"Hello, stranger."

Naruto turned to see who had walked up behind him, instinctively flinching away. He held his grocery cart infront of his growing belly with both hands. He took a minute to completely identify who was speaking to him. "Itachi... what are you doing in a store like this?"

"That all you can say to me?" Itachi Uchiha rose a delicate raven colored eyebrow, running his dark eyes over the figure that was Naruto. "I came here looking for you of course."

The blonde already knew this. What other reason would an Uchiha step foot in a discount grocery store, if not to see the person harboring the unborn child of their younger brother? He had only asked that question in order to cover his shame. Unlike between Naruto and Sasuke, he and Itachi got along relatively well. The older Uchiha was five years older, like a mentor of some sort.

"How about you tell me what Sasuke has gotten into this time? He won't talk to me, all he does is drown himself in our den." Itachi gently took the cart from Naruto's hand. He began walking, dumping groceries into it.

Naruto sighed and started to follow, "Obviously we know what he got into." He watched Itachi shake his head. "No pun intended. How did you even find out, I thought Uchiha's didn't feed into the towns gossip."

The raven chuckled and looked up with a grin. "Deidara told me. He even guessed that Sasuke was the father. I used my own devices to figure that one out on my own."

An annoyed growl found its way to the younger mans throat. Deidara! He was a town troublemaker, someone Naruto had ran the streets with before the older blonde graduated. Now, they only met when Deidara wanted to include him in some moronic plan, that he knew Naruto wouldn't be able to resist. Deidara had been put to work with the Uchiha's as their painter or something. He had talent, but his crazy personality completely overshadowed any praise he deserved, except from Itachi—who was all too eager to have the long haired blonde man work under him. If anyone asked Naruto, there was more to that story. "Well, why'd he think it was Sasuke?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Again with the eyebrow.

"Because I hate him,"

"Do you?"

"I do." Naruto turned away from Itachi's prying eyes and instead focused his gaze on the shiny apples that they were infront of. Tsunade had said apples were good for the baby right? Checking the price, the blonde started to consider what to put back. Itachi saw his speculation and grabbed a large bagful of red and green apples, putting them in the cart. At this, Naruto blushed. "You don't have to do that... I can buy my own food."

"How many months are you, Naruto?" The raven asked, ignoring what the tan male had said.

"Three." He placed a hand on his stomach. "He's getting bigger."

For some reason, Itachi made a loud sound, like he was greatly frustrated about something. Naruto asked what was wrong. His response was another loud sigh, then Itachi spoke, "I am... so sorry, Naruto. I wish I could get my dear little brother to treat you right. You're both so young, it pains me to see how—how estranged the two of you are, even before the kid gets here. This—this is the first time I can't do anything about a situation. I can't help my brother." This was also the first time Naruto had seen Itachi Uchiha so out of character, his calm and wise demeanor slipping. He was worried. "It has to be him."

The blonde lightly touched the ravens shoulder. "You don't have to do anything, Itachi. I might be your friend and Sasuke might be your brother, but this isn't your responsibility." Everyone thought they needed to help. Ever since word had gotten out, Naruto had encountered only two types of people: those who wanted to beat the living shit out of him and those who wanted to cater to his every need. No one had to do anything. A baby was not the end of the world. Naruto thought back to when he had been crying on the bathroom floor at school, he had thought his life was over. But he had only fucked up. "I'm not going to let this get me down, I got this." Sleeping with Sasuke without being in a relationship was where things went wrong, but something good would come of it—his kid.

By now, Itachi had composed himself again. He looked at Naruto with sad eyes. "You're brave. Sasuke should take a lesson."

Naruto cocked his head. "You told me he's drowning himself." The use of the word drowning put the blonde a little on edge. "What do you mean?"

Itachi sighed and stared out over the stands of food. Then he rolled his head back to look at Naruto, "He's circling the drain, Naruto. He doesn't know how to handle the stress of a child, he doesn't know who to talk to. That being said—even though the person he should talk to is you—he won't dare try to contact you. He thinks he's ruined your life."

"He hasn't." Not really anyway. "What if I call him?"

"So you can listen to his voicemail?" Itachi heard the sarcasm in his words and turned to give Naruto an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just, you and Sasuke are weird to me. This... fluctuation you have, it's so unreadable."

"All I can say to you now, Naruto, is this: please don't give up on my brother." Itachi pecked the blonde on the forehead. "He's awkward, selfish, and cruel. But he's my brother and an Uchiha, therefore I have the utmost faith that somehow he will pull through." He guided Naruto to the checkout lines, paying for the food items and helping pack them in the blondes car.

/O\/O\/O\/O\/O\/O\

Sakura looked up from her lunch, startled by the noise of someone sitting down at her table. A smile broke out on her face when she saw the two boys she loved to see. Naruto and Sasuke. The blonde snatched a chair from the table and sat down, his brown paper bag in hand. "Sasuke, you're such a jerk! Why can't you go find somewhere else to sit?"

"I would say the same to you, but I trust you're not smart enough to find another seat."

Naruto went all red faced, causing Sakura to giggle. She listening to them fight some more before speaking, "You two fight like an old married couple. We're only in fourth grade."

This made the two boys roll their eyes at their friend. A squeal was heard from across the cafeteria, they turned to look. Ino was waving, her arm strangling Shikamaru's neck, with Choji and Hinata standing next to them. The blonde girl was quick to drag them over to the table and immediately began talking about things Sakura couldn't keep track of. But she smiled anyway. All her friends were surrounding her, and the best ones sat directly infront. Her sun and her moon. But the very best one was always the moon, him and his darkness. So mysterious.

Sakura woke up and sat up in bed, panting. She placed her hand over her chest and tracing her rapidly beating heart. Calming, she looked around the darkness of her room. She couldn't see much, but what she could see was Sasuke. He was sleeping soundly next to her, not the least bit startled by her sudden panic attack. Easily, she laid back down and cuddled closer to him. He wasn't warm, but she knew that he could be—and that was all it needed. Sakura knew that she couldn't have the sun and the moon, so she had chosen one that she believed could never burn her. Lately, she had began to realize that the sun would shine regardless.

This could be viewed as a filler chapter, not a lot of action. But next chapter: Christmas Party At Ino's. Review!