It has been brought to my attention that some of you are a little... concerned? as to Sasuke's interactions with Naru-chan. This actually never occurred to me, so I'll correct any misinterpretation now, mm? Sasuke will NOT do anything inappropriate to Naruto. AT ALL. At the moment, he's just being his usual verbose self who is concerned with the wellbeing of his annoying best friend. As this is aimed to be Shounen Ai-esque, it will have parts that seem to be a little questionable in terms of feelings but nothing concrete. I already have the perfect ending envisioned...

This is dedicated to Ovicati; yes because without the prodding it would never have been finished by now. So, everyone knows who to thank :) (PS. Uber short)

サスケxナルト

IV

The catalyst

サスケxナルト

"S'ke!"

That was all the warning Sasuke received as he stepped back inside his house before he had a tiny blond attached to his shins and grinning up at him. For someone who couldn't actually run let alone walk, the brat sure moved fast.

"S'ke," the blond continued to gurgle, waving around a mutilated pinkish ball that smelled reasonably like... sweetened red-bean paste. Sakura had been feeding Naruto sweets again. Apparently she hadn't learned the first few times. "Dago! See? Dago!"

A dark brow hiked.

"Dan-go," he corrected slowly and unclasped the tiny hand tangled in his trousers. It left pinkish and white snot-like streaks. Perfect. All he needed now was some baby vomit on his shoulder to complete the rumour going around about him fathering an illegitimate child while he had been absent from the village. Maybe then his more steadfast fangirls would take the hint and leave him be.

Naruto scrunched up his nose, pursed his lips and crossed his eyes. "Da-go."

Sasuke folded his arms. "Dan-go."

"Da-n-go," the blond repeated slowly, blinked, then beamed. "Dango! See, dango, S'ke?"

"Yes," the teen acknowledge with a nod, removed his sandals and set them up on the shoe rack. "I see." He briefly wondered where his other team mates had gotten to. They couldn't be too far away... Low and behold.

"Naru-chan!" Sakura panted, jogging into the entrance and stopped dead as she spotted the Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun?" She glanced between both boys then dropped down and picked her smaller team mate up. "Welcome back Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's brow twitched but said nothing.

He turned and walked away.

"S'ke! 'Ruka comin. 'Ruka."

The Uchiha paused. That was a name he was coming to hate. It equated to intolerable levels of noise and mess; the likes of which he'd only ever seen at Naruto's too small apartment and smelled appallingly of ramen and something else much too sweet.

Sasuke was certain if it weren't for him ensuring that his teammate had a balanced diet of rice, vegetables, meats and fish, between Iruka and Sakura they'd have Naruto looking like a sweet-paste filled dumpling. He regretted having Sakura inform the man. Iruka had been over every single day since.

But the tiny blond adored the man, right from the instant his eyes settled on the chūnin. Bizarre, considering the child still seemed excessively wary of Kakashi.

An arm wrapped around his shoulder abruptly. "Sulking again, Sasuke-kun? After such a heart-warming greeting from our adorable Naru-chan?"

Then again, the man was irritating.

The teen swiftly elbowed the masked menace firmly in the ribs, savouring the slight crunch it made upon connecting. He didn't feel the slightest bit remorseful when Kakashi gave a pained grunt and released him. It wouldn't kill the man... which was unfortunate. Kakashi should be satisfied that Sasuke had only applied enough power to fracture his rib.

"Testy," Kakashi muttered, turning away. "Sakura-chan! Might I inquire as to your services?"

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei?"

Next time, Sasuke decided, he'd break Kakashi's jaw instead.

The knock on the front door alerting those within the house of their guest's arrival. As Sakura and Kakashi were otherwise preoccupied, the dark-haired teen went to let his guest in.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun," Iruka greeted nervously. Heh, seemed the academy teacher had picked up on the hostility pouring off of him after all. The man shuffled, almost uneasily when all he received in return was a flat stare. Swallowing, Iruka produced a box of tea cakes and... four obento boxes. No ramen. He was learning after all. "I brought lunch."

Sasuke stood aside and gestured for the man to enter the house, which he did.

"RUKA!"

And no, the Uchiha most certainly did not flinch at the screech.

He watched as a blur of bright gold flew at the chūnin's legs and fastened itself like a leech, Sakura following to take the cakes and lunchboxes from the man in the event he topple over while trying to remove Naruto in the process.

It was, regrettably enough, a routine he'd become familiar with.

"Dango!" The tiny blond declared, waving the squished dumpling in his hand. "See, Ruka? S'ke said dango."

"Yes, I see," the man replied, placidly. "And you've learned a new word."

The brat nodded. "S'ke said."

Sasuke wasn't sure what to make of the face Iruka pulled but it seemed a combination of bewilderment and hilarity.

"What else does Sasuke-kun say?"

The toddler pulled a face. "Ramen bad."

"Well..." the teacher wavered, shot Sasuke a quick indiscernible look, then glanced away. "It isn't very healthy for you."

"Heathy?"

"Healthy," Sasuke automatically corrected. "Heal-thy."

The blond turned to him, red-bean mush around his mouth. It was revolting and the Uchiha found himself fighting the urge to scrub the child's face or turn his back and ignore it. He selected a healthy middle ground; he didn't do a thing.

"Heal-thy," the blond repeated very slowly. The word a little garbled but otherwise understandable.

Sasuke concluded it acceptable for the meantime. They could work on vocabulary later.

"Yes..." Iruka continued, his lips twitching now. "Ramen isn't very healthy. That means too much will make you sick."

But Naruto just looked confused.

"Why don't we have lunch outside today?" Sakura suggested. Where she'd produced a basket big enough to carry all four lunchboxes, the box of tea cakes and the large flask of what he presumed to be tea, Sasuke had no idea. "It would be a waste of the beautiful sunshine and it'll get Naru-chan some much needed exercise. What do you think, Naru-chan? Do you want to have a picnic?"

Judging by the way, the blond was bobbing up and down on his knees, he was in agreement.

"We'll go out back," the dark-eyed teen decided. If they were going to have a picnic, he'd have the say on where. It was closest, not to mention the safest; enclosed on all sides by walls a child would not be able to scale unaided, no sharp pointy objects lying around, no water Naruto might fall and drown himself in and no chance of anyone else stumbling upon them and becoming a hindrance.

His eyes drifted toward Iruka. There was already enough of those.

He wasn't looking forward to the rest of the rookie nine finding out about Naruto's predicament. So far, they'd kept it under wraps but he didn't hold out much hope for that lasting too much longer.

Sakura nodded. "Sounds good. C'mon, Naru-chan."

The child beamed, wobbled on his knees and fell at Sasuke's feet. Taking the hint, the Uchiha picked him up, ignoring the child as he babbled. Shoes on, he wandered outside, only partially paying attention to the conversation going on behind him.

"Here. Let me help you carry some of that," Iruka offered.

"Oh. Thank-you, Iruka-sensei.

"No problem, Sakura-chan.

"Kakashi-san, yesterday you said that Naruto would need to go back to the hospital this afternoon, right?"

Sasuke could only presume Kakashi had nodded as he heard no verbal confirmation. "Hokage-sama stated she wished to observe him for his first proper transition."

"Transition?"

"Mm. Tsunade-shishou believes that sometime between this afternoon and tomorrow he'll go through an accelerated growth process. She wants to make sure there aren't any complications with his. We've already had a few minor hiccups along the way but nothing that was too serious."

"Ahh... I see."

A slap to the side of his face, drew his attention back to the child in his arms. He frowned in annoyance. Now he had sticky paste on him. Balancing the baby in one arm, he tugged a cloth he'd taken to carrying around with him for this very reason and cleaned the mess off first himself, then the child's hands and own face.

He hoped the brat hadn't dropped the dumpling on his floor somewhere since he couldn't recall it being eaten.

"Pretty!"

"Butterfly," Sasuke informed the excited bundle as it tried to grab at the blue-winged insect fluttering around them. "That's a butterfly."

"Mmbrr."

Apparently the word was too difficult for him to say.

Selecting a tree at random, Sasuke placed the little boy down on the ground beneath it and next to a small pile of dead leaves.

The child was utterly transfixed, eyeing the fiery coloured debris and, diving straight into the pile, threw handfuls around. At least the little idiot had learned his lesson from the last time and didn't attempt to eat the leaves.

"Here, Naru-chan." Sakura handed the baby a rice ball. It was larger than the child's hand and was swiftly mangled beyond recognition as Naruto made a fist. The stuffing spilled out, into his small lap. Then girl grinned. "Now what do we say to Iruka-sensei? He was the person who bought us lunch."

Bright blue eyes were turned on the man. "Tankies 'Ruka!"

Iruka smiled in return. "You are welcome."

"Here you go, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, handing him his own packed lunch but he was more concerned by the way Naruto attempted to fit the entire rice ball in his mouth.

Sakura, upon seeing where his eyes were trained, apparently felt the same.

"Smaller bites, Naru-chan," she recommended and demonstrated by biting off a small piece of her own rice ball. "See?"

How they'd managed a week without the blond choking, Sasuke had no idea.

Maybe he'd thought that too soon.

The child dropped his food, coughing and grabbing at his throat awkwardly. Sakura dashed forward, picked him up and swiftly set about tapping his back firmly to dislodge the food stuck in his mouth. Nothing came out.

"C'mon Naru-chan," she coaxed, forcing the child to straddle her forearm, she tilted him slightly so his pelvis was above his head and his face was angled toward the ground. "Cough it out. C'mon."

Again nothing.

Then blood.

And Naruto was heaving, vomiting out what he'd little he'd swallowed of the rice ball and his dumpling from earlier. Sakura's face went white, her hand green as she placed it on the blonde's tiny chest. "No," she was murmuring over and over.

Bruises materialised around the child's slender neck.

Sasuke was vaguely aware of Kakashi and Iruka in the background, but not what they were doing, whatever it was meant nothing to him, his focus locked on his two teammates. It was apparent to him that Naruto wasn't getting better and was still unable to breathe properly. His lips were changing colour and his eyes were turning pinkish and glassy. If something wasn't done soon, they'd be trying to revive a corpse.

He didn't give anyone time to protest.

Dodging in, he snatched his blond teammate from Sakura and leapt atop the closest wall. His sandaled feet barely made a sound upon contact, then he was on one of the many roofs in the compound, moving as fast as his body would allow him, constantly moving toward where he could sense Tsunade. The Hokage tower.

It had never seemed so far away.

Everything shot by him at lightning speed. He couldn't recall a time he'd ever moved faster, not even when in battle against Naruto himself but it still didn't seem quick enough. His shirt was covered in bloody vomit and he didn't care because the blond had stopped heaving... stopped moving altogether.

Sasuke clutched him tighter, jostling him a little, hoping for some sign of movement. Of life. Anything.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

But the tiny body pressed against his chest was still warm and he clung to that.

"Don't give up now, dead last," Sasuke found himself saying. "Weren't you supposed to be the next Hokage? Well prove it."

Then he was smashing through the Hokage's window, ignoring the way glass embedded itself in his shoulder or the way armed anbu stormed in through her office door, intent on killing or maiming him because he was finally there and Tsunade was staring at him, startled and angry and afraid.

Blazing, scarlet eyes locked on her.

"Fix him," the Uchiha demanded harshly, stalking toward the woman, unresponsive child still pressed against his chest. Propriety be damned. He'd never much cared for social niceties anyway. "Fix him now."

Tsunade didn't hesitate.

Again... uber short but yes and next chapter... Revenge! (Or rather, the aftermath of said revenge. Some of it.)