Honesty
Author's Note: This is a YAOI story. That means there will be at least one male x male pairing. Sasuke x Jugo. If either of those things bother you, you might want to turn back now. Reviews are always appreciated and I hope you enjoy this story.
Chapter Notation: I decided to spell Jugo as Jugo because that's how it shows up on an internet search. The character category spells it Juugo, so I guess it can go either way. This also takes place after the war with Madara and will diverge radically from cannon, shortly thereafter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit off of any of my stories.
Chapter One
Honesty. Jugo was probably the most honest person that he had ever met. Sasuke supposed that was why he did it. That was why he invited Jugo to live with him in the Uchiha District after the war.
Well that was one reason. If he was being honest with himself, it was nice to feel needed. Jugo definitely needed him. He needed Sasuke to prevent him from going into one of his rages.
"I haven't lived here since I was thirteen. So it's going to take some work before it's a comfortable place to live in again. Naruto did help me at least rebuild my family home though. There wasn't much left of the District after what Pein did." Sasuke warns the large man who was walking by his side.
It really was amazing how fast you could rebuild a house, once you had a few dozen shadow clones working in unison. Between Sasuke's and Naruto's clones, they had successfully reconstructed the house. The rest of the District was still mostly a pile of rubble. One day, Sasuke vowed that he would get around finishing the reconstruction.
"Oh that's fine. I've been living in a prison or in caves for most of the last few years, this is a step up." He reminds Sasuke.
Sasuke just nods. If he was being COMPELTELY honest with himself, there was one more reason why he decided to keep Jugo around. Jugo never judged him.
His loyalty was absolutely unwavering. Sasuke still didn't know what he had done to "earn" this loyalty, other than reminding the giant man of Kimimaro. But Sasuke had stopped questioning why this was the case and just accepted the fact that Jugo was Jugo. (There really was no other explanation required.)
"You can take any of the guest rooms." Sasuke says as he walks inside his home with Jugo.
"Alright. How is your arm feeling?" He asks.
"Fine. I'm on enough pain medication to knock out an elephant." Sasuke mutters.
Naruto had finally talked Sasuke into getting the arm transplant a few weeks ago. The last Uchiha was still getting used to the new limb. At first he had refused the transplant offer, thinking he didn't deserve it. It would be some small way for atoning for his sins.
His best friend just refused to let it go though. Naruto had been relentless. Finally, the blonde had been forced to argue with logic. Logically, Sasuke would be better able to protect the Leaf with two arms. Itachi would want him to protect the Leaf to the best of his abilities. That had finally done the trick and Sasuke had consented to the transplant.
"You should still change your bandages." Jugo says and Sasuke shrugs.
Immediately, he regretted it. Sasuke winced in agony. That was not his brightest idea.
"Yeah. Probably a good idea." He concedes as he sits down on the couch and waits for the pain to pass.
The gentle giant nods. He sits next to Sasuke and begins slowly unbandaging his arm. Jugo was relieved that the last Uchiha had allowed him to come live with him for this very reason.
He knew Sasuke. Sasuke was stubborn. The young ninja would likely ignore the treatment regime that Sakura had given for his arm. He would almost certainly stop taking his medication and push himself too far. So Jugo was happy to be there to make sure that Sasuke didn't permanently damage his new limb.
"You would have made a good medic." Sasuke muses.
Jugo smiles and shakes his head. They both knew that wasn't true. Most of the time, he was actually a kind and calm person. But one never knew what would tip the scales and cause him to fly into a rage. There was a very good reason why he was known as Jugo of the Scales, after all.
"Only if you were willing to stand by me for the entire day. There is a good chance that I would lose control and end up killing a patient or even destroying the hospital, otherwise." He murmurs as he carefully wraps Sasuke's new arm.
"I'm sure in time, you'll learn how to control your rages without me." Sasuke assures him.
Jugo shakes his head. He did want to believe that, but he didn't. Sasuke was his cage. He was able to keep him from going into a rage. Sasuke was even able to stop him in the middle of one. Kimimaro was the only other person who had been able to do that before the last Uchiha.
"I don't think that is going to happen." He whispers softly.
"Anything is possible. I never thought that I would be back in the Leaf." Sasuke replies.
"Why did you decide to come back here?" Jugo asks as he runs his hand up and down the length of the new limb.
Sasuke closes his eyes and lets out a sigh of contentment. He knew why Jugo was doing it. He was trying to stimulate blood and chakra flow. He wasn't sure why that felt so good, it just did.
That's when he hears Jugo's question and frowns. It was such a simple question. Unfortunately, the answer was extremely complicated.
"Itachi died to protect this village. It's my way of honoring his sacrifices. That and Naruto. He never gave up on me. Not even after I gave up on myself." Sasuke whispers.
Sasuke reaches down and pulls up a bottle of sake from underneath the coffee table and two glasses. He pours himself a glass and one for Jugo. He had just raised the glass to his lips and taken the first sip, when Jugo decided he wanted to choke him to death with an outrageous question.
"I understand wanting to honor our brother. But did you really come back to the Leaf because you are in love with Naruto?" Jugo asks.
That's when Sasuke sputters and nearly chokes on his sake. What the Hell?! Why would Jugo ask THAT?!
"What?! No! I love him like a brother, not a lover! It'd be like kissing Itachi!" Sasuke exclaims.
"It was just a question, Sasuke. Does the idea of two men being in love disturb you?" The other member of Taka inquires respectfully.
If anyone else had dared to ask such a thing, Sasuke probably would have Chidoried them. Sasuke wasn't completely naïve. While the topic of sex had never been one that he spent an extraordinary amount of time pondering, he had lived in the Sound Village for a couple years. Suffice to say, he had seen far more than he had ever wanted to see.
"I'm not in love with Naruto. Not romantically, anyway. It's a brotherly love. NOTHING more. His gender was never a factor in the equation. And no, the idea of two men together doesn't disturb me. It's none of my business who someone else loves. " Sasuke insists.
"I believe you. I'm sorry that I made you choke. I didn't realize that this topic made you so uncomfortable." Jugo says.
"It's fine. Just don't ask me something like that while I'm drinking, again. It's late. I'm going to turn in." The raven haired man informs him and heads up the stairs, presumably to one of the bedrooms.
Sasuke heads to his room. He couldn't believe that Jugo had asked him that! His "shield" thought that he was in love with Naruto or at the very least interested in men. When he had EVER said or done anything that might make those two things a possibility?
Alright. He could somewhat understand the Naruto question. Their bond ran deeper than almost any other bond. The only bond that could rival it, had been his relationship with his actual brother. Still those were both BROTHERLY loves. It wasn't like he wanted to kiss the blonde on purpose. (He did not count those two accidental kisses.)
"Is it really that obvious?" Sasuke asks himself.
Yes, he knew there were women who preferred women. He was aware that there were men who were attracted to men. There were even some people who found both genders desirable. Sasuke just happened to be in the second camp.
He hadn't really been attracted to a woman before. For a few years, he had tried to rationalize that. Killing Itachi had taken priority over everything else. Once he found out the truth about Itachi, the war was in full swing. Again, there just hadn't been time to think about such things.
Sasuke had believed that he would eventually find a woman that he was attracted to. Then he'd restore his Clan with her. As time went on though, he knew he was lying to himself. At least to himself, he could admit that he was attracted only to men. He just wasn't ready to advertise that fact.
"He doesn't know. Jugo was just asking a question." Sasuke says and that was the last thought on his mind, before he fell asleep.
"HEY, BASTARD! ARE YOU UP?" Naruto yells into Sasuke's room the next morning.
"I am now." Sasuke growls at the blonde.
Sasuke was not a morning person. Over the years, he had trained his body to sleep and wake on command. That didn't mean that he LIKED getting up at the crack of dawn. He loathed it actually. If given the option, he would probably sleep till Noon and stay up all night.
The blonde either hadn't realized this or had forgotten it. It had been a long time since they were on an overnight mission together. Sasuke figured that it was likely that the boisterous ninja had just forgotten it.
"Sorry. It's just Granny Tsunade figured it would be best if you went for your fitting early. You are a Jonin now. You need a new uniform. Oh and I guess Jugo can have one as well if he wants. He's clearly Jonin level and if he's going to be staying in the village, it'd be good if people started to see him as something other than a Criminal Ninja." Naruto says brightly.
"Sorry, Sasuke. I tried to tell him that you were still asleep, but he was insistent." Jugo says.
Sasuke sighs. He waves his hand to assure the gentle giant it was fine. God knows that Naruto was a whirlwind. The loudmouth couldn't be stopped once he set his mind to something. If he could, Sasuke wouldn't be here.
"It's fine, Jugo. Naruto has always been annoying." He states.
"What'd you say, bastard?!" The blonde demands and twitches at the familiar insult.
"I said you are annoying. You are. It doesn't matter how powerful you get, you will always be annoying." The last Uchiha says with a smirk.
He loved to provoke the blonde. Naruto took the bait every time. Of course Sasuke privately realized that he did the same. Still he had to have some fun.
Jugo watches with amusement. He had never seen anyone that could stir such reactions out of Sasuke, if it wasn't Itachi. They were brothers in all but blood. As entertaining as it was to watch their bickering, he didn't think it was polite to keep Tsunade waiting.
"You said that Tsunade was waiting to give us our uniforms? Perhaps we should get going. It would be bad manners to have her wait around all day." He offers.
"Yeah. You're right. Damn. Kinda surprised you were traveling with the bastard here. You're really polite." Naruto observes and heads out down the stairs before either of them could respond.
Sasuke shakes his head. Only Naruto. He gets out of his bed and stretches. Sasuke looks down at the clothes he had worn to bed the night before. He supposed they would do. He was going to change into his Jonin uniform soon anyway.
"You ready?" Sasuke asks Jugo.
The large man simply nods. Sasuke takes that as a yes and descends the stairs. Soon enough they were on their way to Tsunade.
"Hey, Granny! I brought the bastard and Jugo. Jugo's going to get a uniform too." Naruto says brightly.
Tsunade blinks. She hadn't expected Sasuke and Naruto to arrive so early. She had told Naruto to get him at the crack of dawn because she assumed they would spend at least an hour fighting. This was a miracle.
"Jugo, you understand that accepting a Jonin uniform makes you a part of this village? You will have to fight for the Leaf and accept my authority as your Kage. That means you will follow my orders without question. Do you agree to this?" She asks.
"I understand and agree. If Sasuke is staying here, I am staying here." Jugo says.
Tsunade blinks. That was an unexpected degree of loyalty. She looks at Sasuke in confusion and decides to ask later.
"His Clan's power came at a price. They are susceptible to uncontrollable rages." Sasuke explains with a shrug and winces as he does so.
"And being around Sasuke, helps you control your condition?" The busty medic asks.
"Sasuke is my cage. He keeps me from hurting people." The orange haired man replies.
Tsunade shakes her head. Well that was ironic. A man who had dedicated most of his life to revenge, was now keeping another man from killing innocent people.
"Alright then. Go into the backroom and get measured. We have your old measurements, Sasuke. But they are several years old and obviously horribly outdated." The blonde woman says.
Sasuke simply nods and heads to the back room with Jugo. A tailor was waiting for them. To put it mildly, she looked nervous. She would have been stupid not to be. She was going to be doing the fitting for two former S Class Criminals.
"Could you please take off your shirts?" She asks shyly and was relieved when both men complied.
Akira felt herself blushing. They might be two very dangerous ninjas, but the was really no denying that they were both incredibly well sculpted, even by ninja standards. (This was certainly saying something because ninjas tended to endure intense physical training that created aesthetically pleasing physiques in general.)
She walks over and begins with Sasuke Akira takes out the tape measure and begins recording his measurements. He was a large. Which made her wonder what his companion was going to be. Sasuke was by no means a small man, but Jugo dwarfed him with ease.
"A large should do nicely for you." She says and walks over to Jugo.
Quickly she begins measuring him. The young woman blinks. Jugo was massive. She didn't even know if a XXXL would fit him. The man could probably snap a tree like a twig.
"I um don't know if we have anything that will fit you. We might have to custom make it." She mumbles.
"It's alright. I have that problem a lot. When Sasuke tried to purchase our team supplies once, I ended up wearing a curtain for a shirt." He tells her.
Sasuke shakes his head. Thankfully, Jugo had enough common sense not to mention that they had bought the supplies at an Uchiha stronghold. He would really rather the Leaf not find out about that place.
He had every intention of trying to redeem himself. Itachi had given up everything to protect this village. It would be wrong not to respect his sacrifice by abandoning it once again.
"That's true. Come on, Jugo." Sasuke says and they walk back to Tsunade.
"How'd it go?" Naruto asks.
"Well I need a large and Jugo needs…a custom made vest. The tailor isn't sure even the XXXL will fit him." Sasuke states.
"Yeah. I can see that. You are a pretty big guy, Jugo. You're like Kisame's size." Naruto says with a nod.
"Did you just compare me to a man who looked like their mother was a shark?" Jugo asks in disbelief.
Sasuke manages not to laugh. He did make a quiet snort of amusement though. Jugo had a point. Kisame had been…exotic by any stretch of the imagination.
He supposed it was all relative though. The Akatsuki had Zetsu. That man looked like he was part plant. So maybe Kisame had been "normal looking," by Akatsuki standards.
"I only meant in size. I mean obviously your skin isn't blue and you don't have gills!" Naruto exclaims.
"Or shark teeth." Sasuke adds.
"Yeah or that." The blue eyed ninja says, nodding enthusiastically in agreement.
"Naruto, why don't you reacquaint Sasuke with the village and show Jugo around? I still have to process their paperwork." Tsunade says and the three ninjas nod, heading off.
Tsunade wasn't alone for long though. Kakashi soon teleports into her office. The medic sighs, couldn't anyone knock anymore?
"Good morning, Kakashi." She says.
"Morning. Pakkun tells me that Sasuke has a roommate? That is certainly a surprise. He's never been the most social." The silver haired ninja muses.
Frankly, it had shocked Tsunade as well. She never expected Sasuke would allow anyone else in the Uchiha District that wasn't related to him or Naruto. As it didn't look like he was planning on taking a wife soon, she hadn't expected that to happen for awhile.
"Yes, Jugo of the Scales. It seems that Sasuke is able to control his rages. So Jugo is now…well he's…" The Hokage trails off because she wasn't sure how to describe the relationship in a way that wasn't insulting.
"Sasuke's new shadow?" Kakashi supplies helpfully.
"I suppose you could say that. Would it be insulting to say that he reminds me of a puppy that followed someone home? I do wonder why Sasuke has that influence on him. I don't suspect it is merely because of the threat of force. Surely, Orochimaru would have threatened him." She muses.
Kakashi glances out the window. He catches the sight of Naruto, Sasuke, and Jugo leaving. There was something about the way that the other member of Taka followed Sasuke. It was a little too reverently to be entirely platonic.
"It would be a little insulting, though it seems rather accurate. I don't think that it's the threat of force that calms him." He muses.
"What do you think it is?" Tsunade asks and Kakashi gestures for the busty blonde to look out the window.
Tsunade does. She sees Sasuke, Naruto, and Jugo walking together. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Naruto was babbling happily. Jugo was nodding his head politely here and there. Occasionally, Sasuke would say something that caused Naruto to twitch and start yelling. It all seemed normal to her.
"I don't understand what I'm supposed to be seeing." She says after awhile.
"It's the way he looks at Sasuke. The way he follows him. I think that Jugo has feelings for him that are stronger than just appreciation. He might actually be in love with him." Kakashi says.
The Hokage blinks. She looks out the window again. There was a certain…focus that the large orange haired man had on the last Uchiha.
It was intense. Protective mostly, though his eyes did drift south a little more often than was normal to be entirely platonic. To be crude, she was almost positive that he was admiring the Uchiha's backside.
"I think that I can see what you are talking about now. I doubt that he's told Sasuke about his feelings, if he does indeed have romantic feelings for him." She muses.
"I find that unlikely as well. Sasuke wouldn't be as calm around him, if he had. I'll admit that I have wondered which "team" Sasuke prefers. He's never expressed much interest in women at all, but that could merely be because he was so focused on killing Itachi and the war." Kakashi offers.
Tsunade considers this. It would a cruel twist of fate, if Sasuke actually did prefer men. He wanted to restore his Clan. He'd either be trapped in a loveless marriage or would have to find willing surrogates.
The Hokage knew that despite everything that he had done, Sasuke would be able to find willing surrogates. The Sharingan was just too powerful of a bloodline to let die out.
He might be potentially psychotic, but Sasuke was also very handsome. Women would do very stupid things, when it came to attractive men. She could easily imagine some poor girl agreeing to be his surrogate, in hopes that he would eventually fall in love with her.
"It's hard to say really. Sasuke has never been the most social individual. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if he did prefer men though." She admits.
"Should we discourage or encourage it?" The silver haired ninja asks.
"Neither for now. We don't have enough information to make an informed decision." The blonde replies and the CopyCat Ninja nods in agreement.
"So that's the Ramen Shop! It has really awesome food!" Naruto says excitedly.
Sasuke shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Naruto was all too eager to play the part of a tour guide. Jugo was polite enough to at least pretend to look interested. Maybe he actually was. The last Uchiha just knew he didn't really care all that much where the Ramen Shop was.
"That's good to know." Jugo offers diplomatically.
"Yeah! I doubt Sasuke has much food in his place at the moment. He's been gone for years. I don't know, maybe you have some canned stuff that might still be good?" Naruto asks.
The dark haired ninja merely shrugs. There might be some canned food that was still good. Still Naruto raised a good point. He really was going to have to go shopping at some point.
Sasuke makes a face. He hated shopping. The Snake Summoner hated being stared at like an animal in a zoo. He knew that is what would happen if he set foot in public, without Naruto at his side. Maybe he could ask Jugo to do it?
"Jugo, he's right. We are going to need some food. If I give you some money, do you think you could handle it? I think I'll search and see if there's anything edible left in the house." Sasuke asks.
"I don't know if that's a good idea…" Jugo says.
Sasuke sighs. Clearly, the orange haired man was worried he might lose control while out shopping. He shakes his head and places his hand on Jugo's shoulder comfortingly.
"The Leaf is filled with powerful ninjas. If you lose control, they will be able to restrain you." Sasuke assures him.
"Alright. I don't mind then. Is there anything you want me to get in particular?" He asks.
"Anything that isn't ramen." Sasuke says with a smirk.
Immediately, Naruto launches into a rant about the many virtues of ramen. People were starting to give the blonde funny looks. The early risers were just starting to take to the streets and a flailing war hero was the first sight that they were greeted with.
"I think I can manage that." Jugo replies with a small chuckle.
"Good. Alright, loser. Keep going. Jugo is going to need to know where everything is, not just the Ramen Shop." Sasuke says.
"You really are such a bastard." Naruto grumbles, but leads them off.
Jugo smiles as he follows them. It was nice to see Sasuke in such high spirits. The last Uchiha might try to hide it, but he could tell that Sasuke was glad to be home.
He was also happy. Jugo was happy the war was over. He was happy to be alive. But most of all, he was happy to be with Sasuke. As long as he had his cage, he wouldn't hurt any innocent people. Maybe he could really start over in the Leaf Village.