The maze was a haven for them. No one ever came in aside from them and their mates, and their mates had backed off, giving them the space they desperately needed.

His imou-saeng was staring into the pond. Plecos clung to the bottom, crawling along the tops of rock and mud, while goldfish of black moor, fantail, veiltail, and panda moor swam lazily above them. They swarmed in black and gold and yellow and red and calico.

"Imou-saeng?"

She looked up at him.

"I began bleeding."

At first, she looked horrified. Obviously, she was thinking what he had first believed, that it was another injury, but, then, as she noticed that he wasn't hurt or concerned, she relaxed and watched him curiously. When she understood, he could see the epiphany dawn in her white eyes.

"Are you and Sasuke going to have children?" she asked softly.

"Yes, but… not right now. When we're better."

She barely managed to hide her flinch and Lee ducked his head, suddenly ashamed.

Sasuke was still reeling from the fact that Gaara had gotten his hands on Lee.

Lee and his imou-saeng were still reeling from the fact that Gaara got his cock in their bond.

"Lee, I…" She paused. Then, carefully, she pulled an object out from within her huipil. It glinted metallically, light filtering through the branches of the copey to strike it. Its gleam sparkled off of the water's surface. "I want us to start over."

Lee stared in absolute horror at the instrument his imou-saeng held. Shears. Hair shears.

"We can not re-grow our bodies if they become soiled," she spoke quietly. "But we can re-grow our hair and, if there is the slightest chance we can move on from this, I want to take it."

"Imou-saeng…"

"Come over here. I'll cut yours and then y-you'll cut mine." She looked visibly sickened. She was far too pale and her eyes were far too wide. Her hands shook and Lee wasn't sure if she would be steady enough to commit such a deed. "And then we'll renew our sibling bond."

It sounded so simple.

But it was going to hurt so much.

Lee trembled as he put his back to her. She picked at his braid as if it was diseased and, maybe, it was. He felt the cold pressure of the shears just above where Gaara's hand had grabbed him and wrapped him around his cock, and closed his eyes tightly. They had memorized where Gaara had defiled their bond. It was a muddy splotch on their souls, a physical chill that ran down both their spines whenever they came near it.

His heart stopped as he waited.

His breathing stopped as he waited.

He stopped existing as he waited.

He felt the first snip more than he heard it. He clenched his hands at his knees and bit back a cry of pain. Then, as if sensing his anguish, there was one long sniiiipp and three things happened at the same moment.

One was that Lee fell forward into the pond, overwhelmed by the sensation of his soul tearing in half, numbed by the weight he had been carrying suddenly gone.

Two was that Naruto and Sasuke appeared in the heart of the maze, as if somehow magically summoned, and Sasuke immediately leaped after him, most likely taking countless goldfish lives with his daring rescue.

Three was that his imou-saeng screamed. A long, loss-filled howl as she clutched her hands to her breast.

Milky white drops dripped from the blades of the shears.

"He has to finish it," he blearily heard his imou-saeng sob. Then he felt the cold silver shears in his own hand. He opened his eyes, not remembering when he had shut them, and saw her back to him, her long hair fanning down her back. "He has to a-and then we have to r-renew our bond. You two have to l-leave. No one can h-hear our vows."

"Wait, so this is like our bonding ritual?" Naruto asked, and Lee swung his head to look at him. He was as pale as his imou-saeng, shaky even. "I thought it was a sibling thing between you two…"

"All bonding rituals are done the same way," she whispered. "For all siblings and lovers. It's the vows that tell them apart." She looked back at him. There was so much fear in her white eyes. It was almost unbearable. "Go ahead, onii-saeng. I-I'm ready."

Lee wasn't sure if he was. Now that he had experienced that pain, he wasn't sure if he could put his imou-saeng through it, especially with the state she was in.

"Onii-saeng, I'm afraid. It hurts already, and I can't make the pain go away unless we redo our bond. Please, I want to, I want to get this over with as quickly as possible!"

It was rare when she raised her voice. Actually, it was unheard of. In his shock, he obeyed, happy that someone had thought to bind her hair back exactly where he needed to cut it. It would be one clean swipe and then they could renew their sibling vows and then recuperate.

He grabbed her hair in one shaking hand and held the shears poised around the base of it. He swallowed thickly. "Gomian'nahae." And he closed the blades and heard them cut through her hair and felt them slash into his soul and tasted the coppery tears that ran down his face.

No longer sweet.

Naruto opened his arms and caught Hinata as she fell forward, silently, without a sound. Sasuke was there when Lee wilted sideways.

"You…" He licked his lips tiredly. "You two have to go now."

Naruto opened his mouth, looking pissed off and afraid, one hand on Hinata's baby bump as if to assure himself that their child was still there.

Sasuke spoke first, though, and his voice was calm. "When will it be safe for us to come back?"

"A-an hour… It shouldn't take us longer than that." He tried to stand and ultimately failed, falling back against his lover.

As if sensing what he needed, Sasuke led him to lay down by his imou-saeng, facing her, as Naruto grudgingly followed.

She opened her eyes slowly. "Onii…"

He grasped her hand and squeezed gently. "I'm here."

"How do… people live through this?"

Hatred, he thought. They learned to hate each other so that their bond meant nothing even before they destroyed it.

In this case, love really did hurt. His love for his imou-saeng and her love for him – without the bond's manifestation, it was as if that, no matter how tightly he held her, she simply wasn't there. There was a hollow place inside of his soul where she used to reside and it hurt as if someone had thrust their hand into his chest and pulled out his heart.

He looked meaningfully at Sasuke. His lover understood and grabbed Naruto.

The blonde resisted at first, looking afraid and unwilling to leave his bonded when she was so obviously in pain. Then she looked up at him.

"Please," she begged, and he couldn't refuse.

"Sasuke," Lee called weakly. "Aisara shighae."

Sasuke's eyes were warm, coddling his heart and wounded soul.

When they were gone and Lee could no longer hear them, he and his imou-saeng clasped both their hands together, one on top of the other, with a strand of newly plucked hair from each of their heads cupped in their palms.

"I claim you as my sister," Lee began in the Eastern Language.

"I claim you as my brother," she mirrored.

"I claim you as my family…"

It was an hour later, not a moment later, but, possibly a moment sooner, that a blonde dashed into the heart of the maze.

His face was red from exertion, his eyes blown wide with fear and haunting daydreams, a cold sweat bathing his skin.

And what he encountered was the picture of serenity.

Naruto's fears melted away as his bonded laughed, a tinkling, bell-like sound, and pulled her hand free of the pond and the nibbling goldfish.

Lee sat at her side, chuckling as he gently swayed his feet back and forth in the water.

They both looked up at him, smiling, at peace. Hinata stood to her feet, grasping Lee's shoulder for aide, and came around the pond towards him.

"Naruto…"

He rushed her, gathering her up in his arms and swearing to himself that he would never let her go again. He had never understood what had been so precious about their hair – at times, how they had been 'overreacting' had even made him want to laugh insanely.

Here Lee was, bruised and broken and having about to be raped by one of Sasuke's rivals, and they were worried about his hair?

He got it now, though. Or, at least he was fucking terrified of it. Did it matter if there was a difference?

"So everything's better now?" he asked, almost frantically.

"Yes," she answered. Then frowned. "Well, no. It's like a scar now; it happened and it hurt, but we've healed."

"That's good. Scars are okay." He'd say anything right about now. Anything just to keep his mind off the image of her falling forward into his arms, not breathing, no heartbeat, for a moment, dead to the world.

"Now we can focus on Lee and what happened instead of what it did to us," she went on peacefully.

Naruto ran his hands through her hair, now as long as her shoulders. He was kind of scared to touch it, knowing what could happen if it was defiled or dirtied or… anything.

Suddenly, that day he had made love to her here, in the heart of the maze, with dirt and sand clinging to her hair wasn't so sexy anymore. Had that damaged their sibling bond? Had that caused them any trauma?

"Imou-saeng, I think your bonded is having a panic attack," came Lee's voice somewhere in the background. It sounded concerned.

Then a kiss brought him back to reality. Hinata's warm, silken lips fit against his as if they had been made to kiss each other. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she pressed into him. The relief he felt at the fact that their baby pushed between them almost made him fall to his knees.

She pulled away by just a breath and looked him in the eye. "Let's go home," she said softly.

"Yeah. Home. That's, uh, a good idea. Home…" Where he could make love to her and assure himself that she was okay. Where he could lock the door and close the windows and hold her tight and never have to leave.

Yeah, that sounded good.

"You should let me carry you," he blurted out when she went to take a step back and walk away.

She looked up at him, seeing through him with those unique, doe-like white eyes. He felt humbled just to know that this beautiful creature loved him, and he almost bowed his head when her warm, adoring gaze searched him.

"Okay. You can carry me."

He shuddered and kissed her thankfully. Then he was just kissing her, her forehead, her cheeks, her eyelids, her nose, her jaw, her chin – worshiping her.

She giggled. "You're not carrying me, Naruto."

"Right." He swung her up into his arms, careful not to tug on her hair.

They were going to have to discuss that – what they could and couldn't do with her hair. He had to admit, a few of his sexual fantasies had been shot down instantly when he had seen their reaction to how Lee's braid had been forcefully used. His fantasies had seemed so innocent to him at the time – well, not innocent, like pure or anything, but he hadn't thought it would hurt anyone.

He would never bring it up. He would never ask. He would never hint at ever having thought to do such a thing.

He all but ran out of the maze, Hinata calling out a cheerful goodbye to Lee on the way.

They passed Sasuke, who was approaching the heart of the maze at a much more sedated pace than Naruto had, and he watched them zoom by with a small frown.

Naruto, in that moment, hated him for his calmness.

He really did.

Having been raised together be damned – he would strangle Sasuke later for not being as freaked out as he was.

Of course, Naruto hadn't noticed that Sasuke was walking a bit faster than usual.

Not that much faster, not as if he was racing towards or away from something. But his strides were that much longer and his arms swung just that much wider and he arrived in the heart of the maze a few seconds earlier than he would have had he been walking as slowly as he usually did.

Lee was already standing, knowing that he was due to come by sooner or later, and his eyes lit up with love when they saw Sasuke. "Hello, Sasuke!"

He didn't grab Lee and hold onto him like he might disappear, like Naruto had. But he did reach out and pull Lee against him. He was still slightly damp from his fall into the pond.

"Are we better now, as far as you're concerned?" he asked, feigning boredom as well as he could. Lee was still slightly pale. Possibly tired. His shoulder-length hair had been shorn unevenly.

Sasuke was in no hurry to trim it and even it out.

Lee nodded once. "As imou-saeng told Naruto, it's like a scar now – it happened and it hurt, but it's healed now. You know, that is truly quote-worthy. She can be so wise, it's at odds with how young and innocent she looks."

"And how are we?" Sasuke pressed.

"You have proven that you can give me space…" Lee began teasingly.

"Good." He bit down hungrily on the back of Lee's neck. "Then you won't mind if we have children now."

Lee squawked. "Sasuke!"

He placed his hand over Lee's belly. "My child is going to grow in here, and you are going to grow as he grows and everyone is going to know that you're taken."

"How do you know it will be a 'he'?"

He didn't even dignify that with an answer. "We'll bond first."

"Will we now?"

"Naruto explained it… vaguely."

"Did he tell you about the part where you ask me to bond with you?"

Sasuke offered his most charming smile. "I don't have to ask."

Lee huffed. "And if I want you to ask?"

"Do you?"

"Well, yes."

Sasuke stepped back and bowed practically in half. He held Lee's hand to his mouth and looked up at him through his bangs. "Lee, will you bond with me?"

Lee laughed and shook his head delightedly. "You don't even know how to propose properly."

"Then why don't you show me?"

Lee sat down on the ground, legs crossed, and tugged Sasuke to mirror his position. He held one of Sasuke's hands in each of his, his beneath Sasuke's and with palm to back, and laid them between them. "And then you say, 'Will you be mine bonded lover?'. Of course, it's different for whatever bond you want –"

"Yes."

Lee frowned. "Yes, what?"

Sasuke grinned wickedly. "Yes, I will be your bonded lover."

Lee's eyes went perfectly round and his mouth formed a small 'o'. "That was a dirty trick."

"You should have seen it coming."

"I should have, shouldn't I?"

Sasuke leaned over their clasped hands and kissed Lee soundly. "I'm very clever."

"I'm beginning to realize that."

"We'll bond tonight," Sasuke swore. "And then, by tomorrow, there will be a playmate for Naruto's child growing inside of you."

Lee flushed. "What are you in such a rush for?"

Sasuke smirked and pressed his forehead to Lee's. The answer was simple.

"You."

~""~

It happened on a warm day in September.

Naruto's eyes were bright with pride and love and awe. His entire form shook but for his hands, steady as they clasped a small bundle of orange to his broad chest.

Lying in the newly furnished nest behind Naruto was Lee's imou-saeng. She had fallen into a fitful rest, pale and sweaty, hair mussed and body splayed, but no less beautiful.

Lee smiled and leaned his head on Sasuke's shoulder. "What are you going to name him?" he asked Naruto softly, feeling Sasuke's arm come around his waist and pull him closer. He glanced up at him and saw the want in his lover's eyes as he stared at the tiny bundle.

Lee pressed a hand to his own slightly rounded abdomen. In time, this moment would be theirs.

"What am I going to name him?" Naruto asked back shrilly, almost dementedly. His full grin showed off fangs and he laughed breathlessly. "Is there a name for something this precious? I mean, Gaia, he's so beautiful and, he's mine, ours, and, and he's so tiny and it's – he fits in my hand."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Sasuke said, black eyes glinting.

"I think, yeah, it'd be best, y'know, if I waited for Hinata to wake up… Then we'd, y'know, talk about it, and, well, try to… Are all babies this small? It's just, he's so perfect and fragile and, joduck, what if I lose him? If I take my eyes off of him, it's like he'll disappear…"

"Watch your language," Lee began primly. "He doesn't need to be hearing such things." Naruto's mouth obediently snapped shut, even as Sasuke raised a brow at him.

"He won't remember this," Sasuke said.

He too was silenced, except by a dark glare.

Lee turned back to Naruto. "You won't lose him. I know you won't ever take your eyes off of him." It already seemed impossible for the blonde. He hadn't looked up once from the bundle.

"I think I'd, er, y'know, feel safer if… if he had someone near his age around…" Naruto fiddled with the blanket, pulling it closer to his precious newborn fortune. "Not to pressure anyone, but…"

Lee chuckled at Naruto's failure at subtlety.

Then Sasuke pressed a kiss to his brow and his other hand tugged at Lee's braid. "We can't force our child to come out any faster."

Naruto gave them a look of pure neglected need, as if he had seen the worst of life and demanded that he be compensated for it. "But, Sasuukee!"

His lover shuddered. "If you do that to my name again, I will kill you and your son will grow up without you."

"You wouldn't do that." At Sasuke's less than assuring expression, he gulped. "Would you?"

"Do you really want to find out?"

Lee glared at the both of them. "Shame on you two! Today is about a newborn child, not yourselves."

"But, I was just trying to make sure my son, my firstborn son, would have a friend to play with –"

"And he will," Lee interrupted sternly. "In seven months."

"But that's a month longer than Hinata carried our child," Naruto complained.

"You know it's because I'm a man," Lee parried. "The child takes longer to develop."

He was already three months along anyway, which made him three months closer to the day when he could hold his and Sasuke's child in his arms.

"It's stupid," Naruto said petulantly.

"Very mature, Naruto," Sasuke crooned. "Let's hope your child takes up after your mate instead of you, or else we'll be in trouble."

"Hiba det pata!"

Lee gaped. "Watch your tongue!"

"Listen to the opa of my child," Sasuke purred.

Lee turned on him with a glare. "And you, stop harassing Naruto! He's a father now."

"I'm a father too."

"You are a father-in-waiting. He is a father now."

"But you love me."

"That is beside the point." He waved a hand dismissively.

Sasuke grabbed his hand and nipped his inner wrist. Lee shivered as Sasuke stared at him heatedly.

Damn his hormones, but, suddenly, all he could think about was having Sasuke in bed with him.

Naruto must have sensed it, or, maybe he knew the look because of his imou-saeng's pregnancy. Either way, he scowled. "Get out of here. When Hinata wakes up, we'll call you back in. Hypocrites. Really, like this is the first memory my baby boy needs of you two!"

Lee flushed darkly. Sasuke growled in warning. "I don't mind an audience, if you really want to try me."

Lee grabbed him quickly and pulled him towards the door. "Call us back the moment she wakes up! We want to be here when you name him! I am so proud of you, Naruto!" And he shoved Sasuke out of Naruto's private quarters.

"What?" Sasuke asked amusedly when Lee sulked at him. "He was testing me."

"And you failed."

"I never fail."

"You are failing at this argument and, if you don't stop trying to justify yourself, you will fail as a lover as well."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed on him, as if trying to gouge if he was serious or not. Arms crossed, chin thrown up, eyes slitted, Lee was the image of seriousness.

And then Sasuke grabbed him by his hips, pushed him against a wall, and bucked against him.

The image of seriousness slinked away as if it had never been and Lee groaned in obvious bliss as his hands clenched low on Sasuke's back, pulling him closer.

"I think I win as a lover."

"I think you need to prove this."

Without another word, Sasuke picked him up and stalked to their own private quarters.

Why did it have to be so far away?

Because Sasuke had wanted a room directly in the waterfall's path while Naruto had a window that faced the dawn.

Lee growled lightly and sucked Sasuke's lower lip into his mouth, legs locked tightly around his waist. They fell forward into their nest and Sasuke immediately began removing clothing.

Lee tilted his head back so that Sasuke could suck on his neck.

A small obsidian box had taken residency on Sasuke's desk. Cloth of green and blue and white, to mirror the shades of the ocean, lined it and, perched carefully in its folds were two small pearls.

One was glossy black and the other was milky white.

Sasuke mouthed two words against his flesh, a soft, breathy declaration, and Lee sighed happily, taking his eyes off the proof of their bond to relish in his mate's attention.

He cupped the back of his mate's head and pressed a small, chaste kiss to his forehead. Sasuke looked up at him and Lee kissed the tip of his nose as well. "I love you too."

~""~

Translations:

Joduck – Fuck – Language of the West

The End…