Tests of Heart

🌸Chapter 11: Celebration

Nagato sent off yet another gift for Sakura and the baby. He knew she was almost at the end of her pregnancy and her birthday was coming up. He had steadily been showering her with gifts since Kisame told him about the incident at the oasis. He wanted to do so before as well but wasn't sure if she'd accept them. With her acceptance of Kisame again, he had hoped she'd accept him back into their lives once the baby was born.

It was all he could hope for as what he did was unforgivable to himself. At the time of the order, he didn't know Sakura or know how much she would mean to him. He didn't know that with just an order, he would hurt the one person he never wanted to hurt in his life and ruin his future.

"You just need to give her time," Yahiko had said to him one day.

"But I killed her parents because of a war that could have been avoided," Nagato answered back sulkily.

Yahiko had smiled gently at him that day and hugged him before saying, "You did what you did while in a terrible mindset that was misunderstood as peace. You were, in a way, sick."

Nagato had looked at his friend in surprise and he saw himself in a different light. No more was the depression looming over him, but a light feeling had taken over.

"It's still your fault as you made the call," Yahiko said to clarify his view, "but you also weren't in the right mind set that you are now."

Nagato nodded as he smiled now. He understood, in that moment, that hopefully, he just needed to wait for time to heal them.

The redhead shook the memory from his head as he smiled. He knew he was still at fault for their deaths, but he could at least make it right with their granddaughter and their daughter, his daughter and his one love.

Sakura is finally in the last trimester of her pregnancy, and she couldn't be any happier. It was also only a few days until her 23rd birthday, so that added to her happiness. She had been receiving gifts since the beginning of the week in the mail from the Akatsuki and the sand siblings. She also kept getting a steady stream of letters and gifts from Nagato since the oasis incident, gifts for her and for the baby as well.

As she received the gifts, she originally wanted to throw them out. Her curiosity got the better of her though. With each gift, her icy heart cracked a little.

The very first gift was a photo album of her time in the Akatsuki. There were pictures of her laughing with everyone, pranks she did with other members, pictures of her after missions, and pictures taken of her secretly by who she could only guess was Nagato. The second was a re-gift of the plushie Nagato got her for the first festival they attended as a couple. It was a little red monkey with purple eyes. The third was a framed photo of everyone at the hospital, her and Momoko at the forefront with the nurses and other staff gathered around, all in a group hug and laughing.

Before she knew it, Sakura had tears in her eyes as she went through and looked at all the gifts Nagato had sent. He even sent things like gender neutral baby clothes since he didn't know the gender of the baby.

Finally, she couldn't do it anymore and she grabbed a pen and paper and wrote.

About a week later Nagato received the letter. It had no return address, only his name, but he'd recognize that writing anywhere. He opened the letter quickly and tears started to run down his face as he ran out of the room and to the other Akatsuki members for a celebration. On the letter were just three simple words.

It's a girl.