Home, and Then Some
The Uzumaki doorstep was bathed in a warm, golden light from one of the small hedge lights partially obscured by one of the bushes. Naruto and Sasuke trudged up the three stone steps leading to the handsome oak door in silence, with Sakura bringing up the rear.
“You should come in,” breathed Naruto, struggling to keep upright.
He broke from Sasuke’s grip and straightened.
"Don't dream of becoming the welcome mat, dobe."
Naruto laughed.
Breathed in.
And out.
He was getting dizzy again. Like he had run a marathon with Guy-Sensei or something.
He pressed the doorbell.
The door sprang back. In all of three seconds.
“Tadaima," he said weakly. "We have guests, Hinata.”
“BAKA OYAJIIIII~!”
Naruto barely had the presence of mind or the energy to catch Boruto’s fist as it aimed for his cheek, but he did it. Sort of. He only had his son’s last two fingers in his fist. “Woah there. You’re still up?”
Boruto, eyes flashing, glared daggers at his father. “Okaa-san’s been waiting. You said you’d be here earlier. Much ealier.” A suspicious narrowing of blue eyes, and then, unceremoniously: “You look like shit.”
Naruto laughed. “I do, don’t I?” He scratched the back of his head. “I was—”
“Save it. You’re an asshole. Fuck off.” His son stormed back into the house.
He stared at his son’s retreating back. Well, that wasn't very nice. He hand went back to his side. Oh, crap. He knew why.
He then remembered where he was and broke into an awkward laugh.
He looked behind him.
“Sorry about that,” Naruto whispered, raising a hand in apology, his pinky facing them. “I’m a bad father. Not that I’m not trying or anything.” He laughed some more. “I’m bad at almost everything.”
Sasuke hadn’t moved an inch. Sakura looked slightly embarrassed. “Don’t worry about it. Parenthood has never been a walk in the park for anyone.”
Naruto grinned. “Yeah. Better for some, worse for others.” He leaned on the door frame.
A cold wind was starting to whip through the yard and he shivered in spite of his full, orange coat.
Sakura looked at Sasuke, who nodded.
“It’s hard being a parent,” she said gently. Sasuke watched her and she added, “He doesn’t see you often, Naruto. It’s easy to be mad, or annoyed, or even distant. He misses you.”
Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to appear as though he had not understood the subtext of his wife’s words; they were true, even if he secretly wanted that to not to be the case.
“Listen, dobe. You might pick up something important.”
The blond folded his arms. A smile crept back unto his lips.
On the bottom step, his best friends came into view. Sasuke was a head taller than Sakura, but for some fascinating reason, Sakura looked, felt larger, more prominent standing next to him. Sasuke was eyeing him carefully, but every so often, Naruto thought he saw him look at his wife's back. In the amber glow, Naruto figured out why it worked.
Jiraiya-Sensei should have branched out a bit.
“Thank you.” His eyes looked damp. “Both of you.”
Not wanting to perpetuate such a sappy atmosphere, Sasuke gave his best friend a smile. “You do look like shit, after all. It was the least I could do.”
“Anata.” Sakura looked reproachful, but her face looked strangely tight. She was holding back laughter. Naruto saw it, and smirked like a damn tanuki.
“Oooh. I’ve living for your ‘anata’ bullshit, teme. Oy, Sakura, put that kunai away!”
“Anata.”
Naruto followed the sweet, mellow sound of his wife’s voice, whipped around, and met her eyes. They reminded him of mother of pearl. “Hinata—”
Lavender hair caressing the sides of her face, Hinata reached a hand out to him and touched his cheek. “I was worried.” Her eyebrows were stormy, but her gaze was warm, concerned. “It’s so late.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “You look dead on your feet.”
To which Naruto chuckled, his hand automatically moving to the back of his head and starting to scratch again. “I’m fine. And I’m sorry I couldn’t make it on time.” He gave a dejected grin, before smiling a wider smile that fooled no one, least of all his eagle-eyed wife. “He has every right to want to punch me.”
Hinata’s eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t say a word. After a beat, she touched his arm. “I’ll talk to him. You’d better come inside. It’s getting cold.”
Had the Hyuuga heiress been the same timid, reserved girl she was years back, she would have jumped as two figures shifted behind her husband.
She hadn’t noticed that they were there. She wasn’t in the habit of activating her Byakugan at home, even when Naruto was out until very late. He could handle his own, and everyone knew that. Also, for some reason, it made Boruto extremely scared. He wouldn’t say anything on the matter, but she didn’t fancy having to clean up after he vomited and peed where he stood.
But while she could be extremely wary in secret, there was no reason to just now: she recognized both faces. They were always welcome to come to the house.
She looked over her husband’s shoulder and smiled. “Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan, thank you for making sure he got home. Come in. Please have some tea. And dinner too.”
“That’s kind,” said Sasuke. “Thank you. But my wife left Sarada at home. It’d be best we get back.”
“Are you sure, guys?” Naruto looked a tiny bit surprised. “Sarada is welcome to join us, of course.”
Sasuke glanced at Naruto, praying to the gods that his brain would work just this once, before turning to Hinata. “We ran into each other on the way out. I hope you don’t mind us keeping him. We had to talk and he was preoccupied when I came by."
He gave Naruto a penetrating look." We passed Sakura in the street while I was walking him home. We circled the village a fair few times before that.”
Internally, Naruto flinched. That sounded shady as hell, Sasuke.
Sakura snuck a look at her husband and then looked at Hinata. “Sorry about that.”
Hinata studied them both for a while, and Naruto felt his heart start to hammer behind his breastbone. Shit.
But all Hinata did was smile in response; she did not look perturbed in the least. Instead, she nodded, tucking a stray lock of hair between one ear. “Thank you for making sure my husband didn’t fall into a ditch somewhere.”
Sakura smiled back while Sasuke looked unsure, wondering whether to roll his eyes or snort.
“The hell—”
Naruto felt something constrict and expand somewhere inside him, before said unknown pushed him head-first into a world of pitch black.
Before he could grab the doorframe, Naruto felt himself sliding down towards the ground.
"Naruto!"
"Anata!"
Naruto was on his knees again, shaking and breathing heavily. His vision didn’t seem to be working. He could hear voices, they must’ve been shouting, but he found it hard to believe: they all sounded so distant.
Despite trying to figure out what was being said, all he heard was muffled, garbled noise.
“Anata!” Hinata held Naruto’s face in her hands, trying to get him to look at her. “Naruto, what’s wrong?”
Sakura felt for his carotid. She paled. “That’s too low—”
And just like that, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, Naruto suddenly slumped forward. A flash of black and two pale hands had caught his head before he hit the ground.
“Sakura!” Sasuke barked. He positioned Naruto’s head in his lap.
Sakura checked to see if he was still breathing. He was, but short, rapid breaths were never a good thing. “Put him on the ground.”
Hinata held his hand, beside herself with worry. “Tell me what to do, Sakura.”
“Help me get him completely flat. Make sure his arms and legs are fully extended.” Hinata nodded, and arranged Naruto’s limbs as instructed.
Sakura spat like an angry cat. “I told him to watch it.” Adrenaline flooding her body, she aggressively scanned his body.
Blood pressure low, heart rate low, respiration, short, fast, and shallow.
This fucking asshole.
She pumped healing chakra aggressively into him, grinding her teeth together. “You’re all right. You’re all right. Wake up, moron. This is so not all right at all.”
A few heartbeats later, they heard it.
“Kurama, no fair. I said I was going to bed.” He swallowed thickly, and opened his eyes to reveal a dazed, vacant blue. “I feel so...heavy.”
“Naruto, listen to me.”
“Sakura-chan?”
“You passed out again.”
“Again?” Hinata hiccoughed. She looked at Sakura then at her husband, who looked extremely stiff. “Sasuke-kun, tell me.”
But Sakura cut across. “Hinata, it’s stress. He wasn’t well earlier. I’ll give you all the details in a while, let’s get Naruto inside first. I’d like to do a diagnostic. A more thorough one.”
“How about your wedding anniversary, Sasuke?” Naruto blurted out.
The Uchiha blanched and Sakura blushed, but they were both determined to ignore this statement. Sakura, however, was the first to recover. “Shut up and mind your own darn business, baka,” she barked dismissively. “We need to take care of you first.”
“Yeah.” The blond sighed, talking out loud to himself. “I’m ripping other families apart now too. They need to get me an award, really.”
Hinata, who had been worried the entire time, instantly looked cross. “Don’t say that. You’re ill and you’re tired. And they don’t like this but they understand.” She touched one of the whisker marks on his cheek. “Just, don’t try to do this every so often. We’re all getting white hair before we should.”
“Are you still feeling lightheaded?” Sakura inquired, fingers still at his neck.
“No. Starting to feel my hands and feet again. Sasuke—”
Sasuke turned to Sakura. “Is that wise?”
“You have ten seconds. Can we borrow your couch, Hinata?”
The Uchiha helped Naruto to his feet, one hand underneath his armpit, the other, pulling the blond’s dangling arm, steadying Naruto's wonky sense of balance.
“Like you said, stop all this business of falling for me, loser.” Sasuke smiled, his eyes bright. "I mean, you look okay, but I won't ever hit that, if that's what you'd like to know."
Naruto almost choked. “Stuff it, teme. You're doing all of this hero-saving thing just to get my attention. You have, just not the right kind. I’ll kick your ass six ways to Sunday.”
Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. “I’d be amused if that were actually possible.”
“Give me a sec.” Naruto quirked an eyebrow right back at him. “You won’t look so hot.”
"I'd like to see you try, fucknut."
Hinata threw open the front door and shepherded the group into the living room. She pointed to a couch. “Over here.”
Sasuke set Naruto down and he retreated to one side. Sakura positioned herself near his chest.
Hinata looked nervous. “Sakura?”
Naruto’s eyes had fluttered closed.
Sakura activated her healing chakra and placed her hand at the center of his chest. “Naruto, can you hear me?”
Naruto's eyes opened slightly before he grimaced and shut them hurriedly. “What? Am I home already?” His tone was gravelly, his speech slurred.
“He’s disoriented. Shit.” Sakura’s looked darkened. "We might need more help."
Hinata, who had had been at her husband’s side, suddenly left the room. She returned a moment later with a small basin of water and a washcloth. Her fingers trembled as she soaked the square of linen and then placed it on Naruto’s forehead.
A small sigh escaped the blond’s lips. “That feels good. Thank you, whoever that was. Are we at the hospital? Tsunade Baa-chan isn't going to let me hear the end of this.”
The Hyuuga heiress looked beside herself. She picked up Naruto’s hand and held it to her cheek.
Sasuke looked away. He felt uncomfortable, intruding on such an intimate moment.
“I don’t mind the lie. Not really, Sasuke-kun.”
Sasuke turned to her, waiting for the wrath of Best Friend’s Wife to fall on his head.
But Hinata had resumed her cool, even tone, and he was able to resume breathing normally again. “Could you check if the children are still awake? Himawari didn’t want to eat without him and Boruto...he loves his sister so...” Her voice faltered and died.
He nodded, relieved. “I’ll be right back.” Sasuke walked out of the living room and made his way up the stairs.
The two wives were all alone now. All that broke the silence was the quiet breathing of the Hokage in his own house, and the soothing hum of healing chakra being coursed into his body.
“Sakura?” Hinata’s voice was soft but determined. “How is he?”
Sakura was just about to bite through her bottom lip. “Not so well.”
“I see. Should I get the children?”
Sakura gave her a side glance. “Don’t worry, Hinata. He’s strong. He’s always been such a fighter. Not even Madara could stop him. Not even having half of Kurama removed.” The glow beneath her palms intensified as her brows knitted. “He’s just a big idiot.” She shook her head. “He always pushes himself too far.”
She took one hand off Naruto’s chest and reached her palm out to the hokage’s wife. Hinata took it.
“Husbands,” the medic breathed, shaking her head. Hinata’s worry seemed to ease away from her body. The soft tinkle of laughter lifted the gloom from the room and Hinata squeezed her hand.