A/N: YAY!! ANOTHER fast update!! I hope you guys like this chapter! It is VERY important to the rest of the story so pay attention! From now on the story should be moving faster, I mean this chapter was supposed to be two chapters in itself. I'm so happy! Soon we're gonna be getting into the stuff that I REALLY wanted to write from the beginning. It's been a blast so far, but there's gonna be some really neat things happening soon!
Disclaimer: If you look hard enough at the manga you'll see that I don't own it, hey can't win all your lawsuits can you?
The Story So far: Finally! Team Seven can go out on In-Village missions. An easy mission for a retired ninja with three daughters and an absentee mother made Naruto worry about Sasuke's loyalty to not only the village but him as well. Tsunade had told them that there were many missions demanding Chunins to go out on and warns Iruka and Sakura about this. What could she mean?!
Warnings: Shonen-Ai (...SasukexNaruto, mentions of KakashixIruka) eh...VERY light Shojo-Ai (InoxSakura...a-dur)
Chapter 13
Iruka called it a 'family meeting'. When Sasuke asked what exactly a 'family meeting' was Iruka gave him an irritated smile and told him that it's when everyone from the house AKA the family get together and talk because some one has something to say. Then Sasuke rolled over on his and Naruto's bed to go back to sleep. Now Sasuke might have gotten a few more minutes of sleep if Naruto was so god damn persistent. The idiot was already awake and would not have Iruka disrespected like that by Sasuke.
Naruto sat up and looked at Sasuke's face. Then he lifted one of his soft eyelids up to reveal a dark eye swiveling around to see who was messing with its eyelid. Sasuke thought seriously about biting Naruto's fingers off but then chose not to, it was too early for that. Naruto leaned down and kissed the tip of Sasuke's nose in hopes of getting him to wake up but that didn't work. Sasuke just wiped at his nose and snorted at him.
Losing his patience, Naruto leaned down again and bit Sasuke's nose. Sasuke's eyes shot up in disbelief.
"What the hell?!" he shouted as he sprung up from where he was laying. He turned and smacked that smiling face with the back of his hand.
Naruto laughed and messed up Sasuke's sleep tousled hair. He pushed lightly at Sasuke and received a long cold glare.
"Come on," Naruto commanded as he smiled at a very disgruntled Sasuke. "Iruka-sensei said he needed to talk to us so we're going to talk."
Sasuke looked at Naruto, it almost like Naruto was trying to train him or something. Sasuke knew that he was out of line when he just rolled over and ignored Iruka so the only thing he could do to make up for it was to go and listen to what he had to say.
"Fine," Sasuke said with a sigh as he readjusted his arm so that he could get up and walk with Naruto into the living room. "We'll go to the 'family meeting'."
Naruto smiled widely and got up with Sasuke.
"Yeah you better keep walking," Naruto randomly threatened when they were almost in the living room.
Sasuke turned around and stared at Naruto for a moment before the blond burst out into laughter. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and continued walking with the idiot. They both received questioning looks from their senseis but got giggles from Sakura. Apparently Sasuke's theory that Naruto was contagious was in fact correct. The two sat down on the same couch they always did, and the same couch where they'd had they had shared their first (real) kiss(es). Sasuke sat lazily on the arm of the chair while Naruto sat on the cushions and rested his chin on Sasuke's thigh with a few laughs slipping out here and there.
Sasuke scanned Sakura, Iruka and Kakashi. The only ones in full gear were Sakura and Iruka. Much like Naruto and himself, Kakashi was still in his pajamas. According to what Tsunade had told them a few days ago, the village was having to send Chuunins out on missions like crazy. It seemed only logical that Sakura and Iruka would have to leave sometime. Naruto however didn't bother observing, they would tell him and he decided to instead focus on the way Sasuke looked when he was thinking.
"You know that the village is giving Chuunins a lot of missions right now," Iruka began and snapped Naruto out of his state. "And Sakura and I have been told that we need to go to Sound to help protect the Konoha liaison during the Peace Conferences."
Sakura nodded, "There have been a few acts of violence during the conferences and all of the villages have been stepping up their security on their diplomats to ensure that Sound has a smooth transition from being ruled over by Orochimaru to being a self governing village," she explained as she tightened the strap on her glove slightly.
"So the two of us have to go as extra muscle to help with this," Iruka finished.
"What exactly is going on with Sound's government right now?" Sasuke asked, keenly interested in what sort of state he left it in.
"Right now there are two front runners for control of the government," Iruka started. "There is the Loyalist party, which wants the country to be run like it was under Orochimaru."
Sasuke nodded and put that into the bank of his memory. If there were still people loyal to Orochimaru he knew that he'd have to watch himself more carefully from now on.
"The second party is more or less a Citizens party," Iruka started as he nodded his head from side to side to show is simplification of a complex governing system. "They want to have their country run by the people. The people in this party are mostly the prisoners that were released once Orochimaru was killed."
Iruka purposely didn't say anything about Sasuke being the one who killed Orochimaru. He figured that saying something like that would be insensitive this early in the morning. Sasuke nodded again as he recalled telling Suigetsu to release the prisoners but not to kill them.
"So we have to go and make sure that our liaison makes it back here safely," Sakura concluded with a sleepy smile.
The sun was barely up when Sakura stood and slung her knapsack over her shoulder to signify that the two had to set out soon. She had learned of her mission late last night after a little bit of training with Tsunade and had taken that time to say good bye to Ino. Now it was Iruka's turn to say good bye to his lover. He put his pack on his back and walked over to the door with Kakashi trailing behind him. Sakura opened the front door and waved at her teammates.
"I'll write you guys every chance I get!" she promised in a decent volume. She waved at them, "Oh!" she exclaimed loudly as she was about to go out into the hallway.
Sasuke and Naruto were a little surprised when she came rushing back into the apartment while digging through the holster on her hip. Her hand came out with much triumph and a sharp kunai. Naruto felt like he should be backing up and he also didn't want to leave that warm spot on Sasuke's thigh. Sakura took a hold of Naruto's limp wrist and cut the rope swiftly.
"There," she said with pride. "You two are free, even though you guys acted normal after a while. I guess that was the point of the rope in the first place," she mumbled the last part and shrugged.
Sakura took a hold of Naruto's tanned cheek and pinched it a little, "I promise that I will write, don't worry!" She trotted over to the door to hide her trembling worry from her two. "I'll write you guys every chance I get!"
Naruto blew her a friendly kiss, "You better or I'll have to come to Sound and beat you up!"
Sasuke let a little laugh fall from his lips at this. He decided that he liked it when Naruto was still in his own dreamland. It was kind of cute. Naruto said silly things and was less obnoxious when he was like this. Sakura laughed more brightly than Sasuke had but disappeared behind the door while Kakashi and Iruka kissed each other and whispered words that Sasuke and Naruto could not hear.
After another minute or two of sweet promises from Iruka to Kakashi, Iruka finally disappeared behind the door to join Sakura on their mission. Kakashi closed the door calmly after their footsteps were heard going down the stairwell. He turned around to Sasuke and Naruto and waved at them just barely.
"I'm going back to bed," he informed them, his face looking a little older than it had the day before.
Sasuke knew that Naruto and himself would be worried about the two of them when they had a chance to actually wake up. But for now they would sleep and let their bodies rest. Naruto was lulling his head against Sasuke's thigh in a tired way. Sasuke stood up, much to the surprise of Naruto, and helped him up so that they could go back to sleep. Naruto at first just leaned into Sasuke and wrapped his arms around him like a small child and then Sasuke kissed him and Naruto went into a very agreeable mood.
"Gosh you're such a great boyfriend…thing…" Naruto sounded unsure about what to call Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't really blame him. Sasuke had no idea what to call Naruto either.
"Thank you…" Sasuke replied a little uncertain as well. He kissed Naruto's forehead and pulled him closer to their bedroom, even though Naruto kept squealing little comments about Sasuke wanting him and about how Sasuke was a pervert. Sasuke simply rolled his eyes and slid into bed with Naruto once they got into their room.
When the hour was decent Sasuke and Naruto walked out to the living room to see what Kakashi was doing. He wasn't out there but they did hear him call from the kitchen. Neither of them thought that Kakashi would go into the kitchen unless Iruka was in there.
"What do you want Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he leaned on the counter to look at the mysterious man.
"Iruka and Sakura left instructions for how to make things for dinner," he started.
"And?" Sasuke sarcastically threw in there.
"And," Kakashi repeated Sasuke's comment. "Do either of you know how to cook?"
Naruto opened his mouth to say something but he must have thought twice about it because he closed his mouth quickly and looked off to the side. Sasuke didn't say anything either. Ever since his parents died he only learned how to make basic meals and meals from boxes. He never cooked anything more extravagant than onigiri and everyone knew that Naruto pretty much only knew how to make ramen, if that could even count as a meal.
"You mean you don't know how to make any of this stuff?" Sasuke questioned with disbelief, when they were younger he always thought that Kakashi knew how to make everything.
Kakashi shook his head as he stared at the pieces of paper, "No, I've always eaten pre-made meals from the store."
Great, you put a bunch of orphans in the house together and you find out that none of them knew how to cook! Now this made Sasuke wonder how Iruka ever learned how to make such great meals.
"So…ummm…Let's worry about it later!" Naruto suggested before he turned around and grabbed a pack of pre-made muffins for breakfast. He grabbed another and threw them to Sasuke.
This mind set worked, until dinner rolled around. Now there were three men in the kitchen, whose knowledge about cooking matched up with their knowledge about a woman's body. If we had been talking about one of the Legendary Sannin, well let's just say that he'd be able to feed a third world country if that were the case. But these three knew nothing of how to make meals that didn't come with microwave instructions nor did they know anything about a female's anatomy.
"So…" Kakashi began as he stared at the black blob of what was supposed to be stir fry. Needless to say that project didn't work out quite as well as Iruka's instructions had predicted. "Do you guys just wanna go out to eat tonight, we can just get some frozen food to feed ourselves."
Naruto and Sasuke nodded vigorously. After attempting what Iruka described on the paper as 'impossible to screw up' they knew that there was no hope for them in culinary arts. Kakashi grabbed his cloak and checked the inside pockets for his wallet. Sasuke and Naruto grabbed their cloaks and put them on. After checking his amount of money the three headed out for a place to eat.
The next day the three of them went on a few missions, all of them being low level of course. At the end of the day they were tired from having to help a farmer dig out one of his crop barns from the sudden flurries of snow they had gotten last night. Sasuke decided that Naruto could be a master mind when he wanted to be. He had convinced both Sasuke and Kakashi that they needed massive amounts of ramen. Since both of them were far too tired they both conceded and a trip to the super market was in order.
They all walked out of the store with their arms heavy with bags upon bags of the high sodium crap. While Kakashi and Sasuke were dragging their feet, Naruto was bouncing around with his ramen and exclaiming that he couldn't wait to get home! Sasuke wondered where in the hell Naruto got all of this energy from, even demons should run out of stamina!
When Sasuke and Naruto woke up they found that Kakashi had checked the mail. Their first letter from Sakura came in today! Naruto hurriedly ripped the envelope open, nearly tearing the precious letter because of his over zealous nature, and began to read the words Sakura wrote to her Konoha foothold. Naruto noticed that the letter felt more like a memoir but shrugged and read what Sakura wrote about.
Hey Guys,
"How personal," Kakashi jokingly stated as he and Sasuke read over Naruto's shoulder.
How are you guys holding up without me and Iruka-sensei there to watch over your shoulders. I know you guys have probably already burnt at least ONE dinner we left instructions for but hey, the both of us saw that one coming. You guys are so hopeless. I wish I could say that we'll be coming home soon but it doesn't look like it's going to be that way…Sorry.
The Loyalists are adamant about gaining control over Sound and are unwilling to even think about negotiating with the Citizen's party. I swear it's like dealing with Sasuke and Naruto! Well…before the HOT kiss!
Naruto blushed straight up his neck and turned to Sasuke. He was scowling harshly at the letter.
Ha! If only I could see your faces right now! Yes, I know you guys have been making out every chance you think that no one's watching (stop being so damn prude Sasuke!).
Sasuke resisted the urge to crumple the letter up and set it on fire, simply because Naruto gave him that look. He turned his eyes back to the letter despite his internal inferno.
Anyway, back to the issues here in Sound. Already there have been three attacks on Konoha ninjas alone. According to the Kirigakure representative, this is normal and she told me to sleep with a full arsenal under my pillow. Apparently here in Sound they rarely got to attend the Chunin Exams and this makes it impossible to accurately predict their skill level.
Gah! I can't wait to get back to Konoha! I feel like I'm going crazy without my boys, and I know Iruka-sensei is going crazy without his Kakashi. No, seriously, he's way too high strung here. Oh and Kakashi the novel attached to my letter is for you from Iruka. My God he can go on and on about you! That's insane!
Kakashi grinned pleasantly happy about the book he was receiving from Iruka. He was going crazy here too, but it was easier to show his students he was calm. If he didn't act like that then the two boys he stood behind would be wound up so tight with worry it'd be hard to just walk passed them without feeling the strain.
I have to get going now, there's another meeting in about ten minutes. Cross your fingers for me, this Grass nin's been eyeing me up unashamedly, I have a plan to deter him, hopefully it'll work! Ino would not be happy with men like that. Speaking of Ino, the council down here is talking about sending for more reinforcements of higher level, so keep an ear open Kakashi-sensei, they might have you join us in this awful country.
Okay, Okay. Good bye boys! I miss you terribly and I will try to write you again soon! Please stay safe Sasuke and Naruto, there are a lot of stories here about Sasuke and they're starting to worry me…
Love you and miss you guys so much!
Sakura
Kakashi quickly snatched up the letter from Naruto's hands and took the last pages of it before Naruto could sneak a look at. That was way too personal for his students to see and would no doubt draw color even to Sasuke's marble-like face. He waved them off as he went into his and Iruka's room to read the heart felt letter from the sweet sweet man.
"Sasuke," Naruto got up close to Sasuke's face.
"Hm?" Sasuke asked not concerned with the distance between them in the least.
"What does she mean rumors?" Naruto questioned with a look that would make interrogators like Ibiki proud.
Sasuke moved his shoulders up and down to show his ignorance on the subject, "I have no idea, I left the country before I heard any of them."
Naruto felt satisfied with this answer because his face was cut but a big grin. He leaned in slightly, as there was no need to overdo it considering his and Sasuke's proximities, and received a warm kiss from Sasuke. Naruto thought about Sakura's letter, she was wrong. Sasuke was not prude, quite the contrary, he was shy but by no means did he hold back from Naruto. It almost seemed to Naruto that Sasuke liked to kiss him. Every chance Sasuke had, or whenever no one was looking, he would lean in and kiss Naruto firmly on his lips, sometimes slipping him some tongue or pushing him against some surface to further their closeness.
There was definite passion behind his kisses, that much was obvious. Naruto felt Sasuke's hand slide into his hair and he knew that he wasn't going to get out of the inevitable make out session. So he just hooked his fingers around Sasuke's belt loops and allowed himself to be pushed up against the wall next to the kitchen's entrance.
The next letter the house received from Sakura was about a week later and decidedly darker than the last one. This made Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi stir from their normal comfortable, casual routine. The lines that worried them the most was near the bottom, after Sakura was done trying to fake humor despite all the stress in her letter.
I don't think that the chunins here are going to be able to withstand all of this; there have been more attacks and less bargaining at the meetings. I am worn to the bone from having to fend off a Sound nin last night after he tried to hurt me in my sleep. We're going to HAVE to call in for Jounin forces before this gets turned into a full fledged war…
After they finished reading this Kakashi promptly grabbed his cloak, slipped into his shoes and ran from roof top to roof top to reach Hokage Tower. Upon getting there he demanded to be put on the next team sent out to Sound. Sasuke and Naruto followed close behind but couldn't get Tsunade to relinquish her hold on Sasuke's sentencing. Even though two of the three people who were supposed to help heal him were gone she still remained like a stone wall in her decision. The three walked home in silence, two totally defeated by their rejection and one getting into a war-like state of mind to better prepare for Sound.
Naruto rolled over and opened his eyes to the darkened ceiling. His mind was running too wild with horror stories of what was going to happen to Sakura and Iruka and now Kakashi. He put a hand to his forehead to wipe away the sheen of sweat that coated it. Naruto shifted as quietly as possible to face Sasuke's back. The other's breathing was uneven and Naruto could practically see those narrow eyes darting back and forth in all his concern.
Naruto reached out and pulled at Sasuke's shirt slightly, "Hey Sasuke…"
Sasuke moved slowly to face Naruto, "Yeah?" He didn't have to ask what was wrong, what Naruto was losing sleep over was also what was infecting his mind with worry.
"Do you think everything will be okay?" Naruto pulled at the collar of Sasuke's shirt to bring him closer to that elusive comfort.
Carefully Sasuke edged closer to Naruto, for he too needed the same feeling of security, "Yeah. Everything'll be okay. They're deploying some of the best ninjas in the world to Sound; of course it'll be okay Naruto."
Naruto chewed on his bottom lip, he knew that Sasuke was stretching the truth a little bit it still felt nice that he was willing to do so to help ease Naruto into a state of relaxation. Sasuke stuck his thumb between Naruto's teeth and lip to keep him from biting the skin right off of those soft lips. The rest of his fingers spread over Naruto's face, the spaces between each housing a slant of a black whisker-scar. He pulled Naruto a little closer to him and kissed him gently before resting his own chin on top of that mop of sunshine that Naruto called hair. His other hand wrapped around to stroke Naruto's back.
"Okay Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi said from the doorway to his two students as he shimmied into his cloak. "I have to head out for Sound. Wish me luck."
Naruto waved and smiled, "Kick some Oto-ass for us!" he exclaimed with his usual bright (though tired) voice.
Sasuke waved as well, "Good luck," he parroted Kakashi blandly because of this early morning meeting in the entrance of their dwelling.
Kakashi turned a smiling eye on them, pushing passed their defenses and fatigue to see that they were scared as hell of what the future of Sound held for their futures. He chose to just wave, open the door and tell them not to get too 'carried away' while they were alone in the house. Naruto winked at him and Sasuke just looked out of the windows in the kitchen at some insignificant point outside. He turned back to see the door knob turning to show that he was already gone. The click of a door against its frame and they were alone in the apartment meant for five.
Just that click and they felt their hearts sink to their stomachs as the stared at the door for a moment longer in silent contemplation. All of a sudden the house felt as vast and as barren as the deserts of Suna. Naruto looked over at Sasuke with the weight of loneliness in his eyes unhidden by his sleepy face. Sasuke pulled at the bottom of his shirt and tugged him into their bedroom to go back to sleep. A part of him hoped that they would sleep through this whole ordeal and wake up when the days were better and ridded of attacks on their teammates and complications with foreign policy just vanished like a nightmare in the arms of a lover.
He knew this was absurd, but he didn't want to come to terms with reality right now. Fantasy was far too good to face the bad of the days to come and he chose to kiss Naruto, close his eyes and dream about the better times he could make up in place of the torturous worry.
End of The Assurance of Lips
A/N: So...how was it? I hope that I stayed in character, well I guess for Sasuke I have to stay in character for the Sasuke I have created...eh whatever. The next chapter will be up when I am struck by the lightning that is insperation...maybe it's because it's nearly midnight on a school night, but I am all spent on insperation. Kay, tell me!
Preview of next Time: Kiba studied the silver ring on the finger that Sasuke held up with a questioning look, "Okay..." he began feeling as awkward as a water ninja in a training seminar for fire affinities. "It's great that you guys got married but you aren't joined at the hip," Kiba stated as he still eyed Sasuke strangely.