Author's note: Because I feel guilty and wanted to give you something after such a long wait, I have decided to cut the last part of this story in two. So that means that this story will have four parts in total instead of three. My apologies for that, but I wanted to give you something after such a long wait.

Thanks to the following reviewers: PinkiePieParty122894; KitsuneJen; 666snoopy; leighd1314; solitare1; sasunaru1214; sgriffin730; Weebio; Gloria; lara5170; Iraheta 127; richon; TheBeauty; Guest; Kalos; AviT

Warnings: Some fluff; some world building

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll enjoy this part!

Part 3

"You're beautiful."

Taken aback, Naruto stared at Sasuke. "What brought that on?" he smiled bemused.

"I can't tell you you're beautiful?" Sasuke asked lightly, lounging on the bed as he watched Naruto straighten up from where he had placed Aiko in his cot.

"I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, though," Naruto said and after adjusting the blanket around Aiko, he walked to the bed, sitting down.

"You don't have to be doing anything to be beautiful," Sasuke remarked and he sat up, closing his fingers around Naruto's wrists to draw him closer.

Naruto easily followed, even as the tips of his ears glowed with warmth at the compliment. "You appear to be in a good mood," he commented.

"Hm, I had a fruitful day," Sasuke agreed and guided Naruto to sit on his lap.

Naruto did so, clamping his thighs around Sasuke's and resting his hands against the demon's stomach. He considered Sasuke's reply, thinking back to the past few weeks during which Sasuke had often returned home in a foul mood. Initially he had assumed that it was a new summoning that had caused Sasuke's bad mood, but now that he thought about it, a new contract wouldn't explain why at times Suigetsu, Karin or Jugo would accompany Sasuke.

"What made it so fruitful?" Naruto questioned curiously.

"I finally tracked down some vermin that was on the run for me," Sasuke replied satisfied.

For a moment Naruto considered asking what or who this particular vermin had been, but recalling the bad mood Sasuke had been in for so long made him rethink doing so. He had no desire to put Sasuke back in a foul mood and it didn't really matter in the end who or what the vermin had been.

Sasuke nuzzling his cheek pulled Naruto out of his thoughts. "I want to ask you something," he murmured, running his hands slowly across Naruto's back.

"What do you want to ask?" Naruto glanced at the cot when Aiko murmured, but the baby remained blissfully asleep.

"Will you do me the honour of marrying me?"

Naruto jerked his head back and stared wide-eyed at the demon. Sasuke gazed back calmly, but his eyes were intense and his hands came to rest on Naruto's lower back like a hot brand searing him through his shirt.

"You are serious," Naruto said slowly, wonderous.

"I am," Sasuke said. "If you are not ready yet or you do not wish to be wedded again, I would completely un-"

"Yes!" Naruto cut him off abruptly, surprising both himself and Sasuke.

His mouth was quicker than his brain was, but somehow it felt more than right to agree. Why would it not be? He had admitted his feelings and had followed Sasuke all the way to his own realm. He was here to stay with Sasuke and had no intention to leave him, not when he finally knew how love – non-familial love – felt like. They had known each other for longer than a year already; that was much longer than he had known Neji before they had become married. That marriage had been anything but born out of love. Love had never even managed to play a part in it, not even as a weak seedling.

The thought of marrying Sasuke felt right, so why wouldn't he say yes?

"Yes?" Sasuke echoed; a joyful smile slowly spreading across his mouth.

"Yes!" Naruto grinned, laughing when the arms around him tightened, pressing him closer against the demon.

His laughter was quickly muffled by a pair of hungry lips and Naruto moaned when a pair of eager hands landed on his arse, palming his cheeks through the cloth.

"When do you want to get married?" Sasuke asked in a rough voice when he pulled back; his hands starting to massage Naruto's arse.

"When can it happen?" Naruto shot back in return, breathing quickly.

Excitement spread like heat through his body at the wolfish grin Sasuke offered him.

"As soon as possible," he promised.

That was perfectly fine for Naruto.

"When you were still in the human realm, did you take anything that would prevent seed from taking?"

Tsunade's brisk question had Naruto nearly choking on air. Aiko looked on curiously as Naruto tried not to make it too obvious that the inquiry had taken him off guard.

"I'm sorry?" he asked bewildered and cleared his throat.

He was sitting in the garden on a blanket with Aiko leaning against him. The little boy was patting curiously at a toy in the form of a soft cube that Jugo had gifted him. Aiko was utterly enthralled with the way he could grab at the toy and indent it with his small fingers.

The Kyuubi, who had taken to lying near Naruto whenever he was outside, seemed quite taken with the toy as well; his red eyes fixated on the toy. Whenever Aiko's clumsy grip would make the toy bounce off, Kyuubi would push it back with his snout, making Aiko giggle. At that sound Kyuubi would twitch his tails and even utter a grumbling noise at times. Fortunately he always kept his fangs hidden whenever he would approach them or touch one of Aiko's toys, making certain that the deadly potion secreted by his fangs wouldn't harm either Naruto or Aiko or damage the toy in question.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, ignoring the way Kyuubi regarded her suspiciously. "Did you ever take something that would prevent seed from taking in your womb?"

"No, never," Naruto answered after a pause.

He could have ingested a particular tea every week if he would have asked the castle's healer for it, but during their entire marriage, Neji had only bedded him once during their wedding night. Nothing had come from that night and since then Neji had never touched him again, making drinking the preventive tea a rather moot point. Then Neji had made a contract with Sasuke and drinking that tea would definitely have not have helped, considering the entire goal had been to create a child.

Truth be told, Naruto had completely forgotten that he could ingest that tea now. That was perhaps because he and Sasuke had not had made love yet. After the birth he had been recuperating for a couple of weeks and after that, worry about how Neji was behaving had been far too distracting. Then Neji had locked up him and Aiko, leaving them to perish in the fire and Sasuke had only just been in time to save them both, leading Naruto to have to recover once more.

His recovery hadn't taken that long thanks to Tsunade's aid, but Sasuke had become distracted for a while, chasing vermin as he had stated, and as it stood now, they hadn't been intimate since before Aiko's birth. Naruto might have started feeling insecure about that, if not for the fact that Sasuke still kissed him passionately and he still couldn't keep his hands to himself. They just hadn't made love to each other yet.

If Tsunade thought it was strange that he had never ingested a tea even though he had been married before, she didn't let it show. She merely nodded thoughtfully.

"If you so desire, I can prepare the tea for you," she said and her eyes briefly flickered towards Aiko. "For demons it does not really matter how much time there is between each pregnancy, but as your body is not fully demonic, it might be best if you wait a bit longer to become pregnant once more." She spread her hands slightly. "Of course this is entirely up to you. I am not about to make decisions for you."

"What do you mean, not fully demonic?" he asked, having become distracted by that particular detail.

She had not said 'as your body is human'; she had said 'as your body is not fully demonic'. That implied his body was not fully human anymore, but how was that possible?

"Just as I said: your body is not fully demonic, so it is my advice that you wait a bit longer before having another child," she stated frankly. "I doubt any true harm will come to you if you do end up carrying a second child so soon; this is just my advice as a Curer."

"No, I understand that part - " somewhat he supposed, he wasn't entirely certain, "but I don't understand why you call me not fully demonic. Am I not completely human anymore?"

"Not entirely, no," she replied after a short pause. "Your body has started to adapt somewhat after becoming the Lord's mate. It is only natural; a demon's lifespan far outruns that of a regular human, especially someone at the Lord's level. To prevent a too quick separation, your body has started to change slowly. You will never be able to change appearance at will like some of us nor will you ever be subject to a contract or gain control over the elements, but your lifespan will increase significantly and your body will become stronger as well."

"Oh." He supposed that made sense. Naturally a demon would outlive any human; their bodies were not the same after all. He hadn't exactly expected his body to start changing to adapt to this particular realm, but how else could he stay with Sasuke? He certainly did not want to say goodbye to him any time soon, so in a sense it was a relief to hear that his body had started changing. A bit odd, yes, but not entirely unwelcome.

"Do you want me to prepare you the tea?" Tsunade asked.

"It is probably for the best now," he agreed and cast a glance at his son, who at the moment was gnawing on the cube.

He loved his son and was not at all opposed to having more children with Sasuke, but before they would start on a second child, he first wanted to enjoy the time he had with Aiko a bit longer. A second child would after all mean he would need to divide his attention between both and Aiko was still so young. It wouldn't be wrong to enjoy his time with Aiko for a bit longer before having another child; he was certain Sasuke wouldn't mind.

"If we decide to have another child, how long would we need to wait after I stop taking the tea?" he asked curiously.

"Not that long," she answered to his complete surprise. "It will suffice if you wait at most a week, I suppose; after that your succession rate will be as before. The tea does work immediately."

"Oh, that is – good to hear," he said and she inclined her head.

"I will deliver the tea to you tonight if that is all right with you."

"That is fine," he reassured her and after another bow she disappeared just in time for Deidara to show up, greeting Naruto with a genuine smile.

"Are you ready for your next lesson?"

Naruto smiled and picked up Aiko, throwing a large piece of meat at Kyuubi for the creature to occupy himself with. "Yes, please."

Arms closed around his waist from behind him and a nose nuzzled the hollow underneath his ear when Naruto finished the tea, putting the empty cup on the table.

"Tsunade delivered the tea?" Sasuke murmured.

"Hm, a little while ago," Naruto answered and turned his head to look at Sasuke. "You knew she was going to prepare it?"

"She told me she was going to offer you the option," Sasuke admitted. "I take it you accepted."

"Yes, I figured …" Naruto hesitated briefly, worrying his lip between his teeth. "I'd love to have more children with you," he confided and felt Sasuke twitch behind him as if startled. "But I also want to have more time with Aiko still before we have a second child, so if you don't mind, I will take the tea for a while."

He was turned around and his chin was gripped gently, pulling his head up so that he looked Sasuke in the eye.

"I do not mind at all," Sasuke reassured him. "Once you are ready, you tell me. Until then, I will make sure you won't run out of tea."

"Thank you," Naruto smiled and fidgeted slightly before linking his arms around Sasuke's waist; embarrassment and excitement warring with each other. "You know, now that I am taking the tea, we do not have to worry about a second child." He bit down on his lip, feeling his cheeks flame up.

"That is true," Sasuke mused and pressed Naruto against the wall next to the table; his hands landing on his hips. "And any other moment I would show you just how much I desire you."

"Why not show me now?" Naruto breathed out; heat quickly pooling in his lower belly. "Aiko is asleep and it is evening."

Well, as close to evening as it would become in the demon realm. The sun was barely present and the sky was darker than usual, which was good enough to be considered evening as far as Naruto was concerned.

"Because I want to give you the experience you never got to have with that king," Sasuke said and for a moment, very brief, just a mere few seconds, his mouth pulled into a sneer and his eyes flashed at the mention of Neji before they softened once more, looking down at Naruto.

"Which experience?" Naruto asked, slightly mystified. After all the times they had been intimate, he thought one would be hard pressed to find an experience Sasuke had yet to show him!

"The experience of having a real wedding night," Sasuke declared, smirking when Naruto promptly blushed. "So while it pains me to have to wait, I want to give you everything you deserve, which includes the perfect wedding night."

"It is not as if I am still inexperienced," Naruto pointed out with a slight pout.

"You aren't," Sasuke agreed; his eyes gleaming. "But that does not take away my desire to give you what you deserve. He might have been your first, but I intend to be your everything."

That one word, spoken in a guttural tone, should not do anything to Naruto, but it did. A fair lot, making him hide his burning face into Sasuke's shoulder.

"Far be it for me to stop you," he mumbled, fearing his cheeks would never regain their normal colour.

Sasuke's husky laugh certainly did not help at all.

Having left Aiko with Sasuke in their home, Naruto ventured outside with Kyuubi trailing behind him. This time he didn't restrict himself to their garden, but walked out of its boundaries, eyeing his surroundings curiously. He had left their home several times before already, but during those outings he had been accompanied by either Sasuke, Deidara or that rare time even Mikoto, Sasuke's mother. He hadn't been forbidden from leaving their home without an escort, but today was the first time he found himself actually alone outside.

Well, alone if one did not count the large fox-like creature hounding his steps. He didn't mind Kyuubi. The creature was surprisingly friendly considering his looks and appetite for meat and Naruto still felt smug about the fact that just yesterday he had managed to pet Kyuubi's head. The demonic creature was still somewhat skittish, but he kept shuffling closer and closer to Naruto each time he met him outside.

"Perhaps you could be the ring bearer," Naruto mused aloud as he studied a bush with bright yellow flowers.

He was cautious to stay out of the flowers' reach just in case but they were quite pretty with the way they glittered; the centre of them a very bright blue.

Kyuubi snorted, one of his tails smacking into a yellow flower. Its petals instantly shrivelled up and curled around each other while leaves rustled and hurried to cover the withdrawn flower.

"What, not interested?" Naruto smiled, linking his hands behind his back.

Their wedding was set to happen in three weeks; the soonest Sasuke could have it planned while keeping his territory both under control and safe enough. Just the thought of being wedded to Sasuke soon, officially becoming his mate, had Naruto pressing his hands together and smiling silly. He had not felt this excited when marrying Neji, but that just showed how much he loved Sasuke. This wedding was going to happen because he wanted it, not because others had arranged it.

"Excuse me?"

The high pitched female voice startled Naruto and he whirled around, blinking when he took in the demoness standing in front of him. Her pink hair shone in the light and her green eyes stood out quite starkly against her pale skin. She was slightly taller than him and dressed in a dark red tunic. Only her sharp teeth, revealed when she smiled, were an indication that she was demonic.

"Yes?" he said curiously, ransacking his brain to try to remember whether he had seen her before. He didn't think he had. He regularly saw Karin and Mikoto and sometimes Karin, but he hadn't seen this demoness before.

Her smile widened slightly when she presented a scroll to him. "Lord Sasuke asked me to bring this to you. An important document you need to sign for your upcoming bonding."

AN2: I know it isn't that long, but I wanted to give you something. Some day I actually manage to get all the updates finished that I want to get finished. Some day. In the meantime I hope you can be patient with me a little bit longer ^^;

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.