Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Naruto.

So I'm sorry this has taken a while… :3

I'm just starting to run out of juice! I know what I want the ending to be, but I still don't know how to approach getting there. I hope you all don't mind… This chapter is a little frazzling in a sense that it kinda hops from Crescent, and Leaf village.

Anyways. I'm so glad school's out! HAGS! ^_^

"We take it one step at a time" he stated simplistically, "In a few weeks we'll go for a check-up, a few more weeks we'll get an ultrasound, and do what we've always done before. Just hope."

Sakura relaxed into Sasuke's chest. It was rare for him to speak like this, so she was soaking in every minute of it. She was glad to be pregnant again, but it still made her a target, more so than before. Sasuke leaned forward to add more hot water to the tub, but Sakura shot towards the pail by the tub and threw-up into it.

Sasuke widened his eyes just a fraction then said, "I think it's time you went to bed…"

He unplugged the drain of the bath then helped Sakura out of the tub. He wrapped a towel around his waist then handed one to Sakura to dry off herself. After she dried off and wrapped the towel around herself she made her way into the bedroom and shuffled through her dresser drawers only to find it barren. She'd forgotten to do her laundry.

Sasuke entered the room and threw something at her saying, "Here."

It was one of his clean shirts. She threw it on then ran down to the kitchen and opened the fridge and pulled out the milk carton and started chugging it. Sasuke appeared a few moments later leaning on the door frame with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

Sakura wiped her mouth with her arm then noticed Sasuke in the doorway and sheepishly stuttered, "I was thirsty…"

Sasuke shook his head then walked back up the stairs to the bedroom. He was in for a long headache. A nine-month one… possibly even longer.

A few weeks later

"Please sit here Mrs….?"

"Haruno"

"Right" the doctor said as he grabbed a clipboard off the back of the door.

"So you believe your pregnant?"

Sakura smiled then replied, "Yes."

"Well then, let's get some blood work done."

The doctor took a few vials of blood and then took them back to the lab room leaving Sakura and Sasuke alone in an uncomfortable silence.

"What if… what if it's not there?"

Sasuke raised a glace to Sakura then shrugged saying, "I doubt it's gone, but your drinking episode might've done something."

Sakura scowled, "How was I supposed to know? You never told me!"

"I never blamed you" came his monotonous reply.

Sakura just huffed, there was no winning this battle with him. He was in a foul mood for some reason.

"Sorry…" Sakura blurted softly to try and ease the situation.

The doctor came in a few minutes later with a smile on his face and asked, "You want to see him?"

"I'm that far along?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"At least ten weeks" the doctor replied setting up the ultrasound equipment.

Sakura clasped her hand in excitement. She was anxious to see what it looked like. No gender could be determined yet, and there was no heartbeat, but you could see the shape of it.

"Lookie here" the doctor said, pointing to the screen of the ultrasound explaining everything.

Sakura watched in wonder at the screen, letting tears pool in her eyes. However Sasuke was disturbed because he sensed a presence outside. As soon as he turned his head towards the window, the presence disappeared and he saw a shadow move. Sasuke instantly teleported and found just who the shadow was.

"Foolish little brother" Itachi smirked, "I wish I didn't have to do this."

"Do what?" Sasuke asked while clutching the handle of his katana.

"Spying on you!"

"Then don't."

Itachi shook his head at his brother's misinterpretation, "I have no choice in the matter. I only have few freedoms such as speaking, but everything else is controlled."

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit before narrowing his eyes again and drawing his blade, "Then forgive me for what I'm about to do…"

"Don't" Itachi cut in quickly, "It's absolutely pointless. I can't die, even if you kill Madara I won't die."

Sasuke's face showed even more frustration as he hissed, "Impure world resurrection…"

"Yes."

Sasuke relaxed the grip on his blade before asking, "Why did he choose you? Why not mom or dad?"

Itachi softened his eyes just a bit as he said, "Because I am your weakness. Your guilt practically materializes me to this world. I never wanted you to discover the truth. Now you feel as if you've murdered me. Madara feeds off that misery like a leech."

Sasuke kept eye contact with Itachi as he asked, "So what now?"

"I can't stay much longer. My body is not my own. I'm going to be forced to tell Madara everything I know."

"So he's going to know she's pregnant?"

"Yes."

Sasuke let an aggravated growl leave his lips having an indestructible spy apparently had its perks.

"This might not mean much" Itachi quietly stated, "But congratulations."

As soon as Sasuke was about to charge at his brother to keep the precious information from escaping, Itachi disappeared in a cloud of smoke and appeared to be running several miles in the distance.

"Where were you?" Sakura asked as Sasuke entered back into the room.

"I'll tell you later" he stated flatly ending the argument that was encroaching.

He couldn't exactly spill what had just happened in front of the doctor. Sasuke and Sakura looked at the pictures taken from the ultrasound. It made him content to see Sakura so happy, but he wouldn't deny that it severely stressed him out.

"Would you like to schedule another appointment in six weeks?" The nurse asked.

Sasuke handed her the money for the first appointment that day and signed a few medical forms before making another appointment. They walked out of the office and Sasuke was on edge. Constantly looking from side to side, up and down, it was obvious to Sakura he was unsettled.

"What's the matter with you? You aren't acting normal!" She asked frustrated by his pensive and vigilant persona.

"I already told you" he hissed into her ear while they walked down the street to avoid pedestrian eavesdroppers, "I'll tell you when we get home?"

Sakura huffed as Sasuke grabbed her wrist and led her down the crowded street towards home. He knew he shouldn'tve made an appointment on Saturday, Crescent Moon was always busy on weekends, especially Saturday. The casinos were packed, the restaurants were booming, and every hooker on the island was working the street.

"Hey red-head!" Sakura heard someone telling, "up here!"

Sakura looked up to a restaurant balcony to see several teammates enjoying breakfast.

"Hey!" Sakura waved at Ino as they kept walking.

Sasuke kept holding onto her wrists and kept walking, and Sakura could tell he wasn't stopping for anything. Truly she had no idea what had shaken him up so badly. She breathed a huge sigh of relief when the house was in sight. As soon as they were through the door Sasuke slammed it shut and put a barrier around the whole house.

"God dammnit!" Sakura shouted, "Honestly! What has you so intense!"

Sasuke covered her mouth before she could shout anymore and looked out to peep-hole of the door and summoned then sent his snakes to scout through the whole house. Sakura fought her hardest to remove the Uchiha's hand, but it was pointless. Eventually she bit his hand causing him to let go of her.

"What was that for?" He hissed at her gripping his hand.

Sakura crosser her arms scowling as she seethed, "It was for covering my mouth."

Sasuke was thinking of a retort to fire back at her, but his snakes came swarming up to him and one of them hissed, "There'sssss nothing here sssssire."

"Nothing? Or no one?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

"No one."

Sasuke nodded and the snakes disappeared in a cloud of smoke and Sasuke went upstairs to get more barrier equipment.

"You really are bothered by something aren't you? What's out there that you think is stronger than you?" Sakura asked in slight annoyance.

Sasuke froze halfway up the stairs and looked over his shoulder, "My brother's returned."

"He isn't dead?" Sakura asked in shock.

"No. He died. He's been brought back by impure world resurrection."

Sakura's hand went over her mouth. She had no response to the news she'd just received. Hearing of the technique's dreadfulness form Tsunade herself she wondered who could have the power to perfect the jutsu? It had to be Madara. Either way she knew she had to find a way to protect herself. Itachi didn't have control over his own body anymore, he was under Madara, plus Madara himself. That was double trouble as far as Sakura was concerned.

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Sakura asked unsure.

Sasuke grabbed the back of his neck and rubbed it unsure of how to answer that question. He hadn't thought about it himself. Sasuke just shrugged at her then came back down the stairs and went into the small study room with books on shelves everywhere. Sasuke skimmed the shelves and so did Sakura but both of them came up dry.

"You know what this means right?" Sasuke asked grimly.

Sakura looked at him slightly puzzled but an otherwise plain expression as she replied, "No. What does it mean?"

Sasuke sat down and pulled out a sheet of paper saying, "We have to write a letter to Tsunade. I'm not comfortable with only who we have here. We need back up."

"Like?"

"Kakashi, Inoichi, Hibiki, anyone. I don't care."

Sakura just looked at the floor. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on and what was going to happen.

"We don't have a choice" he added.

Sasuke wasn't one to ask for help, so sending an urgent letter to the Hokage wasn't exactly on his bucket list of things to do before he died. With a big huff Sasuke sat down at his desk and wrote the letter, put it on the back of a messenger hawk, sealed the tube, attached a black ribbon to the hawk's foot, and sent it flying.

Sakura sat on the windowsill it flew out of with Sasuke standing beside her and watched it's flapping wings disappear into the setting sunset.

"So you're positive?" Madara asked in his usual twisted tone.

Itachi was kneeled with one fits on the floor as he said, "I can't lie to you. You know that."

"Of course you can" Madara hissed, "You still love your little brother more than you loved your own life."

Itachi smirked and replied, "Doubt if you want, non of this tom-foolery affects me."

"We'll see about that" Madara manically chuckled as he disappeared down a darkened corridor.

"You really should stop for the night" Shizune pleaded as she threw away yet another emptied bottle of sake.

"Fuck you" Tsunade replied, "I need my numbness for this god forsaken job…"

Shizune was used to the Hokage's usually bad attitude when drunk, but her sailor's mouth was new.

"Get me some more paperwork to file, I can't sleep."

"You're not doing anything but taking an aspirin and going to bed."

"You're not my mother."

"But you need one."

"Go home. You're dismissed from my sight."

Shizune ground out her teeth as she spat, "You might be able to dismiss me from work as your assistant, but my work as your friend doesn't ever end. Deal with it."

Tsunade just rubbed the temples of her head and stood up to force Shizune out of the office and was contemplating throwing her out the front doors when a man rushed into the room.

He was panting as he incoherently breathed out, "This *pant* is urgent *pant* it must *pant* be read immediately."

Tsunade grabbed the tube with the black ribbon attached to it and shoved the man out of the room and slammed the door behind her. She didn't want anymore disturbances. However the tube disturbed her in of itself.

"What the-" she stammered, "There's such a strong seal on this tube I'm actually going to need a written jutsu to unseal it…"

Shizune raised an eyebrow as she got the supplies for Tsunade and she wrote on the scroll then placed the sealed bottle on top and released its seal. She quickly opened its contents and read over every line then slammed it down and covered her eyes.

"Get me another drink…" she grumbled in frustration.

"Good morning Crescent Moon! Are you ready for the festival of palms tonight? It's supposed to be the event of the year!"

The radio's static voice broke through Sakura's wall of slumber and brought her back to life. Surprisingly, Sasuke was still lying beside her in the bed. He was absolutely exhausted to still be in bed at this hour. Sakura wasn't really paying attention to the radio until it said, "We have a special performer who claims to not only talk to the dead, but brings them back to life!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed at the radio with such intensity she hoped the damned contraption would break. Surely Sasuke was hearing this. She was caught listening mid stride to the bathroom careful to find out the location and time of the "festival of palms."

She was right. Sasuke was listening. He was awake long before the radio went off, he was too exhausted to move, but couldn't sleep any longer. After the radio commercial for the festival was over his eyes were wide open and he was well aware that Sakura was halfway to the bathroom.

He sat up and told her, "No way in hell are you going to that carnival."

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous for you to be there."

"Are you just going to go by yourself?"

"More or less."

"You're a fool!"

"And you'll be snatched out from under my nose again if I'm not careful."

"What if this is a diversion and they come get me from here?"

"You'll be at Ino's with her and Shikamaru. They're capable of defending you."

Sakura stamped her foot as she screamed, "Stop treating me like and object! I'm not a precious gem! I'm a human! You can't tell me what to do! You can't tell me where to go! You can't run my life!"

Sasuke walked up to her and grabbed her chin as he answered, "You're right. You're more valuable than a gem. Which is why you're going to do exactly what I tell you."

"Make me!" She shouted.

"Sit." Was all he said to her with a scowl.

Sakura's butt slammed into the floor directly below her as she looked at Sasuke with vicious eyes hissing, "How the hell did you do that?"

Sasuke pointed to the ring on his finger explaining, "This binds us. I had my chakra infused into both of these rings. I knew at some point I might have to impose my will on you in order to protect you. I haven't used it until now because I haven't had to, but you've tap-danced on my last good nerve and this is all I have left. You will listen to me."

Sakura tried to shake her head out of the grip of his hand, but it was futile. He was much stronger than her and held her head perfectly in place.

"Why?" She whimpered looking at the floor as tears rolled down her cheeks and Sasuke let go of her chin.

Sasuke hated to see her cry, especially if he knew it was because of him. He almost walked out of the room to let her wallow in her own temper tantrum but he turned around and just looked at her.

"What?" She asked violently in tears.

Sasuke was leaning against the door frame so he continued the silence until he finally asked, "Is there anything I can do to make you just a little more happy?"

"Just take away the rest of my freedom. Takeaway my own thoughts and implant your own. Maybe then I'll be happy."

Sasuke scowled at her sarcasm. He was only trying to help, and despite what she knew, loosing her for those numerous days was the most stressful experience of his life. He wasn't going to go through that again if he could help it.

"Try to understand…" he muttered as he kneeled down in front of her, "Not a lot of people get a second chance like I did when I got you back. I know for a fact that there isn't going to be a third."

Sakura threw herself onto him still sobbing as she whimpered, "I'm so scared…"

"Me too."

"What's happened?" Kakashi asked in a sour tone to the Hokage.

"The reason you're being sent to Crescent is to help Sasuke protect Sakura. Everyone else has been sent with them, but it appears that it possibly might not be enough. I want you to not only protect Sakura from outside threats, but domestic ones as well."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sai asked confused and slightly scratching the back of his head.

Yamato pinked the skin in-between his eyes as he answered, "It means that she thinks Sasuke might accidentally hurt Sakura."

"Why?" Sai asked again, yet another stupid question.

Kakashi sighed before saying, "He's under a lot of stress from not only dealing with a pregnant Kunoichi, which by the way is ten times worse than a normal woman, but he also has to protect her when she doesn't even want to protect herself. Throw supposed Itachi into the pot and something's bound to boil over."

Tsunade nodded then leaned back in her chair as she said, "I'm only sending you three because sending any larger number and Madara will amass more force than he already has. So you are to remain stealth until you arrive and face conflict. Is that understood?"

"Yes" they all replied in unison.

"Dismissed."

"Nice barrier you put up there" Shikamaru said in annoyance from his yard across the street, "Do you realize how unstealthy that is? Itachi doesn't know where you live, but someone with a barrier? That's a dead ringer man…"

Sasuke was in such a frazzle last night that he didn't even realize that Shikamaru's point was valid, why hadn't he thought about that? Sasuke dissolved the barrier and face palmed himself.

"Happens to the best of us…" Shikamaru muttered as he walked back inside his house.

Sasuke had gone shopping earlier that day and it was now noon and he found Sakura in a mess of dresses on the floor sitting in gym shorts and a tank top with tears streaming down her face.

"What now?" he asked somewhat impatient, but trying to hide how annoyed he was.

Sakura sniveled and tried to wipe the tears off her face as she cried, "Nothing fits! I'm too fat! I won't have anything to wear to the festival tonight!"

"You're not fat" Sasuke muttered and rubbed the temples of his head, "You're pregnant."

"It's the same thing!" she wailed with wild abandonment.

Sasuke left the bedroom and trudged over to Shikamaru's house. He was in his right mind to just leave her on the floor crying until she calmed herself down like a spoiled child, but he knew better than that. He would only get hell for it later.

Sasuke knocked on the door and was answered by Shikamaru with a sarcastic, "Can I help you?"

Sasuke pushed himself past Shikamaru into the house, which was rude, but then he asked, "Where's you wife?"

"Why?"

"I need her."

"For what purpose?"

"My pregnant wife."

"Uh oh…" Shikamaru mocked as he walked up the stairs to go get Ino out of the bathtub she'd been in for hours.

Ino came down the stairs in a sundress while ringing out her wet hair with a bath towel. She walked up to Sasuke, narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"What do you need help with?" She asked, not amused that she'd been withdrawn from her bath.

Sasuke pinched the skin between his eyes then said, "Sakura's sitting on the floor in a puddle of clothing and tears. She claims none of them fit her. She thinks that being pregnant means she's fat. I can't deal with this. I need you to find her something to wear to the festival tonight.

Ino rolled her eyes muttering, "You insensitive men never understand…" before walking out the door and closing it behind her.

Sorry it took so friggin' long! I didn't mean for it to! I have two summer courses in addition to several summer assignments I'm supposed to do. I don't even remember half of the curriculum in my summer math packet :'(

Anyways, I hope to update again soon! Hopefully it'll be a little longer, just to make up for the wait!