THE DICHOTOMY OF FAMILY AND GENETICS

Naruto never though much about her own family – her background never seemed important to her; a moments carelessness meant she got one whether she wanted one or not. All of a sudden, she finds herself missing what she had never had, and what she had never missed, before. SasuNaru (FemNaru), slight GaaSaku, ShikaIno, KakaRin, JiraTsu, MinaKushi, & YahiKonan.

CHAPTER V
~ THREE MONTHS ~

People change; can't you see my eyes?
Are they not the same after all the lies?
I won't make the same mistakes.
I'm dying not to hurt you.

Naruto felt a strange nervousness swallow her as they walked down the halls of the hospital. She remained nervous as they loaded the luggage into the boot of Itachi's car. She didn't even mind that Sasuke took the seat in the back next to the girl's car seat.

As Itachi drove through the city street, she gave pause to consider why she was so nervous; when the whole debacle had come out at school, a lot of the kids had taken to staring with disgusted looks or sneers or avoided her altogether. Even some of her friends had lingering concerns.

Especially Kiba - when she had told him, he had been as panicked as she had been. When she told him she had changed her mind about the adoption thing, he had given her a very thorough interrogation to make sure she was certain of the decision.

He had accepted it, even offering babysitting services (Kiba had taken courses apparently, but she wasn't sure she believed that), but she couldn't help but feel... wary.

What if her friends didn't like her? She didn't want to loose them, but Tamamo was going to be around for a long time, and if she had to choose, she would invariable choose Tamamo. She didn't want to loose any friendships, but she knew that some of them were none too impressed with her.

She didn't know Neji and Hinata well enough to know what their reactions would be - they were from Sasuke's school, and he saw them most. She only really saw them at parties or whenever their own group of friends massed together for some events, so she couldn't know how they would react.

She was, in all likelihood, overreacting, but the worry continued to gnaw at her; the only moment it stopped was when Itachi came up with a suggestion for the last part of Tamamo's name.

Itachi's car pulled into a parking spot, and she immediately went to the side door behind hers. Opening the door, she carefully picked her daughter; she was even more careful than she usually was, giving the concrete pathway beneath her shoes a wary glance as she waited for Sasuke to finish fighting with the pram.

One day, she would find a way to repay Mikoto and Fugaku for all their help, but maybe their patience even more so. If it hadn't been for them, she would have been completely unprepared for all of this. She already felt out of her depth as it was - she shuddered to think what it would have been like without the multitude of necessities that came with babies.

Eventually the pram was unfolded - though Itachi ended up doing almost the whole thing by himself when Sasuke popped the bassinet-part free from the framework - and Naruto gratefully put the girl inside it.

She really didn't like carrying her on the concrete; she still felt like she could accidentally drop her. With parting words from Itachi on when he would come pick them up (if they didn't phone first), they headed down the street.

Walking beside Sasuke as he pushed the pram, she caught sight of familiar green uniforms on the other side; some of the students obviously recognised her, because they stopped to stare, or point, or whisper to each other with frowns or snobby looks on their faces.

"Ignore them" Sasuke told her, sending a glare of his own to a pair of students that walked past them with shocked sneers on their faces.

Naruto watched him glare for a few moments, before grinning and taking the pram from him, pausing to turn and make a face at the still staring students - it involved blowing a raspberry for the most part - before marching towards the coffee house. Nostalgia wafted over her when she caught sight of it, and she upped her pace.

Bracing herself as Sasuke held the door open, she counted the seconds inside her head - a familiar ritual. Precisely three and a half seconds after the door had closed behind them, she was smothered by something green.

"Naruto! What a joyous day!" the owner of the coffee shop boomed, giving a rib-breaking embrace before moving on to do the same to Sasuke.

Guy was as enthusiastic as always, if not more so - he fussed over Tamamo for a few long moments, before finally directing them to a back room for private bookings (Gai's food was even more popular than his coffee). Naruto opened the door this time, and was instantly greeted by a swirl of confetti.

She started at the room, her face matching his expression of alarmed horror; there were balloons all over the place, and people blowing party poppers. Thank god Tamamo was already awake, or she would have reminded the band of hooligans in the room why she had the nick name 'Spitfire'.

She made a face at a banner that had been attached to one wall - it was one of those new baby banners with the word boy crossed out in black marker pen; above it the word girl was scribbled in Sakura's messy scrawl instead. Looking at some of the balloons, she could see a similar pattern.

"What ?" Sasuke asked, still looking a little shell-shocked, absently pulling a trail of streamers from his head.

"We knew Naruto wouldn't have let us throw a baby shower if she knew about it, so we didn't tell anyone - we bought the stuff after Naruto decided to keep the baby, so we had to use a few markers on the balloons and banner" Kiba informed them dragging them inside, Neji closing the door behind them.

Looking around, she was amazed by the sheer number of people that had turned up; Sakura and Gaara were seated with Tayuya and Juugo, both girls with smug matching grins on their faces - they were obviously the heinous masterminds behind the horror.

She recognised Lee - Gai's son - and Tenten; she was amazed to see her old seniors - they were attending college in the whirlpool state, at the opposite end of the country. They barley had the time to send an email, but here they were.

Sai, of all people, sat with them, talking with one of Sasuke's friends - Hinata. She didn't know much of the girl, but she seemed too nice for a weirdo like Sai who talked about penises and boobs all the time. Seriously, someone had to get her away from him before she was corrupted.

She should have known what was coming when she caught sight of Shikamaru talking with another two boys from Sasuke's school - Shino and Choji - his own son in his arms. Unfortunately she was still so shocked by what was in front of her that she was completely unprepared for the purple blur that was Ino. The girl trapped her in a squealing hug - easily living up to her namesake - before finally allowing her access to oxygen again.

"Oh god, it's so good to see you! Sakura called me last night and told me! I told Kakashi and Rin at the pre-natal classes, you have to sign up for those, and they said to tell you hi and all that. Rin had a girl too, I think it was two months ago now - I would have said something earlier but I didn't know till I met her at the classes so-"

"It's good to see you too - I did try texting but one of the nurses caught me on my mobile" she smiled in greeting, and Ino suffocated her again.

" I was so relived when you told me you'd changed your mind; I know we don't know each other that well but-"
"About that..."

Naruto felt herself turning red a little, but she had to talk to Ino about this; no doubt that was half the reason Sakura had called her in the first place.

"I really have to thank you for telling me that when you did; if you hadn't, then I would probably have made one of the biggest mistakes in my life" she told the blonde girl sincerely.

Ino stared at her for a few moment, before sniffing and throwing herself at her for another hug, sounding like she was about to begin bawling. Naruto patted her on the back, watching as the others descended on Sasuke and the pram. He tried sending a plea for rescue with his eyes, but she had her own problem to deal with.

"What? But I didn't... that's... that's so nice!" Ino sniffled.
Naruto continued to pat her on the back.

"Did you cry this much in labour?" she asked once Ino had recovered.
"It was a nightmare actually, but I doubt you can talk!" Ino replied, her backbone recovered.
"Not. Once; I did scream a little at the end before I passed out, but I didn't cry" Naruto replied with a smug grin.

Ino's glance was enough for her to know she had won - Sasuke could verify any doubts later - and Naruto turned to the crowd of people surrounding Sasuke. At least Shikamaru, Choji and Hinata knew better than to cluster like that. She pushed her way through, followed by Ino.

"Naruto, tell Sasuke to let us see your kid!" Kiba complained petulantly.

It seemed that the bustle of people had gotten no closer than to get a good look of the material the hood was made of; thanks to the mass of blankets her paranoia had made her fill the thing with (it was October), the most that could be seen of Tamamo was a fuzz of red underneath a blotch of purple.

"We've got some cards from school too - Tayuya got the teachers and the art class to sign one each, and I got one from the guys at the martial arts club and from our home-room class" Juugo informed her as she faffed with the front of the hood - why didn't Sasuke just take the girl out so they could fuss over her and be done with it himself?

She carefully hoisted the girl out, pulling off her hat since it was warm enough in the room without it, and was instantly immersed in chaos.

Ino and the other girls (and Lee) immediately gushed over how adorable she was, and were soon joined by some of the boys, picking out likenesses that she and Sasuke had already found. After a few moments of standing around, she handed the baby to Ino - who she deemed the least likely to drop her out of all the geese gaggling around her, and stowed the pram in the corner of the room, abandoning Sasuke for a few moments.

When she went back, Sasuke had been dragged into the middle of the group, and was receiving several slaps on the back from Kiba; the social scene he was in was clearly more than he was equipped to deal with, at least so suddenly. He had a wild look in his eyes, and seemed to be scanning the room for a way out.

She felt a little guilty for leaving him to deal with his masses, and joined him on the sofa he was sat on. The others had pulled up chairs and sat in a cluster; Naruto took the spot between Sasuke and Ino, watching Tenten as she fussed over the baby.

"Did you pick a name yet?" Sakura asked, taking the baby as if she were a parcel.
"Tamamo - 'Gem', not 'Egg', and 'Imitate'; Itachi suggested that since she's almost a carbon copy of Naruto" Sasuke informed them.

That brought on a fresh wave of squealing from the girls; Naruto suppressed a snort of laughter on the faces of the boys as the sound resonated. She began to wonder why she had been so worried about their reactions, and began to actually enjoy herself. Sasuke began to relax a little as well, and by the time Gai came in with some food, she had completely forgotten her earlier worries.

Tamamo was barley a month old, but she already had everyone she had encountered wrapped neatly around her tiny finger. Naruto didn't doubt that things were going to be a bit more complicated from now on, but at least she was certain that Tamamo was going to be welcomed far better than she had been.

A small wail reverberated throughout the small apartment. Naruto stirred under the covers; she had the urge to pull her pillow over her face for a short moment, but growled in frustration and kicked off her duvet instead.

Three months out of the hospital, and she was already reconsidering her non-adoption decision. She was still tired, but at least she could wake up now. Her stomach had completely flattened, but she hay yet to find a way to get rid of the added weight she had put on. She stopped at the doorway to Sakura's room - now a small baby-room.

Shivering a little – missing the warmth of her duvet - she opened the door, and a sleepy smile tugged on her lips.

Sasuke was looking rather desperately at the instruction on a bag of nappies with one hand, and trying to hold the crying redhead with the other; he looked rather frazzled, and didn't hesitate to make his feelings known. Answering the silent plea his eyes sent her, she removed the red-hared girl form his arm.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked, trying to calm the small baby with a rubbing motion on her back; it didn't seem to be working.

She frowned in consternation; something had been bothering the girl the past few nights, and that was not like her. Tamamo usually slept like a dead log, much like herself. She made a few calming, shushes, trying to quell whatever had displeased the tiny girl.

"You need to sleep Naruto - you've been coming in every night this week. I don't understand this at all... she's never been this fussy at night before..." he grumbled to himself, putting away the nappies irritably as he noted the same oddity as she did.

"I think you're the one who needs sleep Sasuke; she doesn't even need changing" Naruto told him pointedly, gesturing to the bag still half-held in his hands.

Sasuke glowered at the bag for a moment before letting free a sigh of frustration, dropping the bag to run his hands through his hair. Naruto ignored him, more focused on the tiny girl's discomfort.

Naruto gave an involuntary shiver as she ticked off all the possible causes of the baby's discomfort; She wasn't hungry - she'd be trying to find one of her boobs if she was (her daughter had inherited her impatience apparently), she didn't need a nappy-change, she didn't need burping either (she'd just tried that), so what was it?

"Do you think she's sick?" Sasuke asked, laying a hand on the girls forehead - he didn't seem to have detected anything abnormal.

"I don't think so... She'd be coughing or something if she was wouldn't she?" Naruto replied, giving the girl a suddenly wary check with her eyes.

She couldn't see anything wrong; Naruto was about to put the baby back down in the cot when she shivered again; it really did seem colder than the hallway. A hollow piercing thought crept through her; she looked up, and then towards the window above the cot – thank god for Mikoto's creepy foresight, otherwise there wouldn't have been one at all.

The curtains on the window were flapping gently, and a step closer invited a biting November chill over her skin. Tamamo whimpered loudly, and burrowed closer to her. Naruto took a quick step back from the window, pausing only slightly to pull one of the baby blankets from the cot, quickly wrapping it around the baby.

"I... I think I... figured out the problem; the window is wide open. It's freezing in here! It's January Sasuke! It's January and... And I... I left the window..." Naruto mumbled in irritation, wrapping the blanket around the small human girl a little more snugly.

She felt like an idiot; all this time and she hadn't noticed how cold the room was at all - hadn't Sakura warned her about it? A week! She had been completely oblivious to this for a week - it was a miracle Tamamo hadn't caught something!

Realisation dawned on Sasuke and he closed the window with pace before following her out of the room. Naruto carried her now calming daughter back to her own room – well, theirs now. He was staying with Naruto until something permanent could be arranged.

Iruka had already told them he wouldn't be welcome if another social worker showed up to check on them, unlikely though possible. He couldn't stay here for any extended period considering he had parents of his own.

Though he wondered if he was really being of any help in the first place; He couldn't believe they had left the window open! While he internally berated himself, Naruto arranged the bed covers to fit Tamamo in-between them one-handedly.

"Stop being a worry wart – I was the one who left it open this, well, yesterday morning" Naruto ordered him pointedly, climbing under the covers herself.

He sighed to himself in resignation; Tamamo hadn't really been a problem during the night before - she was a little fussy in the mornings sometimes, but not during the night. The knowledge that her fist night-waking had been partly their fault was not very pleasant.

"Thank god Sakura's staying with Gaara - she would have been on warpath" he mumbled through a yawn, ruffling Tamamo's hair gently as he climbed in on Naruto's other side; the baby was happily yawning now that the temperature had improved.

Naruto grumbled to herself, mimicking her daughters yawn with one of her own. Tamamo yawned again before slipping completely into dream-world, and Naruto watched as her lids slowly covered her grey-blue eyes.

She had the same deep coppery red hair and the same wrinkle under her chin when she yawned. The only thing different about her was her eyes - they were not hers, or Sasuke's, or even a mix of the two.

She wondered who they had belonged to; her mother or her father? Or was it one of her grandparents? Seeing the foreign colour in her daughter's eyes made her wonder.

Her silence must have caught Sasuke's attention, because he broke it.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, and she could pick up he trace worry in his voice.
"Nothing" Naruto told him sleepily.

If Sasuke knew she was thinking about her parents he would worry - it happened more and more lately. Every time she saw her daughter's eyes, her thoughts involuntarily led to them, and Sasuke was beginning to notice.

She didn't want to dredge that up again; if Ino hadn't intervened when she did (albeit unwittingly), then her daughter would be in the hands of some stranger because she couldn't let go of her paternity... maternity... her abandonment issues.

Things were not easy as they had been now, but she was happy with them; she didn't want anything to ruin them; but every time she caught sight of those dull, steely-blue eyes, something inside her began to churn in a mix of anger, confusion, and the desire to know just whose eyes had been passed on to her daughter.

Naruto glared at the different bags on the aisle shelves; stupid brand name nappies with stupid cheerful babies on them smiled back at her.

Tamamo fussed from her carrier, staring a series of small coughs. Naruto began to pat her on the back in alarm, hoping the action would clear her air ways or something. The action worked little; a greenish dribble emerged from Tamamo's lips and her fussing began to settle.

Or did it? Why the green dribble? Was that bad? Or had Tamamo eaten too many bogeys? Did three-month-olds eat bogeys? Naruto suppressed the urge to scream; she couldn't tell the difference between all these stupid things! Never mind the bodily functions, what was the difference between all these different nappies?

Dry absorbent? Anti-rash? Miniature-large expandable? How was dry stuff absorbed? What kind of rash? What the fuck happened to Medium? Sasuke usually bought the nappies - he seemed to know what he was supposed to be looking for better than she did, and she just knew it was because he had been the first to get his mitts on Tamamo in the hospital.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Naruto groaned, blinking at the variety of brands on either side of the aisle.

She stared back at the yawning baby strapped to her front, then back to the shelves before letting out a few curses and glaring once again at the shelves. This was so messed up; what had she been thinking? She couldn't do this at all! She didn't know how! Maternal instinct could only go so far.

Sure she could figure out why Tamamo was crying (sort of... not really), but that told her nothing about nappy shopping! This was Mikoto's area of expertise, even Sasori had a better idea of what to do than she did and he was locked up! She was being trumped by a freaking convict! All right, so Sasori wasn't really a convict – although he did break the law – but that wasn't the point!

"Naruto? Why are you glaring at nappies?"

Naruto looked over her shoulder and found her workmate standing behind her.

"Karui? What are you doing all the way out here? Don't you work on Thursdays?" she asked, removing her glare from the plastic wrapped packages to talk to the older woman.

"Thought I'd pop by and check up on you; I was going to the shop and I came looking for a sandwich. This the Hell Spawn?" Karui clarified, nodding towards Tamamo.
"Yup. Say hello Tamamo."

Naruto gave her daughter a pointed look; Tamamo took no notice of her mother, other than drooling on Naruto's shoulder in her apparent sleep.

"Cute kid, looks like her mother though, so that's a given. Why are you glaring at the shelves?" Karui asked, getting back to her original question.

Naruto struggled for a few moments before quietly exploding - the last thing she needed was for her daughter to wake up. That would be a disaster, especially in the middle of a shop. Tamamo liked to scream if she was woken ungraciously.

"I don't know what I'm doing! I don't know all this stuff! I knew I couldn't do this!" Naruto wailed quietly, gesturing wildly at the shelves.

Karui sighed, and pulled one of the packages from the shelf and handed it to the shorter girl.
"That's it?" she sighed.

"Karui, I don't know what I'm doing! I don't know how to do this! I've baby sat five-year-olds, but I've never looked after a baby! I don't..." Naruto pulled her hair in frustration.

"Is this anything to do with the care-kid thing?" Karui asked exasperatedly.

Naruto paused, her fists still entangled in her bunches. After some thought she began cursing to herself again; Karui had hit the nail right on the head hard. Incredibly hard.

How long was this going to keep interfering? How could people who she didn't know (and who were probably non-existent by now), and had never met keep ruining things for her? What the hell did she have to do to put this behind her?

Did she have to go looking for them again? It was pointless; Iruka had already looked for them three times with no results, what was she going to accomplish by looking again? If Iruka couldn't find something before the likelihood of doing so now wasn't all that high!

Karui, if her next statement was anything to go by, was probably a mind reader.

"Naruto, I think the only way for you to get past this is to face the problem directly; didn't you say one of the guys from that pre-natal class was a private detective? Why don't you talk to him about it? He'll be a lot better at it than Iruka will" she suggested.

"Karui, in case you didn't notice, I don't have the money to hire a PI!" Naruto replied, sounding a little defensive.
"I said talk - not hire, but unless you stop running from this, you'll never beat it" she informed her, giving her a pointed rap on the head.

Naruto was too confused to reply as Karui waved goodbye.

Sasuke watched Naruto with a contemplative look as she dangled a spoon of mashed baby food in front of Tamamo's nose hopefully; she was desperately hoping to get her onto mashed up solids sooner rather than later.

Sasuke didn't really understand her aversion to breastfeeding, but then again he didn't have any breasts; he could hardly experiment and try the experience for himself, so he just let her do what she thought best.

Naruto had checked the nutritional stuff several times before trying the baby on some orange concoction that supposedly contained carrots - Tamamo had not been very impressed with the stuff, so now Naruto was trying hand-mashed goop containing tofu, amongst other things.

That was not was drew his attention though - there was something off. He couldn't tell what it was, and that irritated him. He usually picked up on those small nuances with relative ease (compared to other people), but now he found it hard to determine what kind of mood she was in.

Something had been bothering her lately, he was sure of it, but he had no clue as to what it could be; as he watched her pleading with the girl to eat some of the mashed food, something crossed her face.

Whatever it was, it was something to do with Tamamo. Of that much he was certain, but what it was exactly continued to elude him. He caught a look at her again and frowned - maybe he was just over reacting.

She didn't really look like something was bothering her, and Naruto had made some subtle changes since Tamamo had arrived in their lives, so it was only natural that he would pick up on them wasn't it? He just needed to get used to them.

Even when he watched her from a distance, he didn't see any of the frown line or nervous ticks that usually meant something was plaguing her thoughts. Surely the fact that he couldn't see anything meant there was nothing to see?

His mother kept telling him that they were paving a road to hell but he really didn't see how – Naruto was as happy as a clam, and he couldn't complain either. She kept telling them to let her or Itachi baby-sit at weekends, but he really didn't see the need. His mother was just paranoid.

"Come on hell spawn, please eat the yuck- the yummy mush... Look! It has tofu in it! You like tofu right? You made me eat enough of the bloody stuff when you were still a parasite... please eat the mush!"

Naruto continued to hover the spoon near the girl's mouth; Tamamo was giving the contents of the spoon a look that told Sasuke she didn't quite trust her mother not to poison her by accident. He couldn't blame her - Naruto's cooking never, ever, looked appetizing, even if the taste was a completely different kettle of fish.

Tamamo gave the spoon a wary glance; Naruto looked like she wanted throw her toy fox at her wardrobe. Before Naruto could begin swearing, he took the spoon and swallowed the contents, making certain the baby could see him. It wasn't that bad really - it was tofu and the peas that had come with the take-out they had ordered the night before, but the pasty green look was definitely not appetizing.

"See? It's not poison - she just can't make food look right" he informed the baby with a gesture towards Naruto.

He heard an indignant squawk from his girlfriend, but ignored it. Instead, he scooped some of the disgusting looking mush onto the spoon and held it out towards the baby. She glanced at him for a few moments - as if waiting to topple over and start foaming at the mouth - before opening her mouth.

After that, she scarfed the stuff down without complaint. Once Naruto was finished, she picked her up and headed for the bathroom.
"I thought you were trying to get her onto solids?" he asked in confusion, following her down the hallway.

He rolled his eyes when the bathroom door slammed and he heard the click of a lock; Naruto had taken to breastfeeding the baby in the bathroom for reasons that still escaped him, but he let it go - lots of the reasons behind Naruto's actions escaped him.

"The book said it had to be gradual - I have to get her used to it first before I can start lessening the boob-fest and giving her more of the mush. Just because I don't like it isn't an excuse for not doing it right" she replied from behind the door.

He supposed that made sense.

"Sasuke, you have Kakashi's number right?"

The question was completely out of the blue, but he answered anyway.
"I don't, but I think Shikamaru does; why?"

There was a pause behind the door.

"I was thinking about meeting up with Ino and Shikamaru next week, and I just thought it might be good to ask him and Rin too... I don't have his number though, and trying to call Rin is like trying to call a brick wall"

That was one was definitely a surprise; Naruto barley talked to Rin. They chatted every so often, but that was it. She was much closer to Ino - he had walked in on some sort of female plotting group with the additions of Sakura and Tayuya a few weeks ago (to say he had high-tailed it out of there was an understatement).

Something odd was going on, but he didn't make a hash out of it; it didn't really sound like anything serious, and he could usually tell if something was bothering her that much.

Naruto seemed fine, so despite the nagging feeling that persisted in telling him he was missing something, he shrugged the feeling away without a second thought.

"Naruto, have you been feeding her steroids or something? She's so big now!" Ino squealed, handing her son to Shikamaru so she could temporarily kidnap the smaller redhead.

Naruto sighed and handed the sleeping baby over to the blonde girl, and watched in bored amusement as she cooed and gushed over the girl; apparently babies made most women turn to mush. She didn't remember being quite so expressive with Mujiro, but the looks Sasuke gave her when she claimed that made her think otherwise.

"No - you just haven't seen her for a month, but I think I'm going to buy some of that formula stuff soon; not for good, but she's like a cow the way she eats - I need a break" Naruto replied.

She didn't like the breast feeding – it felt weird, but Tsunade had told her it was better than the mix-up stuff in the shops, so she stuck with it. Tamamo ate too much though, so she was going to buy some to lighten the number of boob-fests until she could get the girl onto solids. And in any case, the way Sasuke kept hovering nearby when ever Tamamo wanted lunch was a little irritating.

"Ino, can I have my kid back now?" Sasuke asked, a look of irritation on his face.
"You're a spoilsport Sasuke! Mujiro is never this quiet..." she grumbled teasingly, handing the tiny girl to her father as Naruto dug into her sundae.

"That's because he takes after you" Shikamaru voiced; Ino glared at him

Sasuke smirked in amusement, taking the little red head and pulling a bottle from the now ever-present backpack. Naruto watched as he tried to persuade her into consuming some of the substance with a light frown.

She often noted how quiet a baby Tamamo was; unless she wanted something, her only noises were satisfied gurgles. Recently though... fussy just wasn't the word. Something was niggling at her, but she hadn't the foggiest as to what it could be.

She wasn't noisy, just... off. She had been fussing over her food for the past few days, like she was doing now. It niggled at her, but she had no idea what it was. Maybe she didn't like milk so much any more? She could only hope...

"Now now kids, we came here to chat, not bicker" Kakashi added, trying to prevent Ino from blowing up at her boyfriend.

The gathering was very sudden, and had only occurred because Naruto had been the one to suggest it; Naruto was fully aware of the fact that Sasuke's was racing a mile a minuet, trying to find her real motive. It explained what he was putting up with Ino's exuberance so well.

That being said, it was probably about time she got down to the matter at hand - a feeling of dread flooder her as she thought about how Sasuke was going to react later on. Shit, she was going to die.

"Kakashi, can I ask something?" Naruto asked, digging to the bottom of her sundae for some more of the raspberry goop, trying to avoid Sasuke's penetrating gaze.

"Go ahead," the man said raising an eyebrow.
"I was... wondering something" Naruto said tentatively.

Sasuke's eyes glinted, realising that her true motive was coming out. It didn't dim her nervousness any at all; she had given this a lot of thought, but it didn't completely erase the reservations she had. Sasuke's hidden anger rise was not all that relaxing, neither was that fussing noise from Tamamo, but she'd just have to suck it up now.

"What is it?"
"It's more business really..." Naruto told him, casting a glance to Sasuke; he was trying to get the smaller red head to stop fussing.

"Business? With me? I'm intrigued, go on..." the man raised another eyebrow.
"See, I was wondering what... how I would go about trying to find some of my... well, any of my... relatives" she stumbled over the words.

Feeling her face flush she took her fussing daughter from Sasuke and held her against her shoulder and began rubbing circles on her back – she hoped it would settle her down, she wasn't quite up to speed with all the different discomfort indicators yet, but the action seemed to be something of a soothe-all.

She getting better; though she still had problems discerning the different cries, she did know that Tamamo never fussed this much...

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her statement, an action mirrored by Kakashi and their other companions. Naruto winced at the surreptitious glare her boyfriend was giving her. Yeah, she really hadn't though this through enough had she? Or maybe she should have just told him?

Bah, he could deal with it.

She's fretted over this too much. It had been a hard decision, but much as she loved her daughter, the girl was an emotionally double edged sword for her; she had family now, but in a way Tamamo was a horrible reminder that she didn't really, or was missing one half of it.

She had her daughter, but Tamamo didn't quite fill the gaping hole that had been growing in her since Iruka first phoned Sakura about her own father; it was time for her to grow a backbone and start searching for the parents she had been avoiding all these years, if they were still alive that is.

"Well, it depends; don't the social services usually check themselves? Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to help, but it wont be cheap Naruto; I don't want you wasting money if you don't have to" Kakashi said seriously.

"Iruka looks every couple of years or so, but he can't spend forever on it, and he has other jobs to worry about so..." she waved a hand, leaving the conclusion in the air.

Kakashi nodded in understanding. Sasuke gave her a strange look but she ignored it. She hadn't told him because she hadn't even known if she even would bring the topic up; she'd had half a mind to completely forget the whole thing. Oh god, he was going to kill her when they got home.

"Last chance?" Ino asked.
"More like, the last time I'm willing to try; I'm still in two minds on this..." Naruto replied, biting one of her nails.

"You're sure?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto continued to chew on her nails for a few moments. She wasn't sure at all; the mere thought of going through with even talking on the matter left her feeling uneasy. She knew this was no guarantee of finding any relative, never mind her parents, but it still sent confused shivers down her spine.

She should have talked about this with someone first; well she had talked with Karui, but that had been a week ago. She should have at least talked to Sasuke about this first; he was suffering suppressed anger symptoms, she could tell. He was very good at hiding it though; she was probably the only one who could see something off with him.

She'd asked a few vague questions to Sakura, since she had gone through the process herself, but she hadn't told Sasuke. She should have said something, but it had never been a good time between juggling smelly nappies and burping and feeding, and keeping up with her revision for her exams.

She was still working at Killer Bee's too; when Sasuke got back from school to baby-sit, he would take over so she could go to the record shop. It worked the other way too, but the simple fact remained that there just wasn't any time in-between all that to sit down and talk.

"Yeah, I'm sure" she swallowed.

Sasuke sent her a quiet gaze and she mentally winced; oh boy, was she in for it. Tamamo began fussing once again, twisting in her arms as if uncomfortable, and Naruto's attention was distracted from her relationship worries to the niggling ones surrounding her daughter.

Sasuke was quiet when they arrived back at Naruto's flat, and he could tell she was feeling uneasy; a new nervous habit she had adopted was shuffling and running her fingers through Tamamo's cadmium coloured hair instead of her own whenever the baby was nearby.

She hadn't let Tamamo out of her arms since they had entered; she moved around carrying the tiny girl everywhere she went, gently twisting the short red strands whenever the occasion rose. That calmed him a fraction, but not much. Especially since the action seemed to be directed more towards Tamamo herself instead of as a soothing mechanism.

Why hadn't she told him about this? Sure, they both had their own things to worry about – including Tamamo – but surely there had been one point in time where she was free enough to share this information? Surely he was trustworthy enough to share the information?

"When did you start thinking about it?" he asked, watching her lay Tamamo down from the doorway of Sakura's old room.

She lingered a little longer than she usually would, glancing down and biting her lip at the fidgeting girl; if she seemed so nervous, why did he get the feeling she wasn't nervous at all? Something wasn't right...

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I've been thinking about it ever since we left the hospital, but I think the ideas been building since Iruka first called about Sasori..." she confessed, quietly stepping from the small room and heading over to the equally small kitchen.

All the rooms in the flat lead off from the kitchenette and living room, and it while comfortable, it still wasn't big enough. Sakura had moved in with Gaara to make room.

He watched as she began to chop up tomatoes on the chopping board - lots of tomatoes. She was making soup; an attempt at a peace offering no doubt.

"I should have said something I know, but I meant what I said to Kakashi; I didn't make up my mind until we got there" she ventured warily.

"It doesn't matter if you'd made up your mind or not Naruto" he told her, taking up a knife of his own to vehemently chop up some of the tomatoes.

She eyed his ferocious chopping warily.

"You should have said something instead of just springing it out into the open like that" he muttered, slamming the knife through the fleshy fruit and onto the chopping board.

Naruto had finished hers and had dumped them into a pan with some basil and a few other bits and bobs. The meticulous stirring and the steadfast gaze she was giving it was a blank one to him; it was one of the few times he didn't know what was running through her mind.

"I mean, you heard Kakashi; PIs are expensive"

She snapped her eyes towards him with icy irritation.

"I know I'm a little childish sometimes, but I'm not a total idiot Sasuke! I just want discuss the process, not embark on it!" she snapped, somehow making the wooden spoon in her hand look threatening.

She roughly grabbed the chopping board and scraped in the tomatoes, barley waiting for him to finish chopping.

"Besides, if all goes well, I'll be getting a pay rise soon; I can save up if I do decide to go forward with it" she continued, pouring some boiling water into the tomatoes.

"So you're just going to handle this all by yourself? What the hell am I? Chopped liver? Some kind of decoration? What? Why the hell didn't you say anything?" he growled, voice rising in pitch.

Screw trying to be calm about the whole thing; he didn't get it at all. They were supposed to be dating right? In the strongest sense of the word! Didn't that imply an implicit trust? He hadn't run for the hills when he found she was pregnant, so what the hell made her think he would run now?

Did she think he wouldn't have been supportive? That was complete bullshit! He was completely baffled; why didn't she just say something? She'd had three months to do it! What was she so afraid of?

"I don't want you getting involved in this, that's why! Yes, in hindsight I should have told you, but I didn't; just get over it! It's not your problem okay?" she snapped, dropping the wooden spoon and waving her hands in a 'leave it alone' gesture.

He stared aghast as she deliberately brushed him aside and fished around in one of the cupboards for a blender. Not his problem? How the hell did that figure out?

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" he asked, far more than irritable with another rise in volume.
She ignored him, pouting the boiling red mush into the blender instead.

"Not my problem? If something like that is bothering you I think it's my business!" he snapped, taking hold of her wrist before she could drown him out with the blender instead.

"Let. Go. Of. Me!" she snapped quietly, keeping her glare on the power switch on the mechanical device.
"Not until you start making sense!" he growled.

Naruto inhaled a few deep breaths, trying to keep her own temper form surfacing as his was. After a few moments, she turned back towards him with the same steely gaze.

"You want me to start making sense? Fine! I didn't tell you because I didn't want anyone influencing me this time!" she snapped loudly, jerking her wrist from his grasp.

"Influencing?"

What was that supposed to mean? And what did she mean by 'this time'? No one was stupid enough to force Naruto to do something she didn't want to - she wasn't a black belt, but a few more years would quickly change that. No one had ever forced something on her she didn't...

"Wait, you're talking about Tamamo aren't you?" he asked in disbelief.
With perfect timing, the girl in question began crying.

Naruto rubbed a hand over her temple and headed in the direction of the unhappy sound. Regaining composure, he quickly followed her into the room and watched her pick up the three-month old with a livid frown on his face.

"What is that supposed to mean Naruto? No one was doing anything to make you keep her, you know that already! What is this all about? Are you having second thoughts or something?" he demanded, voice rising anger and to be heard over Tamamo's cries.

Naruto sighed at both Sasuke's questions and Tamamo's fussing. She didn't seem to be having any success in calming her down at all. She turned to give him a frustrated glare as she rocked her miniature clone back and forth, hoping to settle her.

"I never said that Sasuke! Don't put false words in my mouth!"
"Then tell me what you mean, because I just can't keep up with you at the moment!"

"Come on hell spawn, please calm down..." Naruto mumbled soothingly to the screaming baby, before turning her attention back to Sasuke.

"I mean, people were always trying to point things out for me that I would have realised by myself! You didn't let me accept her by myself, and I wanted that this time! That's why I didn't tell you!" Naruto snapped.

Before Sasuke could retort, Tamamo began to increase her vocalised displeasure, and Naruto was diverted once again. She checked to see if she needed changing, before placing a hand on her head. She jerked her hand away and turned back to him.

"Something's wrong with her, I knew something wasn't right; she feels all clammy..." she deposited the screaming infant in his arms - he automatically assumed what he called the 'comfort jiggle' - and began searching through the jumble of baby things.

After some time she dug out a baby thermometer, and quickly took her temperature.
"38 degrees C is bad isn't it?" she asked, paling with her own words.

"Very bad; she needs a doctor. Quickly. Very, very quickly. I'll pack, go call Itachi or Obito - the bus will take too long" he replied robotically, glancing around the room for things that would be needed at a later time.

Naruto took her from him to free up his arms, grabbing the mauve coat she had picked out months ago as she hurried from the room. Before she left his line of vision he sent her a gaze that promised their argument was not yet resolved.

The moment they stepped into the hospital, Minato was already waiting for them. Since Tsunade had asked him to keep an eye on her after her birth, the man had taken on the care of Tamamo personally, and it did something to relieve their worry.

Tamamo was whisked away amazingly quickly, leaving them in the waiting room with a coughing old man and another worried looking father accompanied by two teenagers and a baby similar in age to Tamamo.

Naruto pulled her legs up beneath her as she slumped on the sofa; she felt awful. Worry, guilt, anger, frustration all whirled around inside her head, but the most prevalent feeling was the wrench of guilt. That window. That stupid window! She knew the room got cold easily, even in summer.

Sakura had warned her. She had brushed it off until Tamamo started complaining that one week, and once the matter had been resolved she had brushed it off again. She hadn't once thought that there could have been any lingering effects from such a tiny gap - it was just one week after all, and there had been blankets.

Sasuke was seated on the other end of the sofa, and the gap between them seemed to mock her; when had they stopped talking? Everything seemed to have been going just fine. Everything had been good. What had gone wrong? She used to tell Sasuke everything - now it was the exact opposite.

Saying there had been no time to talk was no excuse; she should have made time. Maybe if she had made time, if she had just tried to talk, this could have been avoided. All of it; she hadn't told Sasuke about her odd feelings about Tamamo, and this might have been avoided if she had just told him.

It seemed like hours passed in the small waiting room. Her heart twisted when the baby began bawling in his father's arms; the man immediately panicked, rocking the boy far to fast to be comforting. Before she could stand up though, Sasuke was already moving across the floor.

"Stop; you're jerking him all over the place..." he told the man, taking hold of the boy.

The man, and his other two boys began to protest, but stopped when the little boy calmed down; Sasuke pulled some paper towels from a dispenser and wiped away the cough-up before handing him back to his father and turning to stare out of the window.

It was like another wrench twisting her insides out of place; why couldn't she have just explained it? If she had asked, Sasuke wouldn't have said a word to her about finding her parents. What had made her do something so stupid? They shouldn't be arguing or anything right now. This was one of those awful moments they were supposed to share.

Maybe that wasn't right - they were sharing the same worry. Sasuke would not have been so irritated by the man's inability to calm his son if they were not. Yes, they were definitely feeling the same worry, but for some reason it didn't feel like they were.

"T-thank you" the man stammered out after a few moments.

Naruto listened absently as he began talking with Sasuke - the two boys were his step-children, so he was a first time father. His wife was in the hospital for an operation on her kidneys. They continued to talk; the man seemed to think Sasuke was her brother, and they were in visiting a parent or younger sibling. Sasuke didn't seem in the mood to correct him, and her gut clenched.

Had she ruined everything? Was she going to loose Sasuke as well as Tamamo? The idea was a morbid one, but she knew that babies didn't always shake off illness. She didn't even know what was wrong with her, and that did not help to curb her wild horror filled imagination.

She buried her head in her knees, trying to burrow away and pretend none of this was happening.

One of the boys came to sit beside her unnoticed till he spoke; He seemed like a decent guy. He had brown hair and eyes, and seemed nice enough, but most of his words sailed over the top of her head until he began to enquire about her dating status.

"I-I'm sorry, you're probably really nice, but I'm not inter... I'm already..."
She faltered, and the boy noticed; was she still seeing Sasuke?

She didn't know. The way things stood, she wouldn't be surprised if they were over, considering how stupidly she had messed things up. The boy, perhaps sensing the precarious situation her thoughts surrounded, began pressing her again, asking for 'just a phone number'.

She tried ignoring him, but he was persistent; she was on the verge of giving him a made up number if only to get him to shut up when one of the nurses came into the room; the grave expression on her face seemed to still not only her heart, but those of the others in the room. She approached the wizened old man in the corner.

"Mr. Sarutobi?"

The old man nodded, his coughing attacking freshly as his face paled. A feeling of dread built up in her as the woman spoke quietly with the man. She had seen that face on medical dramas; the man's eyes widened fro a few moments, then he collapsed back down onto his chair, his quiet sobs filling the room.

After a few moments, the nurse led him from the room and the tension in the room relaxed enough for her new companion to begin hassling her again. She pretended to listen, but kept her eyes on the doorway - that had been horrible to witness, but more chilling had been the brief thought that the woman had been there to tell her what she had told the old man.

"...I'm sorry, I know I'm being pushy, and you have other things on your mind but you seem... nice; I saw you earlier. If your brother hadn't stood up, you would have instead. It takes a special kind of person to worry about someone else's kid - I just wanted him to shut up, and he's my own brother!"

Naruto jerked her attention to the boy for the first time since he had sat down beside her; he had seen that?

"I know I'm being pushy, but I really would like to get to know you outside of this place…"

He gestured around the room, and her gut twisted again. Why was he so nice? It was horrible. Nice people set her teeth on edge no matter what the situation, but right now she just felt guilty. She was sick of feeling guilty, even if she did sort of deserve it.

"I'm sorry but I'm-"
"She's already seeing someone"

Naruto was stunned - Sasuke had interrupted her before she could stumble over the words again. He stood in front of her, a cool gaze on the boy seated beside her. He was jealous, she could tell by the crease in his eyebrows. She watched nervously as the two stared back and forth at each other.

When Minato had carried her off to the wheel chair, she hadn't been exaggerating by much with her threats about telling Sasuke. The way things stood at the moment, he was in the perfect mood to start a fight. At least, he would be if any tension and worry she was being strangled by was affecting him.

"Wha-? Wait, I thought you were her brother!"
"I never said that - I just didn't get a chance to clarify to your dad."

The boy glanced between the two of them then, back at the baby his step-father was slowly rocking back and forth, then back to her; something seemed to click and he grinned a little sheepishly. He garbled out an apology, before quickly heading back to his own family.

Sasuke watched him leave before sitting down in the vacated seat; the distance seemed to have dimmed a little. A cautious glance from her eyes found him staring at her pensively. He realised she had caught him, and he re-furrowed his brows and went back to staring at his shoes.

It felt like a great weight had been taken from the pile atop her shoulders with that twitch of embarrassment - he was still mad, fuming even, but they could fix that. The knowledge left her free to resume what she had originally been worried about.

Yes, Yes, I know, I'm a horrible person with a sway towards pessimism, but I wanted to make this as realistic as possible, and to me, it doesn't matter what universe Naruto and Sasuke are in; they're the type to be so bull headed about something, that they actually loose sight of it where it counts.

Besides, they're barely 17, and babies are hard work; they seem to be gradually getting this message, but of course, Naruto and Sasuke are too stubborn and proud to let Granny Miki help them, so now they're in a mess.

Credit to Mitsukino Tennyo for the translation of the 'Mo' in Tamamo's name; that was a big help.
Her name now looks like this in Japanese: うずまき, 玉摸 (Uzumaki, Tamamo).

A refresher on the kanji - the 'Tama' is written as '玉', which means 'Gem'; Naruto picked cuz she thought Tamamo's eyes were sparkly, and she's precious little thing, like a Gem. The 'Mo' is written as '摸', and it means 'Copy' or Imitate'; Itachi suggested it because Tamamo is a mini Naruto, only with Sasuke's nose. Sooo... altogether her name means... 'Copy of a Gem'? I think it's good, cuz then it's saying Naruto's a gem too...

Dear god, I've been reading too much shoujo if I'm coming up with that sort of mush - I need to go find Kuroshitsuji or Nabari no Ou or D. Gray-Man or something else without any gusshy in it... I actually sound like a girl, and I hate that!

Hope you liked this chapter (I tried to cut down on the soapy plot, but i dont really know if it suceeded -_-;).

Nat.
xxx