Heart of Ice
Chapter 23: Epilogue, Chapter 1

Pairing: Sasuke and Sakura
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (unfortunately) or any of the characters (even though I'm madly in love with Sasuke Uchiha, just don't tell my boyfriend lol )


A.N.
Really quickly before you read this chapter, I have decided to make an epilogue, but I want to do a good job, so I'm going to make it a couple of chapters. Hope it's good and that everyone's ok with it. And I realized that I didn't do a good job of depicting when different months were, so for our purposes for this epilogue Sakura's nine month is in July…oops…maybe I said too much…. ^_^


Sakura sat in her chair, watching her family play outside. It was a nice summer day, and she felt like she was about to burst-both from heat and from this pregnancy. She remembered getting abnormally fat, but she didn't remember getting THIS fat. She had talked to Hinata and Temari and they had both told her that yes, she was definitely bigger, but not to worry because not all babies are the same size when they're in the womb. Sakura had felt a little better, but the baby moved 24/7! Whenever she would feel it kicking or punching when it was on one side of her stomach, she would feel it doing the exact same thing on the other side the exact second that it had stopped! It hurt so much to be up and about, too. She had to spend most of her time either sitting in a chair or lying down on her back. Sasuke had become her constant companion, helping her up, rubbing her back, or just being there, holding her hand through all of it. She felt horrible because most of the time she was just so weepy, and she knew that her daughters asked Sasuke all the time what was wrong with her. She cried even harder when he would tenderly say "Mommy's just going through an emotional time right now. When Mommies are going to have a baby, they sometimes just like to cry." That had seemed to pacify them. And she just couldn't stop eating! Everything just grabbed her interest, and she ate ten times the amount of food that she normally would consume. Sasuke had made the mistake of teasing her one day that if she kept up eating at that pace, she'd be as big as a cow. She smiled now, but then she had broke down and cried.

"Mommy Mommy Mommy! Look!" an excited little voice cried out.

Sakura smiled at her youngest, Kiko, and then smiled at her other two girls, Noroi and Akina. Then she gave Sasuke her special smile, the one that she saved just for him, and he smiled back at her. She watched as Kiko brought up a caterpillar, her face radiating pure joy at her treasure. "Mommy it's a pretty cat'pillar!"

"It is, isn't it?" Sakura said, reaching out to touch the furry little creature. "What did you name it?"

"Cat the cat'pillar!" Kiko exclaimed excitedly, and everyone around her smiled.

Sakura was happy that Akina had grown accustomed to everyone, and wasn't as shy and withdrawn as she was before Karin had left for good. She and Noroi had actually grown really close, as if they had been born twins instead of cousins. Akina had also started addressing her and Sasuke as "Mom" and "Dad" instead of just nodding politely at them whenever they spoke to her. She was just as excited about the baby as the other two were.

"Mom? Would you like me to get you something to drink?" Noroi asked, coming over and putting her hand over Sakura's stomach, which was something everyone had taken to doing ever since she told them that they could feel the baby moving.

"That would be wonderful Sweetheart. Thank you." She smiled gratefully at her daughter.

"Would you like anything to eat?" Akina asked, not wanting to be left out.

"You know, some ice cream would be lovely." She looked at her husband, and when he smiled, she said, "How about we all go eat some together? It'll be like an ice cream party!" Shouts of "Yes!" and "Yay!" could probably be heard from halfway around the world that's how excited everyone was.

"You just made three little girls very happy love." Sasuke said, coming to stand behind her. He tenderly rubbed her shoulders, trying to ease the knot of tension that was there.

Sakura laughed. "I know! They deserve it. Besides, it's too hot out here to not get such a tasty treat after playing outside."

"It's not that bad. It's quite comfortable actually." Sasuke said, a teasing light to his eyes.

"You're incorrigible!" Sakura said, tsking at him. She laughed at his grief-stricken face.

"I know, but you still love me," he said, bending over to kiss her lightly. "I'd better go see what the girls are up to. Just sit here and relax!" He said the last part sternly, giving her a look that said, "And I mean it!"

She watched him go, wishing that she could go and help, too. She missed being able to move around freely, even though she would never trade her baby for that freedom. She wanted this baby desperately. She hoped that maybe this would be the boy that Sasuke wanted, even though she never told him that. She didn't want to lead him on, and he was pretty content with having another little girl. Maybe this time a mixture of both of them. But she wanted a boy. She loved her girls, but a boy would contribute to balancing things out a little. She couldn't help it, she needed to get up and stretch. She stood up slowly, keeping in mind that she was heavier in the front than she normally was, and proceeded slowly an upright position. Just as she straightened, she clutched her middle.

"Sasuke?" she called, her voice full fear.

She heard his pounding footsteps running through the house, the girls pitter pattering ones behind his. "Sakura! I told you not to get up!" Then he saw that she was in pain. "What is it?! What's wrong?!"

"I think…I think my water just broke…"she said, gasping.


So, what did you think?

~NightBeast