OK, my dear readers, this is chapter two of the story, I'm glad that some of you reviewed, and so may of you hit on this humble fic. Just so you know, I'm terribly sorry about the fact that I'm a late updater, to be true to you, my inspiration comes like… once a week, and about like 5 a.m. So it is quite difficult to write in those conditions (I think some of you do the same, in fact, I'm sure that a lot of us suffer from this "Fanfic/Fanart Inspiration Syndrome" or FIS as I call it. Ok, I just came up with that, but it is better than to say all those conditions every time we update, or write a new story, or draw fanart, so if you like the term, use it).

By the way, if you feel a little confused on the How-to-read (that I hope not), here it is, how is it read:

- "Talking"

- "Talking in the past"

- Thinking (past and present)

But before starting, I want to thank someone:

- And I want to thank Shiroihato as well, I want to tell you that your story is awesome, and I'm glad that a fellow writer (whose story I really enjoy) has a good opinion on my fic, thanks so much.

- Also, I want to thank Veritas15, thanks so much for the review.

And last but not least, I want to Special thank someone:

- This chapter is dedicated to E-vay, a flower that blossomed beautifully in this little planet, keep up the excellent work, you're a magnificent artist, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the first one, and thanks for the beautiful comment. This one's for you, girl.

So, with nothing left to say, hope you like this chapter.

Disclaimer: (I finally found one good enough, haha.) I donnot own Naruto, but I the other night I found a black notebook laying on the ground, as rain fell; it had white letters on it as some sort of title, it said "Death Note", after I got home, I phoned Mr. Kishimoto and told him to make the Manga a NaruSaku, and if not, he would suffer from the consequences of tempting fate. So, I still don't own Naruto, but I own a killer notebook (hehe, just kidding).

From this chapter on, I will put a chapter summary, so you can start guessing what will the chapter is going to contain, but as in the main summary, it will be a question summary. Have fun. Also, in order not to be "all angst", this chapter will have some laughs (some evil smirks, some joking grins) to ease a little bit the tension, and will contain high levels of fluffiness.

Chapter Two: Inner Self, Outer Self

Have you ever doubted? Have you ever been saved by yourself? Have you ever found light between the darkness? Have you ever taken chances and risked everything? Have you ever realized the miracle life IS?

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-Chapter Two- "Inner Self, Outer Self"

Silence, absolute silence; as I wake up, I wonder Where am I?, How could I possibly get here?, when I see a shadow, the figure of a man, of someone strangely familiar that entered to the room where I am. Darkness surround us, and his silhouette is only lit by the light coming in from the hall outside this humid, darkened, gloomy room.

Clear is not a word that I would use to describe my vision right now, but that image, that silhouette, that glare; I swear I have seen them before, but where?. He just looks at me, expectantly, standing by the door. I can feel how heavy his look is, and somehow, I have felt it before, that glare, filled with hatred, it is so heavy that I start feeling empty, hopeless and sad; as I receive that glare I just want to cry. Then it hits me, I finally know who is standing there, I can finally recall who owns that glare. "Sasuke…"

Exactly as I finish to say his name, I can clearly see that he twitches, and then his eyes turn into a pair of reddened orbs with marks carved in them as black flames, and in a low-toned, but still deep voice, he says "Indeed". "Tell me, why am I here, what do you want from me?" I reply, as he says "Don't worry, I mean you no harm… yet".

Cornering himself inside the room, he continues "If you want to know the reason why I brought you here, you may ask yourself, and with that sharp mind of yours, within instants you should know the answer". I feel a little bit confused about what he said, but after thinking for a few seconds, I reach a conclusion "Blackmail, isn't?" He starts laughing in amusement, and crossing his arms, he says "As sharp as always, but I'm afraid this is a little more complicated than that. I brought you here not just to use you only as bait, but for a… bigger purpose" "Vengeance?" I interrupt him, as he says "Call it whatever you want, as for me, I'd rather call it… payback".

"You know he will not fall that easy with something like that, do you?" I tried to sound convincing about my words, even though I didn't believe them. He laughed "As if…"

Quivering… I found myself, as I realized I was too exhausted to even stay awake; and he noticed, in fact, he was counting on it. "Don't you worry, you're are simply going under through the weakening effect of a drug I administered on you, so sleep for the time being". "Bastard… what kind of drug did you put into my system?" I angrily said; eyes were closing due to the effect of that 'guy's' drug. He laughed, something I was starting to hate already, as he said "Something to keep you… 'tamed', controlled".

My head started to spin round around the room, as I tried to stay aware (and awake), in order to fight back the substance that was in me, but soon I found out, angrily, that any kind of resistance was futile, and that the only thing left to do was to give up to the effect of that nasty substance. At this point, I could not see anything clearly, it all seemed to be very blurry to my eyes, and I decided to close them for good, saying one last time, in a hopeless, yet angry tone "Bastard…", he smirked, and left the room.

Due to the drug's effect, I started to drift away as my thoughts and body movements started being random and uncontrolled. I just could feel myself being pulled away as my last rational, conscious thoughts were What is Sasuke up to, what does he want from me, from us? What… how… I… hu-hurry u-up… ple-ase… na-na… Naruto!!!

To be honest, I feel pathetic. I mean, how is it that the head of Konoha's medic-nin unit has been beaten by a mere drug? How is it that the pupil of the Hokage herself was easily taken out of combat by a drug? Well, there's something I'm absolutely sure of, and that is that Tsunade-sama would yell at me for being so reckless, and she would nag me for months about this. "I'm so pathetic, I keep depending on other people to solve my problems, as always have been… as always will be, I'm a burden, I'm a load, everyone must think that of me", I say, as I float in darkness, a familiar darkness, knowing that nobody will hear me, or at least… hoping to. But between the darkness of my 'acid dream' I see someone strangely familiar to me, approaching surrounded by glowing dark-piecing light. I can just watch, as that glowing figure says "Hey, are you over saying those stupid nonsensical claims, girl?" My eyes grow wide open "You, you are… my other self!!!" as surprise is almost palpable in that moment. "Hey, I'm no such thing as your other self, but your 'Inner self'. Y'know, I run things down here, inside you, in order to keep everything… in order, actually." She said, goofy smiling.

Nothing could have turned things more awkward that they actually were by then, or so I thought; but since I was under a drug's effect, everything started seeming to be utterly logical, everything seemed to make perfect sense, like encountering with my Inner self, or being inside me, floating in darkness, or anything, so I did something to ensure (or at least try to do it) this was not an hallucination provoked by the substance, I asked "Ok, so, how do I know you are not fake, that you're not a mind-trick of sorts?". "What, how you even dare to doubt of my integrity?" she angrily replied, as fire was coming out of her eyes in an almost comical way. "Prove me wrong, sis, that way you'll change my mind because, maybe you're not aware of this, but I AM DRUGGED, and for all I know, you may not be real. So, give me a proof that you are real, that you are me" I said, testing her, also testing my level of sanity. Soon, I was going to regret that, as she started "Ok, you want a proof, I'll give you a proof of me, of our bond, of us", she continued "Yes, I know that the 'bastard' drugged you, after abducting us, that's why I brought you here, to reverse it, and to give you news".

My head was still spinning, even inside that 'inner self dimension', but if what she said was truth, the dizziness should be starting to fade out sometime, but something was unclear, though. "Come again, news you say… what kind of news?" I said slightly interested, when she replied in an annoyed tone "I'm not telling you until you believe me" noticed by her that I was still not buying what she told me, but the something happened that changed my mind "The headache, the dizziness… are gone" I said, wide-eyed, directly looking at her 'I-told-you' grin, a grin that reminded me of someone in particular, as a name slipped through my lips, delicately "Naruto…"; she reacted at the name, only smiling as she continued "Well, now that you believe me, I'll tell you about the news I have to you, that actually concern him." I admit that caught me off guard "Huh?"

Entirely confused, I asked "How, in which sense?", I mean, I know that he loves me and he cares a lot about my well-being and everything, just as I do about him, but, I'd like to know what is this news about. I was lost in thoughts, trying to find something, something that could be of vital importance for both of us.

Doubting I could find an answer to my question by myself, she decided to cut down my train of thoughts "Well, in fact that's the 'true' reason why I brought you". True? I was confused again. She continued "Yes, in fact, the drug doesn't react that fast, and you know it. So the reason why you fainted in seconds is that I consumed a huge amount of chakra to counter the drug, even when you didn't request it".

So, that didn't clear any of my doubts, that's why asked something that seemed logical "Well, you know this drug's effect as well as I do, and it is harmless, so why would I want to rush for a counter on it, using enormous quantities of chakra, that could lead to chakra depletion and maybe death?" My point of view sounded pretty logical. She growled and mumbled "Why don't you just get it, woman?" then she said with a more calmed voice "It is harmful and dangerous, you should know better than anyone under what conditions it is dangerous and why did I take the risk I took; for God's sake, you're a doctor… use your head, think, and take the hints, girl". That got me examining every possibility "Well yes, it can be dangerous, but just under a certain circumstance… OH SHIT" my eyes widened, she nodded and finished "Yup, pregnancy".

"So now you understand why did I do it?" She asked me, blushing slightly. "You did it for my… I mean, for our baby, but… how did this happen?". With a huge grin that instantly grew on her face as she giggled rolling her eyes to me, she said sarcastically "Well, you know, when a blond man and a pink-haired woman love each other, they entangle their bodies and rhythmically move as…" with a deep blush, and an almost ruby-red colored face, I interrupted "I mean, I know how, but I want to know, was I not careful, wasn't he careful, I mean, we were, weren't we?" I started to ask her frantically as my head began to spin around again and started to breath very fast, and done so, I hyperventilated, as her grin grew bigger and giggled in amusement at my nervousness to know how did it happen. But after a short time, the anxiety faded, as one, no, the most beautiful feelings filled me from top to bottom. Happiness, pure happiness, to know that I was carrying a child from the one I love the most. My dear Fox.

After nearly four hours of running and panting all the way through the forest, I finally decide to stop; well, more than decided, I needed it, my whole body demanded, every zone of my body screamed to me pleading for rest, even for a little while. For an hour or so, I had decided against it since my loved one had been abducted by a friend, and under my nose it had happened, but this time I couldn't tell my body to hang on, nor my mind… I was way too exhausted to go on, as I heard a voice. "Rest kid, you won't last long if you intend to keep that pace, and even if you got there without resting, what do you think you could do in that beaten-up state of yours?" I knew he was right.

So I did what he suggested, I finally stopped running. As I did this, my limbs started to feel numb and my head started to feel heavy, my eyes started to close by their own, I surely didn't want to sleep, but again, the voice came in "Kid, you need to truly rest. Fear not, I'll fix up those wounds for ya, besides, I wish to talk to you for a sec".

Entering in a moisty room, that, if I can recall right, is the place where the Fox's imprisoned, I fill my head with thoughts and questions, questions that I know only he'll show up a good answer, or at least, one answer that I would want to hear, just as it has been for almost five years, when I started using him as some sort of a shrink, in a twisted sense; but even though, I feel it helped, since he is now more willing to help me out and even had shown traces of feelings, it feels funny… the fact that he grew a little bit softer; maybe it was that our 'sessions' opened his eyes to the fact that we were surrounded by loving and caring people that didn't care for what we were, but more for what we are now, or maybe he just didn't like the fact that during my depression I ate only like four times per week, and I was start looking like crap, and nearly out of this world, which by the way, would have coasted him his own very life, so he decided to cheer me up a little, to keep me alive. In the end, I think there were both. I sigh as I finally get in front of the cage where my 'prisoner' is being held, held down by a pair of doors with a paper tag written 'Seal' all over it. I start calling him, to talk.

Just at the moment I call him, I hear a growl, but not a raging one, it was more like a morning growl, (just like MY kind of growl, which by the way, some pink-haired girl under the name of a flower, totally loves, but anyways, I ask him nervously "Hey Fox, what was that thing that you wanted to talk about a second ago?" a somewhat nervous tone coming out of my voice as I say those words, which he replies also nervously (which frightens me) " Uhm, Kid… ah, Damn, I knew this would turn out to be hard to say, but ah…" "What is it, dammit, is this information something that hard for me to swallow, that you just can't say it directly, is it?" I ask, annoyed, overtaken by anger and doubt, speaking out of insecurity. He lifts an eyebrow, as he says "Indeed, it is. For I don't want you to get 'nuclear' on me, not in a time like this, so close to retrieve them…" "Them?" I say hesitantly, not really knowing what he meant, which was unavoidable "Blast, I talked way too much, it means I have to tell you".

Noticing that what he is about to tell me is of vital importance, I do what any other normal people would; I ask, dry-mouthed and eye-widened "T-Tell m-me what, Fox?", only knowing that any answer he could possibly give was going to be a nuclear bomb… He sighs heavily "That your girl is pregnant". My eyes widen "Oh Shit" I faint…

It's been a while since the brat's out of the village, I think to myself as I sigh on the window watching snowflakes fall all over the Hidden Leaf, and watching my breath marking a little spot on the crystal, which turns white, like the color of my hair, or the color of a bottle I have right next to where I sit, which contains a beverage, that I pour into a tiny plate, and getting into my mouth, just like if that act would make me oblivious of everything happening in the world at the time being. I sigh again, ready to obscure my mind with alcohol, as I turn to grab the bottle, which was not in the desk I'm sitting anymore "Hey, not fair. You go buy your own stuff" I scold at someone, a radiant blond woman, physically in the middle of her twenties, but actually my age, which is… man, I'm so drunk I don't even remember my age, but around 59 or so. Eyes twitch as I point a finger on her, watching horrified that she was drinking all my Sake… IN ONE SINGLE GULP, but as soon as she finishes, she replies "Well, since I… am the Hokage, I can technically do it, and claim that I was saving your life, which would turn out to be a good deed, you pervy toad… Hic", 'slightly' drunken.

Nothing good comes out of arguing with her, never. Again, I think to myself as I ask Tsunade "Why are you awake this late, aren't you supposed to have a security meeting at first time tomorrow?", she just drops her head and sigh, while sitting on her 'Hokage-issue chair', replying "And what are you doing drinking in MY office this late", I felt darts on that last one as I said, in a playful tone "Touché". She giggles at the statement as she finally breaks the chit-chat with a serous question "Are you too… worried about those two?" Silence engulfs the office for half a minute. "Yes, are you insomniac about it too?" Another silence, broken only by her tears and her crying "Yes…".

More than ten minutes later, as I drift away in my own thoughts, I finally realize that she stopped crying, and fell asleep; she looked incredibly peaceful, although she's not, as if an angel had touched her just to let her out of her suffering even for one moment… my God, she looks so peaceful, so incapable of harming anyone 'Anyone, but me', so delicate, so beautiful… I caress her face and put away her golden locks off her face, to make her sleep a little bit more comfortable. "If you only knew what I feel…"

Quenching my thirst with another bottle of Sake that I 'just happened to have', I start to drift away in my thoughts once again, only to find my reasoning being blocked by unnecessary, stupid thoughts that just pop out, out of nowhere, for no apparent reason; which I try very hard to get out of my mind, by any mean possible, In my case, excessive alcohol ingest, that in any other time, at the rate I'm drinking, I would be knocked-out on the ground, mumbling nonsense, but this time, it doesn't seem to work.

Accepting the fact tat I'm 'stale', and that tonight my mind won't let me get rid of these stupid thoughts, I finally stop drinking. As I put aside the Sake bottle that I was quenching my thirst with, I see something that eases my mind And my heart for a moment, a blissful moment. I see the moonlight bathing her beautiful face, forming shades under her delicate, soft fingers, which are over the desk she is sleeping on, I smile, blushing Even though part of the blush is from the alcohol. I can't help but to lift her in-between my arms, and take her out of the office, into her bedroom, which I have visited only once, until tonight. As we pass by a window, I whisper "It's still snowing".

Jiraiya, the good-old toad hermit, the one and only Ero-sennin, as the kid loves to call me, it is I; but apart from that, I'm other things, like a handful of mistakes, mistakes anyone would feel like crap if they have fallen into them, mistakes I don't want anyone else to suffer from, that's why I try to teach the kid so desperately, not only about making new Jutsus, but about life itself, hoping that he actually listens once in a while. But hey, I'm not just mistakes, I now realize it; I'm a lot more, and in this moment, a lot more means to me just one thing… A man with something worth fighting for, like an apprentice, or a friend, or a village, or the love of his life… That's life as I can see by this moment, that's Me as I can see by this moment. When we finally get into her chamber, I lay her on the bed and cover her up. Then I sit on a chair, falling asleep, while mumbling "Tsunade…I… I… I love you, with everything I am, with everything I've got".

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So, did you like this second chapter guys? I really hope you did, because it took me a while to feel right about how to develop the situations, but at the end, I think it turned out right. By the way, other minor pairings will be revealed in later chapters, but some of them will not play major roles, unless the plot demands it to be that way.

But in this moment, the major pairings are (and will not change):

-NaruSaku

-JiraTsuna

Minor pairings may change if the story requires it, and will be revealed in later chapters.

So, stay tuned, and please, R&R. Your reviews mean the world to me.

See you in the next chapter. Take care.