glare fixed right on Tsunade. "And throwing around accusations like that—what kind of sensei are you?"
"Naruto—" Tsunade started, but he ignored her.
"Come on, Sakura, let's go," he said. She glanced at Tsunade before allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. Once she was standing, Naruto put his arm protectively over her shoulder and glared once more at Tsunade. "If you say another thing like that about Sakura, I'll make you wish you hadn't. I don't care if you are hokage!"