Ok, Thank you again to all my wonderful reviewers. People were really nice about the last chap despite it's many shortcomings. Again, I will try to rewrite it at some point, but maybe not for a while…

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Naruto…" A voice was calling to him, rather gently… Naruto's first impression was that of soft fabric against his cheek. The next thing that came to him was a lemony scent, at first unidentifiable but then, as his mind cleared more and more, identifiable as the antiseptic of a hospital room.

His blue eyes opened groggily. Clear while orbs looked kindly back.

"Hinata…." Naruto groaned. His body felt like it had been pressed under a ton of stones, and that was saying a lot given how quickly it healed itself.

"Just rest…" A cool cloth was pressed against his forehead and Naruto leaned into the pleasant sensation. "Oh, no, don't do that…"

"Ooof." Clumsily he raised himself to a sitting position before Hinata could finish her protest.

A plain room, not decorated like the cute maternity ward. The maternity ward, Naruto guessed, was probably totally destroyed. This was just a regular hospital room. Near the door, however was a small basinet, which caught his attention.

He felt a stabbing pain behind his eyes. Groaning, he rubbed his head.

"Naruto-kun!"

He smiled ruefully. "I'm fine. Is that…?"

Hinata smiled. "Your daughter." She went over to the basinet and lifted a tiny baby – Naruto almost felt his heart stop, he thought, in that instant that he saw her. "Here she is," Hinata said, gently, placing her in Naruto's arms.

"Ah…" Naruto was momentarily speechless. She was tiny. Her head was covered in a fine aureole of black down, and her eyes, as she gazed up at him, were clear and blue. He looked at his baby, and smiled gently, and then he looked up at Hinata and grinned from ear to ear.

"Isn't she great?"

"Yeah. She's perfect."

Hinata was preparing to leave them like that – Tsunade had requested to be informed as soon as Naruto awoke – when Naruto stopped her.

"What about Sasuke?" His voiced sounded curiously guarded.

"Next door," Hinata said. "Sleeping."

"Ah." Naruto grimaced. "Hinata, can you hold the baby for a minute?"

"Sure," Hinata said, returning to the bed and taking the now lightly squirming child. "But… what…"

Groaning, Naruto swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

'No, Naruto-kun, wait!" She couldn't stop him with her hands full of baby, so hastily she returned the infant to its basinet. "Where are you going? What…?"

She followed him as he moved, slowly to the door and out to the hallway. "Which way?" He asked.

"Sasuke?" Hinata said, confused. "To the left, but…"

Naruto turned left and limped into the next room. Sasuke was sleeping, propped up on pillows in an identical hospital bed.

"Naruto-kun…" called Hinata. "What are you…"

Naruto climbed up on the bed, straddling Sasuke's legs. "Wake up, you bastard!" He yelled.

"Wait! Stop! Tsunade! Somebody!"

Black eyes opened slightly. "Naruto…?" Sasuke slurred, still half-asleep.

"I SAID, WAKE UP, YOU BASTARD!"

The black eyes widen slightly in surprise as Naruto pulled his arm back, and punched Sasuke in the face. Hinata flinched as she heard the bone crunch, and then she regained herself and rushed over.
"Naruto, stop!"

Naruto was swinging wildly, seeming not to hear her. "You told him, didn't you! You told him our location, and everything, and… you bastard! How could you do such a thing! Sasuke, you… you…" Naruto bent over Sasuke's body, shaking, and then drew back in preparation to strike again.

"Come on, Naruto," Hinata screamed at him. "Come on, get down."

"How could you? You… bastard… and…"

Other medics, running to the sound of the commotion, were able to grab his wrists and pull Naruto away, still shaking and crying. Hinata looked first and him and then at Sasuke, not knowing which to go to.

She saw then that Sasuke's eyes, the only recognizable part of him as his face was so bloodied, followed Naruto's movement out of the room. People said it was difficult to read the emotion behind Hyuuga eyes, but Hinata had never had that experience herself. Sasuke, however, had often seemed a mystery to her: calm, implacable, and one hardly saw what was below the surface until it all came exploding out.

At that moment, though, Sasuke's eyes were as unguarded as those of a small child. Hinata felt herself grow more and more confused.

His heart was breaking.

xoxoxoxoxo

"Naruto, do you want to tell us why you attacked Sasuke?"

Naruto refused to look at Iruka. Finally the teacher sighed. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but whatever he did, it can't be that bad, right? You should just forgive him and…"

"No."

Iruka frowned. He had never heard his former pupil sounding so cold, so – unforgiving. Well, given the circumstances under which Naruto had attacked Sasuke, it obviously wasn't an ordinary spat. Still, what could Sasuke have done to make Naruto this angry?

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun,"

"Can I stay at your place for a while? Me and the baby?"

Iruka opened his mouth to argue. A part of him wanted to ask, 'is it really that bad? And 'does that really seem fair to Sasuke?' but, given Naruto's depressed expression, he held back his questions.

"Of course," He promised. "Any time."

Iruka took Naruto home and put him directly to bed.

Within only a few days, the blonde seemed to be feeling physically better. Despite this, he still wasn't quite normal. He spent most of the day sitting in the house, or in the garden, rocking his as-yet-unnamed infant, or napping drowsily. Naruto was – actually quiet, though he could show spurts of energy, though Iruka suspected mostly when he knew he was being watched. He almost seemed… depressed. And Iruka worried. He had never seen Naruto in such a state before, even when he cast him mind back over his memories of Naruto as a little child and remembered every bad thing that had ever happened to the blond that might have made him unhappy. This was entirely new. Naruto asked then begged Iruka to turn away all visitors, and, though he was taking good care of the baby, it seemed to be largely on autopilot, learning to change a diaper by looking at a diagram from a baby-book.

Sasuke had been discharged right after Naruto, but he didn't come by immediately. Iruka wondered why. Surely nothing could keep Sasuke away from Naruto, and from his child. The Uchiha's intensity was a little unnerving, but Iruka had seen, over Naruto's pregnancy, how much Sasuke loved him.

He didn't have to wonder for long, though. Finally, Sasuke came.

Naruto happened to be the one who answered the door. Sasuke looked at him, and Naruto resisted the urge to slam the door in his face. He didn't speak, but he glared at Sasuke, and the Uchiha looked steadily back. Even without speaking, they could sometimes communicate so well. Better, in fact, than when they tried to talk.

Sighing, Naruto opened the door a little wider, allowing Sasuke to come in.

"Iruka-sensei, can you leave us for awhile?"

The chuunin, who had come from the kitchen to see who was at the door, nodded.

"And… can you take the baby?"

Iruka sighed. By then he had given up on demanding explanations, so he simply allowed Naruto to bundle the newborn into a fleece outfit and then started off with her on a long walk around the village.

The swelling around Sasuke's eyes, the bridge of his nose, and his cheek was beginning to come down, but the color of them was still awful.

Naruto refused to speak first. He let Sasuke stand awkwardly in the living room for a moment. Then he walked to the back door, opening it to step out into Iruka's garden. After a pause Sasuke followed. Naruto had seated himself on one end of a low bench, and Sasuke sat on the other side of it.

"I'm sorry," He said.

Naruto didn't answer. Sasuke tried to collect his thoughts. He had been trying to think about what to say to Naruto for days, but every time he played the conversation out in his head, he got only as far as this initial apology. He couldn't guess what Naruto might say back. Maybe this was because he had never considered what might happen if Naruto ever discovered that he had used the boy's pregnancy to lure Itachi to the village. He had simply always, always believed that Naruto must never find out.

He began again. "I did it because…"

"I know why you did it," Naruto's sharp voice stopped him. "So don't bother explaining."

Sasuke nodded. Naruto probably did know. God, Naruto might know why Sasuke had done it better than Sasuke knew himself.

"I can't even ask for forgiveness," Sasuke said.

"But you will."

Sasuke bit his lip. "Whatever you want. If you want never to see me again, I'll disappear. I'll leave you the house, and money, if you want it…"

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

He shook his head in amazement. He had never heard Naruto's voice sounding sharp, or sarcastic, before. That wasn't Naruto.

But he had made Naruto like that.

"You'd like it if you could just leave, right? And chase Itachi? Heck, if you leave now, you can probably catch up to him."

Sasuke didn't answer for a long time.

"If you want," He said, eventually, "I'll leave, and promise never to pursue Itachi. I'll spend the rest of my life avoiding him."

Naruto looked at him in surprise. It occurred to him that he'd been talking as if in a dream, and hadn't been considering the implications of his words.

"No, I don't want that… I mean… I don't want to control you like that." He shivered. "Sasuke, you wouldn't really do that."

"I would."

"Shut up." Naruto reached down to pick up a leaf that had fallen on the grass. He twirled between his fingers slowly. "Sasuke, when you returned from Sound… did you know? I told myself I had brought you back. But I hadn't. You came back to Konoha yourself, but since that time I've seen, you didn't really hold any real attachment to this place."

Sasuke tried to say something, but Naruto kept speaking. "I know you probably feel differently now. But I'm telling you this, teme, because I want you to understand that… I'm not that strong. I also have... fantasies, like becoming Hokage, and another one was that I had brought you back."

"Becoming Hokage isn't a fantasy."

"No, but… ummm…." As Naruto struggled for words, a little light came into his face for the first time. It was the first moment Sasuke thought there might be hope.

"Tell me if I'm being an idiot, teme, but here's what I was thinking. I never did bring you back to Konoha before. In fact, you never came back. That's why you could do such a thing. I… I thought about telling Tsunade what happened. But I didn't want to. I thought – this was my chance to make you understand."

" So I forgive you." He paused. "As long as you understand why what you did was wrong. Even though you screwed up big time."

Sasuke didn't answer right away, and Naruto grew nervous and began to talk again. "But if you don't understand why, or if you screw up again, it's finished."

"I won't," Sasuke said, "make that kind of mistake again. I've lost my desire to make it."

Naruto nodded. "Good." He said. "Then I've brought you back."

He smiled, rather sheepishly, though Sasuke thought it looked rather forced.

"Thank you," Sasuke whispered.

"You're welcome," Naruto whispered rather tiredly back. He looked out into the garden. "You know, I hadn't decided whether or not I was going to forgive you, until just now."

Sasuke nodded. A breeze passed through by, causing a tree at the edge of the garden to drop a few more leaves. They swayed gently downward, finally coming to float on the edge of Iruka's little pond.

He was surprised when Naruto stood up, and walked to the other side of the pond, until he was behind the tree and Sasuke couldn't see him well.

He wondered whether it was best to leave the blonde to himself, or to follow. He waited a few minutes, until he began to feel anxious. Then he stood himself and went over to the tree.

Naruto was sitting against the trunk. His knees were pulled close to his chest. Sasuke saw that his eyes were red, and wondered if Naruto had been crying, or close to crying.

Naruto looked up at him accusingly. Sasuke wondered what to say.

'That was really hard to do."

Naruto said it so quietly that Sasuke almost didn't hear. He couldn't reply, but he wondered what it meant.

In an odd way, he was almost glad to see that he had caused Naruto so much pain.

Because, Naruto seemed to bounce back from so many insults, almost untouched, didn't he?

And so, if Sasuke was the hardest for Naruto to forgive, did that also mean was he was the one Naruto loved most?

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Naruto followed Sasuke out onto the doorstep.

"So, what happens now?" Sasuke said, cautiously.

Naruto frowned. "I don't wanna be like some confused newlywed bride who goes crying home to my Momma every time we have a fight."

Sasuke smirked. "Is Iruka your mother, then?"

"Yeah, well… OW!" Naruto rubbed his head. "How'd you sneak up like that, Iruka-sensei???"

"You were just distracted," the chuunin said, firmly. "Naruto, what were you saying just now?"

"My mentor," Naruto said, watching Iruka's expression. He tended to forget that Iruka could be as tough as nails (it came from teaching elementary school) and was not, strictly speaking, someone he wanted to piss off. "My very masculine, manly, ummm.. ."

"That's better," Iruka said, firmly. "You're in no position to make cracks anyway. Take your child. She needs changing."

"Iruka…." Naruto whined. Iruka looked at his face in surprise. Surely Naruto seemed more animated then he had in days. And the reason for that must be the dark haired prodigy standing next to them.

"I can do it," Sasuke said, mildly.

Both Iruka and Naruto looked at him in surprise.

"Really?" Naruto gaped. "No way! Who would've thought!"

"Oh? Do you want to be the one changing all the diapers, then?"

Sasuke went back into the house, brushing by Naruto as he did so. Naruto frowned.

"Pompous ass."

Iruka smiled, but didn't say anything. He was glad to see that they were getting along better, though he didn't miss Naruto's troubled glance as he followed Sasuke back into the house.

xoxoxoxoxo

The next morning, they went to the Hokage's office, to formally sign their baby's name into the birth registry of the village.

It was Tsunade's first time seeing Naruto and Sasuke together since Naruto had attacked Sasuke at the hospital.

At that time she hadn't been sure what was going on between them, but seeing them together with their little daughter, her worries began to dissipate.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were clearly smitten.

Babies. They were one of the best parts of being a medic, and one of the things Tsunade would never, ever, get tired of, no matter how old she got or how many years she worked. Even in the last few months of Naruto's pregnancy, she had never, ever, seen Naruto and Sasuke spend more than ten minutes in the same room with each other without arguing, or at least without Naruto being noisy.

But now the two of them seemed perfectly at peace with each other, standing over the tiny basinet where their daughter lay. She was sleeping quietly, and Naruto and Sasuke were watching her, but so intently that Tsunade wasn't even sure they had heard her enter the room. She couldn't help smiling. New parents. They looked almost afraid to breath.

She coughed, to introduce herself, and Sasuke looked up and nodded to her. Naruto, however, continued gazing at the baby.

"I came to let you know," she said. "This is the last of the stuff I need you guys to sign. She's looking tired, so after this you can take her home."

Naruto looked up then. "Baa-chan!" He said. "That's great." He looked at the baby. "Hey, baby, isn't that great!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Shush. You'll wake her."

Naruto looked surprised, and then annoyed. "I won't! I was talking real quiet!"

Tsunade felt her temples beginning to throb, just a little. Take back whatever she had just been thinking. "Have you decided what you'll name her?"

They looked at each other. "We had been thinking about Hikari, if it was a girl…" Sasuke said, eventually. Naruto nodded.

Thank God they were in agreement.

"Ok," Tsunade said. "Then I can finish filling out the birth certificate."

"Can I see?"

Tsunade handed the piece of paper over to Naruto.

"Hey, look at her cute little footprint!" Naruto said, tracing it with his finger. His lips moved slightly as he read the complicated kanji. "Hey, wait a minute."

"What is it?" Tsunade looked at him.

"Hey… um… Baa-chan… can we talk, um, outside?"

"Sure, Naruto." They moved into the hallway. Sasuke considered following, but then decided in favor of staying by his daughter's bed.

For a moment he heard Tsunade and Naruto's soft voices, and then Naruto was suddenly yelling.

"WAIT A MINUTE! BABA! WHY DOES SHE GET SASUKE'S FAMILY NAME???"

Sasuke might have looked innocent, sitting next to his baby daughter, but someone looking very closely would have detected a tiny smirk.

Out in the hallway, Tsunade was trying to calm Naruto.
"It's not really your choice, Naruto… she's an Uchiha… Konoha law demands that, with all the bloodline limits, the name of the family with the limit be kept – it's tradition."

"Tradition!?!" Naruto yelled. "What the hell is that?"

Uchiha Hikari opened her very blue eyes and yawned widely. Smiling, Sasuke let her tiny fingers wrap around his pinkie.

After a few more minutes of yelling, Naruto stomped back into the room.

"You knew, did you?" He accused Sasuke roughly.

Sasuke's smirk grew a little bit wider, but he didn't respond.

Tsunade left Naruto glaring and went down the staircase, making a beeline away from the hospital where she had seen Naruto and Sasuke and back towards the Hokage's office. She had officially retired as a doctor, but her skills seemed to be needed so frequently that she was practically working two full time jobs, dividing her time between the two places. No one seemed to appreciate what a heavy workload that was! Tsunade sighed to herself. Luckily Shizune was there to keep track of the paperwork.

She settled back into her chair just as the Anbu on guard announced Shikamaru's presence.

"Come in," She called.

The young jounin stood patiently in front of her desk, giving Tsunade time to rummage in her draw for a scroll and paper before asking him to begin his report.

"We followed Itachi to the border of Konoha forest," he said, impassively – Shikamaru often seemed impassive, but he always watched intently. Tsunade had come to appreciate those sharp eyes. "At that point, a fight broke out as our team attempted to halt his progress before he left our territory and we lost the advantage."

Tsunade waited. "I haven't heard of any new admittances to the hospital this morning, so am I to believe all went well?"

Shikarmaru sighed. "We failed to apprehend the fugitive, but everyone came out of it more or less all right. Chouji had a broken arm but I think Sakura has already set it."

Tsunade crossed her hands under her chin, and considered. "Do you think we've seen the last of him?"

Shikamaru only looked at her. His eyes weren't unkind, but something about his expression seemed to indicate he thought the question foolish. "… No." He said, at length.

Tsunade sighed. Well, that was what being the Hokage was, anyway. There was always danger lurking on the horizon. Sasuke didn't seem likely to dash off to chase his brother, at least not right at this particular moment. All they could do was appreciate the lull.