I apologize. My hard drive broke and I had to rewrite this from scratch. Thanks for all the love, it's appreciated. Btw, ignore the last review I didn't write it -_-
CH10: The Silver Lining
Fugaku's phone clapped closed.
"The transaction is complete," He rhetorically notified, wandering back to the living area's morbidly low lights and symphonies of silence.
Minato confusedly precipitated the statement with distaste. "You are aware this isn't some business transaction. This was a child. Another human bei—"
Fugaku's chin dipped as he disrespectfully raised his hand in dismissal. "You're the last person with the authority to lecture me. You're just as much a part of this as I am."
The elder Uchiha's lethal glare injected a booster shot of poisonous irresponsibility into the apologetic male. The sting of defensiveness sent Minato's gaze packing. He admitted—the adoption of Serenity was communal property between the four of them. They were all co-conspirators involved in the crime of stealing the most precious accomplishment a person could achieve—a beautiful child. A little princess. Robbed from them, like a thief in the night.
Gone/
"Everyone bears responsibility, not only me."
Minato's throat constricted, bounded by remorse and indignity. "I know that," He stingily retorted through clenched teeth. Avoiding the cuffs of association, Minato repeatedly reminded himself that he wasn't nearly as ruthless as his brash lover. Well into the zero hour, he tried to convince Fugaku to do the "right" thing but he rescinded the from every proposed reversal. In the end, everything happened as expected.
Forever/
It must have been like handing over your beating heart. Parting with a new, innocent love that could not be returned.
The agony the two boys must have been experiencing—was unimaginable.
Minato felt his sore eyes look up as Fugaku migrated across the room to the small bar apparatus. "The disclosure papers have been signed and nothing will be leaked to the media," Fugaku arrogantly added as Minato dug his nails in the back of his hands. How did he fall in love with someone so narcissist? So careless? So tarnished?
"How did you ensure that, Fugaku?"
"It's amazing how threats work. Remind them how tragic it would be if their small adoption agency was be erased from business, leaving all those untainted souls displaced and suddenly they're sworn to secrecy."
Minato's champagne strands glistened in the concentration of the bleak lamp lights as he tilted his nose upward at the relaxed figure pouring twin glasses of Italian wine aged from 1857. Minato's thunderstruck eyes followed the amethyst ripple encircling the glass, feeling his lips numb. Spoilt with notoriety and only regarding his life requirements, Minato knew there was nothing left to say. Fugaku would propitiate his ego and maintain his lifestyle under any circumstances. He could never alter his train of thought under any determination—even when he begged him not to marry Mikoto. Begged him to give him time. But, as usual, his stay was denied.
As Minato rotated his unbearably cramped neck, he grasped the vertebrate carefully, connecting with those eyes that were as bottomless as a coal mine, accepting the bitter beverage.
"Is it worth it?... Is this worth it?" Minato asked, the wall shadows appearing like grotesque monsters dancing to the tune of their misplaced jealousy.
"Of course." Fugaku sipped the wine, brushing aside his dark hair, branding his certain gape into the dubitable eyes of the beautiful creation. The face he knew morphed into inalienable melancholy at the anguished reference in relation to the incident.
"You're worth it. Remember our—" Minato furiously shook his head, rolling the glass in his palms incessantly.
"Please don't talk about her," Minato pleaded, his eye sockets stinging like he was being pricked by cactus spikes. His lungs hollowed like a vacant cave as he spitefully shut his eyes, balancing his waves of breath. The dissymmetry of Charka cut him down to a mass of rehashed memories, hurt slicing through his reinvention and into the inner turmoil that was very much alive.
Fugaku abided by his lover's wishes and urged the pause in midsentence. Lowering the glass, his ears swallowed the sad sigh's echo as a whispered question marched across the room. "What if Naruto's life is leaked to the media, anyhow? What would you do then?"
"What will I do?" The Uchiha repeated as if he needed to hear it from the belly of his throat to be able to excogitate a decent response. "If I find them negligent for revealing their predicament to the press, I'll be a man of my word. I'll send Sasuke to Japan to complete his studies. And I recommend you send Naruto to Germany to complete his. If I evaluate the damage as uncontainable, I'll send him away. If I suspect him of leaking the information, I'll send him away. They won't rationally consider exposing the family if they wish to stay in their flimsy relationship."
Repulsed by the thought of Naruto's prescience, Minato swallowed a lump of anxiety.
The fissure was disrupted—burned at the flow of realization and surprise—they finally got what they wanted. But it still like tasted grapefruit—bittersweet. "You're worth it," Fugaku repeated directly into his grappling blue eyes familiar from years ago and still haunting him from a previous lifetime. His idyllic myriad of inexorable love and remarkable devotion hastened the mood as Minato felt the sensation in droves, knowing that Fugaku meant it—with every fiber of his being.
"It's all for you…"
Fugaku took a sip as Minato idly observed.
"You know that, don't you?"
Minato regretfully nodded.
"And I don't want you to suffer because… I love you." Belief transpiring through the shell of his heart, Minato quietly gasped in a package of air.
His love. It was dark. It was twisted. It was destructive. It was selfish.
But it was true.
And that was what scared Minato the most.
…
After contending with Naruto's removal from the humid rain to the master bedroom, Sasuke tried to conquer the task of getting Naruto out of his drenched clothes. If he stayed in them any longer he risked falling ill or contracting an infection because of his cesarean scar. Not wanting either of the two, Sasuke tried to complete the mission Naruto wasn't allowing in his current state. Quivering and swaying, skin pasty form the cooled water's moisture, tears indiscernible from the splash of rain on his face, Naruto clasped his shirt arms and pulled him in, his severe sobbing corrupting his angelic voice as he tried to explain. Partial lighting caused indigo eyes to blaze with grief while he binged on misconceived blame. Sasuke felt the rain water's glutinous properties as Naruto yanked his clothes away from the sticky safety of his skin. Immediately redirecting his faltering attention from Naruto's health to his ethereal fox-like face, he listened to the remaining shambles of his ramblings. "Sasuke, I'm sorry… I d-didn't know that—that they were going to m-make us give her up. I s-swear. I thought-I thought they were bluffing. I didn't k-know. I-I'm so sorry." Naruto's voice expired as he fell to his knees, grabbing at Sasuke's pant legs.
"Please forgive me…I'm sorry. I'm a fuck-up, I k-know but please, please don't leave me," Naruto shrilly begged, infused with woe and torment, bathed in the heaven's tears. The mussy canary hair smeared around the drenched tan face and neck left him looking like a beautiful mess as he tried to clarify to why this tragedy was all his fault.
A crack of thunder exploded as his damp hands furiously snatched the shins of his pants and Naruto stayed pleading on his knees.
Sasuke teared up as he miserably watched his devoted lover curl on the floor, begging for things no creature should ever have to. Taking full responsibility of the adoption of their first and only daughter when he didn't have any hand in triggering this catastrophe.
The excruciating pain from Naruto's thudding temples didn't stop him from his rant. He tightened his grip exponentially as he crawled closer to his stiffened boyfriend. "I know we don't have her anymore and that's my fault but please… Please don't—don't…" Naruto swallowed as a flash of lightening encompassed the evening sky like a tarp. A rap of thunder burst forth as Sasuke leveled with the new mother.
"Naruto, Naruto—" He managed to gain the focus of his erratic pupil's err. Gasping, light sobs skating through his rich, garden pink lips, Naruto gripped his denim jeans feeling as empty as a deserted town, shunned—abandoned by its occupants.
A reason to live? There wasn't one. His love, his baby, his little girl—was promised to someone else that wasn't him… and there wasn't anything him or anyone could do to reverse the feeling of helplessness.
He was lost.
It was over.
His life was over.
From his deadened present to his barren future.
"Listen to me. I am never going to leave you, ever. Do you hear me?" Sasuke's sincerity made Naruto bleed with refuse. Why didn't he just desert him? Everyone else had. His friends. His family. Why not Sasuke as well?
Naruto sniffled, ceaselessly nodding as Sasuke cupped the side of his neck.
"I love you, and that's never going to change."
I'm never going to give up on you/
Tears disgorged from underneath Naruto's lashes as he mentally confirmed the truth. "I l-love you—you too. So mu—" Naruto wept, a sob resting on the surface of his chest. "mu-chhh."
But I have nothing left to offer you/
"You can't blame yourself for this because it's not your fault. Do you hear me? …It's mine."
Naruto felt a slap of pain blossom in his abdomen caused his healing scar. The previous medications' effects wore thin because he neglected to take his medicine as scheduled. He knew that was a sore mistake when his stomach lurched from the enflamed sensation surrounding his scar.
Sasuke saw Naruto's mouth contract in pain. The Uchiha reacted by moving Naruto to the console of the bed, figuring he had forgotten his medication. He encircled his wrists, insuring that Naruto couldn't turn away or leave while he spoke. He needed to absorb everything he had to say in succession. It was crucial to their makeup, their being.
"The day I asked you to be mine was the day that it became my responsibility to protect you from harm. I thought I was doing a great job but the truth is I failed you. I've failed in life as a friend, as a boyfriend, and as a fucking father."
Taking a second, Sasuke continued, "If anyone's the fuckup, it's me…" Sasuke inhaled. "I dragged you into my fucked up family knowing you'd get hurt but I was too selfish to let you go."
"No, Sasuke—" Naruto shook his head, adamantly denying Sasuke's involvement in their daughter's departure. Everything was his fault. If he had sought an abortion then they wouldn't be in this predicament. Sasuke had nothing to do with his wishful stupidity.
There was no indication that this would occur. He had hope for their families. He thought Serenity would change everything. But he guessed he was too idealistic—too hopeful for people that were absolutely hopeless.
"Naruto, if you were with anybody else—this would have never happened to you. You would have gotten to keep your baby… My father set this in motion and convinced the rest of them to follow." Sasuke muttered, clearly envisioning Naruto and Kiba as the happy couple that everybody idolized instead. A couple that everyone rooted for instead of against—accepted by the masses opposed to rejection. Happiness substituted by complete misery.
Naruto should have choosen Kiba. He should have choosen happiness.
"If anyone should be begging for your forgiveness it should be me," Sasuke croaked, his shimmery grey eyes apparently worn with doubt and self-resentment. Engrossed by the ooze of Naruto's diverging lackluster aura, Sasuke connected with the free skin of his palms to remind him that yes, he was here, dying with him.
"Sasuke—no."
Sasuke halted Naruto with a touch to his tear scarred cheeks. "Naruto… I'm supposed to shield you from everything… I'm supposed to be the one that's supposed to make everything okay. This time… I couldn't do that and for that, I'm so sorry." Sasuke roped Naruto in with his trembling arm, entombing Naruto into the full force of his repentance.
The muffled cries of the desolate mother caused Sasuke to wedge his face into Naruto's neck, aware of their transforming personalities—feeling their old selves fall straight through the cracks.
…
April 18
With so much said and so many things left unsaid, Naruto cried himself to sleep, their agony plummeting into alignment. Jumbled in the cotton comforter, while sprawled out on the plush mattress, Sasuke stirred before the wake of dawn, sleeping in a twilight disturbed by the conjuring of his overactive mind. Under the dormant sun, he took a look at the beauty coiled in his arms, feeling the dampness meet his unveiled skin. Even though he was in a somber slumber Sasuke could feel a powerful wavelet of discomfort. He could only imagine the nightmares jarring his mind.
He cried a majority of the night, shaking and whispering nothings against his chest, sobs stalling his shallow breathing. At times it was unclear if Naruto was awake or asleep or a strange combination of both.
"S-Seren-ity… I'm sorry," Naruto mumbled, eyebrows creasing, lips barely flowering into motion.
"Shhh…" Sasuke pet his hair, trying to pull him from his horrid hallucinations of regret. Feeling the twist of rapt desperation, Sasuke couldn't fathom the guilt coursing through his system. But when Naruto stopped fidgeting in the sheets, Sasuke was thankful. Even though the imaginable had happened, Naruto needed to retain some type of rest. He wouldn't recover from his labor trauma if he didn't sleep sometime in the near future. Rubbing Naruto's back like he was accustomed to when he was pregnant, Naruto fell emotionally restless again—his face tumbling down a hill of apathy.
Sasuke refrained from crying, trying to play the solid pillar.
Careful from alerting Naruto, Sasuke slid out of the blue blanket to take a shower. Turning the cold water on low, remembering how he surrendered his daughter, Sasuke stepped into the spray of the frosty liquid. Closing the shower door, he rested his forehead against the cold tile, his hands joining the team. With a glower of rage, Sasuke pounded his fists against the tile. A sob sprung from the walls of the bathroom as Sasuke snapped, yielding to the baiting camouflage of sadness.
She was gone. Forever. His daughter. His first born. His only daughter.
And there was nothing that he could do.
He had signed the papers and given her up to the system, letting her go into the unknown.
Faced with the hardest decision of his life, he forfeited. He feared losing Naruto forever to the threat of his father. Had he not agreed, Minato would have sent Naruto to a German boarding school where they would lose all contact with one another. Initially meandering through the ultimatum, he was unsure if the latter was worth it. Refusing would have led to the loss of Serenity and Naruto. Fighting them for the sake of pride? Was it worth it? Fighting them for the love of their daughter? Was it worth it?
Sasuke couldn't be certain. In their living, breathing nightmare there wasn't a right or a wrong, only pain.
Sasuke wiped away his pitiful combination of water and tears, finishing showering, trying to keep the volume level as to not wake Naruto.
Naruto should have never known that this was more than he could bear. All he needed to know was that he loved him enough to not add his weight to his burden.
…
April 25
Sasuke and Naruto filed through the door, quietly closing it behind them as a ray of light glowing from a welcoming lap in the foyer.
Sasuke was returning Naruto to his household of origin against his will, predicting that his hellion parents were wondering where he was. He didn't want them to resort to directing a squad of cops them to uncover their location. It would be best if proved with his presence that they didn't attempt to escape the country.
Dropping the small duffle bag of personal items to the floorboards, Naruto threw himself into Sasuke's arms, latching onto him like a barnacle.
Hearing the shuffling, hoping Naruto had arrived home from where he had been currently hiding since the 17th. He wasn't answering any of their calls, nor had they tried to contact them for any reason. Minato didn't feel the need to search the vicinity—earning a right hook from his wife, former female boxing champion. With the frigid husband's cold attitude, she hurled her wedding band into his forehead, declaring their relationship a wrap.
She loved her child more than she loved any foolish man.
"I love you," Sasuke whispered into Naruto's ear, tightening around Naruto like a shell of enamel.
"I love-love you too." Naruto sobbed, a fog of dismay raining over titanium-yellow bristles.
Kushina looked at them, internally classifying them as the classic epitome of love. Dabbing her glassy eyes, Naruto kissed Sasuke, their souls intermingling for the single pause in time.
As Sasuke left the mother of his child behind, not paying Kushina an ounce of attention, Naruto collapsed against the door.
"Sweetie." Her emotions gained the best of her as she extended her hand to the recovering boy praying her maternal touch had a renewing influence.
But Naruto backlashed, appalled that she tried to participate in such an intimate gesture after what monstrosity she partook in. "Mom, if you fucking touch me…" Tears slid down Naruto's cheeks as he pulled in air through his overworked lungs. "I swear—I will break every finger in your fucking hand."
With the promising threat, Kushina remained stapled to where she stood.
Appreciating that she didn't proceed any further, Naruto staggered to the room on the first floor of the house, his weak body unable to complete the arduous task of climbing the spiral staircase.
Intersecting his newly renewed sperm donor, Naruto paused, unexpressive.
Glaring at his weakened son, he pushed his hands into his lax suit. "See you're back." He glanced at his worn disposition. "Keep it that way."
"Why do you hate me so much?" Naruto quietly asked, his rate of hostility waning. Slippery tears running down his face like Niagara Falls.
Identical pink lips parted, feeling the authentic confusion connect from Naruto's bewildered soul.
"You know what?" Naruto sadly smiled. "It doesn't even matter—you've won. Because…"
Naruto pulled the dufflebag ahead of his knees, "I'm not fighting with you anymore." Opening the unused bedroom door, Naruto looked back at the horribly taut man.
"So go ahead. Take a victory lap."
Devilishly traumatized, Minato quickly retreated to his quarters, squaring an area to sulk. And when Kushina checked the bedroom in the morning, Naruto was gone again.
…
May 2
Sasuke smelled the ink on freshly printed paper in the room, figuring his father was plotting to make another stinging announcement. His depression aching body wobbled toward the cluttered desk that dipped under the weight of the LAPD's documents. Sleep was a dream as of late, as was the fantasy called rest. The dark bags below his eyes announced his fatigue in plain view. Every time he shut his eyes, he saw Naruto black out in the maternity ward and the haunting blueness of his daughter's convivial eyes. One would call it a nightmare but he called it hell.
In his crumpled home clothes, he waited for his father to tell him the purpose of this meeting.
"It's been two weeks Sasuke."
Sasuke's heart shriveled at the words. He silently wished he could run from his father's overbearing hammer of control but he knew if he did, it would only bode worse for him later.
"It's about time you return to school. There's no place for delinquents in this family," Fugaku's ominous voice murmured with little forethought. As he returned to referencing a witness's affidavit, a refraction of the afternoon light adding to eldest Uchiha's lethargic mood.
Sasuke spluttered, misunderstanding the command, "But Naruto needs—"
Fugaku's dark, gashing eyes floated up to Sasuke's petrified appearance. "I don't believe this was a discussion boy." He slammed his pen down, glowering at his withering son. "I don't give a damn about what your damsel in distress needs. You can either return to school now or enroll in a school in Japan later. Am I clear?"
Sasuke's tired eyes shied to the gleaming floorboards. There was no fighting. He was sick and tired of fighting. It wasn't getting him anywhere. If anything, it made everything worse.
He needed to rehabilitate Naruto. He couldn't be relocated to Japan. It would uproot everything he had built for himself here. His life was here. Naruto was his life. Naruto was here.
But if he returned to school, the effects would be adversely towards Naruto. While he was aware of that, the alternative was far worse.
Leaving the issue unhandled, Sasuke left the room knowing that this was the beginning of the end.
…
Sasuke returned to his room where Naruto was peacefully resting after he had successfully convinced him into a small meal and some medicine.
Feeling a pounding headache come on, Sasuke thought it would be better if he told Naruto immediately rather than sitting on the information.
"Naruto, baby," Sasuke called, slightly shaking him awake.
Naruto quickly shot up, eyes darting off the walls.
"Naruto. I'm um, going back to school next week, Monday." Sasuke revealed.
Naruto crawled hastily out of the sheet, snatching Sasuke's shoulders.
"Wait, Sasuke—don't go. Is it because of me?" Naruto eyes plugged all the fraction of blame and the debris of loneliness and blame into Sasuke's rueful muted silver eyes.
"I'll stop whining, I promise. Just don't go back yet. I'm not ready yet," Naruto begged, his lips shuddering a mist of bright red flaming his cheeks.
'So beautiful. So innocent,' Sasuke mused, wishing that Naruto didn't have to face all this pain. He deserved better. He deserved someone better.
"Naruto, Naruto. It's not you. It's… Fugaku, he's threatening to send me to Japan if I don't return."
A shock of disappointment flooded those stunning ultramarine eyes that were as majestic as the mountain landscapes. "I'm sorry," Sasuke sincerely apologized.
Naruto shook his head. Sasuke didn't need to be sorry because he already was.
Sorry for thinking they could ever be happy with one another.
…
May 7
Even with the stabbing pain in his abdomen, Naruto completed his standardized tests at the designated college for his online program. He tried to disregard it in order to score as high as possible. Even though his life was sliding down hill, it didn't mean that his grades had to follow. He wanted to do his best so he could eventually leave this hellhole and stammer out of his grave.
But who was he kidding? There wasn't a miracle that could revive him from the dead.
Feeling stripped to his bare minimums—he returned to the scene of his pain. His room.
A haunting eeriness protruded as he viewed his room for the first time since he had given Serenity up. Sauntering in closer, Naruto realized everything from the empty baby bottle to the scattered baby jumpers was left untouched. He felt like a shot of morphine had been injected underneath his skin as kneeled in front of the baby items that Shizune had neatly organized in the corner. Rolling the orange squishy dragon in his palms, tears welled in his eyes when he remembered how dedicated he was to providing for their baby. Every weekend he begged Shizune to buy new toys and baby necessities that he had seen online at Baby's R Us. Unfortunately, items that would ultimately go unused.
Swedish cyan's dressed in saline roved over the boxed barbies and alphabetical learning cards and practice books. He strummed his fingers over the spines of the books, putting the toy into his lap. He looked over the shelf over his bed at the vacant space of where his toy Kyuubi stayed since he was 7. It no longer occupied its old home because Naruto had given the precious memento to his daughter. Where it belonged.
Even if they never saw each other again, she would have evidence that he did exist, evidence that he had given him an essential component of his being.
Something he and her father shared.
Swiping away the film of tears, Naruto pondered what to do with all the things his daughter would never use. He could donate them to less fortunate children in desperate need but there was always the possibility his father wouldn't allow it even if it was anonymously contributed.
Naruto flinched at the hesitant knock against the wooden door. Abruptly turning to the figure, he was only met with a concerned Shizune. Sniffling, Naruto relaxed as she walked into the room carefully.
"Naruto, is…?" A ball of grueling irresolution clogged her throat as the chilling current roamed through the room space.
A tormenting sob drilled into Naruto's trembling body as he enshrouded his mouth. "Yes, s-she's gone Shi-s-zune."
A deafening muteness invaded as Naruto felt the sharpness of a bayonet carve out the love and devotion he had prepared for Serenity, harboring the untainted emotions and swapping it with a soundless hollow. A numbness that no human being should ever experience.
Feeling the fresh groove in Naruto's eternally altered life; Shizune couldn't find any words that would be even remotely comforting.
"Can you—" She looked up immediately. "please help me move these things into the closet?"
Shizune nodded, knowing that this wasn't only the end to their chapter but that it might be the last one in the book.
…
May 11
All the statues that he used to know changed into unfriendly strangers as they stared like he was a foreign creature. They didn't know what he had just endured. The separation that he suffered was the worst anyone could imagine. He couldn't speak—he could barely move. His bones creaked and muscles ached as he floated through the halls, performing the motions of a "regular" student. People didn't bother persuading Sasuke into a talking about the awful ordeal. They couldn't even accomplish eye contact; he would look through them like they were transparent.
Gaara, Temari, and Sai couldn't get him to utter a word. His stress lingered over the group like a black cloud. Sasuke was the black sheep of their posy but he that didn't mean that the deserved to be wallowing in a cavity of overwhelming pain. Every day was the same. He came like a phantom and left like one too.
Kiba was suspicious as to why Sasuke seemed to be crumbling at the seams. He hoped that his sorrow wasn't Naruto-centric. He wanted Naruto to be healthy and happy, preferably without Sasuke. If he found out otherwise, the fucking Uchiha was a dead man walking.
Sasuke avoided all contact with every single individual he crossed. He didn't care about them. All he could think about was Naruto. He wanted to be home—tending to Naruto's C-section wound and assembling Naruto's mental health. With an entire house abundant with weapons and poisonous medicines available, he feared Naruto would try to harm himself, possibly even turn suicidal. To try to remedy his pronounced anxiety, he texted him until he pulled into the driveway. His number one priority was Naruto's safety.
After his first week away, he called Naruto to ensure he was doing everything he needed to in regard to the geometry testing.
"Hey, Naruto how was your day?"
Silence took a front seat.
"Fine."
There was an atypical aloofness that Sasuke had never received from Naruto before. It was like there was a different person on the other end of the phone.
Ambling, Sasuke refused to believe what he knew was true.
Naruto was too far gone.
..
Poor SasuNaru.
Snifffleeee, thanks for reading.