Disclaimer: Owning Naruto would make me very rich, wouldn't it? -Displays empty wallet-
A/N: A sort of weird oneshot that had been in my head for a little while. Maybe it's not weird, really, but it's weird to me because I don't usually write stuff like this. When I think SasuSaku, this isn't even the stuff I usually like reading. So bear with me, SasuSaku fans and non-SasuSaku fans, this is just a oneshot I managed to squeeze out in the midst of writer's block.
She's having his baby. She doesn't know how it happened.
Oh, she knows the logistics of it all. How on one of her tracking missions she found him standing there outside the pub, a cloudy afternoon. How they sized each other up for more than a minute. Then how he grabbed her shoulders in a crushing clench, and slammed his mouth to hers, and she gasped for breath, and they were in a tawdry inn, making love.
She only remembers little bits of it. His scent, so different now. His raven hair, sleek and slippery between her fingers. His cold, cold skin, numbingly frigid even as they lay against each other, breathing hard, her face pleading, his devoid of emotion.
And his words as he let himself out of the room: "Thank you". So familiar. So painful. Then the door closed behind him.
She runs these recollections through her fingers now, longing, searching. But try as she might, she cannot find any hint of the biggest thing missing: love.
A month went by before she felt the first unfamiliar twinges. She almost too casually dismissed them as a virus. A second month went by, and the medic in her told he something was different. And the third month came and went, and the woman in her told her the truth.
For the first time she is somewhat relieved her parents passed on in recent years. At least she doesn't have to explain this situation to them. It's hard enough to feel the village's disapproving eyes on her rapidly expanding girth.
She's heard that some of them are suspecting it's Naruto's. That's impossible; there's no relationship more platonic than that between her and her former teammate. There have been other names muttered too: Neji, Lee, even Kakashi. As far as she knows, the majority of the villagers are content to believe she gave into one of the attractive young men who enjoy shadowing her every move. As if. Good-looking idiots.
She wonders what the people of Konoha will say when they see the deep, dark eyes, and the glossy black hair. Aside from the Sharingan and their insignia, the Uchiha clan were known for their ebony locks.
For that matter, the child may not even look like him. She's seen enough of them to know that babies do not always take after their parents. Perhaps this one will be more like her in appearance.
A fleeting smile passes over her face as she visualizes jade orbs melting into crimson.
When their experience was over and he had left her, she lay there for a while longer in the bed they had shared. The cheap sheets felt coarse against her bare skin, and she clung to the faint warmth his body had left beside her. The places where he touched her tingled. They had barely said anything through the entire act, hardly each other's names, even, but his few words still burned her ears. It had been her first time. As far as she knew, it was his too.
She wonders if she'll ever know. She wonders if he'll ever know he's a father. His name floats from between her lips: "Sasuke…."
He made no sound as he detached himself from her side and stepped out from under the covers. She watched him pull on his clothes from where they lay in a heap beside the bed. Finally, when he stood up, she found her voice and murmured to him.
"Where are you going?"
There was no reply for some time. She held her breath. Presently, stare still firmly fixated on the wall, his low, raspy answer came.
"I'm leaving."
Then he turned and their gazes locked for a long moment, immense amounts of unspoken emotion pouring from her eyes as equal amounts of acceptance met them. He ended the gaze short and departed. When he was gone, she cried.
Yet she did not cry when Tsunade told her the test results. Nor has she even when the villagers have imbued her, or her friends have left her out of their happenings. To be a single mother at twenty may not have been in her plans, but she'll accept it with dignity. Like a kunoichi.
Now, lying on her couch in the dim light of a summer evening, she thinks about him. Some might say that in doing this, he took something away from her. To her, what he did was the biggest thing he's ever given her.
Part of her says she should regret it. But no matter how hard she tries, she just can't.
She can feel the being inside her moving and moves her own arm to stroke her stomach. "My baby," she whispers. Then she frowns. "Our baby," she tries again. Neither phrase seems right somehow.
Then she settles back on her pillow. It doesn't matter right now, does it? It's his.
Well, if it didn't kill you to read it, please review.