The next morning Sasuke woke up to Sakura's light breathing on his face. He looked at the alarm clock beside the bed. It was only 3:30 in the morning. He fell back asleep for a few hours, only to be awakened by the alarm clock beeping real loud. He glared eye daggers at the alarm clock, so fiercely that the poor electronical device nearly shattered into a billion pieces. There was an indent of a fist on it, but it wasn't his fist. It was Sakura's. She had probably woken up and slammed her hand down on the off button so hard it left an indent. He looked at both her hands, the palms still as smooth as cream even though they had seen much hard training. Her left hand was red and was starting to bleed. A shard of glass had gotten embedded in the side of her left hand, and it looked painful.

Carefully, he tossed the covers off of himself and went to the bathroom to get tweezers to pull the glass out. He had heard somewhere that if you didn't remove a splinter or glass within a few days, that part of your body could get infected, then amputated. He sure did not want that to happen to Sakura. Wouldn't she need both hands to carry a baby? He returned silently with the tweezers, and as gently as he could, which was none too gentle, he started to remove the small sliver of glass. Her eyeballs rolled around under the eyelids, but didn't open. Her mouth opened and she uttered a low moan of pain, almost inaudible. But Sasuke heard, and felt bad that he was causing his love pain. He hated making anybody he loved have pain, but this was necessary, right? She would probably be in even more pain if he hadn't decided to remove the annoying clear sliver.

Blood spilled out from the side of her hand, not too much, but not too little either. He didn't care that it stained the bedsheets, there was always washing to be done anyway. After all, the Uchiha compound had more than one bed that could fit 2 people. He hastily wiped away the blood and cleaned the wound. The emerald orbs slowly opened, not betraying the pain in her hand or the fact that Sasuke had just done something he had never done before: Cleaned her wound for her.

He knows I'm a medic...he didn't have to clean my hand for me...why would he do something like that?

Her emerald eyes followed his path as he made his way back to the other side of the bed. She detected a blush starting to form on his face. As he got into the bed again and covered himself up once again, she said, "Well well, the great Uchiha Sasuke BLUSHING?"

She rose, with a gracefulness quite unusual to her current condition. She lay a hand across her gently swollen belly, and smiled. Sasuke smiled too. Then his eyes closed and the depths of sleep captured him once more.

As Sasuke's mind drifted farther into his dream, he found the dream getting very odd indeed. VERY odd. Like...Jiraiya mixed with Orochimaru odd. His onyx eyes opened, to find he was in a hospital room. He heard the heart monitor beeping beside him. He saw Sakura beside him, sitting on a chair, emerald orbs fixed on his onyx ones. He glanced at his body, to check for wounds. An IV tube was stuck into his arm, and the clear liquid was slowly dripping into his body. His gaze followed his body further down, and to his great astonishing surprise, he was...FAT? Oh no way...the great Uchiha Sasuke, hellbent on revenge, FAT?

He felt a sudden pain shoot through his abdomen, and he yelled out, partly from pain, partly from shock. Several doctors came rushing in, each having a smile under their blue masks. One was holding a clipboard and a pencil. A curtain was put up around him, blocking Sakura from his view. The sudden pains came faster and faster, stronger and stronger, until he could take it no longer. One of the people in white coats stuck a HUGE needle into his arm, and suddenly the pain was gone. Sweat started to form on his forehead, drenching his bangs. Suddenly he felt an intense wave of pressure and screamed out in pain again. Then he heard the cry of a baby, and he fainted.

He was awakened by violent shaking. He opened his eyes and found Sakura beside him, shaking him hard. He realized that his bangs WERE drenched with sweat, and his voice was hoarse from screaming. His wife's green eyes were looking at him with worry and concern, silently asking him what his dream had been about. He stood up, and immediately found the room spinning like crazy. Then the floor came up to meet him, and he pressed his cheek against the cold tile floor. He saw Sakura kneeling next to him, felt her pulling him up. Finally he was able to stand and not feel faint.

"So...Sasuke-kun...what was all that about?"

"Oh...it was just a really bad dream I'd had."

"Anou? Tell me about it..."

"Its really stupid...you'd laugh..."

"Just tell me. If it makes you feel better, I nearly fainted when I heard you screaming I thought something bad was happening to you."

"Ok fine I'll tell you. IdreamedIwasinthehospitalwithyouandIwaspregnantthenthesedoctorscameinandthentherewasababy."

Sakura stood still, desperately trying to comprehend this sentence. Finally a smile threatened to crack her face in two.

"So THAT was what all the screaming was about...No wonder. Humor me and tell me what you looked like in your dream."

Sasuke put a hand up to his eyes, willing the memories not to haunt him forever, although he was sure if word got out in the village that he had had this dream, Naruto would remind him of it every single day. Finally he mustered up his courage and said, "Why should I tell you?"

"Oh...well...no reason really...maybe I just want to know what I will look like when that time comes."

"No. My mouth will remain closed forever."

Sakura shrugged. "Ok...fine by me."

Sasuke was surprised she had let the matter drop just like that. Usually whenever Sakura kept a matter on her mind for more than 5 minutes, she got all the facts. But now...something was very different. She had let it drop. It made Sasuke feel uncomfortable. This was different. This was new. Too new for his liking. He wrapped his arms around her gently swollen stomach protectively, possessively. His tongue traced her jaw line and she answered with a soft moan. A delicate, feeble moan. Something that proved that she was really her.

She is her...How come I didn't trust her? Because her actions were too new...too different for me...Different is different, that's all that is. I was different 9 years ago. Now I have changed, most likely for the better. Sakura has changed also. Change can be good, or bad. Difference does not make you unwanted, it makes you special, unique. Stands you out from the rest of the crowd, the crowd that moves around all day, searching for a change of clothes, a change of personality, a change of themselves. It separates us, but in a good way. But different is not always better. This time its better...for both of us.