The Meaning of Family

zabani-chan

Disclaimer: i do not own naruto. i wish i did, though, because then itachi and naruto would be together and sasuke would be jealous. This may or may not be a two-or-three shot. i am not sure yet.

THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 387-403, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THOSE, READ THEM BEFORE READING THIS!!!!

Also, there is a link in my profile that leads to the outline of the Akatsuki Headquarters (of this story).

Chapter 1

"You finally reveal yourself." Itachi said, keeping his eye on Orochimaru, though he could still sense a very familiar chakra watching over him from afar.

'Stay there, koi. Don't appear. You might die.' and that was one thing he didn't want. His love dying.

He half listened to the sannins rambling, but cut him off mid-word by letting Susanoo pierce him with Totsuka. The sealing was quick, and soon Itachi was looking at a kneeling Sasuke who was pale, sweating, trembling, and chakra-less. But also curse seal free. Itachi sighed, relaxing completely and letting Susanoo disappear. His brother was no danger to him like this. He leaned back against a broken wall and stared at Sasuke, who was glaring at him.

"I think...it's time I drop this charade and tell you the truth."

Sasuke blinked, confusion and anger fighting for domination inside him.

"What are you talking about? What charade?" he demanded. Itachi blinked slowly, feeling the pain in his chest getting worse by the second. He opened his mouth to answer, but hacking coughing had him doubling over, one hand clutching his stomach and the other over his mouth.

Sasuke watched with horror as his brother suddenly doubled over, coughing horribly. His eyes widened as he spotted blood leaking between his fingers, down his arm and pooling at his feet.

"Ita..."

Itachi's chuckling interrupted him.

"Nothing for you worry about. I'm merely dying slowly from the inside out from a rare disease."

Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. They hadn't been fighting on even ground and still Itachi had beat him! How?! He shook those thoughts from his head as he suddenly remembered their conversation.

"Answer me! What charade?!"

Itachi straightened, not bothering to wipe the blood from his chin. He leaned heavily against the wall, sliding down it until he was sitting, his arms resting on his bent knees.

"It's simple. Haven't you ever stopped to wonder how a thirteen year old could destroy Konoha's strongest shinobi clan in one night without being caught?"

At Sasuke's silence, he chuckled.

"Apparently no t. It's not possible for anyone to do that. While I may have killed most of them, I had help. It was my team's mission as an ANBU to destroy our clan because they had been planning to overthrow the Hokage and take over Konoha to satisfy their need for power. I had been acting as double-agent. I attended meetings the clan held every week , reported to Danzo with Shisui, and informed the Hokage in the guise of a mission briefing." he paused, feeling more blood making itself known. He coughed again, feelings the blood making fresh trails down his chin from his mouth. Sasuke was silent, taking everything in. He couldn't believe it. Itachi had to be lying!

"You can choose to believe me or not, but I can assure you it is the truth. If you're still unsure, search through father's office, you'll find plenty if documents detailing everything. You can even have the present Hokage give you Sandaime's scrolls on it, written reports from me and..."

The sound of footsteps stopped Itachi from continuing as they both jumped looked at the source. Itachi quickly jumped to his feet, darting to Sasuke's side to block the rain of kunai aimed at him. Sasuke glared.

"I don't need your help! I could have...!" he stopped as he felt a gathering of chakra next to him.. His eyes widened as he struggled to his feet, but an arm around his waist hauled him off ground and he was clutched to his brother's chest, feeling it twitch spasmodically from whatever jutsu had been used. He hit the ground with Itachi on top of him, and he stared at the plant like man standing over them. He felt Itachi twitch before struggling to his knees, feeling enviousthat his brother could keep getting up no matter the damage dealt to him while he was practically numb from going over his limits.

"What are you doing, Zetsu?" Itachi asked.

"Following orders. Should you fail to kill your brother, you die in his stead by either him or me." his voice was distorted, like it was two people trying to talk at once. He struggled to sit up, and managed to get to his elbow before seeing Zetsu charging up another jutsu. He watched Itachi struggle to keep his balance to protect him, as much as he loathed relying on his 'enemy' at the moment. They were both weakened, and could do nothing but watch as the giant fireball headed their way.

Sasuke was no fool. He knew that it could kill them if it hit head-on. He knew it that the two of them would be dead. But fate was cruel like that. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Itachi unconscious in his old teammates arms. The second thing he noticed was that the arm not holding his brother was embedded through Zetsu's chest. He stared, not believing that Naruto could kill and think nothing of it as he removed his arm and let the body drop to the ground without a second glance. Naruto's attention was now focused on Itachi as he gently lowered himself to his knees.

"Oi. Wake up, you can't sleep forever." he said, gently slapping Itachi's cheeks. Sasuke slowly made his way over , hoping that Itachi wasn't dead. They still had things to discuss. A few more slaps, the last two slightly harder, and Itachi emitted a tiny groan, his head turning slightly so that his face was partially hidden in Naruto's chest. Naruto sighed while Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Come on. Get up. Now is not the time to be your normally heavy-sleeper self." Naruto chastised, shaking him. Itachi cracked an eye open before smirking gently, raising a trembling arm slowly to the back of Naruto's neck and running his fingers through the soft blond hair there.

"Why can't I rest? I'm more tired then usual." Itachi muttered.

"I you need to take this first, then you can sleep all you want." Naruto said, holding up a small red pill that seemed to glow eerily. Itachi eyed it with distrust, and Sasuke couldn't blame him. It gave him the creeps just by looking at it, he couldn't imagine have to take it.

"What is it?" Itachi asked, holding it between his thumb and forefinger.

"It's medicine me and Kyuubi created to completely cure you of your disease." Itachi and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"So that red glow is..." Itachi trailed off.

"Kyuubi's own chakra. With that, plus all the herbs he had me hunt down, it's healing powers are the most potent thing on earth."

When Itachi continued to stare at it with even more doubt, Naruto sighed.

"Look, either take it of your own volition or I force it down your throat."

Itachi grimaced before quickly tossing the pill in his mouth and swallowing. The effects were immediate. A red glow covered Itachi's body and his eyes widened before closing, body going limp. Sasuke panicked.

"You didn't kill him, did you?!"

He flinched when Naruto glared at him.

"Why would I kill the person I love? He's merely in a deep sleep, like a temporary coma, while the herbs and Kyuubi kill off the disease."

Sasuke stared at him in shock. Naruto was in love with Itachi?! And Itachi had to have some kind of feelings for Naruto, to let him hold him like this and trust him enough to take that weird pill. But...how could Naruto be in love with someone who tried to kill him? Multiple times?!

"Oi! Naruto!"

Naruto and Sasuke looked to Naruto's, and Sasuke nearly panicked at seeing the whole Akatsuki walking towards them. He glanced at Naruto to see how he was dealingwith seeing them, but he was smiling softly. As they got closer and stood behind Naruto, Sasuke noticed that Kisame motioned towards the bundle of cloth in arms and Naruto shook his head. Kisame nodded and instead looked at Itachi. Before he could speak, though, team Kakashi and team Gai came running towards them. They stopped a few feet away, eyeing Sasuke and the Akatsuki for a moment before looking at Naruto and Itachi.

"What's going on, Naruto? Why are you holding Itachi?" Kakashi asked. Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Deidara beat him to it.

"You mean you haven't told them, un?" he asked.

"Told us what?" Sakura asked, glaring at the blonde. Deidara opened his mouth to answer, but Naruto raised his hand, making his close his mouth with a click. Narutolooked at them, face unreadable before he smiled brightly.

"I'm part of the Akatsuki. have been for years now."

Everyone except the Akatsuki gasped.

"How?! You've never been in Konoha all your life!" Kakashi said.

"You're noteven smart enough to keep something like that a secret!" Sakura shouted.

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO UNYOUTHFUL?!" Lee asked.

"Enough with the shouting!" Kisame hissed, "I just put the noisy thing to sleep! So shut up before you wake it back up!"

They looked at him with fury and confusion.

"What are you talking about?!" Sakura yelled, "There's no one here asleep except for Itachi!"

A small cry got the Akatsuki looking at Kisame with dread, while Kisame looked uneasy. Naruto sighed and gently placed Itachi on the ground before holding his arms out. Kisame quickly placed a bundle of cloth in his arms, stepping back a few feet. Naruto moved the cloth around, holding it securely against him, until a small face was seen. It's whimpering stopped almost immediately after seeing Naruto's face, and dark eyes closed as it went back to sleep.

Everyone stared at them, a thousand emotions running through them. Sasuke was in shock. Naruto was an Akatsuki, he was holding a baby, he was in love with Itachi. It was too much to take in at one time.

"How long have you been an Akatsuki?" he asked, catching everyone's attention. Naruto ignored him for a moment, handing the child back to Kisame, who looked nervous about holding it again and handed it to Sasori, who merely grumbled before taking it and holding it against him. Naruto watched them with a small smile before looking at Sasuke, smile disappearing.

"I've been in the Akatsuki since I was seven."

"How is that possible?"

"I left with Itachi the night he left the village. I stayed with him for a bout a week before coming back to become a shinobi."

"That's not possible. I think I'd remember you being missing....." Kakashi trailed off. Naruto smiled again.

"Is it all coming back? Remembering when the old man went crazy trying to find me, sending out every shinobi he could in the hopes of finding me?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah. Genma found you."

Naruto nodded.

"Is everything true, Naruto?" Neji asked softly. Naruto looked at him.

"Yes. It's true."

"Are you happy?"

"Yes."

"Are we still your precious people?"

Naruto smiled gently.

"Yes. You are."

Neji smiled, causing a gasp to issue from his team, who had never seen him smile before.

"If you are happy, and you still consider us precious, then I have no complaints of you being with them." he said, closing his eyes.

"Are you crazy?! He's with the enemy now and your just going to let him go?!" Sakura screeched. Neji looked at her.

"It doesn't matter if he's with the enemy. He's still my friend and he's truly happy. If being with them is what makes him that way, hen I have no right to complain." he stated, not even blinking at her glare.

"Our mission was to kill the Akatsuki and I intend to follow through with it." Sakura said. They were too shocked to stop her when she dared towards Sasori, kunai raised to stab him. Team Gai and Kakashi watched as no one made a move to stop a her, merely watching with detached amusement. Just when her kunai got close, nearly stabbing the bundle in Sasori's arms, a tan hand had grabbed her wrist, holding it tightly. Angry green met furious blue.

Sasuke blinked. He hadn't even seen Naruto move. Neji looked furious as he made his way through the Akatsuki members towards Sakura, lilac eyes flashing angrily. Naruto saw him coming and removed the kunai from her hand, breaking her wrist in the process, causing her to shout in pain. The Akatsuki, except Sasori, immediately plugged their ears, confusing the two Konoha teams and Sasuke. As soon as Neji was close to Sakura and started closing the necessary chakra points, a piercing scream ripped through the air. Everyone immediately covered their ears, hoping to salvage their hearing. Poor Sasori looked ill, and as soon as Naruto took the bundle from him, he covered his ears. Naruto took the cloth away from the child's face and rocked it gently, murmuring in its ear until it stopped screaming. As soon as it was quiet, he glared at Sakura.

"Next time we say not to yell, shout, scream or raise your voice in any way... LISTEN!!!"

They expected the child to start screaming, but seeing the Akatsuki uncovering their ears must mean that it was done, so they slowly uncovered theirs.

"Learn to control yourself, bitch, before you become a sacrifice for Jashin!" Hidanthreatened, raising his scythe in the air at Sakura, who trembled in Neji's grasp as he ignored Hidan and dragged her back to Kakashi, dropped her when they got close.

"Do you have any idea how much earplugs cost?!" Kakuzu demanded, "We're not made of money!"

"Why is there a child with the Akatsuki?!" Tenten asked.

"Because she was born at the base." Pein said. They looked at him, then at the only female in the group, who glared at them darkly.

"I was not the one who gave birth. I am incapable of giving birth." she said.

Tenten and Sakura felt a pang of sympathy for a second before it disappeared.

"If it wasn't you, then who gave birth? As far as I can see, the rest are males." Tenten said. The entire Akatsuki was quiet, looking at each other as if trying to decide whether or not answer that. Naruto sighed, catching everyone's attention.

"I gave birth to her." he said.

"You're male, idiot. You can't give birth." Sasuke said, now standing, though shakily.

"I'm half-demon, moron. So I can give birth." Naruto retorted.

"How are you half-demon?" Sasuke asked. Naruto smirked.

"Me and Kyuubi partially merged. I get 90% of his power, while he uses the other 10% to heal me and keep his form in my mind, so we still communicate. In fact, right now he's calling you an idiot for asking stupid questions." Naruto looked at Kakuzu, "And he's telling you to stop worrying about money so much, because you're going to fall apart at the seams one of these days and he's going to laugh his ass off when you do."

"You tell that damn fox to shut the hell up!" Kakuzu growled. Hidan burst into laughter.

"You really are starting to fall apart at the seams!" he laughed, pulling at a loose string slightly. The small tug, however, caused the rest of it to come out, which in turn caused Kakuzu's arm to fall off. The Konoha teams gasped at the sight and Sasuke merely looked disgusted. Hidan promptly stopped laughing, handing the string to Kakuzu, whose face was over shadowed, and back away slowly a few steps before darting behind Sasori, who stood there looking bored with playing bodyguard.

The Konoha shinobi were confused.

"What should we do, Kakashi? Attack or leave?" Gai asked.

"I have no idea. They don't seem as if they're attacking any time soon."

Tobi looked at them.

"Of course we're not going to attack! That would mean making lots of loud noises that would wake little Asa-chan!" Tobi said cheerfully. (A/N: full name is Asagao - Japanese morning glory) They blanched at the thought of waking the child, their ears were still ringing.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had lifted his head to glare at Hidan, who was behind Sasori, who quickly side-stepped towards Deidara, leaving Hidan on his against his brother.

".......Hidan......." Kakuzu growled, gripping the string tightly and baring his teeth,stalking towards Hidan, who quickly reached for his scythe and raised it in a defensive position in front of him. It didn't stop Kakuzu, who used his other arm to reach over and grab the back of Hidan's cloak and raising him ten feet in the air.

"This isn't fair play! Put me down!" he scream, kicking his feet.

Gai looked at Kakashi.

"Should we grab Sasuke? It was part of our mission to take him back with us should we run across him."

Sasuke glared at them, silently daring them to trying though he knew they could easily take him down with him weak like this.

'Damn you, Itachi! Making me use all my chakra against you!' he tough viciously towards the immobile body of his brother a few feet away. He looked at Naruto, who had his back towards him watching the two weirdo's fight. He looked back at Itachi, eyes widening at seeing Sakura next to him, hands glowing with medical jutsu, though hr could tell by the blood coming from Itachi's mouth she was doing everything but healing.

"Hey!" his sharp shout got everybody' attention, and immediately Naruto was by Itachi's side, child in one arm as he used the other to knock Sakura in Neji's direction, who quickly disabled her. Naruto quickly handed the child to Pein, who grimaced but complied, and placed a hand on Itachi's chest, hand glowing with green chakra. He growled angrily at the amount of damage and called forth Kyuubi, letting him take over to heal the damage. Sasuke quickly recognized the red eyes, and the Konoha nins tensed at the sight of Kyuubi'spresence. He set to work, letting his chakra enter Itachi's body and controlling it to heal any damage. The others watched in wonder as the red chakra healed Itachi's body without causing him damage like it would anyone else.

In moments, Itachi was fully healed and the chakra receded. It was quiet for a minute, and they assumed Kyuubi was retreating, but as soon as murderous red eyes landed on Sakura, that thought was scratched.

"Have you any idea what you almost did?" Kyuubi hissed, his deep voice filled with rage and the killing intent enough to make it hard to breath, the air around them thickeningand causing a full body shiver in everyone.

"Y...yes! I a-almost killed a m-missing n-nin." Sakura answered, stutteringand trembling under the gaze of the red eyes. Kyuubi stood and started towards her, but stopped half-way, eyes narrowing. Everyone watched as his eyes turned purple, then red, purple again, and finally blue. They flickered between red and blue for a few seconds before stayingblue, indicating Naruto was back in control, though the pressure and fury didn't falter. He continued towards Sakura and knelt in front of her, locking eyes with her.

"If you ever do something like that again, I will see to it that you never see the light of day again." he said softly, though everyone could hear the threat and anger in his voice.

Sasuke struggled to breath as he kneeled on the ground, arms shaking with the effort to keep himself up. He stared at Naruto, wondering when he got so strong. Kakashi, Gai, Lee and Tenten were thinking the same as they, too, watched Naruto threaten Sakura, though they also wondered why he was so defensive of Itachi. Neji, though affected, stood behind Sakurato make sure she didn't try and go anywhere, though the way she was shaking, he doubted she was goinganywhere. He was impressed with Naruto'sstrength, but figured that having been in the Akatsuki so long, he was bound to be. He doubted the group tolerated weaklings.

Naruto let the killing intent fade and let everyone catch their breath as he turned to Kakashi.

"Sasuke is comingwith us, and I suggest you take her and leave. Because if she tries one more thing, I will kill her." he said. He smiled at Neji, who smiled back, and headed back to Itachi's side, kneeling and lifting him up in arms before standing. Kisame walked over and lifted Sasuke, wrapping an arm under his stomach and holding him like a bag of rice. The Akatsuki looked at the Konoha nins once more before vanishing. They stared at the spot Naruto once stood before Kakashi turned on Sakura. She looked at him with wide eyes, tears running down her face. He felt no sympathy.

"Next time you do something without permission, I will see to it that you are suspended from any mission hence forth." he said, voice hard. She nodded quickly.

Sasuke sat in a chair in a corner of Itachi's room at the Akatsuki headquarters, watching Naruto sitting in a chair next to his bed, one hand holding the book he was currently reading and the other holding Itachi'shand, thumb rubbing the back of his hand. He hadn't thought that Naruto was the reading type, but he was proven wrong.

"Hey. What are you reading?" he asked, more out of curiosity then anything. Naruto didn't look up as he answered.

"Seals."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Seals were very complex, and it took years for anyone to master them, especially the more complex ones

"Why are you reading about seals?"

Naruto glanced at him.

"Because I'm a seals master. I have to know everything there is to know about seals."

Before Sasuke could reply, the door opened and a black head poked in. Sasuke stared at the child, who couldn't be any older than three.

"Okaasan."

Naruto's head snapped up, eyes darting to the door. Upon seeing the child, Naruto let Itachi's go and set the book down, silently telling the child it was okay. The door opened more and the child ran to Naruto, raising it's arms in a demand to be picked up. Narutopicked it up and placed them in his lap, letting Sasuke get a good look at it. 'It' was a 'she', with raven hair cut to her chin and grey eyes. She wore a dark blue dress with black pants. She wore no shoes seeing as they were inside.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"Is she the one you supposedly gave birth to?"

Naruto nodded, looking at the girl with a tender smile.

"Yes. Her name is Asagao, and she'll be three next month."

"Who's the father?" he asked, feeling a sense of dread wash over him. Narutodidn't answer him, choosing to instead look at Asagao, who was tugging on his shirt to get his attention.

"Yes, Asa-chan?"

"How is tou-san?" she asked. Sasuke's eyes widened almost comically when she pointed at Itachi.

"He should be awake soon. Do you want to lay with him until he wakes up?"

When she nodded, Naruto placed her on the bed next to Itachi and they both watched as she curled up next to him. Naruto looked at Sasuke, blue eyes narrowed.

"What? No complaints?"

Sasuke merely glared darkly at him.

"If you think I'm going to let you kill Itachi, you'd better think again. I finally have my family, and if you take it away from me, you will suffer." Naruto growled. Sasuke took the warning to heart, and merely grunted before crossing his arms. Naruto picked his book up and continued where he left off.

They sat like that for a few hours, the sun settingand forcing Naruto to turn the lights on in order to continue reading. Sasuke vaguely noticed that he was almost done as he started to doze off. It was close to midnight when a groan caught their attention. Naruto dropped his book to the ground and stood from his seat, leaning over Itachito make sure he waking ad not in pain. Sasuke got up and stood at the end of the bed, watching as Itachi slowly opening his eyes. He started to sit p, but an extra weight on his chest stopped him and he looked down. Sasuke was shocked to see Itachi smile at the sleeping girl as he gently picked her up and held her against his chest as he sat up. He looked at Naruto with confusion.

"What happened after I took the pill?" he asked. Naruto smiled.

"You passed out, Akatsuki and the two Konoha teams I was with showed up, Asa-chan was there, blowing out a few eardrums when the pink banshee started screaming said pink banshee tried to kill you, I threatened her, I grabbed you, Kisame grabbed Sasuke, we came back to headquarters, you've been asleep for hours and that's it."

Itachi stared at him, eyes narrowed.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"That was the short version. Do you want the long version?" Narutoasked slyly.

"No." Itachi answered immediately.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, getting the feelings that Naruto's version of long was telling a dramatic tale that took hours.

"Anyway, Sasuke here was afraid I'd killed you wit that pill and freaked out slightly. And Asa-chan was worried, too, so I let her sleep with you." Naruto added, loud at first, but voice lowering towards the end. Itachi smiled at Naruto, reaching over and pulling him down into a one armed hug, nose burying into soft blond hair.

"You were worried, too, weren't you, koi?" he asked. Narutomumbled something and Itachichuckled before letting go and looking at Sasuke.

"You have questions, don't you?"

Sasuke nodded.

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end

hope you enjoyed it. I had this written for a while, but never got around to actually typing it up. and since i still have that hated thing we call writer's block, it will be the last thing you get from me until it goes away.