Author's note: This is something that popped up in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. This is the sequel to Fulfilment and its prequels, though I suppose you don't necessarily have to have read those in order to follow this one.

For the ones waiting for updates on the other stories: I should finally have them ready in the upcoming week. Sorry for the long delay for those!

Warnings: Dual pov; canon setting; A/B/O dynamics; fluff; MPreg; established slash; set several years after Fulfilment; some references to blood and injuries

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

I hope you'll like it!

Belonging

Aki woke up feeling unsettled for a reason he couldn't identify. He laid there, staring at the ceiling, and listened to the branches softly creaking outside. The wind picked up in speed, building up to a howl, and the leaves started rustling louder. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine he was under water; the water muting the sounds until they turned into the rustling noise of the leaves.

It couldn't be that early yet. The room was still quite dark; the furniture in his room nothing but vague shapes if he concentrated enough. Silently he rose up and crawled to the foot end of his bed where he leant forwards and grasped the edge of the curtain. He tugged at it carefully until the curtain started moving; the curtain rings clinking softly against each other. When some moonlight slipped through the gap, he released the drape and crawled back to the headrest where he picked up his clock from the nightstand.

Angling the clock with its face into the moonlight, he wrinkled his nose when he saw it was barely two o'clock. Yeah, way too early to be awake, but even as he put the clock back on the nightstand and laid down again, he found he had a hard time falling back asleep. It should be easy to fall asleep once more, given how early – late? – it was, but sleep eluded him completely, frustrating him. He closed his eyes, determined to fall asleep.

Five minutes of tossing and turning later saw him slipping out of his bed and padding on bare feet out of his room. The wooden floor was chilly, forcing him to walk on his tiptoes to minimise the amount of skin touching a cold floorboard. This late at night there were no lights on in the house, so he rested his fingertips against the wall and used that to guide him through the dark hallway. A storm was definitely brewing above the house now; the wind forceful and sharp and not long after it started to rain; big fat raindrops splattering apart on the roof and against the windows.

Aki jumped, his heart beating like mad, when the first thunderclap rocked the house, followed soon by a brief flash; a lightning bolt tearing the sky apart for just a second. In spite of still being rather young, Aki was proud that he wasn't scared of some thunder and lightning – how could he be when lightning was a nature belonging to one of his parents? – but he still felt a bit uneasy with the threatening rumbling noises. He sped up, fully keeping his hand against the wall now, and in no time he found himself standing in front of a closed door.

He felt around for the doorknob and pushed it down as soon as his fingers closed around the cold metal. The soft 'click' noise of the door opening became swallowed up by a new thunderclap and he sneaked into the room, noticing that the curtains here hadn't been drawn completely. It allowed the moonlight to pour through, painting a silver white line across the floor and up the wall with the occasional lightning brightening the bedroom for a second.

Aki's gaze was instantly drawn towards the large bed in the middle of the room where two figures laid curled around each other. Their scents emitting contentment even in their sleep – the scent of an Alpha and an Omega, Aki knew – had the little boy relaxing in turn. Silently he padded over towards the nest, curling his bare toes in the soft carpet when he stepped onto it. Resting his hands on the edge of the nest, he tilted his head to the left, wondering if he could sneak into the nest without any of his parents being the wiser.

The bubbling of red orange chakra informed him that his caution had all been for naught.

You should be asleep, Kyuubi said; the large chakra head of the demon fox hovering above daddy. It's way too early for you to be up, brat, and you know it.

Aki pouted. "Can't sleep."

How about closing your eyes?, Kyuubi snarked; his eyes glinting. That tends to work for most humans.

"You're being mean," Aki pointed out petulantly.

"Hm, don't mind him, Aki. That old fox can't deal with night interruptions anymore apparently." Daddy's sleepy voice startled Aki.

This old fox will kick both your arses without any trouble, Kyuubi promised darkly, but the bubbles of his bright red orange chakra seeped back into daddy's skin until there was no trace of the ancient chakra fox left.

"Didn't want to wake you up," Aki said guiltily, shuffling his feet.

"It's fine," Daddy said dismissively, opening one blue eye. He remained resting on his side, but he lifted the blanket up; a silent invitation. "Had a nightmare?"

"Don't know," Aki replied and frowned, worrying his lip between his teeth. "Woke up and can't sleep."

"You want to sleep with me and papa?" Daddy suggested.

Aki was quick to accept the invitation, clambering into the nest before daddy could change his mind. He crawled underneath the blanket, warmed by his parents' body heat, and eagerly tucked his face into daddy's chest when daddy closed an arm around him.

"Hm, Naruto?" Papa murmured; his question nearly swallowed up by another thunderclap. This one sounded a bit more mute, as if it was further away.

"It's nothing," Daddy reassured him and his hand left Aki's back momentarily to touch papa's hand which was resting on daddy's side. "Aki couldn't sleep; he's with us now."

"A nightmare?" Papa inquired and moved his hand slightly.

Aki knew that if he reached out and touched papa's hand, he would feel a bandage wrapped around his palm. Papa had returned earlier tonight from one of his longer missions and his hand had been bleeding pretty heavily. He had refused to go to the hospital for reasons Aki didn't understand and he hadn't wanted to bother Tsunade-baa-chan either. That had led to a very exasperated daddy washing away the blood and even starting to heal him before papa had stopped him and had wrapped a bandage around his hand.

Aki had been surprised by that, because this had been the first time papa had actually stopped daddy from healing him. This wasn't the first time papa had returned home from one of his missions injured, but before he had always let daddy heal him if he hadn't wanted to go to the hospital or see Tsunade-baa-chan. Aki didn't understand why papa wouldn't let daddy heal him this time too. Daddy's healing abilities were amazing!

"Aki?" Papa prompted, pulling the little boy out of his thoughts.

"No nightmare, just woke up," Aki replied and shrugged, pressing himself closer against daddy.

When he inhaled next, his whole body turned boneless. While papa's scent always filled Aki with a sense of protection, daddy's scent always relaxed him fully, making him feel like he was floating on clouds. It was because daddy was an Omega, Karin-ba-chan had explained once, and his scent was meant to put those closest to him at ease. Aki didn't particularly care why daddy's scent affected him the way it did; he liked it and that was the most important part.

Though …

Aki inhaled deeper this time, furrowing his eyebrows. Daddy always had had a sweet scent, but for some reason he smelt even sweeter tonight. Aki was sure this hadn't been the case for long, but what had changed? Could people's scents change over time?

"Aki, something wrong?" Daddy asked curiously when Aki pressed his nose into his neck.

The new scent was everywhere, so that really meant it was daddy smelling like this and not simply his clothes.

Wholly puzzled now, Aki pulled back slightly and stared at daddy, who was regarding him curiously. "You smell really sweet," he told him, startling when daddy let out a sharp bark of laughter.

"Your nose is getting really sharp," Daddy told him fondly.

"Told you we wouldn't be able to keep it from him for long," Papa muttered.

"What is it?" Aki demanded, all thoughts of sleep instantly vanishing. What was it that they were keeping from him? What did it have to do with daddy's new scent?

"I guess we might as well tell you now," Daddy sighed, but didn't sound bothered. "Aki, you're going to be a big brother."

"Big brother?" Aki repeated befuddled and looked down, but of course he couldn't see anything in the dark even with the curtains partly drawn.

If he was going to be a big brother, that meant that there was a baby, no? But there was no baby in sight anywhere, so did that mean that –

"The baby still has to grow a lot, Aki," Daddy said amused and gently grabbed Aki's hand, placing it against his belly.

Aki thought his belly didn't feel as flat anymore as before, but that observation was thrown away in favour for the realisation sinking in that, yeah, there was actually a baby, but it was still inside daddy's belly!

"I'm going to be a big brother?" he squeaked happily, pressing his second hand against daddy's belly as well. "Is that why you smell really sweet, daddy?"

"That's why, yeah," Daddy chuckled. "I hadn't expected you to pick up on it so soon. Man, I thought I could make this a surprise!"

"I can be surprised," Aki told him sincerely.

"I'm sure you can be," Daddy chortled and ran his fingers through Aki's black hair. "How about we all go back to sleep now, hm? The night is still long."

Aki was almost buzzing with the questions he wanted to ask: when would his sibling be born? Did they know whether it was going to be a sister or a brother already? Was daddy going to smell this sweetly the whole time the baby was inside his belly? But daddy's fingers running slowly through his hair made his eyes droop and this time it didn't take long at all before he fell asleep again; an excited smile still gracing his mouth.

"If you had wanted to keep it a secret from him, you shouldn't have let him into the nest," Sasuke murmured, caressing Naruto's side.

"Yeah well, I think he was already getting suspicious after you wouldn't let me heal you," Naruto huffed quietly.

"You're not going to waste your chakra on healing such a stupid injury when you're pregnant, Naruto," Sasuke rebuked.

"I could almost see the bones in your hand, you bastard," Naruto shot back, only stilling when lips pressed a kiss in his neck.

"No wasting chakra when you're pregnant," Sasuke said decisively, curling around Naruto's body.

"Stop getting injured then," Naruto snarked, but it was hard to remain annoyed when he had his mate spooning him from behind and their six year old son buried against his chest, fast asleep. Still, though, as if he was going to watch Sasuke bleed out of his hand!

Sasuke tapped his hip in a weak rebuttal, unable to do anything else with Aki asleep in their nest.

When warm lips brushed another kiss in his neck, Naruto smiled and closed his eyes. Maybe he could test their son's acting abilities and prepare a surprise for him after all. For now he would sleep, because no doubt Aki would have a lot of questions in the morning. He definitely hadn't inherited his papa's reticence!

The End

AN2: I know it's not long, but I thought this would be a nice addition to the series. Also I just love the image of their little family sleeping in the nest LOL

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 my future stories! 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.