You're Beautiful

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Four

"You're telling me that you could have passed yourself off as a human, this whole time?" Tsunade demands when she sees Naruto boarding the private jet, a few days later.

"Yeah. What's wrong? Shouldn't you be happy? This is easier." The other blonde asks in confusion and Sasuke shakes his head in amusement.

"Do you have any other tricks that we should know about?" Tsunade grumbles.

Itachi heads to the front of the jet. He was going to fly it. Itachi Uchiha was good at many things, but truthfully building machines and flying were what he did best. There was nothing better than soaring through the air, in his opinion.

"Awe come on. It's no fun if I tell you everything at once. That spoils the surprise." Naruto protests as he buckles up.

Sasuke laughs. He had never imagined an alien would be so light hearted. The fact that Naruto sounded AND looked like a human now, made it hard to remember that he wasn't.

"How old are you?" Tsunade asks.

Gingerly, he reaches over and places his hand on top of Naruto's. He knew those talons were still there. They were just hidden. Sasuke had to remind himself again and again that Naruto was a PREDATOR with some very sharp talons! It wouldn't end well, if he forgot that!

"In human years, I'd be 24." Naruto answers.

The blonde alien beams at Sasuke and places his hand on top of the other man's. It seemed that Naruto knew why Sasuke's touch was so tentative. So he decided to take initiative and alleviate the concern.

Sasuke blinks. Naruto was almost the same age as him. Well he was a year younger. Then again, he didn't know what the lifespan of a Naruto's kind. He could be an old man, but Sasuke doubted it.

"Alright, everyone. Sit back and enjoy the ride." Itachi says as he guides the jet into liftoff.

Sasuke sits back and relaxes. He had absolute faith in Itachi's piloting abilities. He figured that his brother could fly straight through a tornado or hurricane with ease. He was that good.

Not long after, Sasuke found himself dozing off. Naruto smiles at his sleeping mate. He wraps his temporarily invisible wrings around him. Sasuke had said he liked them. There was no reason for his Mate to get cold while he slept.

"So Naruto, you said that you know who you want to be your Mate, but hadn't claimed them?" Tsunade dares herself to ask.

"Mhm. It's okay though. The courtship process is going a little slower than I would like, but now that I have my own territory things should be different." He smiles.

Tsunade mentally winced. Wonderful! Naruto probably viewed getting his own "territory," in the same way a teenagers viewed hotel rooms on Prom Night! She looks at Sasuke in concern.

"How does your species go about Claiming someone?" The busty blonde inquires cautiously, not sure if she was going to like the answer.

"Well the actual Claiming is pretty straight forward. We Mate and Mark each other. Usually most Jinchuuriki will give their Mate a symbol of their love. Most often jewelry like a necklace or something of that nature. In that way, I guess we are sorta similar to humans. Often we Lock Talons before Mating though. Sasuke doesn't have talons, but that's okay!" Naruto answers her.

Itachi was suddenly having a very hard time focusing on flying. He supposed that he had already known how Naruto felt about Sasuke. But to hear it stated so bluntly, well it made him concerned.

He didn't know what Locking Talons meant exactly, but he knew that Sasuke couldn't do that part. He also didn't know how "vigorous" Jinchuurikis were during sex either. So he was worried for his brother's safety.

"Do you view…Sasuke as disabled because he doesn't have talons?" The President inquires.

"What? No! He's perfectly healthy for his species. I mean it'd be nice if he had them, but it doesn't make a difference to me. We can't Lock Talons currently, but we can lock together in other ways that are much more fun." The blonde says.

Itachi wasn't an idiot. He understood EXACTLY what Naruto was implying. The alien really wanted to be with Sasuke. He kept his mouth shut for the moment because they were flying, but he knew he'd have to speak with Sasuke about this and maybe even Naruto, later.


Meanwhile Gaara had arrived on Earth. He was cloaking his ship, so as not to be detected. He felt Naruto's chakra and followed it. Chakra was what Jinchuuriki called someone's energy. Humans might have referred to it as their aura.

"He's on the move. He's moving too fast to be flying on his own. He must be in some type of craft." Gaara muses.

"Pretty fast craft for a human ship. Thought they were a bit more primitive than that in their tech. This must be one of their fancier ships. That or the pilot knows what he's doing. " Kisame observes.

Kisame was not Jinchuuriki. He was an Akatsuki. Akatsuki were a species that had evolved in water originally, but could now live on land. The larger male was more "exotic" than Gaara because he had light blue skin, gills on his face, and teeth that greatly resembled a shark. He dwarfed the red head by about two feet in height.

"It could be both. King Minato says that Naruto found his Mate. Furthermore, he states that Sasuke is a scholar. Perhaps he is responsible for the faster ship?" The red head wonders out loud.

"It's possible. So we are just checking in with Naruto to make sure he's alright then?" Kisame inquires.

"Essentially. Queen Kushina is worried for Naruto's safety. One can hardly blame her. Naruto is their only hatchling." The winged alien replies.

"Right. Well I don't mind the babysitting. It's always fun to see a new planet with a developing species on it. Exciting, you know?" The Akatsuki asks.

Gaara nods. He decided to accept that explanation at face value. He didn't detect any hint of deception in Kisame's scent. However, just because someone wasn't lying, didn't mean they weren't lying by omission. The Kazekage was almost positive that the larger alien had an ulterior motive for agreeing to help him on this trip.

"I feel the same way." The Kage replies and shuffles his white feathers a bit.

Gaara looked similar to Naruto, but his coloration was very different. The red head suspected that was because Naruto had been born into a forested region of Konoha and he had been born in Suna.

The Kazekage had short blood red, slightly spiky hair. His eyes were aqua in color and surrounded by feral looking black rings around his eyes. Gaara's wings were pure white, much like a snow owl's in coloration. The Kage's talons were sharp and he rarely retracted them, preferring to go barefoot. Finally, his scaled tail was sandy in coloration.

"Gotta admit, I am curious to see what sort of human would catch the prince's attention." The Akatsuki confesses.

"As am I. If King Minato's statements are anything to go by, Naruto is completely smitten." He chuckles.

Leave it to Naruto to fall in love with a "newly" discovered species. Although their kind had discovered humans almost a century ago, that was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Most species that were known had been discovered at least thousands of years ago, some millions of years ago. Life flourished in the universe, it was just spread out over vast distances.

"So what about you, Sandy?" Kisame asks.

Gaara twitches at the nickname. His primary defense was sand. It responded to his will. Naruto's was wind. Most of their kind were somehow affiliated with an element or some part of nature. The Akatsuki seemed to delight in teasing Gaara about his affiliation with Sand by giving him this horrid "nickname."

"How many times, must I tell you not to address me as Sandy?" Gaara asks in an irritated tone.

"Oh as many as you like, but the nickname stays. It's cute. Just like you. Your species is weird. You have this instinctive mating thing going on. My people aren't nearly as complicated. If we see something we like, we go for it. I can't imagine looking at someone and just instantly knowing that's the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Did you find yourself a pretty bird girl yet?" He asks.

Gaara counts to three mentally and takes deep breaths. He knew that Kisame didn't mean any harm by it. His intentions were far from malicious, but it still irked him. How dare he mock one of the very foundations of his culture?! Mating was a concept that his people held to be very sacred and to the Akatsuki was treating it far too lightly for his liking!

"Kindly do not refer to the female members of my race as bird girls. That is highly insulting. But for your information, I have not." The Kazekage tries his best not to growl at Kisame.

"That's weird. Would have thought they'd go crazy for those pretty wings of yours and who doesn't love red heads?" He asks.

"If it's not a Mating, then all parties know that it is nothing more than physical gratification. While that is considered perfectly acceptable, most don't make a habit of overindulging in it. It is cruel to get attached to someone, if you know they aren't the one that you are supposed to be with." He explains.

Kisame didn't see what was wrong with indulging in physical gratification. It looked like the red head could use some. He was pretty tightly wound up today. He pawned it off to the man being worried about his friend bonding with someone from a species that they knew little about.

"Gaara, why don't you go rest in the back? I can keep up with this ship easily. You seem pretty high strung today." Kisame suggests.

"I am not high strung! You just…you just don't get it! It's not your fault. You're an Akatsuki. Your people just evolved differently." Gaara grumbles and heads to the back of the ship.


A few hours later, Itachi lands them on the island. Sasuke by this time had woken up and blushed when he felt Naruto's wings wrapped around him like a blanket. The Uchiha quickly undoes his seatbelt and gets out of the jet.

"Alright. This is Karin. She will provide your medical care, unless it is deemed serious enough that you have to be transported back for more intensive treatment. That man is Kakashi. He's another biologist. We hired him on because we view it as important to have an impartial biologist observing Naruto, in addition to Sasuke. You'll meet the rest of the staff once you are inside the research facility, which will serve as your home while you are here." Tsunade explains.

Naruto couldn't help but pout a bit at this knowledge. He thought he was going to be alone with Sasuke. Still he couldn't argue with the logic.

The blonde knew he should have expected this. There was no way that they were going to leave the first alien they had ever met alone with only one other person. Hmm well the island was pretty big. He was sure that he'd find a way to sneak off with his Mate for some alone time.

"I AM impartial! Are you questioning my professionalism?!" Sasuke demands.

"Sasuke, you are far too close to Naruto to be an impartial observer. I am not questioning your professionalism, but facts are facts. Besides, it's always good to get a second opinion." Tsunade explains.

Naruto could tell that Sasuke was less than happy about that answer. His Mate though, was a good subject. He wouldn't openly defy his "President" further, it seemed.

"Come on, Sasuke. Let's get you unpacked. It looks like we are going to be staying here for awhile." Itachi says as he heads off with Sasuke.


"You're staying too?" He asks in surprise.

"Of course. Someone has to make sure the facility is fully operational. Besides, I wanted to talk to you about Naruto. You know that he is very open about the fact he likes you. I don't think he's going to be satisfied with only kisses for long." His brother whispers.

Sasuke sighs and nods. Yeah, he knew. He did like kissing Naruto. It was a cosmic experience. He was gay. He knew he liked other men, but he had no idea what sex with the alien would be like.

"I know, but I do like him. I'm just a little unsure about how the mechanics would work." Sasuke confesses.

"I'd be concerned if you weren't. He's not a human, Sasuke. It doesn't matter how much he looks or talks like us, remember that. I do believe that he genuinely cares for you. I don't think that he would intentionally try to hurt you, but…" Itachi trails off.

Sasuke nods. He knew what his brother was trying to say. Thankfully, Itachi was being fairly tactful about it. However, he still didn't know what he was going to do or not do about a certain blue eyed alien.

"Yeah. Maybe I should be more direct about it and ask. I have a team here, if something goes wrong." Sasuke mutters.


Naruto decides to explore the island. He flies around and stretches his wings. Ah it felt so good to be able to soar through the skies again! Hmm maybe he'd find something nice for Sasuke!

It was annoying that he hadn't been able to fully court his Mate, yet. But he intended to fix that now. He does a dive and catches a rather large fish in his talons, before flying to the research facility.

"Hey, Kakashi. Where's the kitchen in this place?" Naruto beams at him.

"Oh follow me. I am still amazed at how well you speak English. You sound like a native speaker." He muses as he takes the blonde to the kitchen.

"Thanks. I acquired the language from Sasuke, so that's kinda expected. He's really smart. Hmm now how do I cook this fish?" Naruto wonders as he looks around the kitchen, trying to figure out how to use the primitive technology in the place.

He blinks. The alien was attempting to cook his food. Kakashi would make a mental note of that for later. So it seemed when given the option, Naruto didn't prefer raw meat. Interesting.

"I'll show you how to do it." He says and instructs Naruto in the basic ways of how to use a human kitchen.

"Ah thanks. Do you know if Sasuke likes fish?" He asks brightly.

"Well I don't know about Sasuke specifically, but most people do." Kakashi notes with a chuckle.


Not long after, Naruto heads off to find Sasuke's room. Naruto wondered why his Mate's scent had been slightly muted by water. When he got into the room, he got his answer. Sasuke had just walked out of the bathroom and clad presumably in only a bathrobe. His hair was soaking wet.

"Hey, Naruto." Sasuke greets him and suddenly wishes he had thrown on some real clothes and not just a bathrobe.

He knew that he had a very frisky alien standing only a few feet away from him. Sasuke was aware that he might be dangling a meat in front of a starving dog. He was really pushing his luck here.

"So did Kakashi show you around?" He asks awkwardly.

"Yeah. He showed me how to use the kitchen too. I got us some dinner. Caught it myself." Naruto says and shows him the fish.

"That was very sweet of you. You didn't have to actually hunt though. You know we do have food here?" Sasuke asks with a smile.

"I know. I kinda figured, but it means more if I catch it and I wanted to stretch my wings anyway." He explains.

Sasuke nods. He sits down on the bed and Naruto joins him. The blonde apparently wanted to hand feed him. It was romantic, if a little terrifying because he didn't know where Naruto's talons were.

"Oh guess we are inside now, so I can let the hologram go." He says and his something inside his shirt, causing his alien traits to reappear.

"Yeah." Sasuke nibbles at the food.

It was good. His mind just wasn't that focused on eating at the moment. What Itachi said was right. He probably should ask. Set some boundaries.

"You're heart is racing again. You're nervous. What's wrong? If you don't like it, I can always catch you something else to eat. The island looks like it has a lot of wildlife. I don't mind." Naruto says.

"Oh no. It's not about that. The food is great. It's about something else. Naruto, when you said you had found your Mate…" Sasuke begins and trails off, not exactly sure how to ask the question.

Naruto smiles. He pushes Sasuke onto his back and straddles him. Ah ha! So that's why he was nervous.

He just didn't know how to initiate Mating. It made sense, they were two different species. That was alright though. Naruto would show him.

"You have no idea how happy I am to be here with you, without the cameras. I wouldn't mind Claiming you in front of everyone. It's really erotic to think about, actually. But I know you are Mating Shy and would prefer us to be joined in private. I don't mind that either." Naruto says.

"So you really think that I'm your Mate?" Sasuke asks.

Naruto nods. He'd never been so sure about anything in his life. Jinchuuriki just instinctively recognized their Mate. It was hard to explain really. You just knew.

"I don't think you are my Mate. I know you are. I hope your Queen hasn't been putting stupid ideas into your head." He mutters in annoyance.

"Stupid ideas?" Sasuke inquires cautiously.

It looked like Naruto was less than thrilled with Tsunade about something. He had fallen asleep on the way to the island. Maybe she had said something to Naruto? Something that had irritated him?

"She thinks that I'd hurt you. Tsunade had the nerve to ask me if I viewed you as disabled!" He growls.

Sauske blinks. Disabled? What was he talking about? Why would Tsunade think Naruto would hurt him, unless she was worried about how the whole "joining" thing would happen. That would make sense.

"What'd she say exactly?" He asks.

"Asked if I thought you were disabled because you don't have talons and she won't come out and say it directly, but I know she's worried that I'll hurt you accidentally during Mating." The blue eyed alien answers in a rush.

Sasuke blinks. The thought had never occurred to him that Naruto might view him as somehow handicapped. It was a logical question, even if Tsunade seemed to have asked it in a tactless fashion.

"I take it that you don't view me as disabled then. Naruto, I know that you wouldn't hurt me on purpose. But I don't really know how your people…you know…" Sasuke trails off.

"I'd never view you as disabled. You are my Mate. You're perfectly healthy for a human. I wouldn't hurt you intentionally or unintentionally. My instincts wouldn't have picked you, if we weren't physically compatible." The alien replies.

Speaking of physically compatible, Sasuke decides to just get it over with. He had to find out sometime. He bit his lower lip. The youngest Uchiha wasn't sure how to ask this without sounding rude or like a complete pervert.

"Well that's good. Naruto, I just want to look. You know see for myself that we are compatible. Would you mind stripping? Just looking. That's all." Sasuke dares himself to ask.

Naruto would have preferred Sasuke ask without insisting that he just wanted to look. He wanted to touch his Mate and be touched by his Mate. Still it was a start.

If Sasuke had been a Jinchuuriki, Naruto figured they would already be flying in the sky and locked in a dance of passion. But he wasn't. He was human. It was natural he'd be a little skittish.

Warning Anatomy Scene

"I don't mind. If you decide you want to touch though, I'd prefer that to just looking." Naruto says, hopping off the bed and quickly stripping.

The blonde didn't see a reason to be bashful. They were Mates. He knew that Sasuke would be attracted to him. He'd never heard of a Mated pair not being so before. The blue eyed alien highly doubted they'd be the first.

"I'll keep that in mind." Sasuke murmurs.

Sasuke tries not to blush as he glances Naruto up and down. He had broad shoulders and very nice biceps. Okay, normal so far. His chest was muscular and he had an impressive six pack. Yup, he looked like an athletic human there too, other than an orange spiral tattoo along his stomach. But Sasuke decided he thought that was hot in a primal way. So far, so good.

That's when he looked down. Naruto was human looking down there too. Sasuke breathes a sigh of relief.

The Jinchuuriki possessed a cock that would make most male porn stars envious. It was large and thick. Thankfully, it wasn't…disturbingly so. Naruto was well endowed, but Sasuke figured if the Jinchuuriki wanted to take the reigns during intimacy, it would be safe to allow it.

End Anatomy of Scene

"You sound relieved. What were you expecting my dick to be made of nails or something?" Naruto asks in amusement.

"I don't know. You have wings, talons, and a tail. I wasn't sure what I was going to find. You look so…human." Sasuke says in a relieved tone.

Naruto smiles. He caresses Sasuke's cheek. It was nice to know that his Mate felt more reassured now. He trusted his instincts. If they said that Sasuke belonged to him, then they were physically compatible. But it was still nice to hear the other man say so out loud.

"You know, it's not really fair." He says as he kisses the human.

Sasuke kisses back. Naruto always kissed so passionately. It was enough to make him moan and he'd never had a reaction like that to something as innocent as a kiss before.

"What's not fair?" He asks, after breaking the kiss.

"Well you saw me naked, but I haven't been granted the same privilege. You're still dressed." Naruto clarifies.

The Uchiha bit his lower lip. The blonde alien had a point. Still he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Naruto had respected that he only wanted to look, but not touch. But he felt like if he was naked, it might be a completely ballgame.

"You just want to look?" Sasuke asks.

"I want to do a whole lot more than that. But it's okay. I can behave. I know you are Mating Shy." Naruto says.

"I am NOT mating shy." Sasuke growls at him.

"Oh yeah? You wanna prove that?" Naruto taunts him.

Sasuke on some level realized he was being goaded, but he just didn't care at the moment. He pins Naruto to the bed. He'd show him Mating Shy. He kicks off bathrobe and was just about to do something when the door opened.

"So I take it that's your human?" Gaara asks in an amused tone.

"Well if they all look like that, I think Earth's going to end up as a very popular tourist destination." Kisame chimes in.

"Gaara! Kisame! What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asks and quickly covers up his Mate, with his feathers.

"We came to check on you. But it looks like you are busy getting well busy." Kisame says.

Sasuke blinks. He watches as the aliens communicated in some language, he didn't know. Naruto seemed to know them. The red head looked like he was the same species as Naruto, but the blue skinned one was a different case. He reminded Sasuke of a shark.

"Oh don't worry, Sasuke. That's Gaara and that's Kisame. They are my friends." Naruto beams..

"Great. Tell your blue skinned friend, not to eat me." Sasuke says.

"Don't worry. Kisame would never eat my Mate." Naruto reassures him and Sasuke slowly relaxes.

It seemed his life wasn't in danger. These two aliens were supposedly Naruto's friends. He couldn't understand a damn thing they were saying, but he got the tone.

They were teasing Naruto. It was probably a gentle ribbing. There was no need to have a heart attack or try to defend himself with the nearest pointy object.

"Oh yeah. You guys are going to want to acquire the language. Sasuke, don't be jealous. There's just no way that I'm going to let them kiss you. It's just to teach them. Okay?" Naruto asks.

Sasuke just nods dumbly. It was hard to be jealous when he was worried about the shark alien's teeth. Naruto walked over and kissed Gaara. Sasuke noted that it was more chaste than anything.

"Yeah, sorry. You're Mated. It'd be weird. So I think I'll stick with red head." Kisame says and shocks the Kazekage by kissing him.

Sasuke watches as the blue lights exchange between the three of them. It was so pretty and so utterly alien. Sasuke wished he had a camera on him to capture the ethereal sight.

He vaguely realized that being Naruto's "Mate" meant that things were never going to be the same for him again. Sights like that, were going to become his new normal. It was difficult to process, but he knew in his bones that was the truth.

"Fine by me. I didn't want to kiss you anyway, Fishbreath." Naruto teases him.

It shocked him to the core that he had just thought of himself as Naruto's Mate. It was one thing for Naruto to say it, it was another for him to THINK it. It was at that moment, that Sasuke knew he had crossed the point of no return.

He couldn't rationalize this as him just being nice to the alien to help with cultural exchange. On some level, he wanted Naruto. He wanted him as much as the alien wanted him. And that was more than a little terrifying.