Chapter 36

"May we speak in private, Naruto?" Tsunade demanded sharply.

"Certainly, Naruto you'll be with me and Sarada," Kakashi interrupted whatever the dobe was going to be saying and Sasuke found himself handing Sarada to Kakashi. The sleeping toddler grumbled a bit at being transferred but she didn't wake as she nestled up against Kakashi's neck. Sasuke kept her bear with him for the time being.

"But! Sakura! What did the teme do to her?" Naruto shouted.

"Wake my daughter and it will be the last thing you do, dobe," he snarled out softly.

"Naruto, this is not a medical matter which involves you. this involves Sakura and Sasuke and if they want you to know then they will have to tell you themselves, Kakashi, make certain he doesn't make shadow clones to eavesdrop."

"If I find him near me while I'm discussing this with Tsunade you won't have to worry about the clones of Naruto; I will kill him myself," he snarled seriously. This time, it would be the last time they dueled for life and death should the dobe come near him right now; he was just itching to destroy something now. Everything in him was terrified for his wife and he wouldn't mind killing any threat; friend or foe; to come near him.

"We'll be right here Sasuke," Kakashi assured him.

"Watch Sarada," he ordered sharply.

"Sarada?" Tsunade seemed to see just notice the sleeping toddler then. Sasuked glared a warning to Tsunade, he missed the knowing looks between Tsunade and Kakashi. "This way, Uchiha."

"How is Sakura?" he demanded once they were far from Naruto's ears.

"She will be fine, the loss of blood has left her unconscious for the time being, she will wake again, just not right now or any time soon for that matter. Did you know she was about five months pregnant?"

"Hn," he nodded, he saw the shock and sadness in her eyes.

"The child did not survive," Tsunade informed him. This saddened him but he was not surprised, all the blood she had lost… it wasn't surprising in a sad way, that she had lost the baby. However, he was more concerned for her, all that blood… it was horrifying to him.

"Aa," he nodded.

"It wasn't a rejection honestly, it's amazing the baby did survive as long as it did, it was never going to make it to birth honestly. It was nothing either of you two could've prevented because… well, the child was not in a healthy spot within Sakura either, and then the placenta ruptured, the internal injuries from that even… they nearly killed her. Thank Kami she didn't release her seal again," Tsunade sighed.

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm afraid of the shortening of her life with the release of that seal, and she used it often in the war. No, this did not affect her ability to carry a child, she will be able to have more children in time, just she'll need time, Uchiha; this has damaged her considerably. It took us a long time to stem the bleeding so she didn't bleed to death while we patched her up, but other than the loss of the child and the blood she is fine. If you want to see her, she's in that room unconscious and won't be aware of anything just yet, but she is alive," Tsunade assured him. He had noticed that she was continuously using the term 'alive' and 'damaged' a lot.

But he didn't care as he followed where she pointed then. He found her, pink, pale, but alive as she was hooked up to those annoying machines that monitored vitals.

"Sakura," he whispered as he quietly approached her.

She didn't move as he placed Sarada's tattered bear beside her as he took her hand. It was so frail no, it was startling, she was never pale, or frail, or even weak. She was usually vibrant, annoying, and lively; maybe not as loud as Naruto or as vibrant, but she was a force all of her own as well.

"Annoying," he whispered then as he sat beside her. She didn't respond, her chest was rising and falling rhythmically, it was comforting to him in a way. She didn't wake, she didn't even move as she lay there.

"She will be fine," Kakashi said as he walked in then. And Sarada squirmed a bit to get near him.

"Hn," he grunted. Kakashi put her on the bed and she clambered right to her spot beside her mother. Sasuke just ruffled her hair then as he grabbed Sakura's frail hand again.

"What happened?"

"Miscarriage," he answered coldly then. Kakashi's eyes widened then.

"She was pregnant?" he questioned.

"About four to five months from our calculations," he admitted and Kakashi grabbed a chair then as he sat to stare at Sakura's slender form.

"Isn't she supposed to… you know, look pregnant?" he asked as he stared at Sakura's perfectly flat abdomen.

"The time she was pregnant with Sarada she never showed, or expressed symptoms for pregnancy," he stated. It was a fact that startled both him and Sakura, but it wasn't something they dwelled on. Though rare Sakura had insisted it was possible to completely miss a pregnancy; and if they hadn't had Sarada he wouldn't have believed it even possible.

"Huh?" he looked at Sarada with wonder then, and then he examined Sarada with curious eyes before looking to him.

"And this time?" Kakashi asked.

"She was ill," he stated that coldly, his thumb rubbing the back of Sakura's knuckles as he sighed. At least she was alive. Sarada lay there with wide eyes.

"Mama?" she whispered.

"Mama will be alright," he assured her then. She sighed and then her small head was resting on Sakura's chest. Sarada nodded as she relaxed against Sakura.

"Would you like me to take her to my apartment tonight? Sarada probably shouldn't stay in the hospital," Kakashi admitted.

"Hn," he nodded as he looked at his wife. He couldn't look away from her as he sat there.

Tsunade was waiting for the sixth Hokage that evening in her office in the Hokage's office. He walked in with a little black hair toddler in his arms. Those black eyes and black hair, with her ivory complextion marked her as an Uchiha, but it was her face which had Tsunade's breath hitching.

"I do not believe you have met the youngest Uchiha, Tsunade," Kakashi said. The sleepy girl roused a bit to blink at her then those eyes widened.

"Mama has that!" Sarada shouted and pointed to her.

"Hm? Oh, she's Sakura's daughter isn't she?" Tsunade guessed. And she swore she saw Kakashi smiling behind his mask.

"Yes, Uchiha Sarada, meet your mother's mentor; Tsunade," Kakashi introduced as he carried her closer to Tsunade. Tsunade felt her eyes widen when the girl did a mark of affection her father was known to do for Sakura on occasion and poked her brow.

"She is a tiny little thing," Tsunade said. "Why did Sakura never report her pregnancy and birth?"

"Apparently, until her birth, the entire pregnancy was an unknown to both her and Sasuke, at least until she decided it was time to come into the world. Sarada is their daughter," Kakashi stated. And Tsunade gasped.

"That's why she didn't look five months pregnant! She's not likely to show if this is the case! Oh Kami, that's a relieve, she wasn't… I thought she was an experimented on or something," Tsunade admitted as she leaned against the desk. "Her marrying Sasuke has always worried me, especially with his ties to Orochimaru."

"My papa love my mama, very lots," Sarada mumbled in Kakashi's neck as she started to fall asleep again. Kakashi bounced her a bit as he rubbed his hand over her back. Tsunade smiled.

"Yeah, I guess that Sasuke cares about her, after all, he was breaking down from what I saw," Kakashi murmured to the girl.

"I would still have caution with their union, Sasuke does have the upper hand with her loving him and she will do anything he asks of her."

"Mama yells at papa a lot, papa yells a lot at mama too, they happy," Sarada whispered and now she laughed. That sounded like a relationship Sakura held with Sai or Naruto, but there was something about the way the little girl was sleepily looking at her which had her softening. Children were highly perceptive when it came to their surroundings, and she had a feeling that this little one didn't know how to lie about what she saw between her parents. If it was a bad situation, then there wouldn't been this happy toddler here.

"Alright," but Tsunade still wanted to talk to Sakura about this marriage of hers'.

"How bad of shape was Sakura really in?" Kakashi asked then as he set Sarada down on the pillows of the couch then.

"The blood loss was extreme, the internal damage from the baby and the placenta… Kakashi, I honestly don't know if she'll survive this or not, it's not any doing to the seal; I did a lot of tests on that aspect, but is she had Sarada with no problems that I know of then I doubt it's the seal. But, her body isn't healing, her chakra depletion is almost the worst I've ever seen from her, and she had a real low point after the war.

"Then there's the other matter of all the other internal damage in her body, this miscarriage was something I've never seen. It was like chakra exploded within her, but that was the child's chakra which did that damage, the chakra that did the damage… it felt like a volatile mixture of Itachi's, Madara's, and even Obito's chakra, there were large traces of her chakra and Sasuke's as well in the chakra mixture, but I don't know. I had never felt that kind of chakra, it ripped up a good portion of her insides."

"And you didn't tell the Uchiha this did you?" Kakashi guessed.

"I thought he had done it!" Tsunade snapped.

"And what made you change your mind on that?" Kakashi asked the older woman menacingly.

"Sarada, her chakra, it's the same dangerous concoction of Uchiha chakra and Sakura's own," she admitted. "But hers', it's balanced. I'm not ever going to tell the Uchiha about this, but I will be alerting Sakrau about this discovery. She can talk this over with Sasuke."

"I see," he sighed and looked at the girl. She would probably be a very dangerous, and powerful shinobi when she grew up, he could feel reason for everyone to fear her one day. But as he stared at the sleeping child he sighed.

"She's very cute," Tsunade commented as she crouched over the girl and smiled. "She looks a lot like her mother, she has the Uchiha's coloring but her face is that of Sakura's. Hmm, I love this kid!"

"I know the sentiments, now we just have to keep Naruto out of the hospital until Sakura wakes up or Sasuke really might just kill him," Kakashi admitted. Sasuke was not to be messed with at this moment, in fact, aside from when his family had died, he had never seen the Uchiha so… broken. The man was dangerous when his emotions were controlling him; just look at his years of a missing-nin!

"You can't blame Naruto for thinking the worst, I did as well when I saw the mess in her."

"It's not that, it's him. If Naruto pushes him he just might snap and when; not if; when he does snap, he will not be stopped. You didn't see him when you were operating on Sakura; both him and Sarada were terrified," he stated it simply. "The man was breaking, Tsunade."

The moonlight was in the room. He was wearing the clean garments Kakashi had provided him with. Sakura didn't move aside from her chest and breathing.

"Please Sakura," he whispered.

No sound.

"Please Sakura, you can't leave us," he murmured and then he lay beside her. She wasn't moving still, and his only hand didn't release hers' as his thumb continued rubbing her knuckles.

'I love you' she had continuously told him this since he had been a genin, after the massacre when he hadn't had anyone loving him or with him, and no matter what he did to her. She would always say those three words to him, and sometimes… they meant everything to him even when he didn't say it. She had said it to him every day since their marriage, she had never faltered in telling him that she loved him.

"I don't know if I love, Sakura," he admitted to her softly. He had been broken for so long and alone for so long he just didn't know if he could or did love. He knew familial love, it was like his bond with Sarada, or Naruto and Kakashi; but he had never held such a bond with Sakura. He didn't know why he didn't view her as family or love her like she was his family.

However, Sakura was the most important thing in his life aside from Sarada, and she scared him at times with how much she meant to him.

'Don't you dare lie to me Uchiha, I love you but don't lie to me or yourself,' she had warned him at the beginning of their marriage before. But now, he didn't know who he was lying to or what he was hiding.

"I wish Itachi were here to talk to about this, he'd make this simple," he grumbled and then he looked to his wife. "And you never heard that Sakura, the dobe would probably try to kill me for saying that."

No response, no chuckle, no smile, no anything, she was just breathing and the machines were telling him she was alive.

"You can't die Sakura, Sarada needs you," he pointed out to her unconscious form as he leaned on his elbow on the bed, her frail hand was pressed to his lips. "I need you," he mumbled with a blush he felt heating his cheeks up.

"I don't think I ever told you this, but the reviving of my clan was an excuse," he admitted softly as he leaned over her. "The dobe, he pointed out the interest of others in you. Gaara, Lee, and others you worked with. I'm selfish," he admitted to her as he looked to her for a response. They never talked, well, that wasn't true, but it was Sakura who did most of the talking. He would listen, and when he spoke to her… well, it was about their missions or the occasional chat between them. They did talk, but not often, and it wasn't he who talked.

"You know, you're supposed to talk and be annoying," he grumbled to her.

Nothing.

"Tch, annoying," he grumbled as he glared at her. "Fine, damnit! You want me to admit I care, I care," he snapped at her.

Again, nothing.

"Damn it, Sakura! You are supposed to talking by now!" he snapped at her. "And you owe me answers too when you wake up!" he snapped at her unconscious form.

Nothing again.

The tears welled up in his eyes as he sat there holding her hand to his mouth as his eyes shut and he prayed for her to at least wake up. He would do anything she wanted if she would just wake up again. He had never felt this desperate; not even when she had been dying after birthing Sarada, or when his clan slaughtered, or his quest for vengeance. Never had he felt this desperate for anything, he'd go sell his soul for her to just wake up.

"Damn it Sakura! Wake. Up. Now." He ordered through clenched teeth as he tightened his hold on her hand.

Naruto had been about to leap into the hospital room when he had heard Sasuke speak and it froze him. The guy was admitting things he knew no one would ever hear from him and this was clearly meant for Sakura. He had never heard his best friend sound so desperate for anything before. Sasuke was good at keeping everything bottled up, good at hiding how much he felt and what he was feeling, but now…

Naruto slumped on the outside wall at the sound of Sasuke being broken. He din't know what to think about this now.

If Sakura were here she'd know what to do.

But she was unconscious in that room and no one would even tell him what was going on or what was up with that toddler Kakashi had been feeding today. He didn't know what was going on, and he felt horrible about it. Sakura was in there, possibly dying, Sasuke sounded like he was breaking and Naruto could honestly claim he felt completely and utterly useless about this. It wasn't like he could give Sakura his chakra, he had asked Tsunade that after she had let Kakashi, the toddler and Sasuke go to Sakura.

'No, her injuries were caused by an excessive amount of concentrated chakra, her systems are depleted and if she were to receive any foreign chakra it could make her internal injuries worse. It's best to let her body heal naturally this time, Naruto.'

He bit his lip as he sat there in near tears. No one would tell him what was going on, and there were secrets which had been kept from him, and he had never felt more useless in his entire life!

"Please, Sakura, you're all I've got," he heard the soft confession and he left before Sasuke even knew he was there. There just had to be something he could do! He had to do something for Sakura and Sasuke! He didn't want them to die, there were still answers he needed from them. Namely, who the toddler was, and what the hell did they think by taking a kid with them!

Also, he had to know what had happened to Sakura.