Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them sooo much! This will be a REALLY long chapter! This is basically a remembrance chapter for a lot of people! I believe Deidara, Kakashi, Sasuke and Kyuubi.

Disclaimer: I love Naruto, but I don't own him.

Chapter 17

Where we first met

Naruto stared at the stars and was entranced. He had his children back and was going to give birth to Sasuke's children very soon. He knew that Sasuke was staring at him but he didn't mind. It was fine with him, feeling a blanket wrapping around his shoulders he saw Sasuke and the other sat down beside him. The breeze ran through both their hair and it was chilling. Naruto stared at Sasuke for a little bit, "What is it you have to say Sasuke?" He asked his love. Sasuke breathed in deeply as if he was troubled…

"You're going back to your village aren't you?" Sasuke asked sadly. Naruto stared at him and their eyes met. Naruto stared at them and then at his stomach reminding him of his culture. "I have to… They are my people, I can't leave them alone. Besides you could always come to live with me and… become my mate." He said with a blush. Sasuke stared at him looking like he was about to cry. Turning away Sasuke looked at the ground.

"I… I can't do that… I'm sorry." Sasuke wanted to just leave instead of explain it. Naruto's eyes were struck with a sudden shock of sadness. "W—why? Please why can't you?" Naruto asked towards him.

Sasuke looked at him and held Naruto's hands in his, "Don't get me wrong, I really want to be with you! You are my guiding light, I love you. I want to go and live with you… I just can't. Like you my people need me…"

Naruto looked at him wanting a further explanation. Sighing Sasuke looked at his love, "I was called to be Hokage today. They want me as the Hokage for the village. I was hoping I could convince you to stay but I never thought of your duties. I've always only thought of myself before others and so I guess old habits die hard…" Looking at Naruto he grabbed his hands, "I love you Naruto. I want to be with you, you've changed my life so much and I want to make it up to you. I… just can't think of my life without you…"

"Can't you just refuse it?" Naruto asked and Sasuke shook his head sadly. "I would love to, I actually did but they wouldn't allow me to. The call to Hokage is something you cannot refuse. It's either you do the call… Or they kill you." Naruto scooted closer to Sasuke and looked at the sky. It was now covered in clouds and snow was falling all over.

"Well I might as well listen to them… I guess we both have duties we need to fulfill." Naruto nuzzled his face into Sasuke's side chest and held back tears. He was clutching his stomach and was trying so hard not to cry. He could feel the children's chakra presence and he loved the feeling of it. "Sasuke… What will we do about the children?" Sasuke was just as baffled. What would they do?

"I'll take you back to the animal god kingdom tomorrow… and I'll stay with you until it is time for me to leave…" Sasuke hugged him close to his chest.

They couldn't have just one parent have the children… But since there were two… Both of them got alert at the sudden presence of chakra they looked at the intruder. Deidara appeared with Sasori in his arms, Deidara was panting and holding his arm which had a large gash that could be seen. Blood was rushing from his arm and Sasori was being held lifelessly in Dei's arms. Deidara looked like he was crying with his one eye showing and his other one which was a Byakugan looking straight at Naruto.

"Please… I need Neji." Naruto ran over towards his two friends and had them sit down. Whistling one time that could only be heard by animals. A white bird soon came around in a flash of light and slowly in mid-air transformed into Neji who landed gracefully with feathers falling around him as he did. Running towards his older cousin he saw the sight. Leaning down he placed his fingers against Sasori's neck. He was cold but that was to be expected because he was a snake. Feeling a pulse he asked, "What happened?"

"He… escaped…. With Orochimaru… We tried to stop him but he poisoned Sasori and cut my wing. Orochimaru's probably is all the way in Sound talking with Otoku by now." Deidara left out that he was too afraid to leave Sasori alone.

Naruto was listening and yelled, "Orochimaru is gone?!" Deidara nodded and bowed. "I'm a fool… I was so worried that… Just, please forgive me… I would've gone after him but…" turning his eye towards Sasori he shook his head. "Should I go after him?" Naruto shook his head. "Take care of Sasori… That's all you need to do right now."

Deidara bowed and listened to Neji, "You need to get maple leaf, a lily pedal, and the stinger of a bee." Deidara nodded and disappeared.

--A while later

Deidara sat next to Sasori quietly rubbing his hair out of his eyes. He gave him the antidote a little while ago so it should be okay then. Deidara wanted to cry but he learned long ago that crying was not acceptable and that he couldn't ever love anyone. Especially snakes… But that was wrong! Deidara was madly in love with Sasori ever since… That day.

--FLASHBAKU!!

Young Deidara just turned 3 and he was hurriedly rushing towards his uncle in the nest or the all seeing to help deliver his little cousins. He heard screaming from down the hall and he began running faster so then he would be there to help out. Deidara's father was not one to listen to reason and so he couldn't miss this.

Deidara was afraid of that, when he heard cries and chirps he came running in seeing his two uncles and aunts and his father. Deidara hung his head in shame and felt a hand come on his head. Deidara looked up and saw Kyuubi who was smiling. "Sorry I'm late I had to welcome in the new arrivals. So what do we have here?"

"One boy and a girl. Neji and Hinata. Neji will be put through intense training when he turns three and Hinata will be put in nursing." Kyuubi nodded and patted Deidara on the head. "Hey chicky, how are you today?" Deidara muttered something and ran off before his father could do anything to him. He was a fragile child and that was because he was submissive.

"Oh Deidara?" Kyuubi asked and Dei turned around and met with the fox. There standing by him was a boy with red hair and grey eyes. Deidara saw him and knew he was a snake by the look of his eyes. He was a cobra because the way his eyes were slanted and his hair was red so that had to mean he was a cobra.

"This is Sasori, he came from the sand regions where my brother rules and has moved with the kingdom here. Will you show him around?..." Deidara saw the look in the snakes eyes and could see the tongue go out over his lips as if he was hungry.

Deidara nodded and came up to him, "Hello…" He said shyly to the other. Birds and snakes were exact opposites. Meaning they weren't allowed to socialize… Deidara was scared, he never liked snakes. Sasori was staring at him like food and that was what made it so uncomfortable.

"You're young…" Deidara was surprised at the remark. "Yeah… I just turned three…" At least they were talking… Deidara looked at the snake and knew that he was young as well. "You are too… Young I mean…" Deidara said trying so hard not to feel disgusted. "Well this is the snake den… this is where you'll be staying. Um… if you need anything I'll be in the nest.. Waaay up there!" Deidara said pointing up and then he changed into a bird and flew off. Sasori watched the little bird fly and he licked his lips again. "This will be really fun…"

--

A day later Sasori was wandering around and ran into a beautiful young woman. She was a fox by the looks of it and had whisker marks on her cheeks. Beautiful baby blue eyes stared at him and she smiled, "I'm sorry, are you looking for someone?" The clothes she was wearing were bright orange and yellow, so she was obviously the fiancée to the king. He'd already met the wife of Shukaku and was stunned to find that Kyuubi was going to be married soon. "Um… Yes. I'm looking for a little bird named Deidara. Do you know him?" The woman nodded and held out her hand. "I'll take you to him, he should be out practicing right now." Sasori took the woman's hand and she led him around.

Once they got to the training grounds he saw the bird in a white training outfit his blond hair covering his left eye from everyone's view. He was training with the king who was teaching him how to model clay. Sasori sighed in boredom and watched the whole thing.

"Now chicky, what you'll want to do is when it is modeled you can place your chakra in it and then you'll be able to heat it to a super heat thus causing it to explode." Deidara nodded and then Sasori saw his hands create a beautiful bird shape and then he placed his chakra in it and then threw it making it explode as he closed his hand cutting off the connection. Sasori saw the fury in the others eye and then fell madly in love. Even if they were different he would have this bird as his mate.

Deidara on the other hand was mad beyond repair. He wanted nothing more than to kill his father, that was why his statue was shaped just like his father who was horrible. He would kill them all… He looked towards the castle and saw Queen Naruko. Along with the snake. "Ah Naruko my pretty little fox!" Kyuubi ran up to her and kissed her. "How are you today?..." He asked and they began walking away leaving Sasori to study the growling bird. Sasori went up to him and knelt beside him. "Are you alright?"

Deidara looked at the snake and then away at the shattered pieces of clay. "I hate him… I hate my race…" Sasori was amused, the bird hated who? Who did he hate? Deidara looked at Sasori and sighed, "You wouldn't understand…" Sitting down he began molding something else. From the looks of it, it was a snake. A beautiful red snake with grey eyes. Deidara heated it up and then blew on it after putting on a shine to it for the scales to stick out and then handed it over to Sasori. "Here, it's just a statue. It won't blow up or anything." Sasori took the item and smiled for the first time in his life.

Digging around in his pocket, Sasori found a little puppet that he wasn't going to use anymore. It was a small bird that he made when he was about the blonds age, he carved it and created it to be a monster but as long as he disabled the weapons then it would be a great gift to give back.

He took out the bird and placed some chakra into his fingers and attaching them to the birds wings, beak and legs he set it free and controlled it. The bird flew in the air and Deidara was in awe. The puppet landed on Deidara's shoulder and Sasori disabled all the weapons and the bird fell into Deidara's hands. The bird looked at the item and smiled at him.

--

Deidara was sitting next to Sasori now still staring at him. How he wanted Sasori to wake up so he could tell him everything. About how he disobeyed orders to go after Orochimaru and forget about him. Deidara couldn't forget him and as his blueish grey eyes opened up to meet his own blue ones, "Danna… I'm." Pale lips covered his owns and he looked at the blond who was full of guilt. "Don't apologize… I'm fine afterall…"

--KAKASHI!!

Walking down the familiar street he was greeted with a few ladies constantly blushing as they saw him. Only few knew what was under that mask of his, and he was visiting the one person he trusted more than his best friends in the world. He was visiting his mate…

-- 20Years ago…

Kakashi walked down the street next to the fourth Hokage as all the ladies bowed to him and greeted Kyuubi. Kyuubi, or should he say Arashi, would smile at them all and gladly take all the flowers that the little children would give to him, and that was when Kakashi saw him; A beautiful male with a scar running over his nose, quietly herding the kids back to the ninja academy. Kakashi was stunned at the beauty of this young child, he looked at Arashi and he just nodded, "I need to go to the police station anyways, they're having a baby shower for Fugaku's wife down there today. Meet me there when you're finished." Kakashi eagerly nodded and left the fourth to his duties.

Running over towards the academy and met up with the young boy who was herding the little children into the gates. Brushing a strand behind his hair he looked up towards his superiors nodding taking greeting all the students and smiling. His smile was so beautiful and Kakashi just had to know his name. But the crowd got very difficult and he lost sight of the boy.

Later on Kakashi finally made it to the academy. As he got up the receptionist, he asked the lady sitting there, "Um… yes, I'm looking for a male with brown hair and a scar running across his nose. Do you know where I can find him?" the lady smiled and said, "Oh you mean Iruka! Yes, he's down the hall 7th door to the left, Room 17." Kakashi bowed his thanks and went down there. He could hear classes being taught and as he reached the 7th door he knocked on it. "Come in…" He heard and opened the door to find a class full of students staring at him and the young boy as well.

"May I help you?" The boy called, Iruka asked him. Kakashi placed his hand behind his head, "Um… yes, sorry to bother you but my name is Hatake Kakashi and…"

"Wait! You're Hatake Kakashi?! Please come in, would you mind teaching the students some techniques?" Kakashi shook his head, "No, I don't mind at all…"

--

At the end of the day Kakashi let the students go and he learned more about Iruka. He was single that was for sure and gay for that matter. Kakashi told him about himself and that he was the Kakashi that helped start the city hundreds of years ago. Iruka smiled as he talked with Kakashi and they were both laughing happily with eachother. Hearing a knock at the door Iruka allowed entrance. Seeing a young boy with black eyes and hair open the door, he came in and greeted him. "Oh Itachi-san, and Fugaku-sama! What honor do I have to see you today captain?"

"Iruka-sensei… Did you happen to see where my sons backpack is? He seemed to have left it here and we do need to be heading over towards the police station." Iruka nodded and picked up the backpack. "Thank you for stopping by Uchiha-sama." Fugaku nodded his thanks and so did Itachi and they both left. Iruka looked out the window then and Kakashi watched as he started to come back over. "Sorry about that Kakashi-sensei…. Oh dear look at the time, I really must be going." Kakashi grabbed Iruka's hand and looked at him. "Will I see you again? Tomorrow the children have the day off and so do so… But…Would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow?" Iruka was stunned, "It won't be much but… I'm sorry for asking, it was stupid." Iruka picked up his bag and looked at Kakashi, "I'd love to!" taking out a pen he wrote his address on a piece of discarded paper and placed it in Kakashi's hand and closed it. "There you are… well see you tomorrow Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi caught up to Iruka and stopped him, "Please Iruka-sensei, just call me Kakashi."

"Alright if you just call me Iruka…." Kakashi let the other go and then when Iruka was out of his sight he leaned against the wall and opened the paper looking it over he nodded to himself.

--End Flashback!

Kakashi sniffed the flowers and bought some from the flower shop on his way to his destination. Taking out the note that he still had from 20 years ago he wasn't sure if it was still the same address. Kakashi looked at the flowers and smiled, remembering the date. That was the day they started their little rendezvous and love affairs. And after a year they became mates in secret. Kakashi knew it wouldn't work but he still loved Iruka like no other. But now that Kakashi was back in Konoha he wanted to visit the one that he loved once again.

Walking up to the door of the apartment it still had the mailbox that said Umino and that was when Kakashi knocked on the door. Hearing a faint coming, he stepped back and smiled as the door opened revealing a much older Iruka. Iruka's eyes were wide and Kakashi said, "Yo…" Iruka screamed happily and jumped into Kakashi's arms hugging the other. "Kakashi, you came to see me?!"

Kissing Iruka he held him in his arms, "Yes but I will be leaving tomorrow to the animal god kingdom. I'm sorry I didn't see you earlier but I had some business that his majesty told me to do." Iruka led him into the house and he closed the door behind him making sure to give Iruka a night he would and could never forget.

--Sasuke…

Sasuke held the little boy in his arms, Ryo smiled up at him and Kiri grinned as she held her "Otousan's" hand. Sasuke smiled at her and grabbed her up in his arms as well placing her on his shoulders. Kiri squealed and held onto his hair and they began to walk again. Sasuke stared at Itachi who was walking with Koto and Hana on both sides of him. Sasuke remembered that Itachi would do that with him all the time. Just hold his hand and carry him down the street, oh how the people would say they were so cute together. But that wasn't true… They had a relationship that was far more than that. Sasuke turned over to Naruto and smiled. He was now the one that he loved more than anyone else. Yet he still loved Itachi as well.

Naruto looked beautiful today, the sun shining through his golden hair and the way it would move with the breeze. It was Sasuke's job to make sure that Naruto and the children were nice and warm, considering the weather was icy and chilling to the bone. Itachi looked back and smiled. Walking back a little bit he told Sasuke, "I can take care of the children. You go and keep Naruto warm, all that shivering isn't good for the little ones." Itachi took Ryo and Kiri from Sasuke and placed them under his coat holding both of them while Kyuubi was holding Hana and Koto. Sasuke walked over to Naruto who was shivering slightly. Sasuke walked behind him and grabbed him placing him under his arms.

"I'm still sorry that I can't come and stay with you…"Naruto placed his head on Sasuke's shoulder looking forward seeing the large mountain up ahead. "Its fine… I'll… miss you though…"

Kyuubi looked back at them and then shook his head, I guess that he can't be with his destined one either... Looking at them he saw the entrance to the mountain. He slowly closed his eyes to not see the one who resembled his destined one so much… Shukaku…(1)

"Father?" Kyuubi looked back to see Naruto again, "Yes Kit?" Naruto seemed disturbed by something. "… Nothing."

"That's fine kit…" He could sense something coming and he knew that it was going to happen. Looking deep into his consciousness he found the future premonition. Opening his eyes he went back towards everyone, "Get down!" He shouted and shoved everyone to the ground. Receiving an arrow to his shoulder and a kunai in his hand that he caught. His hand was bleeding and he quickly turned the explosion kunai around and shot it back to where it came from. A loud explosion could be heard and seen as two sound ninja's fell out of the tree nearly dead. "Itachi, Deidara! Bring them to me, I want to see their corpses hanging in my streets!" Itachi and Deidara nodded quickly disappearing and reappearing again with two men with sound ninja bands.

Kyuubi ripped the arrow out of his shoulder and placed it near one of their throats. "Naruto! Take the children to the mountain, I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Naruto nodded and took two of the children into his arms. "Sasuke… You and Ryo stay here…" Sasuke nodded and handed Koto over to Naruto as well. Taking Ryo's hand he led him over to Kyuubi who was still holding the arrow tip that was covered in blood near the mans throat. "You do know that one slash of his arrow and you'd be dead… Tell me did Otoku send you to kill my son?"

The man shook his head, "No, he knew that you would sense us and so he sent that for you to get your attention. This is the real thing he sent us for." A note was clutched in his hands and Kyuubi snatched it. "Itachi, Sasuke… Make sure they don't escape." They nodded and held kunais to their throats and one to their Achilles tendon. Kyuubi opened the note and looked at it.

My dearly beloved brother Kyuubi,

My son has just come back to sound saying that your slut of a son has gone and found another mate. I hope that this is a lie. I would really hate to have to come over there and settle this myself. We wouldn't want another accident like Shukaku's would we? Just for you to know as well, the ceremony is still on for your son and my own. I will have your kingdom Kyuubi, with or without you as my mate. Your son will do just finely…

-Otoku

P.S. I already know…

Kyuubi read this and glared at them, "Tell him, fine… I expect him in the next month." The sound nins nodded and Kyuubi dismissed them turning away from the two men about to cry, that was when he saw his son… his grandson seemed to fit better. Kyuubi looked away and started walking away from his grandchild. Sighing deeply and walking again he walked right past him. Ryo stared at him and then looked down. Sasuke walked over and patted Ryo's soft blond hair. "He'll be fine, that's the life of a ninja. You were just lucky that there was no blood spilt. Come on Ryo, you must be tired."

Ryo nodded looking at his grandfather up ahead, Oji-san… He thought to himself and they made their way to the great mountain ahead.

TBC

There you have it! The 17th chapter is finally up and here's a preview for sweet #18! Please review! There is only 2 more chapters left!!! SHIT!!

Next Chapter: Kyuubi has many secrets, ones that cannot be left alone anymore. He needs to tell them to someone. But who can he trust… The only person who would listen and understand. Sasuke… Next chapter! The confession of Kyuubi!

(1)- In this story Shukaku was meant to be Kyuubi's eternal mate. But since the rebellion he found others.