Baka—silly, or silly little idiot
Misunderstanding
By Kaze and Kiba
Thank you for the lovely edits, Sakura's Unicorn.
Summary—Sometimes, nature makes those decisions for us.
A/N—I think 'future yak' is my new favorite word combo.
0o0o0
0o0o0
0o0o0
Ino didn't like the wild-eyed look of fear in her friend's eyes. "What are your options?"
"I could tell him."
"That actually sounds like a good choice." Ino patted her on the back encouragingly.
"Or I can run away to Suna."
"Sakura!"
"I can't tell him, Ino! I just can't!"
"He might be happy. Doesn't he want to rebuild his—"
"That was before his brother died and he found out all that horrible stuff about the betrayal. Now, he doesn't want a family." She sighed. "He doesn't want anybody."
"Then why did he sleep with you?"
"It was one night," Sakura plopped down on her sofa. "He was a little drunk. I was a little drunk. We were lonely…and stupid."
"I'll say."
"You're so not helping right now."
"Just tell him you're getting fat."
"Ha, ha."
"I don't know, Forehead! Jeez! I told you to get on birth control."
"I didn't need it. I wasn't having sex with anybody!"
"This wasn't an immaculate conception, baka."
Sakura held her head in her hands and moaned. "I know, I know! What am I gonna do?"
"Put it up for adoption?"
"Where? In Konoha? I'm sure nobody will notice a kid running around with Sharingan!"
"Tsunade would kill you if you gave up that bloodline trait to another village."
"I couldn't...give it up..." Sakura groaned, holding her head between her knees.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm nauseous. Sometimes this helps."
"Yeah, nobody's gonna guess something's up if you're sitting around with your head between your knees."
Sakura sat up quickly and snapped, "You got a better id—oh god," she mumbled, bolting from the couch to the bathroom where she noisily lost her breakfast.
"Oh, he's not gonna suspect a thing," Ino muttered sarcastically.
"Thanks a lot, Pi—oh, crud." She ran back to the toilet to puke some more.
When she finished, Ino handed her damp washcloth. "Feeling better?"
"Much." Sakura scrubbed her face and sighed.
"Come on. Let's go to the hospital. You should take a blood test to confirm it, just in case. Maybe you'll get lucky and have appendicitis or some deadly disease."
"I wish."
On the way through the village, Sakura stopped—she couldn't resist the smell coming from the takoyaki stand.
"What're you doing, Forehead? You just threw up!"
"Yeah, that's why I'm hungry. Go to the next stall and get me some green tea dango while I'm waiting for my order." She put some money into her friend's hand and pushed her toward the seller.
Ino walked away, shaking her head. "Well, I think it's safe to assume you don't have some weird illness. Octopus and dango? Gross!"
The girls snuck down to the labs and Ino drew Sakura's blood while she stuffed her face.
"Ew. How can you eat that together, Forehead? I'm gonna puke. No! You are not putting hot sauce on that!"
"It's good." Sakura mumbled through a mouthful. "You should try it."
"No wonder your stomach is objecting. You're trying to poison it."
"Funny, Piggy-chan. Hurry up and run those tests. I don't want anyone to know what we're doing."
"Watching you scarf down that future yak is enough of a test for me," Ino replied, filling the test tubes and adding the proper chemicals. "I'm positive you got a bun in your oven."
"Shhh! Don't say it out loud. You never know who's listening." Sakura looked around the empty room suspiciously.
"I didn't know paranoia was a sign of pregnancy, Forehead."
"It's not! I just—"
"Sakura-chan!"
Both young women jumped. Ino knocked over half the test tubes and Sakura spilled her food all over the floor.
"Naruto! What are you doing here?"
He looked at the skittish women. "We have special training this morning. Kakashi sent me to get you."
"Darn it! I forgot. Can you wait outside while I talk to Ino for a minute?"
"Sure." He stepped out and Sakura closed the door. He could hear them whispering frantically.
"Wait! I've got to draw more blood. These tests are messed up."
"Do it later. He'll be suspicious if I take any longer."
"Just hold still," Ino hissed. "This will only take a minute then you'll know for sure and you can figure out what your options are."
"I'm gonna die," Sakura groaned softly. "That's my only option."
Naruto gasped. 'Sakura's dying?! No, wait. Calm down. If she's getting a test, there's still a chance she's okay. Stay calm,' he told himself anxiously. 'It may be nothing.'
A minute later Sakura came out of the lab smiling. "Shall we go?"
"Ah, sure, Sakura-chan. You feeling all right? You look a little pale."
Sakura waved him off with a laugh. "I'm perfectly fine, Naruto. Ino just needed some help cleaning up the lab."
0o0o0
Kakashi gave her a dirty look when they finally got to the training ground. "You're late, Sakura."
'Yeah. About two months late,' she thought with a sigh. "You're one to talk about tardiness," she blustered.
"Hey, I always have an excuse. Now, let's get to it. Sakura, you got here last so you're up first." Kakashi walked out onto the pond. "Mold your chakra into a heavy shield. I have a new jutsu that will help all of you if you find yourselves fighting on water."
Sakura tried to form her chakra into a shield but it wasn't working. Just as she would get it thick enough, it would sputter and die.
"What the hell?" she muttered and tried a third time, but nothing happened. Kakashi gave her an odd look and she shrugged. "Guess my chakra's too low from working at the hospital," she said, giving him the first excuse that came to her mind.
"Sasuke, you take over. Sakura, watch what we do, so you can practice later."
She nodded and stepped off the water. Naruto watched her anxiously, still hearing her words to Ino about dying repeat in his head.
"Sakura-chan, you okay?"
"I'm fine, Naruto. Just a little—'scuse me." She ran off into the bushes for the latest round of upchuck.
By the time she finished, there was a fine sheen of sweat on her brow. She stumbled out of the brush and all three of them were looking at her apprehensively.
"Sakura?"
She waved. "I'm fine." She took a step forward and fainted dead away.
0o0o0
When Sakura woke up, she found herself hooked to monitors and IVs. A nurse hovered over her, taking her pulse.
"That's not necessary. I'm leaving," she began, pulling her arm away. The curtain next to her bed was yanked back to reveal the Hokage and Team Seven.
"I'm the judge of what's necessary," Tsunade growled. "Now, what's this I hear about you dying?"
"I'm not dying. I—ugh—" She leaned over the opposite side of her bed and puked her guts out again, panting heavily between bouts, with tears streaming down her face. The nurse held her from falling while she vomited all over her nice, white shoes. "Sorry about that," she mumbled, slumping over the edge of the bed as she passed out again. Tsunade was instantly at her side, checking her over.
"You boys get out of here," she ordered. "Kakashi, get Yamanaka in here. I want to hear about those blood tests Naruto was talking about."
Sasuke followed Kakashi down to the labs where they found Ino filling out a report marked Private.
"Are those Sakura's results?" Kakashi asked, surprising her.
"Yeah, uh, no, uh..." She put the file behind her back. "How do you know about this?"
Sasuke snatched the file and handed it to Kakashi.
"Hey," Ino yelled. "Can't you read?! That's private!"
Sasuke shrugged and watched as Kakashi perused the file before he slapped a hand to his head and sighed.
"You're up, sport." Avoiding Ino, Kakashi handed Sasuke the file and shoved him toward the door.
"Huh?" Sasuke looked confused and Ino looked panicked.
"Whatever Sakura's contracted, I think it has something to do with you, son. You'd better go talk to her."
When Sasuke returned to Sakura's room she was alone, quietly gazing out the window with a sad look on her face.
"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing h—where did you get that?!" She pointed a shaking finger at the file in his hand.
"Kakashi gave it to me."
"D-did you read it?"
"It's just some test results. I don't understand them. What does 'highly elevated levels of hGC' mean?" He handed her the file.
Sakura paled which he would have believed impossible, because she was already so pale, if he didn't watch it happen.
"Are you going to be sick again?" he asked, looking around the room for a bucket.
"Probably." She sighed sadly. "Sasuke…how do you feel about family?"
His eyes narrowed guardedly. "You know how I feel," he said without a hint of gentleness in his voice.
"Yeah, I know." She turned away from him and curled up in the bed. "I think I want to sleep now. Could you turn off the light on your way out?"
Sasuke watched her for a few seconds before he did as requested. The Hokage was talking to a nurse outside her room and shooed him away from the door, telling him visitor hours wouldn't be until the next day.
0o0o0
He found Naruto leaving Ichiraku's.
"Baa-chan kick you outta Sakura's room, too?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged and fell into step with his teammate. As they walked through the market district, they ran into the Hyuuga girl.
"Oh, ah, good evening, Naruto-kun. Uchiha-san." She bowed her head respectfully.
"Hey, Hinata-chan. What's up?"
"I'm just on my way home from the hospital."
Sasuke spoke up, surprising her, because he never talked to her. "You work in the lab?"
"Ah, yes. I do."
"Do you know what hCG is?"
"Um, y-yes." She blushed. "It's a hormone that's produced during pregnancy by a developing fetus."
Sasuke's face went blank and he took off running.
"Hey, Teme! Where you going?"
0o0o0
In the evenings, the hospital staff turned off half the lights in the non-emergency wards to make for a more restful setting for patients. In that semi-darkness, Sasuke stole down the hall, the hushed voices of the nurses reminding him of his last stay here, after Itachi put him under a genjutsu so powerful it took one of the great Sannin to bring him back. And when he did come out of it, the first person he saw was Sakura—hugging him and crying. Sakura was always there to comfort him. Always giving, never asking him for anything in return.
What had he done for her?
"Sasuke...how do you feel about family?"
He silently pushed the door to her room open. She looked so small, almost like a child, curled up on the bed. The light from the bathroom shone softly on her tear-stained face—she'd been crying.
He knew her baby was his. There was no one else. They'd only been together that one night a few months back, but he'd watched over her every day since—she didn't know. He tried to speak with her outside of training, but whenever he looked into her green eyes, he'd lose his nerve. Funny, he knew a thousand ways to kill someone, but talking to the pretty girl he'd known most of his life terrified him.
Not want a family?
Sasuke smiled and brushed a lock of soft, pink hair from her face. In her sleep, Sakura breathed a deep, shuddering sigh and he pulled her blankets higher around her, tucking them in snugly, before he settled down in the chair beside the bed to watch over her.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
~The End~