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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.

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Chapter
Eighty: Justice

The
policeman took a sip of his coffee.

“So
you are trying to tell me that Killerbee changed into an object and
made that object take his form, and that you decided not to capture
his true self but instead went for the object that looked like him
and deceived Akatsuki.”

“It's
a bit more complicated. I had been looking for a way to deceive
Akatsuki from the beginning of the fight.”

The
man leant back, really curious now. “So this is when you
decided to deceive Akatsuki.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“He
was quite cool actually. A bit weird, but funny. There was no reason
why he should end up as a prisoner of Akatsuki.”

“And
if he had not been cool, but...” the man had to think “...a
bit boring, for example, or rather on the depressive side?”

Sasuke
considered it. “I guess it would have been the same.”

“You
might have come to this conclusion by yourself before starting the
fight. Then you would not be in trouble now. It's not so difficult,
is it? Realizing that you cannot abduct a man who has nothing to do
with your family's murder, and abduct him to Akatsuki.”

Sasuke
nodded.

“What
would they have done to him anyway?”

“I
don't know. Somehow get the Hachibi out of him, probably.”

The
head of the police looked at him, trying to read his face.

“You
haven't heard that except for the Kazekage all jinchuuriki captured
by Akatsuki are dead?”

Sasuke
was shocked, even though somehow he had guessed that Akatsuki did not
care about the wellbeing of the jinchuuriki they captured.

“I
suspected that extracting the bijuu is dangerous. I did not know it
was fatal.”

“It
is. I hope you are relieved now that you delivered some object and
not the Raikage's brother himself.”

Sasuke
was relieved, though not so much about the Raikage's brother as about
the fact that Naruto had not been captured by that Pain.

“I
understand that I should not have entered any alliance with Akatsuki
and that I should never have agreed to capturing the Raikage's
brother”, he said. “It should not have been necessary to
actually see him to understand that it was wrong to attack him and
attempt to abduct him. I should have known in advance.”

“Indeed”,
the head of the police said. He looked at the notes he had been
taking during the interrogation. “I will now write a report
about what you told me, but you will also have to tell your story to
your judge, and convince him that at the time you fought Killerbee
you already regretted that you had agreed to capture him, and that
you were glad when he made that object take his appearance so that
you could deliver it to Akatsuki and deceive them. It won't be easy:
Your defense depends solely on your intentions, and there's no action
of yours to prove that you were not deceived yourself by Killerbee so
that your attempt to abduct him turned out a failure. We'll have to
hear Killerbee's version of events, of course, but I guess that there
will still remain several years in prison for you for attacking him.”

Sasuke's
hope sunk. He had thought that he had managed to awaken the man's
compassion and understanding but as it seemed he was like everyone in
this place: Listening to his or Naruto's words, showing surprise,
confusion or understanding, but in the end sticking to their rules.
One of their rules was that not the man in front of him, but some
judge would have to decide about his fate, Sasuke thought, and he
felt a bit milder about the policeman. In the worst case he could
still blow up the place and be a fugitive again.

“You'll
be allowed to learn a trade, or acquire some academic qualifications,
so that your time won't be completely wasted. But it will still be a
punishment: Your friend will be allowed to visit you only on Sunday
afternoons.”

Sasuke
tried to imagine it: He had no idea how prisons in Music Town were
organized (or prisons in Konoha, for that matter), but if you were
able to learn a trade, or acquire some academic qualifications they
were probably something you could survive.

They've
built beams into the abyss that kept you from falling indefinitely,
he thought, and he felt a bit comforted.

“What
happens to me when I get out?” he asked. “Will I then
have to leave the town?”

“Probably
not. You are not safe in the ninja countries. We'll have to keep you.
You want to stay, don't you?”

“Yes.”

“I
guessed so. We can make arrangements that you can still join the
police afterwards, if that's still your intention. We'll probably
have to get you some extra permissions as normally convicted
criminals can't join, but rules can be changed if there's good
reasons to do so. We'll discuss it when the judge has come to a
decision.”

When
I know how long I will have to stay in prison, Sasuke thought. I can
still blow up the place...

“There's
one question I still have to ask you”, the head of the police
continued. “I've been wondering about it since I saw the
Raikage's request: What drove you to apply to the police when you
knew that your were charged with murder? You did not hope that it
would remain hidden, did you?”

Sasuke
shook his head. He decided that with everything he had already told
he could remain honest.

“I
did not think of it. I was aware that Danzou is looking for me, but
people told me that desertion is not considered a crime here. I did
not think of the Raikage.”

“You
did not think of the man whom you attacked with the intention to
abduct him and deliver him to Akatsuki?”

“I
did not do it. I had no idea that he had not returned to Kumogakure
and that the Raikage might consider him dead. It's only a week ago
that I discovered his photo in the magazine. It was a weird feeling,
knowing that the man whom I had attacked was living in Music Town and
that I could meet him any time on the street, but nothing that would
have kept me from applying for a job at the police.”

The
head of the police pondered his words. “It makes sense. Still,
with your past as a rogue nin and all the crimes you intended to
commit and refrained from committing: what induced you to change
sides?”

“I
was not born a rogue nin”, Sasuke replied. “I told you
already that my family was in charge of the military police of
Konoha. As a child I was just like children in Music Town, though a
better fighter than most of them. I trusted that there were laws, and
that the police takes care of people who break the law. I planned to
join the police when I grew up. I considered it my duty, both as a
member of my clan and as one of the best student ninja of my class. I
did not know that it was possible to murder the whole police and
escape, or that the Hokage and his advisors might decide that my
whole family should be killed. As a child I believed in a world
that's good and just and reliable and that does not suddenly fall
into pieces right beneath your feet. But then they all got killed,
and I was all on my own and no one cared. No one talked to me, no one
told me that the police would soon capture him and that then he would
receive his just punishment. That's what you'd tell a child, wouldn't
you?”

“Probably.
And if the murderer is out of reach because he has escaped to another
country we still do everything we can to make that country deliver
him and inform the child of our efforts.”

“You
see! In Konoha, no one thought of this. I was told to be brave, and
otherwise I was left alone in my despair. So I made up my mind to
take revenge by myself, killing the murderer. I could not do it
immediately, as I was still very young, so I focussed on my training
and did everything to become as strong as possible, but this was not
enough. Konoha did not only refuse to hunt down the murderer, they
also refused to support me in my efforts to hunt him down myself. So
this was when I left and became a rogue nin in the eyes of Konoha. I
did not care. I'd be able to defend myself if anyone attacked me. Not
being rogue nin had not protected my family from being killed, so it
didn't make a difference.”

The
head of the police listened intently.

“Here
I am protected by the law, and it makes a difference. In Konoha,
there was no law. The administration was allowed to kill my family,
as they were suspected of attempting a coup d'etat, and ANBU was
allowed to hunt me down, as I was a deserter. It was not necessary to
take a close look at what I had done, or why I had done or what my
intentions were. Here you ask questions before you decide that
someone deserves to be killed.”

“Well,
we do. Otherwise there'd be too many mistakes. Well, there still are
mistakes, but without having a close look there'd be even more.”

“As
a kid I did not care about asking questions either”, Sasuke
continued as if the man had not spoken. “No one had taught me
that this is important. I accepted that it was my right and my duty
to avenge the murder of my family and did not ask any questions about
what drove him to commit the crime. It did not come to my mind that
not one criminal, even crazy person was responsible for the murder
but that it was committed on orders of the Leaf itself. When I heard
this, all my remaining trust that the world is all in all a good
place broke down. I came to believe that any idea of justice, of
laws, of limits, is an illusion and that the world is just a place
where the strongest prevail. It was then that I agreed to deliver
Killerbee to Akatsuki. I thought it did not matter. I thought that in
a world without justice it made no difference whether I abducted a
person who had nothing to do with my family's murder. I was wrong, of
course. Even though there was no justice in Konoha it did not mean
that there was no justice in the world. Even if there was no justice
in the world it would not mean that justice does not exist. I did not
understand it when I made my deal with Akatsuki, but I understood it
when I actually saw Killerbee. I understand it even better now. But
then it was too late to cancel my agreement with Akatsuki and I had
to find a way to trick them.”

The
head of the police waited a few seconds before he answered.

“Justice”,
he said. “That's a great word. We do our best to achieve it.
But now it seems it has caught up with you.”

It
felt as if a trap had snapped. He had set up the trap himself, Sasuke
realized, with his speech and even before, when he applied for a job
at the police.

He
straightened. He would not blow up the place and run away. He would
face whatever kind of justice Music Town held in store for him.

“Yes,
justice has caught up with me”, he said. “I will welcome
her.”

It
would not be the end of the world, he thought. They had rules here,
even for someone who was charged with murder. They would not kill
him. They checked facts and found out that they could only charge him
with attempted murder, if anything, as the alleged victim was still
alive, and they would convict him only if he was not able to convince
them that he had not even intended to kill the Raikage's brother. He
braced himself.

“I
have one request”, he said. “If there could be some
arrangements that Naruto won't hear of all this. I'd rather keep it
hidden from him.”

The
head of the police was perplexed. “Why? How?” he asked.
“How should this be possible?”

Sasuke
shrugged. “Just don't tell him.”

“He
will notice when you go to prison, won't he?”

Sasuke
shrugged again. “Don't tell him where I go.”

“You
mean we just keep young and in three or five or ten years you turn up
again, without telling you where you've been.”

“Yes.”

“And
he will wait for you and welcome you back as his lover, without
asking any questions?”

Sasuke
hesitated for a few seconds. He trusted Naruto to remain his friend,
but not to remain his lover.

“Yes”,
he answered all the same.

“No”,
the head of the police answered. “It would be possible to make
arrangements if this was not an international affair with complicated
political implications, but as it is it cannot be kept secret. We'll
try to respect your privacy as much as possible as you are still
underage, but the fact that you're being put to trial can't be
hidden, as little as the outcome of the trial. We have to inform the
Raikage to satisfy him, and it can't be helped that your friend
learns about it too. You should be glad: It's far easier to keep him
as your lover if he is allowed to visit you on Sunday afternoons. It
will be difficult enough as it is.”

Sasuke
listened silently. He was not so certain.

“And
also”, the man continued, “if I may give you some advice
about love, as you're still young: if you truly love your friends,
and he loves you too, then it's better to tell him the truth.”

Sasuke
bit his lip. He'd face it, somehow. He'd even face Naruto's reaction
to the new revelations.

A/N:
My story splits off from the canon around chapter 447, that is before
chapter 455, where we learn that Sasuke actually did not know that
Killerbee had escaped.

Thanks
again for your reviews and your plusses! You can find my answers at
http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=14965
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The Blessed Realm