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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
- 16
- 17
- 18
Also, I wish there was a feature on AFF that allowed me to respond to reviews; I would love to engage my readers on their thoughts. If you are interested in something like that, these stories are also at Fanfiction.net and y!gallery, also under Loraney. If you need a link, let me know.
Early the next morning, a commotion interrupted the breakfast Sasuke and Neji were eating. They jumped up, but Neji grabbed Sasuke’s arm.
“I will handle it?” Neji confirmed before opening the door.
Sasuke sighed and nodded. Then they stepped out into the hallway, Sasuke behind Neji.
They stopped before the Council and several armed Jounin, Neji placing himself such that he blocked their progress toward Naruto’s room.
“Where is Tsunade? We want to speak to her about Naruto and the demon.”
Sasuke felt the blood pound in his veins as fear and anger warred inside him.
In front of him, Neji dropped to a knee and bowed his head.
“Of course, but first, I would plead for this opportunity to beg your forgiveness for doubting your wisdom.”
“Hyuuga…,” one councilor stammered.
“I am ashamed. If you had chained my arms and legs, and then tossed my body onto the battlefield, I would not have thought beyond the situation to a master plan.”
“Young man…” The other councilor started, sounding uncertain if he was being insulted or not.
“That’s what makes Naruto a better soldier than I. Did you tell him, or do you think he guessed? Or perhaps he was just insightful enough to defer to your wisdom, without knowledge of the plan?”
“Er, well, some of each, I suppose.” Sasuke struggled to keep his face impassive at this ludicrous exchange. It was clear the councilors had no idea what Neji was talking about, but would not admit it.
“Uchiha Sasuke and I are honored that you permitted us to play a small role in your ingenious plan.” Neji stood and turned slightly toward Sasuke. “Aren’t we Uchiha?”
“Hn…” Sasuke wouldn’t admit that he had no idea what this was about either.
“But enough. You are here to see the miracle you created.” Neji turned and led the group to Naruto’s room.
He moved the blanket down to Naruto’s hips and pulled his hospital gown aside enough to reveal the seal, talking the whole time.
“I imagine no one knows seal-lore or even demon-lore better than you. Not to mention senjutsu theory. To put the three together in such an inventive combination…” Neji sighed wistfully.
“There it is. Better than new. Stronger than the day the Yondaime put it there.” Neji bowed his head. “A better use of Uchiha’s sage abilities could not be imagined. His successful senjutsu training is a gift from the gods. Surely they must speak to you directly.”
The four of them studied the lines of the seal, and indeed they were sharp and clear, contrasting starkly with the skin under it.
Tsunade burst in at that point, an anxious look on her face.
“Young man,” one councilor said condescendingly, “listen to your elders and, gods willing, when you are our age, you may one day be able to spot opportunities such as this.”
“Ah, Tsunade,” the other straightened. “I see all is well.”
Tsunade coughed lightly and cast an unreadable look at Neji. “Hyuuga explained everything?”
“Yes. Next time we expect you to keep us up to date on how our plans are progressing.”
“Yes, well.” She sniffed. “Shall we go and discuss this in the shade of the new water tower?” Sasuke watched Neji bow his head and if he wasn’t mistaken, the older brunette was blushing.
When they were alone again, Sasuke circled Neji, studying him speculatively.
“I’ll bet,” Sasuke said, his eyes narrowed, “your ninja skills had nothing to do with your promotion to Anbu Captain.” He crossed his arms. “I’ll bet you went in to get yelled at and came out with a shiny new job.”
“There was an incident with the old Konoha water tower,” Neji said. “But, as it turned out, due to many structural flaws and poor decision making by a previous, not so wise council, they were going to replace it anyway. Many lives were saved.”
As amusing as Neji’s little manipulation could be under other circumstances, Sasuke brooded over it for the rest of the day.
He pictured this afternoon’s incident as it would have gone had it been only him guarding Naruto. Blood would have been spilled, lives lost and he would be on the run or facing his own execution. Indeed, if Neji hadn’t been there today, Sasuke and Naruto would have lost each other forever.
It became clear to him that he was not equipped to protect Naruto. Today showed that in an attempt to do so, Sasuke might have saved Naruto’s life, but he would have killed Naruto’s heart. Again.
Was this a failing in him? Was there something wrong with him that he couldn’t protect both Naruto’s body and his happiness?
Then he remembered his family. There had actually been many people protecting him. His father was strong and cunning and, if needed ruthless, protecting Sasuke’s life and limb. But he didn’t much care about Sasuke’s feelings or whether he was actually happy or not.
That fell to his mother. She wasn’t much with a sword, but she built his esteem, nurtured his dreams and ambitions and showed him love and acceptance. She was gentle and thoughtful, the complete opposite of Sasuke and Sasuke’s father.
She was Neji.
Later that night, Sasuke woke to find Neji standing by Naruto’s bedside, just looking at him. Sasuke could feel the sadness coming from his new friend.
“You should tell him.”
“I’m surprised you would suggest such a thing,” Neji said without turning.
Sasuke got up and stretched, then walked around to the other side of the bed. He looked at Naruto as well, sifting his fingers through the dull blond strands.
“I would give him back some of the warmth he pours down on everyone else.”
Neji looked up. Sasuke continued.
“I don’t feel that I could ever give him enough. I want,” Sasuke paused a moment looking thoughtful. “I want everyone to love him and I want him to know it, to be able to bask in it.”
“Even my kind of love?” Neji sounded doubtful.
“I want to wrap him in it, bathe him in it. Fill him with it.” Sasuke caressed the whiskered cheek. “Make up for a lifetime without it.”
“I think it would hurt him.” Neji finally said. “He would feel badly for me, pity me. He would feel guilty. A friendship would be lost.”
Sasuke looked at Neji and blinked. He was right. Why hadn’t Sasuke seen that?
They were both descended from the same line, both had special eyes, but Neji saw so much more than he did. Or maybe Neji just looked deeper.
He remembered a phrase he’d heard somewhere in his travels; “When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” He supposed that applied to him. Perhaps it was his Uchiha-ness, or his losses, or his time in Sound, but his inclination was to overcome everything, from a battle to breakfast, with blunt force trauma. He wanted Naruto loved, so he was ready to grab the world by the scruff of the neck and make it love him.
It had never occurred to him to him that the blanket or the cup of tea Neji mentioned or the simple holding of hands would accomplish that and perhaps more.
Suddenly he looked at Neji and felt a small bubble of panic. He needed Neji. He needed the other brunette as an ally, to complement his efforts, covering his own inadequacies, to make Naruto’s life complete.
It was dark in the room, but Sasuke could see Neji leaning against the wall nearest the door. It was Neji’s shift and Sasuke was supposed to be resting, but his mind was racing.
He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how to make Naruto’s life the best it could be.
On one hand, things had been going well and he’d thought Naruto had been happy, they both had been happy. No, he’d never brought Naruto a cup of tea, but he hadn’t murdered any civilians either. They were just living together and it was good. But that was in isolation.
Naruto was a social person. And he was going to be Hokage which would carry a full social schedule. When he realized that Sasuke didn’t fit in that world, and indeed, endangered Naruto’s life and ambitions outside the boundaries of the Uchiha district, what would he do?
Would he give up his dreams for Sasuke, or would he give up Sasuke for his dreams? Neither was acceptable.
His first instinct was to make some broad stroke, although he didn’t really know what; something along the lines of changing the laws of physics or flying them to the moon.
Then he realized he was doing it again; trying to rearrange entire constellations, when perhaps he should start with a grain of sand.
What would Neji do? Sasuke realized that Neji would think of Naruto first and what he’d want, what would make him happiest. Only, when he tried to make that list in his head, he didn’t really know what those things were. Tea and blankets didn’t seem to fill the bill.
His thoughts just circled and circled and it was making his head hurt. He realized that he needed more information.
One thing that could be said about Uchihas was that they never thought they knew it all. He remembered a phrase he’d heard his father telling Itachi when the older sibling showed signs of rebellion, “Son, it’s what you learn after you already know everything that makes you smart.”
Indeed, his father had stressed that the only way to get smarter was to keep learning. Never, ever close one’s eyes to a new idea or dismiss any person as stupid because, just from having traveled a different road, that person knew things that others did not.
So Sasuke had never had any trouble asking for training, from his father and brother, from Kakashi, from Orochimaru, from Naruto.
Now he was going to ask Neji.
He rose and took a circuitous path around the room to finally stop in front of Neji. He was uncertain what he even wanted from the other brunette and felt the steps he was taking were somehow larger than they seemed.
Anxiety filled him and finally he slammed his hands on the wall on either side of Neji’s head.
“What are you doing, Sasuke?” Neji asked, not moving.
“I…I…”
Five feet away, the bond between Naruto and Sasuke hummed with Sasuke’s building anxiety. Naruto’s subconscious felt it and it pulled at him. His eyes opened and he saw Sasuke trapping Neji against the wall.
“I need your help.”
“If I can,” Neji said, his head pressed back against the wall as far as it would go.
“Teach me. Show me how to love him as you would.”
“You already love him as I do.”
“I…I can’t keep him safe though.” Sasuke had yet to look at Neji, uncertainty swimming through him. “You are a perfect person. You can keep his heart and his body safe.”
Neji opened his mouth but Sasuke kept talking.
“There are…landmines everywhere. I can’t see them. I would have killed his heart twice this last week. He would be alive, but there would be dead bodies everywhere. He would wake to learn that I’d been executed for crimes against Konoha.”
“Sasuke…”
“I want to be more like you.”
“Sasuke, first, he likes you the way you are. Second, I am not perfect. If it had been left up to me the other day, Naruto would be dead. I could not have protected his body as you did. The demon would have gained too much ground and the Hunters would have been forced to take his head.”
Sasuke pulled back and looked at Neji. “You’re right. I did win that battle and it was the right battle to fight.” He gripped his hair. “How am I supposed to know which battles to fight?”
“I don’t know how to answer that. Except that maybe time will help. I can deal with Konoha’s citizens and council because I grew up here. You did not.”
“Maybe we’re good together. Maybe we’re a good team,” Sasuke said. “You and I together could keep him safe and happy.”
“Sasuke, what do you think he would want?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“That’s the only information you need.”
“Do you know what that is? What he would want?”
Neji nodded. “Yes.”
Sasuke gripped his shirt and shook him. “What! You have to tell me.”
“He lives for your happiness.”
Sasuke dropped Neji’s shirt and stepped back. “That’s not…I live for his happiness. He lives for my happiness. How the hell do people take care of each other?”
“It must be very difficult being an Uchiha,” Neji said and Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. “Not everything can be turned into a task list. And very little can be accomplished with kunai and shuriken.”
Not able to address any other part of this discussion, but still wanting to get in the last word, Sasuke slammed his hands on the wall on either side of Neji’s head again.
“You listen to me, Hyuuga Neji. You don’t know what Uchiha means anymore. No one in this fucking world knows. Anything it meant before is irrelevant.” He leaned in almost touching noses. “It is what I say it is now. End of story. If I want Uchiha to mean fluffy pink bunnies, it's up to me, isn't it?
“But you can bet that whatever it ends up meaning will be strongly influenced by Uzumaki. In fact, you won't be able to look at one without seeing the other.”
Then he whirled around, stalked across the room and threw himself into a chair, more upset now than before he’d gone to Neji for help.
Naruto closed his eyes, exhaustion stealing over him once again. Something had changed. He tried to remember.
He…he’d died. And now Sasuke was in an emotional tailspin. He remembered floating above his own body…watching Sasuke put a blade to his own arm in an attempt to end his life.
Shit.
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Constellations (complete)