Title: Parallels
Authors: Questofdreams and Lazuli
Rated: R
Comments: Huge thanks to our beta, proud snapist.
Disclaimer: Yep, they apply.

Chapter 6

Naruto swayed on his feet, blinked and was still staring into Sasuke's glaring face but...he slowly turned back to the desk and confirmed his suspicion when the Yondaime blinked back at him.

"Naruto?" he asked, brows drawn in concern. "Did it happen again?"

Naruto imagined he heard regret in the Yondaime's voice, and he forced a rueful smile. "Yeah. But I got to talk with Tsunade-bachan." He glanced at Sasuke and said, "And the other Sasuke."

The Yondaime nodded, looking as if he might say something, but instead waved his hand for Naruto to continue.

"He turned a really interesting shade when I told him about..." He retook his seat. "Well, about things. Didn't know you could blush so prettily, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared at him, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing. "Idiot," he muttered.

Naruto turned back to the Yondaime. "Did you learn anything?" he asked softly. He didn't ask if he was glad that he had his son back for a short while. For all that the Yondaime talked about Naruto still being his son, it was hard to admit, even to himself.

The older man shook his head. "Nothing we haven't already figured out anyway. I imagine you filled in the blanks for them?"

Naruto nodded and twisted his hands together, retaking his seat. "So," he said, head bowed and staring at his hands. "I've been thinking that I should find a way to talk to kyuubi."

Both Sasuke and the Yondaime looked startled.

"You can...talk to it?" his father asked, wide eyes dropping to Naruto's stomach.

"Well, I've only ever heard its voice when my life was in danger, but I'll see if I can't try later if we don't figure this out ourselves."

"I'll want to hear about all that 'talking to it while your life was in danger' stuff later, I hope you know," his father said, brows drawn in concern.

Naruto nodded, smiling crookedly. "What do we do now?"

"Well, my initial thought was to keep you home until we know more of what to do" The Yondaime shrugged. "But you'd probably prefer if we kept you occupied with small missions and the like."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the thought of being able to do something instead of being cooped up all day. "What type of missions am I used to here?" he asked eagerly. "Probably not as good since I seem to be..." He blushed and stared down at his lap again. It wasn't very polite of him to call the Yondaime's son weak. "What are my strengths here?"

"Well, like I said already, Naruto. You're a good ninja. You just happen to have a few more jutsus up your sleeve than the other you. Although that doesn't necessarily make you stronger, it does seem that you are a bit more experienced. Don't worry about that, though, because I'm not going to send you on any lengthy missions nor any that involve leaving Konoha."

Naruto crossed his arms, barely resisting the urge to thrust out his lower lip. "I'm not a child," he muttered petulantly.

"Then don't act like one," Sasuke quipped.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "You certainly weren't seeing me as a child earlier," he said, ignoring the way the Yondaime was studiously looking away.

Sasuke, not about to let Naruto have the upper hand, let his eyes sweep Naruto's tall form, briefly settling on his crotch before meeting Naruto's gaze again. "You're right, Naruto. And you carried out your adult duties with such proficiency. Perhaps we should repeat the experience."

Naruto felt his ears burn as he glared heatedly into Sasuke's challenging black eyes.

"If you two are quite finished, I'd like to clarify how we will be handling your missions."

Both men turned to look at him. "Our missions? Both of us?" Sasuke asked.

"As in, together?" Naruto blinked.

The Yondaime rolled his eyes, looking amused. "Yes, missions for the two of you. You already know how well you both work together and it would be best for Sasuke to keep an eye on you."

Naruto immediately puffed up. "I don't need to be looked after just because of this. Or because I'm your son." He remembered what Konohamaru had been treated like, and he wasn't going to stand for the same treatment.

"It's best that way, just in case anything happens," the Yondaime insisted, straightening the papers on his desk.

"I'm a jounin; I can look after myself. Besides, what could possibly happen if I'm not even allowed to leave Konoha?" Naruto asked, rolling his eyes dramatically. "How about I don't leave Fire Country? That's a little more reasonable, isn't it?"

The Yondaime paused, steepling his fingers in contemplation. "Well, if such a mission becomes available, I will consider it."

Naruto groused and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm a lot stronger than you think I am," he insisted. "And I'd only switch back if something paralleled and if that was the case, it'd basically be the same mission." He paused and grinned. "Plus, think if someone kept tabs on me or something... they wouldn't expect the cool stuff I can do that the other me can't."

The Yondaime straightened in his chair. "Regardless, Sasuke will accompany you on any missions you receive. Is that satisfactory?" He was looking at Sasuke when he asked the question.

Naruto fisted his hands at his side. He was apparently not getting a choice.

Sasuke nodded. "It'll be bothersome babysitting," he said with a smirk, "but that will be fine."

Naruto stood up, eyes narrowed. "I am not going to be babysat!" he shouted. "I'd rather stay in my room--away from him--" He pointed to Sasuke. "than be treated like I need a keeper on missions that I'd be perfectly capable of handling on my own."

Sasuke smirked. "You didn't seem to be complaining earlier." He raised an eyebrow.

Naruto just barely restrained himself from sticking out his tongue at the Uchiha. "Are we back to that again? You must have a one track mind, Sasuke."

Sasuke shrugged, not at all bothered by Naruto's accusation.

Naruto watched his dark head a moment longer, suddenly realizing that it was probably true. Sasuke really did have a one track mind, whether it was in the pursuit of lust or revenge. Except, in the case of revenge, it transformed into a rather unhealthy obsession.

He sighed and gave the Yondaime a pleading look. "Can't you just keep him away from me or something?" A sudden and random thought occurred to him--something he mentioned to the other Sasuke and he wondered if the reasoning was correct. "How did we become friends anyhow?" His brows drew together. "I mean, the other Sasuke and I had... common ground..."

The Yondaime smiled, his eyes glazing over as if peering into a memory. "I remember the day you were assigned to team 7. You ran straight here to tell me you were teamed up with the 'beautiful, wonderful Sakura' and the 'genius Uchiha Sasuke who was kind of a jerk.'" He laughed at Naruto's expression.

"Please tell me you're kidding. I did not call him a genius," Naruto muttered.

"Yes, you did. And I guess you'll have to ask Sasuke what happened next because all I ever heard from you was what a jerk Sasuke was... except you didn't always say it in quite so nice a term," he said, still chuckling.

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, for me, yes, I did think Sakura was beautiful." He smiled faintly at the memory. "And Sasuke was a jerk. When he introduced himself he said that he only had two goals in life." Naruto stopped for a moment, then shrugged.

Sasuke sighed. "We had our fights. We still do," he said with an almost fond smile. "But saving each other's lives a few times does a lot for building trust." He gave Naruto a suggestive smirk. "If you don't remember how things between us developed, ask me later. I'll be glad to play it out for you."

Naruto shifted on his feet, giving Sasuke a dirty look. "Right, let me get back to you on that." His voice was thick with sarcasm but he thought perhaps he would ask Sasuke about it later anyway. He was curious, after all.

Even so, he still couldn't quite grasp how Sasuke had become his friend when they had nothing in common. At least in his world, they had both begun their friendship with similar ground—two boys forced to grow up alone. They had seen their loneliness reflected in the other's eyes.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto's expression, not all aware of the thoughts swirling in Naruto's head. "I was rather disappointed to see the son of the Yondaime falling for such stupid traps and being so unlike what a shinobi should be." He paused and looked directly at Naruto. "Then I realized why you did some things."

Naruto swallowed, meeting Sasuke's steady gaze. "Why?" he asked softly, although he might have guessed anyway.

The Yondaime was watching Sasuke just as intently, wondering if there were things about the Naruto he'd raised that even he didn't know.

Sasuke shrugged. "I think you know why, Naruto. I don't think that you want to shout it out to everyone, though." He rested a hand briefly on Naruto's shoulder, squeezing gently.

The Yondaime made a mental note to have a serious talk with his son after things were restored to normal.

Naruto snorted and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess so." He turned to look back at his father. It was getting a little easier to accept that now. "So what type of missions did you have for us?" he asked.

The Yondaime shuffled his papers again, searching for something. "Ah," he said, pulling out a long piece of parchment. "You have two options. You can patrol the perimeter tomorrow or..." --his smile grew a little sheepish-- "you can make your way through a list of D-rank missions."

At Naruto's outraged cry, the Yondaime put up his hands, as if to ward off the fuming blond.

Naruto snorted. "I think I'd rather patrol the perimeter than do D-rank missions." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked deeply offended. "Those are for genin and I never liked them even when I was that rank" he muttered, pouting a little. "That's not a very good choice of organizing the missions." He had fallen into the habit of lecturing Tsunade over her methods, and it seemed natural to get the Yondaime as well.

"Well, as much as I'd like to give you a more exciting mission, there aren't many at the moment that will allow you to remain within Konoha. Or Fire Country," he added hastily at Naruto's darkening expression. "But I'll let you know as soon as one comes up."

Naruto transferred his glare to Sasuke. "You're actually going along with this?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Like I said, it's bothersome, but as long as things are mixed up, it's better to be safe."

"You're all impossible," he muttered. "Normally, Sasuke would never stoop to such a low level mission if he didn't have to." He glared at Sasuke. "You don't have to follow me around and be stuck with crappy missions."

Sasuke snorted and thunked him lightly on the head. "One--it was an order from the Yondaime. Two--ever think that I might want to stick around you, dead last?"

Naruto returned the bland stare. "No."

Sasuke made a convincing show of being thoroughly exasperated. "Your Sasuke needs a good kick in the head. Give him that for me next time you go back, would you?"

Naruto had to smile at that. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll appreciate it. A kick in the head from himself." He let out a snort of laughter. "Although he didn't quite believe that you had pinned me up against a wall. I really think that you're two different people."

"Life events can really affect a person, Naruto." The Yondaime cocked his head, his gaze searching Naruto's face.

Naruto frowned at the floor, suddenly unable to meet the Yondaime's eyes. "Yeah. Sasuke's been through a lot of shit."

It was interesting, Sasuke noted, how Naruto avoided the issue that he had been through a lot as well.

"From what you tell me, Naruto--it must have been very hard on him. But I am sure that you were there for him." The Yondaime's smile was reassuring at that.

"Yeah, whenever the bastard would let me," Naruto muttered. "He had a stick shoved up his ass most of the time." He seemed to forget the other Sasuke was there. "I think he needs to get laid more than I do."

Sasuke snorted. "I'm sure you can help him out with that." He smirked at the dark look Naruto sent him. "And in the mean time, I can help you practice."

"And have my privates cut off?" Naruto returned, eyebrows raised. He shuddered at the mental image of what would happen if he jumped Sasuke. "I don't think so. He's not like you and ..." A wide grin split his face. It was so much fun to taunt Sasuke when he didn't have to deal with the repercussions of it. "In fact, I think he's got the hots for Sakura-chan."

As Sasuke's eyes widened into an incredulous look, Naruto decided taunting Sasuke was definitely worth any minor injuries Sasuke might want to inflict.

"Well that settles it then," Sasuke finally said, retaking control of his expression.

"Settles what?" Naruto asked, smirking.

"He's definitely not me."

"Oh, come on, Sakura is a pretty girl and she's a fine medic ninja," the Yondaime offered with a mischievous grin that mirrored Naruto's at times.

Naruto nodded seriously, enjoying the fact the Hokage was going along with it. He could clearly see now where his sense of humor had come from. "See, I knew you were two different people--and Sakura is absolutely crazy about that other Sasuke. I heard..." He lowered his voice as if imparting a great secret. "...that she might have his child soon."

At the look that crossed Sasuke's face, he wondered if he had gone just a bit too far. Sasuke had gone even whiter than the normal hue of his skin, which was quite a feat frankly, considering how pale he was. But when Naruto's lips began to twitch furiously from suppressing his laughter, his expression grew thunderous and if not for the fact that they were in the Yondaime's office, he would have launched himself at Naruto and strangled him.

There was a loud knock on the door and all three straightened, composing themselves. Naruto gave Sasuke an innocent smile as the Yondaime called for the visitor to enter, and almost lost it again when Sakura stepped through the door. The Yondaime was obviously trying to hide his amusement as well, and Sasuke looked ready to kill someone.

"Did I come at a bad time?" she questioned, taking in their expressions.

"No, no, come in," the Yondaime said, smiling. "Ignore the boys. They're just a little wound up."

Sakura gave her former teammates an uncertain look but closed the door behind her all the same. "I checked at the house but no one was home so I thought I'd try here. I was wondering how Naruto was doing."

Naruto grinned back at her, pointedly ignoring Sasuke's mutinous glare at the back of his head. "Oh, I'm doing tons better, Sakura-chan." His eyes were bright with his amusement. "We were just discussing the possibility of Sasuke having ..." The rest of his words were muffled as Sasuke abruptly knocked Naruto to the ground.

"Finish that sentence and die," he growled out.

Sakura blinked at Naruto--now sprawled across the floor--and quickly covered her mouth, but a giggle escaped anyway. "I see you two are back to normal," she said.

Sasuke gave him a solid thwap upside the head. "You're such a moron, Uzumaki," he muttered in disgust, getting off Naruto. "I don't know why you would think such a ridiculous thing. Remember what I said before--give him a solid kick in the head if he even thinks about doing such idiotic things." He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, face as impassive as ever, but his eyes snapped with annoyance.

"Aw, you're just jealous 'cause you're not as lucky."

Sasuke thwapped his head a second time just for good measure. "That doesn't even deem a response," he said, standing and tugging at his vest.

"As much as I'd love to sit here and watch you two all day, I have other things to do. So take your quarrel outside, boys," the Yondaime said with obvious reluctance, eyeing the stack of papers in front of him with distaste.

Naruto gave Sasuke a light shrug. "So," he said, "who wants to go for some ramen?"

Sasuke sneered at him before stalking out of the room without another word.

Naruto waved briefly to the Yondaime before casually striding out the door and shutting it softly after him. The second the door was closed, he bolted down the hall and the long set of stairs, searching for that familiar dark head.

He didn't want to turn Sasuke away from him---not this Sasuke, not the other Sasuke. He had driven the other Sasuke away from him before, and he was given his rare chance to have a Sasuke that loved him, that wanted to be with him.

The other Sasuke...my Sasuke, Naruto thought, unable to help the possessiveness, wouldn't have put up with his needling and they'd have ended up in an outright brawl. He wondered why he suddenly missed that familiarity, when right here was a Sasuke who so clearly loved him, even if it was a part of him that he had never known, it was still him.

He finally caught a glimpse of the back of Sasuke's head disappearing into the crowd of the market place. Reacting in only a purely Naruto fashion, he pushed through people, needing to reach Sasuke.

Naruto was frustrated and managed to catch up to Sasuke enough to tackle him to the ground. "It was just teasing, dumbass," he muttered.

As Sasuke smirked up at him, Naruto suddenly realized their position. Son of the Yondaime or not, he was certain it wasn't polite to straddle another guy in public.

"You should learn when to shut up, Uzumaki," Sasuke said, sounding irritated but making no move to push Naruto off him.

As it was still early in the day, the market place was packed with villagers so Naruto and Sasuke certainly weren't lacking an audience. This obvious fact went straight to Naruto's face and he turned bright red, jumping off of Sasuke.

Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground. "It was just teasing," he repeated. "I... " He swallowed, uncertain of how to continue. "Look... part of it, I guess was real. I figured if Sasuke.... the Sasuke I know... couldn't be happy with me, he would be happy with someone else." He couldn't look at this Sasuke, feeling like a total idiot.

Sasuke stood, brushing himself off and ignoring the not-so-subtle stares of the villagers as they moved around them. "Look, moron, if he's really me then it's safe to say that if I were to find happiness with someone else, then it certainly wouldn't be a female, much less Sakura." He glared at a woman who had heard his comment and was looking scandalized that he had actually admitted in a roundabout way that he was gay.

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment, and then he grinned, inordinately pleased Sasuke no longer seemed upset with him, and dragged Sasuke through the crowd to a more secluded spot.

"So, Neji, then?" he teased lightly. "He is a lot smarter than me." It was obvious by the forced tone and the fake smile that Naruto was really asking 'Why me?'

"Neji is too uptight. Besides," he said, pushing Naruto back against the rough stone of the building behind him, "he's not you." It was about then that Sasuke realized Naruto was sounding terribly insecure and he almost laughed at the absurdity. "I guess," he said, answering Naruto's unspoken question, "despite that you're annoying as shit, you make me smile when I need it most."

Naruto stared at him with wide eyes, then he relaxed as he grinned up at Sasuke. He could make Sasuke smile--even with his Sasuke, he was the only one to get the man to react.

"I guess that means I'm pretty damn good for you," Naruto said smugly. "Cause if you didn't have me, that stick up your--" Sasuke decided enough was enough and shut Naruto up by kissing him.

Naruto decided arguing was much less preferable to this, so he stopped talking and ran his tongue along Sasuke's bottom lip.

Mouth still pressed to Naruto's, he glanced at the crowded street and pushed Naruto farther into the narrow space between buildings.

"I don't think this is a good place to--mmf."

Sasuke cut him off by pressing his mouth harder against Naruto's. "Don't think."

"But..."

Sasuke shoved him against the wall. "Shut up, Uzumaki," he ordered. "I'm inclined to forgive you, but try and be quiet." Naruto didn't know what Sasuke meant by that statement until a few seconds later, and he nearly choked at the effort of keeping quiet.

Holy ... I can't imagine Sasuke.. ever doing this. His train of thought was rapidly running off the tracks. Sasuke's hand had cupped him between his legs and squeezed firmly.

"Sa...Sasuke," he breathed as Sasuke's mouth left his to lick a wet path down his neck.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Sasuke muttered, his hand moving to the band of Naruto's pants.

"But, but we're in publ...." Naruto gasped and his hands gripped Sasuke's hair tightly. "And, and..." His brain couldn't think of anything else to protest and he relaxed against the wall, eyes sliding shut.

Sasuke smirked against him, his other hand moving to stroke the sensitive skin of Naruto's inner thigh. "Don't you like a little risk-taking, Naruto?" Sasuke murmured against Naruto's neck, his hands grabbing hold of Naruto pants and jerking them down. Naruto's eyes widened and he grabbed a hold of his pants before they could reveal any more than the short blond hairs between his legs.

"Yes, but I'm not an exhibitionist, Sasuke," he hissed, trying to pull his pants back up, but Sasuke's grip was unrelenting.

Sasuke smirked. "I never would have thought of you as a chicken," he murmured, hands gripping the material and mouth moving over Naruto's neck. "You're not up for the challenge? How often do you think people come down this alley?"

Naruto grunted and pushed lightly against Sasuke's shoulder. "I am not a chicken. I just don't think showing the world my--mmf!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and silenced him again with his mouth. When Naruto moaned and relaxed into the kiss, he pulled back again. "I told you, don't think. Just enjoy."

Naruto decided he definitely didn't like that gleam in Sasuke's eyes. "Sasuke!" he said, his voice jumping an octave as Sasuke sank to his knees and pressed his mouth to Naruto's clothed groin.

Sasuke bit down lightly and enjoyed the gratified gasp. "Enjoying yourself, Uzumaki?"

Naruto would have replied except his brain had melted into a pile of mush and his only response was guttural nonsense. Sasuke smirked and, as Naruto's hand had released his pants, pushed the cloth lower, just enough to release Naruto's semi-hard erection. He cast a quick glance down the end of the alley where people passed by, oblivious to what was happening not twelve feet away.

Naruto gave a soft whimper as Sasuke lightly trailed his fingertips over the erection, mouth moving so gently over it that he wasn't sure if it was there or not. He didn't want to move at this point. "Get... get on... with it," he managed to growl out, eyes squinched shut.

"I knew you'd see it my way." Sasuke bent his head and raked the flat of his tongue from the base to the head, a finger gently massaging the skin just behind Naruto's balls.

The cool stone wall behind him dug into his shoulder blades as Naruto leaned back for support, his legs trembling. The noise from the marketplace faded away into a faint buzzing in the background, his entire awareness having focused in on Sasuke and his mouth.

Incapable of coherent speech, Naruto opened his eyes to slits and glanced down at Sasuke, watching his erection disappear into Sasuke's pale lips, wet with saliva. He never expected--not in any of his dreams--that this, or what had happened last night, would ever happen. To have Sasuke giving him such attention was one thing--to see the heat in Sasuke's eyes as his mouth moved over Naruto's cock, to know that he evoked this type of reaction in Sasuke--it was incredible and his body shuddered at the sight of those dark eyes fixed on him.

He would miss this form of affection, he thought, once things were straightened out and he returned to his normal life. And not just because of the sexual gratification, but because of the connection it created between them; because it was Sasuke whose lips he felt, Sasuke's touch, Sasuke's love.

Sasuke... he thought, and a few whimpers escaped as he felt something in his body tighten, spiraling ever inward.

Naruto groaned, his eyes squeezing shut again as his hips became more insistent, working towards that ultimate end. Sasuke's lips curved around his full mouth, a soundless chuckle shaking his chest.

"Shit, Sasuke," Naruto whispered. How did he get so talented? Smug bastard. Even in something like this, Sasuke was confident of himself, eyes glinting with amusement as he had Naruto at his mercy.

Naruto grunted in release, his head falling backward and hitting the stone behind him with a smack. He groaned, hardly feeling the momentary pain.

Sasuke swallowed, pushing down the twinging urge to gag, and pulled his mouth back, sucking gently. He gave the tip one last lick before tucking Naruto back into his pants.

Naruto looked down at him, a faint smile on his face and a glazed, contented look in his eyes. "Don't tell me this is a regular occurrence," he murmured. "I'm surprised my heart can take it."

Amazingly, no one had come down the alleyway; no one had heard a thing and came to investigate. Naruto was feeling a little better about the whole situation and he pulled Sasuke close to him, giving him a gentle kiss, hands stroking through the mussed hair.

He whispered into Sasuke's ear, "How should I repay you?"