Not many reviews this time... :/ Sigh. I shall live. I write as a hobby to entertain myself, anyways.
But thank you to the one person that did review last time :D. I appreicate it! ^^.
Warning: A new pairing appears! But who it is... You'll just have to read and see ;D. Mild angst/drama but what else is new?
'blah blah blah' is when Naruto's other "presence" speaks. I think you all shall be able to figure out who it is. ;DD.
Disclaimer: If I had Naruto then Sasuke would have never left. Narut and Sasuke would have hooked up. And Minato would still be alive. Sadly... no such thing has happened v.v.
Enjoy :D.
Chapter Seven: Council
"I can't even trust my own father anymore." – Naruto Uzumaki, age 13.
If there was one thing Naruto couldn't stand, it was council meetings. Every other Sunday the council comprised of thirteen members, including the king, met to discuss political issues, court cases, how to make Soleil a better place, among other things. Since Naruto was only thirteen, and just a prince, he had no say in what goes or stays in the meetings. All he did was sit there and try to ignore the glares of hatred being directed at him.
At first the glares bothered him only because he didn't know why he was receiving them. Now they bothered him for whole other reasons.
Naruto partially blamed his father for this. It was Minato's idea in the first place to involve his son in the council meetings. He used the ploy of telling Naruto that once he took over the throne such meetings would be a regular thing. He was only getting Naruto ready for the future. But honestly, Naruto found council meetings a waste of time. It was more often than not that the council ended on a disagreeing note rather than a common ground on an issue.
'Why even have the damn meetings in the first place if they can't agree on anything?' Naruto scowled, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for his father to make an appearance. He was still mad at him; borderline furious. How could he have kept a secret like that from him forthirteen years? It boggled the blonde's mind to the extent that trying to wraphis mind around the idea produced a minor migraine. There were so many questions Naruto wanted to scream in his father's face.
Why me?
Do you hate me?
Am I truly just a monster?
Do I even deserve the crown?
At nights, Naruto would wake up with tears streaming down his face and a near panic attack from nightmares. Nightmares that involved his own people slaughtering and condemning him for harboring a monster he had no say about controlling in the first place. On those nights he would wonder when Kyuubi would rise up and try to gain control of his body. It scared him; chilling Naruto to the bone.
He didn't want to succumb to the monster trapped inside of him.
Lost in his own thoughts, Naruto missed the sound of shoes tapping against perfectly polished floor tiles. He also didn't notice strong and warm hands coming out to ruffle his spiky, golden locks.
"Hello? Anyone in that head of yours or is it just plain empty?" Minato cracked a grin, hoping some fatherly teasing would open Naruto up. Sadly, it had the opposite effect since Naruto growled and slapped his hand away. The slap barely stung, but the reason behind it did. For the first time in years Minato felt like he had failed.
'The secret was supposed to protect Naruto…' Minato sighed when Naruto mumbled a
'Hi' and entered into the council room by himself. 'Now he hates me. But I can not blame him. I kept him from this and allowed him to grow up in painful ignorance.' The king walked to his chair at the head of the table and sat down, still lost in his own thoughts. 'Would it have been better to have told Naruto in the first place? Would he even be able to handle it at such a young age?'
These questions haunted his mind for the next five minutes until all the council members were all present and accounted for.
"Rise and shine, Minato. I don't want to be here just as much as you do but I'm sucking it up anyways." Second seat next to the King's Chair, known for her quick wit and exceptional medical expertise, Tsunade smiled lazily with an empty cup of sake in her left hand. No worries, she was somewhat sober to deal with a room of uptight council members.
"I'm wide awake, thank you Tsunade." Minato jokingly sneered. Tsunade just raised her glass in response. "Alright, let's get down to business shall we?" Everyone nodded and made their grunts of agreements. With any luck, today's council meeting would run smoothly and only one chair would be thrown towards another member of the council. Sadly, Minato's luck was slowly running out.
"I would like to bring up a rather pertinent issue, your highness." a hand shot up in the air and all eyes turned towards the owner of that hand. A round of, failed suppressed, groans emitted from the room. Inoichi Yamanaka always had to put in his own two cents in every council meeting. And every time it was the same subject he would put up for debate. It never went here and there because honestly the topic wasn't even necessary to discuess. Inoichi just liked to hear the sound of his own voice echoing around the room.
Naruto groaned inwardly and dropped his face into the palm of his hand, stifling a yawn. Who knows, maybe he could get some much needed sleep while he was in here. Heaven knows he hadn't slept properly ever since the truth made itself visible...
"I suggest we skip what that fool has to say and actually open the discussion to a more concerning issue." Pein, always wise beyond his years, and the youngest council member, was the one Naruto had to deem as his favorite on the council. Not only had he known the man since childhood, Pein was real, didn't make any judgments without any solid evidence, and always had the right thing to say. Never mind his weird, orange spiky hair or multiple face piercings, the man was as cool as all get-out.
Minato nodded earnestly, he too held a liking for the younger man and decided to go along his route. "Pein, the floor is open to whatever you'd like to address."
Pein nodded. "It's about the growing revolt in the Luna Empire. Their military is strong, and with our combined forces we thought this would be an easy battle. Obviously we were wrong to second guess them. As the Empire's ally, we're doing everything we can to stop the rebellion, but we can't keep losing all these civilians. Even our own men have been wounded!"
Mutters flew around the room like wildfire. Fear always seemed to spark such gossip. Naruto's own interest was starting to flare, and his thoughts ran into a complete circle back to Sasuke.
'Is he alright?' Worry started to feed in to him, his heart constricted at the thought of Sasuke being hurt due to a civil conflict. Sasuke was royalty, and that fact instantly put him on the rebels' most wanted list. If Sasuke were to die because of this...
'No,' Naruto shook his head, brushing off the bad thoughts that wanted to poison his mind. 'Sasuke's strong. he'll definitely be able to protect himself...'
'But what if he can't?' another voice sneered in his mind. It held an animalistic edge, full of venom that made it seem almost real instead of a figment of his imagination.
'Then I'll be the one protecting him. I'll never let anyone hurt him...'
With that, the voice went away but Naruto knew it would come back again. It always did; coming back to mock him and make the blonde doubt himself. He never listened to the voice though, and played it off as that sneering conscious people made to hold a debate with themselves. He never wanted to pin it on his deepest fears that lurked deep within him...
"I've been hearing talk that the rebel leader has made his identity known to the rebels." Tsunade scowled, shaking her head at the incredulity of it all, and went for her sake bottle to pour another glass. "Apparently these people never even saw this guy's face until a few days ago."
"You mean they've been blindly taking orders for the past two years?" One member spoke out, and soon everyone was muttering about their own fears and concern.
Minato scanned the situation. He too was a concerned about the news, not frightened, but worried. Seeing everyone else go into an uproar wasn't helping at all to keep the peace and maintain order in the council. The mutters increased, and along with that Minato's headache increased.
So, he grabbed his gavel, slammed it against the table top a few times, and demanded silence. He smiled with a satisfied grin as a hush fell across the members.
"Excellent. Now are we done acting like scared children?" the members nodded slowly albeit Pein and Tsunade who were smirking their heads off with how whipped the council was. "Tsunade, do you have any information about who the rebel leader is?"
Tsunade shook her head. "I've heard a variety of descriptions. He's cloaked in the shadows of the night and the only thing that defines him is his golden pair of eyes. Others say his body is like a snake and his venom twice as deadly."
"So basically we have no idea as to what this man looks like." Minato stated and Tsunade nodded. This conversation was starting to go into a circular argument. Continuing would be absolutely pointless by now. Minato sighed, deciding it was time to bring this conversation to a close.
"Does anyone have anything else to say about this matter?"
No one said a word.
"Then let's move on. Would anyone else like to bring a topic up or can I close the discussion?"
"My king, please hear me out!" one of the council members called out. He was old and had been in Soleil for many years. He always put the people first above anything else. Soleil's bright future was what he aimed for; and he'd do anything to obtain it.
Minato nodded, urging the man to continue.
"We all know that thirteen years ago our kingdom was attacked by the Kyuubi..."
Naruto's head shot up like a rocket at how calmly the man approached the topic.
Obviously he didn't care that the current vessel of said demon was sitting in the same room right now or else he wouldn't have brought up the topic in the first place. Everyone's breath hitched slightly, albeit Pein and Minato. Minato was trying to simmer down his anger enough so that he wouldn't personally execute the fool himself. While Pein was curiously watching to see what the man would say next.
Naruto was looking for the fastest escape route possible.
"What are you trying to get at?" Minato's voice was flat, perfectly masking his emotions under his placid kingly facade. He didn't dare to spare a glance at his son. It was hard enough to tell Naruto about Kyuubi and how he had to seal the beast inside of him. Now a council member was bluntly bringing out the topic. And sadly, Minato had the feeling that whatever this man had to say would not be pleasant.
"My king, we all know that Prince Naruto had to have a heavy burden placed on him since birth. I'm only suggesting that we treat that responsibility as a gift and train the boy to fully utilize the Kyuubi's powers."
"You're suggesting using Naruto as a weapon." Pein stated simply. All eyes, including Naruto's, whipped to stare at the ever-calm Pein sitting with his fingers clasped. Naruto felt bile rise up in his throat.
'They want to use me as a weapon...' the room seemed to shrink and shrink. Naruto couldn't think straight, he couldn't breathe properly. He wanted to escape from this room where everyone was gazing at him; expecting an outburst. He couldn't bear to look at his father. He didn't want to see disappointment and disgust in those scarily similar blue eyes.
'Foolish humans... they think they can tame a beast; laughable.'
"Do not warp my words, Pein." the elderly council man snapped. Pein merely shrugged. Everyone knew that was what he meant anyways. He was just waiting for the order from Minato to rid the council of one less council member. "I am merely saying that we should start to train the prince in case an emergency breaks out."
"This all sounds like you're trying to use the boy as a weapon." Tsunade pointed out, neither accusing nor agreeing. "You do realize that Naruto is only thirteen, correct? What if he doesn't wish to acknowledge the demon's presence? You can not force someone to do your bidding for your own selfish gain."
"I'm only thinking of Soleil's future!" the enraged council member slammed his fists on the wooden table. His temples were throbbing in an erratic pace and his heart rate was starting to pick up. "There is still the possibility that war could break out between us and another country. Naruto's powers would be the perfect upper hand we need to—"
The member's sentence was cut off noticing how close Minato's gavel was to landing in his throat. Instead, the gavel was lodged in the wall idly dangling there while hardened blue eyes were sending the man promises of death if he continued such stupid suggestions.
"I will not sit here and allow you to talk so rudely in the presence of my son. Either apologize to Naruto, or I'll make sure the next object I throw at you does not miss." If looks could kill, the elderly council member would have died right there and then from Minato's deathly gaze. Turning his gaze to Naruto, Minato wished to do nothing more than to wipe that shadow covering Naruto's eyes and cheer up his son's spirit. But how could he do it? Naruto had lost all trust in him, and rightfully so. He had to live in the dark about a secret (a rather huge one at that) for most of his life. He suffered from the daily taunts and glares he got from the people he was one day supposed to lead.
'If I had told him sooner, would I have saved him from all those nights he stayed awake crying?'
Meanwhile Naruto sat there, body experiencing the random spouts of a violent tremor fueled by his anger here and there. He was about to explode on someone if all that whispering didn't stop. And heaven forbid if that annoying voice in his head didn't shut up he was going to jump off a fucking bridge!
'Look at the old bastard. He can't say a word now – serves the fool right for trying to bring up the idea of using me as a weapon.'
"I always thought that man was an idiot. Today has just proved me right. Using that boy as a weapon; absolutely incredulous."
"I rather supported his idea. He has the power. Let him use it for our side."
"But he's just a boy! You can't expect him to fully harness the demon's power without killing himself in the process."
'Everyone just shut up…' fingernails dug into the skin of his palm, a light trickle of blood flowed freely from the small gash. Couldn't everyone shut up? It wasn't like he was deaf. He could hear what everyone was saying perfectly thanks to his damned acute hearing. What made him feel the most vulnerable, though, was the fact that his father's gaze never left him. Naruto knew his father was waiting for a reaction, and Naruto didn't know if he wanted to give his father one or not. He just wanted to disappear. Spontaneously combust or whatever you called it so that he didn't have to deal with all these annoying voices.
No… he didn't want to only disappear. He wanted to go off and be with Sasuke. With Sasuke he didn't have to worry about being gossiped about, or being ridiculed for what he was. Sasuke was his best friend. Sasuke was his pillar of support. Without Sasuke, Naruto saw himself crumbling and crumbling under the heavy pressure weighted on his shoulders.
Suddenly… Naruto snapped.
"Will everyone shut up for five seconds already?" the chair toppled over, clattering to the cloud loudly as silence filled the room. Naruto was breathing heavily, the anger and annoyance filling his veins as he huffed and puffed. "I'm not deaf, you know! I can hear you all just fine! I will not be used as your stupid little weapon so you all can have the upper hand with your enemies. I am a human being, damn it! I have feelings. I have my own thoughts and opinions on things. Stop treating me like I'm just some mindless demon…"
"Naruto…" Minato stretched his hand to rest on Naruto's shoulder, but quickly withdrew it. Naruto was out the door faster than he could make contact with him. "Naruto!" he screamed and ran out the door after his son.
The council was left in stunned silence. Tsunade, however, was refilling her cup of sake and taking a hearty swig of it. She hated these people, albeit a very slim few of the members she could actually stand, but these meetings were sure entertaining. Pein, on the other hand, was watching with silent amusement at the embarrassed, shocked, and stunned expressions that befell some of the council members.
"Well?" Pein asked slowly. "What are you all waiting for? Meeting adjourned."
+Eclipse: Treat Me like a Human Being+
'I am not a monster.'
'I am not a weapon.'
'I am me. Naruto Uzumaki. Those bastards can't tell me what to become. They can't tell me what to do. They have no power over me.'
'That's right, brat. Run away from all your problems. Of course you're nothing more than a normal human being. A human being with a terrible demon locked within… There's nothing abnormal with that.'
"Shut up already!" Naruto screamed, falling to the floor as he gripped the sides of his head. That same, annoying, voice was laughing hysterical at the blonde's breakdown. It was enjoying every single, precious moment watching Naruto slowly slip away into insanity. "Do you ever stop talking? Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
Tears were running haphazardly down Naruto's face as he curled up into a little ball on the floor. He felt so utterly pathetic. Like the little child he still was. Utterly, completely, disgustingly, pathetic. He'd be internally grateful if he could just melt into the floor.
That was how Minato found Naruto, shaking in a little ball on the floor. The king felt his heart being stabbed repeatedly, his heart strings being ripped forcibly one by one. Deep down, he knew that he was the one that invoked this much pain on Naruto, intentionally or not. This wasn't the first time Minato regretted the decision he made in sealing Kyuubi inside of his son. But now… now he wished he could have found another way to have handled the situation differently thirteen years ago.
Cautiously, Minato stepped, one foot after the other, to the form of his weeping son. He knelt down and placed a placating hand on Naruto's back, rubbing circles on the sobbing body. Would scooping his little boy in his arms push the invisible boundaries Naruto had placed…?
"Naruto…" he whispered softly. All he got in reply was a chocked sob. "Come on, Naruto. Look at me…" Minato slowly coaxed Naruto into a sitting position. Not a minute later and Naruto had thrown himself into his father's arms, gripping onto his shoulders tightly.
Words ran into each other like a train wreck. Naruto's sentences weren't making sense, but Minato was able to decipher them perfectly. 'I'm sorry' and 'Don't hate me' floated around the room. They were all laced with tear drops that cascaded onto the floor one by one. Minato just held on to his son tightly, allowing every ounce of emotion to be unleashed right there and then. All of Naruto's pent up anger, frustration, fears, sadness, confusion, were all brought out in the open in a series of tears and fumbled sentences.
Finally, Naruto hiccupped and wiped the tears out of his eyes. The crying had felt… strangely good. Like someone had lifted an enormous weight off of his shoulders. Granted, a good cry was never going to fix the pain of knowing people hated him because of Kyuubi. And that their judgment may never change. But he felt a lot better than he had a few days ago.
Naruto weakly laid his head on his father's strong shoulders, exhaling a sigh knowing that later on he'd get a massive headache from such serious sobbing. "Some hero I am huh…?" he scoffed bitterly, "I must be one big disappointment to you, Dad."
Minato shook his head. "You'll never be a disappointment to me, Naruto. I know my choices I made have had… a negative effect on you. But I had my reasons, you know that. And you are a hero, Naruto. Most people are just too ignorant to acknowledge that."
"It's hard, Dad… I'm supposed to be king one day but how will I ever get people to follow me if they're afraid and hate me?" Naruto gripped on his bangs, pulling at the hair as he chewed on his bottom lip. Running circles like this was becoming so stressful. Sometimes he wished he could have been born as a normal child to a normal child. No connections to royalty, no demon locked inside of him, just a regular lifestyle.
Things would have been so much simpler then.
His father pulled Naruto back at arm's length so he could show him a smile and a warm gaze. "Naruto, you have the makings of being a wonderful king. You have the ability to make people follow you. I can see it in your eyes. You just have to go out there and make people see it too." Minato ruffled Naruto's hand, laughing at the childish pout Naruto shot him in response. "And if charisma doesn't work, you were always gifted with my stunning good looks to wow the crowd."
Naruto shook his head laughing. God, his father always knew the right words to say to ruin a sentimental moment – but he loved him for that anyways. The two blondes hugged again, all their promises and reassurances flowed through the embrace, until Naruto had to leave for his evening studies.
Once his son had disappeared around the corner, Minato exhaled a heavy sigh he didn't realize he was holding in the first place and laid back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. His eyes traveled along the beautiful painting a very good friend of his had drawn for this part of the kingdom. It was a scenery image of the mountain ranges that separated Soleil from the Luna Empire. The moon and the sun were joined together in an eclipse, a million stars dancing around them celebrating the union of two, separate entities. The painting symbolized the harmony between the two countries with major differences. It was meant to promote peace and stability.
The painting, labeled Eclipse (very original of the artist), was Minato's favorite piece of artwork in the castle. It gave him a strange sense of calmness whenever kingly duties got too tough for him to handle. It reminded him that peace truly was obtainable if you worked hard enough for it.
But there always that silent question in the back of his mind asking how long the peace would stay…
"The floor is horrible dirty, my lord. You wouldn't want to dirty that exquisite robe of yours."
Minato merely cocked an eyebrow at the voice, instantly knowing who it belonged to. He sat up and turned to meet Pein's ringed eyes staring at him in mirth. Minato simply smirked and beckoned for the man to come join him on the floor. Pein looked playfully offended, but submitted to his king's wishes and sat on the floor with him.
"I was eavesdropping." Pein stated bluntly after a few moments of silence. Minato simply chuckled; of course Pein was listening to his conversation with Naruto. "The boy's a strong one, he'll overcome this mountain."
"I know he is… But sometimes I wonder if sealing Kyuubi inside of him was the right thing to do."
"You can't keep crying over spilt milk, Minato." Pein said rather calmly despite the words being a slap to the king's face. "What happened thirteen years ago was a cruel twist of fate, I admit. And I too wish there was another way we could have handled the situation differently… however there's nothing we can do about it now." Pein sighed deeply. "I have to admit, though, perhaps training Naruto in utilizing Kyuubi's powers wouldn't be such a bad idea."
"You're kidding me. No. We are not using my son as a weapon, Pein."
"I never said he'd be used as a weapon. I'd never think of putting Naruto in such danger. I'm only suggesting that our kingdom isn't the only one that knows about Naruto's secret. What if other countries started to invade hoping they'd capture Naruto for their own gain?" Minato didn't even want to think about it. He refused to think of anyone capturing his son for their evil use. Over his dead body would he let anyone lay a hand on his son. "I can see the fear in your eyes, Minato. You need to start thinking realistically. You can't keep hiding Naruto in the shadows forever."
Minato sighed. "You're right…" he muttered, to which Pein smirked haughtily. He was always right. "But not now… it's too soon. I'll propose the idea to Naruto, and wait until he's older. Then… we'll begin his training."
The orange-haired nodded, empathizing with his king's wishes. Then, he wrapped an arm around Minato's shoulders and brought him in for a small hug. Since no one else was around, Minato allowed himself to fall into the warmth Pein could give him. It was always Pein who he went to when times seemed dire; when he felt the stress of being king get to him, when he needed a down-to-earth mind to speak to. It was always Pein…
"I'll be helping with training too, of course." Pein added in simply.
"I don't think I'd want you hanging around Naruto too much." Minato smirked devilishly. "You'd be too much of a negative influence on the boy."
"I'm with you most of the time, Minato. And look how well you turned out to be."
"I'm less susceptible to your evil ways, Pein."
Pein simply scoffed. Let Minato be difficult, it meant he was slowly getting happier and that, for Pein, was the most important thing in the world. His king's happiness was something he'd gladly fight for.
"Oh right. Before I forget," Pein fished inside of his jacket and pulled out a bloodstained gavel, Minato's bloodstained gavel. He handed the wide-eyed blonde the object and smirked. "You might want to wash this off the blood. And I would suggest you start searching for someone to fill in the fifth seat now that it's empty."
Minato merely shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't kill him, did you?" when Pein shook his head sadly, Minato let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God…" he muttered. He didn't want to go through the paperwork of that case if Pein really did murder that insolent fool. Minato looked up from the gavel in his hands and smiled. "You are truly insane, Pein."
Pein merely shrugged his shoulders. "Justice needed to be served. It turns out I was the one to deliver it this time." Standing up, Pein brushed off some dirt from his pants and offered his king a hand. Once both man were fully standing, the orange-haired man bowed politely. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have some other business to attend to."
Just as Pein was about to leave, Minato caught the man by the arm and brought him to his chest. Pein's back was pressing against his front, but Minato didn't mind, he simply wrapped his arms around the man's lithe waist and held him there.
"I hope to see you tonight, Pein." Minato whispered softly into the man's pierced ears.
It took all of Pein's resolve to not melt into a bowl of jelly like he wanted to. Instead, he gripped Minato's hand in his own and brought it to his lips for a sweet kiss.
"As you wish, my king."
I don't know why but I'm ALWAYS pairing up Minato with Pein :L. It happened with Akatsuki Cosplay Cafe and now this v.v. I also found a mistake a few minutes after posting this. So I tore the chapter down, fixed the mistake, and reposted.
Anyway, please do review! I love hearing your opinions and constructive criticism :].
Till next time :D.