Chapter 2:Iris

Sakura sighed as the alarm went off next to her bed. The annoying beeps grew louder and louder until she finally brought her fist down against it, smashing it to bits. Growling, she pulled herself out of bed and cursed the stupid, annoying thing for not being indestructible.

She rested her hand on her growling stomach, caressing it softly as she sadly looked down at her expanding stomach. Her light green eyes took on a pained look as she glanced around, feeling his chakra still in the air. He had been here again, and still hadn't said a thing, and she didn't understand why.

He had left again. He had left her behind all alone again. He hadn't said goodbye again. So why did he keep coming back? Why did he always leave and not say anything? Even if he did nothing but yell at her, that would be enough.

"You won't ever leave me, will you?" she whispered to the bulge under her white tee shirt and sweat pants. "I hope not…"

"Bet you're hungry," she whispered, stroking her stomach. She padded on the soft floor towards the kitchen; her eyes focused on one thing- the refrigerator. The stainless steel held her only craving she'd ever had. She pulled from the frosty cold a ripe, red tomato.

"I don't know why you like tomatoes so much," Sakura said as she cut up the tomato in thick slices, placing them on a plate. Then, after all the preparation, she waddled her way into the living room. "I never really favored them. Maybe he liked them."

She munched on the tomatoes lightly, turning on a cheesy morning talk show that she didn't really think was interesting, but a good distraction to keep her mind off the chakra she felt that morning.

It wasn't good enough. She felt her mind wander as she stared off into space in front of her. She let it bring up the memory of his last night here. She'd never expected him to stay. The thought that he would kiss her never crossed her mind. Then, all of the sudden, there they were. She remembered being so afraid when they were on her bed. The fear wasn't of what they were doing, but what would happen after. Would he leave again? If he did, would she ever see him again?

The pleasure of that one night was enough to last her a lifetime though. She would always remember him in the child that rest within her.

Her pink and white cell phone rang on the coffee table. She had a feeling of who it was before she even bothered to look. It was around nine so Tsunade was blowing off work to check up on her.

"Hello?" Sakura said.

"Sakura, good, you're home. How're you feeling today?"

"Good, I guess." Tsunade's voice had sounded awfully pleasant.

"That's good. Say, I was wondering…Do you feel like doing some work?"

"Oh yes, Tsunade-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. She would do just about anything to get to do some work again. She hated sitting around doing to much of nothing. "I'll do anything!"

"Good to hear, Sakura. Now, I know you hate flower arranging, but I had to send Ino with Shikamaru and Choji on a mission and I need you to teach her class at the academy for today while she's gone. Kakashi is on his way to accompany you for the day."

Ino was the Kunoichi teacher. Of course she'd be sent out when they were on the "Blending In" chapter. The Kunoichi's always spent a week on flower arranging to help with blending in to there surroundings in towns or using flowers to symbolize a safe house for ally nin. Flower arranging seemed pointless for the first reason to Sakura.

Sakura was originally supposed to teach Kunoichis for a while, but she had gotten pregnant. She was disappointed for a while, but it gave her the chance to study up to be a medical Nin.

"Sensei, I don't really need an escort," Sakura sighed. This was getting ridiculous. I'm not a toddler for goodness sake. I mean, I'm almost eighteen.

"That's the deal breaker, Sakura. Either Kakashi accompanies you or no working for you. "

"Fine," Sakura said half-way annoyed now. "What time do I need to be there?"

"Around 8:30. "

"Yes, sensei," Sakura said. "I understand. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Sakura."

With a loud sigh Sakura finished her meal and hauling herself up from the couch she had seated herself on, she made her way into the bedroom to change. She pulled open her closet doors, glancing around the bottom for pants in the large tubs that were overflowing. Near the back she saw the wrinkled clothes that she was for sure he'd slept on while sitting up. Sasuke…

She wasn't going to attempt to reach back there and fix them. Her stomach wouldn't allow it. Plus, if she did he would know she knew and stop coming. This little trace of him was enough to hold her for now.

She pulled out some expandable green Capri pants that had elastic to accommodate her size, but didn't look like sweat pants. They hugged her thighs appropriately and that satisfied her.

A pink shirt called to her from the corner of her eye. She carefully removed it from the hanger and placed it on the bed with the pants.

She showered and dressed easily enough. She had learned to adjust to accommodate her size. She sat down at her vanity to put on her make-up, trying her best not to look at the picture resting next to it. It wasn't that she didn't want to look; it was just that she wouldn't stop looking.

Make-up applied she headed for the door, shoving her keys into her pockets and heading out the door. I can at least meet Kakashi half-way.

"Where do you think you're going by yourself?" Kakashi asked, placing his Icha-Icha into his back pocket.

"I was going to meet you halfway, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said innocently. She glanced at the pack on his shoulders. "You guys."

He was carrying his one year old son on his back in a small, yellow baby carrier.

"Anko's out of town and the baby sitter's sick," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hope it is okay…"

"Of course!" Sakura cooed as she waddled around him to make baby noises at his son. "Oh, Kosuke, you're getting so big!"

"Sakura," Kakashi sighed. "We have to get going."

Sakura nodded and they started for the academy. They were silent most of the way. Sakura noticed Kakashi was anxiously glancing around at the trees and other potential places to hide.

"Is everything alright?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, everything's fine, why do you ask?" Kakashi said, though he did pick up his pace a little as they drew closer to the school.

"You seem a little on edge," Sakura replied simply.

"No, nothing's wrong," Kakashi said. His eyes held no information she could use. The best she could figure was that he was worried about Anko. She didn't know he knew Sasukue was back. She had been hoping she was the only one.

She gave him a suspicious look before she entered the academy and made her way down the appropriate halls and to the classroom Ino usually taught in.

It was shaped just like all the other classrooms with leveled seating and the teacher's desk in "the pit where all the evil energy is focused" as Ino liked to call it.

She seated herself, clucking her tongue as she waited. They wouldn't be expecting students for another half-hour.

"What were you looking for? Out there?" Sakura asked, as she unknowingly stroked her belly.

Kakashi took his time pulling Kosuke off his shoulders, being slow and careful as he set the child down and let him crawl off with a stuffed Pakkun in hand. He then summoned the real Pakkun to follow the babe around.

"Sakura, there is nothing for you to worry about," he said finally. Telling what he knew about Sasuke would only stress her out.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, but decided to drop the subject. Too much of her questioning would lead to his own and might lead him to find out that Sasuke was hiding at her own home.

"Boy, he's getting bigger by the minute," She said as Kosuke made gurgling noises and scooted his stuffed animal across the floor and chased after it energetically.

"Yeah…we've almost got walking down," Kakashi said proudly. "And, he hid his matching outfit to mine that Anko's great-aunt bought him. I was beyond proud."

"Matching outfit? Sounds like something my mother would do," Sakura giggled, though a sad look came into her eyes. "I bet it was cute though."

The bell rang loudly, signaling the class change. Sakura sat up straighter watching the young first year Kunoichi file into the room and take their seats. She recognized some of the children. One was Kiba's older sister's daughter. Another was Asuma and Kurenai's.

The others were not so familiar to her. She had to look down at the seating chart to get their names.

After roll was called and the lesson read. Sakura pushed herself out of the chair and made way towards the door telling the little girls to follow. She had Ino's lesson plan clutched tightly in her hand.

She glanced down to see Kosuke making a fast crawl for the outside, but Pakkun took his pant leg and drug him back a reasonable distance away, allowing Sakura to follow out, Kakashi close behind.

Sakura seated herself down on the bench watching the little Kunoichi run back and forth collecting flowers and chatting with each other. She could still remember Ino and herself in the same place all those years ago.

A lot had changed since then. Too much had changed. Her life had been a domino effect with no chance of stopping soon.

"Looks like I'm going to have to change the curriculum. This never helped me all the way up to Hokage," Tsunade said, startling Sakura out of her daze.

"Kaa-san, you should be working," Sakura said, using the formal name that Tsunade hated.

An attack on the village had happened only three years after Sasuke left. Neither of Sakura's parents survived. Sakura was even surprised to find that her sensei adopted her, seeing as she was under age. That just proved her sensei did have a heart.

Tsunade was keeping her cool today as she smoothly took a seat and said, "I have an obligation as Hokage to drop-in on the academy every now and again to see the progress of future genin."

"Suuure," Sakura said. "Kaa-san."

"See the respect we get, Kakashi!" Tsunade said. "You do one nice thing for one of them and they try their absolute best to rile you up. Should've never done it in the first place."

Sakura knew that she was just kidding. What she and Tsunade had was so much more important than 'one nice thing'. Tsunade was Sakura's life saver for right now. She had taken on the role of mother very well, though it would never be the same.

She had lived with Tsunade for only a year after she had been adopted then Tsunade had gotten tired of her cleaning all the time and trying to be the best student that she gave her her own apartment a short walk away from the Hokage's office.

After a while of small talk, Sakura glanced around to see the Kunoichi having enough flowers for their arrangements. She, with help from her sensei's stood and called them all inside.

The sanin and jonin stood to the side observing while Sakura handed out vases and told them they would start presenting their projects.

"Tell what flowers you used and what their meaning is and how that meaning could be used to create a message for other nin," Sakura said, setting a podium down for them to put their vases on.

That alone seemed to take hours and Sakura was starting to feel hungry. She was thankful when the bell rang and her lunch break was there. She thanked Tsunade for bringing her some as her adoptive mother left and munched on it quietly while Kakashi went to change Kosuke.

She could hear two Kunoichi at the top of the classroom still working to finish up their assignments before lunch. It was Kilnishi, Kiba's niece, and Arasuma, Asuma and Kurenai's.

"I heard that he was back. Uncle Kiba was worried," Kilnishi said quietly to Arasuma.

"Daddy was too," Arasuma replied. "I also heard that he is Sakura-sensei's baby's daddy."

Weren't they to young to be discussing this? Sakura pondered over how much they should know.

"I'll ask my Aunt Ino tonight when Mommy drops me off at her and Uncle Kiba's house," Kilnishi said. "I get to stay with them for the week while Mommy's gone. My Aunt Ino knows everything. Plus, I'll get to play with Kimichi."

Kimichi was Ino's daughter. She was the same age as Kosuke.

"You'll have to tell me what she says," Arasuma said excitedly.

"I will, I promise," Kilnishi said.

With that they turned and set their projects with the other ones, bidding her goodbye on the way out.

Sakura's face turned pink when they left. "I'm the scandal of the whole village!" she groaned.

"Not the whole village," Kakashi offered as he came back in.

She glared at him. He wasn't helping. He was being more like Naruto at the moment.

"Thanks, Naruto," she snapped. Kakashi held up one hand in surrender.

The next class of older Kunoichi rolled by quickly. She could hear gossip from them too when they were supposed to be reading.

She growled in frustration when they were all gone. "Can't they find something else to talk about. A boy to obsess over."

"What can I say, kids are cruel sometimes," Kakashi said as he followed her out. He was trying to avoid another mood swing. He had quickly become an expert at that with Anko. She had been the queen of mood swings. During Anko's pregnancy, he and the couch had become best friends.

He was amazed at how fast she could walk at her size. God help anyone who got in her way right now.

Then he heard it. It was fate, he supposed. He heard the "Hey, Sakura, how are you?"

"You wanna know how I am?" Sakura asked, enraged. His other former student seemed to not notice her anger. He really was an idiot sometimes.

"Well, yeah," Naruto said. "You need a nap or something, you look kind of tired. You got some bags under your eyes."

Kakashi couldn't help but cover his son's eyes and look away as he heard Naruto scream and a crash following it.

Sakura marched towards her house and slammed the door behind her, leaving Naruto in a cloud of dust.

"Naruto, Naruto," Kakashi sighed, helping him up. "You must realize that Sakura is really hormonal right now and now is not the time to say anything out of place."

"But, Kakashi-sensei, I just said she looked a little tired," Naruto said. "How is that out of place."

"Duck," Kakashi said as he stepped sideways and pushed Naruto's head free of the path of the kunai coming from the open window of the apartment.

"Naruto, you must always tell a woman that's pregnant she's the most magnificent creature around. This is because she is self-conscious and will most likely kill you if you don't."

"Oh…" Naruto replied. He took a sideways glance at the apartment and debated to himself if he should go apologize or not.

"I'd leave her alone," Kakashi said.

"You're probably right," Naruto replied. "Want some ramen? My treat."

"Sounds good," Kakashi said. "You could even bring Sakura back some as an apology."

Naruto nodded and checked his pockets, though they were empty. "Hey, um…Kakashi…could you…"

"Yeah, but this is the last time," Kakashi said as they started off. "I've got a family to feed now, you know."

"Their gossiping mothers are what caused this," Sakura was fuming as she sat down on the couch with a tub of ice cream. "Does no one in Konaha have a heart? I mean, sure I'm slightly under-age and he's ran away and all, but they don't have to shove it in my face. I love him. I've always loved him. Can't they understand that?"

She was blubbering now as she dug her spoon into the creamy goodness and shoved it in her mouth.

"I wish I was invisible again," she muttered, referring to the time she hadn't any friends until Ino. "Or he would take me away with him."

She flipped on her radio with its remote. A sad ballad about a set of lovers came on and filled the room.

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

"You said it," Sakura sighed. "This guy must be watching me."

Listening to the rest of the song, she felt tears come to her eyes. "Me and You, huh, Sasuke?" She got no response, only the silence her home radiated with. She had to busy herself with something, or she would probably go insane with the loneliness, if she hadn't already.

She slowly made her way out of the living room and down to the room she had set aside for her baby. She had already managed to get a crib, changing table, and dresser. She had painted the walls green. It was a calming color. Above the mahogany crib she had painted the Uchiha clan symbol. Her Haruno clan symbol was on the opposite wall. All around the room hung framed photos of her parents, Tsunade, Team 7, Herself, and Sasuke.

She moved the large teddy bear from the rocking chair near the window and slid herself into it. She moved back and forth, rocking slowly and steadily, lulling her into a calmer place.

She stayed that way for quite sometime, not thinking, just resting. It wasn't until she felt a gentle kick near the bottom of her stomach. An unconscious movement from the life within her, bringing her back.

She placed her hand over the spot and murmured sweet nothings to her child as she stood and moved back into the kitchen to prepare a microwave meal for herself. When it was finally done she poured it onto a plate and placed it on her bar like table to cool off.

Should I? she thought as she looked at the bedroom door. She debated only a moment before she pulled out another tomato and some rice balls. Sasuke definitely ate healthier than she did. She sliced the tomato and placed the rice balls on a plate along with some fresh sushi she had bought yesterday and carried it into the bedroom. She lifted her window open and left it there on the seal.

"Maybe he'll stay this time," she said looking down at her stomach. She smiled slightly, a bit of naïve hope still left in her as she skipped off to the shower.

She allowed herself the luxury of staying in until the hot water ran out for the night. She pulled on her pajamas she kept in the bathroom cabinet for convenience and stepped out into the cool hall, feeling like she could breath again.

A childish excitement filled her as she saw the dark sky out and she made her way to the bedroom. She took the slightest hope that he was there filled her as she slid open the door and let her emerald eyes run over the room, only to the disappointment of finding it empty and the food untouched.

Her face fell and a sad expression covered her face. "I guess it was foolish to even hope."

She sunk onto the futon, pulling her covers over her, and closed her eyes for lack of something better to do. She was to wired to go to sleep, though. She seemed to lay there for hours fully awake under the façade of sleep.

Then, just as soon as her mind was drifting off, she felt it. She could feel his presence. She could hear his quiet breath. She would have to wait for him to come over before she could reveal she was awake.

When he was above her, she stirred, only slightly, but enough to make him start his retreat.

"Wait!" she said, grabbing his wrist. He froze stiff, from shock or anger she couldn't tell. She knew she wasn't letting go until she was out of the bed and had moved to hug him from behind.

"Sakura I-"

"Shhh…You don't have to explain, just stay…"

He stopped his explanations, going silent again. It was a tense quiet that filled the room. She moved around to face him, wrapping him in a tighter, more needing embrace. Her eyes were set on his as she raised up to her toes to kiss his curse mark. She needed to tell him she would accept him no matter what.

Tears of joy were pooling in her eyes as she felt his limp arms suddenly come alive and wrap around her.

She took his hand gently and guided it from her waist to the pulsing spot on her stomach. She could only wonder what he was thinking, but that was answered when he took her chin in his hand and pulled her into an intense kiss.

"Sakura!" the blonde ninja's call was heard throughout the whole house and down the street. Then the pounding on her front door.

"I'll be back…" she heard him whisper in her ear, then he was gone.

"Coming!" Sakura called, pulling on a robe and messing her hair up some to look as if she'd been asleep. "I'm coming!"

She padded her way quietly through dark house and to the door. She opened the door to reveal Naruto with an excited look in his eye.

"Sakura! He's back! I got it out of Kakashi-sensei! He's back! C'mon, we've got to find him!" Naruto exclaimed, nearly dropping the ramen in his hand.

"I know, Naruto," Sakura said sadly. Naruto looked confused for a moment, but soon he was trying to look over her shoulder and into the dark apartment.

"Is he here? Can I see him? Is he hurt?" Naruto asked.

"He's not here, Naruto," she said. "Go home."

"But, Sakura-"

"Go home, Naruto!" she snapped. The hurt look on his face made her grow softer and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just think that if we go after him it'll drive him away. Let him come to us."

"I guess you're right," Naruto said. "It's just hard to sit down and wait."

"It won't be long," Sakura said.

"Well, I guess," Naruto said. "I brought you some ramen."

"Thanks, Naruto," she replied, taking it then closing the door. She locked it behind her and made her way back to her bedroom. She sunk onto the bed, hugging herself as her body racked with sobs. It wasn't enough. The promise of him coming back wasn't enough. She needed him there. She needed to hold him. He was the only thing she needed.

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am