Hi there, my dearest readers, (^0^)/

I'd like to thank you everyone for reading Love & Truth... For staying with me till the end. (^^)

I hope you'll enjoy the last chapter~

Especially would I like to thank Shnizel, Life 4 Love, tenneys-oats, ALOVETOKILL, clio1111, kiki2222, fuyoshi-chan, yui eiri, The True Kitsune-hime, vampiresara, ttixz bebe and Joe'saninja

Also thanks many others who found the time to read and sometimes even review my story, Thank you~ (^^)

Love & Truth

30. The End, The Beginning

(Sasuke's POV)

„What do you want for breakfast?" I heard Naruto ask as he stood up from the bed. We did not resume our "night time activities" yet... that however did not make the idea of sleeping in each other's arms any less appealing.

„I'll be content with whatever your beautiful self prepares me... as long as it is not ramen." I laughed as I was getting up from the bed also.

„What does everyone have against ramen when in my vicinity? It's not like I force you to eat it..." Naruto sighed hunching his shoulders. "I'm going to make some salad for you... and something yummy for me." He smiled impishly.

„And what would that be?" I asked. I already had an idea that it would not be something my non-pregnant self would be able to stomach.

„You'll see..." Naruto laughed only before walking off to the kitchen.

Having some time I had a quick shower before I dresses myself in a kimono and directed my steps to the kitchen.

„Ah, you're here already?" was how Naruto welcomed me, along with a bright smile. I only nodded in agreement and sat by the table once dobe motioned me to do so.

I watched Naruto as he danced around the kitchen as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Seeing him like that, even the simplest things he did brightening my day, I was even more convinced that what I had in plan for the day was a right choice.

Few minutes later I was presented with my meal, whilst Naruto sat opposite to me with his own. At first I thought that he made himself ramen, but only a split second later did I realize that the meal before Naruto had only one thing in common with ramen. Noodles... For start it had caramel instead of broth. I could recognize the other ingredients as apples, plums and corn. If it still looked edible then it turned not to after Naruto's last action... Adding some cut onion and chilli peppers at the top, stirring the ingredients together enthusiastically right after.

Sincerely, I was glad I was not the one who had to eat it.

L&T

(Third Person's POV)

Sasuke was nervous that day. Nervous because he was afraid that yet another mishap would happen. In the year only he was separated from Naruto's side more times than be from his significant other for their whole lives. And Sasuke certainly did not want the number to increase.

'Would he reject?' Was what the raven was worried about the most. After all it has been him who let Naruto down so many times. And he was not proud of it.

Even worried like that the man's resolve did not weaken, quite the opposite. He knew that if he did not do that they would both only end up miserable.

And that was something he did not want for his blonde.

L&T

(Naruto's POV)

It was just after Yori and Makoto fell asleep that Sasuke took me out.

I was curious as to where to, but he wanted to play mysterious, refusing to tell me... and covering my eyes with a piece of cloth.

After what I thought was about ten minutes we seemed to have arrived.

„Can I take it off now?" I asked.

There was a slight pause, then came the soft tone of Sasuke's voice.

„Yes, you can."

It took me a moment to adjust my eyes to light once more, when I did though I was stunned.

„This is..."

„... like our dreams, yeah... well with an exception."

I was curious as to what that was. I knew once Sasuke took me by the hand and lead me to step away from the tree a bit.

„Two of them." I whispered.

There before me, I saw two Sakura trees, not one, their trunks curled around each other, their branches softly touching those of the other tree, gently entwining them together.

„I wanted to take you here, ever since I found this place... but I want to do this even more."

I turned to Sasuke, not getting what he meant by the sentence, but I realized it quickly once he lowered himself on one knee.

„Naruto... you know, proposing to the same person twice was not what I expected to happen in my life... but then again, that's how life is sometimes...

I took the ring away thinking, that I was doing you good, but it was only after I did that I realized how stupid thought that was. I realized that there was a part of me missing. I realize how much I hurt you, but I also hope that you'll find it in you to forgive me. Let the rest of our lives be the time in which I'll show you just how much I regret hurting you. Let the rest of our lives be the time in which I'll show you just how much you mean to me. Uzumaki Naruto, will you make me the happiest man to ever be and marry me?"

I could only stare at the raven before me. I felt the same disbelief as I did in the time the first proposal took place.

And what I felt for him... that has not diminished... not even in the least, quite the opposite, I felt even more drawn to teme. I loved him even more now.

Looking into the onyx eyes I could see many emotions. Guilt. Fear. Love. Hope. It were the latest that stood out the most. The hope intertwined with love. It was the sight of these that has gotten rid of the latest doubts I might have had.

„I will."

Teme's eyes sparked with life and I saw the brightest smile I was sure I'd ever encounter on his face.

The ring found its rightful place on my ring finger once again.

And our lips crashed once Sasuke pulled me closer, which was caused by series of passionate, life-searing, but most of all, loving kisses.

„Thank you." He said, once we pulled apart, our lungs eagerly filling with oxygen we deprived them of.

„What for?"

„For everything."

L&T

Three months later

(Third Person's POV)

Naruto was everything but calm the day of actual wedding... and that was clearly seen by everyone who was helping him prepare for his big moment.

„I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this." Naruto rambled over and over as Sakura worked to tame his blonde hair which seemed adamant on not cooperating.

„Naruto-kun, stop with that, of course you can do this." Tried Hinata, now Hyuuga-Inuzuka, to calm him down. With not that much of an effect.

„That's right Naruto, you lived through much worse than this." agreed Iruka simply, standing in front of the blonde. „Besides, if you continue to stress yourself like this then the child will be distressed also." He sighed.

That seemed to have an impact on the blonde Jinchuuriki. He did not want to cause any harm to his child after all.

„You're such an odd person, really, you have can handle Kyuubi in you and you can't handle a wedding?" Laughed Gaara, seeing the now-relatively-calm blonde's misery. He was also invited to the wedding... and decided that he might be of some help being in the same situation once before.

„Kyuubi! Do you think Sasuke would mind if I sent the fox instead of me?"

„Don't you dare!" came a short reply accompanied by a punch across the head. Courtesy of a certain pink-haired kunoichi.

„But I'll faint if I have to go there with everyone staring at me! Do you think Sasuke would fancy that?" Naruto whined, his distress returned. Although he tried to stay within means of stress that would not do any harm to the child.

„I'd say he'd probably go and carry you down the aisle in his arms." Giggled Sakura still trying to tame Naruto's hair.

„Now wouldn't that be romantic?" said Ino, dreamy-eyed, probably imagining her own wedding already.

„NO! It would be terribly embarrassing! For me and for teme also!" Naruto was getting that he won't manage to put any of his logic into his friends' minds.

„Come on, you can't take it like that, look at me and Sakura-san, we lived through our own weddings also." laughed Gaara.

„That's right! Your weddings are long since over already! Besides, when you were getting married, Gaara, you were so nervous, that you were planning a mass sand burial for the wedding guests!" Hissed Naruto, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

„No way, little brother, really?" Laughed Temari who just came.

„Maybe I should think about doing a little-scale demonstration." Growled the Kazekage... „Rather not." ...deciding that it was about the time he left the room.

Two women, who were introduced to each other by Naruto, were looking at the whole scene from the corner of the room, bemused.

„This is going to be a long day." Said Ayame, looking at the bride kindly. She then turned to the the other woman, the Jinchuuriki, as the short-haired woman sneered.

„You doubted that for even a second?"

L&T

Even on the groom's side, the day did not go without nervousness. Sasuke paced back and forth around the room, much to an amusement of his sensei who decided to keep an eye on him.

„You know... you'll walk a hole into the ground like this." The silver-haired man chuckled from behind his mask.

„I could care less... but that is not even possible I dare to say." Sasuke muttered through his teeth, not ceasing in his pacing even in the least.

„We're ready here." Came the voice, along with a head of Shizune that peeked into the room from behind the partly closed door.

„It was just about time."

'The floor would not be able to withstand much more.'

L&T

After Naruto accomplished the feat of walking down the aisle without fainting, although his legs were shaking horribly, he finally stood in front of Sasuke.

The raven seemed nervous to the blonde also, and in some sense this calmed Naruto down. He was happy that he was not the only one who was going hysteric over the whole thing.

„You look beautiful." smiled Sasuke once Naruto took the place in front of him, holding out his hands for Naruto to hold. Once the blonde did so, Tsunade coughed softly, to catch everyone's attention and then started in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

„Dear ladies and gentlemen, my dear shinobi. We have gathered here today to witness and celebrate the love of these two young men share. They came a long way to reach here, but they did in the end and that is why they here today. To promise themselves to each other in the holy bond of matrimony. Now I would like to hear few words and the vows from the couple." The woman smiled, stepping a bit back.

Knowing that it was now the moment he has been so nervous about, Naruto suddenly did not feel the disturbing feeling any longer. All the worries seemed to disappear once he looked into the depths of those onyx eyes of his future husband. And so he only took a steadying breath and spoke.

„Uchiha Sasuke, you may feel yourself just how surreal this day feels to me. I have loved you for a long time, however I never dared to hope that I would actually get to live to this day and for that I want to thank you.

I want to thank you for everything Sasuke. I want to thank you for our beautiful children we have and more we will hopefully have in the future, for being there for me, for giving me hope that even someone like me has a chance to find happiness. Because happiness is the definition of what your love for me is.

You were my first in so many things indeed. You were my first friend, my first rival and my first love, even if you might not believe it.

I loved all of our first, Sasuke, be it my first kiss ever – which was not as accidental as you may think – or the first night we spent together... even if that ended up in my first pregnancy. I loved the night because it was the first night in which I felt loved to my very core. Burned by the love which I never had the chance to encounter.

Let this vow also be the first then. The first, the last and the only marital vow I ever intend to let pass through these lips." Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath only to exhale second later. He then opened his eyes again and looked straight into the eyes of the man he loved. Then spoke.

„I, Uzumaki Naruto, take you, Uchiha Sasuke, to be my husband, my lover, my friend, the father of our children and the one whom I will spend the rest of my life with, falling in love with you a little more every day. Let me offer you my most heartfelt vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow and in good times and in bad ones also. Let me be your partner for life. Let me be the one to raise our children by your side. Let me be the one next to whom you go to sleep. Let me be the one, next to whom you wake up.

Let us make this last forever, because one lifetime is not enough to contain just how much I feel for you. I hope you won't ever forget that. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, which we're already working on..." Naruto laughed softly, stroking his visibly bulging belly. „... To honour and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live and even after."

Hearing Naruto's words the audience listened intently. There were some who were prejudiced against Naruto that day, however their unrighteous beliefs disappeared in the moment the vow passed Naruto's lips. They realized that no demon would be able to love like that. Everyone was stunned by the sincerity in the words and no one wanted to break the silence. It however was bound to happen as it was Sasuke's turn to say his vow.

„Uzumaki, for not much longer, Naruto, you've once again managed to catch me off guard. That is to be expected, I guess, being it you whom I intend to marry. Being it you whom I fell in love with. What can I expect from Number one unpredictable ninja of Konoha after all?" Sasuke smiled at the fact... and few fans in the back lines fainted. That however went unnoticed by the raven as he gazed into the most beautiful sky-blue eyes he knew he was ever to see.

„Let's make today the day our loneliness ends forever. Let's make today the beginning of our road. The road on which I know I will walk with you for as long as my eyes see it.

You're my life, Naruto. I am in love with you. I have been for more time than my mind realized and I will be until the day my soul perishes into nothing. Let's make today the day we and our children finally become family. Just that and I will be happy. I will be happy because you're what I have always been searching for and found in the most unexpected place.

Let this me also add to our share of firsts... Let this be the first, the last and the only marital vow I ever intend to let pass through these lips also." An encouraging smile he received was all the raven needed and then he continued.

„I, Uchiha Sasuke, take you, Uzumaki Naruto, to be my husband, my lover, my friend, the mother of our children and the one whom I will spend the rest of my life with, falling in love with you a little more every day. Let me offer you my most heartfelt vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow and in good times and in bad ones also.

Let me be your partner for life. Let me be the one to raise our children by your side. Let me be the one next to whom you go to sleep. Let me be the one, next to whom you wake up.

Let us make this last forever, because one lifetime is not enough to contain just how much I feel for you. I hope you won't ever forget that.

I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honour and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live and even after."

Once both of the vows were voice there could be heard two excited laughs, followed by claps of little hands, coming from the two onyx-eyed children who were in the care of the two senseis in the first row.

„I think they approve." Smiled Tsunade at the two who turned to look at their children. Then she returned back to the formality that needed to be done.

„Exchange the rings please." Said the Hokage, looking kindly at the pair in front of her as they slipped golden rings on each other's ring fingers. She then took a strip of pure white cloth and bound the two's hands together.

„I now pronounce the two of you married. You may now kiss."

Sasuke did not hesitate a moment and he was already pulling Naruto closer to lock their lips in a kiss that made all the witnesses sigh in awe. One could say the kiss simply oozed of love.

After the two separated, both slightly flushed, Tsunade turned to the quest, her arm in the direction of the newlyweds. „Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Sasuke and Naruto Uchiha. Let there be always light in their future and let them head towards it in piece along with the children they already have and I am sure they will have in future."

L&T

The feast was a gathering many enjoyed. Not as much as the happy pair of newlyweds that sat silently next to each other by the table, looking into the other's eyes basking in the warmth they found there.

„I love you." Whispered Naruto, kissing the ring on Sasuke's hand he held in his.

„I love you, too." Replied the raven, mimicking the blonde's movement. He then chuckled softly. „And. believe me, if not for the protocol, I would have kissed you silly the moment you stepped in front of me." The blonde only blushed at that.

Then his eyes turned to the glasses on the table.

„To us..." Naruto whispered, raising his glass of juice. „So that it last forever."

When his and Sasuke's gaze met he knew that it was exactly what the man was planning also.

Sasuke took his glass also and brought it to Naruto's.

The glasses made a soft clink and then came the raven's soft voice.

„To us."

L&T

Five years and three months later

„Dad! Dad!" Came Makoto's excited squeals through the hall, way sooner before the boy himself appeared, crashing into his sister in the process.

As the little girl was shocked she started crying.

„Shinju-chan [pearl]! I'm so sorry are you all right?" Makoto started worrying immediately, helping the girl from the floor, trying to calm her down.

Naruto, looking at the scene only hummed approvingly. He took pride in raising both of the twins to be protective of their little sister.

„What should nii-chan do to make Shinju-chan better?" He asked after a while.

In response the still-sniffling girl held onto his sleeve.

„Nii-chan has to play with me." She mumbled.

L&T

„They're cute, aren't they?" Naruto laughed as he watched Makoto run happily after the laughing little girl, attempting a two-people tag apparently, whilst Yori only sighed, burying himself even deeper into the picture book he held.

„They are." Came the somehow satisfied response from Sasuke as he wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist.

„Still... we're not much of a clan yet, aren't we?" the raven smirked as he nibbled on the blonde's earlobe.

„What are you implying, Uchiha?" Came Naruto's amused response.

„How many times in last five years did I remind you that you're one of us also? Uchiha Naruto?"

„Many times indeed... don't try to change topic though." Naruto laughed.

„Okay so let me rephrase it into question... What would you think about giving them another brother or sister?"

Naruto looked at the raven as if he went mad for a moment, then he quirked his eyebrow and started talking.

„You mean nine months of tiredness, strange cravings, hormonal instability and such?" Naruto asked narrowing his eyes.

Sasuke was about to let the matter drop when suddenly Naruto's face brightened.

„Nine months of constant attention and being pampered? … Hmm… I think I quite like the sound of that. Besides... I don't think I'd let you back off... At least this once we should advance normally, as a couple..."

At these words Sasuke's eyes widened.

„This... once?" He let the words sink then looked at Naruto, disbelieving... „Really?"

„Don't play innocent though..." Naruto said, nodding as well as trying to hide stiffen his chuckling. He looked up at his husband and let one finger draw small fingers on Sasuke's chest.

„Do you remember what Tsunade-baa said about the pills she gave me? The one she told us would prevent me from getting pregnant without the need of going celibate?"

Nod.

„How I should take them every day?"

Nod.

„And do you remember, love, how you hid the pills?" Naruto said, narrowing his eyes slightly, while he pointed with his finger just between Sasuke's eyes.

A response to that was firstly slight pause, then nod.

Once the answer was received Naruto's mouth widened in smile.

„I'm glad you're man enough to admit that. I guess I'm at fault too, though."

„How come?"

„Well... It's not like you hid it on an untraceable place. You only pushed it far into the cupboard instead of letting it on the usual place. I took the pill that once. I however thought about it after that and then, when a certain husband of mine pretty much kidnapped me on our fifth anniversary for a two-week trip, I just so conveniently did not mention not having the pills on me... and well given the time and number of times you shoved me your love during the time it's no wonder that..."

What Naruto wanted to say has stayed unsaid as the blonde was engulfed in a hug.

„You have no idea just how much I love you." The raven said into the crook of his husband's neck. „I should tell you the words more often. I love you. You're more than I deserve."

As the raven went on with his worshipping the blonde blushed. He however loved the feel of being in his beloved's arms and so he cuddled into the embrace, smiling.

„I can take a hint, you know? Besides you could have just told me."

„I was worried you'd do it just because I asked you, whilst it would make you uncomfortable."

„Well I like being pampered it's you who's going to take care of me either way." the blonde laughed as he pulled his raven closer for a kiss. „Tell me the truth next time though. Will you?"

„I think I can manage that." The raven laughed as he's known that he has been forgiven already. The blue eyes of his husband told him that.

He wanted to say something more but his other half beat him to it.

„Now... how about we share the happy news with kids?" the blonde suggested, seeing that the raven was simply itching to do just that.

„I would very much like that. And let's tell them something more also."

„And what should that be?"

„Let's tell them about the love, Naruto, my love. About love... and truth."

The End

Done~

Thank you everyone for staying with me for so long (^^)

I really hope you enjoyed the last chapter also, it's longer (and fluffier :3) than usual chapters were, so I hope you'll take this as a satisfying ending since I won't make a sequel. *sad face*

I was actually planning of writing a paragraph about the wedding night *pout*, but it simply did not fit there, and so I simply skipped it... I hope you don't mind it that much xD

Also my dear people the POLL is still ongoing and WILL BE until the end of May. You can choose up to two choices and I sincerely hope that you will use at least one of your votes.

I will be overjoyed at any view on my story that you may leave me. (^v^)

(A/N - 3rd Jul. 2013 - chapters 25-30 self-beta-ed, corrections made)

See ya(in any of my other/upcoming ff hopefully)~ ( "-.-)/