Sasuke was just returning from a walk around the house, trying to find a weak point for him to exploit to get inside, when he saw Kyusuke stepping out of the house and closing the door behind him. It wasn't an invitation into the house, but it was a chance that Sasuke wouldn't let slip.
"I want to know what happened," Kyusuke crossed his arms, and he would have looked extremely cute if it weren't for the seriousness of the situation.
"The council commanded me to have children," Sasuke said. "I should have told him about it, but I didn't want him to be upset while I tried to conceive a child with someone other than him. It was the biggest mistake of my life and I will never forgive myself. I've been searching for him ever since then and now I just want to explain myself to him. If he still doesn't love me after I've told him everything that I have to say, then I will leave the two of you alone and you can just pretend that I was never here."
"He talked," Kyusuke sighed. Suddenly tears welled up in his eyes and he couldn't hold them back. "I don't understand why. Why did you have to hurt him so much? Why couldn't we just be together from the beginning? Why couldn't you have just left us alone? Why can't we be happy?"
"I'm sorry," Sasuke said as he pulled his young son into his arms for the first time. "I'm so sorry for everything that I've caused. I want to make it better. Just give me the chance to do so."
"I can't," Kyusuke continued to fight it even as he leaned into Sasuke's embrace. "I just want us to be happy, but I don't know what to do. I don't want daddy to be hurt again."
"I promise that I won't hurt him again," Sasuke said. "I've been searching for him for so long. I wouldn't be able to stand myself if I lost him again. Please just let me talk to him."
"I don't know," Kyusuke said. "I don't know."
"I know this is hard for you," Sasuke said, "and I know that you shouldn't have to be the one to deal with all of this. I know that I should have been there from the beginning. I know that I should never have betrayed Naruto. I know all of these things, but I want to fix it."
"Was daddy really happy when he was with you?" Kyusuke asked suddenly.
"I think so," Sasuke agreed. "I wanted to be with him for the rest of our lives. I thought that we would be able to make it through everything and then I went and did the one thing that broke him. I'm sorry. Please let me see him."
"I don't want him to be sad anymore," Kyusuke said.
"I don't want that either," Sasuke said.
"Fine," Kyusuke nodded as he pulled away from Sasuke and wiped his eyes, "but you have to wait in the living room until he wakes up. Daddy's exhausted and I don't think that he will be able to talk to you without at least some nights of rest."
"Thank you," Sasuke smiled. Kyusuke opened the door and Sasuke walked into the house once more. It suddenly felt different in the house. Everything seemed so small and it was all pressing in on him. This was his chance. The chance that he had been waiting for. This was his chance and he didn't want to screw it up. And the waiting would kill him, but at least the knowledge of being allowed to talk to Naruto again would keep him patient. "You're a very mature young man," Sasuke said as the two of them sat together on the couch. "You shouldn't have had to deal with any of this. I wish that I had been able to be there when you were born."
"I don't understand," Kyusuke said. "Why do you keep saying things like that?"
"Because you are my son," Sasuke answered. "You don't have to think of me as your father if you don't want to, but I will always remember my son."
"Did you want kids?" Kyusuke asked.
"We both did," Sasuke nodded. "We knew, well we thought, that we wouldn't be able to have kids together. That's why I should have told him about what the council told me to do. We were actually planning to adopt or something similar."
Kyusuke smiled.
Naruto awoke with a gasp from a dream that he was having. It was one of his older memories about him and Sasuke together. They had always talked about having kids. And Naruto had been so happy when the suspicions of pregnancy started showing up in him. He was starting to get nauseous and he was gaining weight despite his rigorous training schedule. It was only a slight difference, not even enough for anyone to notice, but it meant everything to him. He didn't want Sasuke to get his hopes up if he just happened to have the flu or something so he didn't tell the man about his suspicions. Instead he went to go see Lad Tsunade personally and ask her to check him. His suspicions had been correct, but when he returned to the house to find Sasuke with Sakura, he couldn't stay. He had to get out of there. He knew he shouldn't have deprived Sasuke of his son and he knew that he shouldn't have deprived his son of a father, but he just didn't want to be like all those women who thought they were loved only to find that they were cast aside when they were shown to be useless to the men. So Naruto ran and ran until he couldn't run any longer. He couldn't run anymore. He had to face Sasuke.
Of course, that was easier said then done. Naruto knew that he had to face Sasuke, it wouldn't be right to continue to separate son and father, but he just didn't think he would be able to handle being told that Sasuke and Sakura were living happily together with their own children and that Sasuke wouldn't accept Kyusuke as his.
He wasn't given much time to think about it, though, as he walked into the living room to find Sasuke and Kyusuke talking to each other. Sasuke noticed him immediately and asked Kyusuke to leave them to talk alone for a bit. Kyusuke only hesitated for a moment before leaving the room. Both Naruto and Sasuke knew that he was just in the hallway listening into the conversation, but it gave the two of them the feeling of privacy so it was enough.
"Naruto," Sasuke said quietly. He noticed how worn Naruto looked. He was pale and skinnier than he had been the last time Sasuke saw him. There were bags under his eyes and they were swollen from tears.
"H-how are you?" Naruto asked. His voice was still weak from disuse for all those years, but he owed it to Sasuke to actually talk to him.
"I'm fine," Sasuke answered awkwardly. "How about you?"
Naruto nodded. As much as he wanted to talk to Sasuke, he knew that he was going to have to conserve his voice for the more important matters. He didn't want to lose it just because he had been wasting it on the small stuff. Sasuke understood.
There was an awkward silence between them before Sasuke spoke up. "I love you Naruto," Sasuke said, but Naruto flinched as if the words had physically harmed him. "What I did was wrong, but, if you'll allow me, I want to explain my self."
Naruto sat down across from Sasuke cautiously and nodded slowly.
"The council was determined to recreate the Uchiha clan," Sasuke said, "and I think they wanted to separate us. They ordered me to have children. They knew, or we thought, that the two of us wouldn't be able to conceive so they told me to conceive a child with someone else. I know I should have told you, but I didn't want you to feel upset when I went into the bed of another woman. That's also the reason that I chose Sakura. I knew that she was the only one that either of us could trust with it. I was going to tell you afterwards, if we were going to have a child. But then you saw us together and I didn't know what to do. It looked like I was cheating on you, hell, I was cheating on you, but I wasn't doing it because I didn't love you. I looked everywhere for you that night and then the day after that. I even enlisted the help of all of our friends, but none of us could find you. I suppose you had already left by then. I told the council that I would never have children and the hokage, having not known about the council's demands until then, backed me up wholeheartedly. It was too late I know. I should have refused them the moment they told me to do that. We wanted kids and I should have been happy with an adopted child like we were planning, but I guess I just wanted one that I could call my own. I didn't know you were pregnant. It shouldn't have mattered, but I didn't know that you were pregnant so I went to Sakura. I'm so sorry Naruto. I'm so sorry that I betrayed you."
"I was so happy when I found out," Naruto whispered with a longing smile on his face. "We were having a child. I thought you would be so happy."
"I would have," Sasuke said. "I would have been the happiest man in the world if I had known."
"I should have told you sooner," Naruto frowned. "I thought that I might be pregnant for a couple of weeks and I should have told you sooner. Instead I waited and you went to Sakura because you thought I was useless."
"No Naruto," Sasuke begged. "I could never think that you were useless. I love you. You mean everything to me. It was a lapse of judgment, one that I will regret for the rest of my life, but I won't repeat ever again if you come back to me. Please come back to me Naruto. You don't know how I've missed you all these years."
Naruto bit his lip and gripped his locket in his hand as hard as he could without breaking it.
"You don't have to say yes, one word from you and I will leave and never bother you again, but pleas say yes."
"Don't leave me," the words slipped out before Naruto's mind could process them, but he meant them. He didn't like being away from Sasuke.
Sasuke stood immediately at Naruto's words and walked over to envelope him in a tight hug. For a moment he relished the feeling of holding Naruto in his arms again. It was more than he really deserved, but there was no way he was going to let another moment be lost because of that mistake. He was getting his family back, even if he'd have to work hard to make them happy again, and that was all that really mattered.
"So why Kyusuke?" Sasuke asked after the two of them had been sitting there for a while.
"Kyuubi and Sasuke," Naruto answered.
Sasuke was happy that, even though he had betrayed Naruto, he had still thought of him when naming their son. "I don't know how I like the fact that Kyuubi comes before me," Sasuke said playfully.
"You wanted to name our child Saubi?" there were still tears in his eyes, but he raised a brow with the same playfulness that Sasuke had been missing for so long. It was a sign that everything would be fine eventually.
"Uh no," Sasuke scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Kyusuke is way better."
"That's what I thought too," Naruto nodded. "His birthday is tomorrow."
"Is it?" Sasuke's eyes widened. Naruto nodded, but he didn't really have to answer because Kyusuke chose that moment to re-enter the room.
"It is," he said, "and I know exactly what I want you to give me for it."
"What's that?" Sasuke asked. At this point, and for probably a few days or weeks longer, he was willing to spoil both Kyusuke and Naruto until his savings had run dry. Naruto wouldn't let him of course, but he was willing to do it. Every other day after that he would just spoil the two of them slightly just like he did before.
"I want us to live happily ever after," Kyusuke said with a childish grin.
Sasuke couldn't help but laugh at that. It hadn't been what either Naruto or he had expected to hear and both of them knew that they probably shouldn't be hearing it from a child, but that was one thing that they were willing to give. "Done," Sasuke agreed. "We're going to live happily ever after as a family."
The End
I just couldn't resist that sorry. I hope you enjoyed this story.
I'm thinking about maybe doing a sequel, but I'm not sure. What do you guys think?