Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Fourteen
"Oh, come on!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
Sasuke hissed, as Sakura pulled his arm relentlessly, but Sasuke stood his ground. He remained stoic, with one hand in his pocket and a scowl on his face. Sakura had come over his house in her tiny red bikini, claiming that the whole gang was going to the beach, and she wanted him to come with.
"Sasuke-kun!" She exclaimed pulling harder, but Sasuke just wouldn't budge.
"I 'm not going."
Sakura threw her hands down in defeat, "Why? It's going to be so much fun! Everyone's going to be there!" Sakura pouted her lips childishly and crossed her arms across her red bikini top. Sasuke shrugged and plunged on his coach.
"Don't care."
Sakura groaned in frustration, but gave up, knowing very well that if Sasuke did not want to do something, he really didn't want to do it. "Okay, well I'll see you later." She bent over the coach and gave him a quick kiss on the head and was about to walk out the door, when Sasuke called her name. "Yes?" She called out, turning her head at him.
"Go put a shirt on."
"…?" Sakura blinked, and looked down at her attire. She was just wearing a red bikini top, with matching bottoms, but she was wearing Daisy Dukes. "I don't get it, why?"
"I don't want you walking out like that." He replied simply, not even looking at her.
"…But I'm going to the beach…"
"I know that."
"…So this is what I'm going to wear."
"I know that."
"So…?"
"So…you are not there yet. Go put a shirt on, and then take it off when you get to the beach." Sasuke explained removing his own plain white tee. Sakura puffed out her cheeks, about to retort, but held her tongue. A fight over what she could wear was not worth it. Sasuke tossed the shirt over to her, and though it smelt just like him…it was still annoying.
"Thanks Dad." Sakura rolled her eyes at the last part. "I'm going now."
Sasuke didn't respond though and just went back to his couch, and closed his eyes.
Day Fifteen
Sasuke shot up from the floor. The sun was just beginning to rise, leaving him completely dazed. He stretched, hearing the stitches in his bones loosen with a soft 'pop' noise. He had another dream about her. She had such a strong hold on him, and no matter how hard he tried to shake it off, he couldn't.
"You up?"
Sasuke slowly stood up in response as Kakashi handed him a burnt fish, and though it wasn't much, Sasuke appreciated it. As of today, Kakashi was really reluctant to show any form of kindness on this entire mission, but maybe he woke up on the right side of the floor this morning.
Sasuke nodded in thanks and sat back on the ground, squinting his eyes at the sun. They were half way done with their mission, already took the important scroll from the wrong hands and placed them in the right hands of the Suna, but from the Suna they had to transport some high profile debutant to the Village Hidden in the Mist.
"You look distracted." Kakashi stated lamely. If Sasuke didn't know any better he would think that Kakashi actually cared.
"I'm fine." He took a bite out of his fish, a bit more aggressively then he had wanted to, but those dreams about her that he's been having seemed to make him really hungry by the next morning.
Kakashi looked like he was about to ask another question, but let it slide and the two remained sitting there quietly as the rest of the team woke up.
"Oh!" Naruto squealed like a seven year old girl as his new 'toy' vibrated in his pocket. Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes, while Neji frowned.
"You are being very irrational." Neji stated simply. Naruto ignored him though, and stuck his tongue out at him.
"What? You've got to be kidding me, so if you had a child you wouldn't think about him all the time?" Naruto challenged reaching into his pocket and pulling out his new machine. Soon the irritating noise irrupted from it as Naruto played with it.
"I think it is magnificent!" Shouted the actual seven year old amongst them. She had a trilling high pitched voice, long black hair, and dazzling emerald eyes; that often remind him of Sakura. She was currently on Sasuke's back her tiny hands wrapped loosely around his neck. "Let me see the picture when you're done!"
Naruto grinned happily, and paused. Sasuke grunted; the more Naruto paused to check his stupid machine, the more time it took to do the mission. Kakashi sighed, and placed his bag on the clearing in the forest, taking out his famous orange book. Obviously, this was going to take a while.
Neji, on the other hand, dismissed himself into the forest for a few quiet moments.
The little girl climbed off of Sasuke's back and ran up to Naruto, clapping her hands giddily. Naruto had brought this new technology, a small handheld machine that you could receive and send pictures. It could even make 'phone calls', but there wasn't any reception in the whole ninja area…
Naruto had explained earlier that someone at Hinata's pregnancy class had recommended this device for communication when he went on long missions, and it obviously worked.
"Oh! Look!" Naruto held out his device, a picture of his Kaori smiling. Naruto eyes filled with water, "Amaya, look how big he has gotten!" Amaya squirmed the device out of Naruto's hand and cooed.
"He is adorable!"
During their nonsense, Sasuke could feel his temper rise. Hinata sends one picture of Kaori every freaking day through that device. And every day Naruto gets the same shocking expression on his face.
Three month old babies cannot grow significantly in fifteen days.
It doesn't happen, and though Sasuke wasn't a father (and most likely would never be) he knows very well that goes against the rules of physics.
"Sasuke-sama! Would you like to see?" Amaya skipped over to him holding the black device high above her head. "Baby Kaori is drooling today in this picture."
Sasuke made a face and shoved his hands in his pockets, obviously not interested. But Amaya didn't get the hint.
"So…you don't want to see it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"This isn't a question that requires a reason."
"Do you hate kids?"
"No."
"Oh, so you like kids?"
"No."
"…" She retreated her hand and her smile fading. "Oh."
Naruto ran over to the two and gently took the device from her hands, and glared at Sasuke.
"Don't worry Amaya! Sasuke loves kids, he's just being a jerk today!" He ruffled her hair. This girl had been isolated most of her life due to her status as the debutant of The Hidden Mist Village. Her father lived in Suna, while her mother lived in the Hidden Mist. It should be quite tiring travelling between regions every other weekend, and it didn't give her an opportunity to make friends.
"But, he's always like this." She pointed out sadly.
"I know, you'll get used to it," Naruto encouraged. Sasuke twitched; he really hated it when people spoke about him like he wasn't standing five feet away from them.
"Naruto, are you done?" Kakashi stood up stretching. He also hated when he read too much of the Icha Icha Paradise, because then when he finished it, what else was he going to do?
Naruto glared at Sasuke a moment later, but then he removed his gaze to nod his head at Kakashi.
"Yeah, sensei! Let's go!"
"Wait." Amaya pulled Naruto's sleeve, "where's Neji-san?"
Sasuke felt someone shift next to him that made him open his eyes. Sakura was fidgeting tears escaping her lids, and her mouth slightly open. Her chest was rising up and down dangerously and sweat layered her entire body. Clearly she was having a bad dream.
"Sakura, wake up." Sasuke said in a hushed, but yet alarmed tone. He grabbed her arm and shook her.
She opened her eyes, and made a sound that sounded as if she had just taken her first breath. Her back arched and eyes were glazed, fear hidden within them.
"Are you okay?" He demanded sitting up. Almost instantly, Sakura turned to look at him, as if she really hadn't noticed her surroundings. And the look that she gave him…was a look he never wanted to see in her eyes again.
"Sakura…" Sasuke started cautiously, gently gripping her shoulder. He felt her shy away from his touch, but not completely.
"Sasuke-kun…"
"Calm down." He ordered, placing his whole arm around her, engulfing her in a hug. Reluctantly, she placed her head against his chest and belittled herself into his body heat her own body shivering.
"Sasuke…" Sasuke's ears winced with the sound of her voice not using his name with its usual suffix.
"What is it?" He asked his chin resting on top of her drenched hair.
"…I don't want you to hurt me anymore."
Day Twenty
Eventually, the group had managed to find Neji on that same day. He had emerged from the forest with pink frosting on his cheek…no one could really explain it; either did he want to, so they left it at that.
Today though, signaled the nine day countdown to when Amaya would leave them, and Naruto decided that he and Sasuke go into the forest and see if they could pick a nice flower for her departure.
"This is stupid." Sasuke muttered, as Naruto went diving into bushes, puling anything colorful and beautiful out amongst the weeds. "Seriously."
"You just don't enjoy the simple things in life, teme."
Sasuke clenched his jaw and took his seat at a nearby boulder that was pretty comfortable, as he watched Naruto worry himself for the next fifteen minutes, but suddenly his device in his back pocket vibrated and Naruto grinned happily knowing exactly what time of the day it was.
Picture Time.
Sasuke snorted scornfully. It's not that he was jealous or anything, he could never be jealous of Naruto…
Naruto instantly plumped onto the floor reaching for the device, and he's grin grew. Silently he admired the picture and held it up for Sasuke to see, "You see how much he's grown?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "He always looks like that."
But Naruto shook his head defiantly, "No way!" He crawled up to Sasuke and sat right in front of him. "Take a closer look!"
Even though, he didn't want to, he had a feeling that Naruto wouldn't leave him alone until he did, so he snatched the device from Naruto's hand and actually looked at it.
And maybe to someone else the remarkable blonde disheveled hair, and trademark blue eyes would of seemed astonishing, but to him…it just reminded him of something he couldn't have.
A son.
"He still looks the same." Sasuke stated placing the device back in Naruto's hand. Naruto looked disappointed, but still held it out for him to be observed.
"No teme, you're not looking at it right," Naruto placed his thumb on one of the buttons and previous picture of Kaori appeared, in the same exact outfit he had worn the day they left. And he did look a bit smaller, younger.
From the look on Sasuke's face, Naruto could finally tell that he understood what he was trying to say. "You see, he's grown so much!"
Sasuke sighed, and simply nodded, casting his eyes off into the distance.
"Do you miss her?"
Sasuke jumped slightly at the question, avoiding Naruto's gaze.
"I don't know who you're talking about."
"Sakura-chan, who else?" Naruto sighed, he really cared for his friend, and he knows he's hurting badly since he's been distracted lately on the mission, and who could blame him…but it wasn't fair to Sakura as well.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"But…" Naruto started, "You can't hide from the problem forever, and she's going to have that kid."
Sasuke shrugged, still avoiding his gaze, "She screwed with another man, and you expect me to accept that calmly?"
"No! That's not how it happened!" Naruto blurted. He quickly covered his mouth, he had promised himself that he'd let Sakura break the news to him. But it was too late; Sasuke had already heard the words and glanced at him, his eyes quickly darkening.
"What are you saying?"
"Sasuke-teme…" Naruto sighed running his hands through his hair, "Look, Sakura-chan told me that the baby was injected into her by Kabuto."
"Injected…?" Sasuke's voice faded, slightly confused. Could they do that? Inject babies? Who even thinks of doing that? Did Kabuto want an offspring to carry on his twisted mind? "She told you this?"
Naruto nodded brushing himself off the ground, "She didn't cheat on you, she didn't sleep with another man, it was your twisted buddies that did that too her."
Sasuke's jaw clenched at the news as a memory flashed into his head of Sakura's nasty blue bruise that she had on her thigh when he found her in their lair. Of course, that's where he must've injected her… "They're not my companions."
"Well, they sure think they are. So when we go back to Konoha, I don't want you acting like such a wimp around her! Because it's not her fault! She's going to have a hard enough time as it is."
Sasuke stood up and started to walk back to the rest of their team. He shouldn't be thinking about this on a mission, and though at this point the mission was going pretty smooth, you are not supposed to let your mind wander too far down memory road, but before they continued with the mission, he wanted to ask Naruto something.
"What is it?" Naruto asked after Sasuke called his name out it in a very dead-panned way.
"Remember how much you hated Nagato, before you respected him, or whatever it is that you feel for him?"
"Hell yeah! He was a freaking asshole! Throwing Hinata around like she was a doll!"
"Good." Sasuke turned to face him head on, "Now imagine how it would feel if he impregnated Hinata, whether through needles, or whatever."
Naruto's face paled, and his throat became dry by just the mere thought of it. "Sasuke-teme, I don't…"
"Would you still care for Kaori like he was your own?"
"I-I…"
"Would you?"
"AWWWW!"
Sasuke's ears grimaced at Sakura's squeal. It was one of those rare days that they were out together in public, and though he has been back for eight months, dating her secretly for two, people still stared at them like they were moving mannequins.
Sakura had begged him to go to the park today. She claimed she was tired of hanging out in their houses, she wanted to get out. So of course, Sasuke gave her almost anything she wanted, and took her out to the park.
"Isn't that baby so cute!" Sakura awed from a distance as young couple attempted to teach their daughter how to walk.
"All children look the same."
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura laughed, and hit him jokingly on the shoulder. "Don't be so cold, so you're telling me you never want to have kid?"
Sasuke snorted, "Kids just hinder you strength wise. I don't need any more attachments to make me weaker."
"So…how do you expect to rebuild your clan?"
"What?"
"You said on that day when we had to introduce ourselves, a long time ago, that you had two goals. One of them was to rebuild your clan; you need kids if you want any more Uchiha's."
"Why do you remember that?" Sasuke sounded almost appalled by how stalker-ish she was at that age.
"It doesn't matter! You said it."
"I also said I would defeat 'a certain someone', correct?"
Sakura blinked, not really liking how the tone of the conversation no longer sounded playful.
Sasuke continued, "But, I'm not, am I?"
"B-but you're only taking a break…because…"
"Because of what?" Sasuke smirked, he would have embraced her by the waist…but they were in public. Wouldn't want to give any reasons for the villagers to gossiping more…
"…because…of me?"
"Exactly."
Day Twenty-five
"Okay dude!" Naruto through his hands down in frustration and pointed at Neji. "What is with the frosting you always have on your cheek?"
The whole gang stopped in their tracks, except for Amaya, she was sleeping comfortably on Sasuke's back.
"What are you accusing me off?" Neji wiped his cheek quickly, but dismissively.
"You know what I am talking about! You always go off into the woods and then come back with frosting! Like, that's serious bull! If you've got cake I want some too!"
Kakashi sighed, and pulled out his orange book, seriously this was going to take some time…as always.
Sasuke felt his left eye twitch, annoyed. "What does it matter? In five days we go home, and you can have the freaking ramen cake you want."
But Naruto ignored him, and still growled at Neji. He's never been one of his favorite people, with his dry sense…of everything. Even when he wanted to marry Hinata, he had always thought Neji would be on his side since he did help him escape those weird Hyuuga bonds or something. But no, Neji joined his ridiculous family and wore all black to their wedding ( seriously black tux, socks, shirt, tie…everything), which gave it a whole morbid feel, clearly disapproving it.
"If you must know." Neji reached into his bag and pulled out a plastic bowl that looked like it was filled with cupcakes.
"Why do you have that! And why didn't you give me any?"
"I do not want some diabetic father to raise my nephew, so I ate it myself."
Sasuke snorted, "To become the diabetic Uncle, huh?"
"No," Neji replied courtly, "As well Tenten created them."
"Who?" Naruto asked, startled. Did Neji have a girlfriend and he didn't know about it?
"Tenten…the female member on my team? We have been in an inclusive relationship for almost a year now."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to act stupefied. Neji was dating someone for a year? How come he never noticed…but then again you hardly see Neji in Konoha anymore. It's like after the chunnin exams he just disappeared.
"Holy shit!" Naruto cursed, "You are so lying!"
"I am not."
"You don't have a female member on your team!"
"…yes, I do."
"Whoa, are you serious? I've never seen her before, have you teme?" Naruto looked over at Sasuke who seemed just as lost as he was.
"She's the brunette that is always at the table for the weekly Sunday Dinner at the Hyuuga's resident?"
"I thought she was the cook!" Naruto said, amazed. He could not believe Hinata had not told him about Neji's secret girlfriend. "Wow, you are so good at keeping secrets."
"It was not a secret." Neji muttered annoyed. These barbarians he had work with, he would wish to never have to work with them again.
"Any wedding bells soon?" Naruto questioned a cheesy grin on his face. "I'd be sure to get my ALL BLACK tux ready!"
Neji ignored the latter part of his question. "I have not foreseen that much ahead into our future. But I do care deeply for her, and I believe that if you care enough for someone then that's all you need." Neji placed the container back in this bag and eyed Kakashi, who sighed and placed his book in his bag. Drama over, Mission continued.
"Oh, gosh I am so tired!" Sakura exclaimed collapsing on Sasuke's bed. Sasuke smirked as she balled up next to him. "I had to heal so many people today! It was so exhausting!"
"Hn," Sasuke didn't want to sound like he didn't care, but he truly didn't. Sakura's job sound awfully boring, but she loved it. That he could understand, because she was never really good at killing…anything.
"And now I'm completely free… and I have all the time in the world, just for you." Sakura kissed him gently on the nose, almost teasingly.
"You said you were tired." Sasuke incoherently managed to spit out as Sakura drew a small trail of kisses on his neck.
"Mmhmm," Sakura agreed, "But I'm never too tired for you." She kissed him and for a moment or two, everything seemed just perfect, until he suddenly pulled away. Sakura fought the urge to scream out in frustration, but just let out a small sigh. She noticed Sasuke's cursed mark was swirling dangerously, and at first it used to freak her out, but now all she wanted was to have him.
But there was no way Sasuke was even going to attempt going down that road again.
"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura purred, but Sasuke ignored her and just smirked.
"We are not doing this right now, unless you want your face clawed out by me." She knew it was supposed to be a joke, but she knew deep inside that somewhere deep inside she could hear Sasuke's hurt.
"Sasuke-kun, we'll be fine. Remember at first when just a small kiss could light you ablaze, well not anymore, your body will adjust to it…I'll adjust to it."
But Sasuke remained firm, and though he knew how much he wanted her…how much he needed her to complete himself he stood his ground.
"No, Sakura, I'm not taking that risk of going that far, and then blanking out."
Sakura frowned and shifted on her side, her back facing his. But, Sasuke only smirked at her childish act and traced her forearm with his finger. "Listen, I am doing this for your own sake."
"You never know if you don't try."
"I'm not taking that risk."
Sakura turned abruptly and faced him, "So Sasuke-kun, are you telling me that we'll never ever have-"
But Sasuke interrupted he sentence with a long sweet kiss, and then pulled away.
"Go to sleep, we'll talk about this later."
Day Twenty-Nine
Sasuke stirred in his sleep, and finally resulted in the fact that he could not fall back asleep. He slowly walked out into the fresh air letting the night breeze cool him down. That dream- or memory, he just had been so clear, and until this moment he had completely forgotten about it.
The wind blew harder and caused him to slightly shiver…and then he heard someone sneeze. He quickly turned his head and saw little Amaya curled up on top of a rock.
"What are you doing up?" Sasuke called out. He could tell he startled her.
"I couldn't sleep, why are you awake?"
Sasuke shrugged, "Naruto was snoring."
She giggled and slid off the stone, and skipped over to where Sasuke was standing staring at him admirably. "You know, you're very cute for a ninja!"
Sasuke snorted, "I doubt you're supposed to tell me that. Aren't you seven?"
"Doesn't matter, I'm sure you've got swarms of girlfriends just attacking you back at your home." Her green eyes twinkled at just the thought of it.
"Not necessarily."
"Really? So you don't even have one girlfriend?"
Sasuke swallowed, "No."
Amaya's eyes lit up happily, "Oh! Then could you wait for me Sasuke-san? Could you wait for me, it'll only be…" Amaya held up her little fingers and counted silently in her head, "…eleven more years!"
Sasuke chuckled, and couldn't resist staring down at the girl, the way her eyes emerald eyes glimmered in the dark just like-"Sure."
The little girl let out a squeal of happiness, "Yay! Now I have something to look forward to in my life!" Though she sounded happy, the tone of her voice sounding slightly depressing for a seven year old kid.
"I'm sure you'll have a lot more things to look forward to," Sasuke added, seven year olds should not be disappointed with their lives at this point in time. Unless, they're entire family had been executed by another member, then they have a legitimate reason.
But, poor Amaya shook her head, "No, I don't. Though my family is so rich, they don't pay any attention to me. And the fact that they're divorced doesn't help. They just shift me back village to village every weekend."
Sasuke remained silent while he listened to her story, "I just want to have one home, you know? I don't really care what parent I stay with, because I don't really know either of them, but I just want a home. With close friends and a normal neighborhood, like what you and Naruto-san have."
Amaya sighed, and wiped a tear from her eyes, "…but it doesn't matter, now. Just…" Amaya turned her teary face towards Sasuke's, "…when you have a kid, learn to pay attention to them."
They remained silent for some time, but then Sasuke just patted her raven hair. "Go back to sleep."
Sakura trudged through the town, consciously pulling down her shirt. Though, she was wearing one of the biggest t-shirts she had, she still could think that people could see her mini baby bump that she meticulously attempting to hide.
She knew she was just being paranoid, but she didn't want people to know yet, she didn't want people to find out. It was going to be a long nine months…
She sighed and pulled her long pink hair into a loose ponytail, Tsunade insisted that Sakura should keep up with her medical training just to maintain that public image.
She headed towards her office, and when she climbed up the stairs she could hear a familiar voice.
"Ah, Sasuke-teme! Let's go get some ramen!"
"Idiot."
"Aw, teme! Hinata can't stand any ramen anymore…puhleeeaseee?"
Sakura's heart stopped, and she stopped her climb to the top of the stairs. Were they already back? Had one month truly passed already? What was she going to say-
"Oh, Sakura-chan!"
'Damn…'
"Hey, how are you?" Naruto continued feeling slightly awkward. He could feel Sasuke shift his weight to his other foot besides him. Sakura smiled slowly, looking from Naruto to Sasuke.
"Hi, I didn't know you were back."
Naruto laughed, "Well aren't you getting a bit sloppy, you used to be able know the exact time me and this teme would return from missions!" Sakura felt herself get out a small laugh; that was true.
"I-I guess I had so much on my mind…"
Naruto nodded, and then scratched his head uncomfortably. "Well, I better be going, Sasuke-teme, don't forget the ramen at six!"
Sasuke grumbled something incoherently, as Naruto walked away, leaving him and Sakura alone on the staircase.
"Hi…" Sakura started slowly meeting his gaze. Sasuke nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"How are you feeling?" No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to shove that protective side of him away.
"Fine, I mean it's kind of heard dealing with this on my own you know?"
Sasuke felt the guilt rise in his stomach, but shoved it back down. Part of him really wanted to just hold her and protect her from everything, but he couldn't. Something held him back.
"Sasuke-kun…I wanted to tell you something before you ran out. I wanted to tell you how-"
"I know."
"You know?"
"Naruto told me."
"Oh… Well yeah…"
"It doesn't change anything."
"!"
"Sakura I can't deal with that…"
"Sasuke-kun… But!"
"…but I'll give you a choice."
Sakura bit her bottom lip to keep back the tears. "What is it?"
"It's either me or the kid."
Sakura's eyes widened, while Sasuke stared down at her, his gaze unwavering.
"Sasuke-kun, you can't expect me…"
"You have to pick what's more important." Sasuke interrupted.
Sakura opened her mouth, but then closed it. How could he expect her to pick between the two. She loved him, she really did…but she also loved this baby. Even though the father was technically Kabuto, she didn't really care. It was still her child, and she couldn't abort it…how could she forgive herself for that?
So she held her tongue and avoided his gaze by staring at the floor, tears escaping her eyes.
Sasuke didn't say anything for a moment, but by the tears…by the look on her face…he knew what she chose. And without saying anything he side stepped her and continued his descend down the stairs.
Naruto stood at the bottom of the stairs his heart crestfallen for he heard their entire conversation. He heard Sasuke take his last step down the stairs, and Naruto flattened himself against the wall, praying that Sasuke wouldn't sense him there, because he would surely kill him for listening.
But instead of continuing towards the exit, he heard him slump to the ground, his back against the adjacent wall.
"Shit Sakura…"
Naruto frowned, wanting to reach out to his friend, but thought better of it. Naruto sat on the floor himself until he was sure that Sasuke was alright.
.
.
.
"Would you still care for Kaori like he was your own?"
.
.
.
Voila! Finished and just short of 5,000 words. But seriously, would you care for a child that belonged to your enemy? Shit man, I wouldn't, have you lost ur mind! Haha! Review, and let me know…what would you do?
xooreoxo