Sasuke lays quietly in his bed thinking about what he had done the night before. What on Earth possessed him to kiss THE DOBE of all people? He remembers her eyes and the way they seemed to warm him from the inside out. He touches his lips. The strange thing was that it wasn't unpleasant. It was like when he had allowed her to hold his hand. It just felt so... right.

A slight blush dances across his pale cheeks. What did Naruto think of all this? Sasuke always felt so at home around Naruto when she was a boy, but now new feelings are spilling into his heart as if the blonde had managed to break the dam he put up after his parents died.

In truth, that night had broken him. He had lied when he said that he had walked in and his brother was standing over their bodies. He had come into the room just in time to see his brother plunge his kunai into his mothers heart and cut his fathers throat.

He stood helpless while the life poured out of his parents. He had been unable to breathe or think straight. All he could do was watch as they slipped away from him. Silent tears had poured down his cheeks. When the smell of their deaths had hit him he was only able to throw up whatever was in his stomach. The tears came faster and he clenched his fists. 'I'm so useless.'

Those words had been bouncing around inside his skull so many times. They ate at him and tore at his heart. Then he met Naruto. 'He.' Sasuke shakes his head and corrects himself. 'She saved my life by just being herself.' Sasuke still remembers the very first time he saw the blonde. It was down by the lake where his father had taught him to create the fireball.

He didn't shed many tears at the funerals. He prefered to do that where curious eyes weren't watching. The lake was a place of serenity that stayed undisturbed and allowed him to think. The blond had walked by and stared silently at the Uchiha. When Sasuke turned to glare at the boy for giving him the unwanted pity the boy merely turned and continued walking.

Sasuke had been stunned, and his glare remained fixed as he watched the blonds retreating back. He had not seen sympathy. No, what he had seen was something much worse. It was empathy. The blond knew what it was like to feel lonely. To feel sad but be unable to show it because he feared the pain and knew that his tears couldn't save what had been lost to him.

When he started the academy, he had watched the blonde closely. The 'boy' was loud and bright, but Sasuke saw the way he suffered. The teachers seemed to treat the boy differently than the rest of the students. Sasuke hated that. They treated him different too. He would purposely fill in the wrong answers on tests but still receive perfect scores. Once he caught a glance of one of Narutos papers. All the answers were correct but it had a failing grade printed at the top.

Eventually he became withdrawn. He wouldn't speak to anyone because he didn't want to be perfect. He wanted to be treated normally. Eventually he created an outward mask so that no one could see what he felt on the inside. He was disgusted with them. All of them. All but one. The blonde. At the time he hadn't even known Narutos name, but he felt connected to him.

When he heard that some boy named Naruto had passed the tests he had been unimpressed. Then he learned that the blond WAS Naruto, he was relieved but not surprised. When they officially met for the first time they became rivals. He was glad. But his 'mask' always became fragile when he was around the blond. He had to work harder to keep it in place but this caused him to act 'colder' towards the blonde who started calling him a teme.

This amused him, so in return he called the blond dobe. The names suited them and became more of a comforting ritual, rather than a mean comment. The first time he faced an enemy with Naruto at his side, THOSE words came back. He proved them wrong by using his own body to save his teammate in hopes that the blonde would find a way to live.

When he woke up he realised that by throwing himself in front of the blond he ended up making Naruto face the ice user alone. That's when his mask became a permanent part of his defense. He WOULD kill his brother and then he would find a way to restart his clan. Maybe he would even adopt the blond into his family. Then both of them would never have to feel alone again.

Together the two of them grew stronger. They were partners, and they were better that way. Sasuke could use genjutsu and a number of jutsus that required a small and very precise amount of chakra while Naruto could use the jutsus that required much more and were extremely difficult to master. The curse mark had been the last straw for the Uchiha. He was tired of being a helpless pawn of 'fate'. He agreed to go with Orochimaru knowing three things.

He would be the one to kill the man, and then his brother..

He would leave the snake mans presence with more knowledge than when he arrived.

He was going to miss Naruto, his partner, his reason for getting stronger.

He never understood the feelings he had for the blond. He knew the blond could see right through his mask. This knowledge scared and annoyed him. It still does. He saw orange every night in his dreams and it broke his heart when he opened his eyes and the cheerful color disappeared.

He finally felt as empty as he had spent years pretending to be. The blond always followed him and begged him to come home. He couldn't. Not yet. He always felt more empty when he denied the blonds demands for his return, but he still had work to do. The war had changed everything. He learned that his brother was protecting Konoha and Sasuke himself, but it was already too late.

He wanted to destroy the very thing his brother protected to get back at both of them for the lies, but decided against it in the end and settled for killing the one man who was truly responsible for the numerous Uchiha deaths. Danzo. A few short months later the war started, it ended, and Sasuke decided to return home.

Naruto was waiting at the gates with a big goofy grin on his face. Joy radiated from the blond like light came from the sun. At that moment Sasukes mask cracked. He wasn't alone anymore. The knowledge left him breathless but somehow also allowed him to breathe more easily. It was as if he had spent too long underwater. Naruto personally told him that he would be leaving on his three year long training trip. Sasuke wanted to beg him to stay but after years of holding onto his fake mask, he couldn't force it away. Instead he stood and silently choked on the words he wanted so badly to release as he watched the blonde walk away.

Sasuke spent the next three years trying to reshape his mask so that when Naruto came back they could truly be friends. It had worked. His mask had stretched to accommodate the Naruto sized hole in his heart, but it didn't last. Naruto never returned. Sasuke waited a full year before he let his mask snap back into what it truly was, just like a rubber band.

In the hallway of the hokage tower as soon as he saw Naruto the mask flexed in a way he hadn't expected. It didn't stretch. It morphed. Both females had a spot and he knew that they would be the only ones to fit into. He had spent nearly his whole life denying that he loved Naruto, but in that one instant he knew that he had been wrong.

He rubs his forehead and tosses the blankets off his muscular frame. He walks down the hallway and into the kitchen in a pair of comfy sweatpants. He does a double take at the scene he walks in to find. Ryou is sitting at the table happily chatting away about the dream she had last night while Naruto works over the stove. The sight of the two fills his heart with warmth and softens his features.

The blond chooses that moment to turn around and smiles when she notices Sasuke standing in the doorway. "Good morning!" She says cheerfully. "Morning." He says, letting the warmth seep into his voice. Ryou giggles. "Naru and Sasu sittin' in a tree." She sings happily. Both adults blush slightly. "Say, Sasuke?" Asks Naruto. "Did you know that a certain eight year old is ticklish?"

Sasuke catches on immediately and decides to play along. "Is that so?" He asks. "Oh, yes." replies Naruto as she sets their breakfast on the table. "Very, very tickilish." The two adults pounce on the girl and proceed to use their fingers to poke at her sensitive sides and only stop when she laughs until she cries. The laughter dances it's way through the house before it finally breaks its way through Sasukes cursed mask completely. It falls away, making him feel slightly vulnerable, but when he looks at his girls faces he decides that he no longer cares.

His new goal is to make the kyuubi container and the small Uchiha miracle as at home as they have made him feel. Naruto and Sasuke eat quietly while Ryou talks about all the things she wants to do in Konoha. He slips his hand under the table and covers Narutos. He squeezes gently sending her a silent thanks. She squeezes back and the message she sends with it is clear. 'There is nothing to thank me for. This is something for all of us.'

"Mommy, can we go change my name now?" Asks Ryou when she finishes her breakfast. Sasuke looks at Naruto curiously. "Why and what to?" He asks directly. "She wants to use my name as well as yours." She answers back. "Uchiha- Uzumaki Ryou?" He questions. Natuto laughs. "You forgot one. She wants it to be Uchiha Namekaze Uzumaki Ryou." He raises one black brow. "Who is Namekaze? I thought you didn't know who your parents were."

Naruto smiles. "Do you want to meet my father?" Sasuke feels more confused than ever. Naruto laughs at the confusion swirling around his eyes. She grabs his arm and pulls him out the kitchen window, and jumps onto the roof. She points to the Hokage Mountain. "My father is Namekaze Minato the yellow flash and fourth Hokage of The Village Hidden in the Leaves." Sasuke stares at the mountain for the first time and compares the mans stony face to Naruto when she was a boy.

"Wow." He says. "Yup!" She agrees. He frowns. "Naruto, that is going to be a dangerous name to carry." She frowns too. "That's what I said too, but I accidentally raised Ryou to be as stubborn as I am." Sasuke thinks for a moment. "What is she like?" He finally asks out loud. Naruto grins. She is stubborn, loving, accepting, slow to get angry, fast to protect and loves fiercely." Sasuke inwardly groans. "So she's a mini you when you were young." Naru smacks him lightly on the arm. "No she has too much of the Uchiha stick up her rear that you call pride to be exactly like me, teme." She narrows her eyes at him. "Why do you look relieved?"

"Hn." He grunts before returning to the kitchen. "Hn, is not a word teme it's a sound!" She yells as she renters the house. She grabs the dirty plates up off the table and puts them into the sink, where soapy water cover them. "You don't have to do the dishes Naruto, you made breakfast." Says Sasuke. "Naru." Says Naruto. "What?" He asks. "I'd like to be called Naru, at least by you." Sasuke takes her hand out of the soapy water and holds them to his chest.

"Wether you are Naruto or Naru, you don't have to do the dishes because you made breakfast." Sasuke feels the warm water drip down his chest but he doesn't mind. "But I always do the dishes after breakfast." Says Naru with a pout. "Then at least allow me to help you." He compromises. "Fine." She agrees. He lets her hands fall away from his chest and immediately misses the warmth they provided.

They stand together in front of the sink and the dishes are soon done. Naru stretches with her arms above her head, and Sasuke takes the time to admire how graceful she seems in as a girl compared to when she was a boy.

He hugs her waist from behind and lays his head gently on her shoulder. "Thank you for coming back." He whispers sincerely. She brings her arms down so that her right is on his and her left is gently cupping his face. "I would always come back to you, just like you came back to me." His heart warms and he smiles. She turns her head slowly and he uses the opportunity to catch her lips in a kiss.

She opens her mouth slightly and Sasuke takes the opportunity to deepen the contact between them. Two things happen at once. The door to the bathroom opens revealing a happy Ryou and the front door slams open admitting a triumphant Sakura. "Yeay!" Cheers Ryou. They break the kiss and glance at the two intruders but neither Sasuke nor Naru make a move to break the rest of the contact between them excluding the fact that Naru moves her left hand to join her right.

"What do you want?" Growls Sasuke to Sakura. "I knew It!" She sings happily. "I always knew that you liked Naruto!" Sasuke glares harder at the pink haired girl until she gulps and quickly runs back out the door. Sasukes eyes immediately soften back into the warm onyx that they were before Sakura came in.

Naru looks at the happy Ryou. "And why are you so excited?" The little girl Smiles widely. "'Cause now I have a daddy too!" Sasuke stiffens. Naru feels it and decides to try to clear things up for both of them. "Honey, you know Sasuke is your uncle, right?" The little girl nods her head. "Yes, but you are my mommy and you like him and he likes you so that makes him my daddy too right?" Naru opens her mouth but is at a loss for words. Sasuke releases the blond and kneels in front of the eight year old. "Is that what you want me to be?" He asks her gently. The little girl bites her lip and nods her head, now unsure about her decision.

Sasuke can't stop the smile that crosses his face. "Then that's what I'll be." The little girl launches herself into his arms and kisses him on the cheek. Sasuke returns the girls embrace. "How about you get dressed and we'll all go to the park?" The little girl quickly lets go and runs towards her bedroom.

Sasuke stands and looks at Naru. "I know this is extremely backwards, but would you like to marry me so we can raise Ryou differently than how we had to grow up?" Naru smiles sadly. Sasuke flinches when he sees her expression, thinking she will refuse. "I do, but not yet." She tells him. He is startled by her acceptance but confused too. She sees it and the sad smile turns to a nervous and awkward one.

"I love you, but we haven't been around each other for years, so I just want a while to make sure that this is what's best for all three of us before we make any rash decisions. We need time to be sure that it's the kind of love that won't disappear." He nods and takes her hand into his. "I understand." He tells her truthfully. She smiles brightly and quickly kisses him before she turns around and makes her way to her own room. "You might want to put a shirt on before we go, otherwise your fangirls will mob us and we will never make it to the park."

He jogs down the hallway and reaches her before she disappears into her room. "There are only two girls that I want within ten feet of me, and both of them are already in my house." He smirks when he sees a faint reddish hue of red appear on her cheeks before he goes into his own room.

Five minutes later he is the last to arrive at the door. Both the woman and girl are in the same outfits as the day before but now Naru has her hair pulled back into two ponytails, allowing the long blond strands to caress her back in the gentle wind. Ryou has her dark hair pulled back into a simple ponytail that barley touches her neck, because it is so much shorter.

Ryou takes one of each of the adults hands and pulls them out of the house, barley giving Sasuke enough time to lock up before she drags them off again. Sasuke gently sends her in the right direction and watches in gentle amusement as the girl runs off as soon as the park comes into view.

They arrive shortly after the girl and several parents do a double take as they see the two walk together into the park. They sit on a bench under a tree and watch as their daughter plays with some of the other children. Before long the little girls declares her hunger and Naru immediately drags them to Ichiraku for some ramen.

On the way home they pass by a movie theatre and the little girl points and asks to go. They sit through a double feature before they once again head for home. By now it is dark but the youngest of the three is explaining her favorite parts of the movie. Naru and Sasuke smile as she recites the words that made her laugh the longest.

A dozen figures appear out of an alley and both ninja immediately put up their guards. Sasuke picks up his daughter and puts her safely on his back before he grabs Narus hand and turns them around to go back down the street where they had just come from. Another dozen or so figures appear, blocking their path. Ryou can feel her parents uneasiness and it intensifies when her father picks her up. The men scare her so she hides her face in her dads shoulder as best she can and concentrates on his steady breathing.

Naru looks up at the rooftops hoping to find an opening there but the figures are there too. She squeezes Sasukes hand and lets go before she drops into a protective stance behind hm, so that Ryou is protected. She mentally curses herself for the fact that she hadn't thought to grab her kunai pouch before leaving the house.

One figure breaks of from the others and stands posed for attack. "Look at what we have here boys. It's the kyuubi brat, the Uchiha traitor, and their spawn." Several men laugh. "What do you want?" Asks Naru pleasantly, as if they aren't surrounded. "We have been paid a handsome sum of money to make sure that you don't wake up tomorrow." Says the man in an equally pleasant tone. "And why is that?" She asks flitraciously. The man shrugs. "There is a small group of people that hate the fact that you 'deceived' the village into thinking you are a 'good person'."

"I haven't deceived anyone." She tells him truthfully. "Look, lady. It ain't really my problem. If you come quietly then we will let your boy and kid head home, deal?" Naru shifts slightly and bites her lip. She wants to say yes but she knows Sasuke will never agree. "Don't even think about it, dobe." Growls Sasuke. She whimpers and her gaze sweeps across their surroundings. "But Sasu, I don't have my weapons and I can't use many jutsu because I would risk hurting the people living in these buildings." He growls again. "What about your shadow clones?"

"They would only be a temporary distraction, especially if these guys know where we live." She says in defeat. "Dammit Naru, there has got to be something!" She shakes her head. "I can't put my village at risk by using any of my usual techniques, and taijutsu with Ryou on your back will slow you down and make both of you more vulnerable."

"No." It's not a question, it's a demand and an answer. "Please." She begs she turns and looks him in the eye. "I can smell the poison on their blades. If even one of those hit one of you then you'll be stolen from me. I can't lose you." He shakes his head stubbornly and Ryou looks at her mother with tears in her eyes, not fully understanding the situation they have been thrust into. "I won't leave you." He says stubbornly. "I'm not asking you to choose to save my life. I'm asking you to save our daughters." Says Naru, knowing she will win.

At the words, our daughter Sasuke knows that he has to give in. He has to protect what is theirs and believe that Naru will find her own way back. He pulls her into a fierce but passionate kiss before he lets her go and jumps onto the rooftops. He goes straight to the hokage tower, knowing that he has to get help.

When the dark haired male leaves the leader smirks and bows slightly to the blond. "After you my lady." She plasters a fake smile on her face. 'It's just until we get out of the village.' She reminds herself. "What a gentleman." She says with an icy tone. She immediately heads towards the edges of the villages. The man behind her smirks. Everything is going according to plan.

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Only one chapter left! I hope you enjoyed the story!