To Love and to Love Again Chapter 10: Close Calls
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER AND AUTHORS NOTE: I do NOT own Naruto. The awesomeness of the Naruto Manga and World is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto. This is Purely Fanfiction. All things Medical in this entire fanfiction should not be taken as serious medical advice or facts. PLEASE CONSULT AN ACTUAL DOCTOR FOR ANY MEDICAL INFORMATION/QUESTIONS. THANK YOU AND ENJOY!
Hyuga Neji was slowly starting to wake up. It was Monday and the sun hadn't risen yet, but he couldn't remain asleep for much longer. His wife had taken to sleeping right over his arm, effectively cutting off his much needed circulation.
He quietly tried to nudge her off and reclaim his arm. As he did so, Tenten shifted and rolled the other way. Now that his arm was released, Neji flexed it for a bit before deciding to just lay there and watch his wife sleep for a bit longer.
Knowing that she was pregnant just made her more beautiful. According to Tenten, she was only three months along. Neji could already see the changes in her body, not to mention her personality. There was a very definitive bump on her lower abdomen that was perfectly rounded. Tenten was a physical fit woman making the rounded bump stand out even more. Of course her clothes hid it well but still… that bump just came out of nowhere pretty fast.
Then there were those blasted midnight cravings.
Neji thought he would be able to escape those but just last night, Tenten had gotten up at 1:00 am and demanded that she be given strawberry ice cream with ketchup and olives. After getting over his initial disgust, he did what any good husband would do and made it for her. Luckily, they had all the ingredients ahead of time, although Neji had the feeling that Tenten would soon start demanding more radical types of food pretty soon.
Trying his best to ignore that thought, he pulled her up to his chest and tried to rest for another few minutes.
"Hold me tighter… I'm cold." Tenten mumbled.
He tightened his hold on her. "So you're awake. You're scheduled to throw up any second now," he informed, kissing the back of her head.
"Don't remind me."
Yesterday was horrible for Tenten. She must have thrown up about ten times in less than two hours. Sakura told her to expect it given her "special" situation. She was getting a hoot out of keeping Neji in the dark, but the constant barfing was really getting to her. Speaking of throwing up…
Tenten sprang from their bed, accidentally dragging the blanket with her leaving Neji to suffer the morning draft. The bathroom was going to be hers for a while.
He sighed. "Only seven more months."
Sakura didn't get much sleep. She was far too preoccupied to even think consider sleep. Not after what she heard in Sora's room.
She was stunned when she heard him say "Daddy". It came out of nowhere. She hadn't heard him say that since he was two. Yes, "Daddy" may have been his first word and you would think that it would stick with him forever, but after Sai died, Sora had ceased to say the word altogether.
"Daddy" was forever erased from his vocabulary.
"What's going on in his little head?" she pondered. It had been two days since he said it, and Sora never once mentioned anything about it. She decided not to bother him about it for the rest of the weekend, but it was hard not knowing what he was thinking.
Sakura was already up in the kitchen making breakfast. Sora was upstairs getting ready. The shuffling heard from above was enough to tell her that he was on his way downstairs.
She dressed was in her usual pink scrubs with her hair let down today. She was currently making pancakes and packing her lunch at the same time.
Today was going to be pretty busy. She a good amount of patients scheduled including Tenten. As far as Sakura knew, she hadn't told Neji about her little secret yet. That was completely up to Tenten, but she should really hurry. Neji was bound to figure it out sooner or later.
Not only did she have her regular patients, she also had to deal with Sasuke. Today was the day of his stress test.
She never really thought about it until now, but giving him a stress test and quick physical would ultimately mean seeing Sasuke shirtless. That thought didn't settle well with her. She shook her head before Sora came bouncing down the stairs and taking his seat at the table.
Sakura brought the pancakes to the table and kissed the top of his head.
"I'll bring you your juice." She went to get the fresh squeezed orange juice on the counter. She then took her seat next to him and began to eat her breakfast too.
"Sweetie, how's karate been going?"
"Good," he said while cutting up his pancakes. "We're learning how to kick and stuff. Lee Sensei told me that I can break the boards soon but only if I work hard."
"Oh did he now? Well I've noticed that you haven't hurt yourself since you started. You always used to get little scrapes and bruises. I miss fixing your cute little boo boo's," she gushed, playfully pinching his cheeks.
"Mommyyyyy," he whined, rubbing his cheeks. Sakura just couldn't help herself with him sometimes.
"Are you having fun in there with Akio?"
He just nodded his head. "Akio doesn't like to fight," he said matter-of-factly, swinging his legs back and forth under the table. "Lee Sensei told him that he's losing his youth too fast. What does that mean?"
Sakura just laughed. This Lee sounded very strange. "I really don't know Sora. I guess it just means he acts like an old man." She looked at her watch then. "We should get going soon sweetie."
They quickly finished up their breakfast and headed out the door and to the car.
Sakura drove down the street and stopped at a red light. She looked at Sora through the rear view mirror. He was currently flipping through his drawings in one of his sketchpads. He often did that when he unable to make a new drawing on the spot.
Sakura wondered if it was okay to question him about the other night. Even though he was sleeping when he said "Daddy", Sakura wondered what he was thinking about when he said it. She decided to ask discreetly.
"Did you sleep well sweetie?"
"Uh huh," he mumbled absentmindedly as he continued flipping through the drawings.
"Oh… did you have any good dreams?"
Sora looked thoughtful for a moment. "Ummm… oh yeah! I dreamed that Grandpa was a Ninja and then he had all his dogs attack the bad guys!"
Sakura stared at him for a while before she actually registered what he said. She burst out laughing. She tried to imagine her father—the Commander of the Kyoto PD—in a Ninja outfit reading his perverted books alongside his legion of canines. The thought was hilarious.
"Hahaha… oh… good one sweetie," she chuckled
Maybe back in the day her father could have been a Ninja. But what Ninja would freely read erotic novels and own about ten dogs?
"So you didn't have any other dreams?" she pressed as she calmed down.
"Mmmmm… nope."
"Okay then." She turned her eyes back to the road as the light turned green. "Guess I'll just have to drop it for now."
After dropping Sora off at school, Sakura made her way to work.
September was almost over and the weather was still nice, but a bit on the breezy side. She went up to the coffee cart in front of the hospital and bought the usual muffin and coffee before walking inside and up to the elevator.
"Hey Sakura!" She turned around and came face to face with Naruto.
"Hi Naruto, how's it going?" she asked as the elevators opened. They both stepped inside.
"Minus the paper work, everything's going great. It was fun hanging out with the gang on Saturday."
"Yeah it was. Oh that reminds me, when is Hinata free?"
"Uhhh… I think she gets off at seven tonight. Why?" he asked. "Are you girls gonna get all hot and bothered over Tupperware?" he snickered.
"Shut up, Tupperware saves time and dishes," she huffed. "Anyway, I wanted to do a sort of a girl's night out to catch up with everyone. Sora and I have already settled in nicely and I figured it's time to just relax a bit," she explained as she sipped her coffee.
"Sounds… feminine," he said for lack of a better word. "Maybe I should organize a guy's night out. Then again, it wouldn't be very lively with a neurosurgeon, a lazy-ass genius and a bastard. I'm the only fun one."
"I'm sure you are," she chuckled. This almost became another morning routine. Naruto and Sakura would meet up at the elevators and chat for a while before heading off to their designated areas. "But if you were to have a guy's night out, it would have to be on a different night then ours."
Naruto scratched his head. "Why?"
"Well, if you guys went out when we did, then who will watch the kids?"
"Well I don't know, maybe the—hey wait, you were going to make us baby sit?" he asked incredulously.
"Well of course we were. Who'd you think we would use as a babysitter?" she returned. "I will not have a stranger watch over my child."
"Fine I'll watch them. They've got to be more fun than those bastards anyway," Naruto mumbled.
"Well there you go. You think you can handle all three kids in one night?"
He grinned. "No problem. Let's make it four kids. I know Suki won't want to miss out on ramen and a movie night at my place."
Sakura paused for a bit. "Naruto do you eat anything besides ramen?"
Naruto just gave her another unabashed grin.
"Only when Hinata makes me eat something else, otherwise it's ramen for life. Believe it!" he exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air dramatically. As he did so, the elevator doors opened at the eighth floor, which was Sakura's stop.
"I'll see you later Naruto."
He waved at her as she made her way to her office and unlocked the door. She loved entering her office first thing in the morning. Over time, she's transformed it into an empty room into a cozy little nook.
She went around to her rather large desk and placed her purse underneath it. She was given a black flat screen computer, printer, fax machine and phone. Her desk was littered with pictures of Sora, her father and her friends and colleagues. Her favorite pictures by far were the ones of herself and Sai, holding their baby in her arms. The one next to it was her father in uniform.
She opened her files on the computer and pulled up her schedule. She had a few follow ups to do along with her rounds, as well as few pediatric consults before 2:00 pm. Sasuke would be her last patient for the day.
Her phone rang then. She pushed the speaker button on the phone. "Dr. Haruno speaking."
"Hey Sakura, it's me," came Tenten's voice from the other line. She sounded a little put out.
"Hey Tenten. What's up?"
"I know you told me to expect the extra morning sickness and all, but this is ridiculous. I can't keep anything down and I feel sick the whole day. I can't really do much at the hospital when I'm like this and I still have a work to do," she groaned.
"I know its tough Tennie but this comes with the territory. And I've been meaning to talk to you more about your work load too."
"What do you mean?"
"I would prefer that I talk to you about that in person. When are you getting here anyway?"
"Neji and I are on our way right now. We should be there in a half hour."
"Great, the both of you should come in together. There are some things that Neji should know as well regarding your care. Speaking of things Neji should know, did you tell him yet?" she asked excitedly. Tenten became slightly nervous.
"Uh… not quite. But we'll talk about that later." In other words, it was code for "I'm not going to talk about it while he's in the car with me."
"Gottcha," she chuckled. "If you haven't eaten yet, then grab something cold or at room temperature to eat. I'll explain more about it when I see you."
"Okay then. See you later."
"Later," she said before hanging up.
She looked over at her schedule from now until next year. She was able to calculate that she would be pretty busy in the month of July. It was estimated that all the pregnant patients she had during the month of September were scheduled to deliver their babies in July. She would have to be careful about that. Sora's birthday was also in July and there was no way that she would work on his special day.
"Better get started then," she chirped to herself as she left her office and made her way to the break room, where she saw five nurses that were assigned to her sitting at the table and chatting away.
"Morning ladies," she greeted as she walked past them to go to the cabinets.
"Oh… morning Dr. Haruno," they replied with disinterest. They went back to talking. Sakura was going through her files and couldn't help but catch a few snippets of their conversation.
Interestingly enough, they were all talking about a certain stressed-out someone.
"Sasuke is so dreamy." A nurse named Yumi whispered. "I saw him leave work the other day. He was so hot," she gushed. The other nurses were quick to sigh in agreement.
"Hey, you guys remember last year?" asked another nurse.
"Who could forget? I wish I could have seen him topless," she whined. "I couldn't get past the damn crowd."
"I got to see him for a second" Yumi squealed. "He's even more gorgeous underneath," she said dreamily.
"Lucky," the other nurses grunted.
"Yeah… he's so hot when he's angry," she continued, recalling how pissed off he looked that day. "And that killer body," she added while slumping down on her chair. It was as if the memory was making her melt.
"What I wouldn't give to snag him one of these days," said another nurse. "I mean seriously, tall, handsome, rich, a total bad boy look… the perfect birthday present," she giggled.
Sakura found herself more than a little annoyed at their conversation.
"They act like he's a piece of meat," she thought. It was like those lovesick conversations you would hear at high school. They were supposed to be professionals.
She sighed, "I guess Naruto has some valid reasons for disliking these particular nurses after all."
"Okay ladies," she said, grabbing their attention. She told them their assignments for the day and dismissed them.
As she made her way to do her rounds, she couldn't help but recall their conversation. Apparently Sasuke was pretty popular around here. How he became that way was a mystery to her seeing as how he never walked among them on the floors.
Still, she couldn't deny that he was very attractive. But that was no reason for the nurses to behave that way. She sighed as she made her way to the rooms. Today was going to be interesting.
Sasuke arrived at work promptly at 8:00 am and was currently trying to suppress a yawn in the elevator. His parents officially came back from their outing in Osaka last night. It was pretty late when they arrived at the house so Suki wasn't able to greet them. Sasuke was pretty much deprived of some much-needed sleep due to the late visit.
Normally he wouldn't care about the effects it would have on him the next day, but this wasn't just any other day. Today was his stress test with Dr. Haruno a.k.a Naruto's long-lost-annoyingly-interesting-sister. If his results indicated stress, he would never hear the end of it from Sakura, let alone the Dobe.
The elevator doors opened on the top floor and Sasuke walked out.
"Good Morning Mr. Uchiha," his secretary greeted.
"Morning," he muttered as he walked by.
He opened his office doors and stepped inside. The sight that greeted him was not a pleasant one. He had left all his books and files open and scattered all over the floor from last Friday. He was just so glad that work was finished that he opted to just leave everything there for Monday.
He was seriously regretting that now. There was no way he could get anything done unless he cleaned up first. Sighing, Sasuke placed his briefcase beneath his desk and started to get organized.
This was definitely not going to help him with the stress test today. He could just see the smug look on the Dobe's face if the test came back positive for stress. As he was picking up the mess, his intercom went off and his secretary's voice was heard from the phone.
"Mr. Uchiha, Naruto is here."
Speak of the devil. Sasuke walked over to the phone and pushed the response button, wishing he could deny the blonde but knew it was pointless.
"Send him in."
A few seconds later, Naruto came in his office. "What's up?"
"What do you want Dobe?" he asked as he continued to get organized. It was too early in the day to deal with Naruto, especially today.
"Just checking up on the world's biggest bastard on the day of his stress test," he replied while flopping down on the sofa at the edge of the office.
"If you're here for nothing then you can at least help clean up," he asked as he was putting some books back into the shelves.
"Sure." Naruto got off the sofa and picked up some files. "So I ran into Sakura this morning," he informed.
Sasuke went back to his desk to gather more stuff. "So? Don't you see her every morning?"
"Yeah, anyway she mentioned that she wanted to go out with Hinata, Tenten and Ino. She kind of forced me to look after the kids."
"Hn," he replied, not really caring.
"Suki should come over too. She'll have fun with everyone."
"Sure," he mumbled. He was obviously too preoccupied at the moment.
"So are you ready then?"
"Ready for what?"
"You're Physical with Sakura," Naruto reminded, tossing him a large dictionary. Sasuke caught it with one hand, regardless of its weight.
"There's nothing to be ready for," he replied casually. Naruto snorted.
"You sure about that? Because she and I are pretty sure you've got stress issues."
"We'll see about that."
"Yeah, we sure will. I wouldn't expect anything less of Sakura. If anyone can find something wrong with you, it's going to be her," Naruto said confidently.
"You seem pretty confident for a Dobe," Sasuke noted as he put the last of the files into their proper place. Naruto Scowled.
"Yeah so do you, for a bastard anyway. I read about Sakura's medical track online. She's got some pretty intense cases under her belt, not to mention Dr. Tsunade Senju's tutelage."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto's use of words.
"Do you even know what 'Tutelage' means?"
"…That's what it said online," Naruto admitted sheepishly. "What does it mean anyway?"
"Guidance or support." Naruto just mouthed an "Oh".
"So how are you going to get through this Physical without those sex-starved wolves known as nurses finding out about it?" Naruto wondered grimacing. Not all nurses were bad. A lot of them were really sweet and caring. But he really did have a sore spot for the mean nurses… expect for Hinata of course.
"I've already taken care of that. Hinata will be the only nurse allowed to handle my files. She'll see to it that the reports get to the Employee Health department without any unnecessary public knowledge."
"That's Hinata for you. She's the most dependable person there is. That's only one of the million reasons why I married her," Naruto said with pride. "So what time is your appointment?"
"2:00 pm."
"Hmmmm." Naruto squinted his eyes in concentration. He placed his hand at his chin and looked down as if in serious thought. "Poor Sakura. She's got to deal with you at the end of a Monday morning."
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Sasuke grated as he turned his computer on.
"Nope. I'm going to meet Sakura later for a therapy session on one of the kids we both work on. Until then, I got nothing to do but bug you," he said grinning. Just then, Naruto's pager vibrated. He checked the ID and sighed when he saw it was the nurse's station.
Sasuke smirked. "Duty calls Dobe."
Naruto scowled and turned to leave the office. "Well see who's smug after your test."
After Sakura had completed her pediatric therapy sessions with Naruto, she decided to page Tenten and Neji. She had few more patients to see including Sasuke and this was the only time she would get the chance to talk to them.
She heard a knock at her door and got up to open it. Neji and Tenten were standing outside.
"Hey guys," she greeted as she stood to the side to let them in. "Come on in."
"Hi Sakura," Tenten said smiling. Sakura went over to sit behind her desk while Neji and Tenten sat in two armchairs in front of her.
"So Neji," Sakura began as she turned towards him. "Is she killing you yet with the midnight cravings?"
Neji smirked and turned to Tenten, who just smiled at him innocently. "Not yet, although she does seem to be craving ketchup pretty often."
Tenten shrugged. "I can't help it. Ketchup just seems to taste better lately and it goes great with just about anything."
Sakura just smiled. "I hear you Tenten. I used to crave ketchup too and a lot of weird dishes actually. Now that I think about it, I ate some pretty disgusting things. Just thinking about them now makes me want to gag."
"Tell me about it," Tenten sighed.
"So anyway you guys," she continued as she adjusted some files on her desk. "I wanted to talk to you both about the next few months and what to expect as well as some new rules for the both of you."
"Let's discuss the morning sickness please," Tenten pleaded. Sakura smiled at her.
"Okay then. Did you eat something cool or at room temperature this morning?"
"I had some cereal and juice."
"That's good. It's better to eat foods that aren't heated through. It leaves less of an aroma if it's bland and it's less likely to trigger any nausea," Sakura explained.
Tenten nodded. "Seems reasonable, but you said you also wanted to talk to me about my patients and surgeries. What's that all about?"
"This is going to be a little difficult on your part," Sakura admitted. "As your doctor, I want you to take it easy on the number of operations you perform in a day. No surgeries in the morning. We can't risk you getting nauseated while you're working on a patient."
"Just in the morning?" Neji asked.
"For now, yes," she answered. "Morning sickness usually does happen in the morning but that's not necessarily the case with everyone. Some people having it throughout the day. Is that the case with you?"
"Well… it seems to be pretty much just in the morning for me," Tenten answered. "But how long until I can operate freely?"
"I don't think you'll be able to Tenten," Neji answered. Tenten turned to him questioningly.
"Neji's right Tenten," Sakura confirmed. "The morning restriction is just for your first trimester, which will be ending soon. During the second trimester, your abdomen will grow at a rapid pace to accommodate the baby and block your range of contact to the patient in the operating room. In other words…"
"I'll be so big I won't even be able to reach across the table, right?" Tenten translated, slumping in her chair. "So what? By what you're saying, it sounds like I won't be able to perform surgery until after I give birth."
"Well that's pretty much it Tennie. It'll put way too much stress on you and increase the potential for damage. You're really going to have to take it easy," she warned making her sigh.
"But I'm a surgeon Sakura. If I can't participate in surgery, then what good am I?"
"You can still give consultations and post-op reviews. You can even be in the operating room if you want to but I do not want you to actually operate. I know this is a low blow for you, but you're having a baby! You really need to focus on keeping yourself calm," she advised before turning to Neji. "And Neji, I'm going to need you to make sure that she doesn't do any strenuous work around the house and monitor her. Be good about her cravings too. Many people don't really understand the significance of pregnancy cravings."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Pregnancy has an amazing ability to force the body to be naturally turned off by certain foods that can cause harm to the baby such as alcohol. On the other hand, it also makes the body crave a variety of food combinations full of nutrients and good stuff that are needed for the baby to properly grow and develop, hence the midnight cravings," she explained.
"No worries there," said Tenten. "Neji's been really good to me so far about those."
Sakura smiled at the dark haired man. "Well brace yourself Neji. They're going to get worse. Just make sure you have plenty of ice-cream of all flavors available. It's a pregnant woman's dream to eat ice-cream after midnight," she said chuckling. "And Tenten, how do you usually feel after the morning sickness? How long does it take you to recover?"
"Too long" she groaned. "It's horrible Sakura. Anything I eat will just come right back out a few hours later. And it does take a while to get over the nausea," she added as she brought her hands up to her face.
"Okay then. This is what I'm going to do." She opened her drawer to pull out a small medication card. She began writing on it. "I'm going to give you your prenatal vitamins as well as a vitamin B6 supplement to help with the morning sickness."
"It doesn't mean you B6 deficient," she continued while handing her the prescription. "It's been known to ease morning sickness. It's not good for the baby if you can't keep anything down."
"Anything else I should avoid?" Tenten asked while taking the card.
Sakura nodded. "As a matter of fact, yes. Avoid fatty foods, which take longer to digest. Also steer clear of rich, spicy, acidic, and fried foods, which can irritate your digestive system. I know sometimes it can't be help, but just try to eat as healthy as you can."
"Alright."
"Also try eating several small meals a day instead of three big ones. It'll be easier on you," she added and turned to Neji. "So Neji take care of her. Sora will be very upset if his favorite godmother isn't feeling well."
Neji chuckled. "Well then, he'll just have to come over more often to check up on her."
Tenten beamed. "Oh yeah Sakura, I haven't seen him in ages. I miss my god-baby."
Sakura smiled. Neji and Tenten were really good to her and Sora when they lost Sai. They were a big support along with her father and she'll always be grateful to them for it.
"Why don't you guys come over for dinner sometime? I know Sora would love to see you," she offered.
"Sure, when?"
"How does tomorrow night sound?"
"Sounds good to me, what about you Neji?"
"Depending on when I finish my last operation, I should be home around seven."
"Perfect. Any special requests for dinner from our mommy-to-be?" Sakura asked.
"Chicken sounds good." Tenten answered "And ketchup."
"Of course."
The three of them continued to talk for a while before Neji's pager went off.
"I'm needed in the OR," he informed, looking at the pager. All three of them got up and headed towards the door. "I definitely won't be able to make it to lunch today," Neji said to Tenten with an apologetic face. Tenten just shrugged and smiled.
"That's okay. Duty calls. At least you still have a duty," she sneered. Neji sighed and placed a kiss on her forehead. He then turned to Sakura and gave her a hug.
"Can you assist me in keeping my stubborn wife calm?" he asked. Sakura chuckled while Tenten scowled.
"It's my job. Don't worry. I'll keep your baby's mama happy," she promised. Neji gave Tenten one last pointed look before heading towards the elevators.
"Why don't you eat lunch with me? You can have all the hospital ketchup you want," Sakura said, looping her arm with her friends.
"Deal."
Sasuke was sitting in his office and reading his e-mails. Shikamaru had sent him more details about the big conference call in December. As he was reading, his intercom went off.
"Mr. Uchiha, Dr. Haruno is here to see you," his secretary announced. Sasuke looked over at the clock on the wall and cursed. He was forty-five minutes late for his test. He knew Sakura was not going to be very happy about this.
He pushed the intercom. "Send her in." He closed his computer and waited for her to come in. The door opened and in walked Sakura with an interesting facial expression caught somewhere in between amused and smug.
"Mr. Uchiha," she said, tilting her head to the side. Sasuke knew she was peeved by the way she said that. It was more like 'don't tell me you've been here this whole time' expression. The air became somewhat tense.
"Dr. Haruno," he said standing.
"You're late," she stated.
"I'm aware," he replied as he walked around his desk towards her.
"Why?"
"Work."
"Of course," she mocked.
"Hn."
"Shall we then?" she asked. "I didn't think I'd have to pick you up for your own appointment," she mused as he opened his office door.
"Hn."
"Is there anything else you can say besides that?" she asked as they exited his office and went towards the elevator. His secretary gave the two of them a questioning glance before quickly resuming her work.
The elevator opened and the two of them stepped in. Sasuke stayed in the center of the elevator while Sakura leaned on the wall next to him. The elevator began to descend. Sakura checked her phone for any messages before putting it back into the pocket of her coat.
"So do you ever take a break?" she asked after a beat. He looked at her and decided to lean against the other side of the elevator and tucked his hands in his pockets so that he faced her.
"Define 'taking a break'," he replied smoothly. He was slightly amused when her lips pursed and her head dropped slightly.
"Do you ever, everand I mean really ever step away from that office of yours?" she practically growled. Sasuke briefly wondered why she cared so much.
"I have to go home sometime," he replied, and again, he was amused when her face transformed into one of disbelief. She was so easy to read it was ridiculous.
"You're hopeless," she whispered. "You sure you're going to come back out without stress?"
"We'll just see, won't we Dr. Haruno?"
Sakura rolled her eyes.
The elevator stopped at the seventh floor. Sasuke watched in silent horror as three nurses made their way inside. The problem with these particular nurses was that he recognized them from the fiasco that happened last year.
If they were to ever find out that he was about to become shirtless again, there would be hell to pay. The three nurses began to giggle annoyingly at the sight of him, not noticing that Sakura was there as well.
"Oh, it's Mr. Uchiha," The nurse in the middle giggled. The other two smiled seductively at him from the side. Sasuke remained stoic. This was one of the reasons why he keeps himself locked away in his office; to avoid nuisances like them.
The nurse closest to the door pushed the button for the second floor. As the doors closed they all made their way to Sasuke and stood next to him. Sasuke straightened himself and became even tenser.
"So, Mr. Uchiha what brings you here today?" asked the nurse of his left. She was standing a little too close for his liking. He turned his gaze to Sakura, who had her eyebrows raised questioningly. Her face then looked like it realized something before transforming into a sly smirk.
"Is she mocking me?" he thought.
"We never see you around very much Mr. Uchihaaa," crooned the nurse on his right while putting an annoying emphasis on the end of his name. She was also standing a little too close. His personal bubble was severely invaded.
Again, Sasuke said nothing as he maintained eye contact with Sakura, who seemed to be getting a kick out of his discomfort.
Sasuke looked up at the elevator only see that they were barely on the fourth floor. The nurses continued to pester him about useless things, all the while having him ignore them.
They still didn't seem to notice Sakura, who just leaned on the wall watching him become irritated. This was definitely not going to help his stress test. Although she was amused for a bit, she was also beginning to get irritated with these nurses.
One of the key reasons was because they worked for her in the pediatrics units… and they had yet to notice her. She was their superior after all and she was a little ashamed of their behavior.
She cleared her throat, "Ahem." The three nurses stopped their giggling to look over at her. "Ladies," she said in a calm collected voice.
"Oh, Dr. Haruno," said the giggling nurse. "Um... we didn't see you there for a sec."
"Oh yes, I blend into the walls," she exaggerated. "Have you three finished your rounds?"
"Oh, were almost done."
"It's almost 3:00 pm. I want those reports on my desk as soon as possible. They should have been completed by now," she scolded, giving all three of them a hard look. This look seemed to intimidate the three. Her face was stoic, but her eyes were calculating.
"Um…" began the nurse close to the door. "Oh look, the second floor," she said as the elevator came to a stop. "Well, we have to go."
They scrambled out as fast as they could, but not without chancing another look at the elusive Sasuke Uchiha. The doors closed and Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was looking back at her. She tilted her head to the side and smirked at him.
"You sure are popular for someone who never leaves his office," she noted.
He looked away. "Hn."
Sakura sighed. The elevator stopped on the first floor and the doors opened again.
"Sure you're not stressed now Mr. Uchiha?" she chuckled.
He just looked down at her and narrowed his eyes. "I'm beginning to think you want me to be."
"I'm going to prove that you are," she stated looking up at him.
"We'll just see about that Dr. Haruno," he challenged, turning at the corner.
"When will you learn that egging me on will only motivate me?"
The two of them made their way towards the exam rooms. After making sure that no one was watching, Sasuke and Sakura both entered the room. Hinata had already left Sasuke's file from Employee Health on the desk.
"Now I'm going to do a quick run through," she informed. "Please remove your shirt."
Sasuke sat on the exam table and tossed his jacket to the side. He then began to unbutton his shirt, which made Sakura a little nervous. She recalled the nurse's conversations from this morning about his body. Now was her chance to know what they were talking about.
She washed her hands first, but remained with her back turned to him. She adjusted some papers in his files, simply to keep her hands busy. She grabbed her stethoscope and placed it around her neck.
The buttons were undone and Sasuke slid the shirt off and tossed it to the side as well. Sakura turned around and was graced with quite a sight. She cleared her throat and approached him without looking him in the eyes.
"I'm going to check your blood pressure first."
After performing the basic blood pressure and temperature, Sakura discovered that his blood pressure was slightly elevated.
"I knew he was stressed," she thought.
She began to place her hands on his neck. She gently massaged the area to check for any thyroid masses or inflamed lymph nodes. By doing so, she concluded that there were no masses. She checked his eyes using a flashlight and then used the stethoscope to check his heartbeat and breathing. Doing so forced her to step closer to him.
She then placed the stethoscope on his abdomen to listen for any irregularities.
Doing so gave her time to fully examine him up close. He was sculpted with his chiseled arms and well-toned, well-defined muscles lining his back and thorax. His abdomen was another thing all together. He had one of the best six packs she had ever seen.
Sakura never told anyone, but she was a sucker for a nice set of abs. Standing so close to him, placing her hands on him, applying pressure on his chest and grazing his skin for the briefest of moments was starting to get increasingly difficult.
There was something else that really stood out about him. On the upper left corner of his neck, there was undoubtedly a black tattoo of what appeared to be three coma marks. Now that was unusual. Sasuke didn't strike her as the type to get a tattoo.
"Well what do you know?" she thought.
Did she mention that Tattoos were another one of her guilty pleasures? Oh yes, they were. Sakura suddenly found herself wondering why it was that life seemed to be teasing her.
"Why is he so similar?"
Sai also had tattoos. Being an artist, he always admired body art.
Sakura found that she could not look him in the eyes at this point. After the recital last Saturday, Sakura couldn't help but think more about the physical similarities between Sai and Sasuke.
She knew it wasn't fair to compare them but she couldn't help it. That night after the recital, Sasuke's eyes made her feel something she couldn't even name right away.
"Dr. Haruno?"
Sakura snapped out of her reverie and looked up at him, only to notice that her face was dangerously close to his. Not only that, she was practically in between his legs from standing so close to him.
"Uh…y-yes?" she stammered before clearing her throat. He was looking right into her emerald orbs with his own steely black ones.
"You were spacing out."
She blinked several times before moving away from him and grabbing his chart. "No I wasn't."
She clicked on her pen to fill out his chart. She quickly filled in the information and closed the file. "Now we move on to the treadmill stress test," she informed. He just nodded his head. He knew that she was clearly preoccupied with something, but she was still very professional about it.
Sasuke placed his shirt back on and walked with Sakura out of the exam room and to the elevators that were located farther into the building. The treadmill was located down on the basement level of the hospital along with the surgical department.
They exited the elevator and continued to walk in the opposite direction of Surgery. Sakura opened the door and walked in followed by Sasuke.
"Okay, for this, you're going to have to remove your shirt again and get on the treadmill."
He complied and peeled his shirt off again. As he did so, Sakura went over to the cabinet and pulled out a bunch of wires.
"I'm going to place the leads on you so stand still." She walked up to him and began peeling the stickers off of the ends.
Sasuke watched as she placed them on various areas on his chest. As she did so, he also noticed how gentle her touch was. Her fingers felt warm and smooth against his bare chest. Her eyes were focused at the task at hand. She finished placing the wires on him and moved away. Not once did she look him in the eye, and for some reason that bothered him.
"Okay then," she said, opening up his chart again. "Please step on the treadmill. I'll be watching you from the glass over there." She pointed to the observation room to his left.
He stepped on the treadmill as she walked over the door that leads to the room. Her voice could be heard from the intercom.
"Okay Sasuke, I'm going to start the treadmill on slow and then I'll increase the speed every few minutes or so. This will go on for about ten minutes."
Sasuke could see her from the glass and simply nodded.
"Okay then, let's begin."
The machine switched on and began to move at a walking pace. Sasuke walked for a minute or two, getting warmed up.
The machine picked up some speed making him walk fast. His breathing was fine as he walked faster to keep up. After another minute or two, the speed increased so that he was at a light run.
Sakura watched him run and took note of his stats. He was physically fit indeed. She watched as his muscles flexed and contracted rhythmically with the running motion of the treadmill. His breathing was normal and he looked like he could endure a much longer run.
But there was one thing that was not okay. His blood pressure was still a little too high for her liking. He was showing signs of pre-hypertension.
She continued to watch as he ran out the duration of the test without any problems. Sakura gradually slowed down the speed of the treadmill until it came to a stop. She got out of the room and made her way over to Sasuke who was barely panting.
"Okay then. Let's check your blood pressure on more time."
She placed the cuffs around his arm and pumped the knob until she could get a clear reading. Again, it came up positive for elevated blood pressure.
"Do I pass, Dr. Haruno?" he smirked with an air of arrogance that had her looking up at him and smirked herself.
"Nope." She took the cuffs off his arm. She enjoyed seeing him defeated. "You have high blood pressure."
"And?"
Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Given your history and physical exam, it's clear that overall, you're pretty healthy. You're young and physically fit so there should be no reason that your blood pressure to be what it is unless you're stressed."
Sasuke's breathing calmed down now that he wasn't running anymore. He locked eyes with the green eyed doctor, who was just standing there and smiling right back at him.
"Naruto and I win then. You have stress issues and this time, you can't deny it," she teased, poking him on his chest. "Oh yeah I have to take these off," she remembered as she began peeling the stickers from his body.
Suddenly, the room began to shake and the intercom went of declaring the hospital in Code: Triage (external emergency). Sakura was thrown right into Sasuke's chest as he held her tightly and ducked underneath the desk at the end of the room. It was an earthquake.
Sakura's heart rate went up as she finally realized what was going on. The shaking didn't seem severe but it was still powerful. Sasuke was hovering over her with an iron grip around her waist. She was trying to cling to him but realized that he was still shirtless, so she wrapped both her arm around his back and just held on tight with her eyes closed.
The first thing that came to her mind was Sora. This earthquake was pretty powerful and it definitely would have reached the school. Sora would be in karate practice by now and Sasuke's daughter would be in ballet practice.
The shaking went on for about almost two minutes before it stopped. Sakura opened her eyes and looked around. The room looked like it was intact. Nothing was cracked or broken.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura turned back to him and was startled at how close their faces were. She looked into his eyes and blushed at their current position. He was still on top of her, shirtless, and holding on to her waist and the side of her face.
"... I'm fine," she whispered. He slowly got off of her, cautious in case of an aftershock, and got out from underneath the table. He walked over and grabbed his shirt.
"We need to get back and assess the damage," he said buttoning up his shirt and grabbing his blazer. Sakura nodded and picked up his chart before following him out the door.
"We need to see if the kids are alright," she thought as Sasuke opened the doors to the stairs.
"I'm sure they're fine." They continued to climb the stairs. "Suki's in ballet with Ino and Sora's at school right?" She nodded her head. "Then they're both being taken care of."
"We should still call them," she insisted as Sasuke opened the door that lead back into the main hospital.
Everyone was recovering from the earthquake. People were hustling trying to place papers back in their proper files and trying to maintain order with the visitors.
Sasuke silently cursed. "I have to meet with security to go over any damages. We'll talk about the test later."
She nodded. "I have to check on my patients. Then I'm going to go to pick up Sora. You were my last patient for the day. I'm guessing you're going to be here for a while?"
"Unfortunately Yes. This is going to take up quite some time."
"Do you want me to pick up Suki too? I don't mind really," she offered. He looked surprised for a second before nodding his head.
"Thank you. That would be really helpful. I'll call you when this is over," he said before walking away. She watched him leave before heading towards the stairs again.
Seven flights of stairs and one tired Sakura later…
Sakura made her way to the NICU first. She had to check on the babies. She spoke with all the nurses giving strict instructions to keep a close watch on their designated children and to have the emergency supplies ready should they be needed.
She then went to the eighth floor and proceeded to check on the mothers and their babies. After concluding that everything was fine and reminding her staff to page her should anything go wrong, Sakura went to her office and grabbed her purse before heading out.
Sora, Akio and the rest of their karate club were all gathered outside with Lee Sensei on the front yard.
"That was pretty scary," Sora said as they sat on the grass in his karate uniform next to Akio.
"Y-yeah," Akio stammered. He was still pretty shaken by the whole thing. Lee Sensei was going on about remaining youthful in emergencies.
"Never forget Students," came Lee's booming voice. "You must always work diligently in order to be prepared for emergency situations such as this one!" he declared while pumping his fist into the air. "Now, let us remain here until your parents come to pick you up. In the meantime, we can all keep practicing our kicks!"
"Sora!"
Sora looked around and saw his mother running towards him. Lee Sensei also stopped kicking the air and just stood there wide-eyed. Sakura fell to her knees and pulled Sora into a massive hug.
"Oh Sora," she cried, kissing his head over and over again. "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere sweetie?" she asked while scanning him for injury. She hugged him again when she concluded that he was just fine.
"Mommyyyyyyyy," he whined. "I'm okay." She was holding on to him like her life depended on it. She let go of him and placed another kiss on his cheek.
"I'm glad." She turned to Akio who was still sitting down. "Akio?" He turned to look up at her. "Are you okay too sweetie?" She noticed that he looked a little frightened.
"I'm okay Aunt S-Sakura," he stuttered. Sakura pulled him into a comforting hug as well and decided to call Ino and see if she wanted her to bring Akio to the studio.
"Hello?" Ino shouted. Sakura could hear crying in background.
"Hey Ino, its Sakura. I just picked up Sora and I'm coming over there to pick up Suki too. I'm going to bring Akio too alright?"
"Oh, that would be so helpful. I'm up to my neck here with the girls. Most of them are in tears and I have a few cuts to deal with. The glass on the walls shattered. You coming along would be a big help."
"What about Suki? Is she okay?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"Poor thing's been in tears ever since. She's pretty scared and she wants Sasuke."
"Tell her I'm on my way to get her okay?"
"Sure, thanks Forehead. You're a life saver," Ino said before hanging up. Sakura turned back to the boys.
"Okay guys, where is your Sensei?" she asked.
"That would be me!" Lee stated as he came up to Sakura.
Her first impression of him was that he was a strange looking man with the shiniest bowl haircut and thickest eyebrows she's ever seen in her life. "My name is Rock Lee!" he introduced with a noticeable glint in his eye. "I am the Karate Instructor here as well on the Physical Education teacher!"
"Does he always shout everything he says?" she cringed. "Hello. My name is Sakura. I'm Sora's mother."
"Sakura! What a fitting name for one who is as beautiful as yourself! You resemble the cherry blossoms with such grace and you're the mother of my finest pupil," he gushed making Sakura blush a little.
"Oh… thank you Lee," she chuckled. "Well I just wanted to let you know that I'm here to pick up my son as well as Akio Nara."
"Certainly! Please be careful on your way out and always keep going with the power of youth!" he said saluting them.
"Thank you Lee," she said hesitantly. She turned to the boys and took them by their hands. "Come on boys."
Ino was relieved when half the class had gone home. Many of their parents came by after she made some phone calls. Now it was down to only a handful of them that needed some Band-Aids. Akira was trying calm Suki, who was still very much upset about the earthquake. She wasn't injured at all, but she was still frightened.
Shikamaru had called earlier saying that he was okay and that he would be home late due to some damages that resulted from the earthquake. Ino was also very worried about Akio. She didn't know how he would react to situations like this.
"Mommy!" Akio shouted as he bolted in her direction. She turned around and was relieved to see her son run right into her arms.
"Oh my baby, thank goodness you safe," Ino sighed, kissing his forehead.
Sakura walked up to them. "Hey Ino." She was carrying a first aid kit with Sora right next to her. "Where's Suki?"
"Over there with Akira," she said pointing in their direction. Sakura saw Suki in the corner with her head on her knees with Akira standing close by.
"Suki," she called out. Suki looked up with her tear stained face and saw Sakura kneeling before her with a smile on her face. "Come here sweetie." She brought Suki into a hug. Suki hugged her back and began to cry all over again.
"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay," she soothed stroking Suki's hair to calm her.
"Where's… (sniff)… my daddy?" she asked in between sobs. Sakura wiped her tears with a napkin.
"He'll be home later. Your daddy has a lot of people to take care of back at work. You'll stay with me until he comes okay?"
"(sniff)… okay." Suki's eyes were red and puffy from crying so much.
"Listen Suki, can you help me fix everyone's cuts?" Sakura asked. "Can you be my little helper?"
Suki nodded her head with a small smile. "Okay."
"Sora can you help too sweetie?" she asked. Sora nodded his head and together the three of them went around to all the girls that were injured and began to bandage them up.
Sakura bandaged them and had Suki and Sora hand her various supplies from the first aid kit. Suki felt much better after having something to distract her from the shock. She was also glad that she was with Sora's mommy.
After they were done, Sakura left the dance studio with Sora and Suki. Ino still had to stay behind and wait for all the parents to come and pick up their kids. The drive back to the house took longer than usual due to the traffic that piled up from the earthquake. The three of them entered the house and quickly got settled for the evening.
It was almost midnight and as if the earthquake wasn't enough, it had also started raining like mad. Sasuke was up to his neck in damage control at the hospital. There were a few minor problems that resulted from the earthquake but nothing too major. The paper work was a pain of course but other than that, he was anxious to get to Suki.
He had called Sakura earlier and got direction to her house. She told him that she left a spare key for him so he could just walk right in before handing the key back.
He parked outside her building and stepped out of the car. When he got to her front door, he found the potted plants where she had hidden the key. Sasuke pulled the key out from underneath the pot of flowers and quietly opened the door.
He walked in and saw that there was some light coming from what appeared to be the living room.
"Sasuke? Is that you?" he heard her ask. Sasuke walked a bit further and found her sitting on the couch with both Suki and Sora in her arms. Suki was wearing what appeared to be Sora's t-shirt and sweat pants.
"Sorry it took so long," he said as he walked closer and kneeled before her.
Sakura had changed her outfit into a red cotton shirt and black drawstring pants. Suki was cuddled comfortably in her lap while Sora was sleeping at her side on the couch. There was a blanket that covered them nicely.
"It's no problem at all," she assured.
Suki fidgeted a bit in Sakura's arms. She settled back down when Sakura ran her fingers through Suki's short black hair.
"How was she?" He noticed that Suki looked particularly worn out.
"Oh, she was just scared from the earthquake. Poor thing was crying until I got there. She was asking for you all day."
Sasuke looked up at her for a moment before looking back down at his daughter. He ran his hand over the side of Suki's face and sighed.
Sakura smiled at him sympathetically. "I know it's hard for you Sasuke."
"Hn."
"Do you still want to take her home? I mean it's late and she's sound asleep. Not to mention the weather is just crazy out there."
"I don't want to impose on you."
"It's no problem at all," she insisted. "She shouldn't have to wake up again. She's had a long day and she can sleep here with Sora."
He met her eyes briefly before consenting. "Alright then."
Sakura looked like she was about to get up, but found that she couldn't. Not with Sora next to her anyway.
"I'll get him," he offered. Sasuke lifted Sora from the couch and allowed Sakura to get up as she held Suki.
"His rooms upstairs."
He nodded and together they made their way up. They entered Sora's room and placed Suki and Sora into his racecar bed, which was big enough for the two of them.
Sakura pulled the blanket over them and kissed each of their heads. Suki woke up slightly.
"Hi sweetie, your daddy's here," whispered Sakura as Sasuke got down on his knees beside her. Suki looked up at him and yawned.
"Daddy," she yawned sleepily.
"Goodnight Tenshi," he said gently. Sasuke watched her eyes close before focusing on Sakura as she tucked them in and smiled at them. The two adults left Sora's room and went down stairs.
"Would you like some tea?" she asked as they entered the kitchen.
"Sure."
He sat at the table and watched her place a kettle on the stovetop. The rain was really pouring outside.
"How was everything at the hospital?" she asked as she waited for the water to boil.
"The foundation seems to be fine and there was no need for the backup generators. Besides the paper work, everything should be back on track."
"That's good. What a time for an earthquake huh?" she mused.
"Hn."
The kettle started boiling and Sakura took it off the stove and grabbed two cups from the cabinet. Lightning could be seen and thunder roared from outside. It was almost October and the seasons sure were changing.
Sakura poured the tea into the cups and handed one to Sasuke while she took her own and stood on the opposite side of the counter across from him.
After a few moments of unbearable silence, Sakura spoke up.
"We never really finished talking about your test results."
"What's there to say?" he grunted. "You've made your point that I have stress."
"Yes, I've made the diagnosis. But I haven't given you a treatment plan yet."
Sasuke looked at her inquisitively. "What treatment?"
"You show signs of pre-hypertension. It's completely stress induced which means your treatment will be more of a lifestyle change than anything," she clarified. "For one thing, you're going to have to lay off on the amount of paper work that you do."
"That is something I can't do. One day off course and the work piles up," he said before sipping more of his tea.
"Sasuke, if you don't take care of this now, it can become permanent. You're way too young to be having this kind of problem. High blood pressure is known as the silent killer. Although you may not feel anything now, the long term affects are severe," she warned.
"Hn."
"This could actually be a great benefit for you," she continued. "Take some time off work and hang around with Suki. Get some father-daughter bonding time. You'll relax and spend time with your kid."
Sasuke looked up at her for a minute. He would love nothing more than to spend an entire day with Suki, but he couldn't neglect his work. Taking a break was something that was so foreign to him that the mere thought of waking up and not going to the hospital just seemed so ridiculous.
"I know I loved it when my dad would take off work to be with me," she shared with a small smile. Sasuke looked back at her as if asking her to continue. "My dad is the Police Commander of the Kyoto Police Department. Needless to say that his job was very time consuming, but he tried his best to make time for me. Suki and I are very similar."
"In more ways than you know," he thought. "Is your father still working?"
"Oh yeah, he's the best of the best and still pretty young for being my dad. He's been in the force for over twenty-five years. They're not about to let him go now. He'll always be Commander Hatake Kakashi," she said proudly.
"Hatake? Your last name is Haruno," he stated.
"Haruno was my mother's maiden name," she explained. "My dad told me that he wanted me to carry on her name, so I did. Even after I got married, I still kept my name as Haruno. If not I would be Sakura Arisugaki."
Sasuke just looked perplexed.
"My husband told me that his name didn't suit me well, so he also encouraged me to keep my last name. But Sora carries his father's name."
"I see," he said before smirking. "So you're known as the spring cherry blossom?"
"Yes I am," she replied. She sipped her coffee as the lightning struck again. The lights flickered ominously before power went out, cascading them in darkness.
"Oh perfect," she groaned. "Hang on I'll see if I can get some candles."
She shifted around to the cabinets occasionally bumping into things along the way. The kitchen was pitch black and she couldn't see anything except whenever the lightning struck to light it up.
"Need help?" he asked as he stood up to. His eyes didn't quite adjust to the darkness yet and the constant lighting didn't help either.
"Oh no, I'm fine."
Sakura found the drawer with the spare candles. She shifted around to find the lighter. She lit the two candles and turned around only to find Sasuke standing right behind her. In her surprise, she dropped the lit candles onto the tiled floor causing the flames to die out and the candles to roll somewhere on the floor.
"You scared me!" she hissed. He just shrugged.
"Do you have any more candles?"
"Sadly no. It's too dark to even try to find the other two. I have a flashlight but for the life of me I have no idea where I put it."
"Well that makes perfect sense," he said cynically.
"We just moved in, give me a break."
They made their way over the counter again. "I guess the best thing to do is just wait until the power comes back on."
"Hn."
Sakura felt around for her teacup. In the process, she grabbed Sasuke's hand on accident.
"Sorry," she whispered. He didn't say anything in response. "Sasuke?"
He was just standing there and due to the lack of light, all she could see was his silhouette.
"What?" he asked. Just then the lighting struck again illuminating the kitchen.
Sakura saw Sasuke's face for a split second before it struck again. Her heart stopped when she saw Sai's face looking down at her. Sakura gasped and dropped her teacup, which shattered on the ground.
"What the—Sakura, are you okay?"
The lights came back on and Sasuke could see the damage on the floor. Sakura's ankle seemed to be cut and there was a bit of blood trailing down her foot.
But that didn't seem to be the major problem here. Sakura looked like she had seen a ghost. She was just standing there, staring at him. Her eyes looked so wide and frozen.
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. "Sakura!" he said forcefully as she snapped back to reality.
"What?"
He was looking at her with confusion and a bit of… concern?
"What happened?" he asked. She just shook her head and breathed in.
That was definitely scary. One minute she saw Sasuke, then the lightning strikes and the next minute she saw Sai. It was like something out of a horror movie.
"Nothing," she whispered without looking him in the eye. She knew it was just s trick of the light. But still, something told her that there was more to it than that.
"Why?" she thought. "Why did I see him?"