Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Yeah, I know, it took me a while XD but it's summer, so I should be updating more often! And I thought I should update before I go visit my girlfriend in Pennsylvania, so please enjoy and review! :hearts:
Sasuke ran his fingers through Naruto's soft hair as they watched Seung play in the yard, the both of them sitting on a dark red blanket Kakashi had gotten for them. It had been three days since they'd became mates and Naruto was definitely happier than he'd ever been before, his smile never disappearing, not even for a single moment. Sasuke was even more cheerful, wearing a smile most of the time while around the blond and his cub.
"I think we should get ready to go see Tsunade-sama," Sasuke said deeply and ruffled his mate's hair affectionately. "Your appointment's soon."
Naruto pouted and kicked his legs a bit.
"I don't wanna go, Sasuke. She's just going to tell me the same thing she did last time," he crossed his arms and shook his head, trying to fix his hair that Sasuke had messed up.
"What did... you call me?"
The blond blinked, then a surprised expression crossed his young features.
"I-I called you Sasuke!" he shifted and turned over, his face close to Sasuke's. His bright blue eyes were filled with such surprise that it almost made the leopard want to laugh. But instead, he just stood up and took Naruto's hands with his, helping him up as well.
"I think that means you're finally growing up," the raven's smile was so handsome as he looked down at Naruto. "Tsunade-sama did say that there would be small changes in the beginning that would signal it."
The blond jumped up and down in excitement, causing Seung to look over at him in curiosity. The small cub leapt over to them and hopped onto Sasuke's back, meowing happily. His tail swished back and forth and his ears twitched.
"Papa's happy!" he chirped.
"Come on, Seung, we have to go get dressed so that we can see Baa-chan! Hurry, hurry!" Naruto ran into the house faster than Sasuke thought possible, resulting in Itachi almost having the door smashed against his face. He growled as the smaller male ran by and Kyuubi chuckled while eating his breakfast with Lukki at the kitchen table.
"What's he so happy about?" Kyuubi asked when Sasuke entered the kitchen with a squirming Seung still on his back.
"There's a chance his body is finally starting to age, so he wants to go see his doctor as soon possible to find out," the dark-haired pet reached back and pushed a finger against Seung's side, smirking as the boy giggled. "Go get dressed with your papa."
"Hai!" Seung hopped off of him and trotted out of the kitchen, greeting Kakashi happily as his owner entered.
Kyuubi made an 'ah' sound in acknowledgment, having heard the story about Naruto's problems from Kakashi. He didn't know the blond that well, but it made him happy to know that something was going well for him now, after he'd heard the horrible things that'd happened to him.
"I did notice that he was losing his baby fat," Kakashi commented while getting orange juice from the fridge. "Also, I noted that his voice is getting a little deeper. Do you think that he's really starting to grow?"
Sasuke smiled lightly.
"I hope so."
Kakashi chuckled.
"Ah, it looks like things are really looking up for him."
xXxXx
Thunder rumbled through the sky and lightning flashed overhead, but that didn't dull Naruto's bright mood in the least. He was wearing a pair of cargo pants that Sasuke had chosen for him a few weeks ago, black sneakers, and a red hoodie that was too big for him. A huge grin was spread across his face as he jumped over each crack in the sidewalk, Seung following suit, almost tripping over his long tail.
"Be careful," Sasuke chided and let the both of them have their fun. He looked up at the dark sky and frowned, not liking the fact that they'd all probably get wet on the way home since he'd forgotten their umbrellas at home.
Naruto leapt down the three steps that led to the entrance of the small hospital and opened the door with much gusto, keeping it open so Seung and Sasuke could go in, his ears twitching at the various sounds of the first floor. He loved how different things were always going on at once there.
"Naruto-kun," Shizune greeted him with a sweet smile. "Tsunade-sama's waiting in her office upstairs. Oh my, is this little Seung? He's gotten a lot bigger in these past few days," she bent down and patted the boy on the head, scratching behind his ears. "How do you like your new home?"
Seung gave her a grin similar to Naruto's and he puffed his chest out.
"I love my Aboji's house! It's really big and he has a big yard outside where I can play!"
Shizune laughed and stood back up, hugging her clipboard to her chest.
"That's wonderful," she smiled at Sasuke and bowed her head. "Good afternoon. Oh, you don't have umbrellas? But it's going to storm soon... Well, I'm sure we have an umbrella in the back room you can use for the walk home, if you'd like one."
"Thank you," Sasuke thanked her and nudged Naruto toward the stairs. "Let's not keep her waiting too long. Shizune, do you mind watching Seung while we see Tsunade-sama? I doubt he'd be able to sit still during the check-up."
"I don't mind at all," the dark-haired woman laughed. "Come on, Seung, let's show you the kids' room," she took his hand the little cub waved good-bye to Naruto and Sasuke in a manner that seemed so final.
"Bye-bye, Papa, Sofu!"
Naruto waved back and headed up the stairs with Sasuke right behind him, Tsunade standing at the top of the stairs with her usual cocky stance. She ruffled the boy's hair as soon as he came within touching distance and immediately complimented him on his looks, causing him to blush.
"I can tell your body's starting to age now," she nodded to herself and lifted up his chin, inspecting his bone structure, his eyes, and his ears. "You've lost all of your baby fat and your face is becoming more defined. Those are good signs. Although, you are coming along at a much slower pace than I would've expected..."
"B-but I'm growing, right?.!" Naruto's eyes became wide and his smile almost split his face in two. "I'll be as big as Sasuke soon, right?.!"
Tsunade laughed.
"I don't know how soon, but yes, you'll be as big as Sasuke... Hmm, when did you start calling him by his name?"
Naruto blushed.
"This morning."
"Ah, that's another sign of maturing. Your mind had been the only thing to age, but it was still aging fairly slow. But now that your body's growing, your mind will mature at a much faster speed. Soon, you'll be an adult," Tsunade explained while she brought Naruto over to the height chart, writing data down. "Ahh, you've grown two inches."
"I have?.!" if Naruto's smile could get any bigger, it would've ripped his face completely in two by now.
"It looks like the food plan I put you on works," she noticed Sasuke's look of relief and chuckled. "Oi, I heard from Kakashi that you two are mates now?" she smirked. "If you ever want a cub of your own, you know you can always come to me. My partners and I are working on how to create eggs from sperm."
Naruto blinked.
"Sperm?"
"... Yes, I believe you still have the mental set of a six-year-old," Tsunade laughed. "But soon you'll be as smart and mature as your father. And because of the types of cats that were bred to make you, there's no doubt you'll be bigger than him too."
"REALLY?.!" it seemed as if everything was surprising the blond today, his tail swishing around faster and faster. "I'll be bigger than Sasuke?.!"
Tsunade grinned at Sasuke, noticing his frown.
"Yes, that's right. Now, let's see here..." she flipped through the pages on her clipboard and came to a stop on the fourth page. "I almost forgot about your cub. How is he?"
"He's doing fine," Sasuke answered for Naruto, since the brighter feline seemed to be in too much of a good mood to pay any attention to anything around him. "Jiraiya is supposed to stop by tomorrow and start giving him lessons for the Showcase in a month. I think he's going to do as well as Naruto."
"That's good to hear. Because I was going through the data we collected on the boy when he was made and there was a strong chance that he would develop diabetes, due to some glitch in his creation. I didn't want to contact you until I was one hundred percent positive that he'd get it, but I thought I should tell you now. But now that I know he hasn't shown any signs, then I'm sure he'll be fine."
Naruto blinked and came back down from his state of happiness.
"Diabetes? What's that?"
"It's nothing to worry about," Sasuke told him. "He doesn't have it, so it's not important. But is there anything else you need to do, Tsunade-sama?"
The blonde woman flipped through her papers again.
"The main reason for today's check-up was to give him pills to help with his growth. I didn't know his body would have changed already, so the pills should do wonders on him now," she lifted up a bottle from the counter in front of the window and handed it to the black leopard. "Give him one in the morning and one in the evening, every day. Not only will it help with his maturing, but it will help with his heart problems."
Sasuke smiled.
"Thank you for all you've done."
"It's no problem. It's my job, after all. And I love Naruto as if he were my own son," she smiled affectionately at the boy and scratched behind his ear. "You two take care, and say hello to Seung for me."
"Hai! Bye, Baa-chan!" Naruto took Sasuke's hand and they both headed down the stairs.
xXxXx
Seung was playing with the building blocks on the soft carpet in the kids' room while Naruto and Sasuke were upstairs, his bright eyes focused on the little man he was using to build what he called 'Paradisu City'. He moved the little cars to the parking lot he'd built and pouted when one of the blocks fell off the very top.
"Maa," he whined and picked it back up, placing it neatly back where it had been moments before. As he inspected the building for any more faulty blocks, he heard tapping on the window behind him, his ears twitching slightly. Turning, his eyes became as wide as saucers when he saw one of his sisters in her cat form sitting on the window sill. She was tapping one of her front paws on the glass.
Getting up, he looked around and saw Shizune getting coffee from one of the machines across the hallway. He hurried and got up, running to the window and pushing it open.
She meowed and nuzzled his cheek with hers in greeting, hopping off the window sill. She moved her head forward in a gesture for him to follow her and he did with a big smile, having missed his big sister a lot. He would just make sure that he'd be back before his papa came back.
Jumping out of the window, he ran after the female while laughing, completely oblivious to the black car parked in front of one of the shops across the street.
He kept up with his sister until he reached a back road and she leapt onto a second floor porch to an abandoned apartment complex. She began licking her paws and he jutted his bottom lip out, crossing his arms.
"Why'd you jump up--"
He stopped mid-sentence when he heard a car coming up behind him. Turning quickly, all he saw was a pair of bright head lights before he was hit and his body hit the pavement. He cried out in pain as blood seeped from scrapes and cuts on his body, his eyes watering. What had happened?
"I-Itai..." he whimpered and squirmed when multiple pairs of hands yanked him off the ground and into the car, his back hitting the soft seat. His vision was swimming, but he could still make out the outlines of three people. One was definitely a female, while the other two were younger men.
"It's definitely his son," a raspy voice said from the driver's seat.
"Orochimaru-sama," one of the men called, "What do you want us to do with the cub? We could use it as bait to lure Naruto out."
"No," Orochimaru seethed. "Just dispose of it. Naruto-kun was not meant to reproduce."
"Then what about the females?" the girl asked.
"Sakon killed one of them this morning," the snake replied with a chuckle. "And the one we used to lure this cub out will be disposed of as soon as we return to the docks."
"When are we going to get rid of Naruto?" the girl asked, holding the squirming cat down. "Kabuto and Kimimaro obviously failed the first time we tried, the fuckers," she complained.
"Soon enough," was Orochimaru's only answer, then the car started moving again and the sound of rattling met Seung's sensitive ears. He couldn't get away from the people that were subduing him, but he tried, his calls and whimpers not being met with any reply other than the rough hands already on him.
"Papa!" he called pathetically, almost squealing when two needles were shoved in both arms at the same time. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears and his sounds quieted down to silent pleads. He felt so calm and at peace all of a sudden, his eyelids lowering slowly but surely. He could hear the people laughing above him, but he didn't care, too focused on how the bruising caused by their fingers didn't hurt anymore.
Then the car came to a stop somewhere and he was barely aware of the door opening, his body being lifted up and thrown out onto what felt like gravel. Strangely enough, he couldn't feel the pain of the rocks digging into his skin.
"Papa..." he mouthed weakly, creating a scene much similar to when Naruto had almost died in Kimimaro's office. His eyes stayed open as his breathing came to a shuddering hault, his small fingers gripping the stones beneath him as his heart slowed down.
Unlike Naruto who had survived due to Jiraiya injecting him with a reveral drug, Seung wasn't so lucky. He was left to die in the rain that soon began to fall, his blond hair obscuring his dead eyes, his barely fluttering tail falling limp over his right leg.
His heart then thumped for the last time before the rain began pouring down over him.
xXxXx
"N-Naruto-kun! Sasuke-san!" Shizune met the two mates at the bottom of the steps, her breathing heavy. "It's Seung! I went to go get coffee and when I came back to the room, he'd jumped out the window! He ran off and I don't know where he is!"
The happy look that Naruto had on only a second before slipped away and was replaced with an expression of fear and worry. His hand fell from Sasuke's and he immediately took off for the kids' room, his heart beating frantically. Why would Seung have left suddenly? There must've been a good reason.
"Seung!" he called and jumped out of the window, running across the street. He could smell his cub's scent in the air and followed it, the rain falling in thick sheets over him. His eyes watered as he thought about his boy out in the rain, probably cold and shaking. He could hear Sasuke calling his name behind him, but he didn't slow down, intent on finding Seung and bringing him home where he could dry himself off and sit in front of the fireplace.
Turning a corner around an old apartment complex, he saw the outline of someone in the grass in the distance and he smiled in relief.
"Seung, why did you run off?.!" he called out over the rumble of thunder. As he approached the figure, he noticed that he was lying on the road and he blinked the rain out of his eyes.
Then realization hit him and his heart throbbed in agony, more agony than he'd ever felt before. He fell to his knees in front of Seung's dead body, his eyes wide in shock and confusion. His cub had just been there not even forty-five minutes ago... He'd been right in front of him waving...
"Wh-wh-what happened...?" tears fell from his eyes and mixed in with the rain drops. His throat constricted painfully, even as Sasuke's warm voice reached his ears in the background. "Who did this to you?.!" he screamed in pain and pulled his dead son against him, his body shaking as he sobbed.
He knew.
He knew what his son had gone through.
But instead of being in that dark place for only a moment, he was going to be stuck there forever. He was going to be stuck there, alone and scared...
"I-I'm so sorry!" he cried loudly and not even Sasuke's warm arms around him could calm his aching heart. Sadness and anger swelled in his heart and even though he felt like he could pass out, he kept on screaming and crying for his dead cub.
With a tragedy like that, there would be no doubt that Naruto would change.
And he did.
Today was the day that Naruto grew up.
Please review!