Chapter #2: Growing Up
"Sasuke!" Screamed a frustrated 8-year-old who was rummaging through the endless pile of things making a mess of the bedroom.
"What is Naruto?" Sasuke asked entering his room to see it had become Naruto's pigsty! He scowled picking up all the mess and scrambles of items on the floor, all consisting of clothes, toys, coloring books, crayons, blankets, pillows, a futon, etc. "So, what's the fuss about today Naruto?"
Naruto spun around, his long soft, shiny, silky, golden blond hair hung down to his waist, bangs brushed neatly covering his eyebrows. The same large bright baby blue eyes as big as the full moon sparkled as the sunlight danced upon them. Long, thick, black eyelashes framed his eyes like a frame on a picture, light creamy tan skin gave him a look that made it seem as if God himself kissed him! His baby doll face remained, round and cute, 3 whisker scars in addition to his fox like figures, plush pale pink lips also remained the same. Wearing one of Sasuke's T-shirts which he always wore to bed.
Sasuke's hair remained the same, his front layers spiked outwards by his chin, his bangs split in the middle curved inwards towards his dark blue onyx eyes, the rest spiking out like a duck tail. Like Naruto, he also had long, thick, black eyelashes, but pale skin. As if the Goddess kissed him and left her life to him, his face round but thin. Blue jeans and a black sweatshirt on he has developed a slightly more mature personality than his friend who has developed a rather immature personality from constantly spoiled by him and his mother.
"You still haven't changed out of my clothes?" Sasuke asked him. Naruto shook his head, his messy hair dangling all over the place. "Looking for something?"
"Yes! I can't find Sasu!" He whined. Sasuke smiled. Sasu was the name of the stuffed kitty that Sasuke got Naruto for his 6'th birthday. Naruto carries it with him every where! Sasuke walked towards the bench on the pop out window and picked the cat up from the pillow it was resting on.
"Over here Naruto." His head snapped up and his lips curled into a bright smile as he reached his arms out and ran towards Sasuke and gave him a tight hug before taking Sasu from his hands.
"Thank you Sasuke!" Naruto chimed playing with his stuffed cat.
Sasuke couldn't help but smile at the sight. Naruto always found a way to make him smile. "Hey, come sit down. You need to change into clean clothes and brush your hair." Naruto pouted but didn't fuss. He respected Sasuke more than anyone in the world and always listened to when he spoke. "Which one?" Sasuke asked pulling out a pink dress with white ribbons and a blue one identical to the pink one. Naruto raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.
"No way! Red!" Naruto chimed, "red!" Sasuke laughed, his mother walking in and giving a friendly pout.
"Awww! I picked the pink and blue dresses just for you Naruto!" Mikoto playfully complained. Mikoto had 2 sons and no daughters, which she had always wanted. But Naruto, when they found him when he was only 5-years-old had a very feminine appearance and took a liking to certain feminine things. When Mikoto noticed this, she immeditaly took advantage of the opportunity and bought him all the most feminine things she could find from girls underwear to skirts, dresses, ribbons, cute little T-shirts, and refused to let Naruto have his hair cut.
Fugaku always complained about it because Naruto was a boy and that Uchiha's aren't gay and since he's part of the family, he's considered an Uchiha therefore he must not be allowed to become gay or where feminine things. When Naruto turned 6 and the constant pampering his wife and youngest son gave the boy was more than enough. He and Mikoto made a bet that Mikoto would offer girl things and Fugaku would offer boy things, which ever he picked was whichever he liked best and wanted. Underwear, pants, movies, hairstyles, all of Naruto's favorites were girly things. Therefore Fugaku lost the bet and Mikoto was allowed to buy him whatever he wanted whether it was girly or not.
Naruto shook his head, "red! Red!" He sang practically bouncing on the floor. Sasuke folded up the blue and pink dressed placing them neatly in the bottom drawer while removing a tiny red kimono.
"One... like this?" Sasuke asked revealing the newest dress to the sun kissed child who's eyes shined brighter than the sun.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" He screamed with excitement smacking his hands on the floor. Mikoto and Sasuke laughed.
"I'm going to start making lunch to bring with us to the festival, please get him ready." Sasuke's mother asked already leaving the doorway.
~SasuNaru: The Best of Times~
Naruto was ecstatic to see all the beautiful lights and colors displayed before him during the festival along with all the people! Fugaku and Mikoto held hands, Naruto clutching onto Itachi and Sasuke's hands. Itachi holding onto his mothers', Sasuke carrying Sasu with him for Naruto wanted to bring him along. At the festival they played games went on rides, ate lunch together, saw a traditional Japanese circus, and ate a lot of the circus's junk food for dinner. "I'll hire a carriage to take us home." Fugaku announced to the family while they sat on a bench, their legs tired and sore, "wait here please."
"Trust me honey, we're not going anywhere!" Mikoto chuckled. Her husband smiled and nodded before taking his leave. Itachi used red and yellow paper to make an oragami frog which Naruto was easily amazed by the simple task, leaving Sasuke to smile at Naruto but jealous and annoyed with his older brother for being a show off. "Oi, I have to use the bathroom. You boys stay here, Itachi, keep an eye on them please." Their mother suddenly said while getting up heading towards the restrooms.
Rustle. "Huh!" Naruto gasped and spun his head left leaning forward to see past Sasuke.
Sasuke looked at Naruto worried, "what's the matter? Do you see something?"
"No... I thought... I just thought I heard something. But, it must have been my imagination." He said without moving an inch, keeping his eyes locked onto the bush. Rustle. "Huh!" Dash!
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled leaping off the bench to follow Naruto who ran into the woods. Itachi gasped and pulled his arm forward but missed his target.
"Shit!" the 13-year-old cursed getting up and running after them pulling out his cell phone to text his mother while he ran dodging the trees.
~SasuNaru: The Best of Times~
"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed pausing to pant, chocking on his breaths. "Naruto-!" He coughed hard, his eyes pinched shut, his body bent over using his left hand to hold onto his left knee, his right arm covering his coughs. Snap! He stood up, "Naruto!" He yelled once more running through another bush using his hands to pull at the twigs that got in his way, his heart racing, his chest tightening. His already weak and sore legs straining to keep moving. "Naruto! Where are you!?" He hollered in fear at the thought of losing his best friend. "NARUTO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Sasuke!" Came a light, feminine, high pitched voice.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled blasting through the bushes, the leaves blasting off their twigs. Anxiously looking around, turned his head left and right, his eyes scanning the area he sighed when he saw Naruto petting a baby fox, its' parents nuzzling Naruto's chin. He took in a deep breath and sighed collapsing onto the ground. 'Good lord,' he thought, 'and here I thought he was dying or something...'
"Hee hee! Sasuke-kun! They're so cute!" He giggled as they gently licked his face. Despite the frustration, Sasuke couldn't help but smile at Naruto and his cuteness.
"Heh, heh. What a cuincadance that I'd find you here, little fox." Came a familiar voice. Sasuke's eyes widened, Naruto turned around and gasped. "look at you, in the process of growing up, you look so much healthier the last time I saw you... tryin' to turn yourself to a girl, eh?" Goku cackled. He remained large and buff, short brown hair barely enough to cover his head, small grey eyes glared down at Naruto's large frightened ones. "Aaah... yes, you remember me don't you, you little thief!? Fugaku isn't here to save you this time you little punk!" Taking his large massive hand he took a fist full of Naruto's long thick hair and lifted him up off the ground Naruto instantly screaming kicking his feet.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled jumping to his feet pulling a kunai knife and some shurikan stars out of his pocket, "let him go right now!" Goku laughed, his voice seemed to echo through the forest.
"And you think you're gonna stop me!? This little punk dug his grave when he stole what belonged to me!" Goku growled.
"It was a darn apple! That was 3-years ago! Get over it! Release him! No!" He spread his legs wide, stepping his ground. His arms stretched wide open, his weapons ready.
"Hahaha! Those puny little things aren't going to do anything to me!"
"Sasuke! Just go! Just run!" Naruto screamed veins on his head tensing, his face turning pink, tears streaming down, his arms shielding his belly while is frail legs kick frantically. Sasuke scowled, activating his sharingan Goku gasped a little, a bead of sweat coming to his forehead.
"No. Naruto, I'm not leaving you here!" He screamed taking charge, running in a beeline towards Goku who grinned moving his hand with Naruto clutched in it up into the other, using his right hand to swing a fist at Sasuke who ducked and stabbed him in the foot.
"Aaaaahhh!" He screamed swinging his left arm smashing Naruto into a tree blood coming from his nose and corner of his muth, earning a scar on his right arm.
"Naruto!" Stab! Went another kunai in the other foot, but that only revolved Naruto getting slammed into another tree. 'Damn! How am I supposed to fight this guy without Naruto getting hurt!?'
"Alright! I'm done fucking around with you little punks!" He bellowed smashing Naruto onto the ground his back burying into rough dirt a large rock poking out of the ground stabbing him in his upper back, blood spitting out his mouth. Sasuke leaped into the air, front flipped, landed on the buff mans' face, back flipping and releasing all kunai knives and shurikan stars from his small fists some completely missing, the rest stabbing Goku all over his arms, thighs, and gut. Easily landing on his feet Sasuke grabbed Naruto who clutched onto Sasuke's arms for support.
"Ugh!" Goku growled.
"Huh!" Naruto gasped pushing Sasuke onto the ground, Goku's foot crushing Naruto's tiny back. Blood and tears dripped from his face into Sasuke's. "Run... please Sasuke... please, run..." he sobbed before being taken into the air again.
"No! Naruto!" Sasuke yelled quickly standing up taking out some more weapons, his sharingan shutting off. 'Darn it!' He thought annoyed.
"I've had enough! My revenge will be succeeded this time!" Goku laughed. Smash! Crack! "Aahh!" Came Goku's scream again, instantly putting his hand on his right here where Sasuke stabbed him in, a piercing headache erupted through him. "I've...! I've had enough of you!" He screamed using one hand smacking Sasuke in the face sending him flying, smashing himself head first into a large oak tree and then onto the mossy ground where he lied spitting out his saliva before wobbily getting up using the tree to support himself. "Give it rest kind, you're not gonna get anywhere. Now, it's time for you-!"
"Huh!" Woosh! Ptch! Goku fell unconscience to the ground Mikoto catching Naruto in her arms. Itachi piggy backing Sasuke who slumped weakly on his older brothers' back. Fugaku shook his head. "You're going to jail, buddy."
~SasuNaru: The Best of Times~
"I said to stay put didn't I?" Fugaku scolded when they got home.
Mikoto shook her head, "not now honey. They're exhausted and hurt now. Please let them rest. We'll deal with the situation tomorrow, ok?" Fugaku hesitated but nodded. Sasuke carried Naruto to the bathroom to they could take a bath, put on clean clothes, wrap up their wounds, and go to bed. Naruto clutching onto Sasuke so much that he couldn't even hold Sasu who laid on the pillow uselessly. The 2 silently held each other that entire night.
~SasuNaru: The Best of Times~
Life went on. The boys got grounded for a week and weren't allowed to leave the house. But the rest of growing up went on easily, playing, learning, teaching one another. Time seemed to go on quickly and as they got older. Sasuke developed a serious, mature, sort of attitude and took everything seriously, joking did not come off as jokes so much anymore. He became more interested in learning, training, and surpassing his peers and most of all, his brother. Naruto spent all of his time or learning how to cook, clean, and sew fro Mikoto. But trained with Sasuke when he had free time which was very rare.
It was Naruto's 13'th birthday that Naruto make his big announcement that stunned the entire Uchiha clan. "Ok, ok! Make a wish!" Mikoto chimed, "you can make any wish you want! And then blow out the candles!" Sasuke took his seat at Naruto's right hand side as usual. Quiet. That was another way to describe Sasuke's personality now, was quiet. Quiet, calm, cool, collective, serious, and strict. He didn't play at all anymore. All of Uchiha gathered 'round, cameras flashing, aunts and mothers reminiscing while men talked over drinks and everone watched Naruto anxiously. His stomach turned. "Well!? Go for it honey!" Mikoto cheered flashing her camera. Itachi chuckled watching patiently with his arms crossed leaning up against the wall.
"Umm..." Naruto took a deep breath. Every year on his birthday he always said: "My wish is to be Sasuke's wife!" and everyone would laugh. This year was sure to be different. "Umm... I wish..." he blushed shyly, his eyes batting softly, "umm... uhhh... I-I..." everyone seemed more curious now. Naruto was never shy, he always just came out with it. Listening intensely, the crowd of Uchiha's strained their ears to listen of what this years wish would be. Naruto took in a deep breath. "I wish..." Naruto gave a small shy smile, his face reddening, "I wish... I wish I could be a human girl..." He sad sadly his smiling fading and the cameras stopped, confused glanced where shared among themselves.
"A... a what?" Fugaku asked placing his head on his head.
Naruto blushed more and looked downwards avoiding eye contact, "I wish I was a human girl..."
Fugaku gave a sheepish laugh, "well, if you wanna be technical you're already a chick!"
"Fugaku!" Mikoto gasped.
"What!? It's true! He dresses like a girl, acts like one without the manners, and every year he's got some dumb wish of marrying my son-who's not gay by the way!"
Everyone was stunned, Mikoto stared in a gape at the words that came out her husbands' mouth. Her eyes wide, filling with tears. "I can't believe... I can't believe you would say that-"
"Well believe it!" He snapped.
Naruto sighed, "I'm being a ninja."
"WHAT!?" Everyone yelled simultaneously. Itachi and Sasuke glared Naruto in the eyes which he avoided... he avoided everyone's eyes. "I'm going to be a ninja."
"Naruto! Do you know what's going to happen if you become a ninja!? You're an Anima! You're going-!"
"To be killed. I know." Naruto smiled, "it's what I want. To do my duty as a fellow member of Konoha, I will work hard to do my service to protect our village, and when I'm done, I'll move on." His gentle eyes closed, "it's easier for everyone this way. Easier for me. After all, I'm useless enough. Because of childhood suffering, my body's practically broken... so, I can't really do anything useful... so I can't really help anyone... so, I'm going to become a ninja, do some community service, and set Konoha free from having to deal with me.
"Sorry you guys... you all worked so hard all these years to take care of me and I thank you all so much for it... but... I've caused enough trouble for you guys already... I'm sorry." Naruto bowed and left the room as quickly as possible entering his bedroom grabbing Sasu and sitting on the bench looking out the window watching the sunset.
Outside the room he could hear Mikoto screaming and crying throwing glass plates at Fugaku who caught them, the females surrounding her trying to calm her down, Itachi pulling Fugaku and the men away from the females so they all could try to calm down the corrupted mother who broke down in endless sobs. Sasuke remained sitting saying nothing, seething in anger when out of nowhere he stood up and everyone turned to gaze at him. 'What are you going to do Sasuke?' Itachi pondered.
Sasuke walked slowly towards his room before suddenly stopping and half turning around so his eyes faced everyone's. "You're all selfish. Pathetic. Weak. Rude. And undeserving. I'm the one who found Naruto, I took him in, I named the kid for crying out loud! Sure, Mum got the legal permission and cooked a meal every once in awhile, taught him somethings. But I practically raised the fucking kid! Me! I did! I found him! I named him for crying out loud! And here you all our fighting amongst yourselves! And you dad!" He snapped facing his father, "your only worry or concern is him become gay! That's all you've been worried about! so what if he is gay!? Who gives a fuck what his sexual orientation is!? Does that have anything to do with the type of person he is!? No!
"Does him wanting to marry me make him a bad person? No! In fact, why does it matter!? Who the fuck cares! You all care about the most senseless shit! His entire life his been shunned and harassed by the entire village. He's suffered his entire life. And because of that suffering he's feeling troubled, weak, broken, and maybe even lost. We're his family! We're supposed to be taking care of him! Protecting him! Loving him! But no, you all wanna fight over the most unimportant, unirrelevant shit! Yeah! Nice family guys." He added sarcastically turning his back on everyone and walking slowly away closing himself in his room with Naruto who sat hugging his legs watching the sunset.
"Sasuke..." came Naruto's voice. He ignored it, laid down on the futon, covered himself with blankets, his back facing Naruto. Naruto cried harder. Sasuke winced. "Please... please forgive me... I'm sorry but... but... but I..."
"Naruto." Sasuke whispered appearing in front of Naruto, his face inches from Naruto's, using his fingers to stroke Naruto's scarred cheeks. "Do you really want to be a ninja?"
He weakly nodded weeping. "I... I don't really want to die..." he sobbed, "I just... I want to be with you... I want to fight alongside you Sasuke... you're always gone... never home, working so hard, protecting me, taking care of me... I wanna do that for you too... I-I... Sasuke I..." he broke down. Sasuke wrapped his strong arms around Naruto's.
"Ssshhh... shhh... it's ok, shh..." He whispered softly, hushing the crying kitsune, lifting him bridal style in his arms he carried him to the futon and laid him down, covering him up with the blankets. "Naruto, hey, hey, listen to me now... stop crying please... shhh... listen. I'm sorry I'm gone so long. I'm sorry I'm so serious, but you see, I must get stronger, so I can protect you. I was so weak, weak and useless last time... I don't want that kind of thing happening again... I'm sorry I'm not home a lot. I'm sorry if I'm more serious and not as playful, but please don't do this...
"If you die... I'm sure I will too... so please... live Naruto. Live. Otherwise all my training would have been pointless, all for nothing, ok? Please?" Sasuke pleased softly.
"But... I... I want to be with you all the time, I want to help you, I want to fight alongside you... I want to be stronger so you won't get hurt protecting me! Sasuke please!" Naruto sobbed.
"But I can't! If you because a ninja within a months time of fulfilling your duties they'll kill you! And they'll kill you anyway whether you fulfill them or not!" Sasuke snapped frustrated. "I can't... I can't let you die..." Sasuke whispered painfully. Naruto cried harder tightening himself into a ball. "Huh... Naruto..." Sasuke whispered wrapping his arm around Naruto giving a quick peck on his forehead.
Naruto gasped a little before hiccuping. "Sasuke... if there was anyway to become a ninja without receiving the death penalty then could I become a ninja with you?"
Sasuke frowned, "I wouldn't like it because there's still a risk of you dying on missions, certain exams, but... if there wasn't a death penalty for Anima's... then yes. As long as you were on my team. With me."
Naruto smiled a little, "that's the point."
Sasuke smiled, "I know, haha... Naruto." He mumbled gently caressing his face, placing a kiss on his forehead. "You're my best friend." He whispered to Naruto before falling asleep.
Naruto stroked Sasuke's hair some, his head rested upon Sasuke's chest... 'a best friend...' he thought, "is that all I am to you Sasuke-kun?... Your... best friend?..."