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Constellations (complete)	By : momhuey8 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1362 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Here it is!
This is the first distinct chapter from Constellations. From here on out, this story is NOTHING like All In. Also, just a reminder, this is the story with the major character death. Here's hoping you'll give it a chance, anyway. Enjoy.
“Just a few more,” Neji said to Sasuke.
Sasuke growled in impatience as the older brunette stitched the cut in his arm. He’d refused to go to the main part of the hospital for attention and was only relenting to Neji’s ministrations because Tsunade had absolutely refused them entrance into the room on the other side of the door facing him.
“If she doesn’t come out here soon…” Sasuke said through gritted teeth.
Then he dropped his head back against the wall and his whisper was filled with despair. “I can’t feel him.”
Neji nodded as he bent over to bite a thread. “It’s the room. I spent some time there once. It is for very precise chakra work and is designed to eliminate any fluctuations from outside sources.”
“So you think he’s okay?”
Sasuke watched as Neji’s face contorted and he closed his eyes. But, when the older teen opened his eyes again, his face was composed.
“I can’t bear to think anything else,” Neji answered quietly.
Last time they’d seen Naruto, his chest had started rising, and his heart had started beating, but within four unsteady breaths, Tsunade had yanked him from under Sasuke’s and Neji’s hands and whisked him away.
Now Sasuke was scared, because he could no longer feel anything at all from the blond. It was as if Naruto had left Konoha altogether.
Having experienced it once, he thought he’d know if Naruto had died but until he saw his friend with his own eyes, until he felt the warmth of living skin under his fingers, heard steady inhalations and exhalations as Naruto’s lungs pumped life giving oxygen to his brain, fear was his unshakable companion.
“Your wound will heal faster if you rest. Close your eyes and I’ll wake you when there is news.” Neji stood.
Sasuke ignored that, getting up and moving to the door. He pressed his palms and cheek against the cool rock and closed his eyes, trying to reach beyond the barrier to some small piece of his lover’s consciousness.
Just has he slammed his hand against the stone in frustration and stepped back, the door opened and Tsunade looked out, her eyes rimmed in red.
“Put these on and you can come in.” She sniffed then held out cuffs just like the ones she’d removed from Naruto.
Neji slipped his on without question, but Sasuke looked ready to refuse. She sighed tiredly.
“Your choice, but if you don’t put them on, you can’t come in. I’ll have nothing interfering with the work of the medics.”
Sasuke closed his eyes and complied.
“Stay close to me and do exactly as I say,” she said.
Sasuke had never had occasion to enter the rooms in this section of the hospital, but now that he had, feared he’d have nightmares about it for the rest of his life.
In the center of the dark, cavernous rock room, Naruto lie naked on the stone floor. The only light in the room came from a few candles flickering in sconces around the perimeter and glowing lines that led from a dozen meditating medics to Naruto’s still form. The medics chanted and Sasuke could see that the lines were actually chakra coursing along channels to whirl around the patient with enough force to whip his hair around his face.
Sasuke clutched his stomach and swallowed thickly as he saw Naruto’s leg lying near his knee, still unattached. It was encased in its own glowing sphere, in an effort, Sasuke guessed, to keep the blood vessels and nerve endings alive.
“Will you be able to put it back on?” he asked in a whisper.
“I believe so, but right now, his body can’t handle the strain.”
As they moved closer, one of the medics fell over onto his side. Another rushed up and pushed him out of the way, taking his place.
Sasuke’s attention was drawn to a gigantic wooden structure growing out of the ground and arching over Naruto’s body. He didn’t fully understand its purpose, but he recognized the basic signature. It had the same properties that had kept him and his own chakra locked in the house while Naruto was being attacked.
“This is going to be difficult. More difficult than any other patient I’ve ever had,” Tsunade finally sighed.
“But you will heal him, right?” Sasuke gripped her arm.
She sighed and rubbed her face. “Naruto is actually three entities. He’s the boy, the demon and the seal.”
“The seal?” Neji asked in surprise.
“So it would seem.” Tsunade nodded. “We are feeding huge quantities of chakra into is body, but all three entities are fighting for it. We’re trying to force it into Naruto’s root, but the three are too closely linked. Minato did a hell of a job with that thing.”
“I don’t understand.” Sasuke and Neji both said.
“Because Naruto’s and the demon’s chakra are linked to the seal, and vice versa, all three entities are tied too closely together. All three are fighting for resources, and so far, the seal is winning, but it’s damaged and the chakra is leaking back out. We haven’t been able to get Naruto’s own chakra up much above zero. Right now we’re not accomplishing much more than life support. The upside is that the demon is also depleted.
“Over the years, the demon has been kept in check almost as much by Naruto’s own will as the seal. So if we do get some chakra to stick, that is going to cause the next problem.”
“Problem?”
“The seal has no allegiance. Without Naruto’s will to keep the demon contained, if the Kyuubi gains ground faster than Naruto, he could conceivably steal all the chakra and make it his own. At that point, he’ll likely make a break for it.”
She pointed toward the arches and the man they missed sitting off to the side. “Yamato is ready to absorb the Biju chakra should the balance tip away from Naruto, but he’s one man. He’ll need to rest at some point.”
“What then?” Sasuke whispered.
“What then,” she repeated. “I just don’t know.” She looked at Naruto and her jaw clenched. “I know what he’d say, but I just can’t…”
“What does that mean?” Sasuke growled, already guessing.
“Yamato is not the only precaution in here.” She pointed to another corner of the room in which stood half dozen Hunters, their swords unsheathed.
“I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt him,” Sasuke snarled.
Tsunade nodded, not the slightest bit surprised or phased by Sasuke’s reaction. “What if that’s Kyuubi?”
“I…” Sasuke’s jaw clenched in frustration. “Get rid of them.”
“Sasuke, I’d have to wage war in this room to get rid of them.”
“You’re Hokage, just order them out.” Sasuke seethed, his eyes blazing at them across the room.
“They’re his men, not mine.”
“His men?” Sasuke looked from Tsunade to Neji who nodded.
“Once I formed the Niju Shotai,” Tsunade continued, “I disbanded those fucking sociopaths. Naruto recruited them for his own purposes. So they’re here because of an agreement they have with him.”
The three moved closer to Naruto. Sasuke longed to reach out and hold him.
“He was always worried that something like this would happen.” Tsunade murmured. “That he’d be hovering between life and death someday, and the demon would have a window of opportunity to escape. He’s had precautions in place since he was thirteen years old.”
“Naruto…” Sasuke looked at his beloved and realized he had missed so much of his friend’s life. Had not been there to help him deal with such monumental struggles; had not been there to protect him. He pictured a skinny thirteen year old in negotiations with the scariest, most unbalanced ninja on earth, for, of all things, his death, and he found himself swiping tears off his cheek.
“Can I go to him?” Sasuke asked. “Touch him? Talk to him?”
She studied him for a few moments. “Okay, but don’t touch the channels. And only for a couple of minutes.”
Sasuke picked his way closer to Naruto. As he knelt, he realized Neji had followed. Neji’s own anguish was clear and Sasuke didn’t have the heart to send him away. Anyway, if love had any power here, he would deny Naruto none from any source.
Instead he found a spot to kneel by Naruto and laid his head on the wounded chest, searching for a heartbeat.
“Dobe?” Sasuke whispered and closed his eyes. “Don’t leave me. I need you.” He continued to talk. Some nonsense, some pleading, anything that came to mind, hoping that the sound of his voice would work its way to some part of Naruto that would respond and give him a will to come back.
When he lifted his head, Neji was still there, holding one of Naruto’s hands and stroking his hair. He heard the other brunette also speaking to Naruto in agonized whispers. “I should have told you. All these years, you thought yourself unlovable. I had the power to change that, but…”
“What are your plans?” Neji asked Sasuke later as they were once again sitting in the hallway across from each other.
“My plans?” Sasuke asked, frowning.
“So that I may assign my men properly, I would like to know when or if you plan to go home.”
Sasuke sighed. “I’m not leaving. You can go ahead and go.”
“I’m not leaving,” Neji responded, sounding surprised.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
“I am at liberty to assign guards as I see fit,” Neji continued. “I have assigned myself as his guard. I will assign another for you if and when you return to your home.”
“No.” Sasuke snapped. “I’ll guard him. And myself.”
Neji sat forward and leaned his elbows on his knees. “I am his guard,” he repeated. “And as long as you remain in this hallway, I am your guard as well.”
Sasuke threw his arms up. “This is fucking ridiculous. I do not now, nor have I ever needed a guard.” He poked the floor in front of him. “You know god damned well I can take care of myself.”
“You and Naruto have never discussed his mission parameters? The official parameters or his own personal pact? Or even what, I suspect, was Tsunade’s personal agenda?”
Sasuke hesitated. “The scroll said he was to protect me.”
“But we all know that is unnecessary, don’t we?” Neji said. “Even the council knows that the only person in this village who could harm you is Naruto himself.”
Sasuke looked uncertain. He’d just assumed that either the council was stupid and really had no idea that he could protect himself or they were making some gesture to win Uchihan approval. Either way, he’d acquiesced because it gave him time with Naruto. He was certainly not going to correct their misinterpretations and have Naruto removed from his home.
“No one is protecting your body,” Neji finally said. “They are protecting your hopes and dreams.”
Sasuke’s eyes widened and his breath caught.
“You wish to come home, but, as Tsunade pointed out in the hospital, the Uchiha name is spat upon here.”
“If that’s true, why would anyone do that for me? Why would anyone care about what I want?”
“For Naruto, of course.” Neji sat back against the wall. “Public opinion for Naruto has changed in the years since you left.” Neji shrugged. “There is still some bitterness about Kyuubi from a very small population. And there is a small number of people who do not like him and never will because he refuses to be used for their purposes, but he has won over the vast majority because…” Neji shrugged again, “well, for the same reasons you and I love him.”
Sasuke was staring at his hands in his lap. Neji continued.
“The only thing Naruto has ever wanted for himself is your return. Now that you are here, he and those who love him are willing to do anything to keep you here. That includes standing between you and anything that would tarnish the name of Uchiha further, like unnecessary confrontations with civilians. We are willing to give you the chance to remake the Uchiha name,” Neji waved a hand, “or not, so that you can live here in peace. For him.”
Sasuke spent several moments digesting this, then he said, “You said something about Tsunade’s agenda.”
Neji nodded. “She would keep him in Konoha where he is safer.”
Sasuke gave a disbelieving snort. “He’s the strongest ninja alive. Who could hurt him?”
“He could.” Neji continued at Sasuke’s confused expression. “The missions are not her concern. It is the company he keeps; his traveling companions.”
Sasuke suddenly understood. “The Hunters.”
“What you don’t know about Naruto is that each morning, he gets up and makes sure ‘Kyuubi Plan A’ and ‘Plan B’ and ‘Plan C’ are all in place. Naruto takes his responsibility for Kyuubi with deadly seriousness. He will do absolutely anything to keep the demon from being loosed on the world again, including seeing to his own death. From the beginning, Jiraiya was ready to kill Naruto.”
Neji pointed to the door. “He pays that group to follow him around on all his missions, ready to deal the final blow.”
“Fuck.”
“Precisely. We were always terrified they would come back with only Naruto’s head because some rustling in the bushes gave them an excuse to draw their weapons.”
Neji settled back once again.
“I believe Tsunade saw your return as a chance to keep him in Konoha until he is Hokage.” He tilted his head. “Personally, I believe she secretly hoped that a bond would develop between the two of you giving him a reason to care about whether he lives or dies.”
Sasuke still said nothing, feeling sick over these revelations.
“Naruto is trying to give you a home; one in which he hopes you can live together.” Neji closed his eyes and sighed. “Therefore, Sasuke, I will guard him and I will guard you so his sacrifice is not in vain and so that his one dream will not be stolen from him.”
“Neji?” Sasuke said, picking at the hem of his pants.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
He looked up in time to see Neji smile. “You’re welcome, my friend.”
- 14
- 15
- 16
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Constellations (complete)