Chapter Text
Sakura notices something is wrong when a typical stretch of travel becomes so strenuous that she has to ask Sasuke to set up camp early. When they drop from the tree canopy, she lands on the ground with an uncharacteristic lack of grace.
“I think I caught something.” Sakura says sheepishly, her form hunched over in discomfort. “Sorry, Sasuke-kun.”
“Don't apologize.” Sasuke responds, eyes flicking upward towards the sky. “It might rain, anyway.”
Sakura looks up as well, noting a stark blue sky and wispy clouds peeking through the leaves. ‘Liar.’ She thinks, but she loves him more for it.
…
Sasuke and Sakura stand at opposite sides of a clearing. The kunoichi cracks her knuckles in preparation for their sparring match. Sasuke watches her, the way the breeze ruffles her hair, the way her eyes stand out vividly even in the grassy hillside they stand in now.
“Ready?”
Sasuke gives her a nod. She sprints towards him, a smirk on her face. Something in her flips. With little warning her heels dig into the dirt and she stumbles onto her knees.
Sasuke is alarmed, rushing to her side where she lay on all-fours. “I feel like I'm going to puke.” She grits out. Sasuke scoops her into his arms and carries her back to their camp.
Sweat beads her brow and she smiles weakly at him. “Sorry, Sasuke-kun, I must have eaten something bad.”
She throws up three times in the span of two hours.
…
Sasuke watches Sakura with hawk-like concentration, eyes tracking her as she hops tree limb to tree limb in front of him. Her moods have been strange, flipping from one extreme to another.
For the first time in his life, he pities Naruto as he experiences her wrathful irritation. Her eyes shoot daggers at him when he tells her to watch for hanging branches ahead. She halts movement and crosses her arms. “Well, why don't you take point instead? If you can't trust me to watch out for myself?”
Sasuke grinds to a stop, watches the wobble of her bottom lip, the glassiness of her eyes. He frowns, and leaps back to where she stands. “Sakura.” He says gently, wiping the tear that slips down her cheek. “Tell me what's bothering you.”
“Please.” He adds quickly, before her temper can flare further.
“I don't know, I just feel awful.” She lets out a sound of exasperation, raggedly dragging a hand down her face. “I feel like the entire world is out to get me one minute, and then I'm fine the next.”
Sasuke frowns. Maybe life on the road was taking its toll. He's hesitant to suggest that she return to Konoha to rest, and he can't tell if his resistance is due to fear for her taking it the wrong way, or because selfishly, he wants her to stay at his side.
“We can extend our stay in the next village.” He says finally. “We need provisions anyway.”
Sakura nods slowly, clasping Sasuke's hand in between her own. “Okay.”
Sasuke pulls her in for an embrace, the gut feeling within him growing, but too afraid to speak it out loud.
…
Sakura slips away early one morning, out of the cozy room at a small Inn on the outskirts of a village.
Sasuke had left just before her to train, likely thinking that she was still soundly asleep.
She makes her way to an apothecary, scanning the shelves lined with glass jars of supplements and antidotes that were likely crafted by the elder woman behind the counter. The air has the scent of tea and traditional medicine
Her eyes lock on an herbal mix that is labeled as tea for prenatal care. On the shelf below it, lie pregnancy tests, neatly stacked in modern boxes that don't fit the traditional decor of the business.
The embarrassment of sliding the box across the counter is quickly dissipated by the nonchalance of the shriveled old woman at the register. “Take care, come back if you need supplements.” She mutters with the raspy tone that accompanies old age.
Sakura hastily pays and makes her way back to their shared hotel room, intent on getting back before Sasuke does. But to her dismay, he is sitting on the hotel bed when she returns. His face is peaceful, posture relaxed, but his hands clutch the sheets in a way that betrays his cool exterior.
“You're back so soon.” Sakura sputters out nervously, clutching the paper bag in her hands tighter than she intends.
“I forgot something.”
“Ah.” Sakura looks at her feet. Her heart hammers in her chest loud enough that she's certain he can hear it.
“What's that?”
One question sends her stomach tumbling, blood draining from her face. The bag crinkles in her grip.
“A pregnancy test.” She whispers. So much of their bond had been forged through honesty, through facing the trials and tribulations of life head on. Hiding it from him is pointless, and frankly, she doesn't want to.
Sasuke's reaction lacks the shock and dismay that Sakura has steeled herself for, only giving a simple nod of understanding.
“I had a suspicion.” His voice is cushioned with a softness that is reserved for private moments like this. “Do you want me to give you privacy?”
Sakura can think of nothing worse than being alone right now so she shakes her head. “I'll be in the bathroom…I'll, um…I'll let you know.”
Five minutes later there are two pink lines on the test that change her life forever. Change their lives forever.
Before she can think too hard about it, she flings the bathroom door open, and stares at Sasuke. She is standing with an unnatural stiffness, like she's afraid that if she moves too suddenly, she will shatter into pieces.
His eyes lock with hers and she gives him the slightest nod she can manage. Sakura has become well attuned with Sasuke's emotions, the subtleties that are too well-concealed for anyone else to pick up on. He is stifling something, subduing his own feelings to gauge hers.
“What would you like to do?” It's less of a question than it's presented as, he's giving her a choice, and she knows it. A respect for agency over herself and her future. An unexpected child out of wedlock was not unheard of, but they had scarcely broached the subject. Their relationship is still growing roots, a seedling yet to fully blossom.
Thoughts pile in her head of what this will affect. Career progression, travel plans, her health, her relationships, they all hang in the balance.
However, she imagines a child with hair as dark as the night, chubby cheeked and giggling, cradled in her arms. The physical manifestation of the bond she shares with the man she loves. A new person for her to welcome into her heart and love as much, if not far more than even Sasuke.
She remembers marred corpses and traumatic wounds, grieving young widows crumbling to the floor on her hospital unit. The inevitable clutches of death lurking around every corner. Nothing is promised for a shinobi, except the endless possibility of the end itself.
Sasuke's eyes hold their gaze steady on her face, patient and loving. The man who sought penance from a world that had wronged him. A man who waited until he knew that he could love her in the way she deserved, stifled his own desires after a lifetime of denying himself life's simple pleasures. The devastatingly devoted way that he allowed the hardened shell around him to slowly fracture, to let the softness in him reach out towards her despite the vulnerability.
Sakura loves him and loves the way that he loves her. The way he would love the life culminating within her.
She has made her decision.
“I…” Sakura trails off, her hand moving to rest on her lower stomach. “A child should be wanted by both parents.” She can feel tears well in her eyes from the uncertainty of what he wants, what she wants, what they want. Everything will change. Her priorities, the way she can spend her time, her relationship with Sasuke. But there is a warmth in her chest, a desire to give it a try despite the lack of knowing.
Sasuke remains silent for a moment, emotions flickering behind his eyes, sucking in a shallow breath. His eyes shine with purpose. “If that's the case,” Sasuke says, rising to stand in front of her, placing his hand over hers, over where their DNA has mixed and began to forge new life, “then I guess we're going to be parents.”
The dam breaks, childhood dreams, teenage fantasies, adulthood fears culminating and manifesting into sobs that erupt from deep within Sakura. She is happy, she is terrified. She is steadied by the warmth of the chest that envelops her in a tight hug, the sweetness of the kisses pressed against the crown of the head, the splatter of mixed tears hitting the floor.
They stand together like that until she is ready to move, and she almost lets out a laugh at the endearing way Sasuke's eyes are rimmed red and his cheeks are flushed. She kisses him instead.