Sakura woke in the pitch black of night. Once again she was in her bed but this time there was a mass of well trained muscle and mop of blond hair next to her. He was sleeping soundly. A small smile tugged at her lips as she looked at him in the moon light. His shirtless back was a glorious feast for her eyes. Her hand wondered from his shoulder down the back of his ribs to his lower back side. She stopped her hand from traveling further along his sculpted body. The feeling that had awoke her hit her again and she sprinted to the bathroom. Hunched over the porcelain throne she lost the urge to puke as quickly as it had come. She ran a self check on her system and everything thing was fine except there was a foreign chakra present.
Reality washed over her as she realized she hadn't been very careful after her and Naruto's coupling even before they were married and even less since.
"Are you alright?" he asked in a groggy sleep filled voice.
Looking up into worried blue eyes made her heart race, and his chest was taking up half the doorway.
"I'm fine, I think exhaustion and not eating right caught up with me," she lied, he didn't see through it like he normally did or he was too tired to question.
Naruto had planned to lecture her about her double standards when it came to who could protect who but she looked so frail and pale that he didn't have the heart to do it then. His sleepy mind couldn't think of any other reason for her appearance so he took her word for her condition.
"Do you need someone to hold your hair?" he asked through a yawn.
Shaking her head no, she gave him a weak smile. He nodded and headed back to bed. She wanted to know he wasn't angry with her anymore before she told him the joyous news. Once the sun was up she would have Tsunade confirm her suppositions. Until then she was going to see if her husband would cuddle with her.
It had been a week and the picture of Sakura weeping in the arms of Sasuke wouldn't leave Naruto's mind. It didn't matter how he tried to busy himself with paperwork or other important things around the village. Finally he gave up. He summoned Snake who was recently returned to duty.
"Seal the room," he ordered the masked man, once done no one could get in or out and no sounds would escape it, he sat behind his desk, "you almost died last week. I was ready to kill you, I can't keep doing this, you're my best friend, she's my wife and you're both my teammates. What do I do?" the frustrated Hokage asked pulling his hair slightly.
"Get over it," replied his subordinate in an ultra calm manner.
"Get over it? That's your grand advice? If it were that simple don't you think I would have by now?" growled Naruto in pure vexation.
"Have you even bothered to ask her why she was balling in my arms?" the look he received for the question told the ANBU that Naruto definitely had not asked his wife that question cause he was still in once piece, "she was worried about loosing you. Let's look at the facts, try to keep up, she is in love with you, she married you, she came home to protect you, and she didn't want me there when she was crying she wanted you to be there holding her. I don't think I can put it anymore bluntly. I had my chances and I lost out," Sasuke explained slowly like he was talking to an idiot.
Naruto didn't appreciate the condescending tone his friend used on him but he let it slide for the sake of getting somewhere with the conversation.
"She said you didn't want her that way," the blond murmured.
"There was a time I thought about it but I really can't take her abuse they way you do," Snake smiled as he took off his mask.
"I do know how to take a punch," the Hokage grinned rubbing his jaw remembering a few of the times she had broke it.
Sasuke put his mask on the desk and leaned onto it to make sure his friend was paying attention.
"The three of us are teammates, we're going to see the best and worst of each other. I've seen her naked, I'll probably see her naked again, she might see me naked out on a mission. Hell, I've seen way too much of your skinny ass. There will be times where we're going to cry, well, you two will, and I will be there to tell you to man up and offer her a shoulder to cry on. Its just how it is," the dark avenger reasoned.
"Still going with the just get over it theory?" Naruto quipped.
"If you really want to fight it out we can but I'm not after her and she's not after me. Her and I are friends, good friends, nothing is going to change that. We're both very happy at home, we don't have to go looking anywhere else. I'm already living every man's dream," Sasuke winked.
"Not every man's. I'm happy with just having one woman who has my whole heart," Naruto smirked.
"I'm glad to hear that but if for some reason you're still jealous about us in a couple weeks, I'll just sleep with her and then you'll know its out of our systems," his evil friend joked.
"Like hell!" roared Naruto in his Hokage voice.
"That's what she said last time I tried to get her to sleep with me, then I ended up in a wall or was it the wall first, that part gets fuzzy. Anyways, the way you two go at it, she must be a wild cat in the sack," Sasuke pondered, wondering if he was going to get sent into another wall.
Seeing Naruto slip into his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Sasuke decided had taken it too far and it was time to stop teasing the man and leave. He had never unsealed a room faster in his life. Vanishing as soon as he could. Naruto chuckled darkly to himself, making the avenger tuck tail and run was the high light of his morning so far.
It had been a week since the slug princess had confirmed Sakura's pregnancy. She still hadn't found a good way to tell the father. He still seemed to be angry with her or hurt. Whenever she asked him about it he blew her off saying he was fine. If he said that four letter word one more time she was going to shove it back down his throat. She didn't know if that was her temper rearing its ugly head or the hormones. She was finishing up her paperwork for one of her patient's when she got an unexpected visitor.
"Raiden, what brings you here?" she asked smiling warmly at the boy, hoping he just needed help with woman problems that she could deal with.
"Some woman crashed our training, she kicked our asses and said if we didn't bring you and only you to her she'd kill Haruko," the boy panted, not the woman problems she was expecting.
"Let's go," she ordered, hurrying away from her desk to follow the boy to the training grounds.
Once there, the sight she held made her want to cry, like almost everything did the passed week. Haruko was a bloody mess, probably because she doesn't know when to back down just like her sensei and Arashi was no where to be seen. Holding the girl hostage was the woman the village Hidden in the Petals called Mother, or Queen. She had earned that title by being extremely dangerous with her close combat style and summoning abilities.
"Kamiko, I didn't think you would be the one coming right after your sister, Umeko, I think you skipped a few levels of soldiers," Sakura noted.
"My dear sweet sister told me such a large tale about you I had to come see for myself," smiled the woman wiping blood off her hands.
She had a head covering with her forehead protector in it. Sakura had never seen her hair color and had always wondered if it was as white as her sister's. Her eyes were nothing like that of Umeko, they were a fierce gold. This woman was known for her surprise attacks and going for her opponent's guts. She claimed to hate hitting women in the face but the little cherry blossom didn't see the difference, pain was pain no matter where it was felt on the body. She was the worst possible match for Sakura in her current condition of being with child. She pooled all her chakra to her womb to act as a shield if the woman landed an attack.
"Please give me back the girl," Sakura requested.
"Are you going to fight me for her?" the Petal leader grinned hoping the answer was yes.
"No, and I can't trade places with her either, my life isn't my own anymore. But I know two boys who will oblige you," Sakura was now the one to grin as she felt the shift in the air.
She had come to be very familiar with it since Naruto was all too happy to use his teleporting technique whenever he wanted. He appeared and was already in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. She was sure there was a story there but she would have to ask later.
Naruto assessed the situation and before his wife could tell him how dangerous the Petal woman was he pulled out two clones both in the same form. One charged the woman that had his broken student with him while they distracted her the other gently rescued the girl, taking her to Sakura to patch up.
Kamiko wasn't having fun yet, the blond that was after her was amusing but he didn't seem to be giving her his full attention. She would be the first to admit the rosette was distracting but if he was going to let it affect the fight she was going to take advantage of it. She bit down hard on her thumb, drawing blood and summoned one of her beasts to do her bidding. Out of the seal rose an animal with the head and body of a lion with huge sharp horns on its head and the tail of a snake. It breathed fire at Naruto but he was fast enough to teleport to Sakura and out of the line of fire.
"Be careful, that's a chimera, if you get hit with that fire you'll be burned away to nothing," the pinkette warned him.
"I've got everything under control," he lied eying his wife.
He had sensed her chakra spike only because he had that talk with Sasuke and ended up in the state he was. Both clones went after the chimera as Naruto stayed by his love's side, waiting for her to finish up with Haruko. Standing there taking a good look at her he noticed where her chakra was spiked and it struck him as odd. He reasoned she must have been hit there but she didn't look like she had exchanged blows with the enemy yet. Once she was done healing the battered Haruko he was ready to take on the new opponent.
"Ready to fight with me?" he asked smiling.
"I can't," she replied looking away from him and to the ground.
He couldn't remember the last time he heard those words come from her mouth.
"Why? Cause she's your friend or are you scared?" he questioned slightly annoyed.
Her hot glare set upon him and he regretted his questions.
"The hell I'm scared, I said I can't, not that I won't. There's a difference idiot," she snarled.
Naruto grinned like a fool, he loved it when she was mouthy, if his student weren't there and a woman trying to kill him he would have thought about taking right there in the training field. Maybe it was the bad conditions that heightened the allure.
"Then why the hell can't you?" he yelled back, enjoying himself.
"You're not the only one I have to protect anymore," she stated seriously, a hand resting on her still flat belly.
Her overwhelming urge to cry was back, not only in her eyes but her whole body seemed to be consumed by it. Clarity opened his eyes and the cheeky fox grin fell away. It explained some of her behavior. When Tomo was pregnant with her firsts she had acted a little crazy. Jun hadn't acted all that different but comparing the two was pointless in his mind. Her not choosing the path of a ninja put her in a completely different category than the women who did. He knew how angry he would have been to find out she had battled this Petal woman while carrying his child. Yet here he was yelling at her to fight with him.
"Sakura," he murmured as he knelt down to place a large hand on her belly, her slim hand sliding over his. That close up he could feel it even with her chakra shield surrounding it. He felt so many different emotions flood into him the moment he realized he was going to be a father. The most dominating of them was a powerful determination to protect what was his. He had felt this way many times but never this intense.
"I'll fight with you, she still has Arashi somewhere," offered Haruko getting to her feet.
Raiden stepped up as well. He wasn't going to stand by and watch his teammate fight without him. Naruto's clones had kept the beast at bay but had lost out in the end to its fire. Nartuo moved away from Sakura so she wouldn't get caught up in the battle, his students flanked him.
"Are you ready to take me seriously?" the woman purred cuddling the lion's head and listening to it growl at its master's targets.
"I'd like my student back, first. Then I will fight you seriously to your hearts content," the sensei bargained.
The Petal ninja signed, "he's not worth keeping anyways," she threw out a scroll high above them, it unraveled and in mid air Arashi's body came unsealed from it. Haruko and Raiden raced to him before gravity could get the best of him. They grabbed his lifeless body before it could meet the ground in an abrupt fashion. The little demon checked him over as they pulled him back to the better medical ninja. He was alive but unresponsive.
"You sealed the boy?" the Leaf medic growled getting to her feet. Waves of anger washed over her as she thought of the dangers that placed on him. Her temper out in full force she was ready to tear the golden eyed bitch's head clean off. Her attention was stolen from her intended victim when the dark avenger was suddenly before her with two ANBU by his sides, Cat and Silver Dog.
"Late as always Sasuke, think Kakashi really rubbed off on you," Naruto teased.
"I wasn't really sure if you wanted me this close to her yet, but with as much chakra that is being thrown around out here I decided to risk it," the once evil man smiled darkly.
"We'll handle this," came the calm voice of one of the leaders of Team Kakashi.
"I'm handling this, you all just stay back and protect my family," Naruto's Hokage voice barked out.
Another familiar and calm voice from the team spoke out, "you're the Hokage now, you never have to fight alone again. But just because we've acknowledged your skill that doesn't give you the right to overlook ours."
"Since when do any of us listen to you anyways?" Sasuke jeered.
"I didn't realize this was going to be a group activity, guess I need to even the odds a bit," the summoner stated as her teeth sank into her skin again freeing more blood.
Another chimera burst forth, this one was larger with two heads, one of the lion and one of a goat. The front was lion chest and paws while the back was goat hooves. It's tail was that of a scorpion's and it had white feathered wings.
"Not another one," moaned Haruko.
"That's an impressive amount of chakra to summon like that," Cat noted.
"I'm not done yet," the Queen yelled, and slammed the ground with her still bloodied hand. This time an explosion of fire and earth came forth.
"You dare to summon me, you impudent whelp!" snarled the monster that had come forth from the seal.
"I think they will make it worth your while," she panted as she dodged an attack from her own beast.
Its three heads spewed fire at her before taking note of the Leaf ninja. This chimera had the lion's head in the middle with a goat on one side like the second one but in addition he had a dragon looking head on the other side. On its legs were patches of dragon scales along with the tan fir. Its giant wings where dark and scaly.
"I see the fox, you are forgiven this time," spoke the dragon's head in a deep gravely voice.
"Thank you my lord," she bowed to the monster, "you are too benevolent to your lowly servant."
"Flattery gets you no where, scum," snarled the goat in a higher pitched voice.
"Pay her no mind, I'm hungry for fox," the lion bared his teeth at the Hokage.
"Now you better let us help with no complaining, Naruto," chided his long time friend.
"Even if he orders us back, Silver Dog and I are here under different orders that surpass his," came Cat's confident voice from behind his mask.
"I've decided something," Naruto spoke with glee in his voice, "its a requirement of Leaf ninja to be too stubborn for their own good."
