Blossom

Chapter Twelve: Return

The stark difference between the hospital-oriented Sakura and his wife/Sarada's mother was hard to ignore. It should be something he should find fascinating but the time spent seeing Hinata with Sarada made him realize something he wouldn't dare point out to Sakura.

It was how she treated everything in a professional manner. It was something that solidified his adoration for her years ago, but he had hoped that she would have adapted in some way once they started their family. Perhaps he was judging her too harshly, and maybe part of him was still upset at her 'betrayal'. There was even a part of him that was scared that she would resort back to the professional Sakura once she realizes how hard it is to be a mother to not one but two children.

"The usual; hours spent in the OR, paperwork, being a mentor to the new residents and overseeing the development of the attendees." She started stir-frying some rice. "I imagine that things have been the same at the company?"

"Hn."

"As expected, working gets pretty boring but we have to do it to make a living." She shrugged.

"I was curious about who you were talking to; I thought you were going crazy." Hinata walked into the kitchen while drying her hair, she gave a soft smile to Sakura as she opened the fridge to get two boxes of apple juice and a container of previously prepared fruits. "You're back."

"I am! How are you? Has everything been okay?"

"Mhm! It's been great. Just a bit of pain today but everything's alright. I'm glad that you decided to come back."

"That's good...and I'm glad that I did as well." Sakura glanced at her briefly as she moved on to stewing the chicken. "Is Sarada in her room?"

"She is, I'm going to help her with the remainder of her work before dinner."

"Alright, I'll see you guys in a bit, the food is almost finished."

Hinata gave her a thumbs up and left after giving Sasuke a soft smile.

Chapter Twelve: Return

She tossed and turned in her sleep, her abdomen and lower body hurting more than usual. Earlier, she thought that it was just a mild pain, nothing serious, but now she couldn't sleep without a dull throbbing in her body. Hinata sat up finally and let out a sigh, she rested her hand on her stomach and frowned.

"Is something wrong, little one?" She mumbled before reaching for her bottle of water. Taking a sip, she nearly choked as another wave of pain hit her.

Hinata was confident that her water didn't break, she would have noticed any wetness in her clothes and a familiar sensation in her abdomen. The pain was getting worse though, making her eyes water as she took a deep breath.

Picking up her phone, she used the stopwatch to figure out if what she was feeling was just a passing sensation or contractions. She doubted it was the latter, the baby would be three weeks early. Although she's only been pregnant once prior to having the Uchiha family's child, her first pregnancy was carried past the due date. Hinata figured that it would be the same for this one as well.

Loe and behold, after six minutes, she experienced another wave of pain.

She groaned and bit her lip. Trying to get her mind to stop racing, she didn't want to wait for a full hour to finally go to the hospital. She was in pain and she wasn't going to sit there and let the contractions happen for an hour just to confirm that she wasn't having them.

Standing up and grabbing a sweater, she turned her lights on and made her way out of her room. She stumbled in the hallway, holding the wall for support as she breathed in deeply every few steps.