The Running Free

The Running Free Ch. 29

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A week passed since Sasuke and Itachi’s father had barged into their lives once more and thankfully hadn’t shown up again. Sasuke stood by what he said and did to his father and wouldn’t do it any differently if given a second chance. He had never stood up to his father in the past; always thinking he had to please the man in one way or another to at least get some of the adoration Itachi had received while they were growing up.

The short haired Uchiha lay awake in bed thinking about his childhood. He used to be extremely jealous of Itachi for the attention he received for all of his achievements. Of course Sasuke got a lot of recognition but his parents didn’t really seem to notice. Although when it came to their health; Sasuke and Itachi’s parents didn’t really seem to care at all. Well, at least their Father.

Sasuke peeked over at the clock and saw that it was 6 am. He’d have to get up in a few minutes to go to school. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to go since he was feeling a bit off and didn’t want to risk getting sick. He was still on chemo for another week or two, at least until his doctor could verify one hundred percent that the cancer had been fully taken care of. His surgeon had reassured him that everything that needed to be taken had been and the blood work from after the surgery showed a very drastic decrease in cancerous cells.

He looked over at the other two sleeping next to him and had to smile. He loved Naruto and Itachi more than he could ever say in words and it was amazing what both of them had to deal with as well; Naruto, being pregnant and having to go through the stress of carrying two babies; and Itachi who had been battling his struggle with blindness for the longest time. There’s nothing that Sasuke would rather do than stay and sleep with his lovers, but he had to face reality of life, and that was that getting a degree gets you work, so school it was.

Naruto shifted as the bed became a bit lighter. He opened his eyes to see Sasuke retreating to the bathroom and noticed the time. He completely forgot that Sasuke had school today. Naruto was planning on asking his lovers to go with him to get some much needed furniture for the babies. They hadn’t really gotten anything yet and with there now being two coming, they’d need a lot more than previously thought.

The blonde noticed that Itachi was still asleep and decided to try and go back to sleep himself; he was still a bit tired. Plus, he wanted to be well rested to go with Itachi to his eye exam. There was possible good news for his lover and some of the long haired raven’s sight may be salvaged. It all depended on Itachi’s willingness and the condition his eyes were currently in. It didn’t take long for Naruto to fall back to sleep on that note and didn’t even flinch as Sasuke kissed him softly before leaving for school.

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When Naruto woke up again, it was to an empty bed which disappointed him a little. He was hoping that Itachi would at least wake him up to say good morning. With that disgruntled feeling, the blonde sat up and slowly stood. It was really weird to have so much weight put on him in such a short amount of time that it was a bit hard sometimes to stay balanced. He managed to make his way into the kitchen where his lover was busy preparing breakfast.

Itachi turned as he heard his lover sit down and smiled. “Morning; sorry I didn’t wake you but you looked like you needed the sleep.” He left what he was doing at the counter to head over to the blonde and gave the man a small kiss.

Naruto just shook his head in dismissal after receiving the much wanted kiss. “It’s ok; I probably would sleep if I had the choice. But hey, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go with me and Sasuke later to get stuff for the babies.”

Itachi stiffened at that statement. What Naruto didn’t know was that the majority of his friends were planning on throwing the blonde a baby shower and most likely the blonde would be given the things that he would want to buy anyway. Itachi made sure to have everyone tell him the gifts they were going to get for Naruto and the babies just to be sure they didn’t get two of a certain thing, and to figure out what they would actually need to buy afterward. Of course Naruto had no idea about the planned celebration, so Itachi had to think of a good excuse. “I’d love to baby, but you know how eye exams wear me out. Plus if they dilate my eyes I won’t be much help anyway. And I don’t think Sasuke will be in the mood to go today, having class and all; but how about this weekend?” He really hoped the blonde took it well, if not, he was definitely going to know about it.

Naruto could instantly feel disappointment creep into the pit of his stomach. While all of things Itachi said were true, it kind of felt like the man was trying to get out of it somehow. “You don’t have to make up excuses, all you have to say is that you don’t want to go.” He honestly didn’t mean to snap, but it was forced out of him.

Itachi sighed; he knew that it would upset his lover but he really had no other choice. “It’s not that I don’t want to go baby; you know I’d love to go with you. But I can’t help what happens at my eye exams, or what date they fall on.” With that, the long haired Uchiha placed a plate in front of Naruto that consisted of scrambled eggs mixed with cheese and ham and sautéed potatoes with onion and garlic.

The pregnant man just looked at his breakfast and eventually stood up. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’m going back to bed.”

Itachi grabbed Naruto’s wrist before he could bolt out of the room. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, I’m sorry, please eat. I don’t want you to skip meals.”

“I won’t be skipping meals; I’m just not hungry right now.” The blonde pushed Itachi’s hand away and headed to the bedroom.

The long haired man sighed once more and sat down at the kitchen island to eat his own breakfast; he hoped Sasuke would be home soon to help mediate this.

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It was a couple more hours after the ‘tantrum’ when Sasuke walked into the apartment. He knew immediately that something had happened; there was tenseness in the air. He took off his jacket and hung it up by the door. He headed to the bedroom with his book bag and saw Itachi in the kitchen on his way through the living room. The short haired man stopped to give his brother a quizzical look. “What happened?”

Itachi looked up from his lunch preparations. He hadn’t even heard his brother come in. “I said something again…”

“Well, you’re always saying something to upset him these days. What was it about?” Sasuke placed his bag on the counter of the island and sat down to talk to Itachi.

“He wants to go shopping for the babies, but since we’re having the… you know, I told him maybe this weekend and he made it seem like I was trying to get out of it.”

Sasuke sighed. “I’ll go talk to him; maybe we should just tell him about the baby shower, I mean, I don’t want him to be upset with you until Saturday.”

The long haired Uchiha just shook his head and continued to cook. “It would probably be best anyway. Why were we keeping it a secret again?”

“Because he wouldn’t want one. But I think it’s safe to tell him now. If he says he doesn’t want it, it’ll be too late.” With that, the youngest Uchiha stood up and took his bag to head for the bedroom.

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Naruto had fled to the bedroom, like he always did when he was upset. He had lay down on the bed and tried to go back to sleep; he had managed a half hour before he woke up for good. He spent the rest of the time mindlessly watching T.V. And Sasuke said a T.V. in their room wasn’t necessary.

The blond looked over as the bedroom door opened and Sasuke, his NICE lover walked in. Naruto’s face lit up at seeing the father of his babies. “Hi, you won’t believe what your brother did….”

Sasuke interrupted Naruto with a kiss before he sat down next to his lover. “I know what happened, and don’t be mad at Itachi, he had good reason for not going with you.”

Naruto pouted but snuggled into Sasuke’s embrace. “Why should I forgive him? He’s just trying to get out of it.”

“Well… It was SUPPOSED to be a surprise, but since you’re being a big baby about it; we’re throwing you a baby shower. And don’t even think it was my idea, it was your stupid friends.” Even though his words sounded harsh, Sasuke was smiling throughout his whole speech.

Naruto’s pout stayed put. “A baby shower? Sasuke, do you know how awkward I’m going to be? I don’t want people to see me like this! I’m hideous!”

“Stop it, you’re not hideous, I actually think you rather attractive. Now you’re going to your baby shower on Saturday and you’re going to love it and you are going to BE NICE; got it?”

The blonde tried to keep a straight face, but it crumbled into a fit of laughter in the end due to how serious Sasuke’s expression was. “Yes, mother, I’ll play nice with all the other adults who AREN’T pregnant.”

Sasuke chuckled and kissed Naruto once more. “That’s all I ask. Now will you go and make up with Itachi?”

The pregnant man nodded and got up with Sasuke’s help and headed out to the kitchen once more. He approached the older man and wrapped his arms around the lithe waist. “I’m sorry I was a jerk…” he said pathetically as he felt arms encircle him in return.

Itachi smiled and pulled the pregnant man closer. “I know it’s just your hormones; you usually don’t stay mad for long. Did Sasuke convince you?”

Naruto nodded. “Not that I’ll like it. I mean the gifts will be a big help, but I don’t really want a whole bunch of people here fussing over me and congratulating me… It’ll just feel really awkward.”

The long haired Uchiha led the blonde to the couch to sit down while lunch was in the oven. “A lot of your friends will be here though, and they haven’t seen you in a long time. We’ve been kind of crazy around here lately with everything that’s been happening you haven’t had much time to spend with your friends.”

“That’s not even important compared to you and Sasuke, I want to make sure you guys are ok; friends can’t even compare to how much I love you two.” Naruto laid his head in Itachi’s lap, feeling a bit tired after his emotional rollercoaster.

Itachi felt a shiver run through his body at Naruto’s words; it wasn’t often that his blonde love let out his feelings so verbosely like that. Oh there was love there, but Naruto usually showed that with actions, not words. “Sasuke and I love you more than anything too.” He ran his fingers through Naruto’s hair for a moment before speaking again. “Did you still want to drive me to the doctor? I could always have Sasuke do it if you’re too tired.”

Naruto sat up and shook his head. “I want to go with you and Sasuke. I want to hear this good news Neji has for you.” He pressed his lips to Itachi’s softly and then lay back down in the Uchiha’s lap.

Itachi went back to stroking Naruto’s hair as he saw Sasuke walk out; he gave his brother a small nod, signifying that all was fine again. “Sasuke, could you get the salmon out of the oven?”

The younger of the two nodded and headed that way but returned shortly after turning the oven off. Sasuke sat down next to his two lovers. “When’s your appointment?” he asked Itachi as he took a hold of Naruto’s hand.

“At four, do you feel up to going?” Itachi nudged Naruto out of his lap so he could finish preparing lunch.

The pregnant blonde grunted in annoyance at being moved, but remedied his situation by cuddling in Sasuke’s lap instead.

“Yeah, I’ll go, I don’t have any more school today. I’ll drive if you want.” The youngest Uchiha proceeded to busy himself with giving his lover small kisses here and there and didn’t even bother to listen to Itachi’s response.

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Itachi sat in the small office of his ophthalmologist. After his exam, Neji had asked the Uchiha to come to his office so they could talk more comfortably.

Naruto and Sasuke sat on either side of Itachi waiting impatiently for Neji to finish filling out paperwork. Once the man was done and started speaking, all three men quickly turned their attention to the doctor.

“Well, there’s a glimmer of hope for you Itachi. While it’s true that your retinas are slowly pulling away from the optic nerve, there are ways of stopping any further pulling or detachment. The last surgery was successful in preventing the blood vessels from thickening, but now it seems the retinas still want to pull. Luckily we have some other options.”

Itachi nodded. “Can any of these options possibly give me sight back?”

“We won’t be sure until we try. But since the severe pulling has recently started, there is a very good possibility you will get some sight back. I can’t guarantee it though, and I can’t say how much.” Neji took out a sheaf of papers and started reading through them.

“The first procedure and the easiest that I recommend is called Pneumatic Retinopexy; where we’ll inject a gas bubble into the vitreous space inside the eye. That should balance out the pulling. It may have to be permanent, but we’ll see in time. What that does is it pushes the vitreous against the back wall of the eye preventing any pulling that may occur. While we do that procedure, I highly recommend also a Vitrectomy. I believe the vitreous gel is the main reason for the pulling at this point. Once the vitreous gel is gone, there should be less pulling which will enable the gas bubble to be more effective and may not have to be permanent; but like I said, we’d have to see in time.” He looked to Itachi to gauge how the man was taking all of this.

Itachi internally groaned at the thought of more surgeries. Luckily it sounded like these two would be done at the same time. “I want to do it if it will stop the pulling. At this point I don’t care about getting vision back, I just want what I have to stay stable.”

Sasuke took this opportunity to speak. “Are these outpatient procedures?”

Neji nodded. “These two procedures are very common and can be done through local anesthesia. I can actually do them today if you’d like? I’m sure you’d rather talk it over with Naruto and Sasuke first.”

Itachi shook his head. “No, I don’t want to wait and risk it getting worse. We can do it today.”

Naruto turned his head toward his older lover. “Are you sure ‘Tachi? This is still surgery…”

Itachi nodded. “Yeah I’m sure.”

Neji nodded. “Alright then, I’ll just give you this release form and leave you to read it and sign it while I contact your insurance.” With that, Neji stood up from his seat and left the room and the three men alone.

Itachi stared at the paper and then handed it over to Sasuke; it wasn’t like he could read it anyway. “Could you read it to me?”

Sasuke heard a bit of dejection in Itachi’s voice. “What’s wrong? You just said you wanted this.”

Itachi nodded. “I do, I’m just not setting myself up with false hope that it will make my vision better. Just read it.”

Naruto felt tightness in his chest and smothered the urge to cry. He hated seeing Itachi depressed, especially about his condition; it wasn’t like it was his fault or anything. But then he figured that something which gave the man so much trouble throughout his life would warrant some hate toward it.

Sasuke just nodded at his brother’s words and began to read.

TBC

Ok, starting up the fic again guys! Figured it was about time. I’m beating myself up for putting Ita through more shit… but oh well XD At least it will help him right? Please review? XD

~Sasu