Naruto was only faintly aware of the fact that he had just left his girlfriend sitting on one of those hellishly uncomfortable chairs without so much as a word of explanation, as he ran down the hall after his dark-haired rival. Later he was probably going to be kicking himself for ignoring her like Sasuke did Sakura or Ino, or just about anything else that didn't look mildly like it could give him a black eye. The only time he really got to spend with Hinata until her exam was over was during her lunch hour, and with the "extension" she had mentioned, he was probably going to have even less time to be alone with her. But, well, he told himself that old habits die hard…don't they? And like Sasuke, Naruto still had one nonnegotiable trait hanging on from their academy days, and it just so happened that that trait was triggered by the lingering Uchiha's veracious habit: he couldn't stand being ignored.
Naruto turned the corner and began devoting his thoughts to what he was going to do to the adored Sharingan wielder after he found him. His eyes darted around him as he entered a busier part of the hallway, looking for a blue shirt with the exaggerated red and white crest sewn onto the back. Naruto secretly always thought that it was pretty hypocritical for Sasuke to call him an idiot for wear orange on missions, when he went around wearing the exact colors used in a target sign on his back. Really, why would a clan want to taunt their enemies with such a large red and white embroidery? Especially if their personalities screamed "KILL ME, I'M A PSYCHOTIC ASSHOLE!"
But back to the point, who did Sasuke think he was anyway? Sure, Sasuke acting like an arrogant prick with an icicle shoved so far up his rear that people wanted to stare at his hips while he walked and wonder why they didn't see a waddle was perfectly normal. But damnit, he was supposed to be over shunning his teammates!
Naruto's mental ranting went on as he left the office part of the building and entered into the part of it that was actually used as a hospital. He was forced to slow down in his pursuit by the more noticeable increase in people. Though, this was more because of the part of his brain that told him crashing into someone would delay him from catching up with his complete jerk of a teammate, rather than the thought of being considerate to other people. He was Uzumaki Naruto after all, the sheer volume of his voice was a tribute how much consideration he had for others when his temper was provoked.
Naruto turned his head around to see if he had somehow passed his teammate without noticing. He was surprised that he hadn't caught up with the Uchiha heir yet; Sasuke didn't look like he had been walking that fast earlier.
Actually, the reason that Naruto hadn't spotted his rival yet was because the second Sasuke had turned the corner away from the Hokage's office, he had broken into a mad dash down the hall. ...Or, perhaps "dash" wasn't the right word to use. Perhaps the better description would have been "jogged" or "walked like a madman were standing behind him and preparing to shove an icicle up his rear so that people would forever wonder why their was no waddle to his movements." If one wasn't too busy muttering about what they were going to do once they caught up with stuck-up annoying bastards, they might have been able to see the faint indent of the Uchiha heir's feet in the tile. Or the way that some of the people he just barely managed to avoid crashing into were still staring after the dark haired boy in confusion. But of course, while Uchiha Sasuke was fending off an uncharacteristic melt down, Uzumaki Naruto was still being Uzumaki Naruto.
Which included being completely unobservant.
Though, Sasuke himself only noticed his speed by the way his bangs fluttered ceaselessly around his ears and forehead as his eyes raked along the walls for the door that would lead into the stairwell. An Uchiha having a mental break down in public was unheard of, and he'd be damned if people started hearing about it because of him.
When he finally found the door he was looking for, the raven haired boy brutally shoved it aside, not bothering to find an excuse for the action as he let it slam shut behind him. He was too busy denying that his movements were trying to betray his mental status with every twitch of his fingers. And that they were rapidly succeeding at the task.
The last two hours had been one long session of having the full results of his failed plan shoved down his throat. That damn, bloody plan...What the hell had made him think that Konoha's most attention-starved ninja would react at all negatively to fangirlish advances? WHAT THE HELL HAD HE BEEN THINKING!
Tsunade hadn't given him much time to think about the answer to his error in judgment, or at the very least, walk over to the full-room window behind her desk, calmly unlatch the glass panes, and gracefully make his decent to meet the concrete sidewalk outside.
"Don't look so shocked, Uchiha," Tsunade said five minutes after returning to her seat. "Even if this wasn't planned, someone of your composure shouldn't be so surprised about hearing this."
Sasuke's hand moved faster on the railing, reaching out ahead of his body and almost jerking it forward after every other step or so. The stairwell was completely empty, which he was thankful for when his hand half threw him over the last three stairs. He landed in a crouching position, one arm stretched upward so he could still hold onto the edge of the railing.
The thought of putting his hands back into his pockets and thus keeping them from continuing with their independent actions never crossed his mind.
"Think back over the last month. Even this early in the pregnancy, you should have experienced some symptoms. Bloating, morning sickness, unusual food cravings…Anything along those lines can be classified as early signs."
Sasuke sat up straighter at the mention of the last symptom. He thought back to his pantry, to the condition of his kitchen...
Tsunade went on talking as if she didn't notice the way his fingers were suddenly digging small ruts into the chair's armrests. "Anyway, this could be a good thing for you. The council will likely settle down after you have the baby. The idea of you running off to the Sound will be less likely now, even to the most paranoid members. Plus, restarting your clan was one of your goals, wasn't it?"
Positioned as he was, Sasuke stared at the stone floor, his bangs framing the sides of his face, cutting off his side views. His breath came out in hard puffs from his trip down the stairs, making some of the loose pebbles move on the concrete floor, just a hand's width away from his mouth and nose.
At the top of the stair section he had just descended, the door opened with a loud huff that went unnoticed by the disheveled Uchiha. Naruto let the door swing shut behind him with an unabashed slam that rivaled the one caused only a few moments earlier, before he spotted his teammate in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs. His first instinct was to charge down to the other boy and scream obscenities at the top of his lungs. However, one small, often smothered part of his brain that Iruka had actually managed to teach some sense to, stopped him. Or perhaps he remembered the results of using that method earlier in the Uchiha heir's bedroom. Either way, Naruto stopped in mid step to look more closely at the other boy's position. It wasn't that strange, he argued to himself, even if he did look a little tense. Sasuke could have been crouching down to tie his shoes, or pick something up off the ground. Except that Naruto knew Sasuke didn't own a pair of shoes with laces. Or if he did, he hadn't worn them once since team seven had been formed. And there was no way that picking up a penny could take longer than two minutes (the time that it took for Konoha's least coordinated ninja, who no one needs to be told the identity of).
Naruto let himself take a step farther away from the door, senses reaching out for any sign of danger. After all, the only times that Naruto had seen his rival act strangely was when an enemy nin was nearby.
...And immediately, he noticed what his teammates would have undoubtedly snarled at him if this had been a mission: there was chakra in the air around him. Not in the normal way that let one know there was another shinobi nearby; that would have been normal for a hospital full of medic-nins. What he felt was pulsing, very possibly lethal chakra floating unchecked from a source that was very close by.
With a signature that he recognized instantly.
Naruto's eyes snapped back to the crouching form of his teammate, hastily looking over the other boy's arms and neck for unnatural black spots that indicated the cursed seal acting up.
Below him, Sasuke was still unaware of the blonde's presence. Sasuke slowly pulled himself back onto his feet. Naruto sprang back against the wall, sinking down so that he would be hidden in the shadows. As a former prankster, Naruto knew when he was in danger of being discovered, and when being discovered was likely to result in a brutal beating. Though, since Iruka was most often the person who found him the "beating" was actually a loud, ear-damaging shout of his name followed by a good hearty lecture. Sasuke, however, was not one to give lectures.
Naruto shifted his legs around as quietly as he was capable of doing, trying to hide the color of his pants from view. He told himself that it would be best if he stayed put for the moment. It wasn't because he was nervously remembering what he had been told about Sasuke's assault on that guy Zaku during their first crack at the Chunin exams. He told himself that he was very capable of summoning up just as much chakra without flinching. And he most certainly was not put off by the way Sasuke's arm was shaking between his shoulder and the hand that was still ruthlessly trying to strangle the stair's railing.
After a moment, Sasuke started to turn toward the next stair section that would take him to the ground floor. Naruto caught a glimpse of the other boy's face in its usual unreadable mask. Despite the fact that there was still a tension hovering dangerously in the air, Naruto forced himself to relax. Sasuke just must have thought that there was something wrong. Stupid Sasuke, going off and hallucinating like that. Everything was fine.
But then Sasuke had to ruin the blonde's attempt at relaxing by freezing before he could take his first step on the stairs. Naruto, luckily, hadn't begun getting out of his hiding place just yet; otherwise Sasuke would have doubtlessly spotted him.
Tsuande pause a moment and finally recognized the signs of anxiety that were still being displayed by the raven haired Genin. "You had been planning to restart your clan at some point, weren't you, Uchiha?"
An uneasy moment paused without an answer coming from the sixteen year old boy seated across the desk. Tsuande, half wondering whether she preferred Naruto's open interruptions to Sasuke's drawn out silences, cleared her throat uncomfortably. "In the event that you are unwilling to raise the child yourself, I'm afraid that the only thing I can offer you is to find a good pair of foster parents to do it for you."
Sasuke's head came up slowly, almost in tune with the white hand that released its hold on the armrest in favor of curling around his stomach. Whether he was aware of the latter action though, Tsunade couldn't say. He was glaring at her slightly, mouth poised in the way that it did when someone was about to speak. But before he got a chance to voice the possibility she could see flickering in his expression, she spoke again. "And I should probably warn you, I've already sent word to several abortion clinics specifically telling them not to treat you, or anyone who matches your description without consorting with me first. I intend to see this pregnancy through its proper course."
Sasuke's free hand clenched into a fist while the other tightened further around the railing. Like the hallway tiles, afterward people would surely see the unmistakable indent of long, merciless fingers.
From where Naruto was standing, he could clearly see the other boy's body shaking. Sasuke had his head angled downward, inky black bangs effectively shielding whatever view that the differences in their positions might have allowed him of the paler boy's face. There was no way for him to tell whether the Sharingan had activated out of pure tension, or if there where any spots to indicate the possibility of an even paler male who was in serious need of some therapy regarding a very unhealthy snake obsession might be nearby. There was always the chance…
Naruto started to lean ever-so-slightly forward, trying to get a better look at his teammate, but threw himself back against the wall when the Uchiha heir suddenly spun around. The motion was quick enough to make the bangs on either side of the paler boy's face fly up like dark, miniature wings, not that Naruto could see from where he had huddled into the shadows, not afraid that he had been seen.
Sasuke only paused for a short moment before he started moving again. He half lunged toward the stone wall, not even glancing to the stairs as his bangs went up again.
"Isn't this my choice, Hokage-sama?"
"Haven't you been listening, Uchiha?" Tsunade greeted the first words that had left the boy's mouth since closing the door, with a frown of irritation. "The agreement clearly states that in the case of a clan's near extinction, the current Hokage may take control of the situation. And that is precisely what I shall do if you refuse to cooperate."
Sasuke watched mutely as his vision blurred. He wanted to tell himself that it was because of the air rushing past his face and into his eyes as he flung himself forward, but he wasn't in the right state of mind to do so. His feet stopped moving two steps before crashing into the wall, but his upper body kept going. His left arm was barely able to brace itself against the concrete in time to keep him from gracelessly splattering himself against it. It wouldn't be very good for his image if Uchiha Sasuke was found in a hospital stairwell with his head cracked open, would it?
All the same, his right fist didn't stop with the rest of him. It pulled itself back without his conscious orders to do so, and slammed itself directly into the stone. At first, he didn't feel the contact. More miniature pebbles tumbled to the floor as he drew his hand away, only to let it clench back into a fist and strike out again.
Tsunade saw that Sasuke was about to speak again, but to keep control of the subject, she cut him off once again. "For the time being, I can't allow you to make any altering decisions regarding this situation." Sasuke's glare at her was hard, un-submitting to her orders. Tsunade made her a notch voice harsher (again). "In other words, Uchiha, if I suspect that anything damaging happens during your pregnancy, I will personally put a bow around your neck, oil you up, and deliver your taunt, young body to whichever one of my former teammates sends in the highest bind. Is that clear?"
Sasuke's fist continued to throw itself against the wall, the same one going over and over, unaware of startled blue eyes watching his every move from above. His forehead leaned against the back of his unmoving hand, still placed between himself and the stone. The unusual position made the punching harder, but he couldn't seem to push himself away from the wall at the moment. The only part of him that wasn't screaming for him to go back home and swallow the entire bottle of sleeping pills and never leave his apartment until hell froze over or someone finally mercifully said, "We sure had you fooled!" was quite literally banging itself against a fucking wall, while his legs threatened to crumble under him every time his arm drew back.
He really wanted to go back to sleep for awhile.
"Going back to the council, who is the father?"
Sasuke could feel his arm muscles beginning to strain from keeping his punches coming at a steady rhythm. There were red blotches coloring the rocky gray of the wall that he could see through the corner of his eye while his head remained angled at the floor.
He still didn't feel like pushing himself away.
One of the ways that Sasuke was able to keep himself steady during his daily life was by looking at complications as he would do if he were facing an opponent. Tsunade was the Hokage. She had the contract made by his forefathers. And the stress that she put on the council suggested that despite being forgiven for his rendezvous with Orochimaru, there were still some that would be happy to label him a threat to Konoha again. Obviously, he had the disadvantage.
There were only so many ways for him to leave the office without parting with his pride.
So he jumped onto the first plan that came to mind.
"Sasuke..."
He lied.
"...It happened on a mission."
Sasuke had been told once that people tried to block out thinking by counting. If this was true, it certainly wasn't working for him. He couldn't seem to focus on the number of punches he threw. He had also been told that some people tried inflicting physical pain on themselves to block out emotional pain, but since he was already steadily creating a raw mound of flesh from his knuckles, he couldn't say that he agreed with that method either. It was only after he stubbornly threw his hand into the wall one last time before allowing himself to rest, that the pain finally shot up his arm. The backs of his fingers stayed pressed against the wall afterwards, assisting in keeping his weight up now that they had stopped moving. He couldn't be sure how long he had been standing there.
"What mission was this? Genin wouldn't be given any tasks with this possible result."
"It was..." Sasuke pulled his arm away from his stomach, mind franticly grasping for a way to make his explanation plausible. The most important thing to remember was not to change anything after it had been said, "a personal one."
"A personal mission?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean to tell me that you left the village-"
"Hai." Sasuke interrupted his Hokage to latch onto the suggestion. He saw the irritation written on his superior's face and prayed that relief wouldn't show on his own. It was good that Tsunade was angry at him for leaving the village without permission. Frustration clouded judgment.
Sasuke flipped himself over, so that his back was pressing against the wall instead while he waited for the blood to return to his arms. There was a small voice in the back of his head telling him that he should probably keep his fist suspended in air instead of letting it hang limply at his side, but he decided to ignore it for a little while longer.
"Well? What the hell were you thinking?"
Sasuke paused, thinking. He kept his expression blank so that to Tsunade it would appear that he was only stubbornly making her wait for his answer. "I was trying to get close to someone."
"The father?" Tsunade put in. She sounded skeptical. Or maybe she was just annoyed. Watching her, Sasuke thought that she did look a little like Naruto when she huffed.
Sasuke raised his hand, his bloody hand, and pressed it tiredly against his temple. At least the scraps weren't bleeding too openly. He applied a little more pressure to the outside of his head, trying to relieve the headache that he felt coming on.
Purely by coincidence, the angle of his arm, which unnoticedly pushed aside his bangs, stretched out to keep his sideview of the stairs blocked. Just enough so that he couldn't see a brightly colored figure tentatively creep out from his hiding place.
Tsunade became impatient waiting for Sasuke to speak on his own. She gave him thirty seconds before repeating her question yet again, "Was the father the person you were trying to get close to or not?"
Sasuke gave up trying to think of a better response than what had come to his mind originally. Looking away, he tried to make himself sound embarrassed when he mumbled, "I can't be sure."
Tsunade was instantly thrown back into her frustration. Sasuke could have sworn he saw the vein from earlier reappear in her forehead. "How can you not know who the father is!"
Naruto stood quietly at the top of the stairs, watching Sasuke as he idly brushed his bangs away from the side of his face. He waited for Sasuke to spot him- he was after all, wearing orange for Yondame's sake, and standing only a few feet away- but his teammate seemed to be completely oblivious of his surroundings for the first time in his life. Walking down the stairs, Naruto made almost no effort to be quiet. He half hoped that the Uchiha heir's head would suddenly snap around and he would be the target of a very irritated and thus normal glare. But Sasuke seemed to be totally content to just stare dazedly ahead of himself.
The atmosphere was still less than pleasant, Naruto thought to himself. It faintly reminded him of their first C ranked mission, when Sasuke had momentarily considered stabbing himself before Kakashi assured him that he would die to protect them. Sakura was too busy debating what would happen if they were suddenly attack, but Naruto had been watching their stoic teammate to see what Mr. Show-off would do. And they said he was unobservant!
"So let me see if I understand you, Sasuke. You claim to have passed out at some point during your 'personal' mission?"-
"Hai."
"And when you woke up you were alone?"
Sasuke nodded to confirm that Tsunade had his lie straight. She was still looking at him in a way that bluntly told him that she was not fooled, but she hadn't stopped him from continuing with the story yet. She also hadn't asked who his "target" was in his mysterious mission.
"And when you woke up you were still in a female form?"
"Yes."
Tsunade looked him over, eyes narrowed. The steaming cup that he had seen on her desk earlier when he came in had long since cooled and stood forgotten in the corner by her right elbow. She reached for it now, and downed its contents in one long sip that bent her head back to draw out the last alcohol-laced drops. When she looked at him again, she wiped her mouth daintily with her fingers and said, "Is there anything else you want to add to that?"
Sasuke's attention returned to the world around him slowly. In the back of his mind, he was aware that he had just broken a contract that was possibly the only reason that his clan had survived long enough to produce him, and that if Tsunade found out -or more likely, found proof that he had, there was going to be hell.
He had just lied to his Hokage. And not very well, at that.
Sasuke's legs finally gave out on him, leaving him to slide down the wall and settle as little more than deadweight on the ground when another thought accrued to him.
What about Neji? There was no way that Neji wasn't going to hear about this. Hinata was going to be one of his examiners for the next eight months. Kami...what if he told?
What if Naruto heard?
Sasuke was just about to leave the Hokage's office without his story being questioned once since he started pasting it together. The sharper part of his mind told him that he was being an idiot for not thinking about what the Hokage might have been putting together while listening to him, but he was too eager to get out of the room. The entire meeting had already ensured that he wouldn't be sleeping for the next three months, until his stomach either started to expand or proved that this was all some kind of sick dream induced by his sudden change to the ramen-diet. (Bad food does effect the mind, he had been told).
"Sasuke," Tsunade called to him when he was about to open the door. He glanced over his shoulder at her, wordlessly.
"Just out of curiosity...would you mind showing me what you look like in Sexy no Jutsu?"
Sasuke's breathing returned to normal. He put his head back, momentarily forgetting that he was sitting next to a wall, and grumbled to himself when the back of his skull made contact with the unyielding stone. Tsunade still didn't have proof that he was lying. He could have used a henge during his "mission," and he was sure that was what kept her from doing anything more than coyly smiling when their eyes locked and he was reminded of one important error in his story: He didn't know how to use the dobe's jutsu.
"Ne, Sasuke. Can't you wait until you get home to throw a hissy fit?"
Sasuke's body stiffened all except for his neck, which whipped his head around at the sound of the very last voice he wanted to hear at the moment. Blaringly standing out against the bleak gray and white of the stairwell, was Naruto, steadily descending the stairs. The voice in his head came back yet again, having already accepted that whatever god he had offended was not only not going to leave him to bang his head against a wall in peace, but had place a curse on the remainder of his life instead, snickered, "Great fucking timing, dobe."
Naruto didn't shout down to him as Sasuke would have expected him to, nor was he grumbling to himself about beating him to a pulp for slighting their team only a few minutes ago, or even stomping down the stairs loudly enough to alert the every nin and non-nin within a three-story radius of his whereabouts. He was simply coming down the stairs with his hands shoved into the pockets of his hideously orange pants, doing that adorable, immature mix of a pout and a frown that made his eyes squint ever so slightly. Exactly the same expression he had worn whenever their eyes met during the early days of their rivalry. Sasuke could guess what the inner monologue in the blonde's head would have been saying at that moment. Under normal circumstances, the dobe would be imagining a sparkling children's television scene, in which the moment he reached the end of the stairs, Sasuke would burst out tears and hurriedly swear to completely change his attitude, apologize for every wrong he had ever committed because he had just discovered that he had caught some terrible disease that would surely send his fangirls running if they found out about it.
Inwardly, Sasuke gave a half-hearted smirk. That was precisely what was probably going through his teammates head. Dobe. He was so easy to predict.
Sasuke's observation was hardly original. Over the years, the same thing had been stated about Konoha's Number One Most Surprising Ninja by both his comrades and his enemies. Even by his female teammate and sensei. However, since this thought was almost never spoken aloud, even one who had spent as much time around the blonde as Sasuke, had not figured out that by even thinking of a sentence that consisted of both the words "easy" and "predict" in association with his blonde haired teammate was an irresistible challenge to fate. And fate never leaves a challenge unanswered.
So it was then that Uzumaki Naruto did something that was so completely in character, that it was unexpected.
He tripped.
Naruto, up on the stairs just moments before Sasuke formed the condemning thought, was giving Sasuke his fierce expression, which was in no way to be associated with "that adorable face he was making just seconds before yaoi fangirls around the world squealed with joy." He was imagining how Sasuke would apologize for everything once he got to the corner and gave him one astounding punch to the side of his head, and then tell him all about the terrible disease that he had caught for the mere reason of having a stick shoved so far up his ass on a daily bases, and then beg him not to tell anyone least it ruin his image.
Sasuke could see the exact moment that his rival's foot missed the step from where he was sitting. He saw the blue eyes widen when the owner realized that he had allowed his foot to go to far out to possibly land in the correct spot. Of course, the sudden realization didn't stop the dobe from going ahead with taking the next step. Sasuke sometimes wondered if perhaps each of his teammate's limbs had a mind of their own, but was not given enough time to fully bring up his list of reasons why this could be so and add on this newest bit of proof, before his attention was drawn back to the event at hand.
Naruto, who anyone would have already known to be balance-challenged (for one thing, it has been mentioned multiple times in this story), let go of the railing he had been holding onto in favor of flailing his arms in an attempt to steady himself. But because he had given up his hold on the railing, he had also already given up whatever hope the blonde haired klutz had of not falling ungracefully forward and tumbling down the remaining steps separating himself from his black-haired teammate. Which it just so happened, were made of the same indifferent stone as the wall, which Sasuke knew from his earlier experience to be very, very hard.
The voice in Sasuke's head snickered again. "Idiot."
Naruto's decent ended with the blonde sprawled out on the concrete, the majority of his body still awkwardly angled on the stairs. His head was only a few inches from Sasuke's feet, pillowed on one protective arm that was probably the only reason that the dobe's head hadn't spilled its meager contents on the floor, Kyuubi or no Kyuubi.
The Uchiha heir thought about saying something condescending, maybe naming the idiot for the klutz that he was for the mere sake of finally doing something in character since arriving at the hospital, but thought better of it when he heard a groan come from the twitching heap of blonde hair and orange clothe that was his teammate.
Naruto picked himself up, and Sasuke mentally braced himself for the onslaught of shouts that normally accompanied the dobe's arrival, expecting it to be all the louder now that the dobe had made a fool of himself by falling down the stairs in a manner that would have done serious harm to anyone else. For a fleeting moment when Sasuke's mind was still trapped in the sluggish haze it had been in since leaving the Hokage's office, he wondered if the demon-induced ability to endure the physical strain the Naruto daily put on his body during training and other "incidents" that are too numerous to list, would be passed down to his children. It was only for a short moment though, before Sasuke tried and failed to ward off an entirely knew train of thought that took the opportunity to pounce on the forefront of his mind, demanding attention.
Like Naruto's baby. Inside him.
Naruto dusted himself off, not watching his teammate's face when the already scarce traces of an expression drained away. He was busy grumbling to himself and remembering just why he normally kept the extra padding of his favorite jacket on over his arms and upper torso. When he at last looked up, Sasuke's face was as blank as it usually was, if not a little absent. There was a moment's pause, similar to what had happened to him when he walked in on the Uchiha heir hurling the contents of his stomach into his toilet earlier that morning, where the rival and the friend fought for control of his consciousness.
He hadn't gotten much information out of either Hinata or Sakura while waiting for Sasuke to come out of the office so they could all leave, and Kakashi had been almost ignorable with his face buried in the graphic pages of his book. But unless there was a powerful group of enemy nins nearby to ruthlessly attack the dark haired boy sitting in front of him (they would have attacked by now, right?), even he was able to guess what the only other alternative cause for the stone-faced Genin's break in character. Whatever Tsunade-baa-chan had told him must have been bad.
Sasuke, having lost the battle against his thoughts, was unnoticing of his rival's movements as he was held captive by his subconscious's whim. He was forced, while sitting at the bottom of the stairs without betraying a breath, to remember... curious hands, hot tongue...the feeling of being pressed into worn couch cushions, and trying whole-heartedly to keep rhythm…
A warm touch near the base of his neck made Sasuke flinch. His body snapped back to attention again, his eyes suddenly able to once again send images of his surroundings to his brain. At some point, Naruto had crawled over to where his was sitting and reached out for his shoulder. Whether the blonde was planning to shake him out of his daze or use the grip for better leverage while he vocally assaulted his ears until the dobe's short attention span thought of something shiny -or possibly ramen flavored- was undeterminable.
His head turned and met with blonde, spiky hair, almost close enough to brush against his chin. He had thought that the hand on his shoulder had been meant to keep him in place, but after a moment of studying the angle of the golden head under his, he realized that it had probably only been placed there without thinking. Naruto was leaning across him, using his shoulder to keep a somewhat decent amount of space between their bodies, while his head hovered directly over Sasuke's beaten hand.
For the first time, Sasuke noticed that his teammate was missing his trademark jacket. Frowning, he looked up the stairs to see if the idiot had done another completely in character act and gotten it caught in the doorway or railing and had chosen to shuck the garment off rather than bother to untangle it.
Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't allow Sasuke enough time to see if the offensive orange jacket were anywhere in sight. Just as Sasuke's neck was craning up, he felt another warm touch close securely around the wrist of his right hand.
"Jeese, Sasuke," he heard the dobe mutter, still facing the bleeding hand, "I always knew you were going to crack one day, but can you try not to cripple yourself while you're at it?"
Sasuke didn't say anything in response, which probably did more to assure the blonde that things were at least remotely normal, whether the Uchiha heir was aware of the assurance or not. Sitting back, Naruto pulled the pale hand with him. But even with the benefit of the better light, the dobe had to hold the hand close to his face and squint at each of the miniature cuts in turn. The muscles in Sasuke's arm spasmed on impulse, trying to pull the arm away automatically. Even in his post-shock state, the Uchiha heir knew better than to assume that his teammate's hands were clean enough to be touching the open sores.
Naruto held onto him all too easily. Most likely because he hadn't spent that last five minutes ruthlessly pounding against a stone wall to the point of exhaustion. Still, as he returned more to awareness, and the dobe idiotically ran his fingers over the raw knuckles, Sasuke came to the realization that his hand hurt.
While Sasuke was refusing to give into the powerful urge to wince, Naruto shifted so that he could stand on his knees while keeping his hold on the captive hand. With his free hand, he dug into his left front pocket, pulling out objects and dropping them onto the floor after checking to see what they were. Sasuke spent a moment wondering what it was the blonde was looking for, but as a pile of packaged needles, rubber gloves, and unmarked white bottles began to form, his senses suddenly returned and told him to take advantage of the dobe's proffered distraction.
While Naruto's hand continued to bob in and out of his pockets, which Sasuke had to admit, where able to hold a surprising amount of hospital utensils, he forced his wrist away from the warm fingers encircling it with one insistent tug.
The blonde's head shot up, his arm still extended in the air, and with that fierce, not cute, frown-pout highbred on his face. "SASU-KAAY!"
It was a given that the dobe had been annoyed when he came after him, but Sasuke was still a little surprised at the reaction. He thought he saw fangs.
"Dobe," he said back. The hand that was unharmed unconsciously slid up his side to lay protectively over his stomach area.
Naruto, of course, was never one to notice such vague subtlety, much less when the person doing it was not even aware of the gesture. Voice sounding loud against the quiet stillness of the stairwell, the very clearly miffed blonde growled out, "Give me back your hand!"
Ignoring the annoyance in his rival's voice, Sasuke gave the same answer he always did, another small step towards normalcy. "Hn. No."
Naruto's left hand was still shuffling through the contents of his pocket. Sasuke was partially surprised that his teammate didn't try to store weapons there. Even now that they were older, the old orange jumpsuit was still so baggy of his lithe form, it was hard to tell when the blonde was hiding anything in on his person.
Naruto reached out again, while Sasuke was debating just how far down he could shove his arm into the blonde's front pocket if he tried, and took a firm hold of the Uchiha heir's neglected, bloodied hand. Sasuke could have thrown his head against the wall when he noticed, hadn't he already decided that he was done zoning out today!
Naruto ignored whatever signs of mental berating that might have shown on the other boy's face as he pulled the white hand, tinged slightly pink from the multiple tiny scrapes and such, closer so that Sasuke had to lean forward a little in order to relieve the strain on his arm. Whatever it was that the dobe had been looking for; Sasuke was able to see when he had found it by the triumphant, self-satisfied smile that suddenly replaced the not-adorable-frown-pout on the scarred face.
Sasuke eyed the white roll that Naruto produced a second later suspiciously, not able to see it clearly until the clear plastic bag it was packaged it was torn away (a feat accomplished by the use of the dobe's teeth since he still refused to let go of his hold on Sasuke's arm). The white roll was brought to the blonde's lips, where he took the corner of a thin material in his mouth and pulled. White material unrolled into a thin strip before Sasuke finally recognized it.
Bandages.
Fumbling because it was very likely that he had never used so much as a band-aid since childhood, Naruto forced his raven-haired teammate's limp hand to straighten out enough so that he could tangle his own tanned arms in the bandages while trying to wrap up the other boy's knuckles. Sasuke held his hand out on his own after the wounds were unwrapped for the second time for the dobe to start over. He waited for his pulse to return, listening to the occasional muttered curse that preceded a tangle of arms, before he came to the conclusion that their roles had been reversed. Naruto was ignoring him. So, to fix this problem...
"That's too loose, baka."
"Shut up, ungrateful bastard!" the blonde's response was immediate. Normal. That was good. Sasuke found that he like normal very much at the moment.
"Dobe," Sasuke said, giving a slight tug with his arm to indicate that he wanted the death grip off. Naruto didn't notice. "Where did you get that?"
Gruffly, Naruto responded to his hand, "I raided the supply closet down the hall waiting for you, now stop moving your hand or I'll rip it off."
"Hn." Sasuke watched Naruto huff, noting that the other boy was now trying to wrap the bandages tightly enough to cut off circulation, despite the fact that the earlier mention loose bandages only served to cushion against the new ones. At this rate, Sasuke wasn't going to be able to move his hand at all by the time the dobe was finished...
Silence settled between the two Genin, which was rare when they weren't trying to out do each other during a training session. As one of the most stoic ninjas living in Konoha (and if one ignored Neji and certain others that was no small title) the lack of sound shouldn't have affected Sasuke. But as seconds went by and it became clear that Konoha's Loudest Ninja had no intention of saying anything least it force him to restart the bandaging job over again, the Uchiha heir became uncomfortable. Who would have thought that Uchiha Sasuke could be unnerved by silence?
"Dobe," he started with the pet name again, knowing that it would get immediate attention. "The Hokage is expecting you right now."
"So?" Naruto said to Sasuke's wrist. He noticed with some relief that the blonde was tying it off. "Baa-chan sees me all the time, so if she really wants to yell at me, she might as well do it later."
Sasuke experimentally tried to move his fingers, and thought to himself that he was mostly right about the bandaging job's effects on his movements. There wasn't even a ripple in the material to indicate activity beneath the mass of white material.
Still holding onto his teammate's hand, Naruto gave a not so gentle tug on the other boy's hand to emphasize his demand for attention when he said, "So?"
Sasuke looked up at him blankly.
Leaning back against the bottom step, and stretching the Uchiha's arm uncomfortably while doing so, the oblivious (or was he still mad?) blonde clarified his question with, "What's wrong with you?"
As if he were suddenly push backward into the shock-induced pit from less than twenty minutes ago, the Sharingan wielder froze. Naruto hadn't been told yet. Sakura, Kakashi...even Hinata, hadn't said anything yet about...it.
"Bastard?" Naruto said impatiently, glaring and pouting at the same time as he tugged on the Uchiha's arm. "Are you gonna tell me or not?"
"Dobe..." The right thing to do was to tell him. A brave person would do that, Sasuke said to himself as he blinked to bring himself back from the mental void that he'd been sliding back over to.
At the sound of the ridiculing nick name, the blonde across for him crossed his unoccupied arm over his chest with an exaggerated "Hmph!" He continued to wait, expectantly looking to his teammate.
"Naruto, it's..." Sasuke's voice was quiet when he started to speak. Too quiet for someone like him. He hated how it sounded weak. The next sentence he forced out at a louder tone, though the speed of the words made their effect just as bad. "Just don't ask, dobe. Just don't."
He didn't have to wait long for a response. Sasuke wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or not when his teammate snorted and said in a deliberately offhand tone, "Fine, don't tell me, teme."
There was a moment where Sasuke thought that another awkward silence was going to accrue again, one that might have actually had him repeating the same story that he gave to Tsunade, or worse, telling the dobe a different story to get tangled with the first. That was what usually got liars caught in these sorts of situations...
Naruto stood up suddenly, unknowingly stopping his teammate from being held captive by his thoughts yet again that dayBrushing the pebbles off the back of his pants with one hand, Naruto took a step back to pull Sasuke up from the ground. He started walking toward the second stairway, dragging Sasuke behind him.
When he was pulled down the first step, Sasuke finally demanded, "What are you doing, idiot?"
"Don't call me that." Naruto continued going down the stairs. Sasuke followed him only because by trying to yank his hand back again, he might damage the bandaging or somehow end up falling forward and likely crack his head open on the ground, unlike his demon-housing rival. Naruto continued after another step, "If I have to stand up Hinata to chase after you're drama queen ass, the least you can do is by me lunch, teme."
There was another tug, and the Uchiha heir was brought down to the same step as the blonde, where his bandaged hand was exchanged for the undamaged one. Naruto looked at his rival and teammate for a second out of the corner of his eye, guessing at how much of the raven-haired ex-Number One Rookie's strength had returned, before he abruptly broke out at a run. The smile he put on when he heard the startled grunt as he pulled his friend forward was smugly satisfied, despite knowing that he still needed to pry his friend's new secret from him.
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A/N:
Hello everyone! This chapter was really just Sasuke throwing a tantrum after he found out about, you know. Sorry that you guys didn't get as much humor in here as last time. Speaking of which…Nineteen…NINE-FRICKIN'-TEEN REVIEWS! That gives me a total of SEVENTY reviews for the story. That was my maximum expectancy for the entire story! I could dance. So, I decided to reply to them again. Just 'cause.
I'm sorry that I took so long with this chapter. It was supposed to be a part of chapter nine, but it would have been entirely too long. Come to think of it, chapter nine was supposed to be a part of eight. DAMN MY WORDY NATURE! This story seems to be getting written in chunks rather than chapters, so I guess that I'll tell you all that the next chapter starts off another "chunk" before their will be a time skip. Unfortunately for everyone who was hoping for it, Naruto wont find out about the baby until things get a little more developed, if you know what I mean. I hope that the poorness of this chapter didn't send anyone away. :nervous smile:
Review Responses:
kanzeyori: You brought up some great points! I'll try and hit as many of them as I can once Sasuke's a little farther along. Especially the Naruto trying to get cozy with Hinata again. I think Neji would probably go out and kill some poor, innocent soul out of frustration. Or maybe just Sasuke. I'm still a little confused on how I can use Sakura (I'm not exactly doing too well of a job writing about her so far, unfortunately), but I have been asked before to write about her reaction. You're ideas should help. Got any more, I'd love to hear 'em!
minn yun: 1st Review YAY, love! You've been reviewing a lot of my stories lately, and I can't tell you how excited I am that you liked all of them so far (though if you go for Late Affections, let me warn you that it is by far my worst put together story this year). I'm sorry that this chapter didn't have much humor in it, but I'll try to get some in later. 2nd Review Herbal Essences? Neji? Have you ever read "Gambling" on AFF? That exact scenario is played out in the fourth or fifth chapter...(OH yeah, and Neji WILL be making another appearance soon. You can probably expect him in chapter twelve, hopefully).
Isarandel: Yoai fans unite! YES!
Quichi: Heh, I'm glad that you liked my idea for an organization dedicated to little "Oops!" that happen when ninjas get a little kinky. I was actually surprised that no one else ever used it. Even if Sexy no Jutsu wasn't around, ninjas can still use henge, right? And you know people like Kakashi and certain legendary frog tamers who also write books about unmentionable subjects, would try it. Thanks for the review!
digi-girl: Two hours? This story took you TWO HOURS? That's half an afternoon! WHEWT! I'M THE CAUSE OF SOMEBODY'S AFTERNOON!...Anyway, now that I'm done with my happy dance::cackle: I can understand why people would peg Naruto to be the mommy in the relationships, but since everyone knows that Sasuke's more likely to be the overbearing mother than the let's-go-play father, I think Sassy-uke can be the b-i-t-c-h every once in awhile. I hope that this chapter was a suitable continuation of the story. :walks away mumbling: Two hours...two...
hopeless-flame: Don't worry! I wont hurt Hinata, I love her too. She's one of my favorite female characters in Naruto, to be honest. I also really like Neji. Which is why I couldn't help bringing him in when I first sat down and thought about writing a fanfiction. :snuggles plushies: Hinata didn't get much attention in this chapter, but she will in the next, 'kay?
Lost ninja #1: Not much sappiness in this chapter, I'm afraid. And Naruto didn't find out about Sasuke's little problem yet, but you know, there's always others ways for him to find out. I don't really think that Sasuke would come out and say it to his adorable little dobe's face. I'm gad that you decided that you like this story after all. You're not the first person to review and say that you were on the edge of not-liking and liking ;; The whole thing with Hinata right now is because I don't think that Naruto would really enter into her life perfectly, despite the fact that she clearly had a thing for him for years. And despite her (kind of) stalking him when they were at the Academy, I think that she would be the kind to ignore Naruto's rougher points when she was watching from a distance. Thanks for the review/chance to rant.
joanne: Sorry, Naruto hasn't even found out about the baby yet. It will happen though...eventually.
OintmentJar: Did you give me the right email address? I tried to contact you twice after I posted chapter nine. 1st Review I actually was going to bring that possibility with Sasuke carrying a member of the Hyuuga family once Neji found out (dang it, now it's not going to be a surprise :pout:). Gotta keep the plot going, right? I'm glad that someone else thought of it too, though. 2nd Review You do have a point about me needing to put in more NaruHina. --; I've been really neglectful in that area so far, but please understand that Sasuke's pregnancy does contribute a lot to the plot of this story. Hinata will be in a lot of the nest chapter, and the chapter after that (I promise), but I'm sorry to say that I wont be telling you the end pairing ahead of time. If you are still reading by the time I end this story, you'll find out then. I hope you do continue reading though, even if I didn't have that pregnancy Hyuuga vs. Uchiha idea, I probably would have asked to use it after you sent in that first review.
permetaform: Such compliments! I like you already. Though, I had hope that no one would notice the lack of Hinata Naruto communication after "the night." I had planned to address it eventually, but that's mainly because I'm nervous about writing Naruto's confrontation. I'm alerting the story a bit to cover this bare spot in the story (I even tried dropping a few hints in this chapter. Did you notice?). Thanks for letting me know, I hope that this chapter was acceptable to ya.
Helen: Don't worry, you don't have to choose between KibaShino and NejiHina. Though I'm curious, how do you think Hinata would react to the relationship between her two teammates?
cellia: Despite NejiHina being my favorite het pairing, I have to agree with you that if you really think about it, it is kind of disturbing. Especially since their dads with IDENTICAL TWINS, I recently learned in my Life Science class that Identical twins have Identical DNA, so their like half-siblings. But then again, in Japan it is perfectly acceptable to marry your cousin. There, now I've told you why it' a sub pairing so far, though you listed some good points too (especially if Neji saw his cousin in the little black tank top XD). But about the argument of Hinata's feelings toward fighting: I didn't mean to say that she was against Naruto's SPIRIT, I just think that she would be freaked out by friends arguing and parent's screaming down the hall type fighting. You know, the unnecessary kind. Though, I also think that her "I want to change and be strong" might have been her trying to win her father's love. She just seems like she would do that, to me. ANYWAY! I love reading your review! I hope that you do it again if you keep reading!