Disclaimer - I do not own anything about Naruto and nor do I receive any money or kickbacks from writing this.
First off, I am so sorry this has taken me so long to upload.
Life has been hell. Between work, family members catching Covid and ending up in ICU, starting new meds and natural disasters destroying part of my house, I've had barely any time to write and what little time I've had, my stress levels have been too high to put anything into words properly.
On another note, I've come to realised that I've seriously messed up the timeline, so I plan on going back over all the previous chapters and fixing the blunders, just minor edits, nothing major.
Anyway, here is the next chapter that's been long coming. Hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.
Shout-outs!
lara5170 - Welcome back! And here more is! (Sorry it's so late)
diamanteuzumaki - Always good to hear from you and I hope you had a great new year. There is more cute fatherly Sasuke to come! ^_~
Sasunaru forever (Guest) - Thank you, I'm absolutely elated you are enjoying my story so much!
Guest - I'm excited you like my story that much. I plan on finishing it in maybe 2-3 more chapters.
"YOU WHAT!" Naruto screamed, standing from his chair so suddenly that it flew backwards with the force.
"Shhhh." Sasuke hissed, "You're going to wake Men…" before he could finish the sentence, Menma's cry echoed through the room. Sighing, the Alpha turned and went to collect the now upset little boy.
Returning, the raven found his blond Omega sitting back at the table again, silently fuming with his arms crossed tightly across his chest and a mean scowl on his face directed at the Alpha.
"Why on earth would you quit your job?" Naruto growled through gritted teeth, his anger radiating from him in almost visible waves.
Sighing, Sasuke began to pat Menma's rump gently and sway back and forth - like Naruto had taught him -, quickly turning the distressed cries into soft whimpers. "I want to be here for you and Menma. And to support you properly, I actually need to be here. Not just stopping by on Wednesday's and weekends."
"You should have talked to me about this first, we could've come up with another arrangement, something where you didn't have to quit your job!" Naruto yelled, making Menma's soft whimpers become louder again.
Hushing Menma back into calmness Sasuke countered, "And what would you have suggested? I can't fly back and forth everyday and night, and I would never ask you to quit your job - again - just to move in with me, that wouldn't be fair." With a now calm and snoozing child in his arms, the Alpha walked over to his agitated Omega. "Me quitting and moving here was the only option for me to support you properly, like you deserve."
"I could have moved back," Naruto countered with his head cast down, anger leaching away at Sasuke's evident logic. "Or come visit you instead."
"Could you really leave the job you have now and your family that's close by, just to move in with me where you used to live?" Sasuke asked, placing his free hand gently on Naruto's shoulder. "And I would never make you trek all the way to mine," he said as he moved his hand to tilt the blonds head up so their eyes could meet. Softly he said, "I'm in this 100% and to show you, I've quit my job and I'm moving here to be with you and Menma and our soon to be second child."
Eyes glazing over from tears and lip worrying between teeth, Naruto's voice shook as he asked. "But what are you going to do about work? How can you move and support me - especially while I'm on leave - if you don't have a job? And where will you live?"
"I was… hoping to move in with you," Sasuke whispered, quickly adding, "but I won't force you - of course - and I start work at your company in a week and a half." Sasuke whispered.
"You what?" The blond's mouth fell open with surprise, eyes bulging out of his head.
"I want to move in with you."
"Not that, I don't care if you move in with me, what I care about is the other thing!"
Sighing, Sasuke pulled his hand away from his Omega, who's anger bar was obviously on the rise….. again. "I got a job at Dei's company….." turning away, the Alpha's cheeks turned bright red. "After begging him on my hands and knees," he whispered, barely audible.
"You begged Dei….. on your hands and knees?" Naruto asked, astonishment written all over his face. After receiving a curt nod from the Alpha, Naruto hesitantly questioned. "What will you be doing?"
"I'll be working in the Heat & Rut response team," Sasuke answered as he shifted the now slumbering child in his arms into a more comfortable position for the both of them. Grumbling, he whispered, "It was the only position available, and I'll be taking a massive pay cut." Realising what he had said, Sasuke quickly turned to the blond, swiftly adding, "But to be with you and Menma, it's worth it."
Sasuke watched as Naruto slumped deeply into his chair, a hand coming up to rub at his face out of frustration. "For now let's drop this, the stress is making me feel sick."
"Okay." Sasuke nodded. "While I clean up and pack away the leftovers, why don't you go have a bath and relax?"
"Fine." Naruto nodded, getting up to leave. Pausing by the door, a small smirk gracing his face, the blond added, "Just so you know, I can't have a bath while I'm pregnant." Then he disappeared beyond it.
Making quick work of cleaning up the kitchen, Sasuke made himself comfortable on the couch with a sleeping Menma resting on his shoulder, then took to his phone to research what he could do for his pregnant Omega. With his phone in hand skimming through Omega pregnancy forums, his laptop sat open next to him looking for possible properties to move into, both to buy or rent. He didn't expect Naruto to let him move in with him straight away, so the next best thing he could do was to at least move nearby…. Something close enough so he could be here at the drop of a hat.
A while later, Naruto emerged from the bathroom, a content and carefree look on his face and a body showing complete ease from his relaxing time alone.
Noticing this Sasuke asked, "Feel better?" as he closed his laptop and put away his phone.
Nodding, Naruto rubbed his eyes. "Mm tired." he hummed.
Standing, Sasuke ushered the tired Omega towards the bedroom. "Let's get you into bed." he whispered. After tucking Menma into his crib, the raven tucked the blond into his bed. "If you need me, I'll be in the living room."
Turning to leave, a hand sprung out and grabbed him before he could. "Stay." Naruto whispered, burying his face into his pillow.
With a soft smile, Sasuke nodded and whispered, "If you're sure." as he climbed into the bed from the other side.
With what Sasuke could only guess was hesitation, he felt the bed slowly dip and Naruto gradually rolled over and curled up into him. A soft, not so subtle deep inhaling sound came from the Omega.
"You smell nice." he said in a hushed voice.
Wrapping his arms hesitantly around his Omega, Sasuke allowed himself that moment of happiness as the pair went to sleep. Before he could nod off though, a funny thought came to mind after an article he read on a forum. "If you go under water while pregnant, does that make you a submarine?"
A soft growling huff emitted from his Omega, followed by a half hearted smack to his chest but he knew he was in the clear when a moment later Naruto started to subtly giggle.
It had been two weeks since his resignation and to say Sasuke was stressed to the max would be an understatement. First, Tsunade had called and abused him 'When did he give her his number?' making sure to make a point of telling him he had already missed the first scan - even though he wasn't told -, but also threatened him that if he missed another one, she'd castrate him. Second, he had yet to find a place to live - he was currently living out of a hotel. And third, he was meant to start training at his new job in less than an hour. When was the last time he was this nervous about work?
After triple checking he had everything, Sasuke made his way down to his car, then drove to his new job. Once there he waited at the reception desk - like he was told to - for one of his new team members to collect him and take him to the H&R response staff room for introductions.
The guy that arrived shortly later wasn't what Sasuke expected. It wasn't the fact that he was a Beta, or his white hair, or even the fact that he looked like he belonged at some beach or at a swimming pool as a lifesaver or something.
It was his greeting that threw the raven.
"You Sasuke?" The white haired Beta blurted out with a cheesy grin. After Sasuke had nodded and the guy came closer, he seemed to give him the once over. When he seemed satisfied with his assessment, it was his next comment that completely blew the raven away. "Oooooh, the boss is going to eat you alive, pretty boy!" he grinned toothily as he laughed at some inside joke.
Sighing, Sasuke looked at the Beta and mustered every ounce of self restraint he had in himself to not just walk out. "Can we just get this over with?" he said instead.
"Sure, if that's what you're into, we can get straight to the fun." the white haired Beta answered suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows at Sasuke. "The name's Suigetsu, ya better remember it since y'll be crying for me when the boss's done with ya." Suigetsu smirked.
Shaking his head, Sasuke wondered what he had gotten himself into.
When they arrived at the department's common room, he saw several Beta and Alpha milling about either lounging on couches or huddled around the coffee machine that was brewing fresh coffee for the waiting zombie-like horde. All in all the room looked comfortable with its half living room, half kitchen/dining room setup.
It was then that Sasuke noticed how quiet the room had gotten and the fact that all eyes were suddenly on him. The silence in the room seemed to stretch on until a huge Alpha stood from where he was lounging on the couch and made his way over to the pair by the door.
His slightly blue skin gave him a sickly appeal, but the raven Alpha could tell there was nothing sick about this hulking man.
"This the runt Dei hired to fill the vacant position?" he asked gruffly after a moment of sizing Sasuke up.
"Yep." Suigetsu answered, with a childish pop of his 'P'.
For a moment it was as if all the occupants in the room held their breaths, waiting for something to happen.
"Hn….. Pretty boy." The Alpha in front of Sasuke finally said after what felt like an eternity.
At that comment the whole room erupted in laughter at some inside joke that Sasuke wasn't a part of, or maybe he was the joke?
"Called it!" Suigetsu boasted heartily, fist pumping the air, "Called him pretty boy the moment I saw him." He laughed, bending over in two, clutching his stomach. "Tell them, tell them Sas-gay!" he wheezed out between laughs.
"Am I missing something?" Sasuke finally asked when the room had calmed down enough for him to speak.
"Ah, yes." Suigetsu grinned as he wiped the tears from his eyes, "Ya see, it's kinda a tradition that whatever the boss calls ya when he meets ya, it's ya permanent radio call sign."
Sasuke deadpanned the Beta as he asked himself, 'Why was he doing this again?'…..
It had been 2 weeks since Sasuke had started working at the same company as Naruto, and true to what Deidara had told the blond, Sasuke never bothered him while at work. In fact the Omega had barely seen the Alpha in that time. The two times he had seen him at work, the Alpha seemed to be extremely busy and without realising it he had started to miss his Alpha, even though he saw him more now that he was living close by.
When Sasuke came over straight after work, he always smelled like others and it was starting to piss Naruto's inner Omega off. He could handle Sasuke smelling of other Alpha's, but smelling of other Omega - and other Omega's in heat no less - to say it was starting to make his inner Omega territorial would be an understatement. He had even caught himself scent marking Sasuke a couple of times, which was embarrassing as hell to explain, but somehow, the more often it happened, the harder it was becoming for him to stop.
'Maybe I should ask Sasuke to move in with me?' Naruto wondered as he failed to read over the documents in his hands. 'I mean, it would make sense right? We are mated and have a kid together with a second on the way….'
"Mr. Uzumaki, is everything okay?" came Konan's voice, breaking him from his thoughts as a delicate hand touched his own.
"Uh… yes." Naruto quickly answered, dropping the documents to his desk and moving away from the female Alpha. "What were you saying, sorry?"
With a soft smile she repeated herself, "Deidara is on his way for lunch."
"Shit! Is it that time already?" he asked, quickly looking at his watch. After seeing that it was indeed almost lunch time, he quickly saved his work and gathered his things just as Deidara burst in through his office door.
"Miss me?" The fellow blond Omega grinned as he strode in. "So where are we eating today?"
The pair made their way to the small ramen shop that they frequented often and after placing their orders Deidara dove straight into conversation. "So, I know things have been rocky between all of us since your bonding with Sasuke, but Itachi and I want to have a family dinner this weekend and we were kind of hoping you and your parent's would join us?"
Sighing deeply, Naruto sunk into his stool and leaned down onto the counter, hands crossing and head resting on top of them to face Deidara. "Everyone's been trying hard and I really appreciate everyone for their support and space, so of course I'd love to go, and I'll shoot my parents a message now. When and where is it happening?" he said as he pulled out his phone.
"It's this Saturday at 6pm at the BBQ place we like, is that okay?"
After quickly looking at his calendar, Naruto sat up and nodded. "I'm free. I'll just shoot it off to my parents and see if they're available." Within a minute of sending his mother a message, she had replied with a confirmation that it was locked in and a thumbs up emoji. "My parents are keen."
"Excellent!" Deidara practically squealed with excitement. "Now, when do I get to know if I'm getting another nephew or niece?" The blond Omega eyed Naruto with a cheeky grin.
It was 7pm and the family dinner was well and truly in full swing with everyone chatting as they ate and milled about. As Deidara sat and watched them all enjoying themselves, his nerves began to rise making him feel sick with worry.
"Don't worry my love, everything will be fine." Itachi whispered as he squeezed Deidara's hand.
"But they didn't come…." he choked, tears threatening to fall. "I don't know why I even expected them to."
"Listen to me," Itachi said, voice betraying his anger as he grabbed Deidara's face, turning the blond and forcing their eyes to meet. "They aren't worth your tears, they never were." Pulling the upset Omega into a tight embrace, Itachi whispered, "I'm here and so is my family, isn't that enough?"
Swallowing hard, Deidara nodded. "Yes. yes it is." he whispered back, snuggling into the embrace. "Your family has been more of a family to me than mine ever was." With a confirming nod he pushed himself away from the Alpha and stood up, face set in a hard stare. "Let's do this."
His resolve boosted even more when he heard a laugh he'd never heard before ring out through the suddenly quiet room. It was loud and strong. Turning from his mate's embrace Deidara searched the room, seeming to follow everyone's eyes till they landed on the patriarch of the family - Uchiha Madara - who was seemingly laughing at something Naruto had said to him.
"Well that's highly unusual." Itachi commented dryly as they watched the pair. "Madara doesn't like most people on the best of days." As an afterthought he chuckled, "Maybe we should check if the seasons have suddenly all switched and hell has frozen over?"
"Well, Naruto does have a certain charm about him that draws everyone in. I'm honestly not surprised that he bespelled the old fool…. Even if I can't get him to even acknowledge my existence." He growled the last bitterly.
Coming from behind, Itachi rested his head on Deidara's shoulder, arms wrapping around the blond. "Don't worry yourself my love, even I don't get along with the old fool. Plus, it's not good for you to be worrying so much in your condition." the Alpha whispered as he stroked the Omega's sides to calm him, hands drawing him slowly into a loving and comforting embrace. "Shall we get everyone's attention on us instead? Maybe that'll make you feel better?" he whispered wickedly.
Deidara nodded and signalled for a waiter to cut the music. Once done Itachi let go of the blond and picked up a glass, chiming it with his knife to get everyone's attention.
"I'd like to thank everyone for coming this evening." Itachi opened, gaining the full attention of everyone in the room. "As many of you know, Deidara and I joined in union several years ago, after having been together since we met in high school." He joined hands with the blond Omega. "And like many relationships, we've had our ups and downs. You name it, we've probably gone through it."
Deidara squeezed Itachi's hand, a look of adornment dawning his face as he took over. "Through thick and thin, Itachi and the Uchiha have stood by us and for that I am eternally grateful." He smiled, turning to face the crowd. "So with that being said, we'd like everyone here to be the first to know." he beamed as Itachi took over.
"In seven months, Deidara and I will be welcoming our first child into the world." Itachi smiled softly.
Several seconds ticked by before the room erupted in cheers. Everyone wanted to be the first to congratulate the couple and ask how they finally got pregnant after being told that Deidara was sterile.
Putting his hand into the air, Deidara slowly gained control over the bustling crowd. "After many years of failures and countless specialists telling me that I was infertial, we owe our final success to Kushina Namikaze." The blond Omega smiled warmly at the red haired Omega. "She was able to get me into finally see the top specialist in the world, that not even the Uchiha's money or influence could get me into."
"It's not what you know, but who you know." Kushina called out with a smirk.
"And we are more than thankful that you know Dr. Senju, or better, that you held something over her that could get us an appointment almost straight away." Itachi smirked back, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"Here, here." Kushina raised her glass and cheered, gaining some laughter around the room.
"It was all thanks to Dr. Senju that we were able to not only find the problem, but a solution to it and here we are, announcing our soon to be first born." Deidara raised his glass.
At this everyone in the room raised their glass, a choir of cheers ringing out.
After several more speeches, the room was served dessert and it all began to quiet down enough for Deidara to pull Kushina aside.
"I wanted to thank you again for your help, if it wasn't for you, we'd have never known that the problem was so simple and easy to fix." Deidara beamed as he held onto Kushina's hands, tears threatening to breach his glassy eyes.
"Oh honey," Kushina cooed, pulling her fellow Omega into a hug. "You deserve nothing but happiness." she whispered as before pulling away, leaving her arms loosely around the blond Omega's waist. "But I have to ask, what ended up being the cause of your infertility?"
"As it turns out, I have extremely high acidic levels in my body, making it impossible for me to fall pregnant." Deidara sighed, "Dr. Senju suspects it was purposely done as the levels were far above what occurs naturally." the blond whispered, head casting down, hiding his eyes.
"We believe it happened when I started courting him." Itachi took over. "Dei had a prearranged mating partner that was decided for him when he presented. The Alpha was thirty years his senior at the time." the Alpha said in disgust, placing a hand on the blond Omega's shoulder. "I met Dei in high school and we hit it off straight away and before I knew it, I was courting him."
"Obviously my family was furious when I chose Itachi over their plans," Deidara continued, "The moment they realised I wasn't going to give, they tried everything they could to break us up, then when they saw they couldn't, they gave me a final dinner in my home, before….." the blond swallowed hard, but after a quick reassuring squeeze to the shoulder from his Alpha he continued. "Before they disowned me and legally divorced me, taking away my last name." he finally choked out.
Hearing this, anyone around could see the array of emotions that crossed the red headed Omega's face. Everything from a rage promising death, too compassionate sympathy was shown.
"Well that just won't do!" Kushina finally settled on, with a small smile. Pulling out her phone she quickly sent off a message, receiving a reply within seconds. "I'll be right back." she said, pulling away from the blond Omega and grabbing her mate by the hand and disappearing around the corner for a few minutes before returning. "Okay, I know you're already mated and have a last name, but we'd be more than honoured if you'd allow us to adopt you and for you to take my maiden name as your own maiden name. That'll show that unworthy family of yours that you don't need them, cause you'd be a part of ours." she beamed with a devilish grin, fist pumping the air viciously.
Deidara's head shot up, seeing the serenity and heat in the woman's eyes. At this, the tears that had been threatening to fall finally fell. "Are… Are you serious?" he whispered. "I…" he swallowed, "I can join your family?"
"One hundred percent." Kushina continued to beam. "That would also make you and Naru brothers."
"I'm okay with that." Naruto piped up from behind his mother, a grin adorning his face.
Minato slid in behind Kushina, a welcoming smile on his face. "Welcome to the family." he chuckled. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."
"Can't be worse than mine." Itachi laughed.
Comments, Favorites and Follows are more than welcome!
So was it worth the wait? I do hope so.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and again, I'm really sorry it's so late. I did try to make this chapter longer than my normal chapters, so I hope the longer read was fun. ^_~
Well, until next time.