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Shashin	By : MisatosPenPen Category: Naruto > General Views: 1355 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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“Sasuke!” Sakura called out to him on the street. He stopped and waited for her to catch up.
“Do you have plans right now?”
He hesitated. “No.”
“Good. Come have dinner with me. I know Kakashi won’t be going home for a while.”
Sasuke let himself be led away, but he was leery.
He hadn’t been to Yakiniku Q since he was a genin. It was rebuilt with a banquet hall and large private rooms. He hadn’t visited it with Kakashi or Sukea. So, he didn’t know that Sakura was guiding him to one of the private rooms. Sakura held the privacy curtain aside.
“Congratulations!” was shouted at him by a half dozen people. What the fuck?!
“It’s a baby shower!” Ino cried out at Sasuke’s look of confusion.
Sakura put her hand on his back and gently pushed him forward into the room.
“Why isn’t Kakashi here?”
“He’d be uncomfortable,” Sakura answered.
“I’m uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, but he’d be more uncomfortable since we’re all from a different generation.” Sakura herded Sasuke to a corner. Then she sat down a tomato salad in front of him. “Kakashi told me that this would keep you calm.”
Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. “So, he knows about this?”
“Yeah, he’s coming after he finishes work to take part in the food.”
“So, why are you giving a guy a baby shower?”
“Well, you’re the first one in our age group to have a baby.”
“Have you started to buy anything for the baby yet?” Ino asked.
“Not really.”
“Good!”
Sakura and Ino were obviously behind all this. Seeing TenTen and Hinata wasn’t a surprise, and Naruto was likely to be a part of any party for him, but it was a surprise to see Choji and Sai. Choji was likely here because of the food—and he was genuinely a good person—and Sai was even more socially stunted than Sasuke so he didn’t know it was sort of odd for men to attend a baby shower. Then again, it was a strange situation since there was no woman in the relationship.
“We’re going to forgo games, but we all got you gifts.”
“Mine first! Mine first!” Naruto exclaimed. He thrust a clumsily wrapped package into Sasuke’s hands. It was obvious what was it was, but Sasuke said nothing and opened it like it was a mystery. A stuffed fox. The fact he had predicted it months ago made Sasuke smile.
He gave Naruto a sincere, “Thank you.”
Hinata offered her present shyly. They were never close; she was one of the few girls who hadn’t had a crush on him when they were young, but they were classmates and the heirs of their noble clans.
Sasuke felt strange opening presents like he was at a birthday party—something he hadn’t had since he was eight.
The paper concealed a box, which he also opened. He took out an off-white blanket.
“It’s a swaddling blanket with soft Velcro so it will stay wrapped,” Hinata said. “It will make the baby feel safe, keep her warm, and prevent her from moving too much and hurting herself.”
“Arigato,” he said.
Sakura helped Sasuke stack his presents between them.
Ino handed Sasuke her heavier gift. He unwrapped a large basket. It was filled with a variety of products. “Shampoos and soaps suitable for a baby and ointments you’ll need.”
“Thank you.”
Choji went next. A box with a pair of unisex onesies and booties. He smiled at gift. It wasn’t food related, but practical. TenTen was the one who gave him baby bottles and spit-up towels. He had expected soft kunai.
Sakura was next: a diaper bag and changing supplies. She took delight showing him all the pockets and what he should use them for. Ino came over to help Sakura back all the soaps and ointments in the pockets then the rest of the gifts, showing how much it could hold.
It was at that point Sasuke realized why they were holding this event and bought him all these things: they all felt some connection to the coming baby. Maybe it was merely because, as Ino said, he was the first of their generation to have a baby, or because they were like his siblings, his friends were looking forward to the baby’s arrival. They felt they had a vested interest in her/his wellbeing. And maybe they were worried about his ability to care for him/her. He wasn’t so alone as he thought. He felt his eyes swell, but he would not let them see the emotion welling up in him.
Sai was last. They didn’t know each other well, but he did feel a bit of kinship with the pale ex-Root. They had a similar complexion—though he didn’t think they looked alike as people said they did—and had few social skills.
“This is for the baby,” he said and handed him a box.
Sasuke unwrapped a mobile. The soft, lightweight cubes with rounded edges and corners were hand painted with animals in Sai’s distinct style. The fact it was hand painted and so personal gave Sasuke pause. He was touched that this young man would put the effort into it. He thanked him sincerely.
“And this is for you,” Sai said and handed him another gift, this one large and flat.
That surprised Sasuke. He was curious.
It was a framed painting. The Uchiha fan symbol was the center of the painting, but it was painted more realistically than the normal simplified stylization yet keeping its perfectly round shape. Though the fan was more realistically rendered, the deep blue flowers it lay in were more impressionistic. The background was blue as it often was on banners and even on Sasuke’s usual shirt when he was a kid, but this was softer and brighter. It was peaceful and not at all oppressive. It was a wonderfully artistic take on his clan symbol.
“Kakashi-san suggested it,” Sai said.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
Sasuke relaxed and talked about his plans once his child was born. A little time off to devote himself to the baby. Kakashi was Hokage and couldn’t take an extended leave. Hell, it was hard to get two days off.
Sasuke noted how close Naruto sat to Hinata and Ino to Sai. His child might get playmates sooner than he thought.
A member of the staff came in and started the barbeque, depositing a variety of meats and vegetables for the group to roast. If nothing else, Sasuke was going to take advantage of free food.
“I tried to invite Sukea,” Sakura said. “Kakashi said he was out of town.”
“He often is.” Some part of Sasuke missed Sukea. It had been about a month since Kakashi had played hooky from work, dressed up as Sukea, and took him out to dinner. Shizune and Shikamaru had even tracked Sasuke down to find Kakashi, but he claimed he didn’t know where the Hokage was. Sukea just smiled at them.
“I know I said no games,” Ino said, “but we have to take votes on whether it will be a boy or girl.”
Naruto put his hand to his chin and squinted to think deeply. “I think it will be a boy.”
“I think it will be a girl,” Hinata nearly whispered.
“Girl,” Choji said as he put a piece of beef in mouth.
“A girl,” TenTen said.
“I think a . . . boy,” Ino said.
“Girl,” Sakura said.
“How do you decide?” Sai asked. “There’s no way to know, right?”
“It’s just a guess,” Sakura said.
“A guess or a hope.”
“I hope it’s a girl,” Sakura said.
Sai contemplated. “Well, since it’s just you two men in the house, I guess it would be good to have a girl. Then again, it might be easier for two men to raise a boy. I guess a girl.”
They all turned to Sasuke.
“I have no idea. I don’t prefer one or the other. I’ve considered names for both. Sai is correct, it would be easier for us to raise a boy since we know nothing about how to raise girls. We can at least remember our own childhood, though ours were not ideal. But I really don’t know or have any opinion. I keep going back and forth in my mind.”
Sasuke could feel a presence loitering outside the room. The chakra felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. It wasn’t hostile, rather just nervous and hesitant. Sasuke put them out of his mind; that person would muster the courage to join them, or they would not.
-----
Kakashi finished the pile of papers on his desk ten minutes after he was due to leave. He sighed. Sasuke should be at the baby shower. He was famished. He was promised food if he came around after he finished here.
He wasn’t wearing the robes and hat this evening, so he went straight to Yakiniku Q.
People bowed to him now. At least no one called him ‘lord’ as he entered.
There at the entrance to the private room was a familiar chunin. Loitering.
“Iruka-sensei,” Kakashi greeted quietly.
Iruka nearly jumped out of his skin. Iruka was startled and unsure how to react to Kakashi’s presence. He finally bowed.
“None of that, Iruka.”
“I, ahh, I heard the kids were having a baby shower for Sasuke-san. I guess, for you too. I wanted to give you two something. But I feel out of place.”
“Me too. It’s why I’m so late. Come in with me.”
Kakashi put a hand on Iruka’s shoulder and herded him into the room as if they were friends arriving together.
“Yo!” Kakashi announced himself.
“Iruka-sensei,” Sakura exclaimed.
“I just came to drop this off,” he said holding up a wrapped package.
Sasuke stood and came around the table since Iruka was looking at him and offering it toward him rather than Kakashi. He also didn’t walk further into the room and was hesitant to join them.
“Arigato,” Sasuke said as he took the gift. He unwrapped it to find a book.
“It’s important to read to infants; helps their brains grow. It’s a collection of fairy tales and myths. I hope I’m still around to teach your child in a few years.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Kakashi said.
Iruka was stunned and on the edge of being offended.
“I expect you to be more than a schoolteacher by then.”
“But I’d rather have you teaching my children than any other,” Sasuke said. “Thank you.”
Iruka awkwardly left and Kakashi sat down to eat.
“We were voting on what the baby will be: a boy or girl,” Ino said to Kakashi. “So, what do you think it’ll be?”
“I hope it’s girl, but I’ll be happy either way.”
“It’s overwhelmingly voted to be a girl,” Ino announced.
“Your voting is not going to change anything,” Sasuke said.
“True. It’s just a bit of fun.”
The girls showed Kakashi what they’d received for the baby.
-----
They ate and chatted about the coming baby and such for about an hour before they decided to call it a night.
The pair walked home together with everything in the diaper bag except the painting which Kakashi carried. Ino took the basket with her to reuse.
“You betrayed me to the enemy,” Sasuke said as they walked.
“I didn’t set you up for the ambush, but I did know about it.”
“And you didn’t warn me.”
Kakashi shrugged. “An Uchiha shouldn’t require a warning.”
“It would have been appreciated.”
“Got to keep you on your toes.”
Sasuke changed his course just a little to bump his shoulder into Kakashi’s. “Thank you. It was nice. They really care. It’s nice to know I’ve got more than one person who has my back and cares about our child.”
‘Our child’ hit Kakashi particularly hard. It would be their child. Sasuke’s by blood, but it would be theirs.
“Still feel like you need to flee?”
“No.”
“Good. I swear, Konoha is a safe place to raise our children.”
They arrived home and Sasuke went straight to the bedroom they set aside for the baby. He laid the things out on bookshelf. They had a bookshelf and a crib, that’s all. Kakashi’d followed Sasuke into the room and placed the painting against one of the bare walls.
“Two more months,” Sasuke mused.
Kakashi hugged him from behind. “I got something too.” He went out to get a bag and gave it to Sasuke. Sasuke took out a dinosaur plushie.
Sasuke was startled by seeing it. He remembered he mentioned it in the vision he had of the future with their children. “It looks just like the one I had when I was little.”
Kakashi poked him in the forehead to push his head up. He was conscious of how similar that gesture was to the one his brother used. “I promise you. They won’t know a life like you did. That either of us did.”
Sasuke nodded. “I’m entrusting that to you and then to Naruto. I know you won’t let me down. I know both of you will change the system that led to our suffering.”
“I will never let you down.”
Sasuke kissed him.
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Shashin