Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Of Silver Linings and Blue Yonder	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 18517 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any profit of it. Kishimoto owns it

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
Author's note: A day late, but this chapter was giving me some trouble. I'm still not entirely sure about it, to be honest, but I figured that keep staring at it wouldn't do much good *grimaces* So I hope it won't be too bad!
Thanks to the following reviewers: ANON; smint45; ANON
Warnings: set in the future (two years after the twins' birth); Akihito's pov; slight drama and slight angst
Dedicated to: Ageha Yume. I hope I didn't screw up your request too much! *winces*
I hope you'll like it!
Chapter 23
"I'll see you on Monday, Ame-kun!" Akihito smiled and waved at his lanky friend, who grinned and nodded before turning left to continue his trek to his own house. Dark blue eyes looked back and forth before the twelve year old boy crossed the street; the wheels of his bicycle gently bumping over the pavement before the sound of gravel joined the noise of the traffic in the distance as he rode his bicycle over the driveway to the house.
He dumped his bicycle in the shed and adjusted his backpack, grimacing a bit when the straps cut into his shoulders. Maybe he should have left some books at school, but he had figured it was better to be safe than sorry. His back wasn't thanking him for that thought now, however.
Some dead leaves crunched underneath his sneakers and he twitched his nose when he picked up the smell of vegetable soup that was being prepared in a neighbour's house. In spite of not being fond of vegetable soup, his stomach grumbled in response to the smell and he hoped he could sneak some chocolate biscuits from the kitchen before dad would notice it.
"I'm home!" he called out and kicked out his shoes, slipping his feet easily into his slippers. He dropped his backpack on the floor in order to remove his jacket and hang it up in the closet before he took up his bag again, scowling at the heavy weight. He looked up when footsteps approached him and dad smiled at him.
"Welcome back, Akihito," Dad grinned, wiping his hands off on a dishcloth. "How was school?"
"It was good," Akihito replied, shrugging as much as he could with his heavy backpack. "We have a test of mathematics next Monday and there's a parents' meeting next week. Our teacher gave us the flyer for it." He brought his bag up, putting it on his raised knee to balance it and rummaged through it until he found the slightly crumpled flyer stuffed between two notebooks.
Dad hummed as his sky blue eyes flitted over the paper. "I'll ask if your father can attend the meeting; otherwise it's only going to be me."
"That's okay. Did father say when he's coming home?" Akihito questioned, swinging his backpack over his shoulder again.
"He called me a few hours ago, said he's hoping to be home by seven thirty," Dad answered smiling. "I'm making beef teppanyaki."
"Sounds good," the dark haired boy grinned. "I'm going to my room, okay?"
"Sure, there are still some biscuits left if you want some," Dad chuckled and turned around to go back to the kitchen.
Akihito coloured a bit and made his way upstairs, wondering how his dad always seemed to know what he had been thinking about. It made sneaking about and pulling pranks very difficult. His footsteps inaudible on the thick carpet, he continued his way to his bedroom and when he passed his little brother's room, he threw a quick look inside. Several small bottles of paint were open, haphazardly put together on the floor in a rough circle. A stack of paper was fanned out over the floor; some of the pages already splattered with paint. There was a bright golden sun with some blue splashed underneath it, another page had the bottom half coloured in green while roughly drawn flowers filled the rest of the paper in the colours blue, purple, red and orange. Yet another page was half hidden underneath the one with the sun and showed several squiggles in all the colours of the rainbow.
The papers weren't the only ones that had suffered underneath the onslaught of paint. Akihito shook his head when he saw the various splatters decorating the floor; dad wouldn't be happy once he saw the mess.
Oh well, that wasn't his problem.
Humming softly, he covered the remaining distance to his room and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the door was ajar, instead of closed like he had left it this morning. Rolling his eyes, he pushed the door further open and said, "Shion, you can't come into my room when I'm not …"
Shion looked up startled and froze underneath his older brother's gaze next to Akihito's desk. There was a smudge of orange paint on his right cheek; red, green and blue splatters decorating his sweater and his hands were covered with streaks of red and green.
His hands were clutching the painting.
Ringing filled Akihito's ears as he stared in disbelief at the painting. The painting that depicted a beautiful fox with sleek, red fur sneaking over the forest ground, tall, dark trees looming over her, filtering the sunlight; her bushy tail with the white tip raised up in the air. The dark eyes glinted with mischief as the fox's attention was fixated on something in the distance that the viewer couldn't see.
It was a painting Naruto-nii-san had given him years ago; the fox had caught Akihito's attention the moment he had lain eyes on it and during every visit he had gone into nii-san's room to stare at it and marvel at how beautiful the fox was. How majestic she looked; how mysterious as she tracked down her prey. The older blond had caught him looking several times before he had given the painting to Akihito and had made the boy promise to take good care of it.
And he had done that. Despite having still been very young when he received the painting, he had understood how much it meant to Naruto-nii-san and had been very cautious with it, had taken good care of it and had made sure that it would remain in the pristine condition it had been on the day that Naruto-nii-san had handed it over to him.
And now there were smudges of green and blue paint over the fox's body, marring the beautiful work; the smudges looked like someone had placed their dirty hand against the fox's body, heedless of the fact that the paint on their hand hadn't been dry yet.
The beautiful, majestic fox was ruined.
Something in Akihito cracked. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he exploded and snatched the painting out of his little brother's hands, staring at the ruined picture in shock.
Shion cringed and backed away, bringing his hands to his mouth. "I'm sorry!" he whined, tears filling his eyes. "I just want – I – I wanted to look at the pretty fox, nii-san. I wanted to paint the pretty fox! I'm sorry!"
"You ruined it, you idiot!" Akihito yelled; his body alight with anger. "Get out! Get out of my room now! GET OUT!"
Tears now openly streaming over his cheeks, Shion ran out of the bedroom, barely making it out on time before Akihito stormed over to the door and slammed it shut; the force that he used making the windows rattle. With a furious shout, he threw his backpack against the wall, watching how it slammed against it with a loud 'thud' before it slumped down on the floor.
Breathing heavily, Akihito wandered towards his bed and slumped down on it. He bit his lower lip hard, hot tears stinging his eyes as he looked in despair at the fox; the green and blue smudges covering the fur seemingly taunting him.
He had told Shion so many times that he wasn't allowed to be in his room if he wasn't in there. He had kept the painting out of reach – one of the few possessions he hadn't allowed his brother to touch – for a good reason and this was exactly why.
But now it was ruined. Naruto-nii-san had given it to him, trusting him to take good care of it and he hadn't been able to keep his promise after all.
His finger shook a bit as he touched the by now dry paint smudge and anger flared up again. Shion knew he wasn't allowed to touch the painting and yet he had done that. Akihito thought he could deal with it if Shion's hands had been clean. Sure, it would still have pissed him off, but at least then the fox wouldn't have been damaged.
But now there was paint over the fox's body, the colours bright and taunting and it made him want to scream.
He didn't cherish a lot of things, but this painting in particular he had always cherished the most out of all the stuff he had. Not only because the fox was so beautiful, but also because of what it represented: trust. His godfather had entrusted the painting to him, believing the Alpha would take good care of it, but …
Akihito swallowed down the lump in his throat with some difficult and squeezed his eyes shut. He realised it was ridiculous to want to cry over a painting – he was twelve years old, he was far too old to cry about something like this, but the painting meant a lot to him, knowing what he did about it.
How was he going to explain to Naruto-nii-san that he had broken his promise?
When the knock on his door came, he refused to look up. His lack of reply didn't deter his dad from entering his room.
"Mind telling me why I heard you shouting from all the way downstairs?" Dad asked mildly, closing the door behind him. "And why Shion was bawling his eyes out?"
Akihito clenched his jaw and turned his head, staring unseeingly out of the window. His fingers, clenched around the wooden frame, were starting to cramp up from the tight grip, but he refused to let go of the painting.
"Akihito?" Dad came closer, letting out a soft sigh. "What happened?"
"This happened!" Akihito sneered and abruptly turned the painting around, so that dad could see the result of Shion having crept into his older brother's bedroom.
"Ah." Understanding instantly dawned on dad's face and the older man pursed his lips together. "I'm sure Shion didn't mean to put paint on your painting, Akihito."
"But he still did it!" Akihito snapped and he shot up from his bed, marching over to his desk where he carefully placed the painting against the wall. "I told him not to touch it ever and he still did it! He ruined the painting, dad!"
"Akihito …"
"No!" Akihito whirled around to face the Omega and to his shame, tears started brimming in his eyes. He clenched his hands into fists next to his hips and his skin felt uncomfortably hot, like he was going to combust any second now. "I don't care that he didn't mean to do that! He shouldn't have been in here in the first place! I promised Naruto-nii-san that I would take care of the painting and now I broke my promise!"
"Naruto-kun won't be angry; he'll understand that it was an accident," Dad said reassuringly. "Shion shouldn't have been touching it without your permission and he'll have to apologise to you, but - "
"I don't care about his apology!" Akihito bit out, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "It's not going to undo what he did! The painting was all Naruto-nii-san had from his mum, you know that, dad!"
"I - " Dad cut himself off when his cell phone started ringing downstairs. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" he said, giving his son a troubled look. "It'll be okay, I promise."
Akihito didn't say anything and with a sigh, dad left his room.
No, it wouldn't be okay.
Naruto-nii-san barely had any memories of his parents. They had died when he was still very young and the blond had been shipped off to various homes before he eventually settled into a tiny apartment after finally meeting his godfather. He didn't have much left of his parents either. The only things he still had from his parents were his father's watch, a picture of their wedding, his mother's scarf and – the painting of the fox that his mother had created a few months before she had given birth to Naruto-nii-san. That was all he had left to remind him of his parents.
So Naruto-nii-san giving the painting to Akihito – that had been significant. Meaningful. It had shown that he really trusted his godson with one of the few things that were precious to him. And the young Alpha had been so proud when he had held the painting in his hands.
Knowing how much it was worth to his godfather and yet still had been given it – that had made him feel warm inside. Felt like he had been entrusted with something really important – and he had.
He had sworn Naruto-nii-san he would be careful with it, that he would take great care of it and the blond had laughed and ruffled his hair, saying that he knew he would.
Now green and blue paint marred the fox and Akihito had broken his promise.
Down the hallway he could hear Shion still crying, upset at having been yelled at by his older brother, but the dark haired boy didn't care.
For the first time in his life he was too angry at his little brother to comfort him.
Despite dad's – and even father's on Saturday evening – attempts at diffusing the tense air between the two brothers and Shion telling his older brother that he was sorry time and time again, his apology at times smothered between tears, Akihito remained angry and he was nowhere near ready yet to forgive Shion for ruining the painting.
Akihito spent the entire weekend locked up in his room, only coming out to go to the bathroom and to eat before he fled to the safety of his bedroom. The painting kept standing on his desk; the paint taunting him whenever he looked at it. A couple of times Shion knocked on his door meekly, but the older boy ignored him, not willing to talk to him after what he had done to the painting.
He wasn't only angry at his little brother – he also felt guilty. If he had put away the painting more securely, Shion wouldn't have been able to reach it. Then he wouldn't have been able to get paint on it and then one of Naruto-nii-san's very few reminders of his mother wouldn't have been damaged.
It was all a complicated mess and he was probably making a bigger deal out of it than necessary, but he couldn't help it.
By the time Sunday evening arrived, he hadn't looked at Shion even once during the weekend and he still didn't know how he would explain to his godfather that the painting was now damaged.
Anger and guilt got so mixed up together that Akihito didn't have a clue what he felt more of and when he went to sleep that night, his sleep was everything but peaceful.
He froze when cerulean blue eyes landed on him as he entered the kitchen.
"Hey, Akihito-kun," Naruto-nii-san greeted him with a grin. "It's been a while."
"Yes," Akihito muttered, taken aback by the sudden appearance of his godfather. He hadn't expected the blond to show up on a Monday evening and he was floundering, not sure what he was supposed to do now. "How – how are my cousins?"
"They're doing fine," the Omega chuckled, sipping from his lemonade. "Sasuke and your grandmother are looking after them for a few hours now."
"You could have taken them here with you," Dad suggested, leaning back in his chair. "How was school, Akihito?"
"Fine," the boy muttered, slowly placing his bag on the floor, debating whether he should go upstairs or remain in the kitchen to talk to his godfather. He wanted to talk to the blond, as it had been a while since he had last seen him, but …
Naruto-nii-san hummed thoughtfully. "I know, but Sasuke suggested he'd keep an eye on them." He shrugged. "Kenta has started teething recently, so he's been quite fussy as well."
"Nothing I haven't experienced before," Dad retorted dryly and visibly started when his cell phone rung. "Sorry, Itachi is calling me."
Naruto-nii-san waved him off. "That's all right; I can entertain myself for a while," he grinned and dad rolled his eyes but left the room, phone already pressed against his ear, as he briefly ruffled Akihito's hair on his way past him.
"So Akihito-kun, I heard that there was an accident this weekend?" Naruto-nii-san remarked out of the blue and the younger Alpha stared wide eyed at him.
"How – how did you - " Akihito stammered; cheeks already starting to flush.
"Your dad told me," the older man replied and his face softened. "You know that Shion-kun didn't do it on purpose, right?"
Akihito scowled and stared at the floor. He had heard that before, but that didn't take away the fact that he had damaged the painting with his blue paint! "I know, but he ruined the fox," he muttered and continued with a thick voice, guilt overwhelming him once more, "I didn't mean to break my promise, Naruto-nii-san. I thought the painting was in a safe spot, but Shion managed to get to it."
"I'm not angry, Akihito-kun," Naruto-nii-san murmured and his chair scraped against the floor as he pushed it back and stood up. "Nor am I disappointed, so don't look like that. It was an accident. Accidents happen. You didn't break your promise."
"But it's one of the few things you have of your parents!" Akihito burst out and clenched his hands into fists. "I know how much it means to you and - "
"It doesn't matter, okay?" Naruto-nii-san insisted and shocked the younger boy by engulfing him in an embrace. "Yes, it was from my mum, but Akihito-kun, it was an accident. Your brother didn't mean to damage it and he feels very bad about it. He misses his older brother, you know?"
Akihito kept quiet, a lump in his throat as he hesitatingly hugged his godfather back.
"It wasn't your fault and Shion-kun didn't do it on purpose," Naruto-nii-san murmured and took a step back, cocking his head to the right. "So cheer up, okay? I'm not mad. An accident can always happen."
"But - " Akihito feebly protested.
"But nothing. It's okay," his godfather insisted and smiled faintly. "It wasn't anything I couldn't fix at any rate."
"What?" Akihito stared at him, not understanding what the older man was saying.
"Your dad showed me the painting. I managed to fix it up," Naruto-nii-san reassured him and squeezed his shoulder. "It looks as good as new."
"You mean it?" Akihito asked hopefully, something in his chest loosening.
The Omega nodded. "Yes, I mean it. You've done a great job taking care of it. I mean that too. I know it's in good hands." He released Akihito's shoulder and went back to his seat. "Now I think there's someone upstairs who really wants to talk to his older brother."
Akihito flushed with embarrassment, but nodded and shuffled out of the kitchen; the relief at hearing that the painting wasn't ruined forever overwhelming. Happy that his godfather wasn't angry at him.
Almost instantly, though, a new wave of guilt rushed over him as he realised how mean he had been to his little brother this weekend. He had hold on to his anger for the entire weekend, but a part of him had known that Shion had never meant to damage the painting on purpose. His brother had been quite distraught at having his older brother be mad at him and it made him feel guilty that he had upset his little brother so much.
When his brother had been born he had sworn to protect the little boy and take care of him and never hurt him – he hadn't been doing a good job of that this weekend, had he?
The door to Shion's bedroom was open and when Akihito stepped inside, he was instantly greeted with large, desperate eyes and Shion rushed over to him, holding out a drawing.
"I'm sorry, nii-san! I didn't mean to make the pretty fox dirty!" Shion pleaded and the drawing in his hands wavered as his hands trembled. "I'm really sorry! I don't want you sad!"
Guilt churning in his stomach at seeing his little brother so upset, Akihito bent down slightly. "It's okay, Shion. I'm - "
"I made this drawing for you!" Shion interrupted him, voice small and meek, pushing the drawing almost against Akihito's face. "'Cause I'm really sorry, nii-san, and I want to fix the pretty fox!"
The drawing turned out to be a crude, but recognizable depiction of the fox in Naruto-nii-san's painting. The trees were rather small compared to the large fox taking up the majority of the paper; the fox itself was coloured a dark red with some streaks of brown in between. The tail was quite thick in comparison to the thin paws and one eye was slightly bigger than the other one. But Akihito could recognise his painting in it and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he accepted the drawing.
"Thanks, Shion, it's very pretty," he praised the younger boy and Shion beamed, his face lightning up immediately at having his brother acknowledge him again. Akihito took a deep breath and continued, "I'm sorry too, okay. I shouldn't have yelled at you and I shouldn't have been mad at you. It was an accident. I shouldn't have ignored you either."
"I don't like it when nii-san is angry at me," Shion confessed and sniffled a bit; hands tugging at his sweater.
"I don't like it either when we fight," Akihito admitted sheepishly and gave his little brother a hug. He pulled back and they both grinned. "Let's go hang your drawing up in my room, okay? It deserves a nice spot on my wall, don't you think so?"
"Okay!" Shion said enthusiastically and eagerly followed his older brother to his bedroom.
The painting of Naruto-nii-san's mother was already hanging up on the wall, right above his desk so whenever Akihito would look up from his homework, he would gaze straight at it. The blue and green paint had disappeared completely and if the dark haired boy hadn't seen the damage with his own eyes, he never would have suspected that the painting had been ruined. Akihito rummaged through one of his drawers in search of some tape and then he carefully stuck Shion's drawing next to the painting on the wall with some small pieces of tape.
They both took a few steps back and the young Alpha nodded. "They look good next to each other, huh, otouto?"
"Yes!" Shion grinned; his eyes glittering brightly.
"Say, Shion, can you show me how you drew the fox? I want to draw one just like yours," Akihito smiled and the ugly feeling of guilt diminished underneath the bright, beaming grin his little brother gave him.
From that moment on, he swore he would never ignore his brother for so long anymore. Sure, fights were probably inevitable, but that didn't mean he had to resort to ignoring his brother instead of talking it out.
Naruto-nii-san had taught him better than that after all.
AN2: Still not sure about this chapter, so I apologise in advance if it isn't up to expectations *winces*
Please leave a review behind with your thoughts; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
See you all in the next chapter!
Cuddles
Melissa
- 22
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Of Silver Linings and Blue Yonder