Her Rising Savior:

Chapter Six – Doctor

The second time going to the Health Centre for lamaze wasn't nearly as difficult as the first for Sakura.

She woke up in the morning feeling even a little excited. Syaoran and her had fallen asleep on the couch near the end of their movie and had nearly been late for work. They went in for the morning, then rushed home and changed before class. Sakura wore a pair of comfy yoga pants and an American Eagle tee. Syaoran changed into jeans and a worn in tee.

They opened the door to the lamaze class without hesitation this time, and Sakura smiled at realizing that t hey were only the second couple in. Inside the room, early, sat Chiharu and Rika. They were in the spot they were last time, talking quietly to themselves. Sakura happily took the seat beside them, where she had sat before, and Syaoran sat with her.

Rika turned to her and smiled warmly, "How are you feeling?"

Sakura smiled back, really liking the girl. "I'm fine, you?"

Rika giggled softly, "Wanting this pregnancy to end. I'm sick of the cravings and morning sickness."

"Morning sickness?" Sakura grimaced. "You poor thing. Is it really that bad?"

"You don't get it?" Rika asked softly. When Sakura shook her head no, she sighed. "It must be nice. I think it's bad, but according to Chiharu's mother – she's a nurse – I've got a pretty bad case of it. I'm glad you don't get sick though," she smiled kindly, "it's horrible. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. "

Chiharu peered over warily and caught Syaoran's gaze. He smiled politely, but she turned away. He frowned; what was with her?

Rika, on the other hand, seemed very interested in the couple. Her eyes were bright – something Sakura hadn't seen the first day – and warm. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how long have you and...Syaoran, was it?...Been together?"

Sakura blushed slightly and turned to Syaoran. His eyes were glazed over, as if remembering the past. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, realizing the pain the memories brought to the both of them. Realizing that he wasn't going to help, she turned back to Rika and forced a smile. "Um, quite a while you could say. Syaoran and I met back in fourth grade, when he first moved here, and we began dating when we were thirteen. Umm...we had a...break, you could call it, until a year or so ago."

Rika sighed, "It must be nice. You make a very nice couple."

Sakura blushed crimson, "Th-Thank you. Um, s-so...Any love life for you?"

Chiharu made a small 'tch' sound and Rika gave an uneasy smiled. "Well, as Chiharu told you all last week...I kind of did. I mean, the guy and I were dating..."

Sakura mentally slapped herself, remembering the sharp words from Chiharu the week before. "Crap! I'm sorry, I forgot...That was stupid and careless of me."

"No," Rika smiled, looking at her lap. "It's alright. He said he loved me..."

"It was shit and you know it," Chiharu scolded.

"Language," Rika scolded back, turning to her friend with hurt eyes. "How was I supposed to see it was a lie?"

Chiharu rolled her eyes and went back to pretending she couldn't see them.

"That's...That's horrible," Sakura whispered, horrified. Memories from her past began to stir with Rika's words, as if she had been there. But in truth, she had been there once upon a time.

"Did you bring him to court?" Syaoran spoke up. Sakura continued to look at her lap, her heart beating wildly. Memories began flashing uncontrollably in her mind.

It was only fifteen minutes into the movie when Sakura felt Natsuo's touch suddenly change..."Get off! Get off me! Natsuo!"..."It was all a game, my dear Sakura. I could never love you. No one could ever love you."...

Chiharu sneered, giving a small snicker of anger. "No, she didn't. She didn't want to cause trouble."

Rika flushed, "W-Well, I didn't...."

Syaoran frowned, "You should have. If the man impregnated you, at the very least he needs to pay child support..."

"Sakura?" Rika cut him off, catching her shudder involuntary. She saw Sakura tremble again and her eyes mist over. She frowned, "Sakura?"

Syaoran frowned and looked around Sakura to see her face. Immediately, he felt angered and didn't understand why. He could see tears building up in her eyes and the way she tried to push them back. He knew right away something wasn't right. He placed a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't respond.

"You only have one reason, Sakura...and I'm about to show it to you...."...She began beating his chest with her fists, screaming, but he easily pinned down her hands. "Natsuo! Natsuo, get off of me!"...He gave a cold, heartless chuckle and finally looked up to meet her scared eyes....A cold, heartless chuckle...Her scared eyes...Cold...Heartless...Scared...

"E-Excuse me!" Sakura shot up and ran out of the room, knocking past Kaho Mizuki as she entered the room.

Kaho looked out toward her and frowned, "Is the poor dear alright?"

Syaoran didn't answer and jumped to his feet to run and catch up to her.. He heard the two girls whispering behind him, but ignored them and kept running.

He found Sakura outside, leaning against the wall. Her breathing was short and raspy, as if she was struggling. She had one arm crossed tightly against her and the other one propped up on it, part of her fist in her mouth as if she were trying to stop herself from screaming. She had a far off glazed look in20her eyes with tears silently running down her cheeks.

Cautiously, Syaoran approached her. He put a hand on each of her arms and noticed she didn't react. He frowned, and began rubbing her arms for warmth; her skin was dead cold.

"Sakura?" He whispered softly, his heart breaking. "Sakura, sweetie? What's wrong?"

She didn't answer. At least, not verbally. She broke down and began sobbing, her hands flying up to her face so she had something to sob into. Syaoran wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, then held her closely and began rocking her back and forth slightly.

"Shh," he cooed, rubbing her back. "Shh, sweetheart...What's wrong? What's wrong, Sakura?"

"I-I'm s-s-sorry," she cried into his chest, her body racking with tears. "I-I don't know wh-what's coming o-o-over-er me."

"What's got you upset?" He asked gently. "Hm?"

"G-Guys!" She wailed, crying harder.

Syaoran frowned, confused. And then it all dawned on him; Rika's story. The story of a man claiming his love for her...Impregnating her...And then leaving her. Almost like Sakura's story, minus the pregnancy.

Fuck! He cursed mentally. Why hadn't he seen this?! And the fact that Rika didn't bring the man to court...And Sakura had never brought Natsuo Hamada to justice either – It was just another similarity.

He held her tighter, and kissed the crown of her head multiple times, trying to calm and soothe her. After a few minutes, her cries calmed down into smaller sniffles. He pulled back his head and moved his soft kisses to her forehead and down her cheeks, kissing each stray tear he could find.

"I love you," he promised her in the most loving, promising, caring voice he could muster. "I love you, I love you."

She sniffled and wrapped her scared arms around him, "I-I'm sorry..."

"Hush," he gently scolded. "Don't be. I know it's something you can't get over overnight. I just didn't know it bothered you this much." He pulled back, keeping his arms around her, and frowned while peering into her eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me."

"It never bothered me this much before," she whispered, looking away. In fact, for the past almost year it hadn't bothered her at all. So long as she was with Syaoran, she saw it as a horrible story from her past. Something that would never crop up again. She gave a dry laugh, "Th-This is silly...I shouldn't be getting so emotional over something from so long ago."

"Don't," Syaoran growled softly. He kissed her forehead longingly, straying there for a moment. "This is far from silly, Sakura. It's serious. Should you talk to someone? If it bothers you this much – "

"I'm fine," she said quickly, biting her lip. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

Syaoran frowned, searching her eyes. They were red and puffy and still a bit teary, but she seemed stronger since her break down. No more vulnerable. He sighed, knowing he wouldn't be getting anywhere with it. He brushed his lips against her forehead one last time, "Are you alright for class now? Or should we just go home? We've only missed ten or so minutes now."

"No, no," Sakura said quickly. She gently pulled away from his gentle embrace and wiped away the stray tears on her cheeks. She forced a weak smile. "I'm fine. Really."

Syaoran frowned, not believing her. After all, one does not break down from something so horrible and gets over it in a snap of a finger. She was obviously still bothered. But for now, he wouldn't argue. He slipped his hand into hers, squeezed, and led her back into the building.

Syaoran creaked open the door and poked his head in. Kaho stood in the front of the now filled room with a man in his mid-thirties. All eyes turned to him, waiting for him to make a move.

He mumbled an apology to Kaho and slipped into the room, holding onto Sakura's hand and leading her. They took their seat by Rika and Chiharu and waited.

"As I was saying," Kaho continued, not minding the interruption. "This is Dr. Terada. He's one of the four doctors here and at the hospital that specialize in births and pediatrics. I've asked him to come here today to take some questions or concerns you may have." She turned to the doctor and smiled, "It's all yours, Doctor."

The man, with short, neat brown hair and dark eyes, smiled with a nod to Kaho. "Thank you, Miss Mizuki."

Dr. Terada turned to the group and smiled b rightly. "I was going to go through the different birthing methods available to you all and your options while preparing for the birth. There is, of course, at-home births and hospital births. The option is yours, though I suggest to have the birth at the hospital since we can then help if there are any complications. If you decide to go with at home, you'll need a midwife as we don't have home-call doctors here." He paused and smiled to Kaho. "You yourself are a midwife, correct?"

Kaho smiled and waved her hand in dismissal, "Yes, but I don't practice it often. I know much better midwives than myself."

Dr. Terada nodded again and turned back to the group of couples. "If you do plan to go with a home birth, speak to Miss Mizuki. I, however, specialize in the hospital and I'll be focusing on that today..."

The man went through procedures and protocols, beginning with checking in and when to know you're in labour. He explained about when the water breaks and that on the odd occasion it doesn't, and if that is to happen how to know you're still in labour. He spoke about natural birth as well as cesarean. He explained the pain medication they could give for painful births and contractions called epidural. He also informed them that after the birth, the mother's job wasn't done; she then had to push out the placenta, but after the birth it seems like nothing at all.

When he finished, he smiled to his quiet group and rubbed his hands together. "Any questions?"

The room began buzzing softly as couples asked one another questions. After a bit, four or so hands shot up in the air, some more timidly than others.

"Yes?" The doctor nodded to a red-haired woman in the back. She seemed close to the end of her third trimester.

She smiled timidly at him and gave a nervous laugh. "I-Is there any way one can schedule an appointment to have a c-section?"

The doctor smiled warmly, "Is this your first?" The woman nodded. "And I presume this is because you're scared of the pain during natural childbirth?" Again, she nodded. He smiled reassuringly. "We sometimes do, but it has to be extenuating circumstances. Say if you've had a previous child and had difficulties during natural — like if the child was fairly large, or if the woman herself is small. Or if there were just difficulties that landed them with cesarean, then yes we do. But this is your first, and we'd rather try natural first and see what happens."

The woman must have muttered something, because her husband gave a small snort and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Terada smiled and turned to the next questioner.

Sakura turned to Syaoran and bit her lower lip. He had his eyes on the doctor, listening, and turned when he felt her gaze. He frowned at seeing her nervousness.

"What's wrong?" He asked, nearly mouthing t he words so that he didn't interrupt the class.

"That sounds..." she scrunched up her nose, "painful."

Syaoran gave a crooked smile and muffled a laugh, "Well, yeah...I mean, this head the size of a small melon is coming out of a hole the size of a — "

"Gee, thanks," Sakura sneered sarcastically.

He sighed and wrapped an arm around her. He pulled her down to rest against his shoulder and began caressing her arm as they listened to the third question. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound insensitive, but, well...It's childbirth. Of course it's going to hurt. But," he smiled down at her, "the end result is totally worth any amount of pain, is it not?"

Sakura tinged pink. A slow, gleeful smile spread across her face. "Yeah, you're right."

"Yes?" Dr. Terada asked, indicating to Rika.

Rika, her face flaming red, tried ignoring her best friend who was giggling into her hand. "Y-Yes, well, umm...I-I was just wondering how exactly a cesarean works? You said it's an operation, but how does it work? What goes on?"

The doctor smiled bright, "Excellent question, Mrs...?"

Rika blushed harder, practically glowing, and looked down to her lap. She began nervously playing with a stray string on her long shirt. "A-Actually, I'm not married. Rika Sasaki."

"Oh," the man said politely, hiding his shock well with his professional attitude. He smiled warmly at her, "Well then, excellent question Miss Sasaki."

He picked up a piece of chalk and turned to the small blackboard behind him.. He quickly sketched a woman's body and turned back to the class. "During this operation, we place a sheet here," he drew a line at about the chest area on the woman, "so that you can't see what's going on. I know that seems scary, but it's for your best interest.

"Next," he turned back to the woman and drew a dotted line along her lower abdomen in a slight ark, like a small happy face. "We make a small incision here, careful not to damage any organs. We have to remove any organs, such as the intestines, so that we can get to your uterus. And after another incision — vertical, so not to damage the uterus walls — we get the baby out."

He turned back to his group of students, seeing half of the women looking sick. He tried to reassure them, "It's a simple procedure. It's not nearly as bad as it sounds, and you don't feel or see anything."

"Don't feel it?!" One woman screeched. "How does that work?!"

Terada smiled politely, keeping professional. "We administer a local anesthetic in your back, between two spine disks. It numbs your lower body so you don't feel anything."

He looked around for any more questions, and when there were no more, he turned to Kaho and smiled. "Well, looks like I'm done here. Unless you want me to cover anything else?"

"Nope," Kaho said happily. "But if we could maybe schedule another time for you to come? Maybe in two weeks?"

Dr. Terada smiled, "I'd be glad to." He turned to the group and smiled, "Good day, everyone."

Sakura noticed that his eyes darted quickly back over to their area, and followed the gaze to find it resting on Rika. She was looking up at him as well, blushing wildly. When it seemed like their gazes locked, she looked away, burning red on her face and the man left.

Sakura smiled and leaned over to Rika, "So what did you think?"

Rika's head snapped to Sakura, her eyes wide. She played innocent, "Wh-What do you mean?"

"Well," Sakura smiled, "I suppose it could mean anything. Whether that helped you at all , or what you thought of the lesson, or..." she winked, "what you thought of the good doctor."

Rika's face felt on fire and she looked away. Chiharu sneered and leaned toward Sakura, angry, "Hey, mind your own business! If she likes the guy that's her own business, not yours. Keep your nose to yourself!"

Sakura blushed, but not from embarrassment. She felt a small bubble of anger pop in her. But Rika beat her to the punch of saying anything. She spun around to face her friend, frowning, "Chiharu, that will do. Sakura is just being kind and friendly. Could you not be so rude, please?"

Chiharu looked at her, her eyes still blazing. Then she stood up and stormed out of the room, every pair of eyes watching her.

Rika sighed and turned to Sakura, "I'm sorry. She's just...Overly protective of me these days. Every since..." she cut herself off and shook her head. "Anyway, she shouldn't be reacting that way toward you. I'm sorry."

"No, no!" Sakura said, feeling guilty about the previous anger. After all, she had Toya to feel over-protective over her. She completely understood. "It's fine, really."

"So..." Rika looked away, as if embarrassed. "Umm, do you think that.....Think that we can be friends?"

Sakura's eyes softened and her body flowed with warmth. She smiled widely, unable to hide her happiness. She leaned over and pulled Rika into a gentle hug, hearing a small gasp from the girl, "Of course!"

"Have a good week!" Kaho waved happily, dismissing the class.

Syaoran jumped up and helped Rika to her feet, earning the slightest blush from her and a smile. He smiled back, but Sakura could tell it was forced. As they left – leaving Rika behind to ask a few things from Kaho – Sakura turned to him and touched his arm lightly.

"What's wrong?" She asked gently. "You seem upset."

"I didn't like that Mihara woman speaking to you like that," he growled. "You did nothing wrong."

"No," Sakura shook her head in disagreement. "That is Rika's business, and I barely know the girl. I get it. She's just looking out for her friend." She paused and looked toward the ground, "Syaoran, she probably feels guilty that she couldn't protect Rika the first time, when that man left her. She's trying to do a better job now. You can understand that, I'm sure."

Syaoran looked away, hating to agree with her. But, unfortunately, he could understand. Because it was the exact emotions he felt when he first learned about Sakura, Hamada and 'Blossom'. He felt guilty, and tried twice as hard as any time before to protect her. Even now he was more protective of her than when they were teens.

Sakura suddenly stopped when they got outside, and Syaoran stopped soon after to look back at her. She seemed confused about something, and when Syaoran followed her gaze he saw Chiharu leaning against a tree beside the parking lot. He felt a protective growl escape him, despite the understandable feelings. Chiharu gave them a weak smile, then beckoned Sakura over to her.

Sakura turned to Syaoran with a smile. "I'll meet you at the car, 'kay?"

"Are you su...?"

"Of course," Sakura cut off. She stood on her tip-toes and brushed her lips against his. "I'll be there soon, now go!"

Syaoran went to the car as Sakura joined Chiharu at the tree. As soon as she was near, Chiharu looked down to the ground and shuffled uncomfortably.

"I...I'm sorry Miss Kinomoto. That was extremely rude of me," Chiharu whispered, ashamed. "You were just being friendly, and I snapped. I'm so, so sorry."

Sakura smiled, "Please don't worry about it. I'm fine. If anything, I completely understand where you're coming from."

"No, please let me apolo – "

"No, don't," Sakura cut her off. She took a deep breath and looked away, suddenly timid. "I...I don't know why I'm telling you this. I usually keep this locked up like a deep, dark secret. And I'm always scared of it getting out. But...But you need to understand that I get where you're coming from...

"I was in a...a similar situation to Rika's before," Sakura told her quietly, hearing her sharp intake of breath. "I was hurt before though, and I ran into the arms of a man who claimed he took a liking to me. He claimed he loved me, and he ended up hurting me." She paused and looked up to see Chiharu's eyes swimming with tears, and quickly found her own vision blurred. "I understand, Chiharu. You're her best friend, and when that man hurt her, you felt guilty that you couldn't protect her. It's only natural for you to want to protect her from everything and everyone now. You don't want to see her hurt again."

"But you won't!" Chiharu exclaimed. "I know you won't hurt her! You're so kind and gentle...B-But I couldn't help it."

Sakura smiled softly, her tears pushed away. "Please forget it. Maybe we can...start over?"

Chiharu smiled bashfully, obviously thrilled but hesitant. "You would want that?"

"Of course!" Sakura extended her hand, "I'm Sakura Kinomoto...But please just call me Sakura."

Chiharu smiled softly and took her hand, "Chiharu."

Sakura smiled widely, "We're going to be great friends, Chiharu. I can tell."

"And for the record," Chiharu whispered, leaning in slightly. She playfully winked, "I'm pretty damn sure Rika's taken a liking to the 'good doctor'."

Sakura giggled, "Oh, I'm pretty sure too. After all, he does have a pretty cute ass."

"Oh, most definitely," Chiharu joined Sakura in her giggles and fun. "But you shouldn't let your fiancé hear you say that."

"It'll be our little secret," Sakura winked.

When Sakura got to the car, she was smiling widely. She would definitely have to thank Tomoyo for signing her up for lamaze.

Author's Note: Oh my gosh everyone...Thanks so much for your awesome reviews!! I can't thank you all enough. I love them!! ^.^ 61 reviews in 5 chapters...28 alerts...and nearly 2000 hits!! WOW!! Thank you all so much!

ANNND!! (Drum roll, please!!) I am pleased to thank my AWESOME new beta, xXShining ShadowXx!!! I can't thank this girl enough for catching all my mistakes. I wrote this chapter on two freakin hours of sleep, and so there was A LOT of mistakes -.-'' But she edited it in less than 12hours after I sent it and pulled through even with all the crap throughout the damn thing. So thank her ^.^ Without her editing, it wouldn't be posted so quickly ^.- *hugs* Thanks hun!!! You're the bestest!

PLEEEASE review ^.^ I'm hoping maybe kinda aiming to get at least 15 reviews this time? I got 14 last time...so only one more than last ^.- The more I get, the faster I update.

XOX, Riva

Next Time: We'll be skipping over some time now, and be going to a month before the wedding!! Last preps are made and...What's this at the office??