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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 Ninety-Three: Moving Out
It turned out that being an officially recognized refugee and aspiring citizen of Music Town was not pure bliss: The patroness of the restaurant had never paid taxes for Sasuke and Naruto, and she had not paid them the legal minimum wages. Now she was required to pay the difference in one go, along with taxes and a fine. It was not easy for her, as her calculations had been based on employing the boys without taxes and paying them wages far below what was considered appropriate in Music Town. She felt hurt, and for about a quarter of an hour she shouted at Sasuke and Naruto (mostly at Sasuke) and accused them of being stupid and ungrateful. Sasuke should have made up some story about money he had inherited and brought to Music Town instead of reporting her to the authorities and betraying her for all she had done both for him and Naruto, giving them jobs when they needed money and a place to stay at
Sasuke listened. He felt confused, and hurt too. He had thought that he was doing the right thing when he told the truth to the woman who had filled out his application for refugee status and citizenship, and now he was told that it had been all wrong. Naruto felt hurt too – he was particularly hurt by the woman's accusations of betrayal, even though they were directed at Sasuke, not at him. The patroness had really been friendly and helpful, and they had got her into trouble.
The guy from Earth Country finally cut off the woman's rant: “They didn't betray you – you betrayed them.”
(He had accompanied his partner who had been needed when a man from the administration had come to the restaurant to investigate Sasuke's financial situation.)
“You exploited their situation of helplessness and ignorance. You made a huge profit on them. They didn't know our laws, but you should have known them. You might have got them into serious trouble too, if they weren't minors. Now they know about the law, and they have decided to abide by the law. You should do the same.”
Sasuke felt a bit comforted. He wanted to abide to the law, even though the law of Music Town seemed to be a pretty complicated affair, much more complicated than just “don't murder”. They took it for granted that people were not allowed to murder, so they had time to make up more complicated laws, he thought.
Naruto felt differently. “These are your laws”, he said. “But we are ninja. We are loyal to those who employ us.”
He had managed to silence everyone for a few seconds. “I've heard that ninja insist on adequate payment”, the guy from Earth Country finally said, making both Sasuke and Naruto think about their situation. They had never given much thought to money: as children they had accepted what they had been given by the authorities of Konoha, as genin and now in Music town they had accepted what they had been given as wages without caring whether these wages were adequate or not. People here were really different, they realized.
“Real loyalty goes both ways”, the man continued. “Adequate work for adequate payment.”
Sasuke thought about Itachi. For him, loyalty had not gone two ways. He had been required to sacrifice himself, and he hadn't got anything in return.
The consequence of the whole affair was that both Sasuke and Naruto lost their jobs. The guy from Earth Country tried to convince the patroness that it was in her own interest to keep them as they were both experienced waiters by now, and also because the administration had now an eye on her so that she could not employ any fugitives for less than minimum wages in the near future.
She did not listen: She was too much hurt to act rationally. She also told the boys to find a new place, and it took the guy from Earth Country quite some effort to persuade her to let the boys stay for a few weeks to give them time to find something else.
Naruto was crazy: not at the patroness, but at Sasuke, but he tried not to show it. He had been happy with his situation. He had enjoyed working as a waiter, talking to the guests, recommending food to them and occasionally making fun of them, even finding some friends among them, though not very close ones. He had not minded the lack of money as he did not need much, and also, being the heir of Icha-Icha, he was a rich man who needed a job just to keep him from getting bored. He resented leaving the small apartment he had inhabited with Sasuke for several months now, the apartment that had always made him think of Jiraiya. He was crazy because again Sasuke's actions had consequences that concerned him, Naruto, too.
Another consequence was that he, Naruto, had to apply for acceptance as a refugee too. It simply could not be avoided – too many officials in Music Town knew now about his existence. Luckily he had brought some valid papers from Konoha, so it was easier for him than for Sasuke, and no one had to check back at the embassy of Fire Country to confirm his identity. Still he would have preferred to remain hidden, waiting for the right moment to return to Konoha. Applying for official documents made his stay permanent.
He tried not to show his annoyance. He sensed that Sasuke was overchallenged with the sudden changes in their life, too: Suddenly being without job, without money and soon without a place to stay at. Contrary to Naruto the loss of his job hurt him financially: the money he had been given as a compensation for not receiving wages below the minimum level would last for some weeks, not more, and moving to another place was expensive too.
He asked his grown-up friends to help him looking for a new job, but they told him to focus on the entrance test for the police. “That's your future”, they said.
They made arrangements for him, negotiating a deal with the training center and with local authorities with the result that provided he was accepted by the training center he would be granted a monthly allowance of money he could live on – more than the wage of a regular trainee who still lived with his parents, but less than he had earned as a waiter (or barista, as he had preferred to call his job.)
Naruto watched these negotiations, and he saw that they all went over Sasuke's head and that he really needed his guardians, not only for signing forms but also for negotiating all these complicated arrangements. He felt that Sasuke was not happy with his situation: he had always insisted on his independence and on being responsible for himself and his decisions. It was his own fault of course. He had applied for citizenship, and for this he was required to name a pair of guardians.
Naruto tried to discuss this with Sasuke when they lay in bed: “How can you put up with all these people who take decisions on your behalf?”
“They mean well”, Sasuke replied. “They do their best to ensure that I don't get lost between the rules of Music Town.”
“Kakashi meant well too. But you would not have listened to him.”
“These people accept my aims. They try to help me achieve them. Kakashi did not accept my aim of avenging my clan. He pretended to help me, but in reality he didn't.”
“He did not accept it because he meant well, too. He wanted you happy and alive.”
“That's not enough.”
“Our friends here would also forbid you to set out from Music Town and go to Konoha to take revenge against Danzou.”
Sasuke considered it. “No, probably they wouldn't. We'll have to wait until we are eighteen. It's not much more than a year.”
He snuggled against Naruto and rested his head on Naruto's chest. “People here truly care”, he said. “They don't try to use me, and they are honest and don't betray me.”
Naruto caressed his hair and his shoulders. Sasuke had changed, he thought: he accepted people's love and he no longer lived only in the past – he sought a future for himself, a future that included Naruto but not necessarily Konoha. He kissed Sasuke's neck: he enjoyed feeling protective of Sasuke.
He protected him in another way, too: he took charge of looking for a new place, as Sasuke was busy studying for his exam. He was now the first to have a look into the newspapers in the morning, and he decided where they should go and have a look at the place. Again, their grown-up friends decided to come too, and they looked at details Sasuke and Naruto had no idea about, as the quality of the heating system or the windows.
“We can manage ourselves”. Naruto said. “We are almost grown-up, not six or seven. And actually we have managed to live on our own since we were seven.”
“This just means that you've never had anyone to teach how to do this probably. And you are not sufficiently grown-up to live on your own: Our own young people, when they are at your age, still live with their parents, and when they move out at the age of twenty or twenty-one they accept their parents' help and advice. So you accept our help and advice, too.”
The boys were silenced. Actually they learnt a lot from their friends, and a lot of their advice made sense, they just resented that they were not allowed to decide for themselves. Luckily, however, the grown-up people disagreed quite often, meaning that in the end the boys could choose for themselves.
With the help of their friends they moved their possessions. They didn't own much, and most of all they didn't own any furniture except Sasuke's shrine, and the cardboard boxes they had been able to fill were fewer in number than the people who had come to help. It was lucky because Suigetsu was still not able to carry anything heavy but had just come to eat the sandwiches Naruto had prepared, and Killerbee, who had come with Suigetsu, found Sasuke's katana on the cupboard and decided that this was what he would carry. His girl-friend, on the other hand, carried Sasuke's shrine with one of the young women from the riverside.
Sasuke and Naruto were not allowed to carry anything either - “you organize us and tell us where to put the boxes” the guy from Earth Country said, but when they arrived at their new place other people took charge again. Most of all the women (Killerbee's girl-friend, two women from the riverside, and Karin) soon got into a discussion about how to decorate the room and where to put the various items of furniture Sasuke and Naruto still had to buy. Both boys confined themselves to listening: Sasuke with interest, Naruto with horror. The idea of buying furniture reminded him that people took it for granted that he was here to stay.
Soon his guests' chatter turned into some background noise and he had time to think about the changes in his own life. Less than half a year ago he had still been a ninja in Konoha, and now he was making huge progress on his way to becoming an ordinary citizen of Music Town, living in an ordinary flat in an ordinary partnership, looking for an ordinary job. He was not happy about these changes.
But also, a few months ago, his heart had craved for Sasuke, who had become a faint memory, not much more than a dream and a vague feeling that his life was incomplete. Now Sasuke was sitting with him in their new flat, explaining to the husband of the guy from Earth Country and some people from the riverside that he planned to buy traditional furniture as he wanted the flat to look like the house of his parents in Konoha. Their eyes met, and Naruto changed places and sat down next to Sasuke, leaning against him. Again the conversation turned into some background nose, while he, Naruto, followed his own trail of thoughts: Maybe he, Naruto, should choose a career himself, and consign himself to life in Music Town, a life with Sasuke whom he loved.
It was only when the guy from Earth Country asked Juugo about his age that Naruto returned to the present:
“I don't know”, he heard Juugo's answer. “I was turned away by my people when I was very little, and then I was taken prisoner by Orochimaru. I don't know anything about my life before that, or about my original identity, except my name.”
“I ask because when I was a child myself there was a story in the newspaper about a boy who had vanished from the Hidden Village of Rock. It was never clear whether he had been abducted or turned out of the village. He was called Juugo, too. But he must be a few years older than you're now.”

A/N: Thanks again for your reviews and your plusses! You can find my answers at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14965-blessed-realm/ .It is now possible to access the thread without registration at the forums.
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The Blessed Realm