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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
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Chapter
Forty-Eight: teaching taijutsu

Tension
grew between the boys after they had watched the movie. Sasuke had
been as open as he could about being gay and not being content with
some kind of romantic friendship, but Naruto's reaction had made him
despair. He tried hard not to show any signs of attraction to Naruto,
not realizing that this resulted in a nervousness and shyness that
irritated Naruto more than his former attempts of seduction had.

Naruto,
on his side, was trying to come to terms with the fantasies that kept
haunting him, fantasies that were now clearly about him and not any
other man molesting Sasuke. He tried to be rational about them,
telling himself that Sasuke probably would not mind and that people
in Music Town would not mind either, still it was not easy to shake
off the standards of Konoha that did not approve of men having sex
with each other, and the idea that men who allowed themselves to be
molested in such a way were weak and effeminate and had no respect
for themselves. Also he was not yet ready to change his image of
himself: He cared for Sasuke, didn't he, he would not dishonour him.

In
the meantime Sasuke tried to distract himself by preparing his
taijutsu class for children. He was very serious about it, to
Naruto's astonishment, maybe as a reaction to Naruto's claim that he
had no idea about children from Music Town. He talked to the head of
the Martial Arts school, and even went out of his way to ask Karin
for advice. He wrote lists of exercises and techniques he wanted to
teach, and then discarded them and wrote new ones.

Naruto
wondered. He still doubted that Sasuke would get along with the kids.
He had never shown much interest for Juugo's new friends and foster
siblings, and was far too serious for children. He also wondered
about his own role in the whole affair: Sasuke had spoken of “us”
when he had told of his deal with the owner of the dojo, but he did
not include Naruto in his planning. When it was time to leave for the
class, however, and Naruto was still insecure whether Sasuke wanted
him to join, he was told clearly to get up and put on his sandals.

The
dojo was on the topmost floor of the office of an old abandoned
factory, and the whole area showed signs of decline. Yet once they
had entered the dojo it was fine: It had a wooden floor, and some
mattresses were leaning against a wall. There was also a mirror, just
as in the dance hall.

They
were half an hour early and spent the time opening the windows,
rearranging the mattresses, and, in the case of Sasuke, being nervous
and rereading his list of exercises again and again. (Naruto still
had no idea what was on it.) They were both glad when the first kids
arrived with their mothers: eight all in all, six boys and two girls,
all starting from zero. Sasuke greeted the mothers politely and asked
the kids for their names, doing his best to smile at them in spite of
his nervousness. He had donned the clothes he had worn at the day of
his arrival in Music Town and even brought his sword, and the kids
looked at him in awe (in spite of the ridiculous rope). Naruto felt
jealous: With a pair of extra loose pants and one of the two tight
shirts Sasuke had chosen for him he looked all too ordinary. The kids
also asked to be allowed to touch the sword, and Sasuke let them feel
the sharpness of the blade, without letting go of the hilt however.
The kids were impressed.

The
mothers weren't. “You don't teach them sword fighting, do you?”
they asked.

“Not
at that age. Maybe when they are older.”

“When?”
one of the kids asked.

“When
you're ten”, Sasuke gave him a random number as answer.

The
kid smiled triumphantly at his mother.

The
mothers asked a lot of other questions, and Sasuke explained to them
that he planned to teach the kids mainly taijutsu, but also some
preliminary exercises to get them connected with their physical and
spiritual energy so that one day they might learn some ninjutsu too.
He still had no idea whether a person not born to a ninja clan was
able to forge chakra, so he repeated what Karin had told him: that
every person was able to learn it to some degree.

(It
turned out that one of the mothers was a participant of Karin's
seminar, and had actually been recommended to him by Karin, so that
it was lucky that Sasuke did not contradict her.)

He
was quite glad when all the kids had arrived, so that for the mothers
it was now time to leave. He made them sit on cushions (never chairs,
Karin had told him, people here think that ninjas are too tough to
sit on chairs) and asked them again for their names, he introduced
himself and told them a bit about the ninja arts he was going to
teach them, though in simpler words than he had used with the
mothers.

Naruto
also introduced himself.

“Are
you a ninja too?” the kids asked him.

He
was quite annoyed by now that Sasuke had been in the spotlight all
the time, and he was on the point of telling the kids that yes, he
was a ninja too, and a better one in the bargain, when he realized
that this was not the time to play out his rivalry with Sasuke (who
was still nervous) and answered the question in a matter-of-fact way.

The
lesson itself went quite well. For warming up they did some
sophisticated game of tag (an advice of the dojo's owner), and then
some basic exercises Naruto remembered well from their days at the
academy. Sasuke still seemed nervous to him, trying to cope with his
nervousness by being strict and setting a lot of rules.

He
also taught them a kick, and the kids learnt that having a good
balance on the other leg was more important than the kick itself.
Focussing on the leg they were standing on ran against the kids'
natural wildness, but they accepted it as they had understood that
kicking was pointless if afterwards you fell over.

Sasuke
made them practise the kick and went around, showing those who kept
falling how to stand correctly, and teaching those who had mastered
the kick how to combine it with a step. He seemed more confident now
that he was done with the explaining part, and he told Naruto to go
around too. Naruto did his best, but he had difficulties to see what
the kids were doing wrong, so that he could not do much more than
say: “Try again! Don't give up! Keep practising!”

He
watched Sasuke, who was just telling one of the girls that she should
not stand all stiff but bend her leg a bit to gain a good foothold.
Naruto tried to look for similar mistakes, but no one had ever told
him about such details. He had just somehow figured out for himself
how to do it. Only now with dancing he had learnt that it was
possible to spot out and correct tiny mistakes that still had great
effects.

“Practise
a lot, then you'll soon be as good as the boys”, Sasuke told
the little girl and moved over to the next child, a boy, and for a
fraction of a second Naruto saw him activate his Sharingan to see
through the child's movements and detect the mistakes. He's cheating!
Naruto thought and was on the point of protesting, but again he
realized that this was not the correct moment.

He
turned to the next boy, one of the smallest, who was a bit on the
hyperactive side. His mother had explained them about it, telling
them that she had heard that martial arts could contribute to
overcoming this infliction.

They
had learnt what it meant: The boy had difficulties to follow the
rules of the introductory game, and when Sasuke explained the kick he
would not listen to the end but tried it out before Sasuke had
finished explaining, and announced that he would kick everyone. Yet
when the kids were told to practise he kept falling over. When the
other boys who had already mastered the kick began to tease him about
it he began to cry.

Watching
him hurt Naruto as he felt reminded of his worst moments at the
academy. He had kept a distance from the boy, but now he was the next
kid on Naruto's tour, and also he felt angry against the other boys
who had teased the small one. He joined him and tried to comfort him:

“It
doesn't matter if you have difficulties now”, he said. “just
keep practising, then you'll beat them and show them who's really
best.”

Sasuke
glared at him but then turned again to the child he himself was
helping.

The
litte boy looked triumphantly at the boys who had teased him but when
he tried again he again fell over. Naruto felt desperate as he did
not know how to help, and he was actually glad when Sasuke came over.

“I'm
sure you'll learn it too”, he said. “Now first practise
standing on one leg!”

He
took one of the boys hands and told Naruto to hold the other. Naruto
felt the pressure increase and decrease as the boy sought for
balance.

“It's
not necessary to stand straight and stiff”, Sasuke said. “Just
try not to fall over. Naruto will stay with you and hold your hand.”

He
patted the child's shoulder and went over to the next kid. Naruto
felt annoyed that Sasuke had told him what to do, but again he
refrained from protesting. Actually he was quite content helping the
little boy to learn to stand on one leg. He still had difficulties
and was easily frustrated, but with Naruto holding his hand and
smiling at him he was ready to try again.

He
listened to Sasuke while he held the boy's hand. He told off the
other kids for teasing the hyperactive boy, and advised them to focus
on their own training, but then he got friendly again and and showed
them some new details. He then went over to the second girl, who
seemed quite gifted, to teach her to do a step after the kick. He was
friendly and warm to her too: How had he learnt to get along with
females? Naruto wondered.

When
every kid had learnt the kick they again played a game. Sasuke taught
them to bow, and only then they were allowed to chat as usual.

The
mothers arrived to pick up their kids and they left, the kids talking
happily about what they had learnt. Only when they were by themselves
again, airing the room and tidying up, Naruto realized that the
lesson had thoroughly drained Sasuke. He made him stop opening and
closing windows and aimlessly moving around the cushions and led him
to one of the benches that were arranged along the walls.

“Have
a break first”, he said.

Sasuke
was silent for a few seconds, then he spoke. “They are all so
cute and innocent”, he said.

Naruto
had perceived the kids differently. Sure they were cute, as all
children were, but they were not cuter than, say, Juugo's new
sisters, and some, for example the boys who had teased the small,
hyperactive kid, had not been cute at all. The more talented of the
girls was not cute either, in his opinion; she was too fierce and too
tough, and, if he was honest, neither was the hyperactive boy, who
had been rather annoying. He seemed haunted, not relaxed and trusting
and friendly as the second girl, or Juugo's sisters.

“They
are all so cute”, Sasuke repeated.

“You
think so? Even the one who kept falling over?”

“Sure
he is. Haven't you seen it?”

Naruto
had not.

“You
were a cute kid too”, Sasuke said, understanding what was
really important. He took Naruto's hand.

Naruto
could not return the compliments. He had thought Sasuke rather
annoying at the time of their entry to the academy, though later,
after the massacre, when Sasuke had become an orphan too, he had
tried to get in touch with him, until he had realized that Sasuke was
not interested. Only the photo on his sideboard showed him how cute
Sasuke had been.

Sasuke
had to judge from memory. There was no picture proving that he,
Naruto, had been cute too.

“How
can anyone think of hurting such a cute kid”, Sasuke continued.

Naruto
sought for an answer. “Itachi did not kill you”, he said.
“In the end he would not kill his beloved, cute little
brother.”

He
pressed Sasuke's hand, and they sat silently for some minutes, Sasuke
leaning heavily on Naruto, the gel in his hair feeling against
Naruto's cheek.

“They
just wanted us to vanish from the earth”, he said.

“I
am glad they didn't succeed”, Naruto answered.

Slowly
Sasuke calmed down, while Naruto carefully caressed his hands. He was
aware that they were far too close and that he should stop it while
it was still time. On the other hand he enjoyed the weight of
Sasuke's body against his own, his warmth, even the smell of the gel.
Also, he was moved by the way Sasuke was moved by the kids' cuteness.

“You
were really good with them”, he said. “You're also good
with the youngest of Juugo's new siblings. Where did you learn this?”

Sasuke
thought about it for a while. “Itachi”, he finally said.
“He'd play with me, and he'd teach me ninja arts.”

He
sounded sad again, and Naruto regretted that he had asked him,
reminding him of his brother.

“I'm
sorry”, he said. “I should not have brought up your old
sorrow. But today there's no reason to be sad: You can be proud of
yourself. You really did well.”

“It's
okay”, Sasuke said. “I don't mind remembering, even
though it hurts. Remembering Itachi enables me to teach these kids. I
would not be able to do this if I still thought of him as nothing
than the crazy murderer of my family. I used to shut out all memories
of how he cared for me when I was little, so that I might hate him
without restraint. Now I can remember him again, and though it's
painful, I'm glad of it. It hurts and always will hurt, but I refuse
to forget, and won't allow the wound to close.”

Naruto
listened, touched by Sasuske's words and at the same time he felt
excluded as he did not have a share in the love between Sasuke and
Itachi and had never experienced anything similar. He pressed
Sasuke's hand to his heart.

“I
also refused to let the wound close”, he said. “Everyone
told me to forget and to stop being a fool, and to abandon you, but I
refused, and now you're with me and I'm glad of it.”

Sasuke
did not move, only that very carefully he caressed Naruto's chest
with the back of his hand. His feelings were in chaos: He was annoyed
that Naruto had made him return to the present instead of allowing
him to silently mourn for Itachi, but as he was also excited about
the physical intimacy Naruto had initiated he did his best not to
break it again..

“It's
time to leave for dancing”, he finally said.

A/N:

Subaru:
Many thanks for the compliments!

Sneakyfox:
Many thanks again for your review! Sasuke would not have got what he
wanted anyway; Naruto was feeling all romantic, but he was not yet
ready to go any further.

Nami:
Thanks for your compliments! I am glad that I manage to avoid getting
preachy. Your compliments also gave me back some trust in my approach
– I know that for some readers things cannot happen fast
enough, but with this story, I wanted them to fall in love slowly and
gradually. So many thanks again!
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The Blessed Realm