Beneath the Camphor Tree

by jureez

After completely failing to retrieve Sasuke for the nth time, Naruto succumbs to the Third’s death god jutsu. Sasuke appears in Konoha out of nowhere and the drama ensues.

NOTES: Hi everyone! This is a Sasuke x Naruto fic and it is my very first try in writing a Naruto fic. It won't contain any lemon in it, sowee, because I don't know if I could bear writing down the scenes. Reviews will be greatly appreciated.

I'll be writing this down in interchanging POVs.

Summary: After completely failing to retrieve Sasuke for the nth time, Naruto succumbs to the Third's death god jutsu. Sasuke appears in Konoha out of nowhere and the drama ensues.

I woke up early today at four in the morning and found myself staring like a dumbstruck cat at the wooden ceiling. It seemed to beam at me, with all its weathered charm, trying to tell that I should get up and prepare myself for the day ahead.

Before the ancient ceiling got any chance of falling down and crushing me beneath it, I got up and stretched a little, made my bed and proceeded on completing my morning rituals. I took a light bath, brushed my teeth, and put on my favorite orange jumpsuit.

I had no idea why I was in such a hurry. My feet were gladly obeying my urge to move fast forward to my destination.

After an hour, I was bursting with energy, full of enthusiasm – as always. I bade my little apartment a short goodbye, locked the door, and placed the key under the rug before it that proudly greeted any visitor of mine a pleasant "WELCOME".

I always lock my door. Crime rates in Konoha are really low but I just feel tightly secure whenever I lock doors. It has become a normal task for me to lock doors. I'll never know when a thief comes sneaking into my house and steal more of what my little monthly income has to offer. Not that I have valuables to steal though. I'm just avoiding any breach of privacy into my humble abode.

Because I woke up early, I had the pleasure of walking like an astronaut on the moon towards the Godaime's office. The old lady can wait. Missions can wait. Memories can't so they flooded my head when I passed by Ichiraku's which was still thankfully closed. Had it been open, I would be having ramen as my breakfast.

I can already see Sir Kakashi squatting inappropriately by the Hokage's office window, reading that perverted book of his, blushing profusely. The smell of Sakura's fragrant shampoo is already evident in my nostrils. I can already see her face or feel her destructive punches pulverizing my gut. Ah, the old times. And I can already see Sasuke…

Sasuke…

Sasuke…

Who the hell is Sasuke?

That dastardly coward! Now I remember who Sasuke is. He was my teammate once. But he got insecure because I made a bigger hole on the watertank during our petty squabble at the hospital rooftop with my rasengan. He ran away never to come back again. Frankly, whenever I think of him, I have a sinking feeling that I'm going to throw up anytime soon.

Yet sometimes, my own memories of him betray me.

Where could he be right now?

No matter how disgusted I am at him for siding with the freaky snake-man and his equally psychotic lackey, my concern for his current welfare would claw itself out of the deepest recesses of my head.

If I can only get to him face to face, I'd personally beat him silly for running away from his village. For running away from problems that he was supposed to solve. For running away from his team. Just for running away. But I guess that's impossible now. Intel reports on Orochimaru's possible whereabouts are becoming more and more scarce as the weeks pass.

Forget him kid.

Who the hell are you?

I'm the demon fox inside you, remember?

Ah... Hehe... I didn't notice. I thought you were my conscience.

I was going to tell you something but you insulted me.

What the hell's wrong with my statement?

Conscience?

Oh, that part. Wait, where's the insulting part in conscience?

Find out for yourself.

I won't because I have a mission to do.

Let's end this conversation kid. I'm irritated.

Yes, we better do.

Fine.

Fine!

FINE!

The sun was completely up and shining by the time I arrived at the office, spreading its healthy golden glow on every exposed surface. I motioned to let myself in without even bothering to know if the Hokage was there or simply find Shizune and ask where the old woman was. It didn't matter if they knew I was there or not.

I patted my ears twice to silence the ringing of my ears.

Damn kyubi!

I scanned the room carefully and as I expected, I found nothing attractive to my eyes, or to anyone's eyes for that matter. The room was plain as it ever was. The wallpaper with those once neat geometric patterns was dying to detach itself from the walls, the floor was unpolished with previous shoeprints made by office employees still crisp and overlapping, and to my horror, those tall columns of paper I saw being delivered many weeks ago were still standing placidly, obviously untouched, on the table.

'A few days more and those sheet will turn back to trees,' I jokingly told myself just to ward away the prospects of boredom.

They may not know it but boredom can really kill. Those fainthearted people are easy prey for boredom unless they practically learn how to humor themselves. Having thought of this, I laughed out loudly to my heart's content. People know how to humor themselves by instincts. They are just too caught up with life's speed that they actually forget how to laugh or even to smile, even inwardly.

I opened the office windows wide to let the cool morning air sweep aside my worthless reflections away. Thankfully, a soft breeze came gliding in and caressed my face. I leaned further out into the window ledge, giving me a most perfect view of everything down below.
Down below by the camphor tree, a couple of robins sang their songs to each other and fluttered away the next moment with the passing wind that tugged away a few dead leaves – and a stray brown paper bag.

The wind's whistle never came again creating a sickening band of silence that engulfed my hearing right away with a monotonous trill. The sickening silence caused a few forgotten memories to resurface. It reminded me of how silent and repetitive my life became when Sasuke left Konoha.

The thought of him leaving Konoha, leaving everyone he cared for, never crossed my mind, not even once. I always knew Sasuke as a person who took everything, even swatting a pesky fly, seriously. He rarely smiled, but when he did, I could not explain how wonderful it was to set my gaze upon a face as serene as the pristine dewdrops of spring. The gaunt face and the foreboding arctic eyes turn into a warm and tender expression that made my knees weak.

We would often squabble over little things and pass it off as a childish act to remind us that we were no longer kids. It was then that I realized that our life wasn't a fairytale with an inevitable happy ending. I did love him as a person because I cared for him as much as Sakura and Sir Kakashi did.

Everything was so right back then. We did missions together, we got wounded together, we failed and succeeded together, we ate ramen, occasionally, with him footing the bill – together, but why in the world did he leave? Why did he break the bond we had that took years of painful forging? Why?

I only had myself to blame for not being strong enough to dissuade him from pursuing his quest for power, or even cure his poisoned ideals. Someone told me before, 'Best friends are supposed to be "there" for each other; watch each other's backs,' but all my faith on the cliché has long since departed. Sasuke is a thing of the past for me now.

I waited long enough that my feet grew roots and my whole being became a gnarled, old tree. I tried hard enough to win him back that I gambled everything I have. I bled and cried a billion times until I realized that nothing good was happening at all. I had to let go of what little emotion or affection I had for him that haunted me day and night. It was like having a thirst that cannot be quenched.

'You're no Naruto at all to me… Let go please, you're just hurting yourself,' Sakura, perhaps concerned, told me one day when she came to my house for a visit. I followed her advice and now, I feel very much better.

Everyone has been very supportive to me in the past years. They treat me with much care and respect that I never experienced in my life before. I felt like I was actually a part of a family, accepted for who I am with no traces of guilt or scorn towards me. Yes, belongingness is in my hands and perhaps I earned it and it's all mine to keep.

Sakura has improved a great deal in her medical jutsus and her physical strength has grown to destructive proportions making me doubly cautious before I pull one of my pranks on her. I think Sasuke's a thing of the past for her too, because now; she has her eyes only for one person and that person alone.

'Are you sure with your decision Sakura?' I asked, trying to find a morsel of remorse in her when she confided her choice to me. Everyone knows that her heart belongs to Sasuke since … forever.

'Of course Naruto!' she exclaimed with twinkling eyes, it confirmed that she was indeed serious with her decision, 'I think this is it Naruto. I'm so excited you know. It's not everyday that you find your perfect man…'

'But… But… What about…' I stuttered due to the explicit subject of my statement but I could not go on any further. I raised an eyebrow to let her know my point.

'Sasuke?' she said with no care evident on her face, and she looked at me straight into my soul, 'Naruto… There are things that are meant for us and Sasuke falls to under the "not meant for me" category. I'm so over him. What else should I do to find happiness? Mourn for my loss because he ran away? Oh gosh, I'm so not doing that. He's not meant for me and I'm very happy with that. Besides, I know that he's meant for SOMEONE else just in case if HE comes back AND ,'

Sakura stressed the "and" with an overly serious expression that terrified me completely, 'I will be the happiest woman in the world if they end up together.'

Her conviction on the subject of finding real happiness sure was convincing to me but her last words left my jaw hanging open for a very long time after she left. I thought about her words over and over again trying to figure out what she meant with "meant for someone else".

Sir Kakashi has been having his hands filled with chalk dust, blazing complaints and complements from parents since occupying a vacant post of a teaching partner at the academy with Sir Iruka.

He firmly believes that kids are the fertile earth on which the great tree of Konoha stands upon and draws half of its irrefutable strength. One can see the burning determination to teach in his single visible gray eye while he was explaining his reasons for transferring in front of the Godaime and his colleagues. Everyone sure made a laughing stock out of him afterwards, although his plans pushed through.

A week of practice teaching followed and a smiling Sir Iruka came to me. He was all too happy to report his students', their students', he proudly corrected, big leaps in behavior, academics, and unsurprisingly, basic shinobi skills. It seemed to me that my beloved father figure was leaning some of his confidence on his newest co-teacher.

Ever since Sir Kakashi taught at the academy, he has developed this jolly attitude towards his fellow human beings and to his surroundings, drastically changing his image in a matter of weeks. He looks even more youthful and glowing and his social skills have developed considerably.

Change truly is a force of nature, even Sir Iruka succumbed to its effects. He's all of a sudden this genial person who never fails to give a smile to everyone he meets, and miracles of miracles, he has refrained from raising his voice on his students. I can't believe what change has brought into our lives, but I'm still thankful for it.

About three days ago, while I was walking in the office to report my successful mission in the Cloud Country to the Hokage, I came across a small huddle in the office talking about Sir Iruka and Sir Kakashi. For all I know, it's bad to make gossip material out of other people's lives, especially when it comes to private matters, so what they were talking about greatly irritated me. Only my strong will prevented me from throwing kunais at them.

I prepared to leave them with their "chitchat" thinking that it was only oral and it won't hurt my teachers' reputation when I heard someone from the huddle say, "Something is going on between them and I'm a hundred percent sure with that." The words had enough venom to paralyze me but I willed myself to listen carefully to what was being said. Then the person continued, "I heard from the jounins that they are exclusively dating…"

My guts churned violently, my blood boiled, I lost control. It felt like the fox was taking control over my body again. I was trembling with unexpressed rage. Then I disappeared with a loud pop from where I stood and appeared again with a softer explosion of smoke in Sir Kakashi's apartment's front door. I invited myself in since the door was hanging open and there to my horror was Sir Iruka and Sir Kakashi… making out.

"WAAAAHHHHH!" I screamed with all the air stored inside my lungs, then my knees became weak, I felt dizzy and before I knew it, I passed out.

The next moment, I found myself lying on a sofa with a couple of smiling faces, my teachers who were making out, directly above mine. I clumsily tried to sit up and summon all my courage back to yell at them but all I received was a sharp knock on my forehead by Sir Kakashi.

"How much did you see?" Sir Kakashi asked me casually while he and Sir Iruka helped me sit up. They didn't seem bothered at all with my intrusion.

"I saw enough… I guess…" I answered nervously. I could almost feel my forehead sweat by the gallons due to the fear that they were planning to do something nasty on me. Their smiles were kind of perfunctory, in a way. Sir Kakashi rarely smiled. If he smiles he looks silly just like Sir Iruka. Say… They both look silly when they smile, maybe they really are compatible.

"Umm… Naruto, we were actually planning to tell you about our…" It was Sir Iruka's turn to say something but he had trouble getting the right word to complete his statement.

TBC