Summary: He left again. It didn't make a difference that he had convinced the Hokage to make it official mission. The fact is he left. And he didn't even have the guts to say good bye face to face. Who needs a stupid letter?

Warnings: Yaoi Lemons MPreg Angst Swearing

Rating: Mature

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights, nor do I wish to own the rights to Naruto or its characters

-.-

Letters

Chapter Eight

-.-

Sasuke was coming back.

SASUKE was coming back.

Oxygen ceased making its way into his lungs as his whole body shut down. His heart constricted tightly, beatings decelerating to a slow thump as everything but Sasuke was pushed from his mind.

He didn't hear the shocked gasp, or the frustrated sigh. He didn't notice as one of the rooms occupants fell to their knees, head in their hands. He didn't hear as someone began to sob.

And as quickly as his senses had left him, they came back. It was as if time had sped up to make up for it slowing down.

Whipping his head around, he looked for the source of the crying only to see Kiba crouched next a pink haired girl.

Wait…

PINK hair?

"Sa…kura?"

Her tear filled eyes met his, the fogginess of confusion finally leaving him.

"Sakura! What are you doing here? How did you- I mean when did you- What is going on?!"

"What am I doing here?! Oh Gods, Naruto. What… What happened? How did this happen?" She Stared at Naruto with the most defeated look he had ever seen on anyone. Shifting his gaze to the opposite wall he remained quite.

"Naruto?" She whispered quietly.



"Who is the father?"

Biting his lip, Naruto readied himself to answer.

"Ano-"

"Do you really need to know? Would it make a difference who it was? Would you turn your back on him depending on the person?" Kiba placed himself in front of Naruto, as if in an attempt to shield Naruto from the quietly asked question.

"Well, no-"

"Then why does it matter?!"

"Stop it Kiba! What would be the first thing you thought if you found your MALE friend pregnant? What would you ask, huh?" Naruto glared defiantly at Kiba.

"I would ask if they were okay." Any other person, and Naruto would have called them out for lying. Any one else, and he knew it wouldn't be true. But this was Kiba, and the serious and unwavering way he said this, made it hard to doubt him. Even under as weird a circumstance as Kiba had found out about the pregnancy, that had practically been what Kiba had first asked. In his own way, He had just been checking if Naruto was okay.

"Why didn't you tell me?" The softly spoken words brought both Kiba and Naruto back into reality.

"I-"

"Why?! Don't you trust me? Why is Kiba here and not me? I just… I DON'T UNDERSTAND NARUTO!" She had collapsed into a ball, hands clenched tightly in her hair.

Kneeling down beside her, he closed his hand around hers.

"I didn't want to worry you."

In truth, and it pained Naruto to admit it, he hadn't once thought of how this would affect everyone else. He had been so obsessed with doing everything on his own, he had forgotten that other people even existed. Kiba was only in his world because he had forced his way in.

He smiled gently at her. "It's Sasuke's. Sasuke's and mine."

Seeing her heartbroken eyes nearly brought him to tears.

"I'm sorry Sakura. I never meant to hurt you and I know you love him too, and I didn't want to keep our relationship a secret from you or anything, it's just, it's just… I was so afraid." He refused to meet her eyes. He didn't want to see the hate, the rejection. He just wouldn't be able to take seeing the look he had seen so often from the villagers, on the face of one of his closest friends since childhood.



"I never set out to steal him from you." Wiping the tears from his cheeks, he sniffled in self pity. He had honestly never meant to take what he had always thought to be Sakura's. Things had just ended out strangely.

He felt soft hands lifting his chin, forcing him silently to look her in the eye.

"It's not that you and Sasuke are in a relationship that hurts me, well on most parts anyway. It's more the fact that you didn't trust me. You denied me the chance of helping you through one of the most important experiences of your life. How would you feel if I'd locked you out like that?"

"But Sasuke was always yours, I thought you'd be so angry at me for stealing-"

"When it comes to that, it's not you who's hurt me, but Sasuke. Okay? So stop worrying about that." She pulled him into a tight hug, trying to reassure Naruto with more than just words.

"Just… How did this happen? How is it even possible?"

"I'm not quite sure myself, but Tsunade thinks it's mostly to do with Kyuubi. Demons have no definite sex." Blushing, Naruto tried to explain as well as he possibly could, considering he didn't quite understand what was going on himself.

"Wait! But… Sasuke left. He-did he know?" She whispered quietly.

Laughing to himself silently, he had to wonder if everyone thought so lowly of Sasuke. He wouldn't be surprised considering how much of a bastard Sasuke was.

"No. No he didn't know."

"Oh… Is that a good thing?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"I guess. He might not have left if he had known, but then he would never have been really happy, stupid bastard that he is. At least this way, he doesn't have extra things to be worried about, and he can complete this last thing before coming home with a weight lifted off his shoulders."

Looking at Sakura as if he had only just seen her, he asked bewilderedly, "What are you doing here?"

"You run off without so much as a goodbye, and you wonder what I'm doing here?" She growled.

"And on top of that, I hear Tsunade saying that you need a doctor and she'll have to leave her duties to go see you because it was a sickness too serious for someone else to take it on. Do you have any idea how scared and worried I was?"

"I-I-I-I'm sorry Sakura. I was just so busy getting ready to leave-"

"Trying to come up with excuses to stay more like it." Muttered Kiba.

Glaring at him, Naruto continued.



"I just forgot about everything else." Bowing his head in embarrassment, he muttered quiet apologies.

"I'll be honest Naruto, it really hurts. Like really hurts, but I'll get over it." Her eyes were over bright, as if she was trying to hold back tears that were threatening spill.

The guilt was overwhelming. Naruto had honestly never thought about anyone but himself. He could see how this could be seen as betrayal. He was just lucky he guessed. Lucky that Sakura wasn't one to hold a grudge between friends.

-.-

It had been awkward. Awkward getting used to having a third person in the house. Awkward having longing looks thrown his way every few minutes. He should have known better than to believe that Sakura could get over Sasuke so easily. And what a great friend he was, flaunting his pregnant stomach in front of her all day. Not that he could do any different short of kicking her out of the house. In truth, he was glad she was staying, even though he knew it was hurting her. If she could put herself through such pain on a daily basis just to be there for him, he would keep his annoyance to himself. Sigh. But it truly was annoying. He hadn't meant to take Sasuke.

Making his way to the back garden, he grabbed a few blankets on the way. The evenings were starting to turn cold.

Easing himself very slowly and gently into a seat, he began to rub soothing circles into his constantly expanding stomach. As superficial as it may seem, he wasn't too happy about Sasuke seeing him this way. His face was always red and sweaty from the exhausting torture that was called walking, his feet and ankles had swelled to three times their usual size, and his stomach was so big he hadn't been able to see his toes in a month. Definitely not how he had wanted to look upon his reunion with Sasuke.

Hearing a piercing 'meow' he groaned.

"I am not feeding you again, you glutton. Go back to Sasuke and stop bothering me."

The kitten batted Naruto across the nose as if to teach him manners. Either way, Naruto was not getting up.

The letters had not come for a few days, not that Naruto was worried. The last letter had stated that Sasuke would be unable to talk to Naruto for a while. Something about dangerous territory. He guessed that that was why the cat had yet to leave. He actually didn't mind the company.

Seeing that the sun was nearly fully set, Naruto began the stupidly exhausting task of getting up from the chair, and getting something to eat.

As he neared the kitchen, he heard Sakura and Kiba talking heatedly. Pausing to eavesdrop, he signaled for the kitten to be quiet so as not to give away their presence. Kiba and Sakura had been arguing a lot lately, but they always stopped if either of them noticed Naruto.



"-No right."

"What do you mean no right? He left us for four years. He gave me every right!"

"They are happy together, Sakura!"

"When I asked him, he said there was nothing going on! He lied to me!"

"Maybe when you asked, nothing really was going on."

"I asked him two days before he disappeared!"

"Oh… but still-"

"Just don't interfere Kiba."

"Do what you want then, I'm just telling you now; it's not gonna work. You might think he is vulnerable and alone, and an easy target or something, but he's not. He's stronger than he's ever been. He's had to be, or else he would have broken down by now."

"Stop making it sound like I'm some conniving home wrecker! I have loved him for so long and Sasuke knew that! He knew that, and he still let me believe that Naruto was mine to love. If anything, it's Sasuke who is the home wre-"

"Naruto?!"

Both Kiba and Sakura ran to an unconscious Naruto, frantically searching for what was wrong with him.

-.-

This whole time Naruto had been feeling guilty, thinking he had stolen the love of Sakura's life. All along it had been him though. Him. It gave new meaning to all the longing looks, the doting and the smiles. He finally understood why she chose to stay with him through the pain.

Behind all the confusion and thoughts racing through his mind, a little part of stopped to wonder when? When had it stopped being Sasuke and started being him?

Maybe the same time it stopped being Sakura for him, and started being Sasuke. How ironic.

It almost made him laugh that it was now that Sakura loved him. Was love even the right word?

How many years had he spent longing for her, doing crazy antics just to get her to look at him, and now he almost wished that she would never look at him again. He couldn't bare it now that he knew it was his fault completely. Before it had just been the fact that Sasuke had fallen in love with him, and him with Sasuke. He hadn't set out to steal Sasuke, so he couldn't blame himself completely for Sasuke falling in love with him.



But now it was him. He was the reason Sakura's heart ached, not Sasuke. She was the one person who had been beside him all along.

He had betrayed her.

He had-

"Naruto?"

He turned his head to the side. He couldn't, wouldn't look at her.

"I'm guessing you heard it all then?"

He had no answer for her. How could he tell her he knew she loved him, and in the same breathe have to reject her?

"I'm sorry I kept it from you." She touched his hand lightly, her finger caressing his knuckles. "And I'm sorry you had to hear it like that."

The air just felt so thick; he couldn't even breathe. Why was she apologizing?

"Don't say sorry."

"Look at me Naruto… Please?"

He slowly turned his head in her direction, his eyes shining brightly from the tears being held back.

"Don't say sorry when I should be the one who is sorry." He whispered tightly.

She pulled him tightly into his arms.

"It is not your fault. Not at all."

"But-"

"Just… Just don't blame yourself. Love is no ones fault. So just don't okay?" As she smiled down at him, one could almost hear the cracks growing in her heart; it was about to shatter.

Laughing quietly, she got up to make her way to the door.

"Well I guess it's about time I was back on my way to Konoha. I think I've overstayed my welcome."

"Sakura, don't ever think I don't want you around!"

She clipped his ear playfully.

"I know, but it's me who wants to go. Don't worry, I'll come back soon."



He watched as the door closed behind her, not even having the energy to see her to the door. Some things really made you wonder whether or not it was worth it, getting up in the morning.

-.-

"Naruto? Dinners ready… If you want some." Kiba poked his head in through the door, a goofy grin on his face. What a question, as if Naruto would say no to food.

Looking around the empty room, Kiba frowned. Seeing a little note attached to the pillow Kiba growled in frustration. How often did he have to tell Naruto that he actually had to tell Kiba he was leaving before he did? Inconsiderate imbecile.

-.-

Gone out for a walk in the forest.

Will be back when hungry.

Soon XP

Make sure there's an extra place just in case Sasuke comes today.

If he doesn't, I'll eat it for him.

-.-

Naruto sat beneath weeping willow reading his latest letter. He had been worried at first when the small cat he had affectionately named Soba (not as good as ramen, but close) had disappeared, but had gotten over it pretty quickly with the arrival of a new letter.

-.-

I feel so sad and depressed
All I want to do is lie my head down
I go to sleep at night
But my dreams,
Dreams are just one thing I can't fight

I think of you lying alone in that bed
And wonder if there is anything I could have said… done.
I wish I were still there
But I know that you are safe
These are the only thoughts that make the pain…
Lessen

I wish that I didn't have to leave


I just want one more day with you
And I know that's what you would have wanted too

I miss you more and more each day
There is so much more I could've said
I know I will see you again soon
And then,
Then our lives will begin

So just wait
Only one day
And then we'll start again

-.-

As heavily pregnant as Naruto was, he heard the twig break beneath the person's foot before it happened. Within a second he was on his feet and running for the safety of his home. He knew he wasn't as fast as usual, but he had a feeling that even at his true speed it wouldn't have made a difference.

Fear clutched at his heart. He knew, just knew that it wasn't him the person was after. It was his baby.

Kiba had been so sure that they had gotten away safely, but Naruto knew better. The fact that Sakura had found them only proved to strengthen his doubts. If it hadn't been for the fact he was worried Sasuke would not be able to find them, he would have left to a new hiding spot the moment Sakura arrived.

He heard more than felt the hand that swiped out to grab his forearm. Leaning to the side, he used his newly acquired weight to propel him away from the attacker. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up; it was only adrenaline keeping him standing.

It was then that Naruto's eyes meet the familiar red swirling of a sharingan.

He could feel his mind being pulled in, a fantasy luring him in as a hand reached for his stomach.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

-.-

A/N

Now wasn't that just the most dramatic chapter ever? Drama, drama everywhere.

Late update I know, but I'll keep my excuses to myself.

Thank you anyone who is still following my story.



Once again, this is dedicated to shadowphoenix143

I'd just like to know a few things if you'd be willing to comment,

Does anyone want Sakura to come back in? And how was she?

I purposely made her OC, and the reason I made her love Naruto is cos I can see that happening, what with the way Shippudden is going. And also because I can't stand writing SasuSaku, even if it is one sided.

And plus, I can just so see that happening. Naruto thinking Sakura loved Sasuke, when really she had fallen for him.

Anyway, can you guess you screamed out the 'NOOOOOOOOOOO'?

Hahahahaha, easy one I know. Especially if you read the authors note in the last chapter.

Well I'll hopefully be updating soon.

I'd like to thank Sky-eyed Kitsune for her awesome beta-ingness. She even did all my older chapters.

Has anyone been keeping up to date with the Manga? OMG! I hate to say it but… I TOLD YOU SO! I always knew the truth about Itachi!! And Sasuke –drools-, isn't he just gorgeous?

A/N