Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment. ...Enjoy!
Prologue: Roads Untraveled
When the rasengan was thrusted towards Momoshiki in that spirit world, the fleeting wonder of what Naruto, his father, had been through in his life to attain such power entered into Boruto's mind before he rammed the immense energy at their assailant.
He didn't realize that Naruto's very essence of who he was could be attributed to the man who sat beside him post battle, both exhausted.
And that was a fact that was very, very important. Even so, Sasuke himself may not have realized what he was saying when he told Boruto that the important fact to focus on was how Naruto became who he was as opposed to who he was currently. Naruto became someone because of Sasuke. Sasuke became someone because of Naruto. Like yin and yang, opposing forces, yet together in harmony. And apart... disastrous.
Boruto made his way to his father and 'uncle', proud of himself and ready to gloat, but he stopped himself when he landed before them and witnessed something rare and odd. His father was grinning widely at Sasuke and the Uchiha patriarch was smiling back at him fondly, as if sharing some sort of secret, internal information that only they understood and they looked happy and fulfilled. Something in Boruto's heart clenched at the sight and he blinked his wide eyes at Naruto. For the life of him, he couldn't remember the last time that he saw his father look that... content. The adolescent's eyes flickered to his sensei, and 'uncle', and found him in a serene sort of glow in their private moment. Unaware to Boruto, it was magnitudes different from where Sasuke's past self had been, but even in his own small conception of who Sasuke was, he could tell it didn't match his no-nonsense demeanor as per regular.
"Naruto, Sasuke," Gaara jumped over and lifted them with the help of his sand, something both men politely thanked him for, and the Kazekage smiled at them respectfully, "Let's go home," and Sasuke agreed lightly and created their portal.
When the group got back it was the regular mess of doting and prodding, making sure that everyone was in one piece, and the boys were taken to the hospital. This time, Boruto paid a little more attention to his surroundings as Hinata struggled along behind him with his little sister and Sarada pestered him for information about what happened. His eyes and ears, however, were focused on Sakura and their fathers.
"Gods, you guys, I swear you will be the death of each other, all the situations you get into," Sakura was complaining while Naruto had his arm wrapped over Sasuke's shoulders and they hobbled along beside their old teammate. It was a picture that had been painted a number of times, but this was yet again something that Boruto was unaware of, "I can tell you went all out, and last time you used your powers like this... well," she looked pointedly at Naruto and Sasuke's arms, or lack-there-of in her husband's case, and Sasuke grimaced while Naruto sighed.
"Well, at least our opponent was mutual this time," Naruto reasoned and Sasuke scoffed as they finally made it to the hospital doors. Sarada must've caught on and stopped asking questions to listen because she was silent beside him.
"Moron, it was mutual last time," the Uchiha said and Naruto squeaked beside him in a childlike manor that Boruto wasn't sure he'd ever heard uttered from his father's lips and his brows rose considerably on his forehead while Sarada quirked a curious one. It's not that she wasn't intrigued, too. She still knew next to nothing about her dad.
"Well you don't have to put it like that," Naruto whined as they traipsed through the hallway, "Even if it was mutually each other," he pouted in his whisper and Sasuke must've smirked because Naruto jut his lip further. Boruto contained his reaction to the information but he felt Sarada's presence stiffen beside him. It wasn't everyday that you found out your Lord Hokage ripped your father's arm off. Sakura had walked off by the time that Naruto had spoken, readying beds, so she didn't have a chance to do damage control, but Boruto heard his mother's intake of breath and cast a wary glance up. The look in her eye told him that she wouldn't do anything, though, and he wondered why. She looked like she felt like it wouldn't matter if she tried, and his brows furrowed as he switched his gaze back to the two, slightly off-center men, realizing that they might be in a world of their own, "Wasn't it you who made the jibe about Momoshiki being the return of ghosts past?" and Sasuke chuckled quietly, making Sarada just about stop walking as she saw her father's head turn to the man next to him and smile openly at him.
"Yeah," Naruto turned and beamed affectionately, either unaware or uncaring of the prying eyes, as Sasuke spoke, but definitely unaware of Sasuke's rising hand until his fingers latched onto his ear and yanked at it and he winced, "I guess I did."
"Boys!" Sakura called and herded them over to the cots, making them lay down and checking them individually. Hinata sat in a chair by Naruto with Himawari next to her, and Sarada tentatively went up to Sasuke, who laid on his cot with his eyes closed, seeming to meditate. Boruto stood back and watched the scene before him, Sakura twisting back and forth between the men with a green glow in her palms. This one day reminded him that his father had a life before being Hokage, and there were years of moments that led up to that fateful position. And there was so much he didn't know. Boruto's eyes scanned from his mother's worried face as she grabbed at Naruto's hand and he smiled reassuringly at her, albeit losing the light his eyes had only moments ago, and then to Sakura who dutifully tended to them, careful in ways like she had dealt with their injuries personally many times, then to Sasuke who lay still on his bed with a blank look, nothing like the energy before, while Sarada sat back and surveyed the scene before her for herself. Their eyes met and they acknowledged their mutual claim to their uninformed, choppy knowledge of their father's pasts, but something else passed between them, and it was the awareness that their fathers seemed far happier in each others presence than anyone else's. Boruto snapped his eyes to his father. He really, really wanted to know what happened to Naruto.
"Sakuraa~a" Naruto complained as his pink haired friend doted over his injuries for the nth time, "I have work I need to do - Konoha is a mess!" he managed to push himself off the bed despite her weighted hand.
The rest of their family members had gone home for the night, and it left Sakura, Sasuke and a snoozing Hinata in the desolate hospital room. Sakura sighed, knowing Naruto's stubborn nature knew no bounds, and waved her hand in the air defeatedly.
"Yeah, yeah, oka-"
"I have more to tell him," Sasuke cut in, making Sakura's head swivel with a sharp twist and she looked at him mutely, "about while I was gone. Things for the Hokage to know," he clarified blankly and she sighed. No family bonding tonight, then... She smiled a small, sad pull of her lips that didn't quite reach her eyes at him and nodded.
"You boys, always so reckless..." she muttered, and then wandered over to check on Hinata's sleeping form to allow them space to leave. Naruto was the first to hop off his bed, experimentally stretching his hand and cracking his neck, and then Sasuke swung his legs over the side of his own in a smooth movement. With a discrete nod towards each other, they decided they had enough energy and hopped out the window, though not until after Naruto instructed Sakura to take care of Hinata. They glided across Konoha fluidly, reaching the Hokage tower in an amicable silence and propelling themselves in through the window. Naruto surveyed the piles of scattered paper in his office, likely having fallen in the chaos, in the dim light that only the moon provided through the windows behind him and sighed. Sasuke quietly walked to the middle of the room and stood with his back to his friend, looking at the jumbled mess.
"You know, Sasuke, I really hate hospitals," Naruto commented and he heard Sasuke snort lightly, back still turned.
"Not as much as I do," Sasuke's smooth baritone sounded and Naruto regarded the heavy cloak that rested on the man's shoulders with a curious expression, lips pursing a bit before they broke into a small smirk.
"There is no 'business', is there?" Naruto asked suspiciously and folded his arms, leaning back against the desk and watching as his companion slowly turned his face towards him over his shoulder, obviously trying to smother a smile. Sasuke just scoffed and then fully turned, placing his own hand on his hip in leu of folding his arms because... well... "You know," Naruto started again with a weary scan of the room and a sighed, "there is work to do..." he sunk down and slid his heels on the floor until his rump plunked on it while his head rested on the wooden back of his desk, "but there's always work to do," Sasuke regarded the blonde with a subdued amusement, "and I just... I just," Naruto looked up at Sasuke abruptly and raised a finger resolutely, "At times like this, bastard, times like this - they need something!" the Hokage wiggled his finger in the air and Sasuke quirked his brow before Naruto proceeded to, literally, crawl around his desk and produce a few muted bangs before making a noise of victory. For all this activity, Sasuke still stood unmoving in the middle of the room, though his head may have been slightly more tilted to the left now. Hands were thrusted up from behind the desk and they held a bottle of sake like it were a holy object, the street lamps below creating a glowing sheen around it. It was then that Sasuke couldn't help a very small, very short laugh bubble from his throat, pressing his lips together to keep some integrity. Naruto's chin popped above the desk's surface as he separated his hands, one dragging the bottle off to the side, and he looked just entirely worn out, "Sasuke, after a day like today, I need a fucking drink," he stated gloomily, and slightly dramatically, and then got himself up off the floor and produced two glasses from a drawer, "Let's get drunk, bastard," Naruto grinned brightly and Sasuke stared at him blankly, "What!?"
"You're such a loser, Naruto," the raven chided, but strode to the desk anyhow and yanked the bottle from Naruto's loose grip, pouring himself a heavy glass.
"Tch," Naruto rolled his eyes and poured his own when Sasuke had put the bottle down. They cheered their glasses together quietly before downing the glass and pouring a second, as opposed to the proper conduct of sipping. Naruto's blue eyes met Sasuke's own onyx one from above the edge of his cup, and they looked at each other from the opposite sides of the desk for a long moment, "I'm glad you're here, Sasuke."
"I know," he spoke softly and gulped down some sake before looking past Naruto, out the window, "why do you have this, anyway?" he nodded towards the bottle and Naruto grinned sheepishly, a warm glow beginning to invade his cheeks.
"Ah, the old lady was full of tricks, and I learned a few, I guess," Naruto laughed and patted the underbelly of the desk, "she had a great hiding spot right here, didn't tell a soul and it's been a Hokage's stashing place ever since!"
"Well, now I know, idiot," Sasuke admonished, taking another lavish gulp then pulling the cup away to stare at the empty insides.
"Psh, like you'd tell anyone," Naruto sounded confident, "and anyway, I need a drink every once in a while. I have kids that are a freaking hand full, a wife who... well just needs me... a country that relies on me, paperwork that never ends, technology that keeps advancing, traditions to keep strong, and you're never here-" his reasoning became spewed faster and faster until he reached the last tidbit and then he cursed under her breath and chugged down his sake, averting his gaze. Sasuke eyed him carefully, already feeling a little hazy, yet the feeling was oddly comfortable.
"I'm sorry... about that," Sasuke told him, reaching for the bottle again but Naruto had beat him to it to refill his own glass.
"No, no, just don't Sasuke," Naruto topped it off and fumbled putting the bottle down, but Sasuke caught the neck and brought it to his cup, "You're doing what you need to do..."
"Isn't this everything you wanted?" Sasuke asked, not unkindly, and moved the cup to his lips. Naruto tracked the movement with his eyes and frowned.
"Yes," he answered when he realized he waited a moment too long, "this is... everything I've worked towards..."
"Hmn," was all Sasuke said as he finally resorted to just sipping on his cup, and Naruto mirrored the movement with his own. A comfortable quiet fell upon them and Naruto decided to sit on his desk, staring out at Konoha with Sasuke standing behind him, his hand braced on the edge of the wood before he picked up his cup. They had reached the end of their third glass and Naruto let his head fall back onto Sasuke's chest, looking up at him with gleaming blue eyes.
"I wouldn't have imagined that this would be us now, ya know?" he spoke, his words slurred a bit. Sasuke put his cup aside on the wood and looked down at the blonde.
"And what did you imagine?" Sasuke asked sincerely, more rigid tone begotten in the drunken calm he felt. Naruto blinked up at him and suddenly threw his hands back, grasping onto Sasuke's one arm and his torso on the other side.
"I didn't think we'd have blown each other's arms off when I met you," Naruto almost giggled and Sasuke was still caught in the shock of the quick movement and the tight hold while Naruto stared up at him, but suddenly the blonde looked more somber and frowned, "I thought I'd be happier..."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke found himself asking, berating his drunken self, and Naruto's eyes bore into him from below.
"I'm really just... not that happy without you around... it hurts, a bit," he admit and then closed his eyes and sighed, a frown etched deeply on his features. Sasuke leaned down and pressed his lips to the other's forehead lightly before pulling away and sitting on the other side of the desk, himself, halfway turned.
"I know," he admitted and Naruto smiled gently at him, sadly, before they both stared out the window again. That was something. Truly. And it was something completely unique to them, as were many other things, but Naruto noticed. Naruto was the only one whom Sasuke kissed on the forehead, as opposed to poking. It was always in private. But there was something that Naruto could claim was more intimate about it. Although intimacy was always a large question above their heads; where to draw the line. They tended to operate in the gray, and always had. Naruto felt the alcohol in his blood and maybe that was why he acted on his impulses as he wanted, because Sasuke was there, and who knew for how long. He missed his partner. Sasuke always was the missing piece, and he liked the feeling of completeness.
"Sasuke?" he said tentatively, not liking how tired and defeated he sounded, like the years had raged at him, and all he wanted now was to be with his best friend. Sasuke turned and smiled at him, and Naruto smiled back, then the raven leaned in and they placed placed their foreheads against the other's in a tender motion, eyes closing. They should have felt odd that they were more emotionally intimate with each other than their partners. But they didn't. It just felt natural.
They leaned apart and felt dizzy, so decidedly moved to the floor, both on the same side of the desk this time, and gazed at the twinkling street lamps below them, shoulders pressed up against the other's and heads inclined. It didn't take long for exhaustion to catch up and sleep to start invading their weary minds.
Author's Note: Alright... So, I saw Boruto a bit ago and this has been brewing in my mind since. My internal inspiration was something along the lines of the thought 'he pokes your forehead... but he kisses mine...' kinda thing. I also have about, what, over a decade of a blank period to play with (goodness gracious...)? That's a lot of time for Sasuke and Naruto to come to certain terms. Anyway, I mentioned in the description that this will be a canon-fix(kinda?)/time-travel and entirely epilogue compliant story. I'll try, honestly. PS: check out my AU S-duality - if you're into AU's. D2D requires more... data checking and research, so it might lag a bit behind S-duality, but hopefully progression will be solid. Side note: story title inspired by Dust To Dust by The Civil Wars and the prologue title was inspired by Roads Untraveled by Linkin Park. Forewarning; I have a very eclectic taste in music... R&R!