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It had been three nights already since he had fought with her which meant that they had been in this dimension for a week already based on the time here. This place was turning into Sasuke's personal nightmare. He needed the forest and the music of the birds again. He needed it more than ever but all he got was the stillness and the silence of this world.
He wondered what Sakura was doing and if she was alright. He was scared of going back considering the fact that she was the one who told him to go and she was extremely clear on the fact that she did not want to see him again. He did cry over it and he still wanted to. He couldn't understand what he did wrong.
The sun was setting down and he decided to summon his small hawk to write her a little note. Maybe they could talk through letters until the situation was resolved.
He anxiously waited and when he saw the bird coming back he felt sick from the stress. He couldn't see from where he was if the hawk was carrying a not or not.
The animal landed on the ground and Sasuke breathed again when he saw a piece of paper attached to it. He recalled the message he sent her "Can I come back?"
His shaky fingers opened her letter and he read the word written on it. "You can come back only if you still want me after what I said to you."
Something blew up and in his chest a swarm of needles travelled throughout his whole body. He grabbed his bag and rushed back to the tower. Before he opened the door, he composed himself and walked in. She was sitting on the floor drawing something on a page. She looked at him and smiled. With an awkward nod he sat next to her to see what she was doing.
"Are you drawing a rabbit?" he asked quietly.
"It's a dog. People usually think it's a horse so I guess I'm getting better."
"It's a great dog."
"Thank you."
"Sakura-"
"Don't say a single thing. You're not the one who should apologize. I didn't mean what I said. I see all the efforts you're making and I appreciate all of them. I really do. I love you and I am sorry because I know that I hurt your feelings... I saw the tears in your eyes when you left. I am so sorry."
"I know that you are capable of fighting on your own. I- I just lost everyone and... I know that I can be very protective but I am just..." he knew exactly what he wanted to say but couldn't. The words died on his tongue.
"You're scared. That's understandable. I'm sorry I didn't see it from your perspective but Sasuke, you need to understand that there will always be a risk that you'll lose me. Always. I couldnget sick tomorrow or die during childbirth. There are some things you have no control over."
"I know but I want to make sure that you don't disappear or die from something I could have controlled."
"Oh please, even if I die during childbirth you will blame yourself for it and you will say that it's your fault because it's your baby or something."
"Is it wrong?"
"To think this way? A little bit. Well, not wrong just very destructive."
He paused for a moment and then started to panic a little bit. "You can die from childbirth?"
"It happens. Don't worry, Tsunade will be here and I can heal myself during it if I have to."
"Hn. So you won't die?" now the idea of getting a child didn't seem as great as it did.
"There is a risk. Hey," she touched his arm and his heart started to race. His hands were getting sweaty. In only three days his body had started to miss her touch. "I like this side of you. It's adorable."
"I don't like this word."
"Adorable? Well I love it. Get used to it."
"So it's a compliment?"
"Yes, it is. You seem emotionless all the time but some times you turn into the most innocent person I know. I'm genuinely sorry for what I said to you and the way I acted."
"I am not mad."
"I am glad! And to show you how sorry I am, I am giving this beautiful rabbit!"
"You told me that it was a dog."
"Art is subjective. Will you accept this piece of art?"
"Yes. Thank you." he looked at the drawing greatly touched by her gesture. No one had ever offered him anything since his parents died other than for his birthday. She probably didn't even know that and for her it was probably a little joke but he knew that he was going to keep it with the photo of him and his teammates so it will always be with him.
"You know what? That baby will probably give you drawings that are better than this one."
"Nothing will be better than this one."
"Well, don't flatter me too much because you might end up getting a new one everyday."
"The same rabbit dog every time or something else?"
"I'll try a horse. Hopefully it won't look like a rabbit."
Sasuke laughed and touched her arm with his hand without thinking anything through. He felt her froze and wanted to back away but for once he didn't. He had missed her. Her green eyes looked at him and she gave him a smile. Why did she look prettier every time he saw her? His fingers moved to her hair. It was getting really long now, about the same length she had before the chunin exam.
"Your hair is longer."
"Yeah... I don't know if I should cut it short or not."
"Both are fine."
"Only fine?"
"You know what I mean."
"Yes but it wouldn't hurt to hear you say it every now and then."
"Both are pretty."
She widened her eyes in shock. "Ok I didn't expect you to say it. Thank you. I need to cut your hair though."
"Hn. It's covering the Rinnegan."
"Yeah but it's getting ridiculously long now. Come outside, I'll do it there."
He followed her out and sat while she was taking care of him with her kunai. He didn't care much if it looked nice or not as long as she was happy with it.
"All done!" she kissed his cheek.
"Sakura?"
"Yes?"
"How many towers did you check while we were separated?"
"Well... three. You?"
"Same. We need to write them down."
"I left a drawing in the room with them on it. You can copy it."
He nodded at her.
They spend the next ten days repeating the process but this time Sasuke allowed Sakura to go on her own. They were at their 18th day when they realised that all the towers had been checked.
"Well, now what?" she asked while stretching her arms.
"I have no idea."
"Why did you draw some rocks on the map as well?"
"Because from the bird I could see rocks that were bigger than others."
"Can you show me?"
"Let me summon Garuda." he stood up and started the hand seals when she interrupted him.
"Don't you need chakra for that?"
"I don't think so."
He managed to summon the hawk and they flew in the sky. The sun was setting already and at the second it did, a beam of light appeared from two of the rocks in their section. Sasuke commanded the bird to fly there and they landed harshly.
"Where is the light coming from?"
"I have no idea... they never did that." he replied pensively.
"Well, maybe we finished part one of the puzzle."
"Hn. What's that?"
"The number 67. Why 67?"
"Each tower has a number... it has something to do with it."
"Did you try to add up all the numbers from this section?"
"No. I'll do it now."
He calculated and the result turned out to be 1067.
"67...." he jumped in surprise and realized how close she was to him. He looked at her and nodded. "And now what?"
The light disappeared from the rock. The two ninjas backed away ready for anything but nothing happened. Sakura rolled the rock, surprising Sasuke and a sealing tag revealed itself.
"Well Sasuke, you liked sealing tags in the academy. Which one is it?"
"A two sealing tag barrier."
"So the other one is on the other rock?"
"Yes."
They jumped to it and repeated the process. His eyes sealed on the piece of paper.
"We need to remove them at the same time. Let's bring this rock to the other one." she said.
Sasuke looked at the size of the rock and he turned back to his wife with a smirk on his face. "It's too heavy."
"No it's not." he considered her for a second. He knew that she was strong but this looked too heavy, even for her. There was absolutely no way that she could lift a rock that was twice her height.
"No, let's just scream to each other or get the bird to scream when we should remove-" his vice was cut off when he saw Sakura lift the rock off the ground.
"Remind me where the other one is?" in shock he only managed to to point at the right direction and under his baffled eyes, she threw it. The rock landed making the noise of an explosion. "Told you I could do it."
She ran past him and stopped in front of the rock. She screamed to him. "Are you coming?" he shook his head and walked to her. He approached the first tag and grabbed it, ready to remove it.
"We need to be ready for an enemy." he said before removing the tag.
"I know. I'm not an idiot. We have a weapon though."
"What weapon?"
"The rocks."
"So you have a weapon. I don't, I have my eyes only."
"You have your Susanoo and Garuda."
With a nod of their heads they removed the pieces of paper. Nothing happened for a few seconds and then, suddenly, the ground started to shake under their feet. Sasuke jumped in front of Sakura and put his arm behind him to keep her behind.
Something started to emerge from the ground and they slowly realized that it was another tower. It grew bigger than the ones they were used to see around. The noise it was making was banging in their ears. Sasuke had to cover one of them and tilt his head to cover the other with his shoulder.
"Another one? Is this some sort of joke?"
He laughed at the exasperated tone her voice took. "Seems like our mission here is not over. At least we know that there might be a castle here somewhere hidden."
"Yeah great but we need more towers to get to it."
He waited to see if something was coming out of it but nothing happened.
"Sasuke, I'm tired."
He turned around and saw her trying to keep her balance. He looked at the tower and back to her.
"We will check it tomorrow. Go to bed."
"But you're staying this time, right?"
"Yes." he released his hawk and walked with Sakura to their tower. She opened the door and he saw her loosing her balance. He managed to grab her before she fell on the floor.
"You're right, maybe I need to start to be more careful."
"Sakura?"
"Mh?"
"You were at your fourth week when we got here. Seventeen days passed in this dimension so technically you are at your seventh week but time is different. Will it affect the baby?"
"I have no idea. We never had to face something like this with a pregnant woman before."
"We need to get out of here and fast."
"Yes, but I need some sleep. I'm very tired."
"How is the baby?"
Her face illuminated. "I did a check up on it yesterday. Do you want to feel something cool?"
"Hn."
"Ok let me just," she sat down on the floor. "come here." he joined her and she took his hand. "Now, activate your healing jutsu."
"Why?"
"You'll see!"
He did what he was told and she put his hand on her belly. "What am I supposed to feel?"
"Be quiet and focus on your hand."
"I can feel something. A chakra."
"What else?"
"My hand is slightly pounding."
"Focus on the chakra first."
He closed his eyes and focused on it. It was very faint but he could feel a chakra a little bit different than Sakura's. "It is very small."
"So you can feel it. What you feel is the chakra of the baby. It is mixed with mine because right now my chakra is working hard on helping that baby grow his or hers."
He shut his eyes open and looked at her. "I can feel the baby? That's... the child?"
She nodded with a smile. A fire took possession of his chest and he found himself smiling as well.
"Yes it's our baby. The pounding is the heartbeat. It is very irregular but don't worry too much about it. With some babies you can feel their heartbeat as early as week five. The chakra on the other hand starts growing on week seven."
"The heart is already working?"
"Well, sort of. Let's assume the baby is at week seven then he or she is the size of a raspberry. The organs are formed but not fully functional yet. That baby couldn't survive out of my womb for example."
"It's the size of a fruit and already has all of that?"
"Yes and if I really am at week seven then the baby is starting to grow the arms and the legs. I have a feeling I am at a bit more than seven weeks considering how big the chakra already is but I can't be sure of anything. So far everything is perfect."
Sasuke stayed silent, his hand still on her belly. He was feeling the tiny pounding in his hand. One day this will grow into a fully beating heart. He was fascinated by all of this.
"I'm glad you are so happy about it but I really need to sleep. I can't really eat because I keep throwing up so my energy isn't at its best right now."
"Is that normal?"
"Completely normal."
"I will let you sleep then."
He watched her lay down and nearly wanted to scream at her when she turned on her stomach to sleep but he kept it inside. She was the doctor and she definitely knew what was fine to do.
She turned on her back about an hour after and Sasuke watched her belly. He couldn't believe everything that was happening. He was going to be a dad.
Instinctively his hand moved to where his child was temporarily living. "I hope you are doing well." he whispered.
He left his hand there for the rest of the night.