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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
- 32
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Chapter
Thirty: Letting go

The
two mothers accompanied Juugo, Sasuke and Naruto back to Naruto's
place and Naruto to decided to invite them all to have some tea
before they parted. (The kids were allowed some coke, even though the
mothers disapproved of it.) He looked around: The room was fuller now
than when Karin and Suigetsu had still been living with them, and he
realized that this was how he liked it, even though he knew now from
experience that even he needed some time to withdraw and that this
was difficult when his little flat was full of guests.

While
he was busy preparing tea the mothers looked around too.

“Is
that your family on the photo?” they asked Sasuke when they had
spotted the picture on the sideboard.

“It
is.”

“They
look nice. Juugo has told us that you fled from some evil place where
you were kept prisoners for several years. Your parents must have
missed you – do you intend to return? They surely long for
you.”

“Surely
not”, Sasuke answered. “They're dead.”

“Oh.
I'm sorry.”

A
silence of several minutes followed. Naruto wondered about the
woman's tactlessness. Was it not obvious that this was a memorial
picture?

“Did
it happen recently?” the other woman asked.

“No,
it was quite a few years ago.”“How old were you
then?”

“Seven.”

“You
lost them both at the same time?”

“Yes.”

“It
must have been terrible for you.”

“Sure
it was.”

He
remembered how he had returned home and found everyone lying dead on
the streets of the Uchiha compound – the ghetto, as he now
knew. He did not want to think of it at the moment – the memory
still hurt, and still held the danger of making him fall into that
black abyss of pain. He could not afford it at the moment.

“And
since then you have looked after yourself.”

“I
have.”

Again
there was a silence of several minutes. Naruto served tea, hoping
that this would distract the women and stop them asking questions
that did not provide any help but only brought new pain to Sasuke.
Did they not sense it themselves?

Indeed,
after they had taken their first sip of tea they changed subject:
“You know, we have long wondered how Juugo is living”,
one of them said. “He's spending most of his days at our place,
or at least playing with our sons, and leaves only for the night.”
She looked around. “It's nice but rather small. Where does
Juugo sleep?”

“On
the floor”, Sasuke replied, knowing that this was not a good
answer. When they had arrived it had seemed appropriate that Juugo
slept on the floor, just as Karin and Suigetsu did, while Sasuke got
the place in Naruto's bed in order not to get molested by Karin (and
for various other reasons he did not want to think about too
explicitly at the moment.) Now that Karin and Suigetsu had moved out,
however, it seemed a bit weird that the child (who was not really a
child, after all, Sasuke reminded himself) was sleeping on the floor.

“It's
okay”, Juugo said. “I have a mattress and a
sleeping-bag.”

“We
have been travelling in the wilderness for several months”,
Sasuke added. “We are fully equipped.”

“But
in the long run you need a bed, Juugo”, the woman said.

She
drank some more tea. There was no space for another bed, Naruto
thought. Surely the two women saw this themselves.

“We
have thought of inviting Juugo to live at our place”, the other
mother said. “We have asked about his parents when he began to
play with our kids and he told us that he was a fugitive who has come
to this town with a bunch of friends and was staying at another
friend's place, meaning that he has no grown-up people to care for
him.”

Both
women looked first at Naruto, then at Sasuke.

“Juugo
speaks highly of you, but he cannot stay at this place. It's too
small, and you don't look after him properly, leaving him to his own
devices and not caring where he spends his days.”

“I
care for him”, Sasuke said defensively. “I see that he's
happy. Should I have forbidden him to play with your sons?”

He
felt confused by the two mothers' suggestion. Rationally he knew that
allowing Juugo to move over to their place would only make official
the current state of affairs, yet the way the two women had worded
their offer, suggesting that Juugo was not well off with Naruto and
him hurt his pride.

“What
would you have done if he had not turned up in the morning?”
the woman continued.

“Searched
for him. What else? I am his friend. I just have more confidence in
his ability to look after himself.”

“How
old are you?” the other woman took over.

“Seventeen.”

“Sorry,
but that's far too young to judge whether Juugo can look after
himself. You are too young to take responsibility for a child. Juugo
likes you, and I am sure you care for him and do your best, but it's
just too much for a teenager as yourself.”

“We've
been considering calling the police if Juugo is not allowed to
leave”, the first woman joined the argument again.

Sasuke
gasped. “The police? I've done nothing wrong, have I?”

Of
course he could fight the police if they tried to separate him from
Juugo, most of all if they were like the policewoman they had met
this evening. But he preferred not to have to fight, and he preferred
not to be confronted by the police at all. He preferred to be allowed
to live peacefully and anonymously in this place.

“Don't
worry. They won't arrest you. They'll just make sure that Juugo will
live at a place where he's properly cared for.”

“Don't
they have any real work to do? Like hunting down criminals?”

“Is
seeing that children in town are doing fine no real work?”

Again
the other mother intervened. “He's staying at our place all the
time even now. He only returns to you in order to sleep. And it's not
that you'll lose him altogether. He will stay in town after all. You
can visit him whenever you like.”

She
had a point, of course. For some seconds Sasuke was silent and
considered the woman's words, then he asked Juugo himself. “Do
you want to live with them?”

Juugo
looked into his eyes, faintly smiling, then he lowered his head and
nodded.

“Well,
then”, Sasuke said. “I want you to be happy.”

So
he's moving out too, he thought and it's only Naruto and me left.

“I
know you must be sad, parting from Juugo”, the gentler of the
two mothers (the one who had not threatened to call the police) tried
to comfort him. “You have carried a great burden, caring not
only for yourself but for Juugo too at an age when you still should
have parents or other grown-ups to take responsibility for you. You
made a great job of it: You can be proud of yourself. But it's over
now, you can let go and let others look after him. You can see him as
often as you like but you are no longer responsible for him. You can
focus on building yourself a life in this town, and if you need any
help, just come and ask.”

Sasuke
felt moved by her words and was hardly able to answer. Something
resolved within him, but he did not want to dissolve, he wanted to
stand his ground against these women.

Naruto
put his arm around him: “I am looking after him”, he
said. “We don't need any help from your side.”

“Glad
to hear it”, the woman said. “Anyway: Sunday we want to
give a welcome party for Juugo: You're invited too.”

They
accepted the invitation. It had got late by now, and the women
decided that it was time to leave. Their sons had fallen asleep and
had to be woken up. Juugo announced that he would stay with Sasuke
and Naruto and move over only on Sunday, which was considered a good
solution by everyone as it gave Sasuke time to get accustomed to the
fact that Juugo would leave him too. He made up his mind to spend
more time with him to make up for the days when he had only cared
about being with Naruto and forgotten about Juugo. He really cared
for Juugo, more than for any other of his teammates, and he regretted
that he had not shown it more.

When
the three mothers and their sons had left Naruto prepared another pot
of tea for Juugo, Sasuke and himself. He felt weird: Sad and angry
and jealous at the same time. He knew that he should be glad that
Juugo had found a place where he was well looked after and that they
would now be alone so that he no longer had to be jealous of Sasuke's
team. Still he was jealous: He had felt left out during the whole
evening. Again it had been all about Sasuke, just as when they had
still been at the academy. With this stupid picture of his family he
had made the two women pity him and offer him their help, just as the
regulars in the restaurant had offered their help with that stupid
shrine Sasuke was building. (It was almost finished now and had
become really beautiful. Naruto suspected that Sasuke had used his
Sharingan on the craftsmen.)

Tomorrow
he'd go to the book store, Naruto made up his mind, get a book on the
history of Konoha with coloured illustrations, cut out the most
beautiful picture of the Yondaime he could find, and if anyone asked
about it he'd say: This is my father, the fourth Hokage of Konoha. He
sacrificed himself for the sake of the village just after my birth,
so there's no picture of him smiling at me as a father should, just
this one which I got from a history book.

“Now
you have a family”, Sasuke said to Juugo. “Are you happy
with them?”

Juugo
nodded.

“They'll
treat you as a child”, Sasuke continued, thinking that by now
he had come to think of Juugo as a child too. “Is that okay to
you?”

Juugo
nodded again.

“And
those fits of murderous intent you used to get? What of them? I don't
want to have to answer to these women for the death of one of their
kids.”

“They
are much weaker than they used to be”, Juugo answered. “I
can control them now.”

“They
are nice, I think”, Sasuke went on. “They really care
about their kids, venturing into the darkness even though they were
scared. They care for you too.”

“They
do.”

“They
were tactless”, Naruto intervened. “Asking you stupid
questions about your family and then accusing you of not properly
looking after Juugo.”

He
poured tea and passed Sasuke and Juugo their cups.

“They
mean well”, Sasuke said. “They are not used to children
without parents, so their questions were a bit awkward, but they are
sincere in their desire to help, most of all Juugo, of course, but me
too. In Konoha, all I heard was: You have to be brave now! and: Now
it's up to you to uphold the honour of your clan! Here people
acknowledge it's been hard, and they offer help.”

“Yes,
here they all make a lot of fuzz about you when they see that
picture. In Konoha, there are still a lot of war orphans, and they're
expected to deal with it.”

A
deadly silence followed. Naruto knew that his words had been a
mistake, but he did not feel like apologizing.

“And
it's not true that in Konoha no one cared. We cared, for example. We
went to search for you when you were gone missing, just as these
women went to search for their kids.”

Now
he had the upper hand again. Sasuke looked troubled.

“I
had not lost my way in the darkness”, he said. “I had
left because I wanted to. I was not a helpless child as these are. I
knew the way.”

“These
kids thought that they knew the way too. They stayed outside even
though it was getting dark, thinking they could deal with it, but
they could not.”

There
were some seconds of silence before Sasuke answered: “I could
deal with Orochimaru.”

“But
not with the darkness. Even now I sometimes wonder whether you have
found the way back.”

This
time it took Sasuke even longer to find an answer. Naruto triumphed:
Now he had cornered him.

“I
have promised to stay with you until you have found a workable plan
to make Danzou pay for his crimes without getting killed ourselves,
so that we can both return to Konoha. I have apologized for trying to
kill you in the Valley of the End. What else do you want?”

Now
it was Naruto who had to think before he answered. He knew that he
had to give in, all the more as Sasuke had admitted his defeat.

“I
want you to admit that I care well for you. I want you to promise
that you won't run off to these women, just as Juugo is running off
to them, just because they are grown-up women and locals and know
their way around this place.”

Juugo
looked just as shocked as Sasuke.

“They'll
look after him, better than you and I can. I care for him, that's why
I let him go.”

Naruto
was silent, and Sasuke continued, somewhat calmer: “But I'll
stay with you. I'm seventeen, I don't need to be looked after.
Besides they are not interested in me. They are lesbians, if you
haven't noticed.”

“I
have noticed”, Naruto said. “But that's not what I
meant.”

He'd
insist, Sasuke realized, even if it meant that they had to stay awake
for the whole night. “I'll stay with you as you care well for
me. Even though I don't need any looking after.”

He
opened his arms, hoping that Naruto would finally accept, and Naruto
came and embraced him, holding him tightly, caressing his back and
resting his head on Sasuke's shoulder. “I have cared for you
for all these years”, he said.

Sasuke
cautiously returned his caresses. Being physically close to Naruto
made him feel warm and dizzy, but he did not want to show it. Slowly
Naruto calmed down.

“Anyway,
since when have you been seventeen?” he asked.

Sasuke
had to count: “Since in ten days.”

A/N:
Sneakyfox: Thanks again for your review! I am glad you
liked the last chapter – I felt somewhat insecure about it, and
honestly I still do. A lot of things happen, but there is no depth.
Well, one day maybe I will rewrite this story. So this chapter is the
second half...

Rahvin68:
Thanks for your compliments! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. I
try to update every weekend, but these days I have some difficulties.
I hope that I will get into my normal schedule soon.
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The Blessed Realm