Author's Note: This is an alternate ending, and there's a reason it's alternate. Some of you might notice now, most of you will notice with the sequel, but the existence of this ending creates plot holes the size of chasms in this story. They are removed by removing a few scenes that are essential for the sequel, but I prefer to leave the story more complete than keeping this ending absolutely consistent.
But I needed to write it, because not every story has a happy ending.
For the few of you who are reading, I apologize for any inconsistencies. I hope you enjoy!
If you find any of your questions were left unanswered, I would appreciate if you left a comment (I might have missed it during revision). I'll reply to you and add an end note with the response, or edit the story to answer that question. A few of the questions, I'll be unable to answer inside the story, due to the fact it's written in Naruto's POV.
Answers to possible questions:
The doctor who saved Gaara and Naruto is dead in this ending.
The Uzushio matter was solved by Naruto. (Any other detail will spoil the sequel, sorry.)
The fight scene was omitted because it also spoils the sequel.
"Wake up, Naruto..." Gaara whispered, tears in her eyes.
He was very hurt. Doctors couldn't heal him, and no one knew what was the seal that kept them from doing it. Not even Kurama was healing him as fast as usual, but at least he was able to keep Naruto alive, and that had to be enough. They were trying hard to find a solution – possibly a counter seal – and as long as he was stable, they could save him. But for her, they were taking too long.
She was dying. She wouldn't see him awake again.
She climbed on his bed with him and held him close, mindful of the bandaged wounds which couldn't be healed. "I wish you were awake. I wish I could say goodbye to you." she whispered, before burying her face on his neck and breathing in his scent.
Her chakra was severely unbalanced. Even being drained to the barest minimum she needed to stay conscious, it was hurting her again. It wouldn't be an issue at any other moment, she could be healed at a faster pace than her body was being degraded.
The problem was, when she had gone into labor, her sand shield had started rejecting everyone's touches. The only one who she could touch – who may be able to touch her too – was Naruto.
But Naruto was hurt. He couldn't even heal himself, let alone her.
She had been in labor for almost two days, and a few minutes ago, she had used a machine to check on her children's heartbeats. The heartbeat of one of her sons was getting too slow. One of her sons was dying... and if he died, all three of them would die.
The twins weren't coming out. The doctors were saying they were locked to each other inside her, and they wouldn't come out without help. But there was nothing anyone could do without touching her. If they died, she would die from infection eventually, caused by their decay. But if she died first, they would be able to cut the babies out, and their chances of survival were still good right now.
So, she had to die first.
"Protect them, Naruto. I'm sure you'll be a great father. I'll be by your side, if I can. I love you." she kissed his neck, then made sure her heart monitor was well connected to her finger.
Then, she pushed into her seal every single drop of her chakra. She sagged against Naruto with exhaustion, and it was hard to hold on to consciousness. She didn't fight against the urge to sleep.
When Naruto woke up, everything hurt. He was glad to be able to hear Kurama's voice inside his mind, faint as it was. Then again, had Kurama been gone, he probably wouldn't have woken up in the first place.
People didn't look happy to see he was alive, though. Oh, they were relieved, but... There was something wrong. Something told him it wasn't only in the fact he had been asleep for five days, and his body was still struggling to heal. Apparently, no doctor had been able to heal him until only that morning, and they were still having trouble even now, even Tsunade. It had to do with one of the seals he had been trapped with.
He had that sense of wrongness for the first twenty minutes following his awakening, but he only got confirmation right then.
"Naruto?" he heard a knock on the door and Sakura's soft voice.
"Come in!" he called, sitting up more comfortably against the bed. Sakura walked in with a small smile on her face, holding a white bundle in her arms. Naruto felt his blood freeze in his veins at the sight. "S-Sakura...?"
"Hey. I came here to introduce you this little person. This is your son, Naruto." she walked up to him, leaning in so he could see the baby's face. Naruto's throat tightened painfully as he reached over, and she gently placed the baby in his arms.
The baby started awake, and beautiful blue eyes stared up at him, much like his own. Naruto gently ran a finger over his head to remove the cotton cap – his hair was bright red, a few touches lighter than Gaara's.
He was beautiful. But a stifling thought made it harder to breath, and his eyes burned. The sense of wrongness he had been feeling... "Where is his brother?" he whispered, looking at Sakura. The tears on her eyes were all the answer he needed. "Why didn't Gaara bring him?" his voice was rough, from the tightening of his throat. Sakura looked away, and his eyes filled with tears. "She just needs to rest?" his voice broke as he asked.
"I'm sorry, Naruto... Naruto!" she held his shoulders to keep him from standing up.
"Are you sure she's dead? I could still try to heal her. I'm all better now!" he told her desperately, but he didn't try to fight her grip too hard, because he had someone very precious inside his arms.
"We could only save him because she died. We did an emergency incision when her shield failed and recovered him. But the labor had already gone on for too long, and her system had been failing for almost as long. We couldn't help his brother."
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and took a shuddering breath. Sakura tried to take his baby away, but he turned away from her hands. "No! No, please, leave him here." he pleaded, his voice breaking.
"Alright. Just, be gentle with him. Newborns are delicate." Sakura asked in a soothing voice.
Naruto tried to blink the tears away from his eyes then took a long look at the baby in his arms. He looked like her... He looked so much like her. His eyes filled with tears again.
Naruto had failed his wife, because he was weak. He had allowed the enemy ninja to catch him in a seal that messed with Kurama's seal, despite all of Gaara's warnings. He hadn't been there for her at the moment she needed him the most. Even if he could have done nothing else, he should at least have held her hand through it. She shouldn't have had to go through a long labor on her own.
"I'm sorry..." he sobbed. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect your mom, little guy. I promise you I'll protect you. Who are you...? Are you Yukio? Or are you Yuraku?" he asked softly, caressing his cheek. He watched him closely, running his eyes over his every little feature. "I'm going to call you Yu-chan for now." he finished with a whisper. He couldn't tell if he was the quieter baby while he was half-asleep.
"Do you want me to bring his bassinet into your room? So he can spend the night with you? He's healthy enough to." Sakura asked softly.
"Yes. Yes I do." his agreement came sounding more like a sob. His friend didn't say anything, she only offered him a teary quirk of her lips, then left the room. "I promise you, Yu-chan. I'll help you become someone your mom will be proud of. I know she's watching over yo..." he trailed off when his hand brushed against something on his baby's neck. Something rough.
Naruto blinked his tears away and ran the back of his hand over his eyes, trying to remove the blur in his vision. He gently shifted his son in order to bare his neck, and he froze when he saw the light brown discoloration. Sand.
Very gently, he ran his nails over the sand, scrapping it away from his baby's skin. Instead of falling away, the sand circled around his finger and covered it, as if it had a life of its own.
Naruto held the baby close to his chest and wept.
He had known she would die when he made himself get attached to her. He had known it would hurt, she had known it too and told him as much herself.
But as he stood in the desert, side by side with Kazekage Temari, watching them burn Gaara's body in a Suna ceremony, he realized that both him and Gaara hadn't known anything. They couldn't have imagined it would hurt this much.
He looked up when he felt someone hold his shoulder. Kankurou was standing grimly by his side. "...Thank you for making Gaara happy in the end, Naruto. Despite what that's costing you now." he said softly, his voice barely audible over the crackling of the fire.
The crackling of the fire that would haunt his nightmares for years to come. Even though he wasn't looking anymore, he couldn't erase the image of Gaara's face, relaxed as if she was asleep, being curtained by the flames. They had positioned her so she was holding Yukio to her breast, so they could both rest together.
Sakura had taken a photo of Yukio, but Naruto had only had the courage to see him during the funeral. The baby had dark rings around his eyes, just like Gaara. Naruto could imagine his eyes were green like hers, but he didn't dare to ask Sakura if that was true. He couldn't bear the possibility that the baby had been born alive, and he had never met him.
His eyes filled with fresh tears when Temari also placed her hand on his shoulder, silently making Kankurou's words her own.
Gaara had been happy in the end. He had made her happy, if only for a few weeks... that was worth any pain, wasn't it?
"It was worth it." he whispered brokenly, his tears sliding down his cheeks and dripping over Yuraku's forehead. The baby squirmed in his lap, but remained asleep – Naruto had put a genjutsu on him to make sure he wouldn't be awake for this. Naruto's nightmares would be enough without adding in more for their son.
"It was really worth it." he repeated, a small smile turning his lips. "Stay happy, Gaara. One day we can laugh together again." he whispered in the wind that cooled his tears.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but he felt the desert sand caress his face. He preferred to think it was her, telling him:
"One day. I'll be watching over you until then."
Years Later
"Yuraku! You're going to be late!" his eyes startled open when he heard his dad call.
"Just a minute, dad!" he cried back, quickly finishing his prayers to his mother, and asking her help to win his forehead protector today. He was only eleven years old, but he had worked hard for this day, and his dad and his teachers had allowed him to write the genin examinations with the graduating class this year. Today was the practical exams, and he really sucked at making clones of himself.
At least with the clones, though, his mom could help him. His teachers couldn't tell apart air clones made with his sand, and that stupid clone genjutsu people were forced to learn.
But he couldn't really control his sand. Only sometimes, but it was really, really hard. Only his mother controlled it easily, whenever she wanted to. Whenever he was attacked, his shield protected him. He always heard people say it was a lot better than his mom's had been once – which was silly, his shield was technically mom's shield.
"Please, help me, mom, I promise I'll work extra hard to make up for that later." he whispered furiously.
He took a match and lit up a new incense. He always kept a incense burning for his mom. He had started doing that when he was four, because he had seen the pretty ornamental lantern that dad always kept on his desk with mom's portrait. Dad made sure the flame was always burning. He had wanted to do the same, but his dad had told him it meant something special for his parents, and taught him to light up incenses instead. Nowadays, this meant something special for himself and his mom, because the ashes from the burnt incenses would always join his sand for a while, as if his mom was thanking him for them. But controlling the ashes was nearly impossible for him.
"Good ninjas aren't late for an appointment!" Naruto called again. Yuraku groaned.
"Uncle Kakashi always is!" he called back, but nonetheless stood from his kneeling position and leaned in to kiss the smiling portrait of his mom on the forehead.
His mom never smiled like in that photo, but she was really beautiful in there. She looked like she had been about to laugh seconds after the camera had caught her picture.
"I'm going, mom!" he turned back to where he had left his gourd. His mother was standing there, with a small smile on her lips – that was the only smile he saw from her, though she was always smiling at him, unless he was in danger. She always looked very serious then, just like in the portraits dad had of her with her Kazekage robes.
He lifted his hand to reach for her, but she came apart into sand, reforming into his gourd already properly strapped to his back. He jumped when this time his father's voice came from right behind him. "Yuraku!"
"I'm ready, I'm ready, sheesh!" he called, his heart pounding in his chest. "Don't scare me like that!" That was why she had dissolved without holding his hand first then. It was just... her. She never took that form where dad could have seen her, nor anyone else really, most times. Also, she never spoke.
She only stood there, and sometimes she would hold him, specially when dad was away on important Hokage business. Yuraku hated sleeping alone in the room – when dad was home, they slept in the same room. Sometimes, when dad forgot, she would light up their candle for him, too.
"You're not going to be a good ninja if you can't feel someone sneaking up on you." His dad told him seriously, but Yuraku could tell he was teasing from the way his eyes were smiling.
"I'm going to defeat you and be Hokage one day, you'll see!" he told him with conviction, then turned away and rushed out of the room.
"Brat!" his father called. Just after he turned the corner, he could hear his father whisper. "You would be proud of him, Gaara."
His sand armor shifted over his forehead, as if it was patting his head.
His mother was proud of him. Yuraku beamed, and whispered. "Love you, mom."
Author's Notes:
Possible Triggers in this Chapter: Complications in Childbirth, Newborn Death, Induced/Unplanned Suicide, Major Character Death, Implied Medical Error with tragic consequences (misdiagnosis of Locked Twins).