DISCLAIMER : The usual, I don't own Naruto or Little Mermaid.
Warning : Boy x boy pairing!
This chapter will be a mix of Naruto and Sasuke's POV. Thank you for all the reviews so far!
Enjoy! xx
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The Great Barrier Between Us
Part 3
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Dear Prince Gaara of Suna,
How are you? I received your letter a few days ago. Thank you for your kind invitation. Of course I will come to your inauguration ceremony at Suna. It would be a pretty long voyage, but I will make sure I'll arrive on time. King Kakashi couldn't come, he needed to do some errands. He sent his regards for you and your wonderful kingdom. I will travel there with Konohamaru and my teacher Iruka.
Things in Konoha had been fine. We built a second school for the children. I visited them during the opening, and it was wonderful. Children are lovely, aren't they? It's amazing to see these children look up to you.
You're finally going to be the King! You beat me first! Iruka-sensei said I wasn't ready yet, but maybe sooner. I just have to wait, I guess. Besides, I'm turning 18 soon! I'll make sure you're invited to my birthday party.
Update me on the situation in Suna, okay? I hope to see you soon, my friend.
Regards,
Prince Naruto of Konoha.
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Naruto put down his pen after reading it twice. Okay. This seemed fine. His handwriting was always messy anyway, but at least this looked neater than his usual one. Iruka had been teaching him how to write a proper letter, but it was still tough for him. Guess he still needed to improve on that. But this one was for Gaara anyway, so it would be fine. The blond signed the paper, just above his name. He wrapped the letter neatly and prepared to send it back to Gaara. Wow. His friend was going to be a king! After the ceremony, they have to call him King Gaara. The blond prince was pretty jealous.
There was a knock on the door. Naruto stood up and spoke towards the direction of the door.
"Come in!"
A servant sheepishly opened the door and bowed to him with grace. She was pretty beautiful, her long brown hair shaped her features nicely. The girl seemed new.
"Prince Naruto, your lunch is ready."
Naruto smiled at her. "Thank you very much. I'll go to the dining room soon. And, oh yeah, are you new?"
"Y-yes. I just worked here yesterday," she stuttered because of her nerves. The girl couldn't look at Naruto's face.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Y-Yumi, Y-Your Highness."
Naruto nodded and grinned. "Don't be so scared! I won't bite or anything," He smiled gently. "Welcome to the Palace of Konoha, Yumi!"
Her face relaxed and she bowed once more to the blond prince. "Thank you, Your Highness." She left the room afterwards and closed the door gently.
Naruto was always polite to everyone in the castle. The butlers, servants, maids, cooks, all were fond of him. The Prince was a bundle of sunshine that always brightened everyone's day. The blond tidied his desk and left the room to have lunch on the dining hall. He would send the letter later after his lunch.
Months later..
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"You are very rude to Izumi, Sasuke, can you just-"
"No," he spat it. "Mother, I do not like her."
Queen Mikoto's face was stern, and it was definitely a rare occasion. "Dear," he gave him a warning tone. "She will be your sister-in-law. She will be a part of our family. Do not use harsh tone when you speak to her!"
Sasuke was silent but he was feeling like snapping back. The Queen rarely gets angry. She was always the patient one, but today, it seemed that she was really annoyed with Sasuke's action.
This morning, Izumi offered Sasuke a gift, but the angsty mermen declined her offer. He didn't even look at it. The Queen was there and she saw everything. Once Izumi went home, she scolded Sasuke big time.
"I do not like her."
"She's being nice to you!"
"Mother, she was bribing me." It was clear. Izumi knew Sasuke didn't like her at all, so she tried to win his heart by giving him gifts. As if he would be petty and agreed to receive the thing.
"She was not!" His mother raised her voice. "Sasuke, you are always rude! What is wrong with you!?"
What's wrong with me, she said? Sasuke's inner voice rang on his head.
"Everything," he spat.
"We did not raise you to be like this! Your father and I expected you to be better." She continued scolding him in a high-pitched voice.
Oh, now, even mother hates me too?
"You did raise me this way, mother."
"Stop talking back at me!"
He stopped talking altogether. Sasuke felt even more sour than he used to be. Mother hated him too, did she?
"It was all because of that day," she talked with rage in her tone. "When you, when you decided to go up to the surface! It ruined you!"
Sasuke stiffened at that sentence. No. How did she dare to mention that? His eyes were now filled with hatred and anger, as he stared into his mother's pitch black eyes.
"What?"
"I've always been weird," he said. "I'm not Itachi. I'm just a failure." And with that, he swam away from her.
The Queen grabbed his free arm tightly. "Don't swim away just like that!" She yanked him back to his position. Sasuke swatted her grip away.
"Let me go," he gave her an ice cold glare.
It seemed that his mother was too shock to say anything, because she let go of her grip an just stayed where she was instead of following Sasuke out of their underwater castle.
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"Naruto, are you sure we must go now?"
"Yes, Iruka-sensei," Naruto was helping the others loading the cargo on board even though they said they didn't need the prince's help. "We must reach Suna early. The voyage will be rough and long, so I think we must leave today."
His brunet teacher looked up to the sky to observe it. "I hope everything goes fine."
"Omph," Naruto placed the box on the wooden floor of the ship. "Is that all, Mr Oda!?" He shouted to the man on the dock.
"Yes, My Prince!" He waved the blond prince to signal all was loaded.
"Okay!" Naruto beamed. "Hey, where's Konohamaru!?"
"Coming!"
A spiky-haired brunet was running from the docks up to the ship.
"Is that everything, Konohamaru?" asked Iruka-sensei.
"Yes, sensei! I packed this and this.. oh and more food!" He was showing them the contents of his oversized bag.
"You always bring extra food, Konohamaru!" Naruto laughed at him. This boy was like his own younger brother.
Naruto straightened up his white and gold royal coat and fixed his hair. It was a bit useless, because the wind messed with it again. He cleared his throat and loudened his voice.
"Alright, everyone! Gather up!"
Every crew member of the ship ran up to where Prince Naruto, their captain, was standing. The crew always enjoyed Naruto's presence. They had their ultimate trust for their prince, their future king, their future leader of the country.
"We're going to sail to Suna! Again, I hope everyone contributes well in this voyage, so we can all arrive safely at our destination," he started his quick pep talk. "And I think you're all aware of this, we're going to pass the King's Graveyard on the way to Suna," his tone lowered a bit. Everyone got a bit anxious as well.
"Ships sunk there. Including.. well you know," he couldn't bring himself to say it. "But we can go through all that! Once we passed that area, our journey shall be fine. Don't let your fear stop you, ladies and gentlemen!" He raised his fists up, and received cheers from all crew members.
The ship sailed away, and citizens were waving away at them.
"Bye bye! I will return soon!" He waved back with a wide, lovable grin. "So long!"
Konohamaru was jumping up and down, waving back at the audience on the dock that was slowly becoming small. Naruto turned his body so it faced front, and held the steering wheel. He gripped it tightly, steadying the huge ship. Naruto opened his compass, his father's compass, and held it tightly in his palm. The prince turned the steering wheel until it faced north.
"Set sail for Suna! We should be at King's Graveyard in about an hour or two!" He shouted to his crew members. Prince Konohamaru was observing Naruto beside him, studying how to operate the steering wheel and all.
"Konohamaru," he called the boy. "C'mere. You should try to control this thing again. You still need more practice, right?"
"Oh!" The brunet boy was excited. Iruka was standing behind them, smiling as he observed the the two bickering with each other. Iruka was like their own father, since both boys were orphans.
"And.. yup! You got it, Konohamaru!"
"Yes!" He pumped his fist in excitement. "I can finally sail this thing!"
"You'll need practice, of course," Naruto gave him a pat on the back. He opened his compass and checked the direction. Yup. Still heading north.
He hoped the King's Graveyard would be forgiving.
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"What is it this time, Sasuke?"
He ignored the fish completely, as he swam far far away from the castle. He didn't even look to where he was going.
"Sasuke? We've been swimming for ages." Flounder asked him one more time. "Sasuke?" His tone sounded anxious. "Sasuke!"
The purple-tailed merman ignored the fish once again. He didn't want to talk. He just wanted to go far, far away from his castle. He knew they had been swimming for a very long time. Sasuke didn't know how long he moved his tails to ran away from his place. Mother hated him too. The whole castle hated him. Nice. And now he was on the deep ocean floor with Flounder and-
Oh. Wait.
Where was he?
Sasuke stopped moving his tail and observed his surrounding. The water was darker, he guessed he swam deeper than he thought. For some reason, he had never been here before. The coral structures were different. The raven looked up to the surface, but the sun didn't shine through it. But about a mile away, he saw something he never seen before.
A huge shipwreck.
He glanced at the fish, which was also staring at the enormous object lying at the bottom of the dark, cold ocean.
"I knew this was here for a long time," said the fish. "But I never actually go inside of it. I'm scared of the sharks," Flounder shivered at the thought.
"What happened?" Sasuke murmured.
"I think it sunk because of the storm. This part of the ocean.. I heard it was dangerous. The storms were violent."
Sasuke stared at the ocean graveyard. He knew that the shipwreck will be full of sharks, but they wouldn't dare to attack him. But for Flounder.. Sasuke didn't want the fish to feel anxious around here because it was shark infested.
The raven looked up to the surface, but it was dark. It wasn't supposed to be dark yet, right?
"Is that what's going on up there? A storm?"
Flounder followed his gaze. "…Probably, yes."
"...Let's check it out." Sasuke swam up slowly, fixing his gaze to the gloomy looking surface.
"Uh, are you sure?" But the fish followed him anyway. Sasuke was sure this fish was not a remora, but Flounder always stick to him like that breed of fish.
They swam up for minutes, but the colour of the water remained dark. The raven finally reached the surface first, breaking the water with his head. The area was definitely surrounded by dark, heavy clouds, completed by rolling thunder and horribly strong wind. It even messed Sasuke's hair. The wind chilled his bare chest, and he decided to go back underwater. Poseidon seemed to be really pissed today.
Little did Sasuke know that a ship entered the storm.
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"Gah!" Naruto tried spinning the wheel around to avoid the big waves, but still, it was no use. The storm was horrible, and at this point everybody was soaking wet.
"Everyone! Hold on tight!" He roared on top of his lungs so every person on board could hear his voice. The ship was rocked left to right, and it was making Naruto's head dizzy. Crap! Did he chose the wrong timing after all?
The rain was soaking them even more, mixing with the salt water that was splashing up to the deck of their ship. Thunder crackled somewhere far ahead of them, and it was getting rougher and rougher.
The prince spun the wheel to the right, avoiding an incoming flood of tall water. Crap! C'mon.. c'mon..
They successfully avoid it. Yeah! But the ship rocked to the left, some crew fell down on the wooden deck.
Naruto's spiky hair was soaked wet, he had to wipe his locks back to have a clear view of what was ahead of them. But all they could see was a never ending dark clouds. Oh no. It seemed that they went off course.
"Konohamaru!" Naruto screamed his name. "Take over the wheel! Now!"
Without any more words, the brunet boy took over the wheel for Naruto. His face looked stressed and stern as he tried to balance the heavy wheel. Iruka was not here with them, so he had to give it to Konohamaru. Ah, there was Iruka-sensei. He helped some crew members that fell down, and now he was rushing back to where his two students were standing.
"Naruto-niisan!" He shouted. "What're you doing!?"
"I'm finding the right direction!" Prince Naruto shouted back, trying to grab his father's golden compass that was inside his coat's front pocket. "Wait for my instruction!"
"Okay!" The brunet slicked his hair back with his left hand and focused back on steadying the ship. Iruka tried to help Konohamaru as well, and they hold the wheel together as Naruto tried to find the right direction: North.
The blond flipped the compass open, and he tried to steady his body to look at the compass. Shoot. It was covered with the bloody water. Naruto used his hand, that was holding the pilar, to wipe of the blurry glass that covered the pointer. Ah!
"Turn it 90 degrees to the left! Now!"
"Okay!" Both Konohamaru and Iruka shouted back as they spun the wheel together.
As the ship shifted in an instant, Naruto did a horrible mistake. He didn't place his left hand back to the pillar, and he lost balance right away. He fell to the wet, slippery deck. The golden compass in his right hand fell over as well, and it was a feet away from him.
His mind was blurry, but as he saw the golden compass not in his hand anymore, he panicked big time. There it was. No way Naruto was going to let it go!
He crawled closer to the compass using his arms and legs, but the wooden deck was really wet. He slipped here and there, and the compass swiped to the right because of the ship turning to another direction. No!
"Ugh!" The whole ship rocked because of the wave, and Naruto spitted some of the water that entered his mouth. Oh, Thank God the compass was still there! It moved a few feet away from him. C'mon!
The blond stood up with his every strength to fight the wind and ran for the compass. He slipped once, but he stood up again and rushed for it.
Just a little more.. Just a little more..
"Naruto! What are you doing!?" Iruka screamed to him in question of his action.
"The compass!" He shouted back. Ah! It was finally back in his palm. It was very near to the edge, and Naruto stood up and leaned to the edge of the ship.
"I got it!" He waved it to Iruka as proof. But then, suddenly the ship rocked again to the right, slamming Naruto's body to the edge of the ship, and this time the compass slipped away from his hand and fell into the ocean.
No.
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Then everything seemed to be in slow motion.
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He could even hear his own heartbeat from his eardrums, speeding up as time goes by.
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"Naruto! Noo! Leave it!" He could hear Iruka screamed in terror from a distance.
Some crew members were screaming at him too, warning him not to jump and to let it go, but he ignored it.
He jumped up to the platform, took a very, very deep breath, and dived down to the ocean.
Like he would leave that compass behind.
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The jump was brief, and he was now underwater. The water was freezing, but it didn't bother him. A glimpse of gold could be seen, dropping down to the bottom even faster than Naruto himself. The blond prince stretches his every muscle in his body to swim and reach the golden compass. He reached out his right hand as far as he could so he can grab the compass.
But it seemed to be no use.
He paddled his feet as fast as he could, holding his breath and forcing his lungs to conceal the oxygen.
His ears were starting to hurt. The pressure of the ocean were affecting him. His eyes stung from the salty water that surrounded him, but he had no choice than to keep it open. He had to get it back. He had to get it back. He had to get it back.
Oh, God! His lungs were screaming for air! He started to snort air bubbles from his nose. No! The compass was still far from his reach!
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Sasuke froze at where he were. It couldn't be..
Naruto.
It was definitely him.
He saw from the distance, a blond haired man diving down deeper and deeper, paddling his human feet in desperation. He was stretching out his right hand. What was he doing!? Men couldn't breath underwater! He could die!
Instinctively, he swam quickly to the blond. Oh no. H-He was drowning. Why was he here!? Then Sasuke saw a glimpse of gold, a few feet below the blond man, still pretty far from his reach. Was he reaching for that object..?
Flounder screamed at him. "Hurry!"
"I know!" He shouted back.
More air bubbles were forming from the man's nose. But the man seemed so determined to grab that shining object in front of him.
Why!?
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His vision was becoming darker and darker, but Naruto was sure of what he saw on the ocean floor, way below him.
The compass was shining gloriously a few feet below him, and in the background, was an enormous shipwreck. He knew that ship well. A few painting were made in memory of the ship. It was the 'Kushina'. Yes. It was named after his mother.
It was as if the compass jumped by itself to return to its rightful owner. As if the compass were not satisfied with him, and demanded to be returned to his father. His father, King Minato, who died from a sunken ship.
Father.. Mother.. Perhaps you were calling me?
His lungs hurt so much! Some of the water were leaking in.
Father.. Mother.. Perhaps you want me to go to the afterlife with you? Do you want my body to rest here with the two of you in the King's Graveyard?
His body was giving up, his vision was blurry and dark, but he could see the golden compass glistening in the darkness of the ocean.
Perhaps you were always meant to be here, eh, little compass?
The blond let his eyes closed, accepting his defeat as he was slowly drowning. His senses seemed to be dead.
Huh? Wait..
This feeling.. It's familiar. He felt this before.
It's closing in..
But he couldn't sense whatever that was even further, as his mind shut down as he passed out in the depths of the ocean.
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Sasuke grabbed his body firmly, merely seconds after the blond became unconscious. He wrapped his arms around the blond man and carried him up to the surface as fast as he could. He shook his tail violently, ordering every muscle to work the tail as quickly as they could. C'mon! This man must NOT die!
Flounder held the shiny object with its fins and swam up together with Sasuke. The two shared no words as they were focusing on one destination: the surface.
The pale merman opened a few button from the blond's outer wear. He feared that it would choke him more. As his tail was guiding his body to the surface, he trailed his fingertips on Naruto's cheek.
He was gorgeous.
Live, Naruto, live!
Finally they arrive at the surface.
He tapped Naruto's face to make him conscious once more. "Naruto.. Naruto.. Wake up.. Wake up!"
But there was no response from the blond man.
Sasuke was incredibly frustrated. He was breathing rapidly as he was desperate to save the life of Naruto the human. They were far from the shore, what should they do!?
"Flounder! There!" He pointed a ship that was in the middle of the storm. They were almost escaping the area, leaving the horrible weather behind. They sped up their swimming to the ship. The huge ship was still, it seemed that they dropped some kind of chain to hold them down. A few men were screaming something from the surface to the ship. It seemed that they were looking for Naruto.
Flounder gave him the golden object. "P-Put it somewhere, it seemed important to him."
Sasuke held the object in his palm, and it did look gorgeous. He slipped it somewhere inside Naruto's outer wear, with his hands and arms trembling hard.
Naruto.. Wake up.
He tapped his face once again as they were approaching the ship. "Naruto.. Wake up.." He whispered to Naruto's ear with his soft timbre tone. His tail was paddling as fast as he could.
"How should we attract their attention!?" asked Flounder. The storm was starting to move away from the area, making the sky clearer and clearer.
Sasuke was thinking fast while multitasking to try to revive Naruto up. He tapped his cheeks again and again. They finally reached their destination, they were exactly below the ship. Suddenly, Naruto coughed out water out of his lungs.
"U-Ugh!" Naruto spat out some water from his mouth and coughed it out loud, but his eyes were still closed. He seemed to be in pain.
"P-Prince Konohamaru! I heard a coughing below!" A voice of a man could be heard from the ship's surface.
"It's our cue," Flounder taps his bare shoulder. "C'mon."
Sasuke was incredibly relieved, but he didn't want to leave the man. Naruto's face.. It calmed him down. Sasuke was panting, but seeing some men putting down rope ladders just very near from where he was, he decided to leave Naruto behind. Sasuke just had to do it. He submerged his body underwater except for parts of his head, but he was holding Naruto's body with his arms from below the ocean surface. The humans were preparing to climb down the ladder. He tried his best to conceal his body from the other men.
"Goodbye.. Naruto," he whispered it to Naruto's ear before submerging all of his head underwater. His voice was full of pain. Sasuke didn't want to leave him behind. He pushed Naruto's body up so it could float, and he swam away from the ship along with Flounder.
Not long after that, a few other men brought Naruto up by the ladder, and Sasuke observed it from afar. The blond was coughing more and more water out, but it was a relief that he was alive and well. The ship stood still for a very long time, but Sasuke didn't want to leave them just yet. Some men pull up their chained object back up to their ship. A few moments later, the giant ship moved once more, moving away from the doomed area. His body was still shaking up until now, when the ship sailed away from them, heading to wherever they planned to go.
Flounder was quiet for a while but he broke the silence. "S-Sasuke, if we weren't there just now.."
The raven shuddered as he realised it. Yes. If both of them weren't there at the moment.. Naruto could..
Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, he was holding his tears, and then he opened it again once he felt calmer.
"I wish.." he whispered, "I just wish I could be with him."
The fish just froze in silence, not knowing how to reply the prince's statement.
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"Okay. Very good, Naruto. I think that's all the water. Now breathe slowly.."
The blond slowly sucked in some air and inhaled it out. He focused his eyes to his teacher, Iruka, that was squatting right in front of him.
"Very good. You're doing well."
He breathed in and out a few more time, and his mind was starting to regain focus.
"I-Iruka-sensei?" he spoke up.
"Yes, Naruto?"
"How did I get up here again?"
Iruka stared at him confusedly.
"You don't remember?"
Naruto closed his eyes shut to remember his last piece of memory before everything went dark. "I remember.. I was still far away from the compass, but then everything went black."
Konohamaru spoke next to him. "That's not possible, Naruto-niisan. I think you just forget what happened. You were coughing on the side of the ship. And, ah! Look at that," He slipped his hand to Naruto's pocket and picked up the golden compass. "You have it with you. That means you did it after all."
The blond stared the compass in shock. It was inside his pocket!? Konohamaru gave it back to his palms, and he held it tightly to his chest.
Father, I have protected it.
He did it.
"I agree with Konohamaru," said Iruka. "Your mind was probably disoriented."
"But.." Naruto tried to argue. He was still gripping his father's golden compass. "I-I don't know.. I'm remembering something else.."
"What is it?" his teacher asked him.
The blond prince closed his eyes to remember something new.
Strong arms wrapping him..
Incoherent shouts..
A whisper?
"Goodbye..Naruto."
He opened his eyes, but he was even more confused than ever.
"I-I remember a..voice," he said to Iruka.
"... What voice?"
"I don't know," he scratched his hair. "A man's voice. It was.. smooth, I guess."
Iruka, Konohamaru and the rest of the crew were looking at him as if he was crazy.
"Now, Naruto-niisan, all you need is a rest," Konohamaru chuckled to him. "I guess it was your dream or something when you were unconscious."
"Naruto," Iruka spoke up slowly. "We're going back to Konoha. You need to recover and-"
"No," he sounded stern. "Iruka-sensei, I promised Gaara I would come to his inauguration ceremony. And we're a close ally of Suna, so we have to come." He stopped for a moment to cough. "We must go to Suna."
Konohamaru gave Iruka a questioning look, and then the older brunet answered him.
"Very well then, Prince Naruto," he gave the blond a smile. "But you have to rest right now. Go get changed inside. I think we have some hot water inside the room."
Naruto clutched to the cloth that was wrapped around him, and stood up with Konohamaru's help. "I'll take over your duty," said Konohamaru with a pat to Naruto's back. The blond prince gave the younger boy the golden compass, signalling him to take over his duty.
"Don't lose it."
Konohamaru rolled his eyes. "After what happened? Of course I won't," suddenly he chuckled slowly. "Oh, Naruto-niisan. You're always the crazy one."
Naruto gave him a pat on his hair and gave him a wide grin.
"We'll take turns, Konohamaru," said Iruka. "Have a good rest, Naruto. I'll talk to you later when you feel better, and probably I'm going to scold you non-stop."
"Okay, sensei," he grinned to the older brunet. "Everyone! Thank you for your help! And- Atchoo!" He sneezed hard. "Sorry. Yeah, please do your best to listen to Captain Konohamaru!"
"Aye!" Shouts were heard from all over the deck of the ship.
They pulled their anchor up, and sailed north where the Suna kingdom stands. Naruto, on the other hand, finished washing himself with hot water and changed into a pair of warm pyjamas. He rested his body on the comfortable hammock, and let his mind wander around.
"Naruto.. Naruto.. Wake up.. Wake up!"
He remembered the feeling of his cheeks being caressed by a soft, cold hand.
"Goodbye.. Naruto"
A whisper.. so soft.. so full of love.. and it sounded so painful to his ears..
The memory of the voice was implanted into Naruto's brain. A smooth timbre, whenever he remember it, it made him shiver. It was definitely a man's voice.
He rolled over to the side and closed his eyes, his body was giving in. Prince Naruto drifted into a deep sleep, but he continued to dream about the mysterious, yet beautiful voice.
Who are you..?
First encounter of the two! What do you think about it!? It was kinda similar to the Little Mermaid (Disney), but I tried to make it different.
This update is kinda fast, right? Yeah, I tried my best to update the story while I'm not that busy.
Try imagining Sasuke's Japanese voice while reading it, cause that's what I use for my imagination. His Japanese VA's voice was really, really good.
I'll try to update the story soon! Thank you for reading! *bows*
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Love, myfavoriteramen.