A/N: Picture of Icky and his brother up on my Deviantart account.
Chapter 6
"What's wrong with him?"
"Shock. Possible psychotic break. Not sure. My expertise lies in surgery. Trauma. But his vitals are dangerously low."
"How's that possible?"
"Depending on the person, some levels of stress can be fatal. Never seen anybody go berserk like that. Almost didn't get to him in time. Good you sent the baby upstairs with a clone."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"No doubt. I've got him. He's not going anywhere. Even starting to come around, see? Naruto? Can you hear me?"
"Good. What about…her?"
"She's dead. Knew it the second she arrived. I can see it. Feel it. There's no life in her."
"But she's still moving."
"Oh the heart is beating, and the lungs are expanding, but she's not breathing. Her body's only circulating enough blood to keep the thing in her alive. And that thing is changing."
"What? How?"
"I think it's a baby-"
"It is."
"Then it's not like any baby I've ever delivered. It's a bit premature, but it's speeding up its development as we speak. Maturing its lungs."
"What the fuck?"
"See how still the body is now? That baby is conserving energy. Preparing to be born. What do you want to do?"
"About what?"
"That baby! Do you want me to deliver it? It's much too large to be born vaginally, besides which the body housing it is dead. Yes or no?"
There was no answer. Naruto regretted the loss of silence in his white space. If he could hear, then images and memory were sure to follow, and he couldn't take that. He couldn't leave this space and face what he'd done to Hinata. His Hinata, who'd loved him nearly all of her life, who'd only ever helped him, and whom he'd only ever hurt. This, though. The rape was bad enough. But the kid that rape had put in her, and what that kid had done to her… All that could be laid at his door. He'd killed her. She'd gotten away and she still hadn't been safe. She was dead because of him.
'Promise me you won't break.'
He'd promised. He didn't think he was going to be able to keep it, though. Yet how could he fail her? The only thing she'd ever asked of him? Her dying wish, her trust and faith? Was he really going to turn his back on her because of something so selfish as how he felt? He'd known this shit would walk back into his life. He just hadn't known it would be this bad.
He couldn't take anymore. No more.
'You cannot break. I'm okay. I felt no pain.'
The strain was enormous. Because he was breaking. Coming apart. But he pushed the pieces together and held them in place. She needed him. And now, finally, he could help her. He could make up for what he'd done. Maybe. Probably not. He would carry this, what he'd done to her, for the rest of his days.
I'm living in hell, he thought. And it will never end. Never. Never, ever, ever.
Naruto opened his eyes.
He didn't move at first. Wasn't sure he could. Such was the strain of holding it together that even breathing was difficult. He could actually feel something happening in his body. His chakra trying to leap out of him. His mind laboring under the stress of grief, the unimaginable weight of his guilt. Only by shrinking his focus down to a single point was he able to move from one moment to the next. There was a nick in one of the ceiling beams. He stared at that. Concentrated on it. The shape. The depth. When he was sure that it was safe to do so, he took a slow deep breath.
It hurt. Intensely.
Breathing nudged the things he was trying to keep still. The pain and guilt. He had to keep those things locked down if he was going to make it. He tried again. Another careful breath.
'I felt no pain.'
He grit his teeth as his control slipped several notches. Spent time patiently bringing it back. Smoothed things down. Tamped them down as firmly as possible. Concentrated on the nick. Breathed. All he had to do was keep everything just like this.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
He thought maybe he could function. Sort of. No. No, he couldn't. He couldn't move, couldn't think, was barely breathing. He wondered if he could just stay like this. Just finally stop. Just let go, maybe follow Hinata. Be with his mom and dad.
Except he couldn't face them with all these failures on his plate. Especially not Hinata.
So, then, what was he supposed to do? Either he stayed or he went, lived or died.
"Why's he just lying there? He opened his eyes over an hour ago. Are his vitals still-"
"No. Don't get me wrong, I'm actively holding them in place, which means if I let go he'll probably let himself die. But I'm not letting him go. Try talking to him."
Shuffling sounds. "Naruto? Blink if you can hear me. Naruto? He's not blinking."
"And his pulse hasn't changed. Maybe he can't hear you."
"Naruto!"
So he couldn't leave, thanks to Chou. Unless…
Experimentally, he located Chou's chakra where it was laced with his own, and tried to resist it. Was like trying to part stone with his bare hands.
Staying it was, then. Now how to go about doing that? How could he stay with such insurmountable shame and guilt?
"I think it's best if we put him up here in his room. Bed looks comfy. Just pull back his blanket there. Good. Okay. Well, the good news is he's no longer actively fighting me. His resistance was strong for a minute there, but he's calmed down. Means somewhere in there he's aware."
"My kid. Icky. He can help Naruto. I'll go get him."
"No. Nothing's physically wrong with him. This is psychological. Emotional. What you can do, after checking on the little man, is go downstairs and tell me what's going on with that baby."
"Right."
"And Sasuke?"
"What."
"Don't touch the body."
In the past, when some ridiculously difficult move was standing in the way of his progress as a ninja, he would attack that move. Day and night. He would face it. Pick it apart. Practice. Attack, attack, attack until he won. Until he mastered the move and was able to continue his progress. And he realized now, looking at his past, that even though he'd been lacking in family, friends, and even technique, he'd gotten as far as he had through determination. Later, he'd had friends and family both, but it was his determination that had won him those.
That was who he was. The person he recognized.
Uzumaki Naruto wasn't a Jinchuuriki. Or a hero. Not someone who was a good friend or a good boyfriend. All of that was after. First and foremost, he was someone who never gave up. Never. So he couldn't give up now, despite the fact that he'd done just that. Somewhere during the pregnancy and birth he'd given up.
No. Not somewhere. When he'd stabbed Icky. That right there was the moment he'd given up. Then coming back to discover Sasuke and Hinata, he'd just kept giving up. And now, faced with Hinata's death, he was giving up so completely that he was dying. This was it. The thing he'd lost. The essence of who he was, the backbone of life and living.
Determination. Guts. Resolve. Purpose.
He'd lost his purpose. Without purpose there could be no determination. You needed determination to fulfill a purpose.
What had his purpose been? To be Hokage. What was his purpose now? The same thing, he decided. Not to be Hokage, but to be what Kage meant. Someone strong enough to protect his friends, his village. Well, Hakumeigakure was his village now. And in order to protect his friends, he would need to be strong. Determined. He had a purpose. Protect his family, protect his friends. Protect his village. He just needed to find his determination.
That was the core of his strength.
"Chou, it's been hours. If he was going to get up, he would have by now. His eyes aren't even open anymore. Here. Brought you some food."
"Don't give up on him so easily. Thanks." Chewing. "I'm no longer actively anchoring him, so that's good. I prefer to be where I can see him, though. Plus, that baby downstairs scares me. What's it doing?"
"Still maturing. I tried to kill it-"
"WHAT!"
"What, you think Hinata got like that on her own? Or from some enemy? That kid can heal her from anything. I've seen it. If something powerful enough to override that healing attacked Hinata, it would have killed them both. Those injuries are severe enough to have compromised her heart and lungs several times over, yet they're the only organs still intact. That kid killed her. I know it. Then it took over the only organs that would ensure it kept living."
"That's Naruto's kid, though. What right do you have to kill it?"
"What right does it have to live?"
"Uh, the right of all people? He's going to be born soon. A fetus needs far more than a beating heart and oxygen to survive in utero. I'm going to deliver it. Naruto's going to get better. And then he can decide what happens next."
"You don't have a right to judge me."
"Naruto's my Kage. This is my village now. I'm loyal to it and him. That means protecting his interests when he can't protect them himself."
"Is that right. You can't stop me, insane chakra or not. I will find a way to kill that kid. He's a danger to all of us."
He'd known it for some time now, but the thing standing in the way of his progress was Hinata. The rape. Her death. How she'd died. Why she'd died. Even so, it was awhile still before he could make himself acknowledge it. It was going to hurt. But if he was going to get past this to the other side he was going to have to go through it. Face it. Pick it apart.
My purpose is my family, my friends, and my village. My family, my friends, and my village.
When Hinata had given him her memories in the dream, he'd gotten an overall gist. Then, when he'd seen her body, the memories had sharpened. He'd gotten a glimpse of her final hour and hastily disconnected himself. Brought himself here, to this white room in his mind. To willingly put himself in those memories and relive them from her point of view would be the hardest thing he'd ever done-
My family, my friends, and my village.
-but he could do it. He would have to. Because unless he faced his shame and guilt, they would finish him. And he wasn't finished. Not by a long shot, he decided. This was bad. The worst he'd ever faced, the lowest he'd ever been…but there was worse out there in the world. He needed to be ready. For his family, friends, and village, he needed to be ready. Kage needed to be strong. Fathers needed to be strong. He needed to be strong. He was strong.
Cautiously, moving carefully, but with no hesitation, he opened the door to the white room and let the memories in.
"Okay, It's been twenty-four hours. You're stable. I feel confident leaving you alone. You're going to make it. I can feel it. I can feel you trying to come back, so I'm going to leave your side and trust that you won't leave us. I need to go downstairs and see just what Sasuke is up to. Between you and me, he's scary. You didn't tell me your boyfriend, or your ex, sorry, was so scary. Made it sound like he was a regular guy. Good dad. But I feel him down there doing things with his chakra. And I can feel that baby getting stronger, even from all the way up here. I think the baby's chakra can be felt from anywhere in the house. So…I'm going down there. Really don't want to. I'm not like, a brave person, or a fighter, or anything like that. But you're down, so I got your back. Okay? You do what you need to do and I'll handle things here as best I can. Hope Sasuke doesn't kill me. That would suck. Still glad you brought me, though. Okay. I'm going."
He started with the rape. And since he'd been Kyuubi when it happened, he had access to every detail of how it'd gone down from his perspective as well as Hinata's. A double feature. Slipping into those memories was easier than he wanted it to be, but he didn't back down.
At first he was with Sasuke. In the snow. Using him, subduing him, then covering him with the snow. Sitting on his haunches. Sniffing the wind. Catching her scent. She was close.
He remembered masking himself. Hunkering low down to the ground as he approached the village. Stalking his prey as she arrived and disappeared into the house. They were his, the other male and this female, but she'd yet to submit to him. Intolerable.
He peered into the window. Watched her at the big fire, then in the eating room. Watched her move around. He'd marked the entire house. It was his territory. She was in it and she would submit. He entered on silent feet.
Naruto pulled his mind back a bit. Swallowed. Breathed. My family, my friends, and my village.
He stood in his memories, watching her at the sink, much as Kyuubi stood behind her and watched her. The demon was anticipating her resistance, eager to subdue her. Naruto felt his heart break for these final moments of her innocence. The last of her youth. He could see how tired she was. Her shoulders slumped as she washed a mug, and her hands shook. Then she turned. Saw him.
My family, my friends, and my village.
He cried out with her when he struck her. Joined his scream to hers at the penetration attempts, and turned his face away when Kyuubi put his head between her legs. Kept his eyes closed and his hands buried in hair during the rape itself.
My family, my friends, and my village.
"I'm sorry," he whispered over her screams. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
It was over. He looked at the mess of her body and cried with her. Watched over her until Sasuke came and caught her as she fell.
Here he steadied himself with an effort. All his insides were trembling, but he made himself go back to the beginning and watch again.
And again.
And again.
Until he could watch and acknowledge her ordeal without looking away. He marked each wound and bled with her. Apologized for each blow, each violent thrust. When he could get through it with nothing more than deep sorrow, he took a cleansing breath and turned away. He needed some time of solitude, no memories, before he could continue.
My family, my friends, and my village.
He had no idea how long he spent in the white room repeating that.
"Naruto? It's me. Brought our son to see you. It's been forty-eight hours." Silence. "Want to say hi to your dad?"
Urgent cooing.
"I think he senses that kid downstairs. He hasn't eaten or slept since it showed up. I'm worried about him, but like you told me before he's holding strong. Doesn't seem to be suffering. Chou says his vitals are unnaturally strong, and he shows no signs of malnourishment or fatigue." More silence. More babbling from Icky. "I've tried everything on that thing downstairs, Naruto, down to partial Susanoo. Nothing works. Chakra's absorbed, blunt force just rebounds off of some kind of shield. Made of chakra, but still. Chou's down there now. Assessing the kid, according to him. Says it's huge for its gestational age. Strong. And I'm standing there thinking, 'Tell me something I don't know.'"
A pause.
"Hey. You're crying. What are you doing in whatever dream you're in? Look, I need you to come back. We agreed we hated that kid. Look what it's done already. We were right to hate it. And now we have to kill it. Together."
Icky started crying.
"Hurry up and come back, okay? I love you."
He was done with the room. No longer needed it. Wanting to maintain his momentum of dealing with the worst shit first, he now went for her memories of someplace called Last Town.
These he paid extremely close attention to, as he focused on the kid at last. Scrutinized and catalogued his interactions with Mao. Most especially the way he took over Hinata's body. Why he did so, and what actions Hinata did that triggered the control. Then he analyzed Hinata's memories. Data she'd collated about the kid. Discovered the name she'd picked for him. He went through it all, frowning at her fear and longing to comfort her. To be at her side. To protect her, hold her hand, and tell her everything would be all right. He lived her pain and terror, her tears, her deductions about the kid. Right up until she tried to come to him. He stopped here. Braced himself.
"Hinata. God. You will never know how sorry I am."
It was so much worse than the rape. It helped that, lodged in her memories as he was, he saw that she really hadn't experienced any pain in the end. Helped, but not much. He winced at each crunch of bone. Felt something in him splinter in commiseration, something he knew would never be right again. It ended with the messages. He was past the ability to be surprised by anything, so the fact that Sakura and most of Konoha were on their way to him was only noted, nothing more.
-oOo-
Finished, he retreated to the starry, moonlit landscape he'd met Hinata's soul in. He spent a long time sitting beneath those stars and sharing her memories. Remembering her. Crying. Apologizing. He couldn't seem to stop apologizing, as if that would help. It didn't.
None of it was his fault. But he was the cause of all of it. He spent time accepting this. It was something he would carry forever.
At last he was able to settle back into his own mind. To bear himself. It wouldn't be easy, would never be easy, but now he could at least move forward and begin making things right.
My family. My friends. My village.
As far as family was concerned, he was a father. He had children. He took that duty, that privilege, very seriously. His children needed him. And both his friends and his village were on their way. Good. He was ready. Or almost ready.
He studied what Hinata had given him on their son once more, but his conclusions were the same. "Hinata," he said as he began the process of waking up. "I'm going to keep that promise. Count on it."
This time when he opened his eyes, he was alone. He soon found out why; Chou and Sasuke could be heard yelling downstairs. Seemed the baby was in the process of being born.
Moving purposefully but without haste, he walked to the nursery.
-oOo-
Five clones of Sasuke stood in a line before the crib, ready to challenge him. He stopped, considered engaging them, but the matter was taken out of his hands. Icky blasted them with lightning from behind, pulled himself up with difficulty, and stood on wobbly legs in his crib. He gave a sharp squawk at seeing Naruto. Stretched one hand toward him.
"Glad we're on the same page, then." He went to his son and picked him up. Sat with him. Closed his eyes.
Icky stared up at him.
Even with his newfound determination, and the yells downstairs urging him on, it was hard. Person to person, it was hard. He needed long moments, precious time, to make the flimsiest connection…
But it was enough for Icky to work with. He grasped the tenuous thread of thought Naruto fed him, strengthened it until it was a thick cable of mental energy, and sucked Naruto out of himself, down, down, down, and into blackness.
-oOo-
He was blind. But a glow brightened in the distance until he realized he was flying toward something. A person. Small. He burst into the brightness all at once, and knew the person was his son, Icky. Knew, but couldn't see him. Icky's mind was too strong, his thoughts too bright.
"Hi Daddy!"
Sasuke was caught unprepared. Despite having the abomination under his roof for two days, and attacking it to no avail, he was leaning against the doorway between living room and kitchen, arms crossed, and wondering what to eat. Chou was kneeling next to the body in another one of his pointless –in his estimation- examinations. He'd just about decided on deer when Chou's scream had him nearly shitting himself.
He bounded across the room, chakra blazing, to find Hinata's body enveloped in its own cloud of chakra. Upon closer inspection, though, he saw that that wasn't right. Hinata's stomach was opening. And chakra was pouring out.
Ten endless seconds passed like syrup as the hairs all over his body stood up. To his enhanced eyes, the chakra looked like nothing so much as the sky lights visible in this part of the world. Swirling slowly, deliberately, as if every particle of it was consciously directed…which it likely was. It was different from the chakra already surrounding Hinata's corpse. That held steady at an even frequency. This…he narrowed his eyes, concentrating on Hinata's stomach. It was like looking at an ocean wave, one contained within a small area. Incredibly strong, unbelievably dense chakra unlike any he'd ever felt.
But it was when he saw her stomach begin opening that he felt his balls shrivel. One small fist pushed through her flesh, thus allowing that chakra to spill out. It rose, that fist, exposing a tough little forearm covered in blood. Here the opening stretched and tore with a sound that had Sasuke yelling and Chou hollering; something larger than a hand was forcing its way through. Round and wet and also bloody. A head. It emerged halfway, withdrew, emerged once more…and turned.
Two pale eyes glowing with an unfamiliar pattern pinned them where they stood.
Chou was still screaming, but Sasuke both saw and felt the way the kid's chakra spiked before exploding outward at them. He threw himself down, yelling for Chou to get back-
-but nothing happened. Sasuke opened his eyes.
Chou was down on one knee, hands outstretched toward Hinata and her kid. He had a shield of chakra surrounding mother and child both. The kid's chakra was now locked inside, where it rebounded off the walls of the shield as if seeking an exit. "Sasuke!" Chou yelled. "Help!"
Sasuke got to his feet and cautiously inspected the shield. That it was strong was evident, but to block that kind of power with chakra alone… Chou wasn't even ninja. "How are you doing that?"
"I don't know! But the kid is resisting it, so help me!"
"Not sure I ca—tch!"
Within the shield, the kid climbed fully from Hinata's body with a grisly ripping of flesh. He sat crouched on her remains for them both to see, and studied them in turn.
He was large. Larger than Icky was now, and Icky was six months old. Strong enough to support himself on haunches and hands. He opened his mouth and let out a sound that had Chou screaming, but Sasuke looked upward with a curse.
"What is it?" Chou panted.
"Naruto's awake."
"Thank God! Is he coming to help?"
Sasuke frowned at the knowledge that Icky had neutralized his clones. "I don't know."
The kid on Hinata roared again. Then the chakra surrounding him and filling the shield disappeared into his body…along with Chou's shield. Chou hastily disconnected himself before all his chakra could be absorbed, but this left him exposed. Some kind of pulse went from the kid to them and Chou flew backward. Susanoo served to protect Sasuke, but he released it almost immediately lest his own chakra be sucked away. An incredibly powerful probe hit him between the eyes then. The kid, trying to enter his mind with a staggeringly potent Genjutsu. Eternal Mangekyo helped, but the strength behind that probe was inhuman.
Almost vomiting at the strain, Sasuke began to sweat.
"Hi Daddy! Daddy daddy oh daddy you came back you're better come come here take it this is it the food you want the other the other the other-"
His head was splitting open. "Icky."
"-the other is coming he's here he's coming oh no yes come daddy do it do it I can't do it I don't know how hi daddy I can't open it but the open it food food food food food-"
"ICKY."
That babbling went on, his son trying to communicate. Him trying to communicate in turn was like talking to a wall. He could feel and hear what was going on downstairs, if dimly. He knew Hinata's son was coming. Hinata herself had told him. He'd seen it with his own eyes, and he could feel Chou and Sasuke's chakra engaged. He didn't have time to try and decipher what Icky was telling him, and he didn't have time to fumble. He sent a quelling sense of his urgency to the supernova of thought that was his son. "STOP."
Silence.
He took a moment to study the waiting yet eager presence of his son, and recalled that past communication with the boy was really only successful when he led with his feelings. He did so now, letting his grief and pain hit the boy unchecked. His duty. His responsibility. His love and regret for Hinata and his determination to make things right. To shoulder the weight forced upon him at last and be who he was. This he shoved toward the brilliance of Icky's mind.
It was received. Picked apart, reformed, and then analyzed. Understood.
He would have cried out at feeling his own mind sucked deeper into his son if he was capable of speech, but all he did was brace himself as he felt his brain stressed to its limits. "Icky…"
"Sorry, daddy. I had to bringed you down more so you could understand me. I can't talk too good and thoughtwords are still hard for me. I don't know how to do it like you. Is this better?"
His son's mind was still vastly more powerful than his own. "Oh my God. Icky?"
"Yes, yes. I'm using feelwords. Can you understand me now?"
"Yes. My God. Icky, I want to tell you how sorry-"
"I know, daddy."
"And how much I love you-"
"Also I know that."
"I can't see you."
"Yes you can, you're seeing me with feels."
He could indeed feel the warm, loving presence of his son all around him. It was like being dunked in solace. "I mean really see you…but that's not why I'm here. Icky, your brother is here and he's powerful."
"Yes yes."
"I need to help him. And I need to help you. I need to protect all of us, and I can't do that. Not without power. Icky, I need Kyuubi back."
"Yes yes. I know. The foodmind. It's here but I don't know how to do it. You take it."
"Take it? Where is he?"
He got the equivalent of a shrug in response.
"Can you feel him?"
"The foodmind? No."
"But you used him when I was dead. To help you."
"I did?"
"Don't you remember?"
A thinking sensation. "Not too good. I remember Daddy Sasuke's feels. So bad. A lot of ouch. And you. Not-here. The dead. I did that thing. The roof-fall thing. But the after is hard thoughts."
Sadness surrounded him. Icky didn't like disappointing him.
"It's okay. Maybe I can help you remember. Okay? Can you let me into your mind? Your memories?"
"But you're soft. It might ouch you."
"I know I'm weak, but that's why I need to do this. For my family. My friends and my village. But also for me, Icky. If I'm going to live with myself then I need to be the Uzumaki Naruto I know how to be. Trust your daddy…I can do this. I will do this. Just let me in so I can find him, okay?"
"…Okay, daddy."
Sasuke backed around the end of the couch, eyes scanning left and right. Chou was behind him, one huge hand on his back, whimpering.
The kid had slithered to the floor after his initial attempt at a Genjutsu, then scuttled with astonishing speed out of sight. His chakra was now repressed, so sensing him was difficult. Sasuke thought he felt something by the door, but when he edged that way there was no kid to be found.
A sound had them whirling. Chou's breathing made hearing anything else almost impossible, though. He was just about to tell him to shut up when a sharp crack had the guy screaming, and him holding his sword at the ready. The sound had definitely come from the door. This time when he got there he saw a hole in the thing, low down by the floor. The kid had crashed right through it.
Which meant he was now outside, loose in the land.
"Fuck." Sasuke sheathed his sword. "Come on."
"I'm not going after that thing! I'm staying right here. Maybe…oh, this is horrible of me to say, but maybe a bear will get him. A wolf. Something like that."
Sasuke left. He didn't have the time or patience to explain that if the kid could resist them so effectively, a bear didn't stand a chance. He yanked the door open and left a sobbing Chou behind.
-oOo-
The weather had long since turned. The sun was now out long enough to melt the ocean around their island. He was just in time to see the brat dart onto the water, sink choking and spluttering, then rise up again glowing with chakra. He all but flew across the surface, leaving a tail of mist and spray in his wake. Sasuke took off after him.
Under no circumstances did he engage the thing. But getting close enough to land a killing blow was almost impossible. The kid ran across the water on all fours until something beneath him caught his attention. He stopped, bobbing on the waves, and peered down. Sasuke stopped a couple hundred yards away, watching. The kid continued to stare downward until he put out his hand.
Sasuke shielded his face with an arm as a blue whale was yanked out of the water in a terrific display of power. It hovered there, bawling in distress, until whatever power that held it up now exploded the whale in a shower of red. Sasuke was sprayed with gore. Pieces of bone hit him with such force that shards embedded themselves in his skin. He brought his arm down in time to see the kid disappearing again, bleating at the sky.
Icky's memories were surrounded by his incomplete understanding of the world, and thus distorted beyond what Naruto could easily recognize. He tried anyway. Concentrated on the feelings behind the memories. After awhile he found a way to view the memories without Icky's perceptions and that was better. He was able to move along faster.
He got a firsthand view of Sasuke's time with Sachi, but skipped that. He skipped everything until he came upon a patch of grief that was raw and formless. This is it. He felt his way along the edges of it, seeking the center, where Icky's memories were likely to be. Except there wasn't much memory there. The pain was too large, canceling out his son's thought processes at the time. He felt for him, he really did, and it did something to him to see how hurt the boy had been at killing him. That's what he was swimming in, the deep, black despair Icky had felt at killing his father. It was quite as black and deep as his own feelings on stabbing his son.
That made him stop.
Icky loved him. Was always so happy to see him and be held by him. He'd known the kid was sorry for killing him, but knowing it and living it were two different things. Had he understood that the kid was carrying around this much pain and regret, he would have…what? He didn't know. What he did know was that Icky had found a way to deal with it. By loving him, Naruto, and cherishing him. He'd hurt his father, but his father was alive and well, and he took comfort in that. Healed with that. And for the first time it hit Naruto that it was okay. He'd hurt his son but he still had him and he was forgiven. It wasn't something he would have done under normal circumstances. It had happened. He couldn't change that. But he could stop carrying it. It was okay to forgive himself. Forgiving didn't mean he would forget. It just meant he could appreciate the son he had and help him heal even more.
"Icky."
"No. I don't want to go in there."
"Please. Just come here."
He could feel the reluctance, but Icky's presence swelled around him. It quivered in the grief, in the memory of hearing he was dead. The grief swelled around them, but Naruto enveloped his son with his own love. With his acceptance, and forgiveness, and how much he wanted him. How precious he was to him. Things there would never be language enough to express. He surrounded him with that feeling, let it permeate his own grief, and somewhere in there while they were sharing, the pain was just…gone. He was left with just his son. His beautiful boy.
"I remember!"
Naruto would have smiled, but he pulled back and let Icky lead the rest of the way through his memories. He arrived at the moment the boy's pain had crested and said, "Stop. Right here. Do you see what you're doing?"
"Looking. For powers."
"Yes. Fuck. Sasuke wasn't kidding, you really have those eyes. Icky, how'd you know what to look for?"
"I didn't. I knowed I could help. Was looking for how, but I didn't know. Then when I felt it I knowed."
"Okay there! Right there. See? You have Kyuubi, you're using him. The foodmind."
Icky dutifully studied the memory. "Okay, take it."
"…No, you have to give him to me."
"…How? Can't give. It's gone. I ate it."
And even now that thought gave him the shivers. "The same way you took him from me, give him back!"
Icky was silent. There was more of the thinking sensation. "I would dead. Be dead."
"What?"
"I'm looking at your thoughts. People have had this foodmind before you. If you take the foodmind, they dead. Die."
"Yes. I mean no, that's if a Bijuu is sealed in them and then extracted, but it's not sealed in you."
"I can't give it."
"Yes you can, just-"
"Food. You eat. Yes yes?"
"Yeah, of course I eat-"
"When you eat, it makes your body. Yes yes?"
"Nourishes me, yes." A sinking feeling crept up on him. He thought he could see where this was going.
"After, the food can't come again. It's in your body. It is your body. If you take the foodmind it will ouch me. Maybe dead me. But take it. I can't give it."
Which meant, once he'd broken this down, that the Kyuubi was so inextricably linked with his son's makeup that extracting it would not only be impossible, but might kill Icky.
"No. I won't believe that. You used him, which means he can be extracted. How in fuck I'm supposed to reseal him in myself I got no idea, but I'll figure it out. I just need to get to him first. Icky, put me in that memory."
"How?"
"I don't know. But if you have Rinnegan, you can do shit I can't even dream of so I'm confident you'll find away. I believe in you. You brought me back from the dead."
Heavy doubt and skepticism.
"Icky. Baby. Your brother is out there fucking Sasuke up, I can feel it. I need to help him, okay? Your brother. But to do that, I need to stop him, and to do that, I need to be at full strength." For good measure he sent along Hinata's plea. Her desperation for help, and the promise he'd made her.
Icky ignored all that and focused on Hinata's memories of her son. Naruto sensed surprise and fear, followed by a species of steely resolve.
And then his mind was blown to fragments.
Sasuke lost track of time, as he so often did now that the sun never set. He wiped sweat from his eyes and bent to study the ground. Chakra burns. Scorch marks. He could see a few trees up ahead still on fire. Still see the canyons of displaced earth, the way a distant cliff crumbled apart as if kicked by some giant foot. He could certainly smell the ozone of lightning techniques, and see the smooth, glassy surface of rocks and trees cut by wind. The kid was experimenting with his chakra, all while remaining out of sight.
He didn't have access to natural chakra to overload the monster if he got close enough for it to suck him dry, and he didn't have the raw power it would take to overwhelm the little shit's brute strength. Naruto had beaten Pain, but this kid outstripped Pain. It was pointless to strategize, but he did so anyway, and continued to stalk him.
Chou finally considered himself calm enough to get to his feet and take stock. He was a great blubbering coward, but that was nothing new to him. He wasn't a fighter.
He decided to go upstairs and check on Naruto, but the corpse caught his eye. It was badly mutilated. Drifting closer, he tried to see the girl it had been in the misshapen features. The only real thing intact was the hair, though. Long and thick. So dark. He crouched and lifted a lock between two fingers. Still soft. He looked at the rest of her body and felt sad. She must have been an extraordinary person for both Sasuke and Naruto to love her. He'd seen Sasuke's reaction. And this must be the person Naruto thought Sasuke had such strong feelings for. Besides, Naruto had experienced a complete psychotic break at seeing the evidence of this girl's suffering. That must mean strong feelings of his own. His best friend, he'd called her. Yes. And Naruto was someone who took his friends seriously, he could tell.
All of this thinking of Naruto reminded him that Sasuke'd said he was awake. Laying the lock of hair gently over Hinata's shoulder, Chou straightened and made for the stairs. Halfway there he frowned. Stopped. Cocked his head. Then he was dashing the rest of the way up and stumbling into the nursery.
A cloud of oppressive orange chakra surrounded Naruto and the baby, where he was ensconced forehead to forehead in Naruto's arms.
Going into a memory was not something he'd ever do again, assuming he lived. He felt as if he was literally being dismantled atom by atom, and reconstituted into something else. He could feel Icky, barely, and the kid was likewise in distress. Trying to keep them anchored in this one moment, trying to take the instructions Naruto shouted at him through the maelstrom of agony and implement them. Trying…and failing. He could see the boy simply did not know how to access the demon. It was like asking him or Sasuke to access a bite of apple they'd eaten months ago, that had already been utilized by their bodies.
His frustration was acute. He could sense a ghost of Kyuubi, could almost touch him, and he just…couldn't…make it. He and Icky were both fading, and he fought. Fought with all the determination he had to-
"Daddy, I got it!"
Icky shoved something at him. He caught it, lost it, snagged it, and barely managed to hang on to it. Just. Barely. Even so, it was slipping through his fingers. Naruto hurled his entire being at the thing, curled himself around it, and hung on tight. The pain was intense. Somewhere in the distance Icky was screaming for him. He tried to let go, to go to him, but he was caught. Hooked through his center and twined around something that was burning him alive from within. "ICKY!"
Chou slowly backed out of the room when the chakra began shredding the walls and floor. He briefly considered whether or not the house would remain intact and if he should try and remove Naruto and the baby from harm…but a large chunk of the roof fell in right then and he decided to trust his Kage to take care of himself. He got out of there.
Sasuke crouched behind a boulder. He could sense the little fucker, but still couldn't see him. Odd. He should be able to see the chakra, at least. Even if a masking jutsu was in place, he-
The kid shimmered into existence not ten feet in front of him. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in analysis even as he was leaping backward. The shit wasn't using a masking jutsu. He'd bent the light around himself to make himself invisible. What in the fuck-
Something shot at him from the kid's mouth. A ball of chakra that pulverized the tree he landed behind. A splinter grazed his cheek, but he retaliated with full-blown Susanoo, followed by both lightning and fire. They were all withstood, absorbed, or deflected. The Genjutsu he leveled at those demonic eyes was completely demolished on contact with the boy's mind. Then he felt himself snatched off his feet and pulled toward the kid, who had his mouth open. Another of those chakra blasts was about to come his way.
Chou glanced back when the explosion went off. The place where Naruto's house had stood was now one huge pillar of fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, and chakra. That evil, orange chakra with the elements swirling up the outside, twining about it in some intricate pattern. Clouds gathered directly above, as far as his eyes could see, to bring on a false night. That pillar of chakra glowed malevolently, swelling, obliterating the village. Chou adjusted his burden on his back and kept running.
He managed to break the hold on him. Noted it was the same as Pain's command over repulsive and attractive forces. Blocked the next blast with chakra, dodged the one after that, was yanked off his feet again, this time in spite of the chakra he had concentrated to his feet against that occurrence. His body resisted the pull just long enough for him to feel both hips dislocated and his spine crack ominously. He was dropped. But then the same force began crushing him where he lay. He was held immobile as his chest was slowly and deliberately compressed. Blood flew out of his mouth as he coughed in agony.
"Where am I."
"Nowhere. The beginning. Or the end. That would depend on you."
"Icky?"
"No."
Naruto blinked. He could see stars and galaxies above him. Planets and the sun below him. Sasuke dying. Chou running. Icky limp in his arms, and his own eyes, nose, and ears bleeding. Then he turned.
Kyuubi sat crouched behind him, surveying the same scene.
"Kyuubi."
The demon stared at him. "I hurt the girl. I had no control over myself. Neither did the child. But I did hurt her. I hurt Sasuke. My mind was taken from me, leaving something worse than I'd ever been. I've been angry at humanity for centuries. At how they used my brethren and me. Abused us. They demonized us. But what that child did…while not his fault, made me something worse. I …ask your forgiveness."
Naruto witnessed the amazing sight of Kyuubi lowering his head in shame until it hung between his claws.
"I'm glad you said that. Because I had a major bone to pick with you. I forgive you. Seems we all did something we didn't want to do."
"Naruto. That child I put in Hinata is wrong. But she was right, he can be helped. You'll need more than me."
"What do you mean? Wrong, how? What more than you are you talking about?"
"Wrong. Sometimes a person comes out wrong. This isn't evil and choice, like Madara, though anyone has the potential to be evil. Nor is it pain and anger like Sasuke used to be. He's just wrong. And very powerful."
That reminded him of something. "Dude. What the fuck, why'd you make me pregnant!"
"I? That wasn't me that was your doing, your hysteria over losing Sasuke to some girl! I told you to stop! Begged you to stop-"
Naruto silenced him with a hand gesture. Turned from him.
"It wasn't your fault, Naruto. You-"
"At what point does any of this become someone's fault? Huh? When is someone going to step up and take responsibility?"
"…Isn't that why you're here?"
"Where is here?"
"The beginning or end."
"Of what?"
Kyuubi held something out in his hand. A glowing sphere of white. "Your inheritance. Buried deep within your firstborn. He is the rightful heir, the legacy, but you are his sire. It is yours as well. And the legacy has two parts. Both of them yours."
"I don't understand shit-"
"You will."
"Sasuke and Icky are dying, and here you are giving me stupid-"
"Time stands still here."
"But-"
"Take it and save them. Fulfill your promise. Or it all ends here."
"I came here for you, not some-"
"You have me. I'm back where I belong."
Naruto blinked at the cage that was suddenly there. Kyuubi sat behind it. "How-"
"Live or die." His claw was extended through the bars, the glowing sphere still in it.
"But-"
"Live or die."
"I have you, so I don't need-"
"Live. Or die."
"You're not making sense!"
Kyuubi reached out his other hand and flicked Naruto's forehead with a claw.
His son with Hinata. Destruction, death, the world in turmoil. Icky, his other son, somehow linked with his brother, on a rampage of such devastation that there could be no recovery. Hinata's son was indeed powerful. More powerful than anything he'd ever gone up against.
"Live. Or. Die."
My family, my friends, and my village. He stretched his hands towards the sphere.
He regained his senses in time to see his son spasming in his arms. His eyes were rolling unpleasantly and he didn't respond to his name being called.
In the past he would have panicked. Yelled for Sasuke. Now he simply placed his hand over the boy's head, closed his eyes, and accessed the new knowledge he'd been given. Icky's vitals smoothed out. Stabilized. The boy took a breath that restored the color to his cheeks and had him turning into Naruto's chest.
Naruto looked up. Churning clouds darkened the sky. He was sitting in the center of a circle of obliteration that spanned the entire village and beyond. A clone appeared beside him and took Icky from his arms.
Sasuke resisted. Susanoo was torn apart, Amaterasu absorbed. The pressure on his chest increased. He was unable to move, but he didn't have to. The kid came to him. Crawled and waddled on all fours until he was close enough to Sasuke to peer down into his face. Sasuke saw his soulless eyes rake over his body and felt his ribcage cave in completely-
A blast of chakra shot the little demon high into the air…then held him there, encased in a bubble. Sasuke lay choking on his own blood until Naruto walked into view. He was staring at the bubble where it hung in the air, but he glanced down at him. Bent and placed a hand on his chest. And suddenly he could breathe. His injuries were healed. Sasuke rolled to his feet and snatched up his sword. He looked up at the bubble, where the kid could be seen raging futilely. Then he looked at Naruto.
He was glowing. And his eyes were sporting both Sage Mode and Kyuubi.
"What the fuck-"
Naruto was gone. When he turned to look, so was the bubble containing the kid.
Chou screamed when Naruto dropped down in front of him. Then he screamed again at getting a good look at him.
Naruto held up a placating hand. "Chou? It's me."
"I know it's you! But look at you!"
"I know it's kinda scary, but trust me when I say I'm not going to hurt you. I would never."
"I know." Chou sniffed long and hard. "But so much is happening that I didn't bargain for. That kid! And whatever it was you were doing with Ikioi! And-"
Naruto reached him and put a hand on one meaty shoulder. "I know. But everything's under control now. I promise."
"Really?"
"Really. Sit down with me?"
They sat right there in the summer snow. Naruto eyed the bundle that had been on Chou's back. Now it lay beside him. He didn't press Chou. Just waited. Sure enough, Chou broke down and cried. Poured out his fears. How scary Sasuke was, how scary the kid was, his doubts about staying in the village. Wondering if it wasn't just better to go back to the station. "I mean, at least there I knew I was safe. Nothing lives down there. Nothing that could hurt me, anyway. This? I don't think I can handle it. I don't think I'm a very good villager." He hung his big head.
Naruto gave him a few moments, staring at the bundle. "I heard everything you and Sasuke said while I was down. How you were loyal to me. Believed in me. So not only are you an excellent villager, you're a good person. The kind of person I want to keep with me as a friend, not just a villager. I know the way you saved yourself and Sasuke when the kid first tried to blast his way out of Hinata. You're strong, Chou. Stronger than you know." He looked at him. Chou sat with his mouth open, mesmerized. "And as long as I'm around? You're safe. That's my promise to you. I'm not the kind of Kage who would let his villagers live in fear. I keep my promises."
Chou nodded. "Okay."
"Really? You'll come back?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Because as my first villager, my friend, and Hakumeigakure's only medical staff, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Oh?"
Naruto gently touched the bundle at his feet. "Can you help her?"
Chou didn't immediately answer. "I brought her because I couldn't just leave her. But she's really messed up. I'm not sure I can do anything."
"Just try. Please. Okay?"
"All right. I'll try."
They all arrived back at the site of the village to find Naruto's clone still holding Icky and the bubble containing the new kid beside the clone. Sasuke looked from Naruto to Chou to the bubble. Looked around. There wasn't a single house intact. "And what the hell are we supposed to do now? What happened here?"
Naruto didn't answer.
"Tell me you're at least going to kill that monster of a kid," Sasuke wanted to know. "Naruto? Tell me-"
Naruto walked away from them. The Summoning of Gamakichi was a surprise. Naruto hopped onto his nose and spoke quietly to the toad for a few minutes. When Gamakichi unfurled his tongue, Chou was the first one to climb up, follow by the clone. Naruto held his hand out to the bubble containing the snarling kid and it soared upward, into 'Kichi's mouth. Sasuke, sheathing his sword, finally followed them.
-oOo-
They came out in a village Sasuke recognized from when he'd made three thousand clones to scout the world for someplace to take Naruto. A lifetime ago. It was still in the arctic circle, but a good two hundred miles northeast of their old village. He hadn't chosen it because it was about twice the size of the village he had chosen. He hadn't needed that much space.
Chou stared at all the houses. Most were stone, but there were a few wooden structures. This village actually had streets. Town buildings. "Is it deserted?"
Naruto didn't answer, but he walked toward a large house near the center of town and entered. Gamakichi left. Chou, the clone, and Sasuke followed. The bubble floated at Naruto's side, the kid still screaming in it. Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to directly address that kid. He wouldn't feel comfortable until it was dead.
The house was furnished. Three stories, handsomely decorated. "Who would leave behind a village of such nice houses?" Chou asked. Again, he was met with silence. Sasuke was starting to get annoyed.
Upstairs, Naruto went directly to what was clearly a children's room. There was a crib, a few broken toys. Naruto tested the crib, dusted off the mattress. The clone placed Icky inside before vanishing. They all now turned to the bubble, which sat in the middle of the room. The kid inside was silent. Watching them.
The bubble, which was nothing more than chakra, dissolved when Naruto held out a hand to it. Chou backed up to the wall. Naruto stood in front of the crib. Sasuke stood opposite him.
The kid stared nowhere but at Naruto. His small body glowed, his eyes glowed, and he opened his mouth to let out a piercing roar that made Sasuke and Chou wince. The kid launched himself at Naruto, chakra boiling out of him.
Naruto's roar shook the entire village.
The sound was enough to have Sasuke and Chou's ears bleeding, and the kid falling out of the air mid-leap. The kid sat down uncertainly.
The chakra cloak Naruto sported sent an arm toward the baby and latched onto his head, where it promptly began sucking out his chakra. The boy screamed in rage, swiping at that arm. But now that he was no longer powered up, they could see him clearly.
During his run through the countryside he'd passed through enough water and snow to have him relatively clean. His hair was blond. Thick and utterly smooth, as Hinata's had been. The eyes were Hyuuga eyes, Hinata's soft lilac, and no longer sporting their glowing flower pattern. They glared up at Naruto in anger and confusion, surrounded by black lashes.
Naruto kept his chakra cloak as he took a few steps toward him. "Hyuuga Yuudai. I don't know if you can understand me, but that's your name. The name your mother gave you. The mother you killed. I'm your-"
Yuudai recovered in a remarkably short time. The Genjutsu he threw at Naruto knocked him back a step, but Kyuubi came to his defense in time for him to see the kid turn toward Sasuke and Chou with an intent to attack. Sasuke was ready. Chou was in the process of running out of the room. Naruto slammed one chakra fist down on Yuudai's back, a blow that cracked the stone floor, and successfully knocked the boy unconscious. He followed up by walking over to Yuudai and sucking his chakra more thoroughly this time. He then encased him in the bubble once more. "Fucking beast."
He turned and found Icky standing in the crib, watching everything.
Naruto released his chakra and went to him with a smile, Sasuke saw. Bent his head to him. Whispered something. Kissed him. Icky cooed in response, but that was all Naruto did. He soon left the room as well.
And later, he was nowhere to be found in the village.
Over the next day, toads brought food and powdered milk. Clothing and other supplies. Chou was closeted in one of the houses with Hinata's body. Icky continuously babbled at the bubble that sat in the middle of his room, but Naruto didn't return to check on Yuudai or release the bubble. Clearly Yuudai suffered no ill effects from lack of food, nor did he weaken and grow silent. He screamed constantly, the sound muffled by the chakra surrounding him. It was odd how he was unable to absorb the chakra bubble. Sasuke sensed him trying, but the bubble remained the same.
At the end of three days, Sasuke found Naruto at the extreme northern tip of the village, where there was nothing but a mountain and ice. Naruto stood at the base of the mountain, where the ground was rocky and bare. A hole had been dug into the side of the mountain, into the rock itself. There was a pile of stones beside where Naruto stood. He had to have heard him approach but Naruto didn't turn around. Only stared at the hole.
Sasuke stared at him. No chakra now, just Naruto wearing a dark cloak, his hands shoved into the pockets. He wanted to talk to him. The last interaction between them they'd nearly kissed. Naruto forgave him for the shit with Sachi. They were good again. But then Hinata and her spawn had shown up. He understood if Naruto needed to grieve. He would give him that time, but he would also remind him of the living. Namely himself. Their son. They were a family now, there was no one in the way, and he meant to have him. He couldn't live another day without Naruto. Seeing him at full strength, beyond full strength—which he would get the details on later—, had really brought that home to him. This was the guy he knew, the guy he loved. He missed him so much it was a constant ache.
He wondered what the hole signified and how long Naruto was going to stand in front of it until Chou walked up. He was carrying Hinata. Sasuke frowned. Chou was supposed to be minding the bubble. Icky, sitting in the crook of Sasuke's arm, gave a soft hum at seeing Chou. He liked the guy. Chou walked around to stand in front of Naruto and gently laid Hinata at his feet. He stepped back behind Naruto once more and bowed his head.
So this was a funeral.
Sasuke swallowed. But he found that now that Hinata was dead, so were his feelings. Whatever they'd been. A brief madness. He looked down at her body, remembered her body, and there was pain. Not much, but a lingering twinge. A memory of how much pain he'd been in when he'd lain with her. He would never be able to remember that night without remembering that pain, but it was over. She was gone. So was most of the pain. And so were his feelings. That almost made him smile. He was free. Finally free to give himself completely to Naruto once more. He could look him in the eye the next time they discussed this —and it would be soon, he knew—and tell him with perfect honesty that the only one he loved was him.
Looking down at Hinata's body, he felt peace. Finally.
-oOo-
Naruto stared at the shroud for many minutes. Not thinking, just feeling. Every feeling he'd ever felt around her. All the hundreds of times he'd crossed her path in Konoha. Every time she'd ever said his name. Every time she'd ever defended him or supported him or encouraged him. He let the feelings swell in him. Welcomed the pain they caused him. Did nothing to wipe the tears that poured down his cheeks. He bared all before her, respecting her death, honoring her life. This was goodbye.
He stood there until he was spent. Hours. But at last he could breathe in properly and release it in a long sigh. He knelt and carefully undid the part of the shroud covering her face. Stared.
"I did the best I could," Chou said quietly.
She was almost perfect. The stitches were so fine he could barely see them. Her lids were closed, but not sunken. Her hair lay smooth and shiny around her face, her color as rosy as if she breathed. The products Chou'd asked him to bring had been put to good use, he saw. For that, he was grateful. "Thank you, Chou."
Chou bowed from the waist.
Naruto cupped her cheek. Cold. Hard. He didn't pull away. Only gazed down at her and felt sadness. He bent close and left a soft kiss on her lips. Stayed there with his mouth against hers. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry for everything. But I have him. I have our son. I will keep my promise. Be at peace, Hinata. I love you."
He closed the shroud. For a moment his grief was so heavy that he couldn't move. Then it lessened, and he lifted her. Walked to the hole he'd dug in the mountainside, which was nothing more than an upright tomb, and placed her inside. He then spent time placing the stones he'd gathered one by one, enclosing her. Sealing her away. He cried during this too.
-oOo-
Chou left when it was over. Walked back to the village with the sun turning his hair to red fire. Sasuke stayed. Icky watched Naruto, where he stood before the tomb. Sasuke wondered how long he'd grieve. How much time he needed. He walked up to stand beside him. Icky touched Naruto's shoulder, then pulled his hand back. He pouted at the tomb. Mewled. Sasuke stared at the pensive look on Naruto's face and speculated on what he could be thinking.
"She was the best person I ever knew." Naruto's voice was incredibly soft. Composed. "I don't think I'll ever know a soul as good and pure as hers was. I want to spend the rest of my life paying tribute to her, but it has to end here. I have a life to live. Sons to raise. A village to run. My friends are coming."
Sasuke frowned.
"And she wouldn't want me hanging on to the past. To her. To regret and grief. So I'll keep it in my heart. She'll live there where I can spend every day apologizing in private. I'll take care of our son, like she wanted me to. There's just…so much she never got to do. So much."
Here Naruto turned to Sasuke and acknowledged him directly for the first time since coming back from the South Pole. Looked him right in the eyes. "That's why I'm glad she had that night with you."
Sasuke felt his skin shrink all over his body.
"I'm glad the rape wasn't her only experience with a man," Naruto went on. His voice was still low. Intent. Calm. "I'm glad she knew gentleness. Kisses. The sweeter side of…that. It meant something to her. That night. She loved you and it meant something to her. What she had with me was a fantasy, but what you gave her was real. It helped her. She needed it. After what I did, she needed that.
"But so did you. I guess I'll never really know what's in your head or how you feel about those weeks Kyuubi was loose, but I saw the aftermath. I'm still looking at it. So I know you were broken and bleeding in more ways than physically. I know she kept you together. I know she was your lifeline, your hope, the only thing you had to keep you sane. You needed her that night and she helped you too. I know. I understand."
Naruto's eyes were green in the sunlight. Unblinking. And suddenly merciless.
"But you're a liar, Sasuke. A fucking liar. The man you were never had cause to lie. I asked you outright if you'd slept with her. Twice. You looked me in the eyes and said no. Lied right to my face without so much as a blink. I don't know why you did it. I don't care why you did it. I just know you did it. And this, whoever this person is that I'm looking at? I don't know him. So I don't trust him. I'm done. I want you gone. I don't care where you go, but I want you out of my house. Preferably out of the village."
Sasuke felt as if he had ice water in his veins. "What?"
"Give me my son."
His mind was catching up to everything that had been said. Naruto was kicking him out. He tightened his hold on Icky. "No. Look, I know you're mad that I-"
"Give me my son, Sasuke. Now."
"He's not your son. He's our son. And you can't kick me out of his life, I don't care how mad you-"
"Icky," Naruto said. The boy looked at him. "Come to me."
Icky looked up at Sasuke. He planted an awkward, babyish kiss on his chest, something he'd never done before…then vanished. He reappeared in Naruto's arms.
Sasuke looked back and forth between them. "No. Naruto? You can't do this."
"Come near me or my sons for any reason, and you'll regret it. I swear to God you will." Naruto turned and began walking back to the village.
"Naruto."
Kept walking.
"Naruto, wait."
Icky watched him over Naruto's shoulder.
"Naruto!"
His only reply was the sound of his voice echoing off the mountains.