"One Year" Chapter 13

Your Uncle Itachi and I are supposed to meet soon to talk names. It's getting more and more surreal as the days pass. You two really are coming soon.

Don't worry, I promise to choose strong names for you both. Your Papa would be so proud at your growth. I can only hope you can manage for a little while longer.

I'll see you very soon.

~Mom

Sakura sat at her desk, rubbing her swollen stomach as she felt the twins kicking when there was a knock at her doorway.

She looked up to see Itachi who had brought her lunch, which she had forgotten all about.

"I was just writing about you." Sakura smiled up at him.

"Good things, I hope. My nephews must know how great I have been through all of this."

"Don't worry, I will make sure that they know their uncle Itachi is the real hero of their story." Sakura giggled.

"That's what I like to hear," Itachi smirked.

Sakura stood up and went to sit with Itachi on her office couch so that they could dig into their food.

"So, what brings you here besides making sure that I am well fed?"

"I was in the area," Itachi answered. "Rikka wanted me to come and pick up a copy of her last ultrasound to show my parents."

"Ah... I see." Sakura looked down. She was slightly jealous that she wasn't able to show off the growth of her children to Sasuke's parents like Rikka and Itachi were.

"I also wanted to talk to you about meeting with my mother."

Sakura's head snapped up at his words. "Wh-what? Already?"

"Well, the boys will be here soon, and not to mention that I will be preoccupied with my own child. We need to meet with her soon before Rikka goes into labor."

Itachi was right. He had his own little family that he had to worry over. Sakura was being so selfish in keeping Itachi occupied with her own problems.

"Sakura, I know you're scared, but you've met my mother. She won't do anything to harm you, Sasuke, or the twins."

"I know." Sakura sighed. "So when would we meet?"

"My father is actually on a mission right now and we are going to have dinner together tonight. With Rikka on bed rest right now, it would just be my mother and I. I've told her that I invited you and Shisui to join us."

Sakura swallowed hard. So tonight would be the night she actually would be able to tell the truth to Mikoto Uchiha.

There were so many "What ifs" going through her head.

What if the clan was more important than being a mother?

What if they disowned Sasuke after finding out the truth?

What if they took the twins from her?

Sakura swallowed back a lump in her throat at the last thought.

"Okay. I'll come."

"She's coming along nicely."

Sasuke couldn't sleep and the last thing Kuru said to him before leaving him to the Black Ops kept running through his head.

Did they do something to Sakura?

"Tch." Sasuke clicked his tongue. He still had about four months left to go before he would be home to know exactly what Kuru was talking about.

Was it her career? A mission?

It drove him crazy that he wasn't able to know what he was talking about.

Maybe this was a tactic to throw him off while he was working on the faux mission.

Speaking of, he and his team of ANBU were to hunt down a shadow clone of a target and assassinate it as if it were a real person that they were going to take down.

Sasuke knew that these missions would be tough, but what made it tougher was that he was the leader on this "mission".

This time he had no clue about his team other than their abilities. They were all required to wear their masks at all times. They each ate separately, and even then it was mostly food pills given to them by their supply person before they left the barracks.

Sasuke couldn't wait for his mother's food because of the ways they were having to survive out in the field. No wonder Itachi was always spoiled when he got home from a mission. Now that Sasuke was in his shoes, he knew his brother deserved it.

He turned over in his sleeping bag and sighed. It was day 4 and still no lead on the target. Was it really going to take him a whole four months to complete this mission?

"Shisui! Sakura! I'm so glad you two could come. With my husband gone, it's been lonely. Thankfully Itachi has been coming by to keep me company. It's too bad Rikka couldn't join us, but I made enough to make sure that she gets dinner when Itachi goes home later." Mikoto said as she welcomed the two into her home. She was all over the place in her kitchen making sure that dinner was perfect for the four of them.

"Thank you for having us, Auntie." Shisui smiled.

"Can I help you with anything?" Sakura offered.

"No no!" Mikoto waved off Sakura. "You need to sit. Like Rikka I'm sure that you will give birth any time now, and you need your rest."

Sakura nodded to the woman and took her seat at the table next to Itachi who gave her a silent greeting.

Sakura was so nervous, she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to eat. There was no way that she was going to be able to keep the food down because of her nerves.

"So Sakura, Itachi says that you're still working at the hospital," Mikoto said as she put the final plate of food on the table. "You know that the clan can help you with money should you need it right? You don't need to work yourself ragged right before you have the babies."

"Oh, I know." Sakura smiled. "But I'm working to keep myself busy. It keeps the nesting urges down and makes the days go by faster."

"I see." Mikoto nodded and took her own seat.

"Auntie, this looks great!" Shisui drooled over the food in front of him.

"Then why don't we get started?" Mikoto motioned for them to help themselves.

"Thanks for the food!" All three of them clapped their hands together and they began their dinner without incident.

Once dinner was over, when Mikoto had offered tea for the three of them, that was when Itachi had started the conversation that they were really there to have.

They were all sitting in the living room when the Uchiha broke the silence once his mother took her seat.

"It's too bad Sasuke couldn't be here."

Sakura swallowed hard. It was starting and there was no going back.

"Y-yeah. It's been really quiet with him gone."

"That's right, you and Sasuke were on the same team growing up weren't you?" Mikoto smiled and took a sip of her tea. "Tell me, are you two close at all?"

"Very close..." Sakura looked down at her cup.

"Then you wouldn't happen to know of a girl that he's talked about, would you? My husband is so determined to get him married as soon as he gets home and I just wish that it would be with someone that my Sasuke truly cares for."

Sakura slowly nodded.

"Oh that's wonderful!" Mikoto said, excitement in her eyes. "Who is she?"

Itachi and Shisui looked at each other than to Sakura, who was trembling in her seat.

"Me." She whispered.

"Mei?" Mikoto tilted her head. "That's unexpected, I was thinking-"

"No." Sakura interrupted. "Me."

The room became quiet.

"Lady Uchiha... I couldn't tell you the truth before..." Sakura put her cup to the side and bowed to the clan leader. "I have lied so many times not to just you, but to everyone around me."

The pinkette was shaking now and tears were starting to come.

"Shisui and I didn't meet until the night of the party when we told you we were together. Lee and I have always been just friends." She sniffed. "It's me and Sasuke that have always been serious since we were Genin. We knew that we would get in trouble but we just couldn't help ourselves. We're in love and the only reason Sasuke is taking the ANBU exam is because of me."

Mikoto stayed silent, taking in everything Sakura was saying.

"Mother, this time it is not a lie," Itachi spoke. "I've known about the two of them since they first became Chunin." He admitted.

"I offered to help keep the facade so that Uncle wouldn't find out," Shisui said, also bowing to Mikoto. "Itachi told me their story and I knew that I couldn't let them be broken up by clan tradition."

"So... You're telling me that Sasuke is the father of your children?" Mikoto finally broke her silence.

Sakura nodded.

Mikoto took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Itachi quickly offered and left the room.

"Auntie, please understand where Sakura is coming from. Not even Sasuke knows that he's going to be a father, and all she has done is to protect Sasuke from being outcasted by the clan." Shisui said.

"I understand." Mikoto sighed. "But there are rules that have been put in place for generations. I'm not the one to make the decision-"

"But you influence Uncle's decisions."

"That may be true but I'm not sure that even I could convince him to allow this to happen."

"Itachi is going to have a child any day now, though! There's no reason for Sasuke to marry someone from the branch family."

Sakura remained quiet while Shisui argued her case. She did all she could to keep from sobbing. This was backfiring and it was happening fast.

"Shisui, I-"

"Sakura! Come quickly!" Itachi ran back into the room. "It's RIkka. She's gone into labor and is bleeding."

Sakura's head snapped up at those words. Her worries immediately melted away and her medic mode had kicked in.

As fast as her pregnant stomach would allow her, she got up and left the room behind Itachi. Right now, a patient needed her.

"Why is there so much blood?" Rikka sobbed when Sakura arrived to help the clan's medics with the Uchiha woman.

"Don't panic, Rikka. It'll be okay." Sakura said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"What is she doing here?" A man asked Itachi.

"This is Rikka's doctor. Don't take it personally, but I would rather have her deliver my child over your team." Itachi said. "Now make room for her to work."

"I could use your assistance though," Sakura told the astonished medic. "Please, bring me sterile medical tools and plenty of towels."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sakura pulled back her hair and went to the foot of the bed to check Rikka's cervix.

There definitely was a lot of blood.

She could be hemorrhaging. Sakura thought to herself.

"Okay, we need to get the baby out as soon as possible. We need to transport her to the hospital now for a cesarean. We don't have time to wait for her to give birth naturally."

"What?" Rikka cried. "Why?"

"Don't worry Rikka, this happens all the time," Sakura reassured her. "I'm going to take care of you. I promise."

The medics prepared Rikka to be carried to the hospital while Sakura started to make her way out to meet them there. Itachi stopped her.

"Sakura, what is going on?"

"Itachi, I'm not going to lie to you. She could be hemorrhaging and that's why she's losing the blood she is. I'm going to do all I can to stop the bleeding, but we need to get her to the hospital first."

Itachi swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay."

Sakura hadn't even noticed that Mikoto was following behind her with every move she made.

Once they got to the hospital, Sakura ordered her team to give Rikka an epidural and to numb the lower half of her body so that she could get started right away on the procedure.

While Itachi was doting on his wife, Sakura couldn't help but wish that could be her laying in the hospital bed with Sasuke at her side. She wasn't going to get that.

The pinkette shook her head fast. Now wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself. She had to save Rikka's life right now and deliver this baby.

She had done this procedure a thousand times before this, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that this one was going to be no different.

She put on her protective gown and mask, then had her nurse put on her gloves for her.

It was time to get down to business.

Sakura didn't even have to think as she moved expertly with her tools and hands. She had done this so many times before that she knew exactly what needed to be done.

It took a total of thirteen minutes until cries were heard in the room from the tiny baby boy.

The neonatal team quickly took him away as Sakura kept working on getting the placenta out of Rikka and finding the bleed on the inside of her.

"There." Sakura narrowed her eyes at a spot that was flowing heavily and ran her chakra right through it to speed up the healing process to make the bleeding stop.

Once she got it to stop, she motioned for her assistant surgeon to come forward and close her up.

While all of this was going on, Itachi was at Rikka's head, holding the baby so she could see him. It was a heart-warming moment seeing the three of them together. Especially after all the workwas donee to bring him into the world.

Sakura backed out of the room unnoticed and went to clean up.

The pinkette had decided that she would leave the hospital and let the Uchiha family have their time. Without even giving a goodbye, Sakura started out of the L&D ward.

In a few weeks, she would be experiencing the same thing, which both excited and terrified her. Especially now that Mikoto knew the truth.

"Sakura."

The medic stopped in her tracks when she heard the voice behind her.

She turned around, surprised to see Mikoto behind her.

The hallway was dark from it being later in the night, and it was just the two of them in the quietness.

"Lady Uchiha, congratulati-"

Mikoto bowed to Sakura and cut her off. "Thank you so much for saving Rikka and getting the child safely into this world."

"I was just doing my job. No thank yous are necessary." Sakura looked away, embarrassed that a noble was bowing to her.

"But they are." Mikoto insisted. "And after getting to know you these last few months, I definitely see what my sons see in you. I will convince my husband that you are the right choice for Sasuke. Just give me time. Shisui will be hard to explain, as will that Lee boy, but when Sasuke comes home I know that he will see just how perfect you two are for each other."

Sakura blushed. "Do you mean that?"

Mikoto nodded. "Yes. There is a reason my Sasuke fell for you, and now that Itachi has his own child, I think that we can let this rule slide."

Sakura bowed to Mikoto. "Thank you very much, Lady Uchiha."

"Please, call me Mikoto. If you're going to be part of my family, no formalities are needed."

"Okay..." Sakura felt tears well up in her eyes. It hadn't backfired after all.

"Thank you, Mikoto."