Discalimers are in the first chapter.

Well, now I'm back on schedule. Hopefully this will clear up some of the confusion (or myabe add to it... heh). I think this is almost halfway done, the way I have it planned out. Don't worry, everything gets explained by the end. I think. Either way, I hope you enjoy this as much as you've seemed to enjoy the last few chapters!

Also, a note: Sasuke will continue to be written in the style of John Steinbeck.

~*~ Who's Your Daddy? ~*~

"So, I wanted to ask you guys if you had any idea who it might be," Kakashi concluded. Sasuke and Sakura were again seated in the field where they'd proven their worth as Genin, while Kakashi sat on a post. This time, however, it was Kakashi who had called them there. He'd told Sakura and Sasuke to come a little early, as he had some questions he wanted to ask, but as usual he himself had shown up almost as late as he'd told Naruto to come.

"I have no idea," Sasuke said, standing up and preparing to walk home. He didn't have time to waste on whatever trouble that idiot had gotten himself into. Especially if it involved... He stuffed his fists into his pockets.

"Are you sure, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. Sasuke blinked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You mean you you don't have *any* idea who the father of Naruto's child might be?" she insisted. Kakashi raised his eyebrows and leaned forward. Sasuke groaned inwardly. There went his hopes of a quick meeting and quicker escape.

"No, none," he answered.

"None whatsoever?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Why would he? He didn't keep track of Naruto, or of his... his liaisons. So he'd gotten himself knocked up. So what? That wasn't jealousy he was feeling, it was irritation. He didn't care who Naruto had slept with, whether he'd enjoyed it, whether he'd come back for more. He. Did. Not.

"I told you, no," he said. He turned around to leave the field and this stupid discussion, only to almost run into Naruto, who was standing right behind him.

"Gah!" he shouted, jumping backwards several feet. "Don't do that, moron!"

"Someone wasn't paying attention!" Naruto singsonged, then turned to Kakashi. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, what's up?"

"Hi Naruto," said Kakashi, "Actually, we were just talking about you, Naruto."

"Really?" Naruto cried happily. "About how great I am, how clever and powerful, how shining and--"

"Actually," Sasuke interrupted, "we were trying to figure out who knocked you up."

"Oh," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the ground. "Well, ah, that's--" Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned his back on Naruto, setting his sights on the edge of the field.

"Wait, wait, don't tell us," Kakashi said, stopping Sasuke's escape with a hand on his shoulder. "Let's make it a game. Sakura, tell us your theory, and Naruto, you tell us if she's right. If not, we'll keep on guessing. Sound like fun?"

"I really don't think this is funny, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said.

"OK!" Naruto beamed, oblivious to his teammate's bad moods. Kakashi glanced at Sakura expectantly.

"Oh, all right," Sakura sighed. She took a deep breath. "Do you remember a few weeks ago, when we had that 'training exercise?'" Kakashi nodded.

"The luncheon. Right."

"Well, Naruto and Sasuke-kun got into a fight, and they left together." She looked to Sasuke to confirm her story. He nodded. So he and Naruto had fought. What was her point?

"Go on," Kakashi said, clearly enjoying himself.

"After they'd been gone for a while, we--the ones in the restaurant-- started hearing these... thumping sounds. Rhythmic thumping sounds." She blushing. Kakashi's eyebrows raised to his hairline. Well, the visible one did, anyway. "And Sasuke-kun calling Naruto's name, and talking about 'finally getting him off.'" She paused for breath and looked at Sasuke with something akin to grief. "So I think... I think Sasuke-kun may be the father."

Sasuke snorted in disbelief. Even if he was the father, there was no way Naruto would ever admit--

"Yup, that's what happened," Naruto said. "Got it in one."

Sasuke froze. His right eyebrow twitched. Then he grabbed Naruto by the wrist and pulled him to a more secluded area, away from the poles.

"Why the hell did you say that, you moron?" he hissed. Naruto wrenched his wrist out of Sasuke's grasp and rubbed it ruefully. "You know as well as I do that that thumping sound was me banging your stupid head against the wall!"

"I know," Naruto said. "But you know what, Sasuke? You're a jerk. You're a jerk to me, and you're a jerk to Sakura-chan, and you have been for four years straight. If I'm going down," he smirked at Sasuke in a manner that could only be described as evil, "you're coming with me."

Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief, blood draining from his face. Then he punched Naruto as hard as he could. Naruto flew backwards, landing near the poles. Sasuke had him pinned in a second, and was just about to pound him into the dirt when strong arms pulled him off his teammate.

"I don't know what he said to piss you off aside from the obvious, Sasuke," Kakashi said in a deadly voice, "But you do not hit pregnant ladies."

"He is *not* a lady!" Sasuke screamed, fighting against Kakashi's strong grip. "He's a bastard, that's what he is! A lying, scheming, idiotic, no- good, dead-last, two-timing bastard!" Sakura helped Naruto into a sitting position, glaring at him all the while. "I hate you, Naruto! You fucking bastard, I hate you!"

"Sakura, get him out of here, all right?" Kakashi said. Sakura nodded and helped Naruto get up. Naruto was rubbing his cheek and gazing at Sasuke like he'd just been betrayed by the thing he loved most in the world. Sasuke felt his rage dwindle into impotence at the sight. He looked away. So what if he'd caused that expression. Naruto had betrayed him first.

Once Sakura and Naruto were safely out of the field, Sasuke felt the arms around him loosen. He broke free the instant he could and escaped into the forest. Kakashi called for him to come back, but he ignored it, instead running until emotional pain and shock caused his legs to give out deep within the forest. He curled into a ball there on the ground and hugged himself, pressing his knees against his eyelids.

Why? Why was this happening to him? Wasn't his brother killing his entire family enough? What god out there had decided to pick on him? How could Naruto have done that? To him? He'd trusted him! Trusted him with his life, and...

And his heart. He couldn't deny it any longer. He cared for Naruto as more than a rival, more than a teammate, and had for a long, long time.

And that just made it hurt all the more.

He shook with silent sobs, feeling tears spill from his eyes and not willing them away for once. He was sixteen, and in love, and life sucked. After what seemed like a long, long time, he stopped and sat up, wiping at his eyes. It wasn't that he wanted to stop, it was that he'd run out of tears to cry. His throat hurt, he felt sick, and he realized, as he looked at his surroundings for the first time, that he'd fallen down right in front of the tree he'd mutilated months ago.

He punched the tree for old times' sake and leaned his back against it, gazing up at the dispassionate sky. Then he drew his knees up and let his head fall forward onto them. Why couldn't he have just one break in his life? Just one day of clear skies and unbroken sunshine?

The wind suddenly picked up. Sasuke blinked as he sensed that, however impossible it seemed, the sky had somehow heard his plea. He raised his head and looked up through the forest canopy, hope swelling in his heart, waiting for the ray of light he was sure would come.

And then, it rained.