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Chapter Text

“And then you got in front of me,” Naruto said noisily. “You were so ready to die for me, it was so stupid!”

Sasuke had heard this story a million times, since it was one of Naruto’s favourite. He always told it with the exact same words, and his face made the exact same gestures as he got excited, or upset, or happy. Sasuke had it memorized it all by now, like the way Naruto felt the need to touch him in any way possible as he told him how scared he had been when he thought he would die, or the way he always took a deep breath in relief when he realised Sasuke would be okay.

One day, long ago, he had asked Naruto why he loved that moment so much. Sasuke had expected it to be because it had been their first real mission, the one where Naruto had finally been able to prove just how great he could be if given the chance. The answer had been different though; it was one of Naruto’s favourite stories because it was the first time he realised Sasuke actually cared about him. It had been the first time he had felt his bond with Sasuke being reciprocated.

So, even if Sasuke knew this story by heart already, he’d always listen to it attentively. Because Naruto always seemed happy to tell it, and Sasuke was reminded of a nicer, simpler time.

“I was so angry at you!” Naruto added, and if Sasuke didn’t know any better he would’ve thought he was actually angry at that moment too. “You had decided to play hero and risk your life for me and I was there feeling like absolute crap about it!”

“You would’ve done the same for me,” Sasuke said slowly. He usually never interrupted Naruto’s ramblings, enjoying the calmness that usually washed over him when he listened to his voice alone. It caused Naruto to smile a bit, though.

“Not my point,” Naruto huffed. “I would’ve done it because I considered you my friend. You did it to be an asshole, and prove yourself better than any-”

Naruto stopped on his tracks, and Sasuke stopped with him, looking at him with concern written all over his face. Sasuke was about to ask what was wrong when Naruto’s smile grew bigger than ever.

“We’re home!” he said excitedly, pointing out in front of him.

Sasuke had been too distracted by Naruto that he hadn’t seen the big walls of Konoha starting to be visible from afar. He looked at them from a distance, and all the bad memories that the village had given him suddenly became brighter in his mind. He tried to not dwell on the feeling of hatred he felt towards it because of what they had done to his clan, to his brother, to Naruto, to him; he tried to remind himself the reason he was coming back for.

“Sasuke?” Naruto asked slowly, and Sasuke could hear the worry mingled in his voice.

“I’m good,” he promised quickly, forcing a weak smile.

Sasuke took a deep breath and just kept walking, trying to ignore the growing pain in his chest.

—〇 ☽—

“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto said rather loudly as he got into Kakashi’s – no, the Hokage’s office as if it were his own home. Sasuke could only scoff, trying to not smile fondly (and failing).

“Ah, you’re back,” Kakashi said plainly, looking up from the scroll that was laid over his table. And then he squinted, the only sign that would ever show that he was smiling, and if Sasuke didn’t know the other man any better, he would’ve thought Kakashi was actually happy to see them.

“Missed us?” Naruto said excitedly as Kakashi stood up.

And then Kakashi did something Sasuke would’ve never even imagined seeing the man do. He stood up and he moved to hug them – he opened his arms and pulled them both closer to his chest. Sasuke rolled his eyes, trying to suppress another smile, while Naruto’s giggles filled the silence.

“Maybe a little bit,” Kakashi admitted.

Perhaps he was happy to see them, after all.

Kakashi pulled back after a second, and then he leaned against his table, sitting on the edge and watching them. Sasuke could tell something had caught the older man’s eye, but he couldn’t exactly determine what.

“You said in your last letter that you’d take at least a month to get back. You’re early,” Kakashi said.

“Someone was too excited and made us run as fast as we could for good bits of the trip,” Sasuke explained, rolling his eyes in a way that showed he wasn’t actually annoyed at it.

If things were normal, Naruto would try to explain how competitive Sasuke had been and how it soon had become a race, and he would definitely brag about winning most of the times (on Sasuke’s opinion, using kage bunshins to get them to boost him was cheating; Naruto strongly disagreed). Things weren’t normal, though. And Naruto could only smile proudly at Sasuke, and Sasuke quickly mimicked him.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi again, and he blushed slightly at the way the older man was looking pointedly at him.

“So I see you figured things out,” Kakashi mused. He couldn’t see it behind the mask, but Sasuke would bet his remaining arm that he was smirking.

“Figured what out?” Naruto asked dumbly.

“Your feelings, obviously,” Kakashi explained.

“Oh, yeah! Sasuke and I g- ow!” Naruto started to explain, being interrupted by Sasuke elbowing his ribs a bit harder than necessary.

It wasn’t like Sasuke didn’t want people to know. He just wasn’t comfortable with the idea at the moment, though. He wasn’t ready to be the talk of the whole village when he still had so many things to figure out, and he definitely wasn’t ready for all the attention being with Naruto would bring. After all, Naruto was probably the most loved person in all of Konoha, or even the Five Great Nations.

“Sasuke and I are very good friends. We talked about it, we figured we didn’t like fighting, and we’re very good friends,” Naruto tried, sounding way too unsure to make his words believable. He made it more obvious when he looked at Sasuke with an apologetical smile that Kakashi surely hadn’t missed.

Naruto hadn’t really agreed to keep it a secret. Well, he did, just because Sasuke had asked him to, and Naruto seemed willing to cover himself in paper bombs and detonate them himself if Sasuke was the one asking him to do it. That didn’t mean Naruto was happy about it, though, and Sasuke was sure that deep down he didn’t even understand his motives. Sasuke had hated asking this of him, even more when he saw how sad Naruto seemed about it. Only until I figure my shit out, Sasuke had promised, and Naruto had promised back that he could wait.

“Yeah, yeah. Very good friends indeed,” Kakashi said and shook his head with a laugh. “You should get back home and rest. I’ll call you if I need anything of you,” he added, this time in a more serious tone.

Sasuke thought of the house he had called home for almost 8 years, and how he had tried to spend as many hours away from it as possible, after his parents had died and Itachi had left. He hated the ghosts that accompanied him every time he set foot in the Uchiha compound, so he tried to avoid it. He didn’t want to go back there, not when he was slowly starting to heal.

Then he remembered he probably didn’t have a home there anymore. It had all been destroyed after Pain’s attack, after all.

“I made sure to have an apartment ready for you, Sasuke,” Kakashi said with a light tone, as if he had read Sasuke’s thoughts.

“Thank you, Kakashi,” Sasuke said, offering him a smile that looked more like a grimace.

—〇 ☽—

After a few hours of moving things around in his new apartment and a very long shower, Sasuke had finally laid down in the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

It was weird, not having Naruto by his side now. He had grown way too used to Naruto’s incessant talking, and the way it seemed like Naruto needed to always be touching him in any way or other, as if making sure Sasuke was still there.

Naruto had left Sasuke’s apartment at least three hours ago. Apparently, he couldn’t wait to see Iruka, Sakura and the rest of his friends. He had tried to make Sasuke join him, but Sasuke didn’t want to face everyone just yet. He had to promise Naruto at least six times he would find him if he changed his mind before the man had finally left, not without giving Sasuke a kiss first. It had been both a deep and rather quick kiss that showed just how unsure he was of leaving Sasuke alone, but how excited he was of seeing everyone else.

Eventually, Sasuke felt uncomfortable at his solitude. He hadn’t in the previous hours, because his mind was occupied as he played around with his furniture, as he tried to figure how to make the hot water in the apartment work or as he tried to decide what food he should buy the following day to make Naruto some healthy dinner.

The feelings he had been trying to avoid all day washed over him, the quietness Naruto’s absence brought making it worse. There were too many memories attached to this village, both Itachi’s and his own, and Sasuke didn’t know what to do with all the bad ones. He knew he had to learn to deal with them, but he wasn’t sure of where to start, what to do, to finally find the peace he longed.

He couldn’t help the growing rage in his stomach, though. No matter how hard he was trying, he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop playing Itachi’s memories in his head over and over, the way he had been manipulated into thinking massacring his whole clan was the best available option. The way he had cried as he killed their parents, the way he had cried after making Sasuke believe he had done it purely for his own selfish reasons.

Sasuke turned to the side, hugging his knees to his chest, suddenly feeling like it was being hard to breathe. His nightmares had been terrible after Naruto and him had left the village, but he hadn’t felt the way he was feeling now. He didn’t know if it was because Naruto didn’t really give him enough time for it, or because he was back in the same village where it all had happened, the village he was trying to forgive.

Sasuke tried to even his breaths. He tried to count to a hundred, and then backwards, something he used to do when he was just a kid feeling the exact same oppression in his chest and his throat, something that used to keep him awake for hours with no one to comfort him. He tried to remember how Naruto’s hand felt on his whenever he tried to calm him down, he tried to remember his voice telling him it was going to be okay. 

At some point, something worked. Sasuke couldn’t tell what, and maybe it was a combination of it all.

But it worked, and he fell into a light sleep.

—〇 ☽—

Sasuke woke up with a startle when he heard a loud noise, his Sharingan on display. He sat up rather quickly, ready to defend himself if needed even if his mind was still foggy.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” a familiar voice said. The only voice that would manage to make Sasuke relax in a matter of seconds.

Naruto had come into the apartment, even though Sasuke hadn’t actually expected him to. For some reason, Sasuke had convinced himself Naruto would want to spend some time apart. Maybe it was the quiet voice in the back if his mind telling him Naruto was already tired of him that had become stronger during the hours he had been alone, but he was sure Naruto would increasingly stop spending so much time with Sasuke.

Apparently, Sasuke was wrong.

“I knocked but you didn’t answer so I thought something might have happened…” Naruto rambled quietly.

“So you thought breaking into a sleeping shinobi’s apartment was a good idea? Wow, you’re a genius,” Sasuke said sarcastically, rubbing his eyes sleepily now.

“I knew you wouldn’t have hurt me,” Naruto grinned. “I just wanted to check on you,” he added, this time in a more serious tone, as if he knew something was wrong with Sasuke.

“Well, I’m fine,” Sasuke replied. “Are you going to stand there like an idiot?”

Naruto seemed to get Sasuke didn’t want to talk, so he didn’t press into it any further. Sasuke was definitely grateful.

“Is that your way of asking me to stay over?” Naruto teased. “Because it really sucks. I’d like a proper invitation, please.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes at that, trying to look annoyed. Naruto’s widening smile was proof enough that he failed. However, Sasuke didn’t speak, not willing to give in so easily.

“I’ll have to go then,” Naruto warned him, but he just waited for Sasuke’s reaction.

Sasuke knew Naruto wouldn’t actually go. Naruto was definitely aware Sasuke wasn’t on the right mindset at the moment, because he had learned how to read into him so well the last few months. If anything, Naruto’s teasing was his way of trying to distract Sasuke from his own mind. But for a second, Sasuke was scared he might actually leave.

“Stay. Please,” he said rather weakly.

Naruto’s smile softened and nodded slowly, holding back from teasing Sasuke about it – something he would’ve definitely do if he weren’t aware Sasuke wasn’t okay. He slowly took off his shoes and then most of his clothes, throwing them to the floor carelessly. Before Sasuke could scold him for that, Naruto jumped on the bed with him, leaning over to press a soft kiss to his lips, letting it linger for a few seconds.

Sasuke forgot about what he was going to say, and that surely had been Naruto’s intentions all along.

“How’s everyone?” Sasuke asked slowly once Naruto had settled down, his head resting on Sasuke’s chest.

“Huh... Good,” he said simply, just pressing himself a bit closer to Sasuke.

Sasuke realised Naruto was hiding something, because normally that simple question would’ve ended up in Naruto telling him every single detail about his time with them. Sasuke didn’t insist though, knowing that if Naruto wanted to talk about it, he would tell him. Sometimes he just needed a minute to think how to put it into words.

“I’m… I’m just pissed off,” Naruto mumbled eventually, sounding more tired than anything. Sasuke hummed to let him know he was listening, starting to run his fingers through his blond hair. “I can’t tell you why though. I just… I’m really mad. That’s all.”

“Did I do something wrong?” Sasuke asked, and even though Naruto was quickly shaking his head, he still tried to guess. “Are you mad I didn’t go with you today?”

“No, of course not. It wouldn’t be fair to get mad at you for that. And even if I did, you know I would’ve told you already,” he whispered.

Sasuke had always admired how easy it was for Naruto to talk about how his feelings, at least when Sasuke was the cause of them, whether they were bad or good. Sometimes Sasuke would act in a way that would hurt Naruto, and Naruto would explain in such a nice, gentle way why it had hurt him, but he never tried to make Sasuke feel bad. He just did it so Sasuke understood, so he wouldn’t do it again. Sasuke would feel guilty about it nevertheless, but Naruto always made sure to reassure him.

It was Sasuke who had a bigger problem at being communicative. It wasn’t like it happened a lot, Naruto hurting him. But they both had such strong personalities, and sometimes they would disagree. Naruto was always stubborn and most times refused to listen to Sasuke, so Sasuke would be even more upset at that. And then Naruto would try to get Sasuke to talk to him about it, would try to help him find the proper words to explain himself. Sasuke always shut him out though.

“You can’t get upset if I tell you,” Naruto said slowly, looking up at Sasuke.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Sasuke promised, even though he was dying to know now so he could comfort Naruto better (and maybe go have a conversation with the person that had dared to upset Naruto in the first place).

“They’re just… not happy that we’re back?” Naruto tried to put into words. “Well... They do. It’s just… They’re…”

“They’re not happy I’m back,” Sasuke guessed again, but this time he knew, by the way Naruto looked away, that he was right.

“They just don’t understand. I’m sure that they’ll get over it quickly though, I just need to-”

“You don’t need to do anything, Naruto,” Sasuke promised, cutting him off. “We knew this was going to happen. Not everyone’s as forgiving as you are,” he reminded him.

It wasn’t like Sasuke had expected any different. He knew he meant something to Kakashi and Sakura, but that was it. No one else in the village would feel any sympathy for a rogue ninja that had joined Konoha’s worst enemies and had contributed to get the war started.

He had expected it, but it stung nevertheless.

Because no matter how hard he had tried to make amends, to redeem himself, it still wasn’t enough. And it was hurting Naruto, as well, and that was the thing that upset Sasuke the most.

“It’s not fair! They wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you!” Naruto frowned.

“This is not about fairness, though. One good thing doesn’t make up for a thousand bad ones,” Sasuke said slowly.

Naruto shook his head, and Sasuke could see the frustration written all over his face, in the way his eyebrows were still drawn together, the way he was chewing on his bottom lip. He eventually closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and Sasuke couldn’t help but lean down to kiss his nose, and then his lips, needing to comfort him.

He forgot about his own worries, just so he could try and make Naruto smile again.

“I guess I’ll just have to make out with all of them so they can forgive me like you did,” Sasuke poorly attempted to joke. It caused Naruto to huff and pinch Sasuke’s side though, so he guessed it worked.

“I didn’t forgive you because of that!” Naruto defended himself. “I forgave you because I saw how hard you-”

Sasuke leaned over to kiss him again, not wanting to deal with that at the moment. Naruto wanted to fight it back, and Sasuke could feel him trying to talk still, but he quickly gave in and kissed Sasuke back.

“I’m sorry they’re making you feel like this, though,” Sasuke whispered as he pulled back, kissing down his chin and his jaw gently.

“I just don’t think it’s fair,” Naruto muttered. “I just want them to see you how I do.”

“And how do you see me, Naruto?” Sasuke asked, moving to press soft kisses to his cheek, his eye, his forehead.

“I see you like a sweet, lovely man that wants to better and mend his errors,” Naruto mumbled, slowly starting to relax at Sasuke’s kisses.

“Aw, you don’t see me as hot then?” Sasuke joked. It caused Naruto to laugh, even if it was brief and quiet.

“I do. But I don’t want them to see you as that,” Naruto said, moving to kiss Sasuke again, this time a bit more possessively.

—〇 ☽—

“You wanted to see me?” Sasuke asked as he got into Kakashi’s office, not bothering with knocking nor having to wait for permission to come in.

He had successfully managed to stay in his apartment for three days straight, even with Naruto practically begging him to tag along to some of the plans he had with his friends. He hated saying no to Naruto, even more when he’d look so sad afterwards, but Sasuke knew that it would only make things uncomfortable if he went. Sasuke preferred not ruin Naruto’s day, even if it meant staying alone with his thoughts for more than should be advisable.

Naruto had so much to offer, and he had been giving it all to Sasuke for almost two years. It was about time Sasuke stopped being selfish. It was fine, really, because at the end of the day he got Naruto stopping the silence in his apartment and the mess in his mind, filling the hole in Sasuke’s chest with gentle touches and soft kisses and words of affection.

“Ah, Sasuke. Thank you for coming,” Kakashi said, a bit startled. He made a dismissive sign towards the window, and Sasuke guessed it would be for the ANBU that were surely protecting Kakashi.

“What did you want, Hokage-sama?” Sasuke asked, putting emphasis on the honorific. It didn’t come out as serious as he intended it to, sounding more playful than anything.

“Not you too,” Kakashi almost groaned. “Just Kakashi. Please.”

Sasuke couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped his lips. Kakashi glared at him for a second, before he rolled his eyes.

“There’s a couple of things I would like to talk to you about,” Kakashi said slowly.

Sasuke watched as Kakashi slowly stood up and moved so he could sit on the edge of his big desk, looking at him.

“I hate the part of the job where I have to actually talk to people,” Kakashi admitted, letting out a bit of a dramatic sigh after a few seconds in silence.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the confession. He was aware Kakashi could put up a wall and pretend he was nothing but perfect in his new position, not letting anyone see the actual struggles that came with it. But he was trusting Sasuke enough to let him see this part of it, and it made Sasuke feel slightly more relaxed in Kakashi’s presence for some reason he couldn’t understand.

“I’m sure you didn’t call me to help you improve your communication skills, though,” Sasuke replied. Kakashi laughed awkwardly.

“No offence, but you definitely would be the last person I would call for that,” Kakashi said. “Even though I’m sure you must have learnt a thing or two from Naruto,” he said.

“A thing or two,” Sasuke conceded, trying to look down to hide the heat on his cheeks. It was too late though, seeing as Kakashi let out a soft laugh. “So, what is it?” he asked before Kakashi could insist further.

“Peace has been… nice,” Kakashi started slowly, rather unsure. “Many new couples, you know? Many weddings, too,” he said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, just feeling a bit confused. “Okay…?”

“And you know. They do… things, and nine months later there’s one more person in the village,” Kakashi kept talking slowly, looking up at the ceiling distractedly. “Speaking of. You and Naruto… You’re being safe, right? I know you can’t have kids, but there’s still some risks-”

“Please don’t tell me you’ve called me to make us both go through the talk!” Sasuke groaned before Kakashi could finish the sentence, knowing this had to be as embarrassing for both of them.

“Oh, no! Not at all!” Kakashi quickly defended himself. “But I guess someone has to make sure you know what not being safe could mean-”

“No one has to,” Sasuke interrupted him, covering his face embarrassedly.

“Just answer the question so we can get it over with, please?” Kakashi tried. “Either that or I’ll have to make Sakura explain the different diseases to you guys like you’re twelve, just in case,” he added, making it sound like a threat.

Sasuke was so confused as to why Kakashi was acting like this, as if he cared.  But he really didn’t want to dwell on this for a second longer.

“We’re not dumb,” he said quickly, looking down at his hands embarrassedly. “We’re safe, and we’re exclusive. So, there. No big deal,” he mumbled.

Kakashi just smiled at him, or at least Sasuke thought so. It hit him then he only admitted his relationship with Naruto, as embarrassed as he was. He guessed there was no point in trying to deny it to Kakashi, anyway.

“I was telling you people were having kids because… Well. Families are growing. It’s a prosperous time, so they think it’s safe to bring kids to the world. And… we’re running out of space inside the walls,” Kakashi explained.

“So?” Sasuke asked. He guessed where Kakashi was heading, but he didn’t want to believe it.

“I had to give away part of the grounds of the Hatake compound. It’s not like anyone lived there anymore, so it wasn’t a big deal for me. Some clans asked to get part of the Uchiha compound, as well. And you’re the last Uchiha alive, so the decision is ultimately yours.”

“My answer is no,” Sasuke said, firmly.

Kakashi didn’t say anything. He didn’t even change his expression, or at least what Sasuke could see of it.

“Is that why you got me an apartment?” Sasuke asked then. He had tried to sound angry, had tried to fill his voice with rage but it only came out as tired. “Just so I would give my family and my clan’s home away?”

“No, of course not,” Kakashi said, his voice as calm as ever. “I always thought it was cruel, keeping you there after it happened. You were only a kid, you deserved somewhere better. I was able to get you out of there now, even if it’s a bit late” he said.

Sasuke stayed quiet, still frowning.

“I guess it’s not the same but seeing every single day the room where my father… died definitely took a tool on me. I got my own apartment as soon as I was able to afford it,” Kakashi added, as if he needed to keep explaining himself. “I know the place is gone, now. But I still thought it would be best for you to get away, at least for a while.”

Sasuke looked at him, trying to look for a sign that Kakashi was lying. He couldn’t find any.

“I’m not letting strangers use the Uchiha compound. Not after what they did to us,” Sasuke said quickly, shaking his head.

“Okay, fair enough,” Kakashi shrugged. “Just… try to think about it. I’d respect it if your answer is still no in, let’s say three months. But please, keep in mind these people are around your age. They had nothing to do with it,” Kakashi said softly.

“What was the other thing you wanted to talk about?” Sasuke asked then, just wanting, needing to talk about something else.

“Well, what do you intend to do now?” Kakashi asked slowly. “Naruto is studying with Iruka to become a jōnin, even though I’ll probably just give him the rank once he passes the chūnin exams. He’s still set to be a Hokage,” he explained.

Sasuke got quiet because he hadn’t thought of that. He hadn’t thought of anything but making amends with his own guilt. He guessed that wouldn’t put dinner on the table in the long run, though.

“I don’t have any intention to become a jōnin,” he said slowly.

“I didn’t expect you to,” Kakashi admitted. “I was thinking the Konoha Military Police Force has been inactive for too long. There’s some… domestic issues, and I want your help with it.”

—〇 ☽—

Sasuke could feel all the eyes on him as he tried to walk back to his apartment. He tried to ignore them all, pretending he didn’t hear all the whispers.

He should be in prison. He shouldn’t have come back. Why does Hokage-sama allow him to be here? He’s a traitor, he’s dangerous.

Sasuke just kept walking, and walking, passing by his building, and then he kept going. He didn’t know where his feet were taking him, but at least they were just taking him away from all the whispers and the glares.

And before he could realise, he was in front of where the entry to the Uchiha compound used to be. Or at least, what was left of it.

He froze in place though, unable to take one step further. He wanted to turn around and leave, he wanted to stop looking at the place that brought so many terrible memories back, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the remaining dirty pieces of fabric with the Uchiha fan stuck under some rock.

There was nothing left. If he hadn’t known the path that took to the Uchiha lands by heart, he would’ve thought he had gotten lost. He wondered how such an empty piece of land could bring as much pain to his chest, so many bad memories.

He could picture what the compound had been before the massacre. He could see the houses, the shops, he could see the kids running and the parents laughing. He could see his own home, his mum making green tea for his dad on a rainy day while Itachi had breakfast on the kitchen table and talked to both of them.

Sasuke brough his hand to his chest, blinking furiously so he wouldn’t let the tears fall down. His knees failed him, unable to keep him standing any longer with how badly his whole body was starting to shake.

He didn’t know how long he stayed like that, trying to remind himself to just breathe, staring into the empty land as if it would somehow bring everyone back, bring his parents and Itachi and his home back.

After a while, Sasuke felt someone approaching, and he recognised who it was without needing to turn around.

“Shikamaru told me he saw you walking towards here,” Naruto said softly, moving to get on his knees right by side.

Sasuke had never been more relieved to have Naruto there.  

“Weren’t you having lunch with him and Chōji?” Sasuke asked slowly, rubbing his eyes and hoping Naruto hadn’t see the tears on his face.

“Nah. They had… to go,” Naruto said simply, an obvious lie.

He had been the one to stand them up to come here and make sure he was okay, Sasuke guessed.

“Do you want to take a walk around it?” Naruto offered, moving to get in front of Sasuke now, probably to catch his attention.

It worked. Sasuke looked at Naruto, and focused on the soft, tender smile plastered on his face, the one that was exclusively for him and made all the bad thoughts in his mind quiet down, until all he could think about was the blond man in front of him and the warmth in his own chest.

Sasuke loved his smile.

“Not really,” he admitted after a second. “I don’t… I didn’t even want to come here in the first place.”

Naruto waited for him to elaborate. Sasuke couldn’t, and so Naruto dropped it. He also seemed to get he didn’t want to stay there any longer.

“You should buy me lunch,” Naruto said with a smile, reaching over and lacing their fingers together.

“I have plenty of food at h-”

“Don’t even dare to finish that sentence, mum,” Naruto whined jokingly. “You’ve been feeding me way too many vegetables for the past three days. I demand some real food now.”

Before Sasuke could try again, Naruto was making him stand up and dragging him away from there. Sasuke turned his head to give the place one last look, before he focused back on Naruto.

—〇 ☽—

Once they were back to Sasuke’s apartment, Naruto took off his shoes and went to the kitchen, probably to brew some tea. Sasuke moved to sit by the table in the middle of the room, rubbing his face for a few moments, letting himself be upset for just that fraction of time before he regained his composure.

“How did your meeting with Kakashi go?” Naruto asked as he came back with the tea, putting Sasuke’s cup on the table before he sat down next to him.

Sasuke stayed quiet for a bit, grabbing the cup with his hand and looking at the warm liquid as if he would find a way to get out of this conversation on the way the tea swayed with even the slightest one of his movements. Eventually, he looked at Naruto.

“He asked if we were having safe sex,” he said slowly, wanting to gain some more time before he had to focus on the serious part of the conversation he had had with Kakashi.

Naruto laughed, and his cheeks turned slightly red. It was a lovely view, really, and Sasuke couldn’t help his own smile. He quickly covered it by taking a sip of his tea though.

“I’m sorry he knows. I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine, Naruto. It’s not like he didn’t figure it out on his own,” Sasuke promised.

Naruto seemed unsure still, and Sasuke tried to smile to comfort him, which seemed to work well enough.

“Is this a bad time to say Iruka knows, too?” Naruto said slowly. Sasuke tensed up. “He figured it out as well. Something about me being too happy or something. I’m sorry,” he added quickly, as if he was trying to defend himself.

Sasuke bit his bottom lip, just feeling horrible for having asked Naruto to keep quiet about it when he clearly seemed to be wanting to tell every single person in the village.

“Was he happy for you?” Sasuke asked slowly, hoping to hide the fear in his voice.

Sasuke couldn’t deny a big part of him wanting it to be a secret for the time being was the fact that he was terrified of what people would say to Naruto. Sasuke knew people wouldn’t be happy about him coming back, and he was scared they would let Naruto know he had made a poor choice and that he deserved better. 

“He almost cried,” Naruto laughed. “He threatened to give me hell if I dared to not treat you properly.”

Sasuke was shocked for a moment, and he slowly nodded, unable to say anything else as he let the relief start to relax his limbs.

“And… what else did you talk with Kakashi?” Naruto asked eventually. “I mean, I wouldn’t find it hard to believe he only called you to ask about our sex life, but…” he laughed awkwardly.

Sasuke snorted, but then got serious again as he tried to find the proper words.

“He asked me for permission to let people move into the Uchiha compound. Apparently Konoha’s population is growing, and there’s not enough space,” he said slowly.

He waited for Naruto to say something about it, but he didn’t.

“I said no. I’m being selfish, I know, but I-” Sasuke stopped himself.

Naruto remained quiet, just waiting for him to keep talking if he wanted to. He had seemed to understand during the past two years that insisting Sasuke to talk was never a good idea – if anything, the pressure would end up in Sasuke shutting Naruto out. However, just staying quiet and giving him the time he needed to process his own feelings and thoughts was the way to go. If Sasuke wanted to talk, he would do it, even if he took a few seconds in between.

“I don’t want anyone else living there. It’s all I have left,” Sasuke finished his previous sentence. “It’s all I have from my clan, from my family. I don’t want to give it away, I don’t want people to take advantage of such a bad thing happening,” he whispered.

Sasuke had expected Naruto to ask him to reconsider, just like Kakashi had. However, the man stayed quiet, and Sasuke didn’t dare to look at him in case all he found was disappointment at Sasuke’s selfishness and self-absorption.

“Okay,” Naruto said instead. “It’s your choice, and I understand where you’re coming from,” he added simply.

“Really?” Sasuke asked.

“If I had something from my parents left… from my family… I would like to keep it too,” Naruto shrugged.

It made Sasuke feel like it was so simple, like it was valid to feel this way.

He was so grateful for Naruto. 

“You can always change your mind anyway. But maybe one day you’d like to come back and start a family of your own and fill it with chubby mini Uchihas,” Naruto added lightly.

Maybe Sasuke read in too deep, or maybe Sasuke just knew Naruto way better than he had expected him to. But he knew exactly the question Naruto was trying to ask even if he didn’t voice it.

“You’re aware neither of us can get pregnant, right? I know you didn’t pay that much attention in the Academy, but I thought you weren’t so obtuse,” Sasuke tried to joke.

He knew he couldn’t address Naruto’s insecurity straight away. Naruto never talked about it, and Sasuke never wanted to make him uncomfortable by reassuring him in such an obvious way. It wasn’t the best way to deal with it, probably. But it was the only way Sasuke knew, and he was trying.

And Naruto always brushed it off.

“Did you talk of anything else?”

Sasuke sighed and drank some more tea before putting the now empty cup back on the table, moving his arm backwards and resting his weight on it.

“He asked for help. He wants to reactive the Military Police Force,” he said slowly. “Wants me to help with the minor crimes and all that. But… also… with all the domestic issues.”

“Domestic issues?” Naruto raised his eyebrows.

“It’s confidential,” Sasuke said slowly. “Something about… some people still being loyal to Danzō’s ideals,” he shrugged.

“Are you accepting, then?”

“I guess I am. It might be a good way to help,” Sasuke hummed, looking down at his hands. “To avoid… something like that from happening again on time.”

Sasuke could hear Naruto hum, and he looked up to meet his eyes. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“As long as you’re safe,” Naruto said slowly, clearly worried.

“I will try my best,” he promised.

—〇 ☽—

“We’re going to meet to eat some dango. Will you come?” Naruto tried.

Sasuke looked at him, trying to find any good excuse. It wasn’t the first time Naruto had asked him to join him, and it always made Sasuke uncomfortable. What was the point on going out with people that disliked him that much, anyway?

“I would really, really love it,” Naruto kept talking, looking at Sasuke with those big blue eyes that showed nothing but affection for him.

“Okay,” Sasuke gave in, rubbing his face slightly.

Sasuke tried to convince himself it couldn’t be that bad.

—〇 ☽—

And of course, Sasuke had been wrong. Sakura’s way of saying hello was punching his shoulder, hard enough to make him tumble backwards. He would’ve fell down to the floor if it wasn’t because Naruto had grabbed him by the arm – and he was laughing, the asshole.

“You’ve been back in Konoha for a week and you haven’t had the decency to come say hi? You’re such a bastard,” Sakura growled.

“I’ve been bu-”

“Don’t you dare talking unless you’re going to apologise!” Sakura cut him off.

Naruto kept laughing, and that was the only thing keeping Sasuke from actually feeling scared.

“I’m… sorry,” Sasuke said slowly, looking rather embarrassed.

“I’m surprised she didn’t go to your place and kick your ass. Probably because Naruto wouldn’t give her your new address,” Ino laughed, earning a shut up and a glare from Sakura.

Sasuke watched both girls, feeling a bit more relaxed now that they didn’t seem to hate his guts for everything he had done. He couldn’t say the same about Shikamaru or Kiba though. They pretended to be paying no attention at all, but Sasuke was able to catch a very obvious glare at some point or another from them. Even Chōji, who had been nothing but kind all of his life, seemed a bit wary.

He understood, he really did. It didn’t make it easier nevertheless.

“C’mon, idiot,” Naruto said, dragging Sasuke inside of the shop.

Sasuke stayed quiet for most of it. Naruto, of course, dragged all the attention towards him, and Sasuke was way more than content to just… watch him. He watched him as he bickered with, how he annoyed Shikamaru and Ino to no end, how he talked to Chōji about this food he had tried in some place or another, how he told Sakura about how his studies were going.

And even then, when Naruto was paying attention to five other people, he could still spare some for Sasuke.

He tried to make him feel included at all times. He tried to get him into the conversation, but Sasuke wasn’t that great at it, even less when he felt he wasn’t really welcomed. Naruto seemed to realise that Sasuke wasn’t comfortable when he tried to force him to talk, and at some point he stopped. But he still seemed to want Sasuke to know he was there, and he place his hand on his thigh, hidden under the table, just caressing it gently, rubbing small patterns with his thumb.

Sasuke could only focus on those touches, and the warm feeling in his chest.

“So, how long have you been together?” Shikamaru eventually asked, interrupting the conversation.

Naruto’s face turned bright red, moving his hand away. Sasuke could feel everyone’s eyes on them, and he deliberately ignored the pained expression on Sakura’s face.

“We- We’re not-”

“A few months,” Sasuke said, cutting Naruto off. There was no point in lying, even less to Shikamaru. If he had bothered in asking it definitely was because he already knew.

“Sasuke…” Naruto whispered, seeming rather shocked that Sasuke hadn’t tried to deny it.

“It’s okay,” he promised Naruto, offering him a rather small smile that he hoped was good enough to reassure him. “How did you know?” Sasuke asked Shikamaru then, sounding rougher than he had intended to.

“Well, his feelings towards you have been pretty clear since… forever, but even more when he left with you. And then, when you two came back, he couldn’t shut up about you when he met us for the first time in almost two years,” Shikamaru shrugged. “Then he kept going to your apartment, instead of his own. And right now, he’s looking at you like you hanged the damn sun on the sky, and you look like you might burst whenever you even just glance at him. You two are just way too obvious,” Shikamaru added, not managing to hide a disgusted face.

Naruto laughed embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his own neck.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ino whined, glaring to Naruto – playfully, Sasuke noted.

“I asked him not to,” Sasuke said before Naruto could try to find an excuse to defend him.

“That’s just fantastic, don’t you think? As if it wasn’t bad enough that you kept so many things from us, now you’re making Naruto hide things as well?” Kiba snapped then.

“Kiba, you promised,” Naruto said then, showing they had had a conversation before.

“Well, I take it back, Naruto. We all nearly got killed because of his fucking selfishness!” Kiba said. “In case you don’t remember, his brother massacred his whole clan and joined the organisation that destroyed Konoha and started a war. And then Sasuke joined it too! If you want to forgive him, then fine, be an idiot. I’m not going to do the same just because you’re sucking each other off or whatever,” he added in a mumble.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, and he seemed like he was just about to stand up and punch Kiba. Sasuke had to restrain himself, too, because Naruto didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve his own friends not fully supporting every single thing that he did, he didn’t deserve his friends not being happy about him.

Sasuke could see Shikamaru and Chōji agreeing with Kiba. And even Sakura seemed unhappy about it, but Sasuke could guess it wasn’t because of what Sasuke had done in the past. And he just wanted to yell at them, to get some sense into their heads. He wanted to apologise, he wanted to beg them to support Naruto, he wanted them to stop making Naruto so upset.

Instead, he just got quiet, feeling like nothing would change, no matter what he did.

“I’m going to get more tea! Who wants more tea?” Ino said then, trying to change the subject. 

Sasuke sighed, looking down for a second before he moved to take Naruto’s hand under the table. He squeezed it gently, trying to bring as much comfort as he could.

“I should probably go,” Sasuke told Naruto slowly.

“Yes you should,” Kiba murmured back before he started talking again with Chōji.

“Shut the fuck up, Kiba,” Naruto mumbled. “I’ll leave with y-”

“No. Stay here,” Sasuke whispered. “He’s your friend. Talk to him, figure things out. Don’t let me ruin it,” he added softly.

It only caused Naruto to frown more once he stood up. Sasuke leaned over to kiss the top of his head, as much as he hated to show any kind of affection in public, even more when everyone’s eyes were on him. But he guessed Naruto needed the comfort. So did he.

Then Sasuke left, trying to supress the anger, the guilt.

—〇 ☽—

Naruto didn’t come over that night, even though they hadn’t spent a night apart since they had come back to Konoha.

Sasuke tried to convince himself Naruto just wanted some time for himself. He had been meeting his friends and acquaintances nonstop, and whenever he wasn’t with them, he was spending time with Sasuke. He sure needed a few hours to just… be alone. But Sasuke knew Naruto better than that, he knew he hated spending time by himself.

And that’s how Sasuke found himself knocking on Naruto’s door in the middle of the night. He knocked one, two, three times, but he didn’t hear a thing from inside the apartment. That could mean Naruto wasn’t there, or that he was asleep. He was about to give up when he heard some noise, as if Naruto had dropped something, followed by a cursing.

“Naruto, open the door,” he said.

He could hear Naruto sighing and padding towards the door, slowly opening it with a book on fuuinjutsu in his hand.

“You’re hiding from me,” Sasuke frowned as soon as he saw his face.

“I’m not! I’m-”

“It’s… at least three in the morning, and you’re awake studying. That means something’s wrong. And you didn’t come over, which means that something is related with me,” Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto sighed and just moved to one side so Sasuke could come in.

“It’s stupid,” Naruto mumbled.

“It clearly isn’t if it’s affecting you. What did I do wrong?” Sasuke asked, watching him closely.

Naruto seemed frustrated, running a hand through his hair.

“It’s not like you did something wrong. I understand why you did it, yeah?” Naruto said. “Just… you left. I was angry and you left.”

“And you’re upset about it,” Sasuke said, pointing out the obvious, but just wanting to make sure.

“I know it’s selfish, because they weren’t making you feel welcomed. But they’re my friends, and I just wish-” Naruto cut himself off.

Sasuke slowly reached for his hand, giving him time to pull away if that’s what he wanted. Naruto didn’t though, so he laced their fingers together.

“I just wished they could see what I see,” Naruto mumbled. “I’m not upset at you. I’m upset because… they don’t accept you. And instead of trying to prove them wrong you… just left. Instead of letting me help, instead of you explaining, or apologizing, or… I don’t know,” Naruto sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke whispered. “I left because I don’t think it’s fair to find any excuses or explain myself, not when they’re right,” Sasuke said.

“They’re not, though!” Naruto said.

“You know they are, Naruto,” Sasuke insisted. “It’ll be easier for you to deal with it when you accept they’re right and move on.”

Naruto shook his head stubbornly.

“It was years ago. Fine, I can admit they have a right to be upset. But that Sasuke is gone. And yeah, you were a fucking asshole and you might have put us at risk but that doesn’t mean we need to hate you forever,” Naruto mumbled.

“They’ll change their minds at some point,” Sasuke whispered.

“How can you be okay with this? How can you be okay with-?”

“I am not okay with it, Naruto. But I can’t change what they think of me without proving them I’m not like that anymore. I just need to… prove it,” he mumbled, his voice getting quieter with those last words.

Naruto got quiet at that, watching Sasuke’s face closely.

“I really appreciate what you do for me. But I don’t want you to fight your friends because of me. I have to be the one to amend my past mistakes, not you. You don’t have to deal with that burden,” Sasuke whispered.

Naruto nodded slowly, and he moved to wrap his arms around Sasuke.

“And I’m sorry for leaving. I didn’t want things to get more tense than they were, but I understand that I shouldn’t have left you to deal with it by yourself. I should’ve let you come with me or just… stay with you,” Sasuke added.

“I’m sorry for avoiding you. I didn’t want to give you another reason to feel guilty,” Naruto said then. “And for the record, I can sleep when something’s wrong,” he added playfully.

“Yeah, right. Keep telling that to yourself,” Sasuke laughed weakly. “You always toss and turn when something upsets you.”

“Not always,” he whined. “You’re so anno-”

“Can I stay over?” Sasuke interrupted him.

Naruto beamed, nodding quickly and dragging Sasuke to bed.

—〇 ☽—

“Good morning, Sasuke,” Kakashi said, not looking up from his book.

“I want everyone to know what happened with Itachi,” Sasuke said.

That definitely stirred the man’s interest, moving his eyes up to him and raising a questioning eyebrow.

“I want everyone to know what happened with Itachi. I want everyone to know why he did it,” Sasuke said again.

“Are you sure about that?” Kakashi asked slowly, standing up.

“I… want people to know the truth,” he whispered, sounding weaker now.

Kakashi moved closer to him, but still kept his distance. He fixed his eyes on him, and Sasuke tried to remain impassive, tried to show he meant it.

“Why?” Kakashi eventually asked.

“Because I don’t want people to think of Itachi as a heartless person that massacred his whole clan and betrayed the village,” he said. “He was forced to think he only had two options, and he chose what he thought was better for the village, because he loved Konoha and he didn’t want another war. Then he got into Akatsuki just so he could be a double agent for Sandaime,” he mumbled.

Sasuke didn’t realise his hand was shaking until Kakashi moved forward and grabbed it, as if he were trying to comfort him. The man still didn’t say anything though, and Sasuke wondered if he wasn’t being clear enough.

“I want them to know what Danzō did. What the Sandaime covered,” Sasuke kept saying.

“I understand where you’re coming from. But are you sure that’s… the smartest decision?” Kakashi asked.

“Wha-”

“I mean, we don’t have any proof. It’s your word against… the word of two dead men,” Kakashi said slowly. “And I’m afraid people aren’t that fond of you to just believe you.”

“But they would believe you.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Kakashi said. “Why wouldn’t I just agree with you because you were once my student?”

“Because… because you’re Hokage now. People surely understand you wouldn’t just agree.”

Sasuke was growing more and more frustrated, pulling his hand away. He had thought he would at least have Kakashi on his side, that he would help. He couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal growing inside of him.

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Kakashi said again, shaking his head. “Sasuke, you can’t just pretend everyone to listen to you, or me, with no proof. You know that, even if you can’t really see it now. And have you even thought of the consequences of the truth coming out?”

Sasuke was just staring at him – more of a glare, probably. Kakashi sighed.

“Fine,” Sasuke mumbled, turning around to leave.

“I need you to do something for me,” Kakashi said before Sasuke could reach for the door. “There’s been some reports of shinobi around the former Root quarters. I want you to check that,” Kakashi said slowly.

“And why would I do-”

“Because I’m the Hokage and you agreed to help me,” Kakashi reminded him, a slight edge to his tone, as if he were trying to keep himself from scolding Sasuke. “And because you might use the trip to see if you can find anything there, too.”

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, turning around to look at him.

“Talk with Sai. He’ll help you get in.”

Sasuke let out a soft sigh, wondering if there had been any reports of shinobi at all.

“Thank you, Kakashi,” he said.

“Just… you got this idea by yourself, okay? I’ll support you when it’s needed. But as for right now, it wouldn’t look great if I were helping to take the skeletons out of the closet,” Kakashi said. “Be careful, please,” Kakashi added, and Sasuke could almost hear the worry in his voice.

—〇 ☽—

“No way, Sasuke!”

Sasuke was looking at Naruto with a frown.

He had thought he would at least get Naruto’s support on this, as he always did. And not having it suddenly felt… weird. It felt upsetting.

“I’m not – You can’t do that!” Naruto said, staring at him in disbelief.

“You don’t understand,” Sasuke said slowly, trying to hide the hurt in his voice.

“No, of course I don’t! How can I understand? How am I supposed to understand that you want to break into one of the shadiest places of the whole village?”

“You know Root was disbanded,” Sasuke tried.

He knew it was unfair hiding all the facts – and probably the most important ones – to Naruto. But he knew that he would freak out even more if he were to tell him Kakashi had mentioned the sighting of shinobi around that area.

“So? Kakashi told you there were still people who are loyal to Danzō. How do you know there are not some of former members of Root?”

“You’re underestimating me,” Sasuke said slowly, and Naruto seemed shocked for a moment.

“What the fuck, Sasuke? Do you really think this is about me thinking you can’t defend yourself?” Naruto laughed, but it was such a nervous, fake laugh that it made Sasuke cringe.

“I just don’t understand why you’re not okay with t-”

“Because I care about you, asshole! Is it really that hard to understand that I don’t want you going there?”

“Naruto, hear me out,” Sasuke tried.

“No, you hear me out. You want to go there and risk your life? Then fine. But you can’t force me to not be scared to death of something bad happening to you! I’ve been chasing after you for years, so forgive me if I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea of something that might take you away from me!”

Naruto stood from the chair he was sitting by Sasuke’s dining table and walked to the opposite side of the room, as far from Sasuke as possible. He was running his fingers through his hair and disarranging his locks even more than usual, just as he always did when he was angry at Sasuke. Those were the only times when Sasuke hated Naruto’s hair being messy.

“I’m not going by myself,” Sasuke said, hoping that would calm Naruto some.

“Of course you’re not. If you really are going to be so freaking stubborn then I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not,” Sasuke replied almost immediately with a frown. And even for a spare second, he understood how Naruto must be feeling.

“Why, because you don’t want to put me at risk?” Naruto laughed again with the same terrible laugh. “That’s quite hypocritical of you.”

“Fine. I won’t go,” Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto looked at him with one eyebrow raised, as if he weren’t believing Sasuke. But then, Sasuke could see the relief washing over him, on the way his shoulders relaxed and his usual, warm smile came back to his face. It made Sasuke calm down a bit, too.

“We’ll find another way, okay?” Naruto promised.

Sasuke just stood up as well, moving to wrap his arm around Naruto’s waist because suddenly the five feet between them had seemed like five miles. Naruto hugged him back in silence.

—〇 ☽—

Sasuke was looking ahead of himself, remaining quiet. It seemed his partner seemed to enjoy the silence as well. The silence was fine for him most of the time, but it usually made people accompanying him uncomfortable, needing to make conversation at all times. The only person that didn’t annoy him for talking non-stop was Naruto.

And he was definitely not going to think about him now. He didn’t need the guilt from lying to him at this exact moment.

“What are we looking for, exactly?” Sai asked.

“We’re supposed to check if there’s anyone in there,” Sasuke said simply.

“No, I know that part. But Kakashi said something about a… secondary mission?”

Sasuke sighed, wishing he didn’t have to explain this to a complete stranger.

“I want to check if there’s something about the Uchihas anywhere.” Sasuke muttered.

“Danzō was usually very careful. He wouldn’t have written something down that could’ve gotten him in trouble afterwards,” Sai provided.

“I still want to check, just in case,” Sasuke said slowly.

Sai got quiet for a few moments, studying Sasuke’s face for a moment. He seemed to be debating whether he wanted to speak his mind or not, opening his mouth for a second before shutting it close again. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

“I just want to make clear that I do not hold any kind of affection towards you,” Sai said.

Sasuke would’ve laughed at his brutal honesty if it wasn’t because the words stung a bit.

“I didn’t expect differently,” Sasuke admitted.

“And I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t because I appreciate my friendship with Naruto and Sakura more than you ever seemed to do.”

Sasuke frowned at that, but at the same time he couldn’t blame him for feeling that way. He was aware that he had earned it, and that Sai had been one of the people who had helped Naruto and Sakura with the emotional burden Sasuke had become for them at some point in their lives.

“Got it,” Sasuke mumbled.

“Great,” Sai said and smiled, too wide for it to be real. “It’s this way.”

—〇 ☽—

Getting into the Root quarters had been easier than Sasuke would’ve ever expected. Sai was convinced it meant it was because Root had been completely disbanded and they didn’t actually have to worry about anyone being there. They swept the place rather fast, making sure there were no signs of people still there.

Once they made sure the place was empty, they started to look for what Sasuke needed. The first obvious place to search for it was the archive. Sai had told him it would’ve been full of mission reports, but the many different shelves were completely empty, apart from the layer of dust that had covered them after they had been cleared. It didn’t surprise Sasuke at all that they had gotten rid of everything after the death of Danzō, but it did frustrate him further.

Sai then led him to what had been Danzō’s office. Sasuke didn’t really have big expectations anymore because it had probably been cleared as well. He was proven right the second he stepped into the rather big, dark room, scanning every single surface with his eyes.

“This was a waste of time,” Sasuke mumbled, trying to not show his annoyance.

Sai just shrugged at his words, moving to look through some drawers. He seemed to find something interesting, because his eyes widened just slightly and then did some kind of hand seal combination that Sasuke had never seen before.

“They seem to have forgotten this,” Sai said, handing him a small box.

Sasuke frowned slightly and moved to open it, slowly going through the different small pieces of paper that were kept there.

“They don’t make any sense,” Sasuke said, feeling a bit dumb.

“Of course they don’t,” Sai said, and he actually seemed amused. “It’s encrypted.”

“Can you read it?” he said, handing the papers to Sai.

Sai looked at them thoroughly, his eyebrows moving slightly together as he tried to focus on them.

“No,” he said eventually. “Danzō was… precautious. He would change the encryption system every month. These are probably older, since I haven’t seen any of them. Maybe Ino could help with this,” Sai offered.

Sasuke sighed, not really wanting to involve anyone else. The more people that knew, the higher chances of Naruto learning that he had lied to him. He wondered if he preferred just giving this up altogether instead of dealing with Naruto’s pained expression when he found out.

“Thank you for your help, Sai,” Sasuke said, and he smiled slightly at him. The other man didn’t return it.

—〇 ☽—

It was all Sasuke’s fault, in the end. He should’ve realised they were walking through the same hall over and over again. He should’ve realised the steps that were after them, even as silent as those were.

But he wasn’t alert, not really, since Sai had told him the place was most likely empty if they had been able to go to Danzō’s office without being stopped. His mind had drifted away to the possible content of the papers he was carrying, hidden under his clothes, wondering if there was a slight chance they would be useful for his purposes.

So he didn’t realise any of it. But Sai did, even if it was too late as Sasuke felt the piercing pain right down his shoulder blade, way too close to his heart.

There were five of them, he counted, all of them wearing ANBU masks. He could hear them talk, but he couldn’t process any of the words. Susanoo was fully formed before they could react, and it didn’t matter how fast they were, how powerful their ninjutsu was.

The fight wasn’t that long, even though it felt like ages for Sasuke. After it was over, He checked to see if Sai were okay, because he wouldn’t forgive himself if he had gotten hurt. He tried to fight the darkness that was hovering over his mind, but once he knew Sai was safe, he let it take over, thinking of blond hair, blue eyes, soft touches and loving words.      

Chapter Text

Sasuke blinked a few times as he woke up, taking only a couple of seconds to determine where he was.

“Shit,” he muttered to himself, looking around the hospital room.

Naruto was there. He was asleep, sitting down on the chair right next to Sasuke’s bed, his head hanging down in a position that would definitely make his neck hurt afterwards. He looked exhausted, and Sasuke wondered how long he had been unconscious, because he was sure Naruto hadn’t left his side during all that time.

He moved his arm slightly to nudge Naruto’s thigh, easily ignoring the piercing pain in his back as he shifted.

“Naruto,” he called him.

“Mmm, omelette please,” Naruto mumbled sleepily.

Sasuke couldn’t help a weak smile at that.

“I don’t think I can make breakfast today, Naruto,” he said softly.

Naruto seemed to react at that, because Sasuke was always making breakfast for them. He slowly opened his eyes, smiling at the sight of Sasuke, but his smile disappeared rather quickly when he remembered where they were.

“I’m going to call Sakura,” he said slowly, standing up and rubbing the back of his neck as he left the room quietly.

Sasuke had expected Naruto to be mad at him, but he hadn’t expected it to hurt this much. He let out a sigh, looking out the window, focusing on the way the sun was tinting the clouds of a pale pink as it came out.

It didn’t take long for Sakura to come into the room, but Sasuke didn’t want to look at her yet.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days,” Sakura said as he moved to check on him. “You suffered major damage in one of your lungs, but we were able to fix it. Only a few inches to the right and it would’ve been your heart.”

She spoke in a serious, professional tone, the one she probably used with all of her patients. However, it didn’t mask her worry, even if it was clear that was her intention. She made Sasuke sit up and placed her hand over his wound on his back. He could feel her chackra trying to work through his, but he didn’t pay much attention to it.

“It’s healing properly, too,” she added, helping him lay down again.

“When can I leave?” he asked.

“Not for a couple of days,” she said sternly.

Sasuke almost groaned, finally facing her. Sakura seemed as exhausted as Naruto, but she was able to hide it better. Her green eyes were filled with worry for Sasuke, but also seemed like she was… upset.

“Naruto went to get you some food,” Sakura added softly. “You know, he didn’t leave your side for a second. Iruka-sensei had to come and force him to at least eat,” she explained slowly, knowing Sasuke would realise how bad it had been for Naruto, who only lost his appetite if something was really wrong.

“If you’re trying to make me feel guilty-”

“I’m trying to make you see you were a selfish asshole. You put yourself and Sai in danger for no apparent reason, even after you had told Naruto you wouldn’t do it. Luckily, Sai was fine and able to bring you to the hospital before you bled out to death,” Sakura snapped and then just sighed, shaking her head frustratedly.

Sasuke guessed Kakashi had preferred to keep the main mission a secret, probably to not alarm the village. He wondered for a second if Sai and him would’ve been fine if they had just left when they were done with it, though.

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke whispered, because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Yeah, you better are,” she said and laughed weakly, wiping her eyes at the threat of tears. “You should tell that to Naruto, though, not me.”

“I will,” Sasuke muttered.

They both stayed silent for a few seconds as Sakura finished checking him up, her brows coming together as she focused.

“You know, if you had to choose someone else, I’m glad it was him,” she said all of a sudden, and then she smiled weakly, but it seemed sincere.

“There had never been another choice, though. It was always him,” Sasuke said softly. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her any further, but he thought it wouldn’t be fair to let her think there had been a chance at all.

“I know, I know,” she said with a soft sigh. “Just… I hope you know that if you hurt him again, I’ll be the one to kill you. For real, this time,” she added with a smile, but something in her tone made Sasuke realise she wasn’t actually joking.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he promised, and just tried to smile back.

—〇 ☽—

Sakura stayed with him, just catching up with him. Once Naruto was back, she squeezed Sasuke’s hand lightly.

“Good luck,” she mouthed teasingly, and Sasuke couldn’t help but roll his eyes playfully.

“Thank you, Sakura. Really,” Sasuke said sincerely.

“You could stay. I brought breakfast for you too,” Naruto offered Sakura, and Sasuke knew he was avoiding being alone with him. Sakura seemed to realise too.

“I would love to, but I’m exhausted after spending the night here just because you would freak out every single time he breathed slightly different,” Sakura said, laughing at the way Naruto’s cheeks tinted.

“Fuck off. It was perfectly reasonable of me to freak out!”

“Not really, Naruto,” Sakura laughed again. “I checked the wound, and he’s fine. It won’t be long before he can go home,” she promised, trying to calm him down.

“Okay. Thank you,” Naruto muttered. Sasuke expected Naruto to relax at the news, but he didn’t.

“I’ll come back later to stay with him so you can go home and rest?” Sakura tried.

It caused Naruto to laugh a bit, even if it was so short and weak Sasuke thought he had imagined it.

“I’d rather stay here,” he admitted.

“Then at least go shower. The nurses are starting to complain about the smell,” she joked, not insisting further but throwing a worried glance towards Sasuke.

Then she left, and Naruto sighed, moving to sit down on the chair again. He handed Sasuke one of the takeaway boxes and chopsticks before he settled down with his own.

“Thank you,” Sasuke said, watching Naruto’s face closely as he started to eat.

It was unsettling how he wasn’t trying to talk to Sasuke, or even looking at him. Sasuke knew he had every right to be upset at him, but Naruto was usually very vocal about it. Now he was just… quiet. It was worse than when he yelled at him (something that hadn’t happened a lot before, either).

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke said slowly.

“Mhm,” Naruto said simply, putting more rice into his mouth and fixing his eyes on the window.

“Talk to me,” Sasuke tried, and it sounded like a plea.

Naruto just sighed, refusing to look at Sasuke. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, as if he were trying to think what the most appropriate words were.

“What are you sorry about, Sasuke? Lying to me, or getting caught because this ended just the way I feared?” Naruto finally decided to say.

“Naruto-”

“No, you wanted me to talk, so you listen. I told you I was terrified of this happening. You were so close to dying, did Sakura tell you that? If Sai hadn’t been there…” Naruto said, clearly getting upset as he thought of what could’ve happened.

Sasuke stayed quiet, watching as Naruto teared up, probably all the stress and anxiety from the previous days taking a toll on him.

“I know you want to clear Itachi’s image, but he wouldn’t have wanted you to put yourself at risk for it, not after everything he’s done to protect you,” Naruto mumbled, putting his chopsticks down just so he could use his hand to wipe his eyes properly.

Sasuke sighed a bit and put his own food aside on the table, reaching for Naruto and taking his hand, wishing he could stand up and comfort him properly. At least Naruto didn’t pull his hand away.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, hoping it sounded honest enough.

Naruto took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He finally looked away from the window, focusing his blue, teary eyes on Sasuke’s.

“I’m going to be fine. You can kick my ass afterwards,” Sasuke attempted to joke.

“Oh, you can be sure I will,” Naruto huffed slightly, his smile making a shy, watery appearance on his face, but at least it was there. Sasuke was so relieved to see it.

Naruto pulled his hand back just so he could rub his eyes once more, wiping the remaining of the tears off them. Then he focused on Sasuke again.

“It’s not like I believe you’ll be safe all the time. I know more shinobi die on missions than of old age. But I still think this was stupid and reckless. And I know how much this means to you, but I’m not going to support this if you’re going to be an idiot.”

“I wasn’t trying to get killed, you know?” Sasuke said, shaking his head. “Shit happened, but I’m fine. So can you please move on?”

Naruto sighed, and Sasuke realised he had sounded harsher than he had intended to. He stayed quiet for a few seconds; he looked so tired, and Sasuke felt so bad for doing this to him.

“I just want to understand why you’re doing this,” Naruto said eventually.

“Because he’s my brother, Naruto. I owe him at least that.”

“That’s the thing, Sasuke. You don’t. And nothing will change if you do this.”

“Not really. I know that much. But at least Itachi won’t be remembered as someone who massacred his own clan and betrayed his village,” Sasuke said, trying to keep his tone even as to not show just how upset he was getting with this.

“But he did massacre his clan,” Naruto pointed out.

If Sasuke weren’t so exhausted, he would’ve been able to see Naruto had intended no harm with those words, that he was just trying to be less confused about Sasuke’s motives. But he felt completely drained, and he couldn’t find the strength to stop and think.

“Yeah and I fucking wish he didn’t!” he snapped. “I wish he would’ve chosen the alternative that was given to him and that we both would’ve died in that massacre so I wouldn’t have to be dealing with this!

Naruto stared at him, his brows coming together even more. Sasuke opened his mouth to say something else, but he looked away to the window instead, taking a deep breath.

“You wouldn’t understand. Your parents, Jiraiya… they died as heroes and they are remembered as such. You wouldn’t understand how important it is to me that Itachi’s not remembered like this,” Sasuke mumbled.

Sasuke could hear Naruto shifting and then standing up, and for a moment he thought he had screwed up enough to make him leave. But then Naruto moved to the other side of the bed so he could see Sasuke’s face, looking more concerned that upset. He rested his weight against the wall, still giving Sasuke enough space.

“Sai gave the papers you found to Ino. Hopefully she’ll know what to do with them.”

Sasuke didn’t know if Naruto was only doing it because he hated seeing Sasuke upset or if he truly wanted to support him. It didn’t matter though, because it at least made Sasuke felt like he wasn’t alone on this.

—〇 ☽—

“Do you need anything?” Naruto asked once again.

“I’m good,” Sasuke promised for the seventh time in less than an hour.

Sakura had finally allowed him to go home, and for a moment Sasuke wished she hadn’t just because it was causing Naruto to be so stressed out about it.

“Are you hungry, maybe?” Naruto asked slowly.

“Just get in bed with me,” Sasuke tried.

“I don’t want to hu-”

“I will hit you in the balls if you say you don’t want to hurt me,” Sasuke warned him, containing a groan.

Naruto looked at him and let out a laugh. He seemed to relax a bit, though.

“You’re an asshole,” Naruto said.

He moved to lay in the bed next to Sasuke. He didn’t touch him at all tough, just turning to his side so he would be able to look at Sasuke.

“You should sleep,” Sasuke said softly, moving his finger to caress gently Naruto’s nose, down to his lips and then his chin.

Naruto seemed to relax more at the contact, but he still fought to keep his eyes open. He seemed to study every single one of Sasuke’s features, as if he needed to take it all in. For a moment, Sasuke wished he could hear about what he was thinking.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” Naruto whispered eventually.

“You’re not getting rid of me so easily,” Sasuke hummed simply, causing Naruto to smile.

“Good. I didn’t chase after you all of my life for you to leave again,” Naruto said.

The sunlight coming through the window was forcing Naruto to squint one of his eyes, and Sasuke moved his fingers again to caress right under it. The lack of sleep during the past few days had caused his eyes to be slightly puffy, with bags under them. Sasuke couldn’t stop thinking he was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

“I love you,” Sasuke whispered, too scared to ruin this moment by speaking too loudly.

Naruto smiled again, and then moved closer to press their lips together. Sasuke didn’t understand why he still felt the same kind of dizziness and electricity whenever they kissed, as if it were the first time instead of something they had done every day for months.

He hoped he would never get used to it.

“I love you too,” Naruto whispered back, before he leaned over to kiss him again, keeping it gentle and soft.

Sasuke could feel his pulse picking up, as it always did when they kissed. And he couldn’t help himself as he moved a bit closer, cupping Naruto’s cheek before he licked gently over Naruto’s top lip, asking for permission. Naruto quickly complied, and Sasuke deepened the kiss.

It hurt Sasuke’s wound to move, but he did nevertheless, because it hurt even more to not feel Naruto as close as he could. At some point he was already laying on top of him, at least partially, with his leg between Naruto’s and their chests pressed together. Sasuke kept kissing him, and Naruto was letting out some content sounds that were making his heart feel full and warm.

Sasuke wondered how he had been able to spend all of his life trying to run away from something like this when it was everything he should’ve been looking for.

Naruto eventually found the will to pull back, just the slightest distance from their faces, and it would be so easy for Sasuke to lean down and kiss him again, but when he tried Naruto put his hand on Sasuke’s cheek, keeping him from doing it.

“You need to rest,” Naruto whispered, his voice faltering. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Sasuke couldn’t help his fond smile, shaking his head slightly.

“You worry too much.”

“Of course I worry, asshole. Do you want Sakura to rip my head off if you get worse again just because we couldn’t keep it in our pants?” he said, and Sasuke snorted.

“We could keep it in our pants,” Sasuke tried teasingly.

“As if dry humping each other wouldn’t mngg,” Naruto started talking, but Sasuke quickly interrupted him by leaning down to kiss him again.

Naruto seemed to forget what he had just said a few seconds ago, slowly kissing Sasuke back for a moment before he whined and pulled back.

“Stop distracting me! I’m trying to be responsible here.”

Sasuke let out a soft laugh, pulling back. He moved his hand to Naruto’s hair, slowly running his fingers through it gently as he looked at Naruto’s parted lips, red and slightly swollen after the kiss.

Then he stared into his eyes, and Sasuke was taken aback by the intensity he saw there. Sometimes he’d doubt Naruto’s feelings towards him, just because he couldn’t understand how someone as bright, as joyful as him would ever love someone as Sasuke.

But all of his doubts were always quieted down when Naruto looked at him, because he could always see all the love he felt towards Sasuke reflected over the blue of his eyes. Sometimes it made Sasuke feel dizzy, and sometimes it made him want to cry because of everything Naruto made him feel. For some reason, at this moment it was both, and he had to close his eyes so Naruto wouldn’t see him tearing up.

“Sasuke?” Naruto whispered, moving his finger across his cheek, trying to get him to look at him.

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, taking a deep breath, hoping to calm down the swirling mess of feelings in his chest and his mind.

“You make me feel… very happy. It’s the only way I can describe it,” Sasuke whispered finally. “It’s really overwhelming,” he added, laughing weakly at his own words, at his own sign of weakness.

Naruto didn’t seem to mind though.

“Well, get used to it. Because I don’t intend to stop,” Naruto promised with a smile, pulling Sasuke closer to kiss him again.

—〇 ☽—

“I bet Sasuke took the initiative,” Kakashi told Sakura in a loud whisper, as if Naruto and Sasuke weren’t in the table with them.

Naruto was useless too, because he was blushing and fidgeting and Sasuke briefly considered poking his ribs until he reacted.

“Yeah, right. It was definitely Naruto,” Sakura laughed. 

“Maybe it was mutual agreement?” Kakashi offered. “Or, you know. They started bickering as they always do and… it happened,” he theorized, and Sakura seemed to think about it and then shook her head.

“I don’t think so. Sasuke wouldn’t have been impulsive like that. And if he had realised his own feelings he would’ve freaked out, not told Naruto,” Sakura mused. “So it was definitely Naruto.”

Sasuke glared at them, but they didn’t seem to notice. Or if they did, they certainly didn’t care.

“We’re here, you know?” Naruto reminded them, and Sasuke was grateful, only for a second. “You could ask us.”

Sasuke definitely poked his ribs then, rather hard. Naruto whined and pushed his shoulder, way too gently to actually be upset.

“Moron,” Sasuke sighed.

“So, who’s right?” Sakura asked.

“None of your business,” Sasuke mumbled.

“Of course I was the one to take the initiative,” Naruto said basically at the same time, causing Sasuke to whine.

Sakura grinned and Kakashi sighed as he leaned over the table, putting his hand on his forehead dramatically.

“I was sure Sasuke would’ve taken the initiative. Now I owe Iruka ramen,” Kakashi said.

“Did you really make a bet with Iruka? Sensei, that’s so rude,” Sakura said, but her giggles did nothing to hide how pleased she was feeling with herself.

“It was right when Naruto decided to leave with Sasuke! Nothing had even happened between them yet!” Kakashi tried to defend himself.

“You’re all a bunch of idiots,” Sasuke said, making a face that only caused Naruto to laugh.

“He’s just embarrassed because he hates not being first in everything,” Naruto joked.

“If I knew this was going to be a ‘let’s make fun of Sasuke’ get-together I wouldn’t have come,” Sasuke grunted.

He was trying to not smile. He had been trying so hard all through their dinner, because he was not going to humour them like that. He still had some pride left.

“You’re right, Sasuke. I’m sorry, we’ll stop,” Kakashi said.

Sasuke looked at him with one eyebrow raised because he didn’t trust him one bit, and the tone Kakashi had used revealed just how fake his apology was.

“Did you at least take the initiative on anything?” Kakashi asked then, his tone almost begging, and Sasuke groaned.

“No, he did not. We would still be holding hands while we slept and nothing else if it weren’t for me,” Naruto grinned proudly.

Sasuke felt the heat on his cheeks spread to his ears, looking down with puffy cheeks, as he used to do when he was just a kid and Itachi would mess with him. It caused everyone at the table to laugh.

However, Sasuke didn’t care. He didn’t care about the teasing and the joking, even though he was sure he would’ve had before. It felt different, now. Because he could hear the affection behind their laughs, and it was starting to get easier to believe that he wasn’t just imagining it. It was starting to get easier to believe that he had people that actually cared about him, and that teasing him like that was just another way to prove it, in its own twisted way.

Besides, he was having fun. He had only felt like this with Naruto, while they were away, and it was such a different, nice feeling to share with others, too.

“You really don’t need to tell them about our… bedroom life,” Sasuke poorly attempted.

“Oops?” Naruto said and grinned, and Sasuke could tell he was feeling so excited and happy to be able to talk about them as a couple.

Kakashi and Sakura laughed again, and Sasuke knew it wasn’t at him. He wasn’t mad at the situation, or mad at Naruto for participating. Sasuke just felt very light, even if it was just for the couple of hours their dinner lasted.

For a moment, he didn’t regret having come back at all, and he didn’t feel the guilt that usually accompanied him whenever he allowed himself to enjoy.  That thought shocked him for a second, before he was distracted again by Sakura and Kakashi’s jokes.

—〇 ☽—

Sasuke was walking towards Kakashi’s office, hiding under a perfect, stoic face all the nervousness he was feeling. When he arrived, Ino was waiting by the door, a folder under her arm.

“No Naruto today?” Ino greeted him.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Sasuke asked, rising his eyebrow.

“Well, you’re never seen outside your apartment without Naruto. Or so the rumours say,” Ino grinned.

“I will not humour such implications with an answer,” Sasuke said with a hum, sounding as if he was actually joking back instead of being annoyed. Damn it.

“There were no implications here! But now that you’ve said it, is it true that you’re as needy as it seems?” Ino said, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

Sasuke snorted, feeling his cheeks turn pink. Ino seemed to realise because she started laughing.

“I wouldn’t define myself as needy. It’s Naruto who likes following me around,” Sasuke defended himself.

“Like a puppy?” Ino provided.         

“Like a very attention deprived puppy,” Sasuke hummed.

Ino laughed again. She was studying Sasuke’s face as if she were wondering if this were actually the person she had met all those years ago, the one who would be mostly quiet and serious and wouldn’t even think of joking back and forth with anyone. Sasuke couldn’t really blame her.

“I mean, he certainly looks like one,” Ino agreed. “He’s all cute and happy and loves having everyone’s attention on him. If he had a tail I’m sure he’d be wiggling it whe-”

She was interrupted by the door being opened, and Kakashi peeking out of it.

“If you’re done comparing Naruto to a dog, you may come in,” Kakashi said.

Ino seemed completely embarrassed, as if Kakashi were scolding them. Sasuke knew the man better, and he could hear the amusement in his tone.

“Sorry, Hokage-sama,” Ino said as she walked inside the office.

Sasuke hadn’t realised Ino was waiting for Sasuke to go into the office. He hadn’t realised what this meeting had been called for, because Kakashi hadn’t really specified. It suddenly made sense.

“What do you have for us, Ino?” Kakashi asked as he moved to lean back on his desk.

“Well, I was looking into the papers Sai gave me, right? He helped me out, too. If they were changing the encryption pattern every month as he said, they couldn’t be so different between them. It would be too much work for the person creating the pattern, but even more for the people learning them,” she explained.

“I can see how that makes sense. But if it were so similar, wouldn’t it stop being hard to decipher?” Kakashi asked slowly.

“They’re very hard to decipher on their own. But if you have a few of them, and you start cracking up just enough of each… it’s really easy to figure out the rest. It’s like using the same kind of pattern but changing some essential parts around to make it different,” she explained slowly.

Sasuke and Kakashi both nodded as they understood. Ino seemed rather pleased with herself.

“How do you know so much about this stuff?” Sasuke asked finally, somewhat impressed.

“As you know, my dad worked in the Intelligence Division. This wasn’t his area of expertise, but he taught me some stuff. And this… became short of a hobby. Even more after my dad passed away and I started working there, too. Sai knew about that,” she explained.

Sasuke nodded and smiled softly at her.

“Please continue,” Sasuke said.

“So I asked Sai to show me each system he knew, and with that and all the knowledge I already had, I dived into these papers thinking it would be kind of the same. There’s only two different kind of patterns used here,” Ino added.

“Well, Sai said it changed every month. Maybe they were written over two different months?” Sasuke provided.

“Nope, there’s different dates to a few and some of them are years apart,” Ino smiled. Sasuke raised his eyebrow, finding it so amusing how proud she was of herself. “There’s two people writing this, each one using a pattern. It seems like Danzō kept a copy of everything he sent to the other person,” she said.

“Or maybe he gathered the messages afterwards to make sure they wouldn’t leak and get him in trouble,” Kakashi said.

“Sai did say Danzō was precautious,” Sasuke shrugged, feeling like that second theory made more sense.

“Who’s the other person?” Kakashi asked then.

“I’d say the Sandaime, because of the issues that are treated here and because his name is mentioned once,” Ino replied.

Sasuke saw as Ino laid the originals on Kakashi’s table, next to some papers with her neart handwriting all over them.

“Thank you for your hard work, Ino. You may leave us now,” Kakashi said, moving to look through the papers.

“Just… Sasuke? There’s some… information there that you might find disturbing,” Ino warned him,

“Thank you, Ino,” Sasuke said, just brushing it off, trying to smile at her even with how nervous he suddenly got. “Sakura took Naruto to the fifth training ground. We were going to meet for lunch afterwards, if you want to join us?” he offered.

“I’d love to,” Ino said with a smile and then turned to leave.

Kakashi waited until she was out the door to let out a laugh.

“Am I imagining it or are you actually being friendly?”

“Oh, shut up,” Sasuke groaned, moving to focus on the papers laid across the table.

—〇 ☽—

It didn’t take that long to go through the papers, because most of them held information that made no sense without the context, such as random names and locations.

“Targets,” Kakashi explained simply when he saw Sasuke’s confused face.

Sasuke frowned a bit, but he tried to just focus on the task at hand. There were more names, more locations, some dates. There were some incidents as well, such as Iwa threatening to break an agreement with Suna, Ame crossing the border to Kusa… Things that definitely Sasuke couldn’t care about, not now.

Kakashi then made Sasuke turn his attention to another paper, and Sasuke read it.

‘The Uchiha situation is getting out of control.’

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi, who was looking back at him. He squeezed his shoulder lightly, probably trying to comfort him. Sasuke turned his attention back to the papers, his eyebrows moving closer together.

‘We’ll fix it in the most diplomatic way possible.’

‘It’s too late for diplomacy, and you know that. Uchiha Itachi has already agreed.’

‘I’m sure it can still be stopped.’

‘It will happen tonight. He’ll take the fall. Don’t try to stop this, Hiruzen.’

Sasuke had know the truth, but seeing it written by the people who allowed it to happen was a whole different thing. It took everything in Sasuke’s power to not let the rage take over, to not stand up and punch a hole in the wall, or throw the entire desk out of the window, or hunt down every single person related to the Sandaime to make them pay for his ineptitude.

Kakashi still had his hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, though. A gentle reminder that he was not that kind of person anymore, that he was trying to amend his past mistakes, and that he would never let himself be consumed by revenge again.

The older man seemed ready to restrain Sasuke if he needed to, he seemed ready to face every single reaction that Sasuke could have. But he definitely wasn’t ready for when Sasuke, feeling powerless for the first time in years, started crying.  

—〇 ☽—

Naruto was laying down on the grass, with his head on Sasuke’s lap. Sasuke was running his fingers through his blond hair, unable to look away from Naruto’s calmed expression. He had his eyes closed and his lips parted slightly, and Sasuke could tell he had drifted off to sleep.

They had shared their whole afternoon with Sakura and Ino, and Sasuke had… really enjoyed it. It was hard to admit, that he had enjoyed spending time with other people that weren’t Naruto, because he had always tried so hard to never let himself appreciate it like that. He had always thought that time spent with others was a nuisance and a waste, but he was starting to understand why Naruto liked it so much.

And the distraction had been great to keep his mind from thinking about the notes. Ino had looked at him with an eyebrow raised in question the moment Sasuke had met them afterwards, but he had just smiled at her weakly and shook his head. And it seemed like Ino had realised that Sasuke just needed to forget about it for a while and had made it her personal mission to not let his mind wander there. Naruto had only needed to look at Sasuke once to realise something was wrong, but he didn’t bring it up, trying to joke around with Ino and Sakura just to make Sasuke laugh. Thankfully, they both had succeeded.

But Sakura had a shift at the hospital, and Ino had agreed to meet with Chōji and Shikamaru, so they both had to go. And Naruto had dragged him towards the river, just so they could sit down and relax, but he had fallen asleep only a few minutes after they had arrived there. Sasuke understood, really, since training with Sakura was always exhausting because she never showed any kind of mercy (the already healing bruise on Naruto’s jaw was definitely proof of that).

However, even if he understood, he wished Naruto were awake. Because for once he didn’t like being alone with his own thoughts and feelings, and he wished he could just talk with Naruto about it. Sasuke didn’t think he was strong enough at the moment to go through it by himself, and Naruto always comforted him, always had the appropriate words to say. But Naruto’s breaths were even, calmed, and Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to wake him up.

So he let him sleep, still running his fingers through his hair gently, but he didn’t move much besides that. He kept looking at his face, because the stillness he saw there helped calm his own mind.

“You’re staring,” Naruto mumbled with his eyes still closed.

Sasuke smiled a bit, leaning over as best as he could to kiss the tip of Naruto’s nose.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispered.

“Wasn’t asleep. Just… Resting,” Naruto said, slowly opening his left eye to look up at Sasuke.

“Uh-huh. Resting,” Sasuke chuckled.

“What were you thinking about?” Naruto said in a whisper.

“You,” Sasuke admitted, not looking away from him. He would’ve felt embarrassed in the past, to admit something like that. Not anymore. “You calm me down.”

“It’s funny, you know. Because usually people tell me I get on their nerves,” Naruto said, smiling lazily.

“I mean, you’re annoying most of the times, so I understand,” Sasuke teased.

“Shut up,” Naruto laughed slightly, moving his hand to pinch Sasuke’s cheek.

Sasuke chuckled a bit and then got serious again, still looking down at Naruto.

“What’s wrong?” Naruto asked then. Sasuke fell silent for a few seconds, nibbling down his bottom lip.

“You know I had a meeting with Kakashi this morning… and Ino.”

Naruto didn’t say anything, giving Sasuke enough time to think of what he wanted to say and how. Sasuke looked up front for a moment, focusing on the way the river reflected the orange of the sunset on its water.

“You don’t think it’ll be worth it, whatever I do with it,” Sasuke mumbled then.

Naruto seemed to be confused for a slight second, but then he seemed to understand that whatever was on the papers he had found seemed to be enough proof of what had happened with Itachi.

“I never said that,” Naruto said slowly.

“You think so, though,” Sasuke insisted.

Naruto sighed slightly, and he moved to sit up. He accommodated himself in front of Sasuke, facing him. Then he took his hand, lacing their fingers together. He didn’t seem to want to look at Sasuke, focusing on the way their fingers were entwined.

“I do,” Naruto eventually admitted. “I just don’t think it’ll change anything. I don’t even think people even remember that much. It… was a tragedy, but it happened long time ago. And yeah, there might be people who thinks of it every once in a while, but… everyone’s moved on. If Danzō were still alive, or Itachi… maybe it would make a difference, then. But they’re both gone,” Naruto tried to explain, keeping his voice soft and gentle.

Sasuke didn’t really know what to say, so he just stayed quiet, even as upsetting as it was to listen.

“And I don’t think it’ll be good for you. I think it’ll harm you, if the truth is out there,” Naruto added slowly, as if he were too scared to hurt Sasuke with his words. “Itachi might have had a reason to do it, but that reason is that your clan was planning a coup d'etat. They’ll just have another reason to hate the Uchihas, and therefore hate you.”

Naruto then moved to rest his forehead against Sasuke’s, his eyes closed. Sasuke could only focus on the way Naruto’s fingers were still tangled with his, the way he could feel Naruto’s warm breath on his chin.

“I just want you to really think about it before you do something. If you conclude this is something you want to do, I’ll be supporting you. We’ll deal with the aftermath together, no matter what that aftermath is,” Naruto finished.

Sasuke could only press his lips against Naruto then, because it was the only thing he could think of doing to show how grateful he was. Sasuke was not used to it, to have someone support him no matter what. It was hard to finally believe that he didn’t have to be alone through every step of the way, but at the same time it was so easy to accept.

—〇 ☽—

“Ah, I’m glad you decided to join us tonight, Sasuke,” Iruka said with the brightest smile Sasuke had seen of him.

“I didn’t allow him to say no,” Naruto grinned, forcing Sasuke inside Ichiraku’s. 

Sasuke took the stool next to Naruto, and Iruka sat down beside Sasuke. Teuchi immediately started preparing Naruto and Iruka’s orders, knowing it by heart after years of their visits, and Sasuke had to bite down a smile.

“What do you want, kid?” Teuchi asked Sasuke then.

“Same as Naruto. Thank you,” Sasuke said. The man nodded and went back to the kitchen.

Iruka was watching Sasuke closely. If it were another time, Sasuke would’ve at least felt angry or uncomfortable. But Sasuke knew Iruka didn’t have a bad bone in his body, and that whatever he was trying to achieve by assessing him like that had a good reason behind.

“You seem really happy,” Iruka said eventually, and Sasuke looked up at him surprised. He wasn’t talking about him apparently, as his eyes were focused on Naruto now.

“I am,” Naruto grinned. “It’s not every day that I get to introduce my boyfriend to my family,” he explained.

He was attempting to joke, but at the same time Sasuke knew he meant it. Iruka seemed to realise that too, because he tried to hide he was tearing up by looking away from them. He did it too late though, and Naruto laughed a bit, pleased with himself.

“I already knew Sasuke, though,” Iruka pointed out, wiping his eyes before looking at Naruto again.

“As your student, though. It’s different, you know? Now I’m… officially introducing the two most important people in my life as such,” Naruto said slowly.

“Stop this. You’re going to make me cry,” Iruka whined.

“Too late, don’t you think, sensei?” Naruto grinned.

Sasuke couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. He hadn’t thought of it until then, how Iruka had been Naruto’s only family for so long. Sasuke understood then how nervous Naruto had been for him to meet with Iruka, as if he were scared Iruka wouldn’t accept their relationship.

But Sasuke could tell the man was absolutely thrilled about it, because he had the widest smile Sasuke had ever seen on him. He wondered if it was because he truly approved of Sasuke, or if it was just because Naruto seemed really happy.

 “Sasuke will be good for you, to keep you grounded,” Iruka said eventually to Naruto. “You tend to put your foot in your mouth and to act impulsively. Hopefully he’ll knock some sense into that head of yours.”

Naruto was blushing, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly. Iruka then looked at Sasuke, smiling softly at him.

“And Sasuke, you’ve always been such a sad, lonely child, but I can already see the huge difference Naruto is making in your life. He can be a handful, but I’m sure you already know how he’s going to do everything in his hand to make you happy. Maybe he’ll eventually manage to make you believe you deserve the happiness he’s offering,” Iruka added, moving to squeeze Sasuke’s shoulder gently.

All Sasuke could do was smile weakly. Iruka’s own smile widened (how was that even possible?) before he turned to look at the bowl of ramen put in front of him, slowly starting to eat while Naruto gobbled down his own. They both fell in a light conversation after that, and Sasuke was content with just listening, Iruka’s words still bouncing in his mind.

—〇 ☽—

“Have you decided yet?” Kakashi asked, resting his chin on his fist as he looked up at Sasuke.

“What’s your opinion on it?” Sasuke asked back.

Kakashi seemed genuinely shocked at that question, his eyes widening slightly.

“Are you asking me for advice?”

“Maybe,” Sasuke mumbled, seeming embarrassed about it. “You’re one of the smartest people I know, so I trust your judgement,” Sasuke added.

“Please continue,” Kakashi teased lightly.

“And you’ve also been… really good to me. Always. So… Huh. I appreciate that, too,” Sasuke said, almost in a whisper, but he was sure Kakashi had heard by the way he looked away, as he were also embarrassed.

Sasuke didn’t regret the words coming out of his mouth, even if they seemed to be making things awkward. Neither of them was good with feelings, after all. But Sasuke guessed it was about time he showed Kakashi how much he appreciated him.

“Huh. Right,” Kakashi said uneasily, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sasuke couldn’t hold back his laughter then, which shocked Kakashi even more.

“I take it back, you’re terrible.”

“Fair enough,” Kakashi laughed awkwardly. “I just didn’t expect it, that’s all.”

Sasuke just hummed, his laughter leaving a smile on his face as he looked at Kakashi.

“So, my opinion…” Kakashi started.

Sasuke snorted at how desperate he seemed for a change of subject, but he didn’t say anything further.

“I want to support you. Whatever you decide,” Kakashi said.

“That’s not really an opinion on the matter, though,” Sasuke pointed out.

“I agree with you that things were… handled in the worst way possible. The best, necessary measures weren’t taken in the appropriate times. Konoha failed Itachi, it failed you, and it failed the Uchiha clan,” Kakashi said slowly. “I think the truth will damage the good image of the Uchihas, though. And I think it’ll damage yours even more,” Kakashi explained.

Sasuke didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about this. He just stayed quiet for a moment, waiting for Kakashi to continue.

“If you do decide to go ahead with it, I’ll be supporting you. But I don’t think it’s the smartest move.”

“What do you think the smartest move would be?” Sasuke inquired.

“Moving on,” Kakashi said simply. “And working towards not letting it happen again. I think that’s what Itachi would’ve wanted, too.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Sasuke snapped. “Why do you and Naruto pretend to know what Itachi would’ve wanted?”

Deep down, Sasuke knew he was being unfair to Kakashi. He hadn’t been able to help it, and he regretted it almost immediately after it came out of his mouth. He reminded himself Kakashi was only trying to help, that he probably just had his best interests in mind.

Kakashi didn’t looked appalled. If anything, he was looking at Sasuke with such patience and affection that it was almost overwhelming.

“Do you really think Itachi would’ve wanted to clear his own image? If he was so worried about it, he would’ve come back and do it himself when he had the chance. But his only worry was to protect you, and Konoha,” Kakashi said. “I know this is not an easy choice. I’m just giving you my opinion on this, and that opinion is that I would prefer it if you didn’t dig an even deeper hole for yourself. Half the village already has their… doubts about you. I don’t think it’ll benefit you to come forward and say your whole clan was planning on betraying Konoha.”

“But they had their reasons, and it’s not like the Sandaime tried his hardest to find a solution,” Sasuke tried.

“They had very valid reasons. Treason is still treason, though,” Kakashi said.

Sasuke just felt defeated, then, rubbing his face frustratedly as he tried to think, to put his thoughts in order about this whole thing.

“I thought Naruto was only trying to protect the Sandaime. He told me he didn’t think this was worth it and… and eventually my mind convinced me he was just trying to protect the old bastard,” Sasuke said, something he hadn’t even admitted to himself yet.

“Naruto is nothing but straight-forward though. He would’ve told you if that were the case. He doesn’t do manipulation like that.”

Sasuke sighed and nodded slowly, thinking of how he was supposed to apologise Naruto for something that he didn’t even know had happened.

—〇 ☽

Sasuke slowly woke up as the sun filtered through his curtains, opening his eyes just to find Naruto’s face way too close to his own, feeling his soft breaths against his cheek. A smile appeared on Sasuke’s lips before he could even process the warm feeling growing inside his chest.

It had been their first time completely off for a while, with no plans for the rest of the day. Tsunade had finally implanted Hashirama’s cells on them both and had forbidden them doing anything at all for a few days so their new arms would establish properly. Sasuke thought it was weird, but he didn’t complain.

If Sasuke needed to find a word to describe himself, how he felt every single second of this new life he was living, he’d use lucky. Lucky, because he got to wake up next to Naruto every day. He even considered himself lucky when he was woken up in the middle of the night by a kick in the groin, a slap on the face or mumbles about different types of plants that could definitely (definitely not) be mixed with miso, even the venomous ones, even if Teuchi said it was dangerous. Because Sasuke had learned quick enough, and not the easiest way, that Naruto was not a quiet, calm sleeper like he was. He moved, he talked, sometimes even for a whole hour, and Sasuke couldn’t remember when the last time had been he had been able to sleep peacefully through the whole night.

Sasuke still considered himself lucky, even if his new arm was being squished under Naruto’s body and definitely hurt. But he still wouldn’t move it,

He reached over to push one strand of blond hair away from Naruto’s peaceful face, leaning over to press a soft kiss to his now clear forehead. He let his lips linger against Naruto’s skin for longer than necessary, and the man moved even closer to Sasuke in his sleep. It was never close enough, for neither of them, and every morning Sasuke had to fight the urge to just stay there, tangled with each other, for the rest of the day.

Naruto slowly started to wake up, and Sasuke could tell by the pleased noise that he let out and the way he buried his face against Sasuke’s neck, as if he weren’t ready to face the world just yet.

“You smell nice,” Naruto mumbled, his voice barely audible against his skin, and Sasuke chuckled softly, moving his arm to start rubbing Naruto’s bare back gently.

Neither of them said anything then, and for a moment Sasuke thought Naruto had fallen asleep again. But then he felt Naruto’s lips against his neck, just the slightest brush, and then again, and again. Then he moved his lips up to Sasuke’s jaw, and right under his ear, and Sasuke shivered.

Naruto reached his lips then, and Sasuke returned the kiss.

“I love you,” Sasuke whispered against his lips, and Naruto just hummed in return, as if he couldn’t be bothered to reply, just wanting to kiss Sasuke again as he ran his hand down his chest.

Sasuke wasn’t about to complain.

—〇 ☽—

Sasuke couldn’t believe Naruto had convinced him to do this again.

Everyone was staring at him, of course. Kiba was muttering did he not get the hint that we don’t want him here, or something along those lines, to Shikamaru, who was only watching Sasuke warily.  

At least this time Ino slapped the back of Kiba’s head.

“You two really need to grow up,” Ino scolded them.

Kiba stared at her, unable to understand what had changed for Ino to be defending Sasuke like that, definitely unaware of the growing friendship between the two of them since she had learned the truth.

“Ino, it’s fine,” Sasuke said, smiling weakly at her.

This time, all twelve of them were there, reunited. Chōji had insisted on going for a barbecue, and so they did. Ino and Sakura were trying their best to keep Sasuke on the conversation, and Lee seemed completely oblivious to the tension that Sasuke was creating between his friends. He had always been too good, and Sasuke was thankful he didn’t seem to be dwelling on the past like the rest of them.

On the other hand, Shino didn’t seem to care. Or if he did, he was just as quiet and calmed as always. Sai was quiet too, but Sasuke already knew his feelings towards him. Tenten was paying almost no attention to Sasuke, and Sasuke wondered if she held a grudge against him too. The only thing Hinata seemed worried about was Kiba being extremely rude, blushing and apologising on his behalf every once in a while.

It seemed like the only people actually mad at him anymore were Kiba, Shikamaru and Chōji, and they didn’t seem to be able to stop themselves from glaring over at Sasuke, making snarky comments, or just completely ignoring him. Sasuke could deal with that.

Sasuke turned his attention to Naruto after assessing everyone in the table with them. He was quiet, looking down at his own plate and nothing else. That was always a bad sign, that Naruto didn’t involve himself in the conversation, even if it was to try and change the subject or to defend Sasuke. He sighed slightly as he heard Shikamaru make a joke that Sasuke didn’t actually catch, but he could easily guess it was related to his unwelcomed presence there.

Sasuke moved his hand to Naruto’s thigh, just leaving it there, hoping it was of some comfort. Naruto placed his own hand on top of his, and it definitely brought Sasuke the comfort he was trying to give.

“I… apologise. For what I did,” Sasuke said suddenly to everyone on the table. Eleven set of eyes were on him now, interrupting their conversations, and Sasuke felt extremely uncomfortable at the attention.

He hadn’t planned on doing this tonight, or ever. He was too mad at them for hurting Naruto to want to say sorry to them. But he could admit that maybe they did deserve an apology for everything he had done. It was the least he could do, even though he wished he had actually put some thought on it before impulsively speaking. He wished he had looked for the appropriate words to say to them, because he was too scared of screwing things up even more. 

But it was too late. He had already said it. And it would be worth it, if it helped ease the tension between them, if they would stop acting in that way that was definitely hurting Naruto.

And at least everyone was present, so he wouldn’t have to do this again.

“Sorry, what was that?” Kiba asked mockingly, earning yet another slap from Ino.

“Stop being an asshole, Kiba!” she groaned.

“I said I apologise,” Sasuke said once more, this time on a steadier way, finally looking at every single one of them. “For everything I’ve done that might have caused you any harm,” he added, as if that weren’t clear enough.

Naruto seemed rather shocked, raising one of his eyebrows at him. Sasuke just shrugged, smiling weakly at him, trying to prove he was fine.

“I understand if you don’t forgive me. But I’m in Naruto’s life now, and I will be for as long as he lets me. He likes having us all together, so please, if you could… make an effort and not be so obvious about your hate towards me in front of him, it’d definitely make things easier for him. He does deserve that, even if you think I don’t,” he added.

Sasuke looked down then to where Naruto’s hand was griping his own rather tightly, as if he were trying to convey all the things he couldn’t actually say out loud at the moment. Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, watching Sasuke.

“I mean, he’s right. We’re not being good friends to Naruto right now,” Chōji said, breaking the silence.

“He surely seems happier when Sasuke comes along, but you guys always ruin it,” Ino added.

Ino turned her head to look at Sasuke with a smile, and Sasuke couldn’t help but return it. Kiba just scoffed, shaking his head.

“Kiba! You must say you’re sorry too!” Lee said suddenly, way too loud and way too excited, and for a moment Sasuke thought the man was going to cry. “He was so brave for apologising and standing up for Naruto! That’s definitely the power of true love!!”

Sasuke blushed brightly, looking at Naruto. Naruto was already looking back at him, a soft smile on his face. It definitely felt good, trying to make things better for the person that meant everything to him, even as embarrassing as it felt.

“The power of true love indeed,” Naruto said jokingly, only loud enough for him to hear. Sasuke was so relieved to see Naruto less upset now.

“This is troublesome,” Shikamaru said then, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I guess you’re right.”

Sasuke looked at him and nodded, hoping to show how grateful he was they would try for Naruto. He didn’t care that much about what they thought of him, even though deep down he wished he could be part of the group as a friend, too. However, he did care how their actions affected Naruto, and he wasn’t going to allow anyone hurt Naruto because of him.

“What about Hinata though?” Kiba said.

The girl in question blushed brightly, looking at Kiba as if she were begging for him to not say another word.

“She’s in love with him and you’ve ruined her chance-”

“Kiba!” Hinata protested, cutting him off. “Sasuke and Naruto are happy together, and it makes me happy too!” she stuttered.

Everyone fell silent again at that, watching the blushing girl rather shocked. It only made the burn in her cheeks even worse.

“I told Hinata about my feelings for Sasuke way before I even told Sasuke, Kiba,” Naruto explained. “Maybe you’re so bothered because you’re the one who wants to date him?” he added in a lighter, joking tone, as if he were hoping to change the mood.

And it definitely worked. The rest of them laughed, and Tenten said something about how she wished it were her instead of Naruto, and Ino quickly agreed with her, throwing Sasuke a playful wink.

“You’re going to make Naruto go all jealous and possessive,” Shikamaru warned the girls.

Shikamaru still sounded tense, but it seemed like he was at least trying to joke.

“You really don’t want that. Naruto almost killed me for undressing Sasuke,” Sakura added with a grin, causing Naruto to groan. “What? I was trying to heal him, dumbass,” she laughed.

Sasuke felt like he could breathe again, seeing how Naruto increasingly became more relaxed, starting to be his bright self again, and just… being the loudest in the group, joking and yelling and laughing noisily. But every once in a while he would turn to Sasuke, his smile softening. Sometimes he even pressed a soft kiss to his cheek or his forehead before he returned his focus to the rest of the group.

Sasuke tried, too. He tried to engage in conversation as well, even as terrible as he was at it. It was worth it, because it seemed like it only boosted Naruto’s good mood even more.

They all seemed to realise that, and no one else made another comment about how Sasuke shouldn’t be there.

—〇 ☽—

Kakashi walked with him in silence, just bowing his head to every person that passed by and paid their respects. Sasuke was growing annoyed, having already heard thank you for everything, Hokage-sama and have a good day, Hokage-sama at least twenty times each, and he had only been walking with Kakashi for fifteen minutes.

“Aren’t you tired of it?” Sasuke asked.

“You can’t even begin to imagine,” Kakashi admitted with a laugh. “I asked in every imaginable way to stop with the formalisms. You’d think they would listen at some point,” Kakashi sighed.

“Sorry for making you get out of your office, then,” Sasuke said, laughing a bit.

“Nah, I need the fresh air,” Kakashi shrugged. “Are you going to tell me where we are going?” he asked.

“The Uchiha lands,” Sasuke replied.

Kakashi didn’t ask anything else, and Sasuke didn’t explain. Soon enough they arrived at what had been the Uchiha compound, still as deserted as it had been when he had come the first time. This time, Sasuke didn’t hesitate on walking further.

“My house would’ve been here,” Sasuke said when they got to almost the middle of the Uchiha land.

“I see,” Kakashi said, seeming a bit confused as to why Sasuke was doing this.

Sasuke kept walking then, pointing out to different locations and telling Kakashi what used to be there; Itachi’s favourite dango place, the market, the armoury... In his mind, he could see as clear as day what used to be where, as if everything were still intact.

Sasuke used to think of the photographic memory that came along with the Sharingan as a curse. He was able to remember things seen through his eyes that he wished he could forget but knew he would never be able to. But at least now he was glad he could remember what his clan’s lands used to be, what they used to look like, even if it those memories were engraved in his brain way after the massacre.

“I’m still not giving up part of the land for another clan to take,” Sasuke said, looking at Kakashi. “I’ve been thinking about it. And my answer is still no.”

Kakashi just nodded, looking at Sasuke with eyes that held a lot of affection and understanding towards him. Sasuke had started to grow used to them lately.

“I understand.”

“However, it is a lot of land. Even if… If I decide to move back here, it’s still just me. And my clan, my line… will most likely end with me,” Sasuke added slowly.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t ask any questions. It was something Sasuke really liked about Kakashi, the way he just let things be, the way he didn’t need to know further than what Sasuke was willing to share.

“I was thinking we could build an orphanage here,” Sasuke said. “A nice one, not like the shitty one that Naruto had to stay at.”

Naruto had told Sasuke horror stories about the orphanage where he had stayed when he was way too young to be by himself. He had told him fresh food had been rare, and sometimes, more frequently than he wished to admit, the older kids wouldn’t be able to eat because there just wasn’t enough food for everyone. He also told him he had had to share an already small bed with another person, that they would wear the same dirty clothes for more than a week, that sometimes they wouldn’t even be able to clean themselves. He told him about that time when their only functioning toilet had broken down and no one had come to fix it in over a month, or the way they would always get leaks whenever it rained.

It had been nagging at the back of Sasuke’s mind for so long. He had been lucky to be able to live by himself in his own home when his parents died, considered old enough for it.

“I want it to be funded properly too. They’re suffering enough without a family, they don’t need to be worrying about terrible living conditions,” Sasuke added.

Kakashi nodded again, probably seeing how important this was for Sasuke. He moved his hand to his hair and ruffled it gently but didn’t say anything. Sasuke would’ve found the gesture annoying, but it was one of the ways Kakashi had to show affection, and he needed that at that moment.

“I’m obviously helping with it. I’m sure I have enough money from the clan for it,” he said nervously, not wanting Kakashi to think he was just imposing what he wanted.

“This is a really nice gesture, Sasuke. Thank you,” Kakashi said, and his eyes closed with his smile.

“And I want to find a way to help the kids that… leave the orphanage too. Those that are forced to be by themselves when they reach certain age,” Sasuke mumbled. “They… we didn’t receive enough money to live properly. I still had my parent’s money, but Naruto… Naruto told me he lived off instant ramen because it was the cheapest thing he could get to be able to eat twice a day. That’s not a way to treat anyone, let alone the kids are that supposed to be strong to become shinobi.”

Sasuke had been terribly sad about it. He wished he hadn’t been so self-absorbed, he wished he had let Naruto in his life way before they had been put on the same team, that the stupid rivalry going on between them when they were still in the Academy hadn’t stopped him from inviting Naruto over for a nice dinner every once in a while.

At least now he could make sure he ate properly every day. He could shower Naruto with attention, love, and good food, three things he had lacked when he was a kid, and he didn’t intend to stop any time soon.

“We’ve been working on that, lately. But your help will be greatly appreciated,” Kakashi said softly.

Sasuke nodded quickly, taking a deep breath because he felt he was getting too emotional with it.

“And… I still want the truth to come out. I want everyone to know the Uchihas were planning a coup d’etat, and why. And I want them to know Itachi was forced to believe he had to choose between a civil war or being able to at least save me.”

Kakashi didn’t say anything, watching Sasuke closely, as if he were looking for any trace of doubt in his face.

“If that stains the Uchiha name, so be it. I will prove them wrong,” Sasuke added, and then smiled at Kakashi with confidence.

—〇 ☽—

“… Gaara brought me flowers, and then asked me out, so I agreed to go on a date with him tomorrow,” Naruto said.

Sasuke frowned at that, snapping out of his own of thoughts.

“Wait, what?”

His face must have been very funny, because the laugh that Naruto let out was probably heard in the other side of the Land of Fire.

“I’m surprised that’s what caught your attention and not the fact that I kissed Lee, saw Ino naked and accepted going to Kiri to marry the Mizukage to strengthen the diplomatic relationship between our countries,” Naruto listed, still laughing.

It was a lovely, heartfelt laugh. Sasuke loved when Naruto laughed like that. He was too confused at the moment to properly appreciate it, though.

“What?” Sasuke said again, dumbly.

“I’m joking,” Naruto promised quickly. “I was getting carried away again, wasn’t I? Does fuuinjutsu bore you so much?”

Naruto had been keen of learning fuuinjutsu, probably wanting to take after his clan. He always spared some time in his lessons to become a chuunin to learn about it, and then he would tell Sasuke everything he remembered with such devotion that it was hard for him to not listen intently to every word Naruto had to say – even if he did consider it a bit of a boring topic, but he wasn’t going to be the one to tell Naruto.

“No, of course not. Sorry, my head is somewhere else,” Sasuke whispered, rubbing his face slightly.

Naruto moved a bit closer, studying Sasuke’s face carefully, wanting to ask further but stopping himself.

It had been one of those days where they hadn’t been able to see each other at all, with Naruto being too busy studying and spending time with his friends and doing small missions around the village, and with Sasuke being stuck in Kakashi’s office working through some issues that were happening inside of Konoha. But no matter how busy their day was, they’d always find time to lay together in Sasuke’s bed and just talk, or kiss, or more. Sometimes all three of them would happen. It usually was Sasuke’s favourite time of the day.

It was always Sasuke’s bed, and Sasuke’s apartment. Because Naruto barely went to his own apartment anymore, saying it reminded him of a time he would rather forget. Sasuke was more than happy to have him there.

And he couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t stop thinking about how badly he wanted Naruto to acknowledge this as his home too. Sasuke couldn’t stop thinking how badly he wanted his apartment to become theirs.

“You should move in,” Sasuke said suddenly.

He definitely hadn’t planned to say it then. He had planned on asking with a nice speech after a date, because he considered it should be special. But the words had been dancing in his mind since Naruto had stepped into his apartment that night, smelling like sweat and mud after training. It had grown stronger when the first thing Naruto did was wrap his arms around Sasuke’s waist and kiss the back of his neck, telling him how grateful he was for him just because Sasuke was already making dinner for both of them.

“What?” Naruto asked, and now it was his turn to sound dumb.

“You should move in,” he repeated. “Officially, I mean. It’s not like you haven’t been living here already. But it’s stupid you’re paying rent for a place you haven’t used in ages, and most of your clothes are here anyway. And there’s enough space for both of-”

Sasuke was so thankful when Naruto stopped his nervous rambling with a kiss.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Naruto mumbled against his lips. “Of course I’ll move in, idiot.”

“Are you crying?” Sasuke said then, teasingly.

But he was relieved, that’s the thing. Because he had thought Naruto kept his apartment just so he would have a place to go if he ever got tired of Sasuke.

(“Hasn’t it occurred to you that he might be waiting for you to ask? It’s your apartment. He can’t just move in without you asking him,” Ino had told him.

Sasuke didn’t know when Ino had become such a close friend to him, to the point he would actually discuss his feelings and fears with her. It was weird, really. But at the same time, it was great to be able to start trusting people again, apart from Naruto.

“But what if he says no?” Sasuke had questioned then.

“You won’t know until you ask,” she had said with a shrug. “But you’re dumber than I thought if you really consider that a possible outcome.”)

“I am not crying!” Naruto said, and immediately wiped the tears forming in his eyes. “Just… I really love you,” he said.

Sasuke bit his bottom lip, moving to cup Naruto’s cheek with his hand. It caused him to smile a bit.

“I love you too,” Sasuke whispered, and before he could process it Naruto was kissing him again with such passion it made his mind go blank.

—〇 ☽—

Only a week later, Kakashi sent Sasuke on a diplomatic mission to Iwa, to discuss some commercial agreement. Sasuke had argued with Kakashi, because he didn’t remember agreeing to helping him with the foreign policy of Konoha as well. Kakashi had scolded him, had reminded him who the Hokage was. And then he had told him he was trusting only him to do this, and that he had less than two hours to leave.

So Sasuke had no other choice but to obey. He gave Naruto a quick goodbye kiss and then went to the gates, where Shino and Hinata were already waiting for him. Then they left.

The trip was quick, and so were the negotiations, all things considered. After two weeks they were already back in Konoha, and then Sasuke understood why Kakashi had sent him away, because everyone was looking at him, whispering and commenting things when they thought Sasuke couldn’t hear.

Sasuke tried his best to ignore them, telling Hinata and Shino he’d be the one to give the report to Kakashi and that they could go home.

—〇 ☽—

“You didn’t need to send me away to protect me, you know?” Sasuke said as he walked in.

Kakashi didn’t seem surprised.

“It didn’t hurt to try,” Kakashi shrugged and sighed. “As you probably guessed, we released the official updated version of the Uchiha massacre, proof included,” Kakashi explained.

Sasuke just waited, raising his eyebrow.

“It didn’t go terrible,” Kakashi said. “I mean… people now consider the Uchiha a bunch of traitors, but we expected that. They did change their minds about Itachi, though, or at least most of them. They consider him a hero for… stopping the coup and joining Akatsuki to pass information. Some even want his name included on the Memorial Stone,” Kakashi chuckled weakly.

“He would’ve hated that. Please don’t do it,” Sasuke said quickly.

But he was smiling. Because he couldn’t hide the relief he felt, knowing he was able to come out clean and not hide anything anymore.

“I won’t,” Kakashi promised. “Also, the elders have been deposed, as punishment for covering up Danzō’s actions. But people refuse to believe the Sandaime was related to the incident, and they put all the blame on Danzō.”

Sasuke sighed at that and shook his head. The truth was out there, and he couldn’t help what bits people wanted to accept and what bits they didn’t. He was too tired of this to try to fight for more, not when he had already won so much already.

“And you… well. People are wary about you. You’re an Uchiha and you already betrayed Konoha,” Kakashi added.

“I can live with that,” Sasuke shrugged, considering the conversation about it was over now.

He moved to take the scroll that had the new agreement with Iwa written on. Kakashi took it, but he didn’t bother to look at it, putting aside instead.

“Tell that to Naruto. He’s gotten on a couple of fights already to defend your honour,” Kakashi said lightly.

“I’ll talk to him,” Sasuke promised.

“Don’t. If someone can put some sense into their heads, it’s definitely him.”

Kakashi sounded tired, as if he had been working non-stop. Sasuke couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty for putting more pressure on him.

“I’m sorry for this,” Sasuke said, and he meant it. “I hope it didn’t take a big toll on you.”

“It’s okay. I just wanted to have everything in order for when you came back. I didn’t expect you to be back so quickly though,” Kakashi laughed.

“What can I say. I’m great at negotiating,” Sasuke said lightly, and Kakashi chuckled.

“Well, then I might send you away a few more times, as a proof of my trust on you. I know you don’t want that, but we need to work towards you earning your place here. If they see me trusting you, hopefully they won’t take long to trust you too,” Kakashi said.

It sounded easy. Sasuke knew it wouldn’t be, but he had been the one to want this, despite Kakashi and Naruto’s warnings. And he would work his hardest to show he wasn’t a traitor – or at least, not anymore. He would show them how worthy he was of Kakashi’s trust, of Naruto’s.

Because he was finally starting to accept it himself.

“Go. Naruto’s been moping without you. It was adorable at first, but now it’s only annoying,” Kakashi said.

—〇 ☽—

When he arrived to his… no, their apartment, Naruto was sprawled over the floor with a few books around him and drooling over one of them, completely out to the world. Sasuke’s chest was immediately filled with that familiar warmth that accompanied him every time he was with Naruto.

Sasuke slowly moved to lay down next him, moving to caress his cheek gently until he could notice Naruto was waking up.

“You know, the books are supposed to be read, not drooled over,” Sasuke joked slightly.

“Shut up,” Naruto mumbled. But then he quickly opened his eyes and smiled widely. “You’re back!”

Naruto was kissing him desperately before Sasuke could even say a word, quickly moving to lay on top of him.

“Shit, it’s been too long,” Naruto whined against his lips. “I missed you, asshole.”

Then he pressed their lips together again. It had been their first time apart for over two years, and Sasuke could see that it had been as tough for Naruto as it had been for him.

“You’re not allowed to leave ever again. I hope you know that,” Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke could only nod, leaning over to kiss him again.

Sasuke remembered being away the village before and not having cared one bit about coming back. He had never missed it when they had gone on missions and even less when he had been with Orochimaru. He had never felt any kind of attachment to Konoha, not after the massacre.

But during the past two weeks he had found himself thinking of it more often than not. He found himself thinking of the forest that surrounded the village, of the main street filled with laughter, and shouts, and children playing. He thought of Ino and Sakura, of all the gossips they would surely share with him once he came back, or the random meetings anyone in Naruto’s group would organise almost daily. He thought of Kakashi and his affection well-hidden behind his teasing and a layer of pretended indifference.

But most of all, he thought of Naruto. He was on his mind constantly, to the point his name had almost slipped a few times in his negotiations with Iwa. He thought of his laughter, of his loud voice whenever he was telling something that excited him to Sasuke, or the little noises he made on his sleep. He thought of words whispered in the middle of the night that had promised Sasuke the world, of words that made him laugh until he couldn’t breathe, of words moaned into his ear that would’ve embarrassed Jiraiya himself.

Sasuke had increasingly become excited the further they went while going back to Konoha – even if he would never show it to his other two teammates. And while most of it was because he wanted to see Naruto again, he would be a fool to not admit the village itself and the rest of the people he knew there played a big part, too.

“I’m surprised you didn’t burn the place to the ground while I was gone,” Sasuke admitted teasingly as he pulled back.

“You know I lived by myself for quite a long time, right? I know how to turn on the stove and all that,” Naruto complained.

“I’m sure. But did you practice fuuinjustsu here?” Sasuke asked.

“Well, yeah,” Naruto said confused.

Sasuke just raised his eyebrow, and Naruto still didn’t seem to understand just how badly that could’ve gone. Sasuke laughed and moved to kiss him again.

“Get ready. I told Hinata and Shino we were meeting them for dinner tonight. Hinata was going to ask the others to join too,” Sasuke said softly.

“B-but you just came back! I thought…” Naruto stuttered, his cheeks tinting a beautiful shade of pink. “You know. You’ve been away for two weeks and… You know,” he rambled.

Sasuke couldn’t help himself but laugh at him, moving to run his finger over his cheek. It only worsened the blush over Naruto’s face.

It had been hard for Sasuke to ask others to hang out, since he was usually just being dragged to their get-togethers either by Naruto, Ino or Sakura. But he guessed that if he actually wanted to fit in and become one of them, he would actually have to put on some effort. And he was willing to try.

“We still have at least two hours. Make a wise use of our time,” Sasuke hummed.

And Naruto did.

Chapter Text

It had been almost a year since the truth had come out, and Sasuke would be lying if he said it had been easy. Being under the scrutiny of everyone in the village, having them watch his every single move, listening to their harsh whispers behind his back or trying to ignore their obvious glares…. it had definitely been tough to deal with.

Naruto had kept his promise though, and he had been there to help Sasuke deal with it. He had been a constant support, and a life saver, from the good days where Sasuke felt strong enough to face the world and prove everyone how wrong they were about him, to the bad ones where he didn’t even feel like getting out of bed and try to at least cope with it.

Sasuke was aware of how much it was affecting Naruto too, and he guessed it was probably because he understood what Sasuke was feeling way too well. Possibly better than anyone – he had gone through the same thing for years, after all. But Naruto loved to pretend he was alright for the sake of Sasuke, because he was nothing but kind and selfless and would hate that Sasuke worried about him and his feelings more than he had to.

Sasuke was certain he would never be able to repay Naruto for everything he had done for him, before and after. But he was more than willing to spend the rest of his life trying.

Eventually, it had grown easier. Kakashi had kept sending him on important missions outside Konoha with different shinobi, from genin teams to even ANBU, so they would see exactly why the Hokage trusted Sasuke. The words traitor, scum or untrustworthy that had defined him slowly started to get replaced with hard-working, perseverant, loyal, or Naruto’s favourite: damn scary but knows his shit.

At some point, Kakashi stopped giving him missions away so he could focus on Konoha. He had to talk with the head of each clan almost weakly, just to make sure they were content and there were no problems with other clans or with the village itself. If there were issues, Sasuke had the authority to fix them as he deemed correct. The different clans had been wary of Sasuke being the one mediating between them, or even speaking for the Hokage when Kakashi just couldn’t spare time to meet them personally. But increasingly Sasuke had earned their trust, too, solving problem after problem with all the fairness he could muster.

Sasuke was sure this wasn’t what he should be doing as the head of the Military Police Force. But Kakashi had insisted, and Sasuke literally couldn’t complain, not unless he wanted a reminder of who the Hokage was. For someone with so little appreciation for the title, Kakashi surely liked to rub it in Sasuke’s face to get him to do anything he wanted.

He knew, deep down, that Kakashi was doing it because he trusted Sasuke. And to be honest, it wasn’t like Sasuke cared. It was something he felt proud of doing, because he was helping, and he was able to stop a clan’s dissatisfaction before it even happened.

It had been one whole year. And Sasuke’s life was completely different. It was calmer, more peaceful, and he was sure it was the kind of life any other shinobi would’ve hated after a couple of months. Sasuke had come to love every second of it, though.

That was everything Sasuke could think of that that morning, as he and Naruto were both getting ready to leave for their daily duties. They were mostly silent, because Naruto wasn’t great with words when he had just woken up, and Sasuke wasn’t great at making small conversation at all.

They showered together, like every other morning, and then Sasuke went to make breakfast while Naruto packed for the day. Once Naruto was done, he helped Sasuke, setting the table and stealing pieces of food and preparing the coffee and kissing him every couple of minutes.

“I have another D-rank mission today,” Naruto complained once he had finished doing the dishes.

Naruto had passed his chūnin exams three months after coming back, and he had easily been promoted to jōnin right after that. He had loved being sent on A and S-rank missions – Sasuke had not, but he wasn’t going to tell Naruto just how worried he was every time he set foot outside the walls of Konoha. At least Kakashi had never considered him for ANBU, knowing it wasn’t a place for someone as bright and loud as Naruto, no matter how good he was.

However, Naruto had eventually requested to have his own genin team. So he stopped dealing with S-class criminals and started being in charge of three little brats that loved getting on Naruto’s nerves. Naruto usually complained how badly he missed the criminals, saying they were much better than his students. But Sasuke couldn’t be fooled, and knew that Naruto adored Hikari, Kin and Masumi just as much as they adored him. The three of them considered themselves lucky to be able to learn from the Hero of Konoha himself and would even listen with eagerness how Naruto rambled about the most stupid things like the best way to mix the soy sauce on instant ramen. Naruto, of course, was thrilled at the attention.

“You’re the one who asked for a genin team,” Sasuke reminded him.

“Just so Kakashi would stop sending me away for a while! I just wanted to spend more time home,” Naruto defended himself.

Sasuke knew he had been a huge, determining factor on that decision being taken. Naruto was one of Konoha’s best shinobi, and he was sent on missions constantly. There had been months when Sasuke and Naruto hadn’t been able to see each other at all, or just a day or two. And while it never took a toll on their relationship, because they had learned to cherish their time together even more, they both hated to be apart.

“Soon enough they’ll be strong enough to take on C-rank missions, though. And you’ll have to be gone again,” Sasuke said lightly, as if he weren’t dreading it already.

Maybe Ino was right and he was needy. Not that he would ever admit it to her, or he would never hear the end of it.

“I know,” Naruto sighed, rather dramatically. Sasuke understood the feeling all too well.

“So don’t lie to yourself and pretend you didn’t think of that before you took the job, and admit you actually like it, Naruto-sensei,” Sasuke added teasingly.

He knew Naruto loved his new job. He was stern but caring, just like Iruka, and he was as patient with them as Kakashi had been with Team 7 a lifetime ago, but also had a fierce passion that made his students work extremely hard just to make Naruto proud – and Naruto definitely was.

“Will it make your day more exciting if I told you I had a surprise for you?” Sasuke said suddenly.

Naruto’s bored expression changed to a completely excited one.

“What is it?”

“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you, will it? I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait all day for it,” Sasuke grinned, knowing the wait would make Naruto crazy with nerves.

Naruto glared at Sasuke.

“I don’t even know why I love you when you’re such an asshole,” Naruto groaned.  

—〇 ☽—

Naruto was home earlier than Sasuke, which was unusual. He always loved hanging around with his genin team for a little bit after they were done with the missions or the training that day, because he liked getting to know them properly and had wanted to form strong bonds with them. Then he would always find someone else to talk to on his way back, whether it was a friend or a complete stranger.

By the way Naruto was pacing around their apartment, he understood why he had rushed back home that day.

“Can I have the surprise now, please?” Naruto said and it almost sounded like a beg.

Sasuke bit down his bottom lip as he watched Naruto, trying to hide all the fondness and love he felt for him on moments like these when he acted like an idiot.

“You smell like dung,” Sasuke said instead.

Naruto leaned over to sniff his clothes and then whined rather impatiently.

“We were on a farm all day,” he explained. “Does it matter that much?”

“It does. I’m not going anywhere with you if you’re smelling like shit. Unlike you, I do have a reputation to maintain,” Sasuke said. “Go shower. We can leave when you’re done.”

He watched as Naruto grew more annoyed at the situation. Sasuke just raised an eyebrow though, and Naruto gave up.

“You could join me. You know, just to make sure I smell appropriately,” Naruto offered. Sasuke was sure he thought he was being subtle.

“I know you’re always trying to find reasons to see me naked, but we’re actually in a bit of a hurry and we don’t have ti-” he said before he was interrupted by Naruto kissing him in a way that made him forget his own name.

“Please join me?” Naruto said, whispering the words against his lips.

Sasuke could only nod and allow Naruto to get him undressed.

—〇 ☽—

“We’re late and it’s your fault,” Sasuke grumbled, dragging Naruto across the village.

“How is it my fault? I just asked you to shower with me, and you’re the one who got on his knees and – shit, Sasuke, that hurt!” Naruto said, rubbing the sore spot in his chest where Sasuke had hit him.

Sasuke smiled proudly and just kept dragging him through the rather busy street. Eventually, they arrived at the Uchiha land.

It had changed a lot during the last year. Sasuke had worked hard to get the orphanage built there, only to realise it was such a sad, lonely place for kids to get raised. So he had allowed to build a playground there, too, so more kids of Konoha could go, and then a new training ground. Eventually Kakashi asked to relocate the new archive of the village there, too, along with some other facilities. It was easy for Sasuke to say yes to those, because he wasn’t doing any favours to the different clans of Konoha – it was just for the sake of Konoha itself, right?

At some point, however, Hinata’s father had asked him for a small part of the lands to build some houses there, as the Hyūga clan kept growing. Sasuke hadn’t been able to say no because Hiashi had been one of the first people to give him a chance and stand up for him, and he didn’t want him to regret it. Shikamaru had to do the same eventually, and once again Sasuke couldn’t say no, because he was just starting to get along with him and he didn’t want to ruin it. Because of it, other clans started to ask Sasuke, and he came to an agreement with Kakashi, selling almost half of the lands so the Hokage could distribute them as he deemed necessary.

It had been tough. But at the same time, it had felt like letting go of a heavy burden.

“What are we doing here? Are we visiting the orphanage again?” Naruto asked, and Sasuke shook his head.

“I need you to close your eyes.”

“Ugh,” Naruto complained, but he quickly complied, always trusting Sasuke.

Sasuke took his hand and led Naruto through the new streets that the buildings from the Hyūga clan had created. It didn’t take them that long to go through them, finally arriving to the part that Sasuke owned. He didn’t stop though, still walking for a few minutes before he came to a stop.

“Just… if you hate it, it’s okay. We don’t have to actually do anything about it, alright?” Sasuke said, suddenly feeling so insecure about it. “I just… thought it could be nice but if you don’t-”

“Can I open my eyes now?” Naruto interrupted him.

Sasuke didn’t reply, his nerves getting the best of him. Instead, he moved to stand in front on him, using his index fingers to brush under Naruto’s cheekbones, hoping that was answer enough. Naruto seemed to get it, and he opened his eyes.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and smiled slightly before he looked ahead of him. He was confused for a moment, and Sasuke was growing even more anxious when Naruto didn’t react.

“It’s a house,” Naruto pointed out.

“It is,” Sasuke said slowly. “Our house. At least if you want it to be.”

Sasuke tried to seem like this wasn’t a big deal, like he hadn’t spent the past few months designing it with the help of Ino and Sakura.

They had tried to make it look like his own house had been, and it was on the outside. The inside was a bit different, with less rooms but a bigger kitchen and a bigger main bedroom. The Uzumaki spiral crest symbol was next to the Uchiha fan, painted on the gates that led inside the house.

“Ours?” Naruto asked in disbelief. “You built me a fucking house?”

“Maybe?” Sasuke said nervously. “I mean, I didn’t, obviously. I just… told the builders how I wanted it. And Ino helped with that, too, and with the garden. And Sakura helped with choosing the furniture, Sai painted a couple of things for decoration… Kakashi bought us a new, huge bed that you’re going to adore, and then Iruka-”

Naruto stopped his nervous rambling by pressing both of his hands to his cheeks and pulling his face closer, just to kiss him as if his life depended on it, as if there wasn’t anything more precious to him than Sasuke.

It reminded Sasuke of their first kiss – the first real one, in which Sasuke had been too oblivious of Naruto’s feelings and Naruto had been too eager to prove them to him.

“My poor innocent eyes,” someone very rudely interrupted them, and Sasuke was willing to just keep kissing Naruto and ignore everything else, forget everything else.

But Naruto did pull back, smiling at Sasuke with a wide, goofy smile that made Sasuke’s insides turn.

“What are you doing here?” he told the person that had spoken, and Sasuke turned as well, finding Kakashi there.

Suddenly Sasuke remembered.

“You’re late!” he accused him.

“So are you,” Kakashi pointed out.

“What’s going on?” Naruto asked, confused.

Sasuke bit his bottom lip.

“Do you want to go inside?” he asked Naruto, his voice softening.

Naruto was quick to nod his head, grabbing Sasuke’s hand and dragging him inside. Kakashi followed them in silence.

Sasuke was surprised Naruto still hadn’t realised what was happening. But he was relieved because it allowed him to see how Naruto’s face changed from excited to shocked to even more excited when the first room Sasuke led him to was filled with almost every person he could consider a friend – and that was many people.

“What?” Naruto asked, sounding so surprised that it caused everyone in the room to laugh.

Naruto’s students were the ones to approach him first, jumping around his sensei excitedly and giving him a team hug. Naruto wasn’t strong enough to pretend he wasn’t affected by that, immediately relaxing and laughing too.

“Sensei, sensei!” Hikari said happily. “Happy birthday!”

“But it’s not my –” Naruto started, interrupted when Gaara approached him.

“That might be my fault,” Gaara said with a soft smile.

Naruto was rather shocked to see his friend there, but it only took him a few seconds to move and wrap his arms around him tightly.

“What are you doing here?” Naruto asked, rather loudly and excitedly.

Sasuke was watching him with a calmed expression, just enjoying how happy Naruto seemed.

“Sasuke was kind enough to plan this party working around my schedule. I won’t be able to come for your proper birthday in two weeks, so…” Gaara explained.

Naruto then looked back at Sasuke with such a wide, bright smile that made Gaara laugh.

—〇 ☽—

It had been a good night. Naruto had definitely loved every single minute of it, judging by his never disappearing smile. Sasuke had mostly watched from afar, because everyone else kept trying to get Naruto’s attention and he still had a hard time dealing with so many people.

It wasn’t like Sasuke hadn’t gotten better. He had made a huge effort to fit in with Naruto’s friends, to the point he had actually became really close to Ino, and sometimes even Shikamaru and, weird enough, Lee. Sasuke was still somewhat quiet, preferring to listen to the rest of the group’s bickering and talking than actually joining the conversation. It worked though, because there were already many loud, talkative people in that group that loved the attention way more than Sasuke did.

Sasuke talked to them during the party, so he still got himself to enjoy, even if Naruto was barely paying any attention to him. He had to remind himself he wasn’t Naruto’s whole life, even though it was really though to remember most days because Naruto always looked at him like he was.

At some point, the room felt too small, and Sasuke was already a bit uncomfortable with being surrounded by so many people he had barely ever spoken to. So he went outside to the garden by himself, sitting down on the floor to look into the little cascade as he tried to just relax.

It wasn’t unusual of him to miss Itachi. He had always missed him, even when he wanted to find him and kill him for what he had done. But that night it hit him a bit harder than other days, and he wished his brother would be there to see how far he had come, how much he had worked to leave all the unhappiness, fear and hate behind him until all he could feel was relief and contentment for being where he was.

He wondered if Itachi would approve of the life he was living now. For a second he doubted, but he knew it would be impossible for Itachi to not approve of Sasuke’s happiness, no matter in which way it had come.

“Everything okay?” Naruto’s voice came from behind him.

Sasuke wasn’t surprised that Naruto had come to find him. Because no matter how busy he was with everyone else, his eyes were still looking for Sasuke’s face the whole night.

“Mhmm,” Sasuke hummed simply, following Naruto with his gaze as he sat down next to him. “You look happy.”

“That’s because I am happy. Well, maybe ‘happy’ doesn’t completely convey it,” Naruto said, shrugging a bit.

Sasuke just smiled at him, unable to say anything. He watched Naruto closely, focusing on the way he seemed like he couldn’t stop smiling. He was sure his cheeks were supposed to be hurting by now, but Naruto didn’t seem to care. His face was barely lit up by the light coming from inside the house, and Sasuke wished the clouds covering the moon that night would go away, just so he could see him better.  

 “You know, every day I think to myself that there’s no way I can love you anymore than I already do. I already feel like my heart is going to burst at some point, it’s not even funny,” Naruto said. “And then you go and do some stupid shit like… putting cute notes inside my lunch bag every single day, or making sure I always have extra kunais at home because I always lose mine, or going with me to eat ramen more often than not because even though you don’t like it that much you know how much I love i-”

“You don’t just love it, you’re obsessed,” Sasuke interrupted, trying to joke because after so long he was still slightly uncomfortable about how easily Naruto could talk about his own feelings.

Naruto tried to look annoyed, forcing an eye roll, but he looked more amused than he probably intended.

“Because you know how obsessed I am with it,” Naruto continued, complying. “Or you build me a whole fucking house and invite all of my friends over to celebrate my birthday although you really hate big crowds like this. So you keep proving me wrong, because apparently I can love you more than I already do.”

Sasuke didn’t really know what to say about it, so he just shrugged, as if it weren’t a big deal at all. He wished he could find the words to tell Naruto he would do anything for him, anything that would make him look as happy and smile as brightly as he was smiling that night, as if he didn’t have a single worry in the world or had never experienced any kind of pain.

He always wished he could say many things out loud. He wished he knew how to thank Naruto properly for every single thing he had done for Sasuke, for not giving up on him. He wished he were able to let him know with words just how much he meant to him, how much he felt for him.

But Sasuke was awful with words. And luckily enough, Naruto didn’t need them, because Sasuke still proved it every single day, in every way he could think of.

“I love you,” Sasuke said, because even if he couldn’t express every single thing he felt, he still could say those three words that pretty much summed it up, even if poorly.

“Marry me,” Naruto replied back.

Sasuke’s eyes widened in surprise, because of all the dumb shit Naruto could’ve said, he hadn’t thought it would ever be something like that.

“Oh, c’mon, don’t pretend like you didn’t expect it!” Naruto said with a laugh, as carefree as always, as if he hadn’t just shaken Sasuke’s world to the core. “I want to be with you for the rest of my life. And even if you won’t admit it, I know you do, too,” he explained with such confidence it would’ve made Sasuke tease him to no end. At least if the situation were different.

A year ago, a few months ago, and even a week ago, Sasuke would’ve thought he didn’t deserve this. That he didn’t deserve being this lucky, that he hadn’t done anything in his life so good to justify all the happiness he was getting to experience.

He had convinced himself of it so many times, and Naruto was always there to make him see just how wrong he was.

“I’m sorry, I know this is probably not the best way of asking. But it’s… it’s been a constant thought on my mind for weeks now and I was even starting to plan something nice! And then you do this, and it’s all I could think of tonight, so how am I supposed to wait?” Naruto said laughing embarrassedly.

Sasuke was still quiet, watching Naruto closely, trying to find any sign that this was just some twisted joke. But he knew Naruto wouldn’t joke with something like that.

“Say it again?” Sasuke asked slowly.

“I’ve been thinking of it lately a lot, and I was-”

“Not that, idiot. The… other thing,” Sasuke said, sounding rather impatient.

“Marry me?” Naruto said again, sounding a bit more unsure than before.

Sasuke didn’t doubt this time, though. And just as Naruto opened his mouth to keep talking, Sasuke quickly leaned over to kiss him, moving his arms around his neck just because he needed to feel him closer.

“Okay,” Sasuke whispered, simply against his lips, before he just kept kissing him.

For the first time, Sasuke was able to let himself think he deserved this. Because he did.