Naruto woke up in a hospital bed, something strange but not completely out
of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was the scowling face of
Shikamaru standing over him. Naruto realized that he probably was just
being delusional again and tried to get back to sleep.
"Wake up," Shikamaru told him tiredly. "How troublesome."
"Is that you?" Naruto asked.
"No it's the tooth fairy," Shikamaru said without any humor in his voice. Naruto sat up to get a better look at Shikamaru. He was older, more of a man at twenty-seven than the boy of sixteen that Naruto remembered him to be. He had wrinkles under his eyes, evidence he wasn't enjoying the same amount of sleep he had in the past.
"Where am I?"
"Hospital. You fainted. Geeze you scared people. You're so troublesome," Shikamaru complained. He paused. Each waited for the other to speak. "So you going to tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"Why you went away. Why you didn't come back. Why you beat up hunter-nins rather than killing them. Why you came back. Start with those and we'll make our way from there," Shikamaru instructed.
"Is this going on record or something?" Naruto questioned.
"I'm talking to you as a friend not a ninja." Naruto sighed and looked out the window to his right.
"I wanted to become strong and to get away from it all," Naruto said finally. Shikamaru nodded, not asking for information the blond clearly didn't want to give. "I didn't come back because I didn't think I would be accepted and I hadn't become strong yet. I don't like killing but I couldn't just let the hunter-nin get me. I came back cause it was time."
"You have AIDS," Shikamaru commented with no emotion. Shikamaru didn't judge. He didn't sympathize or make people feel guilty. Naruto nodded, knowing it was useless to hide the fact that he had the one disease the fox couldn't cure him of. "You've come home to die."
"How long did they say I have to live?" Naruto inquired.
"Depends on your chakra usage. If you don't use any more chakra than usual, than Hokage gives you two months. If you let's, say, fight a genin for an hour then perhaps a month and a half. A chounin, then maybe you're got a few weeks. If it's a jounin for that same amount of time, then maybe a week. ANBU? Few days. Hokage/Senin level? Then you got to hope you survive a day. That's her prediction."
"How've you been?" Naruto asked.
"I'm an ANBU," Shikamaru said letting the topic be changed. "Ino and I married a bit ago and we have three kids. Two boys and a girl." Naruto grinned like the fox he was. Not even in his thirties and the man who thought everything was troublesome was a father of three.
"How's Sakura?"
"Last I saw her about three months ago she was doing well and pregnant. I can ask Ino if you want. They see each other everyday. By the way, you're coming home to stay with Ino and myself tonight. Sakura will probably be by tonight to see how you are once Ino tells her you're home. She married Lee by the way. They have two kids right now, girl and boy."
"Hin," Naruto started but was interrupted by the coughing. His body shook as if he was in a hurricane. Shikamaru waited for the coughing to stop. "Hinata?" Naruto finished when he could talk without wheezing.
"Married Kiba in the weirdest match I've ever seen. Kiba is so troublesome. They have a baby. I think it's a boy but you can't really tell from a bundle of cloth."
"Chouji?"
"Chouji's dead," Shikamaru informed him. "He's been dead for the past three years cause we couldn't didn't have enough man power on a mission." Naruto brought his head down in shame knowing Shikamaru's unintentional implication. He had just as well have killed Chouji, Shikamaru's best friend. Naruto remained silent for what seemed like forever before speaking what was on his mind.
"Has the bastard come home?"
"Sasuke? No, he hasn't. We were hoping you had. He's one of our most dangerous missing-nins. Anyone who sees him is to take him out."
"What about me? Before I came in what were they supposed to do to me if they saw me?"
"Take up your offer for ramen to try to get information out of you and then try to beat you. Then they were to drag you home. After the first few who came home we realized you weren't a danger," Shikamaru smirked. Naruto wondered why Shikamaru started smirking, but decided the train of thought was too large for him.
"So how has life been without me?" Naruto asked.
"Different. Oh, you'll be staying with Ino and myself for the night. Tsunade wants as little fuss as possible so I volunteered. Are you ready to go or do you want to stay here longer?"
"I'm ready to go," Naruto told him. Shikamaru helped him out of the bed and checked his friend out of the hospital. The two walked sedately down the street. Naruto felt a familiar flare of chakra coming from another street, but dismissed it. It couldn't be him.
Sasuke and Sakura walked up the street side by side. They passed the hospital and headed toward the pharmacy. Sakura was chatting about how life had progressed since Sasuke's disappearance. He felt a familiar chakra pattern but it was gone before he could identify it. He blamed Sakura for the distraction.
"So what medicine do you need anyway?" Sakura asked pulling Sasuke out of his thoughts.
"Um, just some pain killers," Sasuke muttered.
"You should have told me! We have some at home. Ai! I guess I need to stalk up on bandages anyway, two kids get more scrapes than you'd think. " They continued down the street, Sakura lumbering on with all the grace she could muster due to her pregnancy.
"May I?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. He didn't have much experience around women particularly pregnant ones. In fact he believed Sakura was the first pregnant woman he'd ever talked to.
"Sure," Sakura told him. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach so he could feel the baby kicking inside. Sasuke marveled that a life could be inside this woman.
"Let's go get the medicine," Sakura said after Sasuke had removed his hand embarrassed.
Naruto and Shikamaru made good headway to the Nara family house. It was the combined houses of the Nara clan and the Yamanaka clans connected with an over pass over the street. Shikamaru entered the flower shop on the Yamanaka side of the street and stopped with Naruto at the counter.
"Ayame, where's your mother?" Shikamaru asked the young girl with bright blue eyes and dark hair who was sitting behind the counter.
"She's upstairs," the girl said in a bored tone. She looked back down at her book. A little mass of blue assaulted Shikamaru.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" it called out. Shikamaru caught the assaulting object and held it with expert hands, spinning it around before putting it down revealing that the thing was a young boy that resembled Shikamaru greatly.
"Oy, Naruto, this is my daughter Ayame and this is one of my sons, Shinta," Shikamaru informed his friend.
"Yo," Naruto greeted imitating the copy cat ninja. Ayame looked up with a scowl on her face, nodded and went back to her book. The little boy smiled brightly up at Naruto.
"Can he play with me?" Shinta asked his father, excited for a new playmate.
"Maybe later kiddo," Naruto told the boy.
"Ayame, I'll take Shinta off your hands," Shikamaru informed his daughter who merely nodded without looking up. Shikamaru picked up Shinta and led Naruto upstairs.
"Ayame! You'd better not be thinking of taking a break! You'd better not be being rude to customers!" a voice yelled at them from the kitchen.
"Yo, Ino, its me," Shikamaru called back.
"Shika? Aren't you supposed to be at work? What are you doing slacking off?" The angry figure of Ino wearing an apron and a handkerchief over her blond hair appeared. "Naruto?" she asked confused.
"Hi Ino," Naruto greeted her.
"Where have you been all these years? You made all of us worry you brat! You had no right doing that! You're getting thin! You need to eat!" Ino scolded. Naruto could tell motherhood was suiting her well.
"Mama? What's going on?" another voice called from the kitchen.
"Just keep washing the vegetables!" Ino called back over her shoulder. Shinta held out his arms for his mother who took him and bounced him on her hip reflexively. She smiled at Naruto. "Naruto, its great to see you again! You must be hungry. Do you still like ramen? I can whip you up some."
"No, no, don't want to cause you any trouble," Naruto told her quickly.
"It's no trouble," Ino insisted.
"No, no, its ok, I'm not hungry..." Naruto started.
"You will eat!" Ino demanded.
"Yes ma'am," Naruto said quickly so he wouldn't incur Ino's wrath. Naruto was dragged to the kitchen where he was shoved into a chair while Ino cooked up some ramen.
"Is Ayame minding the shop?" Ino asked her husband.
"She is," he replied.
"She'd better not be rude. I need to have a talk with that girl. She may be smart but that's no excuse," she said more to herself than anyone else. She turned to her husband. "Right Shikamaru?" He nodded obediently. Naruto stifled a laugh, thinking about how whipped his friend was. Ino force-fed Naruto the enormous amount of ramen she made which he hated to be polite even though he no longer cared for ramen, all the while telling him the latest gossip.
"Ikura and Kakashi together now. They came out a year ago and a lot of people haven't been talking to them. My parents and Shikamaru's mother for example refused to. They said it was unnatural and that they should seek treatment to become straight. I don't know if I agree with that, but I'm still not comfortable with it. It's not like I'll stop sending my daughter to Kakashi's for private tutorage or take my sons out of Ikura's class, but I don't like spending time around them if I can help it. I can't help feeling weireded out," Ino went on. "Oh, Shino, I haven't told you about him! I heard from Hinata who heard from Sakura who heard from Tenten that Shino is dating a girl from the Wind Country. Apparently someone who specializes in scarabs. I don't know how true this is because Tenten isn't the most reliable source. Oh, Sakura and I should you up with someone. I know a very nice girl. She's not a ninja, but she is a matrial arts expert. She trains young kids and she's said to be very good. I think you'd like her."
"Mamma?" said the small boy stirring a pot. "Can I go train now?"
"Go ahead," Shikamaru said. The boy stood there as if he hadn't heard his father, waiting for his mother's ascent. Ino nodded and they little boy left the room. "That's the middle one, Kayane, by the way. He's the one you're displacing. Timid kid."
"So, Naruto, do you need to be anywhere today?" Ino questioned.
"The hokage wants to see him in two days, she's given him two days to readjust," Shikamaru told his wife.
"So are you going to tell us what happened? Why you left and why Sasuke left in a huff as well? What happened between you two? Something must have happened," Ino insisted.
"Let him be, he'll tell us when he wants to," Shikamaru put in lazily.
"Naruto, what happened?" Ino demanded.
"Leave him alone," Shikamaru said again.
"But..." Ino started.
"No, we will not press him to tell us if he doesn't want to," Shikamaru said putting his foot down. Ino nodded. When Shikamaru, who was usually rather whipped, demanded something he was being serious.
"So what would you like to do today? Want to see everyone?" Ino asked.
"Actually, I wanted to be alone today. I'll go see everyone tomorrow. I want to collect my thoughts. Would that be a problem?" Naruto wondered.
"No, no problem," Shikamaru said quickly before Ino could react. The bone rattling coughing started again. Ino looked at him with the eye of a mother who's children might be sick. She put her hand against his forehead.
"You're very warm, I'm getting the thermometer. You're too sick to leave," she informed him and made to go to the medicine cabinet for the thermometer and cough medicine.
"I'll be back for dinner," Naruto informed them quickly before leaving with a whoosh of wind.
"He's sick! He can't be out and about," Ino said indignantly. "I didn't give me a chance to tell him when dinner is." She paused. "Naruto thinking and collecting his thought. I never thought I'd see the day. And he's polite too, well, more than before. If I were his mother I'd still smack him over the head for his behavior, but it's better than before. Oy, he's changed though he'll still be the death of several people in this town. Shikamaru, go after him. He's too sick." She went to the sink to wash the dishes as Shikamaru looked at the spot where his friend had been and didn't follow his wife's instructions. Naruto was not telling them something, something big about why he left, and he didn't have much time, Shikamaru thought. Ah well, it was none of his business. If Naruto wanted to keep something a secret than it was his matter.
Naruto sped out of the kitchen and quickly down the streets of Konoha. It was so strange being back here with his old friends, trying to be the same person he had once been that he had pretended to be long ago. Naruto had no idea where he was going or why he had felt the need to leave the Nara house. He guessed that he just wasn't ready to face them. Shikamaru didn't judge him, but the others would. How would Ikura and Kakashi react to his being back? How would his friends like Ino take the fact that he didn't like women? How would they take the fact that he was dying? Had he done the right thing coming back? Maybe it would have been better not to at all.
Jumping around from place to place, just seeing the sights, Naruto ended up on a hill in the woods. There were fewer trees here than he remembered, probably due to deforestation because of the ninjas' training. He sat down and realized the tree was a familiar one. He ran his fingers over the bark until he felt where he had engraved his love for all of time. He picked up his kunai to cross out the message he had written so lovingly, one last message to be remembered and forgotten for all of eternity.
"Sakura, I'm going out," Sasuke said to his friend. She looked up from where she was wrapping her son's twisted ankle.
"Sasuke, I don't think that's a good idea. The hokage will want to see you and you shouldn't just be running off," Sakura protested knowing full well that if he decided to run off he could do so with no problem.
"I'll be back, I promise," Sasuke assured her. Sakura nodded. If nothing else Sasuke always kept his promises if he could.
Sasuke took off, heading back to that spot to pay his respects to his missing lover. He had wanted to visit it all day but couldn't with Sakura breathing down his neck. He didn't know why, he just felt drawn to it. The feeling increased with each step as he neared the old tree. A beep went off. Sasuke stopped running momentarily. He popped the jar out of his pocket and put the proper pills in his mouth, swallowing without water. Sakura's daughter had seen him yesterday. She hadn't made herself aware to Sasuke but he knew she was there and that she had told Sakura. All day Sakura had watched him like a hawk to see if he was all right.
He resumed his journey, racing with the wind through the forest up the hill. The clearing was larger than he remembered, but the tree still stood. He heard a soft scratching sound coming from the other side of the tree. How dare someone touch that tree! It was probably some punk kid destroying everything. Sasuke reached into himself and brought up chakra, not his most powerful, but enough to form a weak chidori. The high pitched chirping of birds alerted the person to Sasuke presence. Sasuke started charging forward, but the person was no longer there.
A foot swung at Sasuke from behind but he heard it before contact was made and dropped to the ground to avoid it. Doing so he had to slam his chidori into the ground, an attack wasted. His ears rung while the chidori made contact with something and he heard his opponent call out an attack but couldn't hear what it was.
"Kage Bunshin," Naruto called out. Many others of him appeared. He sent them to hide in the trees, feeling his chakra flowing weakly through each of them. He'd never been very good at conserving chakra. At this rate he would be dead by the end of the day for if this opponent knew chidori then he must be strong. All his copies threw needles like the boy Haku had many years ago at Sasuke only these were laced with tiny rasengan balls at each end. His clones number about two dozen so if even half of them hit the person would be seriously hurt from all the blood loss that would occur.
Needles were flying at him. Sasuke didn't like needles. He hadn't since the fight with Haku that had nearly killed him. They had something on them, some attack or technique. Sasuke formed the hand signs for kai or cancel quickly. He managed to disable the jutsu on slightly over half, but it was too strong to get the rest before they hit. The needles hit. The normal ones stuck in him like a porcupine creating pinpricks of blood all over him. The ones with the techniques at the end blew off little bits of skin creating bloody creators all over his body. Thankfully none had hit anything vital, but there was more blood than Sasuke had lost in a fight in a long time. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu," he called out, sending the fireball speeding toward his opponent. He used the roaring of the fireball to cover his chidori, following after the fireball, watching for his opponent's evasion. As he ran his mask flew off his face, but he didn't care if the world knew that Uchiha Sasuke was back.
Naruto watched the fire head toward him. He evaded easily but saw a blue light strike him in the chest. It sent him flying and skidding across the ground. His clones disappeared in smoke, he no longer had the strength to maintain them and himself. The force of the attack forced his own mask and hat off. He sat up and began to cough. It was worse than last time, far worse. He coughed up blood, blood from the internal injuries of this fight. The linings of his organs were so weak from disease that they ruptured from the attack forcing blood into his lungs. He looked up and whipped the blood way from his mouth, still wheezing, but under control for now.
"Naruto," Sasuke said angrily when he saw behind the mask, the person who had caused him so much pain, and the person who had forced him to leave. How could he be here? How could Naruto be the person whom he was fighting? When had Naruto become stronger than he had? Why? Why had Naruto left? Why hadn't Naruto been there for him? Why? He screamed and charged with one last chidori.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke with sad eyes. Sasuke. It was Sasuke. Why? Why was it Sasuke who was going to be the end of his life? "Suicide no jutsu," he called. It was an attack he had made up himself but never used to its full extent. Now seemed like a good time. All his chakra released, forcing itself out of his body and toward Sasuke like a tornado wind. It would go into Sasuke's body and take out most of his chakra and clog up the chakra points so they wouldn't produce more. Naruto collapsed onto the ground underneath the oak tree. Sasuke would be the first person he had killed.
Sasuke felt any strength he might have had leaving him. He felt empty, like a shell. He still had some chakra. It was less than a normal non-ninja. It was just enough to keep his him going for about ten minutes. He crawled over to Naruto's body and lifted the man's head onto his lap.
"They always said we would kill each other one day, said it wouldn't end any other way," Naruto mumbled. He reached up a hand to stroke Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke let a tear drift down his face.
"Who did?" Sasuke asked.
"Who would have guess we would have fallen in love first?" Naruto asked ignoring the question.
"Shut up dobe."
"I might soon be dead, but I won't be last. I beat you this time you bastard. I forgive you."
"Fine, you win. Goodbye, Naruto and thank you. I'll see you when I join you on the other side." Naruto nodded. He withdrew his kunai once more. He scratched a final message onto the old oak tree. I love you.
Naruto's hand dropped to his side as soon as the last letter was written, the knife falling to his side. Naruto's face relaxed in death. Sasuke picked up the kuna and studied it. He would have to wait a while for death to take him.
"I love you too," Sasuke told his fallen friend, comrade and lover. He plunged the daggar into himself. He laid down, putting his head of Naruto's chest. He took Naruto's still warm hand in his own and kissed it. "See you in a moment."
That was how the villagers found them, lying together in death. Wasn't it tragic, they mumbled among themselves, that the day they came home they died? Few saw the beauty or intimacy of their last embrace. Their love, so painful and strained, but lasting, Over the years they were forgotten, only remembered as a legend which was closer to the truth than what the record said.
On the hill wild flowers bloomed though no one knew their origin. On the old oak tree, written in a concave of a tree that could not be seen unless it was specifically looked for, was the legacy of their love. UNUS was scrawled in childish handwriting. In a more mature hand, was written underneath for always, I love you.
This is the end of my badly received fic. Hoped you liked it. I was in the mood for something angsty. I'm bad at battle scenes so let me know if mine's ok. Thanks for reading.
"Wake up," Shikamaru told him tiredly. "How troublesome."
"Is that you?" Naruto asked.
"No it's the tooth fairy," Shikamaru said without any humor in his voice. Naruto sat up to get a better look at Shikamaru. He was older, more of a man at twenty-seven than the boy of sixteen that Naruto remembered him to be. He had wrinkles under his eyes, evidence he wasn't enjoying the same amount of sleep he had in the past.
"Where am I?"
"Hospital. You fainted. Geeze you scared people. You're so troublesome," Shikamaru complained. He paused. Each waited for the other to speak. "So you going to tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"Why you went away. Why you didn't come back. Why you beat up hunter-nins rather than killing them. Why you came back. Start with those and we'll make our way from there," Shikamaru instructed.
"Is this going on record or something?" Naruto questioned.
"I'm talking to you as a friend not a ninja." Naruto sighed and looked out the window to his right.
"I wanted to become strong and to get away from it all," Naruto said finally. Shikamaru nodded, not asking for information the blond clearly didn't want to give. "I didn't come back because I didn't think I would be accepted and I hadn't become strong yet. I don't like killing but I couldn't just let the hunter-nin get me. I came back cause it was time."
"You have AIDS," Shikamaru commented with no emotion. Shikamaru didn't judge. He didn't sympathize or make people feel guilty. Naruto nodded, knowing it was useless to hide the fact that he had the one disease the fox couldn't cure him of. "You've come home to die."
"How long did they say I have to live?" Naruto inquired.
"Depends on your chakra usage. If you don't use any more chakra than usual, than Hokage gives you two months. If you let's, say, fight a genin for an hour then perhaps a month and a half. A chounin, then maybe you're got a few weeks. If it's a jounin for that same amount of time, then maybe a week. ANBU? Few days. Hokage/Senin level? Then you got to hope you survive a day. That's her prediction."
"How've you been?" Naruto asked.
"I'm an ANBU," Shikamaru said letting the topic be changed. "Ino and I married a bit ago and we have three kids. Two boys and a girl." Naruto grinned like the fox he was. Not even in his thirties and the man who thought everything was troublesome was a father of three.
"How's Sakura?"
"Last I saw her about three months ago she was doing well and pregnant. I can ask Ino if you want. They see each other everyday. By the way, you're coming home to stay with Ino and myself tonight. Sakura will probably be by tonight to see how you are once Ino tells her you're home. She married Lee by the way. They have two kids right now, girl and boy."
"Hin," Naruto started but was interrupted by the coughing. His body shook as if he was in a hurricane. Shikamaru waited for the coughing to stop. "Hinata?" Naruto finished when he could talk without wheezing.
"Married Kiba in the weirdest match I've ever seen. Kiba is so troublesome. They have a baby. I think it's a boy but you can't really tell from a bundle of cloth."
"Chouji?"
"Chouji's dead," Shikamaru informed him. "He's been dead for the past three years cause we couldn't didn't have enough man power on a mission." Naruto brought his head down in shame knowing Shikamaru's unintentional implication. He had just as well have killed Chouji, Shikamaru's best friend. Naruto remained silent for what seemed like forever before speaking what was on his mind.
"Has the bastard come home?"
"Sasuke? No, he hasn't. We were hoping you had. He's one of our most dangerous missing-nins. Anyone who sees him is to take him out."
"What about me? Before I came in what were they supposed to do to me if they saw me?"
"Take up your offer for ramen to try to get information out of you and then try to beat you. Then they were to drag you home. After the first few who came home we realized you weren't a danger," Shikamaru smirked. Naruto wondered why Shikamaru started smirking, but decided the train of thought was too large for him.
"So how has life been without me?" Naruto asked.
"Different. Oh, you'll be staying with Ino and myself for the night. Tsunade wants as little fuss as possible so I volunteered. Are you ready to go or do you want to stay here longer?"
"I'm ready to go," Naruto told him. Shikamaru helped him out of the bed and checked his friend out of the hospital. The two walked sedately down the street. Naruto felt a familiar flare of chakra coming from another street, but dismissed it. It couldn't be him.
Sasuke and Sakura walked up the street side by side. They passed the hospital and headed toward the pharmacy. Sakura was chatting about how life had progressed since Sasuke's disappearance. He felt a familiar chakra pattern but it was gone before he could identify it. He blamed Sakura for the distraction.
"So what medicine do you need anyway?" Sakura asked pulling Sasuke out of his thoughts.
"Um, just some pain killers," Sasuke muttered.
"You should have told me! We have some at home. Ai! I guess I need to stalk up on bandages anyway, two kids get more scrapes than you'd think. " They continued down the street, Sakura lumbering on with all the grace she could muster due to her pregnancy.
"May I?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. He didn't have much experience around women particularly pregnant ones. In fact he believed Sakura was the first pregnant woman he'd ever talked to.
"Sure," Sakura told him. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach so he could feel the baby kicking inside. Sasuke marveled that a life could be inside this woman.
"Let's go get the medicine," Sakura said after Sasuke had removed his hand embarrassed.
Naruto and Shikamaru made good headway to the Nara family house. It was the combined houses of the Nara clan and the Yamanaka clans connected with an over pass over the street. Shikamaru entered the flower shop on the Yamanaka side of the street and stopped with Naruto at the counter.
"Ayame, where's your mother?" Shikamaru asked the young girl with bright blue eyes and dark hair who was sitting behind the counter.
"She's upstairs," the girl said in a bored tone. She looked back down at her book. A little mass of blue assaulted Shikamaru.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" it called out. Shikamaru caught the assaulting object and held it with expert hands, spinning it around before putting it down revealing that the thing was a young boy that resembled Shikamaru greatly.
"Oy, Naruto, this is my daughter Ayame and this is one of my sons, Shinta," Shikamaru informed his friend.
"Yo," Naruto greeted imitating the copy cat ninja. Ayame looked up with a scowl on her face, nodded and went back to her book. The little boy smiled brightly up at Naruto.
"Can he play with me?" Shinta asked his father, excited for a new playmate.
"Maybe later kiddo," Naruto told the boy.
"Ayame, I'll take Shinta off your hands," Shikamaru informed his daughter who merely nodded without looking up. Shikamaru picked up Shinta and led Naruto upstairs.
"Ayame! You'd better not be thinking of taking a break! You'd better not be being rude to customers!" a voice yelled at them from the kitchen.
"Yo, Ino, its me," Shikamaru called back.
"Shika? Aren't you supposed to be at work? What are you doing slacking off?" The angry figure of Ino wearing an apron and a handkerchief over her blond hair appeared. "Naruto?" she asked confused.
"Hi Ino," Naruto greeted her.
"Where have you been all these years? You made all of us worry you brat! You had no right doing that! You're getting thin! You need to eat!" Ino scolded. Naruto could tell motherhood was suiting her well.
"Mama? What's going on?" another voice called from the kitchen.
"Just keep washing the vegetables!" Ino called back over her shoulder. Shinta held out his arms for his mother who took him and bounced him on her hip reflexively. She smiled at Naruto. "Naruto, its great to see you again! You must be hungry. Do you still like ramen? I can whip you up some."
"No, no, don't want to cause you any trouble," Naruto told her quickly.
"It's no trouble," Ino insisted.
"No, no, its ok, I'm not hungry..." Naruto started.
"You will eat!" Ino demanded.
"Yes ma'am," Naruto said quickly so he wouldn't incur Ino's wrath. Naruto was dragged to the kitchen where he was shoved into a chair while Ino cooked up some ramen.
"Is Ayame minding the shop?" Ino asked her husband.
"She is," he replied.
"She'd better not be rude. I need to have a talk with that girl. She may be smart but that's no excuse," she said more to herself than anyone else. She turned to her husband. "Right Shikamaru?" He nodded obediently. Naruto stifled a laugh, thinking about how whipped his friend was. Ino force-fed Naruto the enormous amount of ramen she made which he hated to be polite even though he no longer cared for ramen, all the while telling him the latest gossip.
"Ikura and Kakashi together now. They came out a year ago and a lot of people haven't been talking to them. My parents and Shikamaru's mother for example refused to. They said it was unnatural and that they should seek treatment to become straight. I don't know if I agree with that, but I'm still not comfortable with it. It's not like I'll stop sending my daughter to Kakashi's for private tutorage or take my sons out of Ikura's class, but I don't like spending time around them if I can help it. I can't help feeling weireded out," Ino went on. "Oh, Shino, I haven't told you about him! I heard from Hinata who heard from Sakura who heard from Tenten that Shino is dating a girl from the Wind Country. Apparently someone who specializes in scarabs. I don't know how true this is because Tenten isn't the most reliable source. Oh, Sakura and I should you up with someone. I know a very nice girl. She's not a ninja, but she is a matrial arts expert. She trains young kids and she's said to be very good. I think you'd like her."
"Mamma?" said the small boy stirring a pot. "Can I go train now?"
"Go ahead," Shikamaru said. The boy stood there as if he hadn't heard his father, waiting for his mother's ascent. Ino nodded and they little boy left the room. "That's the middle one, Kayane, by the way. He's the one you're displacing. Timid kid."
"So, Naruto, do you need to be anywhere today?" Ino questioned.
"The hokage wants to see him in two days, she's given him two days to readjust," Shikamaru told his wife.
"So are you going to tell us what happened? Why you left and why Sasuke left in a huff as well? What happened between you two? Something must have happened," Ino insisted.
"Let him be, he'll tell us when he wants to," Shikamaru put in lazily.
"Naruto, what happened?" Ino demanded.
"Leave him alone," Shikamaru said again.
"But..." Ino started.
"No, we will not press him to tell us if he doesn't want to," Shikamaru said putting his foot down. Ino nodded. When Shikamaru, who was usually rather whipped, demanded something he was being serious.
"So what would you like to do today? Want to see everyone?" Ino asked.
"Actually, I wanted to be alone today. I'll go see everyone tomorrow. I want to collect my thoughts. Would that be a problem?" Naruto wondered.
"No, no problem," Shikamaru said quickly before Ino could react. The bone rattling coughing started again. Ino looked at him with the eye of a mother who's children might be sick. She put her hand against his forehead.
"You're very warm, I'm getting the thermometer. You're too sick to leave," she informed him and made to go to the medicine cabinet for the thermometer and cough medicine.
"I'll be back for dinner," Naruto informed them quickly before leaving with a whoosh of wind.
"He's sick! He can't be out and about," Ino said indignantly. "I didn't give me a chance to tell him when dinner is." She paused. "Naruto thinking and collecting his thought. I never thought I'd see the day. And he's polite too, well, more than before. If I were his mother I'd still smack him over the head for his behavior, but it's better than before. Oy, he's changed though he'll still be the death of several people in this town. Shikamaru, go after him. He's too sick." She went to the sink to wash the dishes as Shikamaru looked at the spot where his friend had been and didn't follow his wife's instructions. Naruto was not telling them something, something big about why he left, and he didn't have much time, Shikamaru thought. Ah well, it was none of his business. If Naruto wanted to keep something a secret than it was his matter.
Naruto sped out of the kitchen and quickly down the streets of Konoha. It was so strange being back here with his old friends, trying to be the same person he had once been that he had pretended to be long ago. Naruto had no idea where he was going or why he had felt the need to leave the Nara house. He guessed that he just wasn't ready to face them. Shikamaru didn't judge him, but the others would. How would Ikura and Kakashi react to his being back? How would his friends like Ino take the fact that he didn't like women? How would they take the fact that he was dying? Had he done the right thing coming back? Maybe it would have been better not to at all.
Jumping around from place to place, just seeing the sights, Naruto ended up on a hill in the woods. There were fewer trees here than he remembered, probably due to deforestation because of the ninjas' training. He sat down and realized the tree was a familiar one. He ran his fingers over the bark until he felt where he had engraved his love for all of time. He picked up his kunai to cross out the message he had written so lovingly, one last message to be remembered and forgotten for all of eternity.
"Sakura, I'm going out," Sasuke said to his friend. She looked up from where she was wrapping her son's twisted ankle.
"Sasuke, I don't think that's a good idea. The hokage will want to see you and you shouldn't just be running off," Sakura protested knowing full well that if he decided to run off he could do so with no problem.
"I'll be back, I promise," Sasuke assured her. Sakura nodded. If nothing else Sasuke always kept his promises if he could.
Sasuke took off, heading back to that spot to pay his respects to his missing lover. He had wanted to visit it all day but couldn't with Sakura breathing down his neck. He didn't know why, he just felt drawn to it. The feeling increased with each step as he neared the old tree. A beep went off. Sasuke stopped running momentarily. He popped the jar out of his pocket and put the proper pills in his mouth, swallowing without water. Sakura's daughter had seen him yesterday. She hadn't made herself aware to Sasuke but he knew she was there and that she had told Sakura. All day Sakura had watched him like a hawk to see if he was all right.
He resumed his journey, racing with the wind through the forest up the hill. The clearing was larger than he remembered, but the tree still stood. He heard a soft scratching sound coming from the other side of the tree. How dare someone touch that tree! It was probably some punk kid destroying everything. Sasuke reached into himself and brought up chakra, not his most powerful, but enough to form a weak chidori. The high pitched chirping of birds alerted the person to Sasuke presence. Sasuke started charging forward, but the person was no longer there.
A foot swung at Sasuke from behind but he heard it before contact was made and dropped to the ground to avoid it. Doing so he had to slam his chidori into the ground, an attack wasted. His ears rung while the chidori made contact with something and he heard his opponent call out an attack but couldn't hear what it was.
"Kage Bunshin," Naruto called out. Many others of him appeared. He sent them to hide in the trees, feeling his chakra flowing weakly through each of them. He'd never been very good at conserving chakra. At this rate he would be dead by the end of the day for if this opponent knew chidori then he must be strong. All his copies threw needles like the boy Haku had many years ago at Sasuke only these were laced with tiny rasengan balls at each end. His clones number about two dozen so if even half of them hit the person would be seriously hurt from all the blood loss that would occur.
Needles were flying at him. Sasuke didn't like needles. He hadn't since the fight with Haku that had nearly killed him. They had something on them, some attack or technique. Sasuke formed the hand signs for kai or cancel quickly. He managed to disable the jutsu on slightly over half, but it was too strong to get the rest before they hit. The needles hit. The normal ones stuck in him like a porcupine creating pinpricks of blood all over him. The ones with the techniques at the end blew off little bits of skin creating bloody creators all over his body. Thankfully none had hit anything vital, but there was more blood than Sasuke had lost in a fight in a long time. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu," he called out, sending the fireball speeding toward his opponent. He used the roaring of the fireball to cover his chidori, following after the fireball, watching for his opponent's evasion. As he ran his mask flew off his face, but he didn't care if the world knew that Uchiha Sasuke was back.
Naruto watched the fire head toward him. He evaded easily but saw a blue light strike him in the chest. It sent him flying and skidding across the ground. His clones disappeared in smoke, he no longer had the strength to maintain them and himself. The force of the attack forced his own mask and hat off. He sat up and began to cough. It was worse than last time, far worse. He coughed up blood, blood from the internal injuries of this fight. The linings of his organs were so weak from disease that they ruptured from the attack forcing blood into his lungs. He looked up and whipped the blood way from his mouth, still wheezing, but under control for now.
"Naruto," Sasuke said angrily when he saw behind the mask, the person who had caused him so much pain, and the person who had forced him to leave. How could he be here? How could Naruto be the person whom he was fighting? When had Naruto become stronger than he had? Why? Why had Naruto left? Why hadn't Naruto been there for him? Why? He screamed and charged with one last chidori.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke with sad eyes. Sasuke. It was Sasuke. Why? Why was it Sasuke who was going to be the end of his life? "Suicide no jutsu," he called. It was an attack he had made up himself but never used to its full extent. Now seemed like a good time. All his chakra released, forcing itself out of his body and toward Sasuke like a tornado wind. It would go into Sasuke's body and take out most of his chakra and clog up the chakra points so they wouldn't produce more. Naruto collapsed onto the ground underneath the oak tree. Sasuke would be the first person he had killed.
Sasuke felt any strength he might have had leaving him. He felt empty, like a shell. He still had some chakra. It was less than a normal non-ninja. It was just enough to keep his him going for about ten minutes. He crawled over to Naruto's body and lifted the man's head onto his lap.
"They always said we would kill each other one day, said it wouldn't end any other way," Naruto mumbled. He reached up a hand to stroke Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke let a tear drift down his face.
"Who did?" Sasuke asked.
"Who would have guess we would have fallen in love first?" Naruto asked ignoring the question.
"Shut up dobe."
"I might soon be dead, but I won't be last. I beat you this time you bastard. I forgive you."
"Fine, you win. Goodbye, Naruto and thank you. I'll see you when I join you on the other side." Naruto nodded. He withdrew his kunai once more. He scratched a final message onto the old oak tree. I love you.
Naruto's hand dropped to his side as soon as the last letter was written, the knife falling to his side. Naruto's face relaxed in death. Sasuke picked up the kuna and studied it. He would have to wait a while for death to take him.
"I love you too," Sasuke told his fallen friend, comrade and lover. He plunged the daggar into himself. He laid down, putting his head of Naruto's chest. He took Naruto's still warm hand in his own and kissed it. "See you in a moment."
That was how the villagers found them, lying together in death. Wasn't it tragic, they mumbled among themselves, that the day they came home they died? Few saw the beauty or intimacy of their last embrace. Their love, so painful and strained, but lasting, Over the years they were forgotten, only remembered as a legend which was closer to the truth than what the record said.
On the hill wild flowers bloomed though no one knew their origin. On the old oak tree, written in a concave of a tree that could not be seen unless it was specifically looked for, was the legacy of their love. UNUS was scrawled in childish handwriting. In a more mature hand, was written underneath for always, I love you.
This is the end of my badly received fic. Hoped you liked it. I was in the mood for something angsty. I'm bad at battle scenes so let me know if mine's ok. Thanks for reading.