I got a request from Galaticx Knight. Sorry it took so long, I hope you enjoy
Also don't forget to check out the poll on my profile to decide the next couple pairing for my Sengoku Basara story
And request, I'm on vacation until mid January, tell me what you want now so I get a jump on it
Sasuke hated fighting against Fuma. He was one of the few ninja's that could give him a run for his money. They clashed for almost an hour, most of the time Sasuke was taking the hits. It wasn't long until he found himself ready to collapse.
That wasn't the part that had him annoyed. He and Kotaro were on, off lovers, so to speak. They would meet and well…thinking about it too long caused Sasuke to blush. If it was up to him he and Fuma would be in a steady relationship, but it seemed as if Fuma wasn't ready to settle down.
Anyways, the fight, it had been going on for only a few minutes, when Fuma jumped away, stumbling a bit. Sasuke relaxed his guard as he heard the unmistakable sound of vomiting. That would explain why Fuma seemed a little off today.
"Hey, are you…" before Sasuke could finish asking Fuma disappeared in a puff of feathers.
He decided not to worry himself over it and just report back home. Oddly enough when he got back to camp, Shingen was requesting him to join them in a meeting. The first thing that crossed his mind was that one of his subordinates had caught him sleeping during his guard shift.
That fire was quickly dosed when he saw Hojo Ujimasa kneeling in front of Shingen. Maybe that alliance had finally come to pass. Then Yukimura, who was sitting perpendicular to Shingen, gave him a scared look.
This couldn't be good.
He bowed regardless trying to figure out what he could have possibly done. Maybe this was about how many times he'd fought Fuma. The two were all but equally matched when Fuma didn't feel like trying. On more than one occasion Sasuke had landed a good blow on him.
"Saratobi Sasuke, of the Takada Sanada Ninja Corp." he formally introduced himself, knelling on one knee.
"Sasuke, do you know what this is about?" Shingen asked.
What was he a child, he thought. Instead he said, "No commander."
"It seems you are the cause of a certain illness of Hojo's top ninja."
Was Shingen trying not to laugh?
"It's not funny," Ujimasa protested, "If we don't deal with this the right way Kotaro could die!"
"What's wrong with Kotaro," and Sasuke cursed the amount of concern in his voice. Everyone else in the room picked up on it and gave him a curious look.
"So what you told me may be true," Shingen shook his head.
"Fuma told me this himself," Ujimasa explained, "He wouldn't lie about something like this."
Sasuke had to bit his tongue so he wouldn't ask what was wrong. At this point in time, he was really worried that something might have happened to Fuma. It might have been stress from fighting when sick. Kotaro did throw up in the middle of everything.
He looked to Yukimura to see if he would tell him anything. The young warrior just blushed and looked back down.
"What are we going to do," Shingen sighed, "What do you need from us."
"Hojo's medicine isn't as advanced as yours is. We were hoping that you could send someone to look after him while he goes through this."
"Sasuke, this is your fault, so you'll be going along with some of the medics."
"What's my fault?" Sasuke asked. He knew he was speaking out of turn but he couldn't help it.
"Kotaro Fuma is pregnant," Yukimura said in a low voice.
Sasuke paled at the news. Shingen threw his head back and laughed.
"It's not funny," Ujimasa demanded, "His body isn't meant for something like this. He could die."
"It's not that," Shingen whipped tears from his eyes, "It's just, the great legendary ninja, the strongest warrior in all of Hojo, was topped by a Takada ninja."
"We both know that strength has nothing to do with it," Ujimasa fumed.
"No we don't" Shingen shook his head before looking at the confused ninja, "Sasuke how did that work?"
"I'm going to go pack," Sasuke pulled himself out of his daze. Part of him wanted to think this was a cruel joke, but from the way Ujimasa was acting, he had a feeling it wasn't.
He packed lightly, like he would for any trip. Yukimura popped in about half way through.
"You'll come back right?" Yukimura asked.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, that is your kid. Wouldn't you want to raise it?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Sasuke pat the teen on the head. There were times when he forgot that he raised Yukimura. He had become his care taker when he was a teenage and Yukimura still a child. He tried to treat him more like a brother, but it didn't really work.
Yukimura attached himself to him, and on more than one occasion accidently called Sasuke, dad. Right now he was probably stressing from knowing Sasuke might take on a child. This time it would be one of his own flesh and blood.
"Don't worry about it. In cases like these the child is to be raised in its father's land. Fuma the one that is pregnant, therefore I'm the father. After the child reaches a certain age, he would have to live with me."
"Is Fuma going to be okay with that?"
"He has to. It's the oath he took as a ninja. Besides, I don't see him as the nurturing type."
Yukimura nodded, "Good luck. Have a safe trip, and come back safely."
~.~.~.~.~
The moment Sasuke got to Fuma's quarters in the Hojo castle he was greeted by multiple flying daggers aimed at every crucial part of his body. It was to be expected. Fuma, though only in the first trimester, wasn't allowed to go about his normal duties which he loved so much.
"Nice to see you to see you too," Sasuke said sarcastically.
Fuma glared at him. Sure he couldn't see his eyes because of his hair, but they had been around each other enough for him to be able to tell of the way Fuma's mouth and nose moved.
"Don't blame this on me," Sasuke defended know what Fuma was thinking, but wasn't going to say in front of Ujimasa. "You were a participating party in this as well."
Fuma rolled to face the wall on his futon.
"He's just upset," Ujimasa reassured him, "Give him time to calm down and I'm sure you'll be back on good terms." With that being said, the leader of the Hojo left them alone.
Sasuke sat down on the futon next to Fuma not saying anything. It wasn't long until Fuma turned to face him, resting his head on Sasuke's thigh. Worry was radiating off of him, but Sasuke didn't say anything. Kotaro would "voice" his concerns when he was ready.
"Have you eaten today," Sasuke asked, getting a nod in response. "I'm going to be with you the whole way through this, so don't worry. I brought some of the best doctors from Takada with me as well."
Fuma let out a sigh, visibly relaxing.
The next few months were hectic. A mood swinging ninja is not something that anyone wants to deal with. While he didn't talk, he would let out a growl to let the others know when he didn't want to be bothered. Not many of the servants listened to that. For the longest time they would come out with some sort of wound until they finally just put Sasuke in charge of all of his care.
By now Fuma was starting to show. There was a small bump protruded from his abdomen area. Sasuke pretended not to notice.
They were currently sitting in the garden. It was one of the few things that Sasuke enjoyed doing with Fuma since he got here. The other man had reframed from any sort of contact with him, besides what happened on the first day.
It was aggravating. He wanted to talk to Fuma about this. They were having a child together. There was a lot to be discussed. He tried starting a conversation, but Fuma would never say anything back. Come to think of it the only time Sasuke could recall hearing Fuma's voice was in the trawl of passion.
Right now, Fuma was preoccupied with a bird. The small creatures seemed to flock towards him at all hours of the day. Sasuke had tried to start up a conversation on multiple occasions. Each time his efforts were ignored.
"We should start thinking of names." Sasuke said, "I may seem like we have time now, but you know how easy it is to forget that some things coming."
Fuma seemed to sulk at this.
"Come on, we need a boy name and a…" He stopped talking when Fuma walked away from him. He growled a bit in frustration before following him.
The other servants watched them, with blatant pity in their eyes. No one in the castle ever had to deal with Fuma because of how self-sufficient he was. They didn't know of his temper and childlike tendency.
Ujmasa on the other hand found it amusing. He would laugh when he saw Sasuke struggling to get through to the other man.
~.~.~.~.~
It was getting closer and closer to when the baby was going to be do. The medics were working long hours to find the safest way to deliver it.
Sasuke was excited. It was coming off of him in waves. He never left Fuma side, now that the other man was stuck on bed rest. No one knew what kind of complications a male birth could have.
"You sure you don't want to talk about names." No response came. "Come on, the baby is going to be here soon and your acting as if you don't care. We're both going to be parents of this thing so we should start acting more like partners!"
Fume just looked at him.
"Do you not want to do this with me? Am I just some sort of fuck buddy to you?"
"No," Kotaro said, "I'm just not ready for something like this. Do you know what it means for me to have a kid as the head of the Fuma clan? I'm not going to be able to keep the child. It'll be taken from me and raised by someone else in the Hojo to become an assassin. I doesn't matter what we name it because they'll change it."
Sasuke blinked. He had no idea that Fuma was stressed about this.
"You could have just told me that. By ninja law that baby will have to be raised by his father once he's been weaned off its mother. I could take him to Takada and raise him there. You're in the village almost every day to begin with."
"It will probably be better if he didn't know who I was. There are too many risks to it. The fact that so many people know that I'm expecting is dangerous in itself."
"Are you sure you want me to raise it."
"Takada is a good country. Besides, Shingen will be more than willing knowing that it will be the descendant of the Fuma clan."
"Kotaro…"
This was literally the only conversation that they had ever had. He also had a feeling it was the last.
~.~.~.~.~
Sarutobi Taiki was brought into the world a few weeks later. He was a strong healthy baby who was able to be taken from his "mother" after a few weeks.
As far as Taiki was concerned, his mother had left him when he was very young. His dad never talked about her.
His dad was a ninja, a good one at that.
Taiki had no desire to be a ninja, regardless of who his father was. He loved to read and really wanted to write a book like his uncle Yukimura had.
He knew that he was safe in Takada. Not because of the Tiger of Kai, but because of the legendary ninja Fuma Kotaro who watched over the village at night. Taiki had seen him more than a few times when he was outside watching the stars.
It was funny; the ninja had the same red hair as him. He knew this from when he climbed onto the roof with a plate of rice balls as a thank you for protecting the village. It became a habit of sitting with the ninja from time to time.
Fin
Little side note, the part about Yukimura being and author is from a part in history when Yukimura wrote about the siege of Oda. In it he was accompanied by the fictional character Sarutobi Sasuke.
It the reason they have Sasuke in the series