All In | By : momhuey8 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1701 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1 |
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. |
Obligatory WAFF alert!!! For good or ill, there aren't too many chapters like this.
NOTE: At this point, 'All In' and 'Constellations' are still identical. If you've read one, you've read the other. That will change at Chapter 15...promise!
One thing Sasuke could say about Naruto; he was certainly taking his guard duty seriously. He’d only seen the blond a handful of minutes in the last week; he didn’t know if Naruto even ate or slept. The younger shinobi just seemed to prowl the compound continuously. A fucking June bug couldn’t come into the district without Naruto being right on its ass.
Finally he’d had enough and tracked down his over achieving sentinel.
“I brought you some water.”
“Thanks.”
“Why don’t you take a break and eat some of the lunch I’m cooking.”
“Oh, okay, just set it…”
“No, I mean...” Sasuke’s face flushed. “Eat lunch with me.” Naruto said nothing.
“We haven’t talked since I got back.”
“About what?”
“Nothing, everything,” Sasuke’s said, exasperated. “What you’ve been up to, what I’ve been up to.”
“But the guard duty…”
“You do know that I don’t need to be guarded, right? Certainly not with the diligence you’re giving it.” Naruto rubbed his neck. “I can protect myself, and I’m not leaving. I’ve come home.”
Naruto had yet to look at him. Sasuke reached out and grasped his elbow. “Come eat with me.”
Naruto finally relented, but sat stiff and poked at the rice and fish before him. Determined that this would be a beginning though, Sasuke spoke; nothing deep, just missions and training, his plans for the property.
When Naruto finally got up, Sasuke said, “So, breakfast tomorrow?” After a moment, Naruto nodded and left.
By the end of the week, the two were sharing every meal. Twice Naruto had even come into the house early to do the cooking. And Naruto had relaxed considerably. He was talking as well, and it was the old Naruto, albeit the one that Sasuke knew Naruto put out in front of people.
The talk was still missions and training and Naruto made his last three years sound like a series of comic misadventures. But Sasuke had lived that life as well, and knew the stories for what they were; a shiny shellac over years of blood, sweat, tears, and loneliness.
By the end of the next week, Sasuke had taken to touching his friend. It was all innocuous enough, small brushes covered by the straightening of a collar or the doing of a button. He’d pulled enough imaginary lint off the blond to stuff an imaginary pillow. Before long, Naruto took to standing still as if waiting for Sasuke to fix him up before he took off.
But Sasuke still sensed a gulf between him and the blond and damned if he didn’t want it gone. He wanted Naruto’s trust. He wanted his affection, his attention. He wanted his friend back.
Sasuke thought he was going down the right path, though, in reestablishing their bond, using time and undemanding companionship as chisels beyond Naruto’s defenses.
With this in mind he decided his next maneuver would be to ask Naruto to help him with the Uchiha property. It would show Naruto that Sasuke valued his help and trusted him with something as personal as his history. And it would perhaps give the blond a sense of ownership in Sasuke’s life.
It was certainly handy having access to a veritable army of Narutos. Not that Sasuke was in any kind of hurry to get work done on the property, but when it came to manual labor, Naruto clones made excellent pack animals.
Currently he had about ten Narutos emptying his mother's sister's house, readying it for an assessment of sorts. She had several children and her house had the largest accumulation of possessions. He estimated that Naruto would have it empty by the time he made a rough sketch of the building.
He was pacing off the front porch when Naruto walked up with a box.
"Hey, I'm not trying to be nosy, but...what's this stuff?"
Sasuke peered over the edge and raised a brow. "Toys?"
"Toys," Naruto repeated as though testing out the word for the very first time.
"Yeah, toys." Naruto picked up a koma and smacked it against his palm.
Sasuke watched him whack the top against his palm several more times and added, "You play with them."
"Play with them," Naruto parroted again, now swinging the top back and forth like a club.
Sasuke took the wooden koma from Naruto and spun it on the porch floor.
Naruto's eyes widened and he looked back and forth between Sasuke and the toy several times.
"You don't know what toys are?"
Naruto's face started to close off and Sasuke mentally slapped himself. He bent to his knees.
"Here, let's play." Naruto seemed to let it go and stooped down next to the box. He reached in and pulled out a handful of marbles.
Sasuke said, "Ohajiki," then watched in fascination as they lifted in Naruto's palm and swirled around each other. After several seconds he shook his head and pressed them into Naruto's hand.
"No chakra. These are civilian toys. You don't use chakra."
Naruto's eyes widened again and his whole body bounced up and down. "Show me? Please?"
The pair spent the next two hours emptying the box, playing with one toy after another. Sasuke showed Naruto how the ball and spindle of the kendama were used together. Then he pulled out a simple piece of string, ‘ayatori,’ he said, and then amazed Naruto by creating a complicated web using nothing but his fingers.
Naruto growled in mock affront as Sasuke balanced himself on the takeuma and walked around gracefully while he’d fallen off the stilts onto his ass a half dozen times.
Naruto was like a small child at Christmas. He quivered with excitement until finally he flopped over onto his back during Sasuke's explanation of the kokeshi dolls and fell asleep from over stimulation.
Sasuke crawled over the toys and studied his friend’s peaceful face. He pulled his friend into his arms and Naruto snuggled into his embrace. A new feeling was filling him.
As he held the sun warmed body to his chest, he imagined this feeling was what his father must have felt about his family. He felt a ferocious need to protect, to rearrange the universe to accommodate his precious ones, removing all obstacles, obtaining every luxury and advantage.
He felt frustration that he couldn't go back and fix the wrongs of Naruto's childhood, but made a silent promise that nothing would ever hurt the blond as long as he lived. As he held Naruto's head to his shoulder, he vowed that Naruto would never go wanting for anything again.
A few days later, Sasuke watched Naruto demolish the old greenhouse. It was a hazard and the blond was able to bring it down with a few movements of earth while keeping the debris contained in a tight ball of compressed air. Then Sasuke would incinerate the small pile with ease.
As he watched the concentration on the whiskered face and felt the waves of residual power caress his senses, he found himself half hard. His fingers yearned to test the firmness of the sweaty flesh on those amazingly ripped arms and shoulders. His mouth watered with a burning desire to press his teeth into the muscles flexing under that tan skin, to see where those intriguing black flames up his arm ended.
The aura that radiated off Naruto was so compelling. His whole being spoke of lands explored and tests passed. The image he portrayed was quiet confidence and complete comfort in his own skin. Sasuke was surprised to find himself daydreaming about curling up at Naruto’s feet.
There was no denying it. He wanted Naruto badly, images of throwing and being thrown onto the nearest flat surface giving him a physical ache.
When Naruto stopped and poured a ladleful of water over his head and Sasuke was forced to watch the drops slide down his neck, and then disappear into the top of his shirt, the only thing keeping him from going to the blond was the conviction that Naruto would reject him.
Just then Naruto looked at the sun and came over to where he was sitting.
“Hey, bastard, I have some things to take care of today.” He pushed his hair back, squeezing the water down the back of his neck. “I’ll get Neji to take over for a while.”
Sasuke blinked. Naruto had things to do? Well, of course he did. Sasuke suddenly realized he’d been so busy trying to involve Naruto in his life, that he’d never considered trying to involve himself in Naruto’s life.
“Can I come with you?”
Naruto’s eyes widened. “Uhm, sure. That would be great.” He smiled. “Actually, I’d like it a lot.”
Sasuke nodded. “You take a shower first, I’ll finish up here.”
After a leisurely walk across town, Naruto pushed open a gate that led to the front of a sprawling old house. Sasuke remembered this house from his childhood; it had been dismal and dilapidated and used to give him nightmares. The creepy old eyesore was now impeccably maintained, with fresh paint and well tended, brightly colored flower gardens dotting the scrupulously manicured lawn.
"The orphanage?" Sasuke could tell that Naruto was ready to hop up and down with excitement. "It looks so different."
"Yeah, a lot better than when I lived here."
Sasuke stopped dead. "You lived here?"
"Well, sure. For a while." Naruto laughed. "Where do you think babies without families live?"
Sasuke was speechless. He'd never really thought about where Naruto had lived. When they were kids, he's just assumed that Naruto did what every other kid did when the day was over; went home.
"How long?"
"I ran away when I was six. Of course it didn't have the Twinkle Sisters then." He rubbed his neck. "The old caretakers didn't care for the demon much."
"Twinkle Sisters? Six?" Sasuke shook his head against all the questions crowding his brain. "What did you do then? Where did you go?"
"I don't remember," Naruto hedged. "Forget it." He grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him toward the house. "Daylight's wasting."
Before they made it to the house, the front door opened and a very large, very noisy crowd of people rushed out.
Right in front of Sasuke's eyes, Naruto was mobbed by several hundred, well, maybe six, screeching children.
The blond turned to Sasuke, his arms held out parallel to the ground, three children hanging off each, their legs swinging and high pitched squeals of excitement piercing the air.
"Hey, Sasuke, there are supposed to be children here. Have you seen any children? I only see monkeys." He turned his head back and forth, squinting at the toddlers hanging from his forearms.
The squealing and giggling increased tenfold and before Sasuke could even begin to make sense of the scene before him, he felt something tug on his hand.
He looked down and found a very tiny dark haired girl holding his hand with one of hers while she hugged a stuffed…something and sucked her thumb with the other.
She tugged firmly and he looked at her face. She looked at him calmly and then yanked on his hand even harder until he figured out that she wanted him to stoop. He squatted and no sooner had he made it to her level, she climbed onto his hip, wrapped her arm around his neck and dropped her head onto his shoulder.
Bemused, he sat there several seconds amidst the din, no idea what to make of this turn in his day. As Naruto was now a howling mess buried under a mountain of flailing arms and legs, he sighed, wrapped his arm around his newest appendage and stood.
"They'll settle in a minute," a feminine voice said from his right.
His first thought when he saw the middle aged woman with sparkling eyes and radiant smile was that this must be a twinkle sister. She reached out and stroked the hair of the girl in Sasuke's arm.
"Friendly children," he muttered.
"She can't seem to get enough human interaction," she said. "I'll take her if you'd like."
He started to turn in her direction, but the tiny girl tightened her arm around his neck and made a noise of disapproval. "I'll just hold her a minute," he smirked.
Naruto was panting and hiccupping as he pulled himself to his feet, tykes still pulling on his legs. He came up to Sasuke and put his hand on the little girl’s back.
“I see you’ve met our little coat of paint. You’ll need a scraper to get her off before we leave.”
He leaned in and kissed her brow and then blew raspberries on her cheek, making her giggle and squirm. “How’s our beautiful baby girl? Mm, I missed you.”
She giggled some more and clutched his hair with a wet hand while burying her face in Sasuke’s neck.
Finally Naruto stood before the older woman and bowed. She bowed in return and then laughed, slapped him in the arm and pulled him into a hug. He picked her up off her feet and swung her in a circle.
"Stop it," she laughed. "Put me down. You know I'm too old for such nonsense."
He gave her one more squeeze, a look of pure happiness on his face, then set her on her feet without releasing her hands.
"How are things here? The plumbing? Is it warm enough? The grocers treating you fairly?"
"Of course.” She pulled a hand away and patted his cheek. “Neji-san does an excellent job of administering everything while you're gone."
He leaned in, his smile softening. "Where is he?"
"Over there, I expect." She pointed toward the corner of the house. Sasuke, whose little passenger was now snoring wetly against his neck, turned in the direction she indicated.
There, almost obscured by a bush, was a boy, older than the rest of the children, probably nine or ten years old. His posture was instantly recognizable to Sasuke. The boy was turned slightly away, his arms crossed defensively over his chest. The look on his face was impassive and only because he was looking for it, did he see the tiny furtive glances in Naruto's direction. Sasuke waited to see how Naruto would react.
Naruto's smile widened and he strode purposefully toward the boy. Sasuke's brow rose when Naruto stopped in front of the youth and bowed.
"My worthy rival, it’s an honor to see you again." The boy turned with studied nonchalance and gave a slight bow as well.
"You've been gone a long time," he said.
Naruto nodded. "Yes, I have. Did you get my letters?"
The boy nodded and Sasuke watched with interest as the veneer was peeled away.
He swiped his forearm across his nose. "Neji-san said you've been doing important work."
Naruto nodded again. "We’re all a team. I go outside the gates and do my work. He works inside the gates. Do you remember why?"
His thin shoulders scrunched and his face flushed. "You love us? Me?"
Naruto's smile could light a room. "Yes."
The boy's jaw worked for several moments and then he crossed his arms again, having mastered his emotions. "Who is he?" He pointed to Sasuke.
"Jomei-san, this is Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke this is Jomei."
The boy did an admirable Uchiha impression and Sasuke marveled at how someone two feet shorter than he was could look down his nose at him.
"Do you have time for a game?" Naruto asked Jomei.
"Have you been practicing?" Jomei responded.
"Well," Naruto blushed, "sort of. Sasuke and I have played a few games."
"Are you talking about shoji?' Sasuke asked.
"Yeah," they both responded.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Naruto is a man of many talents. Shoji is not one of them.” As Naruto straightened and put his hands on his hips in mock offense, Sasuke continued. "May I play?"
"Don't do it, Sasuke," Naruto said. "He's really good."
“You're just really bad," Jomei said. "Even Mei beat you last time."
They all looked at the six year old girl who had just rolled onto her side, trying to bite her toenails.
"She's trickier than she looks," Naruto muttered, pouting.
During the game, Jomei said to Sasuke, "I've heard of you. You're the boy who ran away like a baby after your family died."
Naruto gasped. "Jomei..."
"I was foolish," Sasuke interrupted. “I was not as wise or courageous as you when I was your age." He bowed his head. "I'm working to be a better man."
"Jomei," Naruto said. "Sasuke didn't have Twinkle sisters."
"Hn," the boy said.
Just before they left, Naruto pulled one of the sisters aside.
“Do the kids have toys?” He looked at Sasuke as if confirming that was the right word. “Civilian toys?”
She patted his cheek. “Of course. Occasionally, villagers will make donations of toys their children have outgrown. And a couple of years ago, Neji-san and Hinata-chan cleaned out their rooms and brought over boxes of things. They have plenty.”
Sasuke watched as Naruto scooped her into a hug, more, he suspected, to keep her from seeing that he was struggling not to cry.
Later Sasuke and Naruto were walking home. Sasuke was unusually quiet.
"Hey, bastard," Naruto said. "You mad at me for dragging you along? Did Jomei upset you?"
"No," Sasuke answered. Then he turned and pulled Naruto into his arms. After a moment, he pulled back and kissed him on the cheek. It was filled with some emotion that Naruto couldn't identify.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly when Sasuke rested their foreheads together.
“I thought my life was better because you’re in it.” He laced their fingers together and pulled back slightly. “It seems that the world is better because you’re in it.”
“Sasuke, what’s this all about?”
"I was sitting there playing shoji with Jomei and I thought, 'these kids are so lucky to have a Naruto.' Then I thought, 'if only I'd had a Naruto...’" Sasuke squeezed their palms together and bowed his head. "Then I realized that I did have a Naruto." He leaned their foreheads together again. "I just didn't appreciate it. That won't happen again."
Then he turned them back toward home, and didn’t call attention to the fact that they were still holding hands and Naruto was allowing it.
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