Sasuke walked a few paces behind his two blue-eyed boys. He was still trying to comprehend everything that was put on his shoulders within the last hour.
For the past six years, Naruto has been living under the nose of Konoha in it's sister village of Suna. He's raised their five year old son alone, slowly beginning to prepare him for the cruel world on the outside. He works for Gaara, as payment for the red-head helping him in such a time of need, as an underground assistant to the Kazekage: mainly involving the recent demon flux. Naruto has been the one responsible for sealing two of the three demons in the past four years, and is now caring for one of those children, Kayo.
Seiichi, as he's told, is to begin at the Suna ninja academy next year, and is overly anxious to become a great ninja like his papa. Apparently Naruto's told the energetic boys a great deal about his father, just not who his father is yet.
The raven was knocked from his thoughts as the cry of a baby broke through his brooding. He hadn't even realized he's followed the two into a set of bed chambers, theirs by the look of it.
"Kayo's awake. Can you watch Seiichi, Sasuke?" Without waiting for an answer, the blond left father and son to get acquainted.
Silence strained between the two, before Sasuke turned to look down at the tiny kit (who was once again wearing his poncho) and found a pair of big blue eyes staring right back up into his.
"Are you my daddy?"
Completely caught off guard with that one, mainly cause he was still trying to come to terms with it himself, he stumbled for a moment to think of how to react to that question.
"I… uh… I am- Why do you say that?"
The little boy continued staring, his big blue eyes capturing onyx in an unbreakable hold, "Cause Papa seems to like you… he usually doesn't let anybody see him except Gaara-sama, 'Mari-chan, and Kankuro-san." Sasuke watched the boy, interested, "And he talks about my daddy a lot… and you seem like him."
Sasuke pondered this… Naruto tells him about me? The thought brought hope into the dark man's eyes, so he did plan on returning.
Kneeling down, the raven met his son at eye level. "What does he say?"
"He says daddy was a 'silent-closed of-stuck up-brooding-teme!" Seiichi relayed, like he'd heard it a thousand times.
Sasuke blanched, "Is that how you think of me?"
The tiny boy shook his head, "No… Papa also said daddy was lonely, but had a pretty smile, and black hair like mine," a hand reached up to play with a dark lock under the hood, "Papa says that he was a great ninja! The strongest ever!"
Sasuke watched the little boy twiddle lightly under the poncho. He knew nothing of this boy, while this five year old probably new every detail that Naruto knew of him. A thousand questions sudden ran through his head from all the years he's missed. When was he born? What was his first word? When were his first steps? Can he throw a Kunai yet? What's his favorite color? Favorite food? Did sleep on his stomach or back? Did he wake up at night? Did he crawl into his Papa's bed when he was scared? Question after question after question rushed through his mind, each making him more depressed as he realized each and every single thing that he's missed out. But he did come to a conclusion… a new dream.
"You want to be a ninja?"
"Hai!" The giant blue orbs began to sparkle, a huge grin of excitement jumping from the five year old's face, "Just like Papa, Daddy and Gaara-sama! I'm ganna be the next Kazekage!"
This brought a smile to Sasuke's face. Just like Naruto.
"Do you know any ninjustu's yet?"
"Hai! Wanna see?!"
Sasuke nodded lightly, as the excited boy yelped in glee and ran to a more open spot in the room, made a few seals, "Henge no Justu!", and a puff of smoke covered the five year old. Once it cleared, Sasuke shot a hand up to his mouth to keep from laughing at the version on himself that stood in his son's place, only it was a few feet too short, less lean, and still looked like a five year old (AN: Chibi Sasuke! XD!!)
Reaching over, he placed a comforting hand on his sons head, ruffling his black hair, Well he's already doing better than Naruto… he can make his ears and tail disappear. "Not bad, you're already doing better than your Papa." A muffled 'Hey!' could be heard from the baby's room, apparently Naruto had been listening in the entire time.
Seiichi grinned up at the older man, a puff of smoke surrounding him as the justu wore off. "Papa says he'll teach me a ton more once I'm in school!"
Sasuke paused for a moment, coming to a decision, "Do you want to learn a new one right now?"
Never before had he seen such joy and excitement appear in anyone's eyes so quickly. A huge toothy grin flaring as the five year old gave a jump for joy as he grabbed the older man's hand and began dragging him out the door.
Sasuke looked back for a moment, to see Naruto leaning on the door frame to the nursery, a baby in one arm and a bottle in the other. He would have thought it was a beautiful sight, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as the toddler yanked on his hand with an impatient, "Come on!!"
''
Naruto and Gaara sat atop the roof of the Kazekage's building, watching the edge of the village as large blasts of fire filled the air for a few moments, before dieing off and a smaller one following it moments later. But the smaller one was slowly getting bigger, and would soon match if not surpass the elder one.
"It worries me sometimes, how fast they learn." Naruto said, watching the next ball of fire, "it took Sasuke weeks to master than justu… and Seiichi is going to get it in less than an hour."
Gaara nodded, eyes lowering to his own son who had managed to cause a ball of sand to float about his head. Just to the side of him the infant laughed, watching the sand play about in the air. "It's expectable, he is the child of the fire demon after all."
The blond made a light noise in conformation, breaking his eyes away from the sky for only a moment to check on his charge, before watching the next ball of fire.
"When's Fuzzy-eyebrows coming again?"
"Next week."
"Daddy's coming?" Toshi asked, looking up from his floating sand fortress around him.
Gaara nodded. The four year old smiling humbly to himself as he went back to playing with his sand, but both adults knew the excitement that dwelled behind that meek expression.
"You should feel lucky that there's no Tai-justu specialist here. He's got a great excuse to come here so often." Naruto watched the fireballs again, they nearly matched in size now.
Gaara followed the blond's gaze. "They've survived this long without each other, they'll make it a few more years."
"Yeah… but they didn't know about each other's existence then."
Gaara was silent for a moment, eyes watching the matching fireballs. He knew how much this hurt his companion, to have to eventually break up father and son again. He knew about the blond's struggles to reveal himself to his partner when he had first heard of Sasuke's arrival. But the decision had been made, and the only thing left to do was live with the consequences.
"Someone's coming." The red-head informed, readjusting his posture to something less relaxed and more professional.
Naruto nodded, gathering up his giggling infant and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
A moment later, one of the Kazekage's guards appeared on the roof, "Kazekage-sama, Hyuuga Neji has arrived from River country and insists on speaking with you immediately."
Gaara nodded, replying that he'll be there in a moment. The guard left, leaving the elder red-head to gather his son, as the fireballs in the sky finished, and two specks could be seen making their way back to the Wind building.
''
"Kazekage-sama." Hyuuga Neji bowed as Gaara entered the room, quickly taking his seat behind his desk.
"Welcome back, Hyuuga. I trust everything went well."
The long hair brunette nodded, "Yes, the clean up is going fine."
"You mean it's not finished yet?"
"No, sir."
"Then what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be finishing your mission?"
Neji bowed again, "I realize, sir. But something has come up that involves my immediate attention."
Gaara stayed silent. The pale eyed man straightened, and took this silence as a sign to continue.
"I'm sure you remember that Uzumaki Naruto disappeared from Konoha with a forbidden scroll 6 years ago, and still remains a missing-nin."
Gaara nodded slowly.
"Well, many of the Konoha ANBU felt his chakra at the fight in River country against Houkou. Those that followed him said his trail ended here in Sunagakura."
The Kazekage eyed the ANBU captain, eyes narrowing slightly.
"You are asking for permission to search my village?"
Neji nodded, keeping his head low, "Yes, sir. We are not accusing you of housing a missing-nin of Konoha, but that he may be hiding in your mists."
"Did you ever think that it might have been the child that the demon was sealed in that you could have been sensing?"
"Yes, sir. That did come to mind, but many of our ANBU that fought both the nine-tailed fox and five-tailed dog are still insisting that it was indeed Uzumaki."
Gaara remained silent for a few moments. This was a difficult decision: if Naruto was found, not only was there a good chance he would be caught, but the relationship between Suna and Konoha could fall to the worst, but… if he refused the search… they would believe him to be hiding something.
"Fine. Your ANBU may search the city. But while in the Wind building you are to stick to only the public areas, unless otherwise escorted. This village must keep some secrets from foreign eyes."
Neji bowed a final time, "Thank you, Kazekage-sama." He replied, before letting himself out of the office.
As soon as the stone doors seals shut, Gaara disappeared in a whirl of sand, reappearing just outside Naruto's chambers. The blond was not going to like the news of being confined to his rooms for an unknown amount of time, but it had to be done.
''
Despite the dozen of ANBU running around the large village of Sunagaruka, the members of this reunited family hadn't a worry. Everything was perfect…
It was well after sundown; Sasuke was planning on saying his goodbyes for the night, but Seiichi insisted he stay for a 'sleep over'. Unable to deny the five year old something he too wanted, Sasuke now found himself laying in his lover's huge bed, Naruto laying next to him, and a sleeping Seiichi clutching Sasuke's blue shirt, nestled in between them. Naruto laid on his back, an arm under the small boys head as a make shift pillow, his head turned so his eyes connected with the other's black ones. Sasuke lay on his side, facing his two boys, an arm slung over Seiichi and placed lightly on the blond's upturned stomach, thumb rubbing it gently, right were the seal would be.
"All day…" Sasuke started, voice barely a whisper so not to wake the sleeping child, "I've been trying to decide if I should be angry at you… You ran away from me. When you told me why… it hurt even more that you took with you my only son."
"Sasu—"
"Shh…" he carefully lifted his finger up, silencing the blond, before continuing. "It was then I realized… that to do that… you gave me a son. That's worth more than anything else you've done to counter it."
Naruto smiled, eyes still locked with the raven's. Sasuke moved his hand away from the other's lips to his cheek, tracing the whiskers lightly.
"I've found you both, and I wont let you run away from me again. I love you, Naruto."
Naruto turned his head, lightly kissing the palm before connecting their gazes again. "I love you, Sasuke."
Both men soon fell into a comfortable sleep, the tiny boy in between them snuggling closer to the darker man, a mumble of "daddy" escaping his sleeping lips.
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
Sasuke was lost in thought, his most recent conversation with Naruto still playing in his head…
"Sasuke…"
The raven looked up from his ramen to the blond sitting next to him, uncharacteristically picking at his noodles.
"Are you ok… about me and Kiba?"
Sasuke paused, what now?
"What are you talking about?"
Naruto just continued his picking of his soup, swirling it around unconsciously and tangling it around his chop-sticks, "Well… ever since I told you about us… it seems like you've been avoiding me."
"I'm out with you now, aren't I?"
"Only because I dragged you here."
There was silence for another moment.
"Sasuke… if there's anything bothering you, you'd tell me, right?"
Sasuke dug back into his bowl, "There's nothing wrong, Dobe."
"It's okay, I won't take offense or anything."
"You're imagining it."
Silence again…
"Is it because I'm gay?"
The Uchiha put down his chopsticks and reached for his pockets, he's had just about enough of this.
"No, it's not because you're gay." He placed his bill on the counter.
"What is it then?"
"Nothing." Were his final words, as he walked away from Naruto, still sitting in front of a full bowl at the ramen stand.
There was nothing wrong… really. He has no qualms with the blond being gay, and Kiba was a good enough guy. Was he really avoiding the blond that much? It's not like he meant to. Was there something bothering him?
After he left Naruto staring into his bowl of cooling ramen, he found himself lost in his own thoughts, wondering the streets of Konoha. He toned out the screams of a patch of girls as he passed them, they gave up quick at seeing that they weren't breaking through to the static boy's inner thoughts. He'd lost track of time a while ago, completely stuck in his own confusion, even the bell of the academy didn't faze him as he passed the school.
It wasn't until he was jerked from his thoughts by two hands yanking at his jacket and his back roughly meeting the side of a building did he wake from his daze.
"Do you got a problem, Uchiha!?" Kiba growled, eyes glaring into the other's onyx ones and fists tightening threateningly on the green jounin vest.
"Yeah. I'm currently pinned to a wall." Sasuke shot back, eyes matching the brunet's glare.
"Oh? Well let me remedy that for you." Dropping the raven, not a moment later Sasuke found a fist slamming into his right cheek.
Sharingan blazing, the Uchiha set his spinning eyes on the ninja in front of him.
"If you have a problem with me dating Naruto, then you better just suck it up." The Inuzuka growled, "Cause, for god knows what reason, he actually cares about your opinion."
Sasuke remained silent as he scrutinized the dog-boy, one wrong move and he was dead. But he listened intently to the words said, and the extreme emotion behind them… did he really matter that much?
"I don't know what you just did, cause Naruto refuses to tell me, but I just found him sitting in front of a freezing cold bowl of miso ramen on the verge of a breakdown."
He's was still sitting there? Sasuke's guard dropped slightly, letting what the other boy was saying sink in. Where I… left him…
"So you better do something, and I mean now. Either get over whatever beef you have, or get the hell out of his life, cause he doesn't need that kind of bull-shit."
Sasuke never heard the other leave, nor could he still feel the gentle throbbing in his cheek, he was too caught up in what he just learned.
Do I really matter… that much… What is the matter with me?
TBC
AN: There… Kiba's playing the concerned boyfriend. I hope people hate him less now, cause that wasn't my intention at all. And damn -.-… making Sasuke a loving father and trying to keep him in character is hard! I hope all my character's are in character… except Naruto, I hate stupid!Naruto, like him so much better after he's matured. Anyways… R&R!!
Did the whole bonding-forgiving thing seem rushed? I tried to extend it out as much as I could… but I'm not good at filling it with little details like that, plus if I let it go out long enough I'd end up getting them into a fight that I'd never figure out how to get them out of it.
OH!! Also! Kinda important… I went back and changed the recently sealed demon, the one what's inside the infant Naruto's caring for. It was my own creation of Onicho, the Butterfly demon… now it's Houkou, the five-tailed dog demon. I did a bit of research, and this fic is now got potential spoilers for the anime/manga. I went back and changed it in the previous chapters, but I'm just letting the rest of you know so there's no confusion.