The Kiss

This is REALLY fluffy, really dumb SasuNaru. I'm still a little ashamed of it, but, I wanted to write grown-up SN that is comedic rather than TRAGIC (as my other muses so often are) and this is what resulted. I hope you can stand it.

The purpose of life: to find a loving partner, then have kids. That's the way it's been done for thousands of years, and it's seemed to work. And now that Sasuke had done one without the other, he was beginning to understand why you did it in that order.

He'd chosen to have a child at a very young age by way of a surrogate mother – the woman was willing to lend her body to help the Uchiha line, and, well, a chance to run your hands all over Sasuke Uchiha's pristine body wasn't exactly a common prospect, as the young man kept mostly to himself and spent most nights alone.

He'd decided to have the child alone, and now his relationship with his son was like that of a peer rather than a beloved offspring. He'd begun to have regrets near the eighth month of the pregnancy – his mouth went dry and his stomach turned when he thought about raising a baby alone in the empty Uchiha compound. Memories of wide-open childish smiles and wide-open empty streets painted with blood filled his head at the mere thought of his childhood. But it was too late, and if anything else Sasuke was too proud to admit his mistake, so he didn't dare back down from the quest he'd undertaken.

-And, he was a compassionate (enough) adult not to abandon a child and his mother, etc. Actually, it rather disturbed him how easily the notion to abandon a child came to his mind. After all, he'd survived without parents, and so had Naruto . . . but it was a fate he would wish on no one (most of the time). So he gathered his pride and took the child into his sole care, and deigned to raise the boy on Uchiha soil in Konoha, which, with all due respect to his certain disgruntled ancestors, was their home, whether they liked it or not.

What was worse was he found out too late that this blood had yet another tragic curse. And as he was in the habit of pitying himself as it was, Sasuke lamented his son's fate in this village. For it was that every Uchiha male had a disturbing weakness to Konoha's transplanted Uzumaki line.

Indeed he's seen his father under its spell: Uchiha Fugaku, who NEVER let ANYONE outside of the family hold his children, couldn't help but let an excited, glowing Kushina hold his youngest son. She bounced eagerly up at him, and the frustration he felt was audible as he shakily, and as if it was out of his control, handed Sasuke over. Kushina squeaked out how adorable the youngest Uchiha was, and though rather caught off guard by his father's sudden change of heart, Baby Sasuke was enticed by the feel of her pregnancy-swollen breasts, which he leaned into and easily went to sleep.

Adult Sasuke of course didn't remember this particular occasion, it having happened when he was no more than two months old, but he did recall later instances when his brother and father sent each other knowing glances when Sasuke brought up the issue of the fallen Fourth Hokage and his partner. In fact, there were times when Sasuke imagined what truly lead his brother to side with Konoha wasn't a love of peace and a desire for change, but the curse that made him immediately ally with whichever side had an Uzumaki or two on it. He even thought he saw his mother's eyes rather glaze dreamily over on occasion of the mention of her friend Kushina's memory.

As for Sasuke himself, well . . . He was unreachable as a child, and unstoppable as a teen, and there was one person who reached and stopped him, and lo it was an Uzumaki. He was lucky enough to have an Uzumaki on his side, one who loved him with the purest, richest, sweetest part of his heart – all of it – and reached out to him despite what anyone would've had him do.

Not to mention, this was a pretty irresistible Uzumaki. He had the unique smile and bright eyes that came from his mother's side, mixed with the handsome, charming good looks of his hero father, resulting in a stunning blend of spectacular uniqueness and good old-fashioned boyishness that caught the eyes of many a weak-hearted passerby. Sasuke followed the gazes of onlookers with a slight anxiety, and a tiny bit of jealousy which he denied in the fullest.

Naruto was attractive, after all. Shimmering pink cheeks framed a wide, perfect smile, warm blue eyes melted into pools in the sunlight, his blond hair brushed against the crowns of his delicate, bite-able ears, and the slim whisker marks on either side of his face stretched when he grinned, openly, hiding nothing, at the slightest affection.

And that was just the outside. On the inside was a radiant warmth like an ancient artifact which glowed with a magical power incomprehensible to those who felt it. His heart's gaze was the purest, clearest essence, and when it turned on you, you eventually couldn't deny it, no matter how hard you tried.

Okay, maybe Sasuke's imagination exaggerated a bit; it was known to happen. But the fact was, he was unreachable and unstoppable, so how could he have possibly been persuaded to return to the town of his birth without some irresistible magic being used on him? It was a curse, and that was that.

But Sasuke had denied it. He'd done terrible things to deny Naruto, until things finally caught up with him, and brought him back to Naruto's side. At least, figuratively. They hadn't stood shoulder to shoulder in what seemed like years . . . Full of pride even now, Sasuke found it difficult to face the one to whom he owed his life, so he avoided Naruto as of late, passing him occasionally in the tower, ducking behind doorways when he spotted the golden head of hair.

Sasuke gave a sigh as another day drew to a close. His life had become one mission after the next, mostly escorts and low-level infiltrations – despite the good word Naruto tried to put in for him, the reigning Fifth Hokage still didn't trust him with high-level missions. So he trudged back home in the evenings, bored, tired, and unaccompanied.

The sunset seemed like the longest on record, dragging on for his entire walk home into the Uchiha compound at the same height and colour, casting a smooth yellow-orange over the scenery. Long shadows stretched across the street near his home, which he entered un-emphatically, checked that his boy was in, and walked in to the kitchen.

The unenthusiastically went through the motions, greeting with an "I'm home" and a "welcome home", then both settled at the kitchen table. Sasuke reached into the rice cooker, brought out two lukewarm portions, then leaned into the fridge for leftovers. He found some marinated cabbage and tossed it in the microwave for a moment or two, and put the half-hearted meal on the table.

Sasuke dove in without so much as a nod to his son, who was staring unenthusiastically at his food as he ate the rice and sparred the cabbage. Unlike his father, who had considered it his right, nay his duty to refuse certain foods, making him a child with a great many dislikes, and a difficult child to feed, the Uchiha son was not picky, but rather without appetite tonight. His father shot him a glance, saw a frustrated look on his smooth young face, and couldn't help but worry.

"How was your day?" Sasuke asked, picking up a bite of cabbage.

"It was okay," his son, Arashi, replied with a sigh.

"Oh? What did you do?" Sasuke asked.

"Trained with Naruto-sensei," Arashi answered.

Sasuke nodded. Genius as he was, his already-brooding son graduated from the academy 2 years early at age 9, and was put on a team with a Haruno called Mami and a Hyuuga named Hikaru, under the teaching of none other than Uzumaki Naruto. He was impressed to hear the news when his boy excitedly broke it to him, proud enough that he had graduated early, a feat he himself hadn't even managed, and as for having Naruto as his teacher-it was a great advantage. For his son's training, that it. Naruto had a limitless potential to bring out the best in everyone he met, and Sasuke was assured he would be a great sensei.

"And what did you do with you team?" Sasuke asked, watching his boy chew his rice without urgency.

"Not much. We sparred, chased a pig, went into the forest, then I kissed Naruto-sensei," Arashi explained plainly.

Sasuke continued nodding. Yep, it was the same as he remembered his early team training. Going on meaningless but somehow extremely high-energy missions, sparring amongst the kunai-bitten bark of tall trees, learning to prioritize the group over the individual, and of course kissing Naru-OHMYGOD, WAIT, WHAT?

"Wait, WHAT?" Sasuke spat, nearly spraying cabbage over the tabletop. He stared wide-eyed at his precocious boy, in shock, for the first time since he uttered his first word, which turned out to be a rather bad insult.

"And then, Mami made fun of me and said I'd never get him, just like my arrogant father, and Hikaru was mad at me and said I'd disrupted training-I think Hikaru hates me, anyway-"

"Waitwaitwait," Sasuke stumbled, dropping his chopsticks emphatically on the table and waving his hands, "go back."

"Mami was making fun of me?" Arashi replied in earnest, his long black bangs falling over one eye.

"Nonono, before that," Sasuke tried again, desperately hoping he'd misheard.

"I kissed Naruto-sensei?"

"That!" Sasuke yelled, pointing noisily. "Why did you do that?"

"I dunno," Arashi replied sheepishly, looking down at a space on the floor of the kitchen.

Sasuke was at a loss. This was it. It was happening. His son had the curse. He was alarmingly certain, but he had to make sure. "Where?"

"On the lips," Arashi replied.

Sasuke couldn't help but flush like he hadn't since he was 9 years old. "I meant where? Outside?"

"In the forest, after training," the dark-haired boy replied.

Thank god, it wasn't in plain sight. He could already see the negative reputation his barely reforming clan would gain. 'Twisted father and son duo molest at will, regardless of sex or age.' He shook the idea out of his head. "What did he-what did Naruto do?" Sasuke asked, his voice considerably calmer than his mind.

"I dunno, he looked kind of annoyed, even though he was smiling," Arashi said, this time looking suddenly up at his father, bright black eyes reflecting his father's silver-onyx lenses. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

Sasuke was taken aback. What a strong opponent. You would think he were made of equal parts to Sasuke himself.

"A kiss is what you do with someone you love, right? That's what Mami said. And so I must love him, because I kissed him!" the boy continued, effectively.

Sasuke looked confused. "You mean you must've kissed him because you love him . . ." This was it, for certain now. The curse manifest in four stages: first with an inexplicable, almost gravitational movement towards the Uzumaki vessel, then an inability to coherently express yourself to him/her, followed by a desperate, angry lashing-out and attempt to deny it, then finally a complete loyalty and/or surrender to him/her. He shook his head in sorrow.

What to do? He just kept shaking his head. What to do. Avoid this until it came back to bite him in a parent-teacher meeting, or confront it head on, damning the consequences of going out in public to talk to the victim of his son's misconduct? The fact was, there were already opponents of the Uchiha who were rallying to have them expelled from Konoha for all the trouble the last two had caused the village. Having lived his whole life being the most desirable existence in the world, effectively, Sasuke was now starting to know how it felt to be on the other side, outcast and untrusted.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" Arashi asked again, looking down, blushing. His short-ish black hair obscured his eyes. His son was brilliant, but, Sasuke feared, fell into his father's habits of selfishness, self-pity, and absurd fixation on a goal. Especially goals that he misunderstood and were beyond his reach. Like his teacher 20 years his senior, for example.

"I dunno, I feel like this is the end for both of us," Sasuke lamented. "I thought you'd have a bit more time . . ."

Uchiha Arashi looked horrified.

"No-" Sasuke correctly hurriedly, "I mean, I'll go talk to Naruto tomorrow and tell him you didn't want to offend him," he explained. "Okay?"

Arashi nodded, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed.

"You're not in trouble – just – just don't do it again!" Sasuke replied noisily, an outburst louder than he intended. The anxiousness he had about his son's future was balanced by a fear for his family's reputation, and a nervous shyness over seeing Naruto and looking him in the eye and saying "sorry my 9-year-old apparently wants to make you his bride."

"I won't-" Arashi replied, "I didn't mean to do it. I don't know why I did it-"

Sasuke put a reassuring hand on his boy's shoulder. "I know, I know, I really do," he answered. "Don't worry about it. I'll sort it out."

Dinner ended in a very uneventful fashion, (at least compared to the beginning of it) and father and son parted ways to go to bed. Sasuke found himself flat on his back in bed – rare, since he most often slept on his side – staring helplessly at the ceiling. What do I do. His mind seemed to be swarming with clouds of flies, obscuring old, charming imagery of their old 3-man-cell, his first kiss (that happened to be the same as his son's) with overlapping visions of guilt and regret. Sasuke wasn't unfamiliar with regret, though he did all he could to hide it, so afraid that admitting a mistake would somehow negate everything he'd ever done or produced.

How would he proceed tomorrow? Approach this up front, hands exposed, with the most sincere apology he could muster? Or maybe scoff it off, like he more often did, blaming it all on someone else?

He fell asleep with his hands on his stomach, still shaken and unsure about where his dear son's action would lead him . . .

For the second evening in a row, the sunset seemed unnecessarily long, stretching out across the sky like a big, heavy, golden blanket, weighing down on Sasuke's already heavy conscience. Taking responsibility for your child's actions was something he was never taught – it was always he who was the child, his parents, brother, and later Naruto always accepting the blame for him whenever he made the slightest mistake or bad judgement.

When he finally reached Naruto's apartment, which was only a little bigger than the one he'd had as a child, Sasuke felt more focused than he had been in years. He was going to do this, and well, befitting of the last Uchiha heir, with the striking confidence that challenged the very founders of this most powerful ninja village . . . and then, Naruto opened the door, and . . . internally, he fell to pieces.

Naruto's bright eyes seemed to glow fire-orange under the curtain of sunset. He looked up at Sasuke, who still – and to his occasional annoyance – boasted an inch or so over him, and offered the most open, wide smile the Uchiha has seen in what must've been 10 years.

"Sasuke," he greeted warmly, "what's up?"

Sasuke looked down at his shoes and didn't answer, the closest he ever got to bowing his head in apology. "I . . . it's about Arashi . . ."

Naruto looked a little surprised, but then the realization dawned on him and he smiled in acceptance of Sasuke's hidden apology. "It's okay. He's just a boy, and I know he didn't mean any harm by it."

Sasuke kept his eyes averted. He was hardly ever embarrassed – indeed, he couldn't remember a time when his cheeks turned hot with embarrassment or he moved his gaze in shame – but he was beginning to realize the humiliation there was in being a parent in general – it was about being responsible for the actions of someone other than yourself, yet having largely no way to control those actions . . .

"It was a bit of a surprise, though," Naruto admitted, his tone surprisingly light-hearted, "getting kissed so suddenly. But I suppose it runs in the family."

Sasuke's eyes went wide and snapped back to Naruto's face, in shock. The curse . . . did he know about it?

"Naruto-"

"Wanna come in? We can talk about your son's progress," Naruto said quickly, with another gentle smile, leaving Sasuke to gape in the doorway as he stared up at him.

"Sasuke . . . ?"

The Uchiha snapped out of it in time to nod and follow, as a student obediently following a teacher, Naruto, into the living room.

Soon the two of them were seated on chairs across from each other, gently sipping tea and talking softly about being a student and being a teacher. Well, rather, Naruto was doing most of the talking, Sasuke staring down at his tea cup.

"Mami is adorable, and so much like Sakura-chan, of course – you know she calls her 'Auntie Sakura'? It's adorable," Naruto was going on about his charges while Sasuke listened in silence. He was still trying to put all of these events together in his head – his son's fraternization, his old friend's invite into the living room . . .

"Hikaru, too, he's exactly like Neji. There's so many Hyuuga, though, they're like distant cousins or something," Naruto went on, eyes flashing with pride, sweet lips moving as he spoke.

Something was wrong here. They were like two old men, sitting around and reminiscing about the past. They weren't yet thirty! Life was supposed to be beginning! What went wrong?

"I think I would freak out it they actually were Sakura-chan's and Neji's kids, though," Naruto continued, able to fill a room with his energy just by speaking. "Can you imagine, me teaching Sakura-chan's kid? She'd be on my butt all the time! Neji too!"

Sasuke knew what was wrong, knew it for nearly 10 years. He'd started a family without considering who to include in it. Indeed, he'd spent less time deciding to have a baby than he did picking the members of Team Hebi, which turned out . . . infamously, to put it lightly. He'd missed out on what he really needed in a family.

"Naruto-" Sasuke interrupted finally, splitting the sound of Naruto's conversation like a cold blade, opening up the room so that everything suddenly seemed wider, like his conversation partner was miles away, so Sasuke pushed himself forward in his seat. "About Arashi, about the kiss-"

"Sasuke, it's okay," Naruto explained, exasperated. "I understand him. He's just the victim of a one-sided crush. I've felt it plenty–" Naruto's eyes dropped into his mug, "that's all I've ever felt, isn't it? I proposed to Sakura-chan, but she didn't feel the same way, Hinata confessed to me and I just couldn't feel the same . . . I know the feeling – it's like, starting something only to get half-way and never be able to finish it."

Naruto gave a sigh, then turned it into a smile in an attempt to lighten the conversation. "I'll tell you one thing, though, he was better at it than you–"

Sasuke's eyes went wide again and his face turned hot.

"Remember? We were, like, 12, on a mission, it was before the Chuunin Exam," Naruto began, looking Sasuke square in the face, "you pulled me into the bushes somewhere without saying a thing . . . I was scared of you, you know, you were so much stronger than me without even trying."

Sasuke squirmed. A torrid scene he had somewhere along the line put to the back of his mind, rising up like flames creeping up a curtain.

"You pushed me into a tree, and kissed me as hard as you could," Naruto continued, looking accusingly at Sasuke, eyes narrowed, though still smiling as though it was all a big joke, "you tried to put your tongue in, but it was obvious I wasn't about to let you, so you opened my jaw like you open a dog's mouth when you need to give it medicine!"

Naruto laughed aloud. The sound of his smiling voice was like the sound of sunshine rippling against leaves, noisy but comfortable. The memory now flowed back to Sasuke like it was just yesterday, he could feel Naruto's slim hips under his hands, the smoothness of his young skin, taste the salty-sweetness of his mouth . . .

"It was more like you were attacking me than kissing me . . . " Naruto teased. He gave a deep sigh and sat back against the couch. The nostalgic smile on his face sparkled like an ancient beacon. Sasuke watched him. He watched and remembered, and then, like the shimmer like those long, drawn-out sunsets of the last few evenings, realization flickered into his mind.

He realized why he named his son Arashi. Why, in a brief moment of lucid certainty he selected the name "Arashi", meaning "storm". A hurricane, which tore up the status quo, and dropped all the pieces back down in different order. A maelstrom. An Uzumaki.

Naruto had been there, in his family, all along.

Sasuke suddenly got to his feet. He took a couple of insistent strides across the floor to where his partner was, leaned at the waist, took his chin in finger and thumb, and kissed him.

Naruto, slightly surprised, took the gentle, unpracticed kiss with the patience of a teacher, and the quiet allure of an old lover, waiting until Sasuke pulled away, looking him full in the eyes.

"Well, that was better," Naruto replied, looking still naively confused as he did years ago. "But–"

Sasuke didn't know how to explain himself, but, it was like he'd lost something and found it again, and couldn't even say what it was. He put his arms around Naruto's waist and pulled him up to his feet, so they stood pressed together at the waist, Naruto looking up at Sasuke, nose gently touching his.

"Sasuke, what-WHOA!" Naruto exclaimed as two strong arms went around his waist, hooked him in and lifted him easily up into the air. Naruto clung to Sasuke's shoulders for balance as he was scooped up so he was sitting on the Uchiha's hips, held as easily as if he was a 12-year-old, ramen-nourished brat again, and Sasuke was going to cast him into the river as easy as he would a stone.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Naruto asked, still shocked, but more confused. He pulled away from his shoulders and looked his partner in the eyes, only to be kissed hotly again.

"I'm not sure, but I think my son had the right idea," Sasuke replied, and carried Naruto over the threshold of the living room and into the hall.