do not own nahrutoe

Phobia

by Riverhaze

Chapter Four

The forest path was silent as the odd group made its way to Konoha. Sakura had not uttered a word except for an occasional grunt that Sasuke would have been proud of. Her face was set in to a hard glare, her posture rigid and awkward. Plus, Konohamaru kept looking back at her with a slack jawed expression that was funny at first, but was starting to get annoying. Naruto, meanwhile, was trying to fight up the courage to start a conversation with Sakura, in his head every attempt ended with a large bruise on his head.

Sakura wondered how badly Naruto must have handled things in Konoha if he didn't have any other decent medics to choose from but her or Ino. When she had left, the hospital had been the best out of all the nations, thanks to some of her help of course. Naruto abruptly cleared his throat with a noise that sounded like a wood grinder screeching to a stop and the other two looked at him expectantly.

"So, um, Sakura-chan, what have you been up to?" He asked timidly.

"Traveling."

"Oh, that's cool. Where to?" He continued in a vain attempt to get her to open up.

"All over." Sakura shrugged.

"Have you been to the Land of Tea?" Konohamaru pipped up and Sakura looked at him with a blinking expression, stunned that he had addressed her directly.

"Well, yeah. But by accident, the caravan I snuck on was supposed to go north but it didn't." Sakura said, and like that, she launched in to her story of her travels in the Land of Tea. She had been there once before as a teenager, but without any responsibilities, she had been free to roam. She had made her travels sound interesting, but in reality a vast majority of them had been boring, with many hours to herself and silence. Of course she had been joined by other travelers, familiar loners, and many times the same faces would pop up over and over again in weird and sometimes hilarious situations.

Several stories later, the gates to Konoha loomed in to view, and Sakura found her self retracing steps she had left behind five years ago. Her stomach felt queasy, and she wondered how she could return, if any one would want her back. Naruto waved at the men in the station, and they waved back before the heavy doors were pushed open.

Sakura slowly looked around as she crossed the line between village and woods, she could feel the nostalgia rising inside and wished it would go away. Nostalgia was a liar, a trickster and a thief. For some reason, she felt as if she did not belong here, like she was just another travelling foreign ninja here on a mission.

"Would you mind going straight to the Tower so we can discuss your duties?" Naruto turned to face her, suddenly all business.

"That's fine. I can get straight to work." She said, and then closer to leaving, she added in her head. It was no longer the early morning hours and the afternoon rush had gripped most of the village. Thankfully, Naruto used back alley ways and narrow short cuts to cut across Konoha, only a few saw the three ninja's and even they doubted if what they saw was real. A girl they had seen a long time ago with pink hair and green eyes.

"They just got around to adding me to the mountain, I think they made my nose to big though." Naruto was babbling to Sakura as they made the journey up the stairwell to his office. Konohamaru was still tagging after them after he made a show in the lobby about Naruto training him later.

"What are they gonna do when there isn't enough mountain left for the Hokage's head?" Konohamaru scratched the back of his head.

"Huh. I'm not sure, why?" Naruto paused.

"Because I wanna make sure I still get a monument when I'm Hokage!" Konohamaru said hotly with fire burning behind his eyes. Even though he was fast approaching a young man, there was still a childish fire inside.

"We'll discuss this later?" Naruto said sheepishly after taking one glance at Sakura's expression. Naruto paused outside of his office and held the door open for Sakura, she thought for a second if she should refuse his politeness, but maybe that was to petty.

"SAKURA-CHAN! THE BLOOM OF YOUTH IS STILL AS STRONG IN YOU AS EVER!" A familiar voice bellowed and a head full of dark black hair and bushy brows assaulted her in a hug.

Sakura fell back a little on her feet and patted the back of Rock Lee a little awkwardly and managed to pry him off of her as large tears streamed down his face. She looked around in rising confusion and anger as she took in all of her old friends, the legendary Konoha Twelve had been assembled inside Naruto's office. She felt her cheeks grow hot, the last thing she had wanted was a big cheesy reunion! She rounded on Naruto with a demanding expression.

"This wasn't my idea! Honestly!" He threw up his hands and chuckled nervously, subconsciously grabbing the back of his head where she normally punched him.

"It was my idea, Sakura! Shizune told me where Naruto went and I couldn't resist." Ino stepped forward with a large grin and Sakura was taken back by how much of a woman Ino looked now. The last of her baby fat was gone from her face, her eyes angular with butterfly lashes and a confident breath about her. Glancing around again, Sakura noticed how drastically everyone had changed in such a short amount of time but had remained the same.

A few more tight hugs from Temari and Rock Lee came back for seconds, excited chatter filled the Hokage's office as the Konoha 12 was whole again. With a pang she noticed Sasuke and even Kakashi-sensei quietly waiting in the corner. Sasuke gave her a look, like he couldn't believe that he had to come to this thing. Sakura agreed.

"Alright you guys, hate to cut the reunion short, but I have to go over Sakura's duties as the Head of the Hospital." Naruto clapped his hands together and made his way around his desk.

"I can show her! I can also catch her up to speed on the epidemic." Ino said next to her. Naruto frowned, then suddenly pulled a drawer open with a large glowing grin.

"Here, Sakura-chan, catch." He said and tossed something red at her. Sakura reached out and caught her headband with a dumbfound expression, holding it in her hands as if it were a dying pet. For a split second she almost shouted at him that she wasn't a ninja any more, but understood he was just giving her the relic for her own personal keeping.

"Thanks, I guess. Want to get going, Ino?" Sakura said and turned quickly for the door. She had to get out of the room and away from Naruto and all of those old faces she had last seen in memories. The two medics disappeared behind the door, and slowly the Konoha Twelve trickled out until only Kakashi and Sasuke were left. Naruto often met with them in his office, he trusted them the most for advice.

"Well, I think you just made a situation a whole lot worse." Kakashi said lazily.

"Hm?" Naruto inquired as he pulled out the stack of paperwork he'd need to file for Sakura's new appointment.

"You didn't see the look on her face? I don't think she has fully forgiven you, on her own Sakura would have eventually returned when she came to terms with what happened, but you had to rush it." Kakashi explained.

"Huh? Sakura wouldn't still be hung up on stuff that happened years ago, I'm sure she's forgotten, you know how stubborn she can be. She just wanted to prove a point is all." Naruto shrugged. "Heck, I don't really remember what happened exactly." Naruto laughed nervously to reassure himself. In response, all Kakashi did was sigh very heavily while thinking that he was to old for this already.

The intercom on his desk abruptly buzzed, and the voice of the secretary at the front desk came through.

"Sir, you have a message from your wife while you were out." She said.

"Huh? Oh, delete it, I'll talk to her later." Naruto shrugged it off.

"You'll want to hear this now." She continued.

"Well, what is it?" Naruto asked, now he was annoyed.

"She is pregnant." The woman blurted out, sounding a little to excited. The room was still until a loud thud vibrated the floor and Naruto was on the ground, out cold and Konohamaru's laughter echoed on the other end of the receiver.

"Oh great, there are going to be more of him." Kakashi said and Sasuke slowly shook his head.

Line Break

"Alright, what are we dealing with?" Sakura asked as they entered the elevator to take them up to her new office. She wanted to scope out her new digs then take a look at the sick ward that housed those stricken with the new disease.

"The Wind, Rain, and Stone have all reported their own outbreaks, with many cases being severe. We've lost a few, but we have figured out how to keep most of the patients stable longer but no complete cure." Ino began.

"Symptoms?" Sakura asked as they stepped out and walked down the hall to her office.

"Fever, coughing, sweating, starts out like a common cold. Then after a day or two those afflicted will develop boils and black bruises rapidly appear afterwards." Ino continued.

"Sounds like the Plague to me." Sakura said, and was about to get very mouthy if that's what she got dragged back to Konoha for.

"That's what we thought too, at first. But every vaccine we have tried does not work. Even standard medical jutsu's are useless against it. The advanced stage is when the brain swells and the lungs flood with fluid. We can't figure out what triggers this, though." Ino finished as they paused outside of the door. Sakura wondered how anyone got anything done around here, they were completely hopeless with out a leader.

"Can you get me the files on what little research has been done on it already?" Sakura asked as she fumbled with the lock to the door and pushed it open. Whoever had occupied the space before left it bare and clean, nothing hung on the walls and the desk was spotless. Sakura scanned the titles of reference on the shelves as Ino informed her about her duties as the new Head of the Hospital.

Sakura paused in front of the double windows that overlooked the street below and had a direct view of the Hokage Tower. She took in Konoha with its busy streets and organized buildings, nothing had changed since she had left.

"Oh, Sakura?" Ino asked and she turned to look at her old friend. "I'm glad you're back." Ino smiled and Sakura returned it briefly.

"Yeah. Let's take a look at the sick." She said, to quickly get off sappy reunion speeches.

Several minutes later Sakura stood in the plague ward opposite Ino taking in what was going on. Nurses rushed from bedside to bedside to check on patients, medical ninjas were grouped around beds trying to keep the more severe cases stable. Overall, chaos seemed to rule the ward. Sakura frowned as she strolled down the length of the ward, glimpsing at their charts, then pausing in the center.

"Ino, have you noticed that every patient is a ninja to some degree?" She spoke up. Ino frowned and furrowed her brow.

"I never noticed that. What do you think that means?" The blonde asked. Sakura could feel the gears spinning in her head, she felt as if this one connection would be the start of her research.

"Maybe we aren't dealing with a standard disease. C'mon, I need some fresh air." Sakura said and turned sharply on her heel. Once they made it to the roof of the hospital where the smell of antiseptic and sickness was replaced with a gentle cold wind, Sakura inhaled deeply. She couldn't believe it, just this morning she was still stuck in her exile and now the day was winding to a close and here she was, back in Konoha tasked with saving lives and finding the cure to an impossible disease. Damn that Naruto, she grumbled.

"So, catch me up to speed." Sakura said and leaned on to the ledge of the roof.

"Shikamaru is going to become an academy teacher." Ino started.

"God help those poor kids, all they'll learn is the art of cloud gazing." Sakura said and Ino burst out into laughter. Sakura joined in, her first genuine laughter in a long time. It sounded...old to her.

"AH!" Ino let out a scream and Sakura jumped back before seeing Sasuke standing over the two on the ledge. Ino let out a few colorful curse words as she struggled to get back to her feet and Sakura blinked up at her old friend.

"Sasuke-chan, don't scare Ino-kun." Sakura laughed as Sasuke frowned before he jumped down.

"There's something you need to know." He said.

"Hello to you too." Sakura grumbled.

"I'm going to head back to the ward, see if they need any extra hands." Ino said and Sakura nodded her agreement, pretending she did not see Ino wink at Sasuke, saying she'd join the blonde as soon as she could.

"Hinata is pregnant." Sasuke said as soon as Ino was gone. Sakura felt her smile drop and she froze, looking out over the roof back at Konoha she shrugged.

"Okay." She said, shrugging. She had no business getting upset, they were married and had every right to start their family. That's it, she thought and felt five years wasted all of a sudden. All along, she had had no reason to be upset. Naruto choose his own life, and she would choose hers. She still loved Naruto, she always would as a brother and comrade, and Hinata deserved nothing but respect. Like they said, the best revenge was none at all.

"Guess there's a baby shower to plan, huh?" She tried to sound light and joking, and added a shaky laugh. Sasuke had been watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye as he turned to face the skyline of Konoha. The last time they had been there, Sakura had jumped in front of a warring Naruto and Sasuke. The memory was on the back of both of their minds.

"The very thought of that dobe raising a child makes me fear for its safety." Sasuke smirked and they shared a laugh. Sasuke laughing, that was a new one.

"So, what's been going on with you, Sasuke?" She asked after the joke grew old.

"There hasn't been much." He grunted.

"Yeah. Same here." Sakura added, and for once the silence was nice.

Line Break

"You're...you're, PREGNANT!" Naruto stood in the doorway to his kitchen, Hinata was seated sipping on a glass of tea when her husband burst inside.

"Aren't you happy?" Hinata asked, keeping her cool and trying not feel nervous. She had expected him to freak out naturally, but not so much.

"Pregnant, kid, father, gah!" Naruto threw his hands in the air

"If I knew this is how you would react, I wouldn't have shared a bed with you!" Hinata snapped, feeling deeply offended. Naruto's eyes softened at these words.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, I just didn't expect it. I'm just scared with this disease spreading like wildfire everyday." He sighed and leaned against the wall. Hinata softened up too, she should have told him of her plot, but she knew he would not have agreed.

"Be happy, Sakura will cure the disease, and we're going to have a child! You'll be a great father." Hinata smiled and he smiled back.

"Yeah, just what Konoha needs, a mini-Naruto." He laughed. Hinata thought about this for a second and hoped their child would have some Hyuuga dignity.

"You know what else right?" Hinata asked timidly.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"We have to tell my father." Hinata said as she turned to poor the remains of her drink down the drain, and Naruto froze. Its not that he did not like Hinata's father, okay maybe a little, but Hiashi didn't like Naruto because he wasn't a Hyuuga, and it had been almost impossible for him to convince Hiashi to let Hinata live outside the Hyuuga district.

"When?" He groaned, hitting his head on the wall in defeat.

revised 3/24/13

re-revised 10/1/15