Naruto was barely aware of his eating. The motions were mechanical, his mind fully in shock, absorbing the news that had casually been dropped on him. His new lover seemed content enough to ignore him while she ate. The newly pregnant lover.

The pregnant with his child lover, whom he met yesterday and was currently holding him hostage and also lived a million miles from nowhere surrounded by orcs and who was in fact an orcblood and oh fuck that was likely to cause a whole host of issues in itself for his son!

Or daughter.

Oh fuck, he was going to have a son or daughter.

Naruto wasn't sure what emotions he was feeling. Panic. Yeah, that was definitely there…. also shock… insecurity and… shame maybe? So why couldn't he stop smiling? There was no hiding how frazzled he was, but that wide, disbelieving grin remained after every bite and swallow. The fangfolk were one thing; he wasn't even sure if it was possible to impregnate them, and even if it was, they were almost certainly staying in the woods.

This was an actual human, or human-adjacent anyway, child!

"There is something I would ask of you if you do leave,"

"Yes! Yes, o-of course. What do you need?" he bumbled out, words spilling without thought as he was broken from his deep and unproductive concentration.

"Will you deliver my next shipment as well? Commit to staying here afterward until our child is born?" she asked, eyes wide and fearful, like a begging puppy.

Naruto swallowed.

"I…"

"I'm not asking for sentiment. Your healing powers would reduce the chance of birth complications to virtually zero. It would ensure our child is born healthy," she added, even laying a hand over his on the table, further stiffening him and flooding his heart with guilt. That could be months, and Gods know Sasuki wouldn't be happy about this particular delay.

How could he refuse such a simple request, though?

Such an important one!

Oh fuck, what was he going to do?

"I don't suppose you could come back down with us and set up a workshop closer to civilization? Like in the woods north of our hamlet or something?"

"The Konoha woodlands are lousy with fangfolk, our child would never be safe there," she protested gently, squeezing his fingers. "Undead might be good in a fight, but they aren't dextrous nor perceptive; fighting small sneaky phsycopaths in a dense forest would be suicide,"

"Well, actually, we do have an alliance with a pretty good tribe of them, hundreds! Hell, I might be able to convince them to deflesh bodies and give their skeletons to you even," he argued weakly.

It surprised him when she reacted to the words. Her face changed so sharply, the salmon-red puppy dog eyes turned narrow and focused. She even lifted a hand to hold her chin, just like the amazing, refined, sexy scientist she was. Naruto's ogling was interrupted when she spoke.

"You trust your alliance with these fangfolk?"

"They've definitely been able to kill us and didn't. They seem to value the deal,"

"For your healing, I take it?"

"Mostly, and Sakura, our giant,"

"Hm. I think this idea would work well," she agreed simply.

"Wait, really?" he asked, trying not to sound too excited.

"I don't see why not; as long as you have an in, I'm sure these creatures will enjoy having an army of undead at their beck and call, if they're so uh… wise as to accept a Fey's help," she said, pinching his cheek, but only for a second, tenderly palming it afterward as if in apology after he yanked back. The soft skin felt so damn wonderful on his cheek, such a relief. "I have two conditions," she began, taking his smile. "You will be there for the childbirth, if I agree to this,"

"Yes! Done!"

"And Sasuki, that's the non-giant I assume? You will tell her nothing about this pregnancy or our coupling. At the very least, until I have my home and security set up,"

"She wouldn't…" he trailed off uncertainly. Karin stared as the silence lingered. Five seconds, then ten. "I don't think..." fifteen, then thirty, then Karin spoke, sharply.

"I would just as well not risk it. Do you accept?"

"…yes," he agreed, after only a moment of hesitation. "This is… really Karin, this is incredible. Thank you so much for uprooting yourself like this!"

His bright smile was strained slightly when she began thumbing his lips with one thumb, sliding in closer to him.

"Thank you, for the exceptional delivery service," the following flurry of kisses that she thanked him with was unfortunately only a few seconds.

A loud, resounding thud echoed out a second time as they pulled apart.

It came from the courtyard.

"That would be the giant, I expect," Karin sighed out. "You can let them in; the undead won't attack. I'll go find my coat," she declared. It took him a full minute after she left to work up the nerve, but he went to open the gates all the same.

He quickly found that the mechanism for opening her gate was a large crank mounted against the ground, and it did not turn easily. It was also freezing to the touch. Sakura must have meant some cruelty in her watching him painstakingly pull a few inches off the ground before hooking her fingers into the metal squares and yanking it upward, whipping the lever out of his hand.

He didn't have time for even a mean stare though after securing the lock to keep it open.

Sasuki threw herself into his arms and he hugged her back just as tight, chuckling and patting her back to help her stifle the crying. She was just on the edge of it; he could feel. Knowing how much that would embarrass her, not less so if Karin saw, spurred him to prevent this if he could.

"Oh fuck am I glad to see you two!" he said honestly. Her body felt so freezing cold against his, not that he cared at the moment. The sight of the fully stocked cart behind them only furthered the glee, though before he could comment on it, Sasuki pulled back to kiss him with her equally-freezing mouth. It was only fair for him to try to take back some warmth, but when he poked his tongue into her mouth she pulled back.

"S-stop that y-y-you… gods I'm so g-glad your o-okay!" she declared, not even trying to frown. "I k-k-killed so many orcs!" she declared with a viscious pride in her eyes that was almost scary. No, no more than almost scary. "W-we were spotted quick, b-b-but I broke from the rest and s-s-snuck into their camp while the rest w-waited! I k-killed twenty-two before I had to get out!" she just trailed off into laughter.

He took a headcount of the undead and tried to remember how many they left with as her face returned to th warmth of his fuzzy cloak.

"Oh gods above and below, you're so warm," she mumbled against his cloak, still squeezing him like a sponge.

"Right, shit, let's get you inside and by the fire!"

"Good idea," Karin agreed firmly. Finally spurring the two lovers to separate, Sasuki glared while Naruto smiled awkwardly. "Take her inside, get warmed up; it'll take me at least a couple hours to pack,"

"…Pack?" Sasuki asked bluntly.

"Oh yes, I'm returning with you; he can fill you in on the details," she generously decided, turning around and disappearing as Sasuki's neck slowly craned to lock him in her view. Glaring at him with her faint frozen smile still present below the aggressive, narrow eyes.

Somehow that was a thousand times more intimidating then her glare.

X

X

X

Thanks for reading!

Become a patron of the MackoBole page today if you want input on what I write next, or if you'd like to see fanart of my stories. You can also search Macko Bole on the kindle store if you want full length novels by me.