My Everything
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry that this one took so long. I really have been struggling for how to make this story not anticlimactic. That and other story plot bunnies were hopping faster. I have so many ideas that I have in the back of my head at the moment. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter Notation: This one takes place a month after the last one.
Chapter 13
"Sasuke, why are we in the Land of the Waves?" Naruko asks in confusion, one month later.
"Naruko, you're pregnant. You deserve to take a vacation for a few days. Enjoy being away from the paperwork for a bit." Sasuke says as he checks them into a beautiful inn.
"Awe. That's sweet of you, bastard. You wanted a romantic getaway." The blonde says with a grin.
Sasuke actually had more reasons for bringing her to the Land of Waves than a romantic getaway, but that was one of them. So technically, he wasn't lying when he nodded his head in agreement. He just wasn't telling her the whole truth yet.
"Yeah. Plus it will be nice to have some privacy and not have others glaring at me for deflowering their princess." Sasuke adds with a shrug.
"Oh come on. They do not look at you like that!" She protests.
The eldest Uchiha raises an eyebrow. Was Naruko really going to try to pretend that wasn't what happened in the Leaf? She was either oblivious or lying through her teeth.
"Oh really?" Her lover asks.
"Alright. Maybe they do a little, but it's getting better. Isn't it?" She asks a bit mournfully.
The raven haired ninja just shakes his head and sighs. Naruko really had this idea that if she just wished for something strongly enough, it would happen. So far he couldn't exactly blame her for this belief.
That is largely what had happened throughout her life. Still it was going to take a long time for the Leaf Village to really accept him again. That was just the reality of the situation.
"Yes, it is getting better. I don't care though. I didn't come back for them. I came back for you and to honor Itachi's legacy." He informs her.
"I really wish that you could see in the Leaf what I do. You wanted to be Hokage once what changed? You must have loved the village to want to run it." The blonde insists.
"We both know that you are a far better Hokage than I could ever be. I wanted to run the village to prevent more people from sharing Itachi's fate. I might have loved it once when I was a kid, but those days are long gone. Now I protect it for you and our child." The other ninja replies honestly.
Naruko sighs. Sasuke was still Sasuke. He always had to be a bastard in one way or another. Still he was HER bastard and she loved him anyway. She smiles and offers him her hand as they head towards their room.
"Well at least his instinct to protect you and the child is strong. You can't fault him for that. You honestly don't know why he wanted to go to the Land of the Waves?" Kurama asks in a voice that suggested it should have been glaringly obvious.
"No. I don't know. Do you? Come on. Tell me. What's the big secret? I don't buy that it's just for a romantic getaway. Sasuke wouldn't lie to me, but he is good at keeping secrets when he wants to be." The blonde says.
Kurama just shakes his head. He couldn't believe that the brat was missing the obvious. Oh well. He wasn't going to spoil the Uchiha's surprise in that case.
"Nevermind. You'll find out soon enough anyway." The Nine Tails mutters as he temporarily cuts the link between them.
Naruto huffs. Damn furball. How dare he cut her off in the middle of a conversation. She sighs and sits on the bed.
"Are you going to tell me what the big surprise is now?" She demands.
"What makes you think there is a big surprise?" Sasuke asks casually as he begins unpacking for them.
Naruko had offered to help, but Sasuke was insistent. The blonde tried to inform Sasuke that she was three months pregnant, not crippled. He wasn't having any of it though. So in the end, she decided to just watch her lover unpack for them.
"Kurama told me that something is up. He's usually pretty perceptive about these types of things. He won't tell me what it is though." The blue eyed woman says.
"The Nine Tails need to learn when to keep his mouth shut. I'll tell you about the surprise later. It's been a long trip. You should probably get some sleep." Sasuke says as he walks over and kisses her.
Naruko kisses back. Sasuke was sneaky sometimes. He was trying to distract her by kissing her and it was working.
"That's cheating and you know it." She grumbles after breaking the kiss.
"What's cheating?" Sasuke asks with a smirk as he pushes her onto the bed and kisses her ear.
"Kissing me. You are just trying to distract me and ahhh that feels good." She quietly moans when Sasuke's hands began to wander.
Naruko had always been rather sensitive to touch. Sasuke had known that since forever, but especially after they became lovers. He knew that it had something to do with hormones, but her pregnancy only made her even more sensitive. This was a fact that Sasuke greatly enjoyed exploiting.
"Just relax. It'll be a good surprise. You'll see. Why don't you get some sleep and I'll finish unpacking, alright?" He asks.
"Mmm alright. You win for now. But I'm going to find out what you are really up to." She warns him.
"I look forward to it. Good night." He says as he covers her with the blanket and briefly fluffs her pillow before going back to his current task of unpacking.
Naruko shakes her head. The blonde decides that this time, she'd let him off easy. Still she privately vowed to figure out what he was up to soon.
Sasuke sighs in relief when his lover fell asleep. This would give him some time to plan. He wanted everything to be perfect for when he proposed.
Naruko was three months along. She would likely start showing relatively soon. He didn't want her to have to walk down the aisle in her third trimester. Finding a wedding kimono alone would be murder and it just wouldn't be comfortable.
"I would have proposed to her anyway, but I wanted to wait until things had settled down more." He muses.
It didn't matter in the end. He loved his lovable "dumb" blonde. Well Naruko wasn't dumb. She was just a creature of instinct. The woman was utterly without guile.
That was really one of the things that he loved most about her. She was perhaps the only person in his life, who hadn't tried to manipulate him for one reason or another. Even Itachi, had lied to him about the circumstances behind the Massacre. Naruko was the only person alive, that he trusted completely. (Well other than their unborn child.)
"Hopefully, the ring fits." He mutters to himself.
It had been his mother's ring. It was quite beautiful. A silver band with a large heart shaped ruby in its center framed by two medium sized circular diamonds.
His father may not have been the most attentive father in the world, but he at least had good taste in jewelry. Sasuke had to give him that much. Though now that he was an adult, he knew the real reason why Fugaku had been somewhat neglectful. The man had a lot on his mind. Planning a coup couldn't have been easy.
"I won't let it happen again." He mutters.
He wouldn't allow his second family to be as isolated as the first. His child would never have to suffer the way he and Itachi did. Sasuke would make sure of it.
The raven haired man had loved his father. He idolized him really. He had just been an oblivious child. Sasuke just hadn't understood what was going on at the time. So he didn't really blame Fugaku for being somewhat absent. Still he was going to be a BETTER father to his child than the former Uchiha Patriarch had been.
A few hours later, Naruko woke up from her slumber. Sasuke smiles and leads her out of the inn and towards the bridge. Team Seven had helped to make this bridge possible after all.
"Wow. It's amazing to see it all finished." Naruko says with a smile.
"Yeah." Sasuke agrees as he wraps his arms around her waist and admires the view.
It really was a beautiful night. The Moon was full and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The stars were bright and the only sounds that could be heard were the faint chipping of crickets.
He had never really been a romantic by nature. Still he could be, if he wanted to be. The eldest Uchiha knew enough about romance to realize that the setting was perfect at least.
"So are you going to tell me the real reason why you brought me here?" She asks with a smile as she leans back against him.
"Yeah. I'll tell you. Do you remember the first time we were here, when we fought against Haku?" He asks.
Naruko tilts her head. How could she ever forget that? She had thought that Sasuke was dead. They all had. He had very nearly died in her arms.
"Yes, of course I do. It was our first real mission and you almost died. You really should stop doing that by the way. I don't like it!" She grumbles at him.
"Believe me, I would prefer to avoid near death experiences as well. I think that's the first time that I knew. Well at least subconsciously anyway. You know how people say that when you are about to die, your life flashes before your eyes?" The raven haired ninja inquires as he places a gentle kiss to her shoulder.
The blonde didn't really like where this conversation was going. The last thing she wanted to think about was Sasuke almost dying. That was especially true when she was pregnant!
"Yeah. What are you trying to get at though?" She demands.
"When my life flashed before my eyes, all I saw were images of you. Our first kiss, fighting at the Academy, training, and even that time we had an eating contest. So I think that I always knew at least subconsciously that you were the one that I wanted to be with." He says.
Naruko blinks. Well she wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but a romantic declaration wasn't it. Sasuke was better at expressing himself physically than with words.
That had always struck her as a bit odd really. Sasuke was a genius. He certainly didn't lack the vocabulary to express himself. But anything emotional, was hard for him really.
"Awe that's really sweet. I love you too." Naruko says happily and she tilts her head back just enough to kiss him.
Sasuke smiles and returns the kiss. Well he supposed it was likely now or never. He slides something on her neck.
Naruko blinks when she breaks the kiss. She felt something on her neck. Curious, she glances down at it and gasps.
It was a beautiful necklace with a silver chain. Something was odd about it though. The centerpiece looked like a…ring? She takes the necklace off and examines it more closely.
"It's a wedding ring?" The blonde says in a stunned voice.
"Yes, it is. Will you marry me? I know that we are already living together and you're pregnant. So we kinda went out of order, but I do love you. You know that. I just haven't always done a good job at showing it." He admits.
"YES!" She says and tackles him to the ground in a giant bear hug.
Sasuke umpfs. Naruko really could be very enthusiastic sometimes. He was suddenly rather grateful that the bridge was as strong as it was. Otherwise, they would have both gotten rather wet. (And not in the fun way.)
"So that's what he was planning!" Naruko says to Kyuubi.
"Yes, it was. I can't believe you couldn't figure it out. Why else would he take you to the Land of Waves, specifically?" Kurama asks her.
"I don't know! You could have told me. You jerk!" The pregnant woman grumbles.
Kurama shakes his head at Naruko's antics. Honestly, even he knew that would have ruined the surprise and the moment. She'd see that one day. He cuts the link. He wasn't going to listen to her yell at him.
"Naruko, are you okay? You spaced out again." Sasuke says.
"I'm better than okay! I'm amazing. I can't believe we are getting married! Sorry, about that. Um I was talking to Kurama. That bastard knew what you were up to and he didn't tell me!" She exclaims.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. He didn't know how Naruko did it. The eldest Uchiha would never understand how she got so excited about everything. It should have been exhausting.
"Of course he didn't tell you. That would have spoiled the surprise. Oh and as much as I do appreciate your enthusiasm, you probably shouldn't jump me like that. You're pregnant. You don't want to hurt yourself or the baby." Sasuke chides her gently.
"Yeah. I guess you're right. Don't worry so much though. This is our kid. I bet they are going to be super strong! They can handle it!" She says as she nods her head vigorously as if to prove her point.
Sasuke laughs and gently nudges her off of him. He smiles and scoops her up Bridal Style, before carrying his lover back to their room. Well that went better than he thought it would.
They spent the next few days in the Land of Waves, celebrating their engagement. All too soon, it was time to return to the Leaf. The Leaf would only tolerate its Hokage being gone for so long before people started to get "twitchy."
"Can we make a public announcement? There is so much to do! Hey, Sasuke what kind of cake do you like?" Naruko asks happily.
"They already know we are together. So alright. We can make an announcement. As far as a wedding cake goes, you can get whatever you like. The cake isn't the desert that I'm interested in." He says smugly.
Naruko feels her face heat up. She didn't know how he did it, but he still made her blush sometimes. It was a gift really.
"You are such a pervert!" She grumbles.
"Of course, I am. It's a good thing that I am too." Sasuke says with a smirk as he places his hand on her stomach.
The blonde couldn't exactly argue with THAT reasoning. Still it was the principle of the thing. She wasn't going to let Sasuke get off that easily. (Well at least not outside of the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the training grounds, and there was that one time in the classroom. Damn…what was she thinking about again?)
"God only knows what sorts of twisted things you saw in the Sound. Those perverts really rubbed off on you. I'm innocently discussing our wedding cake with you and that's what's on your mind?" She demands as she places her hands on her hips.
"Well yeah. I mean we are getting married. Naturally that means we'll have a Honeymoon. It's only logical. Hey! I don't want to hear a lecture about perversion coming from the woman who used a shadow clone to seduce me in a classroom." Sasuke says.
Naruko blushes a deep shade of red. She looks around and hopes no one heard that! It was one thing to have sexy fun times with Sasuke, it was another to broadcast the details of their intimate encounters to everyone!
"I swear if anyone overheard that, you aren't getting any sex for a month!" She warns him.
"Pft. Please. You wouldn't last a week and we both know it." Sasuke says.
"I could so, if I had to. I just don't want to and hmpf!" She says as she crosses her arms.
Sasuke shakes his head in amusement. She really was adorable when she sulked. He smiles and kisses the top of her head.
"I love you, even if you are weird sometimes. You can still pick what kind of cake you want though. I'm not picky." Sasuke assures her.
"Alright. We are going to have a really big chocolate cake with strawberry filling then." She says.
Sasuke nods. That was fine with him. He smiles and wraps his arms around his lover. She could have whatever kind of cake she wanted. He doubted he'd be paying much attention to it anyway.
"Alright." He agrees.
"And another thing, I don't really think that we should do the bachelor and bachelorette parties." She says.
The eldest Uchiha couldn't help but smirk at that confession. It was nice that she was jealous. Really, it was cute.
She had absolutely no reason to be though. Hell, she was the only one that he had ever looked twice at. Besides, who could compete with a busty blonde, energetic blonde, who really knew how to use shadow clones in creative ways? No one. That's who.
"I wasn't planning on having one anyway. Naruko, who do you really think I would invite? That and other women just don't arouse my interest like you do. That's why I'm marrying you and not them." Sasuke reasons.
"Good! So no parties then. Well at least not those kinds of parties. Hmm. What else should we discuss. Do you want an indoor or outdoor wedding?" The future mother asks brightly.
Sasuke pauses as he considers that. He didn't really care in the abstract. Still as a practical matter, outdoors was better.
"You're Hokage and the savior of the Ninja World. We have to have it outdoors by default. There's no indoor venue that would be big enough to house everyone that is going to want to show up." He warns her.
"Yeah. That's a good point. Definitely, outdoors then." She agrees and Sasuke nods.
Naruko seemed positively delighted to be making the wedding preparations. Sasuke was mostly humoring her. He was deliriously happy to be marrying he love of his life, it was just the minor details didn't really interest him all that much.
In reality, he supposed it was more of a woman thing. Weddings were a really big deal to most women. From what he could gather, almost every girl dreamed of their wedding day. It appeared that Naruko was no exception in this regard.
"See? Your daddy is smart. He's a bastard sometimes. But deep down, he's really a teddy bear." She says to her stomach.
"Naruko, I heard that." Sasuke growls.
"You were supposed to!" His future wife informs him happily and Sasuke just shakes his head at her antics.
Currently, Naruko was dragging him to the candy shop. It seemed that their child had a sweet tooth at the moment. Sasuke assumed he or she had inherited that from Naruko and not him. He hated sweets.
It didn't matter though. He was willing to indulge her in whatever she wanted. Pregnancy food cravings were a normal part of the process. He had read up, once he realized Naruko was pregnant.
"You know that's not very nutritious." Sasuke states as he watches Naruko get a lollipop.
A really big lollipop. It was also rather colorful. Sasuke blinks. He was sure that he counted at least eight colors on that thing.
"Yeah. I know, but I really want it for some reason." She says as she gets it.
Sasuke shrugs. He had no idea the Holy Hell that damn lollipop was going to put him through. There was something extremely Freudian about watching his beautiful blonde suck and lick at it.
A few hours later, Sasuke decides whoever had invited lollipops was one sadistic fuck. To make matters worse, Naruko seemed completely oblivious to his plight. He couldn't believe it.
"No more lollipops. Ever." Sasuke says.
"What? Why not?" She asks in confusion.
"Just no more lollipops. I'm sure that we can find another way to indulge your newly discovered sweet tooth." He says as they get home and he begins getting ready for bed.
Naruko tilts her head. She loved Sasuke, but he could be really weird sometimes. She shrugs. Oh well. For now, she had satisfied all her lollipop cravings anyway.
"That's okay for now. Come cuddle with me." She says with a smile.
"Naruko, I am a former S Class Criminal Ninja. I don't cuddle." Sasuke scoffs at the very suggestion.
"Yes, you do. You just don't call it cuddling. You're a great cuddler too!" She continues.
Sasuke sighs. Naruko was really going to be the death of him one of these days. He was sure of it. He walks over to the bed and lays down with her. Soon enough, he had his arms wrapped firmly around his future wife and kisses the top of her head.
"This is embracing. It's not cuddling. Just for the record." He insists.
"Whatever you say." His lover tells him cheekily.
"That's right." Sasuke says and he snuggles into his blonde.
Naruko was always so soft and warm. He found it difficult to sleep when she wasn't curled up next to him anymore. It was addicting really. Thank God that they lived together now. He probably would have gone nuts otherwise.
"That was sarcasm." She says.
"Yes, Naruko. I got that." He says and rolls his eyes.
Naruko giggles. It was always funny to tease Sasuke. Sasuke + emotion = comedy gold.
"I love you." She says as she yawns and closes her eyes, beginning to drift off to sleep.
"I love you too. This is still embracing and not cuddling though." He insists.
Naruko was already out like a light. Sasuke really did make the best blanket. His body was like a natural furnace. Idly, she thought that might be because he was from a Clan so closely associated with fire. That was the last thought on her mind before she drifted off to sleep.
"It'll be different this time. I promise." Sasuke whispers and kisses the top of her head, before he soon joins her in the Land of Dreams.
If he had known what the Daimyos had in store for them, he wouldn't have fallen asleep so early. Things had already been set in motion. The Daimyos were confident that what had to be done, was going to be done. They had just forgotten to factor in one thing. Kyuubi.