Fate's Garden

Part 2 - Fox Den

Chapter 4 - Unsaid

Sasuke shouldn't have been surprised. It had been so long since he'd seen his in-laws he was wondering if there was something wrong.

There was.

One minute Sasuke had been lying on the soft grass inside the embassy's walls, napping with his mate. The next he was standing amidst a ruckus of angry gods and their oddly subdued children. There were so many angry voices that the words melded into each other. As soon as his presence was noticed all of the gods except for Kyuubi assumed their animal forms and continued their pandemonium. The only quiet one was his father-in-law. Sasuke turned to him and opened his mouth to speak but closed it at the shushing gesture the fox god made.

Together they moved away from the obnoxious din and into the kitchen nearby. He was in the grandfather's house again, and he hadn't realized he was in the living room he was so overwhelmed by the noise.

"Hello, my son. How are you?" Kyuubi greeted kindly.

"Yes, how are you?" Sasuke glanced behind him as he was additionally welcomed by Yuuta, the rabbit god who was quickly joining them.

"I'm fine. What is going on in there?" He questioned.

"A senseless argument among my children who are so foolishly angry that they do not even notice their father escaping into the kitchen," the grandfather announced smiling calmly as he always did.

"But what are they arguing about?"

"You, I'm afraid," was the tactless reply.

"Me?" Sasuke inquired helplessly.

"Yes you."

"It would seem, my son, that your relatives are terribly upset with the circumstances of things."

Yuuta nodded in agreement with his brother, "Those circumstances revolving around your mate, Sasuke."

"What about him?"

The word mate in reference to Naruto still irked him, but no longer enough to make him violently angry. There was no use arguing with these gods.

"It has been discovered that you will follow him to the garden and become one of us," Yuuta explained.

"…what?"

A…god? One of them? He was going to…

Sasuke shook his head. He'd realized he was gaping at them and that was very unbecoming for an Uchiha.

"The tie between you two is too strong for us to sever it. Only our father could, but he insists that it's for the better if he does not."

"So they're arguing because what, I get to come to the garden and all their kids' mates didn't?"

"Precisely."

"Wouldn't the place be overrun if that were to happen anyways?"

"Perhaps, but it would have been fair," the grandfather winked, disappearing back into the living room.

"But aren't gods supposed to be all knowing and wise? And if not that, mature?" Sasuke scowled.

"Life isn't fair…" he mumbled under his breath.

Kyuubi and Yuuta chuckled at him, and Sasuke's grimace only deepened. He turned on Kyuubi accusingly.

"Oh yeah that reminds me!"

"Of what, my kit?"

"I'm never going to let you pick a life for me ever again! If I'd known you were going to turn your son into a polygamous ol' fox I would never have trusted you!"

"But you seemed to be getting along fine when you came here." Kyuubi drew a circle in the air, creating a picture within it of Sasuke and fox-Naruto taking a nap.

"But do you know how difficult it was getting used to that?"

"Yes."

Sasuke had taken a breath, prepared to tell him just how difficult it was when the fox god had retorted in the affirmative. His shoulders slumped slightly, the wind taken out of him.

"Just as Naruto didn't know of his lineage at first, neither did I. I wasn't always what I am now." The look in Kyuubi's eyes was wistful, almost mourning.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the fox, not entirely sure he was telling the truth. He opened his mouth to question him further only to be yanked roughly from the kitchen. Suddenly he was back with Naruto again. Sasuke was beginning to wonder what happened to him while he was in the garden. Kyuubi showed him a picture of him and Naruto napping. Did his body stay there and his spirit travel over?

Oh well, he could always ask them the next time he saw them. For now he was comfortable and…

"Milord! Lordess," an unfamiliar voice squawked.

Sasuke's eyes remained stubbornly screwed shut. He could get used to the fox thing, he could accept in some begrudging fashion that to everyone he was Naruto's 'mate', but he would never get used to being called 'Lordess' of all things. Along the way when someone had called him that he'd stopped them and asked them what it meant.

"Ah, it's the noble title for the submissive partner in a relationship between two men!" they had called to him where he sat on Naruto's back. When the informative people had carried on their way Naruto had resumed their trek at a slightly faster pace. Much to Sasuke's surprise, the dobe had remained silent and instead of laughing, seemed particularly bashful.

"Milord." The voice squawked again, this time sounding a little out of breath.

Sasuke swore profusely when he felt Naruto roll off of him. He sat up and glared at the person who dared to disturb his peaceful nap. But he realized quite quickly that the person he had hoped to scowl at most heinously was not really a person at all. It was a rather tall and awkward looking great blue heron.

"Yes, Kane?"

Sasuke's head whirled around to see Naruto calmly kneeling on the grass, in his human form. He'd obviously abandoned his clothes somewhere else as he was naked and not making an effort to cover himself. Sasuke rolled his eyes and tried to call forth a memory of this annoying fowl only to find none. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the grass.

"Um, Lordess?"

Sasuke grumbled and lifted his gaze to meet the heron's.

"Why don't you come inside and get cleaned up, huh? Ms. Haruno is going to be coming by for dinner in an hour."

"Who invited her? I didn't." Sasuke pointedly looked to Naruto.

The dobe shook his head and smiled, "Play nice with the other kids, Sasuke."

"I don't want to."

Naruto inhaled deeply and stood. He shuffled over to Sasuke and leaned down to press a soft kiss on his tussled hair. Sasuke took the gesture in stride, knowing it would only upset the dobe and cause a completely uncessary arguement if he quesitoned it. Though later he would wonder endlessly over it.

"I'll be in the study if you really need me." Naruto changed back into fox form and started towards the house. Before he got too far he glanced over his shoulder and let out a short bark in warning, Be nice.

Then he was off, leaving Sasuke alone with the strange talking bird.

"Well," Kane twittered, "c'mon then."

"Turn the lights off." Sasuke ordered.

"But, Lordess, the cooks need them on to see the meal they're preparing."

"So? I didn't invite Sakura over; she shouldn't just invite herself like that. If she wants to eat I can always send the dobe out to get a deer or something."

"Oh, dear, there is no need for that! That's why we have cooks is so that you don't have to eat raw meat and so on."

"Who says I eat it raw? I cook it over a small fire. It tastes just fine."

Kane sighed, placing the tip of one wing on his forehead. Sasuke knew that he was probably being unnecessarily troublesome but he couldn't help it. It was so weird to be back here. Memories of the other Sasuke told him that he used to get excited over this trip. When he first came to the clan with the dobe he would stay in town all day until he had to return to the cave at night. He would run into the embassy's house and love the feeling of being indoors. But now, for him, it felt strange. When he went into the kitchen he was startled by the staff moving about preparing dinner. One of them, a petite female boar with thick brown fur and short tusks approached him. She asked him if she could get anything for him and he'd asked for some milk. Soon thereafter she'd handed him a glass and when he'd taken his first sip he nearly spat it out. As soon as the kind boar had gone back to her tasks Sasuke had subtly left the glass of milk on the counter and escaped the kitchen.

"When Sakura shows up go ahead and send her into the dining room, I'll be in the study with the dobe." Sasuke told him.

Kane nodded though he didn't look too pleased with his Lordess's behavior.

Sasuke left the lavishly furnished sitting room and hurried up the carpeted stairs. He was so antsy. Kane had absolutely forbidden him from going outside as he'd just bathed and changed into nice, clean clothes. He followed his memories to the door directly opposite the stairs and opened it. Naruto was laying in his human form on the couch writing up something, probably an official report on the clan's happenings since the last visit. The room was large, as were all of the rooms in the embassy. But it was cozier. Naruto had obviously made an effort to dehumanize it as much as possible. He'd left the books in unorganized piles around the room, left the window wide open and put rugs and blankets everywhere. The walls were painted a dark brown, and the lights were off. Sasuke sighed at the welcome change and closed the door behind him. Naruto looked up from his papers and chuckled.

"Why is the entire house staff made up of animals?" Sasuke questioned, lying down on the floor.

"They're demons, just like me. But they remain in a somewhat warped version of their animal forms. They have mostly human hands so they can perform the household tasks and everything else animal so they can remain mostly comfortable."

"And Kane?"

"He's the housekeeper."

"I don't like him."

Naruto smirked, "Because he won't let you go outside?"

"Because he won't tell Sakura not to come over!"

"She isn't that bad."

"I want to go home." Sasuke grumbled.

When he didn't get a response Sasuke turned his head so he could see his mate. Naruto was staring at him in earnest surprise.

"Really?"

"Even though I don't like them…I guess I've gotten used to living with those stupid foxes. This doesn't feel like home anymore."

Naruto sighed, "Sasuke, even if you don't like it, you can't just turn your back on your kind…"

"You mean like you did?"

"That wasn't me! That was the other Naruto, alright?"

Sasuke tried to work up a retort to that but couldn't find one so he remained silent.

"Would you have given up on me?"

Naruto froze, his face turning green like he was going to be sick.

"Would you have?"

Still no answer. "If I hadn't killed you," Sasuke felt his throat swell up; refusing to let any more words come out. That was the first time he'd mentioned it.

Naruto snorted, "I let you kill me, Sasuke. That was me giving up."

"You…" His chest clenched and his stomach filled up with ice, "you let me kill you? Why?"

"It's not like you cared! You killed me on a whim, remember?"

"I-I…"

"You were never going to care, Sasuke, you never did and you never were going to. I'd wasted years of my life chasing after a stupid dream that didn't mean anything!" His voice was wet with tears that had yet to reach his eyes. His face was red and pinched up at the effort to not cry.

Sasuke wanted to look away, he wanted to get up and run. But he was rooted to the spot; he couldn't rip his gaze off of the contorted face of his rival, his best friend, his mate. Sasuke couldn't have just let it go. He had to ask and now the dam had broken.

"What was I going to do if I went back to Konoha without you and tried to move on? Do you think I could have gone and tried to pass the chuunin exams? If I tried to move on everyone would have hated it me for it. Kakashi wouldn't speak to me, Sakura would hate me. If I didn't just keep playing the fool for everyone they wouldn't know what to do with themselves!"

"The best thing I could do is just die and let you carry on your stupid vengeful way in peace."

Sasuke was at a complete loss. It appeared that this was the worst moment for him to lose his voice as Naruto snorted in a knowing sort of way. He then changed into his fox form, tearing carelessly through his kimono and hopped out of the open window. Sasuke found himself moving to the window to make sure the dobe hadn't hurt himself. All he could see was a blur of yellow moving over the embassy wall and disappearing from sight.

"Lordess!"

Sasuke heard the squawk of his housekeeper but couldn't bring himself to answer him, his eyes locked onto the wall Naruto had vaulted over moments ago.

"Lordess!"

A few minutes later the door to the study opened and a weary heron announced, "Lordess, your guest is here. As you instructed I have sent her to the dining room. If you would…?"

Sasuke ripped his gaze away from the window as fast as he could, like he was peeling off a band-aid. He nodded to Kane and without a word exited the room. He hadn't wanted to see Sakura let alone talk to her. But now, now he felt that if he was left alone he might drown in the silence and the memory of Naruto's words. If just for a while, he needed to hear Sakura babble on about nothing at all. When he sat down at the dining table and faced her she noticed how shaken he was, yet she didn't comment on it. Instead she chattered. Her words washed over him in a comforting wave. Throughout dinner, Sasuke felt as though he were asleep with his eyes open. He didn't want to wake up.

TBC…