The Blessed Realm

Chapter One Hundred Forty-Two: Birthday Guests

They dissolved the embrace. Even though they were powerful ninja and even though they were young and in love they needed a break after the third round. Sasuke went to the bedroom to fetch the photo he had found for Naruto and put it on the shrine, next to the photo of his own family. For a while they stood in front of it, their arms around each other's shoulders. Naruto tried to talk to his father like Sasuke talked to his parents:

You did a lot to reestablish trust between Konoha and the other ninja villages, he said, and I admire you for this, but in the end you gave in to the pressure that was put on you and sacrificed both yourself and me.

He did not know how to continue. He did not know what he really thought of his father. He remembered how Sasuke normally sought his parents' approval when he talked to them.

I do my best to achieve peace too, he said, even if it's only among children. They are not kindergarten kids, however. They are between ten and fourteen. People here think that if I can resolve conflicts between children it will be easy for me to resolve conflicts between politicians.

It felt weird. Sasuke believed he had a duty towards his parents. Naruto was not certain whether he had such a duty.

Jiraiya taught me to dream of peace. I have released a new edition of the Gutsy Ninja. You loved the book, didn't you? You named me after its hero.

Naruto realized that he did feel a duty towards Jiraiya. Maybe he should look for a portrait of Jiraiya to put it upon the shrine.

He kissed Sasuke's shoulder to indicate that he had finished talking to his father. Sasuke drew him closer to his side, letting his hand wander over Naruto's back and his ass. He had not finished talking to his parents yet.

I have found a friend, and I've learnt to care for him, he said. When the time comes I'll be able to care for a child. I've become a good person. You'd be proud of me.

The doorbell rang, interrupting his thoughts. “Who might it be?” Naruto asked. “Do we expect any visitors?”

“Not so early,” Sasuke replied. “I have no idea actually. Maybe it's the mailman.”

He wrapped himself into a blanket that was lying on the sofa. Naruto went to the bedroom to put on his sleeping T-shirt and his most presentable boxers. When he returned to the living-room he saw that Kakashi and Sakura had arrived. Sakura was staring at Sasuke with an expression of shock, confusion and fascination, unable to say anything. Naruto hurried to Sasuke's side, laying his arm around his shoulders, then he let it glide over his back.

Sasuke did the same.

“He's always been gay,” Naruto said. “And I'm gay now too. You'll have to get used to it.”

Sakura kept staring at them. Naruto helped Sasuke rearrange the blanket, then Sasuke went to the bedroom to get dressed. Naruto heard him take a shower.

“Won't you come in?” he said. “Do you want something to eat or to drink? Tea? Coffee? You see, we've just had breakfast. You can have breakfast too, if you want.”

“What's coffee?” Sakura asked.

“It's some foreign drink that's very popular here. Sasuke loves it. I don't.”

“I've read about it in Icha-Icha”. Kakashi said. “I'll try it.”



They went inside and sat down at the breakfast table. Naruto prepared tea and coffee and laid the table for his guests: He felt weird. He should have been happy, he knew, but he wasn't. It would have been easier if he had known about their arrival beforehand.

He also felt weird because neither Kakashi nor Sakura looked happy.

“It must have been an exhausting journey,” he said.

“It was,” Sakura answered.

“We had to flee at night,” Kakashi explained. “We weren't safe before we had crossed the border of Fire Country. It would not have occurred to me that it would ever come to this.”

Naruto felt that it was not just the exhaustion, but he didn't dare to ask them what had happened. He was glad when Sasuke arrived to relieve him. He went to the bathroom to have a shower too, and to dress properly. He returned, and sitting down next to Sasuke he caressed his back and his shoulders. Sasuke had done the same when he had come to relieve him.

Naruto realized that he was no longer used to people staring at them: all their friends had ceased to wonder about them a long time ago, and strangers in Music Town would look irritated for some seconds and then they'd pretend that everything was normal.

“Why were you not dressed at that time of the day?” Kakashi asked.

“We've slept in,” Naruto explained

“Ninja don't sleep in.

“People in Music Town do. On Saturdays and Sundays they sleep in.”

“What's Saturdays and Sundays?” Sakura asked.

“It's called weekend. People don't work during weekends. They do what they want, like partying, and sleeping in the next morning.”

Both Sakura and Kakashi took some time to digest the information.

“I've read about something like this in Icha-Icha,” Kakashi said. “There's a lot of parties there, but not all of them take place on Saturdays and Sundays. People don't work in Jiraiya's stories.” He paused for a few seconds. “And why were you naked when you had breakfast?” he asked. “Is that also some custom of Music Town?”

“It's a custom of those who are in love,” Naruto said, leaning against Sasuke so that he almost sat on his lap. Sasuke began to play with his hair.

Sakura and Kakashi stared at them again.

“Doesn't Jiraiya write about this custom in Icha-Icha?” Sasuke asked.

“Actually not,” Kakashi replied.

Sasuke continued caressing Naruto's hair, and also his back. Naruto enjoyed it: Now he did not mind being passive. He remembered what they had done this morning and it occurred to him that from their present position they could have a smooth transition to having sex.

He saw Sakura staring at them, though more at Sasuke than at himself. He imagined how he must look in her eyes: strong and manly and confident, extremely beautiful and completely out of reach. Sasuke begain to nibble his ear, and Naruto thought how he liked him best: Spread out on the bed, ready to receive him as his lover.

“You're lucky though,” Sasuke told Kakashi. “There will be a party tonight. It's Naruto's birthday today, so I've rented a floor of the community center.”

“Have you?” Naruto said. “You haven't told me anything.”

“It was meant to be a surprise.”

“So now the surprise is spoilt.”

“It's okay. I wanted to tell you anyway.”



Naruto had never celebrated his birthday. He wondered what a party organized by Sasuke would be like. It was weird anyway: celebrating his birthday. He was aware that the evening he and Sasuke had spent with Juugo's fostermothers had been kind of a birthday party as well, but now there was a second birthday party, thanks to Sasuke. He felt a bit dizzy.

“I didn't know it's your birthday,” Sakura said.

“I didn't know either,” Kakashi added.

The doorbell rang, and again Naruto wondered who it might be. Sasuke looked at the clock.

“This is when I expected our guests,” he said. “You open the door.”

Naruto did so. It was Karin.

“Happy birthday,” she said, embracing him. “I hope it will be a wonderful birthday for you, and that the rest of the year will be a wonderful year.”



“Thanks,” Naruto answered, feeling a bit embarrassed by her.



“I have a present for you,” Karin continued, passing a large box to him. When Naruto unpacked it he found an object that consisted of stones, shells, beads and some metal tubes, all connected by strings. Karin showed him how to hold it.

“It's meant to hang from the ceiling, next to the door or the window. When some evil spirit passes through the door it will shake the stones and metal tubes and their sound will warn you.”

She shook it to show him the sounds the object made.

“Sasuke loves that kind of random noise,” Naruto answered. “He confuses them with real music. We'll put it up at a place with a lot of wind.”

Still from the entrance hall Karin smiled at Sasuke in the most seductive way she was capable of. Naruto thought that by now she had certainly understood that there was no way she'd ever seduce Sasuke, so he concluded that she must do it out of habit, or in order to annoy Sasuke. Naruto led her into the living-room, where she tried to embrace Sasuke. By now he had learnt to prevent her from laying her arms around him without appearing too rude, still everyone saw that he felt extremely awkward.

“These are friends from Konoha,” Naruto introduced Kakashi and Sakura.

“Friends from Konoha! Wow! You've traveled a long way for him!”

She embraced them too. Both looked as if they were not used to it, but at least Kakashi seemed to enjoy it once he had overcome his surprise.

“So how did your journey go? How long did it take you to travel from Konoha to Music Town?”

“Three days,” Kakashi answered. “The journey was fine once we had crossed the border of Fire Country.”

“I understand,” Karin said. “Naruto's lucky that he has friends who take such a great risk upon themselves in order to celebrate his birthday with him.”

Sasuke got up. “Have you finished breakfast?” he asked Sakura and Kakashi. “I need to clear the table and to prepare some snacks: we expect more guests.”

Naruto wondered whom Sasuke had invited, but at least he was not surprised when the door bell rang again. This time it was the guy from Earth Country.

“My husband's busy delivering beer and soft drinks to the community center,” he said. “He told me that he had offered this to Sasuke so that you could spend the morning together.”

“Thanks,” Naruto answered. “We made good use of the time.”

“I hope so.” The man embraced him and kissed him on his cheeks. It was a tight embrace, tighter than Karin's: the men from the gay community drew the line between love and friendship at a different place than other people. Naruto had got used to it quickly (it had been more difficult for him to accept that people embraced Sasuke and kissed him on his cheeks too), and now he enjoyed it: bathing in people's affections. He allowed the man to lay his arm around his shoulder when they entered the living-room.

“This is what my husband told me to give you as a a birthday present,” he said, passing Naruto a small parcel. It contained a CD with the songs of the most recent European Song contest. “And this is from me to give you some inspiration.”



It was a book called “more fun in bed,” and in smaller letters it said “for boys”. Naruto had seen it in the shop windows of book stores in Music Town, and he had also seen two similar ones from the same series: “for girls” and “for boys and girls”. He opened it, and while he had no time to read the text he could see that it contained plenty of cartoons, all about what might go wrong when you had sex.

“I know you`re not into photos as you're still young and attractive yourselves” , the man said. “But I thought you might like this.”



“We'll read it together,” Naruto replied.

“What is it?” Karin asked. “May I have a look too?”

Naruto passed her the book: he could not go on reading anyway, because the door bell rang again. This time it were some of their classmates from the training center of the police. They had managed to find a present that was neither embarrassing nor useless: a woollen cap of the kind that was now fashionable in Music Town among teenagers. Also some of the young people from the riverside turned up and they had brought something that was even cooler. Leather bracelets with a lot of metal on them, and a leather collar, which Naruto, as he well knew, could wear at the riverside, where it would just be considered cool, but not at the gay community center where it would designate him as Sasuke's sub.

For some minutes no new guests arrived, meaning that Naruto had time to help Sasuke prepare the food, and to listen to his guests' conversation. They got along better than it was to be expected: one of the girls from their class asked the young women from the riverside about their piercings, because she wanted one herself. The book with funny cartoons about people failing at having sex was passed around and then ended up in Karin's hands again, and she read out the speech bubbles to Kakashi. Only Sakura, who was about the same age as the girls from Sasuke's and Naruto's class, had difficulties to join the conversation. Even when she was asked about her pink hair and what she used to dye it she only answered that it was her hair's natural colour and then fell silent again. She kept looking at Sasuke and Naruto.

“You've changed a lot,” she said to Naruto.

“You think so?”

“I think so too,” Karin joined in. “He has changed a lot since our arrival in Music Town.”

“You're not from here either?”



“They arrived some six weeks after my own arrival here,” Naruto explained.

“You've become more serious,” Sakura continued.

“Well, I've encountered a lot of new things in Music Town. I've learnt a lot. I can look back at a lot of new experiences.”

“Good experiences,” Sasuke added, lowering his arm that was lying around Naruto's shoulders so that it came to lie around his waist, and caressing Naruto's belly.

“Yes, having sex with you definitely turned me more serious.”



Sasuke stiffened. Naruto turned around to embrace him in his turn, knowing he had hurt him.

“It's okay,” he said. “I enjoy it a lot.” He kissed Sasuke's shoulder, or rather the soft spot where neck and shoulder met.

“I like it when you look serious,” Sasuke said. “I also like it when you're laughing, but I think you look happier when you`re serious.”

Naruto did not try to understand this. He had to break up the embrace anyway, as the doorbell rang again. This time it was the mailman. He had a large letter for Naruto, with the logo of Uzumaki flutes and woodpipes on it. It contained a voucher for clarinet or saxophone lessons, and a promise for an instrument if he liked the lessons and wanted to continue them. It also continued a postcard with some funny pictures.

We wish you a happy birthday and we hope you'll enjoy playing the clarinet. Visit us soon again, and bring your friend, too! (We've forgotten his name, sorry, but we'll remember when you tell us.)

It also contained a photo of his mother.

Naruto turned to Sasuke. “You did that, didn't you?”

“I asked them for a photo, and told them it was your birthday, and of course they asked for the exact date then.”

Naruto embraced him, and kissed him, and then laid his cheek against Sasuke's.

“It's perfect,” he said, letting his hands wander over Sasuke's back and his belly, as well as this was possible while they were embracing. He kissed him again, this time drawing him into a truly erotic kiss with their mouths open and their tongues touching each other, and both of them getting a bit aroused. Some of their guests watched them, others just continued their conversation as the boys kissing and embracing was something they had seen often enough by now.

Something on the stove started to smell funny, so Sasuke broke off the embrace in order to see what it was.

Sakura had been among those who had been watching.

“People sent you a photo of your mother?” she asked.

“Yes. It turned out that some Uzumaki live in a village nearby. They make woodwind instruments, that's why they sent me a voucher for clarinet lessons.”

He did not feel like telling her how he had tried the various instruments and how saxophones and clarinets had been the ones he liked best.

“They happened to know about my mother,” he continued. “She was a distant relative of their family.”

Sakura listened, taking in the words.

“It's because I found a photo of your mother too. Or, to be exact, one of the midwives found it. When she heard that you are a friend of mine she gave it to me. It must have been taken a short time after your birth. There's some lines on the back side.”

She rummaged in her backpack and found an envelope: Naruto took it.

“Thanks a lot,” he said. “I think I want to have a look at it while I am on my own.”

 

A/N: Thanks again for your reviews and your plusses! You can find my answers at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14965-blessed-realm/ .It is now possible to access the thread without registration at the forums.