The Journey of Day and Night

by depressedchildren

He would not change what happened for anything, and neither would she. They never expected to have children together, to let their pasts go. But now they find their family breaking apart due to the struggles between the free peoples and the Eye in the East. Will they forsake Middle Earth, or become weapons of change? Sequel to "The Tale of Day and Night"

1. Chapter 1: Leaving the Nest

Disclaimer:I do not own either works, nor do I profit from posting this but in terms of writing experience. The characters and plot belong to their respective creators and companies.

Full Summary: Ultimately, they would not change what happened for anything in the world. At long last, they had a family; a family both had dreamed for since their genin days. Neither of them ever expected to have children together, nor let their pasts go. But here they were content and in peace at long last. But now they find their family, their peace, breaking apart due to the struggles of the free peoples against the Power in the East. Will they forsake the world they have so few ties to, or will they become weapons of change? WARNINGS: OC's, character death (not a likable character), gender-bending.

A/N: This is a sequel to "The Tale of Day and Night," if any readers are not familiar with it, reading that first would be beneficial to reader comprehension and acceptance of the fic. That being said, this is the first chapter in the sequel which really is just a continuation of the previous fanfic—but diverging to include "Nature's Daughter."

Also I took some of the dialogue from the book, if you think it's boring blame Tolkien (I don't think it is but then again I love the character development revealed through the dialogue). I condensed and summarized sections and rearranged ordering. If I don't write a scene assume it's the same as in the book or just assume the dialogue is the same. Anyways, enjoy ~ with love, depressedchildren edited: 4/8/2022.

Key:

"Text" westron

"Text" sindarin or japanese

Kusanagi title (i.e. Prancing Pony)

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Chapter 1: Leaving the Nest

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3017 July

Sasuke looked over at the blonde fanning herself. Aragorn was sitting on a stool in the corner singing in elvish as he whittled away at some wood. Minuial had gathered flowers with Tinnu and they were now scattered at the dobe's feet. It looked like the twins were making a wreath while they hummed along to the ranger's song.

It was strange how the elvish song affected the dobe, affected them all.

The ranger had asked Sasuke several months ago why he was so insistent about making his wife join them when it was clear she preferred to be alone. After pointing out that it was: one, not the in the dobe's nature to shut herself away from people; and two, being alone with her thoughts that was making her ill; Aragorn began to aid him in cheering the blonde up. In fact, the dúnadan would sing that elvish song every time the dobe left her bed. At this point, Sasuke was sure he could sing it word for word if he felt so inclined. Moreover, the ranger made sure that Athelas plant was steeping when she came down to sit in the shop.

Whatever the dúnadan was doing seemed to have worked, the dobe was willing to leave their room more than in the months past, and she had begun to eat more. It also seemed that once she could feel the baby kicking inside of her, she could let herself believe the baby would make it to delivery.

Sasuke looked back down at the shop's logbook and continued doing his figures, but his attention was snatched away by the girls crying in delight.

"Finally, finished!" they cried in unison; they clearly wanted all of the room's occupants to understand them. It worked, for Aragorn looked up from his whittling to watch as the twins set the circle of flowers upon their mother's head.

"There, now you look like a princess," Minuial exclaimed.

"A princess of nature," Tinnu added as she and her sister pecked their mother on the cheek. The dobe was blushing and looked a little annoyed.

"Thank you, girls, but I don't want to be a princess," she responded, though the dobe did not remove her supposed crown. The twins rolled their eyes and set their hands on their hips.

"We know that!" they chorused before they got on either side of her and began to play with the blonde's hair.

Sasuke noted that he was not the only one chuckling. Aragorn was laughing at the girls' antics while he continued to whittle at the piece of wood.

The dobe huffed in annoyance while her hair was set into intricate braids with flowers tucked in at random places. She was not so annoyed as to swat away the girls' hands, so Sasuke imagined she partially enjoyed the attention, while also being indulgent with the twins.

Sasuke set down the quill he was writing with and found himself mesmerized, though he would rather bite his tongue off than admit it. The dobe was just…she was glowing for the first time since the miscarriage. She looked so alive, even though bags still hung under her eyes, and he could see the worry on her face in the tightness of her mouth. No, she looked alive because her skin finally looked healthy, and her eyes were shining with joy and mischief again.

It was hard to imagine the dobe's eyes were once blue, but Sasuke couldn't say he missed them because those weren't the eyes of his wife. His wife had gold eyes with rectangular pupils, his mouth twitched up slightly in the corner at that thought.

"What? Do I got something on my face, teme?" the blonde's abrasive words disrupted Sasuke's thoughts and caught him off guard.

He froze as the heat of embarrassment began to creep up his face. He managed to cough in his discomfort but that was when the dobe's expression turned mischievous and the twins began to mimic her.

"Neh, Kaasan, I think Tousan was admiring you," Minuial sang as she wiggled around her mother to give Sasuke a knowing look.

"Yeah, Tousan was looking at you like Haldarad looks at Nee-chan!" Tinnu exclaimed, and the two little demons began to cackle while they smiled devilishly at him.

"I noticed…" the dobe practically purred as she began to stagger out of her chair. One had braced her lower back as the other pushed off the arms of the rocking chair.

It took one a tenth of a second for Sasuke to decide it was better to flee than face the humiliation the dobe surely had in store for him. Sasuke quickly put the quill away and stopped the ink jar as he closed the logbook. Estimating ore costs could wait.

"I have work in the forge," he rushed out as he stood up and moved for his safe haven. And he would have made it if not for the smirking pre-teens now blocking his path to the workshop, damn it.

Aragorn gave a startled noise, likely at how quickly the twins had moved. Part of Sasuke felt pride over that, but he was more annoyed that they were choosing to use their speed for evil (well, not evil but certainly for mischief). While the twins were not as fast as Sasuke, they were getting there and had known where he would go and so had effectively prevented his escape.

"No you don't Tousan," the little demons sang. He could hear Aragorn chuckling in his corner. Though the man did not know Japanese, he was fairly good at deciphering context, especially when the girls spoke in a sing-song voice.

When the dobe set her hand on Sasuke's shoulder, he sighed and turned around to face her Cheshire cat expression. Perhaps if he faced her head on and stoically, she would humiliate him less? He gave his most neutral look in return to the smile while she just wrapped her arms around his neck.

Her stomach came between them and the sudden feeling coursing through Sasuke was inexplicable. There was certainly an amount of pride, but it was more than that. They had created the almost being inside of her, the thing keeping their bodies from being flush against each other. His feelings over the baby bump were confusing but all good, though he was ashamed of some of the feelings growing from those thoughts; such as the feeling that told him to take the dobe up to their bed... The dobe was his wife, with his child inside of her; it was oddly exciting and wonderful and…and it made him feel pride.

Sasuke inhaled slowly through his nose. He could feel parts of him reacting to their intimacy, to the dobe's coy yet knowing look. The way stray hairs framed her face, and the intoxicating aroma the flowers gave off reminded him of Crickhollow. All of this combined made his pulse quicken ever so slightly and left him with one thought: his wife, his dobe, she was back at last.

"What exactly were you admiring, teme?" she asked slyly while she played with the hairs at the nape of his neck. His hands found their way to her hips despite the large, hard stomach between them.

The dobe was a vision, that was for certain. When they had their wedding, the dobe had flowers in hair similar to how they were now, and his amnesic-self had never seen anyone so beautiful. Even now, he was hard-pressed to think of anyone as stunning. His children were beautiful but in a different way—they were his children, hence he was naturally biased to believe they were the most beautiful and perfect children in the world. But the dobe—as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself—she was more beautiful than all the kunoichi of the Elemental Lands. Perhaps because she gave him children; perhaps that was part of the reason for this attraction he felt toward her—because who would ever have thought Uzumaki Naruto beautiful?

"I…" Oddly, his heart was beating a little faster and not from blood rushing to specific places. Perhaps his heartbeat quickened because he was going to make a very public statement that even Aragorn would understand, yet he found he wanted to say it, nonetheless. "I was reminded of our wedding," Sasuke started again as he brushed at some of the blonde's loose hair and tucked it behind her ear. He smirked when he saw the dobe's eyes flutter closed at the touch. "You had similar flowers in your hair," Sasuke murmured.

The dobe's smile fell into a gentle one. "I did, didn't I?" she replied softly.

Suddenly her eyes shot open just as Sasuke jerked back slightly; he could have sworn he felt something strike his stomach. The dobe set her hands on her protruding stomach and gave a laugh.

"Felt that did you, Bastard?" the dobe asked with a laugh. Sasuke heard Aragorn cough at the "endearment" which made Sasuke chuckle.

"I did," Sasuke confirmed before he stooped down to be at eyelevel with the formidable stomach. He set one hand near the blonde's and felt the baby kick or punch at it. Likely it was a kick. This felt familiar; he smiled slightly at why that was so.

"Dobe, do you remember when I would talk to them?" he asked.

"Yeah, it felt weird." She scrunched up her nose at the memory and slipped into Japanese since she did not know the westron word for weird.

Sasuke chuckled again before he pressed his lips to the firm stomach. "Do you think it's weird, hmm?" he asked the fetus, only to jerk his head back as he was kicked.

The dobe was snickering at the fetus' reaction. Her eyes were scrunched up slightly but they were shining in amusement. "I'd take that as a yes," she said, smiling softly.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair as he stood up as he smiled too. He kept one hand on the swell of the blonde's stomach and rubbed his thumb slightly.

Part of him was almost ashamed, ashamed of acting so...so soft and domestic. But when he was without his memories, he had talked to the girls in utero all the time. He would whisper the dreams he had for them and his hopes. He would tell them how excited he was for them to join their mother and father in the living world. Arad had loved it too, she might have scrunched up her nose at the tickling sensation, but she loved how the babies responded. They spent whole nights lying in bed with her hand in his hair as he talked to the girls.

Sasuke smiled at the memory and pushed his shame away—yes, he might be an Uchiha but he could not help what he felt. Surely Itachi would have been similarly overjoyed at having children, and he would likely do his best to raise them better than they had been raised. Itachi would have been caring to any children he had, if only to be as unlike Fugaku as possible. Besides, after fifteen years of parenthood, Sasuke firmly believed parents should love their children with all they had and be willing to put their life on the line for them. Fugaku would have only risked his life if both the spare and his heir were in danger; at least, that was the perception he had of his father once reflecting on the past and Fugaku's cold, uncaring ways.

Sasuke had to push those bitter thoughts away. He could never be like his father, and he would never want to be.

He looked over at the twins, still blocking his escape and hoped they knew how much he loved and cared for them. He did his best to show just that and could only hope that his daughters knew he loved them all equally.

He soon found himself smirking at the sight of the twins. They were eyeing him and the dobe intently while their bodies were twisting more and more with each passing second, and he could guess why. They're gaze was focused most dominantly on the dobe's mid-section.

"Did you two want to talk to your sibling too?" Sasuke asked, much to the dobe's chagrin.

The twins pounced at the opportunity, eyes alight with excitement and mischief. They moved in a blink of an eye and surrounded the dobe. Sasuke chuckled at the dobe's whine and attempt at a death glare (she could try to glare menacingly all she wanted, but it would only ever look endearing). He helped the blonde sit back down in her rocking chair while the twins began to talk a mile a minute at the pregnant stomach.

As Sasuke pulled away from the three, he couldn't help but think that now was an innocent time, not a time to whisk the blonde away to bed. Firstly, she'd slap him for considering such a thing when they had company. Secondly, she would be too worried about the baby. He tried to stop smiling but he couldn't as he watched his wife and daughters.

He found himself chuckling at his family's antics though he wondered why Aragorn was being so quiet, usually he would be laughing at the girls' antics too. Sasuke caught sight of the dúnadan out of the corner of his eye. The man had a wistful expression on his face, and (if Sasuke was not mistaken) there was envy too. The former missing-nin moved to lean on the wall beside the ranger who looked away from the scene to smile at him, though the smile did not reach his gray eyes.

"Let's spar," he stated.

The ranger looked at him in surprise but nodded his head. Sasuke could wager a guess as to why the dúnadan was so down, and a spar would be an opportune time to get the man to open up away from prying ears that would make more of the situation than need be (like the dobe was prone to do).

The dobe shot Sasuke an angry and betrayed look. "Oh no you don't! You are not abandoning me with them." She gestured to the twins still speaking to her protruding stomach.

Sasuke smirked at the dobe, and she did her best to glare back at him. Her face had never been meant for glaring—pouting in a begrudgingly adorable manner, yes. "Oh, come on, dobe," he began playfully. "They're old enough to take care of their poor, pregnant mother for a little while."

The twins cackled while their mother groaned.

"I'm aware of that, Bastard," she hissed while Sasuke picked up his Kusanagi. "They're going to put more flowers in my hair and keep talking to the baby. You can't leave me alone to that," she cried out in despair while the twins shared a conspiratorial look. Their eyes flashed mischievously, which made the girls look all the more like their mother.

"But you look so beautiful," Sasuke teased and even pecked the blonde on the lips for added affect. He'd let her think he was just teasing and had not given an actual confession.

Aragorn shook his head with a smile on his face as he waited by the forge door. Sasuke turned away from the dobe to join the ranger, but the former missing-nin could hear the dobe spluttering in indignation behind him. Even after so many years, it was still music to his ears.

"Besides," he added over his shoulder, "Dawn will be back soon from her hunting trip with Haldarad, and you need to look for hickies." Sasuke codeswitched, and the codeswitched term caused the dobe's eyes to widen as she choked on air. The twins looked at each other in confusion and repeated the word.

Sasuke chuckled and continued to speak, "castrate Hadarad if there are any." The dobe then began to laugh loudly while Sasuke hurried out the door with Aragorn.

He knew the young ranger would never do that with his daughter until the two of them were married, but the dobe used to tease Sasuke about it all the time, so he decided to return the favor. It was good to see her laugh, and hopefully soon she would be making those jokes again.

Reaching the Bree wall, Sasuke helped the ranger over to the other side. Landing in a crouch, they straightened and continued on their march.

It was silent for a moment, which was not unusual in itself. Normally, they walked to a clearing in companionable silence and seldom talked, but Sasuke was curious today. "If you want a family so much, why don't you settle down?" he asked both quietly and nonchalantly.

The ranger looked taken aback, but rather than comment on the reaction, Sasuke continued to look forward. He would not make a big deal out of this conversation; if the other man didn't want to talk about it, fine. Sasuke would let the matter slide.

"…It is not that simple," Aragorn responded after a long moment. Sasuke hummed at the response and heard the ranger sigh. "My beloved is of the elven race, and I would never take her away from her people. I could never ask that of her."

Personally, Sasuke could not see what the big deal was, though he briefly wondered what exactly their age difference was. He mentally shook away those thoughts and continued to pick his way through the Chetwood.

"So…I should send my wife back to Konoha because, essentially, I've taken her away from her people?" Sasuke retorted.

Aragorn's brow was furrowed, and Sasuke sighed while he shook his head. "Aragorn, the dobe made her choice, she's here with me and our children because…"—Sasuke trailed off for a moment. Was it love? Certainly, when it pertained to the girls—"because she would rather be with us, her family; the family she created with me. "

The ranger was silent for a moment, not in anger but rather in thought. Sasuke decided to continue speaking since the man was being receptive so far. "Sometimes I do wonder if she regrets the decision, but it was her decision and I can't let myself feel guilty about it. If she asked to return to Konoha, I would ultimately let her, but because of the girls she will never do that.

"Naruto was loved by so many people in Konoha—she was their hero, their martyr and I took her away from them…" Sasuke could not keep his disdain from his voice. That was another thing to resent that fucking village for; they used the dobe like some aegis yet they wouldn't have cared if she broke except that they would be vulnerable to attack. She wasn't a human, only a weapon…just like he had been for Madara and Obito. He shook away those thoughts.

"Your elf woman will likely love you and any children you have together," Sasuke said this as dismissively as he could. He knew Aragorn had no delusions about there being love between Sasuke and the dobe, but that would be the pivotal difference between their circumstances. He had faith the ranger would work out what he was implying by that. If the dobe was loved by Konoha but was willing to stay here for the girls, what was holding back Aragorn's elf from wanting to be with him because of love? "If it's her choice to be with you, you shouldn't feel regret because you know she won't." Sasuke ended simply as possible.

They continued walking; the silence between them was disrupted by the occasional twig snapping and the calls of insects or birds. They reached a suitable clearing after several more minutes and then stood off against each other.

Aragorn seemed to be mulling over Sasuke's words even as they began their spar.

Sasuke rushed at the man, stopped short and quickly spun around Aragorn who had swung at him. Sasuke easily tapped him in the back with the hilt before he slipped under the other's arm as Aragorn swung around. Saskue brought the hilt of his sword to the other's chin, it was a gentle tap but made in the blink of an eye. Aragorn stumbled backwards and rubbed at his chin, surely thinking of how he ought to be dead. Sasuke smirked and purposely threw a few kunai a little wide. The ranger's eyes widened, and he jerked backwards, stumbling slightly.

Sasuke sighed and straightened out of his crouched position. "We should stop," he announced. The ranger looked affronted and was ready to protest, but Sasuke spoke up again, "You're too distracted, you'll get hurt if we continue."

Aragorn sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "True, Friend. You have given me much to think about."

The dúnadan was troubled, that much was clear to Sasuke now. Perhaps the man would like a distraction, but not one where he could hurt himself from not paying attention. Something mind-numbing and simple yet productive...training always did that for Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked when he noticed the man starting to sheath his sword. "Who said we were done practicing?" the former missing-nin asked. The man looked at him quizzically, and Sasuke's smirk grew. "I won't spar with you in this state, but I am going to make sure you pick up speed, so I won't have to hold back so much in the future." Sasuke missed using chakra with his kenjutsu.

The ranger looked shocked at first but then he began to laugh loudly and with true mirth. "I thank you then, Sasuke. I would not want to bore you in our spars,"

…

Naruto bit her lip while the girls continued to talk to her stomach. They were speaking that weird language Ranger-san spoke to them in. Naruto felt silly with her hair all made up as it was with all the flowers in her hair. Actually, it was starting to make her feel a little nauseous—the flowers smelled too strongly for her sensitive nose. She blamed it on the pregnancy.

She could feel the baby relaxing inside of her as the twins began to sing; it was the same song Ranger-san had been singing for the past few months. The baby always relaxed when it was sung, and at first that scared her, but then she would feel the baby shift or stretch and her fears would subside. She didn't want to lose another child, she couldn't.

She hoped the new baby would distract her from Konoha. Now that the girls were in their teens, they didn't need her as much as they had in the past, and how foolish of her to have missed even one moment of their lives. Time passed so swiftly. Years slipped by in the blink of an eye, and she could not take back any of that lost time.

Naruto still longed to see Konoha yet…yet she wouldn't. She had this baby to look after and her girls were going to get married soon and start their own families. But when this baby grew up, what would distract her then? Would she just have to keep having babies? The fox liked that idea, and she glared at it in her mind's eye, of course he did.

The teme…Sasuke. He was so…so not who he should be yet was. Her thoughts were extremely conflicted over the matter. Through the last two…two pregnancies he was so gentle and kind and supportive. And gods, when the miscarriage happened—

Naruto forced herself to focus on the twins singing to the fetus to keep herself and the baby calm. Without opening those wounds further, she thought about how kind Sasuke had been.

If anyone had told Naruto seventeen years ago that Uchiha Sasuke would be a supportive, thoughtful, caring husband, she would have laughed until her stomach ruptured. If anyone had suggested she and the teme would be married with children, she would have pointed that she was male and hated the prick's guts. Of course, everything had changed. She had changed, the bastard had changed.

They were near their mid-thirties with three, almost four, children. It was so hard to believe and yet not. The memories of Crickhollow told her that there was nothing wrong with their arrangement, and even now she was starting to see the evidence. The teme had called her beautiful and brought up their wedding. No matter how much she cringed at being called beautiful, it still made her stomach flutter about for reasons other than the baby. The teme had talked to the baby just like he had with the other babies, and before that, Naruto was well aware that the teme was looking at her with what as unmistakably lust.

Traveling around the world with Ero-senin quickly familiarized her with the tells included in lust. Why though, was the question. What about being huge as a fucking house turned the teme on? Was it some Uchiha thing maybe? Maybe he did get off on her being pregnant with his little sharingan—possibly even rennigan—babies! Oh, the bastard was gonna get it when he came home! He liked seeing her pregnant, that had to be it! He had always been so arrogant and smug back in the Elemental Lands that he probably was thinking about how he had got her with a child. Yep, that was it, the proud son of a—

She sighed and looked down at the twins.

Sasuke had helped her gain the family she had always wanted, the family she doubted she would have had without him. They had the most perfect children, and Sasuke was a surprisingly good father. Yeah, he was stoic, but he was so loving and gentle toward their girls. He could be hard on them but only for a little while because he was wrapped completely around their little fingers, and he was just fine with it. Admittedly, sometimes at night, when the teme held her in his arms like he was protecting her, she felt so at ease—not that she needed anyone protecting her. Though for those brief moments before sleep took Naruto, she could imagine some of that gentle, caring attitude directed at their daughters was be translated onto her. Something was forming between them, and it scared yet thrilled Naruto at the same time.

Naruto broke from her thoughts by Dawn and Haldarad entering the shop with Halbarad behind them acting as a grim chaperone. Naruto chuckled to herself—oh sure, there would be hickies with eagle-eye Halbarad watching the two. Really, the teme could be so ridiculous sometimes.

Dawn warily watched as her mother chuckled to herself while the twins just turned their heads at her entrance. They didn't bother moving from their crouches or moving their heads farther from their mother's stomach. Haldarad looked confused and shifted the string of fowl and rabbits they caught in discomfort. Halbarad just stood there like a sentinel.

"Minu, Tinnu," Dawn called, and the girls reluctantly got up. "You're helping me pluck and skin the game." They scrunched up their noses but otherwise made no complaint. Kaasan and Tousan had been training them to get over their disgust of dead animals, and it was finally beginning to pay off.

"And how are you Kaasan?" Dawn asked as she crouched down beside her mother to be eyelevel with her. The blonde smiled slightly. She was smiling at least, and her skin was glowing.

"Thanks for getting them away. I swear your father can be such a bad influence on them," she replied and shook her head playful.

Dawn felt so relieved. It felt like ages since her mother had last joked. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek and Kaasan made a face in response.

"What is it, kiss me day?" the blonde woman asked in an annoyed yet happy tone.

Dawn chuckled and stood up. One hand gravitated toward the intricately braided hair. Kaasan groaned and slumped in her chair. "Not you too," the blonde complained.

"Not me too, what?" Dawn asked with a laugh in her voice. She hoped she looked as beautiful as her mother when pregnant. So many women in the town looked worn down and sick when they were pregnant. Kaasan was radiant, and now she was full of life and mischief. It seemed whatever melancholy had fallen on her was lifted at last.

"Touching my hair and looking at me all—oh I don't know!" She flailed her arms for a moment and sighed.

"Kaasan," Dawn started and drew the woman's attention back to her. "I'm glad your back." Dawn knelt down beside her mother and cupped her hand to the woman's cheek. "You finally look like you again," Dawn whispered. Kaasan blinked several times and then frowned. Was she really not aware of how deplorable she had looked, how heart wrenching it was to see some faded image of their mother for months at a time?

Dawn shook her head and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. She had been so scared for a while there that her mother wasn't going to make it, that she would die and so would the baby. But today, her mother looked so alive and healthy—perhaps it was a start of her mother's recovery. Whatever this was, it seemed that things were finally looking up.

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3017 September 29

Aragorn was shaking his head as he hid behind the hedge near Bree. He did his best to make his breathing shallow so as not to disturb any foliage. Why? Well, apparently, he was being tested by Sasuke along with the twins. Dawn was at the shop with her mother and Haldarad while preparing dinner and helping the heavily pregnant woman go about her day. They worked in shifts since the blonde's mood had begun to improve, and Sasuke could not fall behind in training his children (and friend, apparently).

Aragorn tensed at the feel of metal against his throat. He sighed, "How did you find me friend?" he asked lowly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You shook your head," Sasuke whispered back just as lowly before he pulled the knife back and disappeared from sight. "But the twins haven't found you yet," the blacksmith added. The ranger would have sighed but that would likely give his position away to the twins.

This was supposed to be a test of his hiding ability and the twins' tracking ability. Since he did not have their same energy, Aragorn was apparently harder to find, especially after the advice the blacksmith had given the dúnadan. Aragorn was quite cable of staying out of sight to begin with, but the insight Sasuke had was astounding. It was as if the man had lived in shadows for most of his life.

Aragorn was pulled from his thoughts by the appearance of four hobbits on ponies and a short man with a bright yellow hat riding atop a sturdy brown pony. They had come down a sloping bank near the tree line, and Aragorn eyed them intensely. Could these hobbits be the ones he was waiting for? Why had they come from the Barrow Downs, and why were they in the company of that jolly man (Tom Bombadil, he believed the man's name to be).

"Well, here we are at last!" one hobbit cried, he had curly brown hair, and was taller than his traveling companions, but not by much. His skin was fairer than the others and he had a cleft in his chin, but what drew Aragorn's attention the most was the brightness in the hobbit's eyes. He seemed keen and quick of wit.

The same hobbit continued speaking, "I suppose we haven't lost more than two days by my shortcut through the Forest! But perhaps the delay will prove useful—it may have put them off our trail."

Hmm…so the hobbits were being perused, and they had taken a shortcut through "the Forest," presumably the Old Forest then. So, these hobbits came from the Shire. Interesting, though not that uncommon. It was more unusual that hobbits would be coming to Bree while being pursued. Perhaps these were the hobbits he was to wait for? Gandalf had told Aragorn to look out for a Frodo Baggins in the Wizard's absence.

The hobbits' expressions darkened with dread and fear, likely at the reminder of their pursuers. A few of the hobbits even looked down at the road warily.

"Do you think," the smallest and apparently youngest hobbit in the company asked hesitantly, he had golden curly hair and an exceptional amount of it. "Do you think we may be pursued, tonight?"

"No, I hope not tonight," answered Tom Bombadil. "Nor perhaps the next day. But do not trust my guess; for I cannot tell for certain. Out East my knowledge fails. Tom is not master of Riders from the Black Land far beyond this country." The jolly man's attention drew away from the hobbits to the tree line, and a broad smile broke across his face.

What mattered from the man's words, though, was that these hobbits were being pursued by the Nazgul, which meant they had something the Wraiths desired. Either they had the Ring or one of them was the Baggins Gollum had told the enemy of (which implied possession of the Ring). This must be the company he was searching for, though it would do Aragorn no good to confront them now.

The hobbits looked sad to part from the rosy-cheeked man, but Bombadil just shook his head and laughed. "Tom will give you good advice, till this day is over (after that your own luck must go with you and guide you): four miles along the Road you'll come upon a village, Bree under Bree-hill, with doors looking Westward. There you'll find an old inn that is called The Prancing Pony. Barliman Butterbur is the worthy keeper. There you can stay the night, and afterwards the morning will speed you upon your way. Be bold, but wary! Keep up your merry hearts, and ride to meet your fortune!"

The hobbits pleaded for him to come with them to the inn for a drink, but he just shook his head and made a beckoning motion with his hand toward the tree line. At first, Aragorn feared he had been discovered until he heard Sasuke scoff from somewhere above him. Of course! Aragorn recalled the blacksmith was familiar with this jolly man.

"Tom's country ends here: he will not pass the borders. Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting! But I have a friend here, who should come out from the tree he is standing in and greet him." There was mirth in the jolly man's voice as well as chastisement. Aragorn heard his friend make a noncommittal sound.

"Now come Dû, is this any way to treat your first friend in this world, the one to name you and your darling wife?" the rosy-cheeked man chided.

The hobbits startled when the blacksmith hopped down from the trees to land before them in a crouch. The twins were not far behind their father and looked at Bombadil with wide yes while their father straightened from his landing crouch.

"You know our parents!?" they asked in unison while Sasuke just sighed. Tom looked delighted and even hopped down from his pony.

"You must be my dear friend Dû's children!" Bombadil exclaimed. "And how is your radiant mother, how is Nature's Daughter? I know she left us to return to you all. It turned out well?"

Sasuke was glaring at the jolly man now but interjected before his daughters could start talking a mile a minute. "Yes, it turned out well. We're expecting another child,"

Bombadil clapped his hands together and gave a delighted cry. "Why you must all visit! Oh and what precious daughters you have." The short man ruffled the twins' hair, and they scrunched their noses up. They never liked having their braids messed up.

At this point, the tallest hobbit spoke up. "Where had you three come from, were you spying on us?"

"No!" Minuial exclaimed, looking affronted.

"We were playing hide and seek with our uncle, and father," Tinnu elaborated while Sasuke just shook his head.

"And you two still have not found him," the black smith commented. "Perhaps you should do so before you find yourselves running the four miles between here and Bree twelve times."

"Tousan!" the girls whined which caused Bombabdil to chuckle; although he did not know what Sasuke had said, anyone could tell the girls were complaining at some "unjust" disciplinary action. Aragorn imagined his friend had told his daughters to discretely run back and forth from here to the village—that seem in line with their training.

"Well, you were supposed to find your uncle and you haven't yet," Sasuke retorted. Aragorn heard the word uncle in there so he assumed his friend was talking about their test again and how they had not found him, which made them deserving of the punishment. "Besides," he added offhandedly, "you two haven't been working on your speed or stealth near enough."

The clever hobbit eyed Sasuke with his head tilted slightly. "What an odd language," he murmured to himself, but it was a different hobbit who drew Sasuke's attention away from his daughters.

The youngest hobbit and a hobbit who appeared to be a close cousin, were eyeing the blacksmith curiously too. "You know, you seem awfully familiar," the youngest hobbit spoke.

"Why I would imagine he would," Tom chirped in reply to the statement, which caused the dour man to shoot Tom a deadly glare that had the hobbits backing up, though the jolly man seemed to ignore Sasuke's threatening look.

The tall hobbit's voice held some wariness in it as he spoke. "And why would that be?"

"Why Dû and his wife lived in Hobbitton for a year, yes? Crickhollow, wasn't it?" the jolly man responded before Sasuke could protest.

The hobbits gasped as their eyes widened in recognition. Sasuke merely gave the jolly man a warning look and was very clearly displeased to have so much information divulged.

"But that was where Mr. Baggins moved to, he moved to the haunted house," the stoutest hobbit of the group exclaimed. Sasuke grimaced before looking at Bombadil with clear displeasure. Curious, but the name mentioned by the hobbit interested Aragorn more, though he still hoped to learn more about this haunted house if only because it pertained to his friend.

Despite Sasuke's annoyance, he was also intrigued and perhaps nostalgia made him ask slowly, "That place is still standing?" The twins were delighted by the confirmation.

"Yes"—the tall clever hobbit shot a glare at the stout blonde—"and the name Baggins is to be left behind, remember. I am to be Mr. Underhill if any name must be given," the clever hobbit hissed at the others which caused Sasuke to quirk an eyebrow.

The youngest hobbit spoke up again, "Mr. Dû, if you lived in the Crickhollow house before, can you tell us how it became haunted. We were told demons inhabited it."

Aragorn's friend gave a dry laugh while the twins began to snicker. "That's one thing to call Kaasan," they giggled. The blacksmith just shook his head.

"Just wait until you two are old enough, then you'll be helping me when she goes into labor," the twins paled at their father's words. Clearly, they did not like whatever he told them.

The hobbits looked at Sasuke curiously, and clearly were expecting an answer from him. "It's too much to explain at the moment," he stated dismissively, "and I wish you had not brought that up, Tom." His friend sent the short man a pointed look, but the jolly man just laughed again.

"But these hobbits could use a trustworthy friend within Bree. Could they sup with you perhaps?" Tom asked.

The blacksmith glared at the tall hobbit, the Baggins. "I don't want that one near my family." The hobbit looked taken aback and the others looked affronted.

Why would his friend say such a thing? Arad, or rather Naruto, would give the blacksmith a verbal lashing he would never forget for not letting familiar hobbits met up with her. (It had slowly dawned on the ranger that his friend was indeed not the one in charge of the family, though it seemed more like Sasuke did not want to go through the trouble of being yelled at or "pranked.")

"And why is that?" the stout hobbit demanded. He even went so far as to draw his pony in front of the tall hobbit. Bombadil just watched on amused and pleased, as if nothing could ruffle him or dampen his mood.

"Is it about that dark energy?" Tinnu asked her father seriously. Her eyes narrowed on onto the Baggins' waistcoat pocket. Sasuke looked annoyed but he nodded his head curtly, and the hobbits looked confused. Aragorn suspected his friend would have rather kept as much of his skills hidden as possible from the hobbits, but his daughters were making that hard to do.

"What energy?" the Baggins asked alarmed. The hobbit had also caught where Tinnu was looking and placed his hand in his pocket almost…protectively.

"There's a really bad energy in your pocket, Mr. Hobbit. It's worse than the demon inside of Kaasan," Minuial elaborated but flinched at her father's glare.

"We do not mention the Kyuubi aloud," the man reprimanded, though Aragorn wished he knew what exactly his friend had said. He also was alarmed by the fact that the fairly docile blonde had a demon inside of her.

At the hobbits' alarmed expressions, Sasuke gritted his teeth and exhaled in annoyance. It was with great reluctance the blacksmith explained the situation to the hobbits. "Your mother can control her demon but this energy"—Sasuke gestured to the hobbit's pocket—"is not controlled, or at least not controlled by him. I do not trust it being near my family." It was clear the blacksmith was addressing each hobbit while still glaring the tall hobbit's waistcoat pocket.

"You feel a foul energy coming from me, how is that possible?" Baggins asked with fear in his voice.

"My friends are quite amazing," Tom stated. "They can sense powerful energies, such as myself and my Goldberry. Do not fear young hobbit. My friend is a unique case, but he will keep you safe to Bree."

"I'm so confused now," the youngest hobbit exclaimed, "How does your wife have demon inside of her, and how could you live in Crickhollow? There have never been big people there before." Only now did they bring that up, how curious; perhaps they had just readily believed Bombadil without wanting proof for themselves?

Sasuke shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he tried to protest, but Bombadil gave Sasuke a chastising look and the smith gritted his teeth in annoyance again while his daughters giggled. "Fine…" he growled before he brought his hands up in a strange formation. Then, in a puff of smoke, Sasuke was replaced by a hobbit; a hobbit who seemed familiar to the cousins.

"I remember you!" the older cousin stated. "We were at your wedding."

"Yes." Sasuke replied curtly before another look from Bombadil made him speak more. With a forced smile he addressed the same hobbit. "Merry was it?" Sasuke then turned to the youngest hobbit. "And you were a Took…Pippin, correct?" Both hobbits nodded their heads adamantly and smiled brightly at the smith.

The stout hobbit and Baggins looked confuse. "How do you do that?" the stout one asked.

"It is one of my special skills," Sasuke stated before releasing his transformation. Aragorn was also intrigued by the spell; though it held little practical advantage on a battlefield, it would be a formidable infiltration technique. Then again, from what the ranger had gleaned about his friend's past, the man did do infiltration operations (or at least that infiltration was a common operation in his homeland).

"We can do it too!" the twins cried as broad smiles split across their faces. Aragorn's friend sighed and began to pinch the bridge of his nose. Though, now that Aragorn thought about it, such a technique would be good for diversionary tactics, a false lead of sorts if one was being pursued.

Getting everyone back on track with a put-upon expression, Sasuke stated, "Look, you would be welcome, but I don't trust whatever is radiating that energy. You can eat at the Prancing Pony and find rooms there, but I would advise you not to get too comfortable." The hobbits looked confused.

"Oh, the Greenway-ers?" Tinnu asked, and Sasuke nodded his head. The hobbits looked to the twins for clarification; clearly they did not like speaking with Sasuke. The dour man was intimidating to be certain and was more than hesitant to answer their questions.

"Yeah, they've been coming to Bree for years now, but they're not very nice. It's like they're waiting for someone, and sometimes they talk to these black riders outside the village," Minual added as she shook her head in disgust.

"You just have to be careful, especially if you're trying to be secretive," Tinnu stated and received a nod from her father which made her smile, likely at being recognized by him for doing something right.

Aragorn smiled fondly as well. The girls were clever and could give these hobbits good advice; after all, they had been trained in stealth and secrecy since they were young (granted they sometimes blurted things out that they shouldn't due to their youth).

"Try not to draw a lot of attention to yourself and keep your lips sealed tight," Tinnu advised with a grave expression.

"Good advice you two," Tom piped in with a bright smile.

"I bet Uncle could help you too," Tinnu stated. "He knows from here to Rivendel like the back of his hand, and can fight really well too. Plus, he knows how to stay hidden,"

"Yes, clearly since neither of you have found him yet," the blacksmith reminded them, and the twins groaned.

"Why don't you two start your run before it gets too late," Sasuke began before adding, "Go slowly for now and then finish your laps fast and discretely once you are out of the hobbits' sight." The girls nodded with frowns on their faces before they began running at a much more sedate pace than Aragorn had ever seen them run.

His friend then turned to Bombadil. "Tom, if you want me to be an escort for these hobbits, I will; but I don't want that energy near my wife when she's so close to giving birth."

The short, rosy-cheeked man nodded his head in acquiescence; he seemed to know he would not get anything better from the blacksmith.

"I understand, and it would be best to part now—I have Goldberry to get back to. Send your beautiful Arad our love," Bombadil replied. Sasuke nodded his head curtly and waited as the hobbits wished Tom their goodbyes and "safe travels."

Aragorn waited for them to pass him before he began to slink after the party of hobbits. It would seem these were the hobbits he was waiting for, and Baggins had the ring, or so Aragorn assumed that was the evil energy Sasuke had been talking about.

As they travelled to Bree, the hobbits began talking again. The twins soon were out of sight, but (after a few minutes) Aragorn saw familiar shadows dart above him in the trees that lined the road. So, they were being discrete then, good. Sasuke encouraged the hobbits to make their ponies trot, and he began to jog beside them with little effort, much to the hobbits' surprise. Once their surprise left them, they began speaking amongst themselves and even shared a few poems they had thought of (well the stout hobbit did). However, the awkward atmosphere created by their silent and reluctant guide made the hobbits fidget.

"So…" Pippin began with his gaze directed at the blacksmith jogging beside them. Clearly the young hobbit was unable to handle the atmosphere any longer. "You can change your appearance?"

Aragorn's friend did not answer for a very long moment. It seemed like he was forcing himself to speak—perhaps he thought of Bombadil chastising him again for being so anti-social. "Yes," he said with clear reluctance. The hobbits immediately began to murmur about how fantastical that was and where they had heard of similar shapeshifting.

"It's not shapeshifting," Sasuke cut in with more reservations than before. "Only my wife can do that. I just…make an illusion."

"An illusion?" the hobbits were still looked amazed.

The clever hobbit spoke up then. "Excuse me Dû, but I cannot forget what we learned earlier about your wife. You said your wife had a demon in her; how is that possible?" It was clear the Baggins was concerned which was why asked.

Still, Sasuke scowled and glared back at the hobbit. "You shouldn't think poorly of my wife; it was placed inside of her when she was newly born and the demon's former jail keeper had been killed. She became a weapon where we are from because she contains the demon."

"Does it grant her special abilities?" Pippin asked in excitement.

Sasuke scowled but nodded slightly. "She gained immense energy and astounding healing abilities from it. Now are your questions stated," he hissed at them, and likely also at Aragorn for the ranger found himself intrigued too. "And as I've said before, she has complete control over it, though I haven't the damnedest clue how she accomplished it."

The hobbits hummed and hesitantly Baggins spoke up again. "So, you don't want me near her because you fear the dark energy I carry will interact with her demon's energy?"

"Yes," Sasuke agreed curtly with a heavy sigh. "I wouldn't be surprised if the fox wanted to see who had the darker and more destructive energy, if you understand me." It was clear the hobbits did by their paling features.

However, the stout one spoke up fearfully then. "What if she can't control it? What if—I don't know…it tried to break out?"

Sasuke's eye twitched, which meant he was coming to the end of his patience. "Why do you think that would happen?" he asked in a clipped voice.

"Well, begging my pardon, but you did imply your wife was some sort of jailer for it—I'd imagine a demon would be trying to break out. And if you're so keen on keeping what Mr. Ba-Underhill carries away from her because the…energies might interact, well…" the hobbit trailed and worried his lip between his teeth.

"If it sets your mind at ease, I too can control the demon though it's draining." Sasuke's words, no matter how annoyed he sounded, still set all the hobbits at ease.

They were nearing the gates by this point. Sasuke slowed down to turn and face the hobbits. "Now, I would prefer we stopped talking about this," the man stated curtly. "You'll find the Pony simple enough. However, it will be packed, so keep your wits about you and ask for water not ale." The hobbits looked disgusted by the prospect, but Sasuke only glared before snapping out, "There are spies in there, and you have to keep your wits about you, understand?"

Baggins gave a partial smile and nodded. "Of course. Thank you, Dû, for all your advice and your company."

Sasuke could tell the hobbits words were just a social courtesy, so he scoffed. "Sure."

He had only helped the hobbits because thus far because Naruto would have his head for ignoring people in need. Also, they were apparent friends with Bombadil, and Sasuke owed the man a good deal for teaching them westron and giving them names. He was only returning the favor. Besides, he knew Aragorn was eavesdropping, and he'd rather the ranger didn't ask those questions around his currently volatile and very pregnant wife. He hated what the hormones did to her.

"Um… Mr. Dû?" the stout hobbit spoke up. "Why were you and your wife living in Crickhollow?"

He looked over at the hobbit with a bland expression, which made the hobbit flinch. Sasuke replied in a slow drawl, "It was to test our westron and see if we could fit into your Middle Earth world…" He trailed off and felt the corner of his mouth twitch up. "Plus, the Shire was a beautiful place to start a family." He had genuinely enjoyed his time in in the Old Forest and Crickhollow, and he still could think back on those days with fondness.

The hobbits were clearly shocked by his words, which was a little annoying, but it stopped them from questioning why he would need to test whether he could survive in Middle Earth. He gave them a forced smile out of propriety and gestured toward the gate, "Now, there is village gate. You can make it there safely on your own."

"You are not going in with us?" Pippin asked with a frown marring his features.

"I will be going ahead of you to warn my wife of your coming in case her…tenant acts up." He was trying to think how best to phrase that, and he supposed that would suffice.

The hobbits were clearly puzzled by his words, but he did not have to explain anything else to them. They had annoyed him to no end already, and the twins had already finished their laps, so there was no point in staying. Besides, the gatekeeper had not seen Sasuke leave, so it would be suspicious if he came in through the gate.

With a slight bow of his head, Sasuke used shunshin to escape the hobbits. He really hated how much people talked in this world. He had returned the favor done to him by Tom, and he warned the hobbits plenty. Now if they fucked things up, no one could blame him for not trying to help them.

….

Naruto felt like she was ready to burst. She was huge! HUGE! Her back ached like none other too, and her hips felt like they were breaking under the pressure of her little bundle of joy. She also had to pee every thirty-minutes, or so it seemed. Had she been this pregnant with the other three? Probably, but she likely blocked it from her memory.

Naruto looked around the storefront and main living space as she sat in her rocking chair and took in the space. The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, and the pot of soup cooking over its flames smelled amazing. It was warm and bright in the storefront and felt like home. Her eldest and her suitor added more life to the space as they sat next to each other (but with enough space between them to be "appropriate") and talked.

Haldarad was telling some poem to Dawn in that funny language they all spoke. It was amazing how many languages her girls had picked up, and it was almost impossible to understand the conversations the girls had because it was a mélange of Japanese, Westron, and Sindarin. It boggled Naruto's mind how they could speak those all at the same time and still understand each other easily. Then again, Naruto noted that from time-to-time her daughters spoke Japanese either with the sentence structure of Westron or vice versa.

Naruto slowly rose from her rocking chair and moved over to the fireplace and the bubbling pot of soup. She was in charge of stirring the contents of the pot so it wouldn't burn—then again, that was about the extent to which she was trusted with cooking. She chuckled to herself at the thought.

Thankfully, she had gotten better with cooking over the years. Even her stitching had improved, although it was always crooked, and the cloth would pucker up when she was patching tears. Then again, being married to the teme meant they shared domestic duties, which was truly a blessing. He sewed and cooked, she gardened and cleaned from time-to-time. Now the girls helped too, which was so nice!

Naruto looked up from the pot hanging over the fire to see her lovely little twins enter the room. "Tousan met an old friend today," they stated quickly, and Naruto quirked an eyebrow. Sasuke and meeting an "old friend" did not fit together. The only "friends" she could think of would be Tom and Goldberry but they never left the Old Forest, and Strider who was already here.

"We were playing hide and seek when this little guy with a bright yellow hat started talking to Tousan," Minuial explained quickly, and Naruto's eyes widened.

"Tom? Why wasn't I grabbed!?" she exclaimed. She was going to murder the teme when he showed his face. "And where is your father?" she asked in a deadly low voice.

Perhaps murder was too merciful, she could prank him, prank him good so that he could never live down the shame. She began to smile maliciously as she thought of different trip wires and so forth she could use on the man. Oh…the teme would be walking on eggshells for months after this—part of Naruto reasoned that her hormones were acting up and that was why she was in such an odd mood.

It was at this point that Sasuke entered the shop. He held his hands up in a defensive position with his palms open; likely having overheard them or just knowing what she was thinking. "I have a good reason for not grabbing you when Tom showed up," the teme defended himself. "One, you're too pregnant; and two, well, you'll figure out soon."

Naruto glared at her husband and set her hands on her hips. That was a cryptic as hell, and not a good enough excuse. However, the teme was not looking at her but looking at the twins with an annoyed expression. She reassessed her earlier assumption: the teme probably knew the twins told on him and tried to mitigate the fallout. Well, too bad, teme, she thought. Their girls were good children and shouldn't be blamed for rightly telling on their antisocial father.

Before Naruto could voice some of her thoughts, the twins' next words brought her thoughts to a screeching halt.

"The bad chakra?" they asked in unison, and Sasuke nodded his head curtly.

Naruto looked at the teme in confusion for a moment before shaking her head and narrowing her eyes at the man. He was not going to get off so easy. No way. Not even if there really was a bad chakra out there. She'd let it slide for the moment and focus on what really mattered.

"So…what did you talk about?" she asked slowly, but the teme shrugged.

"Didn't talk about much," he replied and leaned against the store counter to face her with his arms folded over his chest. He was trying to act cool, too cool. There was likely something discussed that she wouldn't like.

"Is that so?" Naruto watched his every move as he responded to her.

"Peregrin Took and Merriadoc Brandybuck were in a company of hobbits Tom had apparently made friends with," Sasuke replied casually, though he looked at Naruto almost pointedly, as if to tell her to think about those facts.

Naruto nodded her head slowly. For the hobbits to have met and be traveling with Tom meant they had likely gone through the Old Forest and met him, but why would they do that? Well, when she thought about it, they might have taken that route if were trying to leave the Shire incognito.

"Hiding something? Escaping something?" Naruto asked as she moved toward her husband. There were the two only plausible reasons hobbits would risk the Old Forest on their way to Bree, and she said both of them.

"Both," he replied.

That was curious. "I take it you escorted them to the gate?"

"Until they were in sight of it, yes. Besides, Aragorn was watching over them too," Sasuke added. He looked annoyed that he had to escort the hobbits but at least he did it.

Old Sasuke would have sooner killed the hobbits than have been their guide. He really had changed, and it made her smile because he was finally starting to do good without having anyone bend his arm backwards; though, Naruto supposed there was some Uchiha pride playing in mix as well. Old Tom probably asked him or implied that he wanted Sasuke to help the hobbits and the teme felt obliged to after all Tom had done for them.

"Good, though it wouldn't have killed you to escort them all the way—" Naruto broke off and clutched at her stomach.

Kurama was stirring inside of her at the sudden presence of some…some really foul chakra at the edge her passive chakra sensing range. The baby wasn't too happy about the situation either and made that clear by kidney punching her from the inside, or at least that's what it felt like.

"That's the bad chakra?" she grunted out. "Damn it, fox, calm down!" Naruto shouted in her mind.

"But it's so….so compelling and dark. I…I need to meet it …" the fox's deep, graveling voice sounded awed, revolted, and eager all at the same time.

Her husband sighed heavily, and Naruto could tell the rest of their little family was tensed at the Fox's reaction. Sasuke came up to her and brushed some hair out of her face.

"Tell the fox to keep calm or I'll pay him a visit," he stated. Naruto looked up at her husband and scoffed. The fox was already raging at Sasuke now instead of focusing on the foul energy.

"You know just what to say to rile the fox up," she teased and impulsively kissed him on the nose.

"Orochimaru and 'Madara' gave me a few pointers," Sasuke murmured back, clearly just trying incise Kurama, especially since Obito's identity had been revealed during one of the last fights.

"Let me at that arrogant—"

"Do you really want to attack him, Kurama?" she cut the fox off and mentally gave him a mocking smile. "Afterall, you need him to break out of me, don't cha?" The biju just snarled at her, which made Naruto smile broader.

After a beat, she spoke to the fox as she had often done to her children when they were being whiny toddlers. "Now, are you going to calm down?" The fox laid down moodily in her mind like her children had often done after a tantrum. "Good Kurama," she cooed only to receive a glare.

"I'm going to enjoy watching what that energy does to this down of weak-willed humans," he shot back while still pouting.

Naruto came back to the present to see her girls watching her anxiously while the teme just looked amused. "Okay," Naruto sighed as she set her hands against her teme's arms. "I forgive you for not getting me."

Their daughters immediately relaxed and began setting the table for dinner, while Haldarad just looked around in confusion while he manned the soup since she had left her station.

With everyone else distracted, Naruto looked down at her stomach and whispered, "I don't want him too close to that energy either—at least while this baby's in here." Naruto gestured to her stomach, and Sasuke nodded before they parted.

When they turned around, their children were looking at them expectantly from around the table. "So…" Minuial started, "dinner?"

"Hell yes! I'm starved!" Naruto yelled, though it was getting harder to ignore her excited tenant who was also displeased with her for the earlier comments.

She ignored him as she was helped to the dining table. Damn she felt like walrus right now, fat and waddling. Though the teme was there, offering his support and pulling the chair away from the table... It was nice, but she wanted him to stop treating her like the baby was going to come out any moment.

Ugh! When would this thing just get out!

…..

Naruto had felt the tension and unease growing all night as the foul chakra at the edge of her senses roiled and spread about. It had flared for a moment earlier in the evening before steadily seeping out and spreading across the village like a sodden, moldy blanket. It's corrupting energy laid thick in the air, and she could feel the temptation within it. It was seductive and enticing to those weak-willed people who wanted power or were naturally inclined toward cruelty.

Perhaps that was part of what drew Kurama's interesting while revolting him at the same time. The fox was power manifest, yet he had been warped and corrupted by the malice of humans. He had been hunted, chained, and used as a weapon for the bloody ambitions of man—a direct contrast to what he was supposed to be. And now the fox could feel another sentient energy calling out from its own prison. Kurama probably saw himself reflected in that foul energy and thus was drawn in part to it.

Regardless of the fox's thoughts, Naruto was distinctly aware of both her tenant and that roiling, dark chakra, and neither sentient energy was letting her sleep. The teme, of course, was fast asleep beside her, bastard.

Ugh!

Naruto rolled over and scrunched up her face. Between all the foul energies she had been feeling this evening, she was too on edge to sleep. First there was the foul energy blanketing the town and seeping into people, then there was a different horrible presence that had been hanging around Bill Ferny (or at least she assumed that was the case because it had been outside his house for a time). And Naruto knew the awful energies were different because the first foul energy's epicenter had remained at the Pony this whole evening, while the other had left the village after meeting with Ferny.

Naruto groaned into her pillow as the dark energy emanating from the Pony brushed against her and her family's chakra. Hell no, not happening. She began to mix some of Kurama's purified chakra with her natural sage energy to create a cloak around the forge to repel the foul energy. The way the foul chakra was spreading over the village and seeping into people reminded the blonde of how a genjutsu worked, yet it was more than an illusion. Whatever the energy was doing it was stirring up trouble, and Kurama was practically purring inside of her.

"Oh that is just brilliant!" the fox exclaimed randomly. Naruto turned her focus inward while maintaining the chakra cloak.

"What are you going on about?" she asked tiredly.

"The other energy, it's twisting people to do what it wants. It's ingenious! Why haven't I thought of that?"

"Because you can't do it," Naruto retorted dryly. The fox just glared at her for a moment before it began to smile maliciously, or at least he tried to, but the fox's snout just made it look like it was barring his fangs at her.

"What?" she snapped—she was still focused on maintaining the chakra cloak.

"The fun's about to begin!" Kurama cackled.

Before Naruto could ask what exactly the fox meant, the baby kicked and twisted inside of her. More alarming, though, was that the baby felt farther down than it usually was.

That's when it happened.

Naruto broke from the conversation with the Kyuubi and quickly slapped the teme on his arm—how he slept through her chakra cloak was an entirely different question. He shot up with a kunai at her throat until he looked down at their wet sheets.

Naruto grimaced, the baby did not like what the energy was doing, and likely hadn't enjoyed the chakra cloak she'd made. Sasuke looked like he was about to ask about said cloak and how the baby was when there was a shout from without.

"AWAKE! FIRE! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE!"

Sasuke jerked his head to the window where the call was being repeated over and over. Naruto hissed in pain and curled over her stomach. The baby needed to calm the fuck down!

"Is it the Kyuubi already?" the teme asked. Naruto shook her head and inhaled through gritted teeth.

"The baby doesn't like that energy, and that energy is what's causing the riot outside." How exactly Naruto managed to get that all out while in the middle of a contraction, would remain a mystery to them both.

Sasuke paled and quickly moved toward the prepared pack they had for when the baby came.

"Then we get you out of the village," he announced. He then scooped her up into his arms and proceeded downstairs. The girls were up and looked alarmed.

"There's a fire?" Tinnu asked, "There's never been a fire in Bree before!"

"The dark energy's causing it," Naruto gritted out. "The baby's coming too."

"What?" the girls yelled, but Naruto and the teme were already exiting the forge via the back entrance.

"Keep watch of the shop. Someone might try to steal weapons," the teme stated this as he shifted Naruto in his arms as he opened the back door.

Gods the baby really did not like what was going on. Then a thought struck her, what if the baby kills itself from all this—this writhing it was doing. What if the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck or something?! Oh gods!

The teme seemed to pick up on her fears and looked at her critically. "Can you calm the baby down?" he asked.

Naruto shook her head, and they continued to move out of the house. The girls were watching them leave with worry on their faces but did not follow as per instruction.

Once the teme had hopped over the village wall, he began to…he began to sing. He was singing that song Aragorn and the girls had been singing. Naruto looked up at him with wide eyes, and his face was flushed slightly. He stopped singing and began to glare at her.

"What?!" he snapped, and Naruto tried not to laugh but started to anyways. "It helps the baby calm down, right?" he asked defensively.

Naruto sobered and nodded at the reminder.

The teme set her down so she could walk, which would hopefully speed up her dilation. It likely wouldn't work but they could try. As they began to walk, he continued his previous singing and, Naruto could not help but smile.

The teme had a pretty awful singing voice but he was trying this for the baby, and the language it was in made it pretty regardless of the teme's inability to sing. He was doing this for them, for the baby. Who would have thought Uchiha Sasuke would do such a thoughtful thing, even if it was for an unborn child?

He glared at her, as if daring her to laugh at him again, so she continued to smile—at least until another contraction hit. She hissed and paused in her walking but began counting in her head. The baby was at least calming down now, which was good.

Naruto lost count after five hundred and started counting again, but lost it once more. She guessed it was probably thirty minutes between her contractions at the moment, and the farther away they got from the village, the better the baby felt, or the calmer it became. Naruto couldn't say what the baby was feeling.

"Do you think the girls are all right?" she asked softly after she lost count again.

"Most likely."

They then continued on the way they had been walking with Sasuke trying to sing and Naruto counting between her contractions. By her third one, they figured they were far enough away from the village.

The teme handed her the paint can he'd brought along, and she began drawing the array while the teme set up a rock for her and blankets in what would be the middle of the array. She'd paint over these obstructions since they both knew it was only one child, though they still weren't sure about the sex of the baby. The teme was only good at checking the baby's vitals, he couldn't determine anything else though. As they waited for the paint to dry, Naruto walked around the clearing and had Sasuke count between her contractions until the seal was weak enough that Kurama would try and make a break for it.

Gods, it was going to be a long night, or was it already morning?

---

3017 September, 30

There had been no attempts on their shop. Once dawn broke, Minuial and her sisters went outside to assess the damage. Curiously, the damage from the riot had all been focused on the inn. How strange. A hobbit room had been broken into, and the stable had been set on fire which caused all the animals within it to run away. It looked like Bill Ferny was the only one with any ponies left in the whole of Bree, and it was a miserable creature—half-starved and horribly abused.

It was while the girls were assessing the damage that they came upon their uncle and four hobbits despairing about what happened the night before. When it became clear to them that they had hoped to leave Bree in the earlier hours and make for Rivendel, the girls moved back to their home to debate.

Minuial chewed at her lip, it was clear they wanted to leave Bree in a hurry, but now they couldn't do that thanks to the raid. "Nee-chan, why do they want to leave so bad?" Minuial asked quietly in a mix of sindarin and Japanese but with Westron sentence formation.

"It's part of Ojisan's mission, I think," the eldest replied.

"Ojisan looked stressed," Tinnu chipped in with a frown.

They supposed what had happened last night had been a long time coming with those Greenwayers in down. It was only going to be a matter of time before everything boiled over and things got ugly, but Kaasan said the bad chakra had influenced things, and the girls knew how dangerous the Greenwayers could be. However, worse things would be after Ojisan and the hobbits than just those unsavory folks.

"We should help them!" Minuial stated after a long moment of silence. Her sisters looked at her in surprise, and Dawn looked unsure about the suggestion. However, Minuial knew her sisters had been thinking what she had been! So, why were they being all wary of it!?

Dawn voiced her reservations. "I don't know how much we can help, Minu. At this rate, they will lose whatever advantaged they had hoped to gain by leaving early, and their exit will be very public."

Minuial frowned with her twin and tried to think of any way they could help them. The hobbits had talked about being pursued the other day and were clearly afraid of their chasers. It sounded like the pursuers might bet hose black riders, in which case, Minuial couldn't blame the hobbits' fear. The black riders creeped her out! But then the black riders would also be going after Ojisan and…she just wanted to help him somehow—to put to use the skills he had taught them.

Dawn was thoughtful for a long moment before she slowly spoke up. "I suppose I could ask Ojisan if he would like me to cast an illusion to make people think they were going out of the village a certain way when they're going another way." Dawn's eyes narrowed slightly in thought as she aired her musings.

Tinnu was chewing her bottom lip in thought before agreeing. "That's a good idea. I just wish we could do more…"

More? Well of course they could do more to help them! They could even help Ojisan potentially protect the hobb—

Minuial's eyes widened and she blurted out her idea, "What if we followed them, protected them from the shadows like ninja?!"

Neither of her sisters were surprised by the idea, but they looked uncertain. Obviously, they had each been thinking the same thing but were too hesitant or something to mention it out loud. Her sisters could be so silly sometimes!

"Kaasan and Tousan are delivering the baby right now…" Tinnu murmured as she looked toward where the demon's malicious chakra flared wildly. Why was Tinnu so hesitant; usually, Minuial could get her sister to do anything with her!

"But we could prove ourselves! We could be the ninja they've been training us to be," Minuial urged.

"And if we just leave suddenly? What would they think?" Tinnu shot back while Dawn remained silent.

For Dawn's part, she had thought about what Tinnu was saying. Their parents were away at the moment, and it wasn't like the girls would be home from this adventure before their parents would be. Part of her, a part that resided in each of sister, wanted to protect their uncle and his charges from what pursued those hobbits. She knew Ojisan was always protecting them from the dark things of the world, and it should be their turn to return the favor. However, it would be wrong to leave their parents without any notice.

"If you wanna ask their permission then go, but you know they won't let us," Minuial stated with a challenge in her voice. Dawn shook her head.

There was part of Dawn that wanted to leave her parents without any word, just like how Kaasan had left them with now explanation. She wanted to…to make her mother worry and hurt like that and this was an opportunity to do so. Their parents were occupied so they could actually get away with it and go have this chance at doing something meaningful with their lives.

"This is our chance!" Minuial stressed. "Do you want your skills to rust and wither away without ever having a chance to use them? We could protect Ojisan for a change! We…we could do something meaningful with our lives and realize our heritage." The youngest girls' voice had softened toward the end, and Dawn could recognize the longing and desperation in Minuial's voice.

"She's right," Dawn spoke up and knew that vindictive little voice in her head was influencing her actions. She pushed her guilt to the side and pressed on. "We have a chance to help Ojisan; we have a chance to make a difference and truly live."

She looked away from Tinnu who was still hesitating, though it was clear she was beginning to cave, and would soon be swept up in their thinking.

Minuial got over her shock at Dawn's willingness and began to spin a tale for her sister. Minuial's voice was quiet and made the other girls feel like they were being told a secret. "Kaasan can find us anywhere, and she'll probably send a clone to retrieve us. So, we won't be gone for long. We will get to be ninja for a few days before we'll return home and eventually be married off. And while we're raising families, we can at least think back to those few days we had trekked the through wilderness with evil foes on our heels, and we can remember we had be useful once in our lives."

Tinnu was trying not to cry at her twin's words, but Dawn knew they affected her deeply. Her sisters were not as lucky as her; Dawn had Haldarad and he would let her go with him on hunting trips and less dangerous missions. Her sisters would probably not have such understanding husbands.

"This is our only chance, while Tousan and Kaasan are occupied, we can get a head start," Dawn stated.

Tinnu finally broke and nodded. It was almost surprising Tinnu had held out as long as she had, but if there was anything they all had in common, it was their thirst for adventure and desire to prove their skills.

"Okay," Tinnu whispered. "But if Kaasan and Tousan show up, we need to go back and we'll accept whatever punishment."

"Of course we will," Dawn agreed. She marveled momentarily at how mature Tinnu was being, although Minuial pouted at the idea of being reprimanded. Still, the younger twin nodded, albeit reluctantly.

The sisters then all nodded their heads in unison and with conviction. They were going to help, and they were going to prove their worth if only to themselves so they might remember this adventure later in their lives.

…

Sasuke didn't know how many hours it had been. The Kyuubi started to fight a few hours before dawn, but the dobe had been dilating for hours prior to that. Had all the labors been this long before, and had the dobe ever been as vocal and harassing?

Sasuke ignored the hundredth threat of castration and focused on pushing more chakra into the array. Sasuke looked up at the position of the sun and grimaced; it was nearly mid-day. What did that make it, at least eight or ten hours of labor?

Sasuke gritted his teeth and looked back down at the dobe and almost cried in relief. The baby was crowning at last. "Almost there Dobe, almost there!" he encouraged.

"Shut the fuck up Teme! You come here and birth a baby on your own and—"

"Breathe, dobe!"

The blonde sucked in a deep breath and began pushing again while glaring at him vehemently. It was actually a little intimidating with her face so red and her hair sticking to her face from sweat. The sheer agony she was in also added to the glare's potency.

"We are never having another child!"

Sasuke chose not to respond to that lest bad memories be brought up, but it was ultimately the dobe who had wanted to have the baby. Sasuke put up with the verbal abuse for what felt like another hour until the baby was completely free, and look at that, it was a boy! The dobe began swaddling the baby in a spare blanket, and (after another push) the placenta spilled out onto the array. Sasuke wrinkled his nose at the sight of it but then went back to pushing chakra into the seal.

The dobe rested heavily against her rock and shut her eyes for a moment. She looked thoroughly exhausted, but that was understandable.

Before long, Sasuke was able to deactivate the array, and he quickly sagged down to the ground. Gods was he exhausted.

"Oi, Teme!"

He looked up at her blearily, his head was swimming from the chakra he had used up. She was motioning him over and had a tired grin on her face.

"Say hello to Dusk, then you can take a nap," she said. A nap, that sounded really good. The dobe looked like she could use one too.

Sasuke chuckled and dragged himself to his feet and then over to sit down beside the exhausted blonde. She showed their son to him, and Sasuke smiled down at the little guy. He was kind of cute even with all the birthing fluids and blood still on him. Sasuke didn't even care that the baby had whisker marks like the dobe—honestly, Sasuke had been expecting his daughters to have those marks too, but they weren't born with them.

"Good job dobe," he whispered as pressed a kiss to the dobe's sweat matted hair. It was an impulsive move, and he felt confused by it. He wasn't sure why exactly he had done that, especially since he wasn't teasing her. Naruto looked over at him in shock but then smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder. Well, if she could take it in stride, so could he.

"Well, aren't you affectionate?"

"Hn"

…..

It seemed they had slept too late. It was past dusk and had grown cold, but their bodies seemed to have kept the newborn warm. The baby was now screaming, and Naruto drowsily looked down at him. He was probably hungry. She pulled her dress off her shoulder and brought the baby to her breast. It took a moment for the baby to latch on, but once he did, the little babe began to suckle. Naruto couldn't help but smile.

She then nudged her husband with her foot. Heh-heh, husband. He was her husband, the teme was hers. It was oddly pleasant, her teme, her husband. Yeah, she liked how that sounded. No more chasing him around the world. She smiled softly.

The teme groaned and slowly looked over at her with a glare.

"How could you not wake up when he was screaming?" she asked with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

The teme glared harder at her. "Well excuse me, dobe, I just let out copious amounts of my chakra for eight hours straight."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the response; oh, so he was going to bitch about the array? Please! She scoffed. "I was in excruciating pain for those hours, teme!"

"I think I passed out when you were giving birth to the twins, dobe," he shot back, but then sighed and laid back down. "I can't wait for the girls to be old enough to help with this," he added quietly.

"Who said we were going to do this again!?" Naruto snapped back, but instantly regretted asking that question due to the rather salacious smirk on the teme's face.

"I don't know, pupil of the perverted sage. I see only two roads. Either we start using skins again or we both become celibate." He was smirking still, completely confident though fatigue was clear on his face.

Skins, ugh! She hated when they used those; it felt so weird and the simple fact that the make-shift condoms were made from freshly skinned game made it worse. She shuddered. Other forms of birth control didn't exist, and the pull-out method was ineffectual (Naruto remembered both Tsunade and Jiraiya's lectures on safe sex practices). On the other side of the coin was being celibate and she had tried that but… Naruto sighed and supposed she'd be having babies until menopause thankfully started—or not thankfully, Tsunade-baachan made it sound horrible.

"I hate you," Naruto hissed, though she didn't really mean it. She then looked back down at her nursing child. "You're a hungry guy, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically, and Sasuke looked up at them. His expression was unreadable for a moment but then a softness came over his features.

"You look beautiful," he whispered before he realized what he said and turned his head to the other side.

Naruto ducked her head and felt her face heat up. The teme thought she was beautiful, even with her hair matted from sweat and a baby at her teat? Her stomach fluttered about awkwardly, and she looked back down at the baby who finally stopped feeding. She pulled back up her dress and brought the baby close to her body.

She had a new baby. The baby she had hoped would distract her from Konoha. She smiled slightly and brushed her thumb against the babe's whiskered cheek. She felt bad that Kurama's chakra had mutated the babe in this way, but at the same time, she was shocked it hadn't happened with the girls.

Staring down at the newborn, Naruto felt like this was a new experience, somehow. Her relationship with the teme was changing, and while that scared her, she was excited too. She never would have thought him to be as good of a father as he was, or as good of a husband. To think, they had been trying to kill each other before they came here. She shook her head and lay down beside her husband, her teme.

"Be my human pillow?" she asked and partly demanded.

"We could go home," the teme retorted.

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, I still can't really feel my lower half and you're Chakra-Exhaustion Man; we will definitely make it home." She rolled her eyes and shook her.

"Be careful, you might die from sarcasm," the teme joked, much to her astonishment.

Naruto glared at him for a beat and then blurted out, "Just be my human pillow, damn it!"

He chuckled but moved closer. Naruto set her head on his shoulder and put the baby on the teme's stomach while her stomach acted as a railing/windbreaker of sorts. They both had their arms around the baby. Naruto watched as the newborn began to nod off again and smiled as she too nodded off.

…

Tinnu could see the nice warm fire from her uncle's camp, but they were a good distance away so that they wouldn't be caught by anyone. They couldn't really talk lest Ojisan hear them with those bat ears of his. She rolled her eyes and began to sign to her sisters; they caught it in the dim moonlight.

Tousan had taught them the Uchiha Police Corps sign language, but Tinnu and Minuial had added some of their own signs so they could discreetly prank their family. Though right now sisters were just figuring out who had which shift for watch.

Once that was figured out, Tinnu took out some of her rations from the storage scroll; she was in charge of it because Minuial lost things and Dawn was the slowest out of them. They were trying to be practical, and Tinnu was more likely to dodge attacks and thus not lose the scroll like Dawn would if attacked.

Tinnu munched on the stale bread and sighed. It would have to do, but it wasn't nearly as good as the soup they had had yesterday. They couldn't risk a fire or anything, so it kind of sucked, but then this must be what it was like to be ninja, ninja from the Elemental Lands. That was an exciting thought; they were fully acting out their heritage and using the skills they had been trained in their whole lives. Tinnu couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

There was a sudden breeze that cut through the Chetwood. She pulled her cloak tighter around her to stave off the chill. She then used her chakra to stay stuck to the tree as she leaned against the trunk. She had found a really good spot. There were two branches that left the tree fairly close to each other so that she was nestled between the branches and the tree, except there was one side she could tip over and die from, but that was what the chakra was for!

Secure in her tree, she began to nod off. Tinnu had the last shift for watch and she was thankful for it at the moment. She stifled her yawn and drifted off completely.

…..

It was late in the evening when Sasuke and Nauto hobbled back to Bree. They were still exhausted and could not wait to sleep in their own bed instead of the forest floor. Except, when they got to their forge, there was something wrong.

The twin's weapons were not haphazardly strewn about the place, and Dawn's bow was missing from its hook. The dobe had her brow furrowed and she began to check the cupboards while she expertly cradled the newborn against her body.

"The seals are gone. All of them are gone…" she stated in a stunned tone.

Sasuke clenched his teeth closed together. He then noticed that the loaf of bread that had been sitting on their table last night was missing too. He quickly moved to their salted and dried meat store to find it mostly cleaned out. What the hell!?

He could hear the dobe moving around upstairs, and Sasuke quickly moved to join her. His chest felt tight, and his stomach was all in knots. By the looks of things, the girls had left. But why? And to where? There was no note that he could see. The girls' beds were still rolled up from when they woke this morning, but most of their clothes were missing from their clothes chest.

"Why?" Naruto asked to the cold empty room, her voice barely a whisper.

Why indeed. Why did their daughters run away? Was it something he and the dobe had done? Did the girls think with the new baby that they weren't wanted? NO! Sasuke glared at the empty room. This wasn't right.

"I'm going to look for Aragorn," he announced. The ranger often had a different or better insight into their daughters' actions. Perhaps they had told him something.

"I'm coming with you."

Sasuke whirled around at the dobe's shaky but determined response. "You need your rest dobe," he replied. She looked awful and tired. She needed to clean up and get a good rest; she didn't need to go to a pub.

"So do you," she shot back. She then paused for a moment, "Besides, I have Kurama, he's helping me get back on my feet."

Sasuke glared at the dobe for a moment but then conceded. Together, using each other as support, they made it to the Pony, but upon entry Naruto gasped.

"What?" Sasuke asked sharply as he scanned the room. He didn't see Aragorn in his normal corner of the tavern. Strange, where was the dúnadan? He wasn't supposed to leave until that Gandalf fellow arrived or some hobbit…

Realization dawned on Sasuke. Of course, the hobbit must have arrived yesterday, hence why the ranger had eavesdropped the other day. Sasuke berated himself for not realizing this sooner.

"Kage level energy, back room," the dobe responded in a tone that made him think back to the war.

Sasuke whirled his head around to face the dobe in shock; what did that mean? Did…did she recognize the chakra?

"How is that possible?" he asked urgently. He could feel it now that he was looking for it and was relieved that he could not recognize the energy. He wasn't as adept at sensing energies as miss-sage-mode, but with patience—and if he was actively trying to sense—he could do it.

"Don't know… Have you found Ranger-san?" she replied.

The tavern occupants were looking at them strangely, but Sasuke couldn't care less. He was more preoccupied with the fact that his daughters were missing and had possibly followed after their "Ojisan." Perhaps he and the dobe should sit down…His head was woozy and the dobe was looking awfully pale.

He guided them to a seat as he spoke, "He's likely on his mission. The hobbit he was looking for must have come yesterday." It was silent between them as they sat down lest they collapse in their exhausted states.

The dobe had her brow furrowed and she looked confused and perhaps a little alarmed. "Teme…." she started hesitantly. Hmm…why would she do that? "What if they went after Ranger-san?"

He had been thinking it too, but he had hoped he was wrong. If the dobe was expressing the possibility too, then that might be what actually happened. It made his stomach drop. They all knew that Aragorn was on a dangerous mission, so the girls wouldn't dare, would they? But then looking at their parents…how could they not resist the chance to test their skill, to aid their uncle, to be heroines and rebels at the same time?

"Can you sense for them?" he suggested. Perhaps they had just gone hunting, or maybe wanted to explore the Old Forest they had heard so much about—they had seen Tom the day before, perhaps they just went to visit them… It sounded pathetic to his own ears.

The dobe glared at him and deadpanned, "What do you think I've been doing?" A few seconds more passed and then she made a triumphant noise. "They're north-east, somewhere…I'm not familiar with the land."

Damn it, they would need to find someone familiar with the land, or at least figure out where Aragorn was going because East was not where the Old Forest lied (that had really been such a foolish hope).

Sasuke caught Nob as he passed by. "Where's Butterbur?" He asked. "We need to talk to him." The hobbit looked at him with wide eyes until he shakily pointed to the backroom…the room where the kage level energy was.

Sasuke narrowed his gaze at the door but shakily stood up. Damn, he was running on practically no energy. He needed to eat… "Could you get us four of whatever is for dinner?" he asked tiredly, and the hobbit hurried off.

The dobe hummed appreciatively and smiled tiredly at him. "Thank you," she whispered. He just nodded slowly and tried to listen to what was going on around them.

There was some talk about a ranger—likely Aragorn—leading four hobbits out of the western gate to travel down the Greenway away toward the south-east. The dobe heard the rumor too and looked over at Sasuke with her brow furrowed. That didn't seem right, though they could have cut around once out of the sight of the village, though with hobbits walking… Sasuke wasn't sure how it would be possible to go from the south and then up north without further witnesses…

"Could they have done that or are they too far out?" he asked, and Naruto pursed her lips for a long moment as she thought.

"Assuming our daughters are following them and taking account for a hobbit's stride…" Naruto grimaced and shook her head. "It doesn't add up; they couldn't have gone…what is the rumor? A league south of here?" They waited for a moment and heard the greenwayers consulting with each other and it did sound like the hobbits had been seen a league south. "Yeah, that doesn't add up, they're too far east and north for that, which means…"

"Dawn helped," Sasuke breathed. The fact that they couldn't feel their daughters within the Bree walls meant they were probably still helping Aragorn. How could the ranger have allowed this!?

Nob came back with the food, but Sasuke hardly had any appetite. Aragorn had promised time and again that he would never involve any of them in his affairs against whatever evil lurked in this world.

"I'm sure Ranger-san doesn't know…" the dobe murmured beside him as she played with her food. Were his thoughts that obvious, or did the dobe have the same fears? "Just try to eat, you need the energy."

He sullenly began to eat along with the dobe, but the same thoughts played over and over in his head. Dawn had made an illusion so that the party of hobbits could leave safely and undetected. It also would lead their pursuers in the wrong direction. Aragorn had to know this hence why his party was likely so far away with the girls. Aragorn had to have been in on that illusion, so that must also mean he knew the girls were following him.

As Sasuke pecked at his food and brooded, the backroom door opened and a tall elderly man wearing gray robes and a light blue hat left the back room with Butterbur behind him. Butterbur's eyes alighted upon Sasuke and Naruto before the rotund innkeeper noticed the newborn in the dobe's arms.

Sasuke broke eye contact just as the innkeeper and old man were coming up to their table. "The thing is, dobe, Aragorn had to know about Dawn's illusion, so that must mean he also let them go with him," he reasoned. The words were heavy on his tongue and made him feel sick.

The dobe turned to him, and he knew she was thinking the same thing as him. "Ranger-san wouldn't," she whispered.

"Ah, is this a bad time?" Butterbur asked while fidgeting in front of them. The elderly man was looking at Sasuke with a grave expression.

The dobe sighed heavily and gave Butterbur a slight smile. "Maybe…our daughters are missing; you haven't by chance seen them?" she asked.

Butterbur frowned but replied all the same. "I am afraid I haven't, dear."

Sasuke went out on a limb. "By chance have any other Rangers been in town, or was only Strider here today?"

Butterbur shook his head again. "I'm afraid I can't help you there either, Dû. You would know more of them rangers' comings and goings than I would." The innkeeper kept shaking his head. "I understand they must be valuable customers, but I can't really believe you're letting your oldest go around with one; it's really quite unbecom—"

"Those rangers have more honor than any other man here," Sasuke hissed out in a low voice. He would rather have all his daughters marry one of the Dúnedain, but there was only one young enough to be marriageable.

"Teme," the dobe began in a quiet voice with her hand on his arm.

He settled back down but noted the old man eyed Sasuke in a different light. The dobe then smiled at Butterbur and the innkeeper forgot his fear of Sasuke and warmed up to the couple again.

"You'll have to forgive my husband," the dobe said. "He tends to practice his sword skills with the rangers, and you know how men get when they forge friendships that way." The dobe waved her hand dismissively with this last comment, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

The old man clearly butting into their private conversation just looked at Sasuke with more interest, while the dobe introduced Butterbur to Dusk. As that was happening, Sasuke glared back at the old man who kept looking at him like he was some interesting puzzle.

"Oh," Butterbur cooed at the babe. Sasuke was pulled out of the staring match to watch the innkeeper. "Hello there, Dusk," the man said warmly before straightening. "Shame about those marks on his cheeks, but I suppose he gets it from you, Arad?"

The dobe nodded and had a strained smile. Butterbur must have noticed her discomfort so cleared his throat and said, "Congratulations. I'll be letting you back to your dinner, though it is a shame your girls aren't here to greet their brother."

"Yes it is…" Naruto whispered and swallowed thickly. She looked over at Sasuke worriedly and he nodded. "Do you really think Ranger-san let them come with him? He always promised…"

Eyeing the old man distrustfully, Sasuke turned his attention back to the dobe (at least Butterbur had excused himself). "Maybe they went without him knowing, but Aragorn should know if they were following him, and he would have sent them away…" he reasoned again. Unless…it was all a lie. Perhaps Aragorn would use them as weapons?

Naruto looked at him incredulously. "You seriously think Ranger-san could send them away?"

That was a good point. Sasuke laughed a short curt laugh, and shook his head. "Right…" He sobered and smiled sadly before commenting, "Well…Aragorn will probably try to protect them before the hobbits."

"That is something to be thankful for."

The elderly man was still just standing beside them like a creep and staring at them. Fortunately, the dobe was just as annoyed as him about it. "What Gramps?" she asked tiredly, and the man finally moved.

"Forgive me, you have an interesting language," he replied with a smile, but this response only but them both on edge. "Do you mind if I sit with you while you sup?" the old man asked.

"Yes," Sasuke responded immediately, but the dobe elbowed him and smiled.

"Only if you tell us why were just standing watching us talk," the dobe replied with a toothy smile at the old man—it was one of her more threatening smiles.

The old man only laughed and sat down with a more genuine smile. "I thought I recognized a friend's name as you spoke, and I found myself curious that there are people in Bree who have befriended the rangers of the North."

Alarms went off for both of them, so the dobe just kept smiling sweetly while Sasuke eyed the man up and down. With the old man sitting across from them, Sasuke could sense his kage level chakra easily. What was this man and why did he know the rangers?

"I am even more surprised to learn you have sparred with them and are willing to marry a daughter to them."

The dobe's smile grew more threatening as she asked, "Why does the old man want to know? Why would an old man care about such things?" She gasped and added, "Does the old man want to marry our daughter!?"

The gray-robed man coughed in surprise and shook his head vehemently while he tried to regain his breathing. "Nothing of the sort," he assured.

"Then the old man should get his big fat nose out of our business." The dobe's tone was so sweet that the threat would not have been heard by those standing around them; however, the old man heard it very clearly and straightened up slightly (though he looked at the dobe appraisingly).

"Hmm…a housewife who is defensive of people so frequently reviled in these parts," the old man commented. "It's quite unusual."

"We like our rangers," the dobe replied sweetly, though she was clearly angered by the housewife comment. "And if the old man likes his head where it's at, he will get up and leave without asking any further questions."

The old man seemed uncertain how to respond to the threat and shifted his focus to Sasuke. "How do you know Strider?" he asked. "You know his real name, do you not? I've heard you say it time and again."

Sasuke glared at the old man and grabbed his hidden kunai. "You should listen to my wife, old man."

The old man's gaze flickered own to Sasuke's hand that discretely held his knife. The old man nodded slowly.

"Caution is good, especially in such matters, but I am right, am I not?" the gray-robed man asked. Clearly, he had a death wish.

They both glared at the old man, who just raised his hands in a way that was meant to suggest he meant no offense. Sasuke poised his hand to throw the kunai.

"Perhaps our mutual friend has mentioned me, I am Gandalf the Grey," he introduced himself.

They both kept glaring at him, and the man frowned. Sasuke could not remember any such mention of Gandalf the Grey in Aragorn's stories, though blonde was frowning in confusion.

"The wizard that made that one old hobbit disappear on his birthday?" she asked incredulously.

The old man looked taken aback for a moment before he began laughing. "I am surprised stories of my friend's a hundredth and elventy-first birthday reached Bree."

Sasuke shot the dobe a look, and she smiled sheepishly at him. Though…now that the dobe had jogged his memory of the trouble-bringing wizard, he recalled making that association before. He must truly be tired and out of it to have missed the connection.

"If you are this Gandalf the Grey, what mission did you send Strider on some nine or ten years ago that was only recently completed?" Sasuke asked as a test. It was one thing to claim to be some wizard, but another to prove it.

The old man sobered while the dobe looked at Sasuke like he was crazy. "I sent him to track a creature named Gollum," the old man replied grimly. Sasuke thought that was the name Aragorn gave him, so he stowed his kunai away.

"Wait, he's seriously a wizard?" the dobe asked in a low voice, and Sasuke nodded tiredly. She sighed and looked at the old man. "Alright, what is it you want?"

"I was curious how you know our mutual friend and wondered if you had any news of him," the wizard replied. "Our dear innkeeper has been a less than ideal source of information," he added tiredly.

The dobe looked over at Sasuke, not sure what the former missing-nin would want divulged. Sighing, Sasuke replied, "He came in to have his sword fixed some…thirteen years ago?" Had it really been that long? The old man raised an eyebrow in disbelief, so Sasuke responded with another glare and added, "That's the story you're getting."

"Have I not earned the full tale?" the wizard asked with a slight crinkle to his eyes.

They both looked around themselves pointedly. Once the old man realized they had garnered more than a few eavesdroppers, he nodded sagely. He then leaned back and pulled out a pipe. Oh hell no!

"There is a baby here!" the dobe admonished. "Go smoke outside," she ordered, and Sasuke backed her up with a glare. The old man looked surprised but nodded slowly and got up to smoke outside.

As the couple ate their now lukewarm food, Sasuke heard murmurs going around. Someone had gathered that they had news on the whereabouts of Aragorn and consequently the hobbits he traveled with; after all, the blacksmiths were clearly close enough friends to the rangers to know the enigmatic Strider's real name. Damn that wizard for talking so openly with them.

Glancing over at the fatigued dobe showed she had heard the mumblings too. "We're going to have to sleep with one eye open," she groused before digging back into her dinner.

Despite the attention they got from the other patrons, the couple eventually finished in time for Dusk to start crying. Right, newborns needed to be fed more frequently even if they slept often. Sasuke sighed and paid for their meals while the dobe began limping home with a fussing babe. He limped after her.

After an exceptionally tiring though short walk to their forge, they saw the old man standing outside it and examining their sign.

Once inside with the old man, Sasuke lit a candle with a shaking hand. If he was shaking that meant his reserves were lower than he thought. He needed to sleep soon to restore them. The dobe busied herself by checking if Dusk had wet himself before cleaning and dressing him. Sasuke watched her slow and pain filled process along with the old man, Gandalf. It was odd to see someone he had only heard of in stories stand before him. For some reason, Sasuke thought he would be a giant, likely because hobbits had been describing him. Nevertheless, the wizard was still a good foot taller than Sasuke, so perhaps the wizard was indeed tall.

"Your wife is very strong," Gandalf murmured as he continued to examine the dobe. "He is still newly born."

Sasuke nodded curtly and looked back at the old man "What is you wanted to talk about?" he asked tiredly.

"How did you really come to meet our mutual friend?"

"Why does that matter?" he drawled. His head felt heavy, and his vision was beginning to spin. They'd have turned the wizard away if they didn't believe he might know something about where Aragorn might be headed with their daughters.

"Because it will tell me your character and how deeply Strider has come to trust you. I have heard no mention of you or your family, and yet your daughter is to marry into his kin."

It was a reasonable question, but Sasuke still didn't like it.

"Just tell him already, bastard," the dobe spoke up. "Just rip the bandage off, it's easier that way." He shot his wife a glare, but she wasn't looking at him—her focus was on their babe.

Shaking his head, he looked back at the old man. "Fine," Sasuke relented. "He came in to repair his sword, and we began talking. He noticed I was a swordsman, you see, but then my wife went into labor. He minded our daughter while she delivered the twins and I helped her."

The dobe scoffed, "That's certainly one way to put it."

"There's more to it than that; you need not have had him watch your daughter if you delivered your wife here." The old man was perceptive, and annoying.

"Your call dobe, want to tell him about the fox?" he asked as he looked over at her from where she was now feeding their son. She gave him a deadpan look in return.

"That's all you're getting," Sasuke stated as the dobe hobbled over to them and sat down in her rocking chair with a wince.

Gandalf nodded slowly in concession before he continued speaking, "And since then?"

"He's been an uncle to our daughters," Naruto answered simply. "Which makes us worried they went off after him. They tend to do stupid stuff like that when they think their Ojisan is going to be gone for a long time."

Gandalf's frown deepened. "That is grave news indeed. I am afraid Strider and those he's with are hunted by very dark and powerful beings."

"The black riders, we know, which is why we need to find our girls." The dobe's tone was serious if not a little dismissive.

The old man's eyes widened in surprise. "You know of them, then you realize the danger your daughters are in if they are truly following our friend."

The dobe grimaced slightly. "We don't know what they're capable of, but we've seen them coming and going through the town a lot. They were visiting with Fenry last night before the riot happened," she explained.

Gandalf nodded and looked down at the able. "Tell me, are you certain your daughters are pursuing him; do you have any proof?" he asked.

Sasuke looked over at the dobe, and she grimaced. She didn't particularly want to share her energy sensing abilities, but it would help them get through this. Sasuke glared at the wizard, and warned, "If you ask too many questions of us after we explain our proof, we won't be happy." It was a threat, although not an apparent one.

The old man raised a bushy eyebrow in response—a frighteningly bushy eyebrow that made Sasuke think of the green taijutsu horrors. His head was definitely heavy right now, so perhaps he was hallucinating because why else would he think of those green beasts. Shaking his head to lose some of the fuzziness, he looked over at the dobe.

"I can feel my daughters' energy to the east and slightly north. I don't know where they are but it's probably a day's worth of walking for a fairly in shape hobbit."

Sasuke scoffed at his wife's suggestion of a "fairly in shape hobbit." Like those existed. Clearly, Gandalf also found the description amusing if his startled laugh was any guess.

However, the old man sobered and nodded gravely. "Then I fear they are with our mutual friend, for he plans to make for Rivendel, but I plan to cut him off and aid in what ways I can."

Sasuke looked over at the dobe, and she looked back at him. Understanding passed between them and she knew what he was trying to convey. She nodded, so Sasuke turned back to the wizards and said, "I'm going with you."

---

TBC