Hey everyone,
This is the second part of chapter eight. I hope you enjoy it. It's not very long, but I will be updating soon. Also, it's not very eventful, but I dropped a few hints here and there about what's about to happen. Next chapter will be much more eventful and intimate.
Anyway, I wanted to remind you that Asuma (the priest) was the leader of the uke secret movement as mentioned in chapter 6.
Chapter 8, part 2, "The havoc at the lecture"
Sasuke stared into Jiraiya's eyes in determination as the two continued their stubbornness. "No, no, no," Jiraiya waved his finger at Sasuke. Feeling himself crack, he spoke, "It's not safe."
The raven didn't utter a word, he only glared.
Jiraiya chuckled out of anxiety, "I am the teacher, and I know what's best for you."
"..."
"You don't know how the semes might react if they saw you there. You read about the uke who was raped for going to a football game. As wise, A university is not a place for a uke!"
"..."
The old man sighed, "It is not my decision anyway. It's Naruto's."
"If you tell him, he will agree."
"I am not going to do that."
"Well, I am not going to give in."
"Stop it brat! I know you want to meet him, but it is not something a uke can do. They won't let you in," Jiraiya sighed. He had made a mistake a few days earlier mentioning that Hiruzen Sarutobi, the ex-hokage of Konoha, was going to be lecturing at the public university. Since then, the raven had insisted for some reason at attending. The problem was, the university had never allowed any ukes on campus, not that any uke ever tried to go in.
"I am going."
"You know why you want to go so much, Sasuke; you just want to be defiant. You can watch the lecture on TV."
"I want to talk to him. In his last lecture he said that the new law he was-"
"Even if Naruto agrees, I am not taking on this responsibility."
The raven puffed his cheeks hissing, "Fine!" He ran into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
"Just a child," Jiraiya mumbled.
"What's going on, old man?" Naruto walked in.
"I know you heard the whole conversation. Why didn't you walk in?"
"I don't want to oppress him, but he would be eaten alive out there. Plus, I didn't want to be the one shitting all over his hopes and dreams."
"So you let me do it, great..."
A pregnant pause followed before Naruto decided to break the silence, "You know Sandaime Hokage personally, right?"
"He was my professor before he went on to-"
"Can you get me to talk to him? If Sasuke can't go, at least I can go in his place."
"Naruto..."
"C'mon, I'll even act smart," he flashed his best toothy smile.
XXXXXXX The next day XXXXXXXX
Naruto sat within the crowed rehearsing the questions that Sasuke has written down for him, and forced to memorize earlier. His uke was really 'the' slave driver. Plus, the questions seemed a bit controversial. Smart but controversial. He definitely needed to be alone with Sarutobi if he didn't want to be booed- or even stoned- by other semes.
He was snapped out his thoughts by the sheers and claps on the crowd once the ex-Hokage walked on stage. The man immediately started talking politics, receiving questions from eager students and professors. Naruto, as expected, understood nothing. He wasn't the one for politics after all.
Sarutobi laughed as he answered a question, and then pointed at one of the many raised hands. "Yes, you."
The young man stood up, in the farthest corner in the venue, wearing a uke's cape. Suddenly, all the noises were silenced. Everyone stared at the covered uke, with shocked expressions before uproar rose. Boos, heckling, and scoffs filled the room demanding that the abomination should return home, or even be punished by the authorities. He was out in public without a seme, and speaking without shame.
Two security guards walked towards the uke, urging him to go before the police was contacted. He didn't inch, however. None of them wanted to lay a hand of him, knowing that they might be bluntly accused of sexual harassment just for that act alone. However, a few semes cussed at him.
"Whore!"
"Slut!"
"You should be burned!"
Naruto swallowed relieved that he hadn't given in to Sasuke's demands and accompanied him to that lecture. Sasuke would have literally left the scene in pieces. But then, he heard the ex-hokage silence everyone.
"He's here; we should hear what he has to say. They are, after all, out prettier halves." Sarutobi joked. "Yes, young man, what was your question?"
Still hiding his face, the uke spoke, "Just before you retired, there were rumors about you considering a law to make uke/seme inequality a punishable offense by law, as in a law to protect uke rights."
Sarutobi took in a deep breath, "There was consideration for such a law-"
Every seme in the room instantly booed, ranting about how semes and ukes were required to stick to their roles because of the nature of their culture.
"There was such a law," he spoke louder so his voice could be heard over the noised. "But to insure that a divorced uke would be financially secured by the seme who divorced him. We had seen that in some instances a Seme would marry more than one uke, and wouldn't be able to financially support them. The divorce came as an easy solution, leaving the uke devastated and ostracized. On other occasions, seme marry and divorce ukes once they got bored. So that law was to insure that a seme is held accountable."
The hissing came to rest, the crowd convinced.
"New question-"
"The law I am talking about is the ukes right to vote, right to have an education, and right to have a stable career," the uke asked again before everyone had a chance to utter a word.
"I don't think such a law would fit into our cultural setting," Sarutobi spoke losing his polite smile. "And I am saying that for the sake of the ukes, and not to satisfy the semes."
"What do you mean for the sake of ukes? Is it for our sake to be oppressed?"
"Our culture norms are shielding you from facing things in the outside world, you could never handle."
"Any by those things we can't handle, you mean what? Ruthless semes who can't seem to control themselves around ukes raping any unaccompanied one, harassment in the streets, or the shame that's brought by the societies retarded norms."
"That's a statement and not a question-"
"Isn't it true that The Land of Earth passed such a law a year ago, but it wasn't reported about in our media? Why wasn't it reported?"
"I would tell you if I knew, but I am not the minister of communication and media. However, I am sure he had a good reason," he took in a deep sight. "Now, may you please accompany the security for your sake? The door way will be two crowded in a matter of a few minutes, and you might get hurt."
The uke nodded, walking as the security shielded him from whatever the semes chucked at him, a book hitting him right on the face.
Right then, Naruto felt a hand tug him. When he looked at the direction of the touch, Jiraiya was miming that they needed to go right now. He got up quickly, as the man led him through a secret exit to the backstage.
"Sensei," the old man smiled at the older man.
"Jiraiya," Sarutobi held the man's shoulders. "I have missed you son."
Naruto grinned, urging Jiraiya to introduce him. "This is Naruto. He was my student, and now I am mentoring his husband."
Naruto bowed, as they wrinkled hand tapped his shoulder.
"I see you are a progressive seme who believes in the importance of education."
"My husband..." Naruto avoided mentioning Sasuke's name as customary. "...is very smart."
"And hardheaded," Jiraiya added.
"And stubborn," Naruto continued. "But I think it would be a waste for him not to be educated."
"Yes, after all, he will be raising you're kids," the man nodded. "Jiraiya tells me you have some questions for me."
"Actually, they are his questions. I am just a messenger."
"Ukes these days," The man chuckled. "In my day, all the uke cared about was cooking and giving birth to one child after the other."
"That's definitely not my S-uke. He argues for sport."
"Maybe he is related to the uke we saw today. That gentleman was something!" The man joked again.
"Will he be arrested?"
"No, I made sure he is accompanied home however, discretely. No one saw his face after all."
"I hate to think about what his husband or father is going to do to him if he figures out," Jiraiya spoke.
"Well, we all have to be held accountable for our actions. Now, back to the questions."
Naruto opened the paper scanning it, "Actually, you answered most of them in the lecture."
"Show me the paper please," the man asked as he handled the paper reading it. He slid his glasses down his nose, and then looked at Jiraiya as if he was okaying what he was about to say with him. "Naruto, do you know why many semes are against the education of ukes?"
Naruto took a deep breath, "Because of our culture, and-"
"It's because the more they learn, the more questions they will ask especially when young, and still not conditioned to just nod and agree. And the more questions they ask, the more noise they will make."
"And the more noise they make, the more others will try to silence them," Jiraiya continued the others words.
"At that point the uke will have one of two options; surrendering to the norms fearing what others might do, or making an ever louder noise and committing to a cause no one here is ready to handle."
"Uke equality," Naruto figured.
"It's never easy," the pervy old man added. "And it doesn't only hurt him, but it implicates the ones around him as well."
"Knowing that, do you still want your uke to continue his education? To know the answers to these questions?" The ex-hokage asked.
"Yes," Naruto didn't hesitate. "If there are answers that need to be known, I need to know them too."
"You don't need to know anything," Jiraiya added. "It's a question of whether or not you're willing to give up comfort for answers?"
The blond blobbed his head, "I'm ready."
"Narut-"
"Believe it; I am ready."
Sarutobi studied the seme with his eyes for a few seconds half suspecting that the young man didn't get what they were trying to hint at. Then, Jiraiya nodded signaling for him that Naruto could be trusted.
"Jiraiya, why don't you take him to see my son? You know where to find him."
- To be continued -
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