See the Light

It could happen any day…any time…any moment. Sakura was in the ninth month of her pregnancy and it was the first week of May. Sakura had pretty well healed up from her encounter with a very psychotic Ino. Sasuke had been watching her pretty closely not only because it was obvious that Ino couldn’t control her jealousy and but also because Sakura was about to pop. He was asking her how she felt every 20 minutes of every day. Some people may find it annoying, but Sakura was thankful he was so concerned for her. They had everything they needed in place for their baby. Sakura’s suitcase was packed and setting beside the door, she would need to take some extra clothes to the hospital even though she would be condemned to one of those miserable little gowns.

Her due date was May 20…the current date was May 3. Sakura had felt tired all day and even though it was early in the evening, she decided to go to bed. Sakura quickly fell asleep and Sasuke had joined her later in the evening but she was sleeping so soundly that she didn’t hear him come to bed. The evening was peaceful until 2:31 in the morning. Sakura awoke suddenly with horrible pains shooting through her. She sat up in bed and wailed. Sasuke awoke quickly. He grabbed her shoulders after realizing Sakura was screeching in pain.

“Sakura! Sakura! What’s wrong?” Sasuke asked her. But she didn’t answer…she didn’t have to. Sasuke felt something wet creeping underneath him. “Sakura…your water broke…we don’t have much time.” Sasuke hurried out of bed and got dressed in whatever was lying on the floor. Sakura clumsily and hurriedly got up. They didn’t have much time, once the water had broken (which it had) things would happen quickly. Sakura wobbled down the stairs and out the door they went. The journey to the hospital was a long and painful one and it felt like it took hours to get there.

Once inside it was obvious Sakura was officially in pre-mature labor. She was rushed immediately into delivery with Sasuke trailing behind her. Things happened fast…almost too fast. One of the nurses took the liberty of calling Sakura’s mother and telling her that her daughter had gone into labor. Sakura was a little panicked as she lay on the hospital bed in delivery. Sasuke, Hokage, the doctor and his nurse were the ones in the room with her.

“Sakura, we need you to relax. Lay back and breathe for us.” The doctor said. Sasuke had his hands around Sakura’s head. The doctor checked to see how much she was dilated…5 centimeters. She was dilating quickly. She had already had contractions and she didn’t know it. That’s what the horrible pains shooting through her were. Sakura tried to relax. It was only a matter of time before she and Sasuke would officially be…parents…mother and father. Only nearly a year ago Sasuke had appeared on her door soaking wet begging for her forgiveness. Now, here she was about to give birth to his child. Sakura started to relax a little she was feeling comfortable with Sasuke by her side and the fact that the doctor had things under control. Sakura smiled at Sasuke.

“You’ll be able to see our son before I will; cause you know…you’ll be down there and I’ll be up here.” Sakura said. Sasuke laughed.

“I will see him first won’t I? Ichiro…Uchiha Ichiro. He’s been inside of you for not quite nine months and yet I’ll be the first face he sees, it hardly seems fair.” Sasuke said. Sakura just smiled at him and squeezed his hand. Hokage slowly and nonchalantly rolled a chair near Sakura. She smiled at her.

“We’re going to find out just how many dominant genes this baby got.” She said.

“Hokage sama, why is the labor premature?” Sakura asked.

“Most likely, it’s his bloodline. The baby is probably fully developed and it’s just ready to be born. Babies of advanced bloodlines are sometimes born early. Besides, Sasuke was born early…it’s in his record…so was his brother.” Hokage Tsunade said. “Of course, remember Sakura….you may give birth to a preemie without any bloodline at all.” Sakura bit her lower lip. In her heart she wanted the baby to have the advanced Uchiha blood.

“Sakura, 7 centimeters.” The doctor said checking her once more. They had been at the hospital for 45 minutes. Sakura’s mother had arrived and she was waiting in the waiting room, of course Sakura didn’t know of his. The clock kept ticking and Sakura’s painful contractions continued faster. By 8 centimeters tears were in her eyes. She figured things would only get worse but she would endure…after all she was a ninja and she was a woman. Ten minutes later it was time to begin pushing…

“Okay, Sakura listen to me, I want you to take a deep breath and I want you to push hard.” The doctor instructed her. Sakura had a hold of Sasuke with one hand and Hokage with the other. Sakura pushed hard. She gritted her teeth as pain tore through her lower body. She stopped and wheezed for air, falling back on Sasuke’s arm that was behind her back. She took a few breaths and then the doctor instructed her to push even harder. She let out a painful moan as she pushed with all her might. She had a miserable look on her face and then she fell backwards again.

“Sasuke…I can’t do this. I can’t push hard enough.” Sakura said weakly with tears in her eyes.

“Sakura, of course you can do this. Come on Sakura…I’m right here. I’m going to hold your foot so you can press against me and so I can see our baby.” Sasuke kissed her already sweaty forehead. Sakura shook her head yes and Sasuke moved to the opposite end of the hospital bed. He held her foot in his hand while a nurse held the other one. The doctor instructed Sakura to push again. She breathed quickly, squeezed her eyes tightly and pushed with all her might.

“Keep going, keep going, keep going!’ The doctor encouraged. It actually hurt Sasuke’s wrists to feel how hard she was pushing against him. Sakura let out a long deep painful grunt and kept pushing. However what was happening between her legs was truly a miracle. Sasuke couldn’t believe his eyes.

“We have a head…shoulders….push….and…it’s a boy…relax Sakura it’s over.” Sakura relaxed back on the bed in tears of joy and pain at the same time. The doctor held their bloody, crying child and immediately placed him in an infant scale. “5 pounds 11 ounces, he’s small but he appears healthy.” The doctor announced. Sakura tried to sit up to see her baby boy but she was too weak, instead the doctor handed him to Sasuke and Sauske took him to the head of the bed where Sasuke could see the bloody boy. She laughed, she wanted to hold him…even though he was a mess so the doctor let her. However, the doctor took the baby away quickly so he could clean him up and so Sasuke could cut the umbilical cord from their child.

Once all the action in the delivery room was complete Sakura and Sasuke awaited the arrival of their clean child in a hospital room. They didn’t have to wait long, a nurse appeared with him.

“Well, what’s his name?” The nurse asked smiling handing the sleeping boy over to Sakura.

“Uchiha Ichiro.” Sakura answered. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Even though Sakura was sore from all the laboring, she was delighted to be holding her child. She and Sasuke looked at his tiny fingers.

“Look at him.” She whispered. “He most definitely got your hair.” She said. It was true…baby Uchiha Ichiro had lots of coal black hair and for the time being his skin appeared a little lighter than Sakura’s….these were both god signs. Sakura’s mother had quietly slipped in the door to see her grandchild. Sasuke and Sakura would have many visitors throughout the day. Hokage came into the room shortly after Sakura’s mother had arrived.

“Okay, we have to go over some things.” Tsunade said to both Sakura and Sasuke. “The baby has been affected by the cursed seal. It’s nothing major, but because the seal became a part of Sasuke’s biological makeup, the baby could eventually activate the seal within itself without physically having the seal on him, do you understand?” Tsunade asked.

“Yes, but what does it mean?” Sasuke asked.

“He may have to have a seal jutsu performed on him in the event he can activate it, and that’s something we don’t know right now. I am pleased to admit that the Uchiha genes are very dominant in this child, but we can’t determine what we want to know at this point because he is too young. We’ll have to wait at least 5 years.” Sakura and Sasuke shook their heads in agreement.

“You should be pleased, he’s healthy and his lungs are well developed so it can be determined that he was pre-mature because the Uchiha genes forced it.” Tsunade reassured them. Sakura was still nervous that their son may not possess the all powerful sharingan and if he did…would the recessive traits allow him to activate it someday? Sakura handed little Ichiro over to Sasuke for him to hold her and to take him to his grandmother. They had to prepare for many visitors throughout the day.

“Oh, Sakura…Sasuke…I should tell you. The baby has…black eyes.” Tsunade smiled and left them to devote themselves to the new Uchiha heir: Uchiha Ichiro.