Chapter Text
The twilight of the forest seemed heavier than ever now that the end was closer. It was the end of the fourth day in this hell, Sakura had counted them very well since she set foot in this place. She was panting, her back sweaty from the effort of carrying the bodies of her teammates. Her back hurt and her legs trembled like jelly, she had had to drag and carry as best she could throughout those endless hours between the need to move forward and take shelter.
Sakura tried to ask her sensei for help, but nothing. Not a soul other than enemies. Every step stuck into the soles of her feet like thorns, every muscle burned, but she couldn’t stop despite the lack of sleep and the heaviness of her eyelids. She wasn’t used to having her nape uncovered, but the length of her hair was the least of her worries.
Everything was wrong.
Everything.
But the tower was already near, and she had to move forward. She could barely see it through the branches, outlined against a sky that was beginning to be dyed in shades of blue. The hope was faint, a weak beacon, but enough to force her to keep going.
Naruto had been unconscious for two days. His skin burned like red-hot iron and he suffered from a violent fever. His chest rose and fell with difficulty, drenched in sweat, groans, blood and dirt. He was beyond fatal, with his body full of wounds and unconscious. Sakura had tried to lower the fever with what little she had, searching for home remedies, but nothing worked no matter how much she tried. Naruto’s body was fighting alone, sunk in a strange fever, unlike anything she had ever seen. And she knew why.
Sasuke had marked him.
Not a complete mark but a mutilation on his nape grotesque enough for Naruto’s body to react violently, trapped in an unbearable feverish state. Sakura still couldn’t process the moment she saw Sasuke’s fangs, terrifying and sharp, sink into Naruto’s skin… the image of a face that only reflected a beast still made her stomach churn. It hadn’t been a caress, nor a romantic gesture: it had been pure instinct, an unleashed alpha in the middle of the forest.
And the worst… was that Sasuke didn’t even seem like himself. That wasn’t the Sasuke she loved, longed for. It scared her so much to see him attack Naruto that her body reacted on its own, despite the love she felt and her inability to harm him, and despite the hatred she had for Naruto, her body moved on its own.
Sasuke had woken up several times, with reddened eyes and breathing like a caged animal, blindly seeking Naruto in desperation. Sakura couldn’t sleep for fear that Sasuke would get up and attack again, and several times she had to use wit and even harsh blows to knock him unconscious again, because he didn’t respond to reason, because she would absolutely never be able to win or have a single chance of saving them if Sasuke stayed conscious for more than a few minutes.
He wasn’t the Sasuke she knew: he was an alpha in rut, wild… dangerous.
However, by instinct, Sasuke protected Naruto.
Even unconscious, even in the middle of the fever, it was as if his body sought him, as if he could only exist around him.
Sakura stopped and hugged her chest for a moment, trembling. She pressed her lips together and bit them, swallowing her tears.
She felt envy.
The situation was horrendous and she felt envy. It should be her. She loves Sasuke more than anyone. Is it because Naruto really is an omega and she isn’t? She hated Naruto. She had wanted to hate him. She had wanted to hate Naruto for all this. For being the omega who attracted Sasuke’s attention, for being the one who received that intense gaze that he never directed at her. Because he always had his attention. The attention he never gave anyone directed at a fool without education, not at her who deserved it, who was so capable, who strove to be outstanding.
But, in those two days, watching Naruto delirious, remembering again and again how he jumped to save her even when he didn’t know the consequences…
It made her realize what she had wanted so badly to ignore.
She remembered the ambush, the jutsu that was about to hurt her and how Naruto pushed her aside and took the blow for her, and the face full of tears and fear she saw before knocking Sasuke out.
Naruto had saved her.
And the weight of guilt crushed her. She despised him, she treated him badly… always with harsh words, with the certainty that he was inferior, that he was a good-for-nothing idiot like everyone said; a beast. And yet, he was the one paying the highest price.
As she staggered forward, the thoughts churned in her mind. She had tried to convince herself that she hated Naruto, but in reality… what she hated was the way he existed between Sasuke and her. As if their whole world revolved around him. As if that bond was deeper, older, more impossible to break.
She had seen it.
That day, during the mission in the waves… Sasuke and Naruto had kissed in the middle of the forest. It wasn’t by accident or a game, it was real. That memory had left her in shock, so much that she confessed it to Kakashi in a fit of desperation, confused and disgusted. And Kakashi, with that calm that sometimes exasperated her, simply told her not to interfere.
The repugnance tasted bitter on her palate. There was no space for her, no matter how much she tried, no matter how much she dreamed, she would never enter that connection. The bond between them was incomparable to the love she had carried for years. And Sasuke had responded to Naruto, not to her.
Tears filled her eyes as she walked. She felt small, useless, displaced, but for the first time, she also understood something: Naruto wasn’t the problem.
Naruto was an omega, apparently for real, and that was much harder than the village had ever taught. They had always told her bad things about omegas, that they were weak and useless, but not that they were exposed to things as ugly as that which she had never imagined.
She cried in silence, with the two scrolls firm inside her clothes and with the weight of her unconscious teammates beside her. Fear was destroying her, exhaustion too, but the worst was that certainty that was beginning to settle: she couldn’t fight against what existed between Sasuke and Naruto.
Never.
A noise in the bushes made her stop the tears. It wasn’t the time, she just had to fight to get out of here.
★
The hospital was flooded by the steady beeping of the machines and the distant sound of footsteps in the hallways. The room filled with disinfectant and clean bandages didn’t please Naruto at all, incomparable to his home.
Kakashi was sitting by the closed window, right next to the cot of his little student. The open book lay in his hands, open on a random page of his beloved Icha-Icha, which he hadn’t read for over an hour. His eyes remained fixed on the boy resting on the bed and the chest that rose and fell slowly, the face still flushed from the fever. He had seen many ninjas in beds like that… so many times that it was painful. Even Naruto after the massacre, and it broke him to see the boy look so defenseless.
Apparently, life always gives you lemons, whoever you are. Kakashi wanted to help them, but each time it was more difficult.
The movement was barely a murmur… a heavy blink, a rough sigh. Naruto opened his eyes with difficulty, as if doing so was like dragging tons of stone with him.
“Mm…” he groaned, his voice hoarse, lying back on the rigid cot. His blond hair sprawled and the whiskers on his cheeks painted the usual soft pink.
Kakashi closed the book slowly, and held back his sigh. “Awake at last.” he mentioned, forcing himself to smile.
Naruto shifted, before feeling the IVs connected to his arms. He turned his head towards his sensei’s voice, confused, and his blue eyes wandered around the room trying to recognize it, to know where he was. The light, though dim, bothered him and his throat was dry. He recognized a hospital and his eyes darted all over the place, until he perceived the pressure that he assumed was a bandage on his neck. His leg outside the sheet peeked out covered in clean bandages. He recognized his situation and tried to sit up in vain, the tension in his muscles barely allowed him to rise a centimeter before falling back against the cot.
His eyes rested on Kakashi. “Kakashi-sensei? Where… am I? What happened?” he asked with great effort, with an overwhelming pain in his throat.
Kakashi got up from the chair and approached the bed, leaning on the edge, grabbing the glass of water on the table and giving it to the blond. He looked at him in silence for a few seconds, watching his clumsiness while drinking the water, evaluating how to say it. Naruto seemed more fragile than ever and his anxiety was visibly increasing.
“You lost consciousness in the Forest of Death. You made it to the tower… thanks to Sakura. She managed to bring you with the two scrolls.” He declared, grabbing the glass again after Naruto drank to leave it back on the table, staring at the object longer than necessary.
Sakura…? She brought them? Naruto frowned, processing. But something very important, that wasn’t close, began to unsettle him. “And Sasuke? Where’s Sasuke?” he shrieked, trying to move again unsuccessfully. His voice rose suddenly, and his chest heaved with the need for an immediate answer.
Kakashi turned his gaze back to his anxious student, raised a hand and gently pushed him back against the pillows. “Calm down. You’re too weak to move.”
Naruto, unsatisfied, looked at him with wide eyes, shining with worry. “Tell me where Sasuke is.”
Kakashi kept a brief silence. He knew that moment would come, but he didn’t expect to hate it so much. “Listen carefully, Naruto. Sasuke… manifested. He is an alpha.”
Naruto blinked, perplexed. “…what?”
Kakashi sighed. He couldn’t help it: every word seemed too big for a child who still didn’t understand what his own body meant. “An alpha. And you… you’re probably an omega. That’s what caused everything that happened in the forest.”
Naruto opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He had already heard that a couple of times, but his mind could barely grasp the memories of what had happened. He lowered his gaze to his restrained hands, then touched the bandage on his neck. His breathing turned erratic. Was this what Haku was talking about? “What does that mean?” he asked, remembering the pain of a bite.
Kakashi settled closer on the edge of the bed, leaning in a little so that his words reached clearly.
“Listen. In our society there are three secondary genders: alpha, beta and omega. Betas are the majority, and they don’t have manifestations. That you probably already know. But apart from that, alphas and betas generate scents to attract their mates. Alphas… are dominant, physically stronger and with the power to mark their own… like with that bite. They can mark their partner for life, forming an eternal bond. And omegas… have cycles where they can go into heat, they are more sensitive, they experience very different changes in their bodies… since they are designed to conceive.”
Naruto looked at him as if he spoke another language. “Conceive…? You mean… have children?” he murmured, with a lost little face.
Kakashi nodded slowly. “Yes. That’s what being an omega means. It also means that an alpha can mark you, leave his seal on you, and that connection… is very difficult to break.”
Naruto brought a hand to his neck, his fingers brushing the bandage. An alpha could mark their own. A connection forever. “Then… Sasuke…?”
“Yes,” murmured Kakashi, lowering his voice. “He marked you. Not completely, but enough for your body to react with fever. Sasuke doesn’t remember much. He has been three days since you left the forest captive, locked in a special room due to his rut, he became wild.”
Naruto curled up on the bed, his face pale beneath the feverish flush. His lips pressed together, as if holding back words he didn’t know how to say.
“I… need to see him.” Now. He needed to see him now. He didn’t care about any of that.
Kakashi moved Naruto’s hand away, since he was scratching his arm, and shook his head. “Not now, Naruto. You can’t be with him without supervision. It’s too dangerous since he is out of control.” He cleared his throat, hating to give this kind of class. “Rut… is a cycle that dominates the body with the purpose of mating. Both omega and alpha are dominated by their instincts and seek to conceive… it’s uncontrollable and dangerous.”
Naruto gritted his teeth, his eyes filling with tears. “Sasuke isn’t dangerous! That can’t be!” he said, wanting to hide under the sheets, his stubborn mind hating what he had just been told.
What was all that? Naruto could barely comprehend the information just dumped on him. He only wanted to be with Sasuke. He wanted to see him. He remembered feeling fear, and Sasuke’s red eyes, but still his mind couldn’t clarify what had actually happened.
And if Sasuke had done something serious, so what?
He doesn’t care. He wants to see him. Now. He feels anxious, strange.
Kakashi looked at him in silence, but his own throat tightened. If only he could tell him the whole truth…
He knew what had been decided in the Council. He had heard Danzō and the elders call Naruto an “unstable weapon” and how they should separate him from the Uchiha immediately. The only thing that had been delaying that fate was Mikoto’s adoption, and the fact that Naruto had not yet manifested as an omega.
In reality, they had run tests on Naruto. Everyone knew it wasn’t normal that Sasuke had marked him despite him being ‘nothing’. The temporary salvation was that since Naruto hadn’t manifested and a special jutsu is required to confirm a gender without manifestation, the test wouldn’t be ready until within a month or a little more.
Only that span of time gave them breathing room.
For the moment, Kakashi knew that both would be under treatment in secret. He was aware that they had been given anti-rut injections, and apparently Naruto had an enormous amount of it in his system in what seemed like a desperate attempt to prevent the inevitable.
Kakashi straightened, putting his hands in his pockets to hide his tension. Naruto looked at him in desperation, still not understanding the abyss opening under his feet, worried about the now without knowing what came after, and Kakashi couldn’t find the words to tell him.
How can I tell him that they are going to watch him from now on? How to tell him that they are going to separate him from Sasuke as soon as they can?
Kakashi lowered his gaze to the floor, unable to say more. “For now… just rest, Naruto. Soon Sasuke will be out, so you have to get better first.” He smiled under the mask without grace, and ruffled the blond hair.
The blond breathed heavily, biting his lip, his moist eyes shining with something between confusion and pain. He didn’t understand everything, but he sensed that what was coming was much worse than what they were telling him.
Kakashi, in silence, knew it too. And he didn’t have the courage to break his hope just yet.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The house was in darkness, and the air was filled only with the smell of old wood. Naruto was sprawled on Sasuke’s futon, the same one he had occupied as soon as he came from the hospital, without the strength to move since Kakashi had left him there. He hadn’t even processed the way from the hospital to the house, and the ramen on the table lay untouched. He hadn’t felt like eating, and a terrible anxiety ran through his body, as if something very deep had been torn from his being and he was empty.
He sweated, shifted, trembled with need. He couldn’t conceive sleep, not even his mind stayed still… He was wrapped from head to toe with what he had rummaged for upon arrival: Sasuke’s clothes, which lay wrinkled and piled near the futon in unusual disorder. Naruto was surrounded by Sasuke’s scent, and clung to the fabric in fear, almost whimpering with anguish, and with his heart so violent that it wouldn’t stop hurting. There were many things he could think about, from the mark to Sakura, but in his thoughts only Sasuke reigned and no one else.
Because Sasuke wasn’t here.
He wasn’t sure what had happened, everything was blurry, inconclusive, he could barely feel the burning on his nape confirming that something bad had happened, but he didn’t even care, the only thing that afflicted him was the fact that Sasuke wasn’t near, and they hadn’t let him see him no matter how much he insisted on it.
His leg was already healed, there wasn’t even a sign of what at some point had been raw flesh, however, his neck was still bandaged, too sensitive, burning like a sharp reminder, and every time something brushed the fabric a shiver went through him… only he couldn’t decide what emotion caused it.
Whether pleasure or pain.
Naruto opened his eyes, and exhaled. Lost in his thoughts, a prominent smell caressed his nostrils, pulling him out of himself.
A smell.
Not the one soaked into the clothes. Something fresher, more intense; damp wood, iron, and that smoky note that made his nostrils burn. His stomach shrank, his heart started to pound like crazy, and he let out soft whimpers before his voice could form words.
“…Sasuke.” Naruto shrieked, and sat up abruptly, alert, with wide eyes scanning the darkness.
The smell was too close. With his chest trembling from the yearning to see him after an eternity, between joy and fear, his knees gave out when he tried to stand and run to the door. His body fell back onto the clothes, raising his gaze a little from the lowest point before a blurry silhouette rose by the doorway, contrasted with the faint light outside the room.
Naruto whimpered with a broken voice, eyes wide, lips parted in a sharp cry. In the dimness he could barely distinguish him, as if he were a ghost risen from the night, only instead of scaring him, his mere presence soothed his entire body.
The figure took a step forward. Naruto was unable to distinguish any emotion in it, until the steps became quicker, desperate, and the face of his beloved rose over him, barely a few centimeters away.
The darkness briefly lit up.
And Sasuke’s expression was cold, harsh. He had that serious grimace he always showed. His black eyes, tired and without any emotion, looked deeper than ever, and his countenance more tired and emaciated than ever. Extremely pale, lifeless.
The harshness in his expression left him stunned, as if his world were about to collapse. But, in an instant, the grimace broke as if the mask he always wore shattered. Sasuke’s eternal features wrinkled in deep anguish, with pressed lips and the corners turned down, his chin wrinkling as if he were a child trying to mask crying out of pride. The dark eyes shone, brows furrowed with the same anguish Naruto felt devouring his whole body.
“Sasuke!” His heart broke seeing Sasuke make such an expression. His throat rasped and his arms. He hesitated, with his voice scraping his throat he couldn’t help but ask with worry. “Are you…”
Alright?
He couldn’t finish speaking. Sasuke let out a whimper, furrowed his brows in a grimace of discomfort, as if contemplating whether he had the right to express, and in the next second, he threw himself at him.
Naruto barely recoiled, unable to react to the weight over him, until an embrace wrapped him suddenly, preventing any movement. They squeezed his body with desperation and strength, as if Sasuke wanted to fuse their skins into one. Naruto let out the air he had been holding in his chest, and clung to the warmth he needed so much, to the scent that truly consoled him.
Sasuke buried his face in his neck, sniffing him, breathing deeply, and Naruto felt the tremor run through his body, letting himself be held by the one he really needed. “W-what’s wrong? Where were you?” he asked, even knowing the answers, with his hands running over the other’s back across all the fabric and his legs wrapped around the other’s hips.
“Why didn’t you come? What happened? Don’t leave. I was… I thought that— that…” he babbled nonstop, also wishing their skins would merge into one.
Sasuke still didn’t respond, but a bitter smell emanated from his skin. Naruto simply closed his eyes, breathing hard, and trying to soothe the raven with his touch just as the opposite touch soothed him. There was no other option than to cling to him, selfishly relieved to feel Sasuke vulnerable because it was the confirmation he desired most.
Naruto froze when he felt a brief dampness at the junction between his neck and shoulders, and the body in his arms began to tremble as much as his own.
Were those… tears?
Naruto exhaled hard, still vulnerable under the desperate embrace. He began to caress the black hair, tenderly, with his eyes closed. With fear, but sure, and the dampness on his shoulder increased a little more in the silence. Naruto felt his own eyes moisten as well.
And so they stayed until their erratic breathing lost intensity.
Sasuke pulled back a little after what seemed like an eternity, and Naruto opened his own wet eyes almost in pain. The dimness didn’t let him see fully, but he could swear that on Sasuke’s cheeks there was a trace betraying something like tears.
Before he could try to speak, or react, Sasuke lowered his gaze and moved slightly away. The raven began to check his leg, softly touching the skin, checking that it was healed.
Naruto shivered at the hot touch, surprised, restless, but let him, watching as Sasuke touched his arms looking for wounds, and then checked the sides of his torso. His hands were firm, but restless, feeling each area as if looking for hidden injuries, with the same serious expression as always.
Only his pupils trembled.
“I’m fine,” said Naruto when Sasuke grabbed his ankle to check, making the leg bend back and the sole of his foot end up right on the raven’s chest.
He felt heat, the strange position kept his legs open and Sasuke between them, checking his joints’ mobility meticulously. Naruto, with emotions tied in a strange knot, felt the heat rise in his cheeks again at the invasive touch on his body.
“Shut up,” Sasuke murmured with an incredibly hoarse voice. Naruto went silent immediately, letting the raven unbend his leg, placing it back on the futon.
The hands went to his abdomen, maintaining eye contact with some difficulty but with yearning. Sasuke’s hands rose over his abdomen, tracing a path slowly, feeling the skin until they reached his neck, brushing the bandage on his nape.
He wasn’t even going to bother remembering the conversation with Kakashi. Right now, the last thing he wanted was to talk about what had happened.
Naruto let out a moan, feeling a strange electricity of pain and pleasure in his body at the intensity of the touch on his neck, his whole body bristling. Even so, his neck lowered instinctively, delighting in the pain caused by Sasuke’s fingers stroking the bandage and he relaxed his shoulders, almost purring like a satisfied animal.
Suddenly, Sasuke growled. He grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him over, pinning him against the futon. He felt his hands being immobilized against his back, and could only let out a slight whimper in response to the abrupt movement. He didn’t complain despite the slight discomfort and he felt even less fear. He grumbled and drooled a little against the futon when he felt the bandage’s fabric being removed and the cold air brushing his nape.
And still he said nothing.
He breathed in the smell of chocolate and wood, and calmed down, letting himself go. Sasuke was not the beast from the forest, he was not the one with red eyes who wanted to hurt him. He was his Sasuke. Sasuke who would never hurt him. Sasuke who seemed to be a confused and proud boy. It was fine. Everything was fine.
Naruto swallowed, and whimpered silently when the pressure on his back increased, the heat made him flinch when he felt Sasuke’s tongue go over his skin, hot and wet over the wound on his neck.
A moan ran through him, electric, but not from fear. He clenched the clothes beneath him with his fists, and drooled a little more, unable to stop whimpering while Sasuke kept licking the wound again and again, each time provoking more and more. It was… strange, but it made him feel so good… so safe, as if nothing bad was happening, as if that gesture sealed something that words couldn’t.
Naruto continued gripping the sheets, turned to mush by the gesture, until Sasuke stopped long after, already satisfied. He was turned over again with the same ease with which something as soft as cotton is flipped. He was light, soft and felt as if he could float.
Naruto was happy.
Sasuke, in the darkness, brushed just a few strands from his face, and approached again until their foreheads were together, skin to skin, and Naruto felt a hold on his cheeks, caressing him with tenderness.
The silence was heavy, sticky. Their gazes clashed and those eyes shouted something at him that Naruto wanted to decipher but couldn’t. He barely blinked, not knowing what face he was making, feeling like an open book. After a while he began to feel overwhelmed, his stinging nape made him breathe fast, with wet eyes he scanned the impossible gaze and the gentle fingers telling him that everything was fine.
But was it?
A wave of worry invaded him again. He needed Sasuke, closer, even closer. More and more. It wasn’t enough. He couldn’t leave. Naruto scrunched his face into a grimace, and let out a sob, not really understanding the root of his thoughts. He babbled, melting under the indecipherable gaze. “Sasuke… I don’t… I don’t understand. . I—”
Sasuke silenced him by dragging his thumb inside his mouth. Naruto went still from the surprise, feeling the finger play with his tongue and then his lips. The blush rose to his cheeks, the mere action dissipated the cloud in his mind. The raven whispered a soft ‘Shhh..’ before lifting his head and kissing his forehead gently, brushing his lips like an oath, soft.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured against his skin. “Everything is going to be fine. I won’t let them separate us.”
He was immediately invaded by sweetness, calm, surprise. He let out a gasp of surprise, still feeling the pressure on his forehead before panting hard. The surprise was enormous but incomparable to the rejoicing. Tears escaped from Naruto, silent, and he clung to Sasuke with arms and legs, pressing his face against his chest. Nervously he moved his limbs as if wanting to confirm that the other body was real, again and again, each time more trembling. He wanted to speak, seriously, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t.
Sasuke didn’t respond, but his gestures declared understanding, concern. Naruto felt that Sasuke was more vulnerable than ever, something he had never seen, something he couldn’t believe. He held him the way he had always wanted, strong, breathing in his scent as if he needed to keep it forever in his memories.
Between sobs and whispers of anxiety and reassurance, they lay down together on the futon, tangled in Sasuke’s clothes. Naruto let out everything he had in his heart, the torment he had been dragging day after day.
And the dampness on his shoulder proved to him that he wasn’t the only one.
The silence of the house was barely interrupted by their ragged breathing and Naruto clung to Sasuke’s warmth as much as the raven did to his, sinking into him. He felt so safe that he buried the strange fear that threatened to invade his stomach.
As if that calm were fleeting. As if everything could end at any moment.
Even so, he fell asleep in his arms, surrendering to the warmth and to Sasuke’s whispered promise, the same one he had made to him that day before the tragedy.