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Control	By : intricateorchid Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 2986 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, nor do I make money from this story. All rights belong to the content rightsholder.

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A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is so short! I've been so busy these past few weeks. But rest assured, the 3rd chapter should be coming up soon. I really hope you guys enjoy it. No smut in this chapter unfortunately. Love you all!

The bruises of the corded rope have faded to a dull mauve tint on Sasuke's pale wrists. His arm warmers often cover the marks but from time to time he pulls the sleeves back to confirm that his night with Kurama was not just a hormone-induced dream. He still doesn't know what compelled him to go that night—whether it was due to boredom, loneliness, or sexual need—but he hasn't had much time to think about it because the bon festival was fast approaching and the missions were piling up.
It was Sasuke's fault anyway. He had asked the Hokage to keep him busy. He has always tried to keep busy around the holidays. There are too many dead for him to think about, too many graves for him to sweep. His dead were all buried alongside the blurry vignettes of him and his family in yukata, munching on watermelon, performing the bon dance, lighting paper lanterns. He couldn't find it in him to celebrate the dead anymore. The festival may be fun for civilians, but for shinobi it was just another reminder that the dead outnumbered the living. The missions kept him busy and the busier he was, the less time he had to think.
When he had asked Tsunade permission to up his mission quota, she looked at him for a long time, mouth set in a firm line. Sasuke stared back at her unflinchingly, noticing for the first time how old her eyes looked, a shocking contrast to the youthfulness of her face. Her sigh finally broke the tense silence between them and she handed over several dossiers—many were D-rank and should have been reserved for recent Academy graduates but with the festival coming up, most of the students were busy preparing plans with their families. Anyway, D-rank or S-rank, it didn't matter to Sasuke anymore. He was done with remembering.
When Sasuke moved to grab the last scroll, Tsunade's hand gripped it in place, worry etched on her features. Back then, she didn't know Sasuke well—she knew him as a prodigy, as an avenger, and as a criminal. It was Naruto that humanized Sasuke for her in his recounts of the old days of Team 7; she still remembers the way his eyes shined as he told her how about the Land of Waves, about stupid old Sasuke and his stupid old smirk as he called Naruto a scaredy-cat, about Sasuke's embarrassed reluctance on asking Naruto for tree-climbing tips. And then Naruto grew quiet, remembering when Sasuke left Konoha with a crazed look in his eyes. In the three years Naruto has been gone, she has gotten to know Sasuke personally through the passing conversations they had while they exchanged mission scrolls. His responses to her questions were always short and polite, but somehow, Tsunade has grown increasingly fond of him.
"Sasuke," she had uttered, green eyes searching his. "Nothing's standing in between you and Konoha. It's already been three years."
"I'm already back," he stated matter-of-factly.
"You know what I mean."
Sasuke had been in no mood for a lecture and yanked the scroll out of her hands in order to show it.
"I appreciate the sentiment but Konoha's the one that's stopping me."
Before she was able to reply, Sasuke left. Now he stands at the top of Konoha library looking over the village, the carved eyes of the Hokage staring back at him in the hot afternoon sun, long shadows bringing their faces to life. There was a flurry of activity below him, parents dragging their children around the market to prepare for the upcoming festival, scurrying around the shops like ants. Sasuke idly thinks back to the bon festival that happened shortly after the chuunin exam; it was poorly timed, taking place right after the Sandaime's death. Still, many went to the festival in his honor. "He would have wanted this," they said. Sasuke didn't go—he never does—but he remembers the knock he got on his door around dusk. When he opened it, he found Naruto and Sakura fidgeting outside his door in their yukata. They pestered him to come with them, only to leave dejectedly when Sasuke adamantly refused.
Later that night, Sasuke got another knock on his door. It was just Naruto this time, loud Naruto in his similarly loud orange yukata. He handed Sasuke a clear bag with a little goldfish in it and left before Sasuke could say anything, shouting at him as he ran down the streets, "Thought you might like a pet that's as fun as you are!" Sasuke's neighbors, annoyed by the commotion, yelled back at Naruto. He peered at the scrawny little fish and thought the goldfish was more like Naruto than it was like him—it was obnoxiously orange and had Naruto's same dumb look in its eyes. It only lived for a week or so. Sasuke forgot to feed it, too consumed in training. He still remembers the small twinge of guilt he got when he saw the goldfish floating motionlessly at the top of the fishbowl one day, its blank dumb eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling. He didn't tell Naruto.
Weeks later, Sasuke left Konoha. In a way, it feels like he has never returned. Tsunade was wrong. Everything stood in between him and Konoha. Even if he forgot, the averted eyes of the crowd reminded him, the hush-hush as they tell their children not to look. It was the least of what Sasuke deserved.
Don't think, Sasuke. Sasuke pulled out the last scroll for the day and after quickly skimming the mission details, he made his way to the Konoha hospital. As he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he turned back to look at the monument, the Hokages' cold stone eyes watching him.
At the entrance of the hospital, an all-too familiar place, Sasuke weaves through the patients and doctors to see a shock of blonde hair down a long hallway. It couldn't be. In the three years that Naruto has been gone, Sasuke's eyes have unconsciously sought out bright yellow hair to the point where he has unknowingly followed strangers back to their homes. It didn't matter that their hair was more of a dirty blonde, or was stick straight and cascaded down their shoulders. Somehow, the blonde-ness of it propelled Sasuke to follow. And here, his feet urged him to do it again.
"Sasuke?"
The head turned around and there he was, several inches taller and skin tanned golden, bright blue eyes shining with recognition.
"Naruto," he blinked, unable to shake the shock from his body.
Naruto takes a few steps and envelops Sasuke in a warm hug; his arm muscles shift as they wrap around Sasuke's back and Sasuke is too dazed to notice the way they feel as they tense against his skin. Abruptly, the heat is gone.
"Ah, sorry," Naruto says, grinning awkwardly. "I got carried away. I've been gone for so long I've even started to miss your stupid face."
Sasuke can't help the small smile that sprouts from his lips. His brows unfurrow and the tension rolls off of his shoulders in waves. This was what he needed. No judgment. Just a blond idiot.
"When have you been back?"
"I've been back for a while now but I had to help out with a friend's business."

With a sly grin, he adds, "Did you miss me that much?"
"As if," Sasuke scoffs. Naruto laughs heartily and Sasuke knows Naruto hears the "yes" in his voice.
Naruto had left Konoha at Tsunade's recommendation, or threat, rather. Naruto could fight but he didn't know politics and without learning more about the different countries and different villages around him, Tsunade had told him that she would never, in a million years, allow him to become Hokage. They both knew she was lying, but Naruto decided to humor her. At first, he travelled around the country under discretion (although for Naruto, there was no such thing), learning on a first-hand basis about the different villages. The trip wasn't meant to be any longer than a year or two but Naruto was Naruto and being the very person that he is, he got himself caught up in ridiculous promises that he miraculously followed to the very end. He took his preparation for becoming a Hokage seriously and everyone saw the passion in him and loved him for it.
Without Naruto, Sasuke's transition back to his old life was more difficult than it could have been. Naruto finally got the recognition he deserved but in return, Sasuke took Naruto's place as the monster in the village. The whispers and the reproachful eyes were indeed a change from the pitying looks he got as child, but he wasn't sure which one he preferred.
"What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be out signing autographs and meeting with city officials?"
Naruto, not hearing the bitterness in his voice, laughed and rubbed his neck in embarrassment.
"I was visiting Sakura for a bit. She recently got back too! The life of a medic-nin must be pretty tough, huh? The research all sounds so boring. But then again, Sakura was always really good at theory and all that. What about you, Sasuke? What've you been up to?"
"Missions," he stated.
"Missions?"
"Yeah. I'm on my way up to fix the antenna on the roof."
Naruto let out a hearty laugh. "Did you get demoted?!" Sasuke didn't answer.
"Hey, let's all do some missions together next time." Naruto pats his shoulder. "Me, you, and Sakura. For old time's sake."
Sasuke grunted and Naruto grinned back with a smile a bit too wide for Sasuke's tastes.
"I have to go see if I can get Iruka-sensei to treat me to some welcome-back ramen but I'll see you around, Sasuke-bastard!"
Sasuke watches as Naruto waves a few goodbyes and walks down the hallway, his broad back stretching the heavy fabric of the orange-black jacket that was a size too small for Naruto's rapidly improving musculature. Naruto was a man now, evidenced by the blushing female admirers that flocked to his side. Even Sakura has grown to be a bit of a beauty, her childish body growing a few curves in the recent years. It's only Sasuke that feels no different—as though he's a child trapped in a man's body and he's twelve again, back in Konoha, trying to relive the life that was taken away from him. Everyone has moved on and he's here, paying someone to make him feel like an adult when he's such a child.
Sasuke scratches at the marks on his wrists and heads to the roof.

A/N:
Bon festival: summer festival, meant to honor ancestors, etc.
I used "Sasuke-bastard" and "Iruka-sensei" because it seemed fitting. It's always really difficult to translate Japanese speech to English but I'm going to do what sounds right to me so I apologize to everyone about how mixed up these all are! (I just think it's weird to write 'thin hammer' instead of 'usuratonkachi'.)
Thank you so much for reading! As always, please rate and review!
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