Please review, and check out the results of the poll if you like. Shout out to bridmatt for guessing some of the clues in chapter 10!

"Apologize. Right the fuck now!" Sasuke Uchiha had never been so blind with rage ever in his life. He wanted to destroy the idiot below him, to ram his fist completely through his face then toss him from the top of the school and onto the concrete. His voice was surprisingly controlled, but his teeth seemed to be melted together. "Apologize." He gritted out.

Hidan coughed, his chest heaving with the earlier assault from the Uchiha. His back was firmly pressed against a desk, the front of his shirt was held securely in the ravens fist. His lip bled viciously. Hidan licked at the blood, "Why do you care anyway? He's just a little punk—"

Sasuke made a quick movement with his hand, causing Hidan to smack his head against the wood of the desk with a thump. The class cowered back to the walls, their cellphones raised to capture this moment of Uchiha recklessness. But Sasuke didn't care—he could stop the videos from being posted later. "I'm going to tell you one last time, you loser. Apologize to Naruto."

The white haired male was starting to wheeze from pain. He looked around at his friends who avoided his eyes. He couldn't believe this! Dammit. The classroom door burst open and the teacher made her way back into the class, a security guard on her heels. "Mr. Uchiha! Release him at once!" The security guard made way to grab Sasuke but the raven waved them off.

"Not until he says he's sorry for what he said about my friend." Sasuke growled, making Hidan hit his head once again.

He groaned, looking up at Sasuke. "F-Fine... I'm sorry I insulted Naruto. Now let me the fuck go!"

Satisfied, the Uchiha let go of the other boys shirt. He adjusted his shirt and let the security guard guide him out of the classroom. Before he had reached the door, however, Hidan ran at him, sucker punching the back of Sasuke's head. The boys started to wrestle, falling onto the ground and rolling. Sasuke managed to maneuver himself on top, hold down the football player with ease. He threw no more punches—satisfied with his earlier triumph. Hidan cursed.

Sasuke soon found himself inside Kakashi's office, arms folded calmly over his chest, door locked. "Hello, Kakashi-sama. How has your day been?" Might as well be civil about this.

"Well, fine until I got word of a certain Uchiha picking fights in the classroom." Kakashi rose a grey colored eyebrow in question. His hands were folded neatly under his masked chin and he looked at the raven to explain.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. He felt a headache coming on. "Hidan is the one who started it. I'm sure you've heard of Naruto Uzumaki and of our child?"

"Of course."

"Then you should know that I will no longer stand idly by while Naruto is slandered. I've been a bad person, especially toward him, but I'm going to try to make it up to him. And I'm starting by stopping the bullying. I never liked Hidan much to begin with," Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "He happen to be the first and perfect person to make an example of. Serves him right, Kakashi-sama."

The principal mulled this around in his head. He shut his only visible eye and scratched his head softly. While he could not ignore the fact that Sasuke had been fighting in school, which was clearly against all the rules, he was protecting an at-risk-student. Kakashi happen to be on good terms with the Uchiha family, he understood the toll that was being put on Sasuke. Shaking his head, Kakashi thought about all the times he'd walked through the halls and see Sasuke and Naruto arguing. They had really grown on him. "Three weeks detention. Starting today. You also have a referral and three discipline points. One more point and you won't graduate."

Without another word, the raven took his sentence and exited to the hallway. He rummaged around in his pocket until he found his pack of cigarettes. He found his locker nearby, turning in the combination and retrieving his lighter. It was the same dark purple lighter he'd had since middle school. He rarely used it—though it had become very common lately. Sasuke couldn't even remember when he'd started smoking. But it was satisfying to him. Nicotine did things that marijuana and that one dosage of meth could never touch. For some reason, he found he wasn't very suited for being high. It always made him sick afterwards. But nicotine... Nicotine suited him perfectly. The smoke was consuming, calming, blinding. It could be molded into whatever he wished—Sasuke was good at that. Lastly, it was shortlived. He would always crave it.

The raven lit a cigarette now, taking it in short, rolling the small amount of smoke in his mouth. It stung his tongue and his lungs ached for air but Sasuke held it in. It was surprising how much a small amount of something could make his body scream. His heart was pumping faster and his head grew light. But as soon as he exhaled, his body would be relieved, and he would go right back to craving that one thing that set him on edge before. It wasn't natural. The bell for next class rang and Sasuke hurried to finish his deed, heading off to history.

/O\/O\/O\

Now, Sasuke did not like irony. But over the last six months it had remained in constant company, never leaving his side. It stalked his every move, waiting for a chance to spring and capture him in its clutches. However, now irony had brought along its cousin—karma, to do some damage. Karma was a lot better at making Sasuke suffer.

The raven slowly made his way into the detention room, some old classroom filled with old sports equipment and broken desks. There were only five students, counting himself. Three were sleeping or on the phone. They looked up as the raven passed them but went about their own business. One was studying a textbook, his nose buried deep inside the writing. Too focused on his work for it to be natural. Naruto was trying not to acknowledge Sasuke. Which was virtually impossible since the Uchiha sat right next to him then scooted the desks together.

"We're going to talk about this. You are having my child, Naruto, so we have to get along." Sasuke whispered, glancing at the teacher, who paid none of the students any mind. The raven licked his lips then turned back to Naruto, "I know it's been hard—I've been a jerk, but let me fix this." He reached out slowly, desperately, taking hold of the hand Naruto was writing with. The blonde froze but still did not look at the Uchiha, he turned his face to the windows and stared. Sasuke sighed, waiting for Naruto to say something. Anything.

"I use to despise you. You always had everything I've always wanted—a family, money, a home. But now I look at you and see that all of that did nothing for you. You're weaker than I am, but you hide it inside." He answered softly, his eyes watching the clouds. Sasuke's grip on his hand tightened, "I never know what to say to you Sasuke. In all honesty, I think I should leave you alone. Then you show up, on your white horse and in shining armor, and I just want to melt." He let out a bitter laugh. Naruto finally turned to face Sasuke, the blondes face unreadable.

"Naruto..." Sasuke lifted his hand to Naruto's face, smoothing his thumb along the scars, his chest tightening at how much those must've hurt when he was a child. "I need you. Let me try to make this work. To make us work."

"Us?" Naruto asked, rolling his eyes. But he leaned slightly into Sasuke's hand. "Your hands are cold." Sasuke was just thinking how warm Naruto's perfectly tanned skin was. It reminded the raven of the night they were together. Everything inch of Naruto seemed to warm and comfort him, even the hottest part burned Sasuke in the most... pleasurable way. "I don't think we'll ever work. We're too different, too distant. I don't know why but—but we can't be like this. We aren't the glue material, we're more like tape. Sometimes it might do the trick but..." Naruto looked into coal colored eyes. "It's never a good enough job. It's lazy, sloppy, and quick. It's what you use when you don't have any glue. Tape peels off eventually."

"Naruto..." Was that all he could say? Sasuke knew he needed to be fighting, knew he should just wrap his arms around his blonde and make him understand how he felt. "I love you." It was desperate. It was out in the open. A couple of the other students gasped, having started to listen to their conversation now. It would be all over Konoha in a few hours—how Sasuke Uchiha had fallen in love with the poor, and sweet idiot who was carrying his child. Sasuke's hand wrapped around Naruto's chin. He kissed him lightly, feeling the blondes trembling lips. The raven wanted that to stop, to be able to stop Naruto from shaking. For a moment Sasuke surveyed Naruto's body—his stomach was swollen, he hardy fit in the desk.

"God, Sasuke, I want to believe. I want you to love me, but we don't know what love is. We only know each other. We've been thrown together all these years, never quite fitting right. We should've ended this cycle years ago, we let this drag on to the extreme." He placed a hand on his stomach. "I know your her father, and I can't keep you from her, but..."

"Her?" Sasuke felt his eyes wanting to water but he kept himself composed.

"Yeah, it's a girl." Naruto smiled, standing from the seat. He could leave when he wanted, he was only there to keep up with credits since he wasn't taking a lot of regular classes anymore. At least until his little girl was born. "I went to go ask Granny about it last week. Kiba took—" Naruto bit down on his tongue.

"Kiba? Kiba?" Sasuke gritted his teeth together. He wanted to throw the desk across the room. "Is that why I can't have you? Because he came back for you like he promised years ago? Is that it? News flash Naruto, he left you once and he'll do it again. You were nothing to him back then, what changed his mind now?"

"I don't know, maybe the same thing that changed your mind enough to fuck me!" Naruto yelled, "Stop acting like that! You treated me like shit at one point too, but now look at you. Declaring love, why didn't you come to the baby shower?" Gaara and Temari had taken the time to plan a small baby shower for Naruto. Only a handful of people had shown up. "Kiba was there." And Naruto knew he'd gotten the invitation, the Uchiha's had sent many gifts. Itachi had even gone as far as a crib, stroller, and play pen.

"I knew I wasn't truly wanted. Imagine, if I would have attended, you would not have had the time you had." Sasuke shook his head, still feeling guilty. "You can blame me for not attending but I would've been a fool to." It was true, even Naruto could admit.

They stared at each other for awhile. Silently, Sasuke stood, stepping to Naruto quickly. "Do not belittle my feelings for you." His voice was controlled, forcing the blonde to listen. "What I feel is real, I know that now. Somewhere deep inside you, you know I'm being honest. Even if it takes to the end of our kids life, I'll make you believe me. Just like you want to." Sasuke stated with such a finality that Naruto didn't bother to argue. But the blonde did storm from the room, ignoring the eyes that watched him leave.

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

Kiba sat on the couch, seething. He balled his hands into fists, then released, only to roll them back into fists seconds later. "How can you be so calm about this?" He questioned the pregnant male sitting quietly next to him. "This isn't right, Naruto! You shouldn't be living here."

The brown haired man was referring to the front of Naruto's homes, which was still smoking from burns. Someone had taken the liberty to burn the flowerbed that was stationed on either side of the door, causing the small apartment to have black smudges against the walls. It looked like the house was marked—to outcast Naruto and label him as something wrong. Kiba couldn't believe it. He had tried to wipe it away but the smudges only spread, the poor quality of the walls had soaked it all in. Kiba pulled at his hair, "Naruto say something."

"Sasuke told me he loved me today." Naruto spoke evenly, looking down at his hands in his lap.

The dog lover was taken aback. Then he was quick to kneel infront of the blonde, gathering his hands in his own and trying to catch his blue eyes. "And what did you tell him?"

The blonde shrugged, sadly, Kiba noted. "I don't know. Just that I wished I believed him. And that we couldn't be together." The brunette started to smile but stopped, Naruto still didn't look happy about his decision.

"Does that mean you'll be mine?" Kiba asked, his voice too hopeful. He knew the answer to this, it was all too easy to see of the blonde face. Tears were starting to build up in the younger mans eyes, Kiba wiped them away. "But why?" He had to know. He just had to know where it all went wrong, why he couldn't fix it. Things had been so different three years ago, had they really changed so much from then? Kiba had been the one that Naruto loved, and Kiba had loved him too—in a sense. Maybe their loves hadn't matched at the time but—

"'Cause I love him too. I-I'm in love with that bastard." Naruto admitted, not feeling any bit of release. Actually, he felt the weight grow heavier. He placed a hand on his stomach. "If there's one thing I'm getting from my six months being pregnant, it's that this baby wasn't made out of nothing. Not randomness, not lust, not confusion. Me and Sasuke have something. Besides our unborn child."

Kiba sighed, leaning his forehead against Naruto's and holding his face tight when he tried to pull away. "Sasuke doesn't know how to love, but I do. I can be the one to separate you from him. If you're with me, he can't get to you and he can't never hurt you again. You don't have to live your life glued to him."

For the millionth time that day, Naruto had a bitter laugh. In his subconscious, the blonde wonder what all this drama was doing to the baby. "He told me the same thing, about how you were just gonna hurt me. Oh, and me and him aren't glue—we're tape."

So, the tape vs glue analogy. That was the same thing Kiba had used when he broke up with Naruto before he left for college. It was cliche, but it got the point across. It was weird how history liked to repeat. "I still love you, Naruto. This isn't me giving up, just giving you space to think."

"Kiba..." Naruto shook his head, removing his face from the brunettes hands. "You don't have—" But Kiba silenced him with a quick kiss and was standing up before Naruto could further protest. Kiba moved to the door, saying that he would be back in a couple hours, and would be sleeping on the couch until Naruto made his final choice. And if that choice was not Kiba, he'd leave.

Seconds later Naruto was alone in his little apartment. It had been a long while since that had happened. Should he call Gaara? No, he wanted to be alone. Things moved fast. The blonde sat back against the couch, his back aching a bit. He'd just 'broken up' with the two of the most intertwined men in his life, both of which claimed that they were not giving up. How should he deal with that? He didn't know, things moved way to fast. Naruto had come to the decision to stop whatever was going on between the three of them because it was stressful and he felt like he was leading them both on. How was he leading Sasuke on?

Naruto wanted to start fresh. No strings from his past holding him back. Kiba and Sasuke were his biggest baggage, but now his daughter would be here soon. It wouldn't be fair to her if her father was being held back by problems he couldn't even comprehend. So, now he was alone. But he had told Kiba he loved Sasuke? He did—Naruto loved both men in some way. But inside, he was truly in love with Sasuke Uchiha. It had taken everything not to cry when Sasuke had confirmed his feelings earlier today. There was no time for a happy reunion, in three short months the baby would be born. So, they were out of luck in that situation.

He was preoccupied with all things baby. The gifts from the baby shower were great, there really wasn't room to fit everything. When Tsunade had told him the baby was a girl, Naruto had cried. He hadn't wanted a boy in particular really, anything would be a blessing. He wanted his little girl to have everything she could ever want—which would be a definite challenge.

With so much to prepare for, he didn't know if his heart could handle anything more. Even if that was Sasuke.

There you go, the baby's a girl! The gender was predetermined. The next two chapters may be short, but I'll have them up quick, hopefully. Review! 5 more chapters?