(Sasuke)
(ND author: pun not intended XD sorry for ensuing bad mental pictures)

Sasuke really hoped that his little speech on trust and team bonds was enough to calm Sakura down, because he didn't know what else to do and if she started to cry he would ... he would... he didn't know what he would do, which was why he hoped so hard she wouldn't. There was no way he would babble on about that a second longer. It was -- unmanly. And eventually the conversation would drift to his own feelings toward her... He did love Sakura, but he was aware that it was not the way she wanted to be loved and he wasn't quite enough of a bastard to tell her that bluntly.

Not anymore.

He gave her a quick glance before looking away, embarrassed. That heart-to-heart talk was so... girly.

Naruto was discretely glancing at her, then at him, like a puppy who's not sure he did something wrong but is looking sorry all the same, just in case. He was covered in scratches and bite marks, though Sasuke could have sworn that this particular set of scratches on his hip had been bleeding last night; he remembered well, he had licked it clean--uhm.

He was ogling Naruto.

He was fucking ogling Uzumaki Dead-Last Naruto.

And crap, but there was a lot to ogle. A lot more than when they had been kids, that was for sure. That broad chest, these wide shoulders... that six-pack... That... Tattoo? When had Naruto gotten a tattoo around his bellybutton?
It was faded, as if old, and hard to see clearly-- the symbols around the main spiral were impossible to read-- but Sasuke didn't remember seeing it before.

And he was still ogling and he should stop before his eyes drifted anymore south, but he couldn't.

Naruto was a natural blond.

He was in the process of pretending it hadn't happened when there was a loud knock at the front door.

"Naruto! Open the door."

Sakura yelped, and the boys jumped on their feet. What was Kakashi-sensei doing here?

And Sasuke didn't like the tone of his voice or the urgency in that knocking.

"Naruto!!" Kakashi was trying the handle now, and it was locked, but seeing his determination, it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Clothes. Now. There was no way he'd let anyone see him naked, especially not the waking-up-after-a-good-hard-fuck kind of naked.

He rolled off the bed, grabbed his shorts and put them on, and then, just because they were in reach, he threw Naruto his awful orange pants. Sakura's dress was nowhere in sight.

He was still looking for it when the front door was kicked open.

Naruto was still hopping rather ridiculously on one foot as he tried to get his other foot in his pants when Mitarashi Anko strode in the bedroom, followed at a more leisurely pace by Kakashi-sensei and Sarutobi Asuma-sensei. Which meant the three jounin had a rather good frontal view of his body and the love bites decorating it. Sasuke tried not to curse the too-slow moron. After all, with Sakura still naked under the blanket and the smell in the messy room, they didn't need a clearer picture.

Asuma's ever-present cigarette fell off his lips. He caught it back in midair, but it was only to wince as the hot tip burned his hand.

"... Crap."

Sasuke had a feeling he wasn't bummed about his cigarette.

The adults were staring at the three of them, especially Naruto --who had finally managed to get his pants on-- and Sakura -- whose scarlet face clashed horribly with her hair. He hoped she wasn't going to have a stroke. They were trying to look expressionless, but... Anko looked angry and a little bit disgusted, Asuma's jaw was still hanging, and Kakashi was a little too blank. Sure, an eye didn't express a lot, but exactly because it was hard to look at his face for clues, Sasuke had learned to interpret the slightest narrowing of his eye, the barest frown.

Kakashi looked like Zabuza had come into their lives again. A sort of "I really don't WANT to fight that guy, but I must. And someone's going to die and it won't be me" expression, serious and sad and determined. And pissed off by the fate that made such a waste necessary.

He exchanged a quick glance with Asuma, then lifted his hand to quiet Anko when she opened her mouth. Sasuke didn't want to hear what she had been about to say. Her contempt-filled glare was good enough.

"Sakura, get dressed and go with Asuma. Sasuke, go home. Naruto, we have to talk to you."

Kakashi left the bedroom, catching Anko's shoulder to pull her out after him. The woman glowered, but followed, and Asuma closed the door after them.

Naruto's hands balled into fists, and he glared hotly at the door. Once again, his eyes flashed crimson as he growled angrily.

"What right do they have to barge in like that--"

"Naruto."

Sasuke was mildly relieved to see his eyes return to their usual color and the pupil abandon that slit cat-eye shape. He didn't know why it was happening-- he had a feeling this was NOT what the sharingan quite looked like when emerging-- but he did know that he didn't want either of the teachers to see.

"Calm down. Something bad is going on. Keep your cool."

He found Sakura's dress finally, but the seam was ripped, as if someone had lowered her zipper all the way down as quickly as possible and then kept going. He gave it to her anyway, along with a length of rope to tie it closed around her waist. Biting his lip to make himself keep quiet, Naruto looked into his dresser and pulled out a large, orange sweater. Ordinarily, she would have screamed bloody murder to be dressed in that horrible, flashy color, but she looked too mortified to protest.

Sasuke didn't even think of looking away while she was changing. After everything that had happened between them, it seemed stupid to bother. And neither of them was in a state to perv about her lithe body or her small, perky breasts, or the fact that her hair color was apparently natural --okay, maybe he was. But he shouldn't be. Concentrate, Sasuke, he berated himself, or you'll end up a second Kakashi.

He gave them both a stern look that he deserved more than they did.

"We stay calm. We listen to what they want."

We share the info later, he mouthed silently. He was pretty sure the adults were listening in. His teammates both seemed to get it, because they nodded.

"I'm still pissed off that they barged in my home uninvited like that," Naruto grumbled, but his eyes stayed sky blue.

"They must have a reason," Sakura commented softly. "They must be thinking that it's good enough to justify it."

Neither wondered out loud if that reason would be good enough for them.

"Sakura, are you finished?"

She was tucking a few kunai under her shirt. Naruto frowned, then went to help her, slipping his hands under the sweatshirt casually to angle them properly so that they wouldn't be seen. Sasuke saw her blush, but she didn't protest.

The black-haired teen approved. She had the right idea. Something bad was going on, and it couldn't hurt to be armed. He got his own weaponry back from where it had spilled from his pouch, regretting that he had only been carrying his usual kunai and small shuriken.

"Okay," Sakura said after taking a deep breath.

Naruto leaned toward her and kissed her lips gently. She closer her eyes briefly, a fleeting expression of gratefulness on her face.

Contrary to the two boys who responded with anger and or aggression, Sakura always responded to danger by stress. And neither of them knew where Asuma would take her nor why, and she needed the support. His decision made, Sasuke strode forward and touched her shoulder gently, and when she turned toward him, he brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth just like Naruto had done.

"We're a team," he whispered quietly, reminding them both as much as reminding himself that they had backup. They had guarded his back so many times without conditions. He was not about to abandon them, even though the teachers' orders made him think that his teammates were in a lot deeper than he was.

Blushing slightly, Sakura leaned against him, and Naruto punched his shoulder gently. He punched him back, his other hand patting Sakura's back awkwardly. He hated, HATED these emotional occasions, but for some reason he didn't move away.

Kakashi knocked briskly at the door once again, ending the moment.

"Are you ready?"

Abandoning them, Naruto opened the door, his chin lifted up stubbornly.

"Yeah. Now what do you want?"

Asuma gave his still bare chest a dubious glance, but didn't comment.

"Haruno, come with me," he asked quietly. He was trying for a reassuring look, Sasuke could see it, and looked more embarrassed and worried than angry. He was a better choice to accompany Sakura to wherever they wanted her to be than Mitarashi Anko, because the bitch was still glaring at her as if she was something disgusting she had found on the bottom of her sandal.

Sakura nodded quietly and after a panicked look at both of them, she followed the bearded man out, holding herself around the too large orange sweatshirt for reassurance.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a long look, then Sasuke stepped toward the door. He would have asked what was going on, but he already knew that he wouldn't be told. Kakashi-sensei had his stubborn "this is grownup stuff" frown firmly on.

He ignored Anko as he walked past her. He wouldn't have minded slamming her against the wall and promising a painful beating if she ever dared to look at Sakura-chan like that again, but he didn't fancy being reported to the ANBU; he knew that, while officially forgiven, he was still being kept under watch since his desertion to Orochimaru. That and she would probably keep doing it anyway just to spite him, because she had too much will and not enough sense to know when she was outclassed.

He walked out of the building slowly, casually, as if nothing special had ever happened in that small apartment, and as if twinges of pain for every step he took didn't remind him how forcefully Naruto had slammed into him last night. For a second, he could still feel that hard, burningly hot length searing his flesh, giving him pain and pleasure and a few hours of oblivion. And the seam of his shorts chafed against his abused butt-- FUCK!! His boxers were still on top of Naruto's chest of drawers. No wonder he felt a draft. He hoped Kakashi wouldn't notice any embarrassing stains.

Forcing the soreness --and what had caused it-- out of his mind, he slipped in the shadows of a small backstreet, letting his clone go on to the Uchiha estate. He had known that copying the Kage Bunshin would be useful. None of the ninja lurking in the shadows would be able to tell it wasn't really him.

Now, to find a good vantage point to see what was going on in Naruto's apartment.

+

He found out quickly enough that the only place that let anyone get a view of Naruto's living room was on top of a small tower, and it was three blocks away. Even with a long-distance vision jutsu, he would have trouble seeing well enough to read their lips.

The small storage room at the top of the tower that conveniently faced it was occupied.

It wasn't a habitation, it was too small, drafty and bare to be lived in, but it did show signs of frequent use. Lots of people came and went from there.

If he judged by the Chuunin leaning on the windowsill and staring in the direction Sasuke happened to be interested with, he wasn't the only one who wanted to know what was going on in that flat.

It was easy enough to climb the other side of the building, avoiding the few traps, and take place on the roof, just above the man who was spying on Naruto.

He didn't know why his teammate was under surveillance, but it had been going on for a while. Way before last night happened. Maybe the surveillance had something to do with the distrust and hate of most adults toward Naruto. Maybe there was more to that sleepwalking thing than he wanted them to believe.

Maybe it was about the seal on his belly. Because now that he thought about it, these symbols reminded him way too much of the symbols Kakashi had drawn on the floor to control the curse Orochimaru had placed on him.
So one of Naruto's abilities was sealed and it made people hate him and his eyes go red and his mind shift into a sort of feral state...

Maybe that was why there were no other Uzumakis in the village. But that was only suppositions so far; he didn't know enough to be sure either way. It was the only explanation that came to him, but that didn't mean it was the right one; they had been taught to avoid that trap at the very beginning of their ninja training. He decided to think when he would have more information, and concentrated on trying to read on Naruto's lips; his blond teammate was the only one Sasuke could see, and not so well because he was pacing angrily.

Waitasecond. Had he seen right? He mouthed the words he'd read on Naruto's lips.

"What the fuck... mean, kyu... rut ?"

...Rut?

Naruto had been in rut? Like-- animals did?

Whatever made him different was of an animal nature then-- he remembered that the Inuzuka brat was particularly desperate for a date at some periods so it wasn't so exceptional a behavior amongst the advanced bloodlines of the village, really, and they had never known anyone of Naruto's clan, so who was to say it wasn't natural?

Except that... For animals, rut equaled reproduction.

Reproduction of something -- a particularly dangerous bloodline limit would be one of the possibilities -- that they hated and feared.

Reproduction.

Sakura.

That was why they had taken Sakura away.

Jumping from the roof, he promptly circled the areas the ANBU had followed him through earlier, taking care to stay close to the walls and take the narrower streets so that he couldn't be spied on from the tower. Naruto was big enough to deal on his own for a little while. First he needed to find their teammate and make sure she was okay.

From a gesture Kakashi had made during the discussion about Sakura --that he was sure had been deliberate-- he had a clue as to the general direction, but he didn't know more than that. If they had been in the forest, he could have followed her tracks or located her chakra easily enough, but they were in the middle of a fairly big village where almost everyone had developed their chakra abilities. It made pinpointing her location very difficult.

Discretely, he asked shopkeepers around, but he couldn't find anyone who had seen Asuma and Sakura walk past (that and it was hell to leave the Yamanaka flower shop once Ino had caught sight of him). After the fifth negative answer he allowed himself to glower angrily at every passerby he happened to cross paths with. His instincts were telling him that Sakura needed help and -- he'd just reaffirmed their team bond. He just wasn't allowed to drop it and go home.

Scowling, he stomped around the corner to go to the next street.

"Ow-- oh! S-sasuke-kun!"

Big whitish eyes were blinking at him.

"... Hinata," he replied as a salute as the short-haired girl started apologizing profusely for running into him. He didn't know what to say, and he was not in the mood to be social -- wait a second. Her eyes-- the Byakugan! Maybe she had seen something. He grabbed her arm impatiently.

"Have you seen--"

"Hey, you let go of her!!" snarled Kiba as he stalked toward them from the other side of the street, his eyes narrowed. Sasuke wasn't impressed.

"Shut up, dog-boy", he threw back at the quickly advancing teenager before turning to the girl he was still holding. "Have you seen Sakura?"

Hinata stammered. "Uhm-- N-no... That is-- I don't think so, I... Why? Is there a problem?"

Sasuke sighed, aggravated, and shook his head sharply. "No matter."

He stepped away, letting her go, just as Inuzuka finally joined them.

"Why're you such a jerk-- uhh?"

He saw Kiba's nose wrinkle and his slit eyes widen slightly, and bit back a curse as he remembered that he hadn't showered yet. No doubt as to what --who-- dog-boy had smelled on him.

"oh-- wow..."

"Inuzuka," he hissed warningly.

The imbecile was blushing and staring at him, and Sasuke let his eyes flash red for a second, welcoming the sharp clarity of things and purposes the Sharingan gave him.

Kiba wasn't as disgusted by the strong scent of sex on him, nor by the fact that there was a male's scent, as Sasuke would have believed. In fact, he looked kind of... scared.

"Inuzuka!" he repeated, his tone sharp. Kiba blinked and considered him warily, but he seemed to have snapped out of it. "Have you seen Asuma or Sakura?"

"No," the other boy growled, his lower lip jutting out. It reminded him of the way Naruto would pout when he was feeling stubborn. What Sasuke wouldn't give to have that idiot here, now. Naruto knew how to talk to Kiba. That and Kiba didn't still resent him for the Orochimaru fiasco.

"Kiba-kun," a soft voice interrupted their glaring contest. To be frank, Sasuke had forgotten that the Hyuuga was even there the second she admitted she couldn't help. "W-whatever it is, I'm sure it's important for Sasuke-kun. Couldn't you help...?"

Help? Oh, right! His dog. It could track Sakura. He covered up his hope as he looked down at the other half of the pair, now about mid-thigh, too heavy for his master to carry around anymore. The white ninja-dog was watching him just as warily as its master, ears flattened back on its skull. Kiba looked as unconvinced as his mutt. They were way too alike, really. What the hell were they waiting for?

"... please." He forced the words out, angry that he had to resort to pleading for help, but as superior a ninja as he was, they still had specialties that he didn't.

Kiba snorted, but the white-eyed girl was looking at him hopefully, waiting for him to prove that he could be mature and get past his resentment, and finally Inuzuka turned around, more because he didn't want to disappoint his friend than because it was 'the right thing to do'. He put a hand on the back of his dog and they started to trot up the street, nose to the wind. Hinata gave Sasuke a shy, encouraging little smile, but didn't comment. Staring at the ground intently, Sasuke allowed a soft "thanks" to slip out of his mouth. Hinata was a much nicer person than he would ever be.

+

"... There."

They were on a footbridge between two apartment buildings, three blocks away from the Hokage's cliff, and Kiba was pointing at the small square facing the large office building that housed the village's administration. Nodding sharply, Sasuke readied himself to jump on the tiles of a roof under the bridge and go on alone, but a hand closed on his sleeve, startling him enough to make him pause.

"Wait!"

The boys turned back, blinking at the Hyuuga girl. There were veins bulging around her eyes, making her pixie-like face ugly. She pointed through the buildings, to a side of the place hidden by the corner of the street. If Sasuke's memory wasn't messing up, the Village Council usually gathered there.

"There are people-- that's my father! And-- and Akimichi-san, and your mother, Kiba, and Tanaka-san--"

Heads of clans, Sasuke realized as he listened with dread to the names the girl listed shakily. Oh fuck.

"--and there are Kurenai-sensei and Asuma, over in the corner, but I don't see Sakura-chan anywhere... Sasuke-kun, what happened?" she asked him, worried and frowning.

"Can't tell you," he replied honestly," I don't have a clue myself." He quieted them both with a sharp gesture of his hand, or maybe it was the kunai he was holding suddenly. "If you see Naruto, tell him we're here. Thank you for your help."

He leaped away, slipping unnoticed past the ninjas guarding the building.

Infiltrating the building proved easier than it should have been, even with his usual high quality Henge. The secretaries and the chuunin were chattering quietly, worriedly; from a few conversation he overheard, no one really knew what was going on.

Maybe he should have brought the Hyuuga along. He didn't know where to start searching, and he wouldn't be allowed to stalk through the corridors long before someone thought of asking him where he was going. So where the hell would have Asuma taken her?

It sounded important enough to call for a Council meeting, he reasoned, so... maybe he should go visit the higher-ups first and work his way down. If he came close enough, he would feel her anyway.

Surprisingly, he didn't have to search very long. He was reaching out to push the door of the Hokage's office when he heard Sakura's voice.

It was not in the office, but close, and -- not alone. He slipped through the corridor silently, following the sound.
There were two ninjas standing by a door at the other end of the corridor, luckily more interested in what happened inside than out. He stayed behind the corner, listening.

Aha!! His teammate's voice. And-- Tsunade-sama's?

"I'm sorry, Sakura," the older woman said gravely. "I'll try to help any way I can, but even I can't go against the whole council armed with only my gut feeling."

There was a moment of silence and Sasuke strained to listen in, but really, there was nothing to hear-- and then he heard his teammate's breath hitch.

"Can I see my mother?"

She sounded scared, still holding together by pure force of habit. Sasuke felt a surge of protectiveness flood him.

"I'm sorry..." Tsunade repeated softly. "You are to be quarantined until... Until."

With a last murmur, just a little too low for him to make out, the Hokage exited the room. She looked... grim. Dead serious. A bit pissed off, too.

She didn't seem to notice his presence, but she noticed the guards at the door, and snapped at them harshly. Something about not being trusted to defend herself against a genin, when she was the Hokage-- but Sasuke didn't really care what she said, and he didn't care if such an oversight was or was not deliberate, because when Tsunade bitched at the guards, none of them were looking his way, and the door was still slowly swinging closed...

A quick burst of speed -- all Taijutsu, so he wouldn't alert them by using chakra -- and he was inside the small room, patting himself on the back for copying Lee's techniques so thoroughly. The door clicked shut behind him, not even a second later.

He stayed unmoving, unbreathing, as the argument kept on going-- but farther and farther away from the door. The guards were following Tsunade.

"Sakura," he whispered urgently, eyes searching the room for anything that might help an eventual escape. "Did you..."

He had intended to ask her if she'd noted the guards outside and the weak points in the building's security, if she knew what they wanted yet... but when he saw her, he couldn't. Because she looked terrified, shell-shocked. More than the first time they'd seen real fight, faced a real risk of death, more than the time they'd faced Orochimaru for the first time and he'd let them felt his intent to kill.

"... Sakura?"

He ended up with his back hitting the wall when she threw herself at him. She wasn't even crying, just sobbing, choking dryly. He lifted his arms and held her tight, because that was what he was supposed to do in these cases, wasn't it? Or was it slapping?

But she wasn't hysterical. She was scared. And since it wasn't any immediate threat, he was going to let her get some of it out of her system so she could function better later. Making her ignore such distress was only recommended when in the middle of a fight, with no other choice. Right? He would let her cry a little -- it was just going to cost him a wet shirt and a few minutes of uncomfortable physical closeness and-- and fuck, who was he trying to pretend for?
He held her tighter. It may have been too tight for comfort, but she didn't protest.

"Sakura, tell me what's wrong."

He didn't ask. He commanded her, because if he was to fix it, he needed to know what the matter was.

"P-pregnant," she managed to stutter, struggling to bring her breath under control. Then she started shaking.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. That fitted with what he'd managed to overhear. They didn't want Naruto to breed. But it was odd how they'd known mere hours after the fact... before they'd even left the room, in fact.

"That's your--" no, have to think supportive team sappy stuff, "--our problem. What's theirs?"

She twitched. He shook her lightly to get that glazed look out of her eyes.

"Haruno, concentrate! Did they say why?"

She shuddered, pushed away from him.

"Yes. Yes, they told me. You shouldn't be here, Sasuke-kun. Leave. Go home." 'Forget me and save your own ass' was left unsaid.

"Like fuck I will."

There was silence for a little while longer as he waited for her to reply, but she didn't, keeping her eyes lowered and trying to pull out from his hold. Except now he was feeling stubborn and refused to let her go.

"Why don't they want Naruto to have children?"

She answered. He heard it wrong. He made her repeat.

She said it again.

"Because he's Kyuubi no Youko."

His first response was laughter. But it sounded weird, would have sounded weird even if he'd been used to laughing at jokes more often, so he stopped. There was no way in hell Naruto -- bouncy, loudmouthed, clumsy Naruto-- was the Kyuubi. "There's no way in hell Naruto is the Kyuubi."

He must have sounded harsh, harsher than usual, because she flinched badly. She was already too pale for that to change much, though.

"He is-- well, he's NOT, Tsunade-sama said, not really -- but she says he's its vessel -- that the Kyuubi is sealed inside him, except Tanaka-san said there was no Naruto, that it was just the youko pretending to be a normal boy waiting for the day the seal would finally disappear for good -- Watanabe-san said it was fading, and no one understands what the Fourth did with the seal and maybe-- maybe-- no one knows what it does and how and maybe--"

"How can you?" Sasuke hissed. "How can you believe for one second that Naruto is not real? He's risked his life for yours more times than you can count. He's laughed with you, whined at you, played pranks on you, LOVED you -- he fucking loves you and don't you dare, don't you DARE tell me he's not real because --"

because he could see these eyes -- these red, slitted eyes -- facing him, and Naruto's obnoxious voice shifting into a low, mocking growl -- 'Are you scared, Sasuke-kun?' -- red eyes and fangs and an outraged, betrayed snarl -- 'If that's what it takes then I'll break your legs and carry you back home!!' -- and they were fighting to the death and he hated himself and yet, there was a grim satisfaction, a dark pleasure in the pain he felt in betraying everything he loved -- fighting -- being beaten -- dragged home, dragged by Naruto, beaming Naruto despite the blood and the broken jaw and the chakra burns, Naruto and his brilliantly sky-blue eyes and so much happiness at having Sasuke back with him, even by force, and the overwhelming certitude that all would be okay, that if Naruto willed it to be okay, then it would be, so long as Sasuke stayed with him. And Sasuke had stayed. And it was okay again. And he would never leave Konoha again, because Naruto would always be here to fetch him back if he ever tried it, so there wasn't any use tiring himself out by thinking about it; betraying Kohona would never bring him power, bring him anything else but a swift beating, and like that -- with Naruto making sure of that -- it was easy to resist the temptation to seek power elsewhere. And it didn't matter if Naruto's eyes were red or blue or fucking gold with pink polka dots. It just didn't. Because he could not disappear. Especially not by being eaten from the inside by some stupid, mangy furball that had gotten its ass kicked by the Fourth over seventeen years ago.

Sakura had the grace of looking ashamed.

"... Right. You're right. I'm panicking. I'm sorry. I don't really believe Naruto can be --not real. I just..."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. She was distraught, understandably so after learning that she was pregnant and Naruto -- the man who'd gotten her in that state-- was ... not like everyone else.

It's just like an advanced bloodline, he repeated to himself, trying not to wonder about how the seal worked, not to think about how it had seemed to be faded that one time he'd seen it. Kakashi-sensei trusted Naruto, and the Hokage, and that white-haired Sennin geezer, and they were all old and powerful and knowledgeable enough to know if they should or not. Tanaka didn't know Naruto personally, he didn't have a fucking clue what he was talking about, and who was Watanabe-san to criticize the Fourth Hokage's work? Before his marriage into the Kagami ninja clan, he'd been nothing but a fat-ass noble and only knew a handful of child-level spells. He had no business acting like he knew about ninja stuff when he had only ended up clan head by accident.

"But he still could-- that is, the seal... it's been seventeen years after all! Who heard of an active seal lasting this long? It could be weakening... "

"It's not."

"Then how do you explain the heat? How do you explain how he gets in battle sometimes? How do you--"

"He's always gotten like that in battle, and if you remember right, it was always to save our lives. And the heat-- the heat-- well maybe it's just that he was too young before!" he snapped, trying not to think about the haze of pleasure- desire- belonging that had overtaken him the night before.

"Ah," Sakura protested, her eyes blazing in challenge for a second before fear dulled them again, "but he also said it happened more and more often to him, that he sleepwalked and --"

"He said he could pull out of it anytime he wanted. Don't you believe him?"

"I believe he DOES believe it!! But what if he's wrong? What if --"

He speared her with the coldest look he could muster.

"--I-- believe that he's trusted us with everything he has, everything he is, countless times over, just like you and me and everyone we know had to trust him at some point, and your doubting his abilities is an insult to him. That's what I think. That's what I believe. I believe in him."

"I believe in him too!! But I just don't know WHO is HIM anymore, okay? I'm not sure, everything's jumbled and I need some space and I can't get ANY and I want to LEAVE AND SLEEP AND-- and-- a-and..."

Slapping her seemed a more and more tempting course of action, but he couldn't bring himself to lift his hand and hit her, as much as he'd heard that it was good for hysteria, because if he started hitting her --or anyone-- for good reasons...

"You're hysterical. Take a deep breath and think, instead of letting your paranoia drive you."

She snarled at him, furious and desperate, and under that an anger of a strength he'd not believed she could possess.

"You don't understand!! I'm pregnant with Kyuubi no Youko's spawn!! And they-- the council -- they think it's controlling him, they're not ALL clueless about how a seal works and they think -- that I'm bearing a new vessel for IT, and then-- then -- it will rip itself out of N-Na-- its current vessel and into a new one-- my b-b-baby-- and there will be no seal on that one and we'll die and I'll die first and we'll all die and--and--"

There was a pained whimper over them, on the other side of the bars blocking the skylight.

Naruto was crouching there, on the roof, looking down at them.