Ohohoho...Just one more chapter folks. I'm wrapping it up soon. And I don't like this chapter too much. I worry I rushed it D: But whatever. Enjoy while you still can! Bwahahahaha!

To feel... So helpless... It tore into me like nothing ever had before.

Feeling like you could do nothing, help no one, and be a nuisance...

That is what I felt like for 5 months, watching from distances as my life was fought for, but not by me, by someone else, someone who did not live like me, did not feel what I felt.

But still they fought like nothing could possibly stop them.

As if... I really mattered...

But I knew, even at this point, no one could really understand why I rejected all of this care.

I don't want to become dependent.

I don't want to be protected.

I don't want to see the people I love taken away from me.

Unfortunately, I had watched that over and over again with Itachi, watching as the two most cherished beings I had in my life were torn away from me, by either death, or hate.

If I could help it, which I probably couldn't, I would just throw everything away just to save them, or in this case, myself.

But, in another part of my mind, a majority of my mind, I just wanted to throw everyone away, lie to them that I really hated them, and run away. Run away so I could eventually break down and kill myself. Because even now, I would do anything to keep Sasuke. Even for a few minutes longer.

But in a few minutes, he could easily kill me.

Torn between the two, I decided.

I never wanted to see Sasuke again.

In the recesses of my mind, Kyuubi was threatening to slap me or atleast mentally.

"Snap OUT OF IT, you fool! This is all in your head, so stop thinking it's real!"

"But wasn't that the whole point of the genjutsu, to make me think it was real?"

"But it WASN'T real, so shut up! That brat still loves you!"

"You love him too, so it isn't much that you want to believe it isn't true."

"You... You little... ARGH you are such a BRAT!"

I didn't retort, I huffed at him. It only got him more flustered with anger.

"None of that was REAL. Your stupid baby is still alive, so stop spazzing, you bitch! That fucking genjutsu was to get you to freak out, okay! And now you're actually taking it seriously? You actually think Sasuke's out to kill you!"

I wasn't stupid. I knew it was an illusion. But the only thing was,

That face was too much.

The face that watched over me as I bled all over pale hands.

The face that smiled down as my body was broken.

The face that told me: He was happy.

I never wanted to see those luscious lips, no matter how beautiful I thought they were. Those lips had given me so much of a fright, I was afraid I would scream in terror if he ever smiled at me again.

Once I wake up, I know he will.

He will be right by my side, looking over me, and when I turn to him, he'll smile. He'll downright smile, his pretty little lips curved upward in a true smile.

Whether it was from happiness, satiated bloodlust, or both, I never wanted to see them.

Those eyes were not as terrifying. I damn well loved those eyes, with the light sparkle in the dark abyss of his iris, and the deadly charm in those bloody Sharingan. But I couldn't find myself cowering under them like I did with those lips.

Maybe it was to the fact that I had kissed those lips so many times before, that it was so horrible.

I had claimed those lips as mine, even when we were in the academy, when an accidental push had brought ours together, and we had freaked out, with myself feeling flushed with crimson cheeks and him the same. We didn't admit anything, or atleast, didn't have time before the fan girls kicked my gay ass. But he looked over at me, and I looked over at him, both of us leaving no action done and no word said. Because silence and compliance always lead to better.

Kyuubi was irritated, his red tails flailing about. He did love Sasuke, loved Sasuke as much as I did, maybe even more. But being kept in this cage all of my life, he tried to keep it to a low. He couldn't feel that way about Sasuke; He was a demon lord, for Kami-sama's sake. To feel this way for a human was beyond sick in his status, but he just couldn't help it. Kyuubi loved Sasuke so much.

"...So you aren't going to do anything, are you?" the way he said it, the way his voice quieted, I knew he felt defeated by my thoughts of never seeing Sasuke again. I was leaning my back against the bars of his cage; my knees huddled up to my chest. For reasons unknown at the moment, my belly was not swollen, so I could touch my chin to my protruding knees. My fingers were fiddling with the hem of my pants, eyes glazed over in thought.

"I don't know..." I whispered the words out, and Kyuubi settled himself with a hiss of exhaled breath. He knew he was making me nervous.

"Kit, the brat doesn't know anything about Itachi's genjutsu. You shouldn't take it out on him."

"I know that... I'm not going to scream at him or anything."

"But that was what I was expecting from you."

I huffed again, shifting my gaze over to the red bundle behind my back through the corner of my eye.

"How many times have you heard me being called 'Konoha's #1 Ninja of Surprising Someone'?"

He let out a breathy chuckle that reverberated on my warm back.

"...Too many times..."

---

I woke up after a few moments of silence with the fox, letting my eyes fix upon the hospital ceiling before anything else. Just laying there, with my hair splayed against the pillow, and feeling more light-headed than ever before, I realized I had come upon the unusual awaken once again. I didn't want to turn my head, I didn't want to blink, and I didn't even want to breathe. But instead, I did all of them at the same time.

Everyone was there. And I mean everyone. Rookies, teachers, and even Tsunade. Tsunade, for God's sake. They were crowded in a ring, focusing on not me, but on someone else. And that someone else, I could tell from over the crowd, was Sasuke. I had no idea what they were doing, but Sasuke seemed to be lightly bouncing, a very un-Sasuke like thing to do. I looked down, and saw that my stomach was once again flat, stretch marks trailing from my hips up to a crossed scar over my abdomen. I splayed fingers over it, checking to see how real it really was. I had never gotten a scar before. Kyuubi had always let my body be unmarred spare the whiskers, which could not be helped. But this was the first scar I had ever had; ever felt the little twinge of pain it unleashed from being only recently inflicted. It was as if the Kyuubi wanted to keep this one, to let me show it off.

I hadn't realized that all eyes were on me now, at how messy my hair was and how my eyelids drooped in exhaustion.

"Congratulations!"

My head jerked back to them, leaving me feeling dizzy. Waiting for my vision to return, I could only make out the movement of the circle of friends opening to see Sasuke, his back turned to me, still bouncing. My acute ears suddenly caught the light breathy coos and the shushes, the muffled giggles and the gurgling. A shrill shriek was sounded out as Sasuke bounced a little more enthusiastic instead of soft, a small laugh emitting from Sasuke's throat. As he slowly turned to me,

He smiled.

I was against that wall, the next moment. Everyone watched me carefully, the quick darting of my eyes, the scared look in those deep oceanic pools. They turned to Sasuke, who furrowed his eyebrows and politely gestured them to leave. They did so quickly, and the room was silent, save the baby.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." his voice was silky, silky like satin. I had never heard anything so beautiful. But I gulped and let out a strained breath.

"...Please don't hurt him...?" I ushered out. He looked at me with midnight eyes, filled with confusion and worry.

"...So...Itachi really did get to you..."

He walked closer. I was torn between trying to run from that murderer, and jumping into his arms with my baby. So I sat paralyzed, looking up at him with frightened eyes. He came even closer, and I did nothing. And by the time he was crawling over my body with a baby settled in the crook of his elbow, I was trembling like mad.

"You aren't going to run away...?" his mouth was on my ear, and it was at that point where I had to grab a hold of his other arm to keep myself from doing so. He took a small lick to the shell of the ear before looking me over entirely, my shaking hand still not relieving its grasp.

"Naruto, I'm sorry."

"...You shouldn't be..." my voice was raspy from under use. His eyebrows furrowed.

"...I didn't get there in time...He used the Mangekyou, and-"

I yanked his shirt down to force his lips to mine, and don't mind the cliché-ness of the wording, because all of it was forced and violent. He pulled back only slightly so he could breath, and I could answer.

"Please...Just don't smile at me..."

"But you're the only one that makes me smile truthfully."

"Then please... For my sake, please, only smile when I'm not looking..."

"Why...?"

"...In that world, you always smiled when you killed me...Killed him." I brushed a hand lightly over the baby's peach-fuzz of black hair.

He hugged me tight, ignoring the quiet protests from the baby caught in between.

"...I'm sorry..." I hugged him back.

"...Stop apologizing..."

"...I'm sorry..."

"Don't you ever listen to what I say?"

"...Never..."

"You should."

I saw the curve of his lips, and only a shiver escaped me, not a scream. He kissed me lightly on the temple with those murderous lips, and even that shiver disappeared.

To steal away all of my fears is something great indeed.