A/N: Clarification. For simplicity's purposes, I'll just simply use the name Uchiha Mikoto as Sasuke and Itachi's distant aunt's name, instead of inventing an OC. In this universe, Sasuke's parents died 15 years ago and are irrelevent to the story.

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I.

Jumping to mid October.

Uchiha Mikoto was sitting in her limo when the door opened and her youngest nephew came, in his usual suit and trench, as it was drizzling out. When he took off his coat, some rain water splashed on to her shoe, she frowned and asked, "where are your manners, boy?"

Sasuke forced himself to smile, "Okaa-san."

Mikoto wants to slap the boy.

She has never seen the pink haired girl up close. When she secretly visits Ino, she sees Sakura talking and laughing with her precious daughter, and she felt resentment. Nothing else. Ino has lived such a difficult life, from the moment she was born, without parents and a home, only to be raised by people who were paid to look after her. But because of one strange chance in genetics, Ino's the one ended up with cancer, not Sakura. This is terribly unfair, and coming from a mother's prespective, she would much rather the cancer turned out to be Sakura's. Then only did she have the satisfaction of a perfectly healthy biological daughter, also her ex-lover's happily married daughter would be cancer ridden.

"When's the due date?" She asks, soften because of the "oka-san" he called her. Itachi never called her that, but Sasuke, from when he was young, always called her "mother" with the utmost respect.

"December 15th." Sasuke said, his eyes dropped as he casted his trench aside.

Two months left. Mikoto calculated the time, and leaned back, leting out a breath of relief.

The rest of the ride continued in silence.

II.

When Sakura was first able to digest all the information thrown at her, she first held onto her stomache and asked, "What does it mean exactly? To have a stem-cell transplant?"

The doctor in front of her answered very patiently, explaining there would be no harm to the baby, only that when the child is born, some blood from his or her umbellical cord would be taken, and they would be part of the stem-cell transplant for Ino. Nothing else. The baby would still be perfectly healthy and lives on.

Sakura looks back at Sasuke, who seemed to be staring into space, standing behind her, holding a box of take-out and a large fruit drink that she asked for after close to one hour of continuous sobbing in the hospital hallways.

He caught her eye and gave her a smile.

She let out some stress that she has been holding inside her. So it doesn't mean that this baby would be harmed. She is still able to give birth to her.

Does this mean Uchiha Sasuke is actually not a cruel man that she thought he was an hour ago? After all, he did make her pregnant. Although the sex was consensual, he did plan all of this all along.

On the drive back, Sakura sipping her drink, was able to comprehend things more logically.

First of all, she cannot leave Uchiha Sasuke. She is nothing without him, and in this country which deeply lacked social welfare, she can't raise a baby on her own. In her mind, she comforted herself for being noble enough to endure the insults thrown at her solely because she needs to have the baby taken care of.

Her thoughts then jumped to when Sasuke said he loved her.

"What does it mean you said that I am able to choose to have an abortion or...?" Sakura asked with difficulty. Suddenly the overly sweet fruit juice isn't as sweet anymore, and all flavor has been lost from the tip of her tastebuds.

Sasuke glanced at her before keeping his eye on the road and kept driving with determination in his eyes. "You have a choice of give birth to the child, and saving Ino; or you can abort the fetus and let her die. You would still end up with a substantial amount of money-enough for you to live the rest of your life satisfied with whatever you want."

It took a couple minute before Sakura laughed aloud in bitterness.

"You are the cruelest person alive, Uchiha Sasuke." She said.

There really was no chioce after all. Despite all the love and hate she held for Ino, would she be able to let her die? She once wanted Ino to cease from existing on this earth so fervently that she thought she was going insane. She love and hated Ino from when she was young, and this feeling never faded away. It multiplied itself when Sasuke got in between, and just when she thought she had won-it turned out she was playing the game with herself. Everyone she thought she was competing with or fighting for has already seen her as a trapped mouse. While she was going around in circles with so much pent up resentment in her chest, she's a chess piece on the board while Ino, Sasuke, and his family are sitting on their chairs and looking at her with mocking sincerety.

The only thing left for her to do then, is to sit back and wait until the due date. She couldn't possibly abort the baby simply to spite Ino. This is not to say that the thought did not cross her mind, but she held onto her stomache and thought that for the first time in her life, she has never wanted anyone with so much pure devotion and love in her heart. By loving the fetus without condition, even Sasuke does not deserve this-the cleanest and softest part of her love.

Step by step, he forced her into this delimma, without her consent.

III.

When the fetus was 16 weeks, Sakura was surfing the internet with boredom. Sasuke hired a butler, a cook and a driver for her. She is able to do whatever she wants and buy whatever she desires. However all she was able to do was read books about the baby, buying the cutest and softest baby clothing and blankets. She thought her baby must be the prettiest, most stylish and comfortable baby alive. When she takes the baby to a nearby park, all other babies must be jealous of her baby, and they will say something along the lines of, "man, I wish I can be as pretty as Sakura's baby." All parents will say, "I wish I make enough money to gave to my baby what Sakura's baby have."

Sakura idly amused herself with the idea that her baby will grow up to be the best and brightest child alive. The next Uzumaki Minato. He or she will do something extraordinary and great. She will make sure that the child is fluent in all aspect of culture, including instruments, painting, sports, literature, arithmatics...

And out of boredom, she went into the Uchiha wikipedia page.

She never really took a good look at their estate and the estimate of their worth. Now she's pregnent, she became quieter and more observant than ever. Her observation of Sasuke's family left her awed.

Then a total shame washed over her.

How dare she mention the word marriage to him.

It is impossible-to the point of laughable of her for even thinking about it. It is not that she does not belive in Cinderella tales, but simply, so much obligation and restraint was put on Uchiha Sasuke, the thought of him is able to make his own decision on his own marriage was ridiculous.

In this culture, personal relations meant more than anything. Thus relations are the foundation of most aspect of people's everyday lives. Business, deals, and the economy are more dependent on relations than anything. Deals and contracts are signed over dinner and drinking parties instead of office meeting rooms. And there are some bonds between famalies and companies require more than simply just paper and signatures. Sasuke, the state of his bachelorhood is a rare phenomenon in this city, and almost everybody is staring at him like hungry sharks at a piece of meat.

And to think Sakura naiively asked, "when can we get married?" As if a simple pregnancy is able to tie him down to her. He is like the sun and she a swaying cloud, who is able to evaporate into steam and rain any minute.

This deep humiliation hit her like a slap on the face. How dare she able to make that request, when she have nothing in the world and he has everything.

From that day on, she never mentioned marriage again.

IV.

August.

When Sasuke arrived home in the middle of the day to check up on Sakura, he found her to be fast asleep on their bed. These few months the child inside her is growing fast, and she need to take a nap every single day. He tip toed in and was hoping to take a look to see if she kicked her blankets off the bed, but she was so deeply asleep that he felt infected by her drowsiness. Abandoning the documents in his study, he changed into his pajamas and lie down beside her.

He lost all sense of tiredness when he watches her, and by purposly leaning in, he is able to feel her breath lightly on his face, her slighly chubby cheeks and soft hair... How long has it passed? It seems like just a fleeting moment before the sun set in the West.

This is the first time Sasuke did anything without purpose in his mind. Something to purely waste time and gave no regard to efficiency. He felt a bit hot in his cheeks for allowing himself to be so silly, and for the first time the feeling he had when he was a boy-of pure excitment and devotion-resurfaced.

He was afriad he'd wake her up, so he leaped out of bed with grace, and walked out the door.

This feeling-the unexplainable and indiscrible feeling of a small kitten gnawing on the tip of his heart. It aches and itches at the same time. He couldn't take it. He couldn't sit still. He wants to jump up and down constantly-and was reminded of his brother. How Itachi acted when he first fell in love, and Sasuke at the time, more logical and reasonable of the two, cool headedly stated that he will never act so ridiculous-

After circling a couple times around the living room, Sasuke put on his serious face and went to the kitchen. He should've taken a look in the mirror, then he'd see how that dumb smile lingering on his face and never faded.

He dismissed the cook, and started observing the kitchen. Normally Sakura organized everything, but even since she became pregnant, she came in here less and less, until she stopped altogether. There's a cork in the sink, plugging all the water from going down the drain, and a live fish swimming among it. He looked at the fish with the most gentle and loving eyes, and then he gutted it with pleasure, thinking he could make fish filet soup for her.

He also prepared chicken soup for Sakura in the slow cooker before he left. It's real chicken from scratch, and after stiring a bit, he continued to let it stew. Chicken soup are particularily good for its nutritional values, also Sakura loves to drink all kinds of soup ever since she got pregnant.

While Sakura was reading books on the baby, he was reading extensively on pregnancy books and nutritious dieting articles. He prepared brown rice, but feared it may be not as soft as while rice, which he cooked twice until they become mushy. He stir fried some veggies together using avocado oil, and made a tiny salad with organic feta and egg slices. After all this, he thought maybe what if she doesn't feel like eating too much meat or veggies?

He then followed the recepe for a pumpkin pudding, and made it in a pretty mold. When the pudding formed it jiggled on the white china plate. She will love it, he is sure.

She's still sleeping, so he prepared two squash boats, by roasting squash inside the oven while filling the squash with egg plant, chorizo, cheese and tomato sauce.

Sakura woke up a while ago because of the delicious smell coming from the kitchen. She couldn't remember where she was at first, because she was dreaming about playing with her adorable baby. Then she slowly rubbed her tummy softly, and lie inside the cover for a while before crawling up and washed her face.

She saw him, in the living room busy arranging the table. In the middle there's a stone pot of whole chicken soup still boiling with little bubbles surfacing. There was also fish filet soup, with the greenest onions decorating on top, a plate of crispy garlic bread, squash boats-her favorite, and stir fried veggies. She looked towards Sasuke, who was coming out of the kichen holding a just finished frozen pumpkin pudding.

She sat down, and Sasuke scooped up a small bowl of soup for her to drink. He read it's better to drink soup before eating the main course, so the mother won't overly stuff herself without realizing she's full.

"Drink." He said, "when you're done, you can eat solid food after finishing this soup.

No arguments from here, the soup is delicious. After hours and hours of slow cooking, all flavors came out of the chicken and exploded in Sakura's taste buds. She stuck her tongue out and sipped it bit by bit.

"Hurry." Sasuke urged lovingly, already arranging her small plate with a tiny portion of rice, veggies, some oven roasted squash, and pieces of fish. Thinking this might not be enough, he pulled on a large drumstick from the soup pot and placed it right in the middle. Sakura didn't even need to fully stretch her arms out to ask for something on the far end of the table before she started wolfing down everything on the plate.

"Slow down-" Sasuke pulled the plate away from her greedy little face.

"You just said I should hurry!" Sakura protested after swallowing a mouthful-which wasn't hard. All food was cooked throughly by Sasuke that they don't require much chewing.

She dares to talk back at him?

He pulled the pudding away from her reach, which result her in looking at him with sad and dewy eyes. He laughed before taking a bite of the pudding and fed it to her by mouth.

Sakura was grinning from ear to ear while ordering him to bring her more food from whichever plate she desires, and Sasuke didn't eat much at all. However he felt full, simply looking at her. All her attention were focused on the pudding and soup, resulting in him observing her with the most loving look-she got rounder. Prettier, softer, more mature. Under the soft lights he could see a transparent thin layer of hair on her bottom cheek and upper lips. She's so young, like a child. How could she bare his child when she's still a baby herself?

When the initial hunger was satisfied, she begin to tell Sasuke all about her plans and purchases for the baby.

"I want yellow socks. I don't know if the baby's going to be a boy or a girl, but yellow cashmare's never wrong. Like a chick. Isn't it cute? Also I'm planning on getting that stroller with cup holder and comes with the diaper bag, I've already bought enough diapers for the first two months-I bought the best one because I heard some diapers gave rashes. I also have power and lotion, I don't want her to have a red butt..."

Sasuke wiped some smudged away from her cheek and thought in sadness that if situations are not what they are at the moment, they could've been so happy. She doesn't have to worry about anything-and leave all organizing and worrying to him. He is able to protect her for the rest of her life. It doesn't matter how tired or pressured he gets, as long as he have her-

"You're all grown, you're free." He whispered to her, "I'm so proud of you."

More than anyone.

When he met her at first, she was spoiled and shallow and selfish. Not that he minded. He was willing to take her in any shape or form, always have and always will.

Now with the baby in her, she's stronger and more assertive than ever. Which he thought was so incredibly cute-even when she's mad at him.

She leaned against him when she finished eating, and he teased her a while by tickling and blowing on her eyelashes. They were pure pink, and they reflected a soft hue under the lazy twilight sun.

He lifted her up and carried her to the bath. After washing her clean, he carried her back to their bed, and couldn't help but continously kissing her forehead and hairline. "Silly girl..."

She shut her eyes tight making small sounds coming from the back of her nose. He chuckled at the back of his throat. A deep and throaty laugh erupted from his chest, and she felt the vibration against her cheeks.

Two months later, in an ordinary day like any other day when he woke to go to work, he came back after a long day of meeting and found his silly little girl gone.

He helped her grow wings, and she really flew away.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A/N: This must be a record for me. Two chapters over a weekend.

Yeah this story turned out longer than expected. Maybe done in a few chapters-3 or 4 more at least. I presume. Don't worry. The ending was all mapped out a long time ago, it'll be a happy one. God knows I haven't been giving Sakura her time of day recently.

Thank you so much for the lovely reviewers. I'm sorry I haven't been updating. I love you guy so much.

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