Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!
Summary: COMPLETE (new chapter up everyday - total of 35 chapters!). Sasuke's a writer whose been writing the same words for years. He's tired, he's annoyed, and his money situation is...pretty messed up, even by student standards. Enter Naruto. Modern AU (College/University), Sasunaru/Narusasu. Posted for Sasuke's birthday!
A/N: The second last chapter! I won't make you wait any longer :)
Enter Naruto
Chapter 34: Better
It was long, it was emotional, and more often than not, Naruto found his voice completely stuck in his throat. Sasuke still held his phone, which was good, because Naruto's hands were still just as shaky as the first moment he had seen Jiraiya's name—
Still, they reached the last photograph, and even with the promise of more, Naruto found himself feeling...disappointed. Sasuke's parents moved back—and so did Itachi, too, maybe to give Naruto some space—
"There's still another paragraph here," Sasuke muttered, scrolling through.
"Is there?" Naruto pressed into his side, watching as Sasuke switched the phone to his other hand so he could wrap an arm around Naruto's waist—
There was. He was right.
'One more thing, before I forget. Minato picked your name out of one of my old manuscripts; he loved the thing, and he forced Kushina to read it about a hundred times. Poor girl.
I never had it published, but if you'd like to take a whirl with it, say the word. Maybe it'll speak to you, like it spoke to your father.
Happy new year, kid—I'm really glad I met you in this one.
Jiraiya.'
"He's a writer…?" Itachi spoke—closer, now, because everyone had moved back in—
"Yeah," Naruto sucked in a breath, "we met him when Sasuke went in for the—"
Naruto snapped his mouth shut, staring at Sasuke with wide eyes. Shit. Shit—he had no idea how much Sasuke wanted to tell his parents about that, and Naruto had all but spilled it all out—
"Sasuke went in for the…?" Sasuke's mother prompted, and Naruto sealed his mouth shut. Sasuke blinked once, and then again, and then flicked the tip of Naruto's nose.
"When I went in for the interview," Sasuke said, casually locking Naruto's phone and passing it back to him, "with my publisher."
And there were several thousand thoughts that whirled through Naruto's mind in that moment (not the least of them being how calm Sasuke seemed about this), but the one that stood out the most was the way Sasuke had so easily said my publisher—
"You had it already?" Itachi spoke up, glancing between them—
"A few days ago." Sasuke flicked some hair back, eyes darting somewhere past Naruto—to his parents, no doubt—
"How did it go?" Itachi's eyes were wide—hopeful, unbelievably so—Naruto's smile widened—
"It was a disaster."
"Wh—" Naruto spun back to Sasuke, who met his gaze head on. "No, it wasn't! It went great!" He spun back to Itachi, pointing at him with all five fingers. "It went great—Sasuke is a big fat liar—"
"Some of it was great. It's fine now. The day was a disaster."
Naruto glanced back at Sasuke, who crossed his arms, head tilting just so as if begging Naruto to try and argue with him—
Naruto smiled and shook his head.
"What matters is it's fine now. And Sasuke has some contracts to look over."
"One contract to look over."
"A contract," Mikoto repeated, voice faint—
"Yes," Sasuke spoke, and Naruto automatically moved to stand beside him, "for my book."
Sasuke met his parents' gaze head on, straightening his shoulders. He wasn't angry that Naruto had let it slip—really, Sasuke could have easily lied if he had wanted to—
But he didn't want to.
That was the point.
And Naruto's arm slipped around his waist, then, his body standing protectively at Sasuke's side—vaguely, he registered Itachi moving to stand beside him, too, and Sasuke felt the the tightness in his chest lessen, just a little—
His mother moved forward.
"Sasuke—congratulations!" Her hug was soft—hesitant; as light as her voice—Naruto's hand barely had the chance to twitch before she let go—
"We should—ah, celebrate," she said, ducking back—but Sasuke hardly registered her words as his father came back into view— "I have sake in the kitchen—"
And then she was gone, and there was his father—right there, as his mother vanished from his sight—as Naruto's grip on him softened, and then tightened again—as his brother took just the barest step forward, as if ready to move between them—
"A publication at such a young age is...impressive." Fugaku reached out a hand. "You've done well, Sasuke."
At the same time, Itachi relaxed back to his side and Naruto's grip on him loosened. Half-conscious, half-dreaming, Sasuke automatically reached out to meet his father's hand in kind—
You've done well.
His heart hammered in his chest.
You've done well.
His father's handshake was just as firm and unyielding as it always had been, but—
You've done well.
—it had never been accompanied by this. Not by the apprehension in his father's eyes—nor by the small shake of his lips, in a way that even his facial hair couldn't hide—nor by the way he swallowed, twice, as if trying to clear his throat—nor by the—
You've done well.
There was a time when he would have killed to hear those words in his father's voice.
You've done well.
He had been so desperate to hear them. So, so desperate—and then he had spent two and a half years convincing himself he had never needed to hear them at all, and then to hear them now, after everything, in direct response to what Sasuke had been sure his father would hate the mere idea of—
"Thank you."
His voice was barely over a whisper. It barely escaped his throat—he kept swallowing, kept trying to hold himself together, but his father's face had changed at the words and Naruto's grip loosened from his side and he felt Itachi move away, too—
For the second time, Sasuke broke down in his father's arms.
They had two bottles.
Two bottles to choose from, she told herself, wiping at her cheek—one inexpensive, one far more expensive—and Sasuke had never been one for fancy things, but this was a celebration and if this wasn't the time to use a bottle they were saving, then she didn't know what would be—now if only she could get her hand to stop shaking so she could pour the damn thing—
"Mrs. Uchiha?"
The bottle nearly sprang out of her hand.
"O-oh—Naruto—" She put it down, turning towards the fridge (away from him, to open the door, to hide)—
"Are you alright?"
She buried herself further into the fridge.
"Ah—yes; I'll just—I'll just be a moment—"
"Hey," his voice was softer—but closer (just on the other side of the fridge door), "um, listen—I'll go if you want me to, but I kind of have a thing about letting people cry alone. So I'd—I'd rather not, if that's okay."
She closed her eyes.
It was a kind sentiment.
It was absolutely undeserved.
She took a step back, turning away from him as the fridge door closed—
"Hey," he said again, "don't cry—don't—hey, c'mon," he tried to get her attention—tried to call it back to him, "today is going really great, I think—you know that Sasuke—"
"We told him he couldn't."
She didn't know how much Sasuke had told him. It surely couldn't have been that much, with the way he was so willing to be kind to her.
"You—"
"We told him he couldn't do it." She turned back to him, something twisting up her spine to straighten it as she met his gaze. "Do you understand?"
Her hand still held the handle of the fridge.
"Not that he should not—that he could not. That it was not possible."
It was cold against her skin—a contrast to the heat in her veins, bubbling up as if her blood had risen in response to her pain—
"That others had succeeded—made a career, as an author—but that our own son could not. Think, for a moment, Naruto. Imagine yourself if your parents had said those words to you."
"...Mrs.—"
"Do you think you could forgive them?"
He didn't respond, then, and Mikoto nodded firmly as she turned away.
"No," she said, feeling the burning in her eyes. "No. They would not deserve your forgiveness."
And the swelling rose up in her chest, then—spreading up into her throat, clasping it shut—it was so very, very hard to breathe—
"Okay—no, hang on. Stop," Naruto twisted around until he stood in front of her—bending forwards to meet his eyes with hers, which so firmly wanted to stay on the floor, "you've got this all wrong. You don't deserve forgiveness—it wouldn't be forgiveness if you deserved it. And that's not even your decision to make—you don't get to decide if Sasuke forgives you. I don't get to decide it either—Kakashi doesn't get to—Sasuke does. And he is. And you—if you really want to help—if you want to try and—" he waved a hand, "like—speed up the process, then—then you can't dwell on the past. You can't. It'll take you over. You'll never be able to move forward, and you'll spend your life feeling awful and wonder why you guys were never able to move past it all."
The swelling, in Mikoto's neck and shoulders, regressed back to her heart.
"I'm not saying you forget what happened," Naruto said softly. "I'm not saying Sasuke has, either—he hasn't. But you can't let it control what you do. He's here, isn't he? Doesn't that tell you what he wants?"
There was a pause. She felt so—heavy. So full of the weight of her guilt—she leaned against the fridge as if it was the only thing keeping her upright. At this point, it may as well have been.
"He deserves better parents than us," she told the floor—just past Naruto's elbow. As if she could bear to meet his eye. As if she could speak any louder than a whisper—any louder than a breath—the words were loud enough as it was, the way they had been thundering through her head like a storm, moving closer and closer until the lightning had crashed through her mind each time her son met her eyes—
"Then be better."
Her head snapped up.
"It's not all or nothing. You made a mistake—and you regret it. That's already different from how things were before—that's—okay."
He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a breath.
"Okay—listen. When I was thirteen, I ran away from home. I ran away from my home and I told my parents that I hated them. I told them that they shouldn't've adopted me at all—I told them I would've been better off without them. And what I really meant was that they would've been better off without me, but the point is—I get it, okay? You feel bad for kicking Sasuke out—imagine if you had told him you didn't love him, too. I felt like the worst fucking son anyone could have ever had. And they forgave me like it was nothing."
He stopped, then—biting his lip as his eyes turned back to her.
"So I got better. And I really had to try at it. I'd never had my own family before—I didn't know how it was supposed to work or anything—so, I—I screwed it up. A bunch of times. But then I learned, and I made up for them, and I got better. And I don't see any reason why you can't do the same."
Her eyes were something close to dry, now—and the lump in her throat was something close to gone—
"I really think you can. And so does Sasuke. He wouldn't be here if he didn't think so."
If they believed she could—if Sasuke truly wanted—
"Okay?"
She nodded.
"Okay. D'you need help carrying stuff? Or cleaning? That's what I was actually here to ask."
She would be better.
Sasuke stepped away from the door.
After his father had quietly left—likely to compose himself—he had automatically followed the way Naruto had gone—
But he hadn't been able to enter. Itachi hadn't even said a word, either—only quietly (shamelessly) listening in on the conversation that was obviously meant to be private, but he had been so desperate to hear it—
He let out another breath, trying to get ahold of himself. He had only just managed to put himself back together, and he had really hoped to come out of tonight without breaking down in tears at all, let alone this many times…
He met his brother's eyes, and watched as a slow, soft smile spread across his face. He squeezed Sasuke's shoulder.
"Lucky thing a little brat like you managed to get someone like that."
His voice was quiet, but it had every bit the smugness he had remembered. Itachi hadn't teased him like that in years, and yet—
"Back off," the response was automatic, "or I'll kill you."
His brother's surprised laugh rang out into the air.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll try," his arm reached out—up—and Sasuke jerked back as his finger poked him right in the middle of his fucking forehead, "otouto."
Sasuke didn't know whether to hug his brother or to punch him.
"—hate it when you do that."
Naruto peeked his head out—just after he heard Sasuke's voice—with a stack of cups in his hands. Itachi was laughing, from the looks of things, and Sasuke was rubbing his forehead with the closest thing to a fucking pout he had ever seen—
"What did I just walk in on?"
"My brother's an asshole," Sasuke responded, crossing his arms. "What are you doing?"
"Runs in the family, the—" He barely had time to throw Itachi a wink before Sasuke dug his elbow into his side— "Hey—hey, hey, I'm holding cups! Breakable stuff!"
He held them out in front of him—as a shield—and grinned at Sasuke's narrowed eyes.
"You gotta be nice to me 'till I put them down. I—wait, uh—" He turned around, ducking back into the kitchen. "Where am I taking these?"
Mikoto laughed softly.
"The living room. Thank you, Naruto."
"You got it, ma'am!" He twisted back out, narrowing dodging Itachi as he did—
"Careful, usuratonkachi," Sasuke muttered, one hand catching Naruto's and the other holding the stack of cups still—
"Thanks," he laughed, "I gotta take these to the—uh—living room. Which one's the living room?"
Itachi laughed.
"This way."
He waited until Naruto gently placed the cups on the table, and then pulled him into the closest empty room he could find.
"Wh—"
He cut Naruto off.
It hadn't been that long since they had got here—really, they had spent far longer together without being particularly close to each other—but Sasuke was still desperately craving a moment alone with Naruto. Just a moment to be with him—just to press closer, for a little longer—Sasuke felt like he had been spinning in a whirlpool of emotions all day today and he just wanted to stop—just float, with Naruto, in that peace and calm and contentment that being with him made him feel—
"Sasuke—" Naruto breathed as his head slammed back, against the wall—as Sasuke moved his kisses to his neck, twisting one arm under Naruto's thigh, so he could hold it, lift it up—so Naruto's leg could wrap around him—so he could slip, so perfectly, in between Naruto's legs—
He smiled as he moved back, pressing one last chaste kiss to Naruto's lips.
"Come on," he whispered, relishing in the way Naruto's eyes fluttered open, unfocused and dazed—
"Wha…?" Naruto's chest heaved with the weight of his breath.
"Come on," Sasuke said again, stepping back and pulling Naruto by the hand.
"What did I do to deserve that?" Naruto whispered, stumbling obediently with him.
Sasuke glanced back at him—Naruto's eyes were as brilliant as his smile, and ever-growing brighter—
He shrugged, but held Naruto's hand just a little bit tighter.
Sasuke's mom had put the bottle of sake into a different flask—one that matched the cups that Naruto had brought out. Naruto only assumed it had been used to pour, but by the time they got there, the sake was already in the cups—and Sasuke's dad was back, too.
It made Naruto giddier than it should have to watch Sasuke take a cup with his left hand (his right was still holding Naruto's with no obvious intention of letting go). Even now, being with Sasuke made him feel so—
"Shall we toast?" It was Itachi who spoke first. "To Sasuke?"
Naruto shot Sasuke a grin, but there was something so strong in Sasuke's eyes that he had to speak up—
"How about 'to family'?"
He turned to the rest of the room.
Sasuke squeezed his hand so tight it started to hurt, but he didn't mind—it was what Sasuke had wanted to say. He could tell from the way he was looking at his mom. He really had been suspiciously close to the door when Naruto had left the kitchen…
"To family, then?" Itachi raised his glass.
Everyone else followed.
"To family."
Naruto shifted in place, taking another sip of his drink. Sake always tasted stronger than he remembered—although he had only had it a couple times—but it was a good excuse to keep silent and wait for whatever Sasuke's dad was gearing himself up to do. The man had moved to stand beside him like five minutes ago, and had cleared his throat like three times already.
Maybe he ought to break the silence first.
"So...got any embarrassing stories about Sasuke?"
He threw the man a grin, even as he saw the surprise in his face—even as he distinctly heard Sasuke sigh—
"How far back would you like? Childhood? Something from high school?" Itachi examined his fingernails. "I have plenty. He wet my bed, once—"
"Itachi, I will literally murder you." Sasuke's glare could freeze a fire, but Itachi didn't even twitch.
"So touchy, otouto."
"...He had a small dinosaur toy," Mikoto spoke up. "A plush toy. We still have it, actually—"
He saw, out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke shrinking further and further into himself—
"I remember that toy," Itachi said, smirk widening. "You didn't speak with me for two weeks after I took it for a single night. What was his name again?"
There was a long pause. Naruto felt the smile on his face grow wider and wider—
Sasuke sighed.
"...Mr. Roary."
"What!" Naruto shoved himself into Sasuke's side, laughing—until Sasuke had said it, he had been half-convinced Sasuke's family was just fucking with him—
"That's so cute, oh my god," he twisted back to them, "do you have pictures?!"
"We might, actually," Mikoto said, already leaving the room.
"You really don't have to—" Sasuke tried—
"Check the white one. Or—hold on, I'll—" Itachi followed her, jogging to catch up—Naruto debated, for a moment, following them too, but Fugaku hadn't moved yet—
"Your—family," he said gruffly, and Naruto felt Sasuke tense beside him, "in the email—did it say anything about their...background?"
Naruto sucked in a small breath.
"Um—" he swallowed, looking down, "um—not really. All I really know is their names. And what they look like, now, I guess."
Fugaku cleared his throat again, and it made Naruto falter. The guy obviously had something he wanted to say…
"Well, I—I ask," he cleared his throat again, "because Uzumaki is a Japanese name."
Naruto blinked. And then blinked again. And then—
"Wh—really?" He spun back to Sasuke, eyes wide. "Really?! I'm Japane—or I might be—or my parents were—Sasuke, how come you never told me?!"
"I didn't know." Sasuke shook his head, frowning. "I guess it does sound…"
"Uzumaki is—the, ah," Fugaku waved a hand, muttering softly, "the water—the—"
He lifted a finger, spinning it as he glanced back at Sasuke—
"Hurricane?"
"No—in the water. In the—" Fugaku frowned back at the floor, letting out a frustrated breath—
"Like a—whirlpool?"
"Yes!" His head snapped up. "Yes, whirlpool."
"Whoa—cool! That's so cool! It's my—um—my mother's name, so maybe she's—or—oh, I gotta ask Jiraiya—" Naruto immediately grabbed his phone, jabbing his thumb at the email icon—
His phone was snatched out of his hand.
"Wh—hey—!"
"You'll ask Jiraiya tomorrow," Sasuke said, locking his phone. "When you're in front of a computer and can sit down and properly respond to the entire email. Otherwise you'll spend the rest of tonight thinking of things you didn't ask, usuratonkachi."
Damn it, Sasuke had a point.
"Why are you always right?" Naruto pouted, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Teme."
Sasuke's smile widened.
"And your father's name?" Sasuke's dad spoke up again, and it made Naruto look back at him.
"Oh," Naruto shuffled in place, "yeah, he took my, um, mother's when they married, but—"
"We found Mr. Roary," Itachi announced, waving the dinosaur like a flag as he came back into the room—
"Oh my god, yes!"
"Itachi—!"
The time had flown by. Sasuke hadn't even realized how close it was to midnight until Itachi had turned on the TV, but now—
Now, the sake had been finished—the next bottle had been opened, and his brother flipped through the channels, trying to find a celebration that at least two of them didn't completely hate. Sasuke leaned over the back of the couch, beside Naruto (who was half paying attention to the TV, half glancing at the phone that Sasuke had grudgingly given back to him)—
Sasuke pressed close enough to peer over Naruto's shoulder, wrapping an arm around Naruto's waist. He could see Kiba's name from here.
"How's the party?"
Naruto laughed.
"Nuts. Look at what Hinata sent me, though—" He pressed back into Sasuke's body, lifting the phone up a little—
"...Is that Sakura?"
"And Ino, yeah. Look at how close they are." Naruto grinned, tapping the photo to zoom in on them. "We're pretty sure Sakura's gonna confess tonight. Hinata's keeping me updated."
"Sakura...has feelings for Ino?"
Naruto gave him a look. "Oh yeah. Big time. Imagine me and you—but for years."
Sasuke snorted, shoving at Naruto's face. "Moron."
Naruto laughed, slapping at his hand—
"Hey—hey, okay—hang on, m'gonna spill my sake if you keep—"
He laughed again, stuffing his phone back into his pocket so he could face Sasuke fully. His eyes were glittering—his smile was that soft, different one that Naruto got whenever he thought about how much he—
"Years?" Sasuke whispered softly. He wasn't sure he could have done it. He had felt completely overwhelmed after little over a month—
"I would've lost my mind." Naruto's smile widened. "'Specially if you tried to seduce me again."
"I didn't try to—"
"I'm sorry, what did my brother do?" Itachi twisted around, remote still in his hand—
Naruto started laughing.
"I didn't do anything!" Sasuke protested—
"He did! You did, c'mon." Naruto nudged him, eyes still sparkling with laughter as he turned back to Itachi. "Sasuke was dropping hints left and right and I was too thick to figure it out—"
"Well, I'll give you that," Sasuke muttered, taking another sip of sake.
"...Sasuke made the first move?" Itachi asked, and in the same moment that Naruto's smile grew impossibly wide, Sasuke's face burned with the heat of a thousand flames—
"Yeah," Naruto's eyes turned back to him, "Sasuke kissed me."
Sasuke's embarrassment withered and died. With the way Naruto was looking at him, all Sasuke could think was that that spur-of-the-moment, utterly moronic idea may have been the best decision he had ever made in his life—
"Well done, Sasuke." Itachi sat up, crossing his arms over the back of the couch. "I didn't know you had it in you."
Sasuke let out a breath.
"Neither did I."
His brother looked surprised with the sudden honesty—and so did Naruto. He shifted along the back of the couch, his phone flittering to a black screen as he turned to face Sasuke properly, staring at him with such—
"Oh, it's starting!" His mother's voice made him jump—he had nearly forgotten that she and his father were still in the room—
"Ten!"
Sasuke caught her eye for a moment—caught her smile, too, as it grew obviously and immediately fonder at the sight of him—
"Nine!"
His father was looking at him, too, and Sasuke was becoming more and more familiar with that misty-eyed gaze—
"Eight!"
Itachi stood, saying something about everyone needing a drink to toast to the new year—
"Seven!"
But Sasuke's eyes had moved to Naruto, now, and it was all he could do to still hear the countdown—
"Six!"
All he could do to pay attention to anything other than Naruto's smile—Naruto's eyes—
"Five!"
Those eyes had sucked him in from the moment he'd seen them, and it was only getting worse—
"Four!"
Even now, he was—
"Three!"
Even now, he was—
"Two!"
Even now, Naruto was just so—
"One!"
He faintly heard the cheers as their lips met—the shouts, the celebration from the TV screen—but Naruto smiled against his lips, one hand on the back of Sasuke's neck to keep him from going too far—as if Sasuke would ever want to leave—
"Happy new year, teme."
Sasuke pressed his forehead against Naruto's.
"Usuratonkachi."
And Naruto laughed, then, as if the word delighted him—and Sasuke couldn't help but laugh with him, and it was as they broke apart that his family moved forwards—
"Sasuke," his mother's arms wrapped around him, "happy new year."
He sucked in a breath—he hadn't heard those words in his mother's voice for so long—
"Ah—"
But she pulled away, and Itachi was back with a bottle, now—already filling Naruto's cup—as he felt something clap his shoulder—his father's hand—
"Dad—"
His father gave his shoulder a soft squeeze, nodding as if he couldn't quite get out the words—Sasuke could empathize with the feeling—
"Hey—hey, Sasuke," Naruto reached back to pull at him, "get in on this—"
His brother filled his cup as he raised it into the air—
"Happy new year!"
A/N: Mr. Roary makes his long awaited appearance. That's what you all were waiting for, right? :P
I'm sorry if you guys are disappointed that Minato and Kushina weren't recognized! But I did leave a small hint for the future. I can't necessarily promise a sequel will happen (I'm really happy with where this story currently ends), but I'm sure you can guess :)
Can you feel the story wrapping up? Tomorrow's chapter is our last one. Tomorrow's chapter is our! Last! One! I'll have a much longer author's note for you then, but for now - thank you all so, so much for your support. You made all the effort I put into this story more than worth it, and I can't believe how well it has resonated with you. I can't wait to finish my next story!
So for the last time (for now):
See you tomorrow,
- Kinomi