Chapter 17- The water breaks!

Ino and Sakura sat in a small cafeteria, enjoying their lunches. At least, Ino was enjoying it; Sakura merely stared at her food. Normally, she’d like it, but something was bothering her. Something that was black-haired, black-eyed and way too handsome for his own good. Something still as cold and emotionless as always.
“Aren’t you going to eat those?” Ino asked full-mouthed, pointing to the untouched tomatoes on her friend’s plate. Sakura shook her head.
“You can have them if you want,” she said. “I’m not hungry.”
Ino ate them in record time, as if she was the one pregnant. Sakura silently watched her. When she was finished, Ino said:
“What’s wrong with you, Sakura? You didn’t even call me a pig!”
“Oh,” Sakura said absently, “I don’t know...”
Ino laid her chopsticks down and looked at her friend.
“I figured you’d be extremely happy, now that Sasuke-kun is back!” she said.
Sakura bit her lip and looked at the ground.
“I thought I’d be, too. But Sasuke has hardly spoken to me! He’s with Naruto all the time, or with Kakashi-sensei, or he walks around alone, and he never even looks at me!”
Ino squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry for you. If there’s anything I can do...”
Sakura smiled. “Thanks. I had only hoped he’d be a bit more... I don’t know.” She sighed.
A frown appeared on Ino’s face. “Damn it, you can’t just sit here and wait! He made you pregnant, for heaven’s sake! He should at least show he cared about that!”
At that moment, Sakura froze. She clutched her belly and her eyes grew wide.
“Uh, Sakura?” Ino asked. “What’s the matter?”
“I... I think my water broke.”
Ino gasped. “Really!?”
Sakura nodded, suddenly very pale. “Ino, please,” she whispered. “Could you take me to the hospital?”
The blond girl nodded. “I’ll help you. Come.”
Slowly Sakura got up. Ino supported her, and decided she couldn’t walk. Without a warning, she swept her friend from her feet and took her in her arms. Then she ran out of the café. Sakura held onto her tightly, frowning in pain.

The hospital was only a few streets away, but to Ino it seemed as long as the way to Suna. Finally, they made it into the hall. Shizune saw them coming and quickly took Sakura from Ino.
“Damn it, Sakura,” Ino panted, “You’re heavy!”
Shizune took a quick look at the pink-haired girl and said:
“I’ll bring her to the nursery section. You, please bring Tsunade. Tell her it’s important!”
Ino nodded and hurried towards the Hokage’s office. She knocked fiercely on the door.
“Come in,” she heard, and entered the room.
Tsunade looked up.
“Good morning. What is so important that my door has to be molested?”
“I’m sorry, Hokage-sama, but it’s Sakura! The baby is coming! She’s in the hospital now, with Shizune.”
Tsunade immediately got up from her chair.
“I’ll go there immediately. You get Sasuke.”
Ino nodded. Silently she thought that all that running around couldn’t possibly be any good for her blood pressure, and decided to take Sakura to the hot springs as soon as all this fuss was over.

Half an hour later, Sakura still was panting, her eyes closed, her face contorted with pain.
“Sasuke-kun,” she moaned, “please, bring Sasuke...”
Tsunade brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked at Shizune.
“This is getting complicated. That Yamanaka girl is late, she’d better hurry!”
At that moment Ino burst into the room, followed by Naruto.
“I’m so sorry, Tsunade-sama!” said she. “Sasuke-kun didn’t want to go with me, and Naruto insisted to come and I couldn’t…” She made a helpless gesture.
Tsunade frowned. That damned Uchiha… She didn’t like the boy at all. Betraying the village, trying to kill his own teammates, getting her student pregnant, killing Orochimaru (although formally she had to be happy about that), and now acting as if nothing had happened. If it wasn’t for Sakura…
Naruto stepped towards the bed. Shizune turned to him angrily, the words “no men except for father allowed” on her lips, but she stopped. There were tears in the boy’s eyes.
“Sakura… Oh, that bastard!”
He turned around and ran out of the room, shouting:
“Don’t worry, I’ll get him!”
Sakura opened her eyes. “Tsunade-sama? What’s going on?” she whispered.
Tsunade wiped the sweat off Sakura’s temples and smiled.
“Everything will be fine. The birth is complicated, but you’re doing great.”
“Where’s Sasuke?” Sakura asked. Another cramp made her gasp.
“He’ll be here soon,” Tsunade assured her, but she wasn’t so sure. Naruto had said he’d get him, but what if Sasuke really didn’t care?