My fingers crap and the clipboard comes crashing out of my hand, swiftly Taka bends over to pick up the wooden object for me. I smile at him as I rub the sore digits as we move back towards my office. No doubt my husband is sitting in my office, for the past month and a half he's been coming by once he finishes at the academy. My assumption is correct as we turn the corner to see Sasuke standing outside my office with Naruto, today was the day that everyone finds out the gender of their own child.

Sasuke's eyes lock onto my hands and he gives me a worried look, shrugging my shoulders I continue towards them. Naruto seems to be excited about something, sighing I finally stop in front of my boys and a firm kick causes me to stop moving. With six weeks left in my pregnancy, I've noticed that he's been more and more active. Sleep is something of a myth most nights now, Tsunade told me to take a sleeping pill if I absolutely need it.

"Why are you rubbing your hands?" Sasuke's voice is firm and worried, he's been watching everything lately. I caught him reading through a first-time father book last week, it was heartwarming.

"I just had a cramp. What are you two doing here?" My eyes scan back and forth between the two and Naruto's eyes light up.

"It seems like boys are in the air!" Naruto passes me a handful of pictures, four in total. Each is a picture of a boy. Smiling I go to wrap my arms around Naruto's neck and my large belly pushing against his. A hard kick makes me release and rub the stubborn baby through my skin, kicks turn into flutters.

"Congratulations Naruto. Taka will you go put that on my desk." He nods and runs into my office, I personally chose him to be my student after seeing his final test scores. The girls managed to pass but I saw potential in Taka and decided to make it a reality for him. Until I go on maternity leave, he will train under me then he will get a few months to learn the paperwork side with Lady Tsunade.

"Thank you Sakura! I just wanted to stop by and let you know." With that the blonde takes off running to the stairs and trips opening the door, laughing I move into the office with Sasuke. A warm hand resting on the small of my back, a vase of flowers sitting on my desk along with a bento box. There's two others sitting on the coffee table, he even brought one for Taka. I slightly waddle over to my chair and notice the two boys starting to dig into their food.

Chewing the chicken slightly, I let my mind wander from the present. In six short weeks, I'll be sitting at home in my bed holding a sweet baby that Sasuke and I made out of love. I can imagine a small infant with Sasuke's dark hair and dark eyes, maybe a few facial features from me but he would be all Sasuke. I wonder how Sasuke will act with a baby in the house? He's very reserved and closed off with his emotions to anyone other than me, so seeing him will a baby will be interesting. I know that he will love our son no matter what. Speaking of which we haven't decided on a name yet….

"We still haven't decided on a name…" I mutter as I take another bite of my food, choosing the Dango piece instead of the tomato slices that Sasuke packed. Taka ignores my comment as he continues to eat and read over a medical journal I assigned him.

"We can talk about that at home." His eyes never leave the book he's reading. I could leave early today since we just finished our last appointment, Taka and I were just going to review our patients from earlier this week since Ino was busy today. All I need to do is sign a few documents then close up shop for the day, tomorrow is my night shift of the week, so I can sleep in.

"Taka when you're finished, will you go make a few copies of Ms. Henna's file?" I ask nicely and he beams a smile at me. Taking one final bite, he goes off running with the file leaving Sasuke and I alone. Sasuke looks up from his book and raises an eyebrow at me.

"You sent him away so we could talk." Observant as ever my husband is, I go to take another bite but another kick or elbow jab causes me to stop. Dropping my chopsticks as I reach for my bottle of water and take a long sip, my eyes never leaving Sasuke.

"I said we would talk about it at home." He seems irritated with me, rolling my eyes I place the bottle back down.

"After he comes back I'm done for the day." I take the closest pen and started to finish up my work. That seems to put him into a better mood as he gathers the dirty dishes and pack them back into a bag he brought. Taka comes crashing into the room with a small stack of papers, he maybe went a little overboard.

"Here you go Sakura, I went ahead and bundled them into four separate copies. Yellow clip is for her personal copy, green for Lady Tsunade, pink for your reference and white for a hard copy." He's as thorough as I was back in my beginning years, smiling at him I take the papers and tuck them into my top drawer.

"Good work Taka, we're finished for the day. Go ahead and head home and get some rest, tomorrow is your first night shift and Anbu tend to come in more during the night." There's disappointment covering his face, a look I know far too well.

"I thought we were supposed to go over files." I stand from the desk and move over to him, patting his shoulder softly.

"We will, tomorrow. Night shifts are either busy or completely dead." He gives me a reluctant smile and we all move to the door. Sasuke offers me a light jacket since the air is starting to cool slightly. My hand reaches for his to intertwine our fingers, my other hand moves up to hold my flutter stomach.

"He's very active today." It feels like he's practicing his taijutsu in the womb. My hand moves out an inch and I push gently feeling the foot slightly. Being a medical ninja, I know how babies form in the womb and the science behind it all. But feeling the small foot or elbow is fascinating and mind blowing all in one. Taka leaves us once he sees Kiko standing at the front desk, her eyes sparkle when she spots Sasuke. I grip his hand a little tighter before exiting the building.

"Hn." His hand holds mine firmly but there's a tension around him. I'm glad that it doesn't take long before we reach our home. Sasuke is normally quiet but there seems to be something on his mind. He told me that he would let me in, that he would try but right now it feels like the walls are back up. I open the door slowly and go straight to the bedroom, wanting my work clothes off. Sasuke senses my mood change and follows me with intensity.

"Sakura." His voice makes me stagger for a moment, but I collect myself and begin to peel off my clothing. I know Sasuke better than he thinks, something's going on and he won't tell me. It's been six weeks since we've heard anything about The Masters so I'm guessing it has to do with them. Then there's the topic of naming our son, I have two options but it's up to Sasuke.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Ignoring him as I try to bend over, my balance fails me and I start to tumble sideways. Instead of crashing into the floor I'm wrapped in Sasuke's arms. I lean against his chest and take a deep breath in.

"Is there any new information on the gang?" His arms loosen around me but I don't leave his embrace.

"There is, but it's nothing concrete. I would let you know." There's nothing but truth in his voice, relaxing slightly I move away to finish the task of putting on pants. I hear Sasuke walk over to the bed and the soft creak under his weight. Now comes the conversation we should've been having weeks ago.

"So, about the name…" I say as I turn around to find Sasuke looking down at the ground, this is going to be tougher than I thought. Walking over to where his face is looking directly at my large stomach, hand places firmly on my hip to lean forward to support my weight. Hands come up to touch my stomach and the gentleness of his touch makes me relax a little more.

"We've never talked about your family in detail, which I understand and I don't want to push you either, but I was thinking…" The words can't come out, I snuck into Tsunade's office when I was training and read through all of the Uchiha files. After learning from Naruto, I learned that Itachi was ordered to murder his entire clan. He believed that it was for the better of the village. Sasuke knows more about it than I do, it still hurts him but I don't want to push him either.

"Why?" The stagger in his voice makes me regret even thinking about that name…My throat tightens slightly from my shaking nerves and my heart starts to race faster. Every part of me is nervous, I'm expecting an outburst or anger. Sasuke leans forward so he can rest his forehead against me, earning a gentle kick from the baby. My skin starts to heat up as I feel his lips pressed on my stomach. All of attention has shifted from our conversation to the baby in my womb, he's lost in his own world for the moment.

"Itachi…" As soon as that name left his mouth, the baby started to kick harshly against my stomach. Sasuke moves off of my stomach with a small, warm smile on his lips. At least I didn't have to say it myself, Sasuke had to decide this for himself.

"I think he likes it." I whisper as a smile spreads on my face as well.

"Ah. I'd say so." His voice is quiet as well, this moment is one of many more to come. Bending down slowly so I can kiss him, a loud knock comes from our front door. No one should be coming over at this time, most of our friends are either working or on missions. Sasuke jumps up and takes off to the door. Waddling out into the living room, I see Naruto gasping for air most likely from running full speed over here.

"Sakura…Hinata needs you…hospital…poison…" As soon as I hear poison, I run to the door and step into my shoes leaving my boys behind. Running isn't the best thing for me to be doing, but Hinata needs me now and as a medic it's my job to heal her. Sasuke and Naruto catch up to me as I'm entering the double doors, Ino already pushing me towards the operating room.

"What happened?" I say slipping on a white lab coat, Hinata's face is covered in sweat and there's no color to her body. Nurses are connecting the machines to her and placing in the IV. Rushing over, the familiar green glow covers my hands as I assess the damage. I feel the dense poison rushing through her veins and it's starting to make a path down to her womb.

"I need Tsunade!" My voice is loud and demanding as I let all of my attention focus on the baby. I push chakra into the small area to create a barrier around the child, if I move both hands away then the poison will come rushing into the true target. Thankfully Tsunade comes crashing into the room, ready to work.

"Sakura fill me in." My eyes lock onto hers and I see a faint look of fear, if anything happens to this child Naruto will be crushed.

"There's a poison circulating and now I'm keeping it from the baby. We need to get it out before the heart is attack. If I move both of my hands away then the chakra barrier will fade." Instantly she's working on the top portion, moving my left hand over I begin to push out some of the dark substance.

"Shizune please look at this under the microscope, if there are traces of metal let me know." She takes to sample and the machines start to beep, her heart rate is rising. I have a feeling this is a variation of Sasori's poison, but his was a three-day deterioration rate while this one is taking only a few hours. Tsunade pulls a large chunk from her lung area, but the machine doesn't stop beeping.

"Sakura there are small traces of metal and other components of snake venom." My eyes snap up to her, how in the world did they get ahold of a dead man's poison. I thought I eradicated it when Lady Chiyo and I finished him in that cave.

"I need someone to go into my office and get in my safe. There's a box of vials, I need them. Password is 0328." Instantly she starts taking off but that's when it gets worse. Hinata's body starts to convulse and heat up from the internal battle. I can feel my chakra start to falter and I have to concentrate even harder but my chakra is getting too low to maintain the barrier. If I access my reserves then I could finish this up in a few hours, but that would mean activating the seal. That's a risk that I can't take in my current condition, a soldier pill would do but it could injure the baby.

I pull out a large chunk of poison from her side, throwing it into the basin of solution. This wasn't meant to kill her or the baby, it's supposed to be a message for me. Out of all the medical ninja that have come across this poison I'm the one that's figured out an antidote. Just as I pull another decent size of poison out, Shizune comes in the room with the vials.

"Hand me the red and white one, we need to get them injected immediately. We'll have three minutes to get any remaining poison out, the antidote will turn the poison in to harmless protein." Ino takes the vails from her and injects them into Hinata's IV that was inserted when she arrived. Almost immediately her body lays still and some color begins to return, now the clock is ticking. Moving my hands away from the child, I concentrate on her lower extremities and pull the small amount from her legs and abdomen.

"Lady Tsunade, Shizune help me with a full body flush." This is our chance, we've been working on her for almost two hours. Time flies when you're focused on saving a life. Ino brings over three large basins with a clear saline solution to us, we have to do this continuous one after another like a domino effect. Tsunade infuses her chakra into the solution and we begin slowly, by the time it comes in my direction the solution remains mostly clear.

My eyes dart over to the monitors and see that her vitals have evened back out, the color returning and the sweat drying from her skin. I keep the sigh of relief contained because we aren't in the clear yet, we still need to watch over her for a few hours to make sure that the poison is gone. But for now we can let her rest without any disturbances.

"We need to have a meeting in my office. Shizune please escort Hinata to a secure room and don't leave until I send in backup." Tsunade tears off her lab coat and exits the room. A small kick from my son makes me rub the swell of my belly, Naruto must be worried sick.

"Shizune on your way up please return the vials back into my safe." She nods and I exit the room behind Tsunade, she's already talking to Naruto. Tears are swelling in his eyes by the time I come over to the group, the blonde brings me into a tight embrace and I feel the warm tears drip onto my shoulder. Returning his hug, I rub small circles on his back comforting the boy. This is an all too familiar embrace, how many times have we held each other after an attack or tragedy? Naruto is without a doubt my best friend and brother, I would give my life to protect him if I had to.

"Thank you Sakura…" His voice is muffled from the tears and my heart tightens at the sound. I can't help but sniffle as a few tears of my own form. Sasuke's eyes soften, but I can see that he's wondering if I'm okay. My chakra is dangerously low and I'm drained after that, but overall I'm okay. Naruto releases me after a few more seconds and he backs away, looking over my shoulder at Tsunade.

"You can see her after a meeting in my office. She needs her rest." Naruto looks defeated but we know that this is a serious matter. Good thing the Hokage Tower is right next door, she must've summoned the others when she left the room. I lean into Sasuke's figure as we walk to the tower, this is the worst part of being pregnant. I can't work longer than four hours without my legs and hands cramping up, my chakra is drained more because of the growing baby and exhaustion sets in within a few hours.

Entering the office, it's packed with anger filled men. The last thing we need is hormonal women trying to go and fine the culprits. Kakashi moves from his seat and lets me take his spot, he knows that we just finished with a long operation. Tsunade pulls out a small sake carafe from her desk and takes a long gulp, my lips instantly dry. That's something I wish I could have right now, hurry up and finishing growing little one. Sasuke's tall figure is towering over me and Naruto takes a seat on the floor leaning against the chair.

"The poison that Sakura and I extracted from Hinata was a mixture of Sasori's signature poison and snake venom." The tension in the room grows.

"I'm the only one who's been able to create an antidote for that particular poison. The amount in her system was enough to injure her but the goal wasn't to kill." I breath out, rubbing my stomach once again as kicks and jabs come from all angles.

"Now they're sending messages. When do we go back?" Shikamaru voices from the back, we all know that they are collected in once location now. Waiting for the babies to be born, it's the perfect opportunity to attack.

"After Sakura gives birth." I lock eyes with my mentor and she knows that there's no chance that I'm going to stay here. Even if I'm not assigned the mission, I'll leave our son with my parents and go as backup. The other girls can stay here and keep an eye on things.

"That gives us six weeks or so to go back over our intel and form a plan." Once again Shikamaru is speaking for the group of men. It seems as though their minds are made up, six weeks is enough time to be prepared for a decent fight.

"Shikamaru you will be overseeing this mission. Shikamaru, Neji you two are dismissed. I wish to speak with Team 7 alone." I knew that this was going to happen. Shishou is going to lecture me on my safety and how I need to stay here, they will all agree leaving me outnumbered. Once the door shut, Tsunade's body language shifted.

"Sakura will be joining you for this mission. We all know that she won't stay behind, there's no point in arguing either. They are targeting her for a specific reason now, I say let them get what they want." I can't help but let my eyes go wide, Tsunade is going to have my back on this one. Sasuke goes stiff over me and I notice the staring contest going on between the Hokage and the Uchiha. The hair on the back of my neck is standing and goosebumps are forming over my skin.

"She needs to stay here with our son." Venom is coating his words, it won't be long until Sasuke snaps at the woman. A sigh escaped her lips and her eyes narrow.

"Anbu will be assigned to watch the child along with the others, I will have them all housed in one building until we know that the enemy is eliminated. Sakura is more than capable of handling this. We will wait one week after the baby is born, between Sakura, Shizune and I we can speed up the healing process to have her ready to go in that time." I turn to look at Sasuke, his eyes are blood red and filled with anger. There's nothing he can do to change either of our minds.

"My decision is final. Naruto you may go see Hinata now, Sakura go home and rest." With that we are dismissed and Sasuke storms out of the office leaving me alone with Kakashi and Naruto. Blue eyes look at me with concern but I offer him a small smile, he takes off running for the hospital. Kakashi walks with me down the stairs and out into the busy streets.

"Give him time Sakura, he will be fine. He's always been so overprotective of you." He breaths through the mask and I look over to him with sad eyes. Sasuke is probably already at the training field destroying everything in his path.

"It feels like he doesn't believe I can handle this." I sink my gaze down to the road, Sasuke hasn't seen me fight since we were genin. I'm more than capable of protecting myself and defeating my enemy.

"You know he does, Sasuke is just scared. After all this time he has a family again and now this…Just give him some time." Nodding my head slowly, my house comes into view. Waving goodbye to Kakashi, I enter the empty house and let out a few frustrated tears. It's almost four, Sasuke won't be home anytime soon so I might just call it an early day.

My eyes burst open as I hear someone come crashing into our bedroom, looking at the clock I see that it's well past midnight. Sasuke comes in and moves to the bathroom throwing his clothes off in the process. I can tell that he's still angry but my emotions get the better of me and I follow behind him slowly. Sasuke's knuckles are bleeding and bruises are covering his entire body, who has he been sparring with?

"Go back to sleep." It feels like I've been sucked into the past, his tone reminds me of our genin days after the curse mark. This time I'm not going to bend and listen to what he says.

"You're injured. Come here and let me heal you." Two red eyes move over to me and I feel a shiver run through my spine, he's trying to scare me but I can't let him. My feet carry my body over to him, my tight grip on his shoulder causes him to face me completely.

"Sasuke I am too tired and too pregnant to do this. Now sit down and let me heal you so I can sleep somewhat peacefully or I might just add another bruise myself." A fire is burning inside of me, and Sasuke seems to notice it as well. He cooperates and takes a seat on the cold tiles. The green glow lights up the room and I feel him slightly relax into my touch.

"Do you want to tell me who you were sparring with?" A quiet hn is my response and I just continue to heal the injuries. My eyes are heavy but there's no time to rest until he's better.

"Neji and Sai sparred with me. Neji landed a few good hits." So he finally decides to speak in a calm manner, my hands stop their treatment after I'm satisfied. He's covered in dirt and sweat, there's also a hint of sake on his breath. The typical male way of handling your problems, a few good punch and a few shots.

"Shower, I'll be waiting for you." Leaving the bathroom quietly, I shut the door and return to my now cold side of the bed. I know that he won't be too long, Sasuke never spends too much time in the shower unless I'm with him. A rumble from my stomach lets me know that Itachi is wide awake and waiting for his father to join us. Today has been a series of emotions and all I want now is to sleep peacefully beside Sasuke.

'You know he's still angry about Tsunade assigning you that mission.'

'We both know that I was going either way. This way it's official and a plan is in motion.'

'Sasuke isn't going to let you out of his sight, which could be dangerous in a battle.'

'I know he'll be worried but he needs to have trust in me. I'm not the weak genin anymore.'

'Hm, I know. You're still rusty though.'

'Let me worry about that.'

The clicking of the door lets me know that Sasuke is finished, a black towel is wrapped firmly around his hips. I turn my attention to the ceiling giving him some sort of privacy, my heart sinks. It feels like we are in the middle of our first fight, one that I never wanted to happen. The bed moves under his weight and an arm reaches out to pull me close. His warm breath washes over my forehead and I move closer into his chest.

"I don't want you to go. I also know that you won't just sit around since you are able to fight…Sakura…please be careful. I can't lose you." There's desperation in his voice, if I were to look into those black eyes I bet they would be glazed over. A deep breath fills my lungs and I place a kiss on his chest.

"I'll be okay Sasuke. Have some faith in me…Now we both need to sleep." Itachi kicks roughly against my stomach, moving Sasuke's figure slightly. A soft kiss is placed on the crown of my head and a blush covers my face. Cuddling further into Sasuke's chest, I let his heartbeat lull me into a deep, needed sleep.