Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Help Me To Remember ❯ Sequential Hermaphrodite ( Chapter 8 )

I don't own this.

 

Sequential Hermaphrodite (n) a type of hermaphrodite which starts out life as one sex and will either turn into a

member of the other sex at a later point in life or will be capable of doing so if an appropriate condition arises

 

A flash of metal, and blood spattered the length of her dress. The man fell to the ground dead in front of her. She gripped the stained-red dagger in her hands harder and raced forward, ignoring the strain it put on her eight-months-pregnant body. Her eyes flashed, a deep crimson color emerging from their black depths.

 

“Naruto.” She snarled, slashing through the next guard that came to stop her. “You'd better not die.”

 

~

 

“Sasuka! Hang on! Jesus, there's so much blood!” Naruto screamed, wiping his blood frantically out of his eye.

 

“They got her stomach…” Shikamaru ran his finger lightly along the wound.

 

“She's pregnant, do you think---” Choji asked.

 

“I don't know what to think yet, ok?! She looks pretty damndead to me, that's what I think!” Kiba snapped, as he often did when he was freaking out.

 

“She isn't dead!!” Naruto bellowed directly into his ear.

 

“Calm down! Freaking out isn't helping, we need to get her back to the house!” Shikamaru whacked him across the head.

 

“Ok, everyone on three. One, two, three!” Kiba yelled over the noise of everything.

 

She screamed at the pain, it hurt like more than anything she'd felt before. They were lifting her, and apologizing every time they jostled her and she cried out from the pain.

 

“Hold on, Sasuka, don't you dare let go!” Naruto yelled.

 

It was him, that golden hair…

 

Despite the pain, she couldn't help but smile. He's safe, thank god he's safe… thank god… thank… tha… th…

 

“Hey---hey! Don't close your eyes! Dammit! Sasuka!”

 

~

 

“Get her inside!” Shikamaru ordered.

 

“What happened?” Itachi ran forward, glaring at Naruto with a look that would kill an army.

 

“She was attacked, I think she's been hit in the gut.” Choji breathed heavily, the cause of carrying Sasuka—no matter how light—all the way back to the Uchiha mansion.

 

“Get her into the operating room, we might still be able to save her!” the doctor pointed to the back hall.

 

Everything was so heavy. Blood. Drowning in blood. Someone help…

 

~

 

Sasuka forced her breathing to stay even. 1, 2, 1, 2, in, out, in, out. She would not panic, she would not allow herself to panic… but why couldn't she hear the baby crying? Was she that low on blood?

 

Am I going to die?

 

“Done.” The doctor announced, backing away from the table with a relieved sigh, and then leaning over to make sure that she was actually still alive.

 

He walked proudly to the door and opened it. “She---”

 

He was cut off harshly as Naruto raced in, sliding across the slick floor and skidding to a stop by her head, sinking to the floor with a loud, relieved sigh.

 

“Hey.” He laughed breathlessly, taking her hand gently.

 

She managed a smile, one that quickly turned into worry. “The baby… I don't know… I haven't seen him yet…” she looked back over to the nurses, who were unusually still. She felt so empty, there was nothing inside of her now, and she couldn't help but miss the feeling that there should be.

 

“Doctor.” One said quietly.

 

“Yes?” he turned, a proud aura still radiating off of him, it quickly diminished when he saw her stance.

 

“What wrong…?” Sasuka asked weakly. Something was very wrong. Extremely wrong.

 

“Tell me what's wrong.” She snarled, her lip curling back to reveal her teeth. No, no it can't be!

 

“Sasuka.” Naruto said, warning her to stay calm.

 

The doctor practically ran over to the table and pushed the nurses out of the way. He checked a few things, before stepping back, his stance the same as the nurses.

 

Sasuka growled, threatening wordlessly to cause some serious damage, when the doctor turned and looked her right in the eye.

 

“My lady,” he paused, “I'm so sorry, but your body was unable to handle the strain of the wound and your pregnancy.”

 

Sasuka's eyes went wide, and Naruto gripped her hand so tight, it was painful. “No.” she breathed. “Please, don't.” she begged him not to say the words that were going to end her life.

 

“I'm sorry, your son was stillborn.”

 

Her world was ending, crashing, splitting in two. She was numb, she couldn't think.

 

“Still… born…” Naruto breathed, his grip on her hand even fiercer than before. The doctor nodded before turning back to Sasuka.

 

“Would you like to hold him?” the doctor asked gently.

 

Sasuka couldn't move. She couldn't even twitch, and she was sure she wasn't breathing. This couldn't be happening, it was not happening!

 

Naruto nodded for her slowly, detaching himself from Sasuka's hand to hold his arms out, nodding weakly as he did. The doctor signaled the nurses with a nod before walking back to the half open door to report everything to the Uchiha family.

 

The nurses stepped aside, and one of the women stepped quietly over, a small bundle of white cloth stained with little blots of blood was cradled gingerly in her arms. She stopped in front of the couple and bit her lip before passing the bundle to Naruto.

 

He sat back on his knees, looking blankly at the infant.

 

Sasuka swallowed audibly and reached out, her arms shaking violently. He stood and walked over to her, placing the bundle in her arms and pulling her into his chest tightly.

 

She drew in a shuddering sob and looked at her baby. Her son. His hair was dark, like hers, and he was perfectly formed. His ears might have been the cutest things she'd ever seen and his tiny hands poking over the top of the cloth, set so he looked to be holding the blanket. He looked so calm and peaceful, like he was sleeping.

 

Another sob racked a body that didn't feel like hers, and tears that she didn't recognize the tears fell onto his perfect cheek. She couldn't explain the pain that made it impossible to breathe, and her chest was tightening painfully as she forced herself to accept it.

 

He was dead.

 

And then Naruto was squeezing her, and her free arm was strangling him in her vice grip as she sobbed uncontrollably into his neck, his sunshine-golden hair hiding her face, their son pressed gently between the two.

 

“I lost him. I'm so sorry. It's my fault, I'm so sorry.” She sobbed.

 

“Shh, it's ok, I'm here.” He whispered into Sasuka's hair.

 

She was sobbing so hard her throat was on fire, and she was almost positive she was strangling him, but he still held her, and kept whispering, “It's alright, it's ok, I'm here.” over and over again.

 

“It's my fault.” Sasuka choked out, Naruto's arms tightened around her.

 

“It's not your fault, don't ever say that again. Nothing you did caused this.” He soothed her. Unbelievably, his words were somehow… comforting.

 

“It isn't.” the doctor agreed, walking back into the room and jotting some notes down in a journal. “The sword went right through and cut the umbilical cord, cutting off the blood to your son, it's a miracle the bleeding stopped before you were killed too, that was an incredibly huge wound.”

 

“It's not your fault.” Naruto whispered, cradling her.

 

~

 

Sasuka screamed at the sigh before her.

 

“No.” she shook her head frantically. “No, NO!” she lunged forward, lifting Naruto's limp head into her lap. She felt the wound on her gut—only a few days old—tear open again at the reckless movement, but she didn't care.

 

“Ku, ku, ku.”

 

Sasuke snarled at the laugh, her eyes bleeding red and the black crescent marks emerging from them as she looked up at the traitor.

 

“Sasuka. It's over,” he laughed, lifting his sword over his shoulder, “and the best part is that your dear brother doesn't even know it was me. I hired someone to kill him, and in our next life, if it doesn't work, I can try again because he wont even have suspected me.” He stepped forward.

 

“You bastard.” Her fist shook, trying not to hit the maids that were trying to pull her to safety. Trying to pull her away from her fiancé.

 

“You took my son from me, and now you're trying to take the most important person in my life?!” she lashed out, sending a maid flying.

 

He laughed again. “Trying? I did Sasuka, Naruto is dead. I told him I would spare you if he gave in easily. Such a fool for not seeing the loopholes in that promise. I could have easily had someone else kill you, but I think I'm just going to break that vow and kill you myself when I'm done with you.”

 

“NO!!” Sasuka screamed, shaking his shoulder like he always did to wake her. The tears, the damn tears wouldn't stop! “No, he isn't dead!”

 

“And that's not all.” He chuckled. “We ambushed Kyuubi, she's now dead too, died fighting alongside Deidara and Itachi. They quickly followed.”

 

Her neck began to strain as she continued to shake it. Naruto was jostled violently, but he didn't stir. His eyes remained dead, and the hole in his chest never went away, like in dreams.

 

“They're all dead, now would you like to follow them, or live?” he asked seductively.

 

Sasuka's eyes widened as hands gripped her shoulders and yanked her up. Her screams echoed around the castle, but there was no one left to hear her. It was just as he had said. They were all dead. Her struggles were futile; he was ten times stronger than she was, there was no way of getting back to the lifeless form of her fiancé, and soon her found herself thrown directly into Orochimaru's chest.

 

“Sasuka.” He grabbed her chin roughly, forcing her to look into his snake-like eyes. “I need an heir, and you, having the Uchiha power in your blood, would provide the perfect womb. You're right, I did take your son from you. I couldn't have a small Uzumaki-Uchiha running around here, could I?” he smirked.

 

She gritted her teeth and grabbed his hand, holding him closer in a vice grip. His eyes narrowed, but she was going to end this if it killed her, which she was positive it would. It would take too much power, it would drain her.

 

“You mean this Uchiha power?” she growled, her Sharingan boiling in her veins as the crescent marks began to spin. “It was a mistake to kill everyone but me, now I have no one to hold back for.”

 

Orochimaru's eyes shot open and his sword slashed at her hand. She released out of instinct, but the Sharingan continued to whirl fast than any eye would see.

 

“You are the only thing you care for.” She said calmly, her hair whipping around her at the condensed power flowing from her every pore. “You are the only thing you fight for, and now I'm going to take that away from you.”

 

The black fire flared up around her, but before it could touch the ground, she pulled it in, condensing it to the point where it was dangerously unstable.

 

“Stop!”

 

Sasuka ignored the useless lackey, letting his attempt to stop her blow him away, slicing right through his chest.

 

“This is the end.” She hissed, and crushed the ball of black fire in her hand. The detonation was deafening, and even she found herself screaming in pain from the power of the fire, though it was usually not supposed to touch the wielder. She could see now why Deidara loved everything that could explode, it was so satisfying to know that someone was suffering through the same pain you had gone through.

 

The ceiling cracked and shattered above her, burning to ashes before it had come anywhere near her. She smirked once more at Orochimaru, the last one standing, with a melted sword in his hand, and activated her fire again. This time, instead of condensing it, she exploded it outward, and it collided with her previous fire, erupting in a blinding flash of light and heat, leaving everything in pure ruins.

 

When she finally awoke, the Sharingan searched for the bastard traitor, finding his lifeless body burnt beyond recognition on the floor, buried beneath ashes. She yelled in the pain from the burns and flipped onto her stomach, dragging her self across the floor back to Naruto with her one good hand, as the bones in her legs and right hand had been shattered in the blow.

 

She shuddered again, tears and blood flowing from her eyes as she pulled herself onto her fiancé's chest.

 

“I love you.” She whispered, using the last of her strength to look at him and keep her head up. “I promise I will find you in the next life. Nothing's ever going to keep us apart.”

 

Her eyes fluttered, and dropped closed as she laid her head on his chest. Her chest rose, fell, and didn't rise again.

 

~

 

“Sasuke! Sasuke!”

 

His eyes were open, but he couldn't see, and he was numb. He had never been so numb in his life, not when he'd fallen headfirst off the play structure in elementary school and knocked himself unconscious for a week, not when he'd walked right into a her brother's team's sparring match and accidentally gotten his spinal cord severed. Somehow, Itachi had managed to reconnect him to himself, so to speak, but he'd been completely paralyzed until then. But he'd never felt this numb, because—inwardly—he knew that he could move if he really wanted to, but he couldn't.

 

More like, his body wouldn't let him, like he didn't want to move.

 

Naruto had caught him when he'd fallen, and his body was not letting him remove himself from the blonde's arms. But the more his mind caught up to him, he realized that he didn't want to move.

 

“Sasuke?” Naruto asked warily, pulling Sasuke's face up so their eyes met. “Are… are you all right?” there was obvious hope in his voice, but also an aura of denial, as if he weren't letting himself get worked up.

 

“I…” Sasuke choked out, “…died.”

 

Naruto blinked, and sat back, his smile stretching across his face. “You remember…?” he asked, not daring to hope.

 

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU BELIEVE HIM?!” Sasuke lunged at Naruto, throwing a punch into Naruto's stomach as hard as he possibly could. Naruto doubled over, his breath rushing out of his lungs loudly.

 

Sasuke grabbed the blonde's collar and yanked him up, landing with his knees on either side of the blonde's thighs. “HE SAID HE WOULD LET ME LIVE, BUT WHAT ABOUT WHILE I'M ALIVE?! HUH?! HOW THE HELL COULD YOU JUST LEAVE ME WITH HIM?!” he screamed into Naruto's ear. “I ALMOST HAD TO HAVE THE BASTARD'S KID!”

 

Naruto's hand lashed up, and snatched Sasuke's hand from his shirt, and for a second, Sasuke thought Naruto was going to hit him, but the idiot yanked the raven down, smashing their lips together and wrapping his free hand around Sasuke's waist so tightly that Sasuke was having trouble breathing.

 

Sasuke forgot he was mad, he forgot that he was a guy and he forgot everything that he had just remembered in that split second, and then his nails were digging into Naruto's back, and the blonde was ravaging his neck.

 

“You remember?” Naruto breathed out between kisses. Sasuke managed a nod, groaning when Naruto shifted under him, rubbing against his now-strained pants, tight from the felling of sitting in Naruto's lap.

 

“What do you remember?” Naruto pulled back momentarily to ask, cupping Sasuke's cheeks in his hands.

 

“U-Us. Me, well, Sasuka.” Sasuke said around his labored breathing.

 

“And?” Naruto drew his tongue lightly along Sasuke's jawbone.

 

“Uh…” Sasuke paused, trying to remember what he was trying to answer, “you, with long hair.”

 

Naruto laughed and moved to Sasuke's neck. “And?”

 

“That… the… our…” his breath hitched and the tears began to pool in his eyes again. “The baby.” He whispered.

 

Naruto jolted to a stop, his shoulder hunched so tightly that it must have been painful. He leaned back, staring down at the floor.

 

“D…Do you remember what we named him?” he asked quietly.

 

Sasuke swallowed, his head slowly falling forward. It was there, he could feel it, but…

 

“I…Ichiro… Kazuya. First born and peaceful one.” He whispered, the tears spilling over and flowing down his cheeks. He scrubbed at them furiously; for god's sake, Uchihas didn't cry!

 

Naruto gently pulled Sasuke's hands from his face and pulled him close again. “How long has it been since you've cried?”

 

Sasuke flinched, fisting Naruto's shirt so tightly it almost ripped.

 

“It's alright, I'm here.” Naruto whispered, holding Sasuke gentler than anyone had ever done before, not even Mikoto Uchiha had been this caring towards her own son.

 

“Why?” Sasuke pressed his face into Naruto's neck, trying desperately to smother the tears. Do not cry. Do. Not. Cry! “Why did I forget?!” The single most important thing to me, how could I have forgotten?!

 

Naruto was silent for so long that Sasuke thought the boy hadn't heard him, when he suddenly slid his hand into the raven's hair, pressing him closer.

 

“It was so painful, traumatizing, I think I caused the last straw that made you to lock everything painful away.” He admitted sheepishly. “First Ichiro, and than for you to have to find me like that… I'm sorry.”

 

Sasuke snapped. Something inside him snapped, and before he had even realized what had happened, he was strangling Naruto with another vice-grip hug and his tears that had been saved up for the passed who knows how many years were gushing uncontrollably from his eyes. And the idiot was just rocking him, holding him, not even trying to stop him crying, Sasuke was furious for that, but more than anything, he couldn't stop praying that the idiot—his idiot would never let go of him.

 

Sometime during being held by Naruto, he fell asleep against the blonde's chest, tight in a secure hold, and feeling safer than he ever had before.

 

Later

 

“Is he asleep?”

 

“Shh! You wake him, you die, got it?” Naruto growled.

 

“Sorry!” Kiba yelled in a hushed tone, his hands raised above his head in apology.

 

Sasuke postponed opening his eyes to assess the situation. Warmth… and that sound… nylon? The more he woke up, the more he registered that he was on the… couch, and Naruto was holding him, cradling him like someone would do a baby, with Sasuke sitting on his lap and his head tucked under the blonde's chin, Naruto's hands keeping Sasuke up against him.

 

Good god his head hurt. Damn. It was from crying for a good half an hour straight, and then crying himself to sleep after having not cried for years.

 

He swore mentally as he also became aware of the fact that he didn't want to move, and that he didn't give a damn who was watching. Well… who needs to wake up? I certainly don't, I'm quite comfortable. Well, if my neck wasn't so crunched up, then I would be quite comfortable, but other than that.

 

“What happened anyway?” Neji asked.

 

“…I don't know.” Naruto said lamely. “I'm just came in and he was… on the floor.”

 

“Is it possible that he could have remembered?” Neji asked, clearly seeing through Naruto's lie.

 

“Uh, well…” Naruto chuckled nervously, “I d-don't think so, I mean, why would he have remembered now?”

 

“Uh… Gaara?” Naruto seemed to plead, squeezing Sasuke tighter for a split second.

 

“Everyone out.” Gaara ordered, striding forward.

 

“What?!” Lee wailed, earning another loud shush from Naruto.

 

“Out.” Gaara growled.

 

“Sasuke's going to be overwhelmed,” Neji agreed, “it would be best if we weren't here, to make everything easier.” It was clear he didn't believe that, but he was deciding to give Naruto some space.

 

“Out.” Gaara snarled, taking another step forward. Almost instantly, there was a stampede of footsteps towards the door, and as soon as the door was opened, everyone was bombarded by Sasuke's fans screaming and bawling their eyes out for him.

 

“He's fine---” Neji tried to push them back out the door.

 

“If he passed out, he can't be fine!” Ino yelled, trying to shove by.

 

Everything went silent, and then Sakura seemed to be a ticking time bomb. Sasuke could feel the heat radiating off of her all the way from the living room.

 

“NARUTO!!!” she exploded. “HOW DARE YOU MOLEST SASUKE LIKE THAT WHILE HE CAN'T PROTECT HIMSELF?!?!?!”

 

Naruto `eeped', shifting Sasuke on his lap so as to scoot to the far end of the couch, trying to get away from the rampaging, hormonal girl dead-set on killing him.

 

“Out!” Gaara roared, slamming the door shut behind him. Sakura and Ino had just barely managed to pull her toes out of the way before they were `relieved' of them.

 

Naruto sighed lightly at the new silence that had been introduced after the soundproof door had been shut. He shifted again, before sliding his hands under Sasuke and lifting him gently in a bridal hold. Sasuke was… comfortable. Happy. Content. Like the blonde's arms were his sanctuary long-needed . He snorted mentally, when the hell had he become such a romantic idiot? Naruto nudged Sasuke's door open and set him on the bed, pulling the covers up around him. Sasuke panicked as his blonde drew away, turning for the door. A strangled moan rolled off his tongue and his insides quaked, as if he was going to throw up.

 

Naruto was at his side in an instant, pulling Sasuke into a painfully tight hold. Sasuke flung his arms around his---his fiancé's neck, just concentrating on keeping his breathing even.

 

“It hurts.” He whispered. His chest was tight, and his throat was closing off as liquid diamonds welled up in his eyes again.

 

“I… uh… what… do you… remember?” Naruto asked apologetically. “I know it's painful, but I don't want to hurt you by smashing something that you didn't remember over your head.” He explained quickly.

 

“…Meeting you that day in the snow, talking to Neji about you, the ball, the girl in the black and red, me… uh… p-preg-preg…” he couldn't bring himself to say that he had been pregnant, “chasing after you, the.. uh… in the hospital,” he choked out, trying not to bring that up again, “and finding… Orochimaru.”

 

Naruto nodded.

 

“I'm glad you're back.” He whispered, nipping at Sasuke's ear. Sasuke yelped, jerking back. Naruto dove into Sasuke's neck, sucking and nibbling at his pulse point.

 

“Sasuke?” he asked quietly, continuing to suck on Sasuke's neck, directly below his earlobe.

 

“Ah… Nnnn?” Damn! Can't I get anything out besides freaking monosyllables?!

 

“Are you, uh, you know… s-straight?”

 

“As… a-a,” Breathe, dammit! “guy?”

 

Naruto nodded, a quick jerking movement.

 

“My feelings for you… haven't changed, no matter how weird…” he groaned as Naruto drew his tongue along his jawbone, “that sounds to me… because the emotions feel pretty damn new.” Sasuke took care to word that perfectly, knowing Naruto's reputation for often spinning things way off the given path and straight into a flooded ditch on the side of the road.

 

Sasuke relaxed as he felt Naruto sigh against his neck.

 

Sasuke took a deep breath to steady himself, and crawled out from under the blankets, scooting over to Naruto and positioning himself onto Naruto's lap, his knees bent on either side of Naruto's thighs.

 

“…What are y---mph!” Naruto was silenced when Sasuke covered the blonde's lips with his own.

 

This was the part that he couldn't remember yet, and frankly, he didn't feel like waiting to remember it, he was going to create new memories now. This was his fiancé, his blonde, his idiot, the father of his first baby.

 

“Nothing's ever going to keep us apart.” He whispered again, and in one swift, fluid movement, he had curled his fingers under the back of Naruto's shirt and had yanked the unnecessary fabric over Naruto's head before he could blink.

 

… My movements were faster… he realized slowly.

 

Naruto caressing Sasuke's cheek softly with the back of his tanned fingers pulled the raven back to reality. “Sasuke?” he asked unsurely.

 

Sasuke ran his fingers over the incredibly defined and surprisingly tanned chest muscles, smirking when Naruto's muscles shuddered and clenched under his nails.

 

“What?” he asked, dipping down for another kiss, grinding himself against Naruto, who groaned like he'd never been touched that way before.

 

“I… uh… a-are you… ok? Fine? Um… ready?”

 

“Shut up.” Sasuke ordered, pushing Naruto back until they were parallel to the floor, surrounded by the discarded covers from earlier. “Or do you not want to do this? I'm a guy now, and you're straight, so---mph.”

 

It was Sasuke's turn to be silenced as the blonde yanked him down for a kiss.

 

“I love you.” Naruto growled huskily, kissing each of Sasuke's eyelids. “Not the body you're in.”

 

He loves me. Sasuke smiled, remembering that Naruto used to do that. That was how they had first gotten together, actually. They had been sparring, Naruto teaching some extra self-defense to Sasuka, and he'd caught her when she'd tripped on a root protruding from the ground. They'd frozen for about 0.3 seconds, before Naruto leaned down, and pressed his lips to each of Sasuka's eyelids.

 

“Me too, idiot.” Sasuke slid his hands under the back of Naruto's neck. His eyes rolled slightly back into his head when Naruto smirked at the a-ok to go and ground against Sasuke's open legs, a zing shot up through Sasuke's body at the touch to his manhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: About the stillbirth, I know that babies can survive out of the womb at that age, but consider the time period and what little medical

experience they had back then. Also, Sasuke was almost dead, so the wound and loss of blood is going to contribute to the death.