As Above So Below

As Above So Below
Chapter 4


The late afternoon and early evening crawled too slowly for Nathan’s peace of mind. Both Naruto and Stefan found themselves frequently the victims of run by molestations. Nathan was completely unnerved by the day’s turn of events, and sought to alleviate his fears by jumping his spouses whenever possible. Every time Naruto turned around, Nathan had her in his arms, kissing her hungrily, putting his hands in highly inappropriate places when children were nearby. This always made Naruto blush fiercely, Narue giggle, and Sasuke roll his young eyes. Daddy was such a horn dog! Once, about an hour before bed, Sasuke sauntered by his parent’s bedroom, and rashly looked in to discover that Nathan had pinned Stefan to the thick carpet, had his pants open, and one tanned hand deep in Stefan’s boxers, ravaging said dark haired father’s mouth with his own.

Enough was enough. Sasuke didn’t know what was wrong with his blonde father, who was always ready to play with his wife and husband, whomever might be nearby, but he did suspect that strange young man at the barbeque to be the source of his father’s endless trysts today. Still, as much as it soothed Sasuke’s turbulent soul to see such devotion and passion after all these years, considering that more than three fourths of his school friends came from divorced homes, Daddy was taking things a bit far today.

“Daddy!” He bawled angrily. “Get off Papa! Can’t you please wait until we go to bed? For god’s sake! Mama! Make Daddy leave Papa alone!”

No sooner had the words left Sasuke’s mouth, he realized that asking Mama to help was like putting oil on a fire. Daddy was ten times more affectionate with Mama today then normal as well. Sighing gruffly, he walked away, knowing that as soon as Mama arrived, the door to the bedroom room would slam and all sorts of embarrassing noises would come out. It was bad enough at night. Someone was always having sex in their household. With three highly sexed parents, they’d already gone through three beds that Sasuke knew of. And Papa had finally given up, and stopped calling drywall and painting companies to repair the wall behind their headboard; he’d simply moved the huge four poster bed into the middle of the room. Less collateral damage that way, Sasuke figured.

He went to the back patio and breathed in the heavy scent of honeysuckle that climbed relentlessly over the back wall, and tried to ignore the muffled sounds coming from deep inside the house. Mama had squealed when she’d arrived to discover why Sasuke had been so angry, and the door had slammed. Sasuke had heard it from the patio not ten minutes before. He just knew that Daddy had dragged her in to play with him and Papa. He sighed again, and wondered if he would grow up to be so sexually impatient. He hoped not, since he was actually Stefan’s son, and not Nathan’s. Not that he regarded either man as more his father. He was just biologically related to his dark haired father, and not to his blonde haired father. But both men were, respectively, Papa and Daddy. He went as readily to one as the other when he had a boo boo that needed healing, though Mama’s kisses were the best when it came to ouchies. And he’d run to his Daddy more often when he was scared than to his Papa. Daddy was far more easy going when it came to fears of the unknown and confessions of wrong doing. Always go to Daddy first. Daddy was his greatest shield against Papa’s wrath and/or disappointment, with Mama a very close second.

The sky was shot with purple and gold and rose, and Sasuke stared at it dreamily; having inherited a great love of dreams and beauty from his mother, Naruto. A moment later, Narue came dancing out with a lollipop, made of juice and honey, instead of tons of sugar. Though all three of the blondes in Sasuke’s family lived and died for sugar, Stefan would frown at the sheer amount they consumed. But Narue’s cavity last year was the final straw. He’d tried several things before finally finding a recipe for candy and sweets that didn’t contain a bit of sugar. It had been very odd, seeing his Papa decked out in one of Mama’s bright orange aprons, brow wrinkled in concentration, as he mixed things in big bowls. Daddy still teased Papa about that apron.

Watching his little sister now, contentedly suckling the confection, Sasuke smiled gently. She was such a beautiful little thing, sweet and kind and altogether dainty. With Nathan as the father, and Naruto the mother, she didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of being tall. Being as both Nathan and Naruto looked so fantastically alike, Narue was simply a miniature version of them both. The genes between the two blondes had mixed in a bewitching way, giving Sasuke the perfect little sister, except when she was pestering the living daylights out of the ten year old. Which was almost all the time. But he couldn’t find it in himself to stay angry with her. All she had to do was bat those huge baby blues up at him, tiny pert and perfect nose twitching with mischievous adoration, the two tiny whisker marks gracing each round and rosy cheek, and Sasuke caved.

Narue took the candy out of her mouth for a moment. “Where’s Mommy?” She asked innocently.

Before Sasuke could answer diplomatically, suddenly Naruto’s voice was heard, despite the shut doors between them, crying out, “Oh, god, Nathan!” Followed by a very familiar triumphant and exultant victory cry from their blonde father.

Those enormous blue eyes got somehow even more huge, and she quivered with suppressed laughter. “Daddy is sooooo bad!”

Sasuke gave yet another suffering sigh, even though in his heart, he agreed with her.

A few moments later, Stefan staggered out the back door, looking rather disheveled. He turned beet red when his two children simply smirked at him. He coughed, smoothed back his tousled hair, and then reached out for them.

Giggling, yea, even Sasuke, they threw themselves into his arms. Stefan was not an overly demonstrative man, but years with Nathan and Naruto had softened him somewhat. Even so, hugs from Papa were not to be disdained, and were to be enjoyed whenever and wherever they were offered. And Papa was always so very affectionate after locking himself away with Daddy and/or Mama.

And Narue dearly loved her dark and sometimes dour Papa. With all the strength of her tiny yet mighty heart. Especially when he was so very sweet after loving with Daddy and Mommy. He always smelled differently then too, all earthy and spicy. She hugged him tighter and breathed in deeply, the better to catch the elusive but delightful scent of all three of her parents irrevocably combined. It soothed the ruffled feathers she got after cutting remarks from her preschool comrades.

After the long and fierce three cornered hug, Sasuke and Stefan entered into a battle of wits, with Sasuke the inevitable loser. But with each skirmish, he grew wiser and cannier, and Stefan always smiled at his eldest child with such a proud smirk, that even Narue’s heart swelled with triumph. And how she loved watching these events, torn between cheering her brother and her Papa on. She’d long ago decided to cheer both of them equally.

By this time, Mommy and Daddy had joined them, equally delicious smelling, and the evening frolic degenerated into a five teamed family effort of tag. As was expected, both Sasuke and Stefan tried to disdainfully decline. But equally normal, she, Mommy, and Daddy always managed to change their minds. There was something so magical about watching her Papa, unusually carefree and wild, laughing fit to kill as he chased Mama, who was chasing Sasuke, likewise bewitched into mirth, and being chased by Daddy, who was fleeing Narue herself. And just as always, all five of them ended up by rolling around in the grass and flowers until none of them could move a muscle, almost smothered by the scent of honeysuckle and night blooming jasmine.

Narue drew a deep breath into her five year old lungs. Life was very good indeed. Pooh on those old farts at the supermarket, and the snot nosed brats at daycare. Like Mama, she’d just turn her nose into the air when they said anything.

The sun had completely set, and finally, Stefan recovered his wits and they all got up and trooped back into the house. There was a quick spritz in the bathroom for the children, delivered by Naruto, to recover clean bodies from bruised flower petals and grass stains.

Narue, having gone first, danced down the hall in her fluffy jammies, set to ensorcel one of her fathers into a lengthy bedtime story. Oddly enough, it was usually Papa who fell to her charms first, and she did love his stories, full of wit and grace and twists and turns. She far preferred them to her Daddy’s stories chock full of adventures and knights and damsels in distress by fire breathing dragons, or evil overlords. But how Sasuke loved Nathan’s adventure tales. Her brother, in typical boy fashion, loved blood, guts, and gore.

But innocent little Narue would not get any bedtime story tonight, either with intrigue or swordplay. But she did get something to worry her little heart and make tears stand out in her blue eyes.

She peeked around the door to her parents room, and saw Papa staring down at what looked like pictures. And Papa wasn’t smiling like before; he was frowning thunderously.

“I don’t care if you think I’m making too much of this, Stefan,” Daddy was saying with a mutinous look on his face. “I tell you, it explains everything; Naruto’s strange fits, her wild stories. And look. He looks just like you, like Sasuke. But I know the boy can’t be you or our son. It’s ‘him’ I tell you. And he’ll take Naruto away from us.”

Stefan sighed and set the pictures down. Rather carelessly for him. They slipped off the edge of the desk by the door and spilled to the ground at Narue’s feet. “I’m not saying you’re making too much of this, koi,” he took Nathan’s chin in his hand, felt the slight quiver in it, and tilted his younger husband’s face up to look into his. “But as much sense as it makes, it raises that many more questions. If this is Naruto’s long lost ‘Sasuke’, why is he so young? You tell me he looks exactly like in the last photograph. Well, that would make him, what… sixteen? Seventeen? Naruto’s thirty three. And if her tales are to be believed, he’s older than she is. Jason thinks he may be the man’s son. That is what I believe.”

Nathan’s chin quivered harder. “But what if he’s Naruto’s son as well? Can we keep them apart?”

Stefan smiled gently and shook his head. “There’s no way, lover. Naruto was a virgin when I took her. Her only children are our children. He’s nothing to us.”

Nathan’s eyes filled with tears. “But Stefan, whether he’s the son, or the man himself, it makes Naruto’s stories true. But how can that be? And even if they are true, I don’t care. I love her. She’s our wife, the mother of our children. How can we let someone take her away from us? How can we let someone take her away from the kids?” Nathan gave a sudden yip. “What if ‘he’ takes the children from us too? Oh, god, Stefan!” The tears overflowed.

Stefan was horrified. Sure, their life was far from perfect, but it was so damn good he often woke at night, stared down at his two mates, and shivered with how wondrous it was to be with them like this. But now someone stood to endanger his precious family, and had made Nathan cry.

He hated it when Nathan cried. Like when Naruto did it, it made Stefan feel wild, dangerous, ready to kill. Ready to utterly destroy whoever or whatever caused his beloved ones pain. Thankfully, Nathan seldom cried; only doing so when his heart was stricken to the core. And Stefan was around to see that such events rarely happened to his sunny, bright and beautiful husband. Likewise with Naruto. If Stefan could have slain Naruto’s fears and heartsickness, like the heroes in Nathan’s bedtime stories, he would have done so years ago.

He pulled Nathan into his arms, and slowly kissed his tears away. “Hush, Nathan, be still. Don’t cry. You make me crazy when you cry. Do you really think I will let anyone take our Naruto away from us? Madness. Nor will I let anyone take away our children. Didn’t I make that plain when the state tried to separate us, after Narue was born? Shush now, sweetheart. I will make us all safe, like I always do.”

Unbeknownst to the children, four years ago, DCS tried to dismantle the Madara/Arashi/Uzumaki household, stating that a bisexual and polygamous relationship was detrimental to the fabric of American society at large. They tried to condemn Stefan’s and Nathan’s passionate love, the sexual relationship all three adults indulged in, and the harm it could be doing the children of said union.

Stefan had pulled out all the stops. Not only did he utilize the army of Madaran attorneys, he sought out some of the highest, most celebrated lawyers in the world. He roused both the homosexual and Mormon communities on their behalf. He yanked Sasuke out of the exclusive boy’s school he was going to, and fired the nanny that assisted Naruto with Narue’s care. Both parties had been witnesses for the DCS investigators. It was a huge hue and cry, and headlines were splashed across the planet.

Nathan turned out to be a very charismatic partner in this endeavor. His boyish good looks and devastating charm swayed men and women alike. Nathan didn’t often wax eloquent, not being all that good with his mouth, ahem, verbally that was. But with his lover, his wife, and his children at stake, he’d found a heretofore undiscovered wealth of earnestness that stood them in good stead. He’d somehow made a bisexual, polygamous family look good.

As had Naruto, who’d shown not a trace of the mental instability that had plagued them all during and after Narue’s birth. In fact, it had been instrumental in ending her latest funk. She’d surprised them all with her flying colors of battle.

Hell, even Phillip had stalked into the public eye, girded for war, ready to fight on behalf of the once loathed Nathan. By then, the older man had come to love Nathan as the light hearted and carefree son he’d never had. And Naruto! God, he loved her like a daughter, and had been thrilled to the tips of his toes, in his calm and rather frigid way, for giving him grandchildren. Yes, grandchildren. He loved Narue as much as Sasuke.

It had been a bloody, but victorious battle. Stefan’s way with words and dripping scorn that lashed to the bone, Nathan’s bright smiles and big heart, Naruto’s feisty defense of her chosen lifestyle, Phillips stern and inflexible faith in his unorthodox family, and the combination of the biggest and brightest stars in the world of law…

They’d sued the pants off DCS, the high falutin’ private school, and very prestigious company that supplied the nanny. It cost the state millions in defense fees and ensuing lawsuits from other discriminated against same sex or multi partnered families. It became a byword in the homosexual and polygamous societies. They were famous.

Stefan then bought this sprawling complex and lands, hired private tutors, and opened his own school for gifted children not five miles away from their very luxurious home. They finally found the peace and love and happiness that had almost been lost so many times.

Sadly, it was Phillip Madara’s last fight in the limelight. He’d carefully hidden the fact he was in the last stages of terminal cancer. He died less than a year later, his whole family, which included the Sannins as well, at his bedside. Phillip died a warmer and happier man than he lived most of his life. And Marilyn, Stefan’s mother, faded away. Rather like Minato Arashi, she couldn’t face life without her lifetime partner. When she died, two years later, she did so as quietly and unobtrusively as she had lived.

Stefan, as well as his family, had been devastated. His parents were laid near Ethan’s in the Madara plot. He’d been plunged into his own depression. And Naruto had done something unexpected. She’d talked at length with Nathan, Suzanne, and Jason. Then, two months later, she and Nathan had taken Stefan to the cemetery.

At great expense, and even greater secrecy, she, Nathan, and the Sannins had enlarged the Madara’s section in the graveyard, and had Minato and Kushina removed from their resting places to reside beside the Madara matriarch and patriarch. And there, next to Ethan’s grave, were three plots, covered in rose bushes, where she, Nathan, and Stefan would lay, when their time came.

And despite how bizarre and macabre such a gift was, Nathan and Naruto had held him tightly, and said in unpracticed unison, “We are one.”

And Stefan’s heart was made whole.

And yet, here again, a danger and a threat was made against his family, and like before, Stefan would fight tooth and nail to keep what was his.