Sway

Archive: Just ask.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That honor belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

In retrospect, Neji hadn’t thought their request for an extension would be such a complicated process. After all, it wasn’t as if such requests were irregular. Especially for long, undercover missions. Sometimes, you just needed a little more time. Though, Neji supposed, in their case, as there was no prominent mitigating factor, they were likely being denied on principal.

He hadn’t expected his simple request; come Naruto’s seventh month would cause so much aggravation to all involved. He had, in fact, believed the Hokage would be sympathetic. Unfortunately, the casual request for an extension, sent by messenger pigeon had been returned by hawk. Where the pigeon took five days to travel from their village to Konoha, the hawk could traverse the distance in less than half the time. Neji had, at first, been rather surprised. Not only had the Godaime denied them, but she had demanded a more thorough explanation as to why.

Neji had sighed heavily. It wasn’t as if he could tell her. At least not through messenger bird. And, any hinting toward Naruto’s health as a cause, would have a medical team turning up on their doorstep in as little as three days, if there was a team close enough.

He’d tried again, but only received another denial. Two more, had Naruto curious as to why so many messenger birds were passing through their village. Because they’d been told stress could complicate things – as Nanako had been unable to conceive thus far, and it was her first pregnancy – Neji explained that the Godaime was simply updating him on the status of his ANBU teammates. Though he didn’t think Naruto was prone to stress, of any form, he didn’t want to take any chances. Naruto had thought it was a warm gesture on the Hokage’s part, and had asked how they were. Even though he didn’t know, Neji had smiled and told him everyone was fine, though the rest was classified. Naruto had laughed, and wandered off in search of something sweet. Neji had sighed and prayed to Kami-sama that his teammates were indeed, safe, and that nothing would happen to them any time soon. They were his friends, but their survival was key to Naruto never questioning his lie.

As for the Hokage, Neji sent her an extremely classified, triply encoded statement. Simply put, he had informed her of Akatsuki members roaming their vicinity, and that he didn’t think it was in Naruto’s best interests to remove him from hiding while danger was so close. It was not a lie, so much as a re-calibration of the truth. And thankfully, it had been enough.

Naruto rounded out his twenty-ninth week with the knowledge that they’d achieved approval for the necessary time. Neji could tell it eased his lover, somewhat. And Naruto slept slightly better - though by then, the baby was awake and moving more often than not.

The joy of initially feeling the baby move had been wiped away by the frustration of the baby’s unceasing movement. His blonde lover was constantly moving around, trying to find comfort. During the day, he would wander the house in circles, or leave for walks, returning more tired than he had been when he’d left, and no more comfortable. At night, Naruto would toss and turn, grumbling to himself, and reorganizing the bed’s multiplying pillows.

Though his inability to find comfort kept Neji awake, he couldn’t help but feel happy. Naruto was slightly more grumpy than he was used to, but the blonde wasn’t having full, and completely random mood swings. Which, the doctor told him, was amazing, but not a guarantee that his ‘wife’ would continue to not experience them. Neji, used to Naruto’s normal emotional outbursts, was not looking forward to any possible mood swings any time soon. Thankfully, Naruto seemed more or less immune to most of the usual pregnant complaints.

His nausea had lasted a little over two weeks. The morning sickness hadn’t survived the first month. He’d yet to experience any sort of swelling, cramping, or aching, other than the occasional sharp jab of their offspring. There were virtually no cravings. He hadn’t yet had any sort of heartburn, indigestion, or bowel irregularities. No fainting or dizzy spells. No shortness of breath. No stretch marks, vericose veins, hemorrhoids, discharge, or leaking.

In fact, Naruto’s pregnancy was going so well, it was making the doctor anxious. Naruto tried to assure the man that he was simply a very healthy individual, and always had been. Still, the doctor had asked Neji to keep closer surveillance on him. Which, unbeknownst to the doctor, Neji already had been doing.

It didn’t strike Neji as strange that Naruto didn’t experience ninety percent of pregnancy issues. Simply because, Neji knew that Naruto was inherently male. He believed that this was the sole reason things were going so well. He could not have known that Naruto needn’t experience anything more than fatigue from lack of sleep, because his lover housed a virtual live in hospital. He was blissfully unaware that the Kyuubi exhausted itself, keeping Naruto’s body as regulated as possible for all their sakes.

To the Hyuuga, Naruto was handling this pregnancy with the same amount of energy and determination with which he tackled everything else.

Some things, however, Naruto couldn’t help but do. Like continually rearrange their home. He was constantly pushing furniture around, and scrubbing at things. He bought more and more bedding, busying himself with covering nearly everything with pillows and blankets. He arranged it so that every sharp, pointy thing in the house – including all of their weapons – were in one area. Neji had to continually retrieve the kunai from the cabinet in the kitchen, where Naruto kept squirreling them away. Along with every knife, scissor, and letter opener. Not only were all of their weapons far from reach, but so were any potential weapons.

Thus, it became a bit of a daily ritual for the pair. Neji, liberating items from exile, and attempting to redistribute them in the most convenient, battle ready sections of their home. Naruto, rounding them up and putting them away again. They never spoke about it. They never argued over it. They simply spent each day, re-depositing and re-collecting.

His libido – thankfully – had not changed much. It had increased for a time, but had never decreased further than what Neji had come to know as average for him. And other than Naruto’s newfound need to clean every thing and everyone that came even remotely near him, he was not much different.

So, it came as a complete surprise, when Naruto began to feel odd, sharp pains. At first, he didn’t tell Neji of them, but as he progressed into his thirty-second week, Neji had not only noticed, but had confronted him upon it. Naruto had explained they never lasted long enough to be a bother. Neji dragged him to the doctor anyway.

Their doctor seemed relieved when he heard. At first, Neji had been upset over this. Until the man had explained that what the blonde was experiencing was perfectly normal. Every woman got these pains, as they were a form of contractions. A way, he said, for the uterus to strengthen itself, in preparation for birth.

All Neji could think of, was, that if this was a form of training – involuntary though it may be – he’d best keep both eyes, in constant byakugan upon his lover. Naruto did not have a good track record with training. He always overexerted himself. Neji was going to make sure that didn’t happen.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Though he was busy with keeping Naruto under careful observation, Neji maintained an equally careful watch over the village. One never knew when the next Uchiha would pop up.

As Naruto entered his ninth month, Neji became aware of two things. The first, was that his lover’s senses had increased exponentially. Naruto complained of sounds he couldn’t possibly have heard. He kept himself locked up in their home, on account of smells that he couldn’t begin to control. And took to sleeping through the day and being awake at night, because his eyes had become so light sensitive, even through the shades, he squinted and teared up.

They were told that sensitivity of such magnitude was rare, but not unheard of. Still, Naruto’s extra sharp senses were making him difficult to live with. Neji found himself moving with as much shinobi grace as he’d use in an assassination mission.

Naruto’s increased senses were unfortunately, not limited to the basics. His shinobi senses had increased to such intensity, that he would often tense in readiness, toward threats as far as the next village. Which, was roughly five days from them.

Unfortunately, Neji’s instincts wouldn’t allow him to ignore whenever Naruto looked around for a threat. They perked immediately, and stretched of their own accord, in search of recognition. The more this occurred, however, the more Neji felt his nerves grow frayed. One simply could not live every moment in preparation for attack.

He’d have had time for a collapse, if Naruto’s chakra control didn’t suddenly plummet. One moment, he was perfectly fine, and the next, he was struggling to hold the jutsu. All the tweaking in the world was not enough, and Neji often found his lover in meditation in an attempt to reel in his wildly flaring chakra.

Sometimes, Naruto would slip up and Neji could see his actual form. It never lasted more than a flicker, but when it began to happen more often, Neji wondered over the safety of their baby. If Naruto lost all control, would they lose the baby?

Would their baby cease to exist? Or would it still, and need extraction immediately, before Naruto’s male body crushed it? Would it suddenly suffocate? Would it know it was dying? Would it feel pain?

These, and many other questions began to plague the brunette. He soon found himself unable to sleep. Staying awake instead, to monitor Naruto’s jutsu. He watched over him as he slept, sometimes feeding him chakra through his palms. If Naruto’s endless supply was flagging, Neji would just see to it, that he had an outside source.

During the night, while Naruto was awake, Neji watched him through his byakugan. Waiting for the slips, and attempting to monitor them to the best of his ability. He kept his gaze ever focussed on the blonde’s chakra system. More often than not, keeping his eyes trained upon the center, the well of its origin.

Naruto became adjusted to being looked through, instead of looked at.


One night, while Naruto sat in an armchair overflowing with cushions, and slurping ramen, he cocked his head and asked, “Can you see the baby?”

Neji was slightly thrown by the question. His eyes moving down to the small form within his lover’s swollen belly. It shifted under his gaze, chakra paths surging with a cool, steady flow.

“Yes,” he replied.

Naruto sighed.

“Must be nice,” he said, after a time.

Neji could only nod.

They sat in silence for a while. Naruto finishing his ramen, and Neji watching their baby. Sometimes he felt it understood. That it knew where it was, and who they were. Sometimes, he felt it looked back out at him. Strange as it may sound, it was a welcome thought. He liked to think their baby accepted him. That it liked to face his direction, because it was absorbing as much of him as it could, while it could.

And though thoughts like that made him feel loved, happy. The reasoning behind it caused an ache in his chest. A hole was slowly forming in his heart. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“Can you tell?”

“Hmm?” he replied, watching the baby kick.

Naruto rubbed at the area, where the baby had connected.

“What it is.”

“No.”

“…Oh.”


The second thing Neji was aware of, was a stirring within the community. The villagers scurried about, whispering to one another, and smiling at him when he was among them. They asked how Nanako was doing, and whether she would feel up to leaving the house soon.

Though they had been good to them, cared for them, Neji and Naruto had silently agreed upon one thing. They didn’t want them anywhere near the blonde at this point in the pregnancy. Naruto was too unstable to go out to them, and neither felt comfortable with inviting them into their home.

Naruto had finally finished, what the doctor called, his ‘nesting’ period. Happy with the results of two months worth of effort. He lazed about the house, doing virtually nothing; one hand always braced above their baby. In comfort, in support, or in defense, Neji was unsure. Though, he felt the need to do similarly.

It was, as their doctor put it, waiting time. The baby was physically ready. They just needed for it to be mentally ready. It would come when it felt the time was right, and there was nothing they could do – though neither really wanted to – to convince it otherwise.

Neji was uncertain, as to the reason, the villagers were so keen upon seeing Naruto. He felt, perhaps they missed him. Perhaps, they worried over him. Eventually, he found – via certain shinobi information gathering techniques - it was because they wanted to throw them some sort of party.

Neji told Naruto about it, and though the blonde wanted to go. And though his chakra had evened out and returned to a manageable quality. There was still his senses to consider. They had only continued to sharpen, putting his lover through a distinct sort of agony. All he wanted to do was sleep, and their doctor had told him to allow Nanako all the rest she required. In fact, he’d advised Neji to try and take advantage of it as well. They would need as much energy for the coming event as possible.

So, Neji had politely declined the proffered party. Citing Naruto’s fatigue as cause. The villagers had understood, and had wished them all the best. Neji supposed they would try again, afterward. Maybe it would be for the best. Naruto could have something to look forward to. And it just may cheer him.

As his lover simply slept the days away, Neji found he both missed him, and loved him more. He missed Naruto’s quips, his laugh, and his wide smiles. He missed being teased, and the sideways looks Naruto would give him when he was considering mischief. He missed Naruto’s mischief.

It hadn’t occurred to him before, that their entire lives were about to change. This was something they couldn’t simply return to form over. There would be no going back. They’d created a life. They’d sustained that life, between them. They would be forever responsible for the life, and its future. All of its comings and goings, all of its proceedings. Everything would be because of them.

Neji wasn’t sure he was so confident about it now. Yet, he wasn’t willing to give up. He was a Konoha shinobi. He was a Hyuuga. But, most importantly, he was a father. Now, he was a father. And that…that was more important than anything.

He couldn’t help but watch Naruto sleep, and dream himself. Of a life, where they could be together. Where it didn’t matter who his family was, or who Naruto’s family had been. Where they didn’t have to worry about one of them going away on a mission and never returning. A life where they could raise their baby, and be happy for its birth. And never have to worry over who found out its parentage.

They were in deep. And it was just beginning. Once they got back to Konoha, the real battle would begin. Neji knew they were both strong enough to survive the villagers and the gossip. But, were either of them strong enough to survive the loss of one another?

Was he strong enough to survive watching his child grow up from afar? As much a part of his life as any other villager. No more special than his clan’s status.

His child…

Neji’s brow furrowed, Naruto reacting as quickly as Neji had seen it. He hissed, clutching at his side. Though it had awoken him, he seemed no less coherent. His senses, filling in the blanks as his mind reeled with the sudden pain.

Blue eyes opened, watered slightly and Neji found his own being drawn up to meet them. He reached out a hand, for no other reason than to be a part of the moment, and lay it across Naruto’s belly.

Naruto smiled at him through clenched teeth.

“That was definitely not a kick,” he said.

Neji shook his head, unable to speak. Kami-sama…he could hardly breathe.

“Well,” continued Naruto, with a heavy sigh. “Looks like, we’re out of time.” He caressed the side of Neji’s face and kissed him gently, forcing the brunette into meeting his eyes once more. “Ready?”

No. He really wasn’t. Couldn’t the baby just give them a little more time? Just a little more time! It couldn’t be happening this quickly. Where had all the time gone? His clan…

“Neji.”

He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead into the blonde’s. Naruto was already panting softly, warm breath ghosting over Neji’s mouth. He took a moment to collect himself, opening gray eyes – why lie to one another now? – and meeting polished blue.

He stroked back blonde hair. Kissed soft lips, trailed down a slender neck. Naruto sighed, relaxing slightly in his embrace.

“Yes,” he whispered, into Naruto’s skin.

It was now…or never.

“Yes.”