Shino and his class all stared at the mystical child that had just wandered into the room and taken a seat down towards the front.
He was at least a foot shorter than the rest of the class, his feet dangling and not even beginning to sit anywhere near the floor. Shiny black hair stuck out from where he had a scarf wrapped up high around his neck, his little legs were crossed and swinging back and forth underneath his desk, his hands intertwined at the fingers and sitting in the center of his desk, while his large gray eyes stared towards the chalkboard.
Shino had to glance around to make sure he was still in the present. He felt very much like he had been sent back in time when he looked at the child. The child had a sweet cranberry like scent mixed with a milkiness that indicated just how young he still was.
Shino quickly recovered from his shock, and told the class to discuss the latest topic amongst one another in pairs, before he hurried over to the child.
"Hello," He greeted, as the child looked around with big eyes. The color was slightly different, but the shape felt almost as familiar as the rest of his face.
"Hi," The child answered him shyly, raising a hand to give him a little wave.
Shino swallowed and composed himself. "Could I ask your name? I've never seen you in class before."
The child lowered his head and mumbled something. He looked up at Shino and then away, quick and painfully shy.
"I'm Shino," Shino introduced himself.
The child rose his head, and looked up at Shino hesitantly from underneath his long, curly lashes.
"Aiichiro…" The child finally offered back his own name.
"That's a really nice name." Shino smiled faintly, still feeling winded from the shock he was going through.
"Mama and his friends call me Ai," The child quickly added.
"Is that what you would prefer?" Shino asked gently.
The child seemed to think about it for a moment, and then nodded.
"Ai, then." Shino amended. "That's also very nice." Shino squatted down so him and Ai were at eye level with one another, looking at one another from over the table.
"So, what made you come to class today?" Shino pressed gently.
Ai blushed, and looked away. "Mama is always telling me about his old village. He said I needed proper education, but he wouldn't bring me to school. So…" Ai trailed off. It seemed that, despite his shyness, the child has a mischievous streak.
Shino nodded. So he had gone and ran off on his own.
"Your mother is probably looking for you." Shino said. "He's probably really worried." If the mother was who Shino thought it was, and he couldn't think of anyone else who could have birthed a child who looked like this one, then, if he had not already, he would notice very, very soon.
Ai shook his head, pouting. "He's gone on a mission. He won't know I'm gone for a long time. And," Ai suddenly looked at him, worried. "I...I'm safe here, aren't I?"
Shino couldn't even figure out how this child had made it to the village all by himself, let alone how he had entered the village and then found his way to the academy.
"I went to another class, but I already knew everything that was getting taught there. So I came to this one. I know it's for older kids," Ai swung his legs fast underneath the desk, a nervous tic that felt familiar.
"I understand." Shino nodded. "However, you need to take certain tests to be accepted into the academy."
Ai's eyes widened, and then, to Shinos absolute horror, filled up with tears.
"Oh."
//
Shino had no idea what to do. He had half hoped Sasuke would just show up and take the child away before class was over, but he didn't come. He knew that had been a fruitless hope anyways.
Ai was like any child someone may expect to be raised by a true Uchiha. Despite his young age, he seemed to already have skills that were far beyond those of a common genin. After he had stopped crying, he had sat through the class, looking bored and disappointed. It would have made Shino a bit insecure, if not for the rest of his students looking interested.
"Mama already taught me all of this," Ai told him after the lesson was over and the rest of the class was dismissed, and then performed a Shadow Clone jutsu that had his jaw on the floor.
"How old are you, Ai?" Shino asked, as he walked the young child out of the building. He was still trying to figure out what to do with the kid. Should he bring him right to Naruto? Maybe Sakura. One of them could probably get in contact with Sasuke quickly if they really needed to.
"Seven." Ai told him, skipping at his side. Ai had gotten over his shyness rather quickly, and now seemed all too happy to converse.
Seven. He was the age where students usually first enrolled in the academy, and yet he was already beyond many of those who had graduated already. No one could chalk all of that up to just being an Uchiha. Sasuke and Sarada had both been very intelligent and skilled at a young age, and they had both graduated at a normal age with the rest of their class.
Hokage Tower was closer, he rationalized, and took the slight turn to the building. Ai followed after him easily. Since he had clearly ran away from wherever he was supposed to be, Shino had not imagined him to be such an obedient child, but he had not tried to run off once yet.
"Is he in the office?" Shino asked the jonin working the mission desk. They nodded, leaning on their hand and looking bored out of their mind, a beta with a strong honeysuckle scent who looked ready to crack their head on the desk if things didn't become more interesting.
Shino looked from the stairs to Ai, and then back and forth once more. It may not be a good idea to bring the child in before he got the chance to explain everything. Naruto might die of shock if he saw Sasuke's miniature. Sarada took after Sakura a lot in the face, and sometimes it was still chilling to see her because of how much she was like Sasuke.
"Ai," Shino said, leading him over to the chairs against the wall. "Could you stay here and wait for me for a few minutes? I need to speak with the Hokage first. I'll be quick."
"The Hokage?" Ai repeated back, voice soft, eyes widening and sparkling somewhere in their depths.
Shino nodded.
"Am I going to get to see him?" Ai asked.
Shino tilted his head. It was probably exciting for any child to meet a Kage, especially one so young. That, or he had just heard about Naruto before. He was sure most children in the five nations had, and being Sasuke's child, he was sure he had been told all about his mother's...close friend? Like everyone else, Shino never really knew what to call the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke.
"Probably. In a little bit. You have to wait."
Ai nodded.
Shino made sure to tell the bored beta at the desk to keep an eye on the pup, and then quickly ran up the stairs as soon as he was out of sight, finally letting the slight sense of panic he felt overcome him. He knew it probably wouldn't happen, but he felt paranoid that Sasuke would plow half the village down if he found out they had his child without his knowledge. Not because he was Sasuke, but because he was an omega whose child was missing, and, since he didn't know any better, could have been taken by force.
"I finally got him to settle down and do some work," Shikamaru, who was coming out of Naruto's office, moaned when he caught sight of him coming around the corner. "Don't get him all worked up again. Can't it wait?"
Shino gripped Shikamaru tightly by the shoulders and resisted the urge to scream out his fear in his face.
"It absolutely cannot."
//
"I can't believe mom is making me bring this to the old man again,"
Ai tilted his head at the loud complaining coming from down the hall. A moment later, a blonde boy came around the corner, holding a wrapped lunch and looking annoyed. He was accompanied by a girl with black hair and a frown that looked very familiar to him.
"Boruto, all you ever do is complain about your dad." The girl was saying as they took seats a bit down from him. "At least you have both your parents in your life."
"I can't believe he's making us wait too." Boruto kept on complaining like he hadn't even heard her.
Ai shot them one more look before turning back to the window he had busied himself with looking out of it.
"Sarada-"
Ai's head shot up and turned back around. His eyes went back to the girl who was pointedly ignoring her companion.
Now that he looked closer, she looked very much like the girl in the photographs that littered his mother's dresser back at home. She had changed here and there, and gotten older, but it could only be her, now that he looked. Which meant that-
///
"What do you mean Sasuke has another kid?" Shikamaru asked while Naruto stared at him with a slack jaw.
"Just like I said." Shino said.
Shikamaru looked like his day had been ruined, but in the same way he did when there was a surprise task that had come up that needed to be dealt with that he hadn't planned for. Naruto just looked like he was unable to think of anything, let alone full sentences.
"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked.
"I wouldn't have brought him here if I wasn't sure." Shino said, feeling a bit insulted.
"It could be an imposter?" Shikamaru offered.
"I made sure that he wasn't." Shino answered quickly.
Shikamaru sighed loudly, and then turned back to Naruto, who was slowly blinking and seeming to finally come back to himself.
"How come you never told me about this?" Shikamaru asked him.
Naruto blinked rapidly a few times, and then finally looked at his right hand.
"I...I had no idea." Naruto admitted. Shino and Shikamaru shot one another a surprised look. That did not seem like something Sasuke would have kept hidden from Naruto. If the father of the child wasn't from Konoha, or he or she wasn't in the picture, it could make sense that Sasuke didn't tell the whole world he had another offspring. Not telling Naruto about it, on the other hand, seemed like an impossible occurrence. Sasuke had hid very little from Naruto over the last decade or so, or so they had all thought.
"What do you want to do with him?" Shikamaru asked softly. He knew Naruto just wouldn't leave the pup to wait around for his mother to come and fetch him.
"I...meet him first, I guess." Naruto said softly. He still looked like he had been sucker punched repeatedly in the stomach by Sakura.
Shikamaru nodded and Shino left to go and bring him in.
"Who do you think the father is?" Shikamaru asked, when the door closed behind him.
Naruto's eyes widened a bit. "I have no idea. Sasuke never mentioned seeing anyone to me. Ever since he and Sakura divorced, he hasn't been with anyone."
Shikamaru opened his mouth for a retort, but then quickly decided against it. It wasn't likely. Sasuke was always traveling, and he was sure there were times the omega had gotten lonely, and had looked for someone to share a bed with. Despite the changing times, some omegas still got embarrassed about having children out of wedlock, and the Uchihas had always been a conservative clan.
How he had managed to raise a child while always on the road, he had no idea. Then again, Sasuke always seemed to surprise him. He was really one of the few people Shikamaru had always had a hard time figuring out. He had never made any sense to him.
They both jumped when the double doors suddenly slammed open, two more guests than expected waltzing on in. Well, one did, the other was lingering behind, looking humiliated.
"Hey, old man! Will you take your lunch so I can go and do what I need to?"
"Boruto," Sarada hissed from behind, going to grab the back of his jacket.
//
Shino was watching Ai carefully as the pup tiptoed into the room. The shyness from before had returned, but tenfold. His legs were shaking, and he reached out and clung to Shino's pant leg as he struggled to enter the room. If the room was quiet, Shino half wondered if he would be able to hear the pups heart beating right out of his chest.
"Boruto, I can't right now-"
"I didn't come to see you," Boruto sniffed. "Mom just wanted me to bring this to you."
Boruto strode forward and threw the lunch on the top of the desk. Shino frowned at the display, and then glanced down at Ai to see how he was handling the tense atmosphere. Things like this were never good for young children to see.
Ai sniffled.
Boruto looked put off by the sight, while Sarada was looking at the child with a tilted head, her nose twitching. In their early years of life, most pups carried lingerings of their parents scents to ward off anyone who might want to attack them.
"Boruto, Sarada." Naruto forced himself to look away from those haunting red eyes that were holding onto his heartstrings with a vice grip. They were eerily familiar to him. "I'm sorry. I-"
"Lord Seventh has something important to do right now." Shikamaru cut in, placing a hand on either of the two kids' heads.
"Of course, Lord Seventh!" Sarada was quick to say, looking embarrassed to be in her current situation. She glared at Boruto who just rolled his eyes, cheeks puffed out.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Boruto waved his hand and headed towards the exit. "Old man always has something to do."
Sarada said one more apology to a guilty looking Naruto and then hurried out the door to follow Boruto. They could hear her scolding him even with the door shut.
His breath caught in his throat when his eyes landed on the tiny face that was around hip level. Red irises with a single tomoe were dripping with tears. However, that wasn't what made his heart clench in his chest.
The child had Itachi's eyes. It wasn't just the tear ducts like Sarada had inherited from her uncle, everything was the same. The shape was just slightly different from Sasukes, the unfair amount of eyelashes and their impressive length and thickness, with the prettiest placement, the pronounced tear ducts.
Naruto felt judged underneath those eyes. No, he felt like those eyes knew and understood far more than he could ever hope to, they carried secrets that he would never be able to find. He had felt the same under Itachi's unrelenting stare.
But those eyes were innocent. The eyes of a child, though they held a certain depth to them. Very familiar to the few pictures Sasuke still had of his brother when they were small. He had dug them out of a single family photo album he had scavenged from their old house. Sasuke had told him he had ripped up most of the photos of Itachi, but he had been unable to destroy the ones of just the two of them together, and ones where Itachi was small.
The rest was all Sasuke. Even his hair stuck up in the back like his, sticking out from his high scarf.
"Naruto," Shino began, sounding hesitant. "This is Ai."
The child's face crumbled up as his tiny shoulders shook with sobs, Naruto wondered why the child was crying so hard, but he was distracted by the look on his face. The way he looked when he cried, it didn't look like Sasuke or Itachi at all. Or maybe it did, he had never seen Itachi cry in person. But he didn't think so, it felt extremely familiar, but for the life of him, he couldn't place it.
All of a sudden, the child came running towards him. Naruto held out a hand to stop Shikamaru and Shino from reacting defensively, and allowed the child to zoom around the desk and start clinging onto his bandaged arm.
It was weird. But he was just a child. Sasuke's child, on top of that.
Shino stared at Ai crying all over him. Naruto gave him a sympathetic look and gestured for him to wait outside. Shino looked thankful as he quickly rushed out of the office. He was finally released from hours of stress and worry, but Naruto knew he wouldn't go too far. He'd be back to see what they did with Ai. He cared a lot about children, even those he had just met, even if he did feel awkward when they cried.
"There, there," Naruto choked out as he patted Ai on the top of his head with his free arm. Red teary eyes stared up at him, unblinking and desperate in a way he understood all too well. For whatever reason, Ai was craving his attention.
Naruto just couldn't understand why. Sasuke wasn't this outright affectionate, even when he had been young, but maybe that was the father's personality coming through.
Who would Sasuke have slept with? He couldn't stop thinking about it. Sasuke was his friend, and he had seemed dedicated to raising his daughter after the divorce with Sakura, he had even told Naruto he didn't plan on finding someone else. Who could have lured Sasuke into their bed, and left such an impression on him that he would raise their child by himself? Sasuke would have mentioned if he had found someone else, right? Right?"
Then again, Sasuke had not mentioned he had another child to him.
"You really like Lord Seventh, huh?" Shikamaru asked Ai.
Ai looked up from where he was rubbing his cheek all over Naruto's arm. "Huh?" The little noise was adorable, it seemed he had not heard Shikamaru at all.
"Your mom must have told you all about Naruto, huh?" Shikamaru rephrased. "For you to be...such a fan?" Naruto could tell he was thinking, considering why the child clung to Naruto much deeper than Naruto himself could.
"What?" Ai asked again. He lifted his head.
"I guess there are people who would wanna hug their hero," Shikamaru laughed awkwardly. Naruto let out a soft laugh, and patted the child on top of his head. Most of those that admired Naruto wanted to play fight with him or swear they would catch up to him right in his face, especially at this age. He had always found it amusing. Some little, little kids had ran up to him and hugged him before, but their embarassed parents usually dragged them off and away, shouting apologies quickly after.
Ai's nose crinkled, he looked confused. "Of course I want to hug him. You have no idea how much my brother and I want to." His expression shifted to irritation, and it too, looked very familiar to him. Not like Sasuke, but someone he knew. Had someone he knows been the one to get Sasuke pregnant?
"Who wouldn't want to hug their dad?"
Something was wrong.
Sasuke noticed it as soon as he returned home. He finished his mission, wrote his report and had sent it off with a hawk, and then had gone straight home, traveling through the night with the hope of being back before breakfast. His sons were always up early. Sasuke had no idea who they had gotten that from. Maybe one of their grandparents. Certainly not from Sasuke, Itachi, or their sire.
It was right on time. He was already in pre-heat, and he would fall into a full on heat anytime now. He would leave the kids with Karin and Suigetsu for the next week and he world ride it out by himself, as he had done for years.
Or that was the plan.
Ryuuma greeted him right at the door, which wasn't abnormal. Both of his sons were fairly attached to him, but Ryuu clung to him emotionally, mentally and physically. It wasn't unusual for Ryuu to grab onto him the moment he got home, only to make Ai whine because he was in the way of the hug he wanted.
"Hi, Mama."
Sasuke would never get over his little face. It was identical to his sires, starting at the hairline and going all the way down to his chin. The only difference was the color of his eyes, which had dominated Naruto's recessive coloring. He had also gotten Sasukes hair color, though it grew just like his sire's. Itachi had once told him that the Uchihas' dark gene's always seemed to win out when it came to babies
"Hi." Sasuke cast a look around. There was a presence missing, he had felt the lack of chakra a few miles out. Ai's scent was in the house, but it was old, like he hadn't been there in a while. "Where's your brother?" Ai was a curious child, and while he would say both his sons were rather shy, Ryuuma stuck to the rules a lot more than his mischievous brother did.
"Uhhh," Ryuu grinned. "He's right here. I'll go get him."
Sasuke watched as Ryuuma went into the hall, down to the bedroom he and his brother shared. A moment later, Ai came walking out.
Sasuke saw right through it. He only caught a glimpse of Ai's image before it had withered away and all that stood before him was Ryuu's crumbled little face.
"Ryuuma."
"I'm sorry, Mama!" Ryuuma suddenly burst into tears and wrapped himself around Sasuke's legs. "I told him not to go, but he wouldn't listen!"
"What happened?" Sasuke placed his hand on the top of his head.
Ryuuma sniffled against his outer thigh. "Well, he...um...well. After Aunt Karin came and checked up on us yesterday morning, he told me he wanted to go out. I asked him where, and he said since you were gone, this was his chance to go. I asked him where he was going again, and I told him not to leave without you, Mama! I told him that you wouldn't like it!" His little chest heaved, and Sasuke lowered himself down into a squat, gently taking Ryuuma by the arms.
"I know it's not your fault, Ryuu. No one can stop your brother once he really wants to do something." Another unfortunate trait he had inherited from his sire, despite never having met him in his life.
"Just tell me where he went, and we'll go and get him back." Sasuke rubbed his arms comfortingly.
There were at least a dozen places that Sasuke thought his youngest might have gone. Aiichiro was rather adventurous, he liked to travel. Sasuke thought it might be because he had often carried both his babes on his back back in their early life while he wandered around, before he had finally listened to Karin and settled in the Sound permanently. Or maybe he was just taking after Sasuke.
"He went to see dad."
Sasuke stared at him.
He had heard that wrong. He had definitely heard that wrong.
This couldn't be happening.
How many times? How many times had he told his sons that they couldn't go to Konoha? He didn't even like them to be in the Land of Fire. He had done his best to keep his sons away from all of the Hidden Villages, because Naruto had to have friends everywhere.
They were safe here. He never thought his children would be safe somewhere that had Orochimaru in it, but they were. He left Konoha and the rest of the world alone now, and due to that, Sasuke could raise his children in his village without any trouble, without any surprise visitors. The last time Naruto had come there, it was over three years ago, and Sasuke had gotten a three week head start and ran off to the land of frost for the length of his stay.
He should have never told them who their father was.
Sasuke thought he was doing the right thing. He wanted them to be safe, he wanted them to live a simple, peaceful life, away from the place that had once hurt their family so badly.
The price he had paid for leaving was Sarada. Leaving her was the only thing he had regretted. He knew Sakura would take care of her, she was a good sire, despite the fact their relationship had not worked out. He was in love with Naruto, he had always been, and she had finally realized another love of her own, even though she hadn't wanted to leave him.
That didnt mean he didn't miss his daughter everyday. It didn't make up for the fact he had failed her as a mother.
"When exactly did Ai leave?" He asked, getting back up to his feet. Ryuu tilted his head up to look at him nervously.
"Yesterday morning. It was around eight."
Any normal child wouldn't have gotten to Konoha for days. Ai wasn't a normal child. He was their child, his and Narutos, who always seemed to be able to do the impossible. Not only that, but he had the blood of two prodigies. Ai had inherited Minato's speed. Sasuke was impressive himself, but it had taken him years to get there. Ai was only seven, but it took Sasuke some effort to keep up with his son when they ran together. If they sparred, Sasuke would, obviously, win without breaking a sweat. Ai and Ryuu were still years away from ever beating him, but the point was that Ai could probably make it to Konoha in less than a day.
"Ryuu. Get your shoes and your bag."
///
Naruto stared helplessly down at the child looking up at him expectantly.
A son.
He had a son.
Well, another son.
Actually, two other sons.
Yesterday had been...complicated, to say the least. He didn't know what to do with his own son.
He had had no idea. Sasuke had told him nothing. Absolutely nothing. Naruto couldn't get over it. Sasuke had gotten pregnant, pregnant with twins, which was somehow even worse, and then had run. Naruto had always thought it very strange, the way he had left. One day, he was living in the village, raising Sarada mostly by himself, occasionally going on missions and it was then he would leave her with Sakura, only to take her back as soon as he returned to the village. The next, he was telling Naruto he had unfinished business, that he needed to do more to redeem himself, that he had things he wanted, no, needed to do. Naruto had let him go, because it was Sasuke, and he always wanted him to be happy.
Naruto couldn't deny this poor kid.
What would he have done when he was seven if his father had suddenly appeared to him? Ai had come looking for him, but he would have done the same if his father was alive. He would have gone and found Minato, and never let him go.
Naruto had stayed in the office overnight, and Ai had stayed with him. He had a futon in the closet, and he rolled it out for him to sleep on after he had fed him.
He couldn't bring him home, not right then. He had to talk to Hinata first, explain everything. That required leaving Ai, and he didn't want to do that yet.
Once Ai was comfortable with someone, he got rather chatty. Naruto did his best to listen to every word that he said. He wanted to hug him, he wanted to apologize for not being there. He wished he was comfortable with doing either of those things. He wished he knew his son, who was so adorable it made tears well up in his eyes.
There was work to do, and it all went untouched, sitting in the same neat piles that it had been sat down in. Shikamaru would have his neck for it. Not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but eventually it would come back to punish him.
A sacrifice he was willing to make.
"So, Ai," Naruto started, once their conversation had died down a bit. Ai looked up from the book Naruto had half offered him as a source of entertainment earlier in the day.
"Yes, dad?"
That word made his heart skip a beat, the same way it did when Boruto and Himawari used to say it in the same way Ai did. Himawari still did at times, but it had been years since Boruto had said it with adoration.
"What's your favorite color?"
Ai laughed. "Purple."
Naruto should have expected that.
"Your's is orange, right?" Ai asked.
"That's right!"
"Ryuu likes orange too, and red."
"Ryuu…" Naruto repeated.
Aiichiro and Ryuuma. Naruto repeated those names over and over again in his head, embedding them as deep into his mind as his other children. He would never forget them, he would never allow himself to. One day to the next, he gained two more special people in his life who could not be replaced.
"Ryuu looks a lot like you," Ai pouted up at him suddenly. "Mama says I look like Uncle Itachi."
Naruto laughed. He really was a perfect little Uchiha. Except for those faces he made. No Uchiha he had known in the past would ever be caught dead having such an expressive, open face. Well, besides maybe Obito when he was young.
"You have Itachi's eyes." Naruto agreed. "Everything else is your moms, though." His voice was wistful. It had been eight months since the last time he had seen Sasuke.
They had met a few hours outside of the village, during that time the days had been hot and the nights cool. He couldn't get away from the office himself, and had sent a shadow clone. He had treasured the memories he received back from his clone. Seeing Sasuke always settled something inside of him. He didn't know that he could breath until he set his eyes on Sasuke and the weight was lifted off his chest and he got his first lungful of fresh air.
Now, his feelings were in battle with one another. He didn't think he could ever hate Sasuke, but he wanted to keep this from him. He just wanted to understand why. Sasuke was always running away and leaving him behind without an explanation.
"So," Naruto started, getting up from the desk and joining Ai on the floor. "What do you wanna do today?"
Ai looked back up. "What do I...want to do?"
"Yeah." Naruto made himself comfortable.
"Don't you have to work, dad?" Ai asked, head tilting. "Mama always tells us how busy you are."
Naruto wondered if that was why. Did Sasuke not want him around their children because he didn't think he'd have time for them? Naruto couldn't even figure out how Sasuke had raised them by himself. He had no clear place of residence, as far as he knew, and he was often on missions.
All he could do was wait. Sasuke would come. Naruto would confront him. He wouldn't let him leave. It was a simple plan, and he liked to think it was very effective. The only problem was that he had no idea what he was going to say.
Before he could reply to Ai, there was a scream in the distance, coming from outside the tower.
It was then he caught the scent. It was stronger from the fact Sasuke appeared to be near his yearly heat. It had always come in late winter. Naruto remembered whining about the smell of his preheat to Kakashi back when they were genin, loudly complaining that Sasuke was just a distraction. Kakashi had put an end to that with a few roundhouse kicks. Perhaps he should have known better than to complain about omegas to another omega.
A flash of dark blue, and then Sasuke was crouched in the window of his office, looking unfairly beautiful even after hours of running and sweating.
There was that feeling. He could breathe.
Ryuuma really did look like him. A perfect copy of his younger face, just with Sasuke's hair color. Unlike Ai, Ryuu had marks on his cheeks, just a single line on either side. Naruto couldn't say for his eye color, because a single tomoe sharingan stared out from where he had been tucked away underneath Sasuke's cloak. Sasuke looked down at his son, and then back to Naruto.
"Ai, did yours awaken too?" Sasuke asked, looking away from Naruto.
Ai looked out from where he was hiding behind Naruto's back. "Hmm…"
Sasuke dropped into the room, picking Ryuu up to keep him from running to Naruto. Even Naruto could tell that was what he wanted to do. Sasuke stared at Ai for another moment, looking like he wanted to just grab him and run, and Naruto considered that as a highly likely possibility.
Sasuke finally looked at him.
"So," He began. "He told you."
Ai whined faintly from behind him. Naruto stood, and Ai followed to hover around the back of his legs.
"We need to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about." Sasuke lowered Ryuu down and held his hand out. "Ai, come."
Ai didn't dare to go against the warning in his voice. Naruto felt his little arms tighten around his leg, just for a second, before he dashed off to take Sasuke's hand.
Sasuke pulled Ai closer, while Ryuu hurried to grab his twin by his free hand.
"I'm sorry he made trouble for you." Sasuke said flatly, and then turned around, as if he was going to jump back out the window, just like that.
/
"Sasuke." Naruto said. The weight behind his voice stopped Sasuke in his tracks. "There's no point in you running. You know what will happen, right?"
Naruto would just come find him.
"You have responsibilities." Sasuke said, still with his back to Naruto. "You can't just waste your time chasing me anymore."
"Yes I can." Naruto grinned ruthfully. "You wouldn't be the only one I was after, anyways."
Sasuke stiffened. Ai slowly let go of his hand and Ryuu twisted his body to look back at Naruto. Sasuke didn't have to look at them to know their little eyes were all lit up, hopeful and searching.
"You want us to stay?" Ryuu asked, the hint of hope and excitement in his voice gutted Sasuke.
No. Sasuke couldn't let him have hope. Hope would lead to only pain, especially when it came to Naruto.
"Ai. Ryuu." He interrupted before Naruto could say anything. "Go and wait downstairs. Now."
"But Mama-"
"Do as I say."
Two little whimpers echoed in the air, but they listened to him. They knew to always listen when he was being serious, no matter what. It had saved all their lives many times in the past. Ai turned back at the door to wave, before Ryuu grabbed him and pulled him out. Ryuu was always the quickest to listen to him.
Sasuke waited until he heard them go down the hall, and run down the stairs, already blabbering away to one another about what had happened while they were apart. He waited until their voices faded away before he turned.
///
"You were never going to tell me." It wasn't a question.
"No." Sasuke answered anyways.
Naruto looked up, a storm raging behind the blues of his eyes. He was shaking visibly, his bandaged hand behind him and holding onto the top of his desk. He distantly worried that he would crush it in half if he didn't get a handle on himself. As soon as the kids were out of sight, he felt like the lid on all the emotions that had been forced down were coming right back up.
"How could you do that?" He managed to keep his voice lowered.
Sasuke looked away from him, and he hated that more than anything. His eyes were all hidden by his hair, and Naruto had to resist the urge to stride forward and brush it back from his face. He had a strong disdain for Sasuke being hidden from him.
"What do you want from me, Naruto?" He asked softly. His voice was weak, just as he himself felt. He hadn't expected this, he didn't have time to prepare. He hated himself for not planning for this ahead of time. He didn't get to think clearly all the way over, he was too busy making sure Ryuuma didn't get too tired. He had to carry him for a bit after the seventh hour, Sasuke didn't want them to stop.
"What do I want?" Naruto repeated. He laughed, but it was humorless. He couldn't even begin to tell Sasuke all of that.
Sasuke's head hung low. He looked like all the weight of the world was crushed on his shoulders. Naruto wanted to lift it off just as much as he wanted to yell at him for putting it there himself in the first place.
"Do you want to know what I want?" Sasuke asked.
Why did Naruto always have to go and try to make things sound like they were so simple and easy? If anyone's life was complicated it was his. He should understand, but he didn't. He had no idea how complicated everything was. Things just didn't have an easy answer. He had done what he thought was best. He knew there were some who might think him a monster, but he wasn't trying to be. He had weighed the options, and done what he had determined would lead to the best outcome for everyone.
The only simple thing was the way Sasuke felt about him. That was it.
If they really did live in a perfect world, if Sasuke could have everything he wanted, he knew down to the finest detail what it would be. But they didn't live in that kind of world. He could only do the best he could with what he had.
"Yes." Naruto answered.
Sasuke said nothing. It had been a slip of the tongue, him asking Naruto that. He shook his lowered head, denying what he had said. Just ignore it, just continue on. Just get the kids and leave and avoid Naruto, run from him.
Naruto wasn't having that. He walked towards Sasuke, who didn't notice that he was coming towards him at first. He saw when he noticed, because he immediately started backing away faster, picking up his lowered head.
Naruto didn't let him get far. He grabbed Sasuke tightly by the arms and backed him up against the wall, right underneath the portraits of the former Hokage.
"Tell me what you wish," Naruto told him, their faces only a few inches apart. "Tell me what you would have wanted." Sasuke's scent was surrounding him, engulfing into every single one of his pours, making his head spin and taking him over.
Sasuke let out a shaky breath. A part of Naruto ached when he realized Sasuke was crying. He made the most horrible noises when he cried. It wasn't that they sounded ugly, but that with every whimper and sob, they pulled at the strings of Naruto's heart, and gripped it like a vise. Sasuke wasn't supposed to cry, Naruto never wanted him to have a reason to cry, unless he was happy.
Sasuke finally raised his eyes to his face.
"I wish you had never married her." Tears ran down his face as he looked up at Naruto. "I wish you had made me yours the way you were supposed to. I wish you had divorced her after you fucked me like you told me you were going to. She was the one who cheated first. You had all the reason in the world to leave her, but you didn't. I could have taken care of your children for you, like I was supposed to. Everything could have been yours. Me, You, Boruto, Himawari, Sarada, Aiichiro, Ryuuma. All of us, we could have been a family. I would have even let her see them, even though she doesn't fucking deserve it." He spat.
"Sasuke-"
"I would have never done that to you. Her, who was supposed to be your wife, and him, who was your friend. You still call him your friend to this day. I would have never done that to you, if you had made me yours. Never."
Naruto wanted to argue with him. Besides that one slip up, Hinata had been faithful to him. She had been a good wife, and a good mother. He hadn't helped matters by getting drunk and going to Sasuke for comfort. Hinata had forgiven him, so he had forgiven her. They wanted to make it work for their kids. Naruto had been thinking of them when he decided to not go further with Sasuke, he had gone back to his family. He wanted them so badly to be a perfect family. It was all he had ever wanted. A family.
"Sasuke," He swallowed. "Listen...Hinata and I-"
"Shut up!" He screamed. "I don't want to hear about her!" Naruto watched him with wide eyes. Sasuke had never reacted to Hinata like that before. Even when he had come to Sasuke that night, sobbing and drunk, Sasuke had just held him and listened to his pained banter.
The anger slowly faded away from Sasuke's face, leaving it vulnerable. He closed his eyes and laid his head back so it rested against the wall, his lip quivering. Naruto only stared. Even after their final fight, Sasuke had never cried so openly like this in front of him. It was like he couldn't stop himself.
"I- I knew how much you wanted things to work. I knew you wanted your perfect family, I knew you couldn't leave her. I was such a fool for letting you take me that night, but I was in love with you, like I've always been, like I always will be, I couldn't push you away. You wanted to be happy so badly with them, so I decided I had to let you. If I had had them...raised them here, everyone would have known they were yours. Everyone would have talked about you, everyone would have blamed you, even though it wasn't your fault. So I...so I left, I left my daughter and I took them away so they wouldn't become a problem for you. I know I'm a horrible mother, you don't have to tell me, I know. Sarada hates me for leaving her, Ryuu and Ai hate me for keeping them away from you. If they don't already, they all will someday." Every word he said killed Naruto, an extra kunai stab right through the heart right after another. "And you hate me too."
Naruto stared at him. He floundered, for the first time in his life, in the face of a fight, he was speechless. He never thought he would be slow to think of something to say to Sasuke. He usually only had too much to tell him.
The next thing he knew, their positions had been switched. Naruto was the one pushed up against the wall, and Sasuke was the one doing it. Before Naruto could say anything, Sasuke pushed away from him and walked out of the door.