Disclaimer: …oh, common sense, why hast thou forsaken us… (Translation: Don't own Naruto.)
Warnings: Possible spoilers (I think there aren't any, but in case I subconsciously added something and forgot), possible cliché plotlines, AU-ish, one original character (Naruto and Sakura's son), sap, angst, cursing, Sasuke-haters beware
A/N: Finally (sort of) back in the Naruto groove, and with my first fic that features a het couple. OOCness is unforgivable (but possible), and may be explained by absence.
Ray of Sunshine
By: Boshoku
The clock on the wall ticked incessantly, as the Hokage uneasily pulled at his collar. Grumbling slightly, he made another futile attempt to do the impending mountain of paperwork before throwing down his pen and sighing, leaning back in his chair until it knocked against the wall.
Stretching his arms and folding them behind his head, clear blue eyes opened once more to the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway towards his office, and he let his chair fall back down to the floor with a thud, folding his arms and attempting to seem presentable.
Knock-knock. "Naruto, can I come in?"
A smile tugged at his mouth. "Do you really have to ask, Sakura-chan?"
The door swung open, to reveal a slightly frazzled-looking Sakura, her green eyes speaking volumes of desperation. In her arms was a strawberry blond toddler, happily sucking on his thumb. She sighed, before voicing her complaints. "I haven't been able to find anyone to baby-sit Aori-kun for tomorrow, and Tsunade-shishou will probably kill me if I miss another day at the hospital."
She set down their son onto the floor to shut the door behind them, and he immediately made a wobbly beeline for his father. Laughing, Naruto picked up his son and set him in his lap, tickling at Aori's chin before turning his attention back to Sakura. "You can't tell me that everyone is busy."
"I just did, Naruto," she groaned, collapsing limply in the chair in front of him. "Sai is doing… something; Tenten's on that recon mission with Neji and Lee; Temari and Shikamaru are both in Sand at the moment; Hinata has to attend the Hyuuga meeting to discuss something, and of course Kiba and Shino are a little antsy about that; not to mention the fact that Ino and Chouji are meeting their new Genin teams tomorrow…"
She turned hopeful eyes upon him as Aori wriggled out of his lap, eager to explore. "Are you sure you couldn't watch him in here, Naruto?"
He smiled. "What, and give 'Baa-chan a chance to bite me for bringing a distraction to work? She already complains enough as it is about the paperwork, that old hypocrite."
Too late, he noticed a tiny hand scrabbling for a loose piece of paper at the bottom of the stack of forms before tugging insistently upon it. "Aori!"
The tower toppled into the one next to it, sending leaflets all over the floor and fluttering into the air. Naruto couldn't resist a triumphant, "Yosh!"
Catching Sakura's suspicious gaze, he smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, limply flopping back into his chair. "I mean, be more careful, Aori…"
The playful look in his sapphire eyes vanished as he pulled his son back into his lap, gently ruffling his hair. "But I was serious about one thing, Sakura-chan. I might be Hokage, and maybe I'm a fool at times, as Jiraiya thought, but there's not that many people we can trust Aori to. After all, Kyuubi still haunts Konoha to this day."
Sakura's eyes softened, before she walked nimbly behind the desk to kiss Naruto lightly on the cheek, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders in a hug. "They can think what they want. We know who you really are, Naruto."
He pressed his cheek against hers. "I know, Sakura-chan. But if there's anyone I would trust our lives and our son's life to, it would be him."
Her eyes widened slightly with surprise, before a strange mixture of sadness and wistfulness filled them. "Sasuke-kun," she breathed. Green eyes suddenly twinkled. "Do you think he would do it?"
He snorted. "The last Uchiha, a babysitter? I don't know, Sakura-chan, but I guess we'll have to find out." Naruto stood up, his son still in his arms.
"Right now?" she asked, stunned.
He gave her a meaningful look. "It's now or never, Sakura-chan."
She seemed caught off guard by the hidden implications, but a fire seemed to burn anew inside her as she too straightened up to follow Naruto out of the office.
"Now, if only you would apply yourself with this kind of passion to paperwork."
Their laughter filled the air before fading away down the staircase.
He wasn't there.
They had gone to check the old Uchiha district, the ANBU station, even the hospital ("In case that bastard went and got himself beaten up," Naruto explained).
So now, they walked back from the lonely walls of the Uchiha residence, slightly crestfallen, though Aori still had enough interest piqued from the venture to keep from being to dragged down by his parents' change in mood.
"He's not out on a mission, right?" Sakura asked, for the third time.
"I'm telling you, I would have known if he had," Naruto groaned in frustration. "Where the heck did he go?"
"Right here."
They both whipped quickly out of instinct, ready to fight, but there he stood.
Uchiha Sasuke, clad in the ANBU uniform and cloak, his mask nowhere to be seen.
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura breathed, but then Aori pulled away slightly from his mother to examine this curious stranger.
He was stoic as ever, his eyes only flickering with slight surprise before they returned to their unreadable state. His hair and eyes were still as dark as they remembered, his face unchanged.
"Hn. You shouldn't have come," he said, his tone carefully neutral, his eyes on the tiny boy who stood near her.
"We – we wanted to ask you ask you a favor," Naruto began, cursing his stumble in words.
"What is it?" His tone, while not unfriendly, was hardly inviting.
"We need a babysitter. For Aori-kun," Sakura clarified, her voice steadier than her confidence felt at that moment.
He raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem immediately dismissing of their plight. Despite not saying a word, he seemed to be asking a question; Why me?
"Because Kakashi-sensei is… well, sensei; Tsunade-shishou's busy, and…" Sakura trailed off slightly, casting Naruto a slightly panicked look. He sighed.
"Well, there's not many people here – that are available tomorrow – who we can trust." He smiled darkly. "I'm still the vessel of the Kyuubi, after all."
Sasuke's face revealed nothing. "That can't be the only reason you came to ask me. Even you, of all people, need a good excuse to see the Uchiha traitor."
They faltered slightly, but Sakura hurriedly regained some of her composure. "Children… don't judge, Sasuke-kun." She took another breath before steeling herself.
"He's ours, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with conviction, struggling to keep her emotions in check as Naruto held her hand tightly within his, her other hand keeping a light but firm grip on Aori's hand.
"I know."
"Ours."
His mouth quirked in apprehension. "I know that – "
"That's not what she meant!" The sentence came as a roar, like water surging through a dam. It left Naruto panting, his eyes tinged with the slightest hint of purple. He closed his eyes for a moment, as he pushed down Kyuubi's own raging temper.
When he opened his eyes again, they were clear. Aori stared wide-eyed at his father, arms wrapped around Sakura's leg like a pillar in a storm.
For his son's benefit, he forced a smile, before turning his glare back on Sasuke. The other man had blinked away his Sharingan as soon as Naruto's attention was back on him.
"He may be mine and Sakura's, but he's also yours."
The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. "I don't see – "
"Da – darn it, Sasuke!" Quickly changing his word of choice when Sakura threw a warning look his way, he barged on. "He's Team Seven's! What was precious to Team Seven has always belonged to us – to us! Aori's no different – sure, he's our son, and I'll sure as hell kick your ass if you let something happen to him – but he's ours. Just like you're ours, and just like we're yours. Family, you know?" He forced a weak laugh.
Sasuke was silent, stiff, but Naruto took it as an opportunity. "He's… precious to us, like you are. It's like we're one big, dysfunctional family. Like Kaka-sensei's the crazy grand-uncle, 'Baa-chan's the psycho grandmother, you know? I didn't know what a family was, except for Iruka-sensei…"
As Naruto trailed off, Sakura seemed to find her passion anew, as she continued on. "Sasuke, we're family now. And we still want to be yours. We're still a team, no matter what. And we know you're here, now." She laughed shortly. "We won't stop bugging you now that we know where you live."
Sasuke's lips moved without sound for a moment, before he finally turned his gaze somewhere to the side and growling out, "Why couldn't you just let me go?"
"Because you were our precious person," Naruto retorted. "What kind of Hokage just lets his precious people go?"
"…I might hurt you again. Or will, rather."
"Then I'll hunt you down, kick your – " Sakura gave up on keeping him from cursing, and moved to cover Aori's ears. " – ass from wherever you went off to clear back to Konoha, and try again, because we'll get it right, eventually."
"And if we don't?"
"We will." Sakura vowed, with green fire burning in her eyes fiercely. "We have to. We keep our promises."
"And that promise… it was a promise of a lifetime." Naruto extended his arm forward in a fist, offering his knuckles to Sasuke. "It'll last from that day until we die."
Sasuke stared back at him levelly. "And if he gets hurt?"
"If he's with you, he won't."
"People near me tend to have significantly shorter life spans." Naruto grinned. Sorry, teme, but this is one argument you won't win.
"We survived you, didn't we? And so will Aori." There was triumph in those blue eyes. "Because you're the most stubborn ass in the village besides me, and you'd die before hurting us like that. Besides, Itachi's dead – you don't have a reason to run away anymore."
"He can't hurt you." Sakura's hand dropped to her sides, clenched into fists. "He can't hurt us."
"I can."
"But you won't." She extended a hand to him, unwavering. "You are not just Uchiha Itachi's little brother. You are Uchiha Sasuke, ANBU of Konoha, of Team Seven."
He seemed to contemplate this for a moment, before stepping forward, impossibly regal in his movement as he raised his fist to meet Naruto's and slowly, hesitantly, taking Sakura's hand.
A devious glance passed from Naruto to Sakura before they pulled him forward, Aori safely attached to Sakura's leg still, and into a tight group hug.
"Idiots," Sasuke muttered into the pink and blond mess that was Naruto and Sakura's hair, but he made no move to extract himself from the hug. "Both of you."
"And so are you," Naruto shot back, holding his teammate close to him, with Sakura's fingers still entwined in his own.
"So we'll be the idiot Team Seven together." Sakura felt her eyes water slightly from laughter and from the sheer warmth of the moment.
"That's nothing to be proud of."
"Shut up. We're trying to make a moment here."
It was a few moments of quiet as the sun dipped lower, painting the sky orange and pink. Still, they remained.
One team once more, almost as they had been all those years. Granted, there were still bubbles to smooth out, and a lot of questions, but… those could wait. Right now, nothing else mattered.
Well, Aori was an exception, of course.
When they finally, reluctantly, pulled away, Aori finally pulled away from Sakura to stare up at Sasuke, only a foot or so away. He saw a tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed man silhouetted against the flaming sky, cloaked in black, with the classic, unmistakable armor of the ANBU squads.
"Sasuke…?" he said carefully, looking to his parents for confirmation. Sakura clapped her hands in delight, and Naruto chuckled, eyes sparkling. Then he, too, grinned.
"Sasuke… kakkoi," Aori said, in a voice full of awe.
Sakura laughed. "I suppose you still have all that charm, for you to be called cool, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke smirked. "Hn. More than that dobe over there, anyways," he said, gesturing.
"Oi, oi, Sasuke, just because things are good again doesn't mean I won't beat you next time."
Aori blinked his wide blue eyes at Sasuke's words. "Otou-san…" he began, before pointing at his father as Sasuke had just done. "Dobe?"
Naruto nearly facefaulted. "SASUKE!"
Sakura's shoulders convulsed as she tried to rein in her giggles. Once she finally had herself under control, she scooped up Aori, motioning for Sasuke to come closer.
When he finally did, and Naruto had recovered from the blow to his pride, Sakura carefully handed him over. "Aori, this is Uchiha Sasuke-san. He'll be babysitting for you, all right?"
Aori nodded slowly, looking from Sakura to Naruto before looking at Sasuke again, beaming.
And Sasuke, who had done the same before looking back at Aori, smiled.
"Team Seven, then?" Naruto asked lightly, but his eyes showed that the question was asked in all seriousness.
A pause. "Aa. Team Seven."
The four of them headed back, together.
Konoha, like all villages, assigned their teams by three person cells with a mentor, with the intent of each person working independently, and on occasion, in teams, to benefit their village.
But in Konoha, there was a team that had been taken apart and put back together again like a puzzle, only this time, with a few more pieces, and a few more gaps, some larger than others.
Even as more pieces were added, three – and now four – of those pieces always fit snugly together.
That puzzle was Team Seven.
And those pieces were a whole.
Owari.
Omake: The Real Reason Kakashi Couldn't Baby-sit
Several months earlier
Sakura stared at Aori in disbelief and mounting horror.
"Aori-chan… what did you say?"
"Hentai!" He clapped his hands together, blurbling happily.
"N-Naruto… who did you have baby-sit for Aori-chan yesterday?"
"Ka-Kakashi-sensei…?" He cowered as she rose up to her full height, cracking her knuckles.
"Icha! Icha!"
"NARUTO!"
Naruto promised (under duress) to be more mindful. And it was months before Kakashi got his collection of novels back. When he finally did…
"NOOO!"
…they had all been censored with a gratuitous amount of black stickers, gleefully stamped with Shannaro!
After that, Sakura chose the babysitters.
Glossary:
Aori – gust of wind
Teme – You (with impolite connotations; in English you can't really get this across without tone, so I see why Dattebayo and others sub it as 'bastard')
Dobe – dead-last
Otou-san – father
Kakkoi – cool
Sensei – teacher
Hentai – pervert
Icha Icha – Come-Come Paradise reference – Kakashi's porn manga
A/N: Okay, I loved writing this, but it kind of got off track after awhile, and I feel bad for shunting Sai off to the side -.-;; Plus, it's awfully cliché and all… (sigh)
Reviews? Constructive criticism? I'm all for it. Pointless flames regarding some nonexistent Sakusasu and Sasuke-haters are just that – pointless. So please don't waste your time submitting some.
And if anyone decides to fave this, please note before doing the same to this account – I am usually a yaoi/shonen-ai author. Just a heads-up in case you're one of the ones who tends to favorite the author with the fic.