Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

"I can't believe I'm going to be a dad soon, you know," Kiba said dazed, knocking back his second glass of beer of that afternoon.

"But you're happy with it, right?" Naruto grinned widely, signalling to the cute bartender for another glass.

"Of course I am, but what if I screw it up?" his friend asked with a terrified face. His hand shook when he asked for a third beer.

"And you claim to be an Alpha?" Neji sneered, throwing a derisive look at the other man. "Get it together or you'll lose your balls."

A whimper escaped Kiba, who paled drastically at the threat aimed at his manhood.

"You're ruthless, Neji," Naruto chuckled and the Beta man shrugged, his long hair cascading like a waterfall over his back. With his delicate looks, he was often mistaken for an Omega – until the person was introduced to his fists.

"Only speaking the truth," Neji muttered and threw a scrutinizing look at Naruto's hand. "Still no ring I see."

The idle remark caused Naruto to clench his hand and chuckle weakly while his stomach churned in unease. "Ah, yeah. We've decided not to marry after all. It's not like we need the ceremony to be a family."

"I guess so," Neji said softly, but his piercing eyes spoke volumes about his real thoughts.

Naruto gratefully accepted the new glass from the red haired girl, who smiled reassuringly. "How's Tenten doing?" he asked lightly.

Neji raised an eyebrow, but accepted the abrupt change in topic. "She's fine. She and Rock Lee have decided to teach martial arts to children. They are searching for an appropriate place now."

"I hope for those children that Tenten is in charge of the uniforms," Naruto snickered, remembering the green spandex suit the enthusiastic athlete liked to wear.

Neji rolled his light purple eyes and shook his head. "As long as they don't bug me about it," he retorted calmly.

"Guys, we were talking about me," Kiba whined, his large dog yipping in agreement.

How on earth Kiba managed to get away with having that large dog inside the pub, the world would never know.

"It's not like this is unexpected. You were trying after all," Neji pointed out exasperatedly.

"That doesn't matter," Kiba insisted with wide eyes. "Becoming a dad is fucking terrifying, man! I don't want to screw it up."

"Should have thought about that before, you shit for brains," Neji growled irritated.

Naruto chortled, almost choking in his beer, at the insult. Usually the older man was more refined with his insults. That just made it more hilarious.

Kiba whined louder, Neji ignored him and Naruto tried to be a sympathetic friend, but failed miserably whenever Neji made a snide remark, resulting in the blond laughing hysterically with tears streaming down his cheeks.

He knew there was a reason why he liked the stoic Hyuuga.

Two hours later, he said goodbye to the other two men, trusting Neji to get Kiba safely home to his wife, Hinata.

With a soft sigh, he started making his way to his own home at a leisurely pace. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he began humming the theme song of one of his favourite television shows, while around him people of all ages were mingling on the streets, taking advantage of the warm weather.

He was happy for his best friend; despite his panic, the blond man knew he would be a good father. Not only did he have experience with caring for children thanks to his younger brother and sister, but he genuinely adored children. He and his wife would be great parents.

A forlorn sigh escaped him and he looked up at the sky, which was dyed a colourful mixture of red, orange and light purple, due to the setting sun.

Hearing that another friend was going to have a baby made his own desire to be a parent flare up again. For a while now he had wanted a child, but so far he and his partner hadn't really discussed it. The whole conceiving part wouldn't be difficult – Naruto had been born as an Omega and out of the three species, Omega people were the most fertile. Especially when their mate was an Alpha – like Naruto's partner.

When he was a child, he had been uncomfortable being an Omega, but he had long since made peace with that part of him.

His lover didn't believe in marriage and while that admission still stung, Naruto had decided that it wasn't worth it to fight over that. But his mate couldn't possibly have something against having children, right? After four years of being together, they were steady enough to bring a child into the relationship in his opinion.

Maybe he should start this particular discussion and find out what the other one thought of it.

His contemplation was broken by a familiar tune, announcing he had received a text message. Startled, Naruto unearthed it from his pocket and a smile tugged involuntarily at his lips when he noticed that it was from his boyfriend.

'Don't feel like cooking and doing dishes. Want take-out?'

Ramen. Definitely ramen. There was no question about it. Hastily he typed his answer, clicked on 'send' and then crossed the street when the light turned green.

A few minutes later he received a confirmation and it was with a large grin that he entered their modest house, located at the outskirts of the small village. He was promptly greeted by two cats – one black haired with a white triangle on his chest and a grey haired one with some light brown spots on his back – who rubbed their bodies against his legs while purring loudly.

"Hey Kurama, Shukaku," Naruto greeted them, bending down to rub a hand over their arching backs. "Had a nice day?"

The two cats meowed in confirmation and followed him into the kitchen.

"Right, you two want to have your dinner, huh?" he muttered, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it over the back of his chair. "Let me grab your food."

He quickly opened a can and dumped the content on two small, plastic, blue plates. After he had placed the plates on the floor, he had a quick look at the list of ingredients. Apparently it contained some small pieces of carrots and some peas. Huh. Why anyone would put that in cat's food was a mystery to him.

He wrinkled his nose when he caught a whiff of cigarette smoke; one of the bad consequences of remaining in a pub for a couple of hours. A shower was needed and a change of clothes unless he wanted the scent to keep lingering on him.

Carefully stepping over the two cats – he received a faint growl from Kurama, who thought his owner was planning on stealing his dinner – Naruto made his way to the bathroom to take a quick shower before his boyfriend came home.

His clothes were carelessly dumped into the designed blue basket; he would need to wash their clothes soon, because the basket was nearly overflowing.

Grabbing the bottles of shampoo and body wash, the blond man stepped into the shower, sliding the glass door shut behind him, and shivered when he felt the cold tiles underneath his feet. Turning and adjusting the shower knobs until his preferred warmth of water was released, he soon started lathering himself up, enjoying the cascade of warm water on his body. His hands slid over his chest and lingered on his lower stomach; his fingertips teasingly caressing his sensitive skin. After a short, indecisive moment, he resolutely shook his head and continued washing himself. If he played his cards right, he wouldn't have to take care of himself tonight.

An excited grin unfurled on his lips while anticipation started to bloom and he ducked underneath the water spray to get rid of the soap suds covering his tanned body.

Ten minutes later, he was wrapping a towel around his hips while grabbing another one from the closet located next to the shower. He ended up in front of the sink when he dried his hair with the small towel.

Cerulean blue eyes caught sight of a rectangular, white box which was placed on eye level on a small, plastic shelf next to the round bathroom mirror. His hands stilled and he lowered the damp towel; his half dry, messy hair resembling a bird's nest.

The white box contained several strips with round, blue pills: his suppressants. As soon as Omega entered puberty, they had to take suppressants to ensure they wouldn't have children before they were ready. Every Omega went through a heat every month; it was the time when they were at their most fertile. Naturally they were fertile the entire month, but during these heats the chances of becoming pregnant were at their highest. Some heats were worse than others; during the months April, May, September and October the heats affected the Omega – and to a lesser extent the Beta and the Alpha as well – more and a lot of Omega would become pregnant then.

Naruto had been taking suppressants since he was thirteen – he was twenty-six now. He was one of the very few Omega who had been taking the pills for so long already without any interruption, despite having a mate.

He always took them at nine o'clock in the evening, but hopefully he wouldn't have to take them tonight.

Dumping the damp towels in a second basket, he leisurely walked to their bedroom, not caring one wit that he was completely naked. It wasn't as if anyone could see him anyway.

Half an hour later, Naruto was lounging around on the large couch, dressed in an oversized, orange T-shirt and a pair of knee-length, light brown trousers. He was avidly watching a program about foxes – next to cats, they were his favourite animals – with Kurama curled up on his lap, purring weakly, while Shukaku was kneading a pillow; occasionally his eyes flickered towards the other cat, as if he wanted to be certain that Kurama wouldn't try to steal his precious pillow.

Three pairs of ears perked up when the sound of the front door opening echoed through the house.

"Naruto?" a low voice called out, accompanied by the sound of plastic bags crinkling. Keys were dropped in the ceramic bowl and two muted 'thumps' announced that shoes were taken off.

"I'm in the living room," Naruto called back and he unfolded his legs, forcing the black haired cat to curl up next to his hip with a dismayed 'meow'.

Jade green eyes slid from the low table – set up with chopsticks, two glasses and a bottle of cold orange lemonade – to the blond seated on the couch, who grinned sheepishly at the unimpressed look he was favoured with from his boyfriend.

"We eat in the kitchen, not the living room," Gaara pointed out exasperatedly; his blood red hair glowing faintly in the setting sun.

"But it's take out! It's supposed to be eaten in front of the television," Naruto whined; his nose twitching when he picked up the delicious smell of ramen.

Gaara rolled his eyes and placed the two bags on the table, nudging Kurama out of the way – who hissed vehemently before jumping on the arm chair – so that he could sit down next to Naruto.

"Don't get used to it," Gaara grunted and accepted the steaming carton and a pair of chopsticks.

The blond man was already digging into his own serving of ramen, relishing the savoury taste. Nothing beat Ichiraku's ramen, that was for sure.

"How was work?" he asked between two bites.

The other man released a sigh of aggravation and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Kankuro was being an idiot again," he replied irritated. "Nearly cost us a prospective client. Temari set him straight, though."

Naruto winced; Gaara's older sister had her own brand of tough love and he felt sorry for Gaara's older brother. On the other hand, he couldn't believe Kankuro kept acting stupid, despite years of being subjected to Temari's tough love. Was that guy suicidal?

The three siblings had inherited the lawyer business of their father and despite Kankuro's antics, their office was top tier and many law students longed to score a job there.

"How was your day?" Gaara scrutinized him. "It was your day off, right?"

Naruto taught art at the local college for four days in the week and the rest of his time usually went to creating his own art. "Yeah, I met up with Neji and Kiba today," Naruto answered, plopping the empty carton on the table and letting out a soft burp. "Excuse me. Kiba had good news: Hinata is pregnant. The dog freak was freaking out of course."

"That will be their first child, right?" Gaara asked, clearly not very interested.

"Yeah; they tried for four months apparently and Hinata had a check-up yesterday," Naruto answered and took a sip from his lemonade. He fed their two cats a small piece of pork and wondered whether now was a good moment to start the discussion. Biting his lips, he ignored the small, rough tongues lapping at his fingers while he went through a small turmoil.

"All right, what's on your mind?"

Gaara's imploring question pricked through his inner turmoil and Naruto started, turning his head to the red haired man next to him. "What?" he asked bewildered; his question joined by the 'yip' of a fox kitten on the program.

"I recognize that look on your face. You want to ask something," Gaara explained dryly. He threw his own empty carton in one of the plastic bags and grabbed his own glass, leaning back against the couch.

"Ah, eh, it's just …" Naruto hesitated, not knowing how to go on, until he thought, Ah fuck it. No sense in beating around the bush. "Have you thought of having children of your own?" he blurted out and grimaced at the ungraceful way with which he had breached the subject. Well, nobody had ever accused him of being too graceful.

Gaara blinked and the Omega felt him tense a bit. "Is this because of Inuzuka's news?" he questioned in a monotone voice.

Naruto shifted around nervously, wrapping his hands firmly around his glass. "Not exactly. When I heard Hinata is expecting a baby, I was reminded of my own children wish."

"Your own children wish?"

"I've always wanted children. Be part of a real family, you know," the blond laughed embarrassed. "I can't remember my own parents and I've never been part of a real family. Maybe it's because of my stupid Omega genetics, maybe just my own desire, but I really want a baby. I want your baby."

Silence fell over them and Naruto stared down at his nervously fiddling fingers. His cheeks were flushed and felt uncomfortably warm. Maybe he should have tried another approach; tried to be more convincing and have more arguments ready.

The problem was that he didn't have more arguments. He only wanted to have a child badly, but he didn't know how to explain that desire. That longing was just there. Slumbering underneath the surface, ready to rear up whenever one of his close friends announced a pregnancy.

Was it that bad that he wanted to have a baby of his own?

"You wouldn't be able to work for a while, you know," Gaara murmured, breaking the heavy silence.

"I know that," Naruto muttered, sneaking a glance at the impassive face of his mate. "I wouldn't mind. Jiraiya would be able to find a replacement for me."

His godfather would probably whine for a while, but he would give in. Naruto just hoped Jiraiya's perverted side wouldn't decide on a good replacement.

"You won't be able to go out with your friends as much as you do now," Gaara continued; his piercing gaze fixed solemnly on the blond man.

"I realise that, Gaara, I don't mind," Naruto insisted and his foot bobbed nervously up and down.

Did this conversation mean that Gaara was considering his request? Hope started to grow slowly. He knew it was stupid to hope, but …

"The house would need to be childproof," Gaara remarked calmly.

"No problem," Naruto reassured him quickly. He could look up information on how to child proof their home or he could ask advice from his friends, who had already become parents. He was more than willing to do all that.

Gaara pursed his lips and looked contemplatively at the other man, who tried not to come over as too eager. He wasn't certain whether he succeeded.

"You really want a baby, huh?" the red haired man murmured. "Even without us being married?"

"I don't care about being married anymore." Well, that was a lie, but he was willing to bury his wish to be married in favour of his children wish. "I just want to have a baby with you."

"When is your next heat?" Gaara asked abruptly, placing his glass on the table.

Naruto silently counted out the days and replied surprised, "It should start … tomorrow." He hadn't realised his next heat was so close already.

"Have you taken your suppressants today?"

Naruto shook his head and held his breath in anticipation.

"You can throw them away then," Gaara retorted calmly.

Naruto gaped at him, not daring to believe what he had heard. "You mean it? We're going to try having a baby?"

Gaara nodded silently and grunted in surprise when a pair of tanned arms – deceptively strong – wound themselves around him, hugging him tightly. A shower of enthusiastic kisses came down on his face, while a weight settled down in his lap.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I'm so happy!" Naruto exclaimed laughing, pressing a flurry of kisses on his mate's cheeks and lips.

Excitement brewed in his stomach and he wiggled around, barely able to restrain himself. He could hardly believe that Gaara had agreed so quickly. He had anticipated a lot more arguments about this particular subject, but he wasn't about to complain.

They were finally going to have a baby together. No longer did he need to feel jealous of his friends who were having children. No longer did he have to walk around with this desire.

He would finally have a baby. Gaara's baby. A child with the man he loved.

He couldn't help but laugh giddily. Why had he been so afraid of asking Gaara about it? His apprehension seemed so silly now.

Gaara smiled bemused when he finally pulled back.

"Go to the bedroom. I'll join you after I have cleaned up."

"Okay!" Ignoring the wary looks of the two cats, he jumped up and hurried to the bedroom, where he hastily slipped out of his clothes and crawled into the large bed, feeling the cool sheets caressing his naked skin.

He was so happy he could barely sit still and the grin on his face seemed to be permanent now.

He looked down at his stomach – adorned with an intricate tattoo – and his grin widened when he imagined himself full with a child.

It was still only an abstract idea for the time being, but it wouldn't remain that way for long anymore.

Naruto looked up eagerly when the click of the door alerted him to the red haired man's presence.

"Where are Kurama and Shukaku?" Naruto asked curiously. Usually at least one of them tried to sneak into the bedroom as soon as realisation dawned upon them that their owners were going to sleep.

"Prowling around outside our room; they're pissed they can't come here," Gaara replied dryly; calmly unbuttoning his shirt after removing his expensive watch.

After the shirt, his slacks followed at an almost leisurely pace, making the impatient blond in the bed squeeze tightly into the thin sheets and bite his lower lip. Was Gaara slower than usual or was he just more impatient than the other times?

Finally, his mate was completely done with undressing himself and he stepped naked over Naruto's own pile of clothing, which littered the wooden floor.

"So impatient you couldn't even put away your clothes decently?" Gaara snorted and shook his head.

"Shut up," Naruto pouted and beckoned the other to come closer. Who cared about some stupid clothes when you had more important matters to attend to? "And come here."

Jade green eyes rolled, but his mate complied with his demand, slipping into the bed without any fuss.

Pale hands softly glided over his arms – providing a sharp contrast to his tanned skin – to his shoulders and mapped out his entire chest slowly, before they suddenly slipped down and came to a halt on his hips, making Naruto buck his hips automatically.

Thumbs thoughtfully rubbed circles over his slightly protruding hipbones.

"You really couldn't wait, huh?" Gaara commented; a hint of teasing in this voice as he referred to the blond's utter lack of clothes.

"As if you're still wearing underwear," Naruto huffed petulantly.

A shiver rippled through him when those hands dipped lower and he held his breath; releasing it in a disappointed gush of air when fingers skidded to his chest again. He squirmed when his nipples were flicked and rubbed slowly until they hardened into small pebbles.

Not wanting to be the only one affected, Naruto bent his head and fastened his lips on the junction where Gaara's neck met his shoulder and he gave it a quick swipe with his tongue – tasting the faint bitter taste of cologne – before his lips closed around a small, vulnerable patch of skin, sucking it between his lips.

His own hands glided firmly over the other one's chiselled chest, feeling the hard muscles ripple and contract underneath his teasing touch. Releasing the abused skin with a soft 'pop' sound – the skin was already a fiery red and it would worsen by tomorrow, the blond knew – he slid his leg between the other man's, pushing them apart, so that he could slip his leg higher.

A low hiss escaped him at the exquisite sensation of pain and pleasure blending together and blooming up in his neck when Gaara bit him.

"You better hope I can hide the hickey," Gaara muttered, licking the bite mark to soothe the lingering ache.

"So you bite me in return?" Naruto snickered, rolling half on top of his mate. "You know I don't mind the biting," he added cheekily.

Bite marks in the neck were seen as one of the ultimate signs of someone being mated. There were slight variations, but Gaara had never given him the one where they would be bonded for life, stating he thought it was a barbaric tradition. Naruto thought it was a shame, but at least his lover wasn't opposed to all bite marks.

He moaned softly when his mouth was forcefully pressed open, a tongue slipping inside to curl around his own and suck on it sensually. Gaara's hands found their way on Naruto's arse, squeezing the firm globes softly while Naruto pressed himself closer, feeling Gaara's hard cock digging into his lower stomach. Their kiss grew sloppy while they rocked together, filling the room with a mixture of muted moans, weak whimpers and open mouthed groans; their hearts beating madly against their chests.

They broke the kiss when air became a necessity and Naruto inhaled sharply when a finger slipped between his cheeks and circled slowly around his opening – which by now had become fairly wet.

Gaara smirked; his finger pressing deeper, caressing the rippling walls which contracted around his finger, trying to draw him in deeper. "I had almost forgotten that this is one of the benefits of you not taking suppressants."

"Bastard," Naruto huffed, but couldn't help but wish that Gaara would use more fingers – or even more preferably: just fuck him immediately.

Omega were capable of producing their own lubrication like fluid to aid during the mating, but the suppressants stopped this process, forcing the couple to buy artificial lubrication.

"So wet already," Gaara breathed out and he pushed two fingers deeply inside the blond, making the man clench around him.

Naruto writhed and squirmed when those slim fingers went deeper, skimming across the hidden spot, sending sparks of pleasure through his entire body.

Skimming his mouth across Gaara's cheek, he breathed in his ear, "I need more." His demand was punctuated by a loud moan when fingers pressed firmly against his sweet spot, making a come hither motion, before the hand rotated slightly. Naruto let out a shuddering moan when those fingers caressed his walls before jabbing against his prostate again.

"Patience was never your forte," Gaara huffed amused; green eyes glinting deviously.

Naruto nipped at his reddened lower lip as punishment and reached between their bodies to grab Gaara's reddened cock firmly, his thumb rubbing across the weeping head, spreading out the pre come that was dribbling out. "It's not like you can wait any longer. You look ready to burst. Don't come before you're in me," he retorted tauntingly.

His breath was knocked out of him when Gaara suddenly flipped them around with a snarl.

"That big mouth will get you in trouble one day," he growled and before Naruto could offer a smart reply, his legs were wrenched open and his lover drove in him without warning, not stopping until he was completely inside.

The blond threw his head back with a primal yell and his arms shot out to close around Gaara's trembling shoulders, his nails digging into his skin while he tried to adjust to feeling his lover inside of him. He felt the hard cock throbbing in him, rubbing along his sensitive walls. He was fairly certain his entrance was flushed red, trying to accommodate the sudden invasion, stretched around the large girth. A whimpered moan escaped him, trailing off into a whine when Gaara's blunt head pressed against his hidden spot. His channel contracted around his prick in response.

"Move," Naruto hissed, raising his legs to clasp them around Gaara's waist, tightening so they were pressed together; their chests rubbing together.

Gaara grunted and drew back slowly, causing Naruto to shut his eyes and enjoy the friction, before he slammed back in, setting up a harsh rhythm that left them both a panting mess. Their mouths sought each other out and they kissed hungrily; their tongues busy stroking and sucking, lapping at the palate, dancing across teeth.

Gaara thrusted deeply, their hips slamming together. Naruto writhed on the bed under the onslaught of pleasure, trying to remember to keep breathing.

Fuck, he absolutely loved it when Gaara let himself go completely. He liked the tender way they made love, but he could appreciate this harsh, passionate way as well. His entire body seemed to be on fire; his skin tingling with heat and he gasped for breath, feeling sweat coating their entwined bodies, while Gaara sucked a bruising kiss in his neck. A clammy hand gripped his right leg and threw it over a tense, strong shoulder, causing the dishevelled blond to arch his back and scream soundlessly when his hidden spot was assaulted directly.

A raspy chuckle vibrated against his sweaty skin and Gaara kept him in this position, torturing him by pressing against the spot dead on; his cock sliding in easier and deeper thanks to Naruto's wall slicking themselves even more.

"Fuck, right there," Naruto groaned; his nails drawing red lines over the other one's pale back. Forcing himself to open his eyes, he bit his lip when he took in the sight of the fierce look on his mate's face, the jade green eyes burning heatedly.

"Al-almost there." Naruto squirmed, grabbing Gaara's head to kiss him sloppily, but fiercely while the fire in his stomach only grew hotter. His fist was sliding up and down over his own hardened prick, tightening around the tip with every stroke upwards while his pre come steadily dripped out, coating his cock, his hand and both their stomachs.

"Come on, Naruto," Gaara whispered in his ear, pressing closer. His own hand covered Naruto's hand around his engorged prick and helped him jerk off.

Only a couple of hard, frenzied thrusts later, his orgasm swept over him, come spurting out and coating his chest and heaving stomach while a blinding white light filled his vision; his body shaking and quivering, senses overloaded. He was only vaguely aware of Gaara coming deeply inside him; his hot seed coating his walls, filling him, making him groan weakly and clamp down harder around his lover.

Their bodies remained joined for a little while longer until Gaara lowered his still shaking leg and laid down next to him.

Naruto sighed and turned to lie down on his side, throwing a leg over Gaara's thighs, paying no heed to the stifling warmth their bodies created. He felt some liquid leaving his body, making his thighs slightly sticky. He would need to wash the sheets tomorrow, but for now he didn't care about that.

"If we keep at it like this, I bet it won't be long before there is a baby," Naruto grinned, nuzzling Gaara's neck with his nose. It would probably take a couple of more times, but he knew the test would colour positive soon.

He could hardly wait.

"Let's make sure we get enough sleep now then," Gaara murmured sleepily and his arm went around Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto chuckled; his lover always became very sleepy after such a vigorous session. "Good night," he whispered lovingly and closed his eyes, joining his mate in the dream world.

"I'm just happy that I don't have to deal with her, un. She's a lovely woman, but she is driving me insane with her chatter. It's not like this is the first time for me," the man with long, golden blond hair complained. His baby blue eyes narrowed at the small, dark haired boy, who was making a mess of his strawberry cake. "Akihito, don't play with your food," he reprimanded his son.

The five year old pouted, but nodded, returning to eating his dessert properly.

Cerulean blue eyes slid from the familiar scene to outside, where the grey sky darkened further, releasing snowflakes, which soon formed a white carpet on the street.

It was the middle of November and winter had announced itself early with rainstorms, howling, icy winds and now a layer of snow.

"Naruto-kun, is something the matter?" his friend, Deidara, asked softly.

Naruto expelled his breath slowly, cursing himself for letting his mask drop. He hadn't wanted to worry the other blond.

"It's …" he trailed off; his hand weakly waving around, disturbing the thin pillar of steam exuding from his latte macchiato.

Involuntarily his eyes flickered over to his godson, wondering whether this particular conversation was suitable for his young ears.

Deidara caught his fleeting glance and his face lightened up with understanding. "Aki, here, you can watch your show," he murmured and after tapping and swiping a couple of times on the brand new iPad he had retrieved from his bag, he handed over the device to his son, together with a purple set of headphones.

Akihito's face brightened and he eagerly shoved the headphones over his ears, enjoying the rare opportunity of watching his show on his daddy's device.

As soon as the little boy was immersed in the animated series, Deidara stared with piercing eyes at the younger man. "Spill," he ordered.

"Nothing really. Just that the test was negative again. You could say I'm a bit disappointed," Naruto chuckled self-deprecatingly. Disappointment was an understatement. He knew that it could take a while, but nearly four months? That was just unheard of and he was starting to fear something was wrong with him after several negative pregnancy tests.

"How long have you been trying?" Deidara inquired softly.

"Since August and so far nothing," Naruto answered and swallowed around the lump of bitterness in his throat. His eyes stung with the threat of hot tears. He didn't want to cry, because grown men didn't cry due to disappointment, but it hurt. It hurt seeing his own tests glaring at him, taunting him with the negative symbol, while his best friend was glowing with his own pregnancy, his rounded belly clearly outlined through his dark green sweater. Every pregnant Omega seemed to stand out now, reminding Naruto cruelly of what he didn't have.

Why was it taking so long for him to expect a baby? He wasn't that old yet!

"What does Gaara-san say about this?" Deidara asked; his eyes glowing with concern.

"He says we just need to keep trying," Naruto snorted harshly, glaring at his cup. Gaara's unconcerned behaviour was honestly starting to irritate him. It was as if he thought it was normal for them to not have conceived a baby yet.

"Do you think it's taking so long, because I took the suppressants for so long?" he asked, clenching his fingers in the folds of his woollen sweater. Had he damaged his body by repressing his hormones for so long? Was he still capable of carrying a child or … Had he become barren?

The icy grip of fear tightened around his heart.

"I don't know, Naruto-kun," Deidara replied; his tone troubled. He tapped his fingers on the polished table. "I've never heard of suppressants having an influence like that."

"What if … what if we don't succeed?" Naruto whispered, not registering the stinging pain of his nails digging through his sweater into the vulnerable skin of his stomach.

His head shot up when a warm hand touched his hand and he stared at the older blond, his sight blurring with unshed tears.

"You shouldn't think like that," Deidara scolded him gently. "You'll have a baby soon, you'll see."

Naruto really wanted to believe that, but after seven failed tests, he was starting to lose hope. It only should have taken them a month at most to become pregnant – it never took more than a month for Omega to fall pregnant. He was the exception of that rule and he wasn't happy with that at all.

He sniffled and rubbed the stray tears away, clearing his throat. "I know, but it's just so hard, you know? I don't understand why it's taking so long."

"Well, have you thought about visiting a doctor, un?" Deidara suggested, cocking his head slightly. "Maybe they can find out why you're having trouble, hm?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know any good doctor," he admitted sheepishly. He never became sick to the point he needed a doctor and therefore didn't have one.

"Why not go to Itachi's brother?" Deidara suggested and a smile lit up his face. "He specialises in pregnancies; in fact, he helped me with check-ups when I was expecting Aki and he's performing the check-ups for this baby as well, so I can vouch for him. You won't find a better doctor than him, I promise."

"I thought doctors aren't allowed to help their family?" Naruto replied bemused.

Deidara waved his hand impatiently, clucking his tongue. "He knows how to be objective and he's the best one in his field. Itachi wouldn't have even let me seek someone else." His eyes softened at the mention of his husband.

"You think he can help me?" Naruto asked uncertainly, biting his lip.

"Naruto-kun, he has never failed a patient before. You can trust him," his friend reassured him. He riffled through his bag and grabbed a pen together with a piece of paper. "This is the number of his practice. Call this and you'll get an appointment with him."

Naruto stared at the numbers written in an elegant script. Well, it wouldn't hurt to visit this doctor, right?

All his hope was now fixated on Uchiha Sasuke.

On the twenty-sixth of November, Naruto hurriedly gathered his belongings and locked the door of his classroom as soon as the last student left the room. He had an appointment with Doctor Uchiha at three forty-five and the drive there would take half an hour from the college building. He had enough time to get there, but he didn't want to push it too close.

Slamming the trunk of the old Ford shut, he stepped into his car and checked his phone one last time before he started the engine.

His stomach churned uneasily when the simple, orange background greeted him. No messages. He had hoped Gaara would message him.

When he had called to make an appointment, he and Gaara had had a fight. The red haired man thought it was useless to visit a doctor and refused to accompany Naruto. The blond man knew his mate didn't like anyone getting into their business, but four months later the test still announced a negative result.

Naruto was embarrassed to tell a complete stranger about their problem, but his desire for a child was bigger than his shame.

He had reminded Gaara about his appointment this morning, but the red haired man had simply scowled and left without a word.

It seemed he would have to go alone after all.

Pursing his lips, he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and started the car, backing out of his parking space carefully while a cheery woman on the radio informed him of the news and the weather.

By the time he turned into the street where the practice was located, rain was steadily pouring down, ticking on the hood and roof of his car.

Luckily for him, he managed to find a parking spot close to the doctor's building.

He practically ran towards the large building as soon as he had locked up his car. Water in the puddles splashed up when he tore through them and he grimaced when his trousers were soaked with the ice cold water.

Shivering violently, he shook his head when he stood dripping in the hallway. A receptionist with a low cut shirt and dark red hair looked up bored; ceasing her typing on the keyboard. "Name?" she asked uninterested.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he answered, hoping he wasn't dirtying the carpet too much.

The woman pointed towards a dark brown door on which a golden plaque read 'Waiting room'. "You can wait there. The doctor will be ready to see you soon."

"Thank you," Naruto murmured, bowing his head shortly, before he entered the waiting room. Warmth hit him as soon as the door clicked close and he sighed relieved. There was no one else here and he looked around curiously. Ten comfortable chairs were lined up against the cream coloured walls and the low, round, glass table contained the obligatory pile of old magazines, which were found in practically every doctor's office. The walls were adorned with shiny posters containing information about suppressants and pictures of expecting Omega with their proud mates hugging them.

Naruto swallowed and tore his eyes away from a poster displaying a couple beaming with a positive test clutched between them. He wandered further into the room, his footsteps muffled thanks to the thick, rich blue carpet. Aside from the door he had just went through, there was one other door at the right side. The golden letters on this door announced that it was Uchiha's practice.

Not interested in the pile of old magazines, he bypassed the table and approached the large window. Pushing down the white blinds, he stared out of the window. The sky had darkened even further during the time he had been inside and the rain was coming down with buckets, obstructing the view of the street.

Eugh, he would need to go through that storm again later. He could only hope the storm would have passed by the time he was finished here. He didn't fancy arriving home looking like a drowned cat.

The door opening startled him out of his thoughts.

"Uzumaki-san? I'm ready to see you now," a deep, baritone voice spoke up calmly.

When Naruto breathed in next, he nearly doubled over when the doctor's scent slammed into him. Raw. Male. Alpha. He practically exuded power and the Omega in him purred in delight at being surrounded with so much tantalizing power. His heart beat accelerated and he helplessly inhaled deeply again, letting the heavy, overpowering scent cloud his mind. Even Gaara hadn't managed to overwhelm him like this and he was one of the strongest Alpha Naruto knew.

The blond man was jolted out of his daze by a hand squeezing his shoulder.

"Uzumaki-san, are you feeling all right?" Uchiha asked concerned; dark eyes slightly narrowed.

Naruto swallowed, his mouth abnormally dry, and nodded slowly. "I'm fine," he smiled feebly, trying not to become distracted again. What was wrong with him?

"Follow me then."

Scolding himself for reacting so strongly to one scent, Naruto followed the doctor meekly into his spacious practice. The room contained all supplies that a doctor's office needed, but it all looked very expensive, making him almost too afraid to touch something.

"Have a seat." Uchiha waved at the two chairs in front of his imposing, mahogany desk while he sat down in his large, leather chair.

Feeling a tad uncomfortable, Naruto sank down on the left chair, which creaked softly. The entire room bathed in Uchiha's scent and he breathed shallowly through his mouth. Why hadn't Deidara warned him about Uchiha's powerful aura?

"So, Uzumaki-san, is this your first time seeing a doctor for this particular issue?" Uchiha started professionally and he opened a dark blue file. A thin, elegant eyebrow arched in surprise at the information he encountered.

"Yes," Naruto confirmed and involuntarily his hands clenched into his wet jeans.

"I notice that the information regarding your previous doctor was left blank. Who was your previous doctor?" Uchiha inquired; a pen hovering above the paper.

"Eh, I don't have one," Naruto admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Who do you visit when you are ill?"

"No one in particular. I don't get sick easily."

Uchiha stared at him for a moment, before he snorted. "You're one of the lucky few then," he remarked dryly.

Naruto offered him a crooked smile; this wasn't the first time he had been told that.

"Tell me why exactly you need my help," Uchiha said in a no nonsense tone.

His smile disappeared like snow underneath the sun and lead seemed to fill his stomach. "My partner and I are trying to conceive, but so far we haven't succeeded," he explained; the red flush of shame colouring his cheeks. No Omega liked to admit that they had trouble getting pregnant.

"Hm. How long have you been trying?"

"Four months."

Uchiha stilled and studied him intently, causing him to squirm a bit. "How long have you been taking the suppressants?"

"Almost fourteen years," Naruto answered softly, doing his best to ignore the voice in the back of his mind which was informing him that the doctor surely thought he was a defect freak.

"How long have you and your mate been married?" Uchiha asked while he was jotting down some notes.

"Oh, I'm not married," Naruto replied, feeling a bit embarrassed at the surprised look of the other man.

"My apologies for the assumption," Uchiha murmured, composing himself quickly. "How long have you been together with him?"

"Nearly five years."

"Is he Alpha or Beta?"

"An Alpha."

Uchiha hummed thoughtfully. "Have you ever taken any form of drugs?"

"If coffee counts, yes. Otherwise, no."

"Do you smoke?"

"No. Never tried it either."

"How is your alcohol intake?"

"Only a couple of beers throughout the month, but no more than that."

"Ever been in an accident?"

"When I was seven, some windows broke when I was near them and left me with the scars on my face, but other than that, no."

Uchiha closed the file and clasped his hands together on top of it; a faint frown etched into his forehead. "Based on the information you have given, there should be no reason why you cannot conceive. I am honestly a bit baffled that it is taking you so long," he admitted honestly.

The leaden ball in Naruto's stomach grew. "I – I was thinking that it had something to do with how long I've been taking the pills," he said uncomfortably.

"I have never heard of such a side effect, but to be certain I'm going to take some of your blood to have it examined. If there are still traces left behind from the pills, I'll prescribe you something that will flush them from your system," Uchiha stated calmly and stood up to retrieve his equipment.

"Roll up your sleeve," the doctor instructed, preparing a needle.

Naruto nodded mutely and bared his right arm, holding it up.

Uchiha searched for a good vein – Naruto had to suppress the idiotic urge to shiver when those slender fingers touched his skin gently – and carefully inserted the needle. His lips twitched into a faint smile when Naruto hissed at the sharp sting, making the blond huff in annoyance and turn away. Who cared if he wasn't fond of needles? That was a natural reaction!

After filling three small tubes with his blood, Uchiha measured Naruto's height and weight as well.

Naruto had just finished pulling on his shoes, when the doctor spoke up again.

"Uzumaki-san, as soon as your blood results are ready, you'll be notified and you'll need to make a new appointment," he informed the blond man while filling in some papers. "Depending on the results, we'll decide how to proceed then."

"Okay." Naruto nodded and his fingers twitched in his wide sleeves. He wondered whether Uchiha really as capable of helping him.

The dark haired doctor must have picked up his heavy mood, because he clucked his tongue and a smirk unfurled on his handsome face. "I've never been beaten by a challenge, Uzumaki-san, and I'm not planning on letting that happen any time soon. I'll figure out what's keeping you from conceiving. In the meantime, just continue trying." His eyes flashed oddly.

This time Naruto's cheeks heated up for a completely other reason than shame or embarrassment and he stammered out a goodbye before he left after quickly handing over his payment.

He didn't acknowledge the fact that his heart only started slowing down once he was almost home. He was just not used to the sudden influx of power after so much time spend around the same people; that was all.

The rain had stopped, allowing a very thin ray of weak sunlight to break through the heavy clouds.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

One week later Naruto found himself back in Uchiha's office – again without Gaara.

"You went alone last time, right? The results aren't going to change with my presence," Gaara pointed out calmly.

Naruto glowered, lowering his cup of coffee. "That doesn't matter, Gaara. Is it so weird that I want you there with me? This concerns you as well, you know!"

Gaara leaned over to press a kiss against his lips; hard, green eyes softened a fraction. "I wish I could, but the client refused to move his appointment to another day," he sighed; his thumb caressed Naruto's knuckles. "Call me as soon as you know more, okay?"

Mollified thanks to hearing the real reason why Gaara wasn't joining him – even though that still didn't make him happy – Naruto agreed to call him.

"I have your results here," Uchiha spoke calmly, tapping on a page filled with charts and several number combinations.

"What does it say?" Naruto asked nervously; his fingers playing with the tassels of his bright orange scarf. There was still some purple paint decorating his knuckles.

"Your blood does not contain any traces of the suppressants and the rest of your vitals are fine as well. No cause for concern there."

Naruto slumped back in his chair with a defeated sigh. "So it's not a side effect from the pills," he muttered. He knew he should be relieved, but he could think of nothing else that could cause his problem.

What was it that was preventing him from attaining his dream?

"Now that we have ruled out the possible side effects of your pill, we will need to research something else that could be the cause of your issue."

Naruto regarded the other man warily. "What?"

"In some cases, problems with conceiving can arise because the entrance to the womb is too narrow or too hidden," Uchiha explained and showed the blond a chart which detailed the reproductive system of Omega. "You know how your womb is partly connected to your rectum, right?"

Naruto nodded and felt his cheeks heat up a bit. He had so not expected this particular discussion when he arrived in the office.

"In some Omega, the connection is too narrow or simply hidden which creates difficulties for the seed to succeed in impregnating the Omega." Dark eyes offered him an apologetic look. "I realise you may not like this, but I want to perform a check-up to see whether your issue is caused due to physical problems."

Meaning the doctor would need to have his fingers inside of him in order to perform the check-up. Even though Naruto knew it was just a clinical check-up, he still felt uncomfortable. Nobody but his mate had touched him there and he didn't like the thought of letting Uchiha near his arse. It just felt strange.

But he had not much choice now, did he?

Praying it would be over soon, Naruto followed the doctor to the large screen where he was handed a lime green hospital gown.

"Pull this on and leave your clothes here," Uchiha instructed and gave the blue eyed man his privacy.

Biting his lip, Naruto removed his clothes – including his underwear which made him flush slightly – and pulled on the hospital gown which reached until mid-thigh. Shivering when his bare skin came into contact with the cool air, he shuffled from behind the privacy screen, rocking back and forth on his heels; feeling jittery with nerves.

Uchiha looked up from his papers and nodded. While he pulled on a pair of thin, plastic gloves, he said calmly, "Uzumaki-san, please place your hands on the bed, lean forwards and spread your legs a bit."

Despite the calm, soothing voice, Naruto had trouble relaxing when he did what he was instructed and he was hyper aware of the footsteps nearing him. The Omega in him was torn between purring madly, wanting to surrender to the powerful Alpha coming up from behind him, and lashing out violently, because someone else besides his mate was planning on touching him.

The confusion was causing a throbbing headache and Naruto clenched his teeth together; why the fuck couldn't his Omega just shut up? This whole situation was already awkward enough without the Omega's flustered confusion.

"Try to relax as much as possible," Uchiha murmured and halted right behind him.

Naruto couldn't contain the sharp intake of breath when a warm, slick finger breached him and he automatically tensed up, forcing the doctor to pause his ministrations.

"Sorry," Naruto hissed; his breathing shallow while he tried to relax his muscles.

"It's okay; just try not to tense up. It won't take long," Uchiha reassured him and Naruto's back muscles flexed in surprise when a warm hand was placed on his lower back; the warmth searing hot through the paper thin gown.

He breathed out slowly and only tensed up slightly when a second finger breached him.

"That's right; just relax," Uchiha murmured soothingly and Naruto's fingers flexed on the bed when the gloved fingers went deeper.

It felt odd and it was doing strange things to his nerve system; his stomach lurching.

Naruto clenched his eyes shut and thought about Rock Lee in his spandex suit when the fingers grazed against his spot before they skimmed across the other side.

His nose twitched when an odd smell rose up around them and he frowned, wondering what the source of the scent was.

He couldn't suppress a hiss of discomfort when something very sensitive inside of him was touched. He couldn't decide whether the sensation was painful or pleasant and his heart was doing somersaults in his chest. It wasn't until the doctor pulled back abruptly that Naruto realised he had arched his back lightly.

Fuck, was dying from embarrassment possible? Or could at the very least a hole appear to swallow him up?

"It appears that nothing is obstructing the opening to the womb," Uchiha declared briskly and he removed the gloves with a sharp 'smack!'. "You can change back."

Naruto practically fled behind the screen where his clothes were waiting for him in a messy pile. With trembling hands, he exchanged the gown for his clothes; the entire time trying to ignore his flustered state.

God, what was happening to him? Never before had he reacted so strongly to an Alpha before. It filled him with a sense of unease.

All the while that peculiar smell still penetrated the air and he had no clue what had brought it on.

When he left the safety of the screen, the doctor was already seated at his desk, writing something down with a concentrated frown on his forehead.

Silently Naruto sat down in his chair, forcing himself to meet the alluring dark eyes without flinching. There had to be some kind of law that forbade Alpha from being so beautiful and dangerously alluring. He had thought Itachi was one of the most handsome men he had met in his life so far – excluding his own mate of course – but his younger brother was something entirely else.

And why the hell was he suddenly contemplating this, for fuck's sake?

"Well, so far all the tests have proven that you are capable of carrying a child," Uchiha said thoughtfully, tapping his pen against a sheet of paper. "I'm going to give you a prescription for a hormone treatment. Maybe your hormones need a bit more help. You need to take these pills for a month. After that month, should you still not be carrying, we'll figure out something else."

"Thank you," Naruto muttered and reached out to accept the prescription.

A spark of electricity made him jolt when their fingers touched and Naruto pulled back alarmed. What had just happened?

Uchiha looked surprised as well. "Must be static electricity," he smiled faintly.

Naruto's smile was weak when he replied, "Must be."

Except that static electricity had never felt this strong.

They fell back on the bed in a sweaty mess, breathing harshly.

"What kind of boost do those pills give you?" Gaara murmured, blinking the sweat out of his eyes; his chest going up and down rapidly.

Naruto chuckled and winced when he sat up slightly to lean against the pillows. He had been following the hormone treatment for two weeks now and their coupling had intensified; the Alpha not able to resist the heightened level of hormones which screamed 'highly fertile'. So far the one test he had done had been negative again, but Naruto had a little more hope now.

Gaara had recognized the treatment as something one of his clients had used to have children quickly. It had worked well, because three weeks later their test had been positive.

With that titbit of information, the blond Omega was a lot more hopeful.

Gaara scowled when his cell phone trembled loudly on the small, wooden table near the window, before it switched over to a loud ringtone.

"Can't they leave me alone for one day?" he growled and stalked – still stark naked – over to the table and snatched it off the sturdy table.

Naruto tuned out the conversation and leisurely stretched his arms, enjoying the feeling of soft sheets against his naked skin. The bedroom was pleasantly warm thanks to the portable heater and he revelled in that warmth while outside the wind howled, messing up the blanket of untouched snow.

God, he could easily remain snuggled in his bed for the rest of the day, petting the madly purring black haired cat, but the alarm of his phone alerted him to the fact that if he didn't shower now and get dressed, he would be late for the Christmas party. Christmas was a week ago, but that family always organised a party a week later, so that all family members and friends could be present.

"Can it not be moved to tomorrow afternoon?"

Blue eyes flicked up to the red haired man pacing back and forth; his forehead wrinkled in irritation.

"Does it have to be me? Why not Sasori?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and sat up straight; the sheets pooling around his hips. What was Gaara talking about?

His mate sighed, raking a hand through his mussed hair. "Fine," he snapped and scowled at the carpet as if it had done him a great misdeed. His phone clattered on the table when he angrily ended the call.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly, ceasing his petting of Kurama, who grumbled in displeasure.

Gaara sank down on the bed and absentmindedly rubbed Naruto's leg; his soft touch a sharp contrast to the fierce scowl on his face. "That fucking idiot couldn't tell that fat bastard to go to hell and so now I have to meet up with that worthless excuse of a human being!" he spat out; ire flashing up in his eyes. "I can't join you this afternoon."

"That's too bad." Naruto resisted the urge to pout. "It's more fun with you there."

Gaara eyed him sideways; wary amusement dancing on his face. "You mean you like the fact that Uchiha and I get into an argument every damn time."

Naruto grinned and leant forwards to kiss the other man. "You're sexy when you're angry," he whispered and winked.

"You're incorrigible." Gaara rolled his eyes and swatted a firm, tanned thigh. "Come on now; you need a shower before you leave."

"Are you saying I smell?" Naruto sniffed; a look of mock outrage plastered on his face.

"Of course you do," Gaara retorted, not perturbed at all. "I don't want any of those Uchiha bending you over to fuck you. Your arse is mine."

For someone who looked so standoffish, his mate could be quite crass if he chose to be.

Still, Naruto smiled and allowed the water to cascade down his back, he couldn't deny the fact that he liked Gaara's occasional streak of possessiveness.

"Where's Gaara-san?" Deidara asked surprised, looking over Naruto's shoulder as if he expected the red haired man to pop up behind him.

Naruto accepted Deidara's firm hug, being careful with his protruding belly; the older man looked almost ready to pop. "He was called away; some client insisted on meeting today," he pouted, removing his jacket.

"That's too bad; at least Itachi will behave today." Deidara clucked his tongue, not even flinching when a pale hand came down on his shoulder.

"Do not make it sound as if I am an unruly child," a deep voice admonished his husband.

"Hello Itachi," Naruto grinned.

The older, pale faced man twitched at the absence of the suffix after his name and sighed. "I see you are here without that menace."

"You're not an angel yourself, you know," the blond man pointed out and bent down to accept the running blur in his arms, which yelped cutely at the sudden impact. "Hello there, Akihito-kun," he laughed, dropping a kiss on the feather soft hair.

"Naruto-niisan!" Akihito greeted him with an angelic smile. "I miss you," he informed the blond solemnly.

"I missed you too," Naruto assured the small boy, whose grin widened, showing off a small gap in the right upper corner of his mouth, where once a tooth had been.

"Come see my presents," Akihito demanded, pointing towards the living room, which was filled with chatter and the occasional laugh.

"I need to follow the spoilt prince," Naruto smirked and Deidara waved him off, not even denying the spoilt prince comment.

"Don't forget to greet Mikoto-san," his friend reminded him.

Yeah, it probably would be best if he greeted Itachi's mother first before she started fussing too much.

"And this I got from Kisame-jisan," Akihito announced and held up a large stuffed toy in the form of a grinning shark.

Naruto couldn't contain a soft snort; it figured that the giant shark obsessed man would give his nephew a shark toy.

"And this I got from Konan-neesan," the young boy continued happily, picking up a colour book.

Naruto's attention, however, was drawn towards a sudden new smell drifting in from the hallway. He frowned; where had he smelt that scent before?

He nodded absentmindedly in response to Akihito's question, but most of his attention was focused on the muted conversation going on in the hallway. Whoever had just arrived, had surprised Mikoto, because she sounded shocked.

"Naruto-niisan, listen to me!"

Akihito's high pitched demand broke through Naruto's concentration – eavesdropping – and he smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, Akihito-kun, I'm listening."

The younger boy eyed him rather distrustfully – making Naruto wonder where he had learnt that particular expression – and then seemed to decide that Naruto looked contrite enough, because he picked up a jigsaw puzzle, which displayed a castle.

"This puzzle is from …"

"Still showing off your presents, brat?" a smooth voice spoke up amused.

"Sasuke-jisan!" Akihito cried out enthusiastically, dropping his puzzle like hot coals and rushed towards the man, holding his arms up in a silent plea for a hug.

Naruto watched wide-eyed how Doctor Uchiha bent down to pick up the young boy, grunting when he settled him on his hip.

"You're getting heavy," Uchiha informed his nephew dryly.

Akihito puffed up his cheeks like an angry chipmunk and huffed. "I'm not!" he protested, scowling fiercely.

"You're getting bigger, so you're heavier," Uchiha spoke solemnly.

"Not true!"

"So you're not a big boy?" A dark eyebrow rose up.

"I, yes, wait! No … I am …"

Akihito's confused face was so precious that Naruto couldn't help but snicker, drawing the attention of both Uchiha.

Naruto flushed underneath the piercing gaze of Uchiha and he cleared his throat, rising up from the large pillow he had been sitting on. "Hello, Uchiha-sensei," he greeted him, rubbing the back of his neck. It was kind of awkward to see his doctor in this kind of setting. How could he have forgotten that he would encounter Uchiha here? The man was family after all; of course he would attend a party thrown by his own parents.

Except that in all the years he had been invited to this party, he had never seen the doctor make an appearance even once. His presence was hard to miss after all.

"Uzumaki-san, I hadn't expected to see you here," Uchiha said, lowering his nephew back on the ground while he kept his eyes trained on the blond man.

Naruto chuckled nervously. "Deidara-kun invites me every year."

"Ah." Realisation dawned upon the older man. "So you're the cute blond my brother-in-law raves about." A smirk lingered on his lips.

His cheeks seemed to explode with heat at the casual comment and he spluttered, floundering, not certain how to react to that. His big mouth had abandoned him in the wake of being in Uchiha's presence.

"Naruto-niisan is pretty, right, Sasuke-jisan?" Akihito remarked innocently.

He was pretty certain his cheeks would be permanently stained a cherry red after this afternoon. Gently he pushed the young boy towards Mikoto, trying to ignore the amused eyes of the other man. "Why don't you go to your grandmother, Akihito-kun? I heard she has chocolate chip cookies."

"Cookies?" Akihito's face cleared up and he instantly ran away to accost the dark haired woman.

"Sorry about that," Naruto apologised with a weak smile.

Dark eyes roved over him appraisingly, causing the blond to stiffen. "Well, he isn't lying. My nephew does have good taste," Uchiha murmured; some unknown emotion flashing up in his intense eyes.

Naruto's chuckle came out in a trembling voice, instead of the confident tone he had been aiming for. "Flattery is something all Uchiha are good in, I assume."

"Only when the other one is worthy of praise," Uchiha replied smoothly and picked up two glasses of bubbly champagne from the plate one of the waiters was carrying around.

Before Naruto could decipher the meaning of that comment, he was handed one of the two flute glasses and Uchiha asked, "Where's your mate? I thought I would see him here, considering you're here."

"Ah, eh, he had to meet up with a client, so I came on my own," Naruto answered and shrugged.

"And he leaves you on your own? What a shame." Uchiha shook his head and took a sip from the alcoholic beverage.

Naruto decided to ignore that peculiar comment and said, "Say, Uchiha-sensei, …"

"Call me Sasuke," the doctor interrupted him calmly. Confronted with the blond's bemused look, he elaborated, "We're not in my practice, so you can call me Sasuke."

Naruto blinked, a tad confused, but continued, "Sasuke-san, how come I haven't seen you here at this party the past few years?"

"Because I was busy dealing with patients," Sasuke replied and then frowned. "This year, however, that bastard I call my brother decided to blackmail me into leaving my schedule empty for today."

Yeah, that did sound like Itachi, all right. It made the Omega wonder what kind of leverage Itachi had over his younger brother.

"You know, I have your complete medical history, but I don't know anything about you as a person, Uzumaki-san," Sasuke commented, cocking his head slightly.

Reminding himself not to become distracted by the play of the lights on Sasuke's black bluish hair, Naruto retorted, "Call me Naruto, please."

If he could call Sasuke by his first name, he didn't mind extending the same courtesy to the other man.

Mirroring Sasuke's small smile with one of his own, Naruto started telling about his job and his own attempts at selling his art.

They migrated to a large balcony, which looked out on a large backyard covered with pure white snow. The balcony was shielded from the nature elements by thick glass, so both men could enjoy eating their early dinner without freezing to death.

Naruto was surprised at how easy it was to hold a conversation with the young Uchiha. The man seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say, asking questions about his work and his friends and Naruto quickly relaxed around him to the point that he hadn't even thought of protesting the fact that Sasuke had led them to one of the most private places in the manor. It just felt natural to be alone with the man.

"Ever since then Iruka-sensei has refused to leave me alone in charge of his class," Naruto ended his story proudly. He had just told Sasuke about how he once had managed to convince his former teacher's pupils to paint the entire class a bright orange. Iruka-sensei had not been happy or amused at all; Naruto was still banned from entering his classroom.

"You can be a right menace when you want to be," Sasuke smirked, placing his glass of red wine back on the table with a soft 'thunk'.

"All in good fun," Naruto reassured him with a large grin, putting a piece of roasted chicken in his mouth.

It was quiet for a short while, both enjoying their meals, until Naruto could no longer contain his curiosity.

"How come you don't have a mate?" he blurted out and immediately clapped a hand for his mouth, staring horrified at Sasuke, who looked back in surprise. "I'm sorry! It's none of my …"

"The last person I was with couldn't deal with my work schedule," Sasuke answered calmly, not offended at all. "Since then it's just easier to concentrate on my work, instead of dealing with bitch fits. I love my work and I have no patience for people who can't deal with that."

"Oh," Naruto said subdued, twirling his fork between his fingers. He couldn't understand why this particular admission bothered him; why did he care that Sasuke had no one to call his own? It was the man's own decision.

"So you have no one waiting for you at home? Such a shame; you seem to be quite a catch," Naruto teased, forcing himself to sound lighthearted.

All his senses were screaming at him to shut up before this conversation turned dangerous.

"At the moment, no, but who knows when that will change," Sasuke answered and his voice deepened, dark eyes gazing straight into wide blue ones.

The atmosphere grew oddly charged, heavy with something Naruto couldn't – wouldn't – identify.

Those unfathomable dark eyes seemed to hypnotize him and he froze up, holding his breath, not knowing what to do next. For some inexplicable reason, he found himself not wanting to break this moment.

"Naruto …"

"Aha! Here you are!"

The door slammed open, revealing a triumphantly looking Deidara and an exasperated Itachi.

Naruto yelped in fright and slammed back into his chair. Since when had he been leaning forwards? When he chanced a look at Sasuke, he had to swallow when he saw his faint rose cheekbones and the feverish glint in his eyes.

What had just happened between them?

Naruto could feel his cheeks burn when Itachi raised an eyebrow at him, as if to admonish him. He hadn't done anything wrong, right?

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked with a rough voice, scowling at his brother.

Itachi's calculating gaze slid from Naruto to Sasuke and he shook his head sharply. "Sasuke, can I talk to you for a moment? It's private," he murmured.

Sasuke threw Naruto a strange glance. "Excuse me," he muttered and followed his brother deeper into the house.

"Sasuke-kun must really like you. I don't think I've ever seen him talking so much with one person," Deidara chuckled and carefully lowered himself into the now vacant chair. "Sorry that my husband stole him; he'll be back soon," he reassured the younger blond.

Naruto smiled weakly, distracting himself by sipping from his wine.

Sasuke didn't return.

Naruto told himself he wasn't disappointed by that.

Fingers clawed into the rumpled sheets, burying themselves into the damp cloth. His breath left him in hot pants, his chest heaving up and down while his mouth seemed to have trouble staying closed. He would feel embarrassed of that if he wasn't currently being wrecked with blinding pleasure.

He arched his back when a hot, wet tongue licked a stripe across his spine, halting right above his arse.

Warm hands cupped his cheeks, squeezing them softly before a leg nudge his legs apart, baring him to his lover.

A thumb caressed over his clenching and unclenching hole, pressing softly against the twitching, slick opening.

The dark, amused chuckle made the hair on his body rise up and he involuntarily tensed up; his wide, blue eyes fixated on the dark purple sheets.

"You're so wet already," the other one breathed and a slender, pale hand cupped his throbbing cock, a thumb flicking across the leaking, angrily red tip, making him whimper pathetically. "And I haven't even started the main event yet."

Naruto lifted his head, somewhat dazed, and muttered, "What …"

He choked when the sneaky tongue suddenly slipped down, right between his spread cheeks and licked across his wet opening, while nails dug into his plump cheeks, on the verge of being painful. His tongue probed against his opening and Naruto keened lowly when that devious tongue worked its way inside of him, causing hot, white hot blinding pleasure to overwhelm his senses and attack his nerves; his brain practically short circuiting at the unexpected sensation of a tongue tasting him there.

He knew he should find it dirty, should push the other one away and demand he never licks him there again, but …

His legs trembled and quivered, his arms nearly buckled underneath his weight with every wave of pleasure washing over him. He was completely helpless to the heady feeling of a wet tongue caressing his inner walls, a finger slipping in next to it, touching him where the tongue could not reach.

Raw moans and guttural groans poured from his open mouth, while he unconsciously shifted his body to bring him closer to his lover, and there was no way he would be able to survive this exquisite onslaught of mind numbing, bordering on completely and utterly depraved pleasure. Surely he would not be able to withstand this?

The heat in his belly coiled and grew and grew, until it suddenly exploded and he was left screaming his lover's name, praising him until his throat became raw, while his essence coated the sheets.

And still, the pleasure continued to course through him, long after his lover had retreated, leaving him an utter wreck.

Cerulean blue eyes shot open and his heart pounded heavily, as if he had just run a marathon.

"Had a nice dream?" Gaara drawled in the door opening that separated their bedroom from the bathroom. He was only clad in a white towel, wrapped around his hips. Leisurely he sauntered over to the bed while he rubbed a smaller towel over his dripping hair. A smirk adorned his face.

"What?" Naruto asked startled, sitting up slowly. He felt disoriented, as if something had smacked his head.

Jade green eyes glanced down meaningfully at his lap and the blond man followed his eyes, flushing brightly when he noticed his not too subtle bulge, which was still at half-mast. When he shifted his legs, he grimaced at the stickiness he encountered. It had been a long time since he lost control of himself like that.

"You were quite vocal as well," Gaara continued mercilessly; his eyes glinting mischievously.

Naruto reddened further. "Shut up," he muttered petulantly.

"Almost made me jealous," his mate teased and bend his head to give him a long kiss. "If I didn't have to leave now, I would definitely re-enact that naughty dream of yours," he breathed and his smirk grew when he caught sight of the tomato red cheeks of his blond lover.

Fingers brushed against his burning cheeks. "One would think you would be too exhausted to come up with a dream like that about us after all the things we did," Gaara chuckled and turned around to get dressed.

Fortunately for Naruto, Gaara's back was turned towards him while he dressed, so he couldn't see the rather weak smile that Naruto tried to conjure at Gaara's remark.

Because truth be told: while his wet dreams had always starred Gaara, this time it did not. A change which greatly worried the Omega.

Because the one who had been touching him throughout the dream, who had lavished all his attention on Naruto, who had been giving him pleasure he had never felt before was not his mate, but Sasuke.

Erotic dreams didn't really count as cheating, he assured himself, but if so, why was there the heavy taste of guilt in the back of his throat?

More importantly: why on earth had he started dreaming about the dark haired man?

"I just can't believe I forgot to buy diapers," Kiba moaned, a hint of desperation leaking through his voice.

Naruto rolled his eyes and entered the local supermarket, loosening his scarf. He steered his empty cart with one hand – his other clutching his phone against his ear – and strolled down the various aisles. "You're lucky I needed to go grocery shopping anyway," he replied amused, pausing momentarily to throw a family size package of ramen into the cart.

"You're a real life saver, man," Kiba said earnestly. "At least I packed the bag already. I can't believe she's almost here, dude."

Naruto chuckled at the awed tone and weaved his way through a packed aisle. It wouldn't surprise him if his friend fainted the moment his daughter was born.

"Shikamaru told me you had an appointment with a doctor; how did that go?" Kiba asked curiously.

The blond froze and then laughed nervously. "That's in two days; you're a bit early, man."

"Ah, must have misheard him …"

Kiba's apology was drowned out in the bellowed order of his sister to get his arse back to work. After a hasty goodbye from his panicking friend, Naruto was greeted by the loud beeping noise. With a sigh, he pocketed his phone and continued his shopping; his stomach churning somewhat unpleasantly.

In two days he would hear whether the hormone treatment had worked. He wanted to believe that it had finally brought on the desired result, but at the same time he didn't want his hope to be smashed again.

A grimace tainting his lips, he entered the aisle dedicated to everything a baby needed. All right, he needed diapers for a new born. Where could they have put those?

While he perused the shelves, attempting to pick out the most suitable brand, someone walked past, agitatedly talking to someone presumably on the phone.

A very familiar scent accompanied the person.

Naruto whipped his head around so abruptly he nearly gave himself whiplash.

A couple of feet away from him a scowling Sasuke was studying the shelf containing baby powder.

"Can't I just grab a bottle?" Sasuke asked exasperatedly. A pause. "It's a baby! He won't care which brand it is!" He raked a hand through his hair, causing his bangs to caress his cheeks. "I don't even see the bloody thing! Tell that dear brother of mine to sacrifice his own time for this shit."

Realising that it was Deidara who had called Sasuke, Naruto approached the older male, zooming in on the brand of baby powder the older blond preferred to purchase.

"Here, he means this one," Naruto smiled and handed over the right bottle.

Dark eyes widened in surprise and the man accepted the bottle with a quick grateful look. "Never mind. Naruto-san found it." The call was immediately ended and he slipped his phone in his pocket. "Thank god you're here; I had no idea what he was talking about."

Naruto had to smile at the flustered look plastered on Sasuke's face. It was oddly endearing – could he even use 'endearing' when it came to this man? – to see the otherwise unruffled doctor being out of his element here.

"Deidara-kun is very peculiar when it comes to brands," Naruto chuckled and placed a pack of diapers into his cart.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Diapers?"

The blond awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "A friend of mine forgot to buy diapers and he asked me to grab some."

"Ah, so we're both acting as messenger boys, huh?" Sasuke mused.

Naruto eyed his casual ensemble of a cashmere sweater, black jeans and an open leather jacket. "No work today?" he inquired lightly.

"Took off the afternoon and evening to visit my brother," Sasuke grunted and in an unspoken agreement he followed Naruto into another aisle.

"Have you seen Shion-kun already?" Naruto asked curiously.

Deidara had given birth a week ago, but Naruto hadn't been able to visit yet due to his heavy workload.

"Yes, two days ago; looks like the blond gene was more dominant this time," Sasuke replied dryly.

"I bet he looks adorable," the blond grinned, placing a lettuce crop, a bag with tomatoes, two cucumbers and a bag of carrots in the shopping cart, before making his way to the fruit area.

"I just hope he won't inherit Deidara's loudness," the dark haired man grumbled, eyeing the growing pile of junk food like crisps and the family packet of ramen in Naruto's cart with increasing alarm. "How do you remain so slender with so much junk food?"

Naruto glanced at his cart and pouted. "That's not only for me, you know," he huffed, placing a bag of apples and a bunch of bananas in the cart.

"I would be worried if it was," Sasuke murmured and trailed behind the blond, who was searching for a particular brand of basil.

It seemed they had rearranged the shelves again; Naruto uttered a soft sigh of frustration when he located the small, plastic bottle of basil on the highest shelf. He stretched out his arm, even going as far as to stand on his tiptoes, but as he suspected, his fingers barely grazed the bottle. "Damn it!" he cursed, dropping his arm and he glared at the bottle, which seemed to mock him.

A leather clad arm reached past him, a warm, hard chest pressing against his back and he unconsciously held his breath when his nostrils were assaulted by the peculiar smell that seemed to be infused in Sasuke's skin. It wasn't a bad smell, actually, but definitely distracting.

"Here. Do you need this one?" Sasuke asked, offering the bottle of basil to the blond.

"Thanks." Naruto nodded and after throwing one last scowl at the offending shelf, he turned his cart to make his way to the cash registers. "Do you need something else to buy?"

"No, I was only here for the baby powder," Sasuke replied and together they made their way to the registers, queueing behind an elderly couple.

The elderly woman turned her head, some white curls escaping from her bun and her eyes crinkled when she smiled. "Aw, look at that, darling. They remind me of when we were young."

The elderly man glanced up to see what his wife was talking about and chuckled when he caught sight of the two young men behind them. "Except you were never a blonde."

"Oh, hush, you." She swatted his arm softly and then winked at Naruto, who stared back at her like a deer caught in headlights. "Very nice catch, honey. Don't let him wander around other Omega, you hear? Nowadays it's so difficult to find a handsome, strong Alpha." She sighed and clucked her tongue. "Good that you got your hands on this one. I'm sure your children will be beautiful!"

"What? No, wait, you got it all wrong!" Naruto protested, waving his hands in panic. Heat was practically blasting off his face and it wouldn't surprise him if he was as red as a tomato now.

God, how embarrassing! He hadn't even realised how it would look like to other people, him being accompanied by an Alpha. Of course they would assume they were a couple!

Her face cleared up as if she was hit by some kind of understanding and she patted Naruto's arm soothingly. "Oh, I understand. Still in that phase of getting to know each other, huh? Well, take it from this old woman: this man is definitely a keeper. You two make such a good couple!"

"Hana, I just paid, so we can go home," her husband reminded her and after offering a last wink to a quite horrified Naruto, she turned around again and hobbled next to her husband out of the cashier's lane.

The silent chuckle next to him made him scowl at the dark haired man, whose amusement only visibly grew at seeing his pouting face.

"That was not funny," Naruto whined, placing his groceries on the belt with a huff.

"Hey now, you heard the old lady: I'm quite the catch, so you need to hold on to me."

Naruto didn't even need to turn around to see the smirk on Sasuke's face – it was clearly audible in his voice.

"Oh, shut up, jerk," Naruto huffed and refused to look at the man, even when he felt the amused eyes locked onto him.

Thankfully Sasuke remained silent for the rest of the transaction and after the man had paid for his own single bottle of baby powder, they walked towards the exit.

"Oh fuck," Naruto groaned dismayed when they stepped outside and were immediately greeted by a curtain of rain falling down from the dark grey sky. Of course it had to bloody rain! And not even some drizzle, no, it had to be a freaking storm!

The flash of lightning followed by the loud clap of thunder made him jump in fright.

"Where's your car?" Sasuke asked; his own eyes narrowed at the rain hitting the pavement violently.

Naruto grimaced, shivering when the ice cold wind caressed his face. "Still at home. I walked here, because the weather wasn't that bad when I left home."

Obviously he should never trust the weather forecast. Bloody idiots hadn't known what they said when they claimed it would just be windy.

A tug at his sleeve made him look up in surprise.

"Come on; I'll give you a lift. No use trying to walk through this storm or even wait here until it passes." Sasuke shrugged, throwing a wary look at the dark sky. His face lightened up and he smiled at Naruto, who blinked at the unexpected change in mood. "If you want, I can take you to Deidara. You can meet the little brat then."

Blue eyes flickered towards his watch and he bit his lower lip thoughtfully. He still had around three hours at least before Gaara came home.

"If you don't mind," Naruto grinned and then burrowed himself deeper into his jacket to protect himself from the icy wind.

"Wait here for a minute. I'll bring my car around," Sasuke told him and then sprinted into the curtain of rain to his car, leaving a bemused Naruto behind.

Seven minutes later, the bags containing Naruto's groceries had been put into the trunk and both men were warming themselves up in the car, which turned out to be the latest model of BMW. Evidently, being a doctor earned him a nice amount of money.

When Sasuke halted in front of a red light, he glanced at Naruto, who was busy warming his hands by holding them in front of the car heater that blasted hot air at them.

"What does your partner do?"

Sasuke's question made Naruto look up in surprise and he blinked. "What? Oh, eh, he took over the law firm business of his father and he and his siblings take on cases like divorce and fraud," he replied, lowering his hands when he started to regain feeling in them. Sasuke's scent was rather oppressive in the car – nearly as bad as when Naruto had first entered his practice – but the air of the heater made certain that Naruto wasn't too affected by the smell.

"So he's pretty busy then, huh?" Sasuke asked lightly and started the car again when the light turned green.

"Most of the time, yeah," Naruto said with a grimace. He didn't like it when Gaara worked long hours, but it was something he had grown used to over the years. "He tries to be home at a reasonable hour, but sometimes he doesn't always succeed in that." He shrugged. "I'm used to it."

Sasuke made a non-committal sound and turned left, following a small stream of cars. The rain was still beating down on the roof, adding an odd soothing background noise.

"Why did you decide to become a doctor?" the blond asked curiously after a short bout of silence. Fugaku – the father of Sasuke and Itachi – was a businessman, a leader of a large cooperation and Itachi was the CEO of his company. It would have made sense if Sasuke had gotten a position in the company as well, as it was a family business.

Sasuke drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. "When I was fifteen, I got to know Konan through Itachi who knew her husband as one of the partners in my father's company. One day my brother had dropped me off at her apartment, because he and Nagato needed to convince a prospective client to sign a contract. Anyway, she was nearing her due date around that time and she went into labour not long after my brother and Nagato had left." He paused to curse at an idiot who had cut them off abruptly and then continued with a slight bite in his voice, "I stayed with her while Nagato was on his way and I got to witness the absolute incompetence of her so called doctor. That idiot nearly caused her and her baby to die, because he seemed to be under the impression that Omega weren't in need of care during childbirth."

Naruto stilled; there were still people out there who thought that Omega were worth less than Beta or Alpha, simply because of their 'weaker' constitution. That had been one of the reasons why he hadn't liked being born as an Omega: he wasn't a weakling and he despised everyone who thought he was worth less, simply because he hadn't been born as a Beta or an Alpha.

"After witnessing that, I decided that Omega deserved better care than that of discriminating doctors and I chose to study medicine specializing in pregnancy and childbirth of Omega," Sasuke concluded his story grimly.

"What happened to that doctor?" Naruto asked softly. He froze when he saw the nasty smirk on Sasuke's face.

"Let's just say that he didn't need to worry about coming into contact with Omega ever again," the older man hummed; his eyes glinting devilish.

Naruto shivered and decided that he didn't want to hear more.

"Look at how cute he is," Naruto cooed at the fair-haired baby resting in his daddy's arms while he was waiting for his bottle of milk to warm up.

"Uchiha are not cute," Itachi muttered, shaking his head while he accepted the baby powder Sasuke pushed into his hand.

Deidara beamed, completely ignoring his husband's comment. "He is, isn't he? I can't get over how adorable he is! Just like Akihito."

"Dad, I'm not adorable," Akihito whined. His protest was ruined by the adorable pout adorning his face.

Naruto chuckled and ruffled through his hair. "Of course not, Akihito-kun, you're very manly," he reassured the young boy, who looked at him as if he was trying to figure out whether he had been complimented or insulted.

"I was already wondering when you would show up," Deidara smiled when the young blond sat down next to him on the couch.

"I would have visited sooner, but I had to mark the projects of my students," Naruto grumbled. "That's the downside of teaching."

"Did you follow Sasuke with your car or …"

"He drove with me in my car," Sasuke answered, sinking down next to Naruto. "Smart guy here didn't drive to the supermarket."

"The weather didn't look that bad when I left!" Naruto insisted, pursing his lips. The warmth of Sasuke's thigh seemed to seep straight through their trousers, causing the Omega to be hyper aware of his presence next to him.

Naruto caught the queer look being exchanged between Itachi and Deidara and he furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what on earth had brought that look on.

"Where is Gaara-jisan?" Akihito asked curiously; his eyes were trained on the plate with chocolate biscuits, waiting for the right moment to grab one.

"Ah, he's meeting with an important client now, but he's going to visit you next weekend," Naruto assured his godson.

For some reason Akihito adored Gaara, trailing after him every time he visited. The blond thought it was cute and did nothing to deter the young boy even when Gaara threw him exasperated looks. Despite the exasperation, Naruto knew that Gaara liked the young boy. If he didn't he wouldn't allow the small Uchiha to follow him like a duckling.

A faint 'beep' sound alerted them all to the fact that the microwave had finished warming up the bottle of milk and Itachi left the room to retrieve it while Deidara adjusted his new born son so he could tie a pale green bib around his neck.

When the dark haired man handed over the warm bottle after having tested out the temperature on his hand, Deidara surprised Naruto by holding the bottle up in front of him.

"Do you want to feed him?" Deidara suggested with a grin.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked surprised. Sure, when Akihito was still a baby, he had fed him milk occasionally, but that hadn't happened until Akihito was around three months old.

"Of course!" Deidara chirped and without giving Naruto the chance to refuse, he carefully placed Shion in Naruto's arms, helping him adjust his head. "Can't have your feeding a baby skills becoming rusty you know." He winked.

Naruto rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but accepted the warm bottle, pressing it softly against the small, pouty lips until Shion opened his mouth hungrily and started sucking greedily.

While Shion drank rather noisily from his milk, Naruto took the time to properly study him. His chubby cheeks had a healthy rose flush to them and his half lidded eyes concealed the dark eyes which every Uchiha seemed to possess. His blond tuft of hair – a slightly darker blond than his father had – provided a sharp contrast with his dark eyes.

He was quite cute; Naruto hadn't expected anything else with the genes of his parents.

He nearly jumped in fright when warm breath caressed his neck and the curious scent that clung to Sasuke grew stronger when the man bent towards him. Naruto glanced at him from the corner of his eyes and swallowed when he saw the peculiar look of something that resembled speculation crossing over Sasuke's face.

Dark eyes with a red hue to them slipped from Naruto's face towards little Shion and Sasuke snorted.

"Looks like he has your appetite, Deidara," he smirked, tapping softly on the bottle, which was now more empty than full.

Deidara huffed and threw his brother-in-law a scowl. "He just has a healthy appetite," he sniffed and he caressed the baby's head carefully as to not disturb his drinking. A mischievous grin unfurled on his face, causing Naruto to grow wary. That particular grin never meant a good thing. "You have to admit, though, that if you don't know who his parents are, Shion could easily be mistaken for your kid together with Naruto."

Some odd reason caused Naruto's cheeks to fill with a blazing heat and he looked away from the gleeful smile of his friend, doing his best to ignore the possible implications that Deidara's comment carried.

He was grateful for once that Gaara hadn't been able to accompany him; he didn't even dare to envision how his mate would have reacted towards the mention of Naruto being with someone else.

"Oh please, we all know that a baby of us two would be more gorgeous than yours," Sasuke retorted airily and his arm slipped around Naruto's shoulders, his hand resting casually on Naruto's arm.

The blond froze and didn't dare to move. Sasuke's arm felt quite warm against him and he caught himself inhaling his alluring scent. Feeling quite mortified, he focused on the warm weight in his arms, tipping the bottle a bit so that the rest of the milk would slide down.

Fuck, he had no idea what was going on with him, but he did know that Sasuke had to remove his arm now before Naruto lost his mind entirely.

"That beauty would most likely be cancelled out by Naruto-kun's clumsiness," Itachi smirked.

"Oh shut up," Naruto retorted, scowling at him. He would have liked to tell Itachi what exactly he thought of him, but he reminded himself that there were children present and Deidara would not be happy at all if Akihito broadened his vocabulary in that kind of way.

He leant forwards to put the empty bottle on the table and smiled gratefully at Deidara who placed a towel on his shoulder – forcing Sasuke to remove his arm – so that Shion could spit without ruining Naruto's sweater.

"Good boy," Naruto murmured when Shion burped softly, soaking the towel slightly.

"When are you and Gaara-jisan going to have a baby, Naruto-niisan?" Akihito asked out of the blue.

Naruto, who had been handing over Shion back to Deidara, froze and he felt Deidara's apologetic eyes on him. He shook his head and once he was certain that his smile didn't look like a grimace of pain – which took more effort than he would have liked to admit – he turned towards Akihito, who looked at him curiously.

"Ah well, maybe soon. Something like that takes time," he chuckled and he prayed it didn't sound as weak as he thought it did.

He was aware of Sasuke's gaze on him, but he refused to acknowledge it. He wasn't in the mood to see a look of pity or apologetic eyes.

Before Akihito could ask more, Naruto's cell phone sounded loudly from his pocket and after giving the other men an apologetic smile, he stood up and walked to the hallway so that he wouldn't disturb the others with his conversation.

"Yes?" he asked, rubbing his hand over his eyes and he leant against the wall. Akihito's question had brought him off balance more than he liked to admit.

A short pause. "Are you all right?" Gaara asked concerned and there was the faint sound of a briefcase clicking shut.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. Don't worry," Naruto replied, shaking his head lightly. "Why are you calling?"

"The meeting was wrapped up sooner than I thought, so I'm coming home now," the red haired man informed him and the blond heard him murmur a 'good afternoon' to someone.

"Wait, seriously? That's great!" Naruto grinned. It had been a while since Gaara came home this early and he felt excitement brewing in his stomach.

"Yes, so I thought we could eat early and have some dessert. Or," Naruto could practically hear him smirking, "we could also have dessert first. Your choice."

Naruto licked his lips, longing flashing up inside of him. "You know I never say no to dessert," he murmured, lowering his voice automatically.

"Good thing I like to indulge you so much," Gaara murmured; his voice smooth as silk making a shiver run across Naruto's spine. "Why don't you get ready for dessert then?"

"Ah, I'm not at home now," Naruto said and smacked his forehead. Fuck, for a moment he had forgotten that he hadn't taken his car. "I'm at Deidara's; can you come pick me up? My car is still at our place."

"Who brought you there then?" Gaara sounded a tad suspicious.

"Sasuke-san brought me," Naruto informed him, hoping that Gaara wouldn't enter one of his infamous jealous sprees. "I helped him find something for Deidara in the supermarket and he offered to take me to Deidara's house."

"Hm, wait there. I'll come pick you up."

"Okay."

Naruto breathed out slowly and lowered his phone. Well, at least Gaara hadn't become angry; that was a good sign.

"You need to go home?"

"Shit! You scared me!" Naruto exclaimed and spun around to face Sasuke who studied him from his place in the doorway. "Yeah, Gaara's meeting ended sooner than he expected, so he's coming home. He'll pick me up here."

"Ah, so I'll finally be able to see your elusive partner," Sasuke murmured and his lips twitched faintly. His eyes flashed with an eerie red shine.

Naruto told himself that he had only imagined the red shine; it must be a trick of the lights.

But when he made his way back into the living room, he was aware of dark eyes lingering on his back and he had to supress a shiver.

Whether that shiver was of fear or something else …

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

"I really, really am not in the mood for this," Gaara growled and glared at the large building where a steady stream of people were entering and exiting.

Naruto leant on his steering wheel, being careful not to press on the horn. "I know, but this is an important client, right?" he said with a faint smile.

"He can kiss my arse," the red haired man informed him, heavily scowling.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head. The euphoria at having Gaara come home early two days ago had been quickly doused yesterday when Temari had called them in the morning to inform her brother that his presence was required at another firm in the neighbouring country. Travelling with a plane would be quicker and the client had even offered to foot the bill.

Still it sucked that Gaara would be away for at least three days, depending on how long the negotiations took.

"You'll be back soon," Naruto soothed, reaching out with his hand to squeeze Gaara's wrist softly.

"Not the point," Gaara grumbled and turned out, his eyes softening a bit when he looked at the blond. "I wanted to join you at your appointment."

Naruto took a deep breath and forced himself to smile. "I know."

Gaara had indeed told him he wanted to join him at his next appointment with Sasuke, but Naruto couldn't help but wonder how much of that was desire to be more involved with their little problem and how much was a need to make certain that Sasuke wouldn't try anything suspicious. For some reason his mate didn't seem to like his doctor.

They only met briefly when Gaara picked him up a couple of days ago, but the blond swore ice had formed around the two Alpha when Naruto had introduced them to each other. That bothered the Omega quite a bit, because he had no clue whatsoever why the two men couldn't get along. Sure, Alpha tended to be wary of each other first, but Gaara hadn't even reacted that badly towards Itachi when he first met him and that particular encounter could have been described as frosty at best.

"Hey."

Naruto started out of his troubled thoughts when fingers caressed his cheek and he let his head be turned around to face the red haired man again.

"I know I haven't been as involved with this as I should have been and I'm sorry for that. I really am," Gaara said softly, caressing Naruto's cheekbone with his thumb. "It will be all right, you'll see. We'll have a baby soon." He leant forwards to press their lips softly to each other.

Willingly Naruto opened his mouth when a tongue licked at his lower lip and enjoyed the slow, deep kiss his mate initiated; his arms slipping around strong shoulders. He knew it was ridiculous, but he felt better after hearing Gaara's reassurance. It showed that the red haired man actually cared about their problem.

Gaara retreated slowly after pressing a soft kiss on his lips, of which the impression seemed to linger long after he had withdrawn.

"I love you," the Alpha murmured and the back of his hand caressed Naruto's cheek.

Naruto smiled, a real smile this time, feeling a light blush staining his cheeks and turned his head to press a kiss on Gaara's hand. "I love you too," he whispered.

His nerves settled with Gaara's proclamation; the red haired man didn't say those three words often, so whenever he did say them, it made Naruto giddy beyond words.

"I'll see you in three days; I'm going to try and make it back in two," Gaara promised and grabbed the handle of the door. "Call me when you know something, all right? I need something to get me through these upcoming hellish days."

"I promise," Naruto replied and after one last smile, Gaara left the car and followed the stream of travellers inside the huge building.

The blond sighed and put his car in reverse, manoeuvring himself out of the small space, and followed the line of cars leaving the airport. He would have liked to stay with Gaara until he had to step on his airplane, but that was not possible unless he wanted to be late for his appointment with Sasuke.

The appointment which would tell him whether he was finally carrying a baby. Fingers clenched tighter around the steering wheel while nerves made his stomach feel heavy. He both wanted and didn't want to know the answer. After all those months of trying, would they finally have succeeded?

And what would happen if the hormone treatment hadn't worked? Was there another option they could try? Or would he need to accept that carrying his own baby would remain out of his reach forever?

Shaking his head roughly, he turned off the engine as soon as he was parked in front of the doctor's practice. There was no need for any doom mongering now.

Steeling himself, he stepped out of the car, braving the cold weather. He could hardly wait for spring to arrive again; he was sick of the cold.

The dark red haired receptionist – who was called Karin – waved him through as soon as she noticed him, barely looking up from her work. The moment he walked into the waiting room, the door to Sasuke's office opened, revealing the older man in the door opening.

"Ah, you're right on time," Sasuke smiled and beckoned him closer. "You can come in now."

"Good morning," Naruto murmured and followed the other man into his office; he removed his gloves and stuffed them in his pockets, trying to ignore how clammy his hands felt suddenly.

"All right, today we're going to find out whether the hormone treatment has worked or not," Sasuke said briskly and opened a drawer of a cabinet behind his desk. "Before I take your blood pressure and draw some blood again, you need to take this pregnancy test. Have you taken one recently?"

"Ah? Ah no, the last one I took was almost three weeks ago. Since then I haven't taken any," Naruto replied and he fiddled with his fingers.

Sasuke nodded and handed him a white packaging. "You can take this one; there's a small bathroom right behind you." He pointed at a door which was half hidden by the screen. "While we wait for the result, I'll take your blood pressure and draw some blood."

The blond nodded and accepted the packaging with a trembling hand. "Thanks," he brought out with dry lips and marched over to the bathroom stiffly.

Taking a deep breath he closed the door behind him and stared at the white, too familiar package. Tearing his eyes from it, he took the time to look around in the small bathroom. The white sink gleamed in the bright T-light and a small stack of plastic cups was put on the right side of the sink; a soap dispenser placed on the other side. An equally gleaming white toilet was placed right across from the sink. The only other decoration that the small room was rich with, was a simple, small, black rug and a small trashcan.

Well, best not to let Sasuke wait too long.

Heart hammering in his chest, he discarded the test on the sink for the time being and grabbed a plastic cup to do his business in. As soon as he had filled the cup, he opened the package – cursing his fingers when the tremble going through them caused difficulties to open the test immediately – and carefully inserted the white stick into the cup for a few seconds. Placing the stick on the sink, he emptied the cup into the toilet, flushed and threw the cup into the trashcan. He washed his hands thoroughly, forcing himself to not keep staring at the – for now still – blank test and left the room after he had dried his hands.

"Take a seat; I'll take your blood pressure now," Sasuke informed him calmly and gathered the needed equipment.

"Have you heard what Akihito did a couple of days ago?" the Alpha asked casually while his eyes were trained on his watch.

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, he somehow managed to exchange Kisame-san's shampoo for hair dye, right? I heard the big guy wasn't happy with that."

"Who would? He looks quite fabulous with the bright pink hair, though," Sasuke smirked and removed the blood pressure meter, uttering a satisfied sound. "Your blood pressure is normal. Let me take some blood now."

"Did Kisame-san piss off Akihito-kun or so?" Naruto questioned curiously and held out his arm so that the doctor could find a vein to draw blood from and fill three vials.

"No clue. Maybe he tried to steal some of his chocolate cookies. You know how protective the brat is of them," Sasuke replied dryly and pressed a cotton ball against the spot from where he had withdrawn the needle. "Keep pressure on this."

"Itachi apparently accused me of being a bad influence," Naruto commented amused, letting the other man put a bandage on the puncture wound.

He felt like he was starting to do a good job with ignoring the tantalizing scent hovering around the older man. The deep breath he took when Sasuke leant in towards him was merely to clear his head, he reassured himself, and not because he wanted to smell him again.

"I heard that, yeah. I doubt he'll do much to you, though, because he fears Deidara's wrath. Not to mention I would be quite annoyed if he tried to harm one of the very few people I can actually stand." Sasuke winked at him and turned around to put away the thin vials of blood.

His cheeks filled with heat and he didn't know what flustered him more: the wink or Sasuke's comment. Damn that man for being so damn confusing.

"You can take a look at the test now. Let me know what the result is so that we can discuss what you need to do after this appointment," Sasuke murmured.

His heart seemed to plummet to his stomach. "Right, I'll – I'll go check now," he stammered and returned to the bathroom on legs that seemed to be filled with rubber suddenly.

Please have two lines, please have two lines, he pleaded silently and reached out to pick up the test, his knees feeling quite wobbly.

Cerulean blue eyes zeroed in on the small display of the test and his breath seemed to be knocked out of him.

Sounds were muted and he was only vaguely aware of his legs giving out on him and him stumbling through the small room until he sank down on the toilet. His eyes stayed fixated on the small stick; his entire body numb.

This couldn't be happening. This just wasn't true. It had to be a fluke or something. Maybe he needed a second test to verify it again, just to be certain.

Yet, he just knew that a second test wouldn't change the result.

A single line glared back at him, taunting him. Negative. It was negative again. Despite the hormone treatment, which he had taken every day at the exact same time just to maximize its effect; despite having sex with Gaara every single day, sometimes even multiple times a day, the test still displayed a negative sign.

He wasn't carrying a baby. He wouldn't get to hold a baby in nine months.

The urge to scream rose up in him and he clenched his teeth together, his hand tightening around the damning stick. Why the fuck wasn't he pregnant? What the fuck was wrong with him that he still wasn't carrying a baby?

Why was this happening to him? Why wasn't he capable of conceiving?

His sight became blurry and tremors shook his body violently. He wasn't going to cry, damn it! He wouldn't cry. He wasn't so pathetic that he would start crying because of a negative test. He was stronger than that!

What was he going to do now? If even the hormone treatment didn't work, did he have any other option left then?

What did he need to do to finally have a baby?

He jumped up, his heart thundering madly, when a hand landed on his shoulder and he looked up, straight into concerned, black eyes. Naruto hadn't even heard him come in.

"What's the result?" Sasuke asked softly.

Naruto opened his hand, displaying the negative symbol and smiled bitterly. "Negative again," he brought out in a choked voice. Sasuke took the test out of his hand and Naruto pressed his fists against his eyes, trying to hold back his tears. He would absolutely not start crying in front of Sasuke. He wasn't going to humiliate himself like that.

He just needed a couple of moments alone so that he could compose himself and keep it together long enough for him to reach his car. He knew he was on the verge of breaking down, but he didn't want to break down in front of the other man. Breaking down about this result was already pathetic – there was no need to embarrass himself even more by crying in front of Sasuke.

He rose up on wobbly legs and he clasped his hands together, refusing to look at the Alpha. "Le – let's go back t-to your office. Is there may-maybe something else I can …"

He froze up when strong arms wrapped around him, bringing him flush against a warm, hard chest.

"No need to hold back; I'm not going to judge you," Sasuke told him softly. "You can cry if you need to."

"I – I'm not … I don't n-need to cry, b-bastard," Naruto spluttered, but his throat was closing up and hot tears were building up behind his eyes, threatening to overflow while heat filled his face. He pressed his hands against Sasuke's chest, intent on pushing him away before this could turn incredibly humiliating, but the older man simply tightened his embrace slightly and rubbed over Naruto's back with one hand.

"Naruto, you don't need to keep up a façade. Just let it out," he murmured, warm breath washing over Naruto's cheek.

He tried to hold back, struggling a bit in a vain attempt to break free, but when Sasuke didn't loose up his embrace, Naruto broke down and started sobbing loudly, tears streaming down his face while his hands buried themselves into Sasuke's shirt, the formerly neat fabric bunched up between his fingers; his face buried into Sasuke's shoulder, his tears dampening the shirt.

"I – I don't kn-know what's wrong with me," he brought out between sobs; his throat hurting from the force of them. "I – I th-thought I was pre-prepared for the result an-and told myself not to-to hope too much, bu-but I st-still thought the tr-treatment had worked. Wh-why can't I have a – a baby?"

"We'll figure something out, I promise," Sasuke whispered into his ear while his hand kept caressing Naruto's back. He started to rock them back and forth while Naruto continued to cry, letting out all his frustration, anger and sadness through the waterfall of hot tears.

When he finally stopped crying, his nose and head felt stuffed and he sniffled, wiping his – what now surely had become – red rimmed, swollen eyes.

Well, this had to be one of the most embarrassing moments in his life so far. How could he have let himself go like that?

He pulled back and released an embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry," he said and looked up; a flush painting his cheeks. "I swear that I normally don't …"

His breath hitched and he trailed off when he met Sasuke's eyes. He stood transfixed underneath the heavy look; the glittering black seemingly filling his entire vision. Something was stirring inside those alluring, mysterious, dark eyes and Naruto couldn't look away from them. His heart started to beat madly and something was stirring inside his stomach. What was happening?

A large hand came to rest on his cheek, the warmth of it clashing with his own heated skin and he let his head be tilled back, not even thinking once of protesting or pulling away. The thumb caressing his cheekbone had an hypnotizing effect and he felt trapped, like a rabbit in front of a large predator, when Sasuke bent his head.

The odd scent clinging to Sasuke intensified, making Naruto feel as if he was swimming in the heady smell; he had never done drugs, but he vaguely thought this must be how taking drugs felt like: this overpowering, heady feeling that filled him, that left him quite giddy and left a pleasant sensation behind.

"Naruto, I …" Sasuke whispered, bringing his face closer.

"Uchiha-sensei, I have a client here, waiting to pick up a prescription," the secretary, Karin, called out suddenly, abruptly breaking the odd atmosphere that had been growing between the two men.

It was as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on Naruto. He jumped backwards, alarmed, ripping himself free from Sasuke's hold while the other man cursed underneath his breath.

"I – I'll be right back." Sasuke cleared his throat and – with his cheeks suspiciously smudged with a red flush – he walked briskly towards his desk, leaving a mortified Naruto behind.

His knees gave out and he slumped down on the toilet, while he stared wide eyed at his trembling hands.

What had nearly happened just now? Had he really been about to kiss Sasuke?

No, he wouldn't have done that! He loved Gaara, he would never cheat on him!

And yet, he had done nothing to pull back. If Karin hadn't interrupted them, would they have kissed?

"Shit," he whispered horrified. This was starting to become very dangerous. What was it about Sasuke that made him lose his mind when he was around him? Why was he reacting so strongly towards him? It couldn't be because Sasuke was incredibly attractive – both Itachi and Deidara were very attractive people and yet Naruto had never felt drawn towards them in the same way that he was drawn towards Sasuke.

Only Gaara had coaxed strong reactions in him and even those seemed to pale a bit in comparison to the sensations Sasuke managed to bring out in him.

What the hell was happening with him?

A throat clearing made him startle and he stared at Sasuke, who had appeared in the door opening.

"Sorry for that," Sasuke said and he looked uncomfortable, making the blond wonder whether he was apologising for the near kiss or the fact that he had been called away. He didn't feel brave enough to ask for clarification. "Let's discuss what we are going to do about your predicament."

"All right," Naruto muttered and followed the Alpha back to his desk, desperately hoping that he wouldn't bring up the near kiss. He wasn't certain how he would react. He was still reeling from how it had nearly happened.

"All the tests we've done all conclude the same thing: you are fertile and thus should not have any problems conceiving," Sasuke spoke; his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. His tone had undergone a complete change: from soft, intimate to brisk, business like. His pen tapped on a paper. "Yet, the hormone treatment has not worked. There has to be something that we're overlooking."

Naruto kept quiet, shifting a bit on his chair. He honestly had no idea what else could cause his inability to get pregnant. He never had any surgery or got hurt in his stomach area, so he was baffled. If every test stated that he was able to get pregnant, why wasn't he carrying a baby then?

"How about your mate, Gaara-san?" Sasuke questioned abruptly.

Naruto blinked surprised. "What about Gaara?" he inquired surprised. What did Gaara have to do with this?

"Is he taking any medication that could prevent you from getting pregnant? Did he have an accident in the past that could cause him to have trouble impregnating you?" Sasuke explained his odd inquiry.

"What? No, of course he's not taking any medicine! He agreed to have children with me, so he wouldn't be taking any medicine that would prevent that. I've never even seen him taking medicine," Naruto scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It was just ridiculous to contemplate that Gaara was taking medicine to prevent pregnancy. If he hadn't wanted a baby, he would never have agreed to try in the first place; the red haired man would never do something against his will. "And if he had had an accident, he would have told me about it."

"Has he been examined?" Sasuke asked, clearly not about to let go of his new idea.

"No, he doesn't like visiting doctors," Naruto explained stiffly.

Sasuke sighed and rubbed over his eyes. "Look, I'm not attacking your mate or insulting him. But every test has concluded that you are fertile enough that you should be able to get pregnant without any trouble. That you are still having trouble, means that something else must be going on. Talk to your mate and convince him to let himself be examined. If he prefers someone else than me, I can give you the address of a colleague of mine."

Naruto looked doubtful at him; somehow he couldn't imagine Gaara agreeing to let himself be examined.

"Either your mate has no problems and then we can try something else like IVF or he does have a problem and then we can try to find out how to work around that," Sasuke retorted calmly. "Be honest: what do you have to lose?"

"Nothing," Naruto answered begrudgingly. Sasuke was right; depending on Gaara's results, they could decide what they had to do next. "I'll talk to him about it once he's back home."

"Let me know whether he wants to be examined by me or by my colleague."

Naruto agreed, already not looking forward to having this particular conversation with Gaara.

It was two weeks after that odd appointment that Naruto had finally gathered enough nerves to talk to Gaara about him seeking out a doctor. After he had informed his mate that he still wasn't pregnant (letting out the part where he had almost kissed Sasuke as he didn't want to needlessly worry his mate – he would never cheat on him, no matter how oddly enticing Sasuke's scent was), the red haired man had taken to pampering him more than usual, even going as far as to join him at Deidara's display of his own fireworks – something Gaara usually refused to do as he couldn't stand the loud noise of the fireworks going off.

Maybe he would be agreeable now to letting himself be examined. He seemed equally devastated that Naruto still wasn't expecting a baby, so perhaps now he would be able to get past his averse of doctors.

That day it had been raining the entire time: raging from mere drizzle to heavy rain that pounded on the windows. His classes had ended rather early and Gaara had texted him that he would be leaving work early, taking some files with him so that he could work on them at home.

"We were thinking of having the whole gang over at the summerhouse of the Hyuuga," Kiba informed him enthusiastically. Even through the phone, Naruto could hear the barking of dogs.

"Did everyone agree?" Naruto asked distracted, while he looked in the refrigerator for something to prepare for dinner.

"Yep, even Shikamaru said he would be joining us with Ino and their daughter," his friend told him. "Do you think the end of July would be good?"

"Should be," Naruto replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I see no reason why it wouldn't be good. I'm sure everyone can take off some time from work then."

"All right; Hinata and I will come up with some possible dates then and I'll send the list to everyone. That way we can agree to pick a date," Kiba said cheerily.

"Sounds good to me. Hey man, I need to go," Naruto told him when he heard the front door opening, followed by two high 'meow's from Kurama and Shukaku. "Gaara is home."

"And I need to go back to work before my sister kicks my arse," Kiba groaned dismayed.

They said their goodbye's and Naruto put his cell phone in his pocket, closing the refrigerator so that he could go greet Gaara.

"How was work?" he greeted him and accepted Gaara's kiss. His lips felt cold from being outside and his hair was slightly damp.

"Same old," Gaara grunted and set his bag down in order to remove his jacket. "At least Kankuro refrained from doing something stupid today."

"It's progress," Naruto teased and followed him to the small study room where Gaara placed down several files on the desk. "Kiba just called me. He and Hinata-chan are planning to invite everyone over to the summerhouse of the Hyuuga family around the end of July. Do you think you can join me then?"

"Should normally be possible. Is it for a day or for a weekend?" the red haired man asked distracted, while he riffled through some papers, loosening his tie.

"Most likely only a day. I doubt the others can get longer off from their work," Naruto replied, leaning against the threshold while Kurama wound his slim body around his legs.

The blond hesitated for a brief moment and then decided to just plunge straight into the tricky conversation. "I need to ask you something."

Jade green eyes glanced at him curiously and the owner of them lowered his file. "Oh? What about?"

"It's … it's about my appointment of two weeks ago," Naruto continued and his fingers started to play with a loose thread of his sweater – one of his habits when he became nervous.

"What about it?" Gaara narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"The, eh, the tests all concluded that I am fertile and capable of getting pregnant," Naruto replied, trying to figure out how he could ask Gaara to let himself be examined without it turning into an argument.

"Yes, you said that already," the red haired man pointed out, cocking his head to the right.

"Sasuke-san suggested that …" Naruto took a deep breath and blurted out, "that you should let yourself get examined, so that we would be sure that the cause isn't one of us."

"No," Gaara stated immediately and his lips tightened to a line. "I'm not going to a doctor; I already told you that."

"Come on, Gaara," Naruto coaxed him, trying to curb his frustration. He had sort of expected this to happen, but he still had had the faint hope that this time Gaara would give in and go see a doctor. He wanted a baby too, right? "It's just a quick examination to see whether something is preventing us from getting children."

"Nothing is wrong with me, okay! I don't need an examination," Gaara bit out, slamming down the file on his desk.

"If you're so sure nothing is wrong with you, then why the hell don't you want an examination?!" Naruto snapped, narrowing his eyes. "We've been trying for nearly seven months, Gaara! Seven months and I'm still not pregnant! Something is keeping us from getting a child and an examination would at least give us some sort of clue as to what we should do to get a baby!"

"You just need to give it some time!" Gaara said frustrated.

"Give it some time?! Nobody takes longer than three months to get pregnant!" Naruto sneered. "I should have been counting down to the birth by now, and instead I'm still using tests that only indicate negative results! For the love of god, just please let yourself get examined! What's wrong with visiting a doctor?"

"Naruto, I said no and that is final! I'm not going to see a doctor!"

"Why the fuck not?" Naruto threw his arms up in desperation, causing Kurama to run away startled as their voices continued to rise in ire. "Don't you want a baby with me?"

"Of course I want a baby with you, but there is nothing wrong with me! There is no need for me to visit a doctor. I'm not going, learn to accept that fact! I told you before that we don't need any outside help!" Gaara snarled, his green eyes flashing up in fury. "Just learn some fucking patience, god damn it!"

"Patience?!" Naruto laughed shrilly. Patience? How could Gaara stand there and claim he needed to learn patience when they had been trying for seven months? How could he refuse to let himself be examined when it would help them finally gain a baby? Why didn't he want to do anything that could give them a baby? Did he really want a baby or had he just been humouring Naruto all this time?

"Please don't get hysterical," Gaara sighed and rubbed his forehead, looking exhausted.

"Hysterical?" Naruto repeated incredulously. He was being hysterical? That was the last straw. "If you can't even get a simple examination, then fuck you!" he spat furiously and before Gaara could reply or grab his arm, he stormed out of the room and out of the house, not even thinking of grabbing his jacket or his car keys in his haste to get away from the man who was apparently hell bent on making sure that they would never have a baby.

Rage whirled inside of him, clouding his mind together with heavy disappointment and piercing hurt. Why was Gaara refusing to get an examination? Was it about his stupid pride as an Alpha? Was Naruto missing something? Wasn't it normal of Naruto to ask his mate to get an examination? Had he gone too far? What else was he supposed to do? More than half a year had gone by and yet they hadn't booked any result.

His anger abruptly left him, leaving him feeling empty and drained, and he looked up, realising he had walked away further from home than he had intended. He didn't immediately recognize the neighbourhood he was in and he sighed out loud, coming to a halt. He raked a hand through his hair and tugged at it, wondering just what the hell he was going to do now.

He shouldn't have left the house like that; he and Gaara had made it a point to never leave in the middle of an argument, preferring to talk it out. But he hadn't been able to stay a minute longer in the same house as Gaara after that particular argument.

What on earth should he do now?

Rain started to trickle down, landing on his hair, sliding down his neck, causing him to shiver. "Fuck," he muttered with a grimace. Of course it had to start raining now. It figured.

He should go back to their house, talk with Gaara and try to reach a compromise, but he honestly didn't want to go back. Not yet anyway. He still felt too hurt about Gaara's refusal to let himself be examined to go back and attempt to talk with him.

But where should he go now? He hadn't even brought his phone with him, so he couldn't call someone to pick him up. Fuck.

The honking of a car's horn made him jump nearly three feet in the air and he whirled around, facing a very familiar looking BMW.

The window lowered, revealing Sasuke's concerned face.

"Naruto-san? What are you doing here?" His dark eyes glided over Naruto's shivering form with his clothes sticking faintly to his body due to the rain getting worse. "Why aren't you wearing a jacket?"

"I … Gaara and I – we had a fight and I, I left," Naruto replied before he could stop himself and he wrapped his arms around himself.

Stupid, there's no reason to bug Sasuke with my problems, he chided himself.

Sasuke blinked, obviously taken aback by the admission. "Get in the car; I'll drive you home. This is not exactly weather for walking."

"No, thank you. I'm … I don't really want to go back yet," the blond admitted begrudgingly.

"Come on then; you can stay at my place for a while," Sasuke offered and stepped out of the car.

"What? No, you don't have to …" Naruto started to protest, raising his hands.

"Naruto-san, come on. I'm not going to let you stay here and get sick," Sasuke sighed and walked to the other side of the car to open the door.

Naruto had half a mind to protest again, but figured doing that would just be stupid as Sasuke was clearly not about to step in his car again and drive off. Biting his lip, he approached the car and walked to the side where Sasuke stood patiently waiting.

"Thanks," he muttered and stepped into the car. The door was closed behind him and a couple of seconds later, the door to the driver's seat opened and Sasuke sat down.

The drive to Sasuke's place was mainly filled with music from the car radio. Naruto felt Sasuke's eyes on him frequently, but he refused to look back; choosing instead to stare out of the window and see how medium sized townhouses slowly turned into large estates fenced by large, iron gates: the richer part of the town.

Naruto suddenly realised something. "I thought you lived on the upper floor of your office," he remarked.

"Hm? No, the upper floors are rented to an old couple. I just use the ground floor for my office," Sasuke replied and turned right. "Separating private and professional life is much easier that way."

"Makes sense," Naruto murmured and looked back out of the window, trying his best not to remember the last time he had been alone with Sasuke. This time, the heating had been turned off, so the blond had no respite from the oppressive scent that hung in the small space. He resorted to breathing shallowly through his mouth in an attempt to not have his mind clouded again by the alluring smell. What on earth was wrong with him that he would get so easily distracted by a nice smell when he just had had a fight with his mate?

A large gate opened automatically when the car approached it and soon the sound of gravel crunching underneath the wheels resonated when they drove onto the drive.

Cerulean blue widened when they caught sight of the large house they parked in front of. It was almost as big as the Uchiha's estate and that was saying something; how much exactly did Sasuke earn that he could both afford an expensive car and such a large house?

"You like the house?" Sasuke asked teasingly when they stepped out of the car.

"It's beautiful," Naruto agreed while his eyes roved across the house with its shining red roof and its white stones. The front door appeared to be made out of some heavy, thick wood. "But mostly big."

"I grew up in an estate and I always liked playing in the large rooms," Sasuke admitted while they hurried towards the house while the rain started to get heavier.

They shivered when they entered the warm hallway. Naruto caught sight of his dripping wet hair and he cringed at the way his clothes were clinging to his body. He almost looked like a drowned cat.

"You can take a shower to warm up," Sasuke announced and beckoned him to follow. "I'll lend you some clothes of mine so that yours can wash and dry."

"You don't need to do that!" Naruto protested, waving his hands frantically. He already felt like he was imposing even when Sasuke was the one who had invited him.

"Are we really going to do this every time I offer you something?" Sasuke asked dryly and shook his head. "Come on, it's just a shower and a change of clothes."

"If you insist," the Omega muttered and followed the Alpha reluctantly upstairs; his eyes flicking towards the various painting depicting nature that hung on the walls. Just like in his office, every piece of furniture, even the rugs, looked quite expensive and luxurious. At least the expensive furniture looked beautiful, the blond admitted silently while he followed the dark haired man. And naturally Sasuke's scent surrounded him the whole time.

"Here's the bathroom," Sasuke nodded towards a closed, white door. "Wait here; I'll grab some clothes quickly." He walked further down the hallway, leaving Naruto awkwardly hovering in front of the bathroom.

True to his word, Sasuke appeared a couple of minutes later with a small pile of clothes in his arms, which he handed over to a bemused blond.

Naruto was pretty certain that the whole borrowing a shower and clothes thing was not something that belonged in a normal doctor-patient relationship. But they probably had crossed that particular line a long time ago since they met at the Christmas party.

"Thanks," Naruto murmured and slipped into the bathroom. He quickly divested himself from his wet clothes, grimacing at the way the cold cloth stuck to his skin, and let them fall on the small rug, for a lack of a better place to dump them. Opening one of the narrow closets, he grabbed a large towel and hung it next to the shower. Hesitating for a little while, he decided to borrow Sasuke's shampoo and stepped into the shower.

The hot water quickly caused the glass of the large shower to fog over and above the sound of the clattering water, Naruto heard the door opening and saw a blurry shape bending over to pick up his clothes, before the door closed again. For some reason, the thought that Sasuke had been in close vicinity while he was naked, made the blond blush fiercely and he roughly scrubbed himself with the shampoo, chastising himself for thinking of the other man in a place like this.

He was seriously starting to wonder what the hell was wrong with him. He had never acted like this with other Alpha men before, so why was Sasuke the exception?

Maybe it had been a bad idea to follow Sasuke to his house; it had been proven before that Naruto was way too susceptible to his scent. Why had he thought it would be a good idea to go to a place where he would be practically bathing in his scent? How stupid could he be?

"Damn it," he whispered harshly and shook his head. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, onto the mat which soaked up the droplets sliding down his body. He dried himself off with the large, soft towel and only when he reached out with his hand for the clothes waiting for him, did he realise that his underwear had been taken away as well.

The mirror above the sink showed him how red his face had become at that realisation. Was he supposed to go commando now in Sasuke's clothes? Fuck, this really wasn't his day.

However, when he took a closer look at the small pile of clothes, he noticed a white boxer short waiting for him and the blush on his face spread out to his neck.

He would be wearing Sasuke's underwear.

Well, that was nothing to panic about, right? He had worn Gaara's underwear occasionally as well, if he had to hurry to somewhere and he didn't have the time to check whether he had grabbed the right piece of underwear. Besides, this was clean underwear, so he could just pretend that it was just bought. No need to freak out about a single piece of clothing, Uzumaki. Don't act pathetic.

The boxer short and the sweatpants were a bit too large on his frame, but he managed to hold them up by pulling tightly on the strings of the sweatpants. The long sleeved, grey shirt was also a bit larger than the shirts he usually wore, but at least it wasn't falling off his shoulders.

Shuffling out of the bathroom on bare feet, he wondered whether he should go back downstairs. Ah, screw it, he thought with a soft sigh and made his way downstairs.

He hesitated when he was back in the hallway. In which room was he supposed to go now?

His question was answered when a dark brown door to his right opened, revealing Sasuke in the doorway, who had changed into dark jeans and a dark sweater.

"I've made some hot chocolate to warm up," Sasuke smiled and gestured at Naruto to follow him into what was apparently the living room.

"You shouldn't ha …" Naruto started to protest, but one meaningful glance of Sasuke made him smile sheepishly while he rubbed the back of his nearly dry hair. "Right, thanks."

Sasuke sat down in a leather armchair while Naruto took a seat on the dark couch. While he sipped from his hot chocolate milk, his eyes wandered around the room, taking in the large bookcases stuffed to the brim with books and the large television taking up considerable space in front of the couch. A large, dark green, soft carpet covered almost the entire floor and Naruto wiggled his toes in it, enjoying the softness.

"So," Sasuke broke the amicable silence. "Mind telling me why you and Gaara-san had a fight?"

Naruto tensed up and placed his half empty mug back on the table with an exhausted sigh. He rubbed his forehead and replied, "I finally asked him to let himself get examined, because all tests have concluded that I'm fine."

Understanding lit up in dark eyes. "I take it he wasn't very agreeable?" Sasuke asked softly with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"Not really, no," Naruto chuckled bitterly and stared at his sweatpants clad knee. "He absolutely refused to visit a doctor and said that nothing is wrong with him, so there's no need for an examination. I got angry at him for that and he told me that we should just be patient and that I shouldn't act so hysterical. I didn't want to stay there, so I left."

"Does he have an aversion against doctors? Maybe a bad experience?" Sasuke inquired curiously, cocking his head to the left.

The blond shrugged. "I have no idea. I know he occasionally went to the doctor's before I met him, but since then he hasn't visited one. He doesn't get sick often either, aside from the occasional cold, so I never thought to ask why he doesn't like seeing a doctor. I just … thought that he would go to a doctor now, because he said he wanted a baby with me." He closed his eyes, feeling frustration rising up again. Abruptly he stood up again, too restless to stay seated and he started pacing back and forth, anger stirring inside of him.

"I just don't understand why he won't let himself get examined!" he spat, raking a hand through his hair roughly. "He says he wants a baby with me, but he doesn't seem willing to do anything so that we would actually be able to get one! It's been seven months! Seven months and I'm still not pregnant. I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Maybe someone else can talk to him?" Sasuke suggested, placing his own mug on the table, while he watched the blond pacing with worried eyes.

Naruto snorted harshly and halted in front of the couch. "We already had a fight, because I decided to see you for this problem. If someone else tries to talk to him about it, he'll probably only get more angry. He thinks people should stay out of our business." He shook his head and bit his lip. "I just … I'm starting to wonder whether he really wants a baby, you know? He doesn't seem to think that it's weird that we haven't conceived yet. He says that we should just be patient. But for how much longer do I need to be patient? I just want a baby with him." Blue eyes turned to look pleadingly at the dark haired Alpha. "What would you do if your mate couldn't conceive?"

Maybe it was really an Alpha thing; maybe this argument he had had with Gaara was just because of his stupid pride as an Alpha. If it was, what was he supposed to do about it? Would Sasuke be able to help him? He was an Alpha after all.

"If my mate had trouble conceiving, I would do anything I could to make sure that we would have a baby," Sasuke answered softly; an odd, distant gleam in his eyes. "I would put my aversion to doctors aside if I really had to, if it meant that we could have a baby together."

"So I'm just unlucky that I love a man whose aversion to doctors is apparently more important than having a baby together," Naruto choked out angrily and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. He knew Sasuke wasn't just saying it to placate him – he had heard the sincerity in his voice and that made his answer only sting more. If Sasuke could say that, as an Alpha, why couldn't Gaara? Clearly this wasn't an Alpha issue, but what else was it then?

What would they do if Naruto never became pregnant? What if they never would have children, despite Naruto being fertile? Would they be able to survive that as a couple? This children wish was starting to strain their relationship and Naruto started to wonder seriously for the first time since they had started trying whether their relationship would be strong enough to handle the disappointment of a childless life. Especially with the knowledge that maybe they could have children if only Gaara would consent to an examination.

"Naruto-san, everything will be all right, you'll see," Sasuke spoke soothingly and stood up, walking towards him.

"That's easy for you to say," Naruto retorted spitefully and lowered his hands. "You don't have a mate who refuses to see a doctor."

"You know, I don't understand why he would refuse such an easy request," Sasuke mused and Naruto stilled when the dark haired man halted in front of him. "It's not like you're asking him to do something impossible. If you were my mate, I would agree to do an examination. I wouldn't want you to be sad."

"Sasuke-san, I …" Naruto breathed in sharply when a warm hand came to rest on his cheek. He looked straight into simmering, dark eyes and was instantly reminded of the last time they were in this particular position. He should pull back now, he knew that. This particular position could not end well at all, and yet … He didn't move. Despite every cell in his body screaming 'DANGER', he didn't move away and didn't make any attempt to push the Alpha away. The Omega in him started to purr in satisfaction when the mysterious scent clinging to Sasuke grew more intense and this time the Omega didn't even seem confused at all.

"If you were my mate, I would do everything in my power to make you happy," Sasuke whispered and his eyes softened. "I'd do everything if it meant I could see you smile again."

Naruto was aware that Sasuke was lowering his head slowly, giving him time to pull back, and he really should step away before this whole thing spiralled out of control. He was together with Gaara, he loved him, he wanted a baby with him.

And yet, despite all that, he kept standing there, allowing Sasuke to close the gap between them.

Closing the gap until his vision was filled with warm black and the air around them permeated by a very alluring scent. A scent that made him dizzy with a fiery desire, with a strength that he had never felt before and that raced through his entire body, igniting every cell.

Naruto's eyes shuttered close and an arm slipped around his waist, bringing him closer.

Their lips met and the fierce desire exploded.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Mouths opened in a surprised gasp and they started kissing each other hungrily, hands clutching at each other's body to drag them closer, while their tongues sneaked between reddening lips to start a hesitant dance with the other one.

The first touch of their tongues together felt electrifying and it made Naruto press himself closer to the Alpha in desperation, hungry for more. Teeth clacked together in their rush to feel more and the blond felt hands closing around his hips, pulling him closer until they were flush against each other, no space left between their bodies that were quickly heating up.

God, no kiss had ever made him feel so out of control. He felt like he couldn't breathe and yet he didn't want to pull away from those glorious lips. He wanted more, he needed more. The raging inferno inside of him couldn't be quelled by a kiss only and he desperately brought his hands underneath Sasuke's shirt, feeling abdominal muscles clench underneath his touch.

A strangled moan was ripped from his throat when a devious tongue curled around his own and sucked on it while one hand slipped underneath his borrowed shirt, searing hot against his side while the other hand slid down to his arse, squeezing it firmly.

"Tardiness is not becoming of an Uchiha, Otouto. Do I still need to remind you that …"

Blue eyes shot open and widened in shock when Naruto registered what exactly was happening. He ripped himself out of Sasuke's firm grip, but the damage had already been done.

There in the doorway stood Itachi and Deidara both shocked to the core, though Itachi's face remained mostly blank while Deidara's mouth hung open. Still, Itachi's slightly widened eyes were enough to tell the blond that he hadn't expected to walk in on this particular scene.

"Itachi," Sasuke said breathlessly and he tried to brush his shirt back down, though it was a fruitless gesture.

"I – I can explain," Naruto mumbled weakly, but to be honest he didn't know how to explain this particular scene. He had been kissing Sasuke. Not even a simple brushing of lips, but full blown French kissing and feeling each other up. Oh fuck, what had he done? How could he have done this? How could he have kissed another man while he was still together with his mate? He couldn't even use the stupid, feeble excuse of being drunk, because save for maybe Sasuke having drugged his chocolate milk (and that was something he couldn't see the other man doing), he had been completely sober.

Shit. He had kissed Sasuke. How the fuck was he supposed to explain this? This was not good. Not good at all. Fuck.

"I'm sure you can," Itachi replied sardonically and raised a slim eyebrow. "Deidara, take Naruto-kun home. My brother and I need to talk."

Deidara grimaced and walked over to Naruto, taking him by his hand. "Come on, Naruto-kun. I'll take you back home," he said softly; his baby blue eyes troubled.

"Wait, my clothes, they are still in the dryer …" Naruto fumbled, not even daring to look at Sasuke, who was standing stiffly next to him.

"I'll take them with me once they are done," Itachi answered coolly; his dark, piercing eyes trained on his brother.

Deidara tugged at his hand again and subdued Naruto followed him, flinching when he passed Itachi, whose aura practically screamed anger.

Heavy, oppressing silence followed the two blonds into the car until Deidara started Itachi's car.

"What happened?" Deidara asked softly, throwing Naruto a worried look. "Why were you at Sasuke-kun's place, un?"

Naruto stared at his fists, too ashamed to look the older blond in the eyes. "I had a fight with Gaara and I left the house. Sasuke found me and offered to bring me to his place, because it was raining," he muttered.

"So how did that lead to the scene Itachi and I walked into? Because that went a bit far for lending shelter," Deidara inquired and he was obviously attempting to be lighthearted.

"I don't know," Naruto whispered and bit his lower lip hard. He released it as soon as the bitter taste of iron flooded over his tongue. "It wasn't … I didn't mean …" He didn't know what to say. What on earth could he say to explain himself? He had cheated on his mate by kissing his doctor. Fuck, how was he supposed to explain this to Gaara?

"Why were you and Gaara-san fighting?"

"I asked him to get an examination, because all tests concluded that I'm fertile. He refuses to take one and I got mad at him," Naruto answered with bitterness tainting his voice.

"Why is he refusing to undergo one?" the older Omega asked with a frown marring his face.

"He says there's no need to, because he doesn't have any problems. I should just be patient," Naruto snorted and his nails bit into the sensitive skin of his palms.

Deidara hesitated visibly. "Did you kiss Sasuke-kun as some sort of revenge?" he asked carefully.

Naruto whipped his head around to look at him in shock. "What? No, of course not! I didn't kiss Sasuke-san in revenge. You know I'm not like that!"

"You also wouldn't normally kiss another man than Gaara-san," the blond pointed out delicately.

Naruto clenched his teeth and looked out of the window, knowing he had no rebuttal to that remark.

It was silent for a while; they left the richer part of the town and entered the part with the moderate sized houses again. It wouldn't be long anymore before Naruto was back home.

"Look, Naruto-kun, I know you're not the type to just kiss another man like that," Deidara spoke up finally and he squeezed Naruto's knee quickly in reassurance. "Do you like Sasuke-kun like that?"

"I don't know, maybe. I know I'm attracted to him," the younger blond admitted ashamed. It sounded even worse when spoken aloud. What he had been denying for weeks now was finally in the open: yes, he was attracted to Sasuke. Had been for a long time now. But that didn't mean he was about to leave Gaara for him!

"You know, there's no shame in being attracted to another person," Deidara said slowly. "Hell, I've felt attraction to other people as well, even though I'm together with Itachi."

"Yeah, but you probably never kissed one of those people," Naruto muttered bitterly.

"No, I didn't," Deidara admitted wryly. "Because I love Itachi more than an anonymous attractive face."

"I do love Gaara," Naruto retorted sharply, clenching his fingers in the soft cloth of his sweatpants. At least that wasn't a lie. He did love the red haired man.

"Maybe you just don't love him enough anymore?" Deidara suggested softly. "Just think carefully of what you're going to do now, Naruto-kun. Gaara-san can act quite difficult at times, but he doesn't deserve you cheating on him. If you are more attracted to Sasuke-kun, then maybe it's time that you and Gaara-san get separated. Both of you deserve a person who loves you completely, not partly."

Naruto kept quiet; a maelstrom of thoughts whirling inside his mind. Most of those thoughts revolved around one troubling question: should he confess to Gaara about the kiss or not?

Far too soon for Naruto's liking, Deidara halted in front of his house and the long haired blond turned towards him, surprising him with a firm hug.

"I'm always here for you, okay, Naruto-kun?" he whispered in his ear. "I'm not going to judge you, whatever you decide. If you need someone to talk to, you can come to me anytime you want, okay?" He pressed a fleeting kiss against Naruto's temple.

"I know," Naruto mumbled and hugged him back. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Naruto-kun."

The following weeks went by with a strained atmosphere hanging in their house. Guilt ate at him and his desire to not keep any secrets from his mate had made Naruto confess about the kiss to Gaara. Understandably Gaara had been incredibly pissed off, but mostly hurt. And that had made Naruto feel even worse. He had never wanted to hurt Gaara and yet he had done it, purely because he couldn't keep his attraction to himself. If only he hadn't accepted Sasuke's offer to stay at his house for a while; if only he hadn't kissed him back; if only he had pushed him away; if only he had searched another doctor when it became clear that he was becoming too overwhelmed by the Uchiha's presence …

So many 'if only' events that could have been prevented if he hadn't acted like an idiot.

After their conversation, Naruto had offered to stay at a friend's house to give Gaara some space to think, but the red haired man had refused that, stating that he didn't want the blond to leave as this was his house as well.

Still, Naruto tried to keep out of his way, to give him space to think about what he wanted to do next. Of course he wanted Gaara's forgiveness, but he was also smart enough to realise that he had screwed up badly. He hadn't actually slept with Sasuke, but kissing him back was already bad enough.

He wished he could say that he was over his attraction, but to his utter shame he had to admit to himself that the attraction was still there, with the possibility of growing worse. He and Gaara were sleeping in separate rooms for the time being and while Naruto would love nothing more than to be back into Gaara's arms in their bed, he was relieved for the reprieve he had now. Because how on earth would he explain the fact that he kept having wet dreams about the dark haired Alpha man? Dreams that had him waking up, gasping for breath with a heart hammering in his chest and either sticky pants or a hard one that wouldn't go away unless he took care of it. Dreams that left him even more ashamed than the kiss had made him feel; dreams that made him unable to look Gaara in the eyes during the morning.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He had a nearly perfect man as his mate – why couldn't he keep Sasuke out of his mind?

"Fuck," he hissed miserably and glared at his faint reflection in the glass wand of the shower. His dream of last night kept popping up in his mind, no matter how much he tried to forget about it. If only it had stayed with those fragments, it would have been fine. Well, not really fine, but at least doable. With the way his life was turning out lately, though, of course his body had to react to those images as well and try as he might, ignoring it was clearly not the way to go if he wanted to calm down.

Well, he might have started dreaming about Sasuke, but that didn't mean that his fantasies in real life had to involve the Alpha as well.

He closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. While his one hand occupied itself by pinching and rolling his nipple until it turned into a hard pebble, sensitive to the touch, his other hand drifted down, lazily drawing circles on his lower stomach, following the intricate design of his tattoo, before he wrapped a hand around his hard cock, which gave a twitch of interest in his wet hand. A soft moan was dragged from his open mouth as he slid his hand up and down over his prick, his thumb pressing and gliding over his leaking head every time he slid his hand up before tracing the prominent vein that made him shiver in delight, his other hand switching over to his neglected nipple, while he imagined Gaara's hands taking the place of his on his body.

Gaara would pinch and suck on his nipple, until they were bright red and hard, before he would direct his mouth elsewhere. Like his collarbone, biting there gently. Or his neck where he would lick a stripe from his collarbone to his ear, stopping to suckle softly on his earlobe. And while he was busy devouring Naruto's mouth next, leaving him breathless, he would push his legs apart, twisting and turning his hand around his cock in just that particular way that would make Naruto see stars and have him begging, pleading for more, for Gaara to grip him more firmly, to touch him more.

And then once he was satisfied that he had made Naruto beg enough, he would slide down until he was on his knees in front of him; jade green eyes glittering mischievously while he took Naruto's prick in his mouth, lavishing him with wet heat; his tongue curling around his throbbing cock, taking him deep in his mouth until Naruto could feel himself touching the backside of Gaara's throat, where muscles would constrict around him, causing him to scream out loud in blinding pleasure.

Naruto moaned softly at the image, feeling pleasure slowly building up while he stroked his throbbing cock leisurely, gripping it firmly whenever he reached the base. He imagined a wicked tongue licking two fingers, before they disappeared from sight and prodded against his entrance, forcing him to open his legs more. Gaara would slide first one finger inside, caressing the contracting walls, before he would slide in a second one, spreading both to open up Naruto. Fingers would rub and caress his inner walls, going deeper and deeper until they pressed against his sweet spot, where Gaara would mercilessly push against it, making Naruto howl in pleasure.

The heat in his belly grew and his legs started to tremble, his breath leaving him in harsh panting. His hand started to move quicker until the heat finally erupted, spilling his essence over his hand, coating it with the sticky fluid, when he imagined simmering eyes looking up at him, with a coy smirk tainting red lips.

He opened his eyes abruptly and slammed his hand against the wall, ignoring how hot pain flashed through his arm.

"God damn it!" he hissed, angry at himself, at his brain for betraying him once again.

Because instead of simmering jade green eyes, it had been burning black ones that had thrown him over the edge.

Fuck, he was really screwed now, wasn't he?

On Friday evening in the middle of March, Gaara sat down next to Naruto, who looked up startled from his book. It had been exactly four weeks since Naruto had kissed Sasuke back.

"I don't want to break up with you," Gaara announced abruptly and gazed at the blond with unreadable eyes.

"I don't want to break up either," Naruto admitted warily and closed his book, placing it on the table. This conversation needed his complete attention.

"I'm still a bit pissed off," the red haired man continued and reached out to grab Naruto's hand, entwining their fingers. "And I sort of want to punch that asshole in the face for daring to put a move on you when he knows that you're taken."

Naruto stayed quiet, thinking it would be better not to mention that he himself shared part of the blame as well, considering he had kissed the older man back.

"But I'm not willing to lose you," Gaara admitted softly and his thumb slowly caressed Naruto's hand. "So I forgive you for kissing him. I just want you to promise me one thing."

"Anything," Naruto agreed eagerly. Relief, as warm as sunshine, was filling him at Gaara's words. His mate had forgiven him. He had forgiven him for hurting him – that was more than Naruto deserved.

"I want you to switch doctors," Gaara told him with a determined look on his face. "It's not that I don't trust you anymore, but I don't trust that son of a bitch to keep his hands to himself."

"All – all right, I'll switch doctors," Naruto agreed, a bit thrown off by the request. Then again, he should have expected something like that, right? It was only normal that Gaara wouldn't trust him around Sasuke anymore. Guess he needed to find a new doctor then. It would be a hassle, considering Deidara had told him that Sasuke was one of the best in his field, but surely he wasn't the only one who could help Naruto?

"Thank you," the red haired man sighed relieved and pressed a soft, tender kiss on Naruto's lips, who returned it rather clumsily. A hand carded through his unruly, blond hair. "I'll search for a new doctor, okay? Maybe someone else will be able to help us have a baby."

Naruto nodded, glad that Gaara still wanted to have a child with him. He didn't have it in him to point out that the new doctor would probably ask Gaara to let himself be examined; he wasn't in the mood for another fight, right after they had finally resolved the last one.

"I love you," Gaara whispered, pressing another soft kiss against his lips, before pressing their foreheads together. "I promise we'll get through this."

Naruto smiled weakly and squeezed Gaara's hand.

He vehemently tried to ignore the part in him that wasn't relieved at Gaara's forgiveness and was mourning the fact that he wouldn't see Sasuke again.

It's better this way, he thought to himself, while he let Gaara pull him towards their bedroom. I have a steady relationship – why throw that away for something that isn't certain?

And yet, something hurt deep inside of him.

"So has Gaara-san found a new doctor yet?" Deidara asked and Naruto heard the faint splashing of water in the background. "Akihito, don't splash so much! I don't want to clean the bathroom again."

"No, he hasn't," Naruto sighed and closed his notebook where he wrote down the marks of his students. "He said he's still looking for a good one."

"How long has he been searching for?"

"Two weeks now," the younger blond replied, staring blankly at his closed notebook. He rubbed over his forehead and leant back in his chair, picking up the faint chirping of birds outside.

"I doubt he'll be able to find someone as good as Sasuke-kun," Deidara murmured. "Have you taken another test lately?"

"Yeah, negative again of course," Naruto snorted harshly, dropping his free hand on his lap. At this point he hadn't even expected a positive result. He had merely bought one again, because it had been a month since he last used a test. It was starting to become a waste of money.

"Well, maybe you'll have more luck in the upcoming weeks," Deidara told him, making an attempt to sound cheerful. "April and May are the months when we're the most fertile, so maybe that will give you a boost!"

"Yeah, maybe," Naruto agreed half-heartedly and started petting Shukaku, who had deemed his lap as his new place to take a nap. The reminder of which month they were in now had worry gnawing at him again. As he was now off suppressants entirely, his heat should be worse than the year before. Last year when he had still been taking his suppressants daily, the heats of April and May had bothered him quite significantly, despite the fact that his hormones had been suppressed. He should be dragging Gaara in their bed or any other available place so that he could jump on him, like he had done quite a few times last year.

Instead while he did feel the faint stirrings of his heat welling up, it didn't give him the urge to jump Gaara's bones whenever he could.

And that particular fact scared the hell out of him. Why was his heat so weak this year? It should be overwhelming him, keeping him and Gaara locked inside their house, but Naruto didn't feel any different than last month. Maybe the suppressants had unintentionally caused a defect in him? But Sasuke had been clear about the fact that the suppressants didn't have any influence on his body anymore.

Whatever it was, it had left Gaara capable of going into work this morning without any hassle.

"Naruto-kun, are you …"

A loud beeping noise alerted Naruto to the fact that someone else was calling him, trying to get through.

"Hang on, Deidara-kun, someone else is trying to get through to me," he told his friend and switched between the two lines after the older blond agreed to wait. Who was trying to get through to him? Kiba? Shikamaru? "Hello?"

"Naruto-san, it's me, Sasuke," the low, baritone voice spoke up, causing Naruto to sit up straight in his chair abruptly, making Shukaku whine in disagreement.

"Sasuke-san?" he said dumbly, while his heart started to beat wildly. Sasuke was calling him? How had the man got his number? "How did you get my number?"

"I'm sorry, but I used the one you gave up on your information sheet," Sasuke apologized and he sounded sheepishly. "I didn't know how to contact you otherwise without risking the chance of pissing off your mate."

Right, he had promised Gaara that he wouldn't be near Sasuke again. He winced and bit his lip, feeling nerves playing up. But a phone call should be fine, right? It wasn't like Naruto could get distracted by Sasuke's curious scent through the phone and he wouldn't be as stupid as to agree to meet Sasuke somewhere again. He had chosen for Gaara, he reminded himself.

But a phone call couldn't hurt, right?

"Eh, so why are you calling?" he asked wearily. He didn't want to come across as rude, but it was odd for the Alpha to call him. Especially after what had happened the last time they saw each other. Maybe Sasuke was calling him to discuss the kiss? Naruto grimaced and shook his head. He didn't think he would be up for discussing that particular kiss any time soon.

"Has Gaara-san visited a doctor yet?" Sasuke inquired briskly.

The blond felt thrown off by the sudden question. "What? No, he hasn't. He's been searching for a new doctor."

"You told me he did go to a doctor before you met him – has he ever told you the doctor's name?" Sasuke questioned further.

"Eh, no, he never mentioned the name. Why?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, confused at the odd turn this conversation was taking.

"Do you think you can find the name of his doctor in his diary or so?"

"I can search for it, but I doubt he still has the name written down somewhere," Naruto replied reluctantly. "Why? Why do you need the name?"

"I figured that his last doctor might know whether he has issues with fertility," Sasuke explained frankly. "If I have the name, I can look him up and ask him about it."

"Isn't that illegal? Patient confidentiality and all that?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, absentmindedly scratching Shukaku's ear.

Sasuke made a non-committal sound. "It'll be fine," he answered vaguely. "It's not like Gaara-san is still seeing that doctor, right?"

"Right," Naruto said slowly, biting his lip.

"Just let me know if you have found the name, okay? I really want to help you, Naruto-san. I wasn't lying when I said that I want to see you happy," Sasuke said sincerely.

"Yeah, okay, thanks. I – I have to go now," Naruto fumbled and he barely waited for Sasuke to say goodbye before he ended the call.

His hand trembled when he placed his phone on his desk. What the hell had just happened?

It turned out that Naruto was right: Gaara hadn't kept anything remotely related to his previous doctor. He had briefly contemplated the thought to ask Gaara for the name, but he could already envision the argument that would follow after that request and had decided that it just wasn't worth the fight. He was still treading on thin ice after his kiss with Sasuke and he didn't want to ruin their relationship even more by nagging Gaara about his past.

Yet, he still wanted to know who had been Gaara's doctor. If Sasuke was right, then that person could maybe tell whether or not Gaara was fertile or not. Naruto didn't want to think badly of his mate, but surely after eight months of trying and not succeeding, that meant something had to be wrong. He didn't want to antagonize the red haired man, but he was becoming quite impatient. All he wanted was his own family and it was so close in reach and yet still so far away. He was getting quite desperate and this desperation made him decide to call Gaara's brother, Kankuro, behind his mate's back to ask him about the mysterious doctor.

"Why do you need to know Gaara's doctor?" Kankuro asked surprised.

He didn't sound suspicious or wary, so Naruto ploughed on, "I need it to fill in some paperwork for the government," he fibbed. There was a reason why he had called Kankuro and not Temari. Temari would have drilled him about this supposed paperwork until he either had to admit that it was a lie or until she had discovered the truth herself. Kankuro on the other hand was lazy and less likely to look something up if it didn't have any direct impact on his life or his cases.

For once Naruto was glad Kankuro was such a lazy guy, rivalling Shikamaru in that aspect.

"And you can't call Gaara or wait for him to come home?" Kankuro sighed and the faint murmuring of other people was audible in the background.

"Can't, no. Gaara is presenting a case now and I kind of waited too long to fill in this paperwork and it has to be posted this afternoon," Naruto forced a sheepish chuckle. God, he felt awful lying about this, sneaking around Gaara's back just to get the name, but he saw no other option. This mysterious doctor was his last hope.

"God, Naruto, you really should stop procrastinating; it's not exactly befitting for a teacher," Kankuro chided him laughing.

They exchanged some more good natured banter, before Kankuro finally told him the name of Gaara's previous doctor. Not recognizing the name at all, he simply put it in a text message and sent it through to Sasuke.

And now all he could do was wait.

"You know, I was thinking that maybe we could take some time off in May," Gaara mused out loud, while his hand slipped underneath Naruto's shirt, fingers skidding across his stomach. His lips caressed a spot right underneath Naruto's ear. "A week or so. We can spend it in that small country house near the mountains that my father left me. Just the two of us. What do you think?"

Naruto smiled, nuzzling Gaara's cheek, while his own hands were wandering up and down the other one's strong back. They were lying on the couch, Gaara on top of Naruto with their legs tangled together. It was Saturday, late afternoon, and they had been spending the entire day like this. Gaara for once didn't have to show up at his office and they were taking advantage of this rare reprieve.

"Sounds good to me," he hummed in agreement, tilting his neck back to give the red haired man more space. For a couple of tantalizing seconds, the blond felt teeth resting against the side of his neck and he held his breath, wondering whether Gaara would finally say goodbye to his rule of no real biting. Disappointment welled up inside of him when teeth were replaced by lips and a teasing tongue. Well, he should have expected that, really. And yet, this time it stung worse than before that Gaara wasn't giving him the Mark.

A loud ringtone startled them both and Naruto's hand shot out, scrambling across the table to grab his vibrating phone. Gaara sat up, allowing Naruto more room and the blond's eyes widened when they caught sight of the display screen. A name he hadn't seen in more than a week was flashing up on his screen.

"Who is it?" Gaara asked curiously, cocking his head slightly.

"It's Iruka-sensei," Naruto answered absentmindedly, swinging his legs off the couch so that he could stand up. "Give me a moment; I'll be right back."

Gaara shrugged and rolled his eyes, leaning forwards to grab the remote so that he could watch some television.

Hastily Naruto made his way to another room, where he was certain that he wouldn't be overheard. "Why are you calling me?" he demanded to know when he accepted the call.

A short pause. "I figured you would want to know what your mate's doctor had to say about his former patient. I didn't think showing up at your doorstep would be a good idea," Sasuke replied in a silk tone.

Naruto ignored the way his heart seemed to skip a bit at hearing Sasuke's smooth voice again.

"Wha-what did he say?" he asked nervously and he started to pull at a loose thread of his shirt.

"It's not easy to say this over the phone," Sasuke started and he sounded wary. "I don't know how I can soften the blow for you."

"Surely it can't be that bad?" Naruto laughed nervously, but his heart started to beat wildly, the sound filling his ears.

"Naruto-san … Apparently Gaara-san underwent a certain treatment," Sasuke said slowly. "A year before he met you."

"What kind of treatment?" Naruto asked, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry.

"There is a particular treatment that Alpha can undergo and it's not reversible. I'll spare you the long explanation and the medical terminology, but it comes down to the fact that Gaara-san took a cocktail of pills which will render all his seed useless," Sasuke replied softly. "He won't ever be able to get someone pregnant."

"He, he … So I won't ever be able to have his baby?" Naruto whispered. Numb. That was all he felt. Numb, shocked to the core. And hurt. Incredibly hurt. This couldn't be true, right? There had to be some kind of mistake! There was no way Gaara would have taken pills to essentially render himself infertile. That just couldn't be true. He had assured Naruto that he wanted children! He wanted a baby with Naruto, he had agreed to try for one. Surely the doctor had to be mistaken?

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sasuke murmured, dropping the polite suffix once more. "I asked his doctor whether he was sure and he was. He remembered it quite clearly, because Gaara-san was one of the very few Alpha who willingly chose that treatment."

"So I won't … He can't …" Naruto tried to finish his question, but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth and he stumbled against the counter, gripping the edge to steady himself. Everything seemed to spin in front of him. Was this some kind of nightmare?

"I'm really sorry, Naruto, but Gaara-san won't be able to impregnate you, no matter how long you try," Sasuke answered softly.

The sympathetic tone in his voice made Naruto nearly hurl.

"I – I have to go," he babbled, feeling the hot sting of tears pressing against his eyes.

"Wait, Naruto!"

He ended the call abruptly, ignoring Sasuke's concerned shout, and stared at the floor; his hand clenched around his cell phone. The sharp sting of his nails digging in the soft flesh of his palm told him that he wasn't dreaming. The conversation with Sasuke had really happened just now.

Gaara couldn't impregnate him.

He would never be able to carry Gaara's baby, give birth to it and hold it. All those months of trying … And for what? It had been useless from the very start. Nothing Naruto would do or had done would have made a difference after all. All those nights of worrying and sometimes even crying when the test announced another negative result … All those moments of hope blossoming up in him whenever he thought that they had finally succeeded …

Why had Gaara never told him about this? Why had he let Naruto believe that they would have a baby together?

He should have been fucking told about this! Gaara knew he had a children's wish – Naruto had made that clear from the beginning. And yet he had let the blond believe for their entire time together that they would eventually have a baby. Naruto had already said goodbye to his wish of getting married and being Marked – all his hopes had been fixated on a baby of them together. Something that would unite them, show the world that they loved each other.

And now he heard that that dream would never become reality. No matter how long they would try, he would never experience a baby growing inside of him, kicking him, moving inside of him. He would never know how it felt like to hold his own baby in his arms.

All his dreams … completely shattered.

Why? That one question whirled around in his mind, suppressing everything else. Why had Gaara lied to him? Why had he accepted that treatment?

Why? Why? Why?!

Fury welling up inside of him, threatening to explode like a volcano, he marched straight into the living room, coming to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room.

Gaara raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of Naruto's furious face. "Naruto? What's wrong? Did something …"

"When the fuck were you going to tell me that you made yourself infertile?" Naruto sneered, balling his hands to fists, the knuckles turning white.

The red haired man stilled; Naruto could practically see him closing off, his green eyes growing dull. "Who told you?"

No denial. No reassurance that it wasn't true, that he was fertile. Just a simple question: who had told him.

The last shred of hope died inside of him. "Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto whispered, staring at his mate with accusing eyes.

For the first time since they met, Gaara looked uncomfortable. "I know you have a children's wish and well, I didn't know how to tell you. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? You're sorry?" Naruto repeated incredulously, his voice gaining a sharp edge. "You fucking lied to me for years, let me believe for months that we would have a baby and now you have the gall to say you're fucking sorry?!"

"Naruto, I …"

"Why the fuck did you have that treatment, Gaara?!"

"Because I didn't want to screw up any children I would father, okay?" Gaara snapped, standing up in a flash. "I told you how my father treated me and my siblings – I didn't want to become like him! I don't want any children to experience what I went through. So yes, I took those pills, so that I wouldn't be able to get someone pregnant. You can't blame me for not wanting to turn out like my father. You've seen for yourself how he was!"

"You're right, I can't blame you for not wanting to be like your father – but you still should have fucking told me, Gaara! You lied to me for years; you let me believe that we would be having a baby together! How could you do this to me?" Naruto yelled, fury coursing through his veins, heating up his body.

"Look, I know I should have told you about this and I'm really sorry for that. I truly am," Gaara stressed, a hint of frustration ringing through his voice. "But what's done is done. I can't take it back. I know you're hurt right now, but can't we talk about this?"

"Gaara, we've been trying for months; for months I've been hoping to get pregnant, to have your baby," Naruto started in a choked voice; a ringing sound in his ears.

"I know, Naruto, I know," Gaara said soothingly and took a step forwards, holding his hands out as if he wanted to grab the blond. "I know you're hurting now, but I promise to make it better. If you still want a baby, we can adopt one and …"

"Do you really think that you can solve this with, with an adoption?" Naruto asked wildly and he stared at Gaara's non-comprehending face. "I feel like I don't know you anymore. You let me believe for four years that we could have a baby together and now you think that an adoption will solve everything? You fucking lied to me!"

"Aren't you exaggerating a little bit?" Gaara scowled, waving one hand haphazardly through the air. "Yes, I should have told you about this sooner, but it's not like I withheld it from you on purpose. I just thought in the beginning that it wasn't important enough. And it's not like I'm taking away your chances of having a child completely – we can still adopt one. And as it will have no biological tie to me, I don't have to be afraid of screwing up the child with my genes."

"You really don't get it, do you?" Naruto asked dumbfounded and his arms fell slack next to his sides. "I wanted to have your baby. I wanted to feel our baby growing inside of me, a sign that we belong with each other. And you took that from me! You never gave me any choice!"

"Naruto, what does it matter whether the baby is biologically ours or not? If you want to have a baby that badly, we can start the adoption process this weekend. And …" Gaara started and it was clear that he just didn't understand what the issue was.

"I can't believe you," Naruto mumbled, shaking his head numbly and he stumbled back. "You think that us adopting a baby will solve everything? You lied to me, Gaara, you never even gave me a choice! You kept this secret from me, a secret that not only had an impact on your life, but also on mine! Did you never think about that?!"

"Are you saying that you wouldn't have stayed with me if I told you from the beginning that I couldn't give you any children?" Gaara asked incredulously, his eyes widening in shock.

Naruto gazed at him sadly. "I told you from the beginning that I want to have children, Gaara," he answered softly. "I don't think … I think we should go our own way."

Gaara let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Are you seriously breaking up with me over this? Are you telling me you love your children's wish more than you love me? Wait, have you ever loved me at all? Or just the fact that I could give you children?"

"You know I loved you, but you also knew damn well that I want to have my own children. I'm sorry, Gaara, but I think it's best if we break up," Naruto spoke, swallowing past the lump that had formed in his throat. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Four years together, but he didn't think he would ever be able to forgive Gaara for lying to him about something as important as this. He just couldn't. It was not only the fact that his mate, the one he had loved and had expected to grow old with, had lied to him for the entire time they had been together, but also because of the fact that he would never have his own children. If he stayed with Gaara, he would never be able to have a child of his own. Never. And no matter how much he loved Gaara, he couldn't give up his children's wish for him. That was the one thing he was unwilling to give up. He already had to give up his dream of a marriage and of being Marked for Gaara, but he was unwilling to also give up his wish for children.

That was something the red haired man couldn't expect from him.

"I fucking forgave you for kissing that bastard, but you can't forgive me for keeping one little secret?!" Gaara snarled, his eyes lightning up with fury.

"One little secret? You fucking lied to me for four fucking years! You knew how much I wanted children and yet you never said anything! I never asked you to forgive me, Gaara, you decided that on your own! I want children of my own and if I stay with you, I'll never be able to have that. I'm sorry, I just … I can't stay with you, I just can't," Naruto said desperately and walked away. "I'm sorry, I need to leave. I'm really sorry. I'll come back later for my stuff, but now I just …"

"Naruto, wait!"

Naruto snatched his car keys from the table and ran out of the house, slamming the door behind him. He practically threw himself in his car, starting it in his haste when he saw that Gaara had opened the door and was prepared to follow him.

With screaming tires, Naruto fled from the house he had shared with Gaara for three years. The house where he had thought they would grow old together. Pushing back a sob, he breathed harshly, fumbling with his phone. He couldn't believe he had just broken up with Gaara. Part of him was heartbroken, despite the fact that he had initiated the break up himself, but to his deep shame, a part of him was also relieved. It felt like a huge weight had been removed from his shoulders.

Had he been deluding himself for the past few months? When had their relationship started deteriorating to the point that Naruto felt the ending had been coming all along? Had it been the moment that he had kissed Sasuke back? The moment he had started having those strange dreams about the dark haired man? Or the moment when it slowly started to dawn on him that Gaara didn't seem that invested to get Naruto pregnant? Maybe they both had been just too stubborn to realise that the ending was nearing. Perhaps they had been deluding themselves for the past two months that everything would be fine even when Naruto had kissed another man and even with their problem to conceive.

Whatever the cause was, it made Naruto feel torn between two conflicting emotions. Relief and heartbreak.

All he knew now was that he had to get away from Gaara, no matter how much it hurt. He needed a clean break. He needed to be away from the other man, at least for a short while. He wouldn't keep running away from him, but at this moment he simply couldn't handle being near the other man.

But to whom could he drive? Kiba? No, Gaara would expect him to go there. Shikamaru? No, him either, because Gaara knew where he lived as well. Neji was out of town, so he couldn't stay there either. Deidara?

Naruto hesitated briefly and then shook his head. That would be one of the first places where Gaara would search him and the blond didn't want to alarm Deidara's children. He didn't want to get the couple tangled up in this either.

Where on earth could he go? Where would Gaara never be able to find him unless Naruto invited him?

His breath hitched and his heart did an odd flip when he remembered the one place where Gaara would never be able to find him, as he had never been there before. A place that was calling out to him now; a weird sort tugging deep inside his stomach. A place where he instinctively knew he would be safe. Safe and welcome.

Resolutely Naruto took the next turn to the right, rubbing a few stray tears from his face.

Maybe he shouldn't go there, not after everything that had happened … But at this point in his life, that was the only thing that could ground him.

It was the only thing in his life that had been certain for a long time now. Perhaps it was time to stop using his head and start listening to his heart. Maybe this time his heart wouldn't screw up.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

When he turned off his car in front of the house, he leant his head back against the seat and groaned. Was he really here? Had he really driven all the way to this place? What would he do if the other one wasn't home? Or worse: what if the other man wouldn't welcome him?

He had taken a leap of faith by driving here and he wondered what the hell he was thinking.

Clearly he wasn't, judging by the fact that he was sitting here in front of the house.

Well, all he could do was ring the bell and hope to god that the other man wouldn't laugh in his face and send him away.

Taking a deep breath, he removed his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. Throwing a glance at his vibrating cell phone, he denied the incoming call and turned the device off completely. Naruto closed his eyes for a few seconds to steady himself and then made the trek towards the front door – which suddenly looked intimidating as hell – on unsteady legs. He pressed the buzzer for a couple of seconds and then waited for the homeowner to open the door; rocking slightly back and forth while nerves filled him, his stomach doing odd flips and turns.

He was intently staring at his shoes – wincing at the raffled edges of them, he really needed to buy some new ones soon – when the door suddenly swung open, revealing a shocked dark haired man.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked dumbfounded.

Naruto smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can I come in? I – I need a place to stay for the moment."

"Yes, of course, come in," Sasuke said quickly and stepped out of the way so that the blond could enter.

"Sorry for intruding," Naruto murmured and removed his shoes, placing them next to the door.

"Follow me," Sasuke muttered and guided him to the living room where some papers were strewn across the table. "Take a seat. What happened? Why are you here? Not that I'm complaining of course, but … Have you been crying?" Dark eyes widened in shock and it was such a comical sight that Naruto might have laughed if he had been in a better mood.

"I – I confronted Gaara about what you had told me," Naruto explained and took a measured breath to calm down. "He told me that he had taken that treatment, because he didn't want to end up like his father. He thought that adopting a baby would solve everything and would make me forget about the fact that he has been lying to me for four years." Bitterness tainted his voice. Yes, Naruto was no angel, he admitted that freely, but he would never have lied about something that important. He would never have screwed with Gaara's life like that.

"What did you do?"

Blue eyes looked straight into dark ones when Naruto admitted, "I broke up with him. I just can't forgive him for lying to me like that and I can't give up my children's wish for him. I want to have children of my own, I want to feel my baby grow in me and I won't be able to have that if I stay with Gaara. I know I'm being selfish, but I can't stay with him." The last sentence came out in a rather choked voice and Naruto rubbed harshly across his eyes.

"Hey, you're not being selfish. It's perfectly naturally to want to have your own child," Sasuke murmured soothingly. He hesitated visibly. "Why did you come here? I don't mind, but I'm sure that you have friends you could have gone to as well."

"I wanted to be at a place where Gaara wouldn't be able to find me. And …" Naruto paused, wondering whether he was ready to admit it. Well, this was the moment of truth, he supposed. "And something in me was telling me that I needed to come here. That this is the place I'm supposed to be at." He felt himself flush and he stood up, embarrassment filling him. "I'm sorry, I know it sounds incredibly weird and stupid. I can't explain it, not really. I just … Shit, I'll – I'll just go now."

He turned around, ready to leave again – maybe he could crash at Haku's place for a while if his scary boyfriend wasn't in town – when a cool hand closed around his left wrist, stopping him.

"What …"

"Naruto, don't go. Please," Sasuke murmured and something stirred inside his dark eyes. The mysterious scent rose up around them again, slowly thickening the air.

His knees felt weak, his legs trembled and to his utter shock and confusion he suddenly felt something wet and slick sliding between his buttocks over his thighs. Oh god, this couldn't be happening. Not now. Not here. His heat slammed into him with a vengeance that almost knocked his breath out.

A low growl made him whip his head around to stare wide eyed at Sasuke, whose nostrils had flared open and he sniffed audibly, as if he had smelled something and was trying to discern what it was.

Naruto froze when wild, dark eyes fixated themselves on him; the warm, black colour was slowly being replaced by a deep, hypnotizing blood red and a snarl escaped Sasuke, who bared his teeth.

"Mine!"

Before Naruto could form a protest – but did he really want to? – he was harshly tugged forwards and a hand buried itself in his blond hair, gripping the locks tightly, while hungry lips attached themselves to his mouth, kissing him harshly. An insistent tongue pressed against his closed lips, swiping across them and Naruto opened his mouth with a helpless moan, trembling underneath the powerful aura of the Alpha in front of him. The air grew heavy with a mixture of their pheromones and those seemed worse than Naruto was used to. His head was roughly pulled backwards to give the dark haired man the opportunity to plunder his mouth and the blond couldn't help but let out an agreeing groan. He had always liked it rough – his hair being pulled was one of his weaknesses.

Not one to be outdone, Naruto kissed back with a vigour that even shocked him; his hands buried in silky black hair, he pressed back eagerly, giving up some control to the dominant Alpha. Their tongues brushed against each other, playing, rubbing along their palates and Naruto took the opportunity to suck on Sasuke's tongue, his mouth overflowing with Sasuke's unique taste. A taste that left him hungry for more.

Heat was burning his entire body; a heat that could only be quelled by Sasuke's touch. His head was heavy with the thick perfume of their pheromones penetrating the air and he let out a sound of approval, when strong hands slid underneath his arse and pressed upwards, forcing him to swing his legs up and around the older man's waist.

Their hips rubbed against each other with each step forwards and those devious hands massaged and squeezed his buttocks, palming them roughly.

"Fuck, I want you," Sasuke breathed harshly, kicking a door open. The move jostled the blond in his arms a bit, making their bodies rub together and the Omega whimpered. "You don't know how fucking sexy you look now. How sexy and attractive you are the entire time. Do you know how many times I had to hold myself back from taking you there and then? Do you have any idea how crazy you make me feel?" Those last words slipped out in an agitated growl and suddenly Naruto's back made contact with a soft bed and he bounced lightly up and down.

He shivered underneath the hungry stare of blood red eyes and another spike of lust shot through him.

"I wish you could see yourself right now. Maybe next time I place you right in front of a mirror," Sasuke continued hissing while he climbed on the bed and crept forwards like a panther sneaking up on his prey. "Would you like that? Would you like seeing yourself, all hot and sexy, while I take you again and again? Filling you up until you can't even scream anymore?"

"Fuck, Sasuke," Naruto moaned and unconsciously he opened his legs wider, providing the dark haired predator with a space to lie in. He hadn't realised he would also have a thing for dirty talk. Shit, if their clothes didn't come off right this instant, Naruto didn't know what he would do. He felt like he would explode if Sasuke didn't touch him soon.

"Yes, I think you'd like that. I bet it would turn you on a lot, now, wouldn't it?" Sasuke hummed and smirked. His hands shot out and gripped Naruto's shirt tightly, pulling it up roughly.

Naruto willingly complied with the unspoken command and allowed the other man to remove his shirt. He cursed his own trembling fingers when he started opening Sasuke's dark shirt and then cursed the buttons for being so damn difficult and keeping him away from his prize. Finally the last button popped out of its hole and Naruto pushed the cloth back impatiently, his mouth dropping open slightly when he drunk in the sight of firm, abdominal muscles that formed an exquisite six pack. When on earth did the man have time to work out to have muscles like that?

"Like what you see?" Sasuke smirked and roughly wrenched Naruto's jeans down, throwing it on the floor as soon as he removed it.

"Can't complain," Naruto managed to bring out and brought his eyes back to Sasuke's face with quite some difficulty. Who knew this man was so ripped?

"Hm, glad to hear that." Lips attached themselves to a spot in his neck and Naruto let out a breathy moan when he felt his skin being sucked between those lips. That surely would leave a bruise behind.

The thought of a physical mark only served to excite him more for some reason.

Naruto trailed his mouth across Sasuke's collarbone, tasting the faint tang of salt while his hands busied themselves with opening Sasuke's belt and trousers. Hey, if he had to be nearly naked, then it was only fair if the other man was in an equal state of undressed.

When he finally managed to push down the annoying trousers, he felt himself flush when he caught sight of the prominent bulge in Sasuke's dark blue underwear. Fuck, this man was just the whole package, huh?

"Oh god," he moaned partly in shock, partly in pleasure, when nails pinched his nipple, which felt even more sensitive to the touch than usual. He nearly crowed in pleasure when a hot tongue lavished his other nipple with much needed attention and almost bent double when teeth carefully closed around the hard pebble, tugging at it softly.

It didn't matter where Sasuke touched him: every nerve in his body was alight with pleasure, burning, and making him wish for more. He writhed underneath his touch, his own hands dancing across pale skin, touching firm muscles, tracing them; thumbs rubbed over pale nipples until they hardened underneath his fondling.

And throughout all that, that peculiar scent filled the air between them, making his body feel both light and heavy.

"You don't know how long I've fantasized about this," Sasuke whispered hotly in his ear and his long, slender fingers dipped underneath Naruto's underwear. "How long I thought about having you here in my bed, naked, and completely mine. God, you feel even more amazing than I imagined."

"You wouldn't leave me alone in my dreams," Naruto admitted breathlessly, nosing Sasuke's cheek, brushing his hand against his lower stomach. "Almost every god damn night I would dream about you."

"Hm, I bet that made you feel frustrated, huh?" Sasuke murmured with a devious smile. His red eyes glinted. "I'll take full responsibility for that." And with that, he ripped off Naruto's underwear, exposing him completely to his hungry gaze.

His eyes closed and a look of obvious delight crossed his aristocratic face when he inhaled deeply. "Fuck, you smell irresistible."

Naruto would feel embarrassed about being put on display like that, but instead he bucked his hips, opening his legs even wider and the wetness between his legs grew worse. Lust and desire coursed through his body and the only coherent thought in his mind was that he wanted to be fucked now. He wanted Sasuke to take him and to not hold back.

"You should see yourself right now," Sasuke murmured, leering. His fingers slipped between Naruto's arse cheeks, brushing against his wet opening. The tip of his index finger swirled across his entrance, dipping teasingly inside, while his other hand gently fondled Naruto's balls. "So wet already. Do you want it that much, hm?"

"Yes, yes, I want it!" Naruto retorted frustrated and squirmed, pushing against those slender fingers to deepen the pressure. Instead they retreated and he whined in frustration.

"Say it. Say you want this, say you want me," Sasuke demanded almost feverishly and his hands gripped Naruto's hips tightly.

"I want this; I want you. Damn it, Sasuke, I want you to fuck me!" Naruto snarled, more frustrated than he had ever felt before. He was this close to physically manhandling the Alpha until he was on his back, so that Naruto could take charge.

"Was that so difficult?" Sasuke asked rhetorically, but before the blond could deliver a sharp retort, the dark haired man bent his head, engulfing Naruto's hard, leaking cock completely in his mouth, while one finger slipped inside, past his rim, aided by the natural lubrication that by now was practically leaking from Naruto's arse.

While he bobbed his head up and down, taking Naruto's prick deeper inside his mouth every time he went down, driving the blond wild with the sucking and licking, his tongue swirling across his leaking tip, pressing teasingly against it, he quickly inserted a second finger to properly stretch the blond, not minding Naruto's tight grip on his hair. His fingers stretched Naruto's entrance, pressing deeper and they spread inside the blond, working on opening him thoroughly.

"God, Sasuke," Naruto moaned and arched his back, not knowing whether to push forwards, to get more of that heavenly heat, that wet tongue that felt like pure heaven around his cock, or push back to feel those fingers deeper inside of him. His hips bucked uncontrollably and he had given up on holding back as soon as he noticed that Sasuke didn't mind it – in fact he seemed to welcome it, judging by the appreciative moans that made his throat vibrate and drove Naruto absolutely wild when his dick was surrounded by those vibrating muscles.

He nearly howled with pleasure when three fingers hit his spot firmly, almost jabbing against it and sparks of pleasure burst inside of him. His legs trembled and shook and he unconsciously tightened them around Sasuke's head while his hands scrambled across the rumpled bedsheets, trying to find something to ground him through the blinding pleasure when those fingers mercilessly kept pressing against his prostate, massaging it, and his inner muscles rippled around them, drawing them in further.

"What? No, no, no! You can't stop, you can't stop now!" Naruto babbled almost in desperation when both that sinful mouth and those long fingers left him, making him feel bereft, but mostly empty. He needed the other man inside of him now, he needed to feel him, feel his cock throbbing deep inside of him, he needed him buried deeply inside until nothing could separate them anymore.

The dark chuckle made him tense and breathe shallowly with open mouth. His eyes grew wide when he locked them onto hungry, red eyes, blazing with passion and lust.

"Oh, I won't stop," Sasuke assured him with a dark smirk. He stood up, removed his underwear and riffled through a drawer of his nightstand, clearly not minding how Naruto was taking in his naked body with an almost ravenous hunger, swallowing with difficulty when he took notice of the long, thick cock that looked an almost angry red when it finally had escaped the confines of Sasuke's underwear.

Yeah, Sasuke was definitely blessed by Mother Nature. And he belonged to Naruto now.

The blond didn't even question the possessive feeling that coursed through him at the sight of Sasuke and simply rose up, leaning back on his hands, while he kept his legs spread wide; unknowingly releasing even more of his pheromones in the air.

He heard Sasuke inhale deeply again and the next moment, the man was seated in front of him again, his eyes focused on Naruto's private parts; the red in his eyes gleamed oddly in the dying sunlight.

"Seems like you're ready, hm?" he asked, his hand caressing one firm thigh softly.

"Get on with it!" Naruto huffed and wiggled his arse, not caring one wit how it would look like to an outsider. He was burning up and their combined scents were driving him completely mad.

When Sasuke wasn't fast enough to cover his prick with the clear lubrication gel to Naruto's liking, the blond took matters in his own hands – literally, as he started stroking his cock, wrapping his hand firmly around it, his thumb rubbing across his leaking slit, not liking how close he had been to the edge before Sasuke had abruptly stopped.

"Oh no, you don't!" Sasuke growled and he gripped Naruto's hand tightly, stopping him. "The only way you're going to come is with my cock buried in you!"

"Fuck me then already!" Naruto snapped, his patience hanging on a thin thread. His chest heaved up and down; sweat had already started to coat his body and the heat in his belly was slumbering, waiting for the moment to finally erupt.

"You asked for it!" Sasuke snarled and before Naruto could even attempt to do something, strong hands wrenched open his thighs and Sasuke thrusted into him, shoving his thick cock past his twitching, stretched, glistening rim, not stopping until he was completely buried inside the Omega. Naruto's inner muscles clamped down around the sudden invasion, which only served Sasuke's cock to grow even harder – a feat Naruto hadn't thought was possible.

Naruto yelled half in pain and half in pleasure as his body was forced to adapt around Sasuke, not used to accommodate someone of Sasuke's size. His breath left him in quick, shallow pants and he wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck, his thighs quivering around Sasuke's hips.

"Okay?" Sasuke murmured; his face displaying his pleasure clearly. He nosed Naruto's cheek as apology for the lack of warning. His cock throbbed inside Naruto, letting the blond know how impatient Sasuke was to start moving.

"Yeah, yeah, move," Naruto ordered breathlessly, blinking rapidly to get rid of the haze that formed a film in front of his eyes.

A quick grin and narrowed eyes were his answer and the next moment, Naruto threw his head back with a shout when Sasuke set an unforgiving rhythm, battering his insides, snapping their hips together; burying his cock deeply inside with every thrust. Naruto felt like he was being split in half; the burning edge of pain slowly gave away to an overwhelming, blinding pleasure. Unwillingly his inner muscles clamped around Sasuke's cock, every time he slid back inside, as if his body didn't want to let go of the dark haired Alpha. One hand wandered restlessly up and down over Naruto's chest, tweaking his nipples, dipping into his navel, brushing across his lower stomach … while the other hand had gripped Naruto's right hand tightly, their fingers entangled, while Sasuke pressed their hands to the mattress, next to Naruto's head.

Their mouths sought each other and they exchanged hungry kisses; shallow ones when their breathing became too harsh and irregular. Deep ones with passion pouring through them; their tongues curling around each other, stroking, caressing while their lips reddened, bruised due to the force they used to press their lips together.

Each touch, each stroke, each thrust left a trail of blazing heat behind and Naruto vaguely wondered whether he would just combust, explode in millions of pieces.

It wouldn't be a bad way to go.

Naruto had never felt like this before; this overwhelmed, this desired. Sasuke was playing his body like he was already familiar with it. He knew which places to touch to make Naruto go wild, which places to tease until the blond begged him for more.

His head was foggy with the pheromones dancing in the air and the stream of moans, whimpers, groans and babbling should have made him feel embarrassed, but for the first time he didn't care about that. He let himself go, freed his inhibitions, instinctively trusting Sasuke to catch him when he fell.

"Fuck, you feel so amazing, so tight around me, so fucking gorgeous" Sasuke practically cooed in his ear and his next jarring thrust made Naruto keen loudly. "You're completely mine now; nobody is going to take you from me! You're all mine; mine to love, mine to keep, mine to touch …"

Sasuke's possessive ranting should have scared him, or at the very least make him wary, but instead it made him feel satisfied; his Omega purring like a maniac at the praise and litany of ownership that the Alpha was showering him with. This was how it should be, this was how it should feel like. Nothing would ever take this away from him.

Naruto howled when Sasuke suddenly threw his legs over his shoulders, forcing him nearly double and he sped up even more, until Naruto's teeth practically rattled with the force of his thrusts.

The pleasure kept steadily building, heat pooling in his stomach like lava and he was a sobbing mess by the time Sasuke slid his hand between their bodies to stroke his leaking, weeping cock.

"SASUKE!" Naruto screamed when he was forcefully thrusted over the edge; pleasure filling him, waving over him like water crashing against rocks, while his body shook violently; his come spurting out almost violently, coating his stomach and parts of his chest. He yelped when, still in the throes of passion, he felt teeth clamping down harshly on the spot where his neck went over into his shoulder. His skin throbbed and burned and he gasped when Sasuke pulled back, a smear of blood tainting his lips.

A weak whimper was torn from his sore throat when he felt warmth welling up in him; Sasuke's hips stuttering against his while he moaned lowly in Naruto's ear. His seed filled Naruto's channel until it overflowed, dripping out of his stretched and raw entrance.

Their eyes held each other for a long moment, before their lips found each other in a slow, deep kiss; Naruto lapping at the faint taste of iron.

Throughout the entire night, they joined their bodies again and again, in various positions, until they were finally sated and fell asleep together, tangled together; their fingers entangled.

"So you finally got all your stuff out of the house? And your two cats?" Deidara asked, while he took another bite of his turkey sandwich.

Naruto sighed and took a sip from his cold water. "Yeah, he agreed to let me have the two cats. I was the one who brought them home, so he didn't mind that I took them with me." He grimaced at the feeling of sweat sliding down his neck. Even in the mall, the hot June sun was unforgiving; hot rays of sunlight made their way through every window, illuminating the large hallways.

"So how is it? Living with Sasuke-kun?" the older blond asked hesitatingly.

"It's … overwhelming," Naruto decided after a pause. Almost out of habit now, his fingers touched the spot between his shoulder and neck – a spot that would forever be slightly bruised and swollen, no matter how much time would pass.

A finger traced the sore bite mark, placed right between his neck and his shoulder. A place that everyone would be able to see unless he sufficiently covered it.

Cerulean blue eyes stared at the reflection of his naked upper body in the bathroom mirror; his entire chest was covered in red marks and dark finger prints – evidence of their night together.

"You gave me the Mark," Naruto spoke up when he became aware of the other man's presence in the room.

"I did," Sasuke replied calmly, even though it hadn't been a question.

"Why?"

Hands closed around his hips and warm lips pressed a tender kiss on his naked shoulder. Dark eyes – still with a hint of blood red around the pupil – caught his eyes in the mirror. "I meant what I said, Naruto. You're mine. I'm not planning on giving you up." Fingers tightened on his hips and thumbs started to caress his jutting hipbones. "And I'm not ashamed to show it either. With this Mark," he brushed his mouth over the throbbing mark, making the blond shiver and swallow audibly, "everyone will know that you belong to me."

"We barely know each other," Naruto whispered; his eyes half lidded at the pleasure that slowly started to rise again when Sasuke's hand teasingly dipped between his legs.

"Maybe, but we have time to get to know each other," Sasuke murmured, nosing his neck.

"But what if …"

"Do you know why your body reacted so fiercely yesterday?" the Alpha interrupted him abruptly.

His cheeks filled with blood; a sheen of red embarrassment dusting his cheekbones. "I – I don't know. I never …"

"Reacted like that before?" Sasuke finished his sentence knowingly and raised his hand until it covered Naruto's chest, right on top of his heart.

Naruto nodded numbly; his heart started to beat quicker in response to Sasuke's presence.

"I've suspected this for a long time, but I wasn't certain until yesterday," the dark haired man murmured and brought his other hand up to trace a finger over Naruto's lips. "Have you heard about the term 'soulmates'?"

"Yes, of course. Every child grows up with that story." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, trying to discern where Sasuke was taking this conversation. "What does that have to do with us?"

"Soulmates are said to react very strong towards each other's presence. They are drawn to each other; they can't resist the other one, no matter how hard they try," Sasuke murmured; his breath caressing Naruto's neck. "They are two halves of one whole. They can only find true happiness and love with each other."

"What are you saying?" Naruto laughed nervously; his fingers twitching slightly. "That we're soulmates?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly at the incredulous tone in Naruto's voice. "Are you going to deny what you feel? Look me right in the eyes and tell me that you haven't felt an odd pull between us since the moment we met."

Naruto lowered his eyes; his cheeks burning brighter. No, he couldn't say he had not felt the pull between them. It had been there from the very beginning, but he had foolishly thought he could ignore it.

"So you think … you think we're soulmates?" Naruto asked hesitatingly.

Two pale fingers turned his head and a sweet kiss was delivered to his mouth.

"I don't think so – I know we're soulmates." Black eyes looked at him tenderly – a look that stole his breath. "And that's why I can't let you go. I want you to live with me from now on. I spent too much time alone and now that I've finally found you, I don't want to get separated again."

And so, Naruto had moved in with Sasuke. The days following after that had been filled with a lot of talking, getting to know each other and a lot of making love. Their heats were worse than either one had ever experienced before and it was almost a miracle that they remembered that they still had lives outside of their own little world.

After almost two weeks had gone by, Naruto had met up with Gaara again – with Sasuke acting as his shadow. The Alpha had absolutely refused to let Naruto meet up with Gaara alone. The Omega didn't know whether that possessiveness and wariness were fuelled by their spectacular heats – the Alpha not wanting his Omega to be surrounded by another Alpha – or by the fact that their bond was so strong; stronger than a bond between mates usually was. After a lot of arguments, Naruto had finally acquiesced to having Sasuke accompany him.

Both Alpha had not been pleased to see each other again – and that was mildly put. Gaara had nearly launched himself at Sasuke, who looked ready to rip him apart with his unnaturally glowing red eyes, if Naruto hadn't put himself between the two angry men, demanding a ceasefire.

Gaara had pleaded with him, wanting a second chance, but even if Naruto hadn't been bonded for life with Sasuke through the Mark – something that had made Gaara clench his teeth audibly – he didn't think he would have been able to give the red haired Alpha another chance. He still loved him – it was hard to stop loving him after four years together – but it wasn't enough to make him stay with the man.

Naruto knew he had hurt the green eyed man severely and had stayed out of his way for a couple of weeks to give him time and space.

Only a week ago had he removed all his stuff from the house, taking Shukaku and Kurama with him. Gaara had been mostly silent throughout the process of clearing Naruto's possessions, keeping a wary eye on Sasuke, who had insisted on helping Naruto. When they had been ready to leave, Gaara had offered his hand, saying that he hoped they could still be friends after their wounds had healed.

Despite the abrupt ending of their relationship, Naruto wasn't ready to say goodbye to Gaara completely and he had reassured the man that he wanted to stay friends. But they had to give it time first. To heal their wounds.

"Would you mind telling me why you keep touching your neck?" Deidara inquired curiously, raising a blond eyebrow.

Naruto felt his cheeks warm and he lowered the neckline of his shirt briefly, showing the older blond his Mark. "Sasuke gave me the Mark," he admitted; still shocked at the fact that the man had readily bonded them for life. Something Gaara had always refused to do. Sasuke was carrying a similar Mark, having insisted that Naruto bit him as well, so that they were truly bonded.

Every time Naruto thought about his Mark on Sasuke's body, the ball of possessiveness and pride swelled in his body. That man was completely his. Nobody else would ever have the pleasure of calling that man theirs. That was a right only reserved for Naruto.

Their relationship might have started off quite explosively, but the blond couldn't say that he regretted it.

"You don't look surprised," Naruto noted when Deidara merely blinked at his admission and went back to his sandwich.

Deidara shrugged; a glint of amusement lurking in his baby blue eyes. "Well, it was kind of obvious that he likes you. It was only a matter of time before he made his move. So the fact that he Marked you isn't very surprising, un."

"Obvious to whom?!" Naruto cried out genuinely confused. Until Sasuke had admitted that he had been attracted to Naruto for a very long time, he had assumed that only he had been severely affected by the curious scent – a scent that had been another sign of them being soulmates apparently.

Deidara snickered. "I thought you would have recognised the signs by now, considering you have been around Itachi for years."

"Yeah, but Itachi wasn't courting me," Naruto pointed out sullenly.

"Hm, is Sasuke-kun courting you officially now?" the older Omega asked slyly.

Naruto couldn't help but blush when he recalled the deep red roses he had received a week ago and the box of chocolates which only contained the purest and most expensive chocolate in the country. Or the week before that when he had arrived home to find a path formed by rose petals which had led him to their large bedroom, where Sasuke had been waiting for him with a bottle of champagne. Sasuke had even been trying to replace his old car with a new one, assuring the blond that he had more than enough money to afford it, but Naruto had put his foot down. It was one thing to receive expensive chocolate – it was a whole other thing to receive a new car.

Overall, though, Sasuke was really trying his best to court Naruto, woo him seriously. Naruto thought it was silly, because he was already Sasuke's and the man was his, but the doctor insisted on it, stating he wanted to do it right.

"But are you back on suppressants then?" Deidara questioned, cocking his head to the left.

"Huh? Oh no, why?"

"Well, ever since you went off those suppressants, you smelled quite fertile, but you don't smell like that now," Deidara replied, looking quite confused. "So I thought you were back on suppressants, because your scent seems to have changed."

"That's not the smell of suppressants, Deidara," Itachi remarked dryly, when he sauntered over to their table. He had just finished work and had apparently driven straight to the mall from his office, as he was still wearing his suit. "That's the smell of an expecting Omega."

Silence for a moment.

Then …

"Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about, Itachi?" Naruto retorted perplexed.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and gave him a look, as if he wanted to ask whether Naruto was seriously that stupid.

The blond bristled in annoyance. "Seriously, what the hell are you blabbing? What do you mean, 'expecting'?"

Suddenly Deidara grabbed his hands tightly between his own and his eyes glittered excitedly, while a wide grin spread on his face. "Naruto-kun, Itachi means that you smell pregnant! You're expecting a baby, un!"

Naruto shook his head, dazed. "What? No, that can't be true. I'm not pregnant; that's just not possible," he blabbed, but his heart had already started to beat faster.

Could it be? No, it couldn't. Right? It wasn't possible, right?

"Did my brother use protection?" Itachi asked with a slight grimace. Clearly his younger brother's sex life was something he refused to think about.

Naruto's mouth dried and he swallowed with difficulty. "No, no, he didn't," he muttered, feeling quite disoriented.

Never once had they thought about using protection when they had sex. Naruto hadn't even thought about going back on suppressants after such a long time of not taking them. Using protection had slipped his mind every time they had sex; the sensations were far too overwhelming and distracting to even remember something as simple as using protection.

It wasn't like he had absolutely refused to use protection – he just hadn't thought about it.

Fuck, was this really happening?

"Then, as you surely know by now, when you have unprotected sex, you will end up pregnant most of the time," Itachi said dryly and took a sip of Deidara's drink.

"Didn't you complain about feeling nauseous lately?" Deidara asked excitedly.

Naruto nodded dumbly. There had been various mornings lately when he felt quite nauseous, sometimes so bad he had to throw up, but he had simply assumed it was a bug that he had caught from one of his students. He hadn't even considered the possibility of being pregnant, because …

Yes, why had he not considered it? It was only a logical assumption after the way he had spent his heat. Every other Omega would have bought a test immediately after they had unprotected sex.

He had not once thought about it. Simply because he had grown used to seeing a negative result. After his fight with Gaara, he hadn't thought about trying for children again. Yet, he hadn't go back on suppressants either, because after eight months of not taking them, he hadn't thought about them anymore.

Could this really be happening? Was he really pregnant? Was he really carrying a baby?

Oh god, if he was pregnant – what on earth was he going to do? Yes, he really wanted to have children – but he and Sasuke had just started their relationship. Would it be strong enough to survive an unexpected pregnancy? Would Sasuke even want to keep this baby? They were together for barely two months – wasn't that too early for a child?

His panic must have been written all over his face, because Deidara brought him back out of his thoughts with a gentle squeeze.

Blue eyes looked at him in worry. "Let's go buy a test now, okay? Then you know for certain whether you're pregnant or not. You can think afterwards what you're going to do then, un."

Naruto could only nod numbly and follow the older blond towards the sole apothecary in the mall, while his stomach did odd flips and turns.

One hour later, he was in Deidara's and Itachi's bathroom, waiting for the pregnancy stick to announce the result. He rubbed his hands nervously over his bare arms. What on earth was he going to do if it turned out that he was really pregnant?

There was no way he would get rid of it. Just like he wouldn't give up his children's wish to stay with Gaara, he didn't want to give up his baby to stay with Sasuke. Would Sasuke still want him, if he was pregnant with his child? Or would he consider it too soon to bring any children in their relationship?

Which it was, he admitted to himself. But he couldn't imagine himself getting rid of it either.

When his cell phone alerted him to the fact that the two minutes had gone by, he took a deep breath and grabbed the stick off the counter, holding it into the light, so that he could see the display.

"Oh my god," he breathed out and clapped his hand in front of his mouth. His eyes widened at the result.

"Naruto-kun? What does your test say?" Deidara called out through the door; concern clearly audible in his voice.

On legs that felt like they consisted out of jelly, Naruto made his way to the door and fumbled with the knob, until he opened it and the door swung open.

Deidara stood in front of him, holding Shion on his hip, who was sucking on his thumb with his eyes half lidded in sleep. "Naruto-kun? What does it say?"

Naruto held up the test, showing the older blond the display. Tears started to roll down slowly over his cheeks. "I'm pregnant, Deidara-kun. I'm having a baby. Sasuke's baby."

The blond Omega watched nervously how his dark haired mate gazed at the stick, which displayed the result of their time together. It was barely five p.m., but the doctor was already home after he had been called by his brother-in-law. Naruto had tried to stop Deidara, protesting that he didn't want to keep Sasuke from his work, but the older blond had insisted on demanding that Sasuke returned home immediately, so that they could discuss the unexpected discovery.

"Sasuke-kun is your mate, Naruto-kun. He won't mind getting off work early for this. In fact he'd probably be insulted and hurt if you didn't call him immediately, un."

Despite Deidara's reassuring words and hug that everything would be all right, Naruto was terrified. What the hell was he going to do if Sasuke absolutely refused to keep the baby? Being soulmates didn't automatically mean that the Alpha was ready to have children already.

"You're having a baby? My baby?" Sasuke asked; his dark eyes widened in shock while he stared at the pregnancy stick.

"Y-yes; I don't know how far I am, but I'm pregnant. I'm having a baby," Naruto said weakly. He still had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that he was really carrying a baby inside of him. There was a baby growing in him. After trying for so long with Gaara, after months of negative pregnancy tests, it felt almost surreal to be now staring at a positive one.

His arms folded across his stomach, almost as if he wanted to protect it. "I know we haven't been together for that long, but Sasuke, I'm keeping the baby," he said, swallowing loudly. This was the moment of truth. "I can't … Don't ask me to get rid of this baby. I won't."

That was the one thing that was very certain to him: there was no way he would abort his baby or give it up. Despite the fact that they hadn't been together for that long, Naruto wanted to keep their baby. It was something of them together; they had created this. It was a symbol of their feelings for each other. Because even though they hadn't said it aloud yet and they hadn't been together for that long, Naruto knew without a doubt that he loved Sasuke.

Yes, the prospect of taking care of a child was terrifying – but he was ready for that challenge. He could only hope that that also included having Sasuke at his side.

"Why on earth would I ask you to get rid of it?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Naruto's head shot up in shock and he stared at Sasuke with his mouth open. "Be-because we haven't been together for that long. And, and I don't know how you feel about children," he retorted weakly.

Sasuke knelt down in front of him and reached out with his hand to caress his cheek. "I don't care how long we've been together. I want this baby and if you want it too, then we keep it."

"You're not mad?" Naruto asked in a small voice, not daring to believe that Sasuke really wanted to keep the baby. This was too good to be true. There was no way the man in front of him wanted to keep their baby after barely two months of being together.

"Naruto, why the hell would I be mad about this? You're carrying my baby – I've never been so happy in my life. Don't you know how happy you make me? And now you're giving me a baby as well; trust me when I say that I'm the happiest man on this earth right now," Sasuke whispered and leaned forwards to kiss him deeply. "I love you. I want you in my life, at my side, and I want to raise this baby with you."

Naruto gave him a trembling smile, while a couple of tears escaped his eyes, which were kissed away by the dark haired man; relief coursed through him, making him feel silly for worrying so much. "I love you too," he murmured and closed his eyes when he felt a larger hand covering his midsection, on top of his own hand. Love rushed through him, warming him from the inside out.

They weren't going to have it easy that was for certain. But at the same time, Naruto felt like he could tackle the whole world with Sasuke on his side.

He was one of the very few who were lucky enough to find their soul mate. The path to finding him hadn't been easy, filled with heart break and sorrow, but Naruto couldn't say he regretted any of it.

After such a long time, he was finally where he belonged: in Sasuke's arms. In their house where they would build on a future together, where they would build their family.

A place that he could call his own. A place where he was loved and where he loved in return.

A place where his heart belonged.

When their lips touched each other next, their kiss was filled with a promise.

A promise of a future together.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Epilogue

"All right, Naruto, today is your day," the blond spoke to himself, while he gazed wide eyed at his reflection in the tall mirror. He wore a long, white kimono – the traditional garb for an Omega who was about to get married. This particular kimono had a red and white fan symbol stitched onto the back of it: a sign showing everyone into which family he was marrying. His slender, tanned hands were nearly hidden underneath the wide sleeves. What the fine, silk cloth could not hide was his obviously rounded stomach, in which he had been carrying his son for seven months now.

Trying to calm down, he brought his hands to his bulging stomach, caressing it tenderly. A smile bloomed up on his face when he felt his son tumbling around, kicking against his hand.

His unborn son.

Words he had feared that would never be applied to him.

And yet, here he was. Against all odds, he had found his soulmate and was currently expecting his child.

He was also about to get married to the love of his life today.

His deep blue eyes wandered over to the Mark on his neck, which couldn't be hidden away by the low neckline of his kimono. This Mark bounded him to Sasuke for the rest of his life, but the black haired man had insisted on making their relationship official, before their baby would be born. He wanted to do the right thing, he had told Naruto when he had presented him the golden ring, studded with a small diamond on top of it.

As if his womb full with their child wasn't proof enough, the Alpha wanted to make certain that the entire world knew just to whom Naruto belonged. The Mark on its own was good, but not good enough.

So on a sunny afternoon in August, Sasuke had went down on one knee and had proposed to a flabbergasted Naruto, surrounded by their friends and family at Akihito's birthday party. It had been Akihito himself who had reminded his 'brother' that he really needed to give Sasuke-jisan his answer. Which of course would be yes, because naturally, Naruto-niisan and Sasuke-jisan belonged together.

So now Naruto would finally have all his dreams realised: getting married to the man he loved, after having been Marked by him, and expecting a baby soon.

No matter how much he wanted this, he still felt overwhelmed. He could hardly believe that today was the day that he would be bonded legally to Sasuke. So much had happened in the past two years, it was difficult at times to process everything.

The door opened and Deidara entered the room. His long, blond hair, gathered in a high ponytail, swayed back and forth when he crossed the room.

"All your friends have arrived," he announced with a smile. "Even Iruka-san is here."

"That's good," Naruto muttered, taking a deep breath. The butterflies in his stomach grew worse. His friends had congratulated him on his pregnancy and his engagement as soon as the blond had informed them about it. It had taken them a while to get used to Sasuke – as the man could be quite blunt and rude at times – but they had accepted him, because they saw how happy he made their blond friend.

"Are you okay?" Deidara asked concerned.

Naruto half-heartedly shrugged; his hands still caressing his stomach while nerves squirmed inside him.

"You're nervous, un?" the older blond asked sympathetically, brushing a lock of his golden blond hair aside.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, slowly breathing out. "It's just hard to believe I'm here, you know? I can't believe I'm actually getting married today. This is crazy." He laughed weakly.

Any moment now he expected someone to enter his room and regretfully inform him that Sasuke had decided at the last minute that he didn't want to go through with the wedding. He felt like he was living in a dream and every second now that dream would pop, forcing him to wake up and face cold reality.

It felt like everything was too good to be true. Like he was living in a fairy tale. Surely he couldn't be this lucky?

"Naruto-kun, you have nothing to worry about," Deidara reassured him; his blue eyes gazing at him gently.

Naruto smiled weakly. "It's just … It feels too good to be true, you know. Every morning I expect Sasuke to tell me that this has been a mistake and that we're going way too fast," he admitted embarrassed. That feeling had grown worse after Sasuke proposed to him. He knew he loved the dark haired Alpha with every fibre of his being, but was it the same for Sasuke? Did Sasuke feel overwhelmed at times as well, like he would burst from all the love he held? Sasuke appeared to be so confident, it made Naruto question at times whether he was just being stupid. Maybe in the end, he still was the most affected out of the two of them? That speculation hurt. Quite a bit.

His inner turmoil must have been splashed out all over his face, because Deidara clucked his tongue exasperatedly and grabbed Naruto's shoulders to turn him around.

"What …"

"Listen to me, Naruto-kun," Deidara started seriously and his earnest tone and expression on his face made Naruto shut up immediately. "That man out there, the man who is waiting for you to show up and marry him, loves you. He loves you without a doubt. Itachi and I, we were afraid he would never find someone again after he broke up with his mate. All he did was work, eat and sleep. He didn't look alive; he was like a robot. And then you showed up in his life." His eyes softened, gaining a distant sheen to them. "I've never seen him this happy before. Not even when he was still together with his former mate. He seemed to come back alive every time he spoke about you or laid his eyes on you. It's plain to see that he adores you, Naruto-kun. For the first time in years I see him smiling again, even laughing. Do you know how long it has been for us to see him like that again? You make him happy, happier than I have ever seen him be. You're the missing piece in his life. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves you and there is no way he's ever going to let you go. Don't be afraid of opening up to him." He squeezed Naruto's shoulders reassuringly. "You're the reason he's come to life again and his family and I – we can't thank you enough for that."

"You're over exaggerating," Naruto retorted weakly. He felt like his head had burst into flames, so warm did his cheeks feel.

"No, Naruto-kun, I'm not. You may not realise it or see it, but Sasuke-kun worships you. You're the missing piece in his life. Trust me on this: Sasuke won't leave you." Deidara studied his face intently. "Do you love him?"

"Of course I love him!" Naruto retorted fiercely. "I wouldn't have accepted his proposal if I didn't!"

"Then trust that he loves you as well. You should know by now that no Uchiha will do something if he doesn't want to. He wouldn't have proposed to you and he wouldn't have agreed to keeping your baby if he didn't want to. The fact that he did those things should speak volumes."

Naruto closed his eyes and pressed his head against Deidara's shoulder, inhaling his comforting scent. "Thank you," he whispered. He hadn't known how much he needed to hear those words until he had finally heard them.

Slender arms hugged him, careful not to squeeze his waist too hard. "I'm here for you, Naruto-kun. And I always will be." Deidara pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. "I can't wait to have you in the family."

A knock on the door made both blonds look up from their embrace.

Neji raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on their position. "Naruto-kun, everybody is ready. They are waiting for you," he announced with a faint smile.

Deidara pulled back, releasing him slowly. "Let's go. We can't have everyone waiting. It's not befitting of an Uchiha." He winked and turned around.

Naruto smiled and his hand drifted down to touch his stomach once again. "Guess it's time we go see your papa, hm?" he murmured and his smile widened when he felt the gentle press of a tiny hand against his.

He turned around, towards the door. Ready for his new life to start.

A pair of forlorn eyes watched how the priest began binding the couple in front of a hundred spectators.

Gaara tried to swallow past the lump that had formed in his throat as soon as Naruto had made his entrance in the grand chapel. The couple didn't know he was attending their wedding; he had received no official invitation, but Neji had let it slip when it would take place – whether he had let that information slip accidentally or not, Gaara didn't care. His siblings had tried to convince him not to go, not wanting him to hurt himself more than needed, but the red haired man had been stubborn.

Even though it hurt a lot to see Naruto in this particular setting, he had forced himself to go. He wanted to see with his own eyes whether or not Naruto was happy now.

He had received his answer as soon as he had laid his eyes upon him.

Naruto was practically glowing; his cerulean blue eyes sparkled like a gem in the light and a beautiful smile was constantly dancing on his face. The kimono hugged his form perfectly and displayed his rounded stomach for the world to see.

Gaara clenched his hands and closed his eyes for a moment. He knew he had only himself to blame that he was now not in Uchiha's position. It had been him who had denied Naruto the chance to get married; it had been him who had resolutely decided never to bind them through the Mark. It had been his fault that Naruto wasn't carrying his child now.

Regret filled him, like it had done for the past seven months. He had never meant to hurt Naruto like that. Yes, he should have told Naruto about the treatment from the very beginning – but he had stupidly assumed that it wouldn't matter much. That Naruto wouldn't care too much that they would never have biological children. That if Naruto really wanted to have children, he would be happy to adopt.

To this day he wondered what had made Naruto really decide not to give him another chance: the fact that he had kept the truth from him from the very beginning or the fact that he had let the Omega believe that they could have children together.

In the end, it didn't really matter. He had lost Naruto due to his own stupidity.

But, as he looked at the couple in front of the priest, who practically exuded love, he wondered whether he had really lost the blond due to his stupidity and not because it was never meant to be.

He wasn't blind – he could clearly see how happy Naruto was now. How much in love. Despite how much it pained him, he had to admit that he had never seen Naruto that happy with him. Sure, Naruto had loved him; that was something Gaara believed. But his love for the red haired man paled to what he felt for the Uchiha.

The love and adoration he felt for the dark haired man was written all over his face, every time he so much as glanced at the Alpha.

It hurt. A lot. Temari and Kankuro had tried to convince him that it was not his fault, that Naruto was the one who should feel guilty for leaving him and immediately getting together with someone else, but Gaara knew that he shared part of the blame for their break up. He was partly responsible for driving Naruto into the arms of another man.

He knew how much Naruto valued honesty – even when he had kissed Uchiha, he hadn't kept it to himself, but had confessed it. Maybe if Gaara had returned the sentiment, had been honest from the start, maybe then he would still have Naruto.

So many maybe's and what if's, but it all came down to the fact that he no longer had Naruto as his mate. That honour belonged to Uchiha now.

And no matter how much he disliked Uchiha, no matter how much he wanted to punch that bastard in the face, even he could not deny that the dark haired man was in love with the blond. Everybody could see how much he adored the blond Omega.

Gaara let out a soft sigh, watching how the two men turned to face each other, so they could say their vows.

In spite of his pain and his regret, he was also happy. Happy that Naruto had found happiness again. Glad that he could see the blond smiling again.

He wished the blond all the happiness of the world. Maybe soon they could get together again to talk; be friends again.

A soft, sad smile bloomed open on his face and he watched how the couple shared a tender kiss, both their hands on Naruto's rounded stomach. The chapel erupted in loud clapping and cheering.

Yes, he had lost Naruto as his mate and he would never be together with him again. But not everything was lost.

Gaara knew that they would be friends again soon. Time would heal all wounds, he was certain of that.

For now, he was content to see Naruto happy again, even if it was with someone who wasn't him. And one day, he too would be happy with someone again.

Because they both deserved happiness. Even if they didn't share that with each other.