Title: Parallels
Authors: Questofdreams and Lazuli
Rated: R
Comments: Huge thanks to our beta, proud snapist. This is the FINAL chapter of this story.
Disclaimer: Yep, they apply.
Chapter 17
Naruto slammed the bathroom door shut just as his front door burst open, banging loudly and (Naruto winced) splintering against the wall.
"Where are you guys?" Sakura asked, looking around the empty living room.
Naruto could practically feel her eyes boring through the door of the bathroom and he shoved Sasuke into the shower stall, his hands gripping the edge of the sink to hide their shaking.
"Turn the shower on," he hissed.
Sasuke gave Naruto an exasperated look, not at all concerned about Sakura discovering that they'd just advanced their relationship. She'd have to find out eventually, after all. Still, he turned the shower on to placate Naruto.
Naruto pushed him over as he joined him in the shower. Sasuke grumbled something about his boxers being ruined, but quickly set about cleaning himself, ignoring the interested twitch of his cock as he caught a healthy glimpse of Naruto's butt before turning away.
"Oh, you're in the shower," Naruto heard Sakura say and he gave a relieved sigh against Sasuke, hands absently smoothing soap over his chest. "Are you both in there? I think I'll just wait out here."
Naruto resisted the urge to thunk his head.
They cleaned up, both sneaking glances of each other as they threw Naruto's only two towels around their waists. Naruto nodded to Sasuke before opening the bathroom door.
Sasuke slipped past him into the bedroom without alerting Sakura. He was a top ninja, after all. Naruto, meanwhile, stepped into the living room to greet their former teammate.
"Sakura! Hey. Sorry about not letting you in," he said, leaning against the wall.
Sakura gave his towel a distracted glance before smiling. "Sorry I was so impatient. I thought you were trying to get rid of me."
"No, no." Naruto gave her a warm smile, eyes brightening. "I haven't really seen you for awhile, you know? I just had to get rid of this headache that I've had all morning. I know that you came over 'cause you couldn't stand being away from me for so long. I am irresistible, you know."
Sakura laughed, although not in derision. Her green eyes sparkled with mirth.
Naruto made a face. "It's not that funny, Sakura-chan."
Sakura covered her mouth, giggles escaping through her fingers. "I'm sorry, Naruto. You're right, it's not." She eyed his towel more pointedly. "You can be irresistible." And then she did a 180 and fixed him with a scowl, fists propped on her hips. "Although you could have just told me you were in the shower instead of letting me worry and making me force my way in."
Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I'll just, uh, get dressed."
"Where's Sasuke-kun?" she asked, anger visibly fading away as she gave Naruto a searching, if confused, look. "Was he in there with you?"
The bedroom door opened then and Sasuke emerged, fully clothed. "I was in the bedroom changing. Go get dressed, Naruto." Sasuke's expression didn't give anything away. "I'll update Sakura on what's been going on."
Naruto gave him a grateful look and nodded, slipping into his room and immediately noticing the musky smell. His knees nearly gave out as he realized how close they had come to being discovered.
He knew Sakura would have to know eventually, but letting her walk in on them, while Sasuke's fingers were still buried in his ass, would have been a rather poor way of telling her. He didn't know how she'd take it, but he was at least reassured by the fact that this Sakura had moved past her childhood crush on Sasuke.
He dug into his closet, finding his only pair of dark boxers missing—probably swiped by Sasuke since his had been temporarily ruined. He smirked as he realized who exactly was responsible for that. He had brought Sasuke to completion, twice now, with only his hands.
He dressed hastily and, running a hand through still damp hair, walked back into the living room, where Sasuke and Sakura were having a mostly one-way conversation. Sasuke, having said his piece about the morning events, had little else to say.
Sakura looked up and patted the seat beside her, smiling cheerfully. "I need to look you over. Hokage-sama wants to make sure you're back to normal."
Naruto gave Sasuke a lopsided grin at Sakura's word choice before settling in beside her. He watched her face, still very pretty and yet not nearly as enticing as dark, penetrating eyes and a strong masculine jaw.
She blushed under his scrutiny as she lifted her hands to his face, fingertips warm with chakra. He remembered the last time Sakura had done this to him—not this Sakura, but another one, examining him to make sure that everything was in working order.
"I was really mad, you know," she suddenly said, scowling once again at him before glancing at Sasuke as well. "Neither of you told me what was going on. Hokage-sama had to fill me in yesterday." Naruto opened his mouth to speak when she did another 180 and shook her head slowly, her green eyes softening. "Although I guess I wasn't really surprised. I've always kind of been the third wheel."
Behind her, Sasuke frowned, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something. Naruto shook his head vehemently. "No, you weren't, Sakura-chan. You were always an important—"
"Naruto, stay still," she said, cutting him off.
"Sakura—"
"It's ok, Naruto," she said, not meeting his eyes. "I forgive you both."
Naruto's lip jutted into a pout but Sakura ignored him. She closed her eyes in concentration.
Sighing, Naruto took the opportunity to move his gaze over to Sasuke, trying to lighten the mood by making sure he was very obvious in the way he looked the dark-haired boy over.
Sasuke smirked and leaned back against the armrest at his lower back, letting his head fall back casually, exposing the graceful column of his neck to Naruto's eager eyes.
Naruto mouthed, 'Tease' as blue eyes bore into Sasuke, promises swimming in their depths. Sasuke smirked just as Sakura's hands fell back to her sides and her eyes opened.
Naruto fixed an innocently curious expression on his face. "So? Everything alright," he asked.
She nodded and patted his hand. "Nothing more than the usual few brains rattling around in there," she said cheerfully. "I'll report to Hokage-sama and let you get caught up on your rest or what have you, but Hokage-sama is expecting you later today to give a full report."
Naruto nodded. "I'll be in after I eat something. I haven't eaten since this morning." His father had made them breakfast. He smiled broadly, but the corners of his lips were strained, weighed down by the lingering sadness that he knew would never really leave him. He wished again that he could have somehow kept that picture of him and his father.
"Well, drop by my place if you want, ok? I'm cooking tonight," she said with a wink. "It'll be nice to catch up."
Sasuke sensed Naruto's change of mood, but made no move towards him until after Sakura left.
He sat carefully beside Naruto, letting their sides touch. He wasn't going to pretend that he was good at offering comfort. He really would have rather avoided it all together, but Naruto probably wouldn't respond very well to a cold shoulder.
"I think I'll eat later," Naruto said. "I just want to talk to the old hag and get the interrogation over with." He fidgeted, hesitated and finally leaned over to kiss Sasuke lightly. "We'll, uh, finish... what we started."
Sasuke's eyes softened although his expression didn't change. "Yes," he said simply. "We will."
Naruto fidgeted a bit before moving to stand. Sasuke sighed and reached out to touch Naruto's face. Naruto froze.
He leaned close to Naruto's face, breath warming a whiskered cheek. "What are you so nervous about, Naruto? Have we ever been uncomfortable with each other before?"
Naruto was about to say how different this was, but it wasn't that different, really. It was just another level of trust, another way of understanding one another and accepting each other.
"I'm not going to have you thinking I'm some weak kind of girl or something," Naruto grumbled.
"You stopped having to convince me of that a long time ago, Naruto," Sasuke said softly, if a little reluctantly. He rolled his eyes, trying not to tense his muscles, and let Naruto hug him.
When Naruto pulled back, his grin was genuine. "See you later, Sasuke."
Sasuke snorted and waved him off. "Get lost, idiot. You don't want to worry Hokage-sama anymore than you already do."
Naruto made a face at him, but he kept smiling the entire way to the Hokage tower.
The Hokage's office door was open and Shizune was seated at a small sofa against the right wall, rubbing her eyes and paging through a thick book. She looked up at the sound of Naruto's footsteps.
"Naruto! How have you been? Can I help you with something?" she asked, making to stand.
"No, no, I'm fine. Don't trouble yourself. I was looking for the Godaime," he said.
"Ah," she said, retaking her seat. "Sakura was just here and they went for a drink. She should be back soon." Naruto held back his laughter when she muttered, "She better be anyway."
Naruto sat beside her, making himself comfortable. "Looks difficult," he noted. At the look she tossed his way, he held up his hands and grinned. "I was going to offer to look it over with you—ya know, pass the time until the old hag gets back."
"What's that, brat?"
Naruto grinned as Tsunade entered; Shizune looked relieved.
"You wanted to see me," he said, standing and following her to her desk.
"Yes. Shizune."
The Hokage didn't have to say more. Shizune understood and, heaving her huge book in her arms, left the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Sit," she said, as she did the same.
Naruto wished she would just get to the point of their meeting.
Tsunade wasn't one to banter around words; she just stared at him hard. "Everything back to normal?" she asked bluntly. "No side effects?"
Naruto shrugged and smiled faintly. "None that I need to worry about. I know who I am, I've got all my memories in order, and I know who my father was." Here he paused and arched an eyebrow in her direction, indirectly asking why she never told him. "And things will go back to normal."
The Godaime nodded, although her expression said she was not fully satisfied. "Are you alright?" she asked, voice noticeably softer.
Naruto's smile broadened. "Yeah. I'm ok. Except we're going to have to sit down for dinner some day very soon and you're going to tell me everything you know about my father."
Tsunade's fine blonde eyebrows rose. "Am I?" she asked, sounding amused.
Naruto's expression didn't hold the same amusement. "Yeah, we are," he said, eyes meeting hers directly. "It's not like you have to keep it a secret anymore, and I'm sure you'd love to downtalk him or whatever, but..." His expression slipped a bit into pleading. "Tsunade-baachan. I need to know."
She continued to watch him, her expression one of contemplation. She finally nodded. "Alright. I'll send you a message the next time I have an evening free."
Naruto smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
"Well, if you're certain you're alright?"
"I am. Sasuke is helping." Naruto congratulated himself for keeping the blush at bay.
Tsunade smirked anyway.
Naruto blustered through, making sure the blush didn't make an appearance. "Sasuke sort of kept me grounded in both worlds and things are better with him now." He gave a faint shrug. "Oh, and I have a bet for you, baa-chan."
Tsunade sat back in her chair and crossed her arms underneath her ample chest. "What kind of bet?"
"My father showed me how to do his flicker jutsu." At this, Tsunade's brows rose again, this time in surprise. Naruto continued. "So the bet is that I can master that jutsu in..." He looked thoughtful. "How long did you give me for Rasengan? I bet I could master the flicker technique in that time. Prize is that you formally consider me for Hokage. I know you've been informally training me."
Tsunade looked taken aback, surprised at his audacity. Naruto's smile grew strained when Tsunade failed to respond.
Finally, she said, "You've got a lot of nerve, brat." She narrowed her eyes and leaned over her desk. Naruto almost shrank away. "But," she said with a twinkle in her eyes, "if you master it in a week, I will acknowledge that you're worthy of my training."
Naruto, his enthusiasm renewed, beamed. "And formally announce me as your successor."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'll train you, but whether or not you take the position is yet to be seen."
Naruto sat up in the chair and leaned over to give Tsunade a tight hug. "You won't regret this, baa-chan!" He felt like cheering and his grin widened even further.
Tsunade waved him away impatiently. "Alright, get out of here. You'll need the time to train."
Naruto chuckled a little madly as he turned and bounded from the room, entirely missing Tsunade's fond—and rather proud—expression.
Naruto's mind was now narrowly focused on practicing his father's technique. Without a thought for food or the man waiting for him back at his apartment, he headed directly for the training grounds.
***
Sasuke sighed and tapped his fingers on the table, waiting for the old pervert to appear. It had taken him the better part of the day to find the old man, and now he wasn't even showing up?
"You're one persistent brat." Sasuke's head turned at the sound of the voice. "Nagging me and following me around, interrupting my research."
Sasuke resisted the urge to make a scathing comment about the nature of Jiraiya's "research"—and only because he still needed the old man's cooperation.
"Well? Do you have it?" he asked impatiently.
Jiraiya reached into his shirt and pulled something out. He glanced down at the object in his hand, a strange look in his eyes.
Sasuke almost felt guilty for taking away what obviously meant something to him. But then Jiraiya looked up with a careless expression and flicked the small photograph onto the table.
Sasuke's eyes widened briefly as he looked at the photo, then back at Jiraiya. "Huh. They really do look alike," he said, half to himself. There was a sincere expression in his eyes as he met Jiraiya's. "Thank you. This will mean a great deal to him." Now he let a bit of scorn into his voice. "Since he finally knows who his father was."
Jiraiya was not about to argue with the Uchiha brat, so he lifted his head with an expression of indifference and said, "Watch who you're talking to like that, brat. Do what you want with the picture."
Then he turned with a swish of his long white hair and hopped back out the window.
Sasuke frowned at the old man's back until he disappeared. Then he reached out and touched the photo.
It was of the Yondaime when he was about Naruto's present age with a more carefree expression than the one he'd had in his 'official' Hokage photo. There was a wide grin on his face that was strongly reminiscent of Naruto's. The only difference, really, was the lack of whisker marks.
"Really, Naruto, you owe me for this," he muttered to himself, but there was a smile on his face.
He took it with him back to the sofa where he'd been sitting before he'd moved to the table to wait for Naruto's ex-sensei. He'd stopped at his house earlier to find an unused picture frame. He picked up the plain wood frame and sat down as he fixed the photo into place.
Finished, he set the image on the table where it could be easily seen and crossed his arms, standing back to survey his work with a pleased smile.
After most of the day had passed and Naruto had yet to make an appearance, Sasuke was forced to go out and look for him, eventually tracking the idiot down to the training field. Sasuke smirked as he relaxed in the branches of a tree, watching Naruto train the flicker technique. It was impressive to see the progress Naruto made, but he was going to yell at the idiot soon to take a break and eat something. He wanted something to eat, and he knew that if Naruto had been here all day, he hadn't eaten anything yet either.
Naruto's form flickered briefly before he appeared a good five feet away from where he'd been standing. Unfortunately, he was still half the field away from his goal, Shikamaru, who was currently lying on his back taking a nap.
His stomach rumbled and he echoed it, growling irritably. He looked up at the sky, judging it to be at least 6 pm and decided he'd waited long enough.
He appeared behind an obviously exhausted Naruto, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Oi."
Naruto whirled around, eyes wide. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. He didn't want Sasuke to see him screwing up the flicker technique; he wanted to show off a perfect version of it to Sasuke. Not that he wanted to impress him or anything. He wanted to show him up. That was it.
"Ready to eat?" he asked. Naruto's stomach answered by grumbling loudly. "Not ramen."
Naruto looked crestfallen.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"We're going to have a decent dinner at a decent restaurant," Sasuke snapped, hunger making him even more irritable than normal.
Naruto eyed him curiously. "Are you taking me on a date, Sasuke?" He grinned suggestively.
Sasuke snorted and smacked Naruto upside the head. "No, idiot. It's just about time that you got some decent food inside of you. You can't live off of ramen forever and if you're training to become Hokage..." His look said he suspected what Naruto had been up to with Tsunade, or something close to it. "Then you have to take better care of yourself."
Frowning lightly, Naruto said, "Oh, but with how weird everything's been the past couple of days, I didn't exactly get paid for any missions."
Sasuke glared, impatient now. "I'll pay for you this time if you pay for me next time."
Naruto considered this. "Okay," he said. "Now let's eat, I'm starving." He frowned at Sasuke as if it had been Sasuke's fault he hadn't eaten yet.
Sasuke chose not to respond, merely turned away and started walking from the training field. Naruto waved to Shikamaru and hurried after Sasuke.
"Hey, where are we going to eat? I don't know many of the other places around here."
Sasuke shrugged, not having really thought about where they would go. In the end, they settled on a small restaurant next to Ino's family flower shop.
Naruto was surprised at how smoothly the evening went. Sasuke was civil, except to the old woman sitting behind them who kept sending Naruto dark glares, and Naruto enjoyed the filling meal.
He was glad when the evening was over though, and he and Sasuke headed back to his apartment. He patted his stomach and gave Sasuke a wide grin. "That was the best I've eaten in a long time," he said happily. "Thanks, Sasuke."
Sasuke snorted softly and shrugged. "Like I said, you don't eat enough and what you do eat is unhealthy."
Grinning broadly, Naruto reached out and tugged at a lock of Sasuke's spiky hair. Sasuke immediately slapped his hand away. Naruto laughed. "I didn't know you cared, Sasuke."
Sasuke's nostrils flared irritably. As he was fairly certain he was incapable of saying anything sweet, he said nothing at all. Let Naruto make his own conclusions.
And Naruto did, grinning foolishly at Sasuke's profile. At the restaurant, Naruto had suggested they go back to Sasuke's apartment, but oddly enough, Sasuke had argued. Not wanting to ruin the evening with pointless bickering, Naruto had relented.
He pushed open his front door, his hand feeling against the wall for the light switch. Sasuke shut the door as light flooded the apartment.
"If we had gone back to your place, we could have at least watched some tv," Naruto said, unable to help himself.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and then smirked. "I think we can find other ways to entertain ourselves. You have an unpaid debt, Naruto."
He led Naruto over to the couch, hoping that he wouldn't have to point out the picture. Naruto wasn't exactly the most observant ninja.
"You said I could pay for our next meal," Naruto said, voice accusing. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he marched to his bedroom. Sasuke ground his teeth as Naruto passed right by the table and didn't see it because his eyes were shut.
"Naruto," he said calmly. "Come here."
"Why?" Naruto's voice called out from his room.
"Just come here," he said.
Naruto appeared again, arms still crossed. When Sasuke didn't say anything, he rolled his eyes... which then caught notice of something sitting on his table that hadn't been there when he'd left that morning.
Naruto blinked at the unexpected item. He knew the placement of everything in his apartment, from each plant that he took care of to the posters hung on the walls. His hands automatically lifted the picture frame from the table, but he nearly dropped it in shock.
"Sas...sasuke!" His voice wobbled. "Where... where did you get this?" Intense blue eyes met Sasuke's and the dark haired boy was relieved to note there was no anger, no despair, but something that bordered on a desperate happiness.
Sasuke, looking immensely smug, said, "I tracked down your perverted teacher and asked for a photo. It was the least he could do after having kept the knowledge from you."
Naruto's wide eyes grew bright with the threat of tears as he brought the framed photograph to his face, smiling tremulously into his father's face. Then he turned and launched himself at Sasuke.
The two tumbled backwards, falling onto the sofa. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke, one hand still holding the picture. He buried his face in Sasuke's neck, a bit of wetness seeping onto Sasuke's skin.
"Thank you," he murmured. "You have no idea... I... " He clung tighter.
"Obviously, I had some idea or else I wouldn't have thought it'd be a good surprise," Sasuke said wryly.
Naruto chuckled wetly against Sasuke. "Why, Sasuke?" He lifted his head to peer questioningly down at his friend's face.
Sasuke's lips curled in disgust when he felt himself blushing. "All this sentimentality is really getting on my nerves," he muttered.
"Sasuke," Naruto said, tugging at dark hair to get the man to cooperate and answer him.
"Idiot," Sasuke said roughly. "I'm not going to spell it out for you so that you can understand. If I do something like this, it means..." Sasuke couldn't seem to force the words out. It was weird and unsettling to make such sentiments again. "What the hell do you think it means?"
Naruto responded by latching onto him even tighter. Sasuke grumbled something unintelligible and grudgingly returned the embrace.
"Thank you, Sasuke," Naruto repeated.
"Put that frame down before it breaks, you moron," Sasuke said. Naruto's hand holding the frame was wedged between their bodies and the back of the sofa. Naruto immediately complied, placing it with reverence on the floor, picture side up so he could admire it from his position on top of Sasuke.
Sasuke groaned and gave a short laugh. "Now it's like your father is watching us." He cupped the back of Naruto's head and drew him closer. "Now shut up and let's get on with what we started before."
Naruto blinked at him in slight confusion. "Before?" he asked blankly.
Sasuke resisted the urge to smack Naruto and instead trailed his mouth along Naruto's collarbone. "Before Sakura interrupted us."
A slow grin spread on Naruto's face. "Ah, I see," he said, voice lower and sending shivers straight to Sasuke's groin. He brushed a trail of kisses down Sasuke's temple.
His eyes were caught by the glare of the light reflecting off his father's picture and he grinned, clutching Sasuke close to him, and knew that while his longing for his father would never fade, he had Sasuke here to fill the ache. He pushed himself off his lover (he supposed Sasuke could be called that), pulling Sasuke up with him.
"Bedroom," he murmured, reaching down to snatch up his father's photo.
Sasuke nodded, slightly dazed but all too impatient to get on with it. The look on Naruto's face and the way his hands kept trailing below the waistline of Sasuke's pants said all too clearly that he felt the same.
When the door shut behind them, the picture of the Yondaime was back again on the table.
***
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, feeling out of place. He had never stood here before with the intent of saying anything. He looked down at the names carved into the monument, easily picking out his father's name. He wanted to say that he was glad he'd had the chance to meet him, that he'd been given a glimpse of what it might have been like had things been different, but the words wouldn't come. So instead he tucked his hands into his pockets and stared intently at the stone monument, picturing his father's face clearly in his mind.
He already knew that his father would like Sasuke, would approve of what he'd done with his life and where it was going. He'd be proud that Naruto was following in his footsteps and wasn't making a huge deal out of who his father had been. He'd talked a bit about what the Yondaime was like with those that knew him best, and he felt that was the best kind of memorial, the only one that was really needed.
He breathed deeply as a light breeze brushed his slightly longer hair off his shoulders. He reached forward and traced the characters of his father's name gently with the pad of his finger.
Behind him, Sasuke shifted on his feet. Naruto's touch lingered on the cool stone for a moment longer before his hand fell away, a smile on his lips.
"Ready to go?" He adjusted his jacket—a birthday gift from Jiraiya—and smiled up at Sasuke.
"Yeah. Let's get going, Naruto."
The two boys left the monument, the only sign that they had been there was the simple spray of flowers left on the stone.
THE END