Tuesday, 31st of March.
"What the hell... you, Sasuke, have a lot to explain!"
She crossed her arms on her chest and Sasuke let out a sigh. Before he could reply, Sakura jumped out of his arm and pointed her finger at the other woman.
"Listen. Karin right? I've saved your ass once. Now you owe me one so get to work."
"You saved- what? I became a captive!"
"I kept you alive and you're not one anymore. That baby isn't supposed to come out for another fifteen weeks. Its body is not fully formed so it won't survive out of my body unless you help us."
"Is it Sasuke's baby?"
"Why does it matter?"
Sasuke understood that the conversation will go on forever so he interrupted the two of them.
"I can help."
"No you can't. I need someone who has some good amount of chakra to accelerate the formation of the lungs. You have weapons sticking out of your back so no, I don't think you can do it."
"Sakura..."
"I'll do it. I'm mad at Sasuke, not at that child. Lay here and tell me what to do."
Sasuke watched Sakura as she lay down on the table. He approached her with Karin.
"Sasuke, giving birth is messy. You don't have to stay."
"I'm staying."
"Fine. Karin, the baby's lungs aren't fully formed yet. What I need you to do is send some medical chakra to it to help them grow as much as possible."
"What triggered the labour?"
"I got kicked in the belly and probably stress. Anyway, focus your chakra to the palm of your hands."
"I- never done that."
"Don't worry, it's the very basics of medical ninjitsu. Anyone can do that."
Sasuke clenched his teeth annoyed at himself. He should be the one doing it. He is the father. If only he had been less careless he would've been able to help now.
Sakura started to scream and he rushed his hand to her head. "What can I do?"
"Nothing. You just hold my hand."
He took her hand in his and squeezed it hard. He saw Karin fix their interwinded hands. "Focus." he said to her.
Everything was very blurry and overwhelming and he frankly had no idea of what was happing right now. He heard Sakura shout some instructions to Karin between two screams. He saw the red haired Kunoichi help. Even she seemed worried. All he could think of was the fact that his child was coming into the world too early. What had they done wrong? He started to worry but he tried to keep it on the inside. It eventually became too strong for him so he whispered his question to Sakura half hoping that she wouldn't hear him. She was on edge right now and could very easily snap at him.
"Is the baby going to live?"
She turned her head to him. Her face softened and she uses her motherly voice to reply to him. "I don't know... babies born this early don't have a high chance of surviving with our medical abilities."
"But Tsunade trained you."
"Medical ninjitsu can heal. It cannot create or form things that don't exist yet. We can keep babies alive if they are fully formed in the womb but if they aren't... we can just do our best and pray."
"Don't worry I won't let this child die." he looked at Karin who just spoke. He nodded at her thanking her with his eyes. "What do I do now, Sakura?"
"I can't hold it anymore. Let's see if what you did was enough. We need to get it out."
It was happening. The baby was coming. Sasuke was dizzy. The adrenaline he was feeling erased the pain from his back. He was looking around the room trying to calm himself down but his eyes were so restless that they had a mind of their own.
"Anata, calm down." he felt Sakura's hand on his cheek and he looked at her with his eyebrows frowned. "You're hyperventilating."
He simply nodded and he let Sakura caress his face. He tried to focus on her. All he could see was her trying to breath and push. He was completely out of touch with reality. Karin was between her legs and that was an odd sight.
"I think I can see it..."
"Good. As soon as you can, grab the head and turn it gently so the body can follow. The baby's face needs to be facing up."
"When exactly do I grab it?"
"When the full head is out. If he's purple it's because he can't breath. In this case, you'll have to go inside and remove the umbilical chord from around his neck."
"Sakura, I can't do all of that."
"Yes, you can. Everything will be fine."
Turn the baby? Baby suffocating? Umbilical chord? He was simply hearing words at this point. All he wanted to do was pass out.
"Sasuke?" he fixated the wall in front of him not hearing his name. "Hey, Sasuke!" he came back to reality when he felt Sakura squeeze his arm. "Are you alright?" he probably shook his head because she seemed worried. "Focus on my voice and only my voice. I'll explain to you what is happening." he nodded and looked at her eyes. She seemed to be fighting the pain. "So the baby is coming out too early. Do not worry about it. At 27 weeks they have more chance of surviving than if it was more early. I've been trained for this. Karin helped the baby form his lungs as much as possible so we can make it breathe when it comes out." she stopped and squeezed her eyes shut. After a minute she talked again. "Now I just have to push until it comes out. Karin is helping to turn it so it's easier to get it out. Don't-"
"Sakura..."
"Yes?"
"I have the head and it's in the right position. What do I do now?"
"You hold it. Hold on, Sasuke."
He watched her squeeze her eyes again and she let out a quiet scream. Her hand squeezed his so hard that he thought that she was going to break his bones. After ten more minutes of it, Karin put the baby on Sakura's belly. He looked at it. It was so small and it's skin had a weird colour. He was definitely going to pass out. Suddenly, Sakura grabbed the baby and stood up. Karin was left with some weird chord in her hands.
He followed his wife to the table but Karin stopped him. "She needs space."
He nodded and watched her as she started moving her hands. Her back was facing him so he didn't know what she was exactly doing.
"Sasuke! Your cloak, now!" he took it off and ran to give it to her. He caught a glimpse of his child before it was covered by the fabric.
"Is everything alright?"
"Will be if I have some space."
He nodded and moved back leaving her alone at it. He sat on the table where she gave birth and watched his wife's back worriedly.
"So you got married."
He glanced at her and moved his eyes back to Sakura.
"Hn."
"I never thought that you would ever love someone. Because you love her, right?"
"I have a child with her, Karin."
"Wow, the inaccessible Sasuke fell in love, married and got a child. I have a hard time believing it. Why her?"
"It's always been her."
"What?"
"I've known her my whole life. It's always been her."
"You never spoke of her."
"I had other priorities."
"Understandable. So I guess I never had a chance with you." He didn't reply. The answer wouldn't make her happy. "In a weird way, I'm proud of you. I'm hurt but I'm proud of you. You came a long way."
"Thank you."
"Well, it's just a compliment there's no need to-"
"Not because of that. Thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything you did. You healed me, stood by my side and helped me. I never said thank you for all of that."
"Ah don't worry about it. But thank you for realizing it now. By the way, you probably need to be healed or something. You look like a hedgehog with all these weapons sticking out of your bag."
"Later. The baby comes first."
They stayed quiet for another half an hour before Sakura turned around with a smile.
She seemed extremely weak so Sasuke ran up to her to help her stay up.
"I need to sit."
He brought her to the table and Karin left the room.
"You two need to be alone for this."
Sakura thanked her and sat down. Sasuke was in front of her, his heart beating hard in his chest.
"So... what name would you pick for a little girl?"
"It's a girl?"
"It's a girl. Do you want to see her?"
He nodded at sat by her side. She handed him the baby that was resting in his cloack. He couldn't see her baby's face but as soon as Sakura put her in his arm, she pushed the fabric away and revealed her face to him. He suddenly felt extremely emotional. That was his daughter.
"Sarada. I want to call her Sarada." he didn't where that came from.
"Sarada it is then! I know you want to keep her longer but I need to put her under a warming lamp. She's too fragile to stay like this for the moment. I'll ask Karin to get me one and set a bedroom for Sarada. You stay here and lie down. I'll come and heal you when I come back."
He let her take Sarada away from him and waited for Sakura to come back. He finally let the tears out. He was a father. He was going to become a hero in the eyes of someone. Him, Sasuke Uchiha finally had a family. He wiped the tears off when he heard the footsteps coming towards him.
"Hey, so she is fine. She's sleeping. We'll stay in the same room as her to make sure that nothing happens."
"Is she going to be alright now?"
"It's not a hundred percent sure but she should be fine. She survived the hardest part. Lie down, I'll get these weapons out."
He did as he was told. "The fact that she was born too early... can it affect her?"
"Well, yes. For now her skin will look wrinkled and reddish. It's also very thin so if you look closely you can see the blood vessels. Her eyes are still closed and she has no fully grown muscles so she can't move much. She needs mechanical assistance to breathe and eat. She also can't cry yet and she will sleep most of the day. On the long run, she might have problems with her vision, difficulty to learn to talk or walk. She might be a little bit slower than the others but we can't know for sure. It depends on each child but she is the daughter of two independent ninja. She will be fine."
"Problems with her vision?"
"Yeah... she won't see properly but that can be fixed with glasses. Don't worry too much, for now all we can do is be here for her and take care of her."
"Do you want to bring her to Konoha now?"
"Konoha is four days away from here and it's too risky. Let's wait at least a month until she gets to 32 weeks."
"She is so small..."
"She only weighs 4 pounds (1kg). She is tiny but she'll gain some weight quickly enough."
Sasuke felt the weapons being taken out of his back. He didn't know what else to say so he waited until Sakura was done. When he felt the pain disappear he turned his head to her and he realised how pale she was. She must be exhausted. "Can I see her?"
"Yes, she is next to our bed."
He stood up and passed his arm around her waist to help her walk. He needed to talk to Karin to thank her again but that could wait until tomorrow. Sakura brought him to what was now their bedroom. He chuckled when he realized that Karin gave him, Sakura and their baby the room that he used to stay in when he lived with Orochimaru.
When he thought about traveling while she was pregnant, he surely didn't think that he would be back in one of Orochimaru's hideouts.
When she opened the door he saw Karin next to the bed minding the baby.
"How is she doing?"
"The machine didn't make any noise or anything. She seems alright."
"Thank you Karin." he looked at Sakura and wondered if the two were friends now. He pushed the question aside and focused on his Hebi teammate. "Thank you."
"You stop thanking me," she pointed her finger at him. "It gives me the creeps to hear you all nice and all. Alright! Congrats you guys. Get some sleep and I'll see ya around!"
She pushed him and walked out. He shrugged his shoulders and walked to his baby. Sarada was wrapped up in a lot of layers of clothes to keep her warm, he supposed. Her little eyes were closed but she was smiling a little bit. He could see all the tubes coming out of her and it made his stomach twist.
He felt Sakura by his side and her hand touched the baby's face. "Hey Sarada, dad is here, say hi to him."
She looked at him and indicated his daughter with her head. Sasuke approached his hand and touched her face. He could feel how fragile the skin was and he was terrified to tear it. He backed away quickly.
"You'll get used to it, don't worry. Anyway. I'm going to sleep."
"I'll watch over her."
"You don't have to. The machine will beep loudly if the food bag is empty, if her heart beats too fast or if anything is wrong. Get some rest."
She lay down in the bed and he lay by her side. Sakura must have been exhausted because she fell asleep in seconds. Sasuke on the other hand, couldn't close his eyes. He kept looking at his baby. Eventually he thought of something so he stood up and walked to Sakura's bag. After a long search he finally found what he was looking for. He walked to Sarada and he watched her. If Sakura liked it so much maybe Sarada will too so he unfolded the t-shirt that he grabbed from her bag. He gently covered his baby with it.
"Hi Sarada, I am Sasuke and uhm... I am your father." he saw her gently move and he smiled. Maybe she recognised his voice. "Welcome to our world."
He moved back to the bed, wrapped his arm around Sakura and kissed her on the cheek. She moved in her sleep and woke up.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing. I love you."
"I love you too."
She kissed him on the lips and found her usual place in his arm. Her head hidden in his neck and he held her tightly against him. "Thank you for all of this."