SasuNaru, yaoi, m-preg, OOC, OCs and unbeta-read

Standard Disclaimer applies

To all anonymous reviewers: thank you and I hope you'll find the answers to your questions in this chapter. If not, you knew how to contact me. All rightie, on to the fic.
P.S. Watch out for Kyuubi's and Naruto conversation. It's in Italic and bold text.

Chapter 31: Hope

The sun rose and then set and the day fleeted without Naruto waking up. He was just lying on his bed and sometimes he would be writhing in pain causing an on-duty medic-nin to inject another medicine for pain reliever.

Visitors came and went by but their presence or absence was unrecognized by Naruto. Flowers on his bedside table wilted and replaced by new ones but he was never conscious to admire their fleeting beauty. He was just there in the bed completely silent and unmoving and in the end the flowers were the ones who observed him as his body was being pumped with different medicines in different dosage. It wouldn't be an overstatement if, someone would say that what held Naruto together were medicines which were personally made by Tsunade because it was the truth.

And in moments when Sasuke would see Naruto making noises out of pain as he writhed or see patches of skin peeling away, the dark-haired ninja thought about euthanasia. In times when his urge for euthanasia seemed so strong that he wanted to barge into Tsunade's office and asked her to do that, he would hate himself and would hurriedly left the hospital as if the devil was hot on his heels.

However most of the time, he would volunteer to be the one to give Naruto a bed bath and range-of-motion exercises instead of a medic-nin because it was the only way he knew how to deal with sorrow brought by waiting. He did all of those gently and when it was over, he'd quietly talk to Naruto about anything; sang him his favorite songs and kissed him tenderly.

Some days, all of them were gathered in the room and Sasuke made sure his children were reassured, comforted and most importantly made to understand their chichiue's condition. Every time he saw Yuuzuki, Akemi and Miki looking after Naruto in their own little ways, Sasuke found more reasons to believe. In a way, their children had become a symbol of hope for him.

-SasuNaru is love-

Kit?
Kyuubi? Are you okay?
Shouldn't I be asking you that? It's your body that's taking all the damage after all.
I'm sore like hell but I'm fine, I think and I'm sure you can heal all of them.

There was confidence in Naruto's voice that made Kyuubi guiltier. When the fox replied, his voice was apologetic.

No, this time I can't. Your body is suffering from strain caused by my increase of chakra so if I applied them even for healing purposes, it would only caused more damage. You have to ask that old hag for help.
That's okay. What happened?
I thought this won't happen again as I was already sealed but I was wrong so I was caught surprise and put you to risk. I'm sorry.
I don't understand you, Kyuubi.
Every hundred years, a fox demon's power increases twice than the current.
So you are stronger than before?
No, we are stronger than before.

After a whole month, eyelids finally fluttered open revealing dull blue eyes. Naruto blinked back few times before he noticed a mop of black hair on his bedside. He could trace lines caused by worry and fear on Sasuke's sleeping face. He felt pride welling inside him as he looked at his husband who had remained strong in the face of this nightmare. Weakly, he let his fingers tread through those soft tresses.

I missed you, Sasuke.

"I love you," Naruto said so softly but loud enough to wake Sasuke up.

Sasuke stared at those soft blue eyes and felt his world bright once more, gone were the coldness, fear and darkness. He felt his heart flutter like the wings of the bird who had escaped from its cage.

"Naruto." He let the name roll off from his tongue like melted chocolate or like a gentle wave. In a split second, he had his arms around Naruto, holding him close, inhaling his scent and feeling the warmth of his anchor once more.

"You scared me," Sasuke whispered.

"I know and I'm sorry. Kyuubi too. I can explain."

Sasuke shook his head. "We'll talk later. As much as I want to hold you, I have to inform Tsunade that you're awake." Before he walked out, Sasuke stopped and looked over his shoulder, "Dobe, you're pregnant by the way."

Naruto smiled, "I know, bastard. It was supposed to be a surprise but this whole event happened."

"It was still a surprise but delivered at the wrong time by the wrong person." Having said that, Sasuke left.

-SasuNaru is love-

Naruto couldn't help but squirm in reaction to Hinata's byakugan that was thoroughly scanning his entire body. That bloodline just brought the whole meaning of 'mentally undressing' and 'seeing through' to a new level.

"Pressure points are all open. Chakra coil system is still swelling by half of its normal size and I can still find traces of Kyuubi's chakra running through them. The strain and damage on the system is no longer life-threatening but still serious to cause malfunctioning. Fortunately, the chakra coil around his vital organs showed signs of good condition and Naruto's chakra stability had increased around 31," Hinata reported to Tsunade after looking at Naruto.

The Godaime nodded, "Thank you, Hinata. You may now leave."

The Hyuuga nodded and bowed respectfully to the two hokage before she quietly left the room.

"What now, baa-chan?" Naruto asked. The silence that immediately settled the room seemed stifling. Plus, the slight frown on the woman's face told him she wasn't please with the conclusion she came up and there was hesitance in her eyes.

"The healing of your body without Kyuubi's help would last longer than 7 months and during that time you have to drink some medicine to help you recover," she started.

"But the baby-"

Tsunade shook her head, silently asking him to let her finish. "Your body had to adjust to Kyuubi's increase of power and taken from Hinata's observation, it will also last for almost a year." She then stared at the couple, hoping that they wouldn't cry bloody murder when she would tell them the news. "In view of this, I'm sorry, Naruto but your body isn't fit for pregnancy or giving birth."

Cold and dead silence settled heavily upon them as the couple let Tsunade's words sunk into their mind.

Abortion, both of them thought at the same time. Sasuke glanced at his wife who became too quiet and calm.

"But you said few minutes ago that the baby was fine," Naruto whispered.

"That's a result from an external examination."

"Meaning?" This time it was Sasuke who spoke. He was getting confuse and felt himself falling into an abyss as things spiraled around him.

"I'm not sure at all about the real condition of the fetus."

"My body can handle it," Naruto declared almost like a shout. His blue eyes were stormy as unshed tears began to cloud his view. He had to make his body handle it because there was no way he was going to kill their child. There was just no way he'd sacrifice an innocent life for his own survival. Absolutely no way.

Tsuanade sighed, "Naruto, even if you keep the child, there's a big possibility of you having delivery complication that might kill both of you. You need to understand the whole situation."

The blonde shook his head fiercely. "I understand the whole situation. You're going to take my child away!" And with that he left the room in wobbly legs.

Tsunade looked at Sasuke who was about to get up, "I know it's hard but in situations like this, you need to choose the lesser evil."

The dark-haired man stared at his shaking hands. Naruto or their unborn child? What kind of choices did the gods handed to him? Were they really choices? More importantly, did he really have a choice or was this just an illusion of one bored and demented god? He wanted to cry but he couldn't because the news was still too raw for whole system to process completely.

Somebody, tell me what to do!

-SasuNaru is love-

Voices calling him murderer and flashes of blood and gore made Naruto stop his brisk walking and stuck his hand against the wall to stop his world from spinning and getting blurry.

You killed me!

A voice screamed inside his head together with another flash of a bloody and slimy limb of a fetus. The image brought a new wave of nausea causing Naruto to lurch forward with his hand covering his mouth to stop himself from emptying his stomach. Fortunately or unfortunately, his stomach had been empty so all that dripped to the floor was just a small amount of whitish liquid.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" somebody beside him cried out worriedly. He snapped his head to the side and saw his 'father'. He wondered briefly if Iruka was there to convince him to abort his child but then the brunette gently took his hand and wiped it dry before he wiped Naruto's chin.

"I need some fresh air," he whispered. "I need to get out," he continued. He needed to get out and run away from the truth. Denial won't help because the facts were right in front of his face but if he could ignore them and run away from everything then it would be fine.

Seeing the pleading look the blonde was giving to him, Iruka smiled and slowly guided him outside but not before asking a passing medic-nin to ask someone to clean up Naruto's mess.

-SasuNaru is love-

At the farthest corner of the hospital garden was Naruto, sitting down under a tree. Iruka had long ago left him or to be more exact, he had ordered Iruka to leave him and the teacher could do nothing but follow what he wanted.

The blonde leaned against the trunk and close his eyes as he listened to the chirping of the birds coming from a distant. He still felt cold and not because of the cold wind that was now rustling the tree leaves. The coldness had originated from his heart upon hearing Tsunade's news and then spread within him like a sea of fire and seeped into his bones, making them almost rattle.

He glanced down at his slightly protruding belly and patted it gently. He looked at the sky, silently crying to tell him what to do. He wanted, needed and loved to keep his baby there was no question about that. What his worrying about was how he could convince everybody especially Tsunade and Sasuke to let him keep their fourth child. The task was almost next to impossible because he knew that they cared for him so much that if sacrifice was necessary then they would sacrifice anything. And he wished so much that things didn't come to this because he didn't need sacrifices for him to be alive, he needed support and understanding! Was that too much of him to ask?

"Naruto," he heard a calm voice from his right side and found Sasuke. And seeing those black orbs glinting in fierce determination, Naruto knew why he was there.

"No," the blonde said stubbornly and not looking at him.

Sasuke hunkered down, took Naruto's chin firmly so they could look at each other. "I know how you feel, Naruto but you heard the details and Tsunade-sama won't suggest such thing if the situation didn't call for it.

Instead of dignifying Sasuke's statement, Naruto pushed him away, stood up and ran as fast as his still weak leg muscles could allow him. He only managed to take few steps before he felt fingers holding his wrist in an iron grip and he was jerked around, his chest colliding against Sasuke's. When arms surrounded him for an embrace, he struggled.

"Don't run away. It won't solve anything," Sasuke whispered and somehow the blonde's resistance gradually lessened until it stopped. By then, Naruto was crying, wetting Sasuke's shirt in the process. Moments later, Naruto's legs gave out on him and he slumped to the ground, taking his husband with him.

Looking at Naruto in this state made Sasuke flinched and his heart clenched. But all he could do at that moment was to hold him tight and whisper apologies over and over again.

When there were no more tears to cry, Naruto whispered. "We're going to keep him, okay?

Sasuke tensed and replied gruffly, "Naruto, I-"

The blonde leaned back and looked at his spouse's face, distorted with pain and confusion. "Please Sasuke, let me keep him. Let us take the risk."

Both of their eyes were pleading for the other to understand.

I don't want to lose you, Sasuke's obsidian eyes spoke but deep within, the dark-haired ninja was more than certain that he would lose Naruto if he'd pressed on for the sacrifice of their unborn child. Why was it that he always emerged victor in the battlefield but when it came to matters related to Naruto, he always found himself in the losing side? There was no time to seek the answer to that question not when those blue eyes seemed to darken pulling him into its hidden chasm that rose up like hypnotizing smoke.

Let me. That's all I ask, Naruto eyes begs silently. It was and would be his only selfish request for a lifetime of which he knew put Sasuke in a constant overwhelming fear for almost nine months. He felt bad for that but he could never betray the trust his unborn chid placed on him nor could forgive himself if an innocent and pure life would be thrown away for his existence.

Sasuke looked at those azure orbs that seemed to float in despair yet he noticed that somewhere beneath that, he could detect stubbornness and determination that seemed to call out to him, asking him to join his crusade. Somewhere at the back of his mind, there was a clamor for him to reconsider his stand.

He wanted to keep both the child and Naruto. He really did but if keeping would mean losing both of them especially Naruto in the end, he had to make a very important decision and he did. He thought that as long as he had Naruto, they could have as many children as the blonde wanted but now he realized that his thinking was wrong. No matter how many kids they have, nobody could replace their fourth child who was never given the choice to see the world and live together with his siblings. Their fourth child was irreplaceable just as Naruto was.

"C'mon, dobe let's go back inside. It's getting cold."

"Let me keep him. I'll take care-" he trailed off as Sasuke placed a finger against his cold lips.

"I'm going to talk with Tsunade-sama."

Relief cascaded inside Naruto and his hot breath fanning against Sasuke's lips he said, "Thank you, Sasuke."The dark-haired ninja then wished for his choice to be right before he found his lips being taken for a slow lazy kiss.

-SasuNaru is love-

Tsunade leaned back against her chair and remained quiet even when Sasuke had finished talking. She knew that in a worse case scenario regardless of the decision he made, the man was going to lose someone and she pitied him. She understood his position and his reasoning but it wasn't enough to keep her at ease. She knew as a medic-nin the risk they were taking but even with her words and any evidences she could come up with, she couldn't convince them especially the very stubborn Naruto so what choice did she have? In the end, all she could do as their friend and Naruto's doctor was watch over the blonde and prayed that things won't go as she had predicted.

"Both of you are really pushing me towards Death's door," she muttered grumpily but Sasuke knew what her answer was.

-SasuNaru is love-

Naruto looked up when the door burst open and saw his three children. He smiled. Akemi immediately ran towards him and smothered him with his embrace making Naruto chuckle.

"How are you feeling?" Yuuzuki calmly asked as he approached the bed and placed Miki on Naruto's lap.

"I feel okay, I guess," was his reply after placing a gentle kiss on Miki's forehead.

Judging that his chichiue had lavished enough attention on Yuuzuki and Miki, Akemi immediately grabbed Naruto's chin to get his attention. Seeing this, Yuuzuki just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Easy, Akemi chichiue is still healing."

In reply, his foolish younger brother stucked his tongue out before he started a conversation with Naruto.

TBC

There you go guys.

For those of you who wonder what ROM is: Range-of-motion exercise is an exercise in which a nurse or a patient moves each joint through as full a range as is possible without causing pain to maintain muscle tone and joint mobility.