Urgh! Can you say, FINALLY?
EVERY TIME I try to write something fluffy and cute, I read it over and it looks like I destroyed the entire fan fiction, and yet when I do post something like this, I get positive feedback on it, and I get the most reviews. Hell, maybe it is good. But it never seems that way to me, maybe its just a self conscious author thing.
I will never ever, ever give up on this story. Ever. No matter how slow the updates get, and no matter how much it begins to suck, I WILL Finish it. It may just take awhile.
Ultimately, it was over.
I'd never been so weightless, yet so complete and so whole in my life. It was indescribable, knowing that you had done the one thing you wanted to in life, and the proof was laying bloody right infornt of you. There wasn't regret, there wasn't sorrow. There weren't even any good memories of him, just utter amazement, pride, completion, and happiness. Maybe that wasn't how a sane human being would feel after slaughtering someone, but no one said I was completely sane, either.
Instinctively, my arms curled tighter around the blonde in front of me. The only coherent thought's that were breaking through my achieved revenge involved him. There were a few more - though they seemed minor, now that this was over - problems that I would have to deal with before nothing was in the way of us.
First, Orochimaru. He was a useless tool that had gotten me this far, but he surely wouldn't let me go free. The only option now was to kill him, too. But that wouldn't be any great feat, considering who's life I had just ended. A smirk spread involuntarily across my face, like breathing, blinking, or a heartbeat.
But the harder question was, after Orochimaru, where would I go? This tore my excitement apart. Itachi was dead. Done. But now that Naruto was my focus, my whole life, my everything - I would work just as hard for him as I had for revenge. Naruto's future was in Konoha, and I was a wanted dead criminal in that world. What would I do? If I killed Orochimaru, and since I had killed Itachi, both actual threats to the country, my sentence could be lessened. The Hokage had a soft spot for Naruto, but she did hate me. I'd have to hope.
"Now, what do you do about Orochimaru?" Sai's brain must have worked at the same pace as mine, for Naruto and I both guided our gazes to his words. His sketchbook was closed and rested in his lap, and he stared a bit blankly at us.
"I'll leave for awhile and take care of him." I replied shortly, surprised at the tone of my own my voice. No lifelessness, and no hidden fury. My voice reflected my optimism. I had never, ever, ever felt this perfect. It was almost alien. Maybe a little too strange for comfort.
Naruto clenched his hands just a bit tighter on me, and they didn't loosen. "Then I'll go, too."
"That isn't a bright idea. Lady Hokage is probably pulling her hair out at the moment." Sai threw out, and he was right. Naruto had snuck out of her ordered confinement and hadn't been seen by any villager since then. She was most likely going insane. "Iruka, too." This made Naruto's face soften a bit. If not Tsunade, Iruka was a weakness. Then he turned his head slightly, and gave Sai an "I-thought-you-were-on-my-side" pout.
"It's not like I wouldn't come back." I assured, while attempting to stand, since I hadn't yet. It was easier than I thought, not a bit of weakness. I had expected some. I pulled Naruto up with me, for he didn't show any signs of letting go - much less desiring to.
"I know," Naruto visibly swallowed - worried - and I could have smiled, but I refrained. I would have to get over this. I was on cloud nine, and it was creepy for me, but I couldn't help it. "But you could get hurt, and you wouldn't have any back up."
"I don't think I'm going to have any trouble." The same thought came again. If I had killed Itachi, Orochimaru would be cake. It was like being invincible.
"Couldn't you stay for awhile first, and then go? I want to prove to you that I kept your house ridiculously clean." Naruto looked up, a grin on his face.
Sai answered before I could. "It would be easier if he went first, then came back. Lady Tsunade, much less anyone else in the village wouldn't take him coming back well, considering the lockdown. They think there's some enemy inside of Konoha."
They aren't in Konoha anymore, I thought proudly. They wouldn't be anywhere else ever again. I didn't begin to process the fact that Sai was trying to get rid of me, even if subtly.
Naruto had no response. His eyes had darkened and the corners of his lips were drawn down. I began to wonder if he truly knew what Konoha would do when the got a hold of me. He looked somewhat confused, like he didn't understand why I had to avoid the place. Didn't he? He had never shown concern about my death sentence before…
He didn't know?
I almost blurted something out about it, but restrained. If I said something now, I'd have to explain the entire thing, he'd throw a fit, and I certainly wouldn't get to Orochimaru as easily as I had hoped. I'd have to put it off until after Orochimaru was out of the way. Then again, maybe he did know what my future penalties were, but tried to cheerfully avoid them. That was like him. "He's expecting me back anyway. He'll be unprepared if I do it now."
Naruto mumbled an incoherent 'yes' response, and finally let go.
"Naruto," Sai addressed him and he turned. "I'm going to go back into the village to tell Tsunade your untouched and the intruder has been killed." He glanced over at me and I smirked again, like my heartbeat. "That way you start with some solace before you have to face her."
Naruto cringed. "Guess I'll still have to make up an excuse as to why I broke her window and escaped, huh?"
It was much lighter now, seven or eight in the morning, and the sunlight had just begun to break through the think flora of Konoha's outskirts. I noted it was a little windy now, picking up as time went on. I was unconsciously moving my bangs out of my eyes with scarcely noticeable flicks of my head. The temperature was slowly rising, despite the wind, and chirps and rustles became more frequent in our environment. The sounds of the village that probably could have been heard to the adept ear didn't come, since everyone was still bolted inside their homes.
To top everything off, Naruto was still in pajama pants.
"I'm going to give Lady Tsunade the clear," Sai murmured, and he performed a hand seal instead of walking. He disappeared moments after. He wasn't as efficient as Kakashi - was anyone? - when it came to teleportation. It took him longer to complete.
More wind lashed through the trees, and even Naruto's short blonde hair blew everywhere. He turned away from me and crossed his arms, probably to hide his gripping fists. "Just like that? You have to leave again?"
"No," The excitement was gone, now my own vocals were smooth and softer. "I'm not leaving. Just making a quick trip." I knew he was pissed, mainly about how I had just slaughtered Itachi and couldn't stay - probably, though he may childishly deny that - but maybe for some other reason.
"Couldn't you do that later?"
" - And go into the village now?" Though there were back ways to my former living district, and I'm sure I could find them.
"Why couldn't you?" It sounded like he was challenging me. Challenging what? Did he not understand that my inescapable punishment for what I had done - becoming a missing ninja in general, and joining Orochimaru, of all people - was execution? The thought didn't scare me - much - but I knew it could possibly bring him to ripping off the council members' torsos from their lower halves.
"Would you like a list?" Now was the worst time to say anything about it. Hell, I didn't want to have to say it all. Someone else would tell him. Someone else should have already told him.
"I know, now the village is under some strange circumstances, but you could sneak in, couldn't you?" He ignored my sarcasm, something only he really could do lightly.
"Then I'd have to sneak back out. What would Saku-" I choked. What a slip. I hesitated before I went on, but Naruto didn't seem fazed, at least not from behind. "What would Kakashi, or Tsunade, or Iruka think if you were with some shady person who didn't want his face revealed?"
He spun on his heels, starring straight at me. "I wouldn't show them? Obviously." He was ready to verbally fight me on the matter. The Sakura slip must have irked him a little, as well.
"So you'd just keep me a secret forever? That would work." I growled somewhat, mordantly. Naturally and instinctively, I would fight back. Without fail.
"Not forever. Just until you killed Orochimaru and things settled down." I relived what happened some odd hours ago. However, this time there would have to be a winner and a loser. Naruto took one stride towards me, fists clenched like he would deck me at any moment.
Some involuntary force - gravity, magnetism, I wasn't sure - made me mirror him, without the fists. I had to keep the death sentence out of the verbal abuse, that was vital, but I could mention a consequence. Subtly. "What about my punishments from the village? Should I hide from them?"
"Not like they're gonna kill you or anything. Prison? You can handle that. You spent nearly three years in Orochimaru's hellhole. It would be like Eden." Another stride. We had started too near to begin with.
I mirrored. Damn, no rebuttal. I couldn't pull the death condemnation. Was he faking not knowing that, simply to win the argument? I tried something to lighten him up. "You're right. No more obnoxious Kabuto." I smirked.
"Is that all you've got?" He clenched his fists open and shut. He had promptly and unpredictably picked up on the fact I couldn't argue, and that he was victorious, but his face didn't change. He was starring almost blankly - creepy for him - at me. He'd won.
"Whether I've got anything to argue or not, my mind is made up." I stated flatly. Then, In less than a second, infuriation flickered across his expression, and he threw his fist at my face. My hand instinctively flew up and grabbed his wrist, stopping the punch when it was inches away. He brought his other fist up just as quickly. I gripped that one in response, and pinned both of his wrists against his sides. At first he just glared up at me, and didn't try to retaliate. Then my hands met with resistance, and he forced his arms back up. I pushed back harder against his wrists in response, and was suddenly matched. Our arms were both pushing against each other, neither moving, the law of surface energy in action. I was just a little too shocked at being equaled. This continued for a while, both of us growling and grunting and trying to gain more arm span on the other, all the while bracing our feet that were scrambling for recess on the ground.
Finally, Naruto relaxed his force and his hands came down, dragging mine along. "If you don't come back the moment you're done with him, I will maul you! I'll hunt your miserable ass down to the ends of the earth, then I'll beat you into the next dimension, even if I have to use Kyubbi to do it! Do you understand that?!" He snarled slightly under his breath, but it was to veil being disappointed, I could tell. His eyebrows were turned up and his irises were liquefied. I knew he had relaxed completely when he pressed his head against it's usual place on my front. I fixated my arms around his hips, and his in turn, immediately locked around my neck and shoulders. We melted together, no room to move left in between.
"I figured way worse," I murmured, smiling, moments after inhaling Naruto's somehow new smell. I felt like I could stand in the same position without moving for the rest of my life, or do more. "That's almost comforting."
Naruto's hands fisted up the white fabric at the back of my shirt, and it tightened against my back. "You're an ass." He breathed.
I smirked and whispered, "Thanks," back.
The minutes that passed by were almost good enough to make up for the two years time we couldn't get back. Naruto's warmth from sleeping seemed to seep out of him and radiate, and the wind didn't seem to exist. It felt normal again to have something living and breathing that I cared about taking up space in my arms.
Living -
Naruto's fingers caressed the spots on my back that they reached.Breathing -
I was deaf suddenly to everything but the soft, light sound in my ears.I unconsciously drew circles on the small of his back with my forefinger. I was willing to wait until he'd let go over stopping this myself - I didn't have the heart or the want to at the moment - But I was willing to end it if I could get what suddenly came over me. Naruto's arms stayed deadlocked around my shoulders the entire time. I left one arm around him, but used the other to move him away a few inches. I traced my working forefinger up his stomach then chest - all the way up until I could grip his chin with the attached hand. I tilted his head up just slightly and locked eyes with him.
Beautiful, enticing, sapphire eyes. "You've got to be kidding." Naruto choked.
"No," I mouthed, and using my arm still around him, pulled us back together. He looked apprehensive at first, but after a few moments of the gaze, one of his hands worked it's way up the nape of my neck, then rested there, and it felt like that patch of skin was already heating up. His other hand groped at the front of my shirt, tugging the white fabric. Keeping my gentle grip on his chin, I closed the distance of centimeters that was left. First I pressed my lips against his cheek, then - much more slowly - to his mouth.
Everything had come so naturally.
In the beginning, we were completely and totally still. Then Naruto's other hand followed the first one, and he pushed against my head just a bit. We pulled apart a fraction of a centimeter's distance and came back, lips working and moving in synch. After a while of this, I paused and sucked on his lower lip, without thinking about it. He tugged my hair just slightly, and then, a few painfully anticipated moments later, opened his mouth. I pushed my tongue inside, and his hands tightened almost painfully in my hair, forcing me closer. Naruto mewled inaudibly when our tongues slid across each other, and even more so when I invaded every place I could get to. Eventually, he worked against me, tongues twisting and pushing at each other.
Taste? Honestly? Ramen and Morning breath. Really. But there was a sort of flavor that got past those that was unnamable to match something already invented. Just his own, unique taste, without the bad additives.
Naruto broke first, stopping to breathe, a string of saliva between us. He immediately wiped at his mouth with his sleeve, shoved his now flushing face against my neck without looking at me, and muttered, "Holy crap."
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" I smirked.
"That was," His speech broke off so he could swallow, "Way different compared to the first two."
The first was an awkward accident in front of a crowd that resulted in Naruto getting the crap beat out of him by Sakura. It wasn't graceful, it wasn't meaningful, and kissing another male in front of a lot of people didn't seem applicable to either of us, much less kissing anyone at all. The second was not pleasantly thought about, and I refuse to relive. Both however, were quick, short actions. Certainly not like the minute and a half we had just spent on one.
"Yes,"
"Sasuke?"
"Hn?"
His response took longer. When I heard what he had to say, I knew the reason. The words in themselves had always posed a challenge. Partially because of embarrassment, but mostly because of their unsuitable simplicity. "I love you, bastard." He tacked on the last word to fix up his stumble, I could tell.
"I love you too, moron."
(Naruto)
Shizune and Sai both cringed when Tsunade's fists came down on her desk, for the second time that night. Though this time, small indents were made. She was furious - not because she was mad about where Naruto "was" and what had "happened," but because she didn't believe either of the stories Sai told her, and she had no idea if Naruto was alive or not. "That's ridiculous!" She snarled. "What member of that goddamned Organization just walks away when their prize is completely unprotected!?"
"Apparently, this one." Meanwhile, Sai was trying to put on a relaxed smile and seem real throughout his deceiving of the Hokage, of all people. Naruto was safe, and he was in - Well, not in Sai's opinion - good hands, but the Akatsuki member being out of the way was a different story, and that's the part - he thought - that Tsunade didn't believe. He was gone, and the village could be let out of it's lockdown,
and he'd walked away - but that was hard to comprehend. Why would he? Now, had he told her it was Itachi and he had no interest in Naruto whatsoever, and wanted to be murdered, that would have been tough to pull off. Sasuke was another added bonus. A wanted missing ninja right outside. That would have gotten him some points on Tsunade, but not on Naruto - it probably would have gotten him Kyubbi'd."That isn't good enough!" Tsunade growled, tensing and leaning forward. "Even if they did just "walk away," you expect me to believe Naruto is safe somewhere out there?! Mind you, I know Naruto can take care of himself, but under circumstances like these, he could be easily threatened or bought in to something. If he's still alone somewhere out there, the figure leaving could be a ploy."
He wasn't alone, but Sai couldn't say that. He'd have to make up an excuse as to who he was with, and that could backfire in his face if his fake partner didn't play along. "Naruto is fine. He was in the village gates when I came, I'm just trying to give him a break. Forgive me, Lady Hokage, but I was trying to cool you down before he got here and had to be yelled at." Sai bowed his head just slightly. "The ANBU have probably freaked out, and are dragging him here right now."
Tsunade wasn't pleased yet, but she hadn't gotten any angrier. "You say he's inside the village?"
"Yes, I'm sure." He'd better hurry up, too. Sai was lying to the Hokage, and keeping out the most valuable information. It wasn't easy to do without blurting the truth to such a superior.
"Speak of the devil," Shizune muttered from her usual, seen-not-heard spot behind Tsunade. Sai turned and saw Naruto, half stumbling half running into the office with a masked ANBU man behind him.
I kept my eyes as far away from Tsunade's face as possible. I avoided her gaze completely, and stared at the floor, even while I was still walking in. I was completely out of it, but maybe Sasuke had hoped for that. We kissed again, and now that we'd been through one and knew what we were doing, the second was a thousand times better. I'd gotten just what you'd expect out of Sasuke - an icy, bitter taste. Aside from this high I was still on, I had around a million other thoughts in my head, and I was trying to resurface them on the way here, but now I'd have to wait until I was finished with Tsunade.
Keep your eyes on the floor…
At first there was silence, and the ANBU woman who had insisted on following me broke it. "I found him on his way here, and he claimed he was coming up to see you, but I thought I would make it official, milady. Naruto has been safely recovered from previous disappearance." Yeah, yeah, she knows who I am, shut the hell up. "Is there any news on the intruder?"
"We're about to find out." Tsunade grumbled. "I don't really believe Sai, here, but I won't believe either of you if you give me different stories. Tell me what happened." I knew she was referring to me. The ANBU woman exited, probably hand dismissed by Tsunade.
I was getting good at this lying thing. I know I'm a terrible liar, it's obvious. I couldn't hide anything important from anyone. However, I had gotten some unpleasant practice. "I was worried about…him hurting someone in the village. I'd never forgive myself if there were to be casualties on my behalf." Sounding upset made me even more plausible. "So I snuck out. I wanted to make him leave. I waited and waited and waited…and I can only assume he left. He isn't dead, I know, unless someone here got a hold of him. But I think we're safe, I never saw him at all." I quickly added, when Tsunade was about to break something, "I wasn't with Sai, either. Sai and I probably saw completely different things."
"Sai said similar. He said there was no sign of an intruder, and that they undoubtedly left." Tsunade sounded calmed, even if only a little.
"Maybe they didn't find what they were looking for." Sai said quietly.
"I don't understand it, but I can't do anything about it now." Tsunade sighed, fury receded. "You worry me - It would be just like you to give yourself up for the sake of someone else…"
"I don't get it either," I growled, too low for anyone to hear. I was still trying to calm my racing mind. If I thought too hard about everything now, I would loose it and tell the truth, and according to Sai, the truth wasn't alright. Why Sasuke was still such a huge deal? No idea. Tsunade knows he wouldn't hurt anyone innocent, and is really only limiting himself to a certain Uchiha - Stop thinking, damn it!
"Naruto?"
I was about to reply, but Tsunade's chair shifted and she stood up, bracing her hands on the wood of her desk. Eyes still on my feet, I waited for a slap, or some kind of physical fury. Her high heeled shoes clicked when she walked around the office furniture, and she stopped in front of me, forest green fabric settling around her, and long blonde pigtails dropping past her shoulders.
"Uh-huh?" I questioned, waiting still.
Then all of the air whooshed out of my lungs, I was met with uncomfortably large breasts suffocating my own torso, and faced with long blonde hair. Grandma Tsunade had me in a bone crushing, oxygen stopping hug, and was nearly lifting me off my feet. "Tsu-Tsunade - can't breathe - hello…?"
She let me go, an I stumbled back to my feet, gasping in air.
"You're paying for my window." She growled, but now recovered, I could only smile. Tsunade was only agitated, and now she was utterly relieved enough to painfully hug me infront of other people. Love you too, Tsunade.