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The Blessed Realm	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1746 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Naruto, his friends and the world he lives in don't belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto. I write this story only for my pleasure and I don't make any money with it.

Chapter List
- 28
- 29
- 30
Chapter
Twenty-Six: The second letter

They
might have done some touristy stuff the next day but Sasuke insisted
that they did not go to some museum or exhibition but just paid a
visit to the center of town, where he headed straight to the big book
store at the market place. Once arrived, he went equally straight to
one of the shop assistants.

“I
need to find out about the game we saw yesterday”, he said.
“What was it called again, Naruto?”

“Football.”

“Yeah,
football. I need to know how it works.”

The
shop assistant led him upstairs, with Naruto in tow, and showed him a
table full of books. With great astonishment (living at Orochimaru's
place had led to some deficits in his education) Sasuke looked at the
huge piles of thick large-formatted volumes, and when he opened them
he found them filled with coloured photos, mostly of famous players,
but also of teams or important scenes, with the occasional snapshot
of a pretty fan in between. There were also tiny bits of text, all of
them completely incomprehensible to Sasuke.

“I
need explanations, not pictures”, he told the shop assistant.

“Oh,
sure”, she answered and went to the shelves that covered the
walls of the shop. “Here's a book on the history of football,
and there's one that tells what happens behind the scenes and how in
foreign countries the big clubs have become major business
corporations.”

“I
don't need to know about foreign countries”, he replied. “I
need to know about the game itself.”

The
woman took a book from two shelves below the first one.

“Here's
one that explains the technics of handling the ball, and some basic
tactical moves. It's for kids who learn to play, though of course
they mainly learn during training, not from books. Coming to think of
it it's probably a book for aunts who hope that a book on football
will finally make their nephews read.”

With
this book Sasuke took some more time to have a look at it while the
shop assistant continued taking books from the shelf and putting them
into his free hand. “They are from other publishing houses”,
she said. “You might want to have a look at them too.”

“Thanks.
It's fine but it's not what I'm looking for. I want to know why young
strong men listen to someone who's twice their age and much weaker
and accept his decisions when they are fighting for their part of
town.”

The
shop assistant looked at him confusedly. “Well, it's not
fighting but football, and he's the referee, isn't he?”

Sasuke
had never heard of the term, and looked as confused as she was.

“I
think I will manage by myself”, he said, attempting to smile.

“Oh,
just do. Take as long as you want. Over there in the corner are some
chairs where you may sit down to look and read.”

Sasuke
followed her advice and went to that corner. Naruto went with him.

“You
might have asked me to help you”, he said. “Maybe I would
have been quicker to discern what you want.”

Sasuke
glared at him. “You don't trust me to deal with a shop
assistant, do you? Or to choose a book by myself?”

He
was determined to learn to live at that place, and understanding
football was part of it, just as getting along with the locals.

Naruto
shrugged. “They have a cafe in the second store. I'll wait for
you there: join me when you've completed your mission.”

Naruto
did not take the direct way to the cafe but chose a detour via the
department for fiction: He wanted to look for the Gutsy Ninja,
to see whether it was really out of print. Indeed he found almost the
complete Icha-Icha series on the shelf, yet not the Gutsy Ninja.
It might be a coincendence – they might have just sold their
last copy. He decided to ask one of the shop assistants (not the one
who had been harassed by Sasuke) whether the Gutsy Ninja was
still available, and followed her to her desk where she took a huge
book from the shelf and tried to look it up.

“It's
not in here”, she said. “I'll have a look into the Books
in Print itself.”

It
was a bit smaller than the previous book, but part of a multi-volume
series (volume Ji). “Here I have it”, she said. “Out
of print. “No new edition planned. Sorry.”

Naruto
should have been prepared for the answer, but it was no help. He felt
sad and disappointed when he went upstairs to the cafe, wondering
about himself how it should be possible that he was mourning for a
book. He was mourning for Jiraiya himself, he realized. It had been
his most personal, least commercial book, the book his heart had gone
into, and in spite of the technical flaws Karin had pointed out it
was, in Naruto's opinion, Jiraiya's best book and the only one that
had managed to move him. In this book, not in his erotic romances,
Jiraiya lived on for him, and the fact that it was out of print made
him think that he was even more dead.

Naruto
had ordered his second coke when Sasuke finally turned up. He had
bought not one book, but three: A very small one, containing the
rules of football (written especially for tourists), a bigger one
with pictures about the history of football in Music Town (Sasuke did
not take any interest in countries beyond the mountains, beyond the
desert, beyond the sea) and then a Do-it-yourself-book on carpentry.

“This
is an amazing place”, he said. “They have books on
everything.”

He
sat down and opened the book on the history of football in Music
Town. “It's for you”, he said. “It's even got some
pictures of your hero. Here, the guy with the number ten.”

Naruto
was stunned. He had not got many presents in his life, not even on
normal occasions as his birthday or the day when he had graduated
from the academy, and now Sasuke presented him with a book on what
seemed to be a whim.

Sasuke
watched him, very content that he had managed to surprise Naruto. To
him it seemed perfectly appropriate that he should use the first
money he had earned in this place to buy a present for Naruto to
thank him for his hospitality. He was also pleased that he had
managed to make up with the shop assistant, telling her that he had
found what he wanted and thanking her for her support. She had
accepted his thanks, making him feel that he might learn to live
here. Only when he had smiled she had blushed and turned her face,
which was a bit annoying.

He
was not sure actually whether he would really find in this book the
answer to the questions that had bugged him since yesterday evening:
how it was possible to win or lose without actually fighting or
hurting each other, and why they had all listened to the man in
black, even though they were younger and stronger than him. He might
not find the answers to these questions, but he was confident that he
had found a beginning.

He
ordered some coffee (a drink he had not known before he had come to
Music Town, but he wanted to find out about it too) and then listened
to Naruto, who had already found the photos of the current team of
Inner Center and tried to explain to him their different
personalities, and then they turned to the chapter that explained how
the club had been founded in answer to the creation of the new club
of Center Uptown.

Life
gained a certain routine during the following days. At some time
after breakfast they went out as Naruto's apartment was rather
crowded even when Juugo was not with them. Naruto found out that it
was best to give the magazine with events to Sasuke and let him
choose what they would do – in most cases he'd opt for
something where they would mix with the locals, not the tourists, and
Naruto actually preferred this to the more fancy stuff he would have
chosen to please his guest. If Sasuke didn't find anything they
simply walked through town, having a look at shop windows and
sometimes even doing some actual shopping. (Sasuke had decided that
in order to better blend in he needed to replace the violet rope he
used to hold his pants in place with something less extravagant. He
hoped that it would stop the female part of the population from
staring at him, but it didn't work.)

Later
they'd go to Heroes' Park, have picnic and talk. There were fewer
awkward silences now, as working in the restaurant always gave them
something to talk about, yet they both were aware that they were
steering carefully around the topic that was most important to them
and that would have given some depth to their conversations: The
political situation in Konoha, and how they might gain revenge for
Sasuke. (He kept collecting newspaper articles though.)

When
they returned to Naruto's place they'd both take a break. Sasuke
would read (he was still reading the Gutsy Ninja) while Naruto
just lay on the bed and listened to some music until their shift
started.

At
the end of the week it was time for Sasuke to collect his new
contacts and he insisted on going on his own. Naruto felt irritated,
he wondered what he had done to annoy Sasuke, and even though he knew
that it was irrational (Sasuke's backpack still leant against a wall,
his katana still lay on Naruto's wardrobe, and the picture of his
family still stood on the sideboard) he was worried that Sasuke might
not return.

On
the other hand it came convenient that he had some time to spend by
himself, as some days ago he had received a letter from Sakura which
he did not want to read when Sasuke was present. He opened the
envelope and another, smaller envelope fell out of it, addressed to
Sasuke. Well, it was to be expected. He put it aside and read what
Sakura had written to himself.

Dear
Naruto!

I
am glad that you're doing well at that place where you are staying. I
am glad to know that you are far from Konoha and safe – be glad
too: Wherever you are, it must be better than here. I wish you all
the best!

Here,
the situation is getting worse from day to day. Shikaku, Shikamaru's
father, has been demoted to chuunin on the ground that as the father
of a man who has betrayed the village he can no longer be trusted to
act in the best interest of Konoha. I heard the news from him
personally as I happened to be visiting Shikamaru's mother, who
wanted to discuss the latest news of Temari's baby, when he came back
from his appointment with Danzou. For about one hour it was
impossible to interrupt him while he was ranting against Danzou, who
fails to value what he has done for the village in more than twenty
years, not counting how many times he has risked his life and never
failed to put the village above his own interests. He also cursed his
own son for being careless, but mostly he blamed Danzou and how he
ruined our alliance with the Sand. When he had finished ranting he
went to his room and shut himself in, and neither me nor his wife
could talk to him.

Shikaku's
seat in the village council and also in the Jounin assembly has been
taken by a member of Root, and the same goes for Kakashi's seat.
Kakashi is more relaxed about it, he has accepted that he won't be
able to take up his career as a ninja. He still works as a nurse for
Tsunade, and when there's nothing else to do he reads the
Ichi-Icha-series to her and they have a lot of fun. He says that he
is glad that he is no longer part of the administration of Konoha and
does not have to take responsibility for decisions he doesn't really
approve it.

I
still do my best at the hospital. Cheating has become more difficult
now; we have a new director, a member of Root too, and he checks
every attestation I write to see whether people are really as ill as
I say they are. I suspect however that he does not know much about
medical ninjutsu: a few times now I've caught him talking utter
rubbish and I guess that he won't notice if with some little tricks
of mine I'll make my patients appear much worse off than they really
are. I wish I had not to resort to such tricks to gain them the time
they need to recover their strength. Two people have already died
because someone (not they themselves) has messed up for lack off
sleep, but Danzou does not see that he cannot waste people's lives as
this.

We
also have a special department in the hospital now, dedicated to the
treatment of members of Root. None of the regular staff are permitted
to enter, but their med nins keep swarming through the hospital,
claiming the best equipment and the most expensive medicaments for
themselves. I used to love my job, but now I stick to it only out of
a sense of duty.

Shikamaru's
mother has found a way to send letters to the Sand without any
censorship. Some of the guys who do guard duty are her friends. She
says that she couldn't do without news of her grandchild – I
wonder how she'll behave once it's born. She is also looking forward
to the wedding itself, but I fear that she and Shikaku won't be
allowed to go. Not trustworthy enough. Shikamaru is already living at
the Sand and will remain there.

I
wish I had better news for you. People complain of the strain and the
restrictions but most of them think that they are necessary. Few talk
of what has allegedly happened to you, as if it was only natural that
the host of the kyuubi has to be shut away.

Sai
has asked about you again, however. He is glad that you are doing
fine and he hopes that you will continue to do so. He told me that he
is particularly happy that you have found Sasuke – he remembers
how much you longed for him. I long for him too, by the way, and I
still wonder how you almost forgot to mention that you found him.
Have you managed to keep him with you at that place you are staying
at, or is he still bent on revenge and denies all his former bonds?
Tell him that I love him and long for his return and that I will wait
for him, no matter how long it takes.

Keep
well! Remember that I care for you!

Love, Sakura

Naruto
put down the letter. It gave him a weird feeling – he had
avoided thinking of Konoha these last days, mostly because thinking
of Konoha meant thinking of a way to help Sasuke gain his revenge
without getting killed himself, and with leaving him, Naruto, a
chance to be appointed Hokage one day. Sakura's letter reminded him
that even without taking his promise to Sasuke into account Danzou
could not remain Hokage of Konoha. Only that he had no idea how to
turn him out of office, just as little as he knew how to help Sasuke.

He
sat down to answer Sakura's letter, but just then Sasuke returned
from the ophthalmologist, blinking and very carefully rubbing his
eyes, for the first time for more than a week without glasses and
obviously very satisfied with himself. (Happy would be too much.
Naruto had no idea how Sasuke looked when he was happy, but, well,
the satisfied expression he was wearing at the moment was a first
step, and a weird contrast to the concern for Konoha Naruto had felt
after reading Sakura's letter.)

“You
look good when you're smiling”, he said. “But not as cute
as with glasses.”

Sasuke
did not know what to make of this compliment, and his confused looks
allowed Naruto to feel superior again.

“Sakura
has written”, he continued. “She sends you her love and
her regards and also a small letter just for you.”

He
passed him the letter, and Sasuke opened and read it, raising his
brows (but this may also have been an effect of the new contacts.)

Dear
Sasuke!

Naruto
told me that you're with him, and I hope that you still are, so that
my words will reach you. I just want to tell you that I still love
you and that every morning I wake up thinking of you and hoping that
you're doing fine. Will you ever find your way back to Konoha?

With
all my love, Sakura

Sasuke
felt irritated and annoyed by these words, and he wanted to forget
them as soon as he had read them, but of course it did not work. He'd
have to deal with Sakura, someday, somehow. What was more worrying to
him was the fact that apparently Naruto still tried to press Sakura
on him. But he had complimented him on his looks, hadn't he, and he
didn't seem to want Sakura for himself, but still nourished that
foolish dream of seeing Sasuke happy with her. (Which would never be
the case, Sasuke knew. Lines as the ones he had just read only drove
him crazy.)

Where
had the optimism gone that had filled his heart when he had entered?
An optimism that had nothing to do with his revenge – imagining
the completion of his revenge gave him a sense of fulfilment, and it
seemed fitting that afterwards he would die, even though Naruto did
not approve of it, but what he was looking forward to now rather felt
as if a new path opened to him, a small path branching off from the
general route of his life for some short time and soon uniting with
it again to be sure, and still it gave him joy.

“I
have some news too”, he announced. “You remember those
guys we watched on the festival two weeks ago? I have enregistered at
a dance school where they teach to dance like them.”

“What?”
Naruto asked, utterly surprised as this was not what he would have
expected of Sasuke.

“They
were beautiful to watch, I thought. I want to learn this too.
Besides, you said yourself that dancing was a requirement if one
wanted to stay for longer.”

It
doesn't make sense, Naruto thought. Not with the way he acts around
Karin, not with the way he acts around any female he was not
acquainted with.

The
explanation followed: “They asked me to name a partner. I gave
them your name.”

“What?”
Naruto exclaimed again, and then, a bit calmer: “Why me? Why
not some girl?”

“I
don't know any girl here.”

“Karin
would love it.”

“I
wouldn't. Besides, you need to learn to dance too if you want to
stay.”

“But
we don't want to stay. We want to return to Konoha.”

“As
long as it takes you to come up with a decent plan to fulfill your
promise your should seriously consider learning to dance. Authorities
here will begin to suspect that you are intending to stay for real.”

Naruto
did not have any answer to this.

A/N:

Sneakyfox:
Thanks again! Well, I admit that I did not give many concrete hints
about what kind of game this might be. I think the only real hint was
that the number ten is the „hero“, and you have to know a
bit on football to know that this is the number of the team's
creative genius. People as Diego Maradona or Zinedine Zidane wore
this number.

My
beta recognized the game immediately from the behaviour of the fans.
In Europe, only football fans behave like that.

Ladygizarme:
Sasuke's team? They have decided to stay, haven't they? The next
chapter will bring Sasuke's reaction to the Gutsy Ninja.

Kinai26:
Have fun with your car! Soccer is not strange, only if you don't even
get told that the aim of the game is to score goals it's difficult to
understand.
- 28
- 29
- 30
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