[Fan Fiction] Misunderstanding
Title: Misunderstanding
Author: kaze_and_kiba
Summary: Sometimes, nature makes those decisions for us.
Rating: K
Prompt: Options
Note: I think ‘future yak’ is my new favorite word combo.
Ino didn’t like the wild-eyed look of fear in her friend’s eyes. “What are your options?”
“I could tell him.”
“That actually sounds like a good choice.” Ino patted her on the back encouragingly.
“Or I could run away to Suna.”
“Sakura!” The blonde frowned at her.
“I can’t tell him, Ino! I just can’t!”
“He might be happy. Doesn’t he want to rebuild his-”
“That was before his brother died and he found out all that horrible stuff about the betrayal. Now he doesn’t want a family-he doesn’t want anybody.”
“Then why did he sleep with you?”
“It was one night,” Sakura plopped down on her sofa. “He was a little drunk. I was a little drunk. We were lonely…and stupid.”
“I’ll say.”
Sakura slapped Ino upside the head. “You’re so not helping right now.”
“Just tell him you’re getting fat.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“I don’t know, Forehead! Jeez, I told you to get on birth control.”
“I didn’t need it. I wasn’t having sex with anybody!”
“This wasn’t an immaculate conception, bakana.”
Sakura held her head in her hands and moaned. “I know, I know. What am I gonna do?”
“Put it up for adoption?”
“Where? In Konoha? Don’t you think he’ll realize something’s up when he sees a kid running around with the Sharingan? He’ll kill me!”
“Tsunade would kill you if you gave up that bloodline trait to another village.”
Sakura groaned, holding her head between her knees.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m feeling nauseous. Sometimes this helps.”
“Yeah, nobody’s gonna guess something’s up if you’re sitting around with your head between your knees.”
Sakura sat up quickly and snapped, “You got a better id-oh god,” she mumbled, bolting from the couch to the bathroom, where she noisily lost her breakfast.
“Oh, he’s not gonna suspect a thing,” Ino muttered sarcastically.
“Thanks a lot, P-oh, crud-” she ran back to the toilet to puke some more.
When she finished Ino handed her a damp washcloth.
“Feeling better?”
“Much.” Sakura scrubbed her face and sighed.
“Come on; let’s go over to the hospital. You should take a blood test to confirm it, just in case. Maybe you’ll get lucky and have appendicitis or some deadly disease.”
“I wish.”
They were walking through the village when Sakura stopped and walked over to the takoyaki stand.
“What’re you doing, Forehead? You just threw up!”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m hungry. Go to the dango stall next door and get me some green tea dango while I’m waiting for my order.” She put some money into her friend’s hand and pushed her toward the seller.
Ino shook her head, walking away. “Well, I think it’s safe to assume you don’t have some weird illness. Octopus and dango…gross!”
The girls snuck down to the labs and Ino drew Sakura’s blood while she stuffed her face.
“Ew, how can you eat that together, Forehead? I’m gonna puke. No! Are you putting hot sauce on that?” Watching Sakura consume the odd combinations made Ino turn a little green.
“It’s good,” Sakura mumbled through a mouthful. “You should try it.”
“No wonder your stomach is objecting. You’re trying to poison it.”
“Funny, Piggy-chan. Hurry up and run those tests. I don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing.”
“Watching you scarf down that future yak is enough of a test for me,” Ino replied, filling the test tubes and adding the proper chemicals. “I’m positive you’ve got a bun in your oven.”
“Shhh! Don’t say it out loud. You never know who’s listening.” Sakura looked around the empty room suspiciously.
“I didn’t know paranoia was a sign of pregnancy, Forehead.”
“It’s not, Pig! I just-”
“Sakura-chan!”
Both young women jumped. Ino knocked over half the test tubes and Sakura spilled her food all over the floor.
“Naruto! What are you doing here?”
He looked at the skittish women. “We have special training this morning. Kakashi sent me to get you.”
“Darn it! I forgot. Can you wait outside while I talk to Ino for a minute?”
“Sure.” He stepped out and Sakura closed the door. He could hear them whispering frantically. Then he saw the knob turning on the door and thought Sakura was coming out.
“Wait!” he heard Ino say. “I’ve got to draw more blood, these tests are messed up.”
“Do it later. He’ll be suspicious if I take any longer.”
“Just hold still,” Ino whispered. “This will only take a minute, then you’ll know for sure and you can figure out what your options are.”
“I’m gonna die,” Sakura groaned softly. “That’s my only option.”
Naruto gasped. Sakura was dying!? No, wait-calm down. If she’s getting a test. There’s still a chance she’s ok. ‘Stay calm,’ he told himself. ‘It may be nothing.’
A minute later Sakura came out of the lab smiling. “Shall we go?”
“Ah, sure, Sakura-chan. You feeling ok? You look a little pale.”
Sakura waved him off with a laugh. “I’m perfectly fine, Naruto. Ino just needed some help cleaning up the lab.”
Kakashi gave her a dirty look when they finally got to the training ground.
“You’re late, Sakura.”
“Hmph, you’re one to talk about tardiness,” she blustered.
“Hey, I always have an excuse. Now let’s get to it. Sakura, you got here last so you’re up first.” Kakashi walked out onto the pond. “Mold your chakra into a heavy shield. I have a new jutsu that will help all of you if you find yourselves fighting on water.”
Sakura tried to form her chakra into a shield but it wasn’t working. Just as she would get it thick enough, it would sputter and die.
“What the hell?” she muttered and tried a third time, but nothing happened. Kakashi gave her an odd look and she shrugged. “Guess my chakra’s too low from working at the hospital.” She gave him the first excuse that came to her mind.
“Sasuke, you take over. Sakura, watch what we do, so you can practice later.”
She nodded and stepped off the water. Naruto watched her anxiously, still hearing her words to Ino about dying repeat in his head.
“Sakura-chan, you ok?”
“I’m fine, Naruto. Just a little-‘scuse me.” She ran off into the bushes and sent up the latest round of upchuck.
By the time she finished, there was a fine sheen of sweat on her brow. She stumbled out of the brush and all three of them were looking at her apprehensively.
“Sakura?”
She waved. “I’m fine.” She took a step forward and fainted dead away.
When Sakura woke up, she found herself hooked to monitors and IV’s. A nurse hovered over her, taking her pulse.
“That’s not necessary. I’m leaving,” she began, pulling her arm away. The curtain next to her bed was yanked back to reveal the Hokage and Team Seven standing behind her.
“I’m the judge of what’s necessary,” the blonde woman growled. “Now, what’s this I hear about you dying?”
“I’m not dying. I-ugh-” She leaned over the opposite side of her bed and puked her guts out again, panting heavily between bouts, with tears streaming down her face. The nurse held her from falling while she vomited all over her nice, white shoes. “Sorry about that,” she mumbled, slumping over the edge of the bed as she passed out again. Tsunade was instantly at her side, checking her over.
“You boys get out of here,” she ordered. “Kakashi find Yamanaka and get her in here. I want to hear about those blood tests Naruto was talking about.”
Sasuke followed Kakashi down to the labs and they found Ino filling out a report marked private.
“Are those Sakura’s results?” Kakashi asked, surprising her.
“Yeah, uh, no, uh.” She put the file behind her back. “How do you know about this?”
Sasuke snatched the file and handed it to Kakashi.
“Hey,” Ino yelled. “That’s private!”
Sasuke shrugged and watched as Kakashi perused the file before he slapped a hand to his head and sighed.
“You’re up, sport.” Avoiding Ino, Kakashi handed him the file and shoved him toward the door.
“Huh?” Sasuke looked confused-Ino looked panicked.
“Whatever Sakura’s contracted, I think it has something to do with you, son. You’d better go talk to her.”
When Sasuke walked back into Sakura’s room she was alone, quietly gazing out the window with a sad look on her face.
“Sasuke-kun, what are you doing h-where did you get that!” She pointed a shaking finger at the file in his hand.
“Kakashi gave it to me.”
“D-did you read it?”
“It’s just some results. I don’t understand them-what does highly elevated levels of hGC mean?” He handed her the file.
The woman in front of him paled, which he would have believed impossible because she was already so pale, if he didn’t watch it happen.
“Are you going to be sick again?” he asked, looking around the room for a bucket.
“Probably,” she sighed sadly. “Sasuke…how do you feel about family?”
His eyes narrowed guardedly. “You know how I feel.” He said without a hint of gentleness in his voice.
“Yeah, I know.” Tears stung her eyes. She turned away from him and curled up in the bed. “I think I want to sleep now, Sasuke-kun. Could you turn off the light on your way out?”
Sasuke watched her for a few seconds before he did as requested. The Hokage was talking to a nurse outside her room and shooed him away from the door, telling him visitor hours wouldn’t be until the next day.
He found Naruto at Ichiraku’s.
“Baa-chan kick you out of Sakura’s room, too?” Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged and took the stool next to him, ordering some dinner.
They left the restaurant and were walking through the market district when the Hyuuga girl came up to them.
“Oh, ah, good evening, Naruto-kun, Uchiha-san.” She bowed her head respectfully.
“Hey, Hinata-chan. What’s up?”
“I’m just on my way home from the hospital.”
Sasuke spoke up, surprising her, because he never talked to her.
“You work in the lab?”
“Ah, yes. I do.”
“Do you know what hCG is?”
“Um, y-yes…” she blushed. “It’s a hormone that’s produced during pregnancy by a developing fetus.”
Sasuke’s face went blank.
“Hey, teme! Where you going?”
In the evenings, the staff turned off half the lights in the non-emergency wards to make for a more restful setting for patients. When Sasuke walked down the halls, the hushed voices of the nurses helping the people in their care reminded him of when he was here after Itachi put him under a genjutsu so powerful that it took the great Sanin herself to bring him back.
And when he did come out of it, the first person he saw was Sakura-hugging him and crying. Sakura was always there to comfort him. Always giving, never asking him for anything in return.
What had he done for her?
“Sasuke, how do you feel about family?”
He silently pushed the door open to her room. She looked so small, almost like a child, curled up on the bed. The light from the bathroom shone softly on her face-he could see tear tracks there-she’d been crying recently.
He knew she was pregnant by him. There was no one else. They’d only been together the one night a few months back, but he’d watched over her every day since-she didn’t know. He tried to speak with her outside of training, but whenever he saw her green-green eyes, he’d lost his nerve.
He didn’t know until today that she was sick. Yes, he knew she’d been by herself, but not what kind of burden she’d been carrying alone, until now.
He’d caused those tears by unintentionally letting her think he despised the idea of having a family. Funny, he knew a thousand ways to kill someone, but he still couldn’t talk very well to a pretty girl he’d known most of his life.
Not want a family?
Sasuke smiled and brushed a lock of soft, pink hair from her face. In her sleep, Sakura breathed a deep, shuddering sigh and he pulled her blankets higher around her, tucking them in snugly, before he settled down in the chair next to the bed to watch over her.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
~The End~