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

Standard disclaimer applies

Author's notes: Sorry for the wait and I can't upload html files today so I'm using .doc. I still can't find the courage to read the reviews of chapter 37 because something tells me they are all death threats and complains because I killed Naruto. If only you know -laughs- Anyway...

Chapter 38: Daybreak

The order to move Naruto's corpse from the ICU hadn't yet been issued because the hospital director was mourning with Naruto's close friends. There were no words of praises or accolades for the blonde exchanged among them as they were too filled with grief to do so. There were just tears and sobs. Few looked at the door as Sasuke walked inside. It was so ironic and quite disturbing that the person who loved Naruto so much and whom the latter loved back beyond logic was so calm and untouchable by grief. There were no traces of tears on his cheeks and judging from his neutral expression he won't be crying anytime soon. He was like the eye of storm- composed even when everything around him was spinning violently.

Tsunade was supposed to approach the widower to tell him the elders wished to speak with him before they'd formally announced the demise of their Rokudaime but decided the matter could wait as Sasuke approached Naruto's bed.

Sasuke took his dobe's necklace from his pocket and returned it to him. He looked at Naruto's wedding ring. The symbolic object had the same deathly coldness that gripped the blonde and it seared Sasuke's palm like red hot iron. He had planned to keep the ring but when his gaze fell on the Uchiha symbol engraved inside it he realized it wasn't his to keep. Naruto owned it and had proudly worn it and would continue to do so even in death. Naruto would remain as an Uchiha, his wife. He kissed Naruto's forehead, both of his eyelids, the tip of his nose then finally his cold lips. After that, he slid the ring on his finger just as gently as he did a long time ago.

Visit me in my dreams so I'll know you're fine now, he pleaded silently. As he was about to let go of his dobe's left hand he felt something. He felt it again and he hoped he wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. Because gods! That would hurt beyond words and logic. He felt the slight movement -a slight jerk of Naruto's pointer finger and this time it was followed with a weak groan. Just to make sure, he placed his ear against his chest and he heard his heartbeat, slow almost close to silence but it was there. Relief intensified with happiness and certainty ripped through the brunette's frame. "Welcome back, dobe," he said in a soft whisper which somehow thundered over the place.

Everybody had surrounded Naruto the moment they heard Sasuke's greeting just to see for themselves that he was indeed alive. Everybody murmured his name in a silent inquiry of his condition but all they received was the blinking of his dull eyes as he continued staring at the ceiling.

"We thought you're dead," Tenten said between tears of relief, this time.

Dead?

Had he been dead? He had only been floating over the peacefully silent green meadows where the scent of spring was most heavenly. He had felt light and free in those moments unlike now when his body was heavy and why couldn't he move it? Worse, why couldn't he move his jaws? What was happening to him?

Without further ado, Tsunade examined his 'brother' and came to conclusion that Naruto had a neuron paralysis but it was not something chakra couldn't cure when done currently. She examined him once more, this time her chakra was charge with electricity. It was an examination to check action potential of his body. The result was that his lower body had the highest negative value. In her opinion, Naruto would be able to speak in one weak; could move his upper body in two months and his lower body within a year. Of course a physical therapist was needed to help Naruto gain his mobility back. Considering her age, she was no longer qualified to administer the level of electricity needed to awaken Naruto's neurons to functionality. She had to leave that tiring task to Sakura and Miki.

The monotony of Naruto's staring at the ceiling disappeared when Tsunade's face filled his vision. The blond woman was about to explain to his condition but he decided he didn't want to know. He tried to express with his eyes what he couldn't with words.

I trust you guys so do your thing and I'll do mine.

Tsunade smiled because she understood what he was saying silently.

-SasuNaru is love-

As predicted, Naruto was able to talk again within a week and he could now move his upper body little by little. Although he had been told that things would be painfully difficult, everything had been going so well that he was beginning to get impatient. As days go by, he hated every moment he spent sitting on his prison- his wheelchair. All his frustrations, impatience and desperation began to simmer to surface and also muddle his perception. He mistook everybody's sympathy as pity and concern as doubt or ridicule. He was no longer looking forward with his friends' visit and when they asked him if he was okay, he would smile positively and seconds later, he'd go to his room, silently seething in his growing hatred.

During his rest day, Tsunade had insisted he needed a rest he kept himself in his room. He caught a glimpse of himself on the full-length mirror across the room and his face crunched in disgust. He hated his body since it had been rendered useless, trapping his wild and carefree self and preventing him from having fun with his kids. Loathing his reflection, he grabbed the closest thing- a thick medical book next to him and with both hands hurled it towards the mirror, ignoring the pain that shot through his arms and shoulders. He let out a string of colorful words as he watched the book landing halfway. He was so weak and pathetic he couldn't even throw properly. Before he could try again, there was a knock on the door.

"I brought you dinner," Akemi announced as he carried a tray inside.

Another thing that Naruto hated aside from being given a bath and being helped when he answered nature's call was eating. He could feed himself but because his arm movements were rough and jerky, eating would take a long time and he usually dropped the food making a big mess. In the end, he had to accept the offer of being fed like a baby and he loathed that with alarming intensity.

"I'm not hungry," he said apologetically.

"You will be because it's ramen."

"Didn't you hear me? "I'm not hungry." The boy cringed at that angry tone and apologized immediately before he left.

Naruto took a deep breath swallowing the tears and pushing back the things that he didn't want to admit.

Kit? If you continue this you'll end up hurting everybody. I know you're hurt and bitter-

They don't understand me and my suffering.

They...

Naruto had tuned out the rest of Kyuubi's words. When he focused his attention back to the world, he saw Kisho sitting in front of him. He watched as the boy approached his chair.

Kisho laid his small hand against his father's chest, "Chichiue is hurting here," he said without preamble. He looked at those sad blue eyes and continued, "Why do you lie?"

In reply the older blonde covered his hand with his, replying, "it's easier that way."

Kisho's obsidian eyes were full of questions at the same time marred with confusion. He couldn't understand why lying made things easier. As far as he knew, telling lies always stirred trouble and hurt everybody. "But you're hurting because of those."

Naruto wished he could be a child once more so the world would be wonderful, wide, carefree and more importantly simple.

-SasuNaru is love-

When everybody thought that he was taking his afternoon nap, Naruto managed to sneak outside and go to the farthest corner of the Uchiha garden with every intention of trying to walk. Tsunade and his head PT had informed him that although his lower body's action potential values had increased, they still needed to reach a particular value for him to start his lower body mobility exercise. They told him it would take a week or two for that to happen but he couldn't wait any longer. He had to move his lower body now.

Ignoring the dull ache in his arms, he dragged his feet to the grass-covered ground. After that, he planted his hands on each arm rest and slowly and painfully tried to stand up by placing all his weight on his still weak arms.

On his fifth try, his left arm gave way against the weight, upsetting Naruto's weak balance as well as that of the chair.

"Dammit," he murmured as he landed on the ground hard. He closed his eyes trying to ignore the raging pain. When it started receding, he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position. It took him quiet a long time to get the chair back to its standing position and longer to sit himself but he had managed.

On his nth attempt, his arms finally gave up on him and the blonde found himself falling forward. This time the pain was overwhelming and Naruto decided not to move for a long time. He just stayed on the ground, almost falling to the oblivion brought by pain. Nobody was there to help him up… nobody was there and that fact seemed to echo in every corner of his soul.

An hour later, he was back on his chair ready to try again. Even when his body was screaming in exhaustion and pain, he didn't want to give up now because to do so was like giving up forever.

He was about to try again when a pair of hands pushed him back to his chair. He whipped his head to the left and met Sasuke's eyes darkened with fear. The captain had been on his way after training at the Uchiha's private grounds when he had glimpsed on the dobe doing a reckless deed. The cold horror that gripped him had intensified when he saw the grass stains and soil dirt blotting his pristine clothes. He wondered how long the blonde had been pushing himself. Didn't Tsunade made it specifically clear to him about his physical condition and his rehab schedule?

Sighing mentally he took out the extra towel he hadn't used to wipe Naruto's face clean but the blonde immediately looked away, refusing the gentle gesture. But the brunette grabbed his chin firmly and did what he had planned. When he was done with his face he proceeded to his arms and Naruto could only watch in myriad emotions of frustration, gratitude and joy.

When Sasuke was done with his task, he looked at Naruto. Really looked at him. He plunged past his thickening defense mechanism.

As the blonde found himself under that innocent but loving gaze, he felt being sucked into fantasy he was so familiar with. That look which should have made him shiver in delight and made his whole body flushed with teasing seduction could now only make his heartbeat increased and he realized how invalid he had become. He no longer had the body Sasuke adored, craved and needed. He was just a burden to the brunette and he knew the latter hated any burdens just as he hated to be a burden to anybody. With that realization, the painful tug in his heart increased in number. Swallowing the lump of tears he steeled himself for what he was about to do – letting go.

"Sasuke, at this rate, we could no longer make love nor could I pleasure you. You have to look for someone else," he said weakly and because he had looked away, he completely missed the startled look on his husband's face.

"I didn't marry you for that," was the brunette's honest reply.

"But I couldn't cook for you guys nor clean the house," he continued. He refused to watch his children and husband doing household chores that weren't their responsibility anymore.

"Okay, I'm going to find someone else..."

Ouch. Why did that hurt a lot?

"...for a housemaid."

Naruto glared although his heart felt lighter and better, "I'm serious here, bastard. This is important!"

"I'm serious here because you're important."

Those words washed over him like gentle caress but had broke the reign of control he had with his emotions.

"Sasukeee," he almost wailed, shattering the long pregnant silence that had ensued after the brunette's reply. For the first time since his disability, he broke down and cried, pouring out all his bottled feelings.

"I'm tired. I can't take this anymore. Why do I have to suffer? Wasn't my childhood enough? I'm at my limit now. No more."

Sasuke could see the death wish flickering in those blue eyes and it scared him. He gripped the blonde's wrist too tightly. "Look at me," he commanded in an almost cold voice and the blonde did. He had to.

"Don't be like that. Bear it. Endure it for us."

And the tears falling from his eyes were like liquid fire as Naruto glared at him angrily. "Do you think my being like this is easy?"

"Of course not. Do you think it's not hard for us to be pushed away by you?" the brunette replied in angry frustration. Why did it have to come like this? "We want to help bear your burden; to make things easier but you're pushing us away."

"Because nobody understands me!" And Sasuke had never felt as lost as that moment.

Naruto clutched the brunette's ANBU jacket and pleaded tearfully, "I don't want to be jealous every time I see the others using their legs. I don't want to be restrained by this fucking chair anymore. I just want to go back to what I was before. I'm tired and sick and so alone." The last word had been whispered quietly but the other heard it well.

Sasuke wiped Naruto's tears while kneeling in front of him. "But you were never alone. I'll be with you. I'll keep you from stumbling. If I can't do that then I'll stumble together with you and we'll get back to our feet together as well." He was emphasizing 'together' wanting to make his dobe remember that they were perfect halves of their circle. A pair. A couple.

He lifted and settled the blonde on his laps. "I know you are tired so rest as long as you want." Just don't leave me.

He pressed Naruto's head against his chest and the blonde snuggled closer finding a wonderful rest in his spouse's warmth and arms.

-SasuNaru is love-

When Miki entered his parents' bedroom, she was met with a very bright smile. It was very obvious his chichiue was in a very good mood- a very rare moment nowadays.

"Ne chichiue, I'm gonna increase the charge of the electricity I'll be forcing into you." Her father nodded.

Miki took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She directed a large part of her chakra to flow towards her hands and to gather around them. At will, she converted her gathering chakra into electricity making her hands glow slightly. With a silent signal to Naruto, she began what had become her daily task.

Her hands hovering an inch above the blonde's lower body as she slowly moved them up and down from his waist to his toes for a long period of time. For the sake of perfect muscle coordination and smooth flowing of action potential, the girl's hands would drift over the other half of his body and would stay over his head for few seconds.

Unlike his past treatment, Naruto could now feel a prickling sensation in places where his daughter's hands hovered. He could feel his muscles contracting and expanding, twitching or jerking. He also found himself getting sleepy.

Three hours later, a very exhausted Miki left the room where her chichiue was now sleeping peacefully.

-SasuNaru is love-

As Sasuke had told him, he had accompanied Naruto practicing during the latter's rest day. He was there to be Naruto's strength as well as a sitter to make sure his spouse wouldn't push himself recklessly.

"C'mon bastard, just one more then let's rest," Naruto almost whined between pants.

"That's the third time you said that, dobe," Sasuke replied in his usual arrogance.

"I promise we'll rest after this."

Rolling his eyes in a frustrated surrender, he nodded.

At Naruto's insistence he stopped supporting him by letting his hands go. The couple shared a smile as Naruto managed to stand steadily on his own. In his excitement, the blonde rushed his left foot forward to take a step, shifting all of his weight on his other foot. It was a bad move and he realized that as he saw the ground rising up.

Since pulling him back on his feet was a little late, Sasuke did what he could think of at that moment- he offered himself as the dobe's cushion.

The two landed on the grass together. Naruto opened his eyes and saw dark ones looking at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

He could only swallow as the sexual tension that had been growing between them since this little practice session had began intensified due to their closeness. He gave in and his lips desperately searched for Sasuke's. The brunette looked surprise at the sudden intimate gesture but he too surrendered to the pressure building between them.

Their mouths came together as one, teeth clashing and tongues snaking out to duel, to taste and to plunder. Their kiss shifted back and forth between being rough and gentle. Neither of them could now tell who was moaning and who was pressing closer.

Their desire turned to a burning need which in turn became a consuming want. Naruto was frustrated that his body couldn't respond the way he wanted it to. He couldn't even feel his spouse's hard-on but he knew he was aroused. He could smell it.

They broke apart gasping for breath but Naruto's hands were going downward, sliding dangerously closer to its goal. He wanted Sasuke inside of him. He wanted to feel his warmth.

Sasuke grabbed his hands and held them steady. His wife looked at him to see his hunger reflected by smoldering obsidian eyes. He shook his head and forcibly made himself explain, "If we do this, it would only make us want more and that would increase our frustration." The other man understood and weakly nodded. "But I'm happy that you wanted to give me a blowjob." Then, he pushed his dobe on his back, effectively putting a distance between them as they tried to cool down.

-SasuNaru is love-

Days turned to weeks then months and seasons came and went before Naruto found himself meters away from his children who were waiting for him. He had to cross that distance. This was his final test. He looked at Sasuke who was standing at his farther left before he took the first step towards his freedom.

He walked quickly then slowly; he skipped and hopped; and ran and jog without the discomfort, pain or difficulty but to him he was flying and gliding and it felt so good. When he reached his goal, cheers erupted from his children. Kisho threw himself to him causing both of them to land on the ground. Akemi and Miki showered him with petals while Yuuzaki playfully dump his share of petals on his father.

Naruto turned his head to the side where Sasuke was and their eyes met.

Tonight, his blue eyes said as they held a promise of things as old and wonderful as the secrets of the universe.

Yes,tonight, he replied silently and the moment was gone.

"Shall we now take our picture?" the dark-haired ninja asked as he approached his family.

"Let's," they chorused.

Their new family portrait was different from others as it was a candid one and was taken in the Uchiha gardens. Under the shower of Sakura petals, all of them were wearing a look of triumph.

TBC

Action potential, according to wikipedia, isa wave of electrical charge that traveled along the membrane of the cell carrying information within and between tissues and used as a communications between neurons to other body tissues like muscles. But please don't quote me on any medical procedure or medical stuff I mentioned in my fic as my medical knowledge are close to zero and they are just something I thought up for this story.