Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto-Ojiisan has that honour. I make no money from writing fanfiction (unfortunately).

Chapter Four: For You, Brother, Anything

As they worked into the night through Ame's labour, the brothers did a lot of talking. As Iruka's clone had predicted, there were twins—but surprisingly, there was a third baby—most likely missed by the echolocation due to being behind the other two. Iruka learned that while Itachi and Ame's pregnancy was accidental (he sure as hell hoped so, or his brother would have some damn explaining to do) and since they estimated their due date around Iruka's own birthday of May 26th, that they had intended for Itachi to share the news when the brothers had a quick visit, as they always did near their birthdays.

Itachi, as a nukenin, had known right away that he wouldn't be able to keep a family with him. He had hesitantly asked Iruka for the biggest favour he had ever asked anyone. The plan had been to send Ame home with Iruka and for him to claim that his brother's child was his own—a 'mission baby' as it were—a child born as a direct or indirect result of a mission. This, Itachi explained, would also protect the baby from the council—an Uchiha could be forcefully conscripted, as there was no current clan head. If the child was on record as Iruka's offspring, however, he or she would only be permitted in the academy with his express permission (and, as Itachi smilingly pointed out, Iruka was quite pig-headed when it came to protecting children—and a niece or nephew would be a particularly important one to him). Iruka, admittedly as pig-headed as Itachi claimed, agreed that the plan (though, he jokingly lamented, it may put a dent in his reputation with the gents) was quite brilliant and effective.

That had all come crashing down though, when Ame had shown signs of her premature labour in the wee hours of that morning when Itachi had sent Ani to Iruka in a panic. He apologised profusely for springing this on the older nin, but as Iruka had responded resignedly, Itachi had known deep down that the answer would be an approximation of 'yes,' as Iruka confirmed with a squeeze to his brother's knee and a quietly spoken, "For you, brother, anything."

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It had seemed to go wonderfully. Ame, with Iruka's help, had delivered identical twin girls and one son. Both Iruka and Itachi had checked over each infant and the new mother. Nothing seemed amiss—Ame was perhaps a bit exhausted, but that was to be expected.

He continued to monitor his charges and though he worried slightly about Ame's blood pressure staying on the high side, there had been no obvious complications. All three babies were healthy; they had delivered the placenta and coaxed Ame into both a short walk and a warm shower. He and Itachi—to be on the safe side—took shifts monitoring the new mother for the first forty-eight hours after delivery due to Iruka's concern over the blood pressure and what it might mean.

There were no other warning signs, but during Itachi's shift, in the 47th hour, Iruka felt his brother shaking him awake violently. Wild eyes raked over Iruka as he rasped, "Her blood pressure spiked, then—then—I don't know what to do!"

Iruka immediately leapt into action, assessing the situation as clinically as possible—he immediately began pumping his own chakra into her—but he knew immediately what must have happened—and it was bad news. When Iruka explained, chakra depleted and in tears, Itachi took it in like a boulder in the wind. Post-partum haemorrhage. Itachi collapsed into his brother's arms—but found he had no tears left. It took Iruka himself a full 24 hours to even semi-recover from extreme chakra depletion—his brother had never loved him more—after watching him pour nearly every ounce of his own energy into trying to save his sister-in-law—nor had he ever been so devastated since the night of the massacre as he was to lose his lover—but shinobi are shinobi. So, on autopilot, they buried Ame under a beautiful tree in the village's abandoned cemetery. They packed up and made sure to leave no trace of themselves in the little home they had shared. After the loss of her sister, Iruka had immediately become even more mother hen like towards Kaminari and took her under his wing. She had gravitated towards him naturally (as was the usual for Iruka and children or people in general) and Itachi had never been more thankful for Iruka's heartfelt nature over his own more detached manner. They said a subdued goodbye and were already a few hundred feet down different paths when Itachi turned back and laid a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Iruka turned questioning eyes on the younger man.

"Don't . . . . don't. . . . don't tell them about Ame and I until they're older. Please, Iruka. Please be the father I can't. Give them. . . . give them the childhood a ninja never has."

Iruka held his brother tightly. He kissed the top of his head. "I promise."

Shakily, Itachi added, "I'm. . . . I'm going to stop writing." He looked down at the ground. "It will make it easier for all of us. Please. . . . I know it goes against everything you stand for as my brother, but please. . . . Please do the same." He inhaled sharply.

"I. . . . don't agree, you're right. But I do understand. You promise me something too though, all right?"

Itachi looked up into warm brown eyes. "Remember, Itachi. Remember that I love you. I love you no matter what. And I will do anything for our family. Anything." Iruka held onto Itachi's biceps, trying to channel all of his warmth and love into the younger nin. They stood there in silence until Kaminari placed a hand gently on Iruka's forearm to break their trance and nodded to Itachi as she pulled Iruka away. Itachi watched them leave until they were out of sight, then still remained watching where they had disappeared for hours.

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