The sunlight coming through the doors cause me to roll away and tuck even further under the covers. Moving my hand around I don't feel Sasuke in the bed with me, he's always been an early riser. Tomorrow is the beginning of the second stage of the chunin exams, so all of the candidates are taking their tests today. Which means I'm going to spend all weekend in the forest, unless the genin are faster this year. At least my teammates are going to be there with me, it's going to be a little fun hanging out with them but I know that we have a job to do.
I hear someone knock on the front door and the familiar flutter of my stomach causes me to run towards the toilet. Of course morning sickness started after Sasuke left for his mission. Tsunade only laughed at me and said 'you're a medic, do something about it'. At first I was angry but then I decided to put a little healing chakra through my stomach and poof it was gone. Wiping my mouth on my hand, I go over to wash my hands and brush my teeth.
Walking out to the kitchen, my hand covers over my stomach pumping chakra into my skin. It's like a calming wave and within seconds everything feels better. I'm glad that Tsunade said something about it but there are times when I can't catch it in time. Popping a piece of bread in the toaster, I go to pour myself a glass of orange juice. Sasuke's footsteps come down the stairs and into the room with me, he must've heard me earlier in the bathroom.
"Feeling okay?" It's still strange having him worry about me, although I'm not complaining. When we were first assigned to Team 7 he never really showed his emotions so openly. Naruto and I knew that he had this protective side and whenever it did show it wasn't for more than a moment at a time. Since Sasuke and I have been married that side has been the dominate one around the house.
"Oh, yeah. I'm starting to get used to it." My toast pops out of the machine and I practically drool over the piece of bread. Nibbling on the toast, I move over to the kitchen table and prop my head up with my hand. My eyes close and I revel in the fact there's something I can finally eat; I've been starving for the past two days. A loud knock comes from the door and I hear Sasuke sigh as he walks over to open the door.
"Is Sakura here?" I hear my friends voice fill the silent home and two sets of footsteps come into the room. Opening my eyes, I see that she's carrying a few folders close to her chest, a worried look washing over her face.
"Are you just now waking up? It's almost noon." Did I really sleep in that late? My body must've finally relaxed knowing that Sasuke was home safe. Shrugging my shoulders, I bring the glass up to my mouth and drink the entire contents.
"Yeah, I was tired Ino. Preparing for all of this is draining." Sasuke opens the fridge and Ino's turn to watch, then the folders fall to the floor and I watch her face completely drain of color. Turning around to look, I notice what her eyes are locked on. Ino's knees start to give out and I manage to slip an arm around her before she collapses. Sasuke is by my side in a second helping me move the woman to the couch in the living room.
"Ino, are you okay?" I'm in medic mode at this point. Every reaction she said is a sign of shock, waving a hand in front of her face she slowly starts to blink. It's an instant mistake as she comes to and starts to stand, glaring at me with such attitude.
"WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME?" I knew I should've told her when Naruto found out, I can't help but laugh at her reaction though. Before I know it my entire body is shaking from laughter and I have tears falling down my face. Sasuke is just standing there gapping at the scene in front of him.
"What's so funny forehead? You are going to have a baby and you didn't tell me! I'm your best friend." As her sentence ends, the tone in her voice softens and I stop laughing to look at her. Ino is genuinely upset that I didn't tell her sooner. I move over to her and I wrap my arms around her tightly, a gasp comes from her and I only giggle more.
"Surprise Ino pig, you're going to be an aunt." She starts to jump up and down with excitement. I can hear Sasuke walking away to give us some time alone, Ino pulls me down onto the couch with her.
"Who else knows?"
"Naruto, Kakashi and Tsunade. I didn't want to tell everyone yet." It's a reasonable answer, making it through the first trimester is the most important part of pregnancy. At least Ino is a nurse and can understand why I wanted to keep it a secret.
"I can't believe that you are going to be a mom. Wait! You're proctoring the exams tomorrow aren't you? There's no way you can go in there." This time I start to feel my anger build. Everyone is getting on my nerves with this whole overprotection of Sakura thing. I'm an adult woman that can make her own decisions, not only that I'm the strongest kunoichi in the village but a pretty damn good medic too.
"Look Ino, I can handle being in that forest. Nothing is going to get out of hand this time. This time around I'm not some weak genin that's too worried about her looks to train. I didn't spend the past eight years to be treated like glass the second I get pregnant." During my rant, I start to pace around the room with my hands glued to my hips. I can feel my chakra spiking with every step I take, Ino's eyes start look like saucers as I stop walking.
"What Ino?" I yell out almost at her.
"Your chakra is spiking ridiculously. Calm down just a little bit, I'm just worried about you. I know that we will all be in there with you so nothing will happen this time." Ino's tone is almost one of pity. It's just infuriating at this point, no matter what I do I'll always be one step behind Sasuke and Naruto. Tears start to form in my eyes and Sasuke comes running back out into the living room with crimson orbs staring at the both of us.
"What's going on?" Each word is covered in concern, Ino looks over to Sasuke with completely and utter confusion. There's no reason to be confused about why I'm upset.
"We were talking about the forest and her chakra started to spike." That's when Sasuke was by my side in a heart beat, his hands on my shoulders causing me to look directly at him. Those red eyes are locked on mine and I can't help but stare back blankly.
"Breathe." Following his instructions, I take in a deep breath and hold it in for a few seconds. The result it automatic and my chakra is under control, letting the breath out I smile at Sasuke and remove his hands from me. Those red eyes disappear and I move away from him.
"I'm fine now. Let's finish our work so we can prepare for tomorrow." They both give me a hesitate look, I return back to the messy files on my kitchen floor. Most of the pages stayed in the appropriate file but there were a few stubborn ones. Whispers are coming from the living room and I roll my eyes as the two ninja watch me closely. Looks like today is going to be a long fucking day.
"Finally our case files are finished. Look like we can take some time off after the exams pig." We've spent the past few hours going over the cases and retouching on our chunin applicants. Ino conducted some of the exams so I wanted to go over them with fresh eyes, good thing I brought a computer home from the hospital the other day. This time around there isn't a group of rookie ninja going straight into the war zone. Back then we weren't exactly ready, our teamwork was just starting to form. Orochimaru was the one who destroyed everything that we had going.
"Have you finished getting your gear ready?" My cheeks feel hot; I don't even have a flack jacket. I've never needed one, the medic corps have an entire different uniform. Tsunade was supposed to bring it over to me this week but I guess she's been busy getting all of the paperwork finished.
"I need to go pickup my jacket." This time it was Ino's turn to start laughing. Her face turns tomato red and I throw a crumbled piece of paper at her face. It hits disrupting her laughter and a glare locks onto me. Then a knock causes us to look over and see the men of Team 7 at the door, I can't believe that I didn't sense their chakra. Ino jumps up and runs over to Sai wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"Why is everyone here?" Standing from my desk I move over to the men filling my office. They all have a small scroll in their hands and Sasuke passes me one with my name written on it.
"This is our assignments for tomorrow. Team 7 with the addition of Ino will be teamed up. Since Choji is on a mission and Shikamaru will be with Tsunade as an advisor, Ino will be assisting us." Naruto and Sasuke turn to go into the next room which is Sasuke's office. Kakashi lays out his larger scroll with the layout of the forest. Looks like they condensed down slightly, there's maneuver tactics marked along the map.
"We will be in teams of two, but we won't be more than a few hundred yards away from each other. Naruto and Sasuke, Sai and Ino, Sakura and I, those are the two man teams. Our assignment is surveillance from the tree tops. No interfering unless absolutely necessary." We do this every time we are assigned a mission. Kakashi always breaks it down so there is a clear plan of execution, looking around the room it seems that we can all agree with who we are paired with. I was looking forward to doing this along side Naruto and Sasuke but our duty comes first.
"In case anything happens we will break into three man groups. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Sai, Ino and I. At night we will all group up and campout on the ground, staying away from any participate." Kakashi sensei sure is something. He's thought out every action that we take, the only thing we do now is show up.
"Inside your scrolls are direct line of communication with the monitoring station. If anyone breaks open that scroll while in the forest, Anbu will be dispatched to help with a situation." I look over to Sasuke and Naruto, why hadn't they taken these precautions back when we were genin. We didn't have the battle or mission experience as most of the contestants, we were rookies for heaven sakes.
"Sounds good Kakashi sensei. What time do we need to meet up at the forest?" Naruto is being surprisingly calm and mature about this. Maybe he's just a nervous as I am about walking into the forest willingly, he has some peace of mind knowing that Hinata will waiting her her squad to finish the exam.
"Six a.m. We have to be in the gates before they show up, they don't know that there will be Jonin or higher ranks in the forest with them." That means I need to be up by four so I can make sure I eat and the sickness is handled before I leave. My eyes dart over to the clock and see that's almost six now which means it's getting close to bed time. The next few days won't let us have much sleep, but I'm used to running on little to none.
"Sounds good Kakashi sensei. Let's all go eat then we can handle our gear." I chime in to ease the tension filling the room. Everyone seems to relax and nod in agreement, I grab Naruto as he goes to leave the room. We haven't talked since the night when he found out, Sasuke looks over his shoulder before shutting the door leaving us alone.
"Are you okay Naruto?" It's an idiotic question, there's obviously something wrong with him.
"Not really." There's a pained look in his eye and I notice his fist shaking. Giving the look for him to explain more, his body takes in a deep breath and lets it out.
"I'm just worried Sakura. The last time we were there Orochimaru turned everything upside down. Shinobi died and there was so much damage. What if something happens like that again?" An almost sob comes out as he's speaking and there's a gleam to his eyes, my heart tightens at the confession. Stepping closer to him, I place a hand on his shoulder and offer him a calming smile.
"We won't let it get that far Naruto. This time around we can handle anything that happens. After all of those years training, you must believe that between Sasuke, Kakashi, you and I there's nothing that can stop us." This time I'm the one to give him a motivational speech. Naruto's always been able to convince others to follow and trust in him, now it's my turn. It seems to work as the childish smile returns to his face and I can't help but giggle at him.
"You just need to be careful Sakura." Once again the overprotective side reappears.
"Always. Come on let's go eat." I move to pull through the door but he keeps us stuck in the same spot.
"I'm really sorry about the other night. You, Sasuke and Kakashi have been my family since I was a kid, so it just upset me that you didn't want to tell me right away." My heart tightens again, of course I wanted to tell him but it's safer to wait until I make it through the most unpredictable part of the pregnancy. My eyes soften at him and I bring myself over to him and embrace him.
"I understand Naruto. I'm not upset at all about it and I was going to tell you. Sasuke and I just wanted to keep it a secret for a little while longer." The embrace is warm and familiar; I can't remember how many times I came to Naruto to help ease the pain. Without a doubt Naruto is the brother I never had. Moving away I wipe away the few tears that made their way down my cheek. The door opens and Sasuke is standing watching the two of us.
"You can really be a dobe sometimes. Let's go eat before I change my mind about going." Naruto and I both roll our eyes and laugh following Sasuke out of the house. It's nice to have the air cleared and have time together as a family.
The village is quiet as Sasuke and I return back home the long way, I wanted to walk through the streets to enjoy the fresh air. Naruto insisted that we go eat ramen before spending the weekend surrounded by kids. We didn't want to argue with him so we all reluctantly followed behind him. The spring air is nice compared to the winter months we experienced, but even though it's warmer I still move closer to Sasuke. It's just a natural reaction by body has always had and I can see why he was annoyed with me when we were younger, doesn't mean it wasn't rude. Sasuke has an act towards hiding his true feelings, it takes a lot to get through that thick skull of his and see what's going on. Patients and understanding are the two keys two getting through to him, time is the only unknown factor since it took him eight years to come home.
"What are you thinking?" But he can read me like a book, he always has. There's no point in hiding how I really felt towards him, I made it very clear the night he left. Every time I put myself in danger for Sasuke I thought I was for nothing, all I ever wanted was for him to acknowledge me. I guess he technically hasn't yet, but it will happen one day.
"You." My answer must've caught off guard since he stopped as soon as the word left my throat. I stop to turn and look at him, he's not showing any emotion but I can see the wheels turning in that thick head of his. Like I said, there's no point in hiding how I really feel. Looking around I notice that I didn't realize the area we are in. A stone bench is standing beside us and my chest constricts slightly before I take a seat looking up at the stars.
"Why?" His voice is soft and full of regret, regret for asking me that question. Letting a sigh out, my head drops down to look at the brick road. I've been having an inner battle for years about that exact same question, why do I always think of him? Because I'm completely in love with him. Why do I love him? There's so many reason and then there aren't. All I've ever wanted was to save him from the darkness and show him the happiness he deserved. Why can't I just let Sasuke Uchiha go? Because I truly love him. It's not some puppy love or a crush anymore, it hasn't been since our chunin exams.
"Because I love you Sasuke." The confession feels like I cut the cord of a weight holding me back. I've tried for years to hide my feelings, tried to convince myself that I would never forgive him and refuse him if he ever returned home. But that was something I never could bring myself to do. No matter how many times he tried to sever the small bond we had, I kept rebuilding it. Love is a powerful thing.
"How can you still love me after everything?" This time he joins me on the bench looking at me with such confusion. It's almost comical to see him looking like that, Sasuke Uchiha normally has the answers to every question.
"I never stopped Sasuke. I can't." Letting the tears fall, I feel the difference in my confession this time. I'm not a young girl trying to convince the love of her life to stay, I'm a grown woman that's more confident in her feelings. A hand rest on my thigh and I gasp looking over at Sasuke, gentle eyes are looking directly at me. His lips are pressed into a thin line and I can see that's he's having an inner battle with himself as well. I can tell that he's looking for the words to say and for me to help him with the answer.
"Sasuke, I know that you care about me. We've always had a different bond compared to the others, but I don't want you to admit to anything you aren't sure of. I'm happy with how things are now, you are too. You haven't smiled this much in a very long time. We need to head home to sleep." Standing from the bench, I offer Sasuke my hand. His warm hand grabs mine and gently rises from the bench, turning to move I find myself wrapped in his tight embrace with our lips smashed together. As always my cheeks heat and turn fire red, Sasuke has never kissed me in public before. Anyone could be out walking and see us, which causes me to blush even harder. Although I'm shocked, I return the kiss with as much passion as him. Letting my lips part slightly we begin to fight for dominance.
Just as soon as the kiss began, it ended too quickly leaving me breathless and flustered. He doesn't release me from his hold, it tightens for a moment as our eyes lock onto one another.
"I've lost everyone I've ever loved before Sakura. I'm afraid…" I watch as his eyes drop and the sentence trails off. It takes strength for him to openly admit this, bringing my hand to his chin I make it to where he's looking straight into my eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere." With a small kiss on his lips, the embrace ends and we return to our walk. This time our fingers are intertwined and the silence causes me to relax even more. Sasuke's walls are gone and he's trying to understand all of the emotions that come with that, from the corner of my eye I can see the small grin on his lips. I'll be here to help him through whatever comes next.