DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto and I am not affiliated to the production companies that have the licensing rights to this series. I also do not make money off this piece of writing.

The guards at the entrance to the hall bowed, slowly and stately, to her as she shuffled by. They quickly resumed their post, she noted, as if nothing was wrong, as if nothing could go wrong. The quiet whisper of her robes and the almost silent shifting of sand beneath her bare feet echoed loudly in her ears. Yet, the silence that she heard most clearly was deafening.

The impossibly long hallway went on and on, nothing breaking the monotony; drab, grainy walls gave way to drab, grainy walls. The door at the end of the hall was gently pushed open and light streamed softly into the hallway. They mocked her: the light, the furnishings, the colors. This, she noticed, hurt. As she slid silently into the room, she again noted the silence: it was still deafening.

She smiled her sad smile, a beautiful smile in its tragedy – a small, bitter, beautiful smile as she lifted a stuffed frog from the floor. She could hear Naruto's voice as she held it in her arms: "I want the baby to have it! It was my best friend! The baby will love it too!" She was tempted to return the damned thing: its mocking smile and its promises of happy days to come. She hated this. She hated herself; if only she had taken care of herself better, if only she had known before, if only she wasn't herself. The thoughts ran freely, muddling themselves in her mind, but only one thought rang clear – if only. As she looked at the picture perfect room dispassionately, the colors and the furnishings of the room mocking, taunting, jeering.

The frog fell from her hand as she drifted mindlessly to the corner of the room, opposite the door, slumping harshly to the floor. Barely registering Tsunade's voice faintly calling her name, she stretched her legs away from her distended stomach, she quietly held herself and sat in the corner, alone, with nothing to keep her company besides a frog – her belly full of nothing but broken dreams. Anencephaly. No cure. Nothing she can do beyond wait for the inevitable. The silence was filled with these words. It was worse than the silence, she decided, definitely worse.

'He must be angry at me,' she thought, 'I failed.' A quiet figure entered the room, his robes gently sweeping the floor as he approached the woman slowly.

"No, you didn't and I'm not." came the soft reply. She was unaware that she had spoken at all.

After a full pause, she whispered hoarsely, "I'm sorry."

The person crouched near her and slowly eased himself to the floor next to her and leaned against the wall. He looked at her with sad, tired eyes, and sighed a gentle sigh. "I'm sorry too," he said, "Did she say when?"

"No. Soon." came the reply.

Together, they sat in the deafening silence as they slowly let their broken dreams die; their many dreams of a daughter with her pale pink hair and his darker eyes. A daughter that would laugh and smile. A daughter that would never want for love. A daughter that was and, now, never will be. Gaara never smiled, this would never change, but Sakura smiled her sad smile – her small, bitter, tragically beautiful smile.

End.

A/N: Anencephaly is a condition where the fetus is lacking part or all of the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls conscious thought, without it, the fetus will never be able to be conscious. In addition to this, there is no skin or bone that protects the brain that has formed. In most cases, the mother will miscarry. If she doesn't, the doctor will not put too much effort into keep the baby alive as it will never be conscious or survive in the outside world. Please review.