Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, no copyright infringement intended, I'm just a senseless girl with too much caffeine, a laptop and a mad love for two anime boys.
I got ice in my veins,
blood in my eyes;
Hate in my heart,
Love in my mind;
I see nights full of pain, days do the same
You keep the sunshine, save me the rain.
It hurts, but I never show,
This pain, you'll never know
If only you could see just how lonely and how cold
And frostbit I've become;
My back's against the wall
When push come to shove,
I just stand up and scream, "Fuck them all"
"Drop the World" by Lil Wayne ft. Eminem
Disenchanted
By
JD01 (Emerald Lies)
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Fucked-Up Kind of Life
It is safe to say, Uzumaki Naruto believes, that he has had one helluva fucked-up kind of life.
Way more fucked-up than the average person.
After all, how many children grow up as ostracized orphans with a demon nesting in their bodies? Actual. Literal. Tangible. Non-metaphorical. Real demon? Naruto wasn't too sure on the statistics, but he was estimating not too, too many.
His childhood wasn't a period of his life he liked to stop and think about. He wasn't one to waste his energy pondering on all the unpleasant parts of his life. It was painful, growing up in Konoha. People pointed, people stared, people whispered; parents scurried away with tight grips on their children's wrists, warning them to not associate with the likes of a demon. He was alone. All alone, all the time. He taught himself the very basics of life, copying mostly from television. When he was a little boy, he would often cry. But nobody cared for the shed tears of a demon-boy. When he realized that tears were useless, he moved on to acting out. He would do the stupidest, craziest pranks just for any semblance of attention, because being scolded and actively disliked was far more bearable than being invisible.
Iruka was a godsend. Iruka was the very first person who saw Naruto, saw him as a person, as a little boy with big dreams, saw Naruto as Naruto, and not just as the garments for a demon. Yes, Iruka was a godsend. Had he not been there to see Naruto, to acknowledge him, the Naruto today would be a very different person– probably, a very broken and jaded one.
Iruka was also the very first person Naruto was certain that he loved. Unconditionally. Maybe the way sons loved their fathers. Naruto never had a father in his life, so he couldn't be too sure. But he knew, the moment Sai and him had decided to return to Konoha, he really wanted Iruka to meet his babies.
Iruka was kind and gentle. Iruka was love and stability. Iruka was an angel.
Or, at least, that's what Naruto had believed until the day he set eyes on the new teacher's assistant who would be leading Iruka's class.
The first time ten year-old Naruto set his sights on the tall, brooding and silky pale figure of their new teenage TA, Naruto's first thought was, this is what an angel looks like.
My goodness, he was hit, and he was hit hard.
And so Naruto had jumped up on his desk and proclaimed right then and there his undying, unconditional and furious love for Sasuke.
"I know that you don't know me, and I know that I don't know you, but we are going to get married and have lots and lots of babies and OHMYGOSH, WHAT IS THIS PAIN IN MY CHEST? THIS FIERCE TIGHTENING MUST BE PURE LOVE. OH KAMI-SAMA, I LOVE YOU, SENSEI."
For a ten year old, when you can't seem to take your eyes off a beautiful, beautiful man, when you've memorized every curve of his figure, every mole, every nook and cranny: his high cheekbones and perfectly smooth nose, his manly thin lips, his almond-shaped dark eyes, his long lashes that curved at the end in this almost feminine elegance, the delicate vein on his forehead that became prominent when he was excessively annoyed, the small crease between his eyebrows that became apparent when he glared, the suave arch of his dark eyebrows, his almost dainty fingers─ when you spend every waking minute thinking about him, talking about him, staring at him, proclaiming your never wilting affection for him, when your heart beats furiously just at the thought of him, when the giddy dragons in your stomach roar with excitement at the prospect of seeing his beautiful, angry face in the morning, when your palms sweat profusely and you turn into a total, utter dry-mouthed idiot in his presence, you think this is it. This is Love.
And Naruto in love was a terribly frightening thing.
Naruto in love was getting up at five in the morning and spending hours grooming himself and composing sickly sweet poems─
( "Oh, beautiful, virtuous Sa-su-kay; you make me oh so very gay",
"When I see you, every single day
You completely brighten my day;
The way you strut,
shows off your black duck-butt;
Your ass is so sexy
I want to know how flexi... ble you are?"
or Naruto's finest piece of work, "You are an an-gel, let's have a-nal"
Sasuke was an older man, Naruto thought he would appreciate the poems if he injected a bit of sex appeal in them; Naruto hoped Sasuke might see him as more mature or adult-like than just a childish student.)
Naruto in love was rushing off to school, much before classes began, just to get his daily fix of Sasuke-staring and Sasuke-eating-breakfast and filling-Sasuke's-drawer-with-love.
Naruto had wanted to marry Sasuke. He had wanted his children. When Naruto looked into Sasuke's deep, dark eyes, he saw blazing stars.
Naruto was one pathetic, lovesick fool.
But the day his innocent love letter was returned to him, ripped apart from angry red-inked corrections, packed with a dictionary and a downright mean, scathing remark with the scalding touch of Humiliation, Shame and Rejection, disenchantment came barrelling down on Naruto. Sasuke was no Prince Charming.
What Naruto had felt for Sasuke, it wasn't love. It had never been love.
It was obsession, it was infatuation, mixed with enchanted fantasies of a little boy with a very fertile imagination. How could he love Sasuke? He didn't even know Sasuke; he didn't know the first thing about him. He had just pinned all his hopes and dreams onto the blank canvas that was Sasuke. He didn't love Sasuke, he had just been in love with the idea he had conjured up of Sasuke.
Sasuke wasn't just some gorgeous, angry man who would set his eyes on Naruto and instantly fall in love. He wasn't going to morph into this fairytale-like Prince Charming who would woo Naruto off of his feet. Naruto used to think he'd take one look in his sapphire blues, one look at his innocent, sunny face and he'd be a goner! And Sasuke would respect him and be kind to him and they'd connect on every level and he'd automatically know when Naruto was sad or happy and Naruto would never ever be alone again.
For a ten year-old boy who had crawled himself out of the loneliest abyss of social ostracism, the thought of Sasuke being that kind of beacon for Naruto had been so soothing. Grown-ups should know to always be gentle when breaking the carefully sculpted, fragile little fantasies of children─ it's the only way to keep the broken shards of disillusionment from cutting them. Unfortunately for Naruto, he had to go and get his heart torn to shreds by Sasuke. Even a teaspoon had more sense of empathy than Uchiha Sasuke.
Rejection had been like an unexpected, wicked bitchslap to the face. It stung. Sasuke didn't care for Naruto. He never did. He wasn't some brooding Prince Charming waiting to be mended by Love. And for a little boy who had invested so much of himself into this one fantasy, the crushing weight of reality was utterly crippling. Hatred was the only thing Naruto could cling onto, hatred was the only thing that had kept Naruto from having his last shred of self-esteem and dignity ripped away from him.
If Naruto were painfully honest with himself, he knew that his one-eighty switch from obsessive infatuation to violent hatred was a bit... much, regardless of Sasuke's behemoth ways. So if Sasuke wasn't a Prince charming, then he was a douchebag, an ass and a bastard. It was so much easier to mindlessly categorize Sasuke in another box. If he wasn't the hero of the story, then he was the villain. End of story.
He didn't, or maybe it was that he just couldn't, at that point, allow himself to look deeper, to try to understand Sasuke─ the real Sasuke; he didn't understand why Sasuke was the way he was, what drove him, what were his goals, his ambitions. He couldn't see Sasuke for Sasuke.
Both his infatuation and his subsequent hatred had been very much illogical, immature and baseless. Naruto knew that now.
He swilled the chair he was sitting in, appreciating the softness of the leather surface. He ran his hands horizontally on the big, lavish table, awed. The Hokage's office was quite an ostentatious room. A lot of money and resources went into maintaining this place in tip-top shape. Easily the size of the apartment he used to live in when he was a teenager. Soon, this office would be his. In two days, to be exact.
As Naruto lazily spun the hefty chair, he marvelled at how perfectly cruel fate was to bind him to Sasuke, the man who caused him so much angst and humiliation at such a tender age. It wasn't bad enough that he had to endure six interminable months of Sasuke as his sadistic TA after the heartless rejection, but the insufferable bastard had to end up being his ANBU team leader. Never mind the fact that said bastard, who quite frankly loathed Naruto with every inch of him, fathered his child. FATHERED. HIS. CHILD. Oh Fate, you PMS-ing uber bitch.
Naruto frowned, roughly rubbing his hands over his face to ease the tension. Oh, he didn't want to remember that night. He really didn't like thinking about such unpleasant things. It always left him with a bitter taste in his mouth─ the cheap stench of being used, discarded and all-round stupid.
The whole male pregnancy thing. Naruto sneered, sticking out his tongue in disgust. The whole male pregnancy thing would never stop being weird. Nine, longass months of fatness, morning sickness, swollen feet, wobbling, annoying hormonal imbalances, random strangers touching your fucking belly and just the whole feeling right awkward in your body... pregnancy was such an annoying affair. Oh, and then there's the whole menstruation thing. Oh Lord. Naruto slapped his hands on his face just remembering the first time, after Shun was born, that Sakura tried to explain the whole 'bleeding-out-of-your-vagina' thing. Thankfully, Naruto didn't have a vagina to get soiled with blood, instead every month, for about a week, Naruto had to drain his corpus luteum using a syringe and this strange jutsu that Sakura had taught him. Naruto blanched, gagging at the memory. Needless to say, it was unpleasant. Fuck, that was messed up. Fuck, his life was messed up!
That night, after Tsunade's atomic bomb of a diagnosis, when Sasuke showed up in his living quarters, concerned, caring even, coming to check up on him─ that night was probably the first time Naruto considered he had read Sasuke all wrong, the first time he thought he had caught a glimpse, a hint of depth in Sasuke that he had been missing all this time. It's then that Naruto thought that maybe Sasuke deserved to know about his child.
But still, he ran off to Suna. It was a smart plan too. Akatsuki wanted to take his child and wield it as a human weapon, Tsunade covered for him back in Konoha and Gaara had offered him a safe little haven where he could figure out his life and train under him for the title of Rokudaime. He also had his very best friends by his side─ Sakura, one of the brightest, rising medic nins in the ninja world and Sai, his childhood rock, his first source of moral support.
At that time, abortion had seemed like the only logical solution. He didn't know how to raise a child. He never even had parents. The closest thing he could think of was Iruka, but even Iruka was just a schoolteacher, who had to divide his attention among a slew of students. Never mind the fact that by the very nature of its conception, the child would be a freak. The hollow wound of loneliness was one he didn't want to inflict on anyone, least of all his own child. There were so many unanswered questions coursing through his mind. Would the fact that he's a demon container interfere with the development of his child? Would he be born normal, whole? There were so many scenarios that ran through his head, all of which led to the same conclusion: his child would be miserable. Birthing a child doomed to a lifetime of humiliation, affliction and alienation was too much for Naruto to bear.
So yes, abortion had seemed like the only logical solution.
Sakura had sat him down and held his hand gently between hers. She told him that he was rather early on in his pregnancy and he still had time to change his mind.
Naruto insisted that he wanted it done now and he wanted it done fast.
"One week, Blondie," Sakura told him, ruffling his hair affectionately. "I'll do the operation in exactly a week's time, if that's still what you want it."
Naruto had glared.
He had wanted the abortion and he was sure of it... Except, not really.
Then Sakura had bent down and placed her hand to the middle-left of his chest.
"You have to ask your heart what it desires. Just take the time to talk to your heart."
And with each passing day, he became less and less sure of his decision.
It just didn't feel... right. It didn't feel like the right path for him.
There was this tiny little human growing inside of him, a tiny human who had all the odds pitted against him─ already wanted by the biggest criminal organization in the ninja world, conceived by two males, carried by the blondest, loudest, clumsiest sixteen year old boy. The kid certainly didn't have it easy, right from the get-go. But Naruto knew as sure as he would be Hokage someday, he knew that regardless of the obstacles, he would love his child. He would love this tiny, little human. He could already picture a cute little blonde haired, blue eyed girl running around, calling him daddy... He would love this child and he would always be by its side, and because of that, his baby would never really be alone.
He would protect his child from all the evil and all the heartbreak of the world.
He vowed to be the father he never had, but always wished he did.
So when the decision day came, Naruto climbed the Kazekage's tower and sat down Indian style. He closed him eyes and emptied his mind with a technique ero-sennin had taught him.
Naruto was immediately struck by an overwhelming burning chakra.
"So Uchiha's slut finally came down to see me?" growled a thunderous voice that made the ground around him shake.
Naruto opened his eyes, finding himself in front of gargantuan iron gates, locking the smirking Beast within. His right eye twitched. "What did you call me?"
"You heard me, Uchiha's Slut," the Beast hissed demonically, amused.
"I'M NOT HIS SLUT. WE FUCKED ONCE. ONCE! THAT'S HARDLY SLUT MATERIAL! STUPID FOX," Naruto exclaimed hysterically, wildly pointing a finger at the fox.
Kyuubi purred disinterestedly in a way that only further provoked Naruto. He sighed, glaring at the demon before him.
"Nevermind," Naruto huffed, crossing his arms across his chest, his tone becoming serious. "I only have one question to ask you."
"Oh? I'm hurt. You only come when you need me. How you use me," Kyuubi mock-whined in a shrill octave that raised the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck. He closely surveyed the Beast, who just smirked, exposing his brilliant, sharp canines.
"My kid... are you able to interfere with it? Influence its development or shape or...?"
"I'm sealed within you," the demon dead-panned. Although he was facing the wall in front of him, the corner of his eye was carefully locked on Naruto.
"The seal weakens during childbirth, does it not?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. Kyuubi was a cunning little demon with an annoying penchant for mind-fuckery.
"Smart little boy," the demon cooed, haughtily lifting his nose; Naruto didn't like his tone.
"Lucky guess. Thank you for confirming it," Naruto nodded dismissively. He turned his back with a heavy heart, ready to leave. He had gotten all the information he needed and so the matter was settled.
"GAKI," Kyuubi growled in an oddly desperate way. The chakra flames singed, keeping Naruto from leaving. He slowly turned to face Kyuubi, his hands on his hips as a sign of impatience.
"The kit you're nesting, he's a special one. I'm sure you can feel it too, yes? Not even two months, and already its chakra is perceptible."
Naruto just stared. It's true; recently, he had started to perceive the beginnings of a different chakra within him. Similar. Familiar. And yet, different. But it was still very weak. He couldn't always detect it, but sometimes he could feel shreds of it.
" My chakra does influence the kit, but not in the way your over-active imagination thinks. He's not going to be born some half-beast half-human." Kyuubi calmly explained, his dark, blazing eyes directed at Naruto, who slowly nodded, absorbing the information.
"Thanks," Naruto finally said, smiling toothily.
"Shut the fuck up, Uchiha's slut."
That's when Naruto brought his consciousness back to reality and hauled his way down the tower to Gaara's office. He looked straight into Sakura's light green eyes and clenched his fists, determined.
"About that operation? No thanks," he simply said and walked right out of Kazekage's office, heaving his breakfast into the nearest toilet bowl, shaking. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, praying with every fibre of his being that he made the right decision.
The very first time he held the petite, little, slightly slimy crying creature in his arms─ after months of waiting, suffering, anticipating, imagining, praying, cursing Sasuke─ Naruto's breath got caught in his throat. He had never ever set his eyes on a creature more beautiful, more mesmerizing, more... pure than the one in his arms. He was so small, so breakable, wailing his lungs out. His face was all scrunched up and violently scarlet─ for a moment, Naruto's heart stopped, fearing the child might burst a lung. Then, in an instant, he stopped. He just stopped. Naruto worriedly brought the baby closer to his chest, the scarlet hue fading to a softer pink. He had a little tuft of slimy black hair on his head. He lazily opened his eyes, revealing such intense dark staring right back at him, curiously. Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"He's going to be a heartbreaker," Sakura whispered in his ear.
Naruto just stared at his little baby boy, who calmly stared back at him. He was a father. A father. In that second, he knew that despite his child being the unfortunate spitting image of the man he liked to blame for ruining his life, despite his ambivalent feelings for Sasuke, he fiercely loved this little human. A fierceness Naruto hadn't been expecting.
But as Naruto soon quickly discovered, loving your child was the easy part. Adequately raising him, let alone keeping him alive for the first few years of his life, was a whole other ball game.
He couldn't even change a diaper or make formula, he didn't know if the sounds Shun made were normal, if babies were supposed to be terrible at sleeping at night, he didn't know what constituted as baby hazard, what Shun wanted when he wailed and wailed and wailed. When Shun was sleeping, Naruto freaked out over his baby sleeping so much. ("Does he have brain damage? Is he in a coma? WHY IS STILL SLEEPING, SAI?") When Shun was awake, Naruto agonized over every move he made.
Sakura had just laughed aloud when she opened the door to her temporary flat one early morning and was greeted by a very dishevelled and sleep-deprived Naruto who was awkwardly holding a shrieking Shun.
"Oh my," Sakura muttered in between fits of giggle. "Hello there," she said, trying to compose herself in the face of such hopelessness.
"Take him. Just take him," Naruto pleaded, his voice cracking. He thrust the sobbing infant to Sakura's bosom.
She quickly grabbed the child into her arms before Naruto dropped him and soothingly rocked him back and forth, while biting her lower lip to keep from chortling. The baby soon hushed and Naruto longingly stared at the now calm little monster, his eyes wild.
"I can't do this, Sakura. I can't do this! I'm just not equipped for this job," Naruto whined as he pushed past Sakura, uninvited and plopped down on her couch. He hung his head in his arms, frustrated.
"Equipped?" Sakura asked, with a dangerous tone, as she closed the door and sat on the coffee table in front of her hysterical friend. Shun's breathing had slowed down and his eyes lazily fluttered shut. Sakura kissed the top of his head.
"You know what I mean! Don't start with the feminist shit now," Naruto moaned, looking up at her, his eyes bloodshot with fatigue.
"Careful, Blondie," she muttered, glaring at him.
"I just mean I am not meant to do this! I just... I can't, okay? I just can't!"
"Naruto you're going to wake the entire neighbourhood. These are very thin walls. I'll make tea," Sakura declared as she got up, deciding it was best if she took the dozing baby away from Naruto's sight for a bit.
"What are you doing here?" suddenly asked a deep voice.
Naruto looked up, seeing Sai come out of the bathroom in the hallway.
"What are you doing here? It's three in the morning!" Naruto exclaimed, bewildered.
"Boning Sakura, obviously," Sai casually answered.
Naruto shot him a horrified expression, his mouth hanging open. He stared, his brain unable to compute the information. Then, Sai proceeded to produce an odd succession of rapid inhalation, which normal people might call a laugh. Naruto thought it sounded more like perishing hyenas than a laugh.
"I couldn't say that with a straight face," Sai apologized, smiling creepily.
"You fuckwads should be aware that I can chop your dicks off by barely moving a muscle," Sakura hissed in a gut-churning tone, narrowing her eyes to deathly slits, when she came back from putting the kettle on the stove.
"That wouldn't be a problem for Naruto," Sai quipped airily, causing Naruto to throw him a murderous look.
"Sai's bathroom is non-functional, so he's mooching off of mine. Don't get any ideas," she chided Naruto, before extending her arms to Sai. "Take him," she ordered.
"Yo, Shun," Sai greeted, scooping the child into his arms. Shun mewed, almost as if returning the greeting, before snuggling in his arms, eyes closed shut.
Sai sniffed and turned his head towards Naruto.
"Dickless, you smell like shit," he dead-panned.
"I wasn't going to say anything, seeing how distressed you were and everything, but... wow," Sakura added, covering her nose with the back of her hand, her face breaking into a smile.
"Not shit," Naruto mumbled, covering his face with his hands.
"Sorry, what was that?" Sai asked, furrowing his brows.
"It's not shit, it's urine," Naruto answered, louder, his face red with embarrassment.
"Oh ho ho!" Sai rocked the sleeping child in his arms, happily, "Shunny, that's my boy!"
Naruto just glared, unamused.
"Why is it that even he is better with my child than I am?" Naruto pouted, despair written all over his face.
"What do you mean, even me?" Sai questioned, raising an eyebrow, as he continued rocking the peaceful child.
"Naruto," Sakura interjected, sitting back down on the table. "Naruto, look at me," she gently lifted his chin, but he just averted his eyes. "Hey, stop that," she softly chided with the gentleness of a dove. "You'll learn," she stated, caressing his cheek with her right hand. She said it with such absolute faith, Naruto stared in disbelief.
How can she be so sure, when he himself had no idea how he would ever manage to raise his spawn, let alone keep Shun from dying of hunger and his diaper from exploding of overshitting.
"I'm not cut out for this, Sakura," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'm not cut out─"
"Yes, you are. People aren't born parents. They learn."
"Some with more facilities than others," Sai added, smirking at the child in his arms.
Naruto threw him a withering glare and Sakura proceeded to elbow Sai in the gut.
"Hey! Holding a baby here!" Sai hauled the child above his head, away from Sakura's destructive force.
Sakura rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to a very sulking Naruto.
"Naruto, remember what we told you when you first learned of your pregnancy?" she asked, coaxing him back to the present. He tilted his head to the side, trying to recall. "You're not in this alone, stupid," she smiled, lightly hitting him on the head in a playful manner. "We'll help you learn, okay? We'll help you."
"What do you know about babies?" Naruto asked, dubious. Although he knew that she meant well, Naruto wasn't sure how much of it she sincerely meant and how much of it was just said as a placebo.
"Plenty. Blondie, I'm a medic nin," she crossed her arms on her bosom and puffed up her chest like a peacock unravelling its tail, reeking with confidence.
"I can't ask that of you," Naruto huffed, rolling his eyes dismissively. "You guys have lives! You came to Suna with me, you stuck by my side while I popped that out," he muttered, glaring at his adorable, sleeping baby.
"Don't be mean. Shun is gorgeous," Sai defended, staring at the pretty baby in his arms.
"His calm is misleading. He's a raging monster when he's alone with me." Naruto spat out, bitter at how well his child behaved when he was in Sai's arms. Sai, of all people!
"Anyways, my point is," Naruto began, getting back on track, "I couldn't have survived these last eight months without you guys. I really couldn't have. I mean it," he emphasized, looking up, his blue eyes shimmering with the brilliant tint of sincerity.
Sai awkwardly cleared his throat, refusing to look at Naruto. In typical guy fashion, Sai wasn't all too comfortable with sincere declarations of affection. Sakura, on the other hand, soothingly rubbed Naruto's shoulders.
"But Shun is my responsibility," Naruto continued, without waiting for an answer. He didn't need anything in return anyways. He didn't need to hear them reciprocate his feelings, he knew that if they spent all this time by his side, it was because they cared. He just needed to articulate his appreciation for them. He needed them to know how much it meant to him. "You can't put your life on hold for me."
"Dickless, we love you and all," Sai mumbled, finally tearing his gaze away from the baby, "but the last thing we'd do is sacrifice our entire lives to take care of this, albeit adorable, booger fountain."
"What Sai is trying to say," Sakura quickly added through clenched teeth, whipping back to stare at her royally inarticulate friend with wide eyes, "we can stay a few more months until you get the hang of things.:
"But─" Naruto began to protest.
"Naruto, shut up," Sakura moaned, exasperated. "This is what we want, okay? Get this through your thick, luscious mop of blonde. We want to be here, we want to help, we want to be by your side."
Just at that moment, Shun made a gurgling noise, before he yawned and resettled himself in Sai's arms.
"And clearly, Shun wants us here too," Sai concluded. He stared at the baby a bit longer, thoughtfully. "You know, I feel like I'm holding Sasuke-sensei in my arms─ Sasuke-sensei who underwent some weird time-reversing jutsu, ne?"
Naruto grimaced at the comment and Sakura jabbed a finger in Sai's face.
"Don't you ever mention that dirty fucktard's name in my presence," she hissed, the killing intent oozing out of her.
"Wait, what?" Naruto exclaimed, utterly confused, "I thought you were hopelessly in lust with him!"
Sakura whipped back to Naruto and viciously glared at him. He put his arms up defensively, not in the mood to incur her terrifying wrath.
"Let's just say I saw the ugliness beneath his beastly package," she muttered, through clenched teeth.
Naruto slowly blinked, with a blank expression painted on his features.
"That sounds... dirty," he carefully offered, after a moment of silence.
"It sounds like he has some venereal disease on the underside of his peen," Sai seamlessly completed, throwing a creepy smirk her way.
"He does," Sakura replied, her face stone serious, "It's called Douchebaggery."
Sai cracked a smile, while Naruto, for the first time in ages, guffawed out loud, putting a hand in front of his mouth to not wake his devilish child. Sakura fondly beamed at her best friend. The man was gorgeous when he smiled.
The whistling of the kettle broke Sakura out of her stupor. She promptly got up and poked Naruto in the forehead.
"Now, kindly take a shower. You're ruining the furniture."
Naruto nodded and slowly got up. As he made his way to the bathroom, he turned back, coaxing a sexy smile.
"So Sakura," he purred in a husky tone, "You find my hair luscious?" he moaned, obscenely running his hands in his hair and gyrating his hips.
A tissue box hit him square in the face. The force would've broken a normal man's nose.
Sakura had stayed four more months, by that time Naruto had become somewhat of a self-proclaimed diaper-formula-fussybaby expert. He had still begged Sakura to stay as the day of her departure approached, terrified of not being able to manage without her. But ultimately, he knew that he had to let her go. Sakura didn't belong in Suna, she belonged in Konoha, where she would continue her apprenticeship under bacchanal and blossom into the top ANBU medic nin.
With every passing day, he saw more and more of Sasuke in his baby boy. It was disconcerting.
When Sasuke finally showed up at his doorstep in Suna, Naruto's heart abruptly stopped. He was certain the moment Sasuke would lay his eyes on their little boy, he would know that Shun was his. How could he not notice the frightening resemblance? Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away. The way Sasuke sat down, the way he drank his tea with that subtle air of superiority, the way his long lashes teasingly fanned his cheekbones when he blinked, the elegant, relaxed steps, that same ridiculously infuriating smirk... they were all, all of it in Shun. Shun, Shun, ShunSasukeSasukeShunSasuShun. There was so much, too much of Sasuke in Shun, it was uncanny.
That day, when Kakashi and Sasuke were sitting in his dilapidated, crummy little condo, when Sasuke's large, dark, dark eyes─ so much like Shun's, but devoid of his mirth and innocence─ met his, Naruto held his breath. For the very first time, it struck Naruto that once upon a time, Sasuke must have been a carefree, happy little boy like his Shunny. Once upon a time, Sasuke must have had Shun's eyes.
Naruto didn't know much about Sasuke's history, but everyone in Konoha was aware of the Uchiha clan massacre. With a deep, sinking feeling of dread, it occurred to Naruto how easily someone could snatch his son's eyes, just like Sasuke's eyes were snatched from him. It occurred to him how Shun could easily grow up to be a man so full of anger and hatred that he'd be incapable of forming lasting relationships with those about him.
Naruto had looked away, his heart heavy.
The sudden onslaught of despairing sadness that wafted over him, Naruto wasn't expecting it.
It made Sasuke that much more human.
Now, he leaned back on his chair, placing his arms on the supports and sighed. He turned his chair to the wall of Hokages─ picture frame after picture frame of these monumental figures of Konoha's history. It was strange to think that soon his face would be joining them─ all so stern and serene, powerful, yet inviting.
He had always wanted to be Hokage, just never at the expense of baachan's health. She was... She was his family, and now she lay comatose with her fate hanging by mere threads.
He heaved another sigh and looked up at the ceiling.
What a fucked-up life, he led.
He slowly closed his eyes, resolute.
He was here now, and he was going to be the damn best Hokage he can be. He owed it to baachan, who had enough faith in him to choose him as her successor. He owed it to Gaara, who spent the last years teaching him the ropes. He owed it to Sai and Sakura, who stayed by his side through all the years of turmoil. He owed it to himself to honour his dream. But most of all, he owed it to his precious babies, to get his life in order and exemplify just where one can land with hard work.
He was Naruto-fucking-Uzumaki.
He survived childbirth. Twice.
He could fucking do anything.
XXX
His life was one helluva fucked-up piece of shit.
That was the first thought that ran through Sasuke's head as he firmly pinned the panting boy to the tree.
Crimson red eyes with a single tomoe, slowly spinning with fear. Quivering eyes.
Sharingan─ and by the looks of it, newly acquired.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This was so fucking... fucked-up.
The boy squirmed underneath his arms. The little bugger was still trying to fight despite the flagrant difference in level. It was an obvious lost battle. If Sasuke weren't reeling from the implication of the boy's crimson revelation, he might have felt an iota of pride and respect for the boy's cajones.
"L-let go of me!" the boy squeaked, trying to bring his arms up to fend Sasuke off to no avail. "My otousan is going to hear about this! And my chichiue! My chichiue's the new Hokage, he's going to beat you to a bloody pulp!" the short boy wheezed out, his face flushing from the exertion of speaking. He tried to glare with his quivering, scarlet eyes, but the veneer of bravado quickly wore off in the face of Sasuke's overpowering chakra. Sasuke was assaulted by the flagrant fear in the child's eyes.
Sasuke rubbed his free hand over his face, gritting his teeth.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Think, Sasuke. Think.
"Did you hear me?" the brat spat out, insolently. "My chichiue is the Hokage! Do you know what that means? He's the bad-assest ninja in the whole fucking village."
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the child's swearing. Normally, the idea of a little shrimp delusionally boasting about Uzumaki's ability to kick his ass and using cuss words for dramatic effect would have greatly amused him. Of course, 'normally' didn't include finding out said brat magically inherited your clan's kekkei genkai.
The boy tried to kick his legs to Sasuke's crotch, but his limbs failed to move. He desperately tried to hide his anguish. This man, he wasn't just pinning him to the tree, he was doing something else... some weird jutsu that paralysed his limbs. Shun was starting to get frightened and it showed. It was dawning on him just how seriously this man could hurt him.
"Kid, shut the fuck up," Sasuke hissed, bringing his Mangekyou close to the child's reddened, trembling face.
"You're going to pay for this! You're going to─ "
Snap.
Sasuke swiftly chopped down on the pressure point on the side of the boy's neck, right under his ear and effortlessly caught the limp body in his arms.
"Finally, you shut up," Sasuke breathed, shaking his head, as he sank to the ground
That obnoxious loudmouth of his was definitely something the kid inherited from Uzumaki.
Sasuke stared at the tiny body collapsed in his lap. This couldn't be happening. This just could not be happening. His eyes trailed up to the child's face, studying the boy's handsome features.
The dark hair, the almost translucent pale skin (that while sickly on most people always managed to give an ethereal glow to his clansmen). There was no fucking doubt about it. The kid was an Uchiha. Fuck.
When years ago (a lifetime ago, really), his brot... that psychopath, Uchiha Itachi reappeared in his life, declaring that they need to talk, Sasuke's world shattered. All the things Itachi divulged to him that day─ from conspiracies, to demon vessels, from the Prophetic Child to making ridiculous promises─ Sasuke didn't know whether to burst out laughing in Itachi's psychotic face or gauge his eyes out.
"Promise me you'll watch over the demon vessel. Do you hear me, otouto? Watch over him."
The bastard. That slaughtering monster.
Sasuke clenched his fists and howled out an angry cry.
Stop it. Compose yourself.
He forcibly exhaled through his nose. He rubbed his temples with one hand, the other awkwardly holding the child's unconscious body. Empty your mind of Itachi. Compose yourself.
But then, before departing on their Uzumaki retrieval mission, Kakashi had pulled him aside.
"There is something you must know," Kakashi had said casually. Always so infuriatingly casually.
He had continued his explanation in that lazy drawl of his, without much inflection. It was as if it were no big deal that Akatsuki had gotten a hold of his subordinate and performed the most vile, unnatural jutsu Sasuke had ever heard of, like it was no big deal that two teenage boys had a child together, like it was no freaking big deal that a man had given birth. Sasuke had stared at Kakashi, bewildered. Uzumaki Naruto had gotten pregnant. The sinking feeling of dread paralysing him into silence. It all started to make sense, the prophecy Itachi was sprouting about, Uzumaki Naruto's part to play... Sasuke was assailed by the helpless feeling of being unable to stop what Itachi had already well set in motion. This couldn't be happening, Sasuke had thought. A lesser man than Sasuke would have surely hurled the contents of his stomach onto the ground; it was a bit much to process. Thankfully, the journey to Suna had given him the time to regain a bit of composure, but he couldn't stop himself from staring at Naruto when they finally met after eight long years. Physically, he still looked very much like a normal man, Sasuke has mused. He couldn't wrap his head around just how those two brats came from inside him. It just wasn't... human, it wasn't natural. And he knew, he knew that it wasn't his stupid subordinate's fault. The blonde idiot probably didn't even know everything that was expected from him, he probably didn't even know that the path he was walking on had already been chosen long ago by other people. He surely didn't know of the things to come. Poor moron.
Sasuke looked down at the boy in his lap, dismayed. He carefully scooped the boy into his arms and lifted himself up. The boy. Uzumaki Naruto's child, an Uchiha. Sasuke's blood was boiling in his veins like molten lava ready to erupt and ravage the whole village.
This was all kinds of fucked up.
XXX
It wasn't hard for Sai to find the tent. It was set up right on the outskirts of the village. It was always far too humid here and there weren't any neighbouring villages in this direction, so nobody ever really came this way. However, it was close enough to Konoha that the trek to and fro only took about two hours. All in all, it was an ideal hideout, Sai mused as he shifted the sheets of the tent and entered Danzo's lair.
"My, so good to see your face," greeted the voice he had dreaded for so long, falling rusty on his ears.
Sai stared right in Danzo's eye, unafraid. He pulled out the crumbled piece of paper from his pocket, fury obvious in his brisk movements.
"You left this in my house," Sai bit out as greeting.
The man was sitting behind his desk, catering to some paperwork. He smiled crisply. So much attitude, the boy had. Danzo tsked.
"Seems like time has treated you well, yes?" Danzo remarked, barely sparing him a glance as he mulled over the sheets of paper in his hands. "You look more like your mother everyday," he offhandedly commented, not taking much interest in what Sai had to say.
"Father," Sai hissed through gritted teeth, "you left this in my house."
Danzo put down the papers on his desk, a small, dirty little smile slipping on his thin, cracked lips.
"Well congratulations were in order," he casually explained.
"In my house!" Sai blurted out, clenching his fists in an effort to tame the roaring anger within, "Where my children live. Anyone could have seen this. How can you be so careless? I would have come to see you anyways, you needn't send me this stupid, suspicious message."
Danzo cocked an eyebrow, amused. While his son was irritatingly good at keeping his features unreadable, his choice of words always gave away his entire facade. Such a foolish boy.
"Possessive, are we, son? They aren't yours."
But when Sai averted his eyes and slightly bowed his head in hesitation, Danzo growled, not missing a beat.
"They aren't yours," he repeated carefully, audibly breathing through his nose, alert. This time there was with a hint of questioning uncertainty at the end, like it was more of a question than a statement.
Sai tentatively licked his lips. A moment felt like an eternity. Danzo recognized the calculating look on his son's features. He was weighing his options.
"The little girl is," he finally said, his head still bowed.
Danzo angry slammed his fist on the table, knocking off the papers to the ground.
"You... you fucked that vile demon boy?" he bellowed loudly, Sai could almost hear Danzo's veins popping. "Have you no shame? No ounce of self-control? No restraint whatsoever to control your twisted, hedonistic urges? Are you some rabid horndog? Some possessed demonfucker?" Danzo spat out the tirade, sneering bitterly at his son. This thing that was so unfortunately his son. "You lowered yourself to fucking that piece of shit? Are they no whores in Suna? You couldn't get off with them?" Danzo demanded, his features twisted ugly in his sheer wrath.
But Sai didn't move a muscle, bowed respectfully still like a statue. He knew that when his father got into rages like these, the best thing to do was to be completely silent.
Danzo grunted, throwing his desk at him with all the strength he could muster, Sai quickly dodged the blow, before bowing once more.
"Don't tell me," Danzo began, laughing derisively. His laugh was so dry, it sucked the air out of the room. Sai swallowed with difficulty, closing his eyes, aware of what was to come. "Don't tell me, you sick, weak cunt, that you fell for the demon?" he asked, spitting out his words, disgusted.
"Of course not," Sai calmly answered, though his insides felt electrocuted, "He came onto me. I couldn't reject his advances. If I did, he would suspect something. It was for my cover," Sai quickly explained, finally lifting his head.
Danzo wordlessly studied his son. He then rubbed his forehead, clenching his eyes shut.
"I have never been so disappointed in anyone in my life," the cruel words, he spoke them calmly.
"Father, it was for my cover," Sai reiterated, a hint of pleading painting his tone. "It was just a performance to keep him blind and lovestruck. You told me to stay by his side no matter what. I stayed. I respected the mission," he continued, attempting to defend his actions.
Danzo turned to his son. Sai's face was blank, as always, but the slight quiver of panic was unmistakable.
"Tsunade is gone," Danzo eventually said after a heavy silence, unexpectedly changing the subject.
"Yes, they'll instate Naruto as Rokudaime. I trust that was your work?" Sai asked, careful to insert an edge of admiration in his voice.
"Those Uchihas, they think they are oh so high and mighty, they think they reign above us all with their damned Sharingans. But they're so foolishly easy to manipulate," Danzo reminisced, an unpleasant smile set on his features, "It really didn't take much for the Uchiha brat to vouch for the demon boy at the council meeting. And you know how the council are, one word from the Uchiha, and they're in awe."
Sai mutely nodded, still on guard, ready for his father's attack. He knew very well that his breeding a child with Naruto was not a forgiven matter.
"How is the spawn?" Danzo asked, eerily calm.
"The boy?" Sai hesitated.
"Who else?" the old man rolled his visible eye, irritated at his son's incompetence.
"Good," Sai slowly answered. "Healthy. Strong. Are you sure Shun is the one? He's a bit short for his age," Sai mused aloud.
"Yes, yes, he is the one," Danzo waved his hand dismissively. "He's the only one." Then, a strange, cruel grin appeared. "Why do you ask? Worried it might be your little mistake?"
"She's your granddaughter," Sai angrily defended before he could stop himself.
"She's a mistake, you stupid boy," Danzo thundered, dangerously narrowing his eye. "An abomination, that's what she is."
"She's my daughter," Sai hissed, raising his fists in anger. But before he could make a move, Danzo appeared before him and slapped him so hard, he nearly lost his balance.
"She is a filthy demon spawn!" Danzo viciously spat, " And no, it's not her. You're not special, boy. You're not the one the Prophecy described. The Prophecy described an Uchiha. It's the boy. Shun, was it? He's the Uchiha's son."
Danzo stared down at his scarlet-marked son, who miserably glared up at him.
"You don't respect me boy," Danzo whispered, saddened. "Soon, you will though. Soon, son, I'll have everyone's respect."
XXX
Naruto looked up from the Hokage's desk in surprise. A whirlwind flashed before him─ so fast, it made his head spin. Before the figures even solidified, Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat, instantly recognizing the chakra signatures. The hair on the back of his neck were erect. No, Naruto thought as his stomach began churning. No, he thought─ Sasuke stood in his office, fury oozing off of his skin, as he held Naruto's little boy in his arms.
No.
Naruto thumped his hand flat on his chest, trying to allay his furiously beating heart.
No.
"S-Sasuke?" he asked, a bit dazed, the cobwebs in his brain clogging his sense of perception. Then, Naruto realized just who was in his arms. "Shun!" Naruto cried out, his eyes wide. "What are you doing with my s─"
"How old is he?" Sasuke hissed, the acid rolling off his tongue, ready to fry Naruto's flesh.
Naruto carefully studied the situation, his heart beating a mile a minute. Calm, stay calm. He breathed through his nose. Maybe it's not as bad as you're imagining. Why was Sasuke asking him this? Sasuke looked like he was on the verge of breaking into a killing spree. Shun's body was completely limp, Naruto worriedly noted. Did he hurt him?
"What?" Naruto dumbly replied, his eyes transfixed on his son.
"How. Old. Is. He?" Sasuke reiterated in a clipped tone, condescendingly emphasizing each word. "Are you a complete retard? Can you not even do simple math?"
Naruto frowned, taken aback by the sudden whiplash of animosity. At the hospital just a mere hours ago, Sasuke and he had been on good terms. What happened since?
"Why are you asking me this?" Naruto demanded, furrowing his eyebrows. "What's wrong with my son?"
But Sasuke was in no mood to play twenty questions. He carelessly threw the boy on the sofa, Chidori buzzing in his left hand, ready to pounce. Naruto watched the careless treatment of his son, horrified. He didn't miss a beat, instantly producing a clone and turning his chakra into a splendid Rasenshuriken, his blue eyes blazing with the overprotective fiery of a thousand suns.
"What did you do to my son, teme?" he howled, fangs protruding.
"How old is he?" Sasuke caustically repeated, the enmity emanating from his pores. He lunged at Naruto, who swiftly dodged. In a flash, Naruto appeared by his son's side. If Sasuke hadn't been otherwise preoccupied, he might have been impressed at his student's speed.
Naruto crouched beside his unconscious boy, stroking the jet-black bangs out of his forehead.
"What did you do?" Naruto hissed in an almost animalistic voice, whipping back to glare at the infuriated Sasuke.
"Answer," his black-haired sensei growled, his Chidori deafeningly chirping in a promise of agony.
Naruto looked down to his precious baby boy, gently caressing him. He carefully swallowed, his eyes never leaving Shun's serene features.
"Seven years old," he whispered finally, the heavy feeling of doom crawling down his throat
Sasuke took a step back, his Chidori evanescing. His world spinning so fast, the wind was knocked right out of him. Seven years, Sasuke repeated in his mind, the sinking feeling in his chest of drowning like a corpse thrown to sea. Seven years. Well, the math added up. So the Uchiha boy, he's not Itachi's... Sasuke's eyes widened. Even though he knew from the moment the kid glared up at him with his awakened Sharingan that this could be a possibility, he never really considered that he could be the father. Fuck. He was the boy's father. Sasuke's insides were paralyzed still.
Sasuke looked up at Naruto, the murderous intent leaking through his every pore. His dark eyes were so full of palpable hatred, Naruto's blood ran cold.
"Say, Hokage-sama," Sasuke mockingly spat out the title, "when were you planning on telling me I have a son?"
Naruto's heart skipped a beat. Wide clear, blue eyes quivered as Naruto tried to maintain some semblance of composure. No. No. No. Please God, no. Naruto couldn't keep his hands from shaking, and before he knew what happened, Sasuke had him forcibly pinned to the wall.
"When?" Sasuke growled, squeezing the air out of Naruto's throat. He gasped, trying to pry the Uchiha's hand off of his windpipe.
"H-how...?" Naruto breathed out, flabbergasted.
"What you thought you could flaunt him in plain sight, right under my nose and I wouldn't recognize my own child? I wouldn't recognize the Sharingan in his eyes?" Sasuke laughed drily, the sound so rough, it could sand one's eardrums. Naruto's insides were frozen rigid, panic clawing its way up his throat. No, no, no!
"S-Sharingan?" Naruto closed his eyes, forcing the chakra in his legs and power-kicked Sasuke in the skin, freeing himself. Sasuke flew to the end of the office.
Naruto crouched to the floor, coughing.
"No, impossible! He's only seven," he muttered desperately, almost as if pleading Sasuke to tell him this is all a joke, tell him that he was mistaken, tell him that he's not going to snatch his son away from him.
Sasuke threw him an annoyed look as he got to his feet. He sneered, the Mangekyou glistening in his eyes, giving him a deranged look.
"You dare attempt to raise an Uchiha with your filthy ignorance? You don't even know the first thing about the Sharingan, let alone when it manifests itself, and you dare to raise an Uchiha?" he roared, clenching his fists, the veins in his neck pulsating violently.
"I know that yours did not come out at seven," Naruto breathed, standing up and dusting off his pants.
"You know nothing. Absolutely nothing," Sasuke muttered in disbelief. "You know nothing about the Sharingan, nothing about being an Uchiha. You're just an orphan boy who wanted to play house and stole my child for your sad little experiment."," Sasuke's voice cracked and Naruto winced from the vicious attack.
Naruto scoffed, shaking his head. He couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't believe that Sasuke of all people was bringing up his orphan childhood and using it against him. He never thought Sasuke could stoop so low.
"Look, Sasuke," Naruto began, forcibly breathing through his nose, "I know you're upset but─"
"Upset? Upset? Upset?" Sasuke let out a hollow, piercing laugh. "Upset is what I am when insolent brats puke on my boots. Upset is what I am when the Hokage assigns me stupid, lowly missions. Upset is what I am when I am forced to accept incompetent fools into the ranks of ANBU. This, here, is me enraged, Uzumaki. This, here, is me loathing you with ever inch of my being. I promise you, Uzumaki Naruto, I will make you pay for what you've done until my dying breath. And you better believe that I'll find some way to make your life a living Hell, even from the grave," Sasuke contemptuously hissed, in a deceptively calm tone, but his words were scythes honed with the sweet promise of misery and agony.
Naruto clicked his tongue, looking away, not wanting to show Sasuke the bruises inflicted by his sharp words. What had he expected? Of course this is how a scorned Uchiha would react. Be reasonable, he just found out. Naruto breathed, trying to still his heart.
"Sasuke, I can explain," Naruto whispered, trying once again to pacify him, "Just let me explain."
"Explain?" Sasuke asked, cocking an arched eyebrow, the fury buzzing underneath his skin about to implode, "Explain how you remorselessly robbed me of the most important thing to a man? You robbed me of seven years of my child's life. My child, my family," he growled, his scarlet eyes murderous.
"Sasuke, I didn't mean to─" Naruto yelled pleadingly, shocked by the singe of Sasuke's ire. Of the times he did imagine Sasuke finding out about Shun, never did he anticipate so much sheer hatred directed his way, never did he think that Sasuke would look at him with such savage, fiery angry eyes. His chakra was so volatile, if Naruto were a weaker man, it would swallow him whole and scald hm to the bones. He wrapped his arms around Shun's body, lending his chakra to protect him from Sasuke's eruptive rage.
"All of you think you can just take what is rightfully mine and I'll just stand there and watch. All of you think I'll just stand like some pathetic invalid and watch as you take my family from me," Sasuke continued bitterly, on the verge of madness.
Naruto stared at Sasuke, confused.
Then, he spoke carefully, but firmly, "Sasuke, I'm not Itachi."
But the words were like fuel to the fire of Sasuke's wrath. He swiftly whipped his head up, an ugly sneer contorting his features.
"No, you're worse," the wicked words slipped right off his tongue like liquid acid, " You're just some filth on the street who stupidly put his paws on an Uchiha. You thought there wouldn't be any consequences to taking an Uchiha?"
Naruto's eyes blazed crimson, his chakra seeping dangerously red. Filth? He was filth? For putting his paws on an Uchiha? Naruto growled. Shun was first and foremost Naruto's son! His son, not some piece of Uchiha property.
"You Uchihas think you're God's gift to Earth. You think you're so holy and pure, but where are they all now?" Naruto taunted, his chakra pushing back on Sasuke's. "Uchihas are nothing but savages, nothing but power-hungry murderers."
"Don't speak about my family as if you know them!" Sasuke raged, his eyes insane.
"Don't speak about my son as if you own him," Naruto retorted, glaring right back at his sensei, unafraid. He won't let his son slip in the hands of this maniac.
Sasuke threw a look back to the slumbering boy. He didn't hit the boy too hard, so he would be awakening soon. The boy. His son. His son. Sasuke drew a shuddering breath, wiping his face with his hand. Arrangements had to be made. Stop this, he told himself with much difficulty. This was going nowhere.
He impassively stared at the man defensively crouched over his son. His student. His teammate. The father of his child. It took every ounce of self-control to not rip his lungs apart. He lied to him. All these years, Naruto lied. He lied.
"We're getting married," Sasuke calmly delivered his killing blow, steadying his breath.
"I... what? Who?" Naruto dumbly blurted out, furrowing his eyebrows. The onslaught of fury was suddenly replaced with complete confusion.
"You and I," Sasuke gritted out, annoyed. He rolled his eyes, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Naruto shook his head, running his hand through the thick spikes of blonde. He didn't know if this was some sick, perverse joke, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"You are insane," Naruto hollowly muttered, still shaking his head. "You are completely mental. If you think I'm ever marrying a psychopath..."
"It's funny how you believe you have a choice in the matter," Sasuke interrupted, crossing his arms across his chest, his face devoid of any emotion.
"You... you cannot force me to marry you," Naruto cried out, his eyes wide. He wanted to rip his hair off. This had to be some nightmare? This couldn't be reality. Sasuke could not have just raged on about not being told about his son only to be proposing to him. This couldn't be real. He needed to be pinched. He rubbed his temples, feeling the beginnings of a migraine creeping.
"Oh, trust me, I have no issue whatsoever with your refusal. I'll just be taking my son then," Sasuke drawled out casually, before marching towards the sofa.
Naruto, panicked, leaped ahead of Sasuke, completely blocking Shun from his view.
"I won't let you!" Naruto yelled hopelessly. "That's kidnapping. I'll stop you, I'll get the council to stop you," he vowed, his eyes steeled with determination. He earnestly looked at Sasuke, his blue, blue eyes pleading. He couldn't figure out what Sasuke's game plan was; what was he trying to do? He knew deep down Sasuke cared for him, Sasuke cared, he had to! He even came to see him at the hospital when he was visiting baachan. His sapphire eyes shimmered with the griping fear of a parent of the verge of losing his baby. If only he could get through to Sasuke, if only he could explain... but Sasuke's eyes were cold, cold and furious, and hungry for revenge. Reason won't get through to those eyes.
Sasuke let out a condescending, derisive laugh that made Naruto's insides knot painfully, he almost doubled over.
"Because you think the council will side with you?" the acerbic amusement in his voice only fuelled Naruto's tormenting fears.
"I'm the newly appointed Hokage," he replied with a veneer of confidence slabbed on the tiny-veiled underlying canyon of insecurity. Fear. Dread. No, don't take my son, no.
"And I'm an Uchiha," Sasuke smiled brashly, his white teeth glistening in that same threatening fashion Kyuubi exposed his pearly whites. "Who do you think carries more weight here?"
"No, that means nothing! That─" Naruto began despairingly, but he couldn't tame the fear birthing in his heart at the very real possibility of losing his son. He clenched his fists and prayed. No, please!
"Oh, you stupid little boy. Don't you know that the council will do everything possible to keep me and the precious Sharingan eyes the property of Konoha? Don't you know they'll do anything to keep me in this village, including ripping my son away from the Hokage's clutches. Besides, he's an Uchiha. A very special Uchiha if his kekkai gentai manifested at the age of seven. The council knows that he needs to be properly trained underneath my tutelage. What do you think the village cares more about─ maintaining family unity or building a powerful resource?"
Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at his sensei, at this monster who stood before him.
He was right. He was so right.
Of course, Naruto knew that. Of course, he knew that if it came down to choosing sides, the council would gladly take his son away from him and give him to Sasuke, anything to not incur Uchiha's wrath, anything to not waste precious resources in having to hunt Sasuke down if he abandons the village should they refuse to give him his son. Of course they would pick an Uchiha, never mind their own Hokage's feelings, never mind the psychological impacts on his son.
"Punish me if you hate me so much," Naruto muttered, drained to the core, his eyes hooded by blonde bangs. "Punish me, if you're so angry, but don't do this to my son!"
"Our," Sasuke growled angrily, "Our son. Not yours."
"Please don't do this to Shun," Naruto begged, "He's just a little boy. He is the sweetest kid. Please don't turn his world upside down."
"That, darling," he spat the sickeningly affectionate term as if it were something vile, "was a fate you sealed the moment you chose to run away from Konoha, like a disgraceful coward."
"You're going to rip him away from all those who love him, from everything he knows. Y-you're, my God, Sasuke! You're a fucking monster! How can you do this to a child? To your own son?" Naruto demanded, shaking his head in perplexity. Had he read Sasuke all wrong? Was he mistaken when he thought Sasuke was a decent man? When he thought he should give Sasuke a chance? He could feel his entire world tilting upside down, hanging by a mere thread.
"Then we get married," Sasuke retorted, annoyed by the blonde's penchant for dramatics.
"Why?" Naruto choked out, frowning.
"When we get married, I will instantly get full custody of both your kids, full rights to my son, full rights to you. Everything you own is mine. Everything you have is mine. And I will get to keep a watchful eye on you, make sure you don't run away with what's mine, make sure you don't poison my son's head with your filth," Sasuke sneered, his offensive aura of superiority abrasive to the eyes. Naruto just stood, staring disbelieving. He was blindsided, he was caught off guard. Had he been prepared, he would've lied about his age. He should have lied. Sasuke was posing him an ultimatum and Naruto couldn't think, the fear of losing his son engulfing him, making his lose reason.
So that's why he wanted a marriage, so that he could put a leash on Naruto and everything he had, including Chinatsu, so that Naruto would become just another Uchiha property. Naruto would become Sasuke's to control, under perpetual treat of having Shun taken away from him if disobeyed. A lifetime of misery, that's what Sasuke was aiming for.
"If I agree, then what about Sai?" Naruto slowly asked, his tone hollow, drained empty.
"He's out of the picture."
"He is Shun's father!" Naruto yelled, the rage seeping back into him.
Sasuke's crimson eyes were spinning uncontrollably.
"Don't ever utter such a heinous thing!" he boomed, his Mangekyou directed at Naruto, promising a world of agony
"He is the only other father Shun has ever known. Y-you can't separate Sai from him!" Naruto tried to reason, furiously running his hand through his hair.
"So, you're choosing Sai over our child, is that it?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, mockingly.
"What?" Naruto screamed, incredulous.
"Because if you want to keep Sai in your bed oh so badly, you're free to do so, but I take my son and you lose him forever," Sasuke calmly explained, a cruel smile tantalizing on his lips.
Naruto's world was sinking, Naruto's world was drowning. His eyes focused on that cruel smile and he shut his eyes close, consternated. No, no. So cutting his best friend, the father of his children out of his life, that was part of Sasuke's game plan of control too, huh?
"He'll hate you, Sasuke," Naruto mumbled, his cerulean eyes frantic. "I promise you, if you rip Shun away from me, away from his family, he'll despise you for the rest of his life. He'll never forgive you."
"I can live with that," Sasuke honestly answered with a look so full of hatred and anger, Naruto had to look away, "The lifetime of misery you'll endure will be well worth it."
"What about my daughter?" Naruto quietly asked, defeated.
"When we get married, she'll be as my daughter. Naturally, she'll come along," Sasuke answered, a sick, sadistic slither of a smirk gracing his lips.
"She is Sai's," Naruto informed him, studying his reaction.
"So?" Sasuke replied, indifferent.
"So?" Naruto repeated, incredulous that it didn't affect him anymore than that, "She is Sai's daughter. He's a part of her life."
"Not anymore," his sensei offhandedly retorted, the wicked glee reflecting in his eyes, "Payback is a bitch, isn't it? He ran off to play father with my child? He took my son away from me? Well, now, we'll be even."
The cruelty on his face had such an ugly allure, Naruto couldn't believe this was the same man who convinced him to come back to Konoha.
"You're tearing apart the family of two little kids," Naruto howled, his voice cracking, "You're heartless, Uchiha Sasuke. You're fucking soulless!"
"Heartless? Soulless?" Sasuke repeated, disbelieving his ears. The somewhat tamed fury return full-fledged as his leaking chakra intensified, practically scalding. "Heartless would be taking my son and ripping him away from his father, from his sister. Heartless would be stealing your child and keeping him from the very first seven years of his life, stripping you of the opportunity to get to know him, to bond with him, to watch him grow, to be his father! That would be soulless," Sasuke breathed out, the ire in his words cutting to the ears. Naruto flinched from the cruel words laden with so much spite. "You better kiss the ground I walk on, Uzumaki Naruto. You should thank me for having such a generous heart. I'm allowing you and your brat girl to stay with my son for his sake. It's much more kindness than you deserve."
Then, in the blink of an eye, Sasuke charged at the sofa and, before Naruto could even react, he scooped up Shun and was at the windowsill.
"What are you doing? Where are you taking him?" Naruto blasted, quickly forming Kage Bunshins ready to attack.
"Making sure you don't so something stupid like try and hide him from me again. You know my conditions if you want him in your life," Sasuke spoke gravely, before disappearing into thin air.
Naruto stood watching after the poofed smoke, a bit dazed.
He slowly sank down on the couch, clutching his chest, the area right above his frantically beating heart. He stared, but he couldn't see anything save for the darkness of his own despair.
XXX
Later that evening, when Sai walked into his darkened home, he was a bit surprised to find Naruto sitting alone in the kitchen, with his bags packed.
"Naruto?" he called out tentatively, opening the lights.
His flaxen-haired friend didn't react. He sat, staring dazedly at the small vase of flower adorning their plain table.
"He knows," he mumbled hollowly, the odd emptiness in his voice striking Sai.
He knows? Sai frowned, puzzled. Naruto slowly looked up at his friend, noting the confusion marring his pale features.
"He knows. Sasuke. He knows," Naruto repeated monotonously, licking his dry lips, his will forced out of him.
"Are you sure?" Sai quickly asked, "Because unless if he did some paternity test, we can just keep denying it and─"
"Our little boy awakened his Sharingan," Naruto supplied, his blue eyes locked onto Sai's.
"Wha...? Shunny? He has the Sharingan? He's just seven," Sai processed the information in wonderment.
"We raised a special little boy," Naruto said with a sad smile.
The cerulean eyes he knew so well were dulled with such unwavering sadness, Sai's insides churned unpleasantly. Somewhere deep inside, he knew that his worst nightmare was becoming a reality.
"Wait so... he knows," Sai repeated, his eyes widening when the implication of it all finally struck him. "Oh, fuck. Okay, right. You packed our bags. Yes, let's leave. We'll settle in some other village far away. Where are Chinatsu and Shun?" he asked, his mind working on overdrive.
"Sai," Naruto began softly, his eyes sad, so, so sad, "He asked me to marry him."
"What?" Sai interjected, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Well not asked, more like demanded."
Sai surveyed his friend, uncertain. It didn't seem like he was lying, but the whole thing was way too surreal.
"So what, the knowledge of his son awakened a sudden profound love for you?" he asked, incredulous.
"Sai, he wants to lawfully have full control over me, my finances, my relationships, my children and Shun. It's not a love thing," Naruto corrected him, and in that moment Sai thought that this couldn't be Naruto. It was a ghost, a corpse, a dead thing. This wasn't his vivacious best friend.
"Back up here," Sai said, putting his arms up in a blocking manner, "Your children, as in plural, as in... Chinatsu included?"
Naruto's acquiescing nod was barely perceptible, but Sai saw it nonetheless, the colour draining from his face.
"He is... he is stupid with rage, and he wants to make us pay," Naruto supplied, dead. He looked so dead.
"Well, we won't let him," Sai frantically responded, grabbing onto Naruto's shoulder. What was with him? Why was he so lifeless? He shook him. "These are our children! He can't just─"
"Sai, if I deny him, he's going to take our baby. He's going to take him from us and Chi is going to lose her big brother and nobody can stop him. Do you understand? Nobody can stop him."
"You're the fucking Hokage!" Sai thundered, enraged, "Public announcement will be made in a bit over a day! Of course we can stop him!"
"Being Hokage doesn't mean jackshit next to the wrath of a vengeful Uchiha," Naruto replied, the apathy in his tone infuriating Sai.
"No, no we can fight this," Sai feverishly shook his head, refusing to listen to such nonsense. He wanted to slap the apathy out of him.
"We'll lose, Sai," Naruto sighed, saddened, "They're going to side with him, they're going to take our son away from us, they'll say that he has to be trained under a Sharingan-user."
"Kakashi! Kakashi has the Sharingan. He can train Shun if that's all they care about," Sai desperately supplied.
"Kakashi has one Sharingan eye. Who do you think they'll favor? The Uchiha by birth, captain of ANBU? Or Kakashi who has obtained the eye through obscure means?" Naruto asked, gently removing Sai's hands from his shoulder. The action spoke volumes.
Sai just stared at him, unable to move an inch.
"Why does it sound like you've given up?" Sai began, wildly looking at his broken down partner, "Why aren't you willing to fight this? Why don't you want to fight this?" he screamed, on the verge of hysteria.
Naruto licked his lips and looked up at Sai. His eyes were sad, so, so overwhelmingly sad, Sai choked.
"The wedding already took place Sai," he delivered the atomic bomb in a cruelly gentle tone, "The marriage certificate has been signed."
Sai shook his head, his body trembling with fury. He would laugh if this wasn't all so tragic.
"I gave away eight years of my life to you," Sai brokenly bit out, "I gave away my entire life to you and to our children. I went to the ends of the world with you when you were pregnant. When you were struggling with Shun, I stayed by your side. Even after Sakura left, I-I stayed by your side. I raised Shun as my own! I love Shun as my own kid. And then we had Chinatsu. We were a family. I sacrificed everything, everything just to be with you..."
And then Sai looked straight at Naruto, the mountain of hurt in his eyes made Naruto bite his lower lip. He raised a hand to his mouth. The dark eyes quivered. Hurt. Scalded.
"And you don't even fight for me, you don't even fight for our family. You just cast me aside," Sai shook his head, laughing drily as put his hand over his eyes.
Naruto just sat, mute. He looked down at the table. The damage had been done and there was nothing left to say.
He heard Sai's careful, light steps that he knew so well disappear in the distance.
And then, "They were all right," Sai spoke from the door, his voice faint, but unmistakable, "You are a demon, but it's not because of the Nine Tails inside you."
Naruto closed his eyes, willing the fucked-up nightmare to end.
Bitch, I'm a pick the world up
And I'm a drop it on your fucking head
And I could die now, rebirth motherfucker
Hop up in my spaceship and leave Earth
Motherfucker I'm gone
I'm gone
Right, so all you Naruto purists (oh what beauteous creatures, you are!) know that Sasuke first awakened his Sharingan after his clan massacre, at the age of seven. BUT, thanks to Itachi-chan's mindfuckery, he conveniently forgot the whole incident and later re-awakened it at the age of 11 (12?) during the battle with Haku.
For the sake of this story, let's just say that Sasugay only recalls awakening his Sharingan at the age of 11. COOL STORY? COOL STORY.
PLEASE HAVE CHOKLATTE ICE CREAM, KBAI.