You Were My Light

47. The Aftermath (Part 2)

PREVIOUSLY (Kakashi's P.O.V.): Something was dropped in my lap before a large, wet tongue licked me from my chin to my scarred bloody red eye - resulting in everyone laughing at my reaction of (fake) horror. "Akamaru!" A voice screamed from up the stairs, followed by the thundering of two pairs of feet coming down the stairs. "Get back here you fucking thief!"

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Timeskip backwards many minutes
Uchiha Sasuke's P.O.V.

Almost all the others had gone home by now. Only me and Kiba stayed behind out of everyone that the Kyuubi had gotten together what felt like weeks ago... It had been an epic fight and I still don't know what went wrong with the chidori-rasengan. I wonder if that red-head of Naruto's can show us what we did but, like, in reverse, or what went wrong so that I ended up in a stupid fucking tree and one of Itachi's boyfriends had to come and get me down.

Kiba and I had decided we were going to play video games on the moderately large television in Naruto's den and I was kicking ass on Mario Kart before a very large dog named Akamaru decided it would be "fun" to steal the controller I was using and race around the house with it. Kiba laughed his head off but when Akamaru wouldn't drop it or give it back (even after he tried bribing his ninken with treats) we both ended up chasing him around the house. Busting through the door he'd been guarding for the last day and a half with the controller he bolted down the stairs, both of us hot on his heels.

"Oi! Get back here you fucking thief!" I yelled at him down the stairs, laughter echoing back up at us, coming from the room at the bottom of the staircase we were running down. "Do these stairs ever even end?" I asked Kiba, trying not to trip down the last dozen steps into the warmth I could see approaching very quickly. Laughter and... yipping?... What the hell was going on in there?

I stumbled down the last few steps and into the light of the room to see a people pile. At first glance I could identify Akamaru (he's huge- how could I not), Gaara, Naruto, the nine-tailed fox, and I saw a tuft of silver hair belonging to my Sensei. There was others there including the raccoon looking animal that had transported us back here after the fight, and it sounded like two or three other smaller creatures. 'Why would there be small animals here?' I wondered. Naruto spotted me and laughed at me again. 

"Where's the controller? Give it back to me!" I demanded, though it weirded me out that Gaara's eyes were lit up with humour and a smile on his face. Gaara rarely smiled, and never unless it was him and Naruto conversing alone, according to my blond friend.

"What?" I asked, cautious now.

Gaara stood up and picked up something from Kakashi's arms, the animals, I guessed.
"Kiba, Sasuke, I am pleased to introduce Aiko and Ryunosuke. Our kits." He made the introductions as he came closer to us, holding the baby fox and baby wolf-fox hybrid carefully. 

A gentle smile crossed his features, reaching his eyes, and completely stunned me with the transformation; it was no wonder why Naruto had fallen in love with his best friend from Suna. When the bloody redhead wasn't on the warpath or looking completely neutral, he was quite handsome. Not as attractive to me as Kiba (just sayin') but beautiful nonetheless.

A hand on my chin closed my mouth, "Dude, you're staring." Kiba deadpanned. I looked at him in wonder, "Did you see that Kiba- Gaara actually smiled!" The brunette smacked me across the back of the head. "Baka! It's not that uncommon." Kiba shot back, to which I shook my head as I responded, "You don't understand Kibbles - Gaara doesn't smile unless he's about to kill someone with his sand. Like EVER Kiba- I've never seen him smile like that before!" My insistence made the redhead in question snort and roll his eyes.

"Do you want to hold our kits or do we let Akamaru be the first instead of his Uncle?" Naruto piped up, tanned arms wrapping around the waist of his mate from behind, his chin resting on Gaara's shoulder and a weary smile on his lips.

"Really?" "Yeah!" Kiba and I responded at the same time. This time it was the blond who rolled his blue eyes at us. "Yes, Sasuke. You're his Uncle, so do you want to hold Aiko and Ryunosuke?" Kiba stepped forward a little, leaning toward the kit that had both fox and wolf features, he looked up with uncertainty, "Are you guys sure?" It was my turn to slap Kiba on the back of the head (lightly). "They wouldn't have asked if they didn't trust us, Kii." A raised eyebrow from Naruto and a nod of his head.

"Sasuke's right, Kiba. I know you're good with pups so I trust you with mine. Ours." When he corrected himself he planted a quick kiss on Gaara's neck and the resulting embarrassment from the action. It was cute and I couldn't help but tease him. "Aawww, look, Gaara's embarrassed, so sweet!" A half-hearted glare was the only response I got from Gaara and a wink from Naruto.

Kiba had reached forward and was carefully holding the mixed pup. "That's Ryunosuke, he's more of a blend of the both of us, and the youngest of our surviving kits."

Reaching my arms out as Kiba had, the fox was put in my arms. "Her name is Aiko, and she's the eldest of the litter. Hopefully she'll look more like Kashi when she changes in the next few days, I don't want my whiskers on her to let people know that she's mine. I don't want that for either of my babies."

A pair of arms shakily wrapped around both Gaara and Naruto, surprising them both a little, and Kakashi-Sensei pressed a kiss to both their foreheads as he squeezed them in a hug.

"They will be amazing little people no matter what Naru. Gaara knows this and I know it, and you need to have more faith that we can protect them better than I was able to protect you. We love you and will do anything required to protect you, our children, and our family. You have friends and family who love you and are willing to protect you - or haven't you realized that yet? Naru, Love, Baby - you have people who you are precious to and they will all protect you, just like you would do for them. Do you understand?" Naruto's blue eyes were shedding tears, the same way trees shed their leaves in Autumn. 

I chimed in with, "Yeah Dobe. We wouldn't have accepted you, or kept your secrets, or helped you when Kakashi Sensei was in trouble, or anything if we didn't care about you. You really are a dead-last idiot if you think that we don't care about someone who is our friend, because those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. Remember that?" I quoted our Sensei from when we had first become genin with him. "You've helped me more times than I can count over the time we've known each other and you were my first rival, my first real friend. I don't know any other way to repay your refusal to give up on me other than doing the same for you. Do you get what I'm trying to say, Dobe?"

The blue eyed blond nodded before bursting into tears, wriggling out of his boyfriends' arms, and squeezing me in a hug so tight that his daughter yelped in discomfort.

"ALL RIGHT, WHERE THE FUCK IS MY OTOUTO? GAARA - WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" 

A shrill voice echoed down the long stairwell to Naruto's basement. Gaara's warm look fell and then a frown set itself onto his features. He took the babies from Kiba and I and placed them carefully into Kurama and the raccoon's arms, taking a defensive stance between the steps and everyone in the room, he crossed his arms and awaited the momentary arrival of the screeching banshee coming down the steps quickly.

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