Chapter 10 – Beloved
A/N: *reminds myself to write… watches two hours of vines on YouTube instead* Some warning applies, pretty bloody down below, kinda gory, proceed with caution. It's only a tiny bit so don't worry.
It was well into the night when Naruto finally sat down. He'd been up all night waiting for his alpha's return but after midday passed it was apparent that the wolf wouldn't be home. Not yet at least. So Naruto went to be a good mate and do his chores. He set up the clothesline, pulled buckets and buckets of water from the well and he'd washed every bit of clothes he could find. He ate a late lunch and drank his tea then he cleaned the shed and planted their small garden and when that was done he made dinner and now sat at the table staring at his bowl of soup.
He drank it slowly as he stared at nothing. As if the bits of carrot and potato would tell him where the fuck his mate had run off to. Naruto was sure he'd put all the spices he'd brought into the broth but it tasted bland, scentless.
He checked the time, past 11, when the blonde washed the dishes and changed the bandages on his arm after a quick bath. His mind and body still on alert, the axe not far from reach. Sasuke had broken the skin but the wound was more wide than deep. A little digging uncovered a whole box of medical supplies in the closet. Sasuke must've been too paranoid to get proper treatment from the doctors in town so he'd fixed himself when he got hurt.
When Naruto had seen the box he'd laughed out loud for several minutes before he broke down and cried. He cried and yelled until his voice hurt and his eyes burned then he laid in bed and cried some more. He missed his mate terribly. He was just dozing off when he heard Sasuke's howl.
He sat up quickly, ears twitching as he listened again but after 20 minutes and no howl he was convinced that he'd just been hearing things. He'd been working all day and he was just tired. Determined not to let his disappointment get the better of him he slowly laid back down and covered himself. That's when he heard it again, Sasuke's howl was long and sorrowful, filled with pain. He was out of the bed in seconds and dragging on the nearest pants and shirt he could find.
He dug around for his band but he couldn't find. Sasuke howled again, sounding in even more pain than before. He was calling for his omega. He must be too hurt to move! Naruto's thoughts were solely focused on finding his mate. He dragged on more shirts and a thick jacket before he grabbed his axe and ran outside. The wind was picking up, it was too dark to see anything and the flurries of snow weren't helping, even with the aide of his wolf's senses.
He needed to bring Sasuke home but it would be all for naught if the wolf didn't survive the return trip home. Hurrying back inside he stripped the bed of their sheets and blankets and rushed them to the shed where his wagon rested then he went back inside for the medical kit they had. He tossed them all into the back of the wagon. A moment's hesitation and then he was going back into the house to pour the soup into a large sealed container before he quickly locked up the house, set it in a corner of the wagon under the sheets, lit up a lantern and attached it to the side of the wagon before he started to drag it through the snow.
Since it was a mating wagon it was much smaller and lighter than a traveling wagon which Naruto was severely grateful for. Sure it would be nice to have a horse drawn wagon it but this was somewhat easier to pull through the mounds of snow. "Sasuke!" he bellowed into the darkness. He hoped the man was still conscious. If he wasn't then there was no way Naruto would be able to find him. "Sasuke!" he cried out again, this time there was a high pitch whine a little off to the left that answered him. He turned in that directed and stomped off, lifting his knees high out of the snow then down as hard as he could so he wouldn't stumble and fall.
Pushing through the snow was hard. His legs burned and he was so cold but the thought of Sasuke out there alone without nearly as much warmth as he had frightened him and gave him the extra bit of strength he needed to press on.
He was sweaty and tired when he spotted Sasuke, almost completely covered by snow, only his head peeking through. "Oh God Sasuke…" He dusted the powdery snow off his mate's body so he could get a good look at him. The earth was soaked red and Sasuke's fur was in patches and matted with blood. The wolf's pulse felt weak beneath his fingers and the storm was howling around them. He wrapped Sasuke's large body the best he could with one of the sheets before he looked around for some form of shelter for them.
They were in a dense part of the forest, there were no caves there, only thick wide tree trunks. He set the wagon to shelter Sasuke and one lantern as close to the wolf's prone body as he could while he searched for somewhere, anywhere they could hide themselves from the storm. Naruto found it just a few minutes away, the hollow root of a tree. He worked quickly, sharp claws digging into the ground to clear away rocks and roots and further hollow out the tree and axe hacking away at what would be the entrance to the hollow inside. He worked his way around the tree, covering the exposed holes with the excess dirt he dug out then covered that dirt with snow and patted it together. He continued to stack it all up until he base of the tree looked like a mole hill.
Getting Sasuke's body up into the wagon was a task. The wolf was as big as the blonde and most likely twice as heavy. Sasuke was still alive, barely, but he couldn't help at all. It was all up to Naruto to do the work of hefting the beast up into it. When he finally did get Sasuke up into the back of the wagon his wound seemed to start bleeding even more and the blonde had no choice but to start patching him up there.
He'd never taken a lesson in being a doctor before, not a formal lesson at least, he'd watched babies get delivered and cleaned a bruised knee but other than that it hadn't interested him but here he was now. Soaking a strip of cloth in rum from the medical kit and dragging it through the first of many open wounds. Naruto bit his lips as he waited for Sasuke to cry out in pain or wince or shift or anything. But nothing happened and Naruto once again felt the overwhelming need to cry. He couldn't though, it was too cold. He needed to stop Sasuke's bleeding and get him somewhere warm.
It wasn't as easy as he thought, to patch bits of flesh together, so he had to settle for wrapping the wolf's scars as best as he could until he had proper light and a place to properly focus. He pulled the wagon through the snow and to where they would spend the night. Getting Sasuke through the entrance in the roots was easy. It was a downward slope so Naruto had placed him at the entrance, crawled inside and set up the sheets on the ground then pulled the wolf down into it.
He wrapped the wolf up and set the two lantern on both his sides while he went out and moved his wagon away from where they were before he went back in to seal the entrance. "Sasuke honey?" He called stroking the large canine face. "Can you hear me?" he kept stroking and touching, relief seeping into his bones. Finally, Sasuke was home. "I'm here Sasuke. Can you hear me? Can you move anything?" No response. Naruto went to work then, unwrapping Sasuke and ripping the thinner sheets into strips with his claws so that he could wrap them all around the wolf. If Sasuke was in his human form it would make what he was about to do so much easier but Sasuke was non responsive so Naruto was on his own.
He sucked in a breath as he remembered Chiyo tending to Kiba once, a long time ago when they were just pups. From the medical box he pulled a thick needle a roll of thread and grabbed the rum. He sucked in another breath, "Sasuke… I'm going to sew your skin back together okay?" he wished Sasuke would wake up and tell him no. He waited for the wolf say something, but of course, he just continued to sleep. "I know I'm good at sewing but I've never sewn skin before," he laughed out loud even though this was a really serious situation.
With shaky hands he threaded the needle then burnt the tip on one of the lantern's flame before he washed it off with the rum. Chiyo had said that it needed to be sterilized. Taking another deep breath he slowly cleaned some blood and dirt away before he poked Sasuke flesh with the needle. Still, no response, "you better wake up and tell me no if you don't want me to Sasuke," he chuckled, he wasn't expecting a reply this time. Biting his lip as he wished his hand would steady itself, he pressed the needle into Sasuke's skin but getting it through the other side took some effort. He pushed and pushed before finally it popped out on the other side and the food that Naruto could already barely keep down bubbled right back up as he stomach gurgled.
He coughed up the vomit, twisting his body to the side but not before some dripped on his hand and shoulder. "Oh God Sasuke I'm sorry." He doubled over and puked up his dinner, gagging and coughing until his stomach was completely empty. "Oh God…" he whimpered, tears clouding his eyes. HIs ears pressed flat against his head with shame. "I'm so sorry- I'm so sorry... I can't- I can't do it Sasuke," spitting out what remained in his mouth he wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve then dragged his hand on the back of his pants, he stumbled over to his mate to wipe any vomit that got on him too.
He started to cry as he wiped at the seemingly endless flow of blood pouring from all over Sasuke's body. "I'm sorry, please wake up, tell me what to do… I'm sorry I didn't listen to you about Orochimaru. I'll be better next time. I'll listen to everything you say… please wake up. I can't do this!" but if he didn't do it then Sasuke would die. He didn't have a choice, if he wanted to protect what he had he needed to do something now. If he wanted to prove that he could handle Orochimaru in at least one way… then he at least needed to be able to save his mate.
Pouring a bit of rum in his palm he washed his hands before he turned back to where he left the needle was still in Sasuke skin. He gagged, tears burning the brim of his eyes but he ignored it and focused solely on his task. He sat, legs folded under him for the whole two hours it took to stitch Sasuke's stomach, fore leg, thigh and ear back into place. Still, without moving he wiped the splotches of blood from the stitches then tightly bandaged his mate up then wrapped the wolf in the sheets before he finally moved.
His body felt sore and there wasn't anyway for him to stand and stretch the kinks in his joints but at least Sasuke's life wasn't in imminent danger anymore. He was proud of himself, he'd never been exposed to so much blood on his own before but he had overcome. Now he needed to carefully watch over his mate to make sure that none of the wounds got infected.
He stretched his arms and legs the best he could in the small space before he dug up some dirt to cover his vomit before he settled down to drink some of the soup. He was starving now. He could drink the whole thing if he put his mind to it but Sasuke would need something to eat when he finally woke up.
He checked the roots one more time to make sure they were properly sealed before he set the axe close to him then curled up behind Sasuke and, comforted by his mate's scent, fell asleep.
000
Naruto woke up feeling incredibly warm and grounded. He felt like he could take on the world. He looked beside him to see that Sasuke was still in his beast form but he was breathing heavily now and Naruto could clearly his mate's heartbeat without having to put his ear to the wolf's chest. Pride swelled in his chest and his tail slapped the ground repeatedly as he grinned. He let himself celebrate for a brief moment before he finished the rest of the soup, relaxed for a minute or two before he started to dig his way out of their hole. He was just crawling out when he paused to snatch the axe beside him as he ears tried to pick up any strange sounds. Not hearing anything he fully climbed out and glanced around before he went to the wagon, almost completely covered by last night's snow, cleared it off and went to get Sasuke.
Getting Sasuke out of the hole was hard. Partly because Naruto didn't want to drag and pull him so hard that he rips the stitches he'd tediously worked on. He'd had to do a bit of tugging and pulling on Sasuke's thick fur to help him get Sasuke's lower body out of the hole without ripping his stomach wide open. Naruto's fingers slipped through Sasuke's fur and his mate's body dropped hard on the ground. "Oh my gosh!" he rushed to his mate's side, running his fingers over Sasuke's stomach and through his fur. "Are you okay?" He wiped the sweat from the furrow of his brows as he let the sound of Sasuke's strong heartbeat calm him. Sasuke's fur was dirtier than before, the melting snow sticking to the blood and dirt already in tufts. He stroked Sasuke's face gently as he smiled down at him. "Let's go home…" he murmured as he maneuvered Sasuke to the wagon and heaved him up. A quick check of his wounds and then he was turning off into the direction of their house.
Twenty minutes into the walk home and Naruto was even more exhausted than he was last night trying to find Sasuke in a storm. The wolf was heavy and on top of having to pull Sasuke along on the wagon the snow had started to melt under the blaze of the sun making the ground slippery and unsteady. He stumbled several times before he decided to just push the wagon along instead of pulling it but that didn't make it any easier since he couldn't see where he was going.
It was late afternoon when he finally pulled the wagon close to their door. The tangy scent of blood coated the back of his throat as he checked over the wolf's wounds. He'd bled through his bandages. The ride home was rougher on Sasuke's body than he anticipated. He carefully climbed up into the wagon to cut the sheets away, they were soaked with blood and sweat anyways, and let the cuts air out while he went for a soft washcloth and a bucket of water to clean his mate up.
"Hey honey, I'm going to wipe you down then put you inside on the bed okay?" he stroked Sasuke's head before he bent over to kiss Sasuke's snout. He was just pulling away when a thick, rough, wet and warm tongue dragged over the side of his face. "Sasuke!" he cupped the man's face as the wolf stared at him. "Oh Sasuke you're awake," the wolf huffed. "Are you in pain?" another huff. "Here!" he hurriedly rummaged through the medical kit for the bottle of tonic that would relieve Sasuke's pain. "Wait I'll get a spoon." Another huff. He was on the verge of tears, he really wanted to cry, he was so happy that Sasuke was awake. He wasn't sure if he could have managed to get Sasuke inside on his own but it seemed that Sasuke wasn't ready to transform back into his human form. He grabbed the biggest spoon he could find before he grabbed the bucket of water and practically skipped outside.
Sasuke's large black eyes followed him as he poured the thick tonic onto the spoon before shifted the best he could into onto his belly so he could swallow it. He whined when the bitter taste hit the back of his throat and Naruto laughed at him. "Oh c'mon! It's not that bad!" he licked the spoon to test it. "Oh wow! I stand corrected, that is almost as bad as my tea." he scowled at the bottle before he set it aside. "I'm going to undo your bandages and clean you up okay?" a short bark, an improvement in Naruto's eyes. "I'm so happy you're back," he whispered Sasuke barked in response before he lathered Naruto's face with licks. The omega slapped him away chuckling lowly before he carefully set to cleaning his mate's fur.
Sasuke laid immobile on his stomach, head resting between his forelegs as he let Naruto turn him this way and that while he relaxed. He felt like he was being pampered, it felt quite good. He wished the water wasn't so cold though. He would tell Naruto so but every time he tried to transform back into a human his very bones would ache and blood would leak from his cuts.
He feared that if he forced the transformation it would leave his human body badly disfigured, so he had to just wait it out. He was most proud of Naruto for finding him. He'd just chased Dog, the anbu officer that was in their house, way out of the village and almost to the border of their territory. The man was skilled with his claws but Sasuke's new senses had given him an edge in battle, one that the officer hadn't been expecting. Being able to completely scent the man was a big improvement for him, since he couldn't sense them at all before.
Dog had tried to talk to him but he was so blinded by fury that he could only remember bits and pieces of what he had to say. The parts that did stick out to Sasuke was that he said he was sent to retrieve the Mugwort from their house but not engage them in any way. It made Sasuke whine to think the anbu went easy on him, "Oh I'm sorry! Are you okay? Was that too hard? I can't seem to get that bit of hair untangled. I'll go get my brush!" and then Naruto was running off into the house.
Naruto was such a good fucking omega. It made him whine again, one of the few sounds he could make while in this form. He'd make sure to get Naruto some sweetened peanuts later on or something. He deserved it. He was so strong and pure and good and the source of everything right in Sasuke's life. Naruto came skipping out of the house all smiles and pearly white teeth as he gently ran the brush through Sasuke's fur to get the tangles out. The love in Naruto's eyes was so palpable that the terror of Naruto being pregnant wasn't that terrifying anymore.
Granted he had no idea how they'd be able to protect a litter on their own when the most Sasuke could do was defend them from one threat then be immobilized for days afterwards, but he'd find a way to do it. There had to be some sort of way for him to advance his powers before Naruto gave birth at the end of spring. Shikamaru had also said that Kiba had advancements on his own powers, maybe they didn't go away after birth and Naruto would also have a new means of defending himself. If that was the case then they were already well on their way to protecting themselves from the worse of what Orochimaru would send their way.
"I'm all done!" Naruto stepped back to admire his work a proud grin on his face as Sasuke barked his praises. He felt really clean. He didn't think he even usually bathed himself as clean as how Naruto wiped him down. No leg left uncovered. When he was human again he'd make sure he made Naruto do it again. "Are you telling me good job? You better be! I am exhausted. And so hungry…" he rubbed his belly, "I didn't notice until now… can you help me get you down from the wagon? You're really heavy." Naruto presented the wolf with his back and Sasuke felt like his pride was being challenged by taking a piggyback ride from his omega. He glared at Naruto's back for a few minutes until the omega scoffed at him and told him now was not the time to be playing hard to get. Sasuke resented that, he just really didn't want to put his full weight on his tiny omega's back but when it started to snow again he had no choice. Plus Naruto was starting to look worn out. He wondered how long he was asleep for. He wondered if Naruto had eaten at all while waiting from him to come home. Finally giving in he slowly shuffled along the length of the wagon until he could drape his head on the blonde's shoulder. "Ok…" Naruto hefted him up, "I'm going to start walking now, if you feel your stitches being pulled at bark or something so I know. Okay?" Sasuke huffed by his ears and Naruto giggled in that sweet way that only he could.
Naruto practically ran inside with the wolf on his back. Halfway to their bedroom and Sasuke yelped when Naruto staggered with them and almost fell but then righted himself before they crashed to the ground then hurried into the bedroom and collapsed face first into the bed, Sasuke crashing down on top of him. He wondered if the blonde was okay, he barked at him until the omega showed signs of life. He peeked up from the bed giggling for no reason at all before he shimmied until he was out from under the wolf. "I forgot to spread the bed," he grinned while Sasuke stared at him. He was so confused… was this pregnancy hormones? "I'll go make us some dinner. Maybe some porridge," he ran a hand down the center of Sasuke's face and kissed his wet nose. "I'll be right back." Another kiss and then he was out of the bedroom and puttering around in the kitchen. Naruto had to be the weirdest omega he'd ever encountered. He was so adorable!
He shuffled around on the bed before he tried to undo the transformation but once again found it still wracked his body with pain. So he settled for laying down and closing his eyes, lulled by the sounds of Naruto humming in the house he fell asleep in mere moments.
Naruto, however, was on top of the world. Not only had he nursed his alpha to health but he'd cleaned him up and gave him medication so that there was no chance that he'd get an infection. When he'd come back inside the bundle of Mugwort that he'd tied up in a bag and hidden in a dark corner under the cupboard was still there which means that whoever it was, he strongly believed that it was the anbu, hadn't come back to search their house! Sasuke must have scared them off for good! He laughed out loud at the thought.
Of course now that the threat of Orochimaru had boldly made itself known he wasn't naive to think that Sasuke fending off one of the anbu's many officers would completely deter them from coming back but he felt a little better about their odds. A lot better actually. It was like overcoming their first hurdle and he was ecstatic. Sasuke was even awake and responsive! He wanted to throw himself a party for not completely breaking down. He didn't know why Sasuke wasn't turning back into a human but he was loose and relaxed meaning that there wasn't an imminent threat to them and all he needed to do was a bit more waiting. He could wait a bit more, Sasuke was already home and safe and warm so he'd do anymore worrying tomorrow. All he wanted to do now was curl up beside his mate. If only his stomach wasn't growling like a forest animal.
A/N:
A short skit by me -scene 1: start scene-
Me: [cheerful voice] Hi everyone! Such overwhelming positivity on the last chapter I'm so happy! [I wave to the computer screen] Thank you for following my plea to both follow and review the chapters! It means so much to me I really appreciate it! [I wink at the computer before she saves the document to check LSS]
10 new random people: [follows story but doesn't review]
Me: -_- unfollow this motherfucker right now unless you gonna review… [I glare at computer]
-scene 1: end scene-
For real though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did or didn't please leave a review to tell me what you think!