Here's the new chapter! I wrote a lot of this from my own experience plus my own speculation and watching medical shows and the like. Intrigued? Well read on! Anyway, I'm almost caught up to posting everything I have typed, but now I have to start adding what I have in my notebook, so it may be a little while before I can get a new chapter up, like maybe July. I hope you'll wait! Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and I hope you like this one
"I have the key," she teased, putting it in the door. The air seemed tense for a moment as she entered the house. Her heart started beating faster, like something was about to happen…
"Surprise!" came a loud shout. Sakura almost had a heart attack when she entered the living room. All her friends and their captains were there. Presents, cake, and confetti littered the room. Up on the wall she could see a banner that said 'baby shower.' She looked at Kakashi who hid his face in his perverted book. He'd obviously been roped into this. She knew he would've said the same thing he'd said the last time they wanted to throw her a party, but it didn't work that way for a baby shower.
"Sorry Sakura…" he said softly. She hugged him and brightened up a bit.
"Thank you guys," she said. For the first time in a long time she didn't feel alone. She got tons of gifts for Mitsuki. A crib from Tsunade, knit blankets from Hinata, hats, bibs, and outfits from Ino, books and stuffed animals from TenTen. She got all the usual things you get babies from everyone else.
"Hey Kakashi! Where's your present?" Tsunade questioned, poking him in the chest.
"I gave it to Sakura on her birthday. I'm afraid I still haven't gotten her a gift," Kakashi replied. Sakura smiled at him. The seeds had opened up and were just starting to push up through the soil in front of their home.
"You can just consider being my partner in the delivery room my birthday present," Sakura assured him.
"Think you can handle it?" Asuma teased.
"I don't think it'll be a problem," Kakashi answered. Kurenai laughed at the two before pulling Sakura to the side.
"The key to giving birth is to stay calm. If you relax through the pain, it makes the process easier. Be careful starting next month, because stress can bring on early labor. You just have to take it easy, and let your friends do everything for you," she said.
"Thanks for the advice," Sakura said. As much as she was enjoying her friends being here, she felt a bad omen. The baby started to kick her hard under her ribs as if to confirm the bad feeling. She pulled Gaara aside, into her room to speak with him privately.
"What's wrong Sakura?" Gaara asked.
"I feel like something bad is about to happen… Since you're the only one who knows about Itachi, I must place a burden on you…" Sakura said.
"I'll do what I can," Gaara promised.
"Should something happen to me Gaara…" she began, moving to her closet. She showed him a secret compartment she had made to house the box Itachi had given her. She had written out a letter of explanation and put it in the box since she didn't know what Itachi had put in there. "This box needs to be delivered to Sasuke after Itachi is dead," she explained. Gaara wanted to ask why, but he knew she couldn't tell him. "You must come and get the box, and keep it in your possession."
"Alright Sakura. I can do that," he agreed.
"I have written a letter and put it in here. Before you give the box to Sasuke you must read the letter, and you must disclose its contents to everyone, everywhere. It contains the explanations everyone seeks about him," she said, piquing his interest.
"If something should happen, I promise I will follow your instructions," Gaara said. Sakura smiled.
"Thank you," she said simply, hiding the box again. The party was just about over. A few people were cleaning up the house and Kakashi and Sakura went up to sit on the roof.
"You leave tomorrow don't you?" she asked.
"Aa. I'll be back the first week of July, no matter what," Kakashi promised.
"I'll hold you to it," she said with a smile. She bid her guests goodbye and thank you. She waited as patiently as she could as the weeks passed. When the first week of July came around however, Kakashi still wasn't back. Naruto joined her at the gate every day from noon to sundown waiting. At the end of the second week Tsunade knew something was wrong. She started toward the gate where she knew she'd find Sakura and Naruto. Sakura started having a panic attack.
"Something happened. He's not coming!" she said.
"Sakura, come on… Maybe he got stuck somewhere and he had to hide out a while before he could come back. I'm sure Tsunade…" Naruto began, but trailed off as he saw the Hokage approaching them with a grim expression. Sakura broke into tears and Naruto pulled her into a hug. "What's wrong?" he asked, feeling sick to his stoamch. He suddenly became very afraid of what they were about to hear...
"I received word a week and a half ago from Kakashi, confirming the success of the mission, and that he would be returning soon. He should have been back already… I'm going to send Gai and his team to investigate. Don't worry Sakura. We'll find him," Tsunade declared.
"I'll stay with you until Kakashi is back. You shouldn't be alone," Naruto said, though they both knew it did little to comfort them. Gai's team was packed and ready to go by sunset. Sakura's state escalated from upset to inconsolable. She kept crying and crying, saying he promised to be there and she'd be alone. Naruto offered to be with her in the delivery room if it came to that but she didn't respond. She exhausted herself and she passed out for a few hours. Naruto had to keep telling everyone the best thing they could do for Sakura was let her calm down. He even had to send Hinata away, who understood why he needed to be there. He kissed her on the forehead and after that no one else came.
He shot up at dawn to the sounds of Sakura's screaming. He rushed into her room and found her curled up in pain. She was crying, holding her stomach, screaming out in a pain. She looked like she was being tortured.
"Help me!" she begged. "Something's wrong! Something's wrong!" she screamed, hyperventilating. Naruto shook with fear as he lifted her from the bed and found her covered in blood. He kicked the front door down and ran through the streets. There were a few people walking around, opening their shops and the like. He started screaming over Sakura's agonizing shrieks to anyone who would listen.
"Someone get Godaime! Get Godaime to the hospital! Sakura, you're gonna be ok! Just try to calm down," he begged. He put her down in a bed in the delivery room and a panic spread through the hospital. Doctors and nurses all rushed to the room, waiting for Tsunade to arrive. Shizune was already prepping Sakura on the table. She barked out orders and all Naruto could do was wait.
The sun was rising in the sky, shedding more light on the village. Kotetsu had just reported to Izumo at the gate, and they switched places. Izumo ran off to alert the other ninjas about what was going on, and to be on the lookout for Itachi. Kotetsu saw a familiar face approaching, and ran out to meet him. "Kakashi! Where have you been?" he demanded.
"I was being followed… It couldn't be helped," he answered in confusion. "What's going on? How is Sakura?"
"She's not well… Naruto just took her to the hospital, a little less than an hour ago… She's in labor but she's bleeding everywhere… You can see the trail in the streets. Godaime just told me to stand guard here and watch for Itachi. She said Sakura might lose the baby," he reported. Kakashi's heart almost stopped. Then he was gone. He burst into the delivery room and grabbed Sakura's hand.
"I'm here, don't worry. I'm here," he said soothingly.
"You know it's really not funny that you're late this time Kakashi," Sakura tried to joke through the pain. She squeezed his hand so hard it probably could've broken all his bones if she'd summoned her chakra into it.
"What happened to you?" Tsunade growled, giving him a sideways glance.
"I was being followed after I sent my report. I had to stay hidden in order to get them off my trail. Do you really want to get into this right now?" he replied. Sakura screamed out in pain and Kakashi kissed her forehead. She felt goose bumps travel down her body and looked up into his eyes. This was not Kakashi… He leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Kakashi is ok Sakura. I had to knock him out so I could be here. I sensed something bad was about to happen… You can do this! I'm here, and everything will be ok," the disguised Uchiha said. She groaned in pain. She knew it wasn't Kakashi, but which Uchiha brother was it that was standing here with her? Did it matter? Fuck it felt like she was dying…
"Is Mitsuki ok?" she asked, breaking into another fit of hysterics. Tsunade put a hand over where the baby was positioned in her uterus. She could feel the baby's heartbeat fading.
"She's alive but she's fading. The cord is choking her and your contractions are trying to force her out. This is making the cord tighten around her neck. The labor was brought on early through emotional trauma and somehow the placenta tore from the uterine wall," Tsunade explained.
"You have to save her!" Sakura cried. She screamed as another contraction came. For an hour now they'd been trying to get her to calm to stop the contractions and keep her on bed rest until she was ready to have the baby. This was while she attempted 3 times to unwrap the cord from the baby's neck and failed because the placenta was traveling freely through her womb. The last time she had tried it had almost made things worse and she feared attempting it again. She looked at Shizune with a pale face.
"Surgery may be the only option Sakura, but you've lost so much blood already… It's not likely that you'll be able to pull through if-" Shizune explained when Tsunade couldn't.
"Then do it! This baby has to live! Mitsuki is all Sasuke will have left! He needs to know the truth!" she demanded.
"Shizune prep the operating room, I've got to grab some things from my office," Tsunade said. "Kakashi just stay here with her, call the nurse outside if things get worse," she said to Kakashi.
"Sakura… This is my punishment for wanting something I could not have… You're not meant to give your life for this baby. It was never intended for me to have children, and fate won't allow it," Kakashi said, finally revealing that it was Itachi.
"Fuck what you think fate is! If you weren't meant to have children I wouldn't have gotten pregnant!" Sakura yelled. She groaned as another contraction came.
"If you die, then who will raise this child? She'll be all alone Sakura. And how will Sasuke know what all this was for?" Kakashi asked.
"Look, Gaara saw through me. He doesn't know what happened, but he knows I trusted you enough to do this. He has instructions on where the box is and what to do with it. I put a letter of my own inside, which he will read and disclose in my place should something happen to me. I didn't agree to try for this baby without knowing there would be consequences. These past 9 months I've carried this baby, lying to everyone I know, so we would both leave something good behind. If I have to die to do that, so be it," she said. She pulled him down close to her and kissed him.
"What's going on here?" Tsunade demanded.
"Now isn't the right time to discuss it," Kakashi answered. Tsunade felt something was way off, but he was right. He helped put her on a gurney and went with them into the operating room.
"Thank you for coming; I know it must have been difficult for you to get back," Sakura said.
"I should've come sooner, like you wanted… Then maybe this wouldn't have happened…" Kakashi said. He felt tears in his eyes, angry, painful tears that burned as they escaped. "I don't want to lose anyone else I care about!"
"Fate plays a cruel game… It's trying to make you think you have to choose between us, but you don't get to. I'll die for her to break this circle," Sakura proclaimed. Kakashi smiled at her. She would have made a wonderful wife, mother, companion… She was everything he would've wanted if he had been able to have a life of his own. He'd be damned if he let her die, even if it meant revealing who he really was.
"I won't choose then. You'll both live, no matter what I have to do to ensure it. You're gonna fight this, and you're going to pull through!" Kakashi growled defiantly. "I won't let anyone else die because of me!" Sakura smiled as her breathing became shallower.
"Something's changed!" Shizune cried out full of hope. The baby's heartbeat was getting stronger, but Sakura's was getting weaker. Tsunade was getting flustered. They were acting like lovers… What the hell was going on? The thought stayed in her mind but she had to push it aside.
"Try once more, before you have to use surgery," Kakashi requested. Tsunade blinked a few times and then nodded. It couldn't hurt to try one last time… Itachi knew she was purposely letting go to give Mitsuki a chance. If they had to remove her surgically, Sakura would die.
"Don't you give up on me Sakura," he said. He held her hand as Tsunade made one last attempt. "Stay with me…" The three waited tensely before seeing a flicker of hope flash across Tsunade's face.
"Tsunade?" Shizune asked.
"Get her alert. We need to strengthen the contractions and get this baby out," she said. Kakashi tapped her face until her eyes fluttered open. "Sakura, you need to push. I know you're exhausted, but the baby is still in danger."
"What did I tell you?" Kakashi said with a smile. It was then Tsunade noticed Kakashi was sharing his chakra with Sakura to keep her strength up as she pushed. She knew Kakashi would have done it, but this chakra felt so unfamiliar… Itachi knew she was on to the genjutsu, but it didn't matter now. He'd planned his escape before he even thought of how he was gonna get into Konoha. Not 10 minutes later Mitsuki was born. She was inspected, cleaned up, and given a clean bill of health despite the complications.
The baby quieted her crying immediately once placed in Sakura's arms. Mitsuki gurgled with eyes only open a slit. The world was a pretty bright place… Sakura and Itachi were filled with a feeling neither of them had ever felt before. A gushing of love and admiration, a desire to protect like none they had ever felt… Sakura started crying happy, exhausted tears.
"Looks like fate isn't as cruel as we thought ne?" she joked.
"Kakashi, we need to talk," Tsunade demanded. "Shizune watch Sakura and Mitsuki." A nurse burst into the room, out of breath, like she'd been running a marathon.
"Gai's team… they're, they're back! He says… he needs to speak with you, with you, about Itachi!" she declared in between gasps for air. Tsunade gritted her teeth.
"Watch him," she whispered to Shizune. She ran out with the nurse to the entrance where she met with Gai… who was carrying… Kakashi? "Fuck!" she screamed, running back to the operating room before he could speak. Shizune was on the floor and Sakura and the baby were gone. "How could this have happened?" she screamed. Gai burst in. "Put everyone on alert and get ANBU on Itachi immediately! He took Sakura disguised as Kakashi! Go!"