As promised here is the next chapter, which I stayed up until 3:30am writing so y'all better love it! D I'd like to say think you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter, subscribed and favourited, it really helped me a lot and made me want to post this as soon as I could haha. Also a reviever pointed out that in the last chapter where I'd meant to write 'further and further' I'd put 'father and father'. Thank you tot he person who pointed that out so I could mention it :)

As always I do not own Naruto, only my own twisted imagination.

Enjoy!

Out of all the reactions Sasuke had been expecting this was not one of them. He had been hoping for a smile maybe at least, a flash of the idiotic grin he'd grown to love (or 'become accustomed to' as he put it.) If not a smile then he could accept confusion or questioning, he half expected Naruto to punch him in the face and tell him to 'stop being an asshole and making shit up' but this...

...was definitely not the reaction he'd been hoping for.

"PHAHAHAHAHAHA....oh god Sasuke you make me laugh! Since when did you get a sense of humour!? 'Were having a baby' hahahahaha!"

Sasuke watched as Naruto leant on the sinks and howled with laughter. "Whoa, you had me worried for a second there too! Your face, you looked so serious! Hahaha," He wiped the corner of his eye with a chuckle and then stretched his arms behind his head. "Ah, that's made my day, are you gonna burst in here and crack jokes when I'm at work every day?"

"Naru-"

"I mean geez, that was so unexpected, one minute you're all 'leave me alone bitch!' The next you wanna stick your tongue down my throat and now you're saying stuff like that! Maybe you are pregnant!"

"Na-"

"I mean maths and biology aren't my strong points but last time I checked, dick plus ass doesn't equal baby!" He wiped his eyes again and sighed, grinning widely at Sasuke, who was busy trying to work out how long it would take to drown himself in the toilet basin. "Sasuke?" He said, but the ravens face remained blank. "Sasukeeeee!"

"You know..." Sasuke began monotonously, "Sometimes, I hate you."

"Aww, I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me in about a week! I love you too, even if you do PMS like a bitch."

"NARUTO!"

The blonde flinched and flicked his gaze back to Sasuke to see he was glaring at him very seriously, Sasuke in fact had realised drowning himself meant the baby would be left with Naruto and therefore doomed for all eternity, so he decided to try and knock sense into the idiot. This he did by walking over and smacking his lover in the side of the head as hard as he could.

"OW! FUCK, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" The blonde yelled angrily, sound vibrating off the tiled walls, raising his hands to try and cradle his head but Sasuke grabbed his wrists and yanked him and his continuing protesting out of the bathroom and into the deserted corridor. Maybe if he tried telling him a second time the reaction would be more to his tastes...he just had to say it very slowly and be firm... He rolled his eyes as he realised having a baby would be just like looking after two Naruto's.

"Listen to me!" He spoke, pushing a glaring Naruto up against the beige walls. "We. Are. Having. A. Baby." He spoke slowly, looking at the frown as it formed on his partners face.

Confusion, there we go, result.

"Sasuke...seriously this joke is weird now..." He mumbled, confused by Sasuke's seriousness, he was known to wind him up occasionally but he never went this far.

"It's not a joke Naruto!" He hissed "Haku and Zabuza had a kid and we have to take it in!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped, wondering what on earth had gotten into the man. "What are you...that's...what the-"

Before he could continue his babbling further Sasuke moved his head forward and crushed his lips to Naruto's, hearing a small squeak escape the blonde's mouth. He wasn't even sure why he did it; it had just felt right at that moment. He could still feel his heart pounding from the discussion with Mr Akimichi, his head was dizzy and he was still in the aftershock of his own frenzied decision and he didn't know how to express this to Naruto or in fact express it at all but violently making out with his lover against a wall was certainly helping. All he could think about was how him and Naruto would soon be parents, he smiled into the heated kiss, all he could care about at this moment was the embrace coming from his lover, the child lying in a pram a short way away and the immense swelling of emotion in his chest. He was going to be a father, ten minutes ago the thought of that made him recoil into a dark and cold demeanour, now it was bringing forth emotions he wasn't sure how to react to. He felt proud, excited, nervous, overjoyed? He didn't even know but he was glad he had Naruto to be the one that was going to go through this with him, even if he refused to admit it aloud.

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against the panting blonde's, smiling downwards oddly as he looked at their entangled bodies. There was a small queasy sensation that wouldn't leave his stomach, he didn't not know how to deal with the feelings he was currently going through and it was making him feel strange.

"Sasuke?" Naruto said quietly. "A-are you okay?"

The raven shrugged honestly, a smile flickering on his clammy face. "Naruto...come with me." He whispered, pulling back and taking the confused man's hand.

"I'm working." Naruto said and Sasuke rolled his eyes, smirking.

"Trust me, it can wait." And with that he began dragging the blonde quickly down the corridor, each step thundering up his legs and into his chest, he had not felt like this in a long time.

"Found him?" Karin mused as they emerged into the bright reception area. "I'm guessing you said yes then? Mr Akimichi is still in there waiting for you."

Naruto whined loudly and smacked his palm into his forehead. "Does EVERYBODY know what is going on here but me!?"

"Haven't you even told him?" Karin asked, raising her eyebrows and leaning back in her chair.

"I told him we were having a baby."

"And you haven't explained it or anything?"

"That's not my job." He sniffed.

"Ah Sasuke, so mysterious, you know I love that about you..."

"Hey!" Naruto cut in, practically growling at Karin. Nobody made advances on his man! Sasuke simply cast a sarcastic look over the familiar occurrence and pulled Naruto into the meeting room where Choza Akimichi was sat rocking their future child in her pram gently. At their entrance he looked up warmly and stood to greet Naruto, who now looked even more confused than before.

"Naruto, my name is Mr Akimichi, nice to meet you." He shook the blonde's hand.

"Um, hi?" Naruto replied, looking to Sasuke questioningly, who still wore the strange serious contented expression.

"I take it Sasuke has told you the news?"

Naruto looked up at the large man, cogs slowly creaking in his head. What had started off as a strange joke was now getting more and more serious. He noticed the pram behind them and narrowed his eyes as more and more pieces of the puzzle fit themselves together in his head. Sasuke has said they were having a baby...they were talking to a man formally...Haku and Zabuza had been mentioned...there was a pram...

"Oh my god!" He cried suddenly, clapping a hand to his mouth as he finally realised what was going on. "Adoption!?" He turned to Sasuke frantically, seeing the smirk on his lovers face and choking as he wondered how on earth to reach to the sudden realisation.

"Took you long enough, moron." Sasuke sighed.

"S-Sasuke! Can we at least talk about this?! You can't just spring this on me! I mean...what...w-w-who just...huh?" He flailed, grabbing fistfuls of his hair in exasperation.

"Could you give us a minute?" Sasuke asked Mr Akimichi, ignoring his lovers continuous stuttering, the man nodded and left the room, Sasuke prepared for the onslaught...

"BASTARD!" Naruto shouted as soon as they were alone, smacking Sasuke in the shoulder. "WHAT!"

Smack.

"THE!"

Smack.

"HELL!"

Smack

"Naruto stop it!"

"IS!"

Smack

"GOING!"

Smack.

"NARUTO!"

Smack.

"ON?!"

Both men stopped their fighting as a sudden wailing started up, snapping their heads to the pram with horrified expressions.

"T-t-t-t-there's a baby in the pram!" Naruto hissed, stumbling backwards with his finger pointed accusingly at the source of the noise. Sasuke turned to him with a ludicrous expression and the most sarcastic voice anybody could imagine, rubbing his abused shoulder furiously.

"NO SHIT?! Thanks for clearing that one up! You sir, are a GENIUS! A Nobel prize winner!"

Naruto glared at him, walking over and squaring up to the taller Uchiha. "Well EXCUUUUSE ME if this is all a bit sudden! How would you feel if you just get adoption sprung onto you!?"

"I HAVE!" Sasuke roared in reply, dodging more violent jabs to his torso.

Outside Choza Akimichi was staring worriedly at the door as the noise of the fight flowed freely into the reception area. He looked to Karin for some reassurance, who was reading a magazine as if she didn't have a care in the world. After a moment she sighed and put it down, staring longingly at the door.

"He sounds so sexy, all riled up like that..." She muttered to herself, suddenly noticing Choza's gaze and rising her eyebrows. "Don't worry, they do this sort of thing all the time, it's gonna end as sudden as it began."

As if on cue, both men froze mid fight as another loud squawk signalled the baby's presence for a second time. They looked to each other noticing the tight hold they had on each other's shirts and releasing their grasp, grumbling apologies incoherently. Their attention then focused on the pram, where the crying was still going strong and Sasuke bit his lip guiltily, pondering an approach to this new situation. As he did so, Naruto sailed past him heading straight for the pram and a feeling of panic ran through his pale frame. It wasn't that he didn't trust Naruto, but he was soon to realise that Choza's little speech had made him subconsciously overprotective of the baby stirring a few meters away from them. He held his breath as Naruto reached the pram and leaned over to look inside, wonder etched onto his face. The blonde raised a hand to touch the child's but Sasuke was over in a flash, stood on the other side with such a look of worry it would rival any paranoid mother within a one hundred mile radius.

"What's that look for?" Naruto questioned, oblivious to his partners strong attachment to the infant, muttering an insult when Sasuke struggled to answer, then looking into the pram in unison with the man. An equal feeling of empathy mingling between them as the baby stared upwards with watering eyes. "Wow..." Naruto whispered softly. "It looks just like Haku."

"She, looks just like Haku." Sasuke corrected, face cast downwards in a saddened smile.

"It's a girl?" He looked up to see his partner nodding and staring into the pram longingly. He still wasn't sure exactly what was going on but there was no mistaking this was Haku and Zabuza's child. He raised a hand and brought it to his lovers face, tucking his raven bangs behind his ears, not receiving any attention despite the sudden caring touch. There was also no mistaking Sasuke's determination to look after the baby girl; it was evident in the strong gaze he had cast upon the tiny human being. He hadn't seen Sasuke look at anything or anyone with that much admiration in a long time, especially since the finish of his last manga series. Since then, the house they shared had been taken over by a pressing, impatient loss of hope. Sasuke had lost all sense of day and night and wandered about the house exhaustedly whenever he grew bored of the same work room, in which he now spent most of his hours. Naruto was forever finding the man asleep on sofas, at the kitchen table, in the bath, or curled up under mountains of covers in their bed refusing to move. He tried to help Sasuke as much as he could, he was known for having positive effects on people, bringing them hope, happiness, striking them with realisations in his own little individual way, but Sasuke was a tougher nut to crack. When the raven was undergoing problems he retreated into his own personal bubble, one which would only stretch to barely accommodate Naruto, who would try anything he could to get through to him. When Sasuke had first gotten artists block he had shrugged it off, Naruto had too, as time had gone on and Sasuke became more and more frustrated Naruto had tried to help him, but was always pushed away. He had helped Sasuke in many ways but when it came to his work nobody was allowed to interfere, to allow somebody to help him showed weakness in the raven's stubborn mind. Naruto tried everything, first being gentle and supportive, next, being loud, brash and kicking Sasuke out of bed. He was good at hiding his own frustration and he was persistent, and Sasuke was too, which had led to a stony stalemate between the two men.

"You're really serious about this aren't you?" Naruto spoke quietly, seeing Sasuke nod again as he rocked the pram gently to hush the child's cries. "Talk to me then?" He pressed, impatient with the lack of understanding about the situation. Sasuke looked up at him hopefully, the first time in months Naruto had seen hope in his obsidian eyes.

"You're saying you'll do it?" He whispered.

"I'm saying ill listen." Naruto nodded and Sasuke sighed, pulling two chairs out from the business table for them to sit on.

A few minutes later and Naruto was listening to the steady flow of words coming from Sasuke's mouth, gaining a greater understanding with each. Naruto noted how Sasuke's expression would darken or flash with determination as he explained to Naruto the situation with Haku and Zabuza and how the baby had no family, how they were the best people to take the child on. After a few moments the explanation reached a point where Sasuke was unsure of how to go on, so he stopped abruptly and looked up from the frilly pram to his partner to gauge a reaction. He wasn't ready to explain his feeling brought up by Mr Akimichi, he just had to make Naruto understand, which, when it came to things like this, was something Naruto did better than anybody else.

"Sasuke." Naruto said, looking sadly at the floor. "This is really sudden..."

"Naruto just look at her," Sasuke asked, pleased when Naruto obeyed him and cast his uncertain gaze over the baby. "She's just like you."

"Yeah, but, this is a big deal. I mean...a baby? Are we ready for that yet?" The blonde choked, fear spiralling up within both of them.

"Imagine what kind of person you'd be if Iruka hadn't agreed to take care of you...or if Jiraiya hadn't come back to look after you too."

Naruto looked from the baby, to the floor, and then to Sasuke with a meek smile set on his face.

"That would suck." He muttered finally.

Sasuke tried to hide his triumphant smile by rising from his chair and walking to embrace the blonde, knowing with that statement he'd won. He knew all along Naruto would agree, his rambling had just been nerves, unlike him he wouldn't have thought for a second of leaving the room without agreeing to adoption, but hearing a hint of the agreement out loud seemed to dull any queasy feeling Sasuke had been undergoing. He still had to hear it properly though, before it would stop altogether.

"Naruto, be serious, are you agreeing?" He whispered into coarse blonde hair, feeling Naruto squeeze him tightly before he replied.

"Yes, yeah we'll adopt her, you can stop panicking now." He rolled his eyes, the notion going unseen but not unknown.

"I'm not panicking!" Sasuke snapped quickly, feeling suddenly giddy as he ghosted his lips across the skin of Naruto's neck to his warm mouth, where they were quickly enveloped. He tangled his hands into his lovers blonde hair and kissed him deeply, running his tongue along the inside of Naruto's lips, feeling the man run his hands along his lower back and pulling them impossibly closer. A shudder ran through him as he smiled into the kiss feeling Naruto do the same, a small muffled laugh escaping the blonde's mouth and entering Sasuke's as he held the man passionately. A small breath choked its way out as a gasp as Naruto pushed Sasuke against the table, wheedling his way between the man's legs, letting his hands roam further along the skin underneath the T-shirt and coat he was wearing, slipping the latter from the raven's warm body. Sasuke responded to the advances, arching his hips forwards to push against Naruto's, who moaned into his mouth and ground down on them in return, pushing Sasuke backwards forcibly, so he was half lay on the table top. By this point Sasuke's thermoregulatory system was having a mental breakdown, Naruto's hands felt like fire running across his own heated skin, the room was becoming much too humid and his lovers breath and tongue was hot on his neck burning his skin and driving him wild with a sudden desire filled urge-

"Oh...my...god...I think I've died and gone to heaven..."

At the sound of the voice the two men scrambled apart quickly, Naruto tripping over the chair behind him and landing with a thud on the floor whilst Sasuke looked round with mild confusion, mind still clouded with arousal. He spotted Karin by the door and glared; angry she'd spoiled their moment, though partially glad she'd stopped them going any further in the middle of a public office. Still though, it was embarrassing to be caught in something like that, as proven by Naruto who dragged himself back to his feet with a face the colour of the crimson walls of the room.

Karin's face split into a wide grin as she took in the scene, one hot flustered ravished looking Uchiha sat on the table with his coat tossed to the floor and his T-shirt half up his torso and one red-faced panting Uzumaki staring round the room guiltily. "Jeez, don't stop! I was enjoying that!" She whined as they straightened their clothes and hair embarrassedly.

"How long were you stood there?!" Naruto hissed, avoiding the woman's gaze.

"Long enough Uzumaki, long enough, who'd have known you had that animalistic side to you eh?"

"K-Karin, what do you want?" Sasuke said, coughing into his fist to hide his heavy breathing and partial shame, as he finally realised they'd just been caught frotting on a table, in a meeting room, next to a baby.

"I'm sorry but seeing you all flustered like that has made me too horny to remember."

"Karin!" The mean snapped in unison and she sighed, muttering what sounded like 'you guys are no fun' before telling them Mr Akimichi wanted to know if they were finished 'discussing' things.

"Yeah we're done." Sasuke said, ignoring the suggestive look Karin shot him as she left the room to fetch Choza, an awkward silence forming in her wake.

"Oops…" Naruto muttered and the two glanced at each other before they burst out laughing.

"That's one way of putting it!" Sasuke chuckled as Naruto tried to muffle his laughter with his hands, he couldn't remember the last time Sasuke had laughed so naturally and freely. This was certainly a day for rare occurrences and the Uchiha was not being true to his name, but in fact, as the raven let the laugher flow freely from his mouth, he decided he may just not give a shit.

"Aww look, even she finds it funny." Naruto said and Sasuke turned round quickly, a warm feeling spreading throughout his chest as he noticed the wide gummy smile on the baby girls face. "It's nice to hear you laughing like that." He added and Sasuke smiled, holding out a finger to the infant, who grabbed into it tightly, Naruto did the same so they were both in the feeble death grip the baby looked fairly amused by. Their attention only diverted from the heart warming sight when they heard the door to the room opening, they turned, hands still being held but he child, with genuine smiles on both their faces.

Choza took in the sight, feeling glad these two had been Haku and Zabuza's friends as a thought resounded in his head.

They look like a family already.
---

Sasuke was agitated. He'd always been known to be rational, patient, calculating, but after suffering the most stirring and dramatic morning he felt he'd ever had in his life, his normal stature was slipping considerably.

Mr Akimichi had been sat with the two of them for the past ten minutes, talking them through the adoption process and Sasuke was beginning to feel worried. After the sudden and unforgettable talk this morning he'd left the room wanting nothing more than to take the child home, fit her into his and Naruto's life and protect her with all he had. Now he was under the impression they would not be leaving with her today, though he didn't want to speak up in case he felt stupid, he was not well up on the adoption process. He had been taken in by a friend of his family, Kakashi, when he was seven years old, so technically he himself was adopted, just as Naruto was when Iruka had taken him in as a newborn. He had never spoke to Kakashi about the adoption process however and it was a time he had tried his best to forget all his life, therefore he could not remember it well.

Thankfully Naruto was always blissfully unaware of his own stupidity and therefore had no problem asking the question Sasuke was dying to.

"So…we don't get to take her home tonight?" He narrowed his eyes in a frown.

"No." Choza replied and Sasuke's heart sank, his stomach did a back flip and a deep angry heat set into his veins. "The adoption process is long and can take-"

"We have to take her home." Sasuke interrupted firmly, balling his fists on the table in hot determination, Naruto nodded furiously to emphasise. Choza watched them sadly, he could see their desperation to be with the child, the impatience in their eyes, he partly regretted getting Sasuke as enthusiastic as he had.

"Well, seeing as we have already decided you are the most suitable family, the process will be a lot shorter for you than for most couples. All in all from the initial decision to the free life with the child, the process can take up to two years."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed, leaning forwards dramatically, Sasuke's arms flinched as he felt his fingernails digging into his palms painfully but he remained stony.

"For you two this process will be shorter. You do not have to appear before a court as we have already decided you are suitors, however, there is a period of time that can take up to eight months, where we have to examine your family, medical and financial history. Adoption is for life, this process is to determine whether you are the right people." He explained.

"But you already said we were!" The blonde whined.

"Yes, you two on the outside appear suitable but what if we looked into you medical history and found one of you had cancer and only five weeks left to live, or was susceptible to a dangerous disease or had a history of violent mental disorders in the family? What if one of you were abusive or suffered from fits or was in a financial crisis?"

"You have already examined my family history, you know we are not of any danger to the child." Sasuke said, trying not to show the disappointment in his voice and failing. Naruto naturally noticed it and went to lay his hand on Sasuke's, but the raven jerked away from the touch.

"Yes, I know that but you two are no different from anybody else aside from the fact this decision was brought to you rather than it being of your own choice, therefore you must undergo the same Home Study Assessment every other couple has to go through." Choza argued, sighing at Naruto's saddened face. "I'm sorry, I know the initial excitement disappears quickly once you hear about all this but it has to be done."

"It's not excitement!" Naruto retorted. "This is our friend's baby, we have to look after her! We need her with us!"

"I can see that, but the law is the law." Choza said firmly, bowing his head in apology.

"What if…" Sasuke began and he groaned inwardly, these two were never going to give up on this. "Well, you already said we don't need to go to court didn't you?"

"That is correct."

"What exactly does need to take place before the baby can come home with us?"

"We need to make detailed reports on the family history and present circumstance of everybody in the household, a full medical examination of both partners must take place with our medical advisor, your financial situation will also be looked into and your home."

"Woah…" Naruto groaned, thinking to himself that maybe it would be easier to work out how to get a man pregnant rather than adopt.

Sasuke flexed his fingers thoughtfully, flinching when some tension was released, calculating the information in his head carefully. His voice was dry when he next spoke.

"Why does it take such a long time for those few things to be done?"

"Well Sasuke, there is a lot of time involved finding family documents, exploring family history posting reports and sending letters, filling forms and having meetings, it's not a straightforward thing." Choza explained, surprised when Sasuke looked up with a smirk.

"What if we made it straightforward?"

"Made it-?"

"You're here with us right now, we can write the family history reports now, we can take you to our house, make reports on our finances, we can get confirmation from our doctors we have no life threatening or contagious diseases and book examinations for tomorrow, I'll even ring a private doctor and pay for everything if I have to." Sasuke explained hurriedly, it made sense in his head, why did things make so much sense and then the law had to go and muddle everything up, why was such a simple process so complicated? All he wanted was to take that baby home and love it, why did the government insist on preventing him from doing that for the next eight months?

Choza looked at their hopeful faces and felt a sinking feeling, he did not want to disappoint the men, but he had to tell them the truth. "It's not that simple Sasuke."

"Make it that simple then!" Sasuke yelled, standing and banging his fists on the table, causing all members of the room to flinch, including the baby, who had been asleep un until this point but now awoke with a trademark infant cry.

"Sasuke, your display of aggressiveness I can tell you, is not doing wonders for your reports I have to make." Choza warned, he understood the raven's reason for anger more than anybody, he had caused it with his persuasive speech, but he still had to do his job. Sasuke understood this too and bit his lip, swearing under his breath and turning to hush the crying baby. Naruto watched with slight wonder, he'd never expected Sasuke to be this riled up over adoption. They had never even discussed the matter of adopting before, in fact Haku and Zabuza had been his friends before they were Sasuke's and yet here his partner was trying everything he could to make sure they took that child home with them tonight. He watched as Sasuke cursed again when rocking the pram did not stop the baby's cries and he reached down moving the frilly coverings aside and encircling the infant with his hands to pick it up out of the pram. He brought the child to his chest, where she buried her red face into Sasuke's T-shirt and stopped crying as he patted her on the back gently. Naruto blinked at the scene, seeing the way Sasuke was clutching her as if she were precious to him and a new sense of determination overtook him, finally realising what was so important.

Sasuke had lost his family and this was his one chance to create another, something up until now he had been afraid to do. The one time Naruto had jokingly brought up adoption a few months ago, Sasuke had shrugged off the conversation and left the room, something Sasuke did when he was fleeing from unwanted feelings. Naruto could see he was ready to give family a chance now and by having this baby he was getting back what Itachi had stole from him a long time ago. It made Naruto determined to help Sasuke get what he wanted, no, what he needed.He turned to Choza, persistence set on his face.

"We know you have to do your job and we may be asking a lot of you…" He began firmly, "But we all know this is different from your usual adoption, you know about our pasts, so you must know how much we want to protect her. I admit I'm not the most…stable person in the world, neither is Sasuke, but we are going to care for that baby more than any other two people on the planet possibly could. I can make the kid laugh, take it to the park, cry like an idiot when she leaves for her first day of school…but I don't know how to change a nappy, I'd probably give her food poisoning if I made her anything but ramen and I wouldn't know how to stop her crying if my life depended on it. Sasuke though…I can tell, he could set up a high chair make her dinner and change her nappy all at the same time, he picks her up and she stops crying, he's gonna help her with homework because my grades were awful and his were great and he'd kick any guys ass who came within a ten metre radius of her. You can look at them now and see it's the truth."

Choza looked to Sasuke, who has his lips and nose pressed to the infants fluffy head, staring at Naruto's chair with a small loving smile. Everything Naruto was saying was true, he suspected Sasuke had never picked up a baby in his life, yet he was here nestling an infant who had ceased its crying as soon as his hands had touched her. Anybody else would be hesitant about picking up such a small new baby, especially if it wasn't theirs, but Sasuke had just picked her up as if he'd done it every day of his life and sat with her perfectly.

"I'm gonna have to learn to be a good dad yaknow… but Sasuke's already there and he's going to be amazing and…we just really really want a kid now we know what we've been missing out on. I wanna know what family feels like, and he just wants to give it a second chance. We've been waiting for that all our lives so…please help us, do anything you can, we don't wanna wait any more." Naruto finished his speech and turned to meet Sasuke's eyes, his lover smiled at him and nodded his head lightly in a silent thanks, mouthing the words 'I love you' as he continued to inhale the infants powdery smell. Naruto felt triumphant as he received Sasuke's loving approval, turning to Choza, hoping with all his might there was something, anything, Choza could do for them.

Choza was now faced with a difficult decision. By law he had to do his job properly, do things by the book and by the rules but he was also a very kind man, who wanted nothing more than to let them walk out of here with the baby and let them live their lives. He couldn't even begin to imagine how they must feel, considering their empty and blood-filled pasts, he could tell they were good people and they wanted this child more than anything. He loved nothing more than to see people happy, see families complete and see parents walking along the street laughing with their children. If he cut corners now then his job was at stake, but if he didn't then he was deeply upsetting two people and keeping them apart from the child they so desperately wanted. He had to decide what was more important to him, his job or this family?

He couldn't believe he actually had to think for the answer to that question.

"Here's what we do." Choza smiled, Sasuke and Naruto's heads snapped upwards in shock. Choza had remained silent for so long they thought he was thinking of ways to let them down and were getting ready to face disappointment. Now, looking at the man's warm smile, they knew there was hope.

The kitchen clock ticked away the seconds Sasuke was spending waiting for the kettle to boil. This was the second round of hot drinks he was making everybody, during the first they had been excited, energetic and looking forward to the night ahead, now at - he glanced at the clock on the wall - 11pm he was everybody was feeling tired, especially him, who had grown out of the habit of a set sleep pattern and was known to crash into tiredness at any set time.

He tossed an extra spoonful of instant coffee granules into his mug as his eyes blurred tiredly and yawned as the kettle finished its violent bubbling, pouring the water into the mugs like a robot programmed to do its task. He was in fact attempting to think of anything other than: coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee…

Mr Akimichi, Naruto and Sasuke had left the meeting room with the baby and after ringing round their friends to get hold of a baby car seat for the unnamed girl (finally acquiring one from Shikamaru and Temari) they had driven Naruto's car firstly to the adoption centre. Naruto had waited in the car while Choza took Sasuke inside and they gathered every possible form and file they could from the many offices of the building. Choza was head of the centre so nobody asked any questions when they took the stuff, made a few phone calls and left to get back to the car, where Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. The baby had been crying for the past ten minutes and would not stop. Naturally Sasuke sat next to the seat and took her hands and she hushed instantly, he smirked at Naruto, who pouted back, his arms folded jealously wondering why Sasuke had to be so perfect at everything.

Next they drove to a roomy house in the suburbs, where Naruto and Sasuke lived together. After tea had been offered and the baby was sound asleep in her car seat they had got down to business. They had filled in form after form after form, gathering reports on everything Choza had asked for, finding documents they never knew they had, fishing out birth certificates and forms about the house to make sure they weren't immigrants and the walls weren't about to crumble down around them and their soon-to-be child. They had phoned their bank, their doctors, Sasuke true to his word had phoned up a private doctor the moment they had got in, so the medical reports could be done. They were attempting to cut down an eight month process into a few hours, it wasn't easy but their fiery determination kept them going.

After the baby had woken up at five pm Naruto was sent out (with a carefully Sasuke-constructed list) to buy bottles, milk powder, nappies and other such things along with food for the three of them to eat. Choza and Sasuke stayed home and carried on their laborious tasks, grateful when Naruto returned with a feast (Choza was doing so much for them, they couldn't just serve him instant ramen) and baby supplies - even the baby-natural Sasuke Uchiha couldn't stop the infant crying when she hadn't eaten in hours.

After the large meal, the bottle feeding and a soiled nappy (which Naruto refused to change) they got back to work and had not stopped until now when Sasuke had let the pen fall from his aching hand and tiredly offered to make tea for everybody.

He carried the mugs on a tray in one hand and a bottle in the other, laying the adult drinks on the table they were all knelt round and picking up the baby from the orange beanbag Naruto had bought for her to sleep in, putting the bottle to her mouth and collapsing onto the sofa.

"Y'know you look like you do this sort of thing every day." Naruto noted to Sasuke as he sipped his tea.

"Well, I am going to be doing aren't I." Sasuke sighed, looking down at the suckling child and smoothing the soft black hair on her head before he turned to Choza and smiled. "Thank you again for this, we really don't know how we're going to repay you."

"Well," The large man sighed, taking his tea and savouring the warming liquid. "I'd say an all you can eat barbecue at Yakiniku's would do it."

"A kid for an all you can eat barbecue…DEAL!" Naruto grinned, shaking the man's hand as they laughed together. "Seriously though, we're really really happy you're doing this for us, you're a great guy, I bet your family is proud of you."

"Well that's their job after all, you two should be proud of yourselves, willing to go through all this straight away, it takes many other families a few weeks to decide if adoption is the right thing to do." He replied.

"Well we're not the most indecisive people in the world." Sasuke mused aloud, checking how much milk the baby had drank before putting the bottle back to her mouth. "How far have we got?" He then asked, frowning at the many files laid across the table.

"Finance, housing, family history and basic medical history are done." Choza answered "We just need to wait for all the blood tests to get back and I just need to finish up these forms and we have to scan all your documents. Do you have a photocopier, or a scanner and printer?"

"Both." Sasuke told him, sitting the baby up to wind her. "Go on Naruto."

The blonde slurped the rest of his tea noisily before he and Choza gathered up documents and travelled across the room to Sasuke's office. They opened the door to reveal the only room that truly held Sasuke's personality (Naruto rarely came in here under Sasuke's orders so had no influence over the appearance of it). The walls were a grey-blue colour, the carpet was thick and black, shelves lined a while wall of the room and held an assortment of neatly organised manga volumes, books, models, figurines and art supplies (all labelled and categorised of course). There was a neat desk set in front of the window (Naruto smiled at the framed photograph of him and Sasuke sat proudly upon it) and a photocopier on the far side, the walls were lined with neat promotional posters for Sasuke's past manga series' along with a note board, where the only bit of chaos in the whole room was based. On it were notes, photographs, storyboards, sketches, pinned to the cork in a complex web.

"Why do you always insist you don't have OCD, its soooo obvious!" Naruto called, hearing a 'hmpf' in reply from the living room and laughing to himself as he fired up the photocopier, careful not to give in to his urges and touch anything else, Sasuke would go crazy if he moved anything round…too much anyway. He walked over to a shelf whilst the photocopier loudly blinded the documents upon it and grinned mischievously at a row of anime figurines. Choza watched intrigued as Naruto swapped the places of the end two and returned to the whirring machine they had been stood by. "Just watch when he comes in, you'll see what I mean." He winked, hiding a smirk as Sasuke walked into the room, bouncing the baby in his arms gently. It took him all but three seconds to notice the change and he frowned at the shelf, walking over and swapping the figures back to the exact place and angle they had been.

"Don't do that again." He glared at the blonde who was laughing childishly.

"You don't scare me!" He snorted, to which Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Don't I?..." He adopted a sinister whispered voice as he continued "One night as the wind howled through the dark abandoned castle-"

"S-s-s-stop it! Y-you'll s-scare the b-baby!" Naruto stuttered, trying to distract Choza from his own embarrassment and sending a fuming pointed glance at his partner who was attempting to show him up.

"The only baby here is you, moron." He chuckled before leaving the room again, Naruto had always been afraid of scary stories and phenomenon and if he was going to mess up Sasuke's neat and tidy totally non OCD influenced room then he could tell the man scary stories as punishment.

The blonde emerged from the room a few seconds later too, faint blush across his cheeks as he glared at Sasuke, who was laying the baby down to change her again.

It was 2am when Choza finally announced everything was done and Sasuke let his head fall into his hands with a triumphant smile. Naruto was sprawled out on the couch, snoring loudly and the baby was sleeping soundly in her car seat. The large man yawned before he gathered everything up and placed it by the door, Sasuke phoning for a taxi to take Choza home. They sat quietly and waited round the table, the raven contently rocking the car seat and Mr Akimichi watching with a mixture or happiness and worry.

"Sasuke…I have to tell you, all the forms are done and all but for tonight-"

"It's okay." Sasuke interrupted quietly, smiling sadly at the sleeping infant. "I get it, she can't stay overnight yet."

Choza sighed, joining his hands. "Yes, I'm afraid so, for tonight she has to return to the orphanage but tomorrow evening I will ring the adoption office and make sure the forms reached them, as soon as I have confirmation everything has been accepted then she can stay the night. Hopefully tomorrow evening she will be able to stay."

"Let's hope so." Sasuke nodded understandingly, he had a feeling, no matter how good all this may have been, the baby could not stay tonight. Strangely he felt okay about it though, he looked over to Naruto haphazardly lying on the cough and smiled, he already had a baby to look after anyway.

"In the mean time," Choza spoke, interrupting Sasuke's thoughts, "You have a lot to learn, you seem to be a natural but tomorrow a midwife will be visiting who will talk you through looking after a baby, give you advice, show you anything you do not know how to do, give you some reading material and helpful information, answer any questions and tell you what sort of things you need to buy, that's sort of thing."

He nodded again "Thank you." He whispered gratefully, jumping when a 'beep' from outside signalled the arrival of the taxi. Choza gathered his things and they two men made their way to the vehicle, Sasuke strapping the car seat in next to Mr Akimichi, handing him some money to pay for the ride(which he took as reluctantly as Sasuke had the seated infant carrier), and bidding him farewell.

Silently the Uchiha made his way back into the house and stared down at his blonde partner, expecting to feel sad and empty, oddly enough he did not, he wore a smile on his face as he bent down and wrapped his arms around the warm man lying on the couch. Naruto did not stir when Sasuke picked him up and began carrying him up the stairs to their bedroom, and remained asleep when he removed all his clothing aside from a pair of frog-covered boxers. Only when Sasuke crawled under the sheets and turned out the light did the blonde let his eyelids flutter open, he mumbled something unrecognisable and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's bare torso.

"Whus..th…bab…y…" He breathed gently as Sasuke ran his hand through his sun coloured hair.

"She couldn't stay tonight, don't worry, she'll be here tomorrow." Sasuke reassured, still wearing the smile on his face, he hadn't been able to erase it all night. Naruto hummed and curled into him even more.

"Kay…"

There was a few minutes were Sasuke silently thought the night through and their lives through, wondering how much money he was going to end up spending tomorrow on baby supplies…well, it was okay, it wasn't like he was short on it. He had more than Naruto anyway, who had worked as a cleaner at the publishing building as long as he'd known him.

In the dark room, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he frowned…the father of his child, a cleaner? Now that just wouldn't do.

"Naruto," He whispered, poking his lover in the stomach, smirking when Naruto mumbled a 'what, asshole?' back at him.

"You're quitting your job tomorrow."

"Hm?..huh…wh…yeah whatever…" He snored, Sasuke's smirk grew wider as he counted the seconds it would take for Naruto to realise what he'd just said.

Thee idiotic blondes…

Two idiotic blondes…

One idiotic blonde…

"…WHAT!?"

Well what did you think? I struggled to make this as good as my last chapter, I actually rewrote a lot of it which is why it took longer than I'd expected, its also a lot longer than the last but I hope you enjoyed. Please as always, review, please please please I'll give you a free hug D: Seriously though, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, let me hear them too!

The baby's name will be revealed in due time! ;D In the next chapter, Sakura takes the boys on a shopping trip! Also, something strange begins...