She hadn't always loved him.

In fact he'd been a great vexation to her for years before he grew up enough to impress her. Of course her respective immediate family and his—though really, they were in the same clan, so did it matter?—had been telling her he'd wise up one day. She hadn't held her breath, always upset when the man who'd been a boy training to be a ninja had teased her relentlessly.

She'd always thought he'd hated her.

She couldn't have been further from the truth.

Besides, she'd always imagine that she'd end up with some civilian like her. She knew she was of the gentle sort, hated bloodshed and violence really. It was a visceral fear of it that usually kept her at bay from most of her clan. That and she hadn't wanted to marry a cousin, even if it was to preserve their "golden" bloodline. Luckily, Tomoharu had been quite far removed from her family line when she'd finally taken a liking to him, if one could believe with them sharing the fanned emblem at their backs.

Hiyori stuck out her tongue at the shinobi. He had the gall to bark at her in laughter.

"Haru," she warned softly, but he simply kept laughing. "Are you sure you're not an Inuzuka? You sure sound like one."

He howled with laughter, and for a moment she forgot what she was so annoyed about as she took in his happy, glowing face. She could never be mad at him long, not that she was going to anyways. She'd always been too easy on him.

"I love you," he finally breathed out when air came back to him. And then he kissed her.

He'd been kissing her for quite some time, but this one felt supremely different from their usual slow, casual ones. Those had been innocent because for all that they'd been dating since she was fifteen, they hadn't done much. She'd been worried that she was maybe too young to know if he was the right man for her, knew that if she let him take her farther, they'd have to answer to the clan head.

But this kiss was burning. As if all the passion of the glowing candle their innocent relationship had been was swept into an inferno that quickened her pulse and made her release a sound she hadn't realized she could make.

She panted against him when he released her lips to suckle at that pulse, listening to him breath over her while pressing soft, soft kisses at her throat. It was heart wrenchingly gentle.

"H-ha—ru!" she cried out, an unknown fear rising inside of her chest. She wedged her arms against his chest and tried pushing him back. When he didn't, she pinched his neck with her fingers as hard as she could.

He jumped, scalded from her in surprise. For a moment he looked flushed, prepared to go at her again, but one look at her and he knew he'd have to stave whatever that was.

"Ah," he began shortly, a blush reddening his cheeks.

He looked at the floor, anywhere but at her. It honestly made it worse. He looked embarrassed for a moment as silence reigned and she tried to catch her shaking breath. But in those scant moments, he seemed to come to a great decision.

"I can't say I'm sorry," he said at once. "I love you very much, and I want to show you how much. Sometimes it's all I can do just to keep my hands off you, Yori."

Hiyori pressed her lips together, uncertain but meeting his eyes to see a well of sincerity in them. And something she'd been noticing since months ago, that light that had drawn her to him, a moth to a flame.

Except he wasn't just a flame, was he?

She couldn't pretend not to take his meaning.

She drew closer to him, a bird flying towards the sun—or perhaps a cloud was more suited to her. Wasn't her name the meaning of fine weather? Clear skies? A breeze that waited to see where it would go. Well, Hiyori knew where she wanted to go. She was terrified, but she knew where it was her breeze would take her. To a perfect spring day, her dearest and her most cherished person.

It was always him, after all.

She stood on her tiptoes, needing to grab at his jounin jacket to bring him closer to her he was so tall. He came willingly, their lips brushing softly before he tenderly brought her closer.

"I'm not sure if I quite love you after all your teasing earlier," she joked lightly, pulling her face from his. "But you can try filling me with yours."

It was as blatant as she could be. He hadn't been needed to be told twice.

ならぬ堪忍するが堪忍

Yuri woke up crying, reaching for someone knowing they weren't there—would never be there. Sobs that wracked and heaved in her chest and refused to calm until minutes had passed and she could think beyond clouds of memory.

It honestly felt a little like dying inside all over when she was grieving a man she hadn't personally ever met. The strangest thing was that she had been happy to receive those tender memories as unwelcome as they'd been in the past. For reasons she couldn't fathom, it was healing in a way. To know someone could touch another so . . . tenderly and there not to be any lasting pain. No feelings of revulsion, no bruising or lasting scars that reminded her all to well what it was to be a doll with nothing to hold onto.

She hadn't been aware a person could possibly hurt in such an exquisite bliss, to know love as pure and innocent as Hiyori and Tomoharu had. It would have made her sick, but she was just too glad it existed in the first place!

It wasn't like this was the first time for her seeing the memory or being aware of what had once been, but it was certainly the first time she'd been receptive to feeling more light hearted about it.

She no longer felt like a voyeur. She hoarded those precious moments of recall as the gems they were. Probably because they were the sole moments she'd ever felt as loved or as warm in her entire life aside from simple moments with Sasuke. They were the most tenderest moments she would likely ever receive if she couldn't get over her hatred—no, fear— of men.

Suddenly Yuri recalled what Hiyori had told Tomoharu at the end of their first coupling, after he'd begged her to tell him if she'd hurt or not. She couldn't help the chuckling it caused her even as tears dripped down her cheeks and onto her comforter.

"Honestly, you were so gentle I thought you'd break." It had been a non answer and he'd known. Truth was it was aggravatingly painful at first. But Hiyori had thought it was worth it just to see his face at the end. It'd been hilarious and endearing.

And Yuri, the parts belonging purely to the girl whose body she possessed now and even parts of herself, mourned for him. Mourned while wondering at the same time if she could possibly live without his love inside of her now even as the thought also repulsed her.

She shook herself of the thought, looking to the clock for the time. She had time yet before she was due at the doctors. Sadly she wouldn't be picking up Sasuke today as she'd be out because of it. It would be the first in a while where she didn't pick him up. At least she'd got to walk him there this morning.

Despite her nap not helping her mood, she knew she had to get out of bed for her check-up so she showered and tried to pick at a quick late lunch before departing from her apartment building.

She didn't know how people did it—being pregnant. Of course, she had to, but still. Her feet were aching and swollen; she could press her fingers into her ankles and see an indention in the skin when it came way, and it would take a minute for it to go back to normal. Her joints ached as well, and her lower back and shoulders were getting a work out daily since she'd never had to carry so much weight on her shoulders—not with her breasts swelling right along with her stomach.

It was worth it though. Always so worth it, if only to feel the kick inside telling her to keep going.

She breathed in the fresh air while making her way, already knowing her feet would be killing her by the time she made it back home in time to see Sasuke. This is why she made it a point to make it a leisurely stroll where she watched the day pass and wave to those making their way through the village as well.

It'd been roughly four months, nearly five months she'd been here and once that thought hit her, her somber mood surprisingly lifted. She didn't feel the need to berate herself when she was working so hard to improve herself, and the pep in herself told her that she might be even just slightly—okay, enormously proud of herself.

She'd certainly come a long way from a suicidal teenager with way too much drama on her hands. Now she was steadily becoming an adult with two kids on them.

How the oddest things happened.

Yuri felt a chill reach into her insides and she thought it was because she still had issues thinking on the day she died, despite what she told herself. Her heart beat faster though, refusing to listen her attempts at calming herself. Instead she quickened her pace in the streets, wondering why the heat of the tail end of spring wasn't warm enough for her. Idle thought ran through her head.

She slapped at a sharp sting to her arm, breathing heavy and wondering if she was just having a panic attack. They were familiar to her, but it'd been awhile. She didn't want to have one in the streets if she could help it, so with as much control as she could muster over herself, she looked for a place she could hide and calm herself.

She caught the sight of a dog then, a dog wearing a suspicious T-shirt that looked exceedingly familiar.

Sadly, she wasn't able to make heads or tails of it before she lost consciousness.

ならぬ堪忍するが堪忍

"Boss!"

Kakashi looked up from the book he was reading, his expression bored before he saw Urushi pop in a cloud right in front of him. He should have known something was up since he'd assigned this particular ninken to watch his charge today, but his mind had been elsewhere while he'd taken himself a brake.

"Yes?"

"Danger! Danger! Hiyori collapsed, was taken by enemy shinobi!"

Kakashi stiffened, his body hardening and the relaxed stupor he'd found himself in slipping. It didn't take him long to ready his things or himself for likely battle.

"Do you still have her scent?"

"Yeah, yours was still on her, too. There were about three unknown signatures in the vicinity, but only one came to pick her up. We have to hurry! She fell! The pup inside could be hurt!"

It was all that needed to be said.

ならぬ堪忍するが堪忍

Sasuke felt he was a bit ahead of the curve of classmates so he couldn't be sure, but he was near certain that obnoxious Naruto was trying to one up him. He scoffed. Like that would happen.

"Sasuke-teme! Just you wait! Next time I'll get you for sure." Naruto hissed from the ground, his aquamarine gaze alight with anger.

"Whatever you say, dobe." It was very unlikely that the blond menace could ever surpass him. Sasuke was already the best in class, and he'd prove himself by always being the best.

He only remembered Hiyori's plea for him to make friends after he'd beaten the idiot to a pulp, and so looked around at his classmates for any potential ones that his cousin might like. Then he frowned. He didn't want any friends, but if ever he chose to have one, he realized they should be someone he might like instead.

Didn't matter, once his gaze swept over his classmates, the girls started making enough noise to damage his hearing, and the guys were all busy glaring at him. There was no one worth knowing here.

Before the . . . before, some of them he had spoken to and had a bit of rapport with. He used to joke and play around, too. It was a surprisingly pinching feeling in his chest that made him realize he might actually miss it. Not that he'd ever admit that to anyone, even Hiyori, and certainly not that he'd try to make nice with any of these kids.

At first when he came back from his mourning period, they'd either did one or two things. Crowded him until he was sick with hate for people, or sit as far from him as possible as if death of loved ones was contagious.

His thoughts on the matter? Death was a disease everyone had.

Of course, Hiyori would hate that he thought that way but it didn't make it any less true. He'd almost hated having been born in the first place, knowing he'd have to pass one day, too. That it was the one thing guaranteed in life, and that it was an irony. If he hadn't had existed in the first place, he'd never had to have experienced all this bullshit. It was probably the knowing that made it worse. Knowing he wasn't alone in these fears, that Hiyori who had an even scarier brush with her mortality most likely felt the same in some ways.

He was all too aware that that no matter what he did Hiyori would die some day. Even if she made it to a ripe old age, she'd die. Knew the baby growing inside of her now that hadn't even greeted the world yet would one day cease to exist as well.

It didn't stop his chest from welling with that light, tentative happy feeling he got when he thought of his cousin and the baby. The part of him that had been an optimist reared its head—perhaps it was those tentative feelings that was the gift of life, rather than the certainty of its eventual end.

It was while he was heading back into the classroom for more theory based work inside that he saw a small girl with peculiar eyes hanging back, a sad expression on her face. She was watching after someone, her lavender eyes tell tale. He'd nearly forgotten there was a Hyuuga in his class. He traced her gaze to a particular blond head of hair.

Sasuke scowled. There really was no one suitable.

ならぬ堪忍するが堪忍

Yuri woke for the third time that day, or in hopefully the same day. Her head was filled with fog as she struggled to recall what she'd been thinking of moments before. Subconsciously, her hand moved to go to her stomach—it never made it there.

There was a sinking feeling in her gut then as she blinked to clear the fog only to realize she wanted out of her head, out this body the moment her eyes met only darkness. She panicked, tried to breath, but the fabric over head kept the oxygen at a bare minimum, and—and then her heart settled and her breathing evened out. She idly recognized this as the sort of trance she'd go into when bad things happened to her.

Right then, she was simply a spector inside her own head, thinking about inane things such as what meal she should prepare for Sasuke and how cute he looked while eating spaghetti. Her adorable kid acting hot and cold with her while they laid in bed in the early morning. His hand running along her stomach with the strangest expression on his face telling her that while he found a baby inside of her odd, he was happy.

But thoughts of her child, currently inside of her and at real risk threatened to break that calm.

She'd done this before, she couldn't freak out now after all this time. She had to think, not react immediately. Had to keep herself aware.

Then, for a horrifying moment she feared she was back in her old body. That it'd all been some bittersweet dream of a place to heal, and to trick herself into thinking she wasn't in hell. Because how could something so wonderful exist for someone like her? How could she be even more messed up? Dreaming of killing herself for a freedom she'd never rightly have.

It was a thought that made her feel empty. She'd never known what it was like after all—to be filled up with love.

"She's awake," came a voice somewhere distant, but too close for comfort. She wondered if she'd ever heard it before, but couldn't place it. If she was Yuri again then it was a possibility this man was new.

Light blinked into her eyes and fresh air came to her the moment someone ripped whatever cloth it was from her head. She focused her vision, blinking heavily, struggling for calm while she took in details minutely.

Her stomach dropped, tears peppered at her eyelids. She knew at least one of these people, and it was a terrifying realization where she was.

"Who fathered your child?" Kabuto asked her, and she had to bite on her tongue not say something stupid.

Someone in the back chuckled. "It was probably that Itachi brat, got one in when he was trying to kill her."

Another laughed, "Who could blame him? I'd take a little extra time with her, too."

Yuri chilled, looked everywhere but at the leering men with otogakure hitai-ate, and found that she was as she expected. Trapped to some sort of examination table, wrists and ankles locked beneath metal bands that didn't look too easy to break.

"Do yourselves a favor, and get out," Kabuto hissed. She hated that she was grateful when they listened to him. Then he turned back to her. "Is what they said true?"

She bit her lip, looked away and thought of Tomoharu. Kabuto reached for her chin and forced her to look at him. Where he touched, goosebumps formed.

"Answer me, Hiyori-chan." The familiar tone he used wasn't doing him favors if he thought he was disarming her. Did he think he could play good cop to any advantage aside from terrifying her?

She didn't want to tell him the truth though. No one knew who the father was, not specifically besides Sasuke who had known him. Her doctor simply knew he'd died in the massacre and everyone else just figured it was some Uchiha. Her clan wasn't known for marrying outsider's after all. They were all uncomfortably related somehow.

"N-not . . ." Gods she hated how weak she sounded. How weak she was. She finished, "telling."

Kabuto pursed his lips, displeased.

"I have to know if I should terminate your fetus just yet, Hiyori-chan. If it's father is another Uchiha, we'll let you carry to term." As if he was giving her a gift. Hah.

Yuri chuckled, the situation getting to her in a strange way. She didn't know what gave her the gall to say, "Any child of mine will be an Uchiha, you know this. Why kill one that's already planted? You'll be using me the same way won't you? For my clans eyes." She laughed. "Sounds to me you'll do whatever you want, you just want to know if my child will be all the more likely to inherit the sharingan."

"Well," Kabuto said sweetly. He ran his fingers against her cheek. "I suppose you have this all figured out."

"Only the most obvious things. But I can guess the rest." And she could. Kabuto was Orochimaru's little pawn who did as he said, which included human experimentation, which she wouldn't put it past their lot to try on her child or if they had plans for her to have a whole brood, children. They could desire messing with her clan's sharingan itself.

Yuri, pumped with that strange lack of caring, didn't even flinch when he slapped her. It didn't even hurt that much.

"Did you make a little mistake with an outsider? Is that why you're keeping quiet?"

She snorted, giving too much away in her expression.

"Ah so it was an Uchiha. That's all I wanted to know, Hiyori-chan." He stroked her cheek again.

Perhaps she recognized the futility in fighting so she didn't even react. Kabuto left after a while of him muttering things to her about the health of her child, and though she hadn't thought he was the type to do it, he hummed while working with a bit of machinery. She was alone in the dark when he turned off the lights, telling her to get some sleep. Impossible for her, really.

But then for some reason she recalled the dog in that familiar T-shirt right before she passed out. Now that she had time to ruminate, she realized with an excited jolt that it was one of Kakashi's ninken. Ahah! she thought. That's why he was touching me so much yesterday, the scent for his ninken to follow! She hoped it wasn't a crazy thought and that she was grasping at straws.

If it meant Kakashi was on his way, hopefully using all his shinobi prowess to locate her, she'd let him touch her all over. At the queasy feeling that thought gave her, she scratched the all over part and thought maybe just enough for his smell to apply to her anytime. Gods, she prayed he'd find her but she didn't have real faith. Orochimaru had really well hidden labs all over the place.

Hating she was a damsel in distress, but aware that's exactly what she was, she hoped for Kakashi's swift rescue.

ならぬ堪忍するが堪忍

Itachi was annoyed at the presence that kept bugging him.

"I have someone," the non-entity Itachi refused to acknowledge said. "Someone from your precious clan."

He stiffened, thoughts of his little brother running through his mind as real fear permeated into his thoughts. He was the only one Orochimaru could have, the rest were all dead.

"I see this affects you, Itachi. Maybe you should have listened when I asked you for that alliance, yes?"

Itachi looked at the snake of a man, his jaws clenching and his fists balling themselves into stones at his side.

"Care to rethink your decision? I could be inclined to release them for a price."

Itachi, who had grown used to the way people priced lives, looked at Orochimaru and wondered if the man was a swindler or a merchant. Then he remembered those two things were the same and realized he was going to have to play into another's hand if he wanted to ascertain the truth of the matter.

ならぬ堪忍するが堪忍 — naranu kannin suru ga kannin — to endure what cannot be endured is true endurance (i.e.: bearing what is unbearable is true forbearance)

So sorry for not updating in a while, my desktop died and so I've had to write on a tablet, which isn't fun in the least and slow going, but here! Actual plot! I've been in a weird existential crisis mood lately, so forgive the morose tone. Thanks again so much for all those who reviewed the last chapter! Y'all be so kind to me D; Really keeps me going when I think I can't.