Budding Limbs

Having Naruto back in the village was a breath of fresh air for Tsunade. Already, the air felt more alive, and the lively aura of mischief and fun coated Konoha like a soothing yet invigorating blanket.

When she’d first learned of his return, the omega had gone as far as to kicking those stuffy old elders out of her office and clearing her schedule to take him to the barbeque restaurant for a nice meal as he told her of his travels.

He’d grown up. Now he stood taller than she did, and his once big ears were now proportional to the rest of him. He was nearly the spitting image of Minato had been at that age, right before he’d become Jiraiya’s student. Naruto had his mother’s spirit, though, and it showed in the way he carried himself.

Tsunade had always been fond of Kushina. She’d been a mess of red hair, stubbornness, and an unyielding sense of morality. She would have made a wonderful mother, had she been given the chance.

Tsunade herself had never known if she’d particularly care for having children. In her time, omega shinobi were unheard of, and when forced to choose between having a family and a career, she’d chosen a career- and rightfully so. She’d been able to save many lives, much more than she would have been able to bring into the world.

It was a good trade off, but sometimes, after a day of drinking and losing bets at gambling halls, she’d wonder those stupid little ‘what ifs’. What if Dan had lived, what if her brother had. What if she’d accepted Jiraiya’s offer to take her on a date.

The door opening to her office startled her from her musings.

The familiar grey hair of Kakashi Hatake sombered her a bit. She knew what he was here for, and who would likely follow him.

Now that Naruto was back in the village, her, Jiraiya, and Kakashi needed to be on the same page when it came to his training. A security detail would also need to be discussed. Very few people could protect the boy from the nine tails, should something go awry, and even fewer could protect him from a threat such as the Akatsuki, should they infiltrate the village to get to him.

There once was a time where everyone had thought that Konoha was one of the more impenetrable villages, seconded only by the Hidden Mist village, but the Incident with Orochimaru as well as the incident with Itachi Uchiha three years ago proved otherwise.

The generation of children that had been born in war were growing up, and a new tide was sweeping through the shinobi lands. It was one that Tsunade was unable to predict, even without her terrible gambling skills.

She needed to ensure that the village’s future was secured, and Naruto was exactly the boy that she would be betting on this time around. Not herself or Jiraiya, not Might Gai or Kakashi.

Naruto.

“Kakashi.” She greeted, holding up a glass- water, as Shizune had confiscated her sake earlier that morning- to offer him.

Her fellow omega shook his head in a humble refusal. There were times, like just then, that he reminded her of his father. As she’d taken up the position of hokage and began to work more closely with him, though, he’d reminded her of Sakumo less and less.

“Master Jiraiya is on his way, I saw him conducting…research while on my way here.” The jonin explained nonchalantly. His fingers twitched by his side, and she knew that he was itching to pick up the book that was shoved in his pocket to read it.

Oh to be young and have time to read things that weren’t mission reports or trade proposals.

“Have a seat, then, I’m sure it will be a while.”

And indeed, she was correct. Jiraiya was late by twenty three minutes by the time he finally arrived.

“You sure took your sweet time.” She sighed pointedly at her old teammate.

Kakashi didn’t pay them any mind. At this point, he was used to their antics.

“Well, you know I like to make a grand entrance, princess.” he winked at her as he leaned against the wall coolly.

“Whatever.” she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, trying to seem more put out than she really was.

“I called the both of you here to discuss Naruto.” she continued after a pause to look both of them in the eyes- or eye in Kakashi’s case.

“We need to be on the same page in regards to his safety, training, and security. He’s not a child any more, he can’t be left alone to get into trouble like he did when Sarutobi sensei was in office.”

She leaned back in her chair, waiting for their acknowledgement.

“First,” she went on, “what is said in this meeting is off the books. Information stays between the three of us, got it?”

Jiraiya waved her off, knowing what she’d said was simply a formality. Kakashi inclined his head in agreement.

“Now, just so we’re all on the same page, Jiraiya, as Naruto’s mentor for the last three years, would you please fill Kakashi and I in on what those three years have entailed?”

Tsunade didn’t miss the way Kakashi perked up at her question. She knew that he felt responsible for the way Sasuke had left the village, and for Naruto’s depression afterwards. She also knew that the younger omega had come to think of Naruto as a pack member despite never voicing it. It had killed the Hatake to be so removed from Naruto’s life for three years.

Jiraiya shifted and uncrossed his arms, “Well, whaddaya wanna know?”

Kakashi jumped in before she could, “How has he been managing the nine tails?”

The old alpha rubbed his chin in thought, “Very well, all things considered. His seal is perfect- may as well be brand new. He’s begun to channel some of the nine tail’s chakra responsibly.”

Jiraiya hesitated, and Tsunade and Kakashi both caught on to his trepidation.

Her eyes narrowed, “What is it?”

The alpha sighed as a troubled look crossed his face. “Naruto…he needs Sasuke.”

“If I recall correctly, you wanted Sasuke separated from Naruto by any means necessary.” she glared at him with a raised brow. Her old teammate cringed.

Yes, neither Tsunade nor Kakashi had forgotten what Jiraiya had suggested they do to keep Sasuke away from Naruto. The two omegas had been more than appalled, and in Kakashi’s case- who hid his designation for those very concerns- he’d even been offended.

“I know, I know, and that was wrong of me to even suggest. I was desperate to keep the kid safe, okay?”

Kakashi, who’d been quiet until now, spoke up for the second time, “Why do you say he needs Sasuke?”

Tsunade knew where this was going. She’d feared it since the moment both boys had left the village. Their accidental scent bond- it had likely matured while they were away, causing each other unimaginable stress and mental strain. Sasuke’s heats and Naruto’s ruts would have likely been agonizing without the other present.

It had been a fate the three shinobi had tried to save them from, if only that damned Orochimaru hadn’t intervened.

“Their scent bond’s affected him greatly since he reached maturation age. The only thing that I ever saw that was able to completely settle him was when it was storming outside.”

Kakashi nodded his head in understanding. “His instincts must have thought it was Sasuke’s scent.”

Tsunade knew that Kakashi had his own suspicions as to what the two boys were, but her heart caught in her throat at the very idea. Being soulmates was a curse as much as it was a blessing. To have your fate so intertwined with someone…especially in the life of a shinobi, it only opened doors for heartbreak and pain.

She remembered the medical procedures little Kakashi Hatake had needed just to be able to function properly. When his soulmate had died, he’d had seizure after seizure, the bond had been in shambles, and that was without any form of mating marks.

If his theory on Sasuke and Naruto was correct…

It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be.

“We need to discuss security measures. Especially now with the Akatsuki beginning to make their moves, like you mentioned in your last letter, Jiraiya.”

Her shift in conversation alleviated some of the tension in the room, but she knew in her gut that she would have to revisit the topic soon. Especially if her intel on Orochimaru’s latest hideout had proven to be reliable.

Would it be wise to try and extract the Uchiha by giving the mission to Kakashi’s team? Probably not, but, as the hokage glanced at the photo of Minato Namikaze on the wall next to the other hokage portraits, she knew in her bones that she needed to assign them the mission.

If only to give Naruto the hope he so desperately needed.

~~~

Sasuke dodged the blow of his opponent with a mild huff. Normally, he wasn’t one to pick fights with people, especially with a ten pound bump where his normally refined stomach would be. But, Orochimaru had ordered him to start conflict between two prominent clans in the land of lightning, for reasons Sasuke wasn’t privy to, and so the omega had done so.

The woman, an alpha that had at least two feet of height over him and a gnarled scar running down her neck, tried to use his dodge to her advantage and tried to perform a hand sign. Sasuke didn’t let her, of course, as he didn’t need the sharingan to see that tactic coming from a mile away.

He hadn’t actually used his kekkei genkai once during this fight. If he did, it would blow his cover. The Uchiha didn’t like posing as someone from a different clan, somehow it felt like an insult to the Uchiha name, but it was necessary for his goal.

Their small battle was over within the next two minutes. She’d fallen right into one of his ninja tool traps, and he’d forced her onto the defensive. Her justu, a nauseating mix of chakra blasting that churned his stomach, had barely been a match against some of his lesser known abilities.

Orochimaru had taught him long ago that it was important to memorize as many jutsu as possible, so that he would always be able to surprise his opponents and to not rely on the Uchiha clan’s abilities so heavily. It was good advice, spoken from the lips of a snake. How ironic.

Sasuke made quick work of tying her up and leaving her as a message. He left behind clues that would lead her clan to believe that it was someone from their rivaling clan that had done this, and he’d used a jutsu to alter his appearance to the common genetic traits of the clan he was pretending to be from.

It was tedious, and political. Orochimaru liked to have many irons in the fire, but political sabotage was more trouble than it was worth for someone like Sasuke. Working from the shadows, alone and with a purpose was more in line with Sasuke’s belief system.

Once he was far enough away from where he’d left the woman, he rid himself of the disguise and sheathed his sword. Thankfully, he was alone in the forest now, so he could enjoy the fresh air and gentle songs of the tree birds in the distance.

He’d sufficiently done as he was instructed, and had completed the task with three extra days to spare. Not wanting to go back to the stale, oppressive air of the hideout just yet, Sasuke decided that he would stop by Ms. Namura’s shop. He hadn’t seen the old woman since he’d figured out he was pregnant. She was likely worried, and although Sasuke wasn’t much of a people person, he didn’t want to leave her to her fears.

She’d been kind to him without ulterior motives. Sasuke would loathe himself if he did not repay that kindness.

The omega shielded his eyes from the harsh sunlight as he looked up at the sky. Judging from the sun’s position, he had about half a day left of sunlight to travel by.

Quietly, but efficiently, he started his journey, lost in thought. Had Naruto been too busy to read the letter? Did he misplace it?

His anxious trails of thought made the hours pass far quicker than he would have cared for. These days, time was like gold to Sasuke. It was rare and precious because he would never have enough of it.

Sooner than he would have expected, his feet were crossing the threshold of Ms. Namura’s store, accompanied by the dinging of the small bell that was attached to the entry way door.

She was in the middle of dusting one of her display cases when her head snapped in his direction. Her stern, business woman persona melted away before his eyes, replaced by a bemused, almost fond look in its stead.

“Sasuke, what a surprise.” she greeted him as she promptly forgot about her dusting and made her way over to him to give him a firm pat on the shoulder. He blinked and looked a little closer at what she’d been cleaning off, and upon closer inspection, found that she had gotten her hands on an Ono.

Onos were incredibly rare weapons that were designated for only the most skilled and elite samurai. Sasuke had never even seen one in person, and only recognized it because of the large encyclopedia of weapons he used to read before bed as a child.

Sasuke decided that it was better not to ask how she came across it.

He glanced at the hand on his shoulder, and then offered her a silent head nod in mutual greeting.

Few people were allowed to touch him. Ms. Namura, though, was second on the list of those that possessed that right. There were only two people on the list.

“You’re not here on official business, are you?” She hummed, though her tone had walls of steel encasing it.

“No one knows I’m here.” He sighed.

He shifted on his feet and both of them politely ignored the grumble of hunger that sounded in the room. His cheeks colored, and not for the frist time since discovering the pregnancy, Sasuke found himself embarrassed.

“I’ll close up for the day, it’s getting around that time anyway. You’ll be staying the night, I take it?”

The answer, although he knew she wasn’t actually asking so much as telling him to under the guise of a question, was yes. Orochimaru wasn’t expecting him back until sometime late in teh afternoon tomorrow, and if he woke up somewhat early in the morning, he could even spend some time catching up with the old woman that he’d come to care for.

Ms. Namura turned without waiting for Sasuke’s reply and fished her keys out of her apron pocket. The floorboards creaked under her feet once she made it to the door to lock it, and in the back of his mind, he made a quiet promise to himself that after the baby was born and Orochimaru and Itachi had been dealt with, he would come back here and replace the flooring for her.

She didn’t need to be doing such laborious tasks in her old age.

Sasuke watched as the old woman locked her store doors and turned the lights off. The glow of light from the stairway leading to the living quarters upstairs cast a unique shimmer among the illegal weaponry displays. Years ago, Sasuke had disliked this place due to the nefariousness of how the merchandise was obtained, but after being desensitized to many of the darker aspects of the world, he no longer cared.

“Go on, rest your feet, I’ll be there in a minute.” she told him as the store keys jangled in her hands.

“I’ll wait-” he began, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

“You’ll go upstairs and make yourself comfortable. I’m just old, I’m not an invalid”

Knowing that she absolutely was as stubborn as he was, as well as the fact that he was the one who’d dropped in unannounced, he gave in to her wishes. The omega nodded his head once, not missing the mischievous twinkle of delight in her weathered eyes, and headed up the stairs.

The living portion of the building was modest. At first, before he’d truly gotten to know her, he’d wondered where all of her money went because the weaponry shop was actually a fairly popular business in this town of criminals and ruffians.

Then, once she’d found out he was an omega and under Orochimaru’s care, she’d offered him a way out, and he’d understood. She used her money to buy the freedom for omega pity cases. Of course, he’d been a moody child then, and had been offended at her offer.

Now, maybe more than ever, he appreciated her kindness. If ever there was a way that he could repay her, he would ten times over.

Sasuke knew the layout of her home by now and knew that there was a small sitting room to the left of the kitchen area that housed three cushioned chairs and a small table with a large book placed directly in the center. He’d tried to open it and read it once, but she’d slapped his hand away.

He settled down in the chair closest to the corner after his instincts deemed that spot to be the best location. That was something odd about his pregnancy, his need for safe spaces grew tenfold and became an annoyingly persistent voice in the back of his mind.

As soon as he got comfortable, he was embarrassed to admit that yes, Ms. Namura had been right. Sasuke had needed a bit of a rest, at least, if the instant lack of pressure on his knees and feet was anything to go off of.

She found him curled up in the chair with his cheek resting against the back of the chair a few moments later with sleep clouding his movements.

“See? Didn’t I tell you? Omegas these days,” she muttered that last part to herself, “You know, back in my day, if an omega got pregnant, they’d demand that they be waited on hand and foot. Not you new generations though, oh no. You want to take over the world with a baby on your hip and an alpha hanging off of your neck. Too much effort if you ask me. Too much energy wasted for nothing.”

That got a genuine laugh out of him. She was like an old version of Ino Yamanaka, but set in her ways and strategically rebellious. Besides, he knew she was just giving him a hard time.

“Good thing you never had any kids then.” he muttered lightly.

She laughed then, “Definitely. Too troublesome for my tastes. Could you imagine trying to potty train a pup while going off to the ends of the earth to pick up merchandise for this place?”.

Sasuke sobered at the thought. That would be him in a few months.

She caught on to his mood shift as soon as it happened and came to sit down in the chair facing him. “Something’s on your mind.” the old omega stated. It wasn’t a question- she didn’t often prompt him to tell her things because she knew that he likely couldn’t divulge information even if he wanted to .

His gut pooled with uncertainty, and despite his best efforts, his voice was watery when he told her. “I sent him a letter about… you know,” he gestured to his stomach instead of saying his condition out loud. It felt foreign and wrong to do so. “And he hasn’t sent me anything. It’s been days, no word, no message of his own-”

She cut him off and jabbed an old, wrinkled finger in his direction, “Now you stop right there. You’re Sasuke Uchiha, you’re as stubborn as a mule, but even you know that this is something that needs patience.”

Patience. Hadn’t he been patient enough? If the roles were reversed- if he were the alpha who’d just gotten news that he’d fathered a child accidentally and Naruto were asking him for help, Sasuke would have moved Hell and Earth to go to him.

Was this a punishment, in some way? Was Naruto finally jumping off of the sinking ship that was Sasuke’s life and giving up on him, and this was how Sasuke found out? With a bitter lack of reply?

If this was Naruto’s revenge for Sasuke leaving him, not once, but twice now, then he deserved it. Sasuke wasn’t a stranger to deluding himself, but even he wasn’t capable of that level of self delusion to think he didn’t deserve Naruto’s cold ire.

But, a tiny, insignificant but loud voice in his head suggested, what if Naruto wasn’t angry at all? What if, after reading the letter, Naruto had been…ashamed?

It had to be embarrassing, having a child outside of a mated pair, and with a traitor to his village at that. It would make him an outcast again. He doubted Naruto would want to go back to being such a social pariah in the leaf village, especially after working tooth and nail to gain everyone’s acceptance.

Maybe…Maybe Naruto had chosen Konoha over Sasuke. Again.

“Oh, you poor boy.” Ms. Namura’s voice startled him, although he didn’t show it, “You’ve been through so much, haven’t you?”

He stayed quiet.

She leaned forward, “A child is a big change. You know this already, you’ve had time to adjust to the knowledge. This alpha, whoever he is, hasn’t. Give him time. If you had reason to believe he would come, then he likely will. You’re a smart boy, you’ve got good instincts. Trust them, alright?”

He tilted his head to let his dark hair fall into his face. She didn’t need to see the moisture collecting in his eyes, nor the anguished look of a boy who’d been orphaned too soon grappling with becoming a parent with no one to guide him, and no one to hold his hand.

No one, but Ms. Namura, that is.

He swallowed all of his pride and cockiness, something he’d had to do far too many times lately, and whispered out a small ‘thank you’.

Sasuke could feel her eyes on him, and knew that if he shifted his gaze, he’d see a mix of concern, pity, and resignation plastered all over her face.

Sasuke kept his head down.

“I’ll give you a moment, I’m going to start dinner. You’re free to join me if you like.” She spoke softly. She got out of her chair with relative ease, considering her age, and crept out of the sitting room.

He was thankful for her in countless ways, and on some level, he wondered if this wasn’t the first time she’d had to help someone in his shoes. She’d been too calm, too many steps ahead.

Sasuke found himself not caring.

~~~

When they’d first been summoned by Lady Tsunade to go to the sand village to save Kankuro and help track down Gaara’s captors, Sakura had never thought she’d be standing in the desert village’s poorly ventilated operating room watching someone she’d known fight for survival.

Of course, she’d watched many of her friends and comrades fight for survival, but physical conscious decisions in the heat of battle were different than those of the medical kind. When she’d last seen Kankuro, it had been at the chunin exams where she’d met up with he and Temari along with Shikamaru, Shino, Ino, and Choji before the exams had started to catch up.

He’d been very lively and personable then. Now, he was a sweaty, ailing mess of a man, and hatred for whoever these Akatsuki people were clouded her heart.

Sakura took a breath to calm herself. Deep emotional conflictions or turmoil would affect her medical jutsu. She needed to be level headed, for Kankuro just as much as for herself.

She tied her hair back and got to work. After a quick check, she noted that he had a fever, as to be expected with the kind of poison she’d been told he’d been injected with. It was a rare kind, one that only showed up in the particularly advanced medical journals Sakura had studied.

His pulse was both rapid and faint, two signs that he would go into cardiac arrest if she didn’t act quickly, not to mention Kankuro’s breathing was shallow and dull- Sakura really had no time to waste.

After listening to his heartbeat, she pulled back to inform the operating room’s other inhabitants, “We’re definitely dealing with a metal based toxin.”

After the room fell quiet with urgency and concern, she pushed the sand village medic ninjas to hand her Kankuro’s chart for her to look at it herself. Lady Tsunade had been right: The leaf village was very lucky to have such an excellent medical corps.

As soon as one of them handed her the chart, her eyes were darting over the page. The alpha took a breath and focused. No, Kankuro had no underlying health conditions. No, Kankuro wasn’t showing signs of liver failure- which was a good thing, considering the type of toxin he had been injected with.

“If we aren’t fast enough, the muscles surrounding the heart will cease functioning and will collapse.” She explained after hearing the murmur of confusion form one of the attendants to her left.

Was the Sand village this far behind in medical knowledge?

“And what happens if-” she didn’t know who was speaking, but she cut them off regardless. Now wasn’t the time for talking. If Kankuro’s life was going to be saved, then she needed absolute silence and concentration, not to be playing teacher. That could come later.

“It’s doubtful we’ll come up with an antidote in time-.”

“There’s nothing you can do?!” Temari shouted, cutting Sakura off. The harsh scent of overbearing mist invaded her senses for a moment, but Sakura didn’t take slight to the older alpha’s domineering pheromones. They were only so strong due to the woman’s panic for her younger brother. Sakura had dealt with it many times before when discussing outcomes of treatments for her patients while under Tsunade’s tutelage.

Sakura paused. What could she do? What had Lady Tsunade sensei taught her to do? Not all dire situations needed to be solved with fancy jutsu or techniques. The alpha glanced back at the chart, and then once at Kankuro.

“This is going to be pretty crude, but it’s the only option we’ve got!” She decided.

She was going to use her own chakra to, essentially, filter the poison out of Kankuro’s system.

It was a practice that had been nearly obsolete in the medical shinobi world for decades, Tsunade had told her, but it was a tried and true method that had saved many lives in the villages before new medicines and techniques had become the standard.

She felt her chakra begin to pool and thrum in the palm of her right hand, and placed it in the large bowl of disinfected water on the table next to her. Once she had a firm grip on the water, she pulled her hand away, the bubble of water following her hand smoothly in the process.

“Hold him down. This next part isn’t going to be so easy on him.” She stated clinically, not bothering to see whose hands had appeared on the ailing alpha’s shoulders and legs as she placed her water bubble mixed with the green aura of medical chakra above his chest.

This was the tricky part. Human bodies did not like foreign invaders of any kind. She needed to find an entry point that the water could flow through that would be close enough to the infected areas while also far enough away from the fast flow of antibody pathways within his immune system to give her some time to adapt the chakra-water mixture to his body.

If she wasn’t specific enough, and his body rejected the process, he would die on the table.

Sweat beaded on her brow as she carefully maneuvered the mixture into his body. Immediately, Kankuro began to thrash and groan in pain. “Hold him down!” she commanded ferociously. She needed precision for this to work.

Right as Temari slammed her brother’s shoulders back so that he was once again flat against the cot, Sakura found the prime location for where the poison was pooled. It was near his heart, just slightly to the left.

As long as they kept Kankuro still, she would be able to save him.

~~~

He’d sent the letter a week and a half ago. Nothing had happened.

He’d tried to be patient, like Ms. Namura had suggested, but it had been a week and a half and nothing had happened. Nothing. Not a single thing.

No sign that Naruto had responded, despite the fact that Sasuke had written him coordinates of where to meet him. The omega snuck out to the location every morning and every evening just to see if Naruto might be there.

His summons had made it back in the usual time it would take to deliver a letter to Suna and back. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, which there would have been if there’d been an interception while the letter was being delivered.

He’s terrified, he realized as his vision blurred. Whether it was from tears or exhaustion, he didn’t know. What if Naruto received the letter, but was too angry at him for the way the pair had left things to acknowledge it? What if he’d lost the letter, or had destroyed it before opening the envelope out of old wounds that still hadn’t quite healed?

What if this was a sign that Naruto had finally given up on Sasuke, and Sasuke was only just now realizing that the shared heat was a goodbye, not a promise?

The omega raced to the bathroom attached to his bedroom and vomited up what tiny bit he’d been able to eat at dinner. His neck felt clammy and overheated, but his skin was cold to the touch. His stomach pooled with loathing and fear and abandonment, and his heart soared with pained understanding.

If he were feeling well, he might have laughed at the irony of his situation. It took him figuring out Naruto was his soulmate and an accidental pregnancy to truly understand how much of a child he had been to leave the village back then. How fitting it was that he would literally be suffering from love sickness right now, trapped in a web of his own making, unable to be freed by the one person who’d always promised him freedom.

Sasuke had fucked up, irreparably so.

He turned his head to the side and rested his feverish cheek against the cool, admittedly not very hygienic, surface of the toilet. The Uchiha didn’t feel like himself and he hated it. The last time he’d felt this helpless was when he was eight years old and his entire life had been turned upside down because of one single night’s events.

His skin was shallow and pale, he noticed in the mirror that stared back at him like an expectant observer who had damned Sasuke to bare all of his truths to it. His eyes were tired and his stomach was round. That was probably the only part of him that wasn’t thin.

He’s… scared. For the baby, for himself, for his bond with Naruto.

Help. He needed help. But first he had to bide his time for the next time Orochimaru was going through one of his sick periods so that he could end the snake once and for all.

It wouldn’t be long now, he could feel it. He just needed to soldier through and nurse himself back to a semblance of health.

Sasuke wished he were strong enough to take Orochimaru on when the sanin was healthy, but given his pregnancy, the omega couldn’t take the chance that he could lose by acting rashly. Even if day by day, his situation was draining him, he was out of options.

Especially with Naruto’s lack of a response.

A small flutter under the skin of his stomach gave Sasuke pause. His brows furrowed as the sensation repeated itself, and a shaky hand began to press against it in curiosity.

It was only on the third repetition that it dawned on Sasuke.

The baby was kicking.

A miniscule mixture of joy and relief passed through him briefly as he gently covered the spot with his hand more assuredly. His baby was okay. For a good while now, he’d slowly had the dark fear that something might be wrong due to Sasuke’s training regiment and other lifestyle consequences.

He wasn’t out of the dark yet, but the tiny kicks were a reminder that he would get through this. As soon as Orochimaru had his next bout of bedridden illness, which was soon, judging from the tremor in the beta’s breaths lately, Sasuke would make his move. He’d save the girl, he’d have the baby, and he’d get revenge for his clan.

Naruto’s lack of response to his letter had brought the omega more uncertainty than he’d realized, now that he thought about it. He needed to reclaim his trust in himself, he couldn’t rely on the idea that Naruto would show up, kunai knives blazing with an apology on his lips and a diaper back on his shoulder.

Sasuke just needed to bide his time, and he could do all of it. With, or without, Naruto.

The thought struck Sasuke, and for a split second, he was hyper aware of the burning scent bond that always seemed to ache these days.

What if Naruto really wasn’t coming?

~~~

Naruto had been more than drained after they’d gotten back from their rescue mission in Suna. Gaara was alive again- and well, for the most part. He hadn’t been able to sleep those two days on the road back to Konoha, too shaken with the overwhelming image of his best friend lying there lifelessly.

He’d sobbed in anger. He’d raged in sadness. Life was so unfair for Gaara- in ways it never would be for Naruto. First his village had tried to stage a coup, then as soon as he’d been able to assert himself and go down in history as the sand village’s most badass leader, he’d been taken against his will by these Akatsuki creeps.

The only upside was that now, his friend could rest easy knowing that he no longer had a tailed beast to maintain on top of his other duties. Naruto wondered how freeing that must have felt for Gaara.

Saying goodbye had been hard- almost as hard as saying goodbye to Sasuke would have been during the heat almost half a year ago. Obviously not for the same reasons, but still. Naruto hadn’t wanted to leave Gaara alone without a friend there to help him. Temari was Suna’s relations ambassador for the leaf village now. She wouldn’t be around all the time, and Kankuro was only one guy.

Gaara needed a support system, but there was no viable option outside of Naruto moving to the sand village. But, as much as he loved Gaara like an older brother, he knew in his heart that he couldn’t do that. He had to stay in Konoha in case Sasuke came back. He needed Sasuke to know that he would never abandon the place that they had both once called home. And besides, what about Iruka sensei and Konohamaru? He couldn’t just leave them.

He couldn’t leave, and yet, he’d wanted to stay.

Maybe that was why he’d felt so troubled lately. Something was eating at him, riling up his instincts and making him feel like he was losing his grip on sanity. It wasn’t the Kyuubi- Naruto knew what that felt like, and the feelings he’d been having weren’t coated in a malevolent orange-red hue.

With an uncharacteristic sigh, he shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked through one of the hallways of the hokage tower. Old Lady Tsunade had summoned him and Sakura for a reason she’d refused to disclose- which was something a Naruto at four in the morning almost refused to accept.

He’d been back in the village officially for about a month now, but it still didn’t feel completely real. Like it was all just a really realistic dream or something. For so long, most of his friends had only been names on pieces of paper, a semi-often flow of letters with their signatures. Now they were people-people again, not just people that he knew but were at a distance away.

He had a lot to catch himself up on. Like, apparently Hinata wasn’t all weird and quiet anymore? And Choji had opened up a restaurant. Everyone were chunin now too! Well, except for Konohamaru, but that was because he was still too young.

Rock Lee was still somewhat the same, at least. Still had that bowl cut, still did two thousand cartwheels before breakfast. It was as comforting as it was jarring, but Naruto was way too cool to ever voice that out loud to anyone.

Jiraiya had left the village yesterday, and the Uzumaki had felt really strange about it. For so long, it had just been the two of them. He’d grown to love the old perv like a weird uncle who was just a little too comfortable with waxing philosophy while he peeped on girls at the public baths. He was family, and Naruto didn’t exactly have a ton of people he could say that about.

What if the old geezer was off on his travels alone with no town nearby and he got sick? Or what if he ended up needing backup for getting intel?

The alpha knew that Jiraiya could hold his own, but still, what if something happened and he couldn’t?

He’d mentioned as such to Tsunade and Kakashi sensei before Jiraiya sensei left the village again, but they’d waved off his concerns easily- although they’d made the sanin swear to send weekly letters to Naruto to prove he was alright.

It was a lousy compromise. Especially since sometimes he could barely read the old perv’s handwriting! But, like Iruka sensei had told him over dinner, even a bad compromise was better than no compromise.

The blonde didn’t even bother knocking when he entered the hokage’s office. The old omega had long ago forsaken trying to get him to stop barging in, and he was glad that three years away from the village hadn’t ruined their routine.

“Naruto! You’re late!” Sakura crossed her arms at him in mock frustration. When they were younger, he’d always interpreted that tone of voice as the pink haired alpha just being moody, but now he recognized it as just her way of teasing him.

“I’m not late! If anyone’s late, it’s Kakashi sensei!” he blurted out in retort.

“Actually, Naruto, Kakashi isn’t coming.” Tsunade asserted with a fond smile, “Meet Yamato. He will be your temporary jonin leader while Kakashi is indisposed.”

He tilted his head in confusion, “Indisposed? With what?! What could possibly be more important than- Oh no! He’s not dying is he?” He shrieked.

Sakura’s eye twitched, “No, you moron! He’s just healing in the hospital after his last mission! He’s going to be fine.”

“You worked on him?”

Naruto hadn’t realized how advanced she’d gotten in her medical training. The two of them really needed to catch up, just the two of them, sometime soon. He had a lot he needed to tell her, and judging by the rumors about her and Rock Lee, he wagered that she had a lot to tell him too.

“I did!” she smiled proudly, “He’s going to make a complete and fast recovery.”

He didn’t miss the approving glance that Tsunade sent Sakura’s way, and neither did Sakura. He also didn’t miss the brown haired man with creepy eyes materializing out of the shadows who waved at them in greeting.

The man- Naruto couldn’t scent the air to get a designation marker for him for some reason- bowed deeply and dutifully said “I am pleased to meet you. I will not disappoint you as a leader.”

That comment barbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was the eyes that irritated him, or that blank look on his face that reminded him of too many people Naruto hated. Or possibly it was the fact that his instincts were shaken by the fact that he couldn’t figure out this Yamato’s scent- he wasn’t masking it like Kakashi or he and Sasuke did. Even that gave off generally muted pheromones. But Yamato? Nothing.

He was a clean slate, and Naruto had enough experience in life to know that he should never be buddy buddy with a clean slate.

“We’re honored to have you.” Sakura smiled beautifully as she returned Yamato’s smile.

Tsunade, Naruto had noticed, was watching the scene unfold with humorous intrigue, like she was watching zoo animals laze around in their enclosures. She cleared her throat as another figure materialized from the shadows.

With a sinking feeling pulling in his chest, he watched on helplessly as a boy his age stepped forward. His face was blank, and his eyes were impossibly dark. For a split second- genuinely a miniscule speck of time- his heart pounded and his irrational brain thought that it was Sasuke.

His hope was crushed the moment it was born when he realized, no. This person- this mockery- wasn’t Sasuke at all. He was too pale, too emotionless. There was nothing in those eyes, no thrum of a wild intelligence in how he carried himself.

“Sakura, Naruto.” The hokage addressed the two stunned shinobi, “Meet Sai. Team seven has been in need of a third member for some time now, and I believe he will fill the vacant spot very well.”

He spared a glance to where Sakura was standing in shock. Her green eyes were wide, and her hand was covering her mouth.

Naruto’s own shock wasn’t as quiet.

“What do you mean ‘new member’?! Me and Sakura are fine on our own! We don’t need some- some cheap replacement for-” the words tumbled out of his mouth faster than lightning struck in the sky.

“Sai is not a replacement for anyone, Naruto. He is a talented shinobi who is in need of a team, and you and Sakura are in need of another teammate. The issue has sorted itself out.”

Naruto’s skin itched with the way that Yamato guy was eyeing him. Like he was a timebomb or something.

“Tsunade-sensei, with all due respect, we have a third teammate already.” Sakura responded, finally out of her surprised daze.

Yeah. They did. His name was Sasuke Uchiha and he was the only teammate he and Sakura needed or wanted. No one could replace him. Definitely not some creepy look alike who didn’t even look like he was strong enough to lift a kunai, much less be of any use on missions.

“Yeah! We’re gonna get him back and what’s gonna happen when he finds out we replaced him?” Naruto interjected.

The room was feeling tense and flighty all at once. Never before had he felt so caged in.

“Naruto, you know how team formations operate within the leaf village. It’s squads of three and a higher ranking leader for a reason. It’s not personal. This is not a ploy against Sasuke, this is a measure to make sure that your team is safer on missions. As a shinobi, I would expect you to understand.”

Sakura backed down immediately. A blush found it’s way across her cheeks, embarrassed at having momentarily forgotten the cardinal rule of shinobi work in front of her teacher. Yamato was watching the blonde boy still, and it irked him in a confusing way.

Naruto stayed silent, too angry and betrayed to speak any longer. The silence was loud, almost as loud as the new guy’s empty smile that hadn’t left his face once during the entire conversation.

“Is that all?” he asked bitterly.

His fears were singing in his chest. What if Sasuke came back, only to find that he’d been replaced? How could he, as Sasuke’s sort of ex boyfriend but also kind of not an ex boyfriend, go along with this? That was Sasuke’s spot on team seven! He’d earned it, he’d bled with them, he’d almost died for he and Sakura!

Surely Kakashi sensei would set things right when he was better.

Whatever else got said in the meeting didn’t quite reach his ears. Memories of a not too distant but far away past distracted him. He thought of training in fields with Sakura nearby working on her genjutsu resistance with Kakashi sensei as Naruto rolled around in the dirt, brawling with Sasuke. He thought of dark, wild hair catching in the sunlight as Sasuke ran through the treeline to avoid being hit by an enemy’s jutsu blast.

Images of the three of them pranking Kakashi sensei when they stopped for breaks on the way back to Konoha from missions or all four of them competing to see who could collect the best firewood for the fire when they stopped for the night on over night assignments paraded in his mind.

How could they just… replace Sasuke? He was just as important to the team as Naruto was, or Sakura, or Kakashi. Throwing a new person into the mix after all this time- it was a slap in the face.

Naruto had been gone for three years, same as Sasuke. Why hadn’t Tsunade replaced BOTH him and Sasuke and given Sakura and Kakashi a full team to be part of in the meantime? Why wait until now? Especially since no one in the village had known when Naruto would be back. He could’ve been gone for three decades for crying out loud!

Something wasn’t adding up, and Naruto was going to get to the bottom of it.

“-ruto. Naruto!” Sakura punched him lightly in the arm to snap him out of it.

When he’d first come back, he’d been blown away by how strong she’d gotten. Literally. But he didn’t mind the physical aspect to their friendship, it was more playful than anything. Sure, sometimes he got hurt, but he healed incredibly fast, and got more fun out of their tactile show of friendliness than anything else.

“What?!” he blinked when he realized that now he was standing in the hallway with just Sakura. Tsunade’s door was closed behind him, and the two replacements were nowhere in sight. He sniffed. Good riddance.

“You spaced out in there. Are you okay?” Her tone shifted to a quiet one as she pulled him over to a secluded corner to talk in a more private area.

Was he okay? How the hell was he supposed to know what he was feeling right now?! He couldn’t think straight when it came to Sasuke, he never did. Everything was just a whirlwind of love and anguish and respect and longing.

“I’m…” his bottom lip trembled ever so slightly, but her all seeing green eyes caught onto it, “I don’t know. Replacing Sasuke? What is she thinking?”

Sakura’s shoulders drooped, “I know. It’s insane. Adding a new person is going to mess up how our team is structured. We’d basically be starting back at square one.”

“This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.” he grumbled, his anger finally finding him. It was the kind of anger that was tinged with orange, so he subtly began to do the breathing exercise that Jiraiya sensei had taught him to keep the nine tails in check.

They’d worked wonders so far, and he really hoped that the exercises would continue to do so. He never wanted a repeat of what had happened in that small town after he’d saved that girl from the burning building.

His friend softened and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I know, I don’t like it either. But, it’s done. We may as well try and get to know the guy who’s supposed to have our backs on missions now. Who knows, maybe he won’t be so bad.”

He knew she was trying, he really did. And if it were any other situation, Naruto would appreciate her effort. But for this? The Uzumaki needed time. To wrap his head around it.

“Yeah,” he trailed off as he shuffled his shoe against the wooden floors. “Maybe.”

She gave him a look of understanding, and nodded to herself. That was another thing that’d surprised him when he came back to the village. Sakura had matured a lot. She’d grown much closer to Ino and had even apparently helped Ino make omega health pamphlets to pass out to the omegas of the village after learning that healthcare for omegas was not as available as it was for alphas.

Naruto was proud of her, and albeit a little jealous of her growth too. Even with all the new jutsu and world knowledge he’d picked up while traveling with Jiraiya, she’d gone through an even brighter metamorphosis.

“You wanna go get some ramen tonight? We can talk more if you’d like- I’m always here for you Naruto.” she said kindly.

Grateful, he flashed her a small smile, “You bet- I’ll make sure to bring that souvenir I got you from the land of lightning.”

She could tell the smile was half hearted, and he knew that she knew, but it was immaterial.

~~~

To say Iruka wasn’t even a little surprised to be visiting Kakashi in the hospital would be an understatement. The grey haired jonin had as little care for his general well being as he had for the smell of takoyaki.

Kakashi was awake when he entered the hospital room. On the bedside table was a bowl of rice that had been left untouched and a vase of flowers that were beginning to wilt.

“Hey.” Kakashi greeted him with a rough voice as he forced himself to sit up. His blanket slipped, and Iruka got an eye full of bandages that were covering nearly all of the expanse between his neck and torso.

Iruka closed the door behind him quietly before he began to lecture his friend, “Are you sure you should be sitting up right now? And your food- you need to eat if you want your body to have the energy to heal itself!”

Kakashi groaned and adjusted his mask. How the hospital staff hadn’t wrestled the thing away from him by now, Iruka didn’t know. “You have a worse bedside manner than Anko does- and she tries to arm wrestle people with broken arms.”

Iruka remembered that. Gai had been in the hospital after a mission related injury and they’d all come to visit as a group- Iruka, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Anko- and they’d turned away for one second, and Anko had already challenged Gai to an arm wrestling match. Knowing Gai, well, he was never going to turn down a challenge.

The nurses had banned them from visiting again as a group and Iruka didn’t blame them.

“You can either hear me say it, or I’ll go find a doctor to tell you the same things I just told you.” Iruka crossed his arms and sat down in the visitor’s chair. It was uncomfortable and familiar, which in itself was oddly comforting.

He really needed to make friends with less self destructive people, if even the wildly terrible visitor chairs had begun to feel almost pleasant was any indicator.

Kakashi yawned, “No, fine, you win. I’d rather let Naruto choose my outfits for a month than have another one of the staff come in here and talk at me.”

Iruka crossed his legs, pleased with himself. Really and truly, managing Kakashi was like managing his more stubborn students at the academy. Sure, it took a little bit to find his footing in how to get them to be complacent with his demands, but once he found it, nothing could stop Iruka from achieving his ultimate mother henning ways.

Nothing.

“Speaking of Naruto, can you believe how different he is now? We had dinner yesterday, and he used a napkin! A napkin, Kakashi!” Iruka almost teared up.

Kakashi chuckled sarcastically, “Your standards are so-”

Iruka cut him off with narrowed eyes and a red face, ready to defend his most beloved student, “They’re none of your concern! Our Naruto is growing up and uses napkins and the other day I saw him buying a laundry basket at the market! Of course I’m going to be proud of him! You were raised by wolves, I was raised by orphanage workers, he didn’t have any of that!”

“Settle down, Iruka, I was only teasing. Believe me, I know what it’s like to feel proud of your student’s accomplishments. The other day, before I went on the mission, I saw Naruto reading a book! It was a children’s book, sure, but he was reading it!”

That warmed Iruka’s heart. Naruto had always had trouble with the more academic side of school. Unlike the other kids, he hadn’t ever had a family to teach him how to study or to make sure he did his homework, or even to practice certain fundamentals that were important for everyday life.

As a result, he’d always stumbled with his words when reading, his penmanship was nearly impossible to read, and his math skills were minimal. He was good with numbers when it came to money, as he’d had to be in charge of living expenses from the time he could walk to now, but geometry was lost on him.

Iruka had tried to tutor him, and once or twice, he’d even overheard Shikamaru Nara trying to teach him things back in their class’s academy days.

To hear that Naruto was trying to better his education on his own after being so dejected for so long was beyond exciting. The scarred omega hoped that the Uzumaki was able to stick with it, because he knew that Naruto could truly achieve anything if he worked hard enough at it.

His voice was laced with fondness when he responded, “He really has begun to grow up, hasn’t he?”

Even Kakashi’s voice wavered as he avoided eye contact like it was a disease, “He really has.”

The older man’s voice sounded far away and laced with a loving sort of hurt that one could only be familiar with if they’d gone to hell and back. It was the sort of tone that only Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja of the hidden leaf village, the boy surrounded by ghosts could have vocalized.

“Remember the time all the active duty jonin were sent on a manhunt to find him when he was a toddler?” Iruka laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

It worked, because Kakashi was quick to add “Turns out, he hadn’t been kidnapped. He’d just learned to walk and had somehow made it onto the hokage tower’s roof.”

They both smiled. Lord Third had been beside himself in exasperation once they’d found him. Kakashi had been the first one on the scene, Iruka had found out years later, but no one had noticed him in the shadows because those were still during his anbu days.

Naruto had been beyond happy with himself once the crowd of stressed out shinobi had discovered him. The pup had shoved one of his tiny fists in his mouth, drool coating most of his front, and in his other hand had been a bunch of flowers that had been clearly yanked out of the flower beds that resided just outside of the hokage tower’s bottom floor entrance.

For such a small little thing, Naruto sure had been a handful.

“Always getting into trouble that boy…” Iruka trailed off fondly.

“He’s worth every bit of it though.” Kakashi added.

He was right. Naruto was worth all of it. All of the lectures, the ‘see me after class’ sighs, the manhunts, the graffitied monuments, the terrorized ducks by the pond. Even the accidental fires and explosions and glitter bombs during the spring festival that one year had been worth it.

He was worth that, and so, so much more. Iruka was impossibly fond of the boy, so invested in how he was growing up, in who he was becoming. He felt like an unofficial parent to him, and maybe he was, in a way- just like Kakashi.

“You know,” Iruka sobered up for a moment in a hushed tone, “When I was younger, I used to regret not settling down and having a family of my own. But, now, I don’t anymore, because in a way, I do have a family of my own in Naruto. I’m grateful to get to care for him and teach him the ways of the world, it’s almost like I’m a semi-parent to him-did you know that I had to teach him proper nest etiquette? The poor boy hadn’t ever had anyone explain any dynamic norms to him before!”

Kakashi hung his head, “Yeah, Sasuke had mentioned something like that.”

In a lighter tone, softer and more open that Iruka could ever recall Kakashi speaking in, he whispered, “You did good work with Naruto- he loves you.”

Iruka was many things. He was a teacher, a friend, a shinobi- an orphan. He was not one to sit by and watch those he cared about not give themselves credit where credit was due.

“You may not see it, but you did well with him too. And he loves you more than you’ll ever know.” Iruka murmured.

It was true. For all that Iruka was like a stand-in for Naruto’s omega parent, Kakashi was equally a stand-in for the alpha parent. It was just that Kakashi had the world on his shoulders, with the burden of being an omega in hiding and raising his dead sensei’s son as if he were his own weighing him down at every turn.

Iruka wouldn’t let him shoulder those feelings alone, not anymore. Not after so much had changed and so much time had passed.

~~~

It was almost like nothing had changed as they both dug into their bowls of ramen. Naruto slurped his noodles with a fervor that almost resembled an addiction, Sakura dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin when the broth splattered small flecks of liquid onto her mouth from the noodles.

All that was missing was Kakashi quietly sipping his tea once no one was looking and he could take his mask off for a split second, and Sasuke’s twitchy eyebrow once Naruto’s loud chewing finally began to get to him.

“You know, this is the best ramen in the whole world.” Naruto praised in between bites of food.

Sakura laughed and tucked stray strands of short pink hair behind her ear before responding.

“You traveled to almost the ends of the world for three years, and you didn’t manage to find any better ramen out there?”

Naruto shook his head, “No, which was kinda a bummer, but that just means I was right all along and the leaf village has the best ramen in the world!”

She smiled a wide smile, then. She’d missed the mundane aspects of friendship with Naruto, ones that she had taken for granted when they were younger. Sakura had felt guilty over that for the longest time, but was starting to come to peace with the fact that she was no longer that person, and had owned up to her mistakes.

They went back to eating for several minutes, content with simply enjoying each other’s company and basking in the pleasant atmosphere of the early evening air. Most of the villagers would be making their ways home by now, either to get ready for dinner or to complete chores around their houses before turning in for bed.

Sakura’s own parents would be having a quiet dinner together right about now. Things between her parents and she had grown stale for the last month and a half, and she’d been saving up all of her money that she got from missions or her work at the hospital to move out into an apartment of her own. She was tired of their traditionalism and the breathing down her neck.

She wanted a place that was hers, to share with those that accepted her as a female alpha that was in love with another alpha, that had chosen a stereotypically omega based line of work to go into.

Her childhood home could never have been the place she so sorely needed.

Naruto, beside her, noticed her slight mood shift. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She waved her hand at him in dismissal and took a breath, “Oh, nothing, just thinking about apartment shopping.”

He lit up like he was a firework in the sky, “You should move next door to me! We can be sort-of-roommates!”

His excitement was infectious, and for a split second, Sakura found herself almost agreeing to it.

She didn’t, of course, because living next to each other while also working together was a sure fire way to drain a friendship, and she valued theirs too much to put it in jeopardy again.

“I’m looking at places a little closer to the hospital, those late night shifts are no joke, but I’ll keep your suggestion in mind.” She smiled at him- the smile where her eyes closed and crinkled at the corners because of how pleasantly kind it was.

“Do you want any help looking at apartments?” He asked after digging around in his ramen with his chopsticks. The blonde alpha was obviously too excited to eat right now, even if the food in question was his beloved ramen.

All the intrigue had Sakura blushing at being put on the spot, “Well, if you’d like to come with me when I start viewing them, I’d appreciate it. Rock Lee and I have already-”

He cocked his head to the side, “Already what?”

It hit her then. Naruto hadn’t been in the village when she and Rock Lee had gotten together. Life had been so chaotic since his return that he hadn’t been able to have down time long enough to actually see Sakura and Rock Lee being a couple, or even having heard through the grapevine from one of their friends (Ino, the queen of gossip) about it.

With a blush on her face, this time for a completely different reason, she steeled herself. She knew Naruto. She knew he wouldn’t judge her for dating another alpha. Right?

Sure, when Kiba and Shikamaru had found out, they’d made a couple jokes about it and then made sure that both she and Lee knew that they were happy for them. Ino and Tenten had run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to plan anniversaries and weddings that were still wayyyyy too far into the future.

Neji had been a little stiff with Sakura, but she knew it was just out of the older Hyuuga’s care for his friend. He’d never admit to it in a million years, but Rock Lee was his best friend and he didn’t want his feelings to be hurt. Sakura, knowing her embarrassingly terrible past with Sasuke and knowing that everyone else knew about it too, didn’t take offense.

In fact, she was happy to know that Rock Lee had a friend like that to support him.

Of course, out of all of them, Hinata had been the one with the strangest reaction. It wasn’t even a bad one per say. She wasn’t against same dynamic relationships, it was just that she was so damned shy and awkward that she’d frozen up for a good five minutes until awkwardly bidding the couple and their other friends a good evening and heading home.

Sakura hadn’t missed the surge of fear in her eyes. The Hyuuga clan would have a fit if they found out that their heiress was associated with a same dynamic couple. Neji had reassured everyone that Hinata had just had a long day, and they’d been inclined to believe him.

Hinata had shown up on Sakura’s doorstep the next day with a gift basket of matching knitted scarves and mittens- two of each set, one for Sakura and one for Rock Lee, with an apology on her lips and a hopeful declaration that Hinata wished that they put the winter items to good use in the oncoming winter by going skating on the frozen lake together.

Sure, Sakura hadn’t had a bad experience with revealing their relationship. But, it still was a little nerve wracking to tell someone- even if that someone was Naruto, who used to not know what a nest was, or what scenting was, or why sniffing people in public was rude after finding out what scenting was.

He couldn’t possibly have any negative feelings towards alpha-alpha relationships.

He just couldn’t, right?

With a breath and a determined whisper- because they were still in a very public setting- she responded, “Rock Lee and I already decided to look for a place together, but the more, the merrier.”

Judging by the long blink, he didn’t get the implication in her sentence. Because, of course he didn’t! It was Naruto- how did she momentarily forget that he lacked the fine art of detecting subtlety?

This time he picked up his chopsticks and shoved more noodles into his mouth, “Why’s Bushy Brows helping you? I’d have thought that’d be something Ino would be doing ‘cuz she’s your best friend.”

“Well, Rock Lee and I are together.”

“Well, yeah, Sakura, you just said you guys were looking at apartments together.”

Her eye twitched. If she excused herself, went to go get Rock Lee, brought him to the ramen stall, and kissed him in front of Naruto, he’d have to understand then, right? Was that the only way Naruto would understand what she was trying to say?!

Maybe it was the lack of consistent sleep from the past week finally getting to her, maybe it was the fact that after three years, she’d fallen out of habit of over explaining for Naruto’s benefit on more sensitive subjects. But, that didn’t really matter, because at the end of the day, her reply rang in the air sharply, like a bell being thrown against a wall. Maybe, probably… definitely, in too loud of a tone.

“We’re dating, Naruto!”

His eyes widened, and Sakura could see an ocean of feelings in them, before they narrowed down to their usual, neutral look. His face was calm, but she just knew his mind was whirring. His thumb on his right hand was picking at the nail on his middle finger, a classic Naruto sign that he was processing information.

She knew he was thinking about Sasuke, too.

“Oh,” he breathed out.

His eyebrows were raised in muted surprise and his eyes held such a far away look in them. Even his fingers had stopped fidgeting. Just as she was about to ask him if he were okay, he shook his head and ran a hand through his rambunctious hair.

“That’s amazing news! I’m happy for you Sakura!”

Naruto leaned closer, eyes darkening, “If he ever hurts you…just say the words and I’ll show him what hurt means.”

She laughed and wagged her finger at him, “Oh, no you don’t. Ino’s already got dibs on showing Lee what for if he breaks my heart.”

Ino had been very upfront about that. Very.

Naruto looked at her for a moment before averting his gaze and turning his attention back to his food. Sakura had never seen him so unenthused about ramen.

“He wouldn’t, though.” The blonde whispered like it was a universe altering confession.

“Huh?” she responded, perplexed.

“Rock Lee…He wouldn’t hurt you.” He sounded so far away, even though he was sitting right there next to her. It was as clear as day that he was thinking about how things had ended between him and Sasuke, and not for the first time that day, Sakura’s heart ached for her friend.

“Look… I’m sorry if this brought up bad memories. I wanted to tell you earlier, but, well, I didn’t necessarily know how.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize, Sakura. This is the kind of stuff I have to get used to, ya know? Everyone else is happy and moving on with their lives. It’s good. I’m glad.”

“But you’re not okay.” Truth, Sakura knew, was not always the medicine that people tended to believe it was.

“Sakura.. It’s like my life started and ended with Sasuke. There is no moving on for me. It’ll always be him.” Naruto let his chopsticks clatter to the counter in favor of waving his dominant hand in frustration, like he was gesturing her attention to the invisible ghost of a torn love’s past.

“I know…” she broke herself off before continuing, “You know, some days I don’t know whether or not I hate him or love him. Seeing you after Kakashi sensei brought you back to the village…Naruto, I’d thought you’d died. You’d looked so lifeless- and then the seizures in the hospital?” She shuddered.

It had been one of the worst moments of her life to watch as his body jerked and spasmed. The nurses were in a flurry, Tsunade’s voice boomed, and she’d stood there paralyzed and unblinking as Naruto’s health plummeted.

“We never talked about what happened after..” Naruto trailed off, swallowing hard and looking away from her.

“We were too young, we didn’t fully understand it.”

Silence encased them like bark on a tree, both shielding them from the harsh weathers of live, and closing them in. An owl hooted in the distance, and Sakura looked around, not realizing how late it had gotten.

“I love him, Sakura. It feels like I’m the only one that still cares that he’s gone some days.” Naruto breathed after a moment.

“I know, I know,” she soothed, even though her stomach was churning with anguish and too much ramen, “It’s like… time stopped for you when you went away. You’re still in that healing period. But for the rest of us? We had things to make us move on. The chunin exams, missions, training, it pushed Sasuke into the back of some of our minds. Not mine, of course, but others.”

She paused to take a sip of her drink before continuing, “Ino had the flower shop, her mother’s health declining, and her omega activism stuff. Hinata’s drowning in political issues within her own clan right now, Kiba’s been training new ninja dogs. Shino, Choji, and Shikamaru have been on missions almost non-stop for two and a half years. We all want Sasuke back, but we also know that to get him back, we have to work on ourselves first.”

“I know that Sakura, but- but it still feels so lonely, you know? Especially now that I have to look at a mockery of Sasuke every day on our team now.”

“Hey, you’re not the only one who has to deal with that, mister.” she teased and then sobered up gently, “You’re not alone. Konohamaru challenges any of his classmates that makes fun of Sasuke, or you for that matter, to a duel. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Akamaru still wags his tail when he and Kiba pass by Sasuke’s old apartment, hoping that Kiba’s taking him to Sasuke so they can play fetch like they used to. Kakashi sensei’s been so busy doing special Orochimaru based orders for Lady Tsunade that I’ve hardly seen him since you left. Everyone still cares. It’s just that now, we have other responsibilities as well. When the time comes, we’re going to get him back, Naruto. But in the meantime? We can’t just stop living, even you.”

“I don’t think I know how to do that.” His fidgety habit with his fingers started up again.

“You do, I know you do- I never thought I’d say this, but you just need to stop thinking so much. Get out of your head a little.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple for me.”

“Because of the scent bond?”

“Because of the hea-” he cut himself off abruptly, clearly mulling over how to phrase what he was about to say, “Because I’ve been insanely on edge since the last time I saw him, and my instincts have been going haywire ever since.”

Ever since he’d last seen Sasuke? That had been three whole years! No wonder Naruto had seemed so…unpleasant earlier in Tsunade’s office in regards to the news.

“Do- do you think it’s because of the nine tails?” She whispered. Everything regarding Naruto was unprecedented. Any health complications could be linked to the scent bond or the nine tails, and it was nearly impossible to determine the true causes.

Sakura watched as her friend deflated like a flower during drought season.

“Honestly? I don’t know.”

“It could just be related to the strained connection with your scent bond.” She offered up, going down the list of possible causes in her head. She knew alphas experienced heightened instincts when threatened, when in rut, were experiencing tensions in scent, pack or mating bonds, or if their mate was pregnant.

Seeing as Naruto did not have a pregnant mate, she could rule that option out, along with the rut or feeling threatened explanations.

Her best guess was that it was due to the stressed scent bond, and she told him as much.

“Ruts really cause heightened instincts? I felt pretty calm during my last one.” he scratched his head in curiosity.

She shrugged and picked at her now cold ramen, “Ruts affect everyone differently. That’s why there's also a range of time for when they hit alphas, it all depends on a number of health factors- mental and physical.”

“Oh? How often are they supposed to come?”

She did the math in her head, “About once every three months give or take…why?”

Red danced along Naruto’s cheeks as he chuckled awkwardly, “I haven’t had one for like seven months.”

Sakura eyed him up and down. He didn’t look jaundiced, and clearly wasn’t injured, so his body was at least healthy enough to go into a rut.

“Normally only sick or alphas whose mates are pregnant have altered or delayed rut cycles. Given what little we know of actual scent bonds since that information was lost to us generations ago, I’d wager that it has something to do with your situation. I’ll talk to Tsunade sensei about it in the morning, and we can schedule a doctor’s appointment for you, if you’d like?”

His eyebrows furrowed, and his hands kept fidgeting. She knew he wasn’t a fan of hospitals- especially when his reason for being there was for his own health, but they wouldn’t be able to figure anything out if he didn’t go.

Sakura leaned her arms onto the counter top as she let him think it over. Her mind was whirring with curiosity and a newfound need to run through some medical journals that she’d ‘borrowed’ from Lady Tsunade on Naruto’s behalf. Whatever was causing his issues, she’d get to the bottom of it.

~~~

Sakura could tell that Naruto was ready to snap and unleash his inner demons, literally, after another one of Sai’s remarks. Training had been an absolute nightmare. It was somehow worse and even less coordinated than the actual team seven’s first training as a team.

She almost smiled fondly as she remembered how Naruto had managed to almost drown them all in an attempt to do something that she still couldn’t quite figure out to this day. He’d come a long way, that was for sure.

“I see. I was told of the dire need for team seven to be fixed, but I was not informed of how dire it was.” Sai’s devoid voice ran cold through the warm day.

The pink haired alpha grit her teeth, getting very close to wanting to punch the guy herself, but Naruto beat her to it.

Or, well, he tried to punch Sai. Sai dodged it with an embarrassing ease. He was like an eel, slippery and annoyingly just out of their grasps when they wanted to knock some sense into his skull.

Sakura wasn’t too proud to admit that she’d tried to give the new alpha a piece of her mind earlier when he’d said that she was “decent for a female alpha.”. The nerve!

“That’s it!” Naruto growled, “Play time’s over!”

The blonde summoned some clones, trying to intimidate Sai, who simply yawned and sat down on the ground.

“I-” Naruto guffawed, “What’s he doing?!” he aimed the question at Sakura, like she’d have all the answers.

“How am I supposed to know?!” She yelled back, frustration and the heat of the sun finally beginning to get to her.

This was a terrible idea. Everything was thrown off balance by this new guy, and their stand-in jonin instructor, Yamato, wasn’t being much help either. He was just sitting in a high up tree, watching the chaos unfold with rapt attention.

To be fair, it was better than him reading a romance novel like Kakashi sensei did, but still!

“Naruto has just demonstrated one of his jutsu, and I am returning the favor.” Sai stated calmly, almost mockingly. It was like this was all some big joke to him and it made her blood boil.

How was she supposed to work with this guy? He was arrogant, and full of himself, and too confident in his abilities, and not good at teamwork at all-

Sakura choked on the oxygen in her lungs. Sai was just like Sasuke. Or, well, Sasuke before team seven had learned to work together. Somehow, the comparison felt even more insulting now that she’d recognized the similarities.

Sai made a small sound before pulling out an empty scroll and opening a travel container of ink. He glanced up at the sky, then over to Naruto, whose clones were on stand by in case Sai did anything too weird.

Sakura had enough self awareness to step back and reassess. Naruto, on the other hand, stepped closer to whatever Sai was about to do.

Before she could tell him to watch out, Sai had written something on the paper and.. Brought it to life?!?! What kind of a jutsu was that?!

Naruto, the real Naruto, shrieked as ink from one of the living drawing creature things squalled, spittling droplets of ink all over his hair. Sakura winced in sympathy. That was definitely not going to wash out for a while.

“Rasengan!” The Narutos shouted in unison after recovering from their shock.

Sakura shielded her eyes from the harsh sunlight as she turned her attention to the sky where the rasengans flew into Sai’s creations and decimated them.

Where others would have taken it as a challenge, Sai only smiled his odd grimace of a smile. It unnerved her, and a quick glance at her friend told her that she wasn’t alone in that thought.

“Interesting,” Sai proclaimed with his airy tone of mocking delight, “It seems as though one of you isn’t useless after all.”

Useless?!

She summoned all of her strength into her dominant arm and silently sent a ‘thank you’ to Lady Tsunade for having taught her this trick.

“Useless?! I’ll show you useless you glorified ghoul!” Sakura shouted, surging forward with all of the frustration and affrontement of a woman scorned, fists at the ready.

“Sakura, no!” Naruto shouted behind her, but his cry fell on deaf ears.

She’d teach Sai a lesson alright.

~~~

Walking back into the village knowing that it would be home to one less person was a weight on his shoulders that Shikamaru should have expected. He didn’t, though. Not when he was already shouldering Ino’s sobs and Choji’s stunned devastation.

As the group of shinobi crossed the border into Konoha, Shikamaru didn’t know what to feel.

How would Kurenai take it? They were newlyweds, still in that honeymoon phase. Their wedding photos had only even just been hung on the walls of their shared apartment. Asuma had requested time off of active duty for all of next month for her and Kurenai to officially seal the deal and mate.

Now, as his ever whirring mind stirred, he darkly thought that the time off would now be used for her grieving instead.

“What-what happens now?” Choji whispered next to him.

The alpha spared a glance his way to see silent tears running down his best friend’s round cheeks. In fact, the tears were so high in number that the painted symbols of the Akimichi clan that adorned both sides of his face were beginning to smear ever so slightly.

“Now,” Shikamaru’s voice sounded foreign to himself. It was too raw, too fraught with a numb sort of agony, yet too gravelly and caged all in one. “Now, we mourn.”

Ino sniffled loudly at that, but for once, didn’t say anything.

What happened in the next couple hours, Shikamaru wouldn’t be able to remember fully. He knew that Ino’s parents came to collect her from the sitting room at the hokage tower. He knew that Choji’d lost the contents of his stomach in the bathroom. Guilt had always made the younger queasy.

He knew that the hokage had said things, offered condolences and offered up her own fond memories of her sensei’s son, back when Asuma had been nothing more than an awkward teenager who had to hide his cigarettes from his dad under his pillow at night.

Shikamaru wasn’t sure how he’d gotten to the apartment that Kurenai and his sensei had just moved into, but there he was, standing in front of the door that would now only be home to one individual.

With a shuddery breath, knowing that someone had to tell her, and that it needed to come from someone who’d loved Asuma too, he knocked.

She opened the door with a smile- probably thinking it was Asuma standing there on their doorstep. It fell from her face as soon as she saw his face. The grief, the loss, it must have echoed all over his face, because she knew.

She knew before he’d even said anything that something had happened to Asuma.

Shikamaru wished that this was all just a really shitty dream. That he’d fallen asleep while cloud watching again and that this was just his brain being creative and not at all that this was real. It didn’t feel real. But it was real just the same.

“Kurenai…Asuma-he-”

She collapsed onto the floor and sobbed. He ignored the way he saw her hand splay itself over her stomach. He ignored the theory that itched at the back of his mind, too desperate for it to stay as a theory and not be spoken into truth.

She cried mangled cries that only someone who had been so hopelessly and irreparably in love could cry. The sounds tore a whole new set of tears from the young alpha too.

A hopeless sense of existentialism welled inside of him. What could the life of a shinobi offer except for early deaths and loved ones left behind? Missions never stopped, there were no retirements for shinobi- they either lived long enough to be permanently disabled or died early enough to have never even begun to think of a retirement.

Nosey neighbors came out of their homes to watch the scene unfold, and he was powerless to stop them. They were civilians, they wouldn’t understand. To them, this was just a unique occurrence that they could gossip about later. To people like Kurenai and Shikamaru, to shinobi, this was merely a glimpse into their futures.

Anger surged in his veins. For every tear that Kurenai cried, for every moment of life that was stolen from his sensei, he would unleash a vengeful hell onto the persons responsible for Asuma’s death. Starting with Hidan.

Death wouldn’t be his end goal. No, death was too kind for someone immortal like Hidan. Shikamaru needed to figure out a way to make every second of Hidan’s long, never ending life torturous to the point that he would beg for the sweet release of death. Only, he would never be granted such a mercy.

“Alright you morons! Show’s over, get back in your homes or I’ll make you!” a domineering voice from behind him made him release a breath of relief.

Anko, Kurenai’s best friend, was here, most likely after having heard the news. She’d know how to help the grieving omega better than Shikamaru would. For how close he and Asuma were, he and Kurenai were only truly acquaintances.

Anko shouldered past him in the thin hallway and was quickly helping Kurenai to her feet. Shikamaru was still too stunned, too out of it to be of any proper use. He’d feel ashamed of it later, but right now, he couldn’t get over the cotton in his ears.

“Go home kid, I’ve got it from here.” the purple haired omega told him softly. It was as gentle as he’d ever heard her, which was jarring in itself, but her eyes. They were red rimmed but strong, like she’d done this before, but never for such a loss this large.

Shikamaru nodded and didn’t quite hear the words that rolled off of his tongue, and forlornly began to step through the long hallway towards the stairwell. She shut the apartment door behind them, though the large slab of wood was not enough to muffle Kurenai’s melancholic bawling.

His footsteps echoed in the now empty hallway. It was just him and the shadows of the poorly lit apartment building. Him and the shadows.

He let out a shuddery breath at the realization. It couldn’t be just him doing his own thing anymore. He had to step up. Asuma’s dying wish was for him to be a man and take care of everyone.

Shikamaru wanted to collapse into his mother’s arms and cry like he had when he was a small child and found out that he’d have to be signed up for school and couldn’t sleep all day anymore. He wanted to be comforted by a certain blonde haired alpha woman whose bark was just as bad as her bite.

He couldn’t do that, though. Shikamaru swore to himself as soon as he hit the ground floor of the staircase that he would fill the hole left by Asuma’s death. He would take care of the others.

He’d check in on Kurenai and the theory he had which crushed the young alpha to even acknowledge, he’d keep Choji and Ino safe. He’d even advise Asuma’s nephew, Konohamaru when needed.

With an empty sigh that was more out of habit than any real emotion, he exited the building with one large, life altering thought on his mind.

Shikamaru was going to initiate a pack with the others. It was the only reliable way he could pull everything off. He just needed to take care of a few things first.

~~~

The thing about his dreams as of late were that they were really weird. They weren’t like how they used to be, where he dreamed of a red haired woman or a large orange fox. But, he thought as he blinked the sleep from his eyes to stare out of his window at the moon, they weren’t necessarily bad dreams either.

For around a week now, he’d been waking up in the dead of night with a sense of anxious longing taking hold of him. Tonight was no different.

Sometimes he tried to think back and try to figure out why he was dreaming the things he was, but it was usually a fruitless endeavor. Sasuke was always there, but that was such a common trait for his dreams that he didn’t even question it anymore.

What was odd about his dream tonight, though, was that Naruto had been shielding something small, like a tiny heap of blankets, behind him with Sasuke by his side. They were facing something- someone, only the someone hadn’t had a face. It was like the mystery person was made of shadows. And that wasn’t the only weird thing- there was the sound of tiny cries, but the blonde hadn’t figured out exactly what was making those sounds. Probably a cat, if he had to guess.

He’d woken up once the shadowy figure moved towards them and he and Sasuke got ready to fight.

The alpha yawned, even though now he was wide awake, and stretched. That sense of longing was still there, as was a small inkling of paranoia- like he was missing something. Of course, he knew very well what that ‘something’ was, but until he was able to find Sasuke again and bring him home, he wasn’t going to be able to do very much about it.

A fact that everyone kept reminding him of, unfortunately.

Naruto had gotten into the habit of taking walks at night to try and tire himself out enough to lull him back into being tired, and tonight had the perfect weather for him to continue the fledgling tradition.

He didn’t bother throwing on his signature orange and black jacket, nor did he change out of his pajama bottoms as he grabbed his apartment key off of the counter and exited his home. No one would be up anyway to see his trainwreck of an outfit. Well, minus the guys on night duty at the village gate, but Naruto didn’t typically go on walks over on that side of the village.

Often, he found himself walking by the old swing set by the academy out of a melancholic sense of nostalgia, although he also found himself passing by Sasuke’s old apartment out of habit as well. Towards the end, before Orochimaru had stolen Sasuke away, Naruto had spent most of his time there.

Partially, out of some silly, childish notion that he could protect Sasuke from Orochimaru if he came to finish what he started in the chunin exams, partially out of sheer joy at being wanted and neither of them having to be lonely anymore.

Boy, how times had changed.

Maybe it was the contents of his dream, or maybe it was his line of thought that led him there, but the blonde’s feet had carried him to the missing Uchiha’s home in no time. There was no one around to see him, nothing at all even so much as showed signs of life except for the gentle rustle of the trees, so maybe that was what spurred him into doing what he’d put off doing from the moment he stepped back into the village.

The door would be locked, of course. Windows were taped off, and a sign was placed onto the locked balcony doors that said ‘no trespassing’ in harsh, bold letters. It was even signed by the hokage, scaring away any hoodlums or village kids that would think it was cool to break in. Her wrath, while not very existent towards Naruto himself, was a living legend. No one wanted to get onto her bad side.

Still, Naruto found a way in with relative ease. Any decent shinobi would have been able to, but it felt special that he was the one to break the locking seal on the window and slip inside. Jiraiya sensei had taught him some basics for tons of seals, and while he wasn’t a pro just yet, he was pretty functional at them when he put in the effort.

Being back inside the apartment was like stepping into a different dimension of a far away past that was just on the cusp of Naruto’s fingertips.

The scent of dust was heavy in the air, but underneath it was still the faint hint of lightning.

For a moment, he let himself imagine what things would be like if Sasuke had agreed to come home after the shared heat. Naruto would have cut his travels with Jiraiya short. He probably would have been placed under house arrest for a little while, until Naruto was able to talk Tsunade into deeming Sasuke’s escape nothing more than a teenage fit of rebellion.

They could have moved in together, redecorated this apartment together. Stupid emotionless Sai would never have taken Sasuke’s place. Konohamaru would say “ewww’ when he caught them holding hands. They could have formed a pack properly this time. No uneducated attempts that somehow ended up with them having a scent bond.

They could have been in love.

The alpha choked on a dry sob as the floorboard creaked underneath his foot from multiple years of disuse. The apartment had held so much life to it. Sure, it was obsessively organized, and there had only been four personal belongings in the entire place, but it had been lived in.

Now, it was just a window into Naruto’s heartbreak.

His heartbeat thudded in his ears as he crept into the bedroom. His breath was held, and he didn’t even know why.

Sasuke’s bedroom was devoid of his old nest. Naruto didn’t know why that knowledge shocked him so deeply as his eyes roved over the empty shell of a room. Of course Sasuke would have dismantled it when he left. His apartment would have been a technical crime scene after his absence was discovered.

Sasuke wouldn’t have wanted unfamiliar shinobi digging around in something that was so personal of his.

Naruto didn’t know how many hours had passed, or when exactly he’d stopped standing and had instead sat on the ground amid the dust. What he did know was that a thin inkling of sunlight was just peeking through the window by the time he finally broke down and sobbed for what could have been.

He was all alone, in a place that had held such intimate promises before, but now haunted him with a broken, desperate hope. It was a curse as much as it was something to hold on to, that Sasuke would return to him and fill this place with life again.

His chest heaved with a heavy tremor as he rubbed furiously at his scarred cheeks. He just needed to be patient. That was all. Yeah. Sasuke would come back, and Naruto could start his life up again, and everything would be great. All he had to do was wait. No matter how long it took.

Naruto fell asleep like that, curled up among the cold, vacant atmosphere, surrounded with nothing, home to nothing.

And he dreamed still.

~~~

Lying came as easy to him these days as breathing did. It had been nothing but water off of a duck’s back to alert Orochimaru that he was going away for his heat- a simple but effective lie that would allow Sasuke to get his ducks in a row.

Of course, the sanin and his annoying little wannabe butler had thought nothing of it due to the coolness of his tone and the perfect genjutsu that they’d been placed under months ago.

Sasuke needed a rest. Ever since the baby had become more active, Sasuke had felt even more drained and isolated than ever before. His head was in a constant state of a migraine because he was constantly reinforcing the genjutsu. His chest hurt for reasons he was much too embarrassed to ever admit to himself or anyone else for that matter.

His bones felt impossibly fragile, and even his perfect, voluminous and silky hair had turned dull.

As soon as the general time frame for what would have been his next heat had come up, Sasuke had jumped at the chance to get away and try to heal. Ms. Namura was likely wondering how he was, and with so few people on his side, he’d decided to pay her a visit for the week or so that he would be away.

Maybe she would know how to cure the heartburn, too.

Additionally, it would be a good way to check on the baby’s health as well as pick up more supplies. He still had the meager few that he’d gotten away with purchasing a month or so ago tucked away in a sealing scroll, but that would likely be insufficient.

Sasuke had never been around babies except for in passing, but he knew that they tended to need a lot of diapers and clothes. And hats, for some reason. He’d never seen a baby that wasn’t wearing a hat. Was he supposed to know why that was? Did he need to buy infant sized hats?

This debacle was exactly why he would be enlisting Ms. Namura’s help. He didn’t often admit when someone knew more than he did on a subject, but even he wasn’t petty enough to not acknowledge her expertise on the subject matter.

She would want to know if Naruto had ever answered his letter, though. And he wasn’t quite ready for that question, nor the answer that he would provide her with. He didn’t need Naruto though- didn’t need an alpha to get through this. Sasuke would be a fine parent on his own.

He had two hands, one to hold the baby with, and the other to hold Orochimaru’s severed head with. He didn’t have a third to hold some dumb alpha’s hand with. Even if deep down, secretly he wished he did.

The omega shrugged that pesky thought away. It would do him no good to keep harping on a fantasy where the world was good, he and Naruto were happy, and everything was sunshine and rainbows and perfect. He’d wasted enough time having a pity party. Now, he needed to suck it up and act accordingly.

The Uchiha entered the old woman’s store through the back exit, knowing that she wouldn’t mind after she gave him explicit permission to do so the last time they’d visited. He didn’t want to be seen, and she didn’t want her usual customers to start raising eyebrows at the new omega that came to visit. Especially a pregnant one that was without anyone accompanying him.

Sasuke was glad that if he wore a baggy cloak and his face was shielded by his eyes, he would be virtually unrecognizable on his solo travels in most locations.

From the hallway, he could hear her talking to a customer. Not very fond of people, or of chancing being recognized, Sasuke hung back and watched from afar.

The customer in question was tall and made his nose crinkle in disgust when the very alpha scent of seaweed hit his nose. Disgusting. More people should have been taught how to mask their scents, even if just to be polite and not make everyone around them nauseous.

“I don’t haggle, you either pay this price or you leave my store.” Ms. Namura’s hardened, all business voice sounded throughout the shop.

The alpha stomped his foot, “Now, listen here lady.-”

Ms. Namura put him in his place, “No. We’ll get one thing clear right now. I am the owner of this store, and currently hold all of the power in this transaction. You will address me with respect, first and foremost. Second, I have the right to refuse service to anyone I see fit to do so with. I will now be refusing your service based on your poor attitude and your shallow pockets.”

Sasuke smiled faintly. Ms. Namura really was a special type of person.

The baby kicked then, distracting Sasuke momentarily, so he didn’t have the chance to pay attention to the miffed customer taking his leave. That was likely for the better, though, he’d grown much too tired of seeing grown alphas throwing hissy fits when something didn’t go their way.

Kabuto, for example.

“Sasuke, dear, is that you?” Ms. Namura appeared at the entrance of the hallway, adjusting her glasses to peer up at him. He nodded, even though they both knew it was obvious, and bowed his head lightly in a friendly show of respect.

Sasuke had never done that for anyone in the past until meeting her.

The pair made their way to the backroom of the store, as it was still business hours and she needed to hear if someone came into the shop, and sat down at the set of chairs and small work table that were placed there. Sasuke sat with a small amount of difficulty that he hoped Ms. Namura hadn’t picked up on.

As his pregnancy progressed, his stomach had become more cumbersome. Soon, he’d have to take care of Orochimaru. It was the unspoken elephant in the room that Ms. Namura often spoke of when he found a way to visit her.

“So, what brings you to my neck of the woods again?” the old woman asked after a moment or two of comfortable silence.

“I need help.”

She snickered, “Don’t you always need help?”

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms- gingerly, so as to not rub too closely against his sore chest. “You know what I mean.”

She sighed and leaned back in her seat and Sasuke’s dark eyes followed the careless wave of her hand. “I know. So, what is it specifically that I’m helping you gather up?”

Maybe, in hindsight, he needed more tact, but he couldn’t help it when he blurted out, “do babies need hats?”

Ms. Namura stared at him in shocked awe for a long moment before her stare dissolved into a fit of giggles. He bristled, not liking being laughed at, nor the slight feeling of shame at not knowing the answer that bubbled up in his mind.

“You’re a bigger case than I initially thought, Uchiha.” she said after the laughter had died down and she was wiping the mirthful tears from her eyes.

Sasuke raised a perfectly petty eyebrow at her.

“Fine, fine,” she waved her hand in dismissal, “I’m sorry for offending your highness. Yes, babies generally need hats.”

“...Why?” his response was shy and timid, two things Sasuke was not.

She gave him a look, “Are you sure you’re some genius shinobi? They need hats to shield them from the sun or to keep them warm in cold weather, same as adults.”

The ‘oh’ he muttered was nearly impossible to hear.

The room fell quiet again, but this time there was a tension. The baby began another one of its kicking fits again, causing Sasuke to adjust the way he was seated in the chair. Sure, the small assault on his organs was annoying, but he’d come to grow fond of the powerful jabs.

As odd as it sounded, Sasuke felt reassured by them. For months, ever since he’d found out actually, he’d worried that his lifestyle might have affected it in some way. The kicking and the shifting around were a reminder that the Uchiha had something to hope for. A future that didn’t rely on anyone other than himself and his child, living a life of peace and neutrality.

“Alright, come with me, you’re so hopeless I may even have to close early. This is going to take a while, I can already tell.” Ms. Namura huffed in fake exasperation.

Sasuke ignored the way his scent bond began to sting in favor of concentrating on helping himself up and off of the chair. Never again was he going to put himself through this.

~~~

Kisame was beginning to loathe the Akatsuki meetings.

“Sasori’s passing means that you, Deidara, are without a companion.” Konan’s voice echoed throughout the dank cavern.

The proud omega waved her off, “Oh well, I don’t mind. It’ll just be me and my art, the way it always should have been.”

Kisame would’ve been a fool to not catch on to the obvious jab at Itachi. Judging by the way his own partner stiffened beside him, he knew that Itachi was having the same line of thought. It’d been months since their little fling had ended, and for some reason, the omega was still hung up on it.

How troublesome.

“Tobi,” Pain’s voice boomed neutrally, “You will fill Sasori’s position as Deidara’s teammate.”

Tobi, the world’s most dimwitted alpha, cheered and twirled in congratulation to himself. Deirara groaned and slapped his palm to his forehead.

“Yipee! Yipee! Deidara, you and I are going to work together! Isn’t this exciting?”

“No.” Deidara responded immediately. His fingers twitched, and Kisame just knew that he was itching to blow something up.

Itachi made a small sound beside him, drawing Kisame’s attention. He looked weary. Odd, considering Itachi rarely seemed to care enough about the goings on in these meetings to emote.

Was he…jealous? No, that couldn’t be it. He wasn’t the type, and Deidara was not the type of omega for people to feel jealous over. Perhaps he was simply unsure of the new partnership and how it would affect the efficiency of the organization. That seemed more in line with Itachi’s personality.

“Now that that’s been taken care of..Kakuzu, you said that you and Hidan had run into some trouble on your way here?”

Kakuzu harrumphed and began to relay his tale of how Hidan had been ambushed by Leaf village shinobi and how Hidan had managed to kill one.

“So they’re on to us.” Konan murmured before casting a look at Pain.

“It was bound to happen sooner or later, especially with our first attack on the Sand village’s jinchuriki being successful.” Itachi offered up.

From across the cavern, Deidara’s head snapped towards the Uchiha and his eyes narrowed, “Minus Sasori.”

Itachi amended, “Minus Sasori.”

Kisame didn’t know what was going on between those two- it wasn’t his business. But, he did know that whatever it was, was only going to end in pain for the both of them. Itachi was sick and Deidara was brash and violent.

Later, after future plans were discussed and Konan, Pain, and Kakuzu were simply going over financial issues amongst the three of them, Tobi cartwheeled over.

“I know something you don’t know.” the masked idiot sang tauntingly as he cartwheeled around Itachi.
Itachi didn’t pay him any attention. He was too busy smothering down a cough that was threatening to take over.

Kisame rolled his eyes, “What is it?”

Tobi stopped mid cartwheel to wag his finger at the swordsman. “Uh-Uh! That’s for me to know and Itachi to find out!”

Great. The brat was going to try and cause chaos.

‘Good luck with that’, Kisame thought as he began to tune everyone else out and clean his sword. There was no dirt on Itachi in existence that hadn’t already been taken care of by the Uchiha himself. What could Tobi possibly think he had on Itachi?

Probably some gossip relating to Deidara, if he had to guess. Because, well, what else could it be?