STILL ON HIATUS, EXPLAINED BELOW.

The first step in my recovery is to learn to love myself...
...or so I thought. Apparently, according to Sasuke the first step to recovery is to get away from the drama that started it all and just relax and be myself. He brought my psychiatrist with so I can actually work on it, but right now...

"Oh my fucking god... Why are we in Delhi, India?!" I look at Sasuke with an unhappy face.
"Because you couldn't decide where to go, so I chose," Sasuke points out and I face-palm.
"I thought you were kidding!" I whine as I shake my head. "I'm supposed to be in recovery, not on vacation."
"You need to relax first, then recover. You've been stressed the past year," Sasuke smiles at me.
"I've been comatose the past year," I frown at him.
"And you've been stressed during that, too. C'mon. Just... let it go. Be at peace. I brought your psychiatrist with. But we're going to be gone for about three months. A different place every two weeks. My treat," He pulls me close and my psychiatrist looks unhappy and uncomfortable with everything about this. I don't blame him.
"You can be very rash sometimes," I look at him from my peripheral.
"And you can be very uptight. And I technically own you, employee," He grins at me, slyly. "Isn't the boss supposed to be the uptight one?"
I stop, taking a step back. "Employee? I'm still employed?"
"Yeah. Everyone knows what you went through was traumatic and they don't blame you. So after this three month vacation, you'll be back in my office with me," He smiles. He pulled strings. Once again, he's always thinking about me. I lean into him and sigh.
"Fine. But I wanna know where we're going first," He hugs me with one arm and nods.
"Right. First, obviously is India. Then we're gonna stay two weeks in London. Then from there we go to Paris, then New York City, then Shanghai and Hong Kong - we'll be visiting those one city per week - and then finally we'll go visit Venice. Exploring the world. How's that sound?" He looks at me like an excited puppy.
I shake my head.
"Sounds wonderful."
"Okay, so first, we're gonna try out this curry place I found on Google Maps," Sasuke looks at me. He's a child. A child in an adult's body. And I still love him. I'm a fuckin' pedophile.

INDIA

Wow. This place is so beautiful. Delhi, especially. We tried so many variants of curry. Sweet curry, spicy curry, salty curry, bitter curry, even sour curry. It was delicious all of it. Even the bitter curry. We even got to visit the Taj Mahal. It was truly breathtaking. We saw it at night, all lit up by the palace lights and the stars.
It was like a scene out of Disney's Aladdin. I felt like Princess Jasmine and Sasuke was my Prince Alibaba (or as Disney called him "Ali Ababwa"). The only reason is because he was the one taking me all over the world and I could only take it in, stunned.

LONDON

Two weeks later we were in England. Man, my English is terrible. I had a hard time communicating with the locals. I could understand them and write it fine, I just couldn't speak it very well. At a certain point, I just started pretending I was mute.
"Haha. You gotta learn to speak better English, Naru-kun," Sasuke teases me and my cheeks burn a bright red.
"It's not my fault that my English classes never bothered to teach properly," I mutter as I cross my arms.
"Yes it is. You didn't bother to show up to SCHOOL half the time," He grins at me and make a face. Oh right. We went to the same high school.
"S-So! Everyone sucked!" I yelp as the English people look at me with interest. Maybe shouting in Japanese wasn't such a good idea.
"S-Sorry," I bow my head as I apologize in English to the passersby.
"C'mon. We have a tour of London to go on," Sasuke tells me in English and holds my hand, taking me over to one of the Double Decker busses. We sit on the top deck.
"Where are we going?" I ask him, reverting back to Japanese.
"Big Ben. Then we go on a tour of the Buckingham Palace. From there we visit St. Paul's Cathedral and Windsor Castle," He smiles.
"Windsor Castle isn't in London though," I state.
"I know. That'll be a day trip or two out to Windsor. Our main stay is London though. We'll visit the London Eye and the Palace of Westminster. Doesn't that sound fun?" He looks at me. He's happy.
"Can we visit Stonehenge?" I ask innocently.
"That's in Wiltshire..." He looks at the map he has on him then back at me. "Will that make you happy?" I nod and he smiles, a glow in his eyes.
"Sasuke... Are you happy?" I ask him self-consciously.
"Of course... I'm spending time with the one I love," He grins at me and kisses me smack-dab on the lips in front of all these people. My psychiatrist looks worried and forgotten... Only a few people look disgusted (the older ones), the rest either don't care or look like they wanna say 'aww'. I blush as I lightly push him away and look directly at the road ahead.
He laughs, carefree. This guy... is too nonchalant about things. He's going to be the death of me.

PARIS

Two weeks later we're in France. It's really pretty when you see everything from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Especially at night when the city of lights is all lit up. A breeze blows and ruffles my hair as Sasuke puts his arm around me. I feel like a couple on a honeymoon or something. We're not even technically officially date. We proclaimed out love to each other, but... we never officially asked on another out.
I'm too afraid to.
"This is beautiful. This really is the city of love," I whisper to Sasuke.
"Oui ma cherie," Sasuke answers back. I know very limited French but I know he just called me his 'darling' or 'sweetheart'.
"Pourquoi 'cherie'?" I ask with a raised brow.
"Parce je t'aime," Sasuke smiles at me and I gulp down the bile in my throat. He says it so carefree!
"Tais-toi!" I reprimand him with a creeping blush on my face. He chuckles and ruffles my hair, before kissing my forehead.
"Je veux vous poser une question," He looks at me and I tilt my head. I... you... one question... that's all I understood from that.
"Can you repeat that?" I ask, reverting back to Japanese. He laughs and nods.
"I want to ask you a question," He repeats in our mother language.
"Oh. Go ahead," I ask as I look at him through my peripheral.
"How would you like to go on a date with me?" He asks.
"Aren't we kinda already going on an extended three month date?" I quirk a brow and he laughs again.
"Fair enough. Then how about this... how would you like to date me and become my lover?" He asks and my heart stops. My eyes go wide and I turn slowly to him.
"No... no shitting, right? You're not just joking...?" I ask. I feel like I'm about to cry. This can't be real.
"I'm not joking. We've said we love each other but we never made a move past that. I want us to be something more. Something profound..." He looks me dead in the eye, being serious as I've ever seen him.
"And you're really over my old man...?" I ask, unsure and insecure. He smiles and nods, pulling me into a close embrace.
"Yes... seeing you near death... I actually wished it had been him instead of you... I guess part of the reason for it being him was the resentment I felt from the constant rejection... I'm over all of that... I want you more than anyone else in this world. I thought Kakashi-sensei was my one and that I was still in love with him after all these years. But... no... I'm happier with you. I care for him, but as a secondary father figure now... and only because he's your father. Naruto, I-"
I stop him mid-sentence by planting my lips on his. I pull him as close as I possibly can. I pined for this man for years. I felt the pain he did with the unrequited love... but now... my love is returned. And so is he. We complete each other right? After a moment or two, I pull back and smile sheepishly.
"Sorry..."
He chuckles. "It's ironic..."
"What is...?" I ask with a tilt of my head.
"The first time we kissed, I forced myself on you out of confusion and rage... and because I just didn't know that's not what you do to people..." He admits half-heartedly. "You forced this kiss on me this time... not that it was all that forced. But you initiated it. We've... both really grown up. Haven't we...?"
I look out at the French city and nod. "Yeah... we really have. You've learned more about social constructs, even if you are socially awkward most of the time... and I've come to accept a lot of things about myself..." I look up at him.
"So... will you be my lover, my boyfriend?" He asks and I smile, nodding.
"Yeah... that sounds nice."

New York City

Two weeks later, we ended up in America... I wish we hadn't come here. We saw Broadway shows and visited Maddison Square Gardens and even walked around Time Square... but I hated how rude everyone was. New Yorkers are the worst company. However, we didn't even have to go to Italy to get Italian food so that was nice... even though we're going to Italy in a few weeks anyways.
My psychiatrist got fed up and ended up going back home for the time being. Can't blame him. Ever since that first night in Paris, Sasuke and I have been extremely affectionate. We hold hands in public and we're just overly happy with one another's company.
This... is what it's like to have a romantic relationship.

Shanghai & Hong Kong

Another couple of weeks later and we were in China. The first week was spent in Shanghai, where we peered out the Shanghai Tower. We also visited the Oriental Pearl Tower. We took a tour of the Yu Garden and I actually felt really peaceful. It was so beautiful and pretty and Zen. We visited Longhua Temple and the City God Temple of Shanghai. It was absolutely phenomenal.
The second week was spent in Hong Kong. We visited Hong Kong's Disneyland. Interesting to say the least. We took a ride on the Ngong Ping 360 and man was I terrified of those heights... Only because it was a cable car instead of a sturdy building like the towers. We visited the Man Mo Temple and the Po Lin Monastery and even viewed beautiful works in the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Our last visit was the Hong Kong Wetland Park.

Venice

After out visit to China, we ended up at our last destination... Venice, Italy. Another romantic city.
"Sasuke... I'm beginning to thing you planned Paris and Venice to woo me," I eye him as we pay a ferryman to row us in his gondola down the Venice canals. Sasuke pays him a little extra to sing us an Italian love song.
I don't know any Italian other than "grazie", "Italiano", "buongiorno", "ciao", "scusa", "cucina" and "arrivederci". And they mean "thanks", "Italian", "good morning", "hello", "sorry", "kitchen" and "goodbye" in that order.
Sasuke looks at me and places an arm around my shoulder with a smile. "Maybe I am..." He kisses my cheek and I flush.
"Well... it's working. You're not just doing this to get in my pants are you?" I eye him with a pout. He chuckles and shakes his head.
"No. That was never even on my mind. I truly just want to spend time with you and get to love you more and more... I never want to force that upon you," Sasuke looks at me with a happy grin.
I smile and rest in his arms. That makes me really happy that he's willing to wait for me. "Do you even want to do it with me?" I ask out insecurity.
"Well, yeah... I'm a guy and the person I love is so beautifully next to me. But... I also really respect you and your decisions," He states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. He's so forthright with that. My entire face burns. He laughs and hugs me to his chest, nuzzling the top of my head.
The night and moon hit him just right. I lean up and kiss him as the ferryman continues his songs of love.
Sasuke kisses me back, holding my head in his hands. I also hold his in mine. It's absolutely perfect.
Aside from a few discrepancies, this vacation was absolutely perfect. I'll have to thank Sasuke and his parents thoroughly when we return to Japan.

I know it's been FOREVER since I updated this story. The main reason is because I've been trying to finish up the story before posting anymore acts... but I'm stuck on the last three chapters. So I'm hoping putting out one chapter for now will suffice until I can finish the last three. This story's last act WILL BE act 27.
Again, I am so sorry for the wait. And again, thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Your Author,
Nova