Fate's Garden

Part 3 - Inked

Chapter 6 - Imagine It's Him

"So who were you looking for when I was cornering you?" Sasuke asked casually.

Naruto laughed at his wording, "My friend Tala, I was sure he wasn't skipping class today but he might have changed his mind last minute."

"Hey there buddy," a genial voice erupted from the crowds around them. The volume of his voice was monumental yet no one seemed to notice or care. Perhaps they were used to it, Sasuke barely restrained himself from massaging his ears.

A boy taller than both Sasuke and Naruto appeared on Naruto's side of the table. He set his tray down and pushed it aside, forgetting about it for the moment, straddling the bench so he could face Naruto. Sasuke didn't recognize this guy from their original life, granted he hadn't recognized that Yumi person either. So maybe this person existed in their world and he simply hadn't met him before? Sasuke swore he Suohld have at least seen him; he stuck out like a sore thumb.

Tala, Naruto's 'friend', had bright red hair, a narrow, shrewd face and blue eyes that glowed like flashlights. Well, they didn't really glow, necessarily, but they were unreasonably bright, just like his hair. And his skin was so pale it made Sasuke's skin look healthy. For some reason, most redheads that Sasuke ran into had just the slightest tone of pink to their skin, on their Suohlders, their cheeks, nose, etc. But this boy didn't even have freckles. It was odd. Granted the school uniform made everyone look like they were dressed for Halloween but the redhead opposite him looked like he was born on Halloween.

"Yeah, I can see what you mean about the staring thing, kinda creepy, but I think he means well," Tala told Naruto conversationally, chin resting in his palm as he looked Sasuke over.

Sasuke felt truly affronted then, he hadn't noticed he was staring, "Sorry…"

"Eh, whatever, man, it's cool, doesn't he have class with us next?"

"Yeah, but looks like he needs to stop by his locker in the dungeons before class."

"Dude, someone in administration must really not like him," Tala muttered, inspecting Sasuke's schedule, "Oro-chan certainly hates him, it's decided."

"…Oro-chan?"

"Eh, his real name's Orochimaru, but who wants to call that asshole of a principal by anything remotely dignified?" Tala elaborated.

Sasuke was sure if he wasn't such a good actor he wouldn't have been able to hold in the horrified look that was just begging to be let onto the surface. Instead he snorted sarcastically and asked for his schedule back. It was handed over easily and Sasuke stuffed it into his bag.

"So, Sasuke," Naruto started, "what're you doing after school today? You've only been in town for a week; we might as well show you around town, right Tala?"

"Um, I have to pick up my little brother and sister from school and drop them off at home…but after that I think I can go with you guys," Sasuke relented.

"Ah, lame," Naruto retorted, "you've got younger siblings? I'm lucky I guess, I don't have any brothers or sisters."

"Eh, I guess I have it good too, I have older brothers sure, but they're all already moved out and have their own families and stuff, I might as well be an only child." Tala joked.

"Except on holidays, dude, your house is crazy…" Naruto shook his head.

"Well what're ya gonna do, huh? I have five older brothers, all married, and three of them have kids already. One with three kids, one with two, and one with four, and did I tell you Bryan's wife is pregnant?"

"Ugh, so many people in one house…" Naruto massaged his forehead as though he were experiencing a migraine. Sasuke guessed the memory might have actually brought one on.

"And they all come home for Christmas, and birthdays, and thanksgiving. You realize they all live like…a neighborhood away from my mom and dad?"

"What? I thought they all went off to college in different ends of the country!"

"Yeah, I know, but they all came back here to spawn, like salmon," Tala exclaimed, arms wide.

"That…is ridiculous," Sasuke chimed in, eyebrow arched, "but it makes sense. You ever notice people tend to do that? They all want to raise their kids where they were raised, even if they're not in touch with their parents anymore."

"Yeah, it's how there's like generations upon generations of certain families around here…"

"Just wait, one out of every four of us salmon break the trend and stay away from home forever," Naruto laughed.

"I know how you are, wild child," Tala put Naruto in a teasing headlock, rubbing his head with his knuckles.

Naruto playfully squirmed out of his grip and nodded, "That's me!"

It was amazing, Sasuke supposed, how well the three of them got along. There were the moments of course where Tala and Naruto would talk about something with each other that were clearly the conversation of best friends. Sasuke found out they lived down the road from each other and had since they were three. Now the two of them at the ripe age of seventeen were still best friends. But of course, Tala was extremely cooperative and would always find a way to lasso Sasuke back into the conversation. It was sort of…nice, to have that unassuming buffer between them. It also helped a great deal that this Naruto didn't have any sort of deep seated resentment against him. It was a fresh slate. This Naruto knew nothing about him, and liked him, and that was that.

But, at the same time, the fresh slate was the problem also. Most shit that Sasuke pulled, his Naruto put up with. Like his extreme asshole-ish tendencies, and his emotionally stunted views on physical affection, or affection in general. That got him in trouble a lot. Sasuke found himself having to try harder to please this Naruto than he had to in order to please his own. It was strange, because while his Naruto didn't have anyone else to run to, and was undoubtedly tied to him no matter what, this Naruto wasn't.

So, for instance if Sasuke was being a jerk, Naruto would call him a bastard and leave, go do his homework, or go hang out with Tala. Sasuke would wait it out, he would try anyways. He would wait for probably no more than a few days before he would go crawling back, more pathetic than he'd ever been in all of his lives, and apologize to the guy. Naruto would of course smirk at him as if he'd merely been waiting for Sasuke to cave, and then accept his apology. Then everything would go back to normal. It was very…humbling.

As the months went by, Sasuke felt himself settling down, and easing into civilian life. School was easy, his relationship with Naruto and Tala was…tricky, and his family life was strange. Sasuke had never had younger siblings before, he'd always been the youngest. He wasn't nearly as prepared for the protective feelings he got when babysitting Suoh and Masumi as he probably Suohld have been.

He was scheduled for babysitting duty on the day things changed in his 'learning' life. The three of them, the three musketeers, were standing together just outside of the school, in the junior parking lot. They were conversing over plans to hang out that afternoon. Sasuke had informed them his hanging out was limited to them coming to his house; he had to watch the rug-rats. Naruto was free for anything; his parents were out of town on yet another frivolous vacation (they seemed to take a lot of those).

"Well, what about you Tala?"

"Nah, man, family meeting of sorts, Bryan's wife went into labor this morning. I'm supposed to head straight over to the hospital. The whole clan has assembled, ya know?"

Naruto shook his head, "Alright, say hi to the fam for me, would ya? Make sure to call me when the baby's healthy and happy and not crying anymore, k?"

"Will do, you two have fun babysitting!" Tala pulled the two of them close to him, his arms wrapped around their necks before relinquishing his hold and heading for his car.

"Please tell me we're not really babysitting?"

"We are, but don't worry, the kids like you, remember?" Sasuke informed him, making his way to the minivan, Naruto in tow.

Naruto was the odd one out on terms of driving. He had a license and all, his parents just refused to buy him a car, or let him drive one of theirs. Instead they made him ride the bus to and from school. He climbed into the passenger seat while Sasuke heaved into the driver's side. Sasuke had a few months back auto-pilot'd his way to an empty parking lot one night and taught himself how to drive. He realized this was not only necessary, but the best course of action. He couldn't rely on his memories driving for him, and having to constantly distract himself while driving to be able to. It just wasn't a good idea. That and it bothered his mother immensely when he would eat, talk on his cell phone, or talk to her while going down the freeway at sixty miles per hour.

As they pulled onto the main drag and headed away from the school and through town Naruto started up an easy conversation. Talking mostly about school work, a project they had in biology and history class. They chatted about Tala's crazy family, which Sasuke had the horrible experience of meeting one day a few weeks after they'd all become friends. He understood thoroughly just what Naruto had meant by crazy on his first day of school. But then, as they were nearing Suoh and Masumi's elementary school, the chatter took a turn that Sasuke wasn't sure how to handle.

"So…I know it's probably not easy but…I figure you need to talk about it…" Naruto started uncertainly, "…could you tell me about him maybe?"

"Who?" Sasuke asked shakily though he knew very well 'who' Naruto was referring to.

"The guy you mistook me for on your first day of school, you know, dead guy?" Naruto was blunt and chuckled a little, trying to make this topic less sensitive and girly by saying something hurtful.

"What about him do you want to know?" Sasuke's voice was stiff, hoping to convey his unease about the subject and get Naruto to drop it.

Sasuke wasn't pained, talking about his Naruto. He knew he was fine and he would be seeing him eventually. Mostly he was uncertain what sorts of things about him he Suohld tell this Naruto.

"What was he like? Were you guys like the best of friends, like Tala and I?"

Sasuke pulled into a parking space in front of the elementary school and turned off the car. He watched the two small shapes of Masumi and Suoh walk across the school yard towards the parking lot upon spotting the minivan. He couldn't see the harm in being honest; it wasn't like this Naruto would know that Sasuke was talking about another version of him. What kind of embarrassment awaited him? None.

"He…was a lot like you," Sasuke smirked, "but we knew each other longer than you've known me, but not as long as you and Tala knew each other."

Naruto nodded.

"So, he put up with my jerk tendencies more, but on the flip side he…he didn't really trust my word on our friendship." Sasuke explained, "I could rip my heart out and hand it to him and I don't think he would believe I was sincere, he would think I was manipulating him for sport, or something."

"Why would he think that?" Naruto questioned incredulously, "You're an asshole sure, but you're not the type of guy to hang out with someone he didn't want to. I figured if you hated me you'd go find someone else."

Sasuke chuckled at the logic this Naruto used. It was perfect, of course, and it was the truth. But it was the truth that his Naruto probably would never believe.

"I sort of…walked away from him; I guess is the best way to put it. There was something I needed to do, and I needed to do it on my own. But some of the things I said…he took them too seriously and thought I was betraying him, so he came after me and followed me incessantly, trying to get me to come back."

"What sorts of things did you say?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke was about to answer him when he heard Suoh demanding him to unlock the door. He flipped the switch that automatically unlocked all the doors, and Suoh climbed in, shortly followed by his younger sister. He made sure they buckled themselves in before turning the car back on.

"How was your day, guys?" Sasuke inquired, letting the smallest of smiles show on his face.

"Dumb, I had a math test," Suoh answered.

"Did you do well on it?"

"I don't know, Miss Taylor is grading them tonight when she gets home, she says."

"Hmm, I'm sure you did fine."

"What about you Masu?" Naruto chimed in, turning around in his seat to smile at the two.

"Hi Naruto!" She chirped, "I had a good day, Miss Rizzoe let us have an all day long art day!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and, and I made this…"

Sasuke had backed out of the parking space and exited the lot by the time he saw his little sister rifling around in her back pack through the rearview mirror. Her hair was in a ponytail instead of pigtails like usual. She'd gotten a haircut on Monday, so now she had bangs that framed her cute little face. She'd worn her hair like that specifically to show off her new haircut. Sasuke would know, she'd told him quite eagerly that morning while he was still half-asleep and driving them to school.

Currently she was showing Naruto a picture she'd made with crayons, paints, and macaroni noodles. It was an adorable mess, and Masu was sure proud of it. Naruto talked more with her about it on the way home. When they pulled into the driveway both kids leapt out of the car as soon as the engine turned off. Naruto chuckled at their exuberance as they rushed to the front door, bouncing up and down, waiting for Sasuke to come unlock the door with his house key. Sasuke locked the car and followed the munchkins, letting them inside, barely reminding them to take off their shoes and not run in the house.

"Okaaaay!" Masu answered his reprimand, "Sasukeeeee, can we have some ice cream?"

"No, Masu, it'll ruin your appetite for dinner. Maybe later tonight," Sasuke called back.

"Awwwww, pleeeease?"

"No!"

Naruto laughed and Sasuke scowled. It was only endearing to Naruto because they weren't his little brother and sister. He hung the car keys up on the key hooks and shucked off his shoes in the entry way.

"Suoh, keep an eye on your sister, Naruto and I are going up to my room."

There was no answer for a few minutes, and as Sasuke went into the kitchen he found Masu up on the counter, mimicking Sasuke's movements from the previous life, trying to get into the freezer. Rolling his eyes he plucked her off the counter and set her on the floor. He looked around and found Suoh in the living room watching cartoons.

"Suoh-"

"…I'll keep an eye on her, okay?" Suoh huffed, rolling his eyes at Sasuke.

Sasuke glared at him, "Watching her means making sure she isn't trying to get ice cream out of the freezer by climbing all over the kitchen like a monkey."

"Okay! Gosh! Masuuuuu!" Suoh Suohted, stomping his way into the kitchen.

Sasuke groaned and stormed through the kitchen and up the stairs, forgetting Naruto's presence entirely. Once in his room he chucked his backpack onto the floor and immediately began peeling off his suit jacket and vest. He'd been so absentminded he almost hit Naruto in the face with his bedroom door, and then he'd thrown his jacket on his head.

"Dude, calm down," Naruto told him, throwing the jacket that'd hit him towards the computer desk. He shut the bedroom door at a more reasonable volume.

"They're just so…so…"

"Annoying? They're little kids, it's what they do," Naruto intoned bluntly.

Sasuke yanked his tie off, tossing it to the floor and slumping down onto his bed. Naruto had somehow managed to take off his vest, suit jacket and tie without throwing a tantrum, and joined him on the bed. He sat on the edge, facing the door while Sasuke had fallen back to rest his head on the pillow, spread eagle. Already he could feel the dregs of his anger leaving him. This Naruto was always good at calming him down. He would cut his anger to the quick and make him realize he was acting stupid with only a few words.

"So, you didn't get to answer my question earlier thanks to the brats getting into the car."

"What question?" Sasuke had truly already forgotten.

"What kind of things did you say to dead guy?"

"I…I told him that I needed to cut my ties or else I wouldn't be strong enough to do what I had to do."

"And then you left…?" Naruto was gaping at him, this wasn't a good sign.

"…er, yeah."

"You're sure that we're a lot alike, right?"

"Yeah, your personalities are almost identical…why?"

"Well, er, Sasuke," Naruto turned around on the bed to face him, "you know how you said that dead guy took your words more seriously than I do?"

"Yeah."

"I don't ignore your words completely I just figure it's you being an asshole. Words aren't everything, sure, but they do matter at least a little," Naruto shrugged, "I…I can't even imagine what I'd do if Tala said something like that to me. No wonder he thought you'd betrayed him! That was a pretty shitty thing to say, you know!"

"But I didn't mean it, I was just trying to get him to leave me alone so I could leave! I was going to come back to him."

"So why didn't you tell him that?" Naruto said exasperatedly.

"He would have tried to come with me and help anyways."

"So…? What's the harm in having someone help you? Just because you're so perfect doesn't mean you can't accept help every once in a while, even when you don't need it."

"What would be the point of accepting help I don't need, huh?"

"Because most likely it's the person offering the help that needs it, and it's a good way to help them without being too obvious. Sometimes the people that are always helping are the ones that need help the most."

Sasuke glared at Naruto for a moment until it dawned on him what he was saying. Naruto knew that Sasuke could have handled it on his own just fine, Naruto couldn't handle Sasuke not needing him, so he just wanted to be with him. Even if he wasn't needed. Sasuke sighed and avoided Naruto's gaze, instead staring at his closet door.

"…how'd he die?"

Sasuke froze. I stabbed him in the chest, that's how, he thought. The death itself, Sasuke knew he would never really get over. He could still feel the terrible shock that had coursed through him that very moment Naruto hadn't dodged and he could feel him go limp in his arms. He heard Naruto apologizing, telling him he was sorry he couldn't save him, telling him…that he loved him.

"When he followed me…something, we, well…death was staring him in the face, and he could have leapt out of the way and he chose not to," Sasuke muttered, "it was my fault. He had finally given up on me."

"Wait…so…if that's how he died then how could you have issues with him after all of this happened?" Naruto asked dumbly.

Sasuke thought fast, "We'd had encounters before that remember. Every once in a while when he caught up to me it felt…almost like old times…."

"Ah, okay, had me confused there for a minute." Naruto laughed nervously.

"Yeah…"

After that silence poured into the gap left by the conversation that had abandoned them and ambled out of the room. It was obvious the discussion was over, and there wasn't really anything else to talk about to cover up the fact that they weren't talking. Naruto crawled back onto the bed and flopped down on his back next to Sasuke. Together like that on the small twin bed had them pressed shoulder to shoulder.

Though they'd never been overly affectionate with each other over the few lives they'd lived, his Naruto and he hadn't been necessarily shy about it. In their second life they would frequently take naps together, after of course Sasuke had swallowed his pride and admitted he liked it. In the fox life, for the first year when they still talked to each other there was frequent grooming sessions. But here, in this life, with this Naruto it was different. This Naruto was the stereotypical high school male. Straight as a ruler and shy about showing physical tenderness at all towards another guy, unless it was Tala, and those were very manly hugs, in private. At that moment, if it had been his Naruto, Sasuke would probably already be wrapped up in strong arms and cuddled. He would grumble and protest for a few 

minutes to keep up the act that he didn't like it. Mostly the act was kept up for Sasuke's sake seeing as Naruto knew it was an act and didn't care.

In fact, that Naruto was this close to him, on a bed (how risqué) no less, was truly a show of friendship for him. If he wanted a hug, per se, not that he did right now of course, that was just an example, really, it was clear that Sasuke would have to initiate it. Sasuke had never been very good at barreling through awkward situations, that was Naruto's forte, or rather, his Naruto's forte. But since this wasn't his Naruto for the moment he would have to try and do it himself.

Sasuke was so focused on figuring out how he could cause such a hug to happen when Naruto actually took the first step. Stretching, Naruto threw his arms up and then crossed them behind his head. But the bed really wasn't big enough for him to do this without falling off or nudging Sasuke a bit. Sasuke lifted his head and rested it on Naruto's arm. Slowly, from there, he pulled Naruto closer towards him and looped his arms around Naruto's neck. An arm slipped under his side and around his waist. Now that they were more in the center and more comfortably arranged the bed seemed huge. Sasuke belatedly threw a leg over Naruto, aligning the top of his thigh with Naruto's belt. There, that hadn't been so hard, had it?

This…just this, Sasuke realized he hadn't been with Naruto like this in so long he'd almost forgotten how much he liked it. Now he was content, this was all he'd wanted. But as he went to press his face into Naruto's neck, his friend's face dipped down at just the right time to press their lips together. Sasuke tensed. He…he…wait, what? He pulled back sharply, but he didn't remove himself from Naruto's arms, and the blond didn't seem bothered.

"…Sasuke, I know that you're just using me to remind you of him, and I know he wasn't just your friend. I…I know it probably isn't good for me to be okay with this but, I really, really like you, and…if I have to settle for being a substitute for someone else, fine." There was a note of bitterness and acceptance in Naruto's voice that Sasuke didn't like, "I'm feeling terrible enough as it is…I mean…I've never liked a guy before or anything so…if you have to imagine him instead of me I won't…I won't…"

"I won't have to, and I don't want to," Sasuke told him.

Naruto smiled shakily, "A-are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Sasuke leant forward, and kissed him.

TBC…