Self-Reliance

[copy and pasted from FF.net]



Nobody claimed the 300th review, which made me sad. I guess I’ll make it the 400th review, then, so watch next time, if you want a short fanfic or fanart! I’m pretty decent at both.



So…Naruto/KyuubixSasuke, the two-and-a-half-some. It’s all Allie’s fault for inventing Sasuke-flavored ramen at two in the morning---and Carl’s fault for deciding Sasuke tastes like peaches. Look what happens when they try to ‘help’ me write. We get attempted foxrape. Gah…again, not the chapter I was going to write, but I don’t seem able to decide what happens before I actually attack the laptop. Meh.



To the reviewer who asked if the nice man considered clinically insane in three different nations is Kakashi---yep, it is. I love KakIru so much---probably my favorite pairing aside from SasuNaru. I don’t think I’ve ever written a Naruto fic where they’re not together, now that I think of it…but I’ve only written one other Naruto fic, so the point it a bit moot. Moving on.



SELF-RELIANCE



Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto. I don’t own Sasuke. But Kyuubi rocks hard.



Summary: Sasuke is knocked up and Kyuubi is horny. That pretty much covers it.



Warnings: Featuring SasuNaru angst, mpreg, and IrritatedAndFemme!Sasuke. Don’t like it, don’t read it. Like it, review. Review often. Reviews are my happy crack. If you’re going to flame, at least be witty about it.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER ELEVEN: FOXTALK



The baby woke Sasuke up, but not the one that he’d thought would wake him. About two in the morning, he was stirred by squeaks, barely audible over Naruto’s enthusiastic snoring. He blinked for a bit, confused as to what could be squeaking---he’d made very, very sure that this apartment was free of any rodent houseguests before choosing it as their new residence---and then he felt a curious bat at his nose from a furry paw tipped with claws.



A pair of luminescent blue eyes blinked at him, and the kitten mewled softly.



He cursed quietly---as if anything short of a bomb going off would wake Naruto---and lifted his mate’s arm from where it was draped across his middle, so that he could wriggle away without him getting unconsciously grabby. Whenever Naruto felt him moving away, he usually snuggled closer, as if instinctively afraid that Sasuke would somehow leave him for good if he didn’t have a hand on him at all times. Sasuke did not mind the contact---the feeling was somewhat mutual.



The kitten mewled again, tottering shakily on scrawny legs it was still getting used to walking with.



“Hungry, kitten?” he asked as if expecting the tiny feline to reply. He picked it up in one hand, and it curled up in his palm in a ball of gray stripes, licking his thumb and attempting to suckle. “I’ll take that as a yes. Okay…let’s get you some milk.”



Sasuke managed to find the eyedropper Neji had left for the kitten’s feeding, and warmed up a saucer of milk in the microwave. He yawned, rubbing his eyes as he sat down and held the kitten in one hand, its little paws clasping the eyedropper. It suckled greedily with tiny snuffles and squeaks, making Sasuke less and less irritated at having to be up at such an ungodly hour.



This must be my first two a.m. feeding, Sasuke thought as the milk dripped down the kitten’s furry chin. I suppose that means you need a name, too. Well…let’s see, you’re a girl…at least I think you’re a girl…might be a good idea to keep the name asexual…right, little baby?



He blinked at the kitten.



Baby. Good enough.



“So, Baby, getting full? You can drink a surprising amount of milk for such a little thing. You’re almost as big of a glutton as the ramen-freak in my bed. Just hope you have Naruto’s metabolism, or you’re going to be a fat little cat.”



Sasuke rubbed the kitten’s belly with one fingertip, his best go at burping the little thing. She yawned, licked his thumb again as way of thank you, and curled up with a rusty purr. He set Baby on a pillow next to the futon, and she happily went back to sleep. Sasuke himself found not as willing to sleep…now that he was awake, he was going to stay that way for a while. Insomnia, the only friend who’d stayed by his side his whole life, was currently by for a chat and a visit.



He poured himself a glass of milk with a sigh, his thoughts dribbling morosely back into his current situation. Ah…situation it was, too. The three babies nestled within his swollen womb may or may not survive the coming weeks, hell, he might not survive the coming weeks, and Naruto was going to be gone for a goodly chunk of that time. Sasuke rubbed his belly---half-bared because of how tight his pajamas were---and tried to put down his urge to start bawling again.



Sasuke hated to cry. Hated it, hated it, hated the salty taste of the tears, hated the cramps it gave his sore stomach, hated falling to that kind of weakness when emotional stability was what he needed most. He’d had two major episodes in the last month alone---double the episodes he’d had in the last three years. His anxiety coupled with new hormones was frazzling the very end of his rope.



Sasuke furiously rubbed the tears that were starting to run down his face---angry at them, angry at himself, angry at his inability to do this one important thing right…he’d spent his whole life being a genius to which everything came with relative ease. Yes, training was hard, and it’d taken a great deal of work to learn some of the more difficult techniques, but the fundamental difference between this and that was he had learned all those techniques. He’d overcome the obstacles, he’d mastered the jutsu, and he hadn’t thought that this would be any different. This pregnancy was based on a jutsu, so it should have been under the spectrum of his mastery.



But it wasn’t. Sasuke was learning more and more daily about exactly how inept he was to carry triplets. His body was rebelling through morning sickness and weight loss, obviously not sharing his sentiments when it came to wanting to bear his own children. And aside from that, he was only just six months along---the most arduous trimester was still ahead of him, and he had no idea how he was going to get through it in his current state.



He wasn’t tall enough to carry the weight of triplets evenly, wasn’t broad enough through the hips and waist to carry it comfortably, and wasn’t heavy enough to carry it safely. Sasuke had thought that if someone like Hinata could carry a healthy baby to term, why couldn’t he? Turns out there was an obscenely long list of answers to that question. Turns out there were health risks he hadn’t considered---risks for both himself and the babies he carried. Turns out…turns out that both he and the tiny passengers within him could die of this.



Sasuke hadn’t told Naruto yet. The jounin was obviously aware that his mate wasn’t doing well, but he didn’t know how deep the rabbit hole had gotten. He didn’t know that the possibility of a miscarriage was more of an eventuality now. Sasuke refused to look at it that way---he would carry the triplets to term, and not even Tsunade’s catastrophic prognosis would convince him otherwise. These babies were half Naruto, and if they had even a tiny percentage of his strength or his stubbornness, they would make it just fine.



Sasuke took a sip of milk, telling himself that again. They were going to be fine. He was doing everything he could; they were going to be fine. He was drinking milk for the babies, even---though he wasn’t a big fan of milk himself, he was drinking at least one glass of it daily because of the calcium and calories his babies needed. He ate small meals several times a day---as much as he could fit in his constricted stomach---on top of the occasional button-popping escapades with Naruto. Naruto got great joy out of seeing his skinny mate fat and happy. Although, that was the goal---currently, he was neither.



He was thin and miserable, all stretched-out stomach hanging over too-tight waistbands and gaunt angles he was trying his best to hide under loose clothing. Sasuke didn’t even want to think about what would have happened had he decided not to return to Konoha---how much longer he would have lasted with the all-encompassing sickness and the inability to control something so simple as his own weight. He sighed, hearing a creak in the hallway that meant Naruto had woken up to find him gone. The kyuubi-boy was out on the prowl, and he felt the soft caress of his cool blue chakra as it reached out to find his own. Naruto appeared in the doorway a moment later, rubbing at sleep-filled eyes, his naked torso gilded silvery by the moonlight.



Naruto sighed at his mate, hating what he saw.



Sasuke was a tonal study depicted by some master artist. He stood statue-like in the wash of moonlight coming in from the kitchen window, quietly sipping a glass of milk while one hand rubbed absentmindedly at his growing middle, child-heavy and round beneath his nightshirt. He was all deep blacks and harsh whites: ivory skin and shadow-dark hair, a half-empty glass of milk and pit-like black eyes. Naruto almost didn’t want to disturb his thoughts---he seemed unspeakably weary, and his worries brought deep creases to his otherwise soft, pale face. It was that keening look of deep-seated fear that made Naruto pad over to him, stealing his arms around his rounded waist from behind and sighing at how bony his back felt when pressed against his chest. He was sure that he could feel every ridge in his spine, as sick as that made him.



“Something the matter?” Naruto asked gently, clasping his hands over Sasuke’s and settling his chin into the curve of his neck.



“No,” Sasuke said, though it was evident that there was something large on his mind, a weight that kept him worn and awake.



“Sasuke, you idiot---point one: you’re up at two in the morning. Point two: you’re drinking milk, which you hate, and obviously brooding, which you like in a masochist sort of way.” Naruto put a hand to his stomach, his probing fingers recognizing the tense arrangements of the muscles. “Point three: your poor tummy is tight and hard with how stressed out you are. Tsunade said that you need to calm down, so why the hell aren’t you calm and asleep?”



“I’m trying,” Sasuke muttered shortly, chugging the rest of his milk and then tossing the glass in the sink. “I just have…things on my mind.”



“What kind of things?” Naruto asked gently.



“Thing things.”



“Saaaasukeeeee…”



“Drop it, Naruto,” Sasuke said dismissively. “It doesn’t matter.”



He wouldn’t be up if it didn’t matter, Naruto thought waspishly.



Keep asking, Kyuubi instructed him, sounding irritated. He has to give you an answer if you keep trying. It’s obvious that something is wrong---he’s brooding and saddened, and he needs you to step up and be man enough to demand an answer.



He won’t tell me the truth, Naruto said. If it has something to do with the kits, he’s not going to tell me. Sasuke thinks that by not telling me anything, he’s alleviating my worries---ha-fricking-ha. I’m just getting more and more worried about him, and he’s such a damn introvert…I don’t want to leave him like this…



Let me talk to him, the Kyuubi said finally. Give me control of your body for a bit, and I’ll force him into talking.



Forcing him into talking does not include forcing him to spread his legs for you, fox-bastard, Naruto pointed out, deciding that that was a definite ground rule.



Details, details. If he decides to do that on his own, I won’t complain, but I’ll rein in my desire for his body only for your sake, the fox said sulkily. Because I know that you’ll whine and be a general ass if I just jump his bones without you.



Bone-jumping is a definite no-no. You can come out if you swear not to hurt him.



Ah, well I can agree to those terms, I suppose, Kyuubi said, and smirked, tails twitching. I’ll be good, honest.



You’d better be, Naruto growled as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into the lower parts of his mind, the red sensation of Kyuubi rising like hot bubbles.



Sasuke felt teeth against his neck, a light nip to bring him from his own brooding thoughts.



“Don’t worry,” Naruto said in a growling whisper, his voice uncannily not his own. This voice was deeper and rougher, without Naruto’s bright cheerfulness lacing it. The realization that the Kyuubi had surfaced---and that Naruto had let him---came to Sasuke with a definite shiver up his spine. His skin prickled where Naruto-Kyuubi touched him---his hands were feverishly hot. “We take care of what is ours. There will be no dead kits.”



“Kyuubi-san?” Sasuke tried, keeping his voice as stable as possible.



“Such formality…” Kyuubi purred, amused. His crimson eyes danced with ill-hid entertainment. “What, does the big bad fox scare you, my bipedal bitch? Interesting. You had no qualms allowing me to mount your pretty hips last you saw me in control---ah yes, me. You think your mate would have rutted you just because you advanced on him? You downplay his damnable self-control. No, I had a hand or paw or other bit of genitalia in it. I took control of his body once I realized you were in heat---” His lips curled into a very un-Naruto-like smirk, the kind which best befitted a mouth full of fangs. He slid his hot fingers through the gaps in Sasuke’s buttoned nightshirt, stroking his swollen belly with that same genuine, possessive protectiveness that Naruto usually showed. “---I thought it best to give you what you wanted. By the time I retreated, the brat was far too preoccupied by your white flesh to remember he wanted to save his first time for a special, consensual relationship. Needlessly romantic, isn’t he?”



“It’s Naruto,” Sasuke said flatly, wanting to jerk Kyuubi’s hand away from his stomach, and yet sensing that allowing the fox to touch him was the right thing to do. The Kyuubi was an undeniable part of Naruto, and the fox came with the package. He was an ally, and if he felt that the kits were his, too, Sasuke wouldn’t deny it on the grounds that Kyuubi could be a powerful godfather to their children. “He’s like that.”



“Yes, yes, too noble and too sweet for growing up in shit,” the Kyuubi said distractedly, as if agreeing just so he could move on. He began undoing buttons, and Sasuke found himself irked. “Too good for his own good, which makes me useful, because I’m not afraid to speak my mind---be it very nearly evil. You see, he can’t bring himself to ask you what is wrong with you and his kits. Call him weak, but he’s afraid of the answer.”



“Naruto doesn’t fear anything, fox,” said Sasuke, wondering what kind of shit the youma was trying to pull. Naruto had proven on countless occasions that he had no use for fear---even when faced with people like Orochimaru and Itachi, he didn’t fall into the helpless piles of boneless mush most ninja would. He was known for that, even---recklessly, stupidly brave Uzumaki Naruto.



He laughed, showing fangs much longer and scarier than the ones Naruto usually sported.



“Ah, you know so little about your mate…” Kyuubi murmured, still insistently unbuttoning his top. “Do you truly believe he fears nothing? He fears everything, you silly bitch. The brat fears your anger, he fears losing you, he fears your death, he fears how the village will treat your little family, he fears for his kits---words cannot do justice to what he feels for those unborn kitlets in your womb---he fears that this fragile existence you’ve come to build will shatter at any moment.” He snorted, drawing his long claws teasingly over Sasuke’s belly. Awake because of Sasuke’s mounting adrenaline, a baby squirmed and kicked beneath the fox’s fingers. He purred all the louder, his expression very close to something tender. “He would sell his very soul to anything or anyone who could promise a healthy whelp for you.”



“I know how to pick winners, don’t I?”



“Though the brat’s a bit of an underdog, yes. You couldn’t have created a more loyal mate, though I wonder if your actions deserve it.”



“My actions?” Sasuke echoed, his eyes narrowing. “’The hell do you mean by that?”



“Your Itchyha pride,” said Kyuubi, rolling red eyes. “You denied the protection of your village, and of the females who would have taught you how to carry a healthy litter. Pride is what will kill you, bitch.”



“Go screw yourself,” Sasuke snapped.



“Gladly,” the fox grinned toothily. “Would you like to watch?”



“Just---what the hell are you doing out here? What do you want?”



“I think it’s obvious enough. Naruto wants to know why you are worrying, and I want to collect payment for being forced out here in the first place. Which, unless you find a damn good way to distract me in the next ten seconds, I will collect right now.”



Kyuubi growled rustily, sliding his unbuttoned shirt from his pale shoulder and lightly sinking his teeth into the juncture between his neck and his shoulder, marked by his cursed seal. Sasuke gasped somewhat involuntarily as his hot lips and tongue slid up the curve of his neck, and before he knew what exactly was going on, Sasuke was pinned against the kitchen counter, kissing passionately with the Kyuubi no Youko.



As per his beast nature, the Kyuubi was harder and more aggressive than Naruto himself---Naruto would never have forced Sasuke down on the counter, the edge pressing into the small of his back, because he didn’t want to aggravate his already fairly tender condition. Kyuubi didn’t really care. His tongue and hands roved as if he was starving for something intangible, though linked inherently to flesh---licking his throat, nipping the pronounced line of his clavicle while his clawed hands splayed over his belly, lightly digging into the stretched white skin...



Sasuke knew that he was going to have some explaining to do when he came to the meeting with the council of elders with bites on his neck and darkly bruised, swollen lips. Then again, those kinds of battle-wounds usually explained themselves. Not precisely positive evidence that Naruto was a gentle lover, and really hadn’t coerced Sasuke into pregnancy by force, but…



Kyuubi greedily ran his tongue around one of Sasuke’s nipples, and he sort of forgot about thinking for a few seconds. When he surfaced from the haze created by teasing his now hyper-sensitive nipples, he realized that Kyuubi, unlike Naruto, would more than likely go all the way if he wasn’t deterred. Which, considering he was pinned against the kitchen counter, would be bad for his already aching hips…



“K-Kyuubi,” Sasuke whispered, barely audible over the fox’s husky growls. “You can’t---I need you to---“



“You need me to stop before I shake up those skinny bones of yours,” he finished, crimson eyes gleaming with amusement. “I know. You’re more ill than you’re letting on to your mate, and that’s what has you worried.” Kyuubi knelt next to him, tugging free the last of his buttons so that his stomach was bare, a sweet round moon. He pressed a kiss to his belly with a low growl. “You shouldn’t worry. My kits will come before the end of summer, plump and strong. You humans are as blind as ever to the effects of youma chakra.”



“Chakra?” Sasuke echoed dubiously. “Your chakra…?”



“The brat’s chakra systems and my own are intrinsically linked,” Kyuubi said with a sigh, playfully nuzzling his full belly with an unshaven cheek. “When he passed his chakra on to the kits, mine filtered in as well. Don’t give me that look, bitch---you don’t carry demonspawn in your womb, if that’s why you’re frowning. Suffice it to say that the kits will be blessed with potent chakra, but you need not worry about them having tails. They will be heartier than most, which is good for your sake. Feed yourself and they’ll only grow bigger and stronger, filling your delightfully furless stomach.”



“They’re not going to die?” Sasuke whispered, trying desperately not to cry. He had a feeling that Kyuubi would only laugh at him if he did, instead of cuddling him as Naruto would.



“My kits? Bah. My kits are strong. It’s your own health that you should worry for, but with a few weeks of good feeding you should gain enough to pad those bones.” He grinned again, pinching Sasuke’s cheek. “And in thanks to my chakra, you should let me nail you a time or two. I’d enjoy a bit more flesh on you---cushion for the pushing, you know. Once you’re healthier, I’d love to mount you while my kits squirm away in your heavy belly…”



“You,” Sasuke said tightly, completely fed up. “Are just horny.”



“I know,” Kyuubi grinned, licking his lips. “And I like my new breeder. Even if you are bipedal and have no more fur than a peach, I find myself oddly partial to you. Put a tail on you and not even my host’s intricate set of moral codes would keep me from your smooth hind.” He blinked distractedly, as if sensing something just out of hearing. “Damn. And just when it was getting to a good part. The brat wants back out, so remember, bitch---you owe me one, and I intend to collect.”



Kyuubi went unexpectedly limp, like a toy whose battery had been yanked out. After a moment, he began moving again, blinking up at Sasuke with big blue eyes, a sweetly embarrassed expression on his foxy face.



He knew it was Naruto simply because of the raging blush that glowed on his face. He covered his face in his hands, squeaking “Sasuke, I’m so sorry. He promised not to be such a horn-dog, I swear. I wouldn’t have let him out if I had known he’d come onto you like that…”



“Is he always like that?” Sasuke deadpanned at his mate, crossing his arms over his chest.



“’Fraid so,” Naruto admitted timidly, leaning in to re-button his nightshirt. “He’s…kinda hard up for anything with legs---not even choosy about how many. Eighteen years without getting any was a little much for him. I’m sorry.”



“Don’t be so apologetic, moron,” he muttered, chasing away his fingers so that his shirt hung open, belly exposed. Arching up on his toes, he gave the kyuubi-boy a soft, chaste kiss on his half-open mouth. He liked feeling his lips curving into a smile. “How much did you hear when he was…out…?”



“Everything,” Naruto said quietly, tentatively kissing him back on the cheek. “And I…I’m sorry. I should have asked you what was wrong earlier. I wish I didn’t have to leave you like this, with the stupid elders being all grr-argh and all the women pestering you to eat more...”



“You heard Kyuubi,” Sasuke said, taking one tanned hand and setting it on top of the baby-bulge. “Your chakra will keep the babies safe until I can get my body out of the danger zone. Probably not the healthiest thing for them, but it’ll suffice for now. We can’t do any better for them.”



“Paint my nails again before I go?” Naruto asked entreatingly, drumming his fingers lightly. “The blue’s starting to chip already.”



“Dobe, it’s two in the morning…” Sasuke mumbled, heaving a sigh. “And your horny demon-Id just tried to make out with me. I’m tired, and half-hard. Please finish the work your pet fox started and we’ll discuss painting your nails in the morning.”



“Gladly,” Naruto grinned, and bent over for another kiss---much gentler than Kyuubi had been to him, but still oddly enticing. Naruto was usually sweet-tempered unless Sasuke convinced him to be otherwise, and both sides of his personality were appealing. “And I’ll be here for you all day tomorrow…two weeks, and then I’ll be back.” He gave him a gentle nibble at his throat. “I hope you realize I fully expect you to be fat and wonderfully barge-like by then.”



“You enjoy seeing me like this,” Sasuke said with a glare, to which Naruto just smiled beatifically.



“Would you hold it against me if I said I do?” He asked innocently. “Doesn’t give me quite the hard-on it gives Kyuubi, but I do like seeing the almighty Uchiha Sasuke sporting a round little tummy. Actually, I think just about everyone likes seeing Uchiha Sasuke sporting a round little tummy…the women are fawning over you even more now.”



“I’d hoped that being fat would somehow dissuade them…” Sasuke murmured.



“You’re gorgeous,” Naruto said firmly. “And I’m taking you back to bed. I intend for you to sleep in and eat a big breakfast, and we’ll have force-feeding round two if you decide otherwise.”



“And after that,” Sasuke deadpanned. “I’ll go to the council of elders and somehow convince them that Uzumaki Naruto is not a maniacal rapist who impregnated me under the Kyuubi’s control. Which is nearly true, aside from the maniacal rapist bit.”



“You took advantage of me,” Naruto growled, dragging his mate behind him by one thin wrist. “I’m the injured party here, bitch.”



“You enjoyed it,” Sasuke accused darkly.



“Yes,” Naruto agreed, plopping down on the futon and drawing Sasuke into his arms like a favorite teddy bear. “Yes I did.”





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto had not been brought before the council of elders since his sixteenth birthday, when the elders had demanded a checkup on the wear and condition of the kyuubi-seal, and an overview of the fox-boy’s general temperament. Naruto had hated the entire deliberation---it’d taken hours, and he’d spent most of the time shirtless, with all of them warily eyeballing his tattooed stomach, as if just waiting for the Kyuubi no Youko to burst out like something out of a bad Sci-Fi movie.



This was kind of like that, Naruto decided as he peeked in a window at the council gathering room. The ring of elders---made up of the Godaime, Konoha’s two advisors, and representatives from most of the old ninja clans, like the Akimichi, the Inukuza, the Hyuuga, and the Aburame clans---sat and stared at Sasuke, and, more precisely, at Sasuke’s stomach. Naruto had suggested that he wear something that would conceal his obvious pregnancy better, but, flippant as ever, Sasuke had decided to wear an old black shirt that more or less clung to his belly, outlining the curve as if mocking the council. Yes, I’m pregnant. Very much so. There’s not much you can do to change that, so you can stare and gabble condescendingly all you want.



They’d had the decency to offer Sasuke a chair, so that he didn’t have to stand through their long and obtuse conversations about the definite cons to allowing the Kyuubi’s host to reproduce. Seated with his hands neatly folded in his lap, it was more than perfectly obvious to Naruto that Sasuke was not listening to positively anything the elders were saying. As far as he was concerned, they could just sit and splutter, because they had no control over this situation. Naruto had been raging with worry before the meeting had begun, but a short conversation with Tsunade and Sasuke had fixed that.



“So,” Naruto had said as they waited for the council to call Sasuke in. “What’s the worse-case scenario here? What’s the worst that can happen?”



“There isn’t a hell of a lot they can do,” Tsunade had said, smiling absently. “First off, Sasuke is already six months along. In Konoha, it’s illegal to abort a fetus past the end of the second trimester, so they can’t actually coerce him into an abortion, much as they’d obviously like to. On top of that, he is Uchiha Sasuke---his clan used to be mighty influential around here, and the older clans still remember it. He has favors he could call in to make most of them side with him if it came to a vote among the elders. You planned it this way, didn’t you?”



At the accusation, Sasuke had just smirked darkly. “Maybe,” he begrudged, which of course meant that he had foreseen this kind of scenario happening, and had prepared for it in The Plan. Naruto was duly amused.



Ever the tactician, Sasuke had planned ahead. His decision to leave Konoha suddenly made sense---if the elders had found out that Naruto had fathered children before the end of the second trimester, they would have forced him into aborting the babies because of ‘endangering the village’ or some other kind of nonsense. But now he was safe. Sasuke could carry the triplets to term even if the council frowned at him the entire time---he’d flip them the finger in Sasuke-like fashion, rubbing his increasingly pregnant belly. This was something he wanted to do, and Naruto was someone he wanted to be with, and when Sasuke made up his mind about something, there was no changing it.



Naruto was still frustrated, though, as he watched the negotiations through the window. He wanted nothing more than to be in there with him, but the council had asked for Sasuke to prove his case alone. Naruto wanted to yell at the elders about stressing out a boy whose condition was poor to begin with---he knew just by looking that Sasuke had worked his body into a mess of knots, and he’d need rubs and licks when this whole fiasco was over---but they were looking at him with glares usually saved for voracious diseases. To say that Naruto’s position had fallen among them was an understatement, though he was sure he’d seen Chouji’s father give him a thumbs-up and a wink when he realized he was being watched through the window.



So not all the council-members hated the idea of Naruto and Sasuke raising children together. Tsunade was more than fine with it, the Akimichis liked seeing people happy regardless of sex, and the Hyuugas just didn’t give a damn. They figured that Sharingan coming back was no real threat to their doujutsu anyway, so who cared who the Uchiha boy was sleeping with? Their case met resistance with the Aburame clan, though, since they were less than willing to condone such an unorthodox relationship (and what was their problem? They were the ones that thought implanting bugs into their babies was a good idea!). And the Inukuzas were just a little weirded out. Naruto felt that they had no room to point fingers. They had curiously close relationships with dogs.



Sasuke was holding up his own, though. He gave a concise, though elegant speech on his relationship with Naruto, and his desire to have children with him (even though said speech finished with “and in ending, screw you. I’m going to sleep with whoever the hell I want to. You are not my parents, and I won’t take you acting as such.”).



The end result was, unsurprisingly, to Sasuke’s favor. He was allowed to bear his children in Konoha, but the catch was that he had to be monitored by ANBU at all times. They seemed perfectly certain that chibified demon foxes were going to break out of his belly at any moment and start wreaking havoc on the village. Which, as Kyuubi himself had pointed out, was not happening. He had three wholly human babies growing inside him, sans fur and fangs and tails. Sasuke was too tired and irritated at this point to explain that to the council---in fact, he didn’t care if they thought he had three balls of fur in his belly; maybe they’d leave him alone, then.



Naruto wasn’t the only one watching the delegations---a slow trickle of fellow shinobi had filtered in during the three-hour meeting. Sakura, Lee, Ino, and Chouji had appeared first, giving Naruto hugs of encouragement---as though it’d help Sasuke’s stress if his mate was calm, too---and then Hinata and Neji (Hinata did the whole hug-and-encouragement thing, too, though Neji kept to himself and stared at a fixed spot on the wall), and Kakashi arrived near the end of the meeting, Iruka in tow, as punctual as ever. Though the others left after their pats of support, Iruka and Kakashi stayed with Naruto until Sasuke got out of the meeting, promising to take the two out to dinner.



Sasuke came out looking exhausted. He didn’t complain when Naruto gathered him up in a bearhug, mumbling gratefulness to his poor weary mate. Sasuke just sort of sighed, mumbled something back about having made his decision long ago, and now just sticking to it, and threaded his hand with Naruto’s---half to stabilize Sexy-no-Jutsu, half because he was tired and he wanted assurance that he’d made the right decision.



Kakashi grinned widely beneath his mask, having possibly known for longer than anyone else that his two former genin were meant to end up this way. Having only one natural eye did not make him blind, especially seeing as his borrowed eye had the uncanny ability to see beneath the underneath, to the very base of human psyche. Naruto and Sasuke had always been something of an odd pair---the genius and the dobe, the famous introvert and the very definition of an extrovert---and after the fight with Haku, Kakashi’s keen left eye had seen something there.



Why would the number one rookie with the hatred of an avenger funneled into a child’s body selflessly save a no-class last-place at the price of his own life? Sasuke himself hadn’t understood it---“My body moved by it’s own”, he’d said before Naruto drew his bloody, needle-filled body into his arms---but something deep inside him saw Naruto and his companionship as a necessary thing. They grew with each other---Naruto’s near-death had brought out the Sharingan in Sasuke for the first time, and Sasuke’s near-death had brought out the Kyuubi’s chakra in Naruto for the first time. Naruto had puffed that what they had wasn’t even friendship---“rival” had been a very convenient word at the time, and they’d abused it into explaining everything---but they were still inseparable, desperate to equal or best the other.



They just couldn’t figure out why that relationship was so important. Sasuke had been the first to see his desperate attraction to the dobe as something a little more complex than rivalry---and had instantly dug his feet in, doggedly unwilling to allow himself that kind of relationship. Being the Avenger and being the Lover did not fit into the same body well. He’d left before he could follow up on the tangle of feelings he had when it came to dealing with Naruto, and after three years apart, the feelings had just festered, growing roots that Sasuke couldn’t rip up, no matter how diligently he tried.



It took literal years of push and shove, boyish bullying, name calling, and heartbreak that neither of them would admit to for something to happen between them, but Kakashi hadn’t been wrong.



He hadn’t exactly cited pregnancy and triplets in their future, either, but he hadn’t denied the possibility. They seemed happy together---Naruto was uncannily gentle, and even a damaged boy like Sasuke could find comfort in that kind of lavished, loud love. He never had to guess Naruto’s feelings, and he would never be left feeling unloved or lonely. The kyuubi-boy had a single-minded passion when it came to the things that he felt strongly about---his ascension to Hokage, his thirst for acknowledgment, and now his relationship with Sasuke and the triplets he carried---and Kakashi watched with catlike amusement as the blond jounin expressed his devotion with an impromptu stomach massage and teasing little kisses. He didn’t care who watched, especially when such a scene just warmed Iruka’s dark eyes and made Kakashi feel unreasonably smug (there was nothing he liked better than being right).



Of course, now those two had Iruka talking about children, and Kakashi wasn’t sure if he should thank his former students or find a clever reason to beat them. As the first and most flamboyant male pregnancy, Sasuke was doing all the dirty work of desensitizing the village elders to the thought of men having babies, but it wouldn’t be long before Chouji followed suit, and possibly Iruka as well, if the schoolteacher had his way with his jounin lover.



At least the medic-nin wouldn’t have to complain about low ninja birthrates any longer.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: If I spelt any of the surnames wrong, please don’t hold it against me---I’m at my dad’s, and I forgot my beautiful Naruto character books (sob). I’ll fix it later if I made any more stupid mistakes.



Kind of a lame, paragraph-dense excuse for a filler chapter while I work out exactly what’s going to happen on Naruto’s mission. It’s not going to deviate from the general subject of the fic, so be prepared. I’ve decided to write the side-story for Chouji and Ino, and that will probably be posted before the next chapter of this. I’m also trying somewhat desperately to finish up some personal projects (a manuscript and two short stories) before a hellishly big writing conference in August that I got a scholarship to attend, so forgive me if the updates slow down substantially for the next three weeks. I’ll get back to my crazy-mad updates after the conference. I also might have an agent after said conference. That would rock pretty hard.



Next chapter will be long. Will take time. …Must find chocolate.