Long Distance Love
Naruto was awake when Sasuke crawled out the bed, but he took guilty comfort in knowing that due to his injuries, he couldn't go far. Instead of following him, he pulled the blanket over his head and buried himself deep down, not ready to get up yet. He drifted back to sleep and awoke an hour later, realizing Sasuke hadn't come back, but he realized a moment too late that he shouldn't have been surprised. Of course the Uchiha would be the kind that once up, he was up for good.
"I hate morning people," he muttered, forcing himself out the bed with a stretch. Throwing on his clothes, he entered the small living room to find Sasuke doing sit ups with his feet wedged under the couch for leverage. "What number are you on?" Naruto asked with a note of humor.
"…5001…5002…5003…" Sasuke counted, but fell on his back, breathing heavily and smiling. "Or somewhere around there."
"Lying isn't your strong suit," Naruto informed him, kneeling down to give a peck which was inevitably prolonged by Sasuke forcing their mouths to remain connected. When Naruto was able to pull away, he clicked his teeth and lightly bopped him on the head. "Don't get greedy," he chastised but couldn't help smiling as well. As he got up from the floor, he took Sasuke's hand and helped him up as well, though noticed neither of the crutches were in the room.
"They're holding up progress," Sasuke provided, already guessing as to what Naruto was looking for. "If we're going to make our deadline, I need to start moving as much as possible."
Naruto let go of Sasuke's hand, moving into the kitchen to begin breakfast. There was already a pan in the sink from Sasuke frying eggs. As he washed the pan for his own meal, he thought to himself the thing he didn't want to say aloud, that he wished the two of them could spend more time without returning. He'd already aired that grievance last night, and while the reasoning for going back was completely sound, he was finding it hard to quiet the idea of being a bit selfish.
As he ate breakfast, Sasuke came and sat across from him. "What's on your agenda for the day?" he asked, reaching across the table to pick up some egg off the plate.
Naruto quelled the brief impulse to playfully jab his hand with the fork, opting to instead pull his plate protectively closer. "I figured if you're so 'genki' today, we could take a walk to the castle for the both of us to give our thanks to the princess. And since the medics inside are under orders to not ask questions about Konoha, we could get you a checkup."
"Fair enough," Sasuke nodded, pushing away from the table. "I'll go get ready then." He swooped down before Naruto could ward him off and stole another hunk of egg. "These actually taste better than mine, surprisingly." He slowly made his way out the room, licking his fingers as he went.
Looking down at the meager remains of his food, all Naruto could do was sigh.
~.~.~
The trip to the castle had taken longer than Naruto had planned and if he was the one telling the story (and he was), it was all due to Sasuke. The other had argued obstinately against Naruto's suggestion of carrying him, again mentioning the slow-down of recovery by relying on anyone or anything other than himself.
To his credit, Naruto thought as they were waved through the palace gates, he'd lasted at least a quarter of the trip, longer than he'd expected. However, halfway up a hill, he saw the telltale wobble of Sasuke's legs and had flashed to his side to catch him before he fell. With a face flaming red, Sasuke had allowed himself to be lifted for the rest of the journey. To spare his feelings, Naruto had even withheld the four words that were bursting to be said: "I told you so."
As it would happen though, once they were inside, they were informed that the princess had left to attend to other business, though they were welcome to wait. Naruto nodded to the guard that looked to be the same one from the first visit. "Sure thing, we don't mind. Sasuke here needs a checkup anyways." He gave a playful slap to Sasuke's back, making him stumble where he stood. He innocently deflected the glare that was sent his way.
In the medical wing, Naruto continued to watch in humor as a doctor fretted over Sasuke's body, from checking his joint movements to inspecting his ears, eyes, nose and throat. When Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance, the doctor answered automatically, "Naruto already informed us that you recently suffered a severe virus so we just want to be thorough."
"I don't think I've been to the doctor this many times in my entire life compared to these last two months," Sasuke grumbled but he quietly was thankful to Naruto's consideration. The blonde knew he wasn't fond of being hospitalized so it was best to take preventative measures (no matter how annoying) than to pay the price later.
After a myriad of tests, they received the final verdict from the physician. "There's nothing seriously wrong though we suggest you keep a compress on your muscles if you feel them aching. We don't mind giving you a head start though with a massage as the princesses' masseuse is on staff. Would you happen to have the time for that today?"
A massage from the masseuse of the princess?! "Hell yeah!" Sasuke actually cheered, but looked directly at Naruto as he answered. He knew Naruto was working hard to look nonplussed at the special offer given to him, but Naruto gave himself away the more he attempted to look unaffected, such as his careless shrug or the attempt at tucking up his mouth in a smile.
As they were guided to a room that was clearly for spa services, Sasuke knew he couldn't be entirely malicious to his boyfriend. Climbing up on one of the massage tables, he pointed to Naruto and asked, "Think they'd mind doing a double? It's because of Naruto that I'm alive at all."
Naruto almost quite literally felt his heart melt. If he weren't so shy of public displays of affection, he would've kissed Sasuke right there. In fact, who cared if the doctor saw? He settled for kissing his fingers and was rewarded with a pleased blush.
The doctor didn't react to seeing the gesture, instead giving a push to his glasses that implied he couldn't care less. "I'll go inquire about that for you. Please wait here," he said with business-like efficiency, instantly turning on a heel to go find someone.
"Thank you, Sasuke," Naruto winked at him, hopping up on another bed next to the first. "I wish we could also sit in the hot springs but that'd probably be overstaying our welcome."
As two spa workers dressed in white came into the room, Sasuke took a moment to reflect on that comment and also made a quiet noise of regret. "Yes, it's certainly been too long since we've been to the hot springs…hasn't it, Naruto?"
Naruto was ready to agree with him until he caught the emphasis, made even more apparent by the gleam in those dark eyes. He hid his flustered face by lying down on the bed on his stomach, waiting for the masseuse to work their magic.
Twenty minutes of heaven later, Naruto felt almost like a new person. He noticed as well that Sasuke was walking better too, with only the hint of a limp as he moved. Waiting to guide them through the castle this time was a young maid dressed in a kimono much too nice for doing housework in. He wondered if she too attended to the princess personally.
As they followed her, she bit her lip in concern as she revealed, "Princess Koyuki hasn't returned yet. She's working tirelessly to update the bureaucracy that was neglected in the time she was away from the kingdom but that often keeps her away for days at a time. I do apologize, but I'll be more than happy to inform her of your visit…"
It was her polite way of telling them to leave. Naruto took no offense as it'd be pointless to wait indefinitely for the princess to return. "We only wanted to give her our thanks now that Sasuke is awake but we're extremely grateful as well for allowing us to borrow your doctors and your spa," he scratched behind his head bashfully. "But…if you don't mind, may I have one more request? Is there a phone I can use?"
Sasuke peered at him sharply, already knowing what Naruto was about to do. "I thought you said…"
"I know, Sasuke," he sighed. "But this is what we…talked about yesterday," he said delicately, alluding to their fighting from the day before. "You were right so I figured we could at least do this much."
However, the maid lowered her eyes down, fidgeting with a string on her obi as she told them, "We only have one phone line so far that's able to call outside the Land of Spring, but it belongs to the princess."
The poor thing, this definitely was a dilemma for her, caught between the role to appease guests and her duties to her princess. "Hey, it's alright," Naruto coaxed. "I'll bear full responsibility. But it's really important I call outside of the country, not just for my sake but—" Dare he say it? "—For the sake of the world."
At hearing that, she finally relented, giving a timid bow. She altered their direction, instead guiding them down a different hallway, one that seemed secluded and was likely only intended for specific personnel. As they followed her, Naruto heard Sasuke hiss, "Dramatic much?" but he ignored the taunt.
The room with the phone was not designed with long, comfortable stays in mind. In honestly, it was only a simple landline placed on top of a tea table with a few pillows on the floor to make it easier on the knees. Taking a seat himself, he wracked his memory for a moment until the phone number he needed came to mind.
Phones even in Konoha were primarily a rare thing but a few of the more prominent shinobi now had one. As he dialed, he could only hope that the new technology would be sufficient to fulfil this one request.
Alas, the phone picked up on the other side: "Hatake residence," he heard Iruka's warm, familiar voice. The homesickness hit like a ton of bricks and tears sprung to his eyes that he'd ever thought of abandoning the people that he loved.
"H-hi, Iruka-sensei. It's Naruto," he swallowed down his emotions, not wanting to blubber into the receiver. "I don't have a lot of time, but is Kakashi-sensei there?"
"Naruto?! Oh my god, everyone is worried sick about you! Are you okay?" Iruka instead pressed, ignoring Naruto's question. "Kakashi heard from Yamato that you managed to find Sasuke; is he with you right now?"
Naruto looked to Sasuke, who was sitting beside him and had heard Iruka. Leaning over, Sasuke said loudly, "I'm here, Iruka…sensei. And I'm doing fine."
The sound of a loud breath filled the phone. "I actually lost sleep worrying about you, Sasuke. Kakashi also was told about the terrible things that'd been done to you, but I'm glad both of you are alright. Where are you?"
For a moment, Naruto considered telling him. Kakashi would likely tell him anyways. Still, he felt that for now, this needed to be something shared with as few people as possible. "I really would prefer to talk to Kakashi-sensei, no offense," he murmured, feeling guilty for being so obstinate.
"Alright, if you insist…" The line went quiet for a moment until Kakashi asked, "Hello? Naruto, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm really sorry for making everyone worry. I want to tell you where we're at, but only you, okay? I don't even want Iruka-sensei to know." It was a tall order to request, considering it'd mean making one half of the married couple keep a secret from the other, but he hoped Iruka wouldn't resent Kakashi or him for that.
Due to that, there was a long pause on the other end until Kakashi finally conceded. "Alright, I won't say a word to anyone else. Where'd you run off to?"
"The Land of Snow."
"The Land of—!" Kakashi nearly echoed back before he caught himself. "You really know how to run away, don't you? But…it's rather brilliant. I already know why you chose there. But Naruto, Yamato told me some disturbing things about the people you guys encountered in the Land of Iron. You're also aware that they attacked Konoha directly. Honestly, things aren't looking too good right now. The Land of Lightning and Land of Wind have already confirmed assaults in their villages as well, along with several smaller nations. This is turning into an international crisis." He grew quiet for a moment before his next words came out heavy. "I know you and Tsunade aren't on the friendliest of terms right now, but if not for her, would you consider returning for everyone else? For me? We really need you here. Not as Naruto the jinchurriki, but just…you, Naruto."
Kakashi's voice had cracked on his name and in turn, Naruto put a hand to his mouth, becoming choked. "I'm so sorry for being selfish," he cried, hating himself for having become so weepy. "We're coming back. Definitely. We just…need a little more time."
"That's fine. Oh, and one last thing," Kakashi added.
"Hm? What's that?" Naruto wiped his eyes, pulling himself together.
"Bring Sasuke. He's just as much a part of Konoha as anyone else. You're not the only one that misses him. Sasuke, I know you're listening in as well. Konoha is your family and I won't let this village abandon you."
Turning slightly away, Sasuke kept his eyes pointed at the light fixture above, the corners of his lashes becoming moist. "Yes sir," his voice trembled.
"Alright, I need to hang up now or else this phone bill is going to be outrageous. Take care both of you and I'll see you when you get here." On that, Kakashi ended the call.
Later on the way back home, neither Sasuke nor Naruto said anything. As they walked slowly along the quiet road, trailing their hands in the tall grasses, they basked in their mentor's words, feeling their warmth as tangible as the noonday sun.